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Title: Social Media Marketing
Description: Social media marketing notes will help you on how to set up social platforms, what platform to use to get the most engagement, growth and increase followers.
Description: Social media marketing notes will help you on how to set up social platforms, what platform to use to get the most engagement, growth and increase followers.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1: Intro to Social Media Marketing
Chapter 4: Content Strategy: Blogging
•
•
•
•
•
•
What is the point of social media marketing?
The Top Ten Beneits of Social Media Marketing
Debunking the Myth: “My Industry Isn’t a Good Fit for
Social Media”
Top 7 Characteristics of Successful Brands on Social
Media
Why Your Audience Is Your Company’s Most Valuable
Asset
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The Conluence of Content and Social Media:
Insights for Success
The Simple Secret to Apple’s Marketing Success
6 Steps to Deining Your Target Audience for Your
Content Marketing Campaign
How to Write the Perfect Business Blog Post
5 Elements of the Perfect Business Blog Post
Finding Great Content Ideas
50 Content Marketing Ideas
9 Tips for Adding Images to Your Content
Chapter 2: Choosing the Right Social Media
Networks for Your Business
•
7 Types of Social Media Networks to Leverage
Chapter 5: Content Strategy: Social Media
Posts
•
Chapter 3: Social Media Analytics
•
•
Why You Should Track Social Media Analytics and
How It Affects Your ROI
Measuring Social Media: What, Why and How
•
•
•
2
Why It’s Important to Humanize Your Brand in Social
Media
The Power of Images in Social Media Marketing
How to Use Social Media Listening to Build Brand
Loyalty
100 Killer Ideas for Your Social Media Content
Chapter 6: Growing Your Social Media Channels
•
•
•
Chapter 9: Troubleshooting Your Social Media
Campaign
10 Ways to Grow Your Followers on Social Media
How to Get Inluencers to Follow You on Twitter
How to Run a Successful B2B Social Media Marketing
Campaign
•
•
•
Chapter 7: Individual Social Media Channel Best
Practices
•
•
•
•
•
Chapter 10: Best Practices for Sustained
Success
Snapchat
•
•
Chapter 8: Converting Visitors to Clients
•
•
5 Reasons Your Social Media Campaign Isn’t Working
5 Steps for Handling Complaints on Social Media
The 10 Biggest Social Media Mistakes to Avoid
11 Simple Techniques for Gaining Customers’ Trust
Online
20 Sticky Features Your Website Needs to Convert
Visitors
3
7 Reasons You Need to Be Using Social Media as Your
Customer Service Portal
100 Ways Maximize ROI on Your Social Media
Campaign
Chapter 1
INTRO TO SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
Modern entrepreneurs are scrambling to get involved
with social media marketing—it’s a buzzworthy topic
that’s captivated the business world since the explosive
popularity of Facebook and Twitter irst caught international
attention
...
Social media marketing, at its core, is the
process of building your brand equity and awareness via
social media channels, including (but not limited to):
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
What’s the point of social media marketing?
Social media marketing isn’t a magical remedy for your
marketing woes, nor is it an overblown sensation
...
INCREASE BRAND AWARENESS
When you enter social media channels, your brand will
appear in search results across the Web, not just in search
engines
...
Furthermore, social
media channels facilitate the process of instantly sharing
information with a large number of contacts
...
4
GIVE YOUR BRAND AN ORGANIC, HUMAN FEEL
Participating in social media channels brings your brand
closer to your customers and potential customers
...
Think about what Apple did with its famous
“I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” commercials
...
But do you know what they’re
saying? Social media channels like Twitter and Facebook
make that sort of “brand buzz” readily available
...
FACILITATE WORD-OF-MOUTH MARKETING
There’s no stronger marketing message than an
endorsement from a friend
...
But
social media doesn’t just make it easy to tell a single friend;
it’s just as easy to tell all your friends what’s on your mind
...
The statistics, however,
illustrate a different picture
...
And according
to Social Media Examiner, 97% of marketers are currently
participating in social media—but 85% of participants aren’t
sure what social media tools are the best to use
...
By using these
channels to communicate with your customers, you project
a transparent, trustworthy image which also shows that not
only do you listen, but you care
...
Here’s a look at just some
of the ways social media marketing can improve your
business:
INCREASE CUSTOMER LOYALTY
One independent study, which appeared in the March 2010
issue of Harvard Business Review found that Facebook
pages can increase customer loyalty by 36%
...
1
...
Every opportunity
you have to syndicate your content and increase your
visibility is valuable
...
This is
important because it simultaneously makes you easier
and more accessible for new customers, and makes you
more familiar and recognizable for existing customers
...
Or, an otherwise apathetic customer
might become better acquainted with your brand after
seeing your presence on multiple networks
...
People want to deal with people, not
with corporations, and communicating through social media
builds that level of personal trust
...
Perhaps the most signiicant is its humanization
element; the fact that brands become more humanized
by interacting in social media channels
...
2
...
According to a report
published by Texas Tech University, brands who engage
on social media channels enjoy higher loyalty from
their customers
...
A strategic and open social media plan could prove
inluential in morphing consumers into being brand
loyal
...
Additionally, studies have shown that social media
has a 100% higher lead-to-close rate than outbound
marketing, and a higher number of social media
followers tends to improve trust and credibility in your
brand, representing social proof
...
3
...
Every post you
make on a social media platform is an opportunity
for customers to convert
...
Every blog post, image,
video, or comment you share is a chance for someone
to react, and every reaction could lead to a site visit,
and eventually a conversion
...
Even if your click-through rates are low,
the sheer number of opportunities you have on social
media is signiicant
...
5
...
Interacting with your
customers regularly is a show of good faith for other
customers
...
And when they post your brand name, new audience
members will want to follow you for updates
...
Not to mention, if you can interact with
major inluencers on Twitter or other social networks,
your visible authority and reach will skyrocket
...
INCREASED INBOUND TRAFFIC
...
Every social media proile you
add is another path leading back to your site, and
4
...
Social media marketing
results in higher conversion rates in a few distinct
6
every piece of content you syndicate on those proiles
is another opportunity for a new visitor
...
7
...
IMPROVED CUSTOMER INSIGHTS
...
For example, you can
monitor user comments to see what people think of
your business directly
...
You can measure
conversions based on different promotions posted on
various social media channels and eventually ind a
perfect combination to generate revenue
...
According to
Hubspot, 84% of marketers found as little as six hours
of effort per week was enough to generate increased
trafic
...
If you can lend
just one hour a day to developing your content and
syndication strategy, you could start seeing the results
of your efforts
...
Start small and you’ll never have to
worry about going over budget—once you get a better
feel for what to expect, you can increase your budget
and increase your conversions correspondingly
...
RICHER CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES
...
Every customer interaction you have on social
media is an opportunity to publicly demonstrate your
customer service level and enrich your relationship with
your customers
...
Or, if a customer compliments
you, you can thank them and recommend additional
products
...
7
The Sooner You Start, the Sooner You Reap the
Beneits
...
The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll be able to
start growing that audience
...
BETTER SEARCH ENGINE RANKINGS
...
It’s no longer enough to regularly update your blog,
ensure optimized title tags and meta descriptions, and
distribute links pointing back to your site
...
As such, being active on social media
could act as a “brand signal” to search engines that
your brand is legitimate, credible, and trustworthy
...
Your Competition Is Already Involved
...
Don’t let your competitors reap all
the beneits while you stand idly by
...
Potential Losses Are Insigniicant
...
The amount of time and money it takes
to create your proiles and start posting is usually
minimal, compared to other marketing channels
...
followers joining the community, the investment is
extremely minimal, while the ROI is signiicant
...
Many also assume that in order to be successful
on social media, a business needs to meet certain criteria,
such as:
•
•
•
Source: GlynnDevins Marketing
DENTIST INCREASES CUSTOMER BASE THROUGH SOCIAL
MEDIA
When dentist Claudia Anderson decided to replace
traditional and costly marketing methods like the Yellow
Pages and newspaper coupons with social media
marketing, she had no idea what to expect
...
Having an already-established email list or customer
database
Having a big budget to invest in social media ads and
audience engagement
Having a content-rich website in place
In this section, however, I’ll demonstrate how four
companies in unlikely, ‘unsexy’ industries or situations have
experienced positive ROI through their social media efforts
...
She now offers two major takeaways from her
success with social media:
RETIREMENT COMMUNITY ACHIEVES POSITIVE ROI ON
When thinking of ways to reach an aging population,
social media is usually not at the top of most marketers’
lists
...
1
...
2
...
For more proof that social media works wonders in the
dental industry, run a quick Google search for ‘social media
for dentists’ to see reams of marketing agencies that are
dedicated to solely helping dentists promote themselves
online
...
Using Facebook and YouTube to reach potential clients
and their children, it quickly became apparent that both
baby boomers and seniors wanted to engage with them via
social media
...
67 per ‘like’
...
That’s a sign of a well-targeted campaign!
BUSINESS WITHOUT A WEBSITE USES TWITTER AND
EXCEEDS SALES EXPECTATIONS BY 6X
Mari Luangrath set out to use Twitter to generate some
interest in her newly launched online company, Foiled
Cupcakes
...
So, Mari decided to get
active on Twitter in the meantime to help bridge the gap
...
No hard sell, no sending trafic to their website, no getting
people into their online sales funnel; just participating in
conversations with their target market
...
One included
a scholarship opportunity focused on single mothers
...
This simple strategy paid off in spades: within 6 weeks,
Foiled Cupcakes went from 0 to 2200 Twitter followers, and
exceeded their original sales target 6 times over
...
“We started this
page shortly after the hip prosthetics were pulled from the
market, basically posting some news articles about the
recall and some of the medical implications associated
with the device,” says Rosenfeld
...
Rather than put the hard-sell on these
people, we allowed them to talk amongst themselves, and
we’d chime in when they asked something of us
...
In terms of an investment,
the formation of the group and seeding it with some
material cost us nothing, and I certainly see these as highvalue cases with a signiicant upside
...
And all this from only $120 spent on a Facebook
boosted post
...
The plan went like
this: the company would donate $1 to a local animal shelter
each time they received a ‘like’ on their Facebook page
...
We inished
the month of March with 1650 likes! This exceeded our
expectations and we only spent $120 for one Facebook
boost
...
We never imagined actually
getting leads directly from the campaign!”
Rosenfeld now says he’s placing a lot less emphasis on
likes and shares
...
I’ve slowly begun to recognize that social media
really is for everyone; it just depends on knowing how to
leverage it most effectively for your niche
...
Yet, the most common excuse I hear from business
owners why they aren’t paying attention to their social
media accounts is that their industry “isn’t a good it for
social media
...
Source: Footbridge Media
PERSONAL INJURY LAWYER STRIKES GOLD AFTER
NEARLY GIVING UP ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Jonathan Rosenfeld recalls how he nearly gave up on social
media marketing after seeing no direct clients result from
his efforts to tweet, check-in, and build his social media
audiences
...
“No matter how enthusiastic I was about a particular area
of tort law, the average person probably has no interest
in reading a blog post about the implications of health
insurance subrogation
...
”
Regardless of your niche or industry, your customers or
clients are on social media: it’s just up to you to igure out
which platforms they’re using, and how best to reach them
...
Over the past year, Rosenfeld worked on two successful
9
a revolutionary idea
...
In reality, it’s possible to be “a one trick pony” as long
as that trick is really good
...
Top 7 Characteristics of Successful Brands on
Social Media
With the volume of competition that businesses face in
the world of social media, it’s never been more important
to stand out and develop a unique identity and value
proposition through strategic branding
...
Do you know what your unique product, service, or
selling point is within your niche? If not, start there
when building your branding strategy
...
Brand
building is the deliberate and skillful application of effort to
create a desired perception in someone else’s mind
...
Let’s explore the common characteristics of successful
brands, so you can build your social brand strategy
accordingly:
1
...
Unless
it’s a mega chain like Wal-Mart, most businesses
have a speciic target audience they’re pursuing
...
PASSION
While it’s certainly possible to build a social following in
the short-term without passion, it’s almost impossible
to sustain it in the long run
...
That
passion leads to enthusiasm and genuine joy, which is
infectious
...
Passion also helps
businesses persevere through inevitable setbacks
...
Trying to appeal to everyone (ie, ignoring the concept of
a target market) can be counterproductive, causing a
company’s brand to become diluted
...
2
...
For instance, Apple has become
known worldwide for their innovative products and
minimalistic, aesthetic appeal
...
In terms of a selling point, TOMS shoes donates
a free pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair of
shoes that are bought
...
Restaurants and their
food and service quality are a great example of this
...
Otherwise, why would they follow
that brand in the irst place? With so many industries
being saturated with competitors, inconsistency is
often enough of a reason for consumers to take their
business elsewhere
...
An
example of a brand who offers amazing consistency
is McDonald’s
...
Whether someone orders in Florida or China,
they know that a Big Mac is going to taste the same
...
Creating an identity on social media doesn’t demand
10
5
...
For a
brand to make a name for itself,
team members should thrive on
competition and constantly strive to
improve
...
When it comes to the major players
in any industry, none simply sit back
and hope that their consumers
will do the work for them
...
The end result tends
to be a brand that is continually on
the cutting edge of its industry
...
EXPOSURE
Another big part of being
recognized as a distinctive, successful brand is the
ability to reach consumers through multiple social
channels simultaneously
...
Most of the major
platforms allow you to create a business page for free,
so take advantage of as many as you can
...
HOW DO YOU THINK OF YOUR AUDIENCE?
Hopefully, you think of them in a generally positive way,
otherwise you wouldn’t own or work for a business that’s
targeting them
...
LEADERSHIP
Just like any thriving community or sports team, there’s
typically an inluential leader behind every successful
brand
...
For
smaller ones, it’s usually the owner
...
To coordinate the efforts of team members and guide
a strategic vision for a brand, someone has to step up
and steer the ship
...
They are also expert
motivators and know how to maximize the strengths of
different team members
...
For the
purpose of this article, “audience” is deined as anyone
who is interested in what your company has to offer, but
particularly those who have already opted-in to learning
11
more about your products or services by signing up for your
email list, following you on social media, and even doing
basic web searches for your company or brand name
...
Your
opt-in incentive is so incredibly important that it’s
paramount to think strategically about what you can
offer that’s of unparalleled value
...
