Social Media How-To Guide Umbrella Marketing TEAM
CONTENT ü What is Social Media? ü The Value of Social Media ü Popular Social Media Sites ü Dos and Don’ts ü What Content to Share ü Monitoring ü Frequency ü Use of Images ü Commenting and Replying ü Reporting Mechanisms
WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA? Social media is a term used to describe a variety of web-based platforms, applications and technologies that enable people to communicate and interact online. The main social media platforms for business are: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, YouTube and Pinterest.
THE VALUE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ü Whatever your business - your customers are online! ü Social media increases brand awareness. ü Social media marketing is your ability to foster and engage with a community of people from all over the world. ü It’s an easy way to learn about your audience and target these people more e ff ectively. ü Brands and businesses can build relationships with their customers beyond those that happen during normal transactions. ü These relationships are what keep customers coming back, increasing both loyalty and retention.
POPULAR SOCIAL MEDIA SITES
LINKEDIN LinkedIn operates the world’s largest professional network on the Internet with • more than 364 million members in over 200 countries and territories. Professionals are signing up to join LinkedIn at a rate of more than two new • members per second. Over 3 million businesses have a company page on LinkedIn. • It connects colleagues with one another and businesses with current and • potential employees, all while enabling community development and content sharing. Source: LinkedIn
TWITTER Twitter is an information network made up of 140-character messages called “tweets.” “tweets.” • It's an easy way to discover the latest news related to subjects you care about. # symbol – called a hashtag hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a tweet, • organically created by Twitter users as a way to categorise messages. @ sign – is your Twitter handle handle, used to call out users in Tweets e.g. “Hello • @twitter!” People will use your @handle @handle to mention you in Tweets, send you a message or link to your pro fi le. Twitter makes global communication cheap and measurable. • 72% of active users on Twitter are aged between 18-49. • 400 million tweets are sent every single day! • Sources: Twitter and MOZ
FACEBOOK Founded in 2004, Facebook has become the most widely-used social network to • date and has shaped online interaction as we know it. As of March 2015, Facebook had on average 936 million daily active users. • Surprisingly the average user is 41 years old and 65% of users are over 35. • 59% of users who ‘like’ a company do so because they’ve purchased a product or • service from them, whilst 45% are in it for inside info on deals. Sources: Facebook and MOZ
GOOGLE+ Google+ is a social media site that has a little something for everyone. • You can add new content, highlight topics with hashtags, and even separate • contacts into circles. It helps you connect to others with your passion or communities, and helps you • keep those interests separate with circles. Google+ is also a great way to optimise your SEO ranking. • Source: MOZ
YOUTUBE YouTube is a website designed for sharing video content. • Millions of users around the world have created accounts on the site that allow • them to upload videos for anyone to watch. It is both an archive for storing favourite clips, songs and jokes, as well as a • marketing site for companies to promote their products and services. Every minute of every day, more than 35 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube. • Sources: YouTube and MOZ
PINTEREST Pinterest is quite simply a virtual pin board. • Just as you would pin things on a real bulletin board, Pinterest saves all of your • pins on your account in one place. Pinterest has 20 million monthly active users. • You can follow friends on Pinterest and ‘re-pin’ things that they have already • pinned on your Pinterest boards or browse a live feed of items that are being pinned by strangers when you're searching for inspiration. Pinterest helps people discover things in a simple, visual way and is an e ff ective • way to compile all of the great things you fi nd online. 88% of people purchase a product they pinned. • Source: Pinterest and MOZ
DOS AND DON’TS
DO…… Engage with customers in a way that is appropriate to the platform. • Keep it simple. • Devise a strategy for using social media in your business. • Monitor and listen. • Make it easy for people to fi nd you. • Comment on relevant discussions, threads or blogs. • Use relevant keywords about your sector, product or service. • Be active on your chosen platforms. • Measure your progress against objectives. • Research how your customers are using social media. • Be transparent and open. •
DON’T…… Spam your followers. • Ignore management tools. • Use irrelevant platforms. • Fail to proofread posts. • Share content that isn't aligned with your brand. • Invite criticism. • Fail to monitor who controls your social accounts. • Limit your content to promotional updates. • Don’t forget social media is global – some worldwide corporations have made • massive mistakes e.g. Heinz baby food.
WHAT CONTENT TO SHARE Position yourself as an expert in your fi eld. • Content that is relevant to your business. • Tips and tricks e.g. ones that help your customers use your products or services. • Responses to interesting discussions. • Non-promotional company information e.g. fantastic things your business has • done for the community, charity etc. Job openings. • Sharing of your blogs. • Jokes, if appropriate to your brand’s personality. • Always, ALWAYS proofread!!! •
MONITORING Marketers need the ability to monitor all of those social conversations in order to • take e ff ective action – listen and learn. Monitor as frequently as you can. • Tools such as Hootsuite and Sprout Social typically have work fl ow functionality • built in, so you're empowered to not only fi nd social updates, but act on them too. This is not limited to reactive posting, either. • These tools will likely function as your primary content distribution tool if you're • not doing it directly from within each platform (one stop shop). It means you can schedule you posts even weeks in advance, freeing up your • valuable time!
FREQUENCY This simply depends on your audience, their appetite, and what you have to say. • Strike the balance between informative and annoying. • Try starting with this: • • Post to Twitter three times per day. • Post to LinkedIn groups twice a week. • Post to Facebook once a day. • Post to Google+ and Pinterest twice a week. Always, ALWAYS be testing, experimenting and improving! •
USE OF IMAGES Users are more likely to engage with brands which post relevant pictures. • Ensure none of your photos are deemed o ff ensive, including your pro fi le photo. • Create original visual content. • Showcase your story. • Crowdsource visual content. • Words make an impact when combined with a great image. • Mix it up – don’t only use images, be creative! •
COMMENTING AND REPLYING Don't ever let your community feel like they've been forgotten. • Timeline is essential in social media, aim for same day responses. • Don’t only respond to questions and emergencies, make sure you say hello and • respond to kudos given to your brand values. Ask your followers questions to create an insightful discussion – make them feel • involved!
REPORTING MECHANISMS • Creating a social media report is key to explaining your company’s progress on social media. • You can learn what works and what doesn’t – look at the peaks and troughs in your data. • You can choose the stats that matter and deliver it in an easy-to-understand way; there are lots of personal insights to gain as well as valuable info for your boss or client. • Analytics give you the data you need to improve your social media engagement, make marketing decisions and tie social media to your bottom line. • For example, identifying which days are best for sending out email campaigns.
IT DOESN’T STOP THERE! There are plenty of other social media sites around the web for users to interact and for companies to build relationships. Here are just a few good ones: Instagram Tumblr Vine Reddit Forum sites Online photo sharing Web and mobile An app that lets you Reddit is a message Online discussion social network based micro- create and share board wherein users site for people to blogging platform. short videos. submit links. have conversations.
FURTHER INFORMATION If this seems too much to take in, please contact: Umbrella Marketing TEAM Website: www.umbrellamarketingteam.com Email: hello@umbrellamt.com Tel: 01244 515569 We provide outsourced marketing, digital operations and marketing services. We do this by providing resource as a service with a blend of skills, experiences and aptitudes to give the right mix for your marketing and digital needs.
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