Getting Started with Social Media Marketing

Getting Started With Social Media Marketing

Jannette Wing Pazer jannette@dragonsearch.com

Christopher Short christopher@dragonsearch.com

@DragonSearch

Some Social Media Vocabulary

• Profile – About you - what others see about you the person

• Page – About your organization - managed by people posting on behalf of the organization

•On some networks, they’re the same.

•Usually differences between looks, features, privileges

•Login as a person, then administer the organization’s page.

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Some Social Media Vocabulary

• Cover Image - large image across the top of your profile or page.

• Profile Picture - smaller image representing you or your brand (usually a logo).

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Some Social Media Vocabulary

• Post or Tweet - a piece of content broadcast on a social network

• Timeline– the list of posts on your profile or page

• Home Feed - a list of the posts from people or pages you’re following

• Engagement - When you Like, Comment on or Share someone’s post

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Your profile timeline:

Your posts/tweets.

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Your Home Feed

Posts from people you follow.

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Some Social Media Vocabulary • @Tag or Mention - tagging another user or page in your

post so they know you mentioned them and users can click to see the tagged person or page.

• Hashtag or # - way to emphasize keywords that can link to other posts using it, or to create a real time conversation by monitoring the stream of all tweets using that hashtag (Twitter chat).

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Why Social Media?

• Increased exposure

• Increased traffic

• Developed loyal fans

• Provided marketplace insight

• Generated leads

• Improved search rankings

• Grown business partnerships

• Established thought leadership

• Improved sales

• Reduced marketing expenses

From the 2015 Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Social Media Examiner, http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/report/

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Why Social Media Marketing?

An Analogy: A Trade Show in Cyberspace

From the NAB Show

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Audience: Trade Show vs. Social Media

Trade Show / Conference Social Media Marketing

Which show puts your products in front of the

people who want to buy them?

Create a strategy of which social media

platforms are right for your business.

Determine where your target audience is

online.

Which conference has speakers who are

major influencers in your industry that you

want to network with?

Who are the influencers and advocates on

social media you want to engage with and

create online relationships with?

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Marketing: Trade Show vs. Social Media

Marketing Trade Show Social Media

Booth Table in exhibition area Social media profile page

Promotion brochures on the table promotional posts

Get Attention, Provide Value demos, presentations, give-a-ways multi-media, information, resources,

contests

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Trade Show: Get Attention

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Trade Show: Waiting for the audience to come to you?

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Networking: Trade Show vs. Social Media

Trade Show Social Media

Networking, lunch table,

visiting booths

Engaging on social media,

liking, commenting, sharing,

chats

Follow-Up: Exchange

business cards, meetings

Direct message; exchange

emails, phone numbers.

Connecting With Your Audience

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Marketing: Trade Show vs. Social Media

• A beautiful booth to draw them in:

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Cool Booth, But What’s Your Business?

• Even if your booth looks good, does it say what you’re selling? Does it offer something interesting that catches your attention?

Image: http://www.exhibitcitynews.com/

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Twitter - Branding Yawn… No attention grabbing branding – for a marketing company!

No cover image!

Boring tweets!

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Marketing: Trade Show vs. Social Media • An attractive profile page to draw them in:

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Marketing: Trade Show vs. Social Media • Cool stuff at the booth and goodies that spread your

brand name around:

Image: Wowza.com

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Marketing: Trade Show vs. Social Media

Create images and content to catch their interest and get them to share with others:

And BACON is even more fun

than orange foam hats!

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Marketing: Trade Show vs. Social Media

Yawn… No cover image?

You call that image food porn?

Boring looking tweets

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Which platforms are right for you?

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Commonly Used Platforms

From the 2015 Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Social Media Examiner, http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/report/

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Which is Best for Marketing?

Which social network marketers say is the most important one to grow and market their business.

But also depends on what’s right for your business.

(Note: Facebook is popular but hard to build an audience without advertising)

From the 2015 Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Social Media Examiner, http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/report/

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B2C vs. B2B

From the 2015 Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Social Media Examiner, http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/report/

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Instead of a Website?

