Now, let’s focus on what goes into a social campaign
Marketing has changed….maybe you’ve noticed? How many of you use [click to build] Facebook for business? How many are on Linked In? Twitter? Anyone tweetingright now? (remind of twitter handle)
[click to build] Who uses Pinterest? Instagram? YouTube?
[click to build] And how many have checked your email today? (all hands up) ….
We used to tell people over the back fence, now
We tell everyone – our family, our friends, our colleagues, our clients, old highschool boyfriends/girlfriends, grandparents, teens.We have flipped the funnel – it’s less about spending all of your time/money and energy finding new customers and more about fully engaging your existing happy customers and making it easy for them to tell others. The changes have leveled the playing field for smaller organizations to compete with the big boys….
[click to next slide]
Mobile stat from: research from:
email open by platform: https://litmus.com/blog/email-client-market-share-stats-infographic-june-2012
Marketing has changed….maybe you’ve noticed? How many of you use [click to build] Facebook for business? How many are on Linked In? Twitter? Anyone tweetingright now? (remind of twitter handle)
[click to build] Who uses Pinterest? Instagram? YouTube?
[click to build] And how many have checked your email today? (all hands up) ….
[click to next slide]
Mobile stat from: research from:
email open by platform: https://litmus.com/blog/email-client-market-share-stats-infographic-june-2012
Having a great CTA. A Social Campaign is only as good as what you’re offering. Is it compelling? Is it useful? Is it something your customers will want?
CTAs in original slide…traded out to match the CTAs in the SC templates per S.S.
Visit your retail location
Place orders online
Call you to purchase or book your services
Write a positive review
Tell their friends
Download more information
Register for an event
offer a coupon
run a sweepstakes
sell with e-commerce
share exclusive content
get donations
share a video
sign up for your email newsletter
Email is:
Privacy and intimacy – 1 on one relationship
Segmentation
Conversion – send out an email with a link and 100 people click it to donate, 33 will actually complete that transaction where as in social media only 3 will.
Social media is relational in that it helps you to grow relationships and build your list as it is the new word of mouth. Email is transactional as this is where people tend to do business.
Email is:
Privacy and intimacy
Segmentation
Conversion
71% of consumers are more likely to purchase a product based on social media referrals
Source: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/30239/71-More-Likely-to-Purchase-Based-on-Social-Media-Referrals-Infographic.aspx
If you have concerns, you’re not alone. Many small businesses think:
(Click) Social Media Marketing looks interesting, but… I will never have a million customers or even 5,000….
(Click) Using new, inbound marketing tools sound great, but… I will never write Thought Leadership articles….
(Click) Paying close attention to what’s being said on social media sounds useful, but… I’ll never have a dedicated staff to do it right…
(Click) I hear about new networks everyday, but… I just don’t have the time to stay current
What you do have is powerful! You can successfully market your small business or association because you have…
Loyal, happy customers
An excellent customer experience
Interesting and important things to say!
As you get to know what channels your audience likes, also consider what you should be using for your business. Let’s talk about each social media channel, how to use them, and how you might use them for your business or organization.
UPDATED 10/2012- CH
Why are businesses and organizations using Facebook? It’s because the majority of people who use social media are on Facebook, which means your customers or members are there too. There are now over 1 billion active users, and more than 500 million of them log on to Facebook in any given day. They’re spending a lot of time on Facebook and it’s not just about connecting with their friends and family. Users are also connecting with the brands and businesses they like.
Let’s meet one of those businesses, who we’ll use to illustrate how Facebook can be a key part of driving your strategy.
[click to next slide]
Source: http://newsroom.fb.com/content/default.aspx?NewsAreaId=22
ADDITIONAL STATS: People Interact With their Favorite Brands on Facebook More than other Social Networks
Facebook – 34%, Twitter – 4%, LinkedIn 1%
2011 Chadwick Martin Bailey and Constant Contact Consumer Pulse
Create a Business Page
Recruit fans
Fill with content that is relevant to them – comments, photos, videos
Make settings public so your customers and prospects can find you
Use as an alternate landing page for your email
Add a “Join My Mailing List” form to invite people to join your list
A few important things to know about Facebook’s functionality include:
Like – let’s the Business Page administrator know that you are a fan of their business, association, or brand. Upon “Liking”, a user can engage with the business page.