Let’s explore what
audience development is, how to do it and why you should
...
Become A Trusted Source Of Information Via Your Blog
...
It doesn’t matter how amazing
your content is… if it doesn’t meet the needs of your
customers or website visitors, it’s likely to fall lat
...
Nurturing that proprietary audience
(one that only you can reach) is essential for building brand
authority, awareness, credibility and other signals which
improve not just sales and conversion rates, but also your
overall following and word-of-mouth potential
...
Make Guest Blogging A Priority
...
Engaging with your guest posting sites on social
channels is also a great way to build a wider audience
quickly
...
Building an online brand
through social media often takes many months or years
...
After all, a company’s website is often the irst
touch point that a potential client has with a brand, and
irst impressions are key
...
Accordingly, the ways that
you use both traditional and digital means to build your
audience and nurture them shouldn’t be considered a
mere cost of doing business
...
Here are a few of my favorite techniques and strategies
...
Foster A Sense Of Community On Social Media
...
This will mean not only promoting your content and
products, but establishing relationships and being truly
engaged and responsive with your fans and followers
...
Offer Something Of True Value As An Opt-In Incentive
...
This consists of not only providing helpful support and
answering questions via social media email, and other
platforms, but also sharing relevant current products or
services with clients who have engaged with the company
in the past and being strategic about it
...
1
...
Chances are you have a
small but loyal group of customers on social media who
are passionate about your business
...
2
...
Having a big
audience is great, but if you don’t nurture and engage
with them, you’re likely to lose them
...
3
...
Customers that
have purchased your products already – or even signed
up for your email list – usually have the most potential
to convert again, or at least refer you to others who
might convert
...
Your current customers are your most valuable asset
...
It’s a delicate balance, but worth all the effort
...
In time, you’ll ind that building your audience
becomes your most valuable marketing investment
...
Factors like quality and
frequency of posts, along with proper engagement quickly
come to mind
...
Strategies for Determining What Social
Networks Your Audience Uses
Whenever possible, I recommend basing your social
network choices on data
...
Depending on where your irm is in the social media
lifecycle (e
...
, novice to established irm), you can leverage
different information sources to look at how engaged and
active your audience is with a particular network
...
Many of them suggest that
choosing social networks simply relies on common sense
...
It’s an easy intuitive leap to make; after all, there are
certain platforms that are clearly a good it for your
business
...
Some
factors to consider include:
•
14
EXISTING PROFILES: Of your existing proiles, which
ones are getting the most traction? Traction can be
measured in a number of ways, but always look at a
variety of growth indicators
...
•
FOLLOWERS AND ENGAGEMENT: Whether you’re
currently engaging heavily in speciic networks or
you’ve simply done some experiments for preliminary
data, measure your growth in at least two ways
...
Engagement, in the
forms of shares and likes, is a more useful indicator of
resonance
...
Evaluate your website
analytics to understand whether social activity (yours
or community-generated) is a major driver of visits to
your site
...
•
CONVERSIONS AND CUSTOMER VALUE: It’s possible for
a social network to send you trafic, but that trafic may
be of low value
...
•
CONTENT SYNERGIES: Many businesses ind that
a speciic content format helps tell their story in a
meaningful way
...
If there’s a clear
connection between a speciic content format and how
you do business, focus on developing that
...
These discussions reveal important information —
for example, the fact that your customers spend
hours on Facebook every day or used LinkedIn to
get industry-relevant recommendations
...
While you don’t want to base your entire
strategy on self-reported data, these insights can ill
in gaps that market research and analytics might not
cover
...
Other industries have a strong afinity for
certain types of business, such as the connection
between retail and Pinterest
...
Whether it’s #agchat for agribusiness on Twitter or
iSalesman, which is a specialized social network for
sales professionals, it pays to know the custom social
media habits of your audience
...
In the last two years, an interesting evolution has taken
place between social media and content marketing
...
•
WRITTEN: Written content is still the most lexible
content type
...
It’s possible to optimize
for a mobile-social experience or for more traditional
computer-based users
...
•
VIDEO: The proliferation of video content has migrated
from the ield of entertainment straight into the
business world
...
Video appeals to a different
audience than long-form written content and provides
an avenue for non-writers to create powerful, expert
grade material
...
Businesses can ind new life in existing
content by adding a visual component that helps
illustrate their message in a compelling way
...
New social networks are springing up on a seemingly daily
basis
...
Features such as hashtags, once the sole province of
Twitter, are now showing up in the vast majority of major
networks
...
Recent Google algorithm updates like Panda
skyrocketed content marketing to one of the core online
marketing disciplines
...
Many companies are being bolder than ever with shaping
and exploring their company’s story
...
A natural
extension of this is then inding the right networks to
showcase and promote that content
...
Any product or
service
...
7 Types of Social Media Networks to Leverage
•
If there’s one message that you take away from this section,
I hope it’s that a one size its all approach to social media
marketing isn’t effective
...
That being said, your marketing decisions need to be made
within the broader context of the social media landscape
and how it’s developing
...
Expand your understanding of branding
...
•
Cross-promote video content on mainstream networks
leveraging the latest video oriented tools
...
•
1
...
Other popular social media platforms with a visual
spin include Visual
...
The lessons for
succeeding on visual networks are simple:
•
All companies
should
participate;
boost in
search engine
rankings
...
VIDEO NETWORKS SUCH AS YOUTUBE AND VINE: If
you’re interested in video, there’s never been a better
time to use it as a medium to connect with customers
...
Your exploration
of whether they apply to your business is the most
important part of the process
...
•
GOOGLE+
All companies
should
participate
...
Sales copy can
translate in a powerful way to the video medium, while
moments of genius can emerge when the camera is
rolling in unscripted moments
...
LINKEDIN: LinkedIn remains the top network for
business-focused social media marketers
...
Whether that’s
showcasing your products or your zany behind-thescenes ofice culture, taking a visual approach can
supplement all your other branded work
...
17
Target the Decision Makers: Numerous features on
LinkedIn let you connect directly with decision makers
...
•
Use The News Feed: Remember that LinkedIn’s
newsfeed has become a content delivery mechanism
...
•
Publish Your Content: LinkedIn now has a feature
that allows you to publish your content directly to the
network
...
•
Target Your LinkedIn Strategy To Personas: Have
you created a LinkedIn persona strategy yet? If not,
it may be time to think about who is accessing your
content via LinkedIn and consider enabling access via
LinkedIn’s credentialed sign in for a more customized,
segmented experience
...
6
...
Unlike
Facebook and Twitter which have a relatively balanced
gender demographic, Google+ is heavily favored by
males
...
4
...
With Facebook recently surpassing one billion total
users worldwide, it can be used by marketers to reach
consumers in nearly any industry
...
Consequently,
both Facebook and Twitter tend to be great places to
start your campaign and test the waters
...
The same
thing can be said even if you have a relatively small
demographic, and you’re trying to zone in on a smaller
segment of the population
...
While creating a presence on both of these networks
is applicable for nearly any business, Facebook can be
even more advantageous when you’re looking to reach
females between the ages of 18 and 29
...
When it comes to Twitter, it’s also popular with a young
audience between the ages of 18 and 29
...
5
...
It’s potentially hard to weigh the
impact; networks tend to be smaller, but also have
very active communities
...
Nearly 44 percent are single
and nearly 42 percent are looking for friends
...
7
...
If you’re offering B2B services at a
local or regional level, for example as an accountant or
a commercial building management service, your local
presence is critical
...
Once you’ve decided on your target social media platforms,
you can begin reining your strategy and measuring the
results of your campaign
...
Social
channels directly link to trafic, following, and engagement,
so measuring them can assist your business in a variety of
ways
...
From the largest brands to the smallest startups,
social media has been used and continues to be used
strategically for a variety of purposes
...
A social media infographic that surfaced about a year ago
reveals what marketers look for in social media analytics:
•
63% measure the size of the network (this means the
subscribers, followers, etc
...
Clearly, they regard social media
analytics as important
...
72% measure the quantity of visitors and sources of trafic
•
measure the size of the
network (subscribers,
followers, etc
...
One reason was that social campaigns were unlike
traditional online campaigns, such as banner ads or
squeeze page promotions
...
A user might look at your social ad/
campaign and not click at all — but make a purchase
directly some weeks later
...
But if it’s social media, what do you measure?
Furthermore, there was no way to measure these
metrics to igure out whether your social media
marketing was doing any good
...
Let’s go back to the infographic again:
•
1
...
If it’s an ad, you
measure the impressions
...
If it’s a blog post, you measure comments
and trafic
...
•
72% measure the quantity of visitors and sources
of trafic
•
63% measure the size of the network (subscribers,
followers, etc
...
In order to get the best out of every social campaign,
you need to know what to measure
...
As is the case, the
end goals dictate the measurement metric
...
•
20
If you’re looking to generate trafic, your metric
should be: unique visitors from social websites
where you’ve run your social media campaigns
...
•
If you’re looking to
generate revenue (which
is the ultimate purpose),
your metric should be:
the precise dollar value
of every lead a social
post generates
...
A
brand like Dove would want
to measure the number of
women that have clicked
through a socially shared
link
...
It’s the same with social media marketing, too
...
At a time when social media marketing has become
enormously important, it’s even more critical to
measure the performance of every social media
campaign you run
...
For a small
business, measuring the number of likes, shares, or
retweets is pointless if none of it generates trafic/
following/interaction/revenue or any other goal you
have set for your social campaigns
...
HOW
This is the big question: how do you measure ROI of social
media campaigns?
Tracking social metrics was hard in the past, but with some
really amazing tools these days, it has become easy while
retaining sophistication, with a ton of features
...
These include Digg, Reddit,
StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, Delicious, and more
...
WHY?
Every effort you put in, especially toward marketing,
should be planned and calculated
...
As you go along with
your guest blogging strategy, how do you identify the
publishers that drive good trafic? How do you focus
only on the ones that are effective?
All of that comes from analytics: you set up tools like
Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools to igure out
which ones are really good trafic sources and realign
your marketing efforts to focus on those websites
...
Google Analytics
is free to use, and is the choice of many marketers
because of its extensive features
...
This includes the number of visits via social referral in
comparison to total visits, the number of visits from
each network and the percentage of trafic from each
network
...
•
•
HootSuite
One of the main indicators of how big your presence
is throughout the social media realm is how many
mentions your business gets across social media
networks
...
Hootsuite is an effective way to track those mentions
and streamline your social media campaign
...
There are several other
statistics that can be monitored, such as how many
people have added your business to their circles on
Google+, how many followers you have across major
social networks, recent user activity, and daily growth
...
This is helpful because it’s possible
to identify which types of content are creating the
most buzz, so you can rinse and repeat later
...
This is done by creating
social scores based on engagement and inluence, and
measuring them against the competition
...
•
When it comes to Facebook, you can determine who
your fan base is by analyzing their demographic
according to region, language and posting source
...
Since it’s available on mobile devices, this
can be a great platform for keeping up with data while
you’re on the go
...
Clicking “Network Referrals” will provide a
bit more information, like total pageviews, and average
visit duration of pages per visit
...
Understanding this data is important
because it’s a clear indicator of which networks are
working, which need some attention, and which ones
may be worth scrapping altogether
...
According to Simplify 360, they “provide you with a
much needed tool to listen to what your customers are
saying about your brand on social media and a means to
act on it
...
”
When it comes to features, this software provides the
basic,s like information regarding your demographics,
the volume of trafic from various social media sites,
and competitor tracking
...
SproutSocial offers
a plethora of features that cover pretty much every
aspect of the social media process along with highpowered analytics
...
It also has a detailed
analytics system with numerous reporting options
...
Their slogan is “social media monitoring and
analysis made easy,” and their concept revolves around
searching for hashtags or search terms
...
RowFeeder is a bit simpler than the previously
mentioned platforms, and can only be integrated
with Facebook and Twitter
...
Businesses primarily use RowFeeder for:
•
Brand Monitoring – tracking what your audience is
saying about your brand, products, and competitors
•
Campaign Measurement – analyzing factors like
reach, participation, and engagement
•
Contests & Promotions – tracking Twitter contests
that use hashtags
•
Market Research – monitoring the conversation for a
speciic topic, market or multiple topics
•
Social Share Buttons
Finally, a simple way to determine how much your
content is getting shared on various social media sites
is by installing social share buttons
...
Once set up,
you can see how many times a piece of content has
been shared on different networks
...
Social media campaigns are much more powerful
than the usual ads run on websites
...
Social
campaigns are often more personal, because they
occur on a platform that’s trusted
...
23
Chapter 4
CONTENT STRATEGY: BLOGGING
The Conluence of Content and Social Media:
Insights for Success
Companies who target their efforts see the best
results
One study has suggested that as many as 90% of American
small businesses are on social media today
...
It’s also low cost and has a fairly
low barrier to entry
...
Every social media manager wonders: what’s the most
effective social media marketing platform for businesses
to focus their efforts on? Now, thanks to rapidly advancing
social media analytics and market research, it’s possible
to understand which social networks are driving the most
sales
...
One overarching theme in recent research is the beneit
of properly targeting your social media efforts
...
In this case, a bit of smart consumer research
will go a long way toward directing your social media
strategy
...
But the social media
marketing landscape is murky: there are numerous
potential channels available and they don’t all yield the
same ROI
...
Most importantly, you need to know where your customers
are actually spending their time online
...
Buying behaviors vary by category on social
media
An important takeaway from recent research is that
consumers are more likely to make purchases from
certain types via social media than others
...
Categories that didn’t fare as well on the two
major networks were crafts and DIY and home décor
...
Pinterest users
be using the platform to ind new recipes or ideas for DIY
crafts, while typical Facebook users may be on the lookout
for personal updates or current events
...
Less than 10% of Facebook and Twitter users reported
making recent purchases in those categories
...
21% of Pinterest users reported buying something craft and
DIY-related, and 18% purchased something under the home
décor category
...
They suggest that in order to make the
most out of your businesses’ social media presence, you
need to irst understand which types of content are going
to result in maximum engagement on which networks
...
To get a better sense of what
works for each platform, do research into businesses that
have experienced signiicant success with their social
media efforts
...
Category matters with regards to social commerce
...
