Category

Social Media

Jul 14
1

Social Media Do’s & Don’ts

By | Consulting, Marketing, Social Media | No Comments

If you’re a small business owner, there is a chance that you are maintaining your own business social media pages. The posting process may be simple, but there are many factors to consider when writing and curating content for your brand.

The line between personal and business accounts can be somewhat blurred. If you are in the “spotlight” think about implementing these tips for your personal social media accounts. When your brand starts out on social media, cross-promoting on your personal accounts is the easiest way to establish a fan-base. Make sure to maintain similar brand standards when using your personal accounts to promote your business pages. If you’re unsure how to interact with your audience, check out these 10 social media do’s and don’ts for your business.

DO’S:

Keep a consistent voice

There should be 100% consistency in the voice of all posts across all of your channels (social media accounts, website, blog). Establish your brand guidelines and a overall brand voice. This is especially important if there is more than one content creator.  Train content managers in the tone of the brand and how to respond to your audience. Your audience shouldn’t notice any difference between posts curated by yourself versus your administrator.

Post relative, industry related links

Be strategic in your content sharing. Showcase your influencers, grasp of the latest technologies and what resources you use to stay on top of your industry. Your audience is already interested in your field, so give them relevant industry content to further their knowledge. Posting non-trending content or articles that are not related to your field, can lead to unfollows and discourage your audience from using your services. Share posts by business pages/people you admire, follow or are connected to. This is also a great networking tactic and can lead to shares of your online content.

Request engagement

Write thoughtful and engaging social media content. Your content should help you connect with your audience by requesting specific engagement. Ask questions, opinions, advice or personal experiences. Interact with your followers by requesting feedback on your services or asking for recommendations on how to better serve them. Find a creative, indirect way to ask for likes, shares and retweets. When people are engaging with your content they are connecting with your brand, gaining trust in your services and driving your organic reach.

Give Expert Advice

Offer your audience solid industry advice to showcase your expertise. Position yourself as a subject matter expert in your field. This is self-promotion in a way that helps your audience and doesn’t come across as spammy. Posting free expert advice develops audience trust and helps create brand awareness. Post links to your blog with more info on the posted topic, or offer your services with links to your website.

Know what social platforms to use 

Your business does not necessarily have to be on EVERY social media platform. There are several factors to consider when choosing what the right social media platforms are for your business.

  • Determine why you need social media. Do you want to drive traffic to your site, increase customer engagement, or improve SEO? Once you have determined these goals, you can make an educated choice on what platforms are best for your business.
  • Identify your audience & social media platform. Who are they, what social media platforms are they already using and what kind of content do they enjoy? These questions are all important when determining your audience. Evaluate each social network to decide which will be the most effective in reaching your social media goals.
  • How much are you capable of? This is some professional’s eight hour a day job. Producing original content, curating shareable online content, engaging with your audience and scheduling posts can take up a lot of you or your staff’s time.
  • Be picky about your platforms. Only chose two or three social platforms. Use your earlier findings to determine where your presence will be the most effective. Make sure that you are posting engaging content on your social media pages and keeping a regular social media schedule.

DON’TS:

Like your own posts as your business

Liking your own posts is a big no-no in the marketing world. You created the content, so it is already known that you “like” what you posted. Your audience is smart enough to know that you are trying to bump your content back into the newsfeed. You don’t want to be seen as someone who is taking shortcuts or is a spammer. It is unprofessional and gives the impression that your brand doesn’t have a grasp on social media.

On the flip side, do share your business content from your personal accounts. This is especially helpful on social media sites like LinkedIn. You should also encourage your employees to share, like and comment on posts by your brand. Set up an employee sharing plan that will make them brand ambassadors and boost your organic reach.

Dish out too much personality

This is your business, but it does not give you a free pass to post anything you want on your social media page. Keep in mind your company’s reputation and to keep postings within your brand standards and voice. Be professional and only produce content that your audience would approve of.