Post – text, pictures, videos, etc. – the action of putting up content to your page
Comment – Leaving a written response for all to see, be it positive or negative
Share – extending the reach of any content object within that user’s network. The content will reference it’s source. ‘Share’ also gives you the ability to send content as an inter-Facebook message to a unique user
Groups – Administrated discussion groups within Facebook on varied topics
(Click) Applications – Join My Mailing List! As with any marketing outpost, you will always strive to collect the contact information of a prospect in order to engage more deeply with them, in more targeted ways. Constant Contact provides you the ability to do this by adding it’s JMML Application to your Business Page on Facebook. As you learn more about applications, you can seartch for an add those that are right for your business.
For more Facebook page vs. profile info, here’s a great blog post that Dave Charest wrote for the blog: http://blogs.constantcontact.com/product-blogs/social-media-marketing/facebook-page-vs-profile-championship/
Before we get started, let’s talk about setting up your Facebook business page.
You want to make sure you create a business page and not a profile for your business. What’s the difference? A profile is for people – with a profile displays limited information, and it’s not set up to help you promote a business. A page has features and tools designed to market your business on Facebook. A page can also share statistics – Facebook calls these Insights – on your page’s growth, what content your fans interacted with the most, and how many people you’re actually reaching.
If you’re not sure, what you’re using, take a look – if you have friends, you’ve set up a profile; if you have Likes, you have a business page. (If you want to convert a profile to a page: http://www.socialquickstarter.com/content/110-convert_your_facebook_profile_to_a_page) Let’s look at the anatomy of a Facebook business page – some of these are similar to a profile, but the way you use them is different:
[CLICK TO BUILD] You have a cover photo on the top – use this image to promote your business. It could be products or services. It could be customers using those products or services. You can also spotlight your staff. It’s OK to have text on any images you upload as a cover photo, but make sure there’s not more than 20% on your cover photo, per Facebook policy. http://socialfresh.com/facebook-cover-photo-restrictions/
[CLICK TO BUILD] Your business’ profile photo is here – this can be your logo; make sure that whatever you use fits that space and is not cut off. It’s 180 pixels by 180 pixels (resources: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/social-sizing-cheat-sheet_b31732; if they don’t have photo editing software, use partner PicMonkey – it’s FREE!)
[CLICK TO BUILD] Here’s where the page displays information about your business – your name, how many Likes you have (also referred to as fans), the type of business you are, address, phone number and business hours. If someone clicks the about link, they will see a map with your location and contact information, a link to your website, and a description where you’ll briefly share what your business does.
[CLICK TO BUILD] Below your cover photo are tabs that link to your photos, video, events, and a map of your location. Facebook allows you to add more tabs to this section, and they are called apps – they’re developed by companies outside of Facebook, and businesses use them to promote different things. Constant Contact has an app that you can add that allows fans to join your email list.
[CLICK TO BUILD] This section is what’s known as the Facebook timeline – it displays your posts; the most recent thing you shared appears at the top. It also includes any comments that fans have shared on your page, as well as reviews/recommendations they’ve written.
[CLICK TO BUILD] Here’s an example of a Facebook post. You can share an update that’s just text, link to pages on the web, or share photos or share videos.
If you have highly visual content or great photos of products or your events or whatever you are marketing, you will want share that visual content on Facebook – and your other channels as well. Here’s why: According to Facebook itself, a post that includes a video sees 100% more engagement than a post alone. But wait, there’s more – a post plus a picture sees 120% more engagement (we felt that one first hand – we actually got 127%, but I’m not bragging). AND – if you include a whole photo album, you are looking at 180% more engagement.
(Now, we’re all aware that Facebook likes to make changes to how it works…and that applies to the algorithm that they use which determines what posts get delivered to friends and fans. So…be aware of when Facebook mentions changes to their algorithm…and be aware of whether or not you can make adjustments to your approach to optimize the visibility and engagement of your posts.)