In order to get a better idea
of what products your customers are purchasing via
recommendations on social media, it’s best to go ahead
and ask them directly
...
Consumers are more likely to make purchases
from certain types via social media than others
FACEBOOK USERS
TWITTER USERS
25%
34%
reported buying tech tools or electronic devices after seeing
recommendations or shares via these social networks
PINTEREST USERS
21%
18%
21% of Pinterest users reported buying something craft and DIY-related,
and 18% purchased something under the home décor category
25
Speciic platforms inluence buying behavior
When it comes to social commerce, not all platforms are
created equal
...
This holds true
even if you’ve followed the best practices suggestions
about tailored content and culture
...
But you can expect higher sales conversions from some
sites as opposed to others on the whole, and knowing this
information can give you a hypothesis to test
...
Imagebased social networking sites like Pinterest, Instagram,
and Tumblr are experiencing signiicant growth
...
Data
suggests that more and more people are using these sites
to create virtual product wish lists, which creates a unique
opportunity for marketers hoping to make the most of
social commerce
...
As far as the other major networks go, research also
indicates that Facebook is outperforming Twitter in
terms of sales conversions
...
A
representative from the company suggests that the higher
customer acquisition rates are a result of the interpersonal
dynamics of each network
...
The trust factor helps boost
trafic and drive sales
...
In fact, they found that companies who simpliied
and streamlined the decision making process for their
customers were 86% more likely to make a sale
...
Increasingly, marketers are inding that offering more
– more copy, more complexity, more information – isn’t
working like it once did
...
Instead, brands need to think strategically about how to
stand out amidst the clutter
...
also uses retargeting in their advertising to increase the
chances that a customer will make a purchase
...
If not, pay attention to the
ads on the right hand menu next time you do! I bet one of
the products you were interested in appears in a Facebook
ad on your homepage
...
Apple is my favorite example of simplicity in marketing
...
No lengthy list of product
26
6 Steps to Deining Your Target Audience for Your
Content Marketing Campaign
features, no mention of price, no professional voice actors
with emotional voice-overs, or even information on how to
buy a Mac
...
Clearly deining your audience makes all the difference
when you’re creating content
...
To streamline and simplify your content marketing, think
about what your customers actually need to know, and get
rid of the rest
...
You can do this in 3
ways:
Advanced social media management software hacks
for entrepreneurs
•
How can we present this information in a simple,
uncluttered way?
The basics of social media management software
Social media management tools for a 30 minutes a day
social media plan for administrative assistants
What’s the major factor that deines whether what you write
is hitting the target?
1
...
Your audience
...
Here’s a step by step process to help you do that
...
Help your customers learn about your product: Provide
no-nonsense, simpliied and streamlined product
information that’s relevant to each stage of the buying
process
...
WHO ARE THEY?
Every solid audience proile starts with a fundamental
understanding of who your audience is
...
But they’re a great
launch point for any discussion
...
Help your customers weigh their options: Be
transparent about comparing products and brands so
they can make an informed purchase decision
...
How can you simplify your website copy
and advertising to stand out among content that’s loud,
lashy or overly-complex? How can simplicity work to your
advantage among the competition?
•
•
A married mother of four in Wisconsin that is a
stay-at-home parent and has a total family income
of less than $40,000 per year
•
A divorced father of two residing in Alaska, on a
farm, with a net worth of several million dollars
•
27
A single male in his early twenties renting
an apartment in NYC and making more than
$100,000 a year
A couple in their thirties with no children, living in
Boston, coping with unemployment
Whatever the issue – whether longstanding or shortterm – it’s the entrée into the discussion and your
invitation into their lives
...
•
•
•
A retired couple in their seventies in Texas with
fourteen grandchildren and ixed retirement
incomes
Understanding the predominant problem that
has brought your previous customers to your
door – especially your best and most proitable
customers – helps you recognize that motivation
in others
...
It also helps you create content that
attracts more of those prospects
...
As you develop your audience proile, do your best
to articulate what drives them in terms that they
themselves would use
...
Each of these vignettes contains only a few details
of the people’s lives, but you begin to form a picture
...
Your prospect could be an
investment banker working a hundred hours a week,
a novelist that found early success with a book and
is struggling with creativity on his next project, or
an architect with a passion for urban environments
...
It’s the context that helps you sell
...
WHERE DO THEY GET THEIR INFO?
Choosing the channels that you use to deploy your
messaging is absolutely critical
...
•
Still, without a fundamental understanding of where
your prospect is coming from and how she lives her life,
digging deeper into her needs and motivations is going
to be a challenge
...
2
...
It might be a persistent problem
– such as an inability to get an entrepreneurial venture
off the ground, ind the willpower to be healthy, or
sustain a healthy relationship
...
28
The brand name will lend you credibility with a
wider audience
...
•
Your potential customers or existing customers
read or watch the publication
...
publication where those people
spend time
...
Before you move to the next step in your process, be
sure that you can answer how your prospects get their
information in a holistic and meaningful way
...
So this should be
your guiding star in content creation
...
In our SEO example above, you sometimes
see crazy claims about getting to the top of Google for
one of the most competitive terms out there in under
30 days
...
Take the time
to understand these factors, and create a list of the
terms, claims, and other “bad triggers” you’ll never use
in your content
...
WHAT BENEFIT OF YOUR PRODUCT SOLVES THEIR
PROBLEM?
You’ve probably heard about the need to focus on
beneits over features
...
If you’ve
done your detective work earlier on, you’ll be able to
articulate the problem that you’re addressing and the
beneits that your product or service offers
...
Legendary
copywriter Gary Bencivenga always stresses the power
of proof
...
Take the time to igure out
what would back up your content and spend the time to
work it in
...
I’d encourage you to take this one step further
...
For example, if you consider the SEO space, there are
a number of problems it solves for businesses and a
number of beneits that it provides
...
A
better presence generates more trafic to your site
...
WHO DO THEY TRUST?
One last note that’s often overlooked when building
audience proiles: who do your readers, viewers, or
customers trust?
It could mean more leads for your sales team, more
customers buying your product, more people reading
your content, more people sharing your ideas
...
But more leads and customers
is very compelling to a small business in growth mode
...
I hope, in part, that it’s you by this point! But it could
be speciic experts in your space, celebrities, industry
players, or brands
...
For example, if your
inancial customers love the Wall Street Journal, it’s
time to pitch them a blog or work on becoming a source
in one of their stories
...
WHAT SETS OFF THEIR BS DETECTOR?
We live in a world of skeptics
...
Online, on TV, on
the sidewalk
...
It many cases,
advertisements are illed with outright lies
...
Getting to know your audience in real depth takes time
...
But it’s well
worth the time to develop this expertise
...
So how do we, as content creators, ensure that we
don’t ever run afoul of our prospects’ highly developed
BS detectors? I have a few ideas on this topic
...
If your brand is known
for being honest, ethical, and delivering value, you’ll
become a trusted source
...
Much of my workday is spent
reading, writing and publishing articles
...
’
So while there’s actually no ‘perfect’ blog post, there are
certainly elements and strategies that will get your posts as
near to perfect as possible
...
5 ELEMENTS OF THE PERFECT BUSINESS BLOG POST
Following are ive elements that can consistently be found
in popular business blog posts, regardless of the industry,
niche or topic
...
1
...
Even if the rest of your post
hits the mark dead on, without a captivating opening,
your audience may never even click on the article or be
interested in reading it in the irst place
...
It’s not rocket science, but it does mean being intentional
about planning out your strategy
...
According to Copyblogger, 80%
of people will read the headline, while only 20% will
read the rest
...
Too many bloggers try to
come up witty, punny or complicated headlines in
an attempt to be different; when in fact, often the
headlines that are the most clear, concise and selfexplanatory get the most clicks
...
The irst element of this question is the ‘unique angle’ piece:
What can I write about that’s different from what everyone
else is saying? What unique skills or experience do I bring
that will add something new to the conversation? What
unique opinion do I have that’s different than anyone else’s?
For your opening sentence and paragraph, try to put
yourself in the mindset of your ideal reader: What
problems will he or she be looking to solve? How can
you show that you understand what
they’re struggling with? How can you
incorporate this in a way that they’ll
ability to make us focus feel the need to read the rest of your
this means including
post?
Images have the natural
our gaze downward; and
a caption beneath your photos is a great way to
keep your readers’ attention longer
...
A relatable image with a caption
Choosing images for your post
shouldn’t be an afterthought, as a
cheap-looking or irrelevant photo has the potential to
completely undermine the rest of your content
...
Great bloggers understand that in order for their
writing to have the greatest possible impact, it needs to
speak to its audience’s interests, needs, preferences and
pain points
...
What emotion do you want to trigger through
your blog post? Make sure this emotion is expressed
or evoked through your photo
...
consistently win out: when someone glances at your
post, they should be able to look at it and immediately
get the feeling that it’s easy to read
...
According to Derek Halpern of Social
Triggers, images have the natural ability to make us
focus our gaze downward; and this means including
a caption beneath your photos is a great way to keep
your readers’ attention longer
...
This means short paragraphs, proper use of headings,
subheadings, lists, bolds and italics, and generally
anything that makes your content appear less
intimidating to read
...
But as always, be sure to
test these and other strategies to see how they work
with your audience
...
A clear viewpoint
No one likes a wishy-washy article
...
I’m not saying your posts need to be controversial, but
rather, that every post should have one clear angle,
opinion, or point of view
...
Outside data or information
This is important for all blog posts, but of particular
importance when it comes to business blogging
...
This is why using outside information is so important to
increase your credibility
...
5
...
Finding Great Content Ideas
Now that you know what makes a great blog post, you’ll
have to look for great ideas to inspire your content
marketing strategy
...
Google Suggested Searches
We’ve all seen Google’s keyword suggestions when
entering a keyword phrase
...
All you need to do is open your web browser, go
to Google
...
As seen in the example below, Google will automatically
give you suggestions with popular keyword phrases
that are relevant to your niche
...
While you’re there, you may have the opportunity to
interview them and learn what they think about the
content you provide
...
5
...
This can be as simple as inding the right forum for
your niche and spending some time there contributing
...
One thing you will typically ind on forums is that people
ask questions about how to solve their problems
...
You can then write a blog post explaining
how to solve the problems and then post a link on the
forum to your blog post
...
Youtube
Depending on your topic, YouTube can provide some
alternative ideas related to videos using the same
principle from Google
...
6
...
group discussions can provide insight into problems
that are not available elsewhere
...
3
...
com
If you’re looking for a faster method to generate
keyword ideas, check out Soovle
...
Like Google,
Soovle
...
The difference is that
Soovle
...
com
•
Amazon
...
com
•
YouTube
...
com
•
Wikipedia
...
4
...
Why not use these
great contacts to get ideas for new content? Sites
like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ allow you to see
what your customers are talking about
...
An example would be going to Yahoo
Answers and typing in “content marketing”
...
Of course, you can narrow
down the search by using quotation marks around your
search query
...
org to see what sorts of blog posts are
catching people’s attention and generating discussion
and interest
...
org – you just have to do
some searching to ind them
...
They’re usually speciic to your niche and show
you the exact questions a potential client would be
asking
...
Quora
Quora is similar to Yahoo Answers
...
It
usually has more in-depth questions than other Q&A sites
...
Google Keyword Planner
Google’s Keyword Planner is a highly effective tool for
writers struggling with content development
...
9
...
Alltop
...
You can see
what’s trending on several different sites at once
...
Imagine waking up every
morning, drinking your coffee (or whatever morning
beverage you prefer), and inding the latest updates
in your niche
...
Along the way, you can
brainstorm topics for your next article
...
Google will generate a list
several pages long of keyword ideas such as mobile
apps, text marketing, mobile ads, etc
...
10
...
You can use surveys every few
months to help generate new ideas
...
When this is the case, you can pick the most
commonly selected items
...
Good oldfashioned keyword research provides you with a seed
list of terms
...
If you can link
your content to your reader’s intent, it’s likely to make a
stronger connection
...
You can also assume
that future customers will want similar types of content
...
2
...
If you
want to grab your audience’s attention and get them
talking, take a look at trending topics online to see
what people are talking about right now
...
Read Other Blogs
It’s amazing how many incredible ideas you can ind
when you read other people’s work
...
Sometimes you can even ind great
ideas by reading blogs from a totally unrelated topic
to your niche
...
After your research, you can write your
own take on it
...
You can search
for a particular keyword or term, or simply select a
category that’s interesting to you
...
5
...
Similar
to Delicious, the Evernote app lets you organize and
save web content that’s interesting to you
...
For instance, maybe you’d like to know which topics
were trending in business and industry over the past
seven days
...
Trends then comes up with a graph illustrating search
interest over time, as well as a list of topics that are
popular search terms
...
You ind yourself completely fascinated by the
infographic included in the piece; you can easily
capture both and save them for later with Evernote’s
web clipper tool
...
Everything is tagged,
so later when you’re writing an article on a speciic
topic, simply search for your key terms and sift through
your collected information
...
3
...
If you want to get started with Evernote’s web clipper,
simply visit their website and click to download it as
an add-on for your browser
...
This is a handy
tool that can help take some of the pain out of the
content development process
...
4
...
Content marketers turn
to this tool to ind fresh ideas for new posts
...
Once you’ve conirmed your subscription, simply log
in and click on the ‘Discover’ button on the left-hand
menu
...
Take a look through and see
if anything piques your interest
...
Or you can do a
simple keyword search to ind articles related to a
certain topic or industry
...
Trapit
Content curation is another important strategy for any
content expert or marketer that wants to build trust
and become a go-to source for great information in
your space
...
Rather than spending hours searching around the web
for the perfect content to share with your followers
and friends on social media, Trapit lets you choose
a subject that’s relevant for your audience, browse
through related articles and “trap” the ones that strike
a chord with you
...
Once shared, the Trapit system analyzes how a
particular piece performs with your audience
...
As a giant repository for interesting links from around
the web that’s curated by real people, Delicious can
help if you’re having a hard time coming up with topics
...
Compile a comprehensive list of industry statistics and
research
...
Trapit also features an extensive database of
publications, which helps cut down on the chances
that you’ll be sharing what others in your industry have
already shared countless times
...
Write a top 100+ post on a relevant topic in your niche
...
7
...
Write a blog post responding to a controversial article
or video in your niche
...
