2. #Contents
Introduction 3 Management Platforms 22 Content 35
Streams Planning and calendars
Strategy 4 Scheduling Relevance
Process and workflow Making the most of content – fragmenting
Why social media?
Offline notifications Blogging and content creation
What constitutes success?
Reporting ‘Think, think, think’
The B2B Stigma
Going mobile - smartphones, apps
Conversation and governance and rich media
Reporting 41
Approach 8 Listening 27
Introduction Introduction
Creating value Mapping the landscape and
Content segmenting the audience
Customer service How can it be done for free?
Community manager(s) Enterprise level and paid solutions
Thought leadership
Tools 32
The Three Cs 15
Browser extensions tools and time-saving tips
Why? In the cloud
Content Browser extensions
Conversation
Connections
3. Introduction
Social media is a relatively new phenomenon, with the first sites that were widely
recognised as social networks landing in the late 1990s. Mainstream offerings such as
the now obsolete Friendster and MySpace arrived on the scene in 2002/3 respectively
and public adoption of social media took off in a big way.
As a rule of thumb, a social network’s core of social media for business came from social web, instead looking to LinkedIn, ‘the
function is built on the capability of users to the world of business to consumer and professional social network’ launched in early
create content and interact with each other. fast moving consumer goods, particularly 2003. In the same fashion as mainstream
Interaction is often based around a single entertainment brands; they saw the market social media, LinkedIn’s growth began with
topic such as sharing videos (YouTube), for these sites as a channel to reach individuals, who used the site to build a
sharing photos (Flickr), or writing and consumers on their own terms. network of professional contacts, search for
sharing words (blogs). Other networks, such jobs and communicate across the world of
as Facebook, and increasingly Twitter, allow The earliest marketing on social networks business.
users to do all of this from one place. came in the form of banner advertising,
hosted on user’s web pages, although it was Jump to 2011 and social media has moved
There are also many sites that comprise a not long before industrious marketers began on significantly from when users simply built
‘social layer’, intended to facilitate interaction to make use of sites in the way they were a personal webpage and communicated with
around content owned by the site. News sites intended; by building their own profiles. In others either in the public eye, using sites
such as The Guardian and prominent blogs the early days of social networking, music such as MySpace, or behind a wall, as with
including Mashable have built up communities was very much a driving force behind LinkedIn. Whilst this core functionality has
in this fashion, allowing users almost the same adoption. MySpace in particular, which remained, the scope for business use, on a
functionality as a standalone social network, offered bands and artists customisable profile personal, campaign and corporate level is now
just excluding the ability to publish the site’s templates with music streaming functionality, impossible to ignore. Facebook, the world’s
core content. saw incredible growth powered by musicians largest social network, has more than 750
using pages to interact directly with fans million users, and with the current number of
Strictly speaking, social networks were not in a way that had never been done before. connected internet users worldwide stands
originally intended to be marketplaces. In Comedians, filmmakers, photographers and at more than 2.1 billion, meaning that more
marketing terms, the first social networks other high profile entertainment users were than a third of people using the internet visit
allowed users to market themselves, all critical in popularising the personal web. this one site. These figures are astounding and
connecting with friends, family, colleagues grow all the time, arguably proving the social
and anyone they desired through the medium Business to business marketers were slower web to be the most important marketing
of their own website. The earliest adopters to embrace the power of the mainstream channel available to us in terms of reach.
5. The Omobono Social Media Handbook Page 5 of 44
Why social media?
As important as it is to start engaging in A good example comes from everyone’s favourite What constitutes success?
social media activity, it’s equally important corporate scapegoat, Ryanair, whose social media Early on in any social media strategy campaign
presence numbers more than 80,000 on Facebook plan, it’s important to consider what a successful
to have a clear idea of what you hope to alone. However, these ‘fans’ mostly use the page campaign will be. Or, to put it another way; what do
achieve from a business perspective. Social to complain about extortionate fees and poor you hope to achieve by engaging in social media?
media is not ‘the answer’ but it is a hugely customer service, unlike Ryanair themselves, who The answer might not be immediately obvious,
important channel and a clear strategy is haven’t used the page for anything since mid-2009. you don’t even need to finalise it before you start
essential in order to make the most of Fortunately, not every company is as unpopular strategising, but it should always be at the forefront
as Ryanair, but the message remains. Know what of your thinking and once established, should be at
social media. Equally, social media requires you want to achieve before you get started, and be the core of everything you do.
a significant commitment, not only in prepared to maintain your commitment to social
terms of human resource to manage the media channels, even if things don’t go according In strategic terms, it’s essential to not just
to plan at first. consider the ultimate aim of the campaign but
network, but also to allow time for the to put a strategy in place to actively achieve this.
campaign to have an impact. Historically There are dangers associated with social media Equally, as soon as it becomes evident, you’ll need
there have been many lazy attempts to and the need to have a process in place for to outline a set of goals and key performance
use social media without a strategy and dealing with them, a social media strategy is indicators that will help you gauge whether the
far too big of a concept to put on paper in a campaign is to be deemed a success. So what
a neglected social media presence is
single chapter. Every business is different, every are these KPIs? The size and rate of growth of
frequently far worse than no social media business’ marketing goals are different. The your audience? The number of retweets your key
presence at all. notion of ‘best practice’ in social media is so content receives? In short, yes; if these numbers
wide-reaching that it’s far better to aim for ‘good are key to your success in social media.
In the past, many brands engaging in social media, practice’ based on what has worked well for
without a clear strategy in place, have simply companies looking to achieve a similar goal. Ultimately, every marketing channel should be
ended up creating a large forum for untended tailored to achieve a positive return on investment,
public customer complaints. It’s a fear many A strategy needs to cover numerous areas or to gain enough benefit from a channel to offset
companies now have when entering the world including, but not limited to; content, approach, an un-recouped investment. In social media
of social media. If time and budget constraints reasons for using social media, guidelines and terms, we consider ‘return on engagement’ to be
don’t allow you to address such concerns, serious the ultimate aim, that is to say what would be the key driver of any campaign. Broadly this is
thought should be given to whether or not to deemed a success. We will be touching on all the same concept as ROI, but tailored to account
delay a social media push. these areas separately, but we will address some for social media activity as an attempt to achieve
of the basics here. engagement.