Not to mention the social sites that are entirely visually based - Pinterest has changed everything. Instagram makes your pictures social, instantly. Mobile is your best friend here.
UPDATED 4/2013- AC
Active users on Twitter: 288,000,000http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/twitter-growth_b36955 February 2013 Source: Global Web Index
88% of users follow at least one Brand on TwitterMore than half of all users follow 6 or more brandshttp://techcrunch.com/2012/10/02/twitter-follow-brands/Tech Crunch, 10/2012
If you ask the folks at Twitter if they are a social media network, they will correct you and identify themselves as an “Information Sharing Tool”. In essence, Twitter allows you to listen to global conversations about anything and everything in real time, as they are happening. This is important to any Small Business Owner for many reasons, including:
It gives you an easy way to listen to what is being said: about you and your industry; and about your domain of expertise and your competitors;
You can become part of the “conversation”, engaging and adding value to the many-to-many dialogue. Cultivating an approachable online personality will increase your visibility and network-effect over time.
Using Twitter, you can:
Share links to interesting content & ask for feedback
Tweet a survey or poll
Send Direct Messages (DMs)
Retweet content from people you are following
So what can Twitter do for you? This is the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, NH. They have a great dialogue on Twitter, a good mix of messages – [CLICK TO BUILD] they promote their exhibits and classes, live tweet during events, share photos, [CLICK TO BUILD] link to news coverage of their exhibits and museum, [CLICK TO BUILD] provide customer services by announcing hours and cancellations during weather emergencies, and [CLICK TO BUILD] they build relationships by promoting others’ content when they retweet their followers’ content and retweet comments from visitors, and when they share information about events happening at other local cultural venues.
UPDATED 10/2012 CH83% of marketers are using LinkedIn
Content Marketing Institute B2B Content Marketing: 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends- North America, October 2012
http://www.slideshare.net/CMI/b2b-content-marketing-2013-benchmarks-budgets-and-trendsnorth-america-14855770
33% of Non-profits and 52% of
Associations using LinkedIn
Nonprofit Social Network Survey Report, 2009
Manage your professional contacts and relationships
Find individuals you know in a professional capacity
Join networks or groups by industry, geography, or work history
Participate in discussions
Recruit attendees to your events
Invite people to join your mailing list
So how can LinkedIn help your business? This is PropertyMinder of San Jose, CA – they are a real estate software company. [CLICK TO BUILD] Their LinkedIn profile has a full description of who they are, what they do, company website and history. [CLICK TO BUILD] They show their expertise by sharing updates about the real estate industry – they post links to infographics they’ve created, related articles from industry blogs and major news sources like Forbes magazine. [CLICK TO BUILD] They have information on their products in the products section – filled out the product overview for each. [CLICK TO BUILD] And they build relationships on LinkedIn – they post engaging content, ask their followers questions about the industry, and they promote other products and services from industry businesses.
http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/online-users-social-media-infographic_b22882
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/pinfluence-book-review/
http://therealtimereport.com/2012/04/02/pin-commerce-21-of-pinterest-users-have-purchased-a-product-they-found-on-the-site/
If you are not using Pinterest, you might have heard of it. Pinterest is a virtual bulletin board where users pin images or videos to boards they create based on different categories. The top categories are home, arts and crafts, style/fashion, and food (http://mashable.com/2012/03/12/pinterest-most-popular-categories-boards/) Many of these pins are things they want to purchase, and are linked to e-retail sites.
How do you pin something? You can add tools to your Internet browser that allow you to press a button or right click and pin. Many websites also have Pinterest buttons – just click from there and select which board to pin to.
[click to build] Pinterest now has 10.4 million active users
[click to build] 21% of those users have purchased something they saw on Pinterest
[click to build] Pinterest now has business pages – you can create a business account – different from a personal account.
You can have your business verified by Pinterest – there will be a check mark that shows up in your about information.
Pinterest has business resources at business.pinterest.com
[click to build] Do you have visual content to share? It could be products that you sell, but you can pin anything that has images on a website – your blog posts, newsletters, photo albums, etc. Pin those images and link them to your website.
