Essentials for a Winning Social Media Marketing Strategy

Essentials for a Winning Social Media Marketing Strategy

Social media continues to be a powerful way for brands to reach their audiences. They can use it to create more awareness of their brand, to build customer loyalty, and to increase sales.

But just having a presence on social media is not enough to do any of that. You need to create a thoughtful social media marketing strategy that incorporates the latest best practices so you can maximize your results.

Here are a few tips for doing that:

Identify Your Goals

This should be step #1 in any marketing strategy. You can’t know what tactics to use if you don’t know what you’re trying to accomplish.

You must identify your goals, and you must be specific. Your goal shouldn’t be “get more followers,” but rather “get 1,000 more followers in the next month” or “increase brand exposure 30 percent this quarter.”

Your goal should also be measurable. So if your goal is “create more positive brand associations,” you have to have a way to determine if you’ve met that goal. You might look at the number of reviews you get or the number of positive brand mentions. Whatever you decide, you must choose a way to specifically measure your goal to determine if you’ve been successful.

Research the Competition

The competition provides a wealth of data that can improve your marketing strategy.

To start, you should be researching your competition to find out what those brands are doing to reach their audiences. What social networks are they on? How frequently are they posting? What kind of posts are they sharing? How many followers do they have? From where are they getting brand mentions?

With intensive research, you can identify the strategies that are having the most success with your target audience and then you can try to replicate them on your own channels.

You also need to research your competition to find opportunities that these brands are not exploring. For example, you might notice that none of your competition is sharing live video, but since you’ve had success with it, you decide to offer more of these videos to set yourself apart.

Getting as much information as you can about the competition can help you find new opportunities for growing your brand and ways to distinguish your brand.

Have a Separate Content Strategy

Most people don’t think of social media as a place to share content, except to share links to content. But you can and should create original content specifically for sharing on social media.

Many social networks are making this easier. Facebook is rolling out a new feature that displays articles instantly in the news feed. LinkedIn has a publishing platform that lets you originate content right on site. Even Twitter users are finding ways to share content through the use of images that aren’t capped by the character limit.

When you share content on social media, you are able to engage your users better and you create more opportunities for sharing. You can share more in-depth content than what the standard update allows, which lets you offer useful information, engaging stories, and more.

By sharing unique content on your social media channels, you give your followers a reason to be there. They know they aren’t going to get that same content on your website, so they follow you on social media so as not to miss anything.

Create a Team

Two heads are better than one. Ten heads are better than two. And so on.

A lot of brands put a single person in charge of handling their social media, but they would be better served by having an entire team responsible for the job. With more people on the team, a diversity of ideas can be generated. One person may become narrowly focused – a team of creative thinkers can play off each other to come up with unique ideas that get more results.

Assign each team member a specific role, such as handling all video content or researching the competition. Don’t overlook jobs like customer service or lead generation. Determine what the team members’ strengths are, and assign everyone where they will make the most impact.

Hold a weekly meeting with this team and encourage regular communication. With more people sharing responsibility for the same goals, you have to make sure that everyone is on the same page and that individual efforts are working together to achieve the same resolution.

There may well come a day that social media is obsolete, but we can’t see that day arriving any time soon (if at all). You can’t afford to treat social media like a novelty or an accessory to your marketing strategy. You need to create a dedicated strategy to your social media marketing, and these tips will help you make it a successful one.

Tips for Getting Started and Being Successful with Facebook Live

Facebook Live has introduced an innovative new option to reach your audience.

You no longer have to confine yourself to updating short video updates after an event has passed or to “live blog” with snippets of text as you report from an event. Now, you can broadcast a stream in real time to your audience just as if you were reporting a news program.

Since this is a relatively new feature, you may still be a little confused about how to start using it or how to get the most out of it to influence your audience.

Tech blogger Hillel Fuld sat down with CodeFuel Vice President of Marketing Angie Geffen to talk about this new technology and its potential. You can check out that session here, or you can read on to get some top tips for getting start and being successful with Facebook Live:

Create a Unique Offering

Everyone and their grandmother can post a video of themselves reacting to watching a show or singing along to a popular song — and does.

You need to create something unique that is worthwhile for your audience to watch.

Take advantage of the access that only you have to create unique videos. For example, if you attend an industry event, broadcast live from that event. If you can snag an exclusive interview with an expert in your field, broadcast it live instead of waiting to post it after the fact.

The fewer people that are offering something, the more interesting and special it seems to be. Make sure you are among those that are offering something rare.

Invest in Good Equipment

You can take video with any smart phone with a camera, but that doesn’t mean you should.

Low-quality video will reflect poorly on your brand. Your audience may think that the products and services you offer have the same poor quality and they won’t buy.