Things you really shouldn’t post: ton of selfies, political or religious views, family on-goings, how you are feeling sad a lot, airing out personal or family issues, negative feelings about people or companies, any negativity in general.

It’s ok to use humor, as long as your audience would think it’s funny. If you are targeting millennials, you can be more edgy in your posts. If your audience mainly consists of baby boomers, use more caution in what viral content you serve them. If your audience consists of all ages, try to keep your content PG and family friendly.

Use hashtags where they don’t belong

Don’t abuse the power of the hashtag. The best places to use hashtags are Twitter and Instagram. Using hashtags on sites like Facebook or LinkedIn, shows a lack of social media know-how. Don’t use too many or irrelevant hashtags when starting out on social media. Take a less is more approach. Research shows that Instagram posts with three hashtags get the most interaction. Try to only use five hashtags at the most and don’t use “spammy” hashtags. Social media pages that abuse hashtags to reach more users, come across as unprofessional and not very authentic.

Take a social media hiatus

Don’t take long breaks from posting. Most importantly, don’t give a dramatic reason as to why you are leaving social media. It’s ok to take a break for personal reasons, but don’t make a big deal about it. Create a social media calendar and use a scheduling tool to keep your pages active while you are away. Ask a member of your staff to monitor the accounts and keep the engagement going. Make sure someone is responding to questions, comments, complaints, check-ins and reviews.

Have incomplete profiles

When people visit your social media, they shouldn’t question the authenticity of the pages. Things like no profile photo, missing phone numbers, no website link, and lack of location send warning flags to visitors. They should see all this information upfront and be able to find the answers they came to your page for initially. Keep everything current and updated, including profile and cover photos, website links and company descriptions.

One last friendly reminder. Do always ways check spelling, grammar and the source of your links and shares. Don’t use ALL-CAPS and don’t use too many exclamation points!!!!!

Jul 07
0

3 Facts to Consider When Implementing Facebook Live in your Practice

By | Consulting, Marketing, Social Media | No Comments

Facebook Live is gaining momentum, as the social network’s latest addition helps businesses get exposure, and get in front of more of their customers. Although navigating this new broadcasting feature can be difficult, it can provide your practice with not only vital video content, but the ability to reach more and new users in an appealing, millennial driven way. Per Facebook’s figures, on average, users watch a live video more than three times longer when it is live. Facebook also says users comment over 10 times more frequently on Facebook Live videos than other videos. Keep in mind these 3 simple steps when integrating Facebook Live into your practice:

1. Keep your Focus Singular

Understanding why you are diving into Facebook Live is really the first step in adding it to your social and online marketing strategy. Do you have a big event to promote, or are you trying to connect with your customers on a deeper level? Make sure you keep a singular focus when you start to broadcast your video, and keep the conversation on point.

2. Timing is Everything

Keep in mind not only the length of the video, but when you want to go live. Is your audience working professionals? Consider 1-3 p.m. during normal lunch hours, or from 6-9 p.m. after work. Good news about after-hours posting, videos are encouraged to be shorter in length… between 8-12 minutes in fact.

3. Consider Partnerships

Most practices don’t have an existing large following, let alone one that regular engages with you. Think about utilizing Facebook Live as a more impactful tool when considering other partnerships in your community. Ask for endorsements from influencers that you may have partnered with. Ask for influencers to do a Live video of their post-op visit. Stage an interview with the doctor with a popular Q&A session to utilize the live comment feature. Remember to keep it a light, informative and authentic. Watchers will want to see something genuine and somewhat spontaneous.

Lastly, don’t be discouraged if you don’t have a large audience at first. Since a non-sponsored post only reaches a small percentage of your audience, and Live videos will reach the large majority, it’s worth trying out to engage your current audience and possibly re-engage with those that have fallen off.

Have fun!

