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Leveraging Social Media
To Develop your Personal and Professional Brand
• 25+ years experience working in the fields of Technology, Digital Media, and Higher Education.
• I earned a M.P.S. in Interactive Telecommunications from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts.
– Concentrations in: • web design and development • video and audio production • project management • digital publishing • e-commerce strategies • gaming theory and design • online communities (social media)
• Managed the deployment of programs and
initiatives for companies such as MetLife, Century 21, ADP, Bankers Trust, Suze Orman Inc., and the City University of New York.
About Me
James Richardson Academic Director
Communication and Media Program
• What is Social Media • Developing a strategy
– Defining your goals – Identifying & selecting
the platforms – Finding your voice – Developing content – Setting a publishing
schedule • Monitoring and engaging • Measuring success
Today’s Agenda
What is Social Media
Social Media is a collection of online spaces, technologies and practices that enable people and organizations to share opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives with each other. In nearly every case, user participation and user-generated content are at the core of these social networking sites. Each platform is different and caters to different demographics.
Ask yourself: • What are the goals and objectives for
being on social media?
• Are your goals specific, measureable, and realistic?
• Who is your audience?
• What do you know about them?
• Based on your goals, what social media platforms are best?
Developing a Social Media Strategy
Social Media Platforms
Facebook posting objective Foster relationships, or build advocacy, by posting content to engage your network on topics that relate to the community’s every day life, wants, and needs. Content should be conversational and humanizing since Facebook networks are generally more personal. **Facebook Tip** Limit who can post directly to your timeline.
YouTube posting objective Develop short form video content to inform, entertain, or promote ideas, products, or services. The video content should be engaging and visual in order to keep the attention of your audience. According to Adweek, the average duration of the most popular YouTube videos are just about 3 minutes in length.
Google+ posting objective Best used for to boost Search Engine Optimization (SEO) via cross listing content from your other social media channels and blogs. In addition to cross listing content, set the site preferences to automatically link your YouTube account videos for increased visibility and promotion.
Twitter posting objective Best used for posting relevant news and information which benefits your personal brand in a way that provokes positive engagement from followers and potential fans that match your personal social media strategy.
Instagram posting objective Best used for posting visually compelling imagery that relates to your audience and drives a positive affinity for your message. Photos should be interesting and provide authenticity for your personal brand.
LinkedIn posting objective Best used for posting or linking relevant content which pertains to your industry and field. Posts on LinkedIn should be of a thoughtful and professional nature that helps to present you as a leader within your given field or industry.
Pinterest posting objective This image sharing platform is best used for posting or linking relevant content which pertains to your industry and field. The site is great for driving traffic to other web mediums. Easy to pin and share content which humanizes your brand in a way that connects you to the interests and passions of your audience. Works well for specific categories.
Should you have a website or blog? The short answer is yes. There are a number of easy to update sites such as Tumbler, Blogger, and WordPress which can be created quickly. • Blogs can create more visibility for your
personal brand while building a trust relationship with your audience.
• They create a community and encourages the audience to connect with you.
• They are a great focal point for tying together all of your social media channels for increased SEO.
• Tumbler is one of fastest growing channels with 117 million unique visitors in 2013.
Emerging Social Media Platforms
• Ello (https://www.ello.co) - The anti-Facebook social network. Ello’s claim to fame is that they are an ad free alternative to the existing social networks. They promise to never sell user data to advertisers or third parties, never show advertisements, and to never implement a real name policy. It uses a simple minimalist design that is very different from its main competitor, Facebook.
• Snapchat (http://snapchat.com) - Messaging app where users can take photos, videos, and texts to be sent to a controlled list of recipients. These "Snaps“ are set specified time limit after which they will be deleted from Snapchat's servers and the recipient's device.
• Vine (http://vine.co) – This short-form video sharing service, acquired by Twitter, allows users to record six-second long video clips that are shared to other peoples posts and their followers.
Emerging Social Media Platforms • Medium (https://medium.com) – Similar to Twitter but designed to let users create
more meaningful content beyond the 140-character limit.
• Sulia (http://sulia.com) – Site content is organized into industry specific channels which users tap into by indicating that they “trust” another user on a specific topic.