[click to build] You can pin other Pinterest users’ content (which is also called re-pinning) to your profile – it’s easy to do. All pins have a red Pin It button that allow you to save to your boards.
[click to build] Not everything has to be about buying and selling – create boards that are related to your business or are just for fun. For instance – if you’re a sporting goods store, you could also have a board for your staff’s favorite hiking and biking trails.
[click to build] You can write captions and descriptions on your pins – ask people to share your pins. Share them on your other social sites and ask your followers to re-pin.
[click to build] Pinterest now has business pages – you can create a business account – different from a personal account.
You can have your business verified by Pinterest – there will be a check mark that shows up in your about information.
Pinterest has business resources at business.pinterest.com
[click to build] Do you have visual content to share? It could be products that you sell, but you can pin anything that has images on a website – your blog posts, newsletters, photo albums, etc. Pin those images and link them to your website.
[click to build] You can pin other Pinterest users’ content (which is also called re-pinning) to your profile – it’s easy to do. All pins have a red Pin It button that allow you to save to your boards.
[click to build] Not everything has to be about buying and selling – create boards that are related to your business or are just for fun. For instance – if you’re a sporting goods store, you could also have a board for your staff’s favorite hiking and biking trails.
[click to build] You can write captions and descriptions on your pins – ask people to share your pins. Share them on your other social sites and ask your followers to re-pin.
How do you use Pinterest for your business?
[click to build] Visual content is a great way to drive engagement – a post that includes an album or photo receives 120%-180% more engagement from fans than a text-based post http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/storytelling-with-images/
[click to build] Pinterest is a great way to do some customer research – what pins are getting the most comments or repins? Those are products or topics that your audience is most interested in, so make sure you’re offering them more of what they want.
[click to build] Pinterest can also drive users to your website.
This is a pin from Constant Contact customer/online T-shirt shop TeeFury. They have a new T-shirt every day in their shop, and they pin each design to their Pinterest board. All the pins are linked to the product’s page on their website, so you can easily buy their merchandise.
Should you be on Instagram?
You should if you have images to share – and if you have a smartphone.
Instagram is a mobile app for the iPhone and Android – you can’t add images via your computer – it’s all done through your phone. You can see Instagram users’ profile pages and photos in your computer’s web browser, but all uploading and interaction take place through the app.
[click to build] 100 million monthly active users http://allfacebook.com/instagram-reaches-100-million-monthly-active-users_b111646?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+allfacebook+%28Facebook+Blog%29
[click to build] 40 million images uploaded every day (AllTwitter.com, Nov. 2012) http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/social-sharing-2013_b38339
http://blogs.constantcontact.com/fresh-insights/instagram-for-business/
Here are six tips to help you get the most out of this powerful tool:
[click to build] 1. Use images to tell a story, not blast your branding
If you sell a product or service, make sure the images you use are about the experience of using the product or service, and not a product placement ad.
Starbucks is an example of a big brand that does this well. Sure their photos show lots of Starbucks cups, but their photos also tell a story—the focus is always on what the person is doing while enjoying their coffee—on the beach, reading a book, etc.
There’s not a lot of tolerance for marketing that’s obviously marketing. Keep it subtle and keep the focus on your customers.
[click to build] 2. Most photos fall into two categories: beautiful imagery or humor
Make sure your Instagram photos fall into one of these categories. Most users aren’t posting all their random party pics to their Instagram stream and brands should exercise similar constraint. Photo albums in that vein are for Facebook. Think of your Instagram photos as high value/low volume.
[click to build] 3. Don’t post too often
A general rule, don’t post more than three photos in a row or one every three hours. If you post more often than that, you run the risk of hogging your users’ feed.
Anecdotally, I’ve noticed that most users follow between 50 and 250 users. I think this is a sign of social media maturity—folks are learning from their experiences on Facebook and Twitter that following too many accounts is overwhelming.
Also, unlike Facebook, the commitment level to an account is low—”unfollows” can happen frequently. Don’t automatically share your Instagram photos—editorially select and customize each one for the appropriate platform.
And remember, you can use apps like PicFrame to include several snaps in one Instagram. Just be sure the images are related and the impact is magnified (rather than splintered) when you use a collage.
