LEAD Houston Social Media 101
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"Social media to reach your customers, how it can lead to new customers and how it drives repeat business from your current customers. We’ll take a look at the 5 most popular social media networks – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest – and help you decide what is right for your business. Including how and what to post on social media to reach your customers, and how it can lead to new customers and drive repeat business from your current!"
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LEAD Houston Social Media 101
- 1. © Constant Contact 2014 Social Media 101 The Basics of Social Media #ctctsocial @constantcontact
- 2. We Coach The Pros Sandra Flores sandra@wecoachthepros.com facebook.com/wecoachthepros @wecoachthepros www.WeCoachThePros.com
- 3. 4 You are not alone of small businesses 54% of nonprofits 57% Source: Constant Contact Nonprofit Pulse Survey Source: Constant Contact Small Business Survey need help with social media marketing. need help with social media marketing.
- 4. 5 Concerns? I’ll never have millions of fans. Social media looks really interesting, BUT… I don’t know what to say on social media. Using new marketing tools sound great, BUT… I’ll never have a dedicated staff to do it right. Reading what’s being said sounds useful, BUT… I just don’t have the time to stay current. I hear about new tools and networks every day, BUT…
- 5. 6 Then vs. now Social media marketing for small businesses source: Constant Contact Small Businesses Then & Now study 10% 2008 % of small businesses using social media marketing
- 6. 7 Then vs. now Social media marketing for small businesses source: Constant Contact Small Businesses Then & Now study 87% 2013 % of small businesses using social media marketing
- 7. 8 What you do have is powerful #ctctsocial @constantcontact Loyal, happy customers An excellent experience Interesting and important things to say!
- 8. 9 Agenda Why use social media? The top 5 social networks What do I say? When do I say it?
- 9. Why use social media? Your competitors are social Nonprofit 93% Source: Nonprofit Social Networking Benchmark Report 86% B2C Source: Uberflip 87% B2B Source: Clearpoint Agency
- 10. Why use social media? It influences decisions 55% Source: Fedelta share purchases on social networks 68% Source: MDG Advertising learn more about a charity if they see a friend posting about it 74% rely on social networks to guide purchase decisions Source: Fedelta
- 11. 14 Why use social media? ENTICE to stay in touch ENGAGE People Engagement drives SOCIAL VISIBILITY Provide a “Wow!” EXPERIENCE
- 12. Why use social media? | Top social networks | What do I say?| Get started today
- 13. 16 Top 5 social networks Which social media? The top networks Facebook TwitterLinkedIn Google+Instagram
- 14. 17 Top 5 social networks Facebook All Primary Audience Useful, interesting, informative content Looking For Sharing text, photos, videos and reaching a large audience Best For B2B, B2C, nonprofit Used By
- 15. 18 Top 5 social networks Linkedin Business Primary Audience Industry news, tips, solutions Looking For Sharing thought leadership Best For Mostly B2B Used By
- 16. 19 Top 5 social networks Twitter Young adults Primary Audience News, brand updates, trends Looking For Sharing news, and original and curated content Best For B2C, nonprofit Used By
- 17. 21 Top 5 social networks Instagram Young Adults Primary Audience Photos of People & Products Looking For Sharing visual content for products, adding links to website, blog Best For B2C Used By
- 18. 22 Top 5 social networks Google+ Men, students, software developers Primary Audience Links, photos, video, news, blog posts Looking For Increasing your searchability and expertise Best For B2B, B2C, nonprofit Used By
- 19. 23 Facebook LinkedIn Twitter Pinterest Instagram Google+ All Business Focused All Mostly Women Young Adults Mostly Men IT & Mktg Sharing, text, photos & links Sharing news, product info, testimonials Sharing text, news, photos & links “Pinning” photos, videos & images Photos of people & Products Sharing, text, photos & links Engage Increase Visibility Large Audience Thought leadership; Groups and Comments Retweets, Influencers & Reputation Building Sharing products, how-to/tips, e-books, Ideas Link to products or website, Likes & Comments Better SEO & Reputation Building
- 20. Why use social media? | Top 5 social networks | What do I say? | Get started today
- 21. What do I say? What do I say? Get likes, shares, comments Entertain, invite conversation, ask questions, images & video 50% Be useful & informative Industry info, hints + tips, curate content 30% About your business Calls to action, not “buy now” 20%
- 22. What do I say? What do I say? 50% Entertain, invite conversation, ask questions, images & video
- 23. 30%Industry info, hints & tips, curate content What do I say? What do I say?
