We all fear the dreaded social media crisis, and it is important to have a clear cut policy in place when it comes to managing the situation.
Have you ever looked at your overall social business strategy and asked yourself if you have a clear-cut set of steps to follow in the event of a social media crisis? Few brands do. No one likes to think about the devastating social media crisis but it is imperative that we do. After all, we have all seen cases of brands that have no strategy in place and what that can lead to.
There are a few steps that need to be taken in order to effectively manage a social media crisis. How you handle a situation will, of course, be at your discretion. But before you act, take a step back, take a deep breath and follow these instructions.
1. Figure Out What Happened
In the American political system use of the word “coup” to describe civil unrest in another region has some pretty severe consequences. That is why, when something does break out, politicians are very hesitant to use the word. On a much, much smaller scale, you need to have the same approach to a social media crisis.
One or two negative reviews on Yelp! or Trip Advisor does not a crisis make. If you open your social profiles to find a few negative comments, figure out where they originated, to what they are referring and determine whether or not this constitutes a real social media crisis.
In the strategy you create for handling crises it’s crucial that you outline what constitutes a social media crisis. When something does erupt on your social channels, trace it back to the origin and determine if you need to be in full panic mode or if this is something that can be handled easily.
2. Assign Priority Steps
Now, for argument’s sake, let’s say this is a crisis of epic proportions. What you’ll need to do is determine the order of actions determined by priority. If a crisis has reached major news outlets, maybe a press release should take precedent before reaching out to your social audience. If you are facing a barrage of criticism on Facebook, maybe you should focus your efforts on quelling the situation there before moving on to less active networks.
One thing to keep in mind at this point is that there is a notable difference between social crisis and social media engagement.
When engaging with your audience on a day-to-day basis, you want to give equal attention to your most influential audience members as well as those with very few followers and little social clout. While it might seem like a harsh reality, the same does not hold true for crises. In a social media crisis, not every one of your followers can be treated equally. Of course, over time you are going to want to address all comments (or as many as possible) in order to maintain your brand’s integrity. But at the beginning stages, you are going to have to order your individual responses in terms of influence.
The repercussions of a major industry influencer tweeting that they despise your brand are far greater than the repercussions of the negative tweet from a user who created an account simply to spite you. Keep in mind that in the time of a crisis, it is not business as usual.
3. Determine Appropriate Responses
OK – so you have laid out the exact order in which you plan on responding to this crisis, now it’s time to decide how you are going to respond.
There are two ways to go about responding to the crisis: you can either be on the defense (not in the conventional sense), apologizing to your fans and assuring them that this will never happen again, or on the offense, defending your product and explaining, calmly and with a sound argument, why the crisis does not reflect your overall business. Let’s look at a few examples.
Defense
A little while back, Home Depot tweeted an image that was largely seen to be racist and tasteless. While the brand made it clear that it was a third party that was responsible for sharing the message, they had no choice but to take responsibility for what had happened and assure the public that this did not reflect the values of the brand.
This was a clear example of a crisis. And this probably did some damage to the brand’s integrity. But by owning up to the incident, explaining what had taken place and trying to fix it, people eventually forgave them.
Offense
Let’s preface this by saying that going on the offense in the event of a crisis is a 1-for-100 case. Rarely will your brand succeed by standing by your position, particularly when you are in the wrong. That said, when done correctly and, more importantly, under the right circumstances, it can be an excellent way of quelling a crisis.
During the most recent Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Under Armour came under fire when the American speed skating team, for whom Under Armour had designed the ‘fastest’ suits ever made, failed to win or even place.
Instead of apologizing and assuring the world that they would try harder on the next go around, Under Armour decided to defend their product and explain that they were not to blame. Essentially, the brand did not levy the blame elsewhere (as they easily could have) but instead stood by their product, explained the reality of the sport and came out on top, with more long-term contracts being signed in the aftermath.
Going on the offensive is a risky move. If it works it is bold and genius. If it flops, your brand may never recover. Make the choice wisely.
