Social Business Archives

Social Media Update: What’s New?

August 17, 2015/by Corey Padveen

Every so often, there are so many major announcements and changes in the world of social media, that a simple industry-wide update is needed.

With everything from Instagram to Google+ changes being announced lately, it seems harder than ever to keep up with what’s happening in the social media marketing world. This list breaks down what marketers need to know in order to stay on top of the social media game.

Instagram Ads Open to the Public

We recently discussed Instagram ads and how this announcement is going to open a whole new world for marketers. It is no secret that Instagram is a powerful tool, and that power has now increased exponentially with this announcement from the company.

Google+ is Disappearing

Though it is not completely dead, Google+ is slowly (but very surely) pulling out of the spotlight. This has been made apparent by the fact that other Google products no longer require the Google+ profile sign in. It is safe to say that it won’t be long before Google+ is broken down even further (Photos, Streams, etc.) and all we are left with is some version of the +1. While there is still some value to sharing content (from an SEO standpoint) paying close attention to the network won’t seem to yield great results moving forward.

LinkedIn Creates a Messenger

It is no secret that LinkedIn has long had one of the worst messaging platforms of any social network. While the intention (as a business-oriented social network) was to make it seem like an email dashboard, it wound up feeling clunky and outdated. Finally, LinkedIn has updated their messaging system so it feels more like a live chat than a series of disjointed and unnecessarily professional messages.

Improved Facebook Ad Dashboard

As the first social network with an ad dashboard it should come as no surprise that Facebook’s latest update to its ad management system makes it the most powerful of any social advertising dashboard on the market. The simplicity and user-friendliness make it a marketers dream, and on the agency side, it has quickly become the best to work with (with regards to segmenting campaigns and producing reports).

Facebook Messenger for Businesses

Slowly but surely, Facebook is making use of its assets. Another new feature on the network is the ability for businesses and customers to interact privately in Facebook Messenger. For a long time, detailed customer service issues have been a problem since interaction between consumers and brands have been done publicly on an open message board. Now, Facebook is providing a space where customer service can be taken to new heights.

Twitter Makes Ads Easier

Another major move forward for marketers (particularly on the agency side) is the new ability for marketers to edit Twitter ads in bulk with their new ad manager system. Twitter ads offer great value when it comes to interest and behavioral targeting, and the TV targeting is second to none. Now, with this update, marketers can rejoice at the amount of time it will save managing campaigns.

While plenty has taken place (much more than what is listed here) these are a few of the updates that marketers need to be aware of and should be most excited about. What other changes are you looking forward to?

New Ways to Improve Customer Service on Twitter

June 22, 2015/by Corey Padveen

Some recent changes have made it possible to really improve customer service on Twitter.

Customer service has long been an area where Twitter has proven to be a valuable asset. The ability to communicate directly with clients (or prospects) in real time has made it possible to satisfy even more customers on a very public stage. That said, at 140 characters, there have been some limitations to what can be voiced.

That has all changed.

Twitter recently announced the lifting of those limits to allow users to communicate via direct message the same way they would via text: without any limits to how long a message might be.

Why are they doing this?

It is no secret that Twitter has been looking for ways to improve its business performance. Everyone loves using Twitter; the network is simple, it has proven to be extremely effective for brands and it can be quite versatile.

But that has not translated into huge sales or skyrocketing stock prices. The result has been a number of efforts to change, including the recent resignation of CEO Dick Costolo, and now, some changes to the platform itself.

80% of Twitter users are active on mobile, and finding a way to increase the native value of the social network (particularly on mobile) is crucial. The difference between Twitter and, say, WhatsApp? Character limits. People love (and sometimes hate) that about Twitter. Your feed is easily digestible, but when you want to go into more detail, it can become tedious. You need to use the direct messaging capability to exchange phone numbers or emails, then communicate off-network.

Twitter is now trying to change that by lifting those character limits in direct messages.

How does this impact brands?

For brands, this change means a lot more time can be spent dealing with customer service issues on the network itself, without asking customers to take a conversation off-network or offline.