- 24. What do I say? What do I say? 20% Calls to action, not “buy now”
- 25. What do I say? Content ideas 29 What’s new at your business/organization? What did you do recently to help someone achieve success? What advice have people been asking you for lately? 3 questions to ask
- 26. Why use social media? | Top 5 social networks | What do I say? 33
- 27. Know What do I say? 50%-30%-20% Rule 1 What’s something you could share this week that’s entertaining and invites conversation (50%)? 2 What’s something you could share this week that’s about your industry, hints or tips, or is curated (30%)? 3 What’s something you could share this week about your business but is not about “buy now” (20%)?
- 28. One week of Facebook posts Friday Time: noon Fun fact! Monday Time: morning Monday motivation quote Tuesday Time: noon Did you know? OR Check out these tips Wednesday Time: morning Fill in the blank Thursday Time: afternoon Having a sale this weekend! Glass of wine (celebrate!)
- 29. 42 Get More Followers Follow your best customers & Engage them Add Social Links to Everything Your Email Signature All Marketing Campaigns Deals & Special Offers Again, make it easy to share
- 30. 44 Summary Decide which Social Sites are right for you Just beginning? Choose 1 and conquer Schedule out your posts, plan weekly 20 minutes, 3-5 times a week Make it easy for people to find & friend you Consider running a social campaign
- 31. I love to provide a 10minute education segment for your LEAD group. Sign up sheet to discuss date and topic of choice Save My Contact: Direct: 832-289-4465 Email:sandra@wecoachthepros.com Website:www.WeCoachThePros.com
Editor's Notes
- My name is Julie Niehoff, I’m the Director of Education & Development at Constant Contact. I have been with Constant Contact since 2006, I am based in Austin, Texas and here is my contact information if you want to reach out following this session. Send me an email, find me on facebook or reach out on Twitter.
- Why are we here today? Because you know social media marketing is important to your business. But it’s also confusing and overwhelming – there’s a lot of social networks out there. You might not consider yourself a marketing expert, but now you have to know how to use all of these new tools. You might also not be comfortable using social media. It’s all looks and feels so new, and guess what – we’re all still figuring this out! Social media marketing changes every day. And it’s OK to be confused and overwhelmed…because we’re here to help!
- You are not the only one who needs help. We hear from people like you every day – small businesses and nonprofits who want to stand out from the pack, get more fans and followers, and spread the word about what they do on social media. Recent surveys we’ve done show that you are not alone in this [click to build] 54% of small businesses [click to build] and 57% of nonprofits say that they need help with social media marketing
- You probably have concerns about social media marketing. Many small businesses and nonprofit marketers think: [click to build] Social Media Marketing looks interesting, but… I will never have millions of fans …. [click to build] Using new, inbound marketing tools sound great, but… I don’t even know what I would talk about on social media…. [click to build] Paying close attention to what’s being said on social media sounds useful, but… I’ll never have a dedicated staff to do it right… [click to build] I hear about new networks everyday, but… I just don’t have the time to stay current
- Why is social media important for your business or nonprofit? It’s impacted businesses and nonprofits in a big way. It’s how you’re finding new customers or members, and how you’re staying top of mind for your current ones and making them loyal, repeat customers. Five years ago, in 2008, we asked small businesses what kinds of tools they were using for marketing. [click to build] Only 10% were using social media marketing. [click to next slide]
- Five years later – 2013 – that has gone up to 87%. Why? Because social media works. You’re small businesses – you don’t do things that don’t work. That’s quite a statistic, and shows just how integral social media has become as a marketing tool for all organizations.
- And the really good news is that you can do this! Because what you do have is powerful! You can successfully market your small business or association because you have… [click to build] Loyal, happy customers or supporters if you’re a nonprofit [click to build] An excellent customer experience [click to build] Interesting and important things to say!
- I want to start by helping you (or others in your organization) understand why a small business or nonprofit should be using social media.
- This is usually NOT a good reason for doing something: Everyone else is! But in this case, your colleagues and competitors are marketing with social media. [click to build] 93% of nonprofits are using social media [click to build] 87% of B2B – business to business are marketing with social media http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/b2b-social-media-marketing_b46556 [click to build] 86% of B2C – business to consumer are using social media http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/b2c-content-marketing_b46264 And that means if you’re not doing some kind of social media marketing for your organization, you’re not in the places where customers and supporters are looking for information. The people who are doing it – your competitors – have a big advantage because they’re reaching more people with their message.