6. The Omobono Social Media Handbook Page 6 of 44
The B2B ‘Stigma’
Before we continue; a quick note on the inherent So, whilst B2B marketers are no longer facing an “ o longer does ‘liking’ a
N
differences between a business to business uphill battle when it comes to actually gaining
audience and a business to consumer audience an audience, there are still different approaches
business refer explicitly
and the ‘stigma’ that has previously surrounded for each audience, given the obvious differences to expressing a positive
social media activity in B2B. Much of the between customers. If anything, the B2B marketer sentiment, instead it is simply
terminology associated with social media (+1, does still have a harder job than their B2C
‘Like’…) is inherently positive in sentiment counterpart. As an example, the B2B audience recognised as a desire to hear
and was historically consumer focused in this is technically made up of consumers, just like from them”
sense. Fortunately, since common social media the B2C audience, however, these consumers are
terminology has been adopted into everyday in reality your customers, clients and numerous
conversation, so too, has the literal meaning of other stakeholders. Each of whom is interested in
these terms diminshed – in the digital language a specific part of your business and more than just
at least. No longer does ‘liking’ a business refer a short-lived discount from their preferred coffee
explicitly to expressing a positive sentiment shop or the release date for a new phone.
for the business, instead it is simply recognised
as a desire to hear from or speak with the
company. ‘Liking’ is now simply the process of
engaging with the company, for whatever reason.
Furthermore, recent announcements from
Facebook dictate that the ‘Like’ functionality of
the site will be replaced with a custom field that
allows the user or business to change the term to
better suit the action, audience or content.
7. The Omobono Social Media Handbook Page 7 of 44
Conversation and Governance
A one or two way street? good starting point would be to look at corporate to a level that if a community manager needs to
There is no denying the fact that social code of conduct, terms of employment and any think about their response, they need to approve it
media is a proverbial ‘two way street’, existing media strategy. with someone senior.
social media is built on the ability to These topics, depending on the nature of a
converse and a conversation cannot be business, could include competitor discussion,
discussing certain individuals, products, areas of
one sided - although a choice can be made
the business and much more depending on the
to not engage in a conversation. industry. In each instance it’s also important to
have a set of guidelines in place to dictate the
The approach chosen here is broadly a strategic
response that should be made.
decision as not responding to incoming messages,
a purely ‘push’ approach, alienates customers’ Governance
ability to resolve an issue through the channel When it comes to social media, governance is
– and their ability to subsequently compliment essential. Establishing a set of guidelines at an
you on a good service. Equally, responding to early stage will ensure you encounter far fewer
only certain messages will leave some users questions in your day to day activities. The idea
unsatisfied, which is potentially even worse. These of a ‘community manager’ or group thereof, is
are the key factors to consider at a strategic level. that they will be able to manage a community,
without having to stop and ask questions every
The approach that will ultimately be taken to
five minutes. It’s also important that community
conversation and responses will be covered in
managers know what their activities are intended
more depth below, as guidelines for responses,
to achieve, what boundaries they can and must
including times, tone and resolution an essential
not cross, what subjects are off limits and how to
part of any social media policy, especially in a
address or work around them.
business environment.
Social media guidelines stem from the social
The major concern with engaging in a two way
media strategy; once you outline what you intend
conversation is the possibility of ‘dangerous’
to achieve from social media, you can establish
topics coming up and these ‘no-go’ areas need
the means to get there. This goes all the way
to be defined and considered long before the first
back to the first step; ‘Creating value from social
post. Understanding what topics are dangerous to
media’. The basic aim of social media guidelines
the company is essential when it comes to social
is to allow a community manager to work
media - and communications generally - so a
unheeded on their own. The aim should be to get
9. The Omobono Social Media Handbook Page 9 of 44
Introduction
It’s important to realise the difference a user to ‘like’ a brand is therefore tantamount “ uch of the stigma associated
M
between strategy, guidelines and the overall to asking for a public personal recommendation
to all of their friends, family and colleagues. with ‘Liking’ a band on
approach taken to social media. There is Furthermore, in the world of B2B marketing, Facebook has now subsided,
some overlap, as each feeds into the other there’s a potential barrier between potential although it’s still a pressing
two, but what approach to take and how customers’ personal space and the businesses
to make that decision is a significant topic with which they work. Many would suggest users issue in many people’s eyes”
all on its own and there are a number of would be reticent to promote the businesses
they work with/for in their private life. Much of
considerations to be made. the stigma associated with ‘Liking’ a brand on
Before making any decisions, it’s important to Facebook has now subsided, although it’s still a
realise that social networks weren’t originally set pressing issue in many people’s eyes. With this in
up to be a marketplace and many users still see mind, you might be asking yourself;
them as an exclusively private space. A space ‘How can we connect with people using social
they don’t consider appropriate for businesses to media, without upsetting anyone and still make
target their attention. This applies particularly to any kind of impact?’
Facebook users, whose pages frequently contain
far more immediately personal data than a Twitter
feed. In fact, ‘Liking’ a brand or product on
Facebook publishes an update on the user’s feed
which can be seen by all their contacts. Getting
10. The Omobono Social Media Handbook Page 10 of 44
Creating Value
The ultimate aim in social media is to It may seem obvious, but knowing what your and what are they discussing? This is an audience
create value for your audience as an audience wants from you allows you to tailor your that is already in place, so it’s important to engage
social media activity to keep them engaged and these users first, in the manor by which they’d
engaged audience will deliver a far greater promote yourself accordingly and appropriately. prefer to be reached. Additionally, if there’s little
ROI. This means that the first point of call If your ultimate aim is to increase awareness, or no discussion of your business or products
must be to gain followers (ironic, I know), and increase sales, using ‘The 3 Cs’, the 80/20 on a particular social network, it’s unlikely your
allowing you to increase ‘true reach’, approach (more on this in a moment) and customers will be particularly receptive to your
establish a position of thought leadership engaging your audience will increase interaction efforts to engage them here.
across the board, including amplification of news
and a network of engaged followers. releases and company updates. The message
Without this, social media activity is simply here is that social media success is not an exact
an ‘also-ran’, rather than something that science; you will need to learn how to use it to
‘earns its keep’ or ‘pays for itself ’, so to reach the goals you set.
speak. An engaged audience, regardless Listen to your customers
of size, is far more beneficial than a large One way of establishing where the value might
audience with no interest in your company lie is through the study of analytics. One very
simple way to understand what your customers
– which is sadly far easier to achieve.
want is to look at what they look at. To be more
In order to maximise value for your audience, specific, studying website analytics to understand
consider what they would be most interested the pages of your website your external audience
to hear from you. Consider the areas of your most frequently reach from natural search terms,
expertise or campaign that you would most the user journey once they reach them and
intuitively imagine to be popular and you might the content they seek out. These are the parts
come up with discounts. But think between the of your business that your audience is most
lines about the audience you want to reach, actively interested in and these are the areas your
consider what you know about them, ‘listen’ and activities should initially be focused.
you might find that there’s a lot more interest in
In addition to studying web analytics, it’s equally
events and guides to using products and then, to a
important to ‘listen’ to the social media discussion
lesser extent, discounts – after all, why give people
when making these decisions, nothing is more
money off when they will happily pay full price.
valuable than understanding if people are already
This approach has worked very well for Apple
discussing you on social media, and if so, who
over the past decade.
