The outcome of today’s presidential election will be important for small businesses. Since we live in a social media-obsessed world these days, you can make your intention to vote known and voice your opinion on Facebook. The I’m Voting app from Facebook and CNN allows users to both make a commitment to vote, and to choose the candidates and issues that matter most to them – the economy, healthcare, immigration, foreign policy and more. You can see what other fans are thinking and follow along all day for updates.
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Posts Tagged ‘Facebook’
Case Study: 5 Tips on Using Facebook From a Social Media Expert
October 22nd, 2012 :: Monika Jansen
I have a major confession to make: Although I write about social media a lot here on GrowSmartBiz, I was not that active on Facebook. I would read as much as I could about using social media for marketing, share what I had learned, and then not follow my own advice.
I have a second confession to make: Facebook intimidated me when it came to my professional life. I was so scared of doing it “wrong” – posting content no one would care about or see – that I ended up doing nothing. Sad, but true.
When September came around, I decided to get serious and start actively using my company’s Facebook page (I am already active on my personal page). Here are 5 things I have done and learned over the past, nearly-2 months:
1. Play around with timing
I like to quote Dan Zarrella, the Social Media Scientist, a lot, because he takes a very in-depth, numbers-focused look at social media use, including when to post on Facebook, what words to use, etc.
However, I found that what works for everyone else might not work for me. After quickly looking at the posts that got comments and likes and the most views, I learned that the best time for me to post is between 8am and 11am during the week and around 6pm on the weekend.
2. Personal posts are engaging posts
I thought it would be a great idea to share articles, videos and photos that I found valuable, interesting, and/or entertaining. Not my best idea. I have learned that the more personal the post, the more activity it generates. For instance, last week I was without an Internet connection for half a day (Verizon thankfully showed up to fix the problem very quickly!). I posted about how crappy it is to be without Internet when you work from home, and it generated a lot of engagement, which surprised me.
3. Photos definitely get more attention
You hear a lot about how engaging photos and videos are, and I learned that yes, they are. When I share a photo that I take (rather than one that someone else took), I get higher engagement rates. I just started using videos last week, so the jury is out on what content is most engaging, as well as when to post it (weekday versus weekend).
4. Editorial schedules help – a lot
I always suggest putting together an editorial schedule, but I didn’t put one together for myself at first, because I wanted to learn what people would find engaging. Now that I know, I have a partial schedule:
- Monday: Fun post that has nothing to do with work because I hate Mondays
- Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday: Share latest GrowSmartBiz blog posts
- Wednesday: Post something client- or partner-related
- Friday: Video tip of the week
5. Facebook is not time-consuming
One excuse that small business owners use a lot to justify their non-use of social media is the time commitment. Well, I can say with no uncertainty that this is exactly that–an excuse. If I added up the amount of time I spend each week deciding what to post on my Facebook page, writing the update, posting, and responding to comments, it would be 30 minutes tops. That’s 4- 5 minutes a day. Totally doable.
Now that you know how I use Facebook (you can like my company page here), how do you use it? What status updates have you found to be most engaging? If you’re not using Facebook for your business yet, why not?
Image courtesy of socialmediaguy.com
Google+9 Easy Ways to Tweak Your Twitter and Facebook Strategies for Better Engagement
September 20th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen
Social media marketing firm Buddy Media released a very interesting report that looked at how marketers use Twitter – and they found some surprising mistakes. In the study, they analyzed 320 Twitter handles from large brands between December 11, 2011 and February 23, 2012. Instead of making the same mistakes as big companies with large marketing departments, learn from them!
Here are the top findings of the study, along with 9 easy ways to get better engagement on Twitter and Facebook:
1. Twitter engagement is 17 percent higher on Saturday and Sunday
Takeaway: save your best tweets for the weekend, and don’t be afraid to tweet more than once.
2. Beginning on Monday, Twitter engagement falls off as the week progresses
Takeaway: Don’t stop tweeting, but tweet less between Monday and Thursday.
3. Twitter engagement drops off on Thursday but picks up as Friday progresses
Takeaway: Send out tweets on Friday afternoon/early evening when people are winding down from the week and getting ready to dive into the weekend.
4. Tweets perform best during “busy hours”
Takeaway: Keep tweeting between 8am and 7pm to get the most engagement.
5. Facebook status updates perform best during “non-busy hours”
Takeaway: Shift Facebook updates to publish between 8pm and 7am.
6. One tweet per day has the highest engagement rate
Takeaway: While 2-4 tweets still perform well, Twitter engagement nosedives beyond 4 tweets per day, so spread out your tweeting.
7. Tweets of 100 characters with working links get much higher engagement rates
Takeaway: Keep your tweets to the point, and be sure your links work.
