Social Media Guidebook 2015
By: Mia Pecoraro 1
Table Of Contents
Introduction…………………………………..…………3 Social Media Today …………………………………..4 The Growth of Social Media …………………5 Businesses and Social Media ………………..7 Social Media Business Strategy…………………10 The Importance of a Plan …………………...10 5 Questions Before Launching a Site…....11 Choosing a Platform ………………………………...13 Facebook……………………………………………15 Twitter………………………………………………19 Instagram…………………………………………..22 Other..………………………………………………..24 Conclusion……………………………………………….26 2
Introduction This Social Media Guidebook explores how social media has shaped the business world of 2015, taking you through the growth of social media from its inception. This Guidebook will help you create a strategic social media business plan to help achieve your company’s goals. The author addresses the importance of a social media strategy, social media success stories, and what it is like working in the social media industry.
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Social Media Today Social Media is a way for people to interact on an online platform for either personal use or business purposes. From Fortune 500 companies to youths, people have been using social media for reasons that fit their needs. This is important to remember for both personal and businesses social media practices. Focusing on the key to success in the social media world.
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The Growth Of Social Media In 2004 the social media world came to life with Facebook and its 1 million users. In only 10 years, the number increased to over a billion users. The success of Facebook resulted in the rise of an abundance of social media platforms. While a number of platforms exist, the most popular sites include, Twitter, Instagram, Google+ and LinkedIn. Social media has changed the way people communicate, learn, and conduct business. As of 2014 97%, of marketers used social media for business and about 75% of businesses have gained new customers by using Facebook!
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Here are statistics to show the growth:
Source: http://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-social-media
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Businesses & Social Media When businesses create Internet based channels, they create a higher level of communication with global consumers, increase revenue through marketing, and develop strong businesses entities. Many companies have been successful by simply tweeting, blogging, posting videos and photos, and interacting with customers. Interacting with customers is very important to ensure a successful online platform. Your goal is to connect with your customers and create relationships with each of them. One way to utilize all aspects of social media and be 100% successful is to have a social media strategy.
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Here are examples of businesses that successfully use social media: JetBlue has a constructive way of using Twitter by interacting with customers who need answers promptly and keeping their customers up-to-date on JetBlue news. Starbucks also uses Twitter but to engage their followers and entice customers to like, comment, and share pictures on their site. They use Twitter as a way to build brand awareness through their customers. Based on YOUR goal as a brand and business you can use social media to create a successful site. 8
When a business decides to dive into the social media world it is important to come up with a deliberate and planned approach. Here are a few things to remember when starting your social media site: Social Media SHOULD be used to:
Interact with customers Interact with prospects Interact with employees Give insight about your company
Social Media SHOULD NOT be used to:
Degrade competition Strictly promote your business Bombard customers with useless information
But most importantly, social media should be FUN! 9
Social Media Business Strategy: The Importance of a Plan As previously mentioned, in order for a business, big or small, to have a successful social media platform, it is important to create a social media business strategy to reach your goals. It is proven that businesses who use social media strategically are 4 times more likely to be familiar with their customers’ needs and wants. This is possible by monitoring your target audience on social media and choosing the right platforms to present yourself on.
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5 Questions To Ask Before Launching a Social Media Site 1.
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What Are My Goals? When trying to figure out your goals as a business, the most common answer would be “to increase sales�, however, with social media your objectives should take a broader approach and always be measureable. Who Is My Target Audience? This is important because these are the people you are trying to engage. Understanding your audience will help with a major step in the social media process: choosing a platform.
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What Platform Will I Use? There are a host of social media sites to choose from, however, it is important to consider how and where you can reach your customers and create relationships with them. (Choosing a platform will be discussed further in the Guidebook) What Is Your Budget? Since social media is literally updating and changing constantly, it is crucial to consider how you will maintain your site. If your budget allows, implementation of a social media strategist position is advisable. What Tactics Will You Use? In order to devise a plan, you must first become familiar with the social media platform. Based on the channel, you might use different approaches to reach your goals.
Choosing a Platform When you finally make the decision to integrate social media into your business strategy and you set goals, it willl finally betime to choose the right social media platform for your business!
In order to be successful in this step, you must think about your target audience, your company goals, and determine which platform you are comfortable with.