Invest in a good quality camera and other equipment to improve the look and sound of your videos. You may want to purchase items such as a high-quality microphone, green screen, professional backdrops, and good lighting.

You don’t need the best setup that money can buy, but you should purchase the highest quality you can to create a professional-looking video.

Create a Content Strategy

Just like you create a content strategy for your blog, you need to create a content strategy for your Facebook Live videos.

Developing a calendar is the best way to create your strategy, as it will include a clear list of dates and video topics that you can plan around to create a steady stream of videos.

However, if you aren’t able to develop a plan in that much detail, you can at least develop a plan for the frequency of your videos, the type of videos you will produce, or even the roles that your team members will take in creating these videos. Therefore, you may not know what you will record until the week of the video, but if you at least know that you are going to put out a video every week, you can be thinking ahead and planning accordingly.

Don’t be Afraid to Experiment

Recording live video can be very challenging. Don’t feel like you have to have every aspect of your video planned or that you can’t deviate from your plan.

You will make mistakes on camera. The unexpected will happen. Instead of trying to prevent that, it is better to remain flexible and focus on how you can learn and grow from those mishaps.

If your mic drops out during a recording, you can make changes to your tech setup to ensure that mistakes like that don’t happen again. If someone you are interviewing goes rogue during your talk, you can create a better vetting process for on-camera guests.

The way you handle mistakes and mishaps on the air will also show your audience what kind of service and professionalism you have to offer them. If you’re able to roll with the punches and act with grace under fire, you will inspire your audience’s trust and confidence.

Loosen Up and Have Fun

The best videos are those that are fun, and if you are having fun, your audience will appreciate your video more.

Plus, if you are having fun, you’ll be more open to learning and adapting as you adjust to using this new, experimental platform. Make funny jokes and asides as you are recording. Respond to mishaps in funny ways. Show off your personality!

Your audience will feel more engaged with the video if you are having fun, and they will be more likely to comment on your stream and to watch your future live videos.

Facebook Live offers a great way to engage your audience and to create more exposure for your brand. Use these tips to get started with the platform and start connecting with more of your followers.

Best Ways to Monetize Your Facebook Page

Your Facebook page is not just a powerful tool for reaching audience members and creating exposure for your brand. It is also a powerful money-making tool on its own.

The more followers you have on your Facebook page, the more opportunities you have to increase your revenue. You just need to develop the right monetization strategy.

Here are a few of the best ways to monetize your Facebook page:

Sell Sponsored Posts

You are already sharing links on your Facebook page, so why not get paid to do it?

If you have a nice sized following, other companies will pay you to promote their products or services. Bloggers may even pay you to share their posts.

Just make sure that any posts you share offer some value to your audience. Otherwise, you risk alienating your followers and losing what you have worked so hard to build.

Also, be careful about the ratio of sponsored posts that you share. Your audience may not be able to ID every sponsored post, but they will know if the majority of your content is paid for, and they will question your authenticity.

Share Affiliate Links

Affiliate links are like sponsored posts, but you get a percentage of the sale instead of a flat payment for the advertisement.

You choose the products you want to promote, and if your audience buys through the link you share, you get a small percentage of the sale. Affiliate marketing is a great way to build a passive income because you can get paid again and again without having to do more work.

Again, pick quality products that actually serve a need for your audience, and don’t overload your page with affiliate links. Savvy followers will ID these links immediately and may stop following you if you share too many.

Create Landing Pages

Why sell other people’s products on your Facebook page when you can sell your own?

You can create custom landing pages for Facebook that go straight to your own products or services. You can then promote these landing pages through Facebook ads, or you can share the link to your followers.

The landing pages are not separate from your Facebook page. They are located in tabs on your page.

Consider creating landing pages for special sales, specific products or services you want to promote, a special offer for your followers, and so on.

Add a Facebook Shop

You can sell products straight from your Facebook page with a shop.

You can create special iFrame pages that nest in your Facebook page. These pages can function just like an ecommerce store, and followers can buy products straight from the page.

If you don’t create products to sell, you can still add a Facebook shop for affiliate products. Display the items like a gallery on your own ecommerce shop, but have them lead to the seller when users click on the items. They will then pay the seller, and you will get a cut.

Host Contests and Giveaways

Contests and giveaways provide many benefits, including helping you to generate more exposure for your brand and opening up a revenue stream.

You can offer your own products and services as the prizes in your contests, which will help you generate more of your own sales. Your users will share links to your page or the contest to enter, and you will get much more exposure and traffic, which will lead to new sales.

You can also charge other companies to offer their products or services as the prizes in your contests. They will be willing to pay to get the exposure that your large audience offers. Plus, you’ll still get the exposure, as well, since users will share links to enter.