• Websites are still important because you have control.

• A social network can decide you’re violating their policies and suspend or delete your account.

• In social media, there is constant change, features come and go.

• Should have both!

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How to Choose - Goals • What do you want to use Social Media for?

• Placeholder – claim your digital real estate

• To showcase your brand/products/services •Pictures? products? articles?

• Sell products

• Collecting leads

• Advertising

• Frequent Updates: Daily menus, coupons, deals • Easier than updating a website

• Connecting with your customers

• Customer service

• Getting reviews

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Social Media Explained

Image by @douglaswray https://www.instagram.com/p/nm695/?hl=en

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Facebook

Two types of entities:

• Personal Profile • My friends

• Page • For your business, organization, cause, personal brand

• Our fans

• Also Groups, Events, Interest Lists, Apps

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Facebook Person/Page Relationships

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Facebook – Person Profile

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Facebook - Page

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Facebook – How it Works • You login as a person, and can change identity to be your business

page/brand

• People are “friends” with each other. Must be mutual.

• People can “Like” business pages. Pages can “Like” other pages.

• Ability to post links, images, video

• Ability to @tag people and pages when logged in as a person. Can only @tag pages when logged in as a page.

• Facebook chooses which content to show people, so reach is limited, shows bias

• Reviews on your page (cannot delete any)

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Facebook - Style

• More personal, less business-like

• Tends to focus on positive, personal experiences

• Usually don’t want to “Friend” people you don’t know

• Pages cannot “Friend” people, but can “Like” other pages

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Facebook - Pros

• Very large network, Over 1 billion users

• Great for brand exposure and customer relations

• Easy to switch between being yourself or representing a business

• Multiple people can manage a page

• Advertising is inexpensive and very effective

• Incredible amounts of data about Facebook users for targeting

• Ability to schedule posts for a future date.

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Facebook - Cons

• Difficult to grow a following or have your posts seen without advertising

• Post reach is very low until people start engaging with the posts

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Twitter – How It Works • One type of entity

• One login per Twitter account (handle) • Will have to share password with anyone else managing it

• Tweets are limited to 140 characters

• Anyone can “follow” other Twitter users

• Retweeting: Tweet someone else’s tweet

• Ability to post links, images, video

• See all the tweets from the accounts you follow chronologically

• Twitter lists can group Twitter accounts together

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Twitter – Style • Short and to the point, often what’s happening in real time now

• Use hashtags to find topics or create conversations • Twitter chats

• OK to follow and engage with anyone

• Everyone is an equal entity

• Use @-tags to bring people into a conversation, or give them credit for something shared

• Use your brand as your username, so it works in a sentence & keep it short

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Twitter - Pros • Very large network

• Ability to quickly respond to clients and customers

• OK to tweet to strangers, good way to connect with influencers & customers

• Twitter cards can include a call to action

• Twitter lists great for organizing other Twitter accounts for monitoring, engaging, curating, complementing

• Twitter chats: good for exposure & networking

• Useful to follow conversations at conferences via hashtag

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Following Tweets at a Conference Join the conversation whether you’re there or not! See all tweets using hashtag: #NAB2014

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Twitter - Cons • Advertising is more expensive

• Frustrating for wordy people!

• Lots of fake users out there, jibberish, self-promotion and spam

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Twitter - Use Images!

Catch my attention when your tweet scrolls by!

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LinkedIn – How It Works

Two entities:

• Personal Profile

• Company Page

• Also Groups, Jobs, Publishing

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LinkedIn – How It Works • People profiles are similar to resumes

• People can “connect” with other people, must be mutual and identify the relationship

• People can “follow” company pages

• Company pages cannot follow others

• Engagement is by people; Companies cannot engage with other’s posts

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LinkedIn – How It Works

• People and companies can post their own updates • People or pages cannot post on others’.