11. The Omobono Social Media Handbook Page 11 of 44
Content
Throughout this book we will continue to ultimately, boring. Reverse that ratio and things must be aware of the on-going conversation,
promote the importance of content and look a lot different. If your date subtly slips into ownership, relationship, past/pending timeline
conversation the fact that they recently bought and established tone. This is facilitated by the use
the approach taken to content. Content a new Ferrari, make a lot of money and used to of social media management platforms, which
creation, amplification and curation date a supermodel, you’ll likely be subliminally we covered in Chapter 5. When multiple account
is central to the day to day activity of impressed at how successful they are. In short; managers are used, which is an increasingly
your social media presence. Content is imagine you want to date your followers and you’ll popular approach, especially in the customer
covered separately later as part of ‘The be on the right track. service function, in much the same manner that
Tone of voice a call centre operative would, the conversation is
3 Cs’ approach to social media and also now being made in the public sphere, rather than
in Chapter 8, so we will stick simply to While we’re on the subject of talking to your
audience, it’s important to think about how directly to just one customer. As with strategy,
picking an approach to content in this you will be talking to them. Essentially, social goals and the overall approach, tone of voice
chapter, namely ‘The 80/20 Rule’. media is a channel that broadcasts an entire should be a constant, pre-determined from day
company/division’s opinion within a short one and central to all activities. Each and every
Most social media practitioners preach an 80/20 message, multiple times a day. It’s important to message is now a part of your brand footprint.
rule of 20% promotional activity against 80% understand that whilst an account may be solely
‘community management’. Whilst social media, used for a single campaign to promote a project
ultimately, is about promoting yourself, simply or report, audience segmentation means that
using it for that purpose will see your followers to any individual, your messages could be their
tire quickly. If you apply the 80/20 rule to a first only touch point with the company. It is therefore
date, which is ultimately what is happening when essential that this touch point delivers them
a user stumbles across your brand online, then appropriate content professionally and in line
you should end up with a phone number at the with policy and their expectations. If different
end of the night – or an email address/follow/like divisions run social media accounts that one user
depending on what social network/website the follows, this unified tone becomes arguably more
date is taking place on. important. There are many thoughts around the
Imagine, if you will, that you’re on real a first correct way to approach this but it should start
date with someone who spends 80% of the time with the business’ code of conduct and media
discussing how much money they make (business spokesperson guidelines.
results), their past lovers (deals and partnerships),
Tone of voice becomes even more important
and how fast their new Ferrari is (acquisitions),
when utilising multiple account managers to
you’re going to see them as shallow, boastful and,
run one account, as each account manager
12. The Omobono Social Media Handbook Page 12 of 44
Customer Service
When considering social media as a
channel, it’s important to understand and
consider all the options and variables.
Social media is a two way street, regardless
of how you choose to use it.
Adopting a broadcast mentality and strategy
does not mean that you will not receive incoming
messages. If your business provide a product or
service that requires customer support, there’s
a high probability that requests for support may
begin to come in via social media. Understanding
that this is part of the conversation will allow you
to deal with these enquiries appropriately and
swiftly. The approach you choose to take in this
manner will branch out into multiple different
aspects of social media as your use of the
channel continues to grow.
Many businesses have taken to social media,
particularly Twitter, as a means of providing
customer service in addition to a dedicated
call centre and email team. Microsoft has been
championing this approach since early 2009 using
the Twitter account @MicrosoftHelps to resolve
customer issues. The immediacy of Twitter as a
platform and the short-form messages makes for a
quick and efficient service – equally impressive is
the commitment to solving customer issues in the
public eye, rather than through offline, controlled
mediums such as telephone enquiries.
13. The Omobono Social Media Handbook Page 13 of 44
Community manager(s)
Social media is a time consuming activity, level is only made possible with the use of a
particularly when part of your strategy and social media management platform, which
we will cover in more detail later, allowing the
approach involves engagement. Running creation of a workflow process, assignments
a social media presence with multiple and ‘case ownership’ to streamline the activity.
account managers can be a great way to The additional benefit of this approach is that
solve some of the problems arising due additional team members can be brought into the
to time constraints, especially given the workflow through the use of offline notifications.
This means that a subject matter expert can be
immediate nature or social media and lack brought in as an additional community manager
of uniform ‘office hours’ globally. However, to generate relevant content, without the need to
when an account is being run by more be ‘online’ as much as other team members.
than one user, it’s important to understand Social media is free, in the sense that the networks
some of the risks, and considerations, from themselves can be utilised free of charge.
an audience perspective of conversation, However, the resource needed to run a social
‘case’ ownership, the previously discussed media presence effectively is anything but free.
So whilst social activity can be undertaken in
tone of voice and more.
many ways dependent on available time resource,
As a starting point, it’s worth considering whether budget and goals, it’s important to both get the
the account will be publicly operated by multiple most from the time available and also to ensure
account managers or whether this is a behind the activity, no matter how little or how much, doesn’t
scenes function and all messages are seemingly stray too far from the overall aims and goals of
sent by the same person. This will play into both the social media strategy. Multiple people acting
tone of voice and personality as whilst a unified as community managers can be a good way to
tone of voice is important, multiple community spread this resource requirement, although the
managers will offer different approaches, within optimum solution in the long term for businesses
the overall agreed approach, bringing a little looking to engage in extensive activity will always
variety into the content but also making the be to identify or hire one or numerous social
community manager role more straightforward. media specialists to fill the role.
Running an account with multiple community
managers to any kind of a guideline-compliant
14. The Omobono Social Media Handbook Page 14 of 44
Thought Leadership
Thought leadership as an approach to A good example is Cisco’s CTO Padmasree “ rends have moved from
T
marketing positioning is nothing new. Warrior, whose 1.3 million Twitter followers
are used to seeing opinion passed on new years, months and weeks,
Companies the world over have used technological announcements with the to days, hours and even
thought leadership to establish a position perspective of the head of technology in a world- minutes.”
of credibility and expertise around their leading technology company.
company, industry and amongst their
competition. In social media, thought
leadership comes with immediacy. Instead
of compiling ‘trends’ in a monthly or
quarterly report, we can comment, in real
time, on areas related to our industry.
Twitter’s ‘Trending Topics’ demonstrate that
‘trends’ have moved from years, months and
weeks, to days, hours and even minutes. In some
instances trends have become shorter lived, in
The potential downside to this fact is that
others they are on-going, the magic of social
employees, particularly more senior staff,
media comes in harnessing trends and discussion
referencing your business as part of their online
as a means for promotion and market positioning.
profile can be taken as thought leaders, even if
Thought leadership is a strategy that many this is not intended. This can be controlled as
companies utilise via social media, the aim is to part of your employee code of conduct, perhaps
establish themselves as leaders in a particular generating two tiers of social media regulation.
field by creating and sharing content around a One level for employees who cannot be identified
particular topic as well as passing opinion or as part of your business, another for those
statements on curated content. Many senior choosing to share this information. This kind of
executives practice this approach using a personal governance can allow additional control over
account on behalf of a company. your brand in the public sphere and safeguard
against negative impact from your staff ’s personal
internet activity.