Jun 02
0

6 Reasons You Should Blog for your Business

By | Consulting, Marketing, Social Media | No Comments

Why Blog? Blogging can be a crucial tool in your overall marketing plan. Why not take advantage of this low-risk content marketing strategy? If you’re not sure what a blog can do for you, here are 6 reasons you should blog for your business.

Create Brand Awareness

If you are working toward building your brand recognition, a blog can reinforce your brand message. This gives you the opportunity to show your unique voice, what makes your brand special. A blog is the perfect platform to inform your audience of who you are and what your company has to offer. Show your personality, skills, values and passions. A blog offers insights into your company, philosophy, employees and ideas. These branding techniques, in addition to your logo, will help jump start your brand awareness.

Gain Credibility

Blogging is a great way to gain credibility in your market. By authoring and controlling your own content, you can begin to gain the trust of your audience. You are in charge of your own reputation management and can show the value of your business. Give your product or service a voice and use that voice to show your authority in your field. Develop content that answers your audience’s questions, before they ask them.

Blogging can also help your website’s credibility. Every blog is one more indexed page on your website. Your blog contributes to your website’s SEO, which can also help raise your Google ranking. This means that you will show up higher in search engines, potentially increasing traffic to your website.

Showcase Your Expertise

Blogging can help you position yourself as a subject matter expert in your field. Show off your knowledge of your industry and what resources you have available to you. Comment on up-to-the-minute news topics, market trends and groundbreaking technologies. Show that you are a leader in your industry, not simply a follower. This information will benefit your audience, as well as help consumers gain confidence in your business. After realizing your expertise, consumers are more likely to choose you for the service they need.

Build Up Valuable Content

The effort you put into writing now, can benefit you in the future. You will be building up valuable content that is out there forever! Your blogs are resources of information for your products or services. This is media that YOU own, that is stored in an easy to access, streamlined CMS.

Having this all in one place will help you stay focused on your content marketing strategy. Check your blog analytics to track your most popular topics and build on those subjects. Use the blog analytics to shape your overall strategy.

Use your content to create E-books, webinars, infographics and other downloadable material. Give freebies to readers & use this as a way to capture information like email addresses.

Create a Social Media Buzz

Use your blog to strengthen your social reach. Premiere your blog with a crossover social media campaign. This will increase the visibility of your brand, showcase your blog and drive traffic to your website. Share on all your personal social media pages, business pages and ask others to share. Get your blog out there: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest. This helps expose your business to a new audience that may not even know they need your services yet. Include social sharing buttons with each blog post and encourage readers to share your content.

Free Marketing

If your marketing budget is tight, blogging can be a very cost-effective tool. If you already have a website, add a blog page. If you do not have an active website for your business, you can start with a free blog from a website like WordPress.

A blog can offer you free marketing and free PR. Your blog is a long-term asset that creates a clear brand voice, brand awareness, showcases your expertise and promotes products or services. Use your blog to send readers to your other social media accounts or link to your current promotional campaigns. A simple call to action in your post, could convert readers into new leads.

Networking

Use your blog as a platform to connect with influencers and reputable brands in your industry. Share and publish your blogs on your personal LinkedIn page, in LinkedIn groups and on your LinkedIn business page to widen your reach. Build positive relationships that could result in more exposure for your brand. Networking can lead to potential partnerships, guest blog opportunities, podcasts or even invitations to speak at lectures. The possibilities are endless, once you start to build valuable connections.

When you use a blog as a content marketing strategy, you will see results over time. Now that you know what blogging can do for your business, are you willing to take the plunge?

May 04
0

Why You Need a Social Media Calendar

By | Marketing, Social Media | No Comments

If you think that you don’t need a social media calendar for your online marketing strategy, you are missing out big time. Why should you even bother? A social media calendar along with a social media scheduling tool, can streamline the posting process & save you tons of time. There are many different scheduling softwares to choose from: Hootsuite, Buffer, Edgar, Sprout Social to name a few. Combine these forces & keep your social media on track and working for your business. Here are six reasons why you should add a social media calendar to your online marketing plan:

Get organized now, avoid chaos later.