• Employees should maintain complete profiles using industry keywords. They are the company ambassadors.

• Heavily used by recruiters

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LinkedIn Degrees of Separation • The bigger your connection network, the more likely your profile

information will be seen when searched for

• Connection between people measured by degrees (1st, 2nd, 3rd)

• Beyond 3rd degree, can’t see much info on a person.

Search for “digital marketing” on LinkedIn

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LinkedIn – Profile • Summary

• Experience

• Education

• Projects

• Skills

• Organizations

• Publications

• Honors & Awards

• Courses

• Volunteer Experience

• Recommendations

View Recent Activity: Status Updates

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LinkedIn – Company Page

• Company information

• Recent Updates (posts)

• Employees

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LinkedIn - Style

• Business focus, great for B2B or professional networking

• Best to connect with people that have some connection with you

• Participate in groups & answer industry related questions & start discussions (people only)

• Showcase your professional reputation • Encourage reviews and endorsements

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LinkedIn - Pros

• Good place to show off your expertise, thought leadership

• Employees profiles likely to show up in Google search results

• Advertising can be accurately targeted towards job titles & industries

• Can add videos and Slideshares to your profile

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LinkedIn - Cons

• More primitive technology and interface, lots of bugs

• Advertising is very expensive

• Companies cannot @tag others in their posts

• Cannot edit a post afterwards

• Cannot control who claims to be an employee

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Google+ - How it Works Three types of entities:

• People profiles • Posts, collections, videos (from YouTube)

• Company pages

• Map related pages • Created via Google Maps

• Can be merged with Company pages

• Also Communities

• CONSTANTLY IN FLUX

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Google+ - How it Works

• People profiles can create Business Pages

• Pages for local businesses will have Reviews and a map • Reviews show up in search results

• You can follow people or pages

• Communities share similar interests

• Collections save posts of interests based on topics

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“Classic” Layout

• About tab with lots of information about your company

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The New Google+ • Minimal company

information in tiny “i” circle (see arrow)

• Changed cover image size so most of us need to fix it

• Pushing “Collections”, which now show before your posts

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Google+ - Style • OK to follow people or pages you may not

know personally

• Posting is mostly news and articles

• Good to @tag people (but interface is tricky) • Google+ uses the “+” sign to tag people.

• Hashtags OK, but best after the post’s text to not distract

• Mostly marketers, many abandoned pages or pages created automatically and never used

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Google+ - Pros

• Must have to show up in Google Maps & the Search Engine Results Page (SERP)

• Helps your content show up in search results

• Communities help you find others with similar interests

• Integration with YouTube

• Audience segmentation using Google+ circles

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Google+ - Cons • Google keeps changing the way it works

• Appears to slowly being dismantled

• Lack of activity; Not widely used, rarely brings traffic to your website

• @tagging people or pages is infuriatingly unreliable or annoying, don’t know which to use for tagging if there are duplicates

• Frequent duplicate pages, hard to figure out who owns them

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So Why Use Google+?

It’s vital for Local Search!

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Google+ Page

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Google Maps and G+

Information,

images and

reviews came

from their

Google+

page.

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G+ and Search Engine Results Information, images and reviews in knowledge graph box on right side of search results

came from their Google+ page.

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Instagram – How it Works • All about images

• One login per Instagram account • Will have to share password with anyone else managing it

• Must be on mobile phone to post your images

• Can follow other users

• Can @Tag other users

• Can Like or comment on other’s posts

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Instagram - Style

• Be creative!

• OK to follow people or pages you may not know personally

• Heavy use of hashtags to navigate

• Very popular with younger demographic

• Totally image focused

• Usually lots of engagement

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Instagram – Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Great for showing off products, promotional campaigns and contests

• Can simultaneously share your image on multiple social networks

• Can manage advertising through Facebook

Cons:

• Must have your images on your mobile phone to post

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Instagram Scroll through images posted by who you follow.

Search for image types using hashtags.

