UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL MARKETING
1 A publication of Who Can I Hire, Inc.
CONTENTS Congratulations / 3 Responsible Engagement / 4 Growing your Network / 5 Creating a Plan of Action / 6 Maintenance / 7 Social Media Channels / 8 Facebook / 9 Twitter / 10 Google+ / 11 Pinterest / 12 Instagram / 13 Yelp / 14 YouTube / 15 Tumblr / 16 Foursquare / 17 LinkedIn / 18 Conclusion / 19 Contact Information / 20
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Congratulations on taking this huge step in growing your business through social marketing! According to market research, about 74% of small businesses are using social media to advertise. The statistics keeps growing every year as business owners make a push to find further success online. Most businesses find it effective and will expand their efforts. Many, however, have not seen any significant improvements and are wondering why they should continue to pursue social media marketing. The likely reason is that although the social media channels are user friendly, there is a proper way to use them strategically. Also, social media can be time consuming and many small business owners don’t have time for it. Not to worry. Included in this guide is a daily schedule to help you plan your social media tasks! And furthermore, find out about the purposes and advantages of the social media channels listed below to help your business’s growth and prepare it for the future! Facebook Tumblr Yelp YouTube Foursquare
Twitter Google Plus LinkedIn Pinterest Instagram 3
Professionally Responsible You know the saying “actions speak louder than words”. That doesn’t apply on social media. Words speak just as loud. Avoid any type of argument that is socially or politically driven, and if it happens to be a customer criticizing your service, reason with that customer and offer an incentive to retain him/her. Heated debates are common on social media, so don’t create one or be a part of one. Also, be responsible with what you post. Show your profession and you can add some comic relief, but just don’t go overboard with anything that may be offensive.
Engagement Engagement is the key to how you grow your social media status. Commenting, liking, and sharing other people’s posts make you involved and get you noticed. Also, don’t always think business only when it comes to engagement. You may share your opinions on generic content; just remember to be responsible.
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Grow Your Network Depending if you are local, national, or even international, grow your network by adding people to your contacts. If it is Facebook, make “friends” with others. On Twitter, make sure you “follow” people. The same applies to other media channels in their way of adding people to your network. The most important aspect, however, is that when people send a friend request, or like your page, then you must accept (unless you see that they have no reason to be part of your network) and like their page back. On Twitter, if a person follows you, follow him/her back. Be careful and don’t get carried away, though when trying to increase your network. Try to make the growth consistent and long-term, and definitely do not look for any shortcuts in acquiring growth.
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Create a Plan of Action Having set up all of your social media channels (cover and profile images need to be of good quality and measured correctly), the next main step is to create a plan of action. How frequent your activity will be depends on your line of work, but follow the schedule planner above will allow you to be consistent. Join communities/groups where your business’s exposure could be sought after; for example, joining a local Facebook group page where users ask for recommendations on products and-or services that you might be selling.
Morning
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Add new content
Like, Share, Favorite, Retweet, posts
Review feedback/comments and reply
Like, Share, Favorite, Retweet, posts Engage in other people’s posts X
Add new content
Afternoon
Add followers
Engage in other people’s posts
Add new content
Evening
X
Look for feedback/comments made to your posts
Add followers/Follow back people that added you
Follow-up Monday Review prepared content Add content
Add followers
Prepare content for Monday
Add followers/Follow back people that added you X
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Maintenance As you post new content and build your network, keep in mind that your social media pages need to be refreshed. It is fine to keep your logo as the profile image, but your cover images could use a change. Maintain your social media pages refreshed every couple of months and never leave anything too outdated, such as videos.
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The critical social media channels for your business
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Facebook Facebook may be seen as a cluster in terms of ways to use it. You can easily get lost in it by reading people’s comments, posts, and watching videos and images. It’s a social trap and it could hinder your marketing efforts. When it comes to conducting business, or marketing, on Facebook you must be emotionless and carry one main objective; build your brand. Put your brand name first before your opinions and thoughts. A local business could attract much interest on Facebook by joining local group pages and “friending” and liking other local people. Exposure is key on Facebook, so provide a lot of images and videos and promote yourself in the local groups. Offer special discounts for Facebook followers only. You may comment on simple discussions that do not involve anything that may be seen as controversial. Overall, be likable! In an average week there are more than 645 million views on local business Facebook pages and over 13 million comments on them. 70% of monthly active Facebook users in the U.S. are engaged and connected to a local business.
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Twitter There is very little room to be active on Twitter, literally. In only 140 characters you can only do so much. Yes, you may abbreviate certain words such as “by the way” into “btw”, but you also don’t want to post a tweet that is too abbreviated. Make sure that you also use hashtags (#). For example, a “buy one and get one” offer is hashtagged as “#BOGO” on Twitter. The benefits of that are that you save 14 characters and you incorporated a system in your tweet that enters the search algorithm on Twitter. Follow as many relatable accounts as possible. Obviously there is a limit, and as long as you do not exceed over 110% of your current followers you will be fine. For example, if you have 10,000 followers then your maximum following Twitter accounts cannot exceed 11,000. How to gain followers? Give people a reason to follow you. Make it so that if people follow you on Twitter they can get a discount or some sort of reward. For more information, please go to Getting started with Twitter and also check out The Twitter Glossary. "Twitter is not a technology. It's a conversation. And it's happening with or without you." - @charleneli
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Google+ At some point, Google+ may no longer be, but until that happens you must integrate Google’s social media product in your plans. As it is linked with the most powerful search engine, it would only make sense to invest your time in G+. Think of it as a hybrid of Facebook and Twitter. You can post images, videos, and lengthy posts, as well as like (or “plus” and share), and hashtagging is as effective as Twitter. How do you build your network on this platform? It is as easy as searching people in your zip code, such as Manhattan’s 10001. Just type 10001 in your G+ search bar and you will receive the result of all Google users within that area. It can be quite a power marketing tool with that capability. The downside of G+, though? The engagement level is not as high as Facebook’s when it comes to localized social media marketing. Adding Google users is easy with simple to click buttons and you can even organize your followers into your defined groups. G+ is neat and simple to use with an easily accessible data to take advantage of.