- The social media impact on your business or organization is huge. It drives people to your door. [click to build] It influences purchasing – 74% of shoppers rely on social networks to guide purchase decisions. Social media has made it easier for people to buy from you. 2 out of 10 Facebook users have made a purchase by clicking on ads or comments [click to build] They tell your friends about you – 55% of people share information about their purchases on social media. [click to build] It influences people’s connections to nonprofits – 68% of people will go online and learn more about the charities and causes that their friends support when their friends post about it on social media. Purchasing stats: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/social-commerce_b46141 68% take the time to learn more about a charity if they see a friend posting about it http://mashable.com/2012/12/12/non-profits-social-media-infographic/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29 Consider how to add… Those referrals are very important to your business: 71% of consumers are more likely to purchase a product based on social media referrals. Every day, people are going online to review or recommend the businesses and nonprofits that they support, and people in their networks trust those referrals because they know the people who write them, or – if they don’t – they trust unbiased reviews from people just like them. Source: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/30239/71-More-Likely-to-Purchase-Based-on-Social-Media-Referrals-Infographic.aspx
- And this influence happens on social media because of audience engagement. We used to tell people things over the back fence, [click to build] now we tell everyone – our family, our friends, our colleagues, our clients, even our BFFs– through social media channels. It’s less about spending all of your time/money and energy finding new customers and more about fully engaging your existing happy customers and making it easy for them to tell others. The changes have leveled the playing field for smaller organizations like yours to compete with the big boys. The point we’re making is that social media is the new word of mouth. Social media helps to kickstart that word-of-mouth marketing. Because your messages have the chance to be amplified and shared, social media marketing will bring you new customers (and donors, supporters and volunteers if you’re a nonprofit, repeat business from your current customers, and referrals from your happy customers. Is this starting to make sense – why social media is important? It’s a part of your entire business. Social media, the social visibility that it gives you, and how your business and customers engage with each other make up what we call the engagement marketing cycle. Let’s look at the engagement marketing cycle, and talk about how social media and engagement work together in the day to day life of your business.
- We’ve been talking about who’s using social media and how it drives behavior. Now let’s think about the experience you provide through your interactions with customers or supporters and where social media fits in. [click to build] If you want social media to work for you, you have to create a WOW experience. Think about all the ways you interact with your customers or supporters. What’s something you can do for them that’s valuable? It doesn’t have to be anything huge an expensive. A WOW experience could be something small and meaningful like For example, the way you process a credit card – could be normal. But the way you wrap the purchase could be the WOW! Another very simple way to rise above the ordinary could be in the way you greet them at the door. If you work with other businesses, consider how you present proposals or project updates – are you thinking about the perception of you as a professional that you leave when you invest the time and care into the report’s presentation. If you’re a nonprofit, the WOW could be the way you show supporters how you carry out your mission by using photos to illustrate that story. Again, you don’t need to go to the extremes or way over the top. You do, however, need to help your business think about the spots where you’re going to do something that really creates a connection…that’s what it’s about…creating a connection. What those connections do is open a window of opportunity, an opportunity to ask them to stay connected with you, which brings us to the next step in the cycle… The reason you want to create a WOW opportunity is to get their attention, create a connection, and then ask them to stay in touch with you. [click to build] Leverage that WOW moment – ask them to connect with you (like you on Facebook) because they know that you’ll then engage them with content and other items of value to them. [click to build] Then engage with them online.! [click to build] As they interact with you, social media allows that engagement to be visible online – it’s seen by their networks and that helps to introduce you to a whole group of new people, who will become your next customers or supporters. That’s called social visibility, and really shows the power of social media. What I want you to take away from this – the engagement marketing cycle – is that social visibility – enhanced by technology – enables you to connect with your customers, get leads or grow supporters. Create that WOW experience – make the connection – encourage your customers or supporters to continue that experience with you by following you on social media, and then keep that cycle going.
- Now that we’ve laid out why you should be considering social media as part of your marketing mix, let’s jump into a reveal of the top 5 social networks.