In a lot of cases, customers simply want to have their issues heard. People (for the most part) are realists. They know that an issue might not be resolved (perfectly or immediately) but they still want a place to vent and an acknowledgment that they are being listened to by the brand. By opening up the direct messaging in this way, Twitter is providing a space for exactly that.

Now, customer service conversations that do not involve personal or financial information can take place entirely on the network. This allows brands an opportunity to communicate more thoroughly, as opposed to simply using Twitter as a starting point.

This also presents a new opportunity for Twitter.

Where will Twitter go with this?

It wouldn’t be surprising to see Twitter make a move into a pseudo-SaaS space with a customer service platform separate from its existing direct messaging space. This would have to be carefully calculated by Twitter, as this is a fairly crowded space with some big players (think Desk, Zendesk, Zoho, Capterra, etc.). But Twitter has one thing going for it that others do not – it’s Twitter.

By creating a customer service portal that businesses can subscribe to, brands can begin to offer in-network service that essentially makes the process of communicating with brands seamless. This is similar to what Facebook is trying to do with Messenger, and it will be an interesting experiment (from which Twitter might be able to build).

Conclusion

There is, of course, the possibility that Twitter is simply trying to make the communication between parties a little easier (when they move into a more private setting) in an effort to compete with the plethora of messaging apps that currently dominate the market (mostly owned by Facebook).

What comes of this is anybody’s guess, but in the meantime, it makes servicing customers a little bit easier for brands.

Some Key Social Business Metrics

June 15, 2015/by Corey Padveen

What are some of the most important social business metrics?

When it comes to running a successful social business, one of the most important thing to consider are your metrics. Knowing what you will be measuring as a marker for success is something that should be established at the outset of your social business strategy’s implementation.

In this video, a few of the more important – both obvious and less obvious – social business metrics are covered. Remember: you can never know if your program or campaign is successful unless you know (from the start) what your measurement criteria are going to be!

How To: Boost a Facebook Post to a Targeted Audience

May 19, 2015/by Corey Padveen

As Facebook transitions into a purely pay-to-play platform, marketers need to be familiar with the ins and outs of boosting posts on the network.

It might seem like a simple task, but in order to succeed with Facebook marketing (paid Facebook marketing, in particular) marketers need to know how to boost a Facebook post.

The following steps outline not only how to go about implementing the boost (there isn’t much to pressing a button and inputing credit card information) but how to target a boost to the correct audience segment in order to ensure that your dollars are going to the right place.

1. Determine Your Target Audience

First and foremost, you need to know what type of audience segment will be most responsive to the content. Not everyone will react to a piece of content in the same way. What value does a ‘Like’ have? Certainly less than a click-through or conversion. You want to focus on an audience segment that will produce the latter.

Take some time and go through your post-level engagement data on Facebook. Determine, based on the history of your content, what audience segment will be most responsive to the content you are planning to boost. If you’re looking to boost an image, for example, will your audience be different than that which engages most with links or videos? Do your research, and determine the answer to that question first.

2. Get Granular with Your Targets

A bigger audience will not necessarily mean greater results.

If you’ve done your research in order to determine where you want to spend your money, start your boost by picking the very targeted audience that you plan on targeting with the new content. While you might have built an archetype for the boost, you’ll want to get very specific.

Think more in terms of criteria such as interests and behaviors over top-level demographics, such as age and location.

3. Allocate a Budget and a Timeframe

So you’ve figured out the audience to which you would like to promote a given piece of content. Now it’s time to establish how much you’re willing to spend on the boost.

Remember, a boost is not the same as an ad that you build and for which you create goals (like website clicks). When you boost a post, your budget is spent in every which way, from CPM to CPC to CPSA (cost-per-social-action, such as a ‘Like’ or share) so you want to make sure that the audience you target and the budget you allocate will result in business-relevant actions.

With regards to time, try to avoid having too much content boosted in any given period. If News Feeds are flooded with your boosted posts, you’re essentially yelling into your own noise. Boost strategically so that your content appears in front of your target demographics, but doesn’t clutter their space.

4. Monitor and React

Keep a close eye on your boosted post and determine if it is performing up to your standards. Just because you’ve set a budget and a time period, it does not mean you have to let a flop live out its days. If your campaign is draining funds, stop it and reevaluate your selected audience, then consider restarting it elsewhere.