[click to build] 4. Choose an account name that’s the same as your Twitter handle
Having the same Instagram account name and Twitter handle serves two purposes. One—your profile will be easily recognizable and easy to find. And two—if you are tagged by another user in a caption and that photo is shared on Twitter, that tag will link to your Twitter profile. It ensures that tagging makes sense when an Instagram photo is shared on other networks.
[click to build] 5. Use hashtags
Like on Twitter, hashtagging photos enables discovery of your profile by users outside of your primary connections. You can use the search functionality on the app to find out which hashtags are often used. Like on Twitter, hashtagging Instagram photos by event, geolocation, or subject matter is a good idea.
Other hashtags people tend to use on Instagram are filters and colors. Hashtags tend to be somewhat limited on Twitter due to the character length limitations. Because Instagram doesn’t have these limitations, this has encouraged some users and brands to stuff Instagram captions with every hashtag imaginable. Don’t do this—it looks like you’re trying too hard. Even worse, it makes you look like a spammer.
[optional tip]
6. Set up an account on a web-based viewer
Instagram’s focus continues to be all about the mobile experience, but the app recently added the ability to view individual photos on the web through a shareable link. This feature allows your Instagram stream to not only be seen by those not using the app, but allows those who do have an account to like and comment on a shared photo right from the web. However, using a separate web-based viewer can help you manage your presence and track your progress.
Using Instagram’s API, these tools recreate your feed on a webpage, so you can view multiple photos at a time (without scrolling) on your computer. Most often you can make the same actions (liking, commenting, searching, tagging, etc.) on these web viewers that you can make on the mobile app. My favorite tool is Statigram—they even have a few basic metrics, comment notifications, and an Instagram campaign toolkit.
343 million monthly active users: http://socialmediab2b.com/2013/02/b2b-social-media-google-plus-best-platform/
http://socialmediab2b.com/2013/02/b2b-social-media-google-plus-best-platform/
37% taken an action http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2012/9671/facebook-pinterest-trigger-more-offline-actions-than-other-social-sites
5 billion times Google +1 button used per day http://www.jeffbullas.com/2012/11/28/the-latest-27-social-media-facts-figures-and-statistics-for-2012-infographic/
What is Google+? According to Google, the idea is to make sharing on the web more like sharing in real life. Essentially, the user experience is similar to that of Facebook (a news feed based on status updates and shared content, recommended friends, etc.), but the idea here is to make it easier to share content with specific sets of people (called Circles) instead of just publishing content on your wall for everyone to see.
Google+ is a small but growing social network – [CLICK TO BUILD] there are 343 million monthly active users, and [CLICK TO BUILD] their +1 button is clicked 5 billion times a day. The +1 button is similar to a Facebook like, and allows you to give a stamp of approval/endorsement of content that’s shared by other Google+ users.
http://blogs.constantcontact.com/product-blogs/social-media-marketing/what-is-google-plus/
If you decide to use Google+, here’s some tips to get you started:
[CLICK TO BUILD] You can choose what audiences to share your posts with – to get the most bang for your buck, make sure you’re sharing things publicly so more people have an opportunity to see your content.
[CLICK TO BUILD] You can organize your Google+ followers by putting them into groups that Google calls Circles. Think about creating circles for customers, event attendees, people who like a certain product, volunteers (if you’re a nonprofit).
[CLICK TO BUILD] Once you’ve organized your circles, consider sharing relevant content with those circles. If you have a survey for current customers, think about sharing that on Google+ with your customer circles.
[CLICK TO BUILD] Google+ has live videoconferencing, which they call Hangouts. You can schedule them in advance and notify your circles. Think about having a hangout for Q&A, as a webinar, or as a video podcast. You can save your hangouts and post the videos on your other channels.
So how can Google+ help your business?
Here’s the Google+ page for Quiqq – they’re a CTCT Solution Provider – and their app provides small businesses a fast, easy way to sell their products.