Trello
Sometimes the problem in your content process isn’t
idea generation, but it’s the approval and leshing out
of processes that come with developing each ideas
...
If content development is a team effort at your
company, check out Trello
...
9
...
8
...
10
...
11
...
You can then choose to share project information
with your team
...
It cuts
down on the administrative headache for your writing
team and helps keep things running smoothly with the
content development process
...
Use Ubersuggest to ind tons of possible keywords or
phrases for your next blog post
...
Ask your readers to submit a story of their experience
with your product or service
...
14
...
15
...
50 CONTENT MARKETING IDEAS
Finally, here’s a quick list of 50 possible ideas to get you
going:
16
...
1
...
If you’re currently
writing three to ive short posts on your blog, consider
switching to one to two long form, more “meaty” posts
...
Contact three key igures in your industry to talk about
opportunities for cross promoting content via your
email lists, guest posts and social media sharing
...
Deine your ideal persona: If you haven’t already done
so, igure out exactly who you’re writing your content
for
...
Recycle some of your old newsletters by turning them
into blog posts
...
Find new sources for high-quality images for your blog
(hint: using cheesy stock photos can make your blog
look cheap)
...
Recycle some of your old blog posts by turning them
into newsletter content
...
Use Portent’s Content Idea Generator to ind new ideas
and headlines for your next blog post
...
Compile Top 10 resource lists for your niche: Top 10
blogs; top 10 companies; top 10 tools, etc
...
Contact leaders in your ield and have them answer a
question: Take all the answers and turn them into one
awesome blog post
...
Create a ‘hack’ post: A list of workarounds for a
common problem or issue in your niche
...
Write a blog post about a conversation that’s taking
place on social media: For instance, if your Facebook
fans are having a particularly lively debate, write a
post summarizing the main arguments and offering a
solution or answer
...
Do a poll or survey of your audience and publish a post
with your indings
...
Ask your readers, subscribers and social media
followers to submit videos, ideas, or images: Choose
the best ones and create blog content around them
...
Put your URL or website name on all the original photos
you use on your blog; this way, if they get pinned or
shared, you’ll be sure to retain credit
...
Use Hootsuite to engage in social listening; and then
create content based on trending topics or questions
...
Take some time to learn about user-focused content
strategies; it will pay off big time in the long term
...
Create a simple spreadsheet where you can jot
down content ideas as they come to you (or your
smartphone’s notepad application works ine too); this
will ensure you never run out of things to write about
...
Create at least one info product (such as an eBook)
you can publish on your website to grow your email list
...
Dig down to ind relevant sub-topics your visitors will
want to read about: Choose a general topic and then
commit to coming up with at least ive to 10 subtopics
related to that theme
...
Subscribe to relevant subbredits to see what topics are
trending in your industry
...
Join three private Facebook groups in your niche to see
what topics your audience is really interested in
...
Create a beginner’s guide with helpful, actionable
information and tips
...
Create category pages on your website or blog that
can make inding your content easier for your visitors:
These will be pages that are optimized around speciic
themes or topics, and that can help your visitors
quickly ind relevant content on your site
...
Write a blog post about a popular movie, relating it to
your speciic audience or industry
...
Write a post inspired by a comment left on your blog
(the more controversial, the better)
...
Create landmark articles that act as an ultimate
resource or guide about particular topics
...
Plan to incorporate content curation into your
marketing mix
...
43
...
44
...
31
...
45
...
Try using Quora to ind questions people are asking in
your niche or industry
...
Compile a list of inspirational or motivational quotes
your readers would enjoy
...
Create a blog post that lists all the most useful articles
or resources on a particular topic (not just your own)
...
It can, in
fact, lead to 94% more views
...
Make a video where you recount something that’s
happened to you; it doesn’t even have to relate to your
business
...
49
...
50
...
This is great for SEO and for
increasing readers’ time-on-site
...
Know the rules, then follow them,
and you’ll be ine
...
1
...
These are images that the creators
have given permission for people to use at no charge
...
Sometimes
it’s ine to use an image for your blog, but not okay to use in
your marketing materials
...
There are sites that offer Creative Commons photos, like
Creative Commons Search (a nice aggregate that can
search through several sites at once) and Flickr
...
Getty Images, the grandfather of online imagery, is also
getting in on the free photos game…with a caveat
...
Still, there’s great quality there, so it’s worth a look
...
GIVE PROPER ATTRIBUTION
Every Creative Commons license requires you to attribute
the image to its owner, so include something like this at the
end of each blog post:
Photo credit: Andreagrossmann on Wikimedia Commons
37
Figure 1
Figure 2
Play by the rules, as you’ll stay out of trouble this way
...
5
...
SUBSCRIBE TO A SERVICE
While it doesn’t it every small business budget, subscribing
to a royalty-free photo service is the safest way to ensure
you’re using photos that are approved for what you want to
use them for
...
•
Pixabay:Search by image type and orientation
...
REVIEW ALL YOUR IMAGES
If this is the irst you’re hearing that there are rules about
what images you can and can’t use for blog posts, it might
be worth it to go back through all your old posts (yes, I
realize how long that can take, but it’s better than being
sued, yes?) and making sure all your photos are Creative
Commons and attributed properly
...
Pay per photo (the highest cost per photo, but good if
you don’t need tons)
•
•
Yearly subscription (the most economical for heavy
use)
Subscriptions range from $500 to $2500
...
7
...
Because you can’t be sure that these are legal to use, it’s
safer to just ditch these photos and ind your own
...
4
...
This visual graphic design tool is simple
enough for even the least creative person to use
...
8
...
So if you search for, let’s say, “computer mouse”
and have to choose between two images, which do you think
people will be more attracted to FIgure 1 or Figure 2?
The irst image simply looks more professional
...
Figure
2 just looks amateur
...
If you subscribe to a photo site, you can upload the photos
(you’ve already paid for them, so why pay again for another
on Canva?) and modify your design
...
GET CREATIVE
I enjoy trying to ind a photo that illustrates a post
...
But
sometimes it’s fun to ind unique takes
...
People like seeing humans in images, so try to ind photos
that include people doing something
...
Just stay away from the mundane
...
They are, in fact, essential for boosting your
blog trafic and getting people better engaged
...
39
Chapter 5
CONTENT STRATEGY: SOCIAL MEDIA
POSTS
With a core content strategy centralized on your blog,
it’s important to complement your efforts with a posting
strategy that attracts new users to your proiles
...
However, as sites like Facebook and Twitter have
evolved to be an integral part to how we communicate with
friends, co-workers, colleagues, and even strangers, it’s
time for businesses to step up to the plate and smarten up
their social media strategy and approach
...
It’s no longer acceptable for a company to claim
they didn’t know what they are doing
...
Humanizing a
company’s social media presence to relect the company’s
mission and inner workings not only helps with brand
recognition, but also helps users feel more connected
...
40
FEELING A CONNECTION
Online social media users like knowing that there are
actual people behind the accounts they are interacting
with
...
Their oficial
Twitter, @McDonalds (which has over 1 million followers)
links to the Twitter team bio page, which gives each team
member’s photo, personal twitter account, and why they
love McDonald’s
...
This means it is up to the
companies to listen
...
If videos are shared more than links or photos, try to
do more videos
...
Whenever an individual team member tweets from the
McDonald’s twitter account, they sign it with their initials
(In Lauren’s case, it is ^LTS)
...
It also helps McDonald’s track
customer service by the Twitter team employees
...
Squishable, a company that specializes in round versions
of stuffed animals, does an amazing job of engaging their
Facebook audience
...
They
occasionally show actual prototype drawings, as well as
real employees posing with the initial concepts
...
Setting customer expectations to receive personalized
service from a person they can learn more about helps
them place trust in the company and its employees
...
In the example above, there are almost 9000 comments
from users as to which type of eye looks better
...
It also makes the users feel closer
to the brand itself
...
Whenever customers are
upset (or by the same token, happy) about something, they
are going to talk about it on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube,
Yelp, blogs, and more
...
This takes a great deal of monitoring and fast response
...
Each of these needs to be treated as an opportunity
to thank the customer for their business or to ix what isn’t
working
...
A response of “I’m so
sorry to hear that, please email me directly at brett@
companyname
...
In fact, when it comes to social media, saying nothing
at all (or even deleting all negative posts) can cause the
company to lose customers and experience an even greater
catastrophe
...
The Power of Images in Social Media Marketing
One of the biggest trends is image-centric marketing rather
than traditional text-based
...
This means they digest information more easily by
viewing an image instead of reading text
...
Let’s discuss the beneits of images in further detail,
how pictures can be implemented in your social media
marketing campaign, and the top image-based social
media sites
...
Creating breaks
between text gives people time to stop and think about
points and concepts
...
The end result should be helping
readers achieve a thorough understanding
...
Line after line of text quickly becomes boring
...
They can take a somewhat
boring post and spice it up
...
In an
information age where data can quickly become
overwhelming, people have to pick and choose among
plenty of content options, all begging for their attention
...
IMPROVE SEO
Since practicing effective SEO tactics and strategies is
important for the health of your online marketing initiative,
every trick you implement is helpful
...
When there’s a long winded post with nothing but text, it
can turn many visitors off because they simply don’t have
time to read through it
...
It’s the perfect motivating
This includes the image ile name, as well as the Title, Alt
and description tags
...
When posting images to social media sites,
take advantage of whatever tagging system they offer and
include hashtags when possible
...
That’s why it’s smart to get on board now and build a
presence before competitors do
...
Now that we’ve discussed the advantages of images, let’s
consider some of the top social media sites that are imagefocused
...
It’s
also the perfect tool for building rapport with consumers
by giving them a irsthand look into a company and its
employees
...
This can help a
business come across as being more personable and not
just some faceless corporate entity
...
A large part of Pinterest’s success is due to its simplicity
and aesthetic appeal
...
Unlike other major social media sites like Facebook
and Twitter with a lot of interaction, users are limited
to “repins,” “likes” and brief comments
...
You can also encourage consumers to take pictures of
themselves using a product or a service in action
...
This makes it an ideal tool for
branding even on a small budget
...
If you’re not already on this network, create a proile and
launch a social media campaign
...
You simply create boards,
which are separated into categories
...
a great way to establish loyalty and build brand
ambassadors who will gladly spread the word
...
content
...
The best part is the viral quality
Tumblr is a microblogging site that’s primarily used by
that Pinterest offers
...
Although it’s possible
potential for content to be repinned
...
based
...
It
While it’s possible to reach most demographics through
has a simple interface and a variety of free themes
...
This
has a hip feel and is very popular among young people who
makes Pinterest excellent for businesses in niches like
are 25 and under
...
Regardless of the industry, Tumblr is an effective way to
showcase a product or service
...
For instance, they show pictures of teams in the locker
Instagram has quickly become a popular way for individuals
and businesses to share pictures with their audience
...
While it
43
room to give fans a feel for players’ personalities
...
Fashion designers
can feature pictures of models and customers wearing their
clothing
...
Acquiring customer feedback and understanding their
wants and needs is an integral part of running nearly any
business
...
In addition to using
social media regularly to post new content to your followers,
it’s important to engage in social media listening
...
Tagging is convenient, so optimizing content for SEO is a
snap
...
Ever since the birth of social media sites like Facebook and
Twitter, it’s been unprecedentedly easier for businesses to
connect with their customers and gain valuable information
about them
...
According to SearchCRM, social media
listening is “the process of identifying and assessing what
is being said about a company, individual, product or brand
on the Internet
...
With this being the platform of choice for many
trendsetters, it’s also helpful for staying up-to-date on
what’s trending
...
LEARN WHAT CONSUMERS ARE SAYING
In the pre-Internet world, companies were somewhat
limited when it came to learning how consumers felt
about their products or services
...
In modern times, social media
has made it possible for just about anyone to publicize
their opinion
...
Consequently, this can be incredibly valuable for
businesses when it comes to gaining a more thorough
perspective
...
While there will probably be some people who
absolutely love it and others who dislike it, observing
social media feedback is a great way to make an initial
assessment
...
Knowing your business’s
strengths and weaknesses is critical for building brand
equity and sticking around for the long haul
...
com
...
”
appropriately address concerns in a timely manner, allowing
you to take actions to avert or minimize it
...
Absorbing
feedback and making key adjustments to keep customers
coming back and spreading the word is what’s made
companies like Apple and Google so successful
...
If a competitor has implemented a new
marketing technique that’s proven successful, you can use
this knowledge in your future marketing efforts
...
To grow a solid brand that stands the test of time,
it’s important to earn a reputation for quality and
responsiveness
...
Basically, the feedback you receive through this
technique is like getting input straight from the source
...
SOCIAL MEDIA LISTENING SOFTWARE
Now that you understand the beneits of social media
listening, let’s talk about some popular software products
that streamline the process
...
Too often clients are focused
on a single channel like Facebook
...
”
STRONGER CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS
One beneit of gaining feedback is that it puts your business
in a better position to keep customers happy
...
If you’re listening, you
can address the issue and seize the opportunity to show
the world how great your customer service is, while also
humanizing your brand
...
Regardless of the situation, most
consumers will appreciate it when a company puts forth the
effort to implement their feedback, which improves brand
loyalty
...
Even if negative
accusations aren’t entirely true, a smear campaign from a
few disgruntled customers or a rival competitor can quickly
tarnish a company’s image
...
In terms of positive perceptions, be sure to reward and
thank people who step up and say favorable things about
your brand
...
When it comes to negative
ones, social media listening allows you to identify and
45
your brand
...
100 Killer Ideas for Your Social Media Content
I gave you 50 great ideas for coming up with blog content,
so let’s roll with 100 ideas for great social media content
...
14
...
15
...
16
...
Just be sure to
give proper credit
...
Share a helpful resource: If you’re truly concerned
about sharing the most useful info with your
followers, don’t be afraid to direct them to other
people’s valuable content (not just your own)
...
Post a Slideshare presentation: If you want to ind
one that’s already proven itself to be popular, go to
the ‘Trending in Social Media’ section at the bottom
of the Slideshare homepage
...
1
...
Link to a case study: Case studies are great for
delivering useful info in a way that’s often more
palatable and actionable than a standard blog post
...
Link to an industry-related IFTTT recipe: Haven’t
heard of IFTTT (short for If This Then That)? You
need to check it out
...