4. Assign Tasks
Now you know that it is a crisis, you know the priority of responding and you have determined how you want to respond. It’s time to assign tasks to different teams.
As noted above, a crisis is not business as usual. Your customer service team is on apology duty, your social media team is an engagement team and your PR team is reaching out to any and all services to try and prevent the story from growing any bigger. And keep in mind that all of this is happening in seconds. You need to assign tasks and roles.
Again, this is a feature that needs to be included in your crisis management strategy. Figure out who approves outgoing messages. Make sure your teams are all working toward a specific goal and not flying by the seat of their pants. Instinct might be a great thing when creating a new campaign, but a crisis requires knowledge and logic.
This is where the prioritization is going to be extremely valuable. When there is a checklist of items that a team is responsible for (in order) it becomes much easier to get a handle on a situation.
5. Take Ownership
Of course, over the entirety of the crisis management process you have been taking ownership of the situation. At no point did you deny that anything had happened or told your unhappy followers that they were being too sensitive. (NOTE: Do not do that.) But once the highest-rising flames have been extinguished, it’s time to get out there, clearly explain what had happened and convey your sincerest apologies.
We’ve all seen examples of CEOs and VPs posting videos to blogs, YouTube and other social channels explaining a situation. A branded apology is much better than a quote in a news publication. You want people to see that you are taking ownership of a mistake and, more important learning from it.
6. Know When You Can’t Win
According to Jay Baer, “Never send a third reply. A third reply is an argument, not an answer. On the third reply, you take it offline.” Put simply, you can’t please everyone. There are some times when you simply aren’t going to give an audience member what he or she wants. You need to know when to walk away.
Continually responding doesn’t look good. Your brand does not need to get the last word in. When responding to individuals, send the apology, maybe send a follow up explaining what had happened, but don’t start going in circles. Accept that a crisis means you might lose a fan or two. It’s a reality of doing business on a large, public and social scale.
Conclusion
Your brand should learn from what has happened. A crisis is a great opportunity to see what works and what doesn’t. Learn what makes you audience tick and what they dislike. This will help generate brand loyalists down the road and keep you from encountering another crisis.
How does your brand handle crises? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
7 Habits of Highly Effective Social Media Managers
/by Corey PadveenWhat makes a social media manager stand out from the crowd?
While every social media manager approaches his or her job differently (after all, the job changes quite drastically depending on your goals) there are a few habits that the most effective social media managers will have in common.
These seven criteria should be applied if you want to succeed in your role as social media manager. With a medium that changes as often and as quickly as social, it’s important to be on top of your game.
Early Starter
The day does not start when you wake up, it carries over through the night and early into the next morning. If you want to find success in your position, you are going to have to be right there monitoring your brand and industry conversations on social first thing in the morning. A major part of the job has to do with keeping an eye out for bad press, negative comments or a social media crisis. These kinds of cases do not wait for you to sleep in and take your time in the morning.
Getting an early start means being alert from the get go. With real-time platforms like social, managers do not have the luxury of easing themselves into the day. If an issue or event comes up, you have to be ready to tackle it. So for all those morning people, you’re off to a good start. For the rest: a cold shower and a bucket of coffee should do the trick.
Great Writer
Great as in even when you throw something together quickly most people envy your innate ability to write. You don’t need to have the most eloquent of speech, but you should be able to speak well (not good, but well) and with complete grammatical accuracy. One of the most upsetting things for social media users is poor grammar from brands. That’s right – not terrible customer service, but poor grammar. (That said, don’t overlook good customer service in the name of proper grammar.)
As a social media manager for a brand or business, you are (generally) speaking on behalf of the company. That means that everything you say or do reflects not on you, but on the brand. So a whole bunch of misspellings and grammatical slip-ups means the brand looks bad and you’ll be taking the heat.
Quick on Your Feet
As noted above, a lot is happening and it is happening fast. You don’t always have the luxury of taking your time to deal with things as they come up. It’s important that you are quick on your feet when it comes to social media. When you need to respond to a tweet, for example, you should know your brand’s voice, the image it wants to maintain and, most importantly, how best to address a comment (or let it lie) in order to avoid any negative repercussions. That takes some quick, critical thinking on your part.