Following these steps will help improve the overall performance of your mini campaign next time you decide to boost a particular piece of content on Facebook!

4 Tips for Using Snapchat as a Business

April 27, 2015/by Corey Padveen

These are a few tips for using Snapchat as a business that you’ll want to follow if you plan on finding success on the app.

Just two years ago, two thirds of teens and young adults considered Facebook to be the most important social network in the world. Now, according to a recent report by Piper Jaffray, Facebook is considered the most important social network by only 14% of this group of tastemakers, only 1% of the explosive Snapchat, which sits at 13%.

With that kind of growth, and momentum that’s poised to take the network to the very top of the list, there is a clear desire (and opportunity) for brands to be a part of the network. But how can a business jump into something like Snapchat?

These are a few easy-to-implement tips for using Snapchat as a business that will help make the foray into the network much smoother.

Know Your Audience

As with email, anyone on your list of recipients in Snapchat has opted to receive your snaps. One of the greatest benefits of an email list is the ability to tailor messages and offers to users based on previous interactions. So when you’ve had a history of sharing a certain type of content with a user, don’t dramatically change the formula in order to pitch a new product or service. Stick to what works and get to know the individual members of your audience on a personal level.

However, that is not to say that you shouldn’t send out mass snaps using your story…

Familiarize Yourself with the App

There are snaps, and there are stories. (Yes, there is more, but we’ll look at these two for now.) If you’re planning on communicating with an individual user one-on-one (as noted above) you’ll want to share personalized snaps. This not only shows that you care about your audience, but it creates a personal connection for the user to your brand, and that can make all the difference.

Your stories are where you will want to put the content that is important to share, but not vital to personalize. For example, a new announcement, showcasing your corporate culture a product release, or something along those lines. Because it is a less personal space, users will not feel as though you are imposing on them when commercial content is shared to a story.

Provide Value to Your Audience

As with any social medium, find a way to provide value to the audience with which you are sharing content. Personalizing your messages is a great practice, but more of your story content should be showcasing your value rather than the commercial content mentioned above. (That is really something that should be shared sporadically, not religiously.)

Use the ten seconds you have available to show or teach something. This is video at its most engaging. Showcase a value added to your audience that improves their experience and sells your expertise or offering in a very subtle way.

Cross-Promote

Another great use for Snapchat is to leverage the platform to cross-promote your other offers and social media. If you’re running a contest on Instagram, for example, Snapchat is a great space in which to promote it to matched demographics. That said, stick to the first pointer: know your audience. Those using Snapchat may not be the same users in your LinkedIn network. So cater your cross-promotion to the demographics that are most likely to be there.

These are just a few of the ways to start using Snapchat as a business. The network is currently a blank slate when it comes to brands, so feel free to experiment and get creative! How else have you used the network? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

3 Things Many Marketers Forget in a Digital Marketing Strategy

March 23, 2015/by Corey Padveen

This article originally appeared on CoreyPadveen.com.

There are some things that even the most knowledgeable of marketers might be forgetting to include in their digital marketing strategy.

A digital marketing strategy is a pretty robust thing. With that in mind, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that most marketers and business owners often forget about a few important components that need to be included in a digital marketing strategy in order for it to be successful.

Like I said, there is a ton that needs to be considered in order to build a working strategy, and just because these three components are included, it does not mean that it’s a finished product. But they are important and they are going to help your brand grow online. That said, here are three elements that need to be a part of every digital marketing strategy in order for it to find success.

Social Media Advertising

Gone are the days when paid advertising was a luxury afforded to the largest and wealthiest of brands. Even in more recent years, digital advertising, which consisted primarily of Google AdWords and banner ads, was too grand a cost for most brands to bare. Now, with social media advertising becoming more commonplace (and about as simple a practice as any) all brands can and should be taking advantage of it.

A few months ago, I conducted a little internal case study/experiment in order to showcase the cost effectiveness of social media advertising when compared to ‘traditional’ digital advertising, Google AdWords. I decided to look at a relevant and pretty competitive keyword: ‘social media’. What I found was that on a CPC and CPM basis, social media advertising could be nearly ten times more cost effective when targeting the right demographics on social media (another value added).