Quotes: Humorous, inspiring or motivational quotes
always perform well
...
Fill-in-the-blank posts (e
...
“If I had $1 million I
would _________”)
3
...
g
...
Behind-the-scenes photos: Take candid shots of
yourself, your employees, or snap a shot of your
ofice or workspace
...
Statistics or data: Share new, relevant industry
statistics (these perform great in terms of retweets
and shares)
6
...
7
...
8
...
9
...
10
...
Check out Daily Infographic for
ideas, or better yet, create your own
...
Product photos: Work best on sites like Pinterest or
...
g
...
Ask for reviews or testimonials: Eliciting reviews
from fans or followers is one of the best ways to get
testimonials you can use as social proof on your
website
...
Fan photos: Search for hashtags related to your
business or products, and share a customer photo
on Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest
...
12
...
Recommend a tool: Share a (preferably free) tool or
resource you think your followers would ind useful
...
Share a favorite book: Similar to #23, share a
book recommendation your fans or followers would
appreciate
...
Recommend someone else to follow on social
media: Share a link to someone else’s social media
proile and encourage your fans to ‘like’ or follow
them
...
Share a Pinterest board: If your customers are on
Pinterest (hint: if your demographic is educated,
high-income females, they probably are), share a
Pinterest board via Facebook or Twitter
...
Share a comic or meme: Getting your customers
to laugh with you is a great way to start building
relationships
...
Post a video testimonial: Share a video review; or
better yet, ask your social media followers to submit
their own video testimonials
...
Recommend a colleague on LinkedIn: Encourage
your connections to reach out to someone who acts
as a valuable resource for your business
...
40
...
Share the winning
photos, too!
Provide a recommendation: Share the love by
recommending a business you’ve worked with
successfully in the past
...
Share a trending Twitter topic: Use Topsy to ind
content that’s popular and trending on Twitter
...
Hold a debate on social media: This can go downhill
pretty quickly, so be sure to stay on top of it!
43
...
44
...
25
...
26
...
If you’re a service provider,
share a list of the products that help you succeed in
your business
...
28
...
30
...
Share random tips: Periodically post a random tip
or trick your followers would ind useful
...
g
...
Share a tip you’ve learned
for balancing work, life and family
...
32
...
45
...
33
...
46
...
34
...
47
...
47
48
...
Who
do you think will win?”
...
Promote someone else’s sale: Share a link to
a coupon or sale from a complimentary (not
competing) business
...
Offer a free e-book: Build your email list while
generating some goodwill with your fans
...
Latest company news: Anything changing in your
business? New employee? New hours of operation?
New product offering?
50
...
64
...
Post a controversial view: Play devil’s advocate, but
tread carefully
...
65
...
66
...
67
...
68
...
69
...
70
...
71
...
52
...
54
...
Proile an employee: Let your followers know they’re
dealing with real people
...
55
...
56
...
57
...
58
...
72
...
59
...
73
...
60
...
74
...
This is great for getting retweets and shares
...
Hold a giveaway: This can be as simple as asking
your fans or followers to comment to enter
...
Awards or accolades you’ve received: Just do this
carefully…the idea is to build trust, not to brag
...
Offer a sneak peek: Whet your fans’ appetites by
showing a sneak peek of an upcoming blog post,
contest or product launch
...
Start a conversation with an industry leader: Tag or
mention an industry guru in a post (just be aware
you might be left hanging!)
...
Post a photo collage: A tool like PicMonkey can help
you create one
...
90
...
This will usually increase your
clickthroughs
...
91
...
92
...
93
...
80
...
94
...
81
...
95
...
Link to a blog comment: Have a particularly helpful
or controversial comment on your blog? Post a link
and get your fans and followers to weigh in
...
96
...
Answer an FAQ: Have a question you get asked a
lot? Answer it on social media
...
Post a link to old newsletters: Recycle your
newsletters and gain new subscribers at the same
time
...
98
...
Ask your fans for content ideas: Find out which
issues or problems your fans need help with
...
Share a funny commercial: Post a commercial that
would be appeal to your fans or followers
...
Promote your products or services: There’s a
reason this one is last on the list
...
When people do
want to buy, who do you think they’ll come to irst?
83
...
85
...
Post a link to a helpful Facebook or LinkedIn group:
If you know of a helpful resource on Facebook or
LinkedIn, share a link with your fans
...
Tell a story: Share a funny or interesting anecdote
from your life
...
Find out what your competitors are sharing, and do
it better: An easy way to do this is by using a tool like
Social Crawlytics
...
Use your website analytics to ind content ideas:
Take a quick look through your analytics to ind out
which topics generate the most interest from your
audience
...
10 Ways to Grow Your Followers on Social Media
It’s a fact: your social media marketing strategy is only
as good as the work you put into it
...
Many business owners do exactly that, then
assume that social media doesn’t work to increase sales
...
Tools like TweetAdder, which helps you ind
people to follow based on keywords and search criteria
can automate some of the process of following people,
which in turn will bump up your follower numbers
...
Find tools that make it
easier to connect with others, then maximize them to
grow your network
...
A successful social media
campaign requires constant nurturing and patience
...
A strategic plan of attack is the key to growing
your follower base, which tends to snowball over time
...
Be sure not to abuse this tactic, though
...
Most social
media channels have a daily limit of people you can
follow within their terms of service; be mindful of these
limits and respect them
...
FOLLOW PEOPLE IN YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE
How many followers would you like to have in the next
six months? Pick a number and then work backwards
to igure out how much effort you need to put in to
achieve that goal
...
Many
people automatically follow-back anyone who follows
Over time as you build your reputation as a thought
leader within your industry, more people will naturally
follow you, as well as follow you back
...
When people search speciic keywords, you want
your content to appear
...
2
...
Put more attention on the smaller
players; you’re more likely to get reciprocal attention if
you share another small business owner’s content than
a high-proile inluencer who already has tons of people
sharing their content
...
People start to associate you with content on those
topics, and will re-share it
...
LEVERAGE GOOGLE AUTHORSHIP
Google is a behemoth when it comes to social media
...
One reason for this is
that marketers realize that they get better exposure in
Google search results by participating in Google+ and
implementing Google Authorship
...
Build a reputation for
generosity and you’ll see reciprocation by other players
in your industry
...
FOCUS YOUR CONTENT
If someone were to look at your Google+, LinkedIn,
Facebook, or Twitter proile, would they see a theme in
the content you share? Or is it all over the place? The
more you zero-in on a subject, the more target followers
you’ll attract
...
Write
about hiring, management, scheduling, and training
...
Just make sure that for any site you to
which you contribute content, you link to it from your
Google+ proile so your avatar and link to your proile
appear next to your content in search results
...
There are a few reasons to do this:
1
...
If
you’re targeting HR managers, they’ll be told they
should follow you
...
KEEP YOUR UPDATES CONSISTENT
The more frequently you update your social channels,
the more people will see your content and follow you
...
your reach, brand awareness, and audience
...
Follow these inluencers and interact with them; build a
relationship and soon they’ll start helping you achieve
your social media goals
...
More social media updates will help you get more
exposure in people’s social media streams, which
will also help increase the number of shares you
get, further broadening your reach
...
6
...
So you can use your proile as a sort of funnel to get
people to Like your page
...
Then after you’ve built up a relationship with
them, invite them to Like your page
...
MAKE YOUR SOCIAL ICONS PROMINENT ON YOUR
WEBSITE
This is the simplest way to get more followers, and yet
so many business owners overlook it
...
There’s nothing worse than when people click on icons
with dead links
...
INCLUDE YOUR PROFILES IN YOUR EMAIL SIGNATURE
Another way to make it easy for anyone who emails
you to connect socially is to include the links to each
of your social channels right in your email
...
9
...
Find the ones your target audience spends
time in, and start contributing valuable insight and
content there
...
10
...
And if you know the right person, you can get an “in” at a
company
...
And if you want to propel your marketing
strategy to new heights, you have to “know” the right
people
...
These folks are the ones
considered to be thought leaders and trendsetters
...
They are
trusted and have the social proof that lends authority to
their online presences
...
It all starts with content curation, which
I covered in chapters 4 and 5
...
In this case, your target audience consists of
inluencers you want to start following you
...
To accomplish either
goal, you need to connect and build relationships with other
inluencers, and that starts with getting them to follow you
on social media channels
...
Be sure to mention
the author of the content in your tweets so they know
you’ve shared their content
...
Some may even express gratitude via a Tweet or direct
message for sharing their content, which will open the
door to initiating a conversation with them in order to
being building a relationship
...
While I’ll be mostly focusing on Twitter followers in this section,
the same advice applies to other social networks as well
...
1
...
Your goal should be to build a hefty list
of inluencers that you want to connect with
...
3
...
One tool you
should consider using is Klout, which will show you
who, among your followers, has the most followers
themselves
...
ENGAGE WITH INFLUENCERS ACROSS SOCIAL MEDIA
To really capture the attention of inluencers, you
need to engage with them directly
...
The culture of LinkedIn
is very conducive to networking, as that’s the main
function of the site
...
Your goal shouldn’t
be to get them to follow you, but to simply build a
relationship with them
...
2
...
Many conferences
and trade shows now include hashtags assigned
speciically to the event
...
Once you’ve made those
connections, you’ll have a great reason to connect on
Twitter later and stay in touch
...
Yet, according to a recent study from MarketingProfs,
87% of B2B marketers use social media platforms in their
content marketing efforts
...
An even better way to make lasting connections is
to note the list of attendees in the weeks leading up
to the event and connect online
...
4
...
OFFER VALUE
While a large part of getting social media inluencers to
follow you is engaging with them directly, you also need
to focus on building up your own social media presence
so you can offer value to the inluencers that you want
to follow you
...
Whatever medium you select, you should be creating
valuable content regardless of your online marketing
goals; not just when you’re trying to get people to
follow your brand (though frequent and quality content
publication is by far the most effective way)
...
NEXUS OF SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE B2B BUSINESS MODEL
Take a close look at the nexus of B2B business models
and the primary function and beneits of social media
...
The B2B buying process is a demanding one
...
It’s within this context that the concept of the buying funnel
really takes root
...
Social media
channels are a critical element of content marketing
...
Most would
say that the purpose of inbound marketing is to create
great content and promote it through various channels
...
A common example of this
would be promoting a recent blog post via social media
channels in order to raise awareness of the blog post
...
Furthermore, the relationships
you built with these inluencers along the way will
yield many more beneits than simply the expanded
brand reach on social media channels; you’ll develop
a network of industry experts who want to know how
they can help you
...
So, when we talk about the relationship between social
54
media and inbound marketing campaigns in the B2B
context, we need to be clear that it’s both a primary channel
and a secondary tool
...
Posting a presentation to
Slideshare is focusing on primary content dissemination
...
We’ll talk
more in depth later about where each of these its, but
I want to highlight this as it’s fairly unique to the social
media landscape
...
The following statistics highlight the
indings:
•
86% of B2B irms have a dedicated individual or agency
to oversee their content marketing efforts
personal venues
...
Communicate with decision-makers as your brand
•
91% use LinkedIn in their social marketing efforts
(highest of all the social media channels)
2
...
An example of #2 would be communicating with a buyer
from your own personal Twitter account, or via your LinkedIn
account, while identifying yourself as a representative of
your company
...
The deeper and more
compelling your customer proile, the more successful you
will be in terms of reaching them
...
Each social media engagement is a chance to
impart helpful information to the right person at the right
time, and to create a positive brand impression
...
Apple has
done a phenomenal job of this; think about its “I’m a Mac,
I’m a PC” commercials
...
The irst is at the organizational
level: what’s the most pressing problem that the company
is facing and how does your product or service solve that?
The second is at the buyer level: what is going to make
the decision maker(s) behind the purchase choose your
solution over others on the market?
Even though Apple is primarily B2C, B2B brands should
also aim to humanize
...
And people relate better to people than to corporate
entities
...
So for each marketing effort, it’s
important to have a series of goals that take into account
the potential universe of conversions
...
relatively linear
...
•
Growth in the number of followers or fans
Better questions to ask to help understand conversions for
B2B social media campaigns include:
•
Likes or shares that your content gets
•
Click-through rates
•
Website trafic resulting from social channels
•
Did we make a connection that made them aware of
our brand?
•
Did we make a connection that improved their
perception of our brand?
•
Are our offers encouraging them to sign up for more
information and become part of our email subscriber
base?
•
Are they including us in their research process (and
thereby building our brand authority) by downloading
our white papers or reading case studies?
•
Value: Value metrics are where you look for the outcomes
that impact your bottom line
...
Have they self-identiied as a lead by reaching out,
opting in for speciic information, or signing up for a
demo?
•
Did they opt in for a nurturing track to stay connected
to us for a speciic product suite or practice area?
•
Volume: Volume metrics focus on engagement and growth
...
These include:
There’s rarely a one-to-one correlation to your bottom line,
but these metrics are easy to measure and can help verify
that you’re on the right track
...
Are they asking us questions or sharing our material?
•
I ind it helpful to deine your metrics in two ways:
How many leads are your campaigns generating? Are you
scoring your leads and looking at lead quality? What do
the conversion rates and lifetime customer values of these
leads look like?
Did speciic social interactions help us promote content
that improves our conversion rate or average sale
amount during the sales process?
Ultimately, your goal is to make a sale
...
Map your B2B social
strategy so that it’s possible to strategically push on these
levers and to measure their impact when they happen
...
It’s hard to measure impact in
a way that makes people comfortable with marketing
metrics
...
” The initial connection-to-sale process is usually
56
STEP 4: DRIVE YOUR TACTICAL CHOICES ACCORDINGLY
I wanted to avoid an article that focused on
recommendations like, “Spend 50 percent of your time
on LinkedIn
...
Instead, understanding the bigger dynamics of how to craft
a campaign, how to measure its success, and where to
place social media in the B2B marketing landscape will
give you the foundation to make those choices yourself
...
Here are those
thoughts, in no particular order:
1
...
Every content marketing strategy
should include a secondary dissemination loop,
and social media needs to play a key role in that
...
Some networks are a natural (and growing) it for
B2B companies
...
Slideshare is also rapidly
gaining market share
...
3
...
Even if there’s
not a direct sales beneit to participating in Google
Plus for your business now, the indirect beneits, such
as Authorship Markup, are powerful enough that I’d
advocate taking the network seriously
...