Explore all the opportunities for exposure from your contests and giveaways, such as asking people to share the contest on their social networks, to follow you on all your social networks, to sign up for your email list, and more. Each action would be another entry, which improves their chances to win.

Write Reviews

Writing reviews is a bit like sharing sponsored posts, but you are in control of the content.

You can charge companies for the review and then write about your real opinion of the product or service. You will be providing value for your audience while also making some extra money.

In addition to the payment for the review, you can also get the product or service for free as well as some discount codes for your customers.

As with all sponsorship opportunities, make sure you only review products or services that are actually useful to your audience.

Monetizing your Facebook page is a delicate balancing act. But if you can get it right, you can profit off that huge following you have worked so hard to build.

What You Should Do Instead of Facebook Business Page Verification

Facebook business page verification just isn’t an option for most businesses.

The social network claims that only certain pages and profiles are eligible for verification:

  • Celebrities and public figures
  • Global brands and businesses
  • Media

In other words, most of us just can’t verify our Facebook business page.

However, Facebook isn’t the only network around, and there are other ways to verify social accounts online.

Why Verification Helps Businesses

Verification, whether it’s by Twitter or Facebook or another social network, helps both businesses and people stand out online. In general, verified accounts are more likely to show up in search results and feeds than unverified accounts.

This is clearly a marketing benefit, so it’s certainly understandable that a business would want to become verified.

What to Do Instead of Facebook Business Page Verification

If your goal is to create social accounts that stand out when your customers are looking for brands, products, and topics, then there are a few other steps you can take:

Complete every last detail of your business pages and profiles across all of your social media accounts.

Facebook states that this is another way to improve your rankings in Facebook searches. And it’s also a way to help yourself stay visible in Twitter, on Pinterest, Tumblr, and virtually every other social network.

Like Google, social networks’ internal search engines rely on keywords. So when you fill out your profile descriptions, your about tabs, and even your business name, consider packing in as many relevant keywords as you can think of.

Whenever and wherever possible, connect your accounts to telephone numbers, websites, and other pages or profiles. This will help the social networks know that you are authentic and serious about your accounts.

Be active and authentic.

This may sound basic, but many people mistakenly believe that they can put up a page and start getting clicks. The less active you are, the less likely you are to appear in front of other users.

When you are active on the sites and interactive with other users, the social networks interpret this as real, human activity. They are therefore more likely to feature your content in feeds and search results.

Get involved in the Facebook Place Tips program.

Place Tips for business is a new program that’s still in testing, but it can certainly boost a brick-and-mortar business’s visibility on the social network. This feature allows businesses to feature user-generated content when people are close to a business’s location.

The feature is still experimental, but it is opening up to businesses. To get Place Tips for your business, you’ll need to order a Facebook Bluetooth beacon, which tells the network when customers are close by. The beacon is free, so if your page is full of content, you might be able to request one from Facebook.

Verify your Twitter profile.

Though not everyone can be verified on Twitter, it’s possible to become verified, even if you aren’t a celebrity or a global brand. That’s not to say that it’s easy – it often involves having connections with someone at Twitter or getting noticed by Twitter’s @Verified account.

Verify your Google+ Business Page.

Fortunately, this process is much more straightforward. Verifying a local business on Google+ will allow your business to appear on maps, and it will most likely improve your search rankings. The process usually only involves a postcard or a phone call.

Verify your YouTube account.

This simply involves giving YouTube your cell phone number and typing a code into YouTube. Benefits include the ability to upload longer videos, appeal copyright claims, and use custom thumbnails.

Verify your YouTube name.

YouTube name verification is slightly different from YouTube account verification. Like Twitter account verification or Facebook Page verification, this credential places a small icon next to your account name, proving that you are who you say you are.

To verify your YouTube name, connect your YouTube channel to your Google+ Page or Profile, which must be authorized by your brand, company, or product. As long as your Google+ page links to your company website and your YouTube channel has a large number of subscribers, you should be able to verify your YouTube name.

Verify your Pinterest account.

When you verify your website with Pinterest, it automatically adds your website to any picture or pin that is sourced from your site. The process for Pinterest verification is relatively straightforward: you can place a custom meta tag on your site or upload a custom HTML file.

 

Social networks continue to search for ways to demonstrate authenticity on the part of their users. Whether it’s Google’s now-defunct authorship status, Facebook’s Page verification status, or Twitter’s verification badge, these status symbols can help you stand out in search results and prove to customers that your business is real. When these types of verification aren’t an option, it’s always a good practice to demonstrate authenticity through other means, such as cell phone connection, website connections, and completed profiles. 