8. Tweets with hashtags and photos get twice the engagement
Takeaway: Research hashtags first to be sure you’re using popular ones, but don’t add more than 2 or engagement will drop off. And be sure to say if a link is a photo.
9. Asking for retweets works
Takeaway: if you ask for a “RT,” you’ll get a 12 times higher retweet rate; if you spell it out instead of using the abbreviation, you’ll get a 23 times higher retweet rate.
What other tips can you offer for better engagement on Twitter and Facebook? Leave a comment below.
Image courtesy of avenuesocial.com
Google+5 Common Misconceptions About Social Media – and Why They Are Not True
September 6th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen
Because using social media for marketing is still a relatively young practice, many misconceptions about it continue to float around out there. Here are 5 that I hear all the time, followed by the truth:
1. Social media cannot be used in my industry
Uh, really? Why not? Your customers are people, and chances are they are already using Facebook and LinkedIn – and maybe Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest too. Instead of making broad assumptions, get online and spend 30 minutes searching topics and keywords that are industry-specific. You might be surprised about who is talking about what.
2. My business is too boring to be good at using social media
Yes, it is much easier to come up with fun status updates, contest ideas, photos and videos if you are a salon and spa rather than an industrial metals manufacturer. So get creative! Ask, “What does my target audience care about? How can I engage them with photos, videos, contests and games?” For example: your employees could do a spoof on a song, changing the words so they are related to your company or industry.
3. Success is measured by quantity (of blog comments, Twitter followers – you name it)
Measuring the effectiveness of your social media marketing efforts by tallying up the number of comments your blog gets, the number of Twitter followers you have, or the number of times a photo is shared is wrong in so many ways. What you need to be measuring is the number of leads you are generating, the quality of the leads, and how many are converting into customers. Customers, not popularity, are what pay the bills.
4. I must have a presence on every single social media network
This is only true if your target market is active – in large numbers – on every single social media network. They probably are not. Find the 2 or 3 networks with the most activity, and focus on those.
5. I don’t have time for social media
You probably do, actually, and that is because being active is not that time-consuming. Just as you devote time to checking email, answering customer queries and keeping up with industry news, you can carve out some time for social media. Set aside 30 minutes to plan out an editorial schedule and decide what you will post when. Once you do that, you will probably only spend 15 or 20 minutes total on your social media accounts every day.
What other misconceptions do you hear about social media? Share them below!
Image courtesy of brainwormproductions.com
Google+4 Useful Facebook Small Business Site Updates
August 31st, 2012 :: Monika Jansen
Earlier this summer, Facebook launched an updated Business site for small and medium-sized businesses that includes a slew of great new resources. Here’s a rundown of what you’ll find:
Best practices: There’s nothing better than a company telling you exactly how to succeed with their product or service, and Facebook does just that with their guide, Four Steps to Business Success on Facebook. This is a highly detailed guide that includes tips, best practices and step-by-step instructions.
Success stories: I love learning from others’ experiences, and these stories – for Luxury Link, Hubspot, Canvas People and State Bicycle Co. – detail goals and approach and include an overview of results. Luxury Link, for example, saw a 100 percent increase in sales for travel packages.
Advertising: Need help putting together Facebook ads? Their Start to Success program includes 4 weeks of free phone support, customized solutions, and a $50 coupon to get started.
What’s new: As they say right on the page, this section keeps you up-to-date with news, product launch updates, etc. The latest news includes:
- Facebook Web address update: If you haven’t already customized your Facebook Web address, now’s your chance to do so.
- Voice Bar: To ensure you keep your activity on your business page and personal account separate, this bar at the top of Facebook will tell you if you’re commenting, posting and liking as yourself or your business.
- Facebook Marketing Classroom: Every other week, a webinar will feature a new topic, ranging from general marketing to product launches.
Now you have no excuse not to succeed using Facebook! Which of their new features do you find some useful, and why? Leave a comment below.
Image courtesy of Facebook.
Google+How to Increase Your Influence – and Klout Score
August 23rd, 2012 :: Monika Jansen
Influence. Everyone wants it, but not everyone can get it – especially online, where there is an impossible amount of noise to cut through.
But it can be done! I just watched a really interesting video interview on Social Media Examiner on how to improve your online influence. Mark Schaefer is a marketing consultant, teacher at Rutgers University, speaker and author of Return on Influence and The Tao of Twitter. In other words, he’s an expert in his field. Here is what I learned while watching the video:
Schaefer’s new book, Return on Influence, is about the power of your content. As he points out, no matter who you are, where you live, or what you do, your message can be shared and heard thanks to the Internet, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
Of course, if you don’t have social influence, no one will hear your message – so it’s really a Catch-22. However, you can accrue influence online by being authentic and connecting with your audience.
