a beginners guide to social media

A Beginners Guide to Social MediaFOR SMALL BUSINESSES

ALISON BOYLE – LA MARKETING

Ready to connect to a wider audience?◦ Do you want to understand how to integrate Social Media into your business?◦ Let’s get started with these steps to make social media marketing work for you…

◦ TOOL TIPS, links to helpful websites

◦ TOP TIPS, some shortcut support.

Why Social Media for Small Businesses?

1. Lots to accomplish with limited resources

2. Traditional marketing can be a drain on your funds

3. Social Media marketing low cost, giving a direct line to current as prospective customers

4. Trade off – What you save in ££’s you’ll invest in Time.

5. Need to be smart and efficient to achieve the results you need.

Learn how to establish your brand using Social Media

DO YOUR HOMEWORK

1. Behind every exceptional social media campaign, there is a great strategy.

2. Social Media is all about connecting and communicating with your audience.

3. This requires an intimate understanding of your current and potential customers

Learn how to establish your brand using Social MediaDEFINE YOUR AUDIENCE

1. Distinguish individual character profiles by age, gender, interests, profession.

2. Write down the details and find images that represent your target audience.

Learn how to establish your brand using Social Media

CRYSTALIZE YOUR MESSAGE

1. Based on your target audience, what are the key problems or concerns you can address or solve?

2. Expand – define those pain points for each character and write it under each profile.

3. Write – the 3 key marketing messages you want to communicate to that audience.

Take Time…

1. Once you have defined your message, take the time to find out which social networks they prefer.

2. Each platform has a different primary audience and focus.

3. Take the time to understand the differences in order to put your efforts into the right channel.

Co-Ordinate Your Social Channels

If you treat each social media platform as a stand-alone effort, your success will be limited.

1. Your networks should work together to help you achieve your goals.

2. Your website is your brand’s HOME BASE

3. Co-ordinate your social media efforts to push people to your website, where they can buy your product or service.

4. Use your blog to establish your brand’s voice and share information.

Your blog is a valuable opportunity to engage with your site visitors, and lead them through your sales funnel.

Co-Ordinate Your Social Channels

1. Include a CTA at the end of your blog asking readers to like you on Facebook or follow you on Twitter (or whichever platforms you’ve chosen).

2. Integrate live feeds (eg Twitter stream) so your audience can see what you’re sharing so they’re more likely to follow you.

3. Incorporate sharing buttons on your posts to ensure that your content is share-friendly. (don’t lose that opportunity).

If you want visitors to follow your social profiles display these ICONS clearly and obviously on your website. They should also directly link to your profiles.

*TOOL TIP*: Socialise your website with Rebel Mouse an all-in-one real time publishing, advertising and analytics platform.

Use Email to stay in front of Customers

It’s important to stay in front of current and prospective customers

1. Your emails should contain clear CTA (Call-2-Action) and social icons to encourage your audience to join your social media community

2. Feature social media content within your emails highlighting community members, share promotions or giveaways.

*TOOL TIP*

ClicktoTweet is an easy way to promote sound bits of your content, whether it’s through your website, blog or newsletter. It auto-populates a tweet with your message.

Users just have to click on the link and hit send!

Get Started….BUT Start SmallLet’s re-cap:

1. You’ve defined your audience

2. You know where to reach them

3. You’ve optimised your other marketing touch points

4. NOW it’s time to get SOCIAL

THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PIECES OF ADVICE – SO LISTEN UP… START SMALL.

Social media takes time and energy which are precious resources. Set yourself up for success by starting with a manageable load. I suggest you choose one or two platforms to start with.

Incorporate Social Media into your routine

By doing this, it will guarantee consistency…

Block out the time on your calendar

1. Turn off all distractions and dedicate time to managing your social media accounts.

2. Do this in one or two different time slots every day.

In MONTH 1, expect to spend a minimum of 15-30 minutes a day on social activities.

You can increase the time as you see fit.

