Social Media 2018: A “Best Practices” Guide Made mini, and extra awesome, by the Red Sage marketing team!
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Call: 256.560.0098 or Email: info@redsageonline.com Red Sage, Communications, Inc.
First thing’s first. Why use social media? tt To make audiences more familiar with a brand tt To get audiences to engage with a brand tt To deliver brand messaging, promotions or special offers tt To increase sales and lead generation tt To activate customer influencers
It’s also where people ARE. As of 2017, there were 2.8 billion people (including 7 in 10 Americans) using social media.
Here are the most most-used social networks, ranked:
Facebook YouTube Instagram Tumblr Twitter Snapchat
Pinterest LinkedIn
Just for emphasis… Facebook is a behemoth. YouTube is also huge. The other social networks reach fewer people but can still be highly influential.
2017 Monthly Active Users by Network (By the Millions) 2,000
2016 2017
1,650 1,300 1,000 600
550 550 400
320
328
200
300 100 150
107 106
© Statista 2018
That’s why targeted marketing on social media is HUGE. Here are the top trends Red Sage has identified for 2018: tt Continued decline of organic social reach, rise of paid social media advertising tt Rise of influencer marketing tt Ephemeral content (content lasting for a short time) development
So follow these steps to be really good at social media in 2018: 01. Figure out your target audience 02. Select the social network that best attracts your target audience (by age, demographic, income level, etc.) 03. Create live or video-based, visually-compelling content for distribution, with a clear call-to-action in every post (like a link) and tailored to the appropriate social network
Ok. If you’re thinking right about now…
“I don’t have the time or resources to pull that off!” Don’t worry, Red Sage does. Our team can help every step of the way; from setting up accounts to creating great content, to advanced data analytics. If you need a partner, call us at 256.560.0098 or email info@redsageonline.com. Eager to dive in yourself? We have you covered there too. Here’s even more helpful guidance from Red Sage on how to create great content for EACH individual social network. Flip the page to get started!
Before creating content, make sure you’ve selected the right social media platform in which to invest time and resources. Facebook is often a top choice due to its size, so we’ll start there.
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Facebook (A Social Snapshot) tt Most popular social network, 1.9 billion unique monthly users tt Primarily women (83% of online women; 75% of online men) tt Best place to reach both Millennials and Generation X tt 75% of users spend 20 minutes or more on the network daily
Facebook (Best Practices) tt GO LIVE! (Biggest reach and engagement driver) • Schedule live posts by alerting users to “tune in” at a specific date/time via boosting • Lives should last at least 7-12 minutes to encourage audience building
tt VIDEO, VIDEO, VIDEO! • Shorter is better (30 sec. in most cases, 2 min. max) • Include text captions for “silent mobile” watchers
Facebook (Ideal Sizes)
Cover Photo 828x315 px
Mobile Cover Photo Area
Profile Photo
≥180x180 px
563 px Centered Displays at 160x160 px
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App/Tab Thumbnail 111x74 px
Shared Image
1200x900 px
Facebook Video Specs: Aspect Ratio: 16:9 or 9:16 H.264 video compression, high profile preferred Text: 90 characters File size: Up to 4GB max
Shared Link
1200x628 px
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YouTube (A Social Snapshot) tt Has replaced traditional TV for many viewers, especially Generation Z tt Now reaches more 18-49 year-olds than any U.S. cable television network tt Primarily men (55% of users are men; 45% are women) tt Great place to reach Generation Z and Millennials
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YouTube (Best Practices) tt Content with VALUE; that entertains or informs tt Ideal video length between 16 sec. and 2 min. tt Ideal video titles should use around 70 - 100 characters to describe video content tt Keep video description length between 1,200 - 5,000 characters; put most important information in first 157 characters tt Incorporate keywords into video titles and descriptions
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YouTube (Ideal Sizes)
Channel Icon 800x800 px
Channel Art on a TV 2560x1440 px on Tablet 1855x423 px on Desktop 1546x423 px (2560x423 px max)
ï…§ Video 16:9
Shared Link 1280x720 px
Video Title
100 Characters
Video Description 5,000 Characters
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Instagram (A Social Snapshot) tt Fastest growing social media network, heavy emphasis on video and photos tt Primarily women (38% of online women; 26% of online men) tt Great place to reach Millennials (90% of users are under 35 years old) tt Growing brand loyalty (53% of users follow brands)
Instagram (Best Practices)