16. The Omobono Social Media Handbook Page 16 of 44
avid brand advocates, users you’d like to amplify
your messages and anyone who communicates
Content
Yours, mine ours
Curation
+
creation
inwardly with you. Finally, Connections leads on
from conversation, in that your network is your tool,
not the platform itself. Once you have a network
of engaged followers including thought leaders,
‘mavens’, media, local and industry advocates
your (subtle) promotional messages will travel a lot
The
3Cs Conversation
further.
Collaborative
+ When it comes to content, it’s tempting to think
Not control collective
that the more you can put out, the better, and there
is power in numbers, but don’t lose sight of the
reasons for engaging in social media; conversation,
analysis, feedback, CRM, the list goes on… Keep
Connections
Community them central to everything you do, in line with the
building social media strategy, chosen approach and both
+
Relationships drive your business story the policy and guidelines and finally, remember that
sharing social media is definitely one channel where the old
adage of quality, not quantity is really true
Why
The Three Cs is an approach to social The 3 Cs work by making sure you always have The 3 Cs approach focus on the ultimate goal
media that factors in the major elements good Content to post, whether your own (blogs, of social media; Connections. Put differently,
videos, photos etc.) or borrowed (third party ‘connections’ could be as general as a company’s
needed to drive a campaign. This content used to establish a position of thought ‘audience’, or as specific as ‘customers’, ‘clients’,
approach is intended to act as a safeguard, leadership). This will see your activity never gets ‘media’ and many other things. However, the
ensuring a company engaging with social stale and boring. Conversation is all about, well, key thing is that these relationships drive your
media doesn’t make the obvious mistakes. conversation, ensuring you engage your most business. The Three C model is at the heart of
social media interaction
17. The Omobono Social Media Handbook Page 17 of 44
Content
The first thing to understand when Good content establishes thought experts to partake in the activity at the request
approaching social media as a business is leadership of an account manager, without the need to be
Social media represents an incredible outlet for ‘online’ 24/7 waiting for news to drop.
the importance of good content. Whether business, offering companies the opportunity
original or curated from other sources, to establish a position of thought-leadership by Regularity is key
social media activity is not possible sharing the considerable expertise that resides Content creation is time consuming, making it
within an organisation. A mixture of content unsustainable as the only source of social media
without content. activity for a business. Additionally, as discussed
discussing the relevance of current affairs to
Content drives search your business, innovations in relevant fields, staff previously, the 80/20 rule of social media
The content you create, particularly on company experiences, opinion pieces and, within reason, communication comes into play when creating
blogs, is indexed by search engines, meaning that almost anything that makes good reading, are original content. In order to be truly successful
any content you publish creates a new way for all excellent places to start and can often times and sustainable, content curation comes into
somebody to find your company online. Obviously lead to publicity for your business. Traditional PR play, the practice of sharing relevant third party
this means there’s a benefit to publishing the has shown that industry leaders commenting on content to further perpetuate a position of
aforementioned promotional content, but this relevant current affairs is a popular news format, thought leadership and understanding. Regular
is not necessarily the content that returning so creating timely content on a public blog and content is the key to successful social media
users and the people you want to work with are sharing via social media alongside your traditional activity in business and whether content is original
interested to read. It is also frequently not the PR activities can lead to unforeseen benefits. or curated from other relevant channels, it should
best-performing content when it comes to natural be correctly referenced (don’t steal it!) and remain
search traffic. Instead, a mixture of engaging Furthermore, the immediacy of short-form on topic. This approach doesn’t stop the need
content, from a number of sources, across a social media such as Twitter and Facebook for original content to be created regularly too,
number of topics, is the correct approach. Most allows subject matter experts to offer insight and following the 80/20 rule, even an account posting
experts preach the 80/20 rule with only 20% of comment in real-time on breaking news topics just 10 times a week will need new content
content actively promoting the business. For more and trends as they surface and peak. Making weekly. Upgrade that to 10 posts a day and
information and detail on blogging in B2B, see use of a social media management platform and that’s a daily need for fresh content, this is where
Chapter 8; ‘Content’. offline notifications, as detailed in Chapter 5, allow content calendars, planning and understanding
18. The Omobono Social Media Handbook Page 18 of 44
how to get the most from each piece of content ‘headlines’, i.e. things that will grab attention, and “ ven an account posting just
E
comes into play. We will be covering this in detail don’t forget the hashtag! That said, Live tweeting
in Chapter 8; ‘Content’. can, however, be a great way to accumulate new 10 times a week will still need
followers. Most people following an event hashtag new content weekly”
As a side note, content cannot get more regular are actually in the same room as you (Yes, this
than ‘live tweeting’, the idea being that through is the world we live in!) so users will often follow
the use of a #hashtag bookmark on Twitter, users those tweeting from events they attend, knowing
around the world can follow what’s happening they’re likely to be of interest in the future and as
at an event or users at an event can keep track a form of networking.
of other attendees’ thoughts. Live tweets usually
update with headlines from the on-going talks at
a conference or event, giving an ‘as-live’ view of
what’s happening, in real time. The truth of live-
tweeting is that it’s often superfluous to need and
irritates users who aren’t aware of or interested
in an event. As such, live tweeting should be
selective and akin to note taking. Make note of
19. The Omobono Social Media Handbook Page 19 of 44
Conversation
Conversation drives social media activity Most importantly, conversation is… leading to firstly trust and then business deals with
– it is the way a company can engage with conversation leading news and media outlets.
No one can dictate an outside and correct
customers – but what does it mean, and approach to the conversation a business will Regular conversation with fans providing data and
how do you achieve it? have on social media, just as no social media statistics on request has catapulted them into the
strategy can definitively predict what will come public eye as the most trusted source for fans to
Conversation is about content and read sports data, causing media outlets to rethink
up. However, a robust social media strategy can
connection their current providers and fans to question any
shape the approach to conversation, which should
As previously discussed, content can be industry news source not already utilizing Opta data in
include dialogue with customers and managing
news, current affairs, public opinion or popular their reports. This is particularly interesting, as
any criticism with acknowledgement and a
culture – all potential sources. Much of your they have engineered B2B success through a
response. Listening to customers will help to
content should be curated, as detailed above; predominately B2C approach to social media,
shape product and service development.
share the load by utilizing links to content ‘farmed’ communicating directly with the end customer
from relevant sources as a basis for discussion, Conversation fuels understanding; and using thought leadership in front of the
engaging followers and saving your company Talking to your customers and clients can middle-man.
from the need to create fresh content on a weekly, give insight into their buying behaviour and
daily, or even hourly basis. Connections allow the understanding the person behind the keyboard
passing of information to customers, potential and how they like to be communicated with will
customers and business partners through social allow a business to engage more effectively with a
delivery platforms, or listening to comments and customer.