- [click to build] These are what we collectively refer to as “The Top 5” social networks…there’s a pretty good chance that you’re using, or considering using, one of these. And we’re going to add Google+ as well, because while not everyone has adapted to using it, it’s an important element to consider for your search engine optimization – for getting found when someone does a search using Google. We’re going to walk through each of these, quickly discussing what each network is good for, who’s using it, etc. This isn’t going to be an in-depth analysis of each channel, or a thorough how-to for each…what we want to do is familiarize you with these Top 5 channels so you’ve got some more insight as you either confirm your decision to focus on one or as you weigh the decision on where to start. Also, one note: we haven’t listed these in a particular order of importance…we recognize that one organization might have more of a reason to use and focus on Facebook or Pinterest while another might exclusively use LinkedIn. [Speaker note: this would be a good place to do a “show of hands” exercise and find out how many in the audience are using these networks]
- Let’s get started with the big one, Facebook. It’s the most popular of the networks, with 1.1 billion users. [click to build] It spans all age groups, class and geography. [click to build] It’s the place where people go to find out what their friends and family are doing, and it’s a primary source of news and information for many – but Facebook is also where people look for interesting and useful content. [click to build] What do people share on Facebook? Just about everything. It’s as simple as a status update with a sentence or two. But many people and businesses also share multimedia – photos and video – and links to helpful information from their blog or from other blogs or websites. Facebook is the best place to go if you want to share engaging content that your Facebook fans interact with and respond to. And it’s the best of the social networks to use if you want reach a large audience because of its population. [click to build] Just about all types of businesses – business to consumer and business to business use Facebook, as well as nonprofits.
- Next we’ll discuss LinkedIn, which has 225 million users, and Primary Audience: has more of a business focus. It started as a network where people could post their resumes and search for jobs – and you can still do that Looking For: it’s become a great source of industry news. Your business or nonprofit can create a LinkedIn page. Share news – either about your organization or other happenings in your industry – or your blog posts, and talk about product information. Share testimonials from satisfied customers. Best for: LinkedIn is the best place to demonstrate your thought leadership as an expert in your industry. Used by: LinkedIn is primarily used by business to business – but B2C and nonprofits do use it in their marketing as well.
- Twitter is a feed of real-time updates and conversations. It has 228 million users. Primary Audience: A majority of them are young adults from late teens through 40s but you will find a bit of everyone on Twitter. In fact, Twitter’s fastest growing age demographic is 55 to 64 year olds, registering an increase in active users of 79%. Looking For: People join Twitter to find out the latest news and information, posts from brands and businesses, and to discover trends. You might know that Twitter has a 140-character limit – that’s all you’re allowed to use in a Twitter post, also known as a tweet. Best for: What do people share on Twitter? Links to news and tips, just plain text updates or comments, and links to information like blog posts or multimedia – photos and video they’ve created. Twitter is another great place to develop thought leadership. You can gain a following by sharing value – your original content and helpful content from others. Used by: Twitter has become a popular tool for B2C and nonprofits, but some B2Bs are starting to explore it too. Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook – those are the more established social media networks. They’ve been around for a while, and even if you haven’t used them, you’ve probably heard of them. Let’s now take a look at the 2 newer kids on the block – Pinterest and Google+.
- Pinterest Pinterest – which has 48 million users – is a social channel that relies heavily on visuals. Pinterest users create boards – think of bulletin boards – and pin images of things they like to them. Those images can link to anything – a recipe, a how-to video, or a product that you can purchase online – and they can take many forms of multimedia.Who’s using Pinterest? Women make up the majority – it’s a great tool for foodies to find recipes, and crafters to organize and display projects or provide links to their products on Etsy. Pinterest users pin photos, video and graphics of the things they’re interested in – not just products but tips and useful information. Pinterest is a great way for you to share products, how-to information or tips, and digital assets like e-books. Link those images to your website – make it easy for people to buy from you as soon as they see something they like on Pinterest. A lot of people are now using Pinterest as a way to discover or research things they want to buy – 21% of Pinterest users have purchased something they saw on Used by: There are a lot of B2C – business to customer there – because Pinterest has been a successful way to promote products. But anyone can use Pinterest if they have great visual content they want to share.
- Instagram is an app used on mobile devices. It is accessible for viewing on a desktop but it’s mostly mobile. It is all pictures. Users can add a link to a website or to a specific product with their photo but Intstagram is Mostly known for it’s filters that allow users to enhance their photos for beauty or effect. Example – black and white or sketch pencils Instagram is owned by Facebook. And it is where all the teens that were on Facebook have fled now that we are all there. It’s good for placing PEOPLE into the discussion of your products or services, use it to post pictures of people using or interacting with your brand/products/team. It’s mostly consumers and less about B2B. People can “like” your photo and hashtags do carryover between instagram, facebook as they do on twitter.