One of the best ways to measure your online influence is with Klout, and companies are figuring out creative ways to influence their Klout scores with great content. Companies are also leveraging word-of-mouth influencers, as it is incredibly powerful to have someone share how great you are with the rest of the world.
Here are 3 things you can do to improve your Klout influence scores:
- Surround yourself with people who care about you and who want to share your content.
- Create or aggregrate meaningful content that is RITE – Relevant, Interesting, Timely and Entertaining.
- Use social media to engage, not just talk. Social media is social and person-to-person.
Schaefer says that if you do those 3 things, you will increase your social influence – and thus your Klout score.
This next point is only marginally about online influence, but it’s really interesting:
For the first time, Twitter, aka business networking on steroids, is being adopted by young people, one of whom said to Williams, “We enjoy using Twitter now, because mom and grandmom are on Facebook. They’re not on Twitter, and Twitter is where the action is.”
Twitter is also picking up traction internationally, and Schaefer said that is because Twitter is simple, easy, and you can fit it into your day whenever you want to.
Who do you follow on Facebook, Twitter or elsewhere who is influential in their field? Why do you follow them? Share your comments below!
Image courtesy of socialfresh.com
Google+6 New and Improved Ways to Measure the ROI of Your Facebook Ads
August 16th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen
Did you know Facebook changed their ad tracking and analytics feature? No? Me neither, until I ran across an article by Dave Williams that appeared on AdAge Digital.
Facebook ads are big business for the company, providing a boatload of revenue for them – but until now, marketers only got murky metrics. With Facebook’s old analytics feature, you couldn’t track online or offline conversions, because Facebook could not provide view-through tracking. This basically means you had to guess whether or not Facebook ads were actually driving people to your Facebook page – and if they spent any time on your page once they arrived.
With Facebook’s newly updated analytics feature, measuring ad effectiveness by counting Likes and clicks should be a thing of the past. Now, you can really drill down and track how users interact with and click on your Facebook ads and content. Here’s what you can do:
1. Specify a single action or multiple actions to be measured for any ad group
2. Track internal page Likes, page post Likes, comments, @ mentions, check-ins, photo tags and page post shares (including how many times an offer is shared)
3. Track an assortment of specific actions, including “claimed your offer,” “answered your question,” “clicked on the Page post link,” “viewed the page post photo,” “viewed the Page post video,” and “viewed a tab on your Page”
4. Track Facebook app statistics, including installs, users and the number of times Facebook credits were spent in the app
5. Keep up-to-date with “yes” and “maybe” RSVPs in Facebook Events
6. View metrics in 4 different ways: 1-day view-throughs and 1-, 7-, and 28-day click-throughs
Williams also speculated that Facebook will integrate the check-in function with RSVPs and coupons, making it possible to measure the impact of your Facebook ad on in-store traffic and sales. If they did this, online and offline would finally bridge that yawning gap between your social graph and word-of-mouth – something that social has yet to master.
If you advertise on Facebook, have you started tweaking your ads based on these new measurement features? Leave a comment below!
Image courtesy of trendsupdates.com
Google+10 Thought-Provoking Statistics That Affect Your Marketing Strategy
August 1st, 2012 :: Monika Jansen
After seeing the following marketing statistics, fresh off the presses from Hubspot, you might want to re-think some of your marketing efforts. I certainly am!
Social Media Engagement
91% of online adults use social media regularly. Is your business active on social media?
Don’t go overboard posting on Facebook! If you post twice a day (rather than once), those posts only receive 57% of the likes and 78% of the comments per post.
This statistic is kind of sad: Less than half a percent of Facebook fans engage with brands they follow.
But this statistic is happy: 20% of Facebook users have purchased something because of ads or comments.
As is this one: 38% of people have recommended a brand they follow on social media.
Marketing Automation Works
If you set up messages to go out based on an event – like someone signing up for a webinar – the click-through rate skyrockets to 119% higher than a “business as usual” message.
Stop Ignoring Mobile
Emails are increasingly being opened on smartphones and tablets – it has increased by 80% over the last 6 months. Are your messages optimized for all devices?
Businesses in the U.S. are increasingly on board with mobile. Of the 45% of companies that use mobile marketing, 70% have mobile websites, 55% have mobile apps and 49% have QR codes.
Make Your Emails Relevant
A whopping 61% of emails received on “work” email accounts are non-essential. Make sure your email marketing messages do not get dumped into that category!
Add Videos to Your Marketing Mix
YouTube users consume more than 3 billion hours of video per month. Three. Billion. Hours.
Now that you have absorbed all of those numbers, how will you adjust your marketing efforts? Leave a comment below!
Image courtesy of deploy511.org
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