Facebook to Local Businesses: You Should Still Use Facebook Pages

According to Facebook, local businesses should still use Facebook Pages to market their services, despite ongoing decreases in organic reach. Mark Zuckerberg recently gave several reasons why SMBs should stay on Facebook and even consider using Facebook as their primary marketing tool.

Facebook to Local Businesses: Keep Your Pages

At a recent town hall Q&A, a small business owner asked Zuckerberg,

“Given the decline in organic reach, how should businesses like ours or any business think about the role of Pages?”

Zuckerberg replied that Facebook Pages were still the best option for most businesses. Despite the overall decline in organic reach, which was due to Facebook’s ongoing effort to optimize the user experience, he claimed there was no better way to reach customers.

He argued that:

  • All or most of SMBs’ customers were on Facebook
  • Most SMBs probably had more connections through Facebook than through any other online channel
  • Most people aren’t going to download small business apps
  • Many small business websites weren’t optimized for mobile
  • Facebook was acting as a go-to directory tool, where people went to look for store hours and updates

Zuckerberg argued, as other Facebook executives have before, that Facebook Pages should act as landing pages for many small businesses.

Facebook’s Relationship with SMBs

Since Facebook Pages first emerged on the social network, small businesses have been lured in by the free marketing potential offered by Facebook Pages. Many businesses have, in fact, built large followings on Facebook and used Facebook to reach out to and engage with customers.

However, over the past several years, the organic reach of Facebook Pages has declined. That is, businesses’ posts show up less and less frequently in users’ News Feeds, in favor of friends’ posts.

These decreases in organic reach eventually prompted Facebook to tell businesses to pay for advertising. Suddenly, the SMBs who had spent so much time building audiences were left in the cold. In order to reach the same audience they had engaged with, they were being coerced into paying for advertising.

According to Jonathan Czaja, Facebook’s director of small business for North America, “There’s still a lot of value to the Page apart from distributing content to your fans.” He stated that more information was forthcoming and local businesses should still “create a presence on Facebook and demonstrate the value they bring to their customers.”

Czaja also stated that Facebook is very committed to improving support tools for its 2 million advertisers, many of which are local businesses. In the future, expect to see voice support, online courses, and other help tools.

Hints of Facebook’s Local Business Agenda

While Czaja acknowledged that Facebook has “underinvested” in local businesses and SMBs, there are signs of change.

Facebook Place Tips

Recently, Facebook introduced Facebook Place Tips, a feature that uses geo-targeting to display local business-related social content to people in the vicinity. A person close to a restaurant, for instance, may see their friends’ photos taken in that venue, weekly specials from the restaurant’s Facebook Page, and so on.

The feature isn’t completely rolled out yet, but local businesses shouldn’t expect a free lunch with this feature. In crowded areas, for instance, there will likely be several local businesses competing for users’ screen space. This could easily result in another opportunity for Facebook advertising.

The Find

Facebook’s acquisition of The Find, a database that aggregated products from a variety of retailers, now gives the social a foothold in the local retail industry. A user searching for “black shoes,” for instance, could compare prices from a large number of retailers. And if the user wanted to make a purchase immediately, The Find would provide local retailers selling those products.

Facebook’s acquisition seems aimed at “direct marketers, e-commerce companies, and fashion brands,” according to TechCrunch. However, with the capability to incorporate local retail in the mix, Facebook may be looking to swallow up the local business market as well.

Instant Articles and Native Video

Facebook already dominates much of its users’ online time, but recent developments suggest Facebook wants an even bigger time share. Two recent features indicate that Facebook wants to become the only content source for its users.

Facebook Instant Articles, a new feature that allows major publishers to publish articles natively within Facebook, will allow people to view and read these articles without ever leaving their iOS app.

Facebook’s native video platform also allows users to host their own videos in their Timelines. These videos, and Facebook video ads, will show up in News Feeds, just like the rest of Facebook’s multimedia content.

What This Means for Local Businesses

Though these two features are currently rolling out on a large scale, for large businesses, it’s easy to look ahead to see how these changes – if successful – could impact local businesses.

With the decreasing cost of video ad production, and the increasing necessity of video marketing for all businesses, it’s not hard to see how both these features could impact local businesses:

  • Local businesses can and probably should be using Facebook video to market their services. And soon, video advertising will become a possibility and a necessity for all businesses, large or small.
  • Native articles, if successful, could just as easily extend to local newspapers and local news blogs, many of which are run by large media companies.

 

Despite the fact that Facebook Pages’ organic reach has declined, Facebook still claims to be committed to their success. If Page continue to remain a viable marketing option, which they may if Facebook’s ongoing feature developments prove successful, small businesses should expect to pay if they want to remain visible.