- Google+ has 359 million users – most of them are men, and its 2 biggest user groups are college students and software developers, but its audience is growing to include other groups as well. It’s similar to Facebook. You can share text updates, multimedia, and links to your content or content created by others – and that’s what users are looking for on Google+. The reason to think about Google+ is the fact that Google loves Google. Having a page on Google+ gives you a leg up on your competitors who aren’t there. When someone searches on Google, it’s going to look at its own resources first, so having a presence on Google+ can help you get to the top of a Google search. So take that thought leadership – your original content – and make sure to share it through Google+ to establish yourself as an expert. Businesses are still figuring out how to leverage Google+ - there’s not a dominant area yet; B2B, B2C and nonprofits have all jumped in. If you’re looking for even more information on the networks, we’ll cover that in the second session in this series, You’re Social, Now What? Making Social Media Work for You. Stats sources: Google + - men and students http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/social-media-stats-2012_b30651 Google + - students and software developers http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/social-media-revolution_b30974
- To recap – here’s a chart of the social networks we just talked about. Again – this is a brief overview. You’ll get this chart when you receive today’s worksheet/slides – later on, sit down with this chart and think about where you think your business or nonprofit could start on social media.
- Let’s start with Facebook – the most popular of the social media networks. It has 1.1 billion users, and many small businesses and nonprofits are already using it in their marketing.
- Fortunately, we have a rule of thumb at Constant Contact that will help you come up with the right things to talk about on social media: [click to build] 50% of the content you post should be aimed at getting likes, shares, and comments. This means that it needs to be entertaining and invite conversation. Asking questions, asking for opinions, using images and video, as well as being timely (is there an event or holiday coming up?) [click to build] 30% of your content should be useful/informative. Provide information about your industry that your customers will find interesting. Become known as a source of important information and tips---whether that content is from your own blog or from other blogs you trust. [click to build] If you do that stuff correctly, then you’ve earned the right for 20% of your content to be direct CTAs for your business. This doesn’t necessarily have to be BUY NOW! I want to show you some examples of how Constant Contact has used the 50-30-20 rule – and – by the way – just to keep it simple, all of the examples I’m using today are from Facebook.
- Click through the examples, feel free to share stories about local businesses doing a good job… 50% of the content you post should be aimed at getting likes, shares, and comments. This means that it needs to be entertaining and invite conversation. Asking questions, asking for opinions, using images and video, as well as being timely (is there an event or holiday coming up?)
- Click through the examples, feel free to share stories about local businesses doing a good job… 30% of your content should be useful/informative. Provide information about your industry that your customers will find interesting. Become known as a source of important information and tips---whether that content is from your own blog or from other blogs you trust.
- Click through the examples, feel free to share stories about local businesses doing a good job… [click to build] If you’ve done the other stuff correctly, then you’ve earned the right for 20% of your content to be direct CTAs for your business. This doesn’t necessarily have to be BUY NOW!
- If you’re completely stumped as to what to say on social media in general, or if you have a day or week where there’s not a lot going on, these questions could help you come up with some ideas: What’s new at your business or organization? Do you have a new product or service? New employee? Think about what’s different that your audience would be interested in. Think about one of the Constant Contact posts – we announced changes to one of our products that were suggested by customers. Think about your success stories. Did you get a great email or review from someone who was thrilled with how you helped them? Share it! Or bring them in and have them do a video testimonial about you. We regularly post customer stories on our blog, where they talk about how they used online marketing to solve a problem or achieve a goal. are the people you haven’t heard from have the same question or topic on their minds. Be proactive. Answer questions with a brief explanation on Facebook, or with a video, and say “We’ve been getting this question lately, and you might have the same issue, so here are some tips to help.” Think about those Facebook posts we shared about Facebook’s newsfeed algorithm – people were asking about it at the time, so we created those tips.