If you haven’t taken your social media marketing into
the visual realm, it’s time to begin experimenting
...
As mobile technology continues to
outpace more traditional computer use, even in the
business context, B2B companies with a mobile-visual
strategy will be positioned to come out ahead of their
competitors
...
The good news about Twitter is that even though it went
public in 2013, it didn’t jump the shark as many had
predicted
...
One recent article from AdWeek provided
interesting analysis about the intersection of video and
data on Twitter
...
But strategically integrating your Twitter activity with your
broader content marketing efforts requires a different
mindset
...
g
...
)?
The answer to this question can drive your content
sharing and content creation decisions
...
The tools available to
marketers and advertisers using Twitter are becoming more
sophisticated; so is the framework that content marketers
are using to relate to Twitter as a platform
...
Let’s explore strategies for how to do that
...
While mobile and social
audiences often have different objectives, there are several
important commonalities in terms of optimizing your
message and approach for short-form content
...
Think about how you can:
•
•
Legendary marketer Gary Vaynerchuk famously recounts
his elbow grease approach to building relationships on
...
It’s not feasible for the majority of
entrepreneurs to have that level of engagement, but it does
raise a question that I believe is critical for success on Twitter
in 2014: are you taking steps to personally engage with and
create value for your audience in ways that connect to your
overall brand strategy and help build your proile? Here are
some ways to tell and possible strategies to employ:
Are you injecting personality, perspective, and insight
into your tweets?
•
ENGAGE YOUR TWITTER AUDIENCE
Engagement is a better metric of success on social media
than sheer number of followers
...
The level of engagement that happens organically and that
you cultivate is a good indicator as to whether or not your
Twitter strategy is effective
...
Increasing visuals within your social media communication
has numerous effects
...
Do you have a Twitter brand guide to ensure that you’re
consistently on message?
•
Increase interactivity by using Twitter to showcase your
video content
...
•
USE TWITTER TO BUILD YOUR BRAND
One of the hottest trends in online marketing in 2014 is
focusing on building your brand
...
Guest blogging
gets your name and message in front of a diversiied and
growing audience
...
Twitter strategies
need to focus on building your brand, which requires you
to look at each aspect of your interactions on Twitter as a
brand-building activity:
•
Communicate your brand through individual photos
...
tactics: If you’re getting lost in
recommendations about the number of tweets per day, the
optimal times to tweet and other tactical decisions, stop
...
Choose compelling images to go with your links
...
Focus on increasing that number, as
it will signal that your Twitter strategy is more closely
aligned with your overall funnel strategy
...
The more compelled readers are to engage
and share your material, the more on-point your
message is with your audience
...
If Twitter isn’t one
of your key channels for visual content, it’s time to change
that
...
KEEP IT CONSISTENT
In an article I wrote in March 2014, “5 Reasons Why Your
Social Media Campaign Isn’t Working,” I addressed a
couple reasons why social marketing initiatives tend to fall
by the wayside
...
MASTER THE ART OF THE RETWEET
Retweeting is the equivalent of a pat on the back on Twitter,
and it’s essential to building positive relationships with
other users
...
Retweeting content can also help you attract more
followers who are speciically interested in your industry,
product, or service
...
This
not only puts more leads in your hands, but gives you the
opportunity to build your network and grow as an inluencer
...
Your
proile can go from active to dead in a matter of days, and
your followers are going to notice
...
This means only linking to content that
your target audience would ind valuable or entertaining
...
Make it a point to tweet on a
consistent basis; this will also help you grow your following
on Twitter, because people like to follow active accounts
...
Furthermore, tweeting out news links that apply to your
industry can make you a go-to resource
...
PARTICIPATE IN THE RIGHT CONVERSATIONS
Think of Twitter as one large room with many people having
multiple conversations
...
Getting
involved and interactive within the right conversations on
Twitter starts with understanding hashtags and knowing
how you can use them to your advantage
...
As you look to make social media a more
prominent part of your marketing efforts, it may be a good
idea to assign Twitter responsibilities to one team member
who can make it his or her primary focus
...
Social media
is no longer just for teenagers who want to sound off on
the latest television show – it’s a signiicant portion of
the marketing strategies at some of the world’s largest
companies
...
Hashtags are placed in front of words or phrases to
categorize tweets and make them searchable to other
users
...
Similarly, people can ind you when you’re using hashtags,
which is where the marketing potential of Twitter truly
shines
...
As you start to talk to other people on Twitter,
concentrate on building out your network by following users
who could eventually turn into leads
...
Ashton Kutcher
One of the irst major celebrities to embrace Twitter, Ashton
Kutcher is an icon on the social network, having amassed
over 16
...
isn’t necessarily to grow its following quickly, but naturally
over time
...
Key Takeaway: If you want to use JetBlue’s model in your
marketing plan, keep it real, and provide spontaneous
value through your tweets
...
Kutcher keeps his tweets relatively personal by letting
the world know his thoughts and updating everyone on
happenings in his everyday life
...
Kutcher’s
approach to Twitter is what keeps his followers talking
about him on the social network
...
DirecTV
DirecTV is similar to JetBlue in the way in which it offers
followers special deals on a whim
...
However,
DirecTV takes a more speciic approach to how it engages
with its customers
...
This
means that if you were to tweet to DirecTV with a question
or an issue, you’re likely to receive a response that gets
straight to the point
...
Key takeaway: Personalize your tweets; voice your opinions,
and connect on a human level
...
2
...
The eccentric pop singer is known for posting
details about her life at home, in the studio, and on the
road, which helps her stay in touch with her fans
...
Now, her followers log onto her
proile to see everything from her face without makeup to
her latest stage props
...
Provide solutions;
consider Twitter a channel for customer service
...
Katy Perry
In terms of utilizing multiple strategies to make a splash on
Twitter, Katy Perry is a prime example
...
Some celebrities like Perry can make thousands of
dollars by simply sending out a sponsored tweet – it’s no
wonder the pop star does it
...
Key takeaway: Marketers who want to use Gaga as an
inspiration should absorb one key tactic – using photos
regularly in their updates
...
JetBlue
JetBlue recently made Mashable’s list of 40 companies
that are using Twitter eficiently, but what’s the airline doing
that separates it from the rest? If you visit JetBlue’s Twitter
page, it’s obvious that they care about providing value to
their customers through their Twitter account
...
For instance, JetBlue is known for tweeting out
special sales and deals on lights on a whim
...
Twitter has a casual tone, similar to Facebook, and
adhering to this environment can increase your chances of
drawing an audience
...
Key Takeaway: Diversify your tweets, and keep a casual
tone on Twitter
...
JetBlue also makes it a priority to listen to its followers
in order to learn about what they should be tweeting
...
It has grown to become the social
media site of choice for small business
owners, professionals, and executives
who are looking to create gainful business
relationships
...
You’re
putting your mug in a professional “place
...
THE PROFESSIONAL HEADLINE
...
The best way to catch their attention
is to create a relevant headline
...
If you’re looking to create value and establish relationships
with people that matter to your professional and
entrepreneurial growth, here are some great tips for you to
get the most out of LinkedIn
...
CREATE TRUST BY SPRUCING UP YOUR PROFILE
Entrepreneurs and employers you wish to reach out to
may not know you very well
...
Tip: Be creative when writing a professional headline for
your proile
...
BE CREATIVE!
The most important thing to do if you are to build trust with
your target audience is to complete your LinkedIn proile
...
Put in as much related experience or employment
details as you can that add substance and weight to
your prospects
...
Remember that your LinkedIn proile is essentially your
online resume, which can be made publicly available
...
Your photo should present the natural you
...
Be very speciic when putting the name of the employer
and the job and the description of the previous jobs you’ve
held
...
But don’t force your smile! Smile as though you are very
happy to meet someone
...
Contact details
...
If you’re uncomfortable smiling while posing for a head
shot, just be yourself
...
Keep in mind, however, that only your 1st-degree contacts
are shown your contact details
...
As for what to wear for your photo, select formal to semiformal attire that you’re comfortable wearing
...
1 Spot – For more
details, email xxx@abc
...
You can add
contacts on LinkedIn right after signing up by utilizing their
invite forms which mine your existing email address lists
...
If you attract too many “I don’t know’s” from
people you’ve invited, that can get your account manually
reviewed for spam
...
There are currently 1,263 groups related to “retailers” on
...
LINKEDIN GROUPS
...
If you’re an online content
writer, for example, you want to ind people who work in
the SEO industry; the best LinkedIn Groups to ind them
in are those that relate to marketing, SEO, social media
marketing, etc
...
Advanced
Search allows you to ilter your searches so you can ind the
people with whom you wish to connect
...
Also, take note that you may not be allowed to
immediately join every group you apply for, but don’t fret
...
Looking at the image above, let’s say you’d like to target
the “owner” of retail stores, you can simply key in “owner”
on the Title ield and “retail” on the Keywords ield
...
Assuming you don’t have anyone on your contacts list yet,
but you’re already a member of several groups related
to the business of your target audience, click on Group
Members under the Relationship ield
...
” All you
need to do is type in “retailers” in the search box above
...
Most of the time, I hear back from prospects asking
me for more information, and some have ended up being my
clients
...
However, you can’t get to them or even send them messages
unless you’re connected in some way within LinkedIn
...
When I get inquiries, I always thank the prospects for their
response, and then proceed to show them how we can work
together
...
If I wanted
to get in touch with him by sending him a message, all I’ve got
to do is click on either of the groups above and ind the person
•
Remember to keep your LinkedIn proile as descriptive
and complete as possible
...
•
Don’t spam! Always
personalize your messages and keep
them short
...
using the Members tab on the group’s page
...
After hitting search, you’ll then be taken to a search page
result
...
Remember,
this is the only way you can message someone on LinkedIn
when you’re not directly connected with each other
...
For many
businesses, it’s possible to
develop a following on these
image-based sites and drive
high amounts of trafic to your
site
...
Consider the following example
...
As reported by
Entrepreneur
...
add buttons that make it easy for other people to pin your
images
...
USE LOTS OF IMAGES: Use lots of images on your site so
there’s more for people to pin
...
Now, they’re averaging 120,000 page views per month:
PIN OFTEN, PIN VARIETY: Pin often
...
Remember that unlike other social
networks, images on your boards have a long shelf-life
...
Don’t just pin your
own images, though
...
Be personable
...
If you don’t think your site
would quite it in, maybe you’re right, but there’s still beneit
to be had; it really comes down to creativity and effort
behind the campaign
...
There are many ways to use Pinterest for positive-ROI
beneit
...
They want to ind what they’re interested
in and they want to “see people”
...
BE SELECTIVE: Don’t pin every single product in your store,
every image from your blog, etc
...
USE TEASERS: Don’t give all the goodies away in one image
or one image description
...
PIN VERTICALLY: By vertically, I mean that literally
...
Because of
Pinterest’s layout, it will attract more eyeballs
...
ADD ‘PIN IT’ BUTTONS: Just as you integrate social
networks and sharing buttons on your website, be sure to
PIN MASHUPS: Take several examples of something and
combine them into a vertical image showing each on in a
65
different block
...
potential number of people that pin reaches
...
FEATURE CUSTOMERS: Make your customers feel special
and they’ll keep coming back
...
You could create a board where you
feature a particular customer each week
...
PinReach: I’ve saved my favorite free Pinterest tool for last
...
The amount of data you can get
is incredible, whether you’re tracking your own proile and
campaigns or you want to spy on other people
...
They have a ‘guide’ to their
scoring system that kind of lets you know where stand in
comparison to other users
...
SECRET BOARDS: A new feature to Pinterest is secret
boards
...
You could offer
a membership type board where only VIP members are
invited to view and contribute to the board
...
You
could use it for private clippings and viewings of ideas for
your landscaping, interior decorating, wedding planner
customers (so many possibilities!)
...
The majority (45
...
And only
...
TOOLS FOR PINTEREST:
There seem to be new tools sprouting up for Pinterest each
week and lots of current social media tools are integrating
...
While you may want to invest in some of the more
robust paid ones in the future, here are just a few free ones
that you can consider using when getting started:
ShareAsImage (Was previously PinAQuote): Quotes and
sayings are popular on Pinterest
...
It’s easy with this tool
...
Simply
drag their button to your bookmark bar and it’s ready to use
whenever you are
...
You can display your latest pins in emails that you
send
...
Do you send
out a newsletter? By all means, add this to it!
Trending pins: Here you can see pins that are trending right
now
...
But if you look on your
dashboard, you can also look at only your pins to identify
your best performing pins (the ones with the most repins)
...
In your dashboard, you can also identify your inluential
followers (if any)
...
•
Find the highest reaching members with one click
•
Find the most popular pins
•
Not only ind trending pins, but trending members
There are many things on this site that make it my favorite
free tool for Pinterest
...
Pinterest isn’t meant for everyone, but it sure can
be helpful if your business is visually-oriented
...
It measures a user’s inluential potential and
even assigns a monetary value to your pins
...
Social media analytics are
important for a successful social media marketing initiative
...
You’ll see the
66
USING GEO-TAGS TO CONNECT
One great way to promote your business using Instagram
marketing is to tag images using local Geo-tags
...
Industry leaders like Salesforce have learned
to use Geo-tags wisely
...
Instagram allows you to take
pictures using your cell phone and add vintage frames and
camera ilters to them
...
Instagram marketing gives you the ability to increase the
value of your brand
...
SHARING STAFF PHOTOS
While you don’t want to be pushy when you use Instagram
for marketing, there are many great opportunities for
people to get to know your business better
...
You can use photos of group
activities like picnics, conferences, and other events to
allow your audience to see what’s happening behind the
scenes
...
Typically, you
will want to show photos that demonstrate teamwork and
promote your brand image
...
When it began, it was a simple way to
post pictures and share them with your fans
...
INSTAGRAM AS A MARKETING POWERHOUSE
Since then, Instagram has grown and now has over 100
million active users
...
Another big advantage to Instagram is that you don’t need
high-end equipment like you would for some other forms of
social media
...
As of June 2013, Instagram has added a new feature which
allows users to record and share videos up to 15 seconds
...
BUILDING GREAT CUSTOMER ADVOCATES
There’s nothing quite so valuable as a friendly face on your
company’s website or social media page
...