• Learnist (http://learni.st) - Similar to Pinterest but for all types of content like images, videos, articles and even webinars. Gain followers by creating boards with a variety of topic-focused content, including blog posts, and articles.
• Pheed (https://www.pheed.com/) – Similar to Vine and Instagram. However Pheed users share text updates, photos, videos and live broadcasts which users can monetize via subscription fees.
• Thumb.it (http://thumb.it) - Crowdsourcing platform where users gather opinions from other users on everything from what shirt to wear with those boots to whether they’d buy a new tech gadget that’s currently in the design phase.
Social Media in emerging markets
such as China and India
Developing your voice on Social Media
• Keep It Simple & Fresh – Stay topical to align with current content and engagement.
• Be Conversational
– Having a conversational tone in your title and copy allows for natural integration in news feed stories.
• Be Authentic – Be straightforward about who you are and what you have to offer.
Transparency will gain you trust in your brand.
• Include Imagery – Big, crisp, beautiful images or movies. Funny or moving. Share,
share, share.
• Add Incentives – Who doesn’t love a prize? Consider incentives that will entice
users to engage with your channels.
When developing content ask yourself • Is this something I would want on the cover of a magazine? • Is this something I would want my mom, or my children to see? • If it was in a commercial aired across the world, would I be proud? • Does this go against my personal values or morals?
• If I was the subject of the content, would I want someone to post it about
me?
Get organized
Leverage tools like Hootsuite and Buffer that will allow you to manage multiple social media channels. Managing social media accounts can be overwhelming, so it is important to create a publishing schedule that helps you stay consistent. This means a detailed plan for posting including day, time platform, text, and multimedia assets.
Buffer First, allows you to write content at one time, choose which social profiles to send them to, and spreads them out throughout the day or week so that you don't have to schedule Second, since they shorten your links for you, they are able to provide more analytics than if you just were to post to Twitter or Facebook directly. For example, we can tell you exactly how many folks clicked on each of your links. Additionally, allows direct photo posting to all platforms and can auto-schedule RTs, replies, etc. on Twitter.
Hootsuite Engagement- Schedule and manage your social outreach. Engage with people across all your accounts on one dashboard. Listening- Listen to your audience and learn to create content they love. Analytics- Get all the data about your social media outreach and see it all on easy-to-read reports. Collaboration- Assign messages, create workflows, and streamline communications with collaborators and clients.
Measuring tools • Google Analytics gives you fresh insights into how visitors use your site,
how they arrived on your site, and how you can keep them coming back.
• Social Mention is like Google Alerts but for social media.
• Hoot Suite is a social media dashboard and a tool for managing social networks.
• Go tweet is a tool to help you analyze your tweet activities. • Facebook Insights provides Facebook Page admins with metrics on the
performance of their Page.
• Hyper Alerts is a feature for everybody who wants email reports of posts and comments on a Facebook Page.
• Hashtag.org - This service is the defacto standard for hashtag information.
The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keyword or topic in a Tweet.
Recap: The Social Media Cycle
Best Practices POST ON WEEKENDS Analytics shows that people are more active on social channels on the weekends and engagement peaks. PROACTIVELY REACH OUT Use social media to provide help when someone needs assistance – even if it’s simply letting them know you’re available. Remember, everyone is watching you! TAG APPROPRIATE PEOPLE & PLACES Create synergy between brands by tagging/linking to partners, press, etc. KEEP LEARNING There is no such thing as a social media expert.
USE HASHTAGS Trending topics are a great way to increase exposure and start conversing. Avoid commenting on hot button topics that may offend your followers. INCLUDE A CALL TO ACTION Asking your followers to take a specific action (i.e., visit this link) or answer a question yields more engagement– and better results. USE PHOTOS People engage more with compelling images, so use them often. But make sure the images don’t seem repetitive. RESPOND Engage with fans and followers
Thanks for listening For more information on the Communication and Media Program
at the CUNY School of Professional Studies
Please visit: http://sps.cuny.edu
Call:
212-652-CUNY
Write: [email protected]
Feel free to contact me at:
Visit my website: http://www.jamesrichardson.net