suggestions and accepting criticism from your
audience. Whether potential, present, past or angry,
conversation with customers can have a strong
It’s important to understand the circular way in impact on future sales leads and company
which ‘The 3 C’s’ work. Conversation ties directly perception. An excellent example of a company
back both to content and connection and each using social media to develop conversation as a
comes directly back to the others, none works B2B promotional tool comes from sports statistics
on its own. It’s impossible to have a connection company Opta. Opta have built a social media
with your followers without conversation, just as following of more than 100,000 Twitter followers
it’s impossible to have a conversation with your across a plethora of accounts, 60,000+ on the
followers without content. Equally, you won’t have most popular account @optajoe alone. They have
many connections without any conversation. been able to successfully leverage social media
conversation into popularity with sports fans
20. The Omobono Social Media Handbook Page 20 of 44
Connection
Having gotten this far, it’s important to refer customers on to real people within the through the ‘resource’ element of the site.
not forget about the person behind the organization through social media. A good
example of this comes from Microsoft. Recent studies from Neilsen have shown ROI
keyboard – your customers and those delivered from branded communities to be higher
within your business. As we’ve touched on As previously discussed, Microsoft’s @ than through any other social channels. Whilst this
above, the important thing to remember is microsofthelps twitter feed is managed by a team is a step above and beyond what many companies
of customer services managers, each named may need, there’s a real benefit to such solutions,
that content that engages us as humans is if you feel they could be of value to your
on the page. Each of the team has a unique ID,
what people find most interesting, but also which they use to sign off every tweet. A potential audience, they can offer a far larger return than a
to think about your connections; who they customer looking at the feed will not only see Twitter account.
are and what they need and want from a company that’s engaging in social media for
good, by providing a free support service, they’ll Connections give you reach
you. It was recently reported that just 40% of US users
also see a company with thousands of employees
Relationships drive your business engaging publicly with customers on a one-to- actively follow a brand or company on Facebook,
Customers like to deal with real people. Whether one basis. It takes some commitment but it is however, this 40% equates to more than 45 million
through email, call centre support or a sales valuable promotion and will be looked upon very people in the US alone. To further put this in
team, even when ending a relationship with a favourably by any customer engaged in the social perspective, the average Facebook user also has
company, it’s the human connection that makes a media world, even one choosing not to actively 130 friends, each of whom will see the ‘story’
difference. Common sense tells us that customers follow your brand’s activity. published when a user begins following a brand.
choosing to interact with a business on the The number of potential customers a business
web are therefore going to appreciate similar Connection means going beyond the can reach through social media is mind boggling
human interaction online. This is applicable for a obvious social networks and increasing by the day. Even the number of
business in two ways, firstly a potential customer Connection, in business, can mean more than new accounts Facebook rejects is astounding,
researching a business will appreciate a business simply engaging ‘the big four’ networks. Bespoke recently reported as more than 20,000 every day.
communicating with personality. Secondly, when solutions for businesses can include discussion
forums and even customer-focused social The aforementioned approach of building a
creating a personal relationship with a potential bespoke community also comes back into the
customer online, personality shines through. networks as have recently been implemented by
HSBC and American Express. HSBC’s community numbers argument; quality vs quantity. The
Connections can be personal allows small businesses to share knowledge, impact of creating a collaborative business forum,
Be open about who you are and let the people engage with each other and share problems with private social network or other community,
managing your accounts have a name and a a like-minded audience. Amex’s ‘Open Forum’, perpetuated by one brand, which would serve to
face. Let customers have access to real people, which follows a similar principle, has enabled the attract a far smaller but highly relevant audience,
and encourage social media managers to company to position itself as thought leaders can be huge.
21. The Omobono Social Media Handbook Page 21 of 44
Finally, It’s also important not to lose sight of Content, Conversation, Connection “ imply seeing a company’s
S
the impact a campaign or message can have The simple activity of engaging in social media
‘inside the walls’ of a social network, i.e. outside is potential promotion already and as with most
page and approach to social
of your tracking capabilities. This is the ‘invisible things, the more you put into it, the more you’ll media may be a deciding
audience’, those that you cannot track and those get back. So whilst not all web users may elect to factor in their decision to buy
that you cannot track viewing your content. directly ‘follow’ or ‘like’ a brand, simply seeing a
Numerous different levels of privacy settings on company’s page(s) and approach to social media from or trust a business”
Twitter and Facebook mean that it’s impossible may be a deciding factor in their decision to buy
to track where and how far your content and from or trust a business. The implied popularity
company name may be travelling outside of of a brand amongst customers, i.e. the number of
your immediate vision. There’s huge potential ‘likes’ or followers a particular brand has can be
for recommendations, good customer service, powerful. Numbers show a potential customer that
company messages and news to spread without they’re not alone and that customers value and
further input. respect a business or product.
The old customer service adage that ‘A customer It is easy to get too caught up in the numbers
will tell one person about a good customer game though, and to forget that it’s quality, not
service experience, but they will tell four if they quantity that’s important in the long run. The
experience a bad one.’ springs to mind here, underlying message here is that social media
except in 2011 bad customer service can instantly is not a forum for promotion - but that’s not
be shared with an entire network of contacts. You quite true; of course it is. The simple activity
never know who might be talking privately about of engaging in social media offers the potential
your business, so treat your customers well, both for promotion and, like all things, the more you
on and offline. put into it, the more you’ll get back out. More
accurately then, the message is that the correct
approach to social media for business is not to
generate marketing messages day in, day out, but
instead to engage customers, potential customers,
complaints, partners, media, staff and the rest
of the world-wide-web on a daily basis. To put it
simply, the 3 C’s can be whatever you want them
to be, just please make sure it isn’t a press release!
23. The Omobono Social Media Handbook Page 23 of 44
Introduction
Social media platforms contain numerous As such, social media management tools have
layers of functionality over and above what risen in popularity over the past couple of years, “ ocial media management
S
allowing social media community managers to tools have risen in popularity
the standard user may be familiar with, or create shortcuts, view multiple channels in one
interested in using. Most Twitter users, for place and operate social networks at a high level, over the past couple of years,
example, will never even have heard of getting the most from the network itself and allowing community managers
Twitter’s private lists function and wouldn’t allowing them to make the most of their time.
There are many platforms available, offering
to create shortcuts and view
have a clue why they’d want to use them, multiple channels in one
similar levels of service, but we’re going to be
yet this is one of the most important covering one in particular; Hootsuite. place”
tools for using Twitter as a business.
These different layers of functionality
are designed for ‘power users’ those who
spend hours every day using social media
channels for a variety of purposes. These
users are constantly on the hunt for new
tools that will make the management of
these accounts easier and allow them to
make the most of their time.