BUILDING YOUR BRAND
Many loyal fans waited a long time for Instagram to build a web
presence to go along with their mobile application for Android
and iPhone
...
Using Instagram, you can encourage your customers to
share photographs of themselves along with a great review
for your site
...
This allows you
to show off your brand values,
and at the same time highlight
your customers’ experience with
your product or service
...
Make the pictures
your reward to your followers by
providing incredible pictures that
evoke emotion and that have
great descriptions
...
It also posts
backstage pictures from their photo shoots
...
For this section, it is very important to really get to know
your customers and followers
...
Macy’s does a great job of this by showing their followers
behind-the-scenes pictures of events like the Macy’s
Thanksgiving Day Parade, runway shows, and other events
...
Another great idea comes from Intel
...
One
example is using a Lego man with an Intel shirt rising up
“above the bar”
...
Supporting a photo contest can be another
great way to build engagement
...
Then they
review all of the pictures and select the best ones to win
...
These images
show the great times people are having on their vacation
and make the airline look great in the process
...
Instagram is
no exception
...
It allows you to connect with your customers on a more
personal level, and build your brand loyalty
...
There are also Instagram analytics tools which will give you
the ability to look at your marketing weak points, strengths,
and level of engagement
...
They have found it to be a great
way to get more Instagram followers and even improve
engagement for existing followers
...
PHOTOS OF PRODUCTS?
Those of us who have used Instagram have seen some
companies only post typical images of their products
...
Companies such as Burberry have used
some good alternatives
...
Please don’t make the mistake of
simply providing pictures of your products and expect to have
a rabid following
...
68
only exist for a few seconds, you can use Snapchat to give
people a preview of an upcoming product or service that
your company may be offering
...
The
app has come a long way since its humble beginnings in
2011; self-destructing photos and video are no longer just
for smartphone-savvy teens – they’re for marketers who
want a creative way to reach their target audience
...
For instance,
you can ask other users to send you pictures of them using
your product and offer a reward to those who do
...
Doing so can keep people coming back for
more, giving you additional opportunities to roll out your
marketing strategy
...
It’s worth noting that Snapchat puts a limit on
how long its videos and photos are available for on the app
...
This means that marketers need to make the most of
every second they get on the app, which requires a certain
amount of strategy
...
Although they also disappear once they have been viewed,
marketers can use them to reach out to people who are
interested in getting a sneak peek of their ofice culture,
product production, and everything in between
...
Since
the beginning, Snapchat has been an app that encourages
casual communication through the use of videos and
photos
...
Marketing teams can use video to provide more valuable
content to their followers
...
Self-destructing photos and video are no longer
When your marketing team is creating
just for smartphone-savvy teens – they’re for
a strategy for Snapchat, you need to
marketers who want a creative way to reach their
settle on a tone of voice that will be
target audience
used across the board
...
For instance, think about incorporating the
video
...
Remember: Snapchat is all about being
to your photos
...
personable and approachable – all added bonuses when
attempting to connect with your audience
...
Browse through other accounts and follow
other people to get a better idea of how they use the app
...
EMBRACING THE TIME LIMIT
While some may perceive the self-destructive nature of
Snapchat to be a hurdle, marketers can do wonders with
this aspect of the app
...
Because videos and photos
Ideally, the media that you share over the app should give
people a better idea of your business and what you have
to offer
...
69
Use Snapchat to show off more than just content, but what
happens behind the scenes
...
Over time, you’ll notice a difference in how
quickly your following grows
...
There are approximately 26 million users in the U
...
, and
about 400 million snaps are sent out each day
...
However, there’s more to bridging the gap than just
downloading the app
...
11 Simple Techniques for Gaining Customers’
Trust Online
It’s becoming increasingly dificult to get people to trust
your website enough to make purchases on it
...
Establishing trust in a social media setting is both critical and
dificult
...
Individual clues might include professional signage, a friendly
store owner, a clean storefront, products in stock, and other
customers browsing and making purchases
...
Consequently, it’s up to you to quickly earn their trust and
curb any skepticism
...
WHY TRUST MATTERS
Before we look more closely at individual steps that you can
take to assure prospective customers that your business is
trustworthy, it’s important to be clear on why trust matters
...
Brands are
a popular proxy for trust: If a consumer believes that a speciic
brand produces quality products or services, anything with
their stamp of approval is likely to pass the basic trust test
...
Accomplished copywriter and Web marketing expert Gary
Bencivenga called this “proof
...
But here’s a closer look
at what online businesses can do to help build trust--both
with potential customers, to drive sales, and with search
engines, to rank well for important keywords
...
PROFESSIONAL DESIGN
It doesn’t matter how compelling your content is:
if your design harkens back to a 1990s Geocities
site, customers are going to be concerned about the
legitimacy of your business
...
But if your site looks professional, with highdeinition graphics and user-friendly navigation, visitors
will stick around to explore the site further
...
That’s why it’s crucial to take the time to create
a compelling and aesthetically pleasing design
...
Let me add one
important note here: I don’t mean to say that your site
design has to be expensive
...
The key here
is to answer the question: If a prospective customer
looked at this site, would they trust you enough to give
you their money or credit card information?
2
...
Essentially, they want to know who they’re potentially
doing business with
...
Good “About Us” pages include a brief
history of your business, what types of products or
services you offer, and what your unique philosophy is
...
Going beyond that by
including employees’ email addresses, Twitter account
user names, or LinkedIn proile URLs helps establish
extra credibility
...
4
...
This
can be done by creating a privacy policy and inserting it
alongside the About Us and Contact page underneath
your website’s header or on the sidebar
...
It’s smart to include any awards you’ve received, major
accomplishments, and organizations of which you’re
a part
...
The tone is also important
...
It’s much easier to like,
know, and trust a person behind the brand, rather than
a brand itself
...
Often, having this peace of mind will help turn potential
customers into actual paying customers
...
It’s also useful to note
that Google looks to see whether sites have privacy
policies as part of their manual quality evaluations,
so this should be a minimum step for anyone doing
business or publishing online
...
CONTACT INFORMATION
Due to the number of scam artists and business
schemes out there, you need to prove that you run
a legitimate business
...
5
...
It can also lead people to wonder whether you’re even
still in business
...
That’s why it
pays to routinely audit your site to ensure that all links are
working as they should and ix any that are broken
...
In particular, I recommend Screaming Frog
...
In order for this to work, you’ll
need to acquire three or more testimonials from real
customers
...
Testimonials are commonly positioned throughout the
sales content of a landing page, on the sidebar, or in
a unique page solely dedicated to them
...
6
...
Both companies have the same
purpose, but slightly different features
...
9
...
This is especially true when customers are
making sizable purchases
...
Typically, a 30-day
refund policy is suficient
...
7
...
SECURE CHECKOUT
Once a customer is ready to make a purchase, there’s
one inal detail that can inluence their decision
to follow through with it: perceived security of the
transaction
...
PayPal and Stripe are recognized brands that most
customers will feel comfortable with
...
However, if you do have a signiicant following, showcasing
your social media stats on your website can be immensely
helpful
...
Use SSL encryption to prevent unauthorized parties
from accessing inancial information
...
These will typically be placed either at the top of a
website underneath the header or on the top of the
right sidebar, so visitors can immediately see them
after landing on your site
...
Be sure to include easy links to
your key social media accounts, and share buttons
that make it simple for visitors to share your content
...
11
...
A blog that’s updated often is a sign that
your website is well-managed and cared for; it’s an
indication of how a prospective buyer or client will be
treated by your company
...
If the content is lackluster,
that creates a bad impression of your brand
...
8
...
Testimonials from satisied
customers can go a long way toward eliminating any
Not only does this increase conversion rates, but it also
will net you higher search engine rankings in Google
...
Second, if your users are even
slightly interested in your business, they have an easy
place to ind volumes of common information
...
5
...
Your brand is your
identity, and if you keep it consistent, your users will
come to see your site as a familiar and welcoming
place
...
“Sticky” has become a buzzword, describing
everything from the memorability of a catchy tagline
to the rewatchability of a viral video
...
With ininite options and low attention spans, today’s
audience needs sticky content if you want their attention
for more than a nanosecond, or if you ever want them to
revisit your site
...
A Well-Designed Blog
...
That blog should also be well-designed if
you want to retain your readership
...
If you’re currently driving trafic to your website through
SEO, social media marketing, or some other means, you
need to make sure your users are sticking around long
enough to take action
...
7
...
Social integration adds to
your credibility, gives users a chance to engage with
you, and offers you a chance to self-promote through
your audience’s individual proiles
...
8
...
It’s not enough to have a handful of
blog posts in your archive
...
Include a “what’s new” section on your homepage to
showcase your latest posts and newest products
...
1
...
Right away, your visitor
should know where to go and how to get there
...
2
...
New visitors should
immediately know what your page is about
...
9
...
Let people subscribe to your
blog or to a weekly newsletter by offering an easy
signup form on your homepage and blog page
...
Once subscribed, you’ll have an easier time
prompting them to come back
...
Easy-to-Find Contact Information
...
It’s a sign of open
communication, which your users will love
...
4
...
FAQ sections serve
multiple purposes
...
Personality
...
Include personality on your
website, wherever you can
...
It makes your
company seem more real and more inviting
...
Reader Engagements
...
Let your readers subscribe to
74
on your homepage, and consider adding a press
page to house your most important and recent press
releases
...
each post’s comments feed, and have your authors
respond and join in the conversation
...
19
...
Depending on the
size and dedication of your readership, forums and
community pages are often great ways to encourage
your visitors to stick around
...
12
...
In addition to a “what’s new” section,
you can also include a highlight reel that includes best
sellers (if you have an e-commerce site) or your most
popular blog posts (if you have a strong blog)
...
20
...
For instance, at the
end of your blog posts, you can link to similar-themed
posts you’ve made in the past, and in your product
descriptions, you can detail similar or complementary
products
...
A Competition or Free Offer
...
Present a free offer or some kind
of reward in exchange for a few pieces of information,
or hold a sweepstakes-style competition on your
homepage
...
Videos
...
Demonstrate a
product, verbalize your services, or present information
in a unique way, in one to three minutes if you can
...
15
...
This is especially important for
e-commerce sites
...
16
...
User testimonials and reviews are
extremely important in establishing your credibility
for new users
...
For B2B companies,
testimonials are a glimpse into the type of relationships
other businesses have had with you
...
Prominent, but Non-Aggressive Calls to Action
...
) on your site, but
you can’t be too pushy or people will be turned off
...
18
...
Show off who you are and
what you’ve accomplished
...
This involves
using a tool like HootSuite, Buffer or SproutSocial for
social media updates, and scheduling your blog posts
to go live at set intervals (if you’re using WordPress,
scheduling is built in
...
You may also want to consider having
an editorial calendar for your content: here’s one you
can download from HubSpot, and here’s an editorial
calendar WordPress plugin
...
Be sure you also schedule in time to read
and respond to comments and reply to questions
...
Common sense pretty much tells us most of
what we need to know to get our fans and followers engaged
with our social media content
...
It’s easy to read an article about social media engagement,
and say, “That’s SO true! I really need to do that!”
...
The phone rings, a
deadline looms or we simply lose the motivation to carry
through on our plans
...
Below you’ll
ind 5 reasons why your social media accounts aren’t getting
any engagement, along with an easy, practical, actionable tip
that will help ensure you avoid falling into each trap
...
YOU’RE NOT CONSISTENT
Social media works best when you’re able to be
active consistently
...
2
...
But content can
be extremely well-written, and still not provide anything
of value
...
How to Avoid This: When you’re coming up with ideas
for your blog and social media posts, don’t be content
to just post what everyone else is posting
...
the #1 reason they follow a brand on social media (who
cares if a post is impersonal as long as you’re saving
30%?)
...
One of the core
purposes of social media involvement is humanization
of your brand, which builds loyalty, awareness, trust,
trafic, and conversion rates
...
YOU’RE FOCUSED ON RECEIVING RATHER THAN GIVING
A trap most of us fall into (at least sometimes), is
focusing more on what our followers can do for us,
rather than the other way around
...
How to Avoid This: Here are a few tips for connecting
with your audience in a more authentic, personal way:
1
...
This is especially useful if you have a social
media team
...
How to Avoid This: One of the best ways to keep your
focus on your customers is to have a clearly-articulated
mission statement that guides all your content creation
and promotion
...
Take Starbucks’ mission statement for
instance: To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one
person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time
...
Don’t be all business, all the time
...
This will help you stand out by
bringing a strong human element to your brand
...
When you let your customer-focused mission statement
guide your content creation, your social media content
can’t help but meet the needs and desires of your
target market
...
Don’t overcomplicate things
...
When you make a mistake, admit
it
...
In his book
Human to Human: #H2H, Bryan Kramer writes,
“Communication shouldn’t be complicated
...
”
Focus less on being a marketer, and more on being
human
...
YOU’RE NOT USING THE RIGHT NETWORKS FOR YOUR
AUDIENCE
You can post the most engaging content, but if it’s not
inding your target audience, what’s the point? Many
businesses choose the social networks they prefer,
without determining if that’s actually where their
audience wants to connect with them
...
There are a number of
ways you can do this: First, do some research on the
key demographics of each of the social networks
...
Second, ask your current customers where they prefer
to connect with you
...
It’s time to move beyond just knowing what makes
for great social media engagement, and actually do
it
...
5
...
Under
social media’s veil of anonymity, disgruntled customers can
vent their anger easily online
...
Taking the right steps can help
humanize your brand, creating brand ambassadors and
loyalty
...
As
the saying goes, “The customer is always right
...
Even if the complaint is
ridiculous, it’s best to take the high road
...
I would be happy to work with you
to resolve the issue
...
STEP 1
...
First, accept that
even the best-run businesses experience these issues
...
First, the complaining consumer
knows that you care and that some resolution will be
coming
...
It’s impossible to please everyone, so don’t take it
personally when a consumer is less than 100 percent
pleased with your product or service
...
In this situation, it’s best to ignore the
feedback and remove the comment
...
DETERMINE THE TYPE OF COMPLAINT
According to Mashable, there are four primary types of
negative feedback:
1
...
STEP 4
...
Doing so will
give the customer the attention they seek without publicly
displaying every detail
...