Deadlines, marketing campaigns, personal post, charity, local events…these post can be overwhelming. Sit down and map out your anticipated posts on a calendar template. Take the time to enter each post into your scheduling tool. If you can preschedule your entire month, you will be set up for success. You never know when something is going to come up, but you will know that your content is ready to go and your campaigns are on track. Your schedule will help you contribute more to more social media platforms, without the stress.

Collaborate with your team without confusion.

Do you need your copywriter or administrator to double check a post? They can easily refer to the social media calendar & edit posts set up in your scheduling tool. Find a cool meme that would complement your post for next Friday? It’s easy to add additional graphics, hashtags, links and even videos to your pre-scheduled posts. These are the details that will take your social media to the next level. You will have a central location for all of your social media channels, that is  organized and easy to reference back to.

Maintain brand consistency.

Keep your message clear and concise over all your different social media platforms. Your calendar serves as a template of what kind of posts your brand wants to maintain. After the posts are set up in your scheduler, most tools allow you to set up feeds, where you can quickly review your latest posts. This also allows you to keep up with the quota you set for your weekly social media posts, and keep track of where you are lacking or running behind.

Map out where you should fill in the blanks.

Social media content should not just be marketing campaigns. Rotate what kind of content you are serving to the public: promotions, campaigns, blog posts, social commentary, or goings about in your office. This is also your chance to show the personality of your brand. Look at your calendar thoughtfully, find the blank spots in your schedule and fill them with interesting content from reputable brands. Show your audience where your interests lie and what influencers are important to your brand. This also gives you the time to add in last minute articles of hot topics or current events.

Serves as a database for your content.

Your calendar is a map of your future posts, as well as a record of your previous content. Most schedulers allow you to look into past scheduled posts. This is great when you decide to create new social media accounts & want access to your previous content, without having to scroll through Facebook or Twitter. This will also help to keep you from posting the same articles, graphics or other content more than once. 

Measure your success.

Use your calendar and your social media analytics to make educated decisions about future posting. Some schedulers provide basic analytics and some advanced versions can create social media reports for you. Even Twitter & Facebook provide you with their own analytic reports. Check your results, see what’s working and what needs to be improved on. 

Make a social media calendar for your business & stick to it! Get it done ahead of time and you will be posting like the pros.

Apr 13
0

3 Steps to Choosing the Right Social Media Platform

By | Marketing, Social Media | No Comments

How do I know what social media platform to use for my business?

The answer is not so simple. It depends on your type of business, audience & what you are capable of when it comes to time and resources. But, if you put in some hard work there will be pay-off. Social media is a great way to communicate with consumers, help solidify your brand & even gain potential leads for your business. These 3 steps will help you chose the best social media platforms for your business.

Step 1: Identify your Target Audience

Try to understand your audience by examining a few things about them

  • Who are they?
  • What social media platforms do they use?
  • How often are they on these platforms?
  • What kind of online content do they enjoy?

The more you know about your audience, the easier it will be to choose platforms & meet their needs. Look at your competitor’s social media presence, see what they are doing well & what is getting the most engagement.

Step 2: Know your Platforms

To make an educated choice on social media platforms, you need to know what they are and how they are different. This will help you determine which platform offers the most potential to reach your specific audience. Here’s is a quick breakdown of the most popular social media platforms for businesses.

Twitter– This social network is limited to 140 characters per post, or tweet. Even less characters, if you are including an image in your post. Twitter is like an on ongoing conversation, or a quick text message.  This is the most “in the moment” social media platform & is perfect for rapid posting. Twitter is great for making important announcements, introducing new technologies & breaking news.

Use the power of hashtags & “@” mentions to connect with leaders, innovators & vendors in your industry. If you are actively blogging for your business, Twitter can be a great way to post your links & connect with others.