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Pinterest Depending on your type of business, Pinterest may be either very useful or not so useful; but, there is no reason to avoid it either way. Pinterest focuses less on written content and mainly on image content, such as photos. Photos used on Pinterest need to be very attractive and serve the purpose of being shared. If your photos lack character then they are worthless. Make sure that the photos, or images, are high resolution as image quality is extremely important, and tag relevant keywords; and, as far as putting character in photos, insert some comedy or something that is eye candy. Also, it does not always have to be related to your products or services, but it could be a great photo of a sunset. The goal is to have people share these photos and follow your account.
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Instagram Instagram is unlike any other channel in that its focus is on imagery. Consider how Instagram can fit into your overall marketing strategy by sharing events and projects through pictures and video. Keep your captions short and sweet and use hashtags, no more than three. Make sure to indicate the location and subject in your caption. Do not be afraid to inject your personality in your sharing, unexpected moments and animals will always reflect positively on you and your business.
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Yelp Nothing induces fear like a bad review. Unlike the social media channels that we have discussed, Yelp is much different as it is more of a structured website without the up to date postings. Yelp is a review focused website where people rank the quality of your business for others to see. This is a crucial factor as marketing and good PR cannot save your business from critical and negative reviews. It is up to your management skills to either avoid numerous negative reviews, or recuperate from them. How to recuperate from them is the simple philosophy that the customer is never wrong. Consider a bad Yelp review an opportunity to gain community trust and fix an issue you may not beware of.
Information on responding to reviews
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YouTube This is another Google product that you must take advantage of. YouTube is fully driven by video content with the welcoming of comments. Quality video content is great to share, tag with keywords, and include it on your website as well linking newly posted videos on your other social media accounts. Though HD is not a requirement, you should consider having most videos with HD quality. On YouTube, tagging your videos with keywords is extremely important as Google is constantly crawling the web looking to give the best results. Your videos can have various themes such as “How to…” informational, biographical, and advertisement-like. Make sure your YouTube profile page is complete with your profile image and cover/background image as well. More on making the most out of YouTube
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Tumblr Used as your blog, this social media channel gives you a more refined and upscale feel compared to the other common ones; a more sophisticated Twitter if you will but without the 140 character restriction. Post text, photos, links, audios, videos, and even chat. Like the other social media channels, Tumblr’s purpose works the same way. Expose your brand, build your network, and give a reason for people to follow you. Unlike Facebook, Tumblr’s content, which allows you to insert tags, is actually crawled by Google, thus earning SEO points. Apply the same rules, as previously discussed, regarding the posting of photos and images. You have plenty of room to showcase your content, but don’t make it too lengthy. Always make your point across quickly. Being sociable is also a wise move on Tumblr as long as you are responsible with what you comment on. Getting involved helps you build your following and gain people’s interest in what you do.
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Foursquare A nice component to add to your social media platform, Foursquare acts as a map tool, a verified business listing tool, and a social media tool. It is an interactive map tool where people see their surroundings, be it stores, restaurants, etc‌, and receive results to whatever they are searching in which it is displayed on a map. Add your business and verify it so it is exposed to Foursquare users. The social media aspect of it is people “checking inâ€? to places that they visit, rating them, and leaving comments. This is another useful B2B tool as well to try and build relationships with other businesses that could recommend you.
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LinkedIn Consider it the Facebook for business professionals. You can post jobs, apply for jobs, network professionally with people of business interest, and join groups as well. LinkedIn also contains many useful articles from well known figures, such as Mark Cuban, Jack Welch, and Bill Gates; they are known as “influencers”. Why is this useful to your business then? The B2B factor is a major player and networking with other businesses may build a relationship where you may find clients or get recommended. Not only can you set up your personal profile, but you may also set up your business’s profile as well and gain a following. If you are involved with your local business chamber and you attend meetings or events, a good way to keep contact with the people you meet is to connect with them on LinkedIn. You don’t need to be as active on LinkedIn as you would be on Facebook, but you want to establish credibility so other business professionals will see.
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Conclusion and Additional Resources It is understandable that this may be information overload for you as a small business owner, but look at it as a solution to your doubts, worries, and misunderstandings on social media. The future is in digital marketing and social media will play an enormous role. As stated in the opening segment, 74% of small business owners are using social media as a marketing method. That number will eventually increase every year to the point where over 90% of small business owners will use it, including your competition. Do not miss the boat if you are part of the 26% avoiding social media, and do not put minimal effort in it if you are slightly using it. If this is all too overwhelming for you then don’t give up! We’re here to help you! We can manage your social media marketing campaign and keep your mind at ease while you manage your business. So contact us and let’s start a conversation to plan your business’s future.
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Additional Resources and Contact Information info@whocanihire.com Facebook.com/BlueCollarBuzz Twitter.com/BlueCollarBuzz Facebook.com/whocanihire Twitter.com/whocanihire
A publication of Who Can I Hire, Inc.
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