24. The Omobono Social Media Handbook Page 24 of 44
Process and Workflow
communication and impact to be monitored, as manager and also to allow certain user’s messages
Streams
well as audience segmentation. Hootsuite also to pass in front of an administrator before they
Probably the most significant capability of
offers a ‘Publisher’s view’ which is built on another are publicly posted. It’s also possible to view
Hootsuite and other management platforms is
function of the platform, the ability to schedule ‘conversation history’ between the account and
the ability to view multiple social networks in
activity. Alongside Twitter, it is possible to manage other users, in the instance of a conversation or
one place and to segment your view of each
activity across numerous other social networks, ‘case’ being assigned to a new user. This allows
social network into different ‘streams’. This
each using a separate tab to segment the channel. the new conversation owner to understand the
is particularly useful for Twitter as it allows a
Facebook, Linkedin, Wordpress and others are all context, tone of voice and discussion, before
community manager to follow individual topics,
supported allowing an ‘at a glance’ perspective on attempting to take over.
audiences, users, conversations, search terms,
each network in one place.
hashtags and more from one place. Each stream A workflow process is a fantastic way to allow
within Hootsuite shows a timeline of posts, just multiple users to collaborate on an individual
like on Twitter.com, however, each stream can be Scheduling account or campaign, even bringing an ‘offline’
dedicated to something specific. For example, if Another function that Hootsuite allows benefit by alerting users that they have an
your Twitter account follows 500 people, but you community managers to access above the basic assigned action in Hootsuite via email, negating
want to follow 10 of those users more closely, functions of social networks is the ability to the need for users to remain logged in at all times.
their activity can be isolated and viewed as a schedule forthcoming activity. Through the use of This can be an incredibly powerful asset to a
separate stream alongside the main content feed. Excel spreadsheets, it is even possible to schedule social media team. Furthermore, users can build
up to 200 updates at a time in advance. This is a a custom view, showing only the content and
As more need to monitor specific topics, fantastic tool when promoting an event or wish elements of activity that are of relevance to them.
keywords and increases, a management platform to maximise the impact of a specific report, blog
becomes more and more valuable; streams can be or other piece of content. The ability to schedule Offline Notifications
set up to search for specific campaign keywords, activity adds an additional level of functionality to One of the many benefits of social media
brand names, competitor-related keywords and community management allowing for the creation platforms is the creation of a workflow process
more. As many as six streams can be displayed of a process and workflow capability. allowing ‘part time’ users to work as part of
on screen at any time, and dozens of separate a social media team, without the need to be
tabs comprising up to 10 streams each can be Collaboration and Teamwork constantly switched on and monitoring the
allocated, making it far quicker to stay up to Another significant benefit of Hootsuite is the streams, Hootsuite and various mobile platforms
date on the various elements of a social media ability to create a workflow process to manage allow users to set up notifications to alert users
presence by campaign, audience and more. accounts and campaigns with input from multiple to new activity. Notifications can be created for
account managers and subject matter experts, in new @mentions, Retweets, friend requests and
Streams work mostly in conjunction with basic the cloud. The creation of multiple team members more. Hootsuite can also be set up to notify ‘team
Twitter functions including ‘saved searches’, ‘@ within Hootsuite allows actions, messages and members’ of the need for an action relating to the
mentions’, Retweets and lists, allowing incoming conversations to be ‘assigned’ by a community
25. The Omobono Social Media Handbook Page 25 of 44
workflow previously discussed. If a part time team Reporting
member is involved in a Twitter discussion the Built into Hootsuite at a core level is the ability
community manager can notify them of incoming to generate detailed reports around social media
responses by email, negating the need for them activity, custom reports can be built featuring
to remain logged in and checking the account for useful statistics such as the date and time of
activity. Tweets overlaid with Google Analytics, showing
the impact of particular messages and more.
So as to manage email notifications effectively, There are also numerous ‘flash reports’ available
it is possible to create ‘rules’ and ‘filters’ in mail on-demand or auto-generated on a regular
clients to automatically place emails in different basis, including ‘click summaries’ on links you
folders, meaning you need not be ‘pinged’ each have shared, Facebook user insights and more.
time you get a new Twitter follower, but you get an We cover reporting in more detail in Chapter 9;
email to let you know someone has commented Reporting.
replied to on one of your posts via the same
means. The ability to combine on and offline
team members to the management process of
an account can be invaluable when working
within guidelines that require speedy responses to
incoming queries.
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Going mobile - Smartphones, apps rich media
Another key benefit to Hootsuite is the ability to old. Using a smartphone means events, meetings
replicate the desktop user experience on mobile and conferences all become possible social media
devices. As the platform is hosted in the cloud, content via the medium of live tweeting and there
the same tabs and streams can be viewed on are numerous applications allow for rich media
any device, allowing you to work in the same such as photos, video and even audio/podcasts to
environment across all devices you use, be recorded and uploaded over a 3G connection.
wherever you are.
Mobile smartphones are the perfective device
for social media – the ability to take and upload
photos, videos and even audio content without
the need for long loading, editing, buffering and
transfer times associated with digital media of
28. The Omobono Social Media Handbook Page 28 of 44
Introduction
Social media works for business in two There are various types and levels of listening “ here’s really no excuse not
T
ways; firstly allowing a business to ‘listen’ that can be done, ranging from free tools that
cost only time, to enterprise level solutions that to listen both before you
to consumers’ opinions and secondly for run to thousands of dollars per month. Both ends speak and once you enter the
companies to voice their own opinions, of this spectrum produce valuable insight into conversation”
even affording the same opportunity the audience, what networks and channels they
to individual staff using subject matter use and what they are saying about your brand
experts and thought leadership techniques. and products so there’s really no excuse not to
listen both before you speak and once you enter
Corporate blogs and social media channels often the conversation. In addition to the social media
miss the point and are often just used as an outlet benefit of understanding what your audience
for product, hiring and service announcements, are talking about, there’s the added benefit for
publicity of awards and generally ‘shouting large companies to gauge interest and impact
from the rooftops’ rather than engaging their of marketing campaigns, product launches and
audience; completely missing the point of what impressions on their activities.
should be a hugely valuable asset. Listening to
the conversation already taking place on social
networks should be the first port of call for any
business looking to engage in social media, as we
outlined earlier in the chapter on Strategy.
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Mapping the Landscape and Segmenting the Audience
There is a different audience on each Segmentation Additionally, there are many pitfalls associated
social network, each audience is used Your audience can be all over the world and some with simply copying everything from one stream
things don’t apply to everyone; local news and to another site - automated updates, for one, don’t
to getting information in a way tailored geographically-specific offers, for examples. In provide the same functionality on all networks.
to them. For example, Facebook is some instances messages about these things can The ‘@’ symbol on Twitter denotes the a user
traditionally a place where users can be directed at just certain users; Facebook geo- has been tagged or is being talked at, likewise,
view rich media (videos, images, widgets) location allows you to make updates visible only the same technique is used to ‘tag’ users on
without having to leave the page, but to users in a certain territory, even users isolated Facebook, but using a third party platform such as
by the language they speak, but in others you may Hootsuite to update Facebook doesn’t allow users
Twitter users are far more used to have to directly reference that a special offer is to be tagged in this manner.
scanning headlines, ‘hashtags’ and short- available in just one territory (Twitter).
links. As Twitter continues to evolve,
however, they too are moving in the ‘rich
media’ direction.