Constructive criticism: A customer respectfully
mentions a way that a product/service or your
business in general can improve
...
This is the time to ask for speciics about the
complaint, including what’s wrong with the product/service
or why the customer had a bad experience
...
Merited attack: Your company did something wrong,
and someone is angry about it
...
Trolling: Someone is deliberately being dificult for no
real reason other than to get a reaction or make your
company look bad
...
In these cases, point out that you’re thankful
that the customer brought the issue to your attention; then
do whatever you can to resolve it
...
OFFER A TIMELY, LEGITIMATE PUBLIC APOLOGY
Never ignore negative feedback, nor prolong your response
to it
...
This will help ameliorate the situation, because the
consumer will feel their opinion is valued
...
Despite the inconvenience, you could beneit in the long
run, because you can take measures to ensure it doesn’t
happen again-perhaps on a larger scale
...
Because issues can vary, this can require some diplomacy
and compromise to ensure that the customer is satisied
...
Thank them for their
feedback, and do whatever you can to make amends
...
But
it’s not something you can just start doing without any
forethought
...
Avoid these traps to maximize productivity and start
realizing the real beneits of social media
...
FOLLOW THROUGH
After a private discussion with a customer, they’ll generally
feel better
...
This might
include replacing a faulty product, offering a discount, or
adjusting a company policy
...
NOT SELECTING A FOCUS
A huge trap I see business fall into every day is failing to
pick a focus for their social media efforts
...
While it’s a good idea to set up
proiles on every site to secure your brand name, you don’t
need to be active on every site
...
Reputation monitoring tools
If you’re looking to keep a sharp eye on what consumers
are saying about your brand online, there are a few tools
that can help:
•
•
Google Alerts lets you enter a speciic query; results will
pop up to keep you abreast of recent news
...
For starters, not every social media network is suited
to every industry
...
For example, repurposing content is an effective way for
content marketers to save time and make the most of
every piece of content they create
...
If you need more
help iguring out which social networks are a good it for
your business, read “How to Determine Which Social Media
Network Fits Your Business
...
Tools such as these help you catch negative feedback
before it escalates
...
2
...
So, why do so many business owners
and marketers toss caution to the wind and jump into
social media with no course of action? In my experience,
these people are trying to do too much at once
...
Obviously,
you can’t do it all overnight
...
3
...
What if you forget to
79
post one day? Or you devote a whole day to social when you
should’ve been doing other work? It needs to be a regular
part of your schedule or else it’ll become an ineffective
distraction
...
NOT USING THE TOOLS AVAILABLE TO YOU
The interfaces included with all the popular social networks
are perfectly ine for posting and interacting with people
...
In fact, it’s a much better
idea to use a more robust social tool to tackle multiple
networks at once
...
8
...
But getting wrapped up
in trivial conversations can distract from your larger
social goals and your regular tasks
...
9
...
While
it’s important to respond to people that mention you in
tweets or comments, you don’t necessarily have to reply
that second
...
This lays a major blow to productivity and fuels
the corporate idea that employees just goof off on social
media
...
USING TOO MANY TOOLS
Social media tools can be awesome in terms of the amount
of time they can save you
...
Choose a favorite and stick to it
...
com, Dr
...
Many of those
“Research shows that “when you’re interrupted, interruptions are small and take only
you don’t immediately go back to the task you
seconds or minutes of our time, but
were doing before you were interrupted
...
in between the interruption and returning to
“Research shows that “when you’re
whatever it was they were doing before
...
Gloria Mark
you were interrupted
...
There may come a point when you they were doing before
...
Mark shows that, in an effort to make
simply have too much on your plate to handle it all on your
own
...
You’ll still be in control of what’s said, you’ll just extent – the quality of their work
...
10
...
FAILING TO SCHEDULE POSTS IN ADVANCE
building a relationship with your audience while humanizing
Speaking of scheduling posts, failing to do so can put a
your brand through real engagement and conversion
...
Business owners can’t be
if you don’t bother to respond to people who’ve taken the
present on social media sites at all times of the day
...
so much they want to toss out the idea of social media
marketing altogether
...
TRYING TO DO EVERYTHING YOURSELF
As your social media efforts grow, the number of tasks
you’ll need to complete each day will also increase
...
7 Reasons You Need to Be Using Social Media as
Your Customer Service Portal
When most marketers and business owners think about the
advantages of social media for their business, they think
about attracting new customers to the business
...
Straightforward and effective, this type of strategy has
helped thousands of businesses spark new life into their
marketing campaigns—but I believe social media has a
much broader potential for business development and
customer retention
...
When today’s
customers try to get in touch with a customer service
representative, they encounter various challenges:
•
Find and call a phone number
...
Wait times, lengthy unproductive conversations, and
•
Submit a contact form
...
•
Send an email
...
•
Seek out a service representative
...
However, it can
be costly and ineficient to have dedicated account
representatives ready for each customer
...
While
it’s still developing as a medium, there are a number of
reasons why it’s possible and advantageous to get started
with it now
...
They don’t
81
want to wait 24 hours for their email to be read, sorted, and
responded to
...
voice while writing and communicating like a human,
thus humanizing your brand
...
The minute somebody makes a post on your
Facebook wall or a post mentioning your brand, your admin
will receive a notiication to take action
...
This is especially effective for
customers dealing with an urgent problem, such as a light
delay or a technological malfunction before a presentation
...
For the customer, transparency is all
about vindication
...
By allowing your customers to make
their complaints or questions public in this way, you’re
giving them an immediate outlet
...
For companies, transparency means that other potential
customers get to see how well you handle the situation
...
REASON 2: YOU GIVE PEOPLE A MORE PERSONAL BRAND
EXPERIENCE
As I detailed in previous chapters, people tend to favor
dealing with other people rather than corporations
...
People will immediately
recognize and call out to your brand, but it will be a person
reaching out in response
...
There won’t be any tone-based phone
menus
...
REASON 4: YOU’RE ENCOURAGING MORE BRAND
MENTIONS
More interactions on social media means you have more
opportunities to point back to your own brand
...
Even if they come to you
with a concern or an issue, you’ll get brand visibility and an
opportunity to show off your ability to quickly and effectively
and correct the problem
...
No matter how you
Social media also allows you to think carefully about
your response and present it in a more casual,
conversational tone
...
100 Ways Maximize ROI on Your Social Media
Campaign
There are so many articles on using social media for your
business that it’s easy to go into information-overload
...
REASON 5: FOLLOW-UP IS EASY
Depending on how long it takes for the problem to be
resolved, following up with your customer is fast and easy
...
If it wasn’t, you have an opportunity to take further
action—rather than forcing the customer through another
round of calling or emailing
...
You can also make a note to follow up a few days later
with a private message to make sure the customer is still
satisied
...
Find and connect with inluencers in your niche or
industry using a tool like Social Crawlytics
...
Don’t start a tweet with an @ mention
...
3
...
REASON 6: SOCIAL USERS ARE MORE LIKELY TO TALK
ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCE
This is a selish reason, but it’s an extraordinarily
advantageous one
...
The most
active users have hundreds of followers and friends on
various social media proiles, and they’re used to posting
updates regularly
...
Remember that you don’t own your social media
followers: Wherever possible, move them into your
online marketing funnel by enticing them to opt-in to
your email list
...
Try posting to social media at different times and days
to see when you get the most interaction
...
If you treat them well, they’ll share a
positive experience with their extended social network—and
you’ll get access to new potential fans and customers
...
6
...
7
...
Try a tool like
Hashtagify
...
REASON 7: YOU ELIMINATE THE FUNNEL
Customers hate the funnel
...
Otherwise, they feel like they are being sent through a
mechanical series of hoops, which leaves them with an
alienated, impersonal feeling
...
8
...
For example, if a customer reaches out on Facebook, they
want to be responded to on Facebook
...
Eliminate the “funnel” by having dynamic
customer interactions on every platform
...
Create a Facebook Interest List to monitor what your
competitors are posting: Just be sure to keep the list
private!
9
...
83
23
...
If you haven’t already, learn more about how rich pins
on Pinterest can help your business (hint: if you use a
product pin, pinners will get a notiication if you lower
the product’s price)
...
Use a call to action in your videos: Let your viewers
know exactly what you want them to do next
...
Find out who you’re competing with on Facebook with
the Graph Search query Pages liked by people who like
______________ (your page name)
...
Post as yourself, not your brand: People want to know
they’re communicating with real people
...
Using up to 5 @mentions in your tweets will lead to
more retweets: However, research shows that using
more than that will lead to a decrease in retweets
...
Post excerpts of your blog posts with a link to read
more: This is a great way to signiicantly increase the
reach of your website content
...
See who’s talking about you on social media using a
tool like Mention
...
Keep your branding consistent: Make sure your
images, colors and voice are consistent across all the
platforms you use
...
Be sure to include a website link in your YouTube video
description: This is the primary way you’re going to
drive trafic back to your site
...
Use Facebook Graph Search to ind out what your fans
are interested in: Use the query Favorite interests of
people who like _____________ (your page name)
...
Offer just enough info in your Facebook posts to entice
your fans to click through: If you provide too much
information, they may be content with simply reading
your Facebook post
...
Find out what’s been pinned from your site by going
to this URL (obviously replacing yourdomain
...
com/source/yourdomain
...
Having trouble understanding what your Google
Analytics data really means? Use Visual
...
30
...
Use a tool like Rapleaf to ind out which social
networking sites your email subscribers use
...
Have your social media team sign their posts with their
name: You don’t have to pretend you do it all
...
When using YouTube or Vimeo, make sure you have
video embedding enabled: Otherwise, you may be
losing out on a whole lot of free exposure
...
Be conversational: This is social media, not an
advertisement
...
We know that high-quality Google+ posts tend to rank
well on Google: So don’t be afraid to post keyword-rich,
longer-form content on the platform
...
Remember that it’s not the number of followers you
have that counts: It’s better to have 100 targeted,
engaged followers than 1000 who don’t actually care
about your business or products
...
Make a point of endorsing colleagues and connections
on LinkedIn: And ask them to do the same
...
Create original graphics for your social media and blog
posts using a tool like Canva or Recite This
...
Avoid asking your fans to ‘like’ your posts on Facebook
to move them up in the Newsfeed: Due to Facebook’s
recent crackdown on Like-Baiting, this practice may
result in your posts receiving less prominence rather
than more
...
@ mention inluencers on Twitter when you mention
them in a blog post
...
Find out which topics are trending on Facebook and
incorporate them into your Facebook posts
...
Only 50% reporting improved sales as a
beneit
...
Investigate the optimal number of times you should be
posting to each platform: For instance, did you know
that businesses who post to Twitter 30-35 times per
week outperform those who tweet 10-20 times per
week?
49
...
Keep your tweets short enough that others can retweet
them without cutting out important info like your
username
...
Consciously decide what you want your social media
voice to be: Casual? Funny? Corporate? Be consistent
across platforms
...
Create a live Google+ Hangout on Air, and then promote
it to the rest of your audience (either as a free opt-in
incentive or as part of a paid membership program)
...
If you haven’t already set up Google Authorship…
...
Now
...
Here’s how to do it
...
Have a plan in place for responding to questions
and complaints on social media: Up to 42% of your
followers are expecting a response within 60 minutes
...
Investigate who your most engaged fans and followers
are, and acknowledge them publically
...
Integrate your Twitter activity with your content
marketing strategy: One way to do this is to ask yourself
how you’re integrating super-short form content into
your strategy
...
Shorten your links on Twitter: bit
...
42
...
54
...
43
...
Use links within your tweets for the best chance of
getting retweeted
...
Tag other pages in your Facebook posts (where
relevant) as a way of reaching out to inluential
businesses in your niche
...
When posting to Facebook, be aware that you don’t
have to use the default image, headline and subtitle:
Simply click on them to edit before posting
...
Use vertically-oriented images on Pinterest: They tend
to outperform horizontally-oriented ones
...
Using emoticons in your social media posts has been
shown to increase engagement
...
Find the most popular posts, videos and infographics
on social media using a tool like Swayy, and then share
with your audience
...
Don’t be afraid to retweet your own tweets: It can help
you reach followers that didn’t see them the irst time
...
Use Twitter Cards: They can help to signiicantly
increase engagement
...
47
...
60
...
48
...
Did you know Google+ allows you to add some formatting
to your posts? You just need to know how: * bold *, _
italics _, – strikethrough – (just remove the spaces)
...
Realize that social media can be a long-term endeavor:
Don’t expect immediate results
...
62
...
63
...
77
...
64
...
65
...
66
...
78
...
79
...
80
...
67
...
81
...
When possible, keep your Facebook posts to 40
characters or less: Jeff Bullas’ research found this is
the magic number for eliciting the most engagement
...
Use a tool like Spredfast to see how many people
you’ve reached with your social media efforts
...
Remember that social media is about building a
community: This is the best way to build long-term,
proitable relationships
...
Use ill-in-the-blank posts on Facebook: They receive 9x
more comments than other post types
...
Use an RSS reader to track trending topics in your
niche: Then create social media content based on what
you’ve found
...
Post to Instagram around 3-4 pm EST: This is when
most users are checking their account
...
Try posting to social media ‘after hours’: Some
businesses have reported that their highest
engagement levels occur in the early morning or late at
night
...
Monitor how much time you actually spend on social
media…you may just be surprised
...
86
...
72
...
73
...
87
...
74
...
88
...
75
...
86
The key thing to remember as you keep progressing your
social media strategy is that it is a relexive, iterative
process
...
There’s no one secret that can apply to
every business
...
89
...
90
...
91
...
92
...
93
...
94
...
95
...
Use humor, but do it wisely: In other words, don’t do
this
...
Ask your social media followers for help: They’ll love
to offer suggestions for product ideas or give honest
feedback
...
Cross-promote your social media accounts: This is one
of the best ways to grow your fan base with targeted
followers
...
Promote other people’s posts: Share what’s valuable
and relevant to your audience…even if you didn’t come
up with it
...
Incorporate images into your Twitter strategy: They
receive 150% more retweets
Title: Social Media Marketing
Description: Social media marketing notes will help you on how to set up social platforms, what platform to use to get the most engagement, growth and increase followers.
Description: Social media marketing notes will help you on how to set up social platforms, what platform to use to get the most engagement, growth and increase followers.