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YouTube – How it Works • User account (person), and channel

• Multiple managers are permitted

• Can create playlists of other’s videos

• People subscribe to your channel, and can comment, like or add to favorite lists

• Annotations in your video can provide links to other videos, or additional content on your website.

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YouTube - Style • Lots of how-to videos, user-generated content,

video blogging

• Where millennials are getting their entertainment, new online celebrities created

• Important to optimize your profile and video descriptions for search

• Show off your brand’s personality • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmZiqwRnwtM

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Not your average boring lawyer…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmZiqwRnwtM

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YouTube – Pros & Cons Pros:

• Over 1 billion users

• Great for showcasing products, services and personality

• Videos can be shared on multiple social networks

Cons: • Resource intensive to create

content • Hard to direct traffic back to

website, people get sucked in to watch more videos

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Pinterest – How it Works • Imagine a cork board where you pin pictures of things

you like.

• Very visual

• Account can be person or business

• Only one email login, but can login via other social networks

• Curate images and videos, pin them to topic boards, comment, like and re-pin.

• Click on a pin, it links to the original website location

• People can follow each other’s accounts or specific boards

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Pinterest - Style • Majority female demographic

• Popular topics: DIY, crafts, wedding planning, recipes, jewelry, fashion, home interior

• Highly important for businesses related to food, fashion, art and decorating

• Important to optimize your board and pin descriptions for search

• Highly addicting - digital collecting & hoarding!

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Pinterest – Pros & Cons Pros:

• Great for branded images, showcasing products

• Easy way to create portfolios showcasing your work (artists, designers)

• Products can be purchased directly from Pinterest on mobile

• Place pins can show locations on a map

• Easy to recycle evergreen content (i.e., not time sensitive)

• What gets pinned by others shows future intent

• Can see all the pins that came from your website

Cons:

• Tricky for non-visual businesses (like insurance, lawyers)

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Pinterest Example

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Good Pinterest Board – Appealing, Informative

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Bad Pinterest Board – All Promotional, No Info, Unappealing Images

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Other Important Sites

• Reddit - geeky, indepth conversations

• Yelp - Must have for brick & mortar businesses, reviews

• Q&A sites - Answer questions and show your expertise • Quora - any topic

• Avvo – attorney

• Niche sites for almost anything! • They may not be as popular, but it’s YOUR audience!

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How to Choose Which Social Media Platform?

• Choose based on: • Your Goals • Your Audience

• Think about your type of content you’ll be sharing

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How to Choose?

• Do you have lots of images, or can you find lots of images related to your business? • Pinterest - worth collecting or curating

• Instagram – worth posting & commenting on others, use hashtags

• Also share images on other social platforms

• Do you have video content? • YouTube

• Instagram (if less than 15 seconds)

• Also share videos on other platforms

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How to Choose? • B2B? Non-visual Business?

• LinkedIn

• Twitter

• Facebook advertising for inexpensive targeting

• Need to do outreach, networking • Twitter

• LinkedIn Groups

• Google+ Communities

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How to Choose? Passion Groups

• Your business often connects with passion groups, hobbies • Reddit

• Facebook

• Instagram

• Pinterest

• Google+ collections (maybe)

• Twitter chats

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How to Choose

• Brick & Mortar Store • Must have Google Plus

• Consider mobile users

• other social platforms depend on the type of business

• E-commerce • Pinterest

• Can purchase items directly from promoted pins.

• Facebook

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How to Choose

• For Customer Service • Twitter

• Facebook

A quick way to respond to customer questions.

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Who is Your Audience? • Make lists of

• who your customers are

• who they hang out with

• what do they have in common?

• what are the demographics?

• what interests & hobbies do they have?

• what behaviors do they exhibit?

@DragonSearch https://www.dragonsearchmarketing.com/digital-marketing-resources/social-media-strategy-templates/social-media-audience-segmentation/

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Audience Segmentation

• Birders • nature lovers

• bird seed, bird house buyers

• birding clubs

• Sports enthusiasts

• Hunters

• Concert goers

• Sightseeing • National parks

• wildlife

Influencers

• Author of birding books who tweets a lot

• Speakers at ornithology conventions

You sell binoculars

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Where is Your Audience?