- How does this really work for a small organization? How can you create simple content that’s effective and keeps fans engaged? Let’s take a look at one of our all-time favorite examples. Here we have Donna’s Gourmet Cookies. [click to build] During the holidays they posted a picture of some of the new cookies they were making. [click to next slide]
- Notice the comment the posted along with the picture – “Yep, we have them.” No complex marketing message, no convoluted marketing speak here…just a simple statement. [click to build] Now look at the engagement that took place: 10 people “Liked” the post…and 1 person shared the picture! These were people choosing to like the image and one even deciding that she wanted to share it with her network. Let’s follow the person who shared this content. [click to next slide]
- Here’s the post as it showed up on one person’s Facebook feed: this is a fan who shared the picture with her network, adding her own endorsement of Donna’s and her cookies! And it got results! 5 more people liked the post/picture, 4 people wrote comments, including this one……where a friend of the fan who shared wants to know where Donna’s is located…SO THAT SHE CAN GO BUY SOME COOKIES! This is someone who didn’t know about Donna’s Cookies. She didn’t know they made cookies she’d like, and now, thanks to the engagement between Donna’s and its customers, the social visibility of that Facebook post that was shared – is going to go there and become a customer herself. Remember the engagement marketing cycle, and how you can engage your current customers to gain word of mouth? THAT’S the power of engagement and what happens when it leads to social visibility! [click to next slide]
- Now that we’ve shared with you why social media is important and how it’s driving decisions, and we’ve given you an introduction to the Big 5 social networks and how to think about what you want to say, it’s time to get started. If you’re just getting started, we recommend you start with with Facebook – the most popular of the social media networks. [click to next slide]
- Why should you start here? It’s the most popular network – most of the people who use social media are on Facebook. Which means your audience is there already And it’s easy to get started – we have 3 easy tips: For those of you who are already on Facebook, you might want to make sure you’ve completed all the best practices from these tips – check your page later on. And if you have done all of these things, you can move on to applying them to other social networks you’ve been using.
- First, create your Facebook page. [click to build] There are 2 different accounts that you can create on Facebook, so I wanted to talk about them, what the differences are, and what you should do. You can create a Facebook page for your business or a personal profile. It’s really important to start with a Facebook business page and not a personal profile, because they have different features. A Facebook business page is set up to promote your business – it has places for your information, a map, link to your website, and the ability to add things like a menu if you’re a restaurant. The business page also comes with statistics – Facebook calls these insights – that show you how your posts did, and how many fans you’re growing over time. The personal profile does not have those settings. If you’ve already started a Facebook account for your business or organization and you’re not sure what you have, take a look. If you have friends, you started a personal profile. If you have Likes, you created a business page. [click to build] Now that you know which account to start with, go to facebook.com/pages/create and create your business page. [click to build] After you create your page, fill out all the information for your business – address, phone number, website, hours, description. [click to build] Make sure you add your logo – that smaller photo on the left – and a cover photo, that big horizontal photo at the top of your page. A mistake a lot of organizations make is not filling out their information and not adding photos – you need to use this Facebook page to build your brand. This is how people search now – they’re looking for an official presence on Facebook. Having a complete page shows that this is your official home on Facebook and that you are active online.
- Now you are official! Your page has all of your information and photos. It’s time to tell everyone about your page. [click to build] Link to your page in your email marketing. You might want to send a separate email announcing your page and telling people what they can find there. [click to build] Put signs up in your physical location – in your store or office. [click to build] Make sure you have a link to your Facebook page on your website [click to build] Don’t forget to tell people at your events – include it in your event communications [click to build] Put it on your business cards to let new customers or clients know that you are social The key here: any place you talk to your customers or supporters online or in-person is a place that you should mention your Facebook presence.
- Now that you’ve told people about your page, start posting. [click to build] Remember the 50-30-20 formula. Half of your posts should be conversational and entertaining to get likes, shares and comments from your fans. 30% of your posts should provide value to your fans – share useful information that can help them achieve success. Of course, you have to sell what you do, so make sure 20% of your posts are about your business – inform your fans about what’s new, and what you’re offering them. [click to build] If you get stuck – remember those 3 questions you can ask to give you some content inspiration: what’s new at your business/organization? what did you do recently to help someone achieve success? what advice have people been asking you for lately? [click to build] Or come right out and ask your audience – we’re now on social media. What do you want to hear about from us on Facebook? Now you’re ready to go – you’ve created a Facebook page, your audience knows they can find you there, and you’re offering them helpful, interesting, engaging content that will give you great social visibility. What do you do next?
- Whenever you’re trying to think about building new content, I want you to do this exercise that will help you with your creation process. I’ll pause here to walk you through it: think about the 50-30-20 rule.[click to build] What’s something you could post for your small business or nonprofit that will get you likes, shares or comments? Is it a fill-in-the-blank post? It could be about your industry. Remember the one that Constant Contact did: I am thankful for ____ as a small business owner. If you’re in a retail business, think about something like When I’m buying a new pair of shoes, they need to be ____ - people could say comfortable, match my clothing, appropriate for work, etc. If you’re a nonprofit, try something about volunteerism: The best thing about volunteering for the United Way is ____.It could also be about something you and your followers are experiencing right now. If it’s a heat wave in the summer, ask them to fill in the blank about how they’re keeping cool. If it’s seasonal, ask them what they like best about the fall.[click to build] Now think about something you could share with your followers that’s useful or informative. One of our examples was a statistic – shoppers spent $5.5 billion at small businesses on Small Business Saturday. Find interesting facts or statistics about your organization or your industry. If you’re a nonprofit – think locally; how many hours have people volunteered this month? [click to build] Finally, think about something you can post that’s directly about your business. Do you have a new product? Are you holding an event? What’s new and different today? What’s something important that’s coming up? Tell your followers they’re the first to know.