Of course, in the event of a crisis, the best thing to do is to bring the issue to higher ups that know how to handle these sorts of things. Try not to take on too much yourself. Which brings us to our next point:
Modesty Can be an Asset
There is a time to let your ego shine and there is a time where modesty can be your best friend. As a social media manager, you are going to have to realize (sooner rather than later) that you cannot do everything. Sometimes a senior marketing executive is going to have to take the reigns. Sometimes the PR department will have to step in. Sometimes there is an issue best handled by your support staff or the sales team.
Know the limits of your job description and recognize times where something is out of your league. Knowing when to pass things off is just as important as knowing when to take charge.
Friendliness
You were not put in this position because you are a monotonous drone with no people skills. You were likely charming in your interview and a great conversationalist. That’s a great start. That personality should extend to your brand’s social presence. Of course, you will probably be given some guidelines when you first get started indicating what you can and cannot say, but try to give everything that human touch.
People are active on social media because they want to engage in conversations with people all over the world who share similar interests. So, make the social channels highly sociable. A great example of a brand that understands this is Cadbury.
Coolheadedness
We seem to keep circling back to one important point: social media are fast paced environments wherein a ton is happening all in real-time. You need to be able to handle that sort of thing if you plan on being a successful social media manager. Becoming easily overwhelmed means it will be tough to go far with the platform. So if you want to succeed in your role, know that you will be able to take a step back, take a deep breath and handle everything that is going on without feeling like it ‘never ends’ – because it doesn’t.
The larger and more public the brand, the truer this holds. If you recognize this aspect and still feel confident that you can handle this without breaking a sweat, you’re in great shape so far. Only one more step to go!
Born Decision Maker
In contrast to the modesty mentioned above, you will also want to be a born decision maker. Marketing, PR and advertising executives do not want to be bothered with every little thing that comes up. It might not seem like it at first (especially when people constantly ask you if you simply post to Facebook all day) but you are being given quite a bit of responsibility as a social media manager. The public voice of the brand is being put in your hands, and you ultimately control its fate. To succeed in this role, you’re going to have to be able to make some important decisions with the utmost confidence.
Know when to respond and when to leave a comment or criticism alone in the socialsphere. You need to be capable of making decisions in real-time about a number of different elements including what content to share, how to respond to messages, how to handle small crises, the best ways to measure returns, the best tools to use, the right campaigns to run, the key demographics to target and quite a bit more.
Conclusion
If all of this sounds like a walk in the park, and these seven habits identify you to a tee, then you might have found your calling! Of course, these are not the only seven habits of highly effective social media managers. Quite a bit more goes into the job. But if you possess these qualities, you are certainly off to a great start!
What other qualities do you think effective social media managers possess? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
The Steps to Managing a Social Media Crisis
/by Corey PadveenWe all fear the dreaded social media crisis, and it is important to have a clear cut policy in place when it comes to managing the situation.
Have you ever looked at your overall social business strategy and asked yourself if you have a clear-cut set of steps to follow in the event of a social media crisis? Few brands do. No one likes to think about the devastating social media crisis but it is imperative that we do. After all, we have all seen cases of brands that have no strategy in place and what that can lead to.
There are a few steps that need to be taken in order to effectively manage a social media crisis. How you handle a situation will, of course, be at your discretion. But before you act, take a step back, take a deep breath and follow these instructions.
1. Figure Out What Happened
In the American political system use of the word “coup” to describe civil unrest in another region has some pretty severe consequences. That is why, when something does break out, politicians are very hesitant to use the word. On a much, much smaller scale, you need to have the same approach to a social media crisis.
One or two negative reviews on Yelp! or Trip Advisor does not a crisis make. If you open your social profiles to find a few negative comments, figure out where they originated, to what they are referring and determine whether or not this constitutes a real social media crisis.