tt GO LIVE! • Treat lives as “events” where people can engage, respond • Lives should last at least 7-12 minutes to encourage audience building
tt VIDEO, VIDEO, VIDEO! • Shorter is better (30 sec. in most cases, 60 sec. max) • Include text captions for “silent mobile” watchers
tt Utilize Stories feature (storyboards of photos or videos that last 24 hours) tt Find and utilize appropriate influencers for target audience
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Instagram (Ideal Sizes)
Profile Picture 110x110 px
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Photo Thumbnails 161x161 px
Shared Video 1080 px wide 15M size limit 3-60 seconds
Photo
1080x1080 px
Stories
750x1334 px 100kb size limit 15 seconds max
Snapchat/Snap (A Social Snapshot) tt Named second favorite social network among U.S. users (second only to Facebook) tt 178+ million monthly users tt Hugely popular with Generation Z and Millennials tt Pioneered ephemeral content; innovation leader (copied by FB and Instagram)
Snapchat/Snap (Best Practices) tt Use less formal, less polished content making liberal use of drawing tools, text and emojis! tt Create branded geofilters (especially if targeting Millennials) or for events • Test before making available
tt Utilize coupon codes, limited offers, build anticipation for events
Snapchat/Snap (Ideal Sizes)
Image
1-10 seconds
Video
≤10 seconds
Geofilter
1080x1920 px
Stories
Viewable for up to
24 hours
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LinkedIn (A Social Snapshot) tt Top professional and B2B social media network tt Slightly male (31% of online men; 27% of online women) tt Skews higher-income (45% of those making $75K or more annually use this network) tt Users slightly less likely to use other social media
LinkedIn (Best Practices) tt Tailor writing style to audience (B2B vs. B2C) • Business audience; keep posts between 75 and 100 characters • Consumer audience; keep posts between 100 to 125 characters
tt Leverage “real voices” and areas of expertise (e-suite, etc.) tt Incorporate video embeds, images, CTA and links in every post
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LinkedIn (Ideal Sizes)
Banner Image 1850x200 px
Profile Photo
400x400 px
Cover Image
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1536x768 px
Shared Image 350 px wide
Shared Link 180x110 px
Square Logo 400x400 px
Blog Post Image Shared Link Status Update 1200x628 px Image 698x400 px
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Twitter (A Social Snapshot) tt Most oversaturated social media network tt Primarily men (22% of online men; 15% of online women) tt Dominated by key voices/accounts, 53% of users never post updates tt Good place to reach younger Millennials
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Twitter (Best Practices) tt Include short, eye-popping videos, gifs, or images tt Include CTA and/or website link tt Utilize hashtags to drive engagement, use @ tags to ID partners or influencers who are likely to RT or engage tt Keep content in a newsy but conversational style
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Twitter (Ideal Sizes)
Header Photo 1500x500 px
Profile Photo
400x400 px
Native Video
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Timeline Photo
≤140 seconds
Preview
506x253 px
Aspect Ratios: 2:1 or 1:1
Animated GIFs
3mb max size promoted 5mb mobile max size 15mb web max size
Lead Generation Card 800x200 px
Website Card 800x320 px 3mb max
What about Tumblr, Pinterest and Reddit?
In the interest of keeping this pocket-sized guide from becoming a brick, we’re not going into detail on these social networks. Although each has value. If you want more info on how to leverage Tumblr, Pinterest or Reddit for marketing and advertising, give us a call at 256.560.0098 or email info@redsageonline.com. We’ll get you started!
So let’s wrap things up! To summarize the previous pages, Red Sage’s 2018 best practices for social media include: 01. Live content 02. Video content 03. Ephemeral content 04. Paid advertising 05. Highly-targeted content distribution / advertising strategies Utilize these 5 things whenever possible on social media, and you’ll find success!
Oh! AND…
Don’t forget… tt Use a REAL, HUMAN, PERSONABLE voice (no PR, AP style, corporate, try hard) tt Aim for shareable content (stories or moments that entertain, inspire, evoke emotion) tt Offer VALUE (solve problems, answer questions, create “how to” tutorials) tt Always include call to action (CTA) and links when relevant tt Engage with the engaged (likes, comments, follow backs)
AND before we go…
THANK YOU... for reading through our pocket-sized Red Sage 2018 Social Media Guide! To book a full-sized social media training session, custom-tailored to your needs, give us a call at 256.560.0098 or email info@redsageonline.com. You can also flip to the back panel for our contact information, and a full list of services!
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Call: 256.560.0098 or Email: info@redsageonline.com
Red Sage, Communications, Inc.