Whilst each social network’s audience is different,
many platforms and services allow automation
across numerous sites. Linkedin, for example, will
allow users to re-post content from Twitter in their
feed. Equally, Twitter allows Facebook users to re-
post their content on the micro-blogging site.
Automation is a great technique when it comes to
time-saving, especially with regard to posting one
piece of content on multiple networks, but there’s
also a strong case for utilising the tools given to
you from each website, in order to best reach
each audience. We’ll get onto this later, but part
of understanding how to best use social media
involves mapping the landscape, understanding
who and where your audience may be and this is
done through listening.
30. The Omobono Social Media Handbook Page 30 of 44
How can it be done for free?
The first port of call, before committing to you have typed it. There are many tips and tricks cover in more detail in the next chapter.
a significant spend on a listening solution, in this vein, including the ability to search for a
word but only when another word doesn’t appear One thing that often baffles new Twitter users is
might be to test the water with some free on the same page. It is also possible to search for the sheer number of people that they can ‘follow’,
listening tools, luckily there are numerous a keyword within one website or even within a especially given that one approach to gaining to
good tools available free, some of which URL itself. For example, it’s possible to search for followers is to follow people and hope that they
a keyword only appearing on a page for which the will reciprocate. The best way of ensuring that
are scalable to provide valuable insight at you stay on top of the tweets from users you are
all levels. The first tool at your disposal and URL contains the word ‘blog’ or ‘news’, therefore
isolating very specific content and audiences. most interested to follow (sources of good third
one of the most valuable tools at any level There are dozens of advanced search strings and party content, users you want to engage with etc.)
is no secret, it’s Google, the world’s largest they can all be found, surprise surprise, with a is to use Twitter lists.
search engine and second most visited quick Google search. Twitter lists allow you to create a new,
website. The first, if you were wondering, Google is far from the only free tool available supplementary timeline from specific users, they
is Facebook. when listening via social media. We mentioned can be either private (only you can see them)
‘saved searches’ on Twitter previously and these or public (any user can follow them). Lists can
Much the same as Twitter has numerous features can be set up on the main website, without the also be generated as new tabs within Hootsuite,
above and beyond the needs of the standard user, need for Hootsuite or a similar platform, allowing allowing you to follow tens of thousands of
Google has many capabilities that can make your you to follow key terms in real time and see who accounts (if you want to) yet still keep tabs on a
listening efforts easier and more effective. Google is talking about you on Twitter. Additionally, sites number of important accounts. Private lists can
Alerts, for example, allow you to create a saved such as Social Mention and Topsy also provide be a great way to keep tabs on competitors (You
search for certain keywords and receive an email free platforms to search social media keywords, don’t have to follow an account to add it to a
every time Google finds a new instance of the the former can even provide some insight into list) without anyone knowing and give individual
words. This can be invaluable when posting press the sentiment of the discussion around your users the feeling that you’re interested in their
releases and news, setting up Google Alerts in keywords. tweets (because you follow 1000 people and
advance for key product and campaign text can picked out their message). This is often at the
help understand the reach of your messages. One final searching tool that can be invaluable centre of a good audience engagement strategy;
is Boardreader, a tool that allows you to search identifying influential users and people interested
Another invaluable trick is to learn and master for keywords solely on forums and message to engage with you and ensuring you tweet with
advanced Google ‘search strings’. Many users are boards, as often forgotten but hugely valuable them regularly can work wonders in terms of
aware that a search for multiple words will identify source of user-generated content and discussion. amplification and earning brand advocacy.
instances of both words, but by putting the same Other tools include private Twitter lists and page
search term between two apostrophes you will bookmarking tools, the latter of which we will
cause Google to search only for the exact term as
31. The Omobono Social Media Handbook Page 31 of 44
Enterprise level and paid solutions
Above and beyond the various free listening options manual basis, this can be accurate and useful, but It’s a strategic decision whether comments
available online, there are a number of advanced as volume picks up, manually studying mentions are responded to and in what terms responses
solutions available to provide bespoke listening and then a user’s timeline is not a sustainable will and won’t be posted, but when comments
capabilities within a single dashboard. Solutions approach. Various paid solutions offer advanced are posted directly at you, you’ll know anyway,
such as Radian6, Meltwater Buzz and Alterian all sentiment analysis, although most only claim through the use of saved searches and incoming
provide advanced listening capabilities across a their results are only guaranteed with about 35% messages and these messages are not to be
variety of websites, social networks and forums. accuracy – so be careful how religiously this ignored and should be covered in guidelines,
There are additional capabilities based on advanced sentiment is taken into account. Where possible regardless of approach. What’s most important is
machine-learning algorithms, meaning that the community managers should look to mine this to understand what is ‘noise’ and what is valuable;
longer these solutions are used, the more valuable information manually, perhaps picking comments indexing the number of times your brand or
they can be. However, this capability comes with a from users with perceived influence, such as a product is mentioned online is of limited value,
price tag and to operate these systems at their most high Klout score, number of followers, numerous whereas recognising when a key social media
advanced level will require a capable community web profiles – this information is all aggregated influencer compliments your brand or product
manager putting in some significant work, so the into solutions such as Hootsuite and available with and amplifying these messages or making a
commitment can be significant. one click. connection to a powerful advocate can be a great
asset.
Differing businesses have different requirements
for listening based on their customers and Eavesdropping In addition to eavesdropping on the general
products. As an example, for a business with In many ways, ‘listening’ via social media is public, there are many tools available to facilitate
a popular customer-facing product, there’s a tantamount to eavesdropping. This is due to the secret monitoring that can be used to track
likelihood that the product can cause a large public nature of social media, especially Twitter, competitors’ activities online. Sites such as
number of posts around the business - imagine where discussions can be monitored and tracked watchthatpage.com will send you a notification
Microsoft, Apple or Google trying to track every using keywords. Using a social media monitoring each time a website is updated, allowing you to
instance their name is mentioned - monitoring all platform to engage users discussing your business track competitor blog and news feeds without
of these is impossible. However, looking at just or products can be a dangerous game, if not having to publicly subscribe to their content.
some comments can be even worse; everything done properly. The public nature of social media This approach can also be taken on Twitter with
has context and it’s important to understand means that simply monitoring keywords and the use of private lists; users can be added to a
the context in which things are posted, before responding automatically to everyone mentioning private list without it being their knowing; allowing
considering crisis management or responses to your brand is not much different from walking up you to track their daily activity without publicly
every comment. to somebody in a coffee shop who you overhear subscribing to their accounts
mentioning your brand and offering your opinion.
The above considerations also apply when Yes, it happens, but the person who you were
studying sentiment around your keywords. On a eavesdropping on probably won’t like it.