So the question becomes, why are brands not jumping on the opportunity to build their digital presence by including a section devoted to social media advertising in their digital marketing strategies? The proof is in the numbers, and the more you work with social ads, the simpler and more successful they become to achieving business-specific goals.

Data-Backed Strategy

I’ve grown to accept that data is not for everyone; I guess my attraction to numbers makes me an anomaly. But if you don’t like data, at least do the longevity of your business a favor and find someone who can help you analyze data and incorporate it into your strategy. Hypothetical marketing plans are a thing of the past. We have a world of insights at our fingertips – literally!

Delving into your owned media (i.e. any digital media that you are in total control of, such as your website or branded social media channels) and industry media (using a listening or data aggregating technology) can produce some incredibly valuable information. This information can help you create things like content strategies, help you identify new demographics and opportunities and begin building ResponsiveBranding^TM campaigns.

Don’t let a distaste for numbers deprive you of a huge amount of potential. Let the data be the driving force behind your digital marketing strategy, and let it reinvent your strategy as it changes.

Influence Marketing

We often hear a lot about influence and influencers, but what exactly are we talking about when we say ‘influence marketing’? Leveraging the power of influencers can launch your brand into a new realm and expand your reach and your own influence in the marketplace. Why is that? It all comes down to trust.

According to the results of the 2014 Edelman Trust Barometer – an annual, global trust and credibility survey – 67% of people trust experts in a particular field, and 62% of people trust their peers (or, as the study puts it, ‘a person like yourself’). The beauty of influencers is that they can be – and often are – both of those things: industry experts that people consider their peers (in large part thanks to social media and its ability to connect people).

By identifying your industry’s influencers and reaching out to them, you can forge relationships that can turn into brand advocacy. This can be an invaluable asset when looking to build your business not only in the short term, but in the long run as well.

Conclusion

There is a lot that will go into your digital marketing strategy. These three assets will only be a small part of the overall product, but they can play an important role in the overall success of your business, and so few people are properly taking advantage of them. Next time you review your business strategies, consider including these three elements in your digital marketing plan.

4 Social Media Persona Criteria to Consider Targeting

March 16, 2015/by Corey Padveen

These are a few social media personas you might want to consider targeting in your next campaign.

When running a campaign on social media (or simply targeting your content), creating social media personas and leveraging their tastes and preferences for improved engagement is always a best practice.

Every brand will have its own strategy when it comes to crafting social media personas, but, just as there is the (more or less) universally coveted 18-34 demographic for advertisers, there are certain social media personas that virtually any brand can consider targeting for a number of reasons. Here are a few.

Existing Brand Advocates

Your brand advocates might be there to help you grow at every turn, but showing them a little bit of extra appreciation every once in a while does not go unnoticed.

Targeting some of your content to brand advocates that will appreciate it slightly more than the average follower/fan helps keep them around and goes one step further by strengthening their relationship with your brand.

Engaged/Active Online Spenders

This is an advertising category that is readily available on Facebook, and one of the more powerful capabilities, particularly for ecommerce or retail operations.

Centering your content around the benefits of your product or service, and targeting that messaging to users that are willing to spend online can lead to a very low cost-per-acquisition and high returns. Granted, just because they have spent in the past, it does not mean they will always be willing to spend. But when targeting by interests as well, you can increase the likelihood of conversion significantly. Speaking of which…

Interest/Preference

In what is probably the easiest form of targeting your messaging, preferences and tastes allow you to customize your message according to the themes around which your target audience is most engaged.

The ability to frame your messaging according to content or categories (e.g. the NFL or sports, in general) leads to an immediate ability to capture the attention of a particular group. The key to remember in a case like this is that as you cater your content to a given interest, your conversion increases, but your audience size decreases rather rapidly – but at least now you are focused on an audience that will be most receptive to the content. Creating multiple groups with a message around a theme is a best practice in this case.

Connections

When trying to grow your brand, your audience size or simply attract new prospects, consider creating a set of content that is a little more tame with regards to your product/service and more relatable from a personality standpoint.