- The next thing you can do is to think about planning out your posts. You could take a look at a week at a time or one channel at a time. Let’s try it with Facebook. This format [for speakers: which they’ll see in the worksheet/copy of the slides] will help you plan your week of social media. You’re going to fill this out later, but I wanted to take a minute to walk you through the steps. To get started, look at the content ideas you wrote down in the last exercise and think about the questions you could ask or other examples of content I showed you earlier. Then think about the week ahead. What’s one thing you could post each day about your organization? Start by filling out the topic from those content ideas. Next, what can this post help you do? Remember the 50-30-20 rule. Will it help you get likes, shares or comments? Is it useful and informative? Or does it share information about your business or nonprofit? What type of content are you sharing? Is it a text update, link to something on your website, link to someone else’s content, a photo or a video? We talked earlier about each social network. You might be using one or more of them already, or are thinking of adding a channel or two to your marketing. Which social networks would you use to share this content? Now, decide when you will share this content on each day. Is it in the morning, afternoon or evening. You can fill out this worksheet for each of the 5 days, but you don’t have to post every day. The key is to be in touch with your audience a couple of times a week so you’re top of mind with them. You’re engaging with them. Each post is a thoughtful post, and will help you grow your relationship with your current followers, and help you to gain new ones. Here’s a quick example of how you could fill this out: [click to build] On Monday, I could post a Monday motivation quote – find an image online about your industry or a related topic – if you go to BrainyQuote.com, you can find quotes about different topics or search by famous authors. This is a post that will stir conversation – part of our 50% of content focused on getting likes, shares or comments. [click to build] The next day, I’m going to links to some tips I wrote about on my blog – this is helpful information for my fans, and is part of the 30% of posts that should be useful and informative. [click to build] On Wednesday, I’m going to do a fill in the blank post. That’s another post that can get me some likes, shares or comments. [click to build] Thursday’s post is part of the 20% of content about my business – we’re having a sale this weekend, so I want to let my fans know in advance and link to a coupon on my website. [click to build] Everyone’s winding down on Friday. It’s the end of the week so I want to share something that’s interesting and useful to my fans – I’ll give them a fun fact. I did it! There is one week of social media ready to go. [click to build] Once you’ve finished, pat yourself on the back and celebrate – it could be with a glass of wine or some chocolate – whatever you want to do to celebrate. You are on your way to social media success.
- [For speakers: this is a blank version of the prior slide, and will be included at full size in the PDF that can be sent after the session.] Let’s make it easier. You could take a look at a week at a time or one channel at a time. Let’s try it with Facebook. This worksheet will help you plan your week of social media. You’re going to fill this out later, but I wanted to take a minute to walk you through the steps. To get started, look at the content ideas you wrote down in the last exercise and think about the questions you could ask or other examples of content I showed you earlier. Then think about the week ahead. What’s one thing you could post each day about your organization? Start by filling out the topic from those content ideas. Next, what can this post help you do? Remember the 50-30-20 rule. Will it help you get likes, shares or comments? Is it useful and informative? Or does it share information about your business or nonprofit? What type of content are you sharing? Is it a text update, link to something on your website, link to someone else’s content, a photo or a video? We talked earlier about each social network. You might be using one or more of them already, or are thinking of adding a channel or two to your marketing. Which social networks would you use to share this content? Now, decide when you will share this content on each day. Is it in the morning, afternoon or evening. You can fill out this worksheet for each of the 5 days, but you don’t have to post every day. The key is to be in touch with your audience a couple of times a week so you’re top of mind with them. You’re engaging with them. Each post is a thoughtful post, and will help you grow your relationship with your current followers, and help you to gain new ones. Here’s a quick example of how you could fill this out: [click to build] On Monday, I could post a Monday motivation quote – find an image online about your industry or a related topic – if you go to BrainyQuote.com, you can find quotes about different topics or search by famous authors. This is a post that will stir conversation – part of our 50% of content focused on getting likes, shares or comments. [click to build] The next day, I’m going to links to some tips I wrote about on my blog – this is helpful information for my fans, and is part of the 30% of posts that should be useful and informative. [click to build] On Wednesday, I’m going to do a fill in the blank post. That’s another post that can get me some likes, shares or comments. [click to build] Thursday’s post is part of the 20% of content about my business – we’re having a sale this weekend, so I want to let my fans know in advance and link to a coupon on my website. [click to build] Everyone’s winding down on Friday. It’s the end of the week so I want to share something that’s interesting and useful to my fans – I’ll give them a fun fact. I did it! There is one week of social media ready to go. [click to build] Once you’ve finished, pat yourself on the back and celebrate – it could be with a glass of wine or some chocolate – whatever you want to do to celebrate. You are on your way to social media success.