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Browser extensions, tools and time-saving tips
In addition to social media management be used to determine which users carry the Google Reader/RSS
platforms such as Hootsuite, which we’ve most social media influence and suggest times Similarly to Readitlater, Google Reader allows
to schedule tweets to reach the most receptive users to view content from an archive, but also
already covered, there are numerous tools audience (based on past activity) respectively. gives the ability to subscribe to content and have
available to make managing your social There are also numerous ‘Twitter directories’ that all new posts visible in one place with incoming
media presence easier. From account list users that tweet around various topics and content added as and when it is posted at the
management platforms through to time their perceived popularity (followers), Wefollow is original source. www.google.com/reader
saving tricks and products that can be probably the best known. Google Alerts and Social
Mention are probably the last two major tools RSS – RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication
every bit as useful in making your own that you can benefit most from from day one, and allows users to add a website feed to an
life on the web easier. From browser allowing you to set up alerts for when a keyword is archiving platform, allowing them to view all
extensions to content aggregation, making used online. Finally, Watch That Page also allows new stories as they’re posted. RSS feeds can
you to monitor a particular website for changes also be generated for your own content, allowing
the most of what the web has to offer has
to keep tracks on sites you have an interest in other users to subscribe to your posts. You can
never been easier. even import your RSS feeds into Hootsuite to
(competitors and so on). These tools have all been
covered in more detail in the previous chapter automatically generate a new social media post
Despite the importance of tools, platforms and
but the following additional tools can be used in each time you post something to your blog.
processes to simplify your social media existence,
sometimes visiting the website itself is the best addition to other tools specifically intended for Email Alerts
approach. As an example, Facebook has the listening to increase your productivity across all Alongside the previously mentioned Google
ability to use the site ‘as a page’ meaning it’s parts of the social web. Alerts, many websites with regularly updated
possible to ‘tag’ a user or company in a post, content offer their own email alerts and
Readitlater
but this is only possible from the website itself. newsletters. These can be a great way to keep
This is a cloud-based platform and bookmarking
Additionally, as this approach allows you to track of the latest content from the site without
tool which allows users to archive web pages they
engage in conversation and interact with other needing to check back regularly.
don’t have to time read immediately. Being based
posts as a business, it can be very powerful when
in the cloud, the service works across all browsers,
referencing other businesses featured in news
computers and devices and there’s even a browser
stories and blog posts, as well as giving feedback
extension button for most popular browsers
to other user’s posts, showing you read them.
allowing users to bookmark a page to read later
Tools with one click. www.readitlaterlist.com
When it comes to social media ‘power users’,
there are many tools online that can make your
life easier. Tools such as Klout and timely.is can
34. The Omobono Social Media Handbook Page 34 of 44
Bit.ly Silver Bird
A tool to shorten URLs with an additional A simple management tool, trimmed down to
capability for branding via a ‘vanity URL’ (Such as work as a Google Chrome browser extension,
our own, http://omobo.co). Bit.ly also provides allowing users to view elements of twitter
track-able data on who has clicked your links and streams, post and respond within a browser
automatically generates QR codes for any links window as well as receive pop-up notifications of
you shorten. There is also a browser extension new mentions and messages – all without opening
available to shorten the current page URL with Hootsuite or visiting the main Twitter website.
one click. http://bit.ly chrome.google.com/webstore
Hootsuite There are many alternatives to the services
We’ve already covered Hootsuite and what a mentioned above offering a similar mix of
fantastic social media management tool it is, functions but these are some of our favourites.
however there are browser extensions for most
popular browsers, allowing users to tweet from
any page, including a shortcut to link to the page
they’re currently reading, without leaving it.
Hootsuite also includes its own URL shortner;
ht.ly, which can also be accessed from the
extension. www.hootsuite.com
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Planning calendars
As we outlined in the chapter on The 3 and key points in the financial year (end of the
Cs, content is the key to social media, tax year, etc.) This would give them underlying
themes on which to base blogs, scheduling and
whether self-generated or curated from thought leadership pieces, as well as ensuring
third party sources, without content, there they identifying lulls ahead of time and schedule
is nothing to post and without anything something to fill the void.
to post, there’s nothing to discuss and,
Relevance
consequently, no one to discuss it with. Whilst the occasional off-topic blog is harmless
We’ve covered Audience (Connections) and - in one respect it’s a great way to keep content
Conversation previously, but as Content is the main fresh and an audience interested via the ‘human
factor in social media activity, we’ve dedicated a element’, a content calendar allows you to keep
whole chapter to the pursuit of good content. content relevant by tying it back in to past and
future activities. Different networks have different
One way of keeping on top of the need for audiences and different expectations. Whilst
fresh content is to operate a marketing calendar Twitter is generally regarded as a high-volume
completed to include key events, announcements, network, platforms such as YouTube and Flickr,
awards, results and similar milestones. Operating which are based on rich media such as images
a timeline of events allows posts to be scheduled and video, need not be tended to everyday,
ahead of time, repeated as necessary and particularly given the increased difficulty of
content to be scheduled and planned around pre- creating regular new content for these networks.
determined topics. You will also foresee peaks and
troughs in activity and identify periods in which
extra content creation will be needed.
A marketing plan should be a working document,
split into manageable segments to give sufficient
notice of key events and a timeline for completion
of tasks to be completed in line with events.
For example, a financial institution looking to
engage with social media might identify 12
monthly events to attend, the dates when 15
major companies release their annual results
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Making the most of content - fragmenting
As mentioned above, Twitter is a high- identify the best approach to tone of voice. Most
volume social network with some users social media practitioners advise a conversational
approach to tweets, including a call to action. For
following hundreds of accounts in real example if I were to tweet a blog post about this
time. Likewise, many Facebook and with the aim of engaging my audience, I might say:
LinkedIn users don’t log in every day. Both
facts mean that people miss content. New study suggests businesses should
take a conversational approach to
We covered previously several listening techniques twitter: www.linktostory.com What’s
for ‘cutting through the noise’ of social media, but your approach?
on the other side of the ‘social media noise’ issue
is the fact that your own tweets will be appearing I could also equally have said;
amidst a stream of dozens of other messages to
Businesses should use social media
your followers, meaning individual tweets often
for conversation:
get lost or missed.
www.linktostory.com [REPORT]
Reusing content to ensure maximum reach is
Both might work for different audiences and
often considered to be annoying to followers,
reusing content allows you to test which approach
but in reality, most won’t realise you’re doing it.
works best for you, and/or reach both audiences
If an account has 1.2 million followers based all
with the same story. This approach, coupled with
around the world and tweets for an hour a day,
the ability to schedule posts via Hootsuite and
they will theoretically reach 1/24th of those
other platforms allows you to promote a post over
followers, an average of 50,000, far less than their
several days and even plan to revisit the content a
potential reach. As such, pushing a blog post,
month or more in the future.
announcement or news story a couple of times,
if not more, is hugely worthwhile. Why go to
the trouble of creating great content if it’s going
to disappear from your audience’s view before
they’ve had a chance to see it there.
One approach to avoiding this is to use content
multiple times with different headlines to draw
attention. This approach also allows you to