Even the largest social media accounts in the world still hold only a fraction of the total social audience that exists on a given network. So for every campaign you run targeting your own fans and followers, there will be a virtually endless pool of prospects floating out there in the socialsphere that you have not targeted. The content that you create for these users should focus on the brand’s personality and appeal to their social side.

Conclusion

You’re going to craft your own social media persona as your audience, program and individual campaigns take shape. These are a few early criteria to consider when building hyper targeted content.

What other criteria have you included in your social client persona? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

How to Win Friends and Influence People (On Social Media)

March 2, 2015/by Corey Padveen

This article was originally shared to CoreyPadveen.com.

Almost 80 years after its first run, the tenets from Dale Carnegie hold true. (With a few notable differences.)

From the greatest businesspeople in the world (Warren Buffett still has his certificate from Carnegie’s course) to the not-so-impressive (Charles Manson reportedly used these techniques to influence his followers) people have found value in Carnegie’s lessons in How to Win Friends and Influence People. Today, on social media, a lot of this still applies. But some adaptation is needed for the modern era of communication.

How to Handle Your Fans and Followers

In order to properly handle members of your community, it is important that you not criticize, condemn or complain about them. You should also regularly show your appreciation for those members. That is especially true on social media.

Letting your fans and followers know that you appreciate their involvement in your community goes a very long way. One brand in particular that does this well is Cadbury. Here is one of the gestures they made to show their appreciation:

Making People ‘Like’ You

Now, the term ‘Like’ means something somewhat different on a social network like Facebook than what Carnegie had in mind, but the concept still holds up.

Of the six core traits that will lead to people liking you, there are a few that are particularly important on social media. First, developing a genuine interest in your fans and listening to what they have to say will improve the personal connection they have to your brand. What’s more, sending personalized messages using users’ names will be an important component of your communications strategy on social as well.

The idea of making people feel important when you talk to them is paramount when it comes to improving the customer experience. I don’t want to feel like ‘just another customer’ when I reach out to a brand. Even if that might be the case, I, the customer, should feel like the only person that matters when engaged with a brand online.

Winning People with the Way You Think (Your Brand’s Message)

“The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.” Truer words have seldom been spoken.

As a brand, the moment your start to argue with a customer on social media, you’re wrong. It doesn’t matter how right you are, you’re wrong. It is important to know when you’ve been beaten, and when to walk away. Getting into a debate is not worth the harm it will almost certainly cause.

Often times, when a customer is upset, they simply want to be acknowledged and heard. Social media can be that platform. Simply letting a customer voice their displeasure and responding in a respectful way can be a major factor in turning them into a brand advocate, rather than a detractor.

Turning a complaint into a constructive conversation about how your products or services can be improved is beneficial for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that your business can improve its operations as a result.

Conclusion

If you haven’t read through Carnegie’s book, and you or your brand spend time talking to people (which you almost certainly do) it is worth a read. While there is some content that is dated, there is clearly a lot of information that can help you better communicate with your community on social media (and other forms of communication).

This article was originally shared to CoreyPadveen.com.

3 FREE Social Media Measurement Tools

February 23, 2015/by Corey Padveen

Free social media measurement tools are always a hot commodity for marketers.

If you’re like a lot of social media marketers, then you are often faced with significant hurdles when it comes to both measuring your results and receiving any sort of significant budget to make it easier. Luckily, there are options that exist to make your life much easier!

While there is a whole host of tools that exist on the paid side of the spectrum (some very affordable and others quite the opposite) it is always useful to start your endeavor into the world of social media measurement with some free tools. These are a few that can be particularly useful and provide quite a bit of insight.

Google Analytics

It might seem like Google Analytics does little more than track website traffic, but when you are using it properly, it can be one of your most valuable resources for measuring the success (and even revenue) of your social media strategy.

Between the social dashboard (under Acquisition) and the ability to set Goals and Filters from social networks, there is no shortage of what can be measured on Google Analytics. Use the system to better understand your social audience, identify which pieces of content are driving the most engagement (segmented by network) and even see which networks are driving the most revenue (either through direct sales or some sort of quantifiable action) in order to optimize your budget allocation.