In the strategy you create for handling crises it’s crucial that you outline what constitutes a social media crisis. When something does erupt on your social channels, trace it back to the origin and determine if you need to be in full panic mode or if this is something that can be handled easily.
2. Assign Priority Steps
Now, for argument’s sake, let’s say this is a crisis of epic proportions. What you’ll need to do is determine the order of actions determined by priority. If a crisis has reached major news outlets, maybe a press release should take precedent before reaching out to your social audience. If you are facing a barrage of criticism on Facebook, maybe you should focus your efforts on quelling the situation there before moving on to less active networks.
One thing to keep in mind at this point is that there is a notable difference between social crisis and social media engagement.
When engaging with your audience on a day-to-day basis, you want to give equal attention to your most influential audience members as well as those with very few followers and little social clout. While it might seem like a harsh reality, the same does not hold true for crises. In a social media crisis, not every one of your followers can be treated equally. Of course, over time you are going to want to address all comments (or as many as possible) in order to maintain your brand’s integrity. But at the beginning stages, you are going to have to order your individual responses in terms of influence.
The repercussions of a major industry influencer tweeting that they despise your brand are far greater than the repercussions of the negative tweet from a user who created an account simply to spite you. Keep in mind that in the time of a crisis, it is not business as usual.
3. Determine Appropriate Responses
OK – so you have laid out the exact order in which you plan on responding to this crisis, now it’s time to decide how you are going to respond.
There are two ways to go about responding to the crisis: you can either be on the defense (not in the conventional sense), apologizing to your fans and assuring them that this will never happen again, or on the offense, defending your product and explaining, calmly and with a sound argument, why the crisis does not reflect your overall business. Let’s look at a few examples.
Defense
A little while back, Home Depot tweeted an image that was largely seen to be racist and tasteless. While the brand made it clear that it was a third party that was responsible for sharing the message, they had no choice but to take responsibility for what had happened and assure the public that this did not reflect the values of the brand.
This was a clear example of a crisis. And this probably did some damage to the brand’s integrity. But by owning up to the incident, explaining what had taken place and trying to fix it, people eventually forgave them.
Offense
Let’s preface this by saying that going on the offense in the event of a crisis is a 1-for-100 case. Rarely will your brand succeed by standing by your position, particularly when you are in the wrong. That said, when done correctly and, more importantly, under the right circumstances, it can be an excellent way of quelling a crisis.
During the most recent Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Under Armour came under fire when the American speed skating team, for whom Under Armour had designed the ‘fastest’ suits ever made, failed to win or even place.
Instead of apologizing and assuring the world that they would try harder on the next go around, Under Armour decided to defend their product and explain that they were not to blame. Essentially, the brand did not levy the blame elsewhere (as they easily could have) but instead stood by their product, explained the reality of the sport and came out on top, with more long-term contracts being signed in the aftermath.
Going on the offensive is a risky move. If it works it is bold and genius. If it flops, your brand may never recover. Make the choice wisely.
4. Assign Tasks
Now you know that it is a crisis, you know the priority of responding and you have determined how you want to respond. It’s time to assign tasks to different teams.
As noted above, a crisis is not business as usual. Your customer service team is on apology duty, your social media team is an engagement team and your PR team is reaching out to any and all services to try and prevent the story from growing any bigger. And keep in mind that all of this is happening in seconds. You need to assign tasks and roles.
Again, this is a feature that needs to be included in your crisis management strategy. Figure out who approves outgoing messages. Make sure your teams are all working toward a specific goal and not flying by the seat of their pants. Instinct might be a great thing when creating a new campaign, but a crisis requires knowledge and logic.
This is where the prioritization is going to be extremely valuable. When there is a checklist of items that a team is responsible for (in order) it becomes much easier to get a handle on a situation.
5. Take Ownership
Of course, over the entirety of the crisis management process you have been taking ownership of the situation. At no point did you deny that anything had happened or told your unhappy followers that they were being too sensitive. (NOTE: Do not do that.) But once