- What best practices should you keep in mind when you’re planning your content and creating content calendars? [click to build] Get people excited for your newsletter. You do that by offering great content in each newsletter that your audience loves. You can also remind them or give a preview of what’s coming up in the newsletter. Talk about it on Facebook – our monthly newsletter comes out on Friday and we’ve got a special coupon for our subscribers. Not subscribed yet? Here’s the link you can use to sign up. [click to build] Plan weekly – things change, so planning far in advance doesn’t make sense [click to build] Schedule for flexibility – leave one or two posts “open” each week for something that comes up or to share something interesting you found. [click to build] At the end of the week, start scheduling some content ideas for the next week.
- What best practices should you keep in mind when you’re planning your content and creating content calendars? [click to build] Get people excited for your newsletter. You do that by offering great content in each newsletter that your audience loves. You can also remind them or give a preview of what’s coming up in the newsletter. Talk about it on Facebook – our monthly newsletter comes out on Friday and we’ve got a special coupon for our subscribers. Not subscribed yet? Here’s the link you can use to sign up. [click to build] Plan weekly – things change, so planning far in advance doesn’t make sense [click to build] Schedule for flexibility – leave one or two posts “open” each week for something that comes up or to share something interesting you found. [click to build] At the end of the week, start scheduling some content ideas for the next week.
- Consider running a social campaign – you post something on social media, in this case we are talking about Facebook. And You like-gate it, which just means that someone has to click like to get to it. Important Note – to run any kind of campaign that is like-gated on facebook you MUST use a 3rd part (Constant Contact is one of them) because Facebook does not allow it without them. That is because they do not want the liability of having to cover your sweepstakes or giveaway if for any reason their like button fails on a given day and your entrants is unable to participate. It’s easy to find apps (the 3rd parties) to do this. Constant Contact, again, is one of them. You can offer a free download or a discount/offer and when someone clicks LIKE on your page, the content Is made avaiable to them. Those that already “like” you will automatically have access to it. You don’t offer this anywhere else, only on your Facebook page. You also want to email your customers to let them know that the deal is there… 96% of people that like your page never will return. It is up to you to bring them back. And they will come for a free download or special offer. You will want to make it easy to share by adding share links (this is built into the Constant Contact social campaign tools) And you will also want to have people join your mailing list from the campaign, if they are not already on your list. This is also built into the Constant Contact tools)
- Before I log in, just with a quick show of hands, how many of you use Constant Contact already? I’m going to log in to a live account, for the purposes of this demonstration, and when I do you may not see a screen that looks exactly like what you see when you log in to your account. I have special access to the newest updates and even some test tools, and I tell you that because what is on my screen may not look exactly like what you have on your screen when you log in. CLICK Some of you see a screen that looks like this [CLICK] when you first log in and others may see a screen that looks like this [CLICK] Two different front doors, depending on how you found us and which version of our tools you are using, But both lead to the same basic functionality – (if you have time, you may decide to go deeper and explain this) The version on the top shows the home page for people that use our “stand alone” products and the one below shows the Constant Contact “toolkit” which bundles all of the tools together. I can answer questions about the difference between the two at the end of the session as needed, but again – both of these home pages are just different front doors to get to the same room full of great tools. So I’m going to open up my account now and we will get started with the demonstration.
- At the end, post this slide while you take questions. MAKE SURE YOU ADD YOUR Call To Action!!!!! Note – pricing slides are next in case the question comes up!!!
- CLICK ONCE for a more detailed view of what’s what…
- My name is Julie Niehoff, I’m the Director of Education & Development at Constant Contact. I have been with Constant Contact since 2006, I am based in Austin, Texas and here is my contact information if you want to reach out following this session. Send me an email, find me on facebook or reach out on Twitter.