[CLICK TO BUILD] Having a Google+ page is a great way for Quiqq to get more SEO (Search Engine Optimization) value. Google+ is a Google product. If you have a Google+ page and provide information about your business, and you’re sharing things online – blog posts, photos, videos, and any content from your website – you have a greater chance of coming up in a Google search.
[CLICK TO BUILD] The Google+ cover photo is huge – we cropped this image of Quiqq’s page – the photo is very large, and gives you a digital billboard to advertise your products or services.
[CLICK TO BUILD] There are tabs on Google+ for photos and videos – it’s really easy for your followers to have access to any multimedia you’re posting
[CLICK TO BUILD] Quiqq also has lots of Google Hangouts – this gives them a chance to speak directly with their customers in real time. You’ll learn more about what your customers want, and they will get to know you better.
We've covered a lot of social media tools here, tips on what to do with them, and how some businesses are using them. But what do you do with all of it? After you’ve decided what you want to use for your business - set up your profile, spread the word, start sharing content, and don’t forget to monitor what people are saying online.
Make sure your presence looks good: make your profiles polished and professional-looking.
Complete your business profile with a: description, clear contact information, your website URL, and a Join-My-Mailing-List tab/information;
Include your website URL
Brand the presence: add your business logo, pictures, and a background
Add starter content! It’s important to populate your social media profiles with interesting, relevant content before you begin inviting folks to fan, follow, friend, and link to you.
Wondering what kind of starter content you can use to populate your profiles, today?
Information, tips, and practical advice
Questions asked by your customers
Or links to:
Archived Email Marketing newsletters
Polls and Surveys
Event Homepages and registration pages
Blogs (yours and others)
Websites (yours, and others in your area of expertise)
Product or service reviews
Thought-provoking discussions that inspires debate and dialogue
Rich media: relevant videos, photos, podcasts
Once you are actively monitoring for social media channels, you will encounter both positive and negative comments. Positive comments are a perfect opportunity to interact and help spread your messages and other content. Social networks are a convenient way for people to share interest and excitement, but more importantly… relationships. So what should you do?
Comment back. A simple sentence to show you are interested in what they have to say demonstrates that you are listening to your customers, and those prospects that are lurking. Whenever someone says something positive about your business, simply say ‘Thank you!’ online – publically – to reinforce continued engagement and show prospective customers that you are listening.
Answer questions. Clear and helpful answers to questions posed by your customers is a hallmark of excellent customer service. The benefit of answering them on your social media network is twofold: 1) odds are others have the same question and will be helped- or chime in for more information, and 2) you can then repurpose your answer (content!) by including it in your Email Marketing, Tweeting it, etc.
This graph shows Yelp’s aggregate rankings of businesses as of September, 2009. Yelp is a ratings and review social site which allows consumers to share the experiences they've had with local businesses. This As you can see, the majority of online feedback is positive.
When you’re just getting started monitoring and listening to what is being said about you, there are several easy and free tools at your avail:
HootSuite: a social media dashboard for teams used to gather intelligence, search, etc.
Last but note least: NutshellMail: (more in the next slides)
Google Alerts: Google Alerts allows you to “save” keywords. Google Alerts will then send you an email anytime your keyword matches with new content found on the web.
You could mention these as well…
TweetDeck: a real-time browser, connecting you with your contacts across multiple social platforms such as: Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Google Buzz, etc.
RSS: Real Simple Syndicate. Use a web reader (such as Google Reader) to “pull” new content to you in real time. You can apply an RSS feed from newspapers, blogs, and most content distribution channels.
When you’re just getting started monitoring and listening to what is being said about you, there are several easy and free tools at your avail:
HootSuite: a social media dashboard for teams used to gather intelligence, search, etc.
Last but note least: NutshellMail: (more in the next slides)
Google Alerts: Google Alerts allows you to “save” keywords. Google Alerts will then send you an email anytime your keyword matches with new content found on the web.
You could mention these as well…
TweetDeck: a real-time browser, connecting you with your contacts across multiple social platforms such as: Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Google Buzz, etc.
RSS: Real Simple Syndicate. Use a web reader (such as Google Reader) to “pull” new content to you in real time. You can apply an RSS feed from newspapers, blogs, and most content distribution channels.