In the next section of this Guidebook, we will explore different social media sites including but not limited to, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, focusing on the age variations, goals the sites will achieve, and the fun things you can accomplish when maintaing your site!
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Here’s some fun facts about a few social media platforms!
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Facebook has been around since 2004 and now has over 1.19 BILLION users!
Facebook Demographics Age 13-17 18-24 25-34 30-54 55+
Percentage 5.4% 23.3% 24.4% 31.1% 15.6%
http://istrategylabs.com/2014/01/3-million-teens-leavefacebook-in-3-years-the-2014-facebook-demographicreport/ Facebook is an excellent platform for businesses to, raise
brand awareness, increase sales and promote their brand. Statistics show that about 47% of American’s said that Faceook has an impact on their purchase behaviors & comsumers tend to trust the company more if they have a Facebook presence http://www.grosocial.com/graphics/facebook-numbershelp/
Here is a great way to determine if your brand/company should be on Facebook by 15
seeing the percentage of brands active on the site currently.
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Both small and large businesses are taking advantage of the current social media trend.
http://www.grosocial.com/graphics/facebook-numbershelp/
The Facebook For Business page offers tools to help new businesses create their presence on Facebook. This page provides innovative ways for small, medium, or large business to grow. Visit to get started: https://www.facebook.com/business
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Facebook Success Examples
An example of a company using Facebook to grow and improve is Bare Minerals. Through their Facebook feedback from customers, they were able to redesign their product packaging in order to please their engaing customers needs. By simply 18
listening and engaing with their audience on Facebook, Bare Minerals was able to drive more sales and increased traffic to their boutiques.
Twitter was founded in 2006 and is one of the most checked social media sites out there.
Twitters most popular demographic are adults between the ages of 18-29. 19
For people who are interested in using Twitter as their platform, here are few things to be aware of…………. • Only 140 characters are permitted in each post or Tweet • You are allowed to post as many times a day as you please, except, I wouldn’t recommend more than 2 tweets per day • Tweets that have images attached have 5X the engagement rate • Keeping up with your Twitter account is critical to maintaining followers! Twitter, unlike other social media sites, has a very active newsfeed flow, likely due to the 140 character limit. Therefore, if your company is about brand awareness, this is a great platform. Twitter users are interested in engagaing and keeping up with the brand and are 20
more likely to follow a brand or celebrity on Twitter than any other platform! Twitter is an actively growing site and a place where people go to find quick and effective information. Here are some statistics to show you how important it is to have a Twitter if your mission as a business is to increase sales or awareness.
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Instagram is the newest form of social media and very different from those previously discussed. There is a 17% adult population on Instagram but their users are dedicated to the site, with 57% accessing it daily.
http://www.jennstrends.com/instagram-statisticsfor-2014/ 22
What is so important about companies that are looking to market products on Instagram is the age demographic. There are 43% population ages 18-29. Businesses that should have a presence on Instagram are ones that are photo-based and always attentive to trends, current events, and holidays.
Reasturant Business Fashion Industry Interior Design Food Industry Designers of All Kinds
Should be using Instagram as their platform of choice! If you are new to the Instagram world, don’t fret, Instagram for Businesses Blog, will give you cool ideas, brand spotlight and updates on the new features that can be integrated into your business page! Visit this page for more info: 23
http://blog.business.instagram.com
The Social Media Corner Although I only covered 3 major social media platforms, there are many others available and that would be ideal for your business to have a presence on.
Twitter has grown 44% from 2012-2013 Google+ has grown 33% from 2012-2013 Facebook has grown 23% from 2012-2103
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54% of marketers use LinkedIn, which is a businesses-oriented social media network, mainly used for professional networking. Google+ is a social network brought to us by Google. YouTube is a video-sharing website and Pinterest is a photo sharing and virtual bookmarking tool. Marketers are also using Email as a way to connect with their audience and the Web.
Conclusion With the growth of social media happening every hour of the day, it is important for businesses to adapt to these changes and find the time and money to create a space online. Social media creates opportunities for businesses to generate brand awareness, drive
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sales, create relationships with customers, and much more. Just remember to always pick the platform that is the best for your brand/company because nothing is worse than a unkempt space on the World Wide Web! I trust this Guidebook provided you with the foundation for creating an online presence and gave you insight on the many opportunities the digital world can offer!
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