Google Analytics does a whole lot more than simply track your visitors.

Simply Measured

Granted, there is a paid version of Simply Measured and it is certainly not the least expensive option on the market. But, the free reports offered by the service are amongst the most comprehensive and valuable of any free service on the web.

Perhaps one of the benefits of these free reports is the fact that they are not limited to only the most basic of networks. In addition to Facebook and Twitter, you can also generate reports for networks like Instagram, Vine, Google+ and even link to your Google Analytics reports and better understand your audience.

If ever there was a way to entice users to upgrade to a paid version, Simply Measured has figured it out by offering such detailed free reports that you almost need to see what more they could provide.

Social Mention

Though not a brand-specific analytics tool for social media, per se, Social Mention does provide detailed analytics around keywords (branded or otherwise) that can serve as valuable guidelines on creating content and participating in the social conversation.

Understanding what is being said about your brand, your competitors and your industry as a whole, and examining the audience discussing these topics is important to the practice of strategy optimization. As a free tool, Social Mention is one of the more valuable ones and one of the easiest to use. Simply jump in and start analyzing the conversation, then take the data you’ve pulled and apply what you have learned about content, trends and the audience to your strategies.

It should be noted that there are several niche tools that focus specifically on one network. For example, there is Tailwind for Pinterest, which offers a fairly extensive free trial, and Iconosquare for Instagram, but the three listed here will help you measure your social presence in its entirety as opposed to a network-by-network basis.

Are there any other tools – free or paid – that you like using? Tell us about them in the comments below or on Twitter!

How Web Directory Listings Will Boost Your Business

February 2, 2015/by Corey Padveen

Modern entrepreneurs understand various strategies of their business in depth. They are also aware of various marketing strategies to create a good brand name. Hence, the need for web directories is there in recent times.

There are many web directories that are available today. For example, Google+ has around 250 million users that are reaching great heights in their businesses. This number is ever increasing as Google has made it mandatory for marketers to create a Gmail account. One of the most important factors for successful business is the ability to create business networks.

Thus, one of the most important business networking tools is online business listings. The best and the easiest way to do this by listing in web directories. Free website directories offer the easiest way to get high ranks in Google search engine results. This in turn will boost your business.

Role of Web Directories

In order to make your business a huge success, it is necessary to create a unique identity for it. Web directories enable your website to get indexed by major search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. Your website and its content play a major role in page rank on Google. Thus, article marketing comes into the picture.

Article marketing is the process in which you generate interesting articles and then submit them to popular directories. Directories are specially designed to provide visitors with easy access to the best websites available in the specific category. Webmasters are the most common visitors of the directories. However, directories can be accessed and used by anyone on the internet.

The best thing about the article submission on web directory is that it generates targeted traffic. Article marketing has become extremely popular in recent times. Many articles are being submitted everyday to well known directories. However, most articles are of low quality with many grammatical errors, selling mistakes and inadequate knowledge. To succeed in increasing page rank in Google, the quality of content plays an important role.

In order to maintain high standards in the online world, there are a few points that must be kept in mind:

Web directories have various categories listed in which you can place your website. Your website must be relevant to the category where you wish to enter. For example, if your website is about medical information, you should list it in the health and fitness category on the web directory. If it is E-business & E-marketing website, then it should be submitted under E-business & E-marketing category.
Link building is an important factor in page ranking. Thus, websites with incomplete links or broken links will not be accepted by web directories during submission. Same goes for incomplete graphics, images or cluttered content. Websites that redirects to another address will not be accepted.
Duplicate content is strictly banned during submission to web directories. Two websites having the same content, but different domains will not be accepted.
Websites having objectionable and illegal content or images will not be accepted. For example, pornographic websites, content and images will not be included in web directories.
Websites should not contain too many links or pop ups. Such websites will not be accepted for web directory submission.

So before submitting your website to web directories, ensure that your website has these features:

Suitable category
Domain authority
Directory design
Fresh and relevant links
Listing quality
Quality, relevant and unique content

Hence, web directories are a great asset to increase your page rank and boost your business. Now, you can easily expand the web traffic and increase the chances that your website gets easily noticed online.

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