Facebook– This is the largest social network, with over 1 billion users. Facebook is a great way to connect people to your business, locally & worldwide. This social media platform is usually beneficial to any type of business, because of the versatility. It is the perfect place to work on branding your business by sharing videos, photos and text updates. Users can even leave reviews, which strengthens the reputation of your business.

Facebook can be more low maintenance than other platforms, with just a few posts a week. This gives you a chance to represent your business, give the followers an inside look, and gives you a platform to show your expertise. Just make sure you are responding to questions & comments or redirecting followers to the appropriate contact info or website.

LinkedIn– This is a networking site that is a great place to connect with others in your industry or other local businesses. LinkedIn is all about growing business connections. This is a place to get your services out there, as well as give advice & ask questions of others in your industry.

LinkedIn in also an ideal place to post your blogs & will help gain awareness for your brand. You may not always connect your business directly with consumers on this platform, but it is a good practice to have a professional LinkedIn page. This page will also help your employees have a stronger personal LinkedIn profile page.

Instagram– This visual platform is great for showcasing the creative and personal side of your business. If your business is personal and likes to have fun, Instagram is the platform for you. It allows posting of photos and videos up to 15 seconds. There are tons of filters you can apply to your photos & videos to give them a cool modern or retro look. Instagram also uses hashtags to help users search for keywords, that can lead to your photos. Research what hashtags are working for popular accounts & apply that knowledge to your own hashtags.

Are your employees taking selfies & bringing unique and special touches to your office? Snap a picture and post it on Instagram. Most phones have quality cameras these days, so it’s easier than ever to photograph what makes your business unique. Followers like accounts that are very active, so make sure you are posting daily.

YouTube– This is a very powerful visual tool, that only allows video.  If your business has any video content at all, start a YouTube channel. You don’t have to be that active on this platform, but it is a great place to upload your videos. Having your own channel gives you a place to send consumers and is easy to advertise across platforms.

For example, consumer testimonials can be uploaded to YouTube & shared onto Facebook. From there your audience can click through to any other videos you have available. Who knows! Your videos could even go viral! Viewers LOVE instructional videos, demonstration videos & videos showcasing new technology. So, go ahead and show them why you are the best in your market!

Google+– This is a social network created by Google. A lot of people think that Google+ is a ghost town, but it can do more for your business than you think. It is very simple to automate Google+, by connecting it to your Facebook posts. This can mean very little work, with BIG benefits.

The BEST thing about this platform is any content you put on Google+, can help your business google ranking. Google is the number one search engine in the world. Everything you post on you Google Plus for Business page is immediately indexed by Google. Which means, what you post to your page can rank in search results even if your website doesn’t.

Pinterest- This is another visual platform that works as a digital bulletin board. Users identify their interests & use these keywords to search for different information, pin ideas for later & organize on different boards. Pinterest is like a search engine for decorating, cooking, fashion, wedding planning… the list goes on and on. Through the discovery of images, users can click through to what interests them. From there, users are redirected to the website where the original content was posted. Pinterest is a leading platform for traffic referrals.

This platform does not work for every business, but it can be helpful in certain circumstances. For example, an office administrator could pin posts from the company blogs or even pin images of glasses offered in the optical shop. This would be a great way to drive traffic to your company’s website.

Check out this infographic by Leverage, for any easy visualization of this information.

 

Step 3: Making the Choice

Determine How much you are capable of. It takes a lot of time, energy and resources to be successful at social media. You need the content to post & the capacity to deliver on social media. Depending on whether or not you can hire someone to monitor your accounts, it’s best to use a “less is more” approach.

Be picky. Only chose two or three social platforms. Use your knowledge of each platform to carefully determine where your audience is & where they will be the most responsive. Make sure that you are posting engaging content on your social media pages & keeping a regular social media schedule.

You don’t have to be a master of all social media platforms. But with a little time & research, you can be awesome at a few.