What content will you share?1. Remember those audience profiles and sample messages we

talked about previously? Use them to determine what original and curated content you’ll share and create an editorial calendar to keep track of that content.

2. Your aim is to help your readers, so give them a tip they can use or share information that helps them solve a problem. When you give out relevant information, people come to view you as an expert.

*TOOL TIP*:

You’ll need a social media management tool to organise and manage your daily social media activities. HOOTSUITE is a social media dashboard that offers monitoring, scheduling and analytic services.

Also SPROUTSOCIAL is another cost-effective too to help you find and schedule content and track social media performance.

Listen and Share Social media conversations are happening all around in real time.

1. Social listening is an excellent tactic to monitor what people are saying about you and your brand. Respond to comments, mentions, and feedback even if they’re negative.

2. You want to turn that negative into a positive.

*TOOL TIP*

MENTION APP monitors the web, including the major social media channels and tells you every time somebody mentions your name, brand or target keywords.

Listen and Share1. Content is the crux of social marketing

2. Combing through the internet for good content to share can be slow and time consuming

3. Avoid getting bogged down, set up a process for organising and aggregating quality content that provides value to your audience.

4. Add the content to your editorial calendar and you can share it when you’re ready.

*TOOL TIP*:

FEEDLY. This is a magazine style newsreader that pulls in different content from different sources and organizes it for you. It s big time-saver when you’re looking for timely, relevant content to share.

Create your Daily Plan1. With a steady stream of content in the pipeline

you’re primed to post and engage on social media.

2. Make a list of the activities you plan to do every day.

3. For example comment on and/or link content on three different Facebook pages.

4. On Twitter tweet and re-tweet 3-5 times a day (you can schedule these).

Create your Daily Plan

1. If you’re using Pinterest, pin and re-pin 3-5 images per day. IF linkedIn is the best platform for your audience, share a link and like other peoples links.

2. When you’re comfortable with those daily activities, join groups and communities to target specific demographics. Initiate and participate in more conversations by asking questions and posting comments to updates by others.

3. Continue to personalise your brand welcoming new followers and thanking them for sharing your content or offering a compliment.

Be intentional about your social activities. SUCCESS IS NOT ABOUT CHANCE.

IT’S ABOUT STRATEGY AND TACTICS.

Target your advertisingEven if your budget is small, don’t dismiss social advertising. Used strategically it can product great results.

Boost Results with Social Advertising

Accelerate your Social Media Performance by exploring paid advertising options

1. Facebook offers a robust number of advertising solutions to help gain more sales, website traffic, brand exposure and audience engagement.

2. If Twitter is one of your main platforms, you have two advertising solutions. Promoted content and promoted accounts. Promoted content helps you cut through the noise and serve your content to tailored audiences. Promoted accounts help increase the size of your twitter following.

3. LinkedIn also offers paid advertising. You can buy advertising or use the sponsored updates feature to increase your brand’s visibility

Measure and Analyse your results

THIS IS CRITICAL

1. Tracking performance data is the best way to identify which tactics are working and which aren’t. A few things to watch are growth, engagement and sharing.

2. Most social media networks have tools you can use to track and measure your performance.

3. Google Analytics is a popular and easy to use option for monitoring traffic and interactions on your website or blog.

Keep Track1. Keep track of which social media channels

are driving the most traffic to your website.

2. Review your metric reports regularly (at least once a week). Every 2 or 3 months step back and evaluate the big picture. Make adjustments for anything not working and try to recreate things that are.

*TOOL TIP*

Sprout Social creates easy to understand social media reports that can help you evaluate your social media performance. You can even compare your success to your competitors.

FINAL THOUGHTS…. When using social media for your start-up or small business

REMEMBER…

it’s a marathon, not a sprint!

Use this social media guide to start your social marketing efforts. Define your audience and choose the best platform to reach them.

Do your research, integrate your social media icons and links, share your (and others) content and keep track of how things are going.

Follow those steps and you’ll be positioned for success.