• Social Media platforms? • demographics

• business vs. personal

• groups/communities

• Forums

• Meetup Groups

• Trade Shows, Conferences

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Audience Exercise - Self Storage Business

Who needs self storage?

People who are moving Who knows people who are

moving?

Realtors

Moving companies

Newcomers clubs

Architects

Interior decorators

What interests people who are moving?

Interior Decorating

Architecture

Storage organization ideas

Boxes, bins

Local services

Where can I find content

about these things? Architecture magazines (e.g., Dwell)

Organization magazines (e.g., Good

Housekeeping

Blogs about organizing clutter

Where can I find people interested in those

things? Local town bulletin boards/forums/groups

Q&A sites about living in different locales

DIY groups for creative storage ideas

Realtor lists of local services

Which social media platforms have these

interest groups?

Pinterest boards for interior decorating, DIY

Local town Facebook groups

Realtors on Twitter, Facebook, etc…

Usefulness not limited to only social media marketing!

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Brand Voice • What message are you trying to convey?

• What image resonates with your target audience? • Would the Texas Law Hawk persona work for a corporate attorney vs. criminal defense attorney?

• Do you post as “I” or “we”?

• Are you a person or a company?

• What to avoid discussing • If someone helps you with social media, be sure they know this

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Planning Your Social Strategy

1. Determine your Goals

2. Determine your Target Audience

3. Choose your Social Media Platforms

• Which platforms are worth spending your time on? • Create a profile to claim your digital real estate

• Do you want to just “maintain” a presence on some platforms?

• Which platforms will you invest time and energy for posting, monitoring and engaging?

• If you already have social media accounts, which are bringing in traffic to your website? (check Google Analytics)

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At a Minimum

It won’t help to grow your business, but will at least help make people

aware you exist, claim your online space, and help with credibility.

• Claim your digital real estate

• Optimize your About section using industry keywords

• Add profile and cover images that are attractive and speak to your audience and convey your brand

• Make sure you have a link back to your website

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Growing Your Audience - Visibility

Visibility

• Link to your social accounts from your website

• Add to your email newsletters

• Include links to other social accounts from each social account

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Growing Your Audience - Engagement • Like/Follow other pages

• Engage with other’s posts from your business

• Use hashtags for key industry terms people will search of. • #bored isn’t going to help

• @-tag others in your posts so they know you’re talking about them

• Participate in social media groups •Facebook and LinkedIn groups

•Twitter chats

•Google+ communities

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Growing Your Audience - Ads Social Media Advertising

• The fastest way for getting Facebook Likes and engagement, otherwise your posts won’t have enough reach

• If you have a mailing list, like MailChimp, Facebook will integrate with it and create a target audience for your ads based on:

• the people on the mailing list

• friends of the people on the mailing list

• look-a-like profiles similar to the people on your mailing list

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Growing Your Audience - Facebook • More Likes doesn’t mean more people

actually see your posts. • The more someone engages with the content on your Facebook page, the more likely your posts will show up in their home stream.

• Example: On a page with 3000 Likes: •A post that got 3 likes had a reach of 454 people.

•A post with 66 Likes, 11 shares and 3 comments had a reach of 3,900.

•Thin content sometimes works – a post asking how much snow people got had 4 likes and 6 comments had a reach of 1,294.

•What does your audience like to talk about?

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Don’t Wait for Them to Come to You

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Contact Find out how DragonSearch can provide a social media marketing strategy specific to your goals and audience:

https://www.dragonsearchmarketing.com/

Christopher Short – christopher@dragonsearch.com

Digital Marketing and Video Specialist at DragonSearch

Jannette Wing Pazer – jannette@dragonsearch.com

Digital Marketing Strategist at DragonSearch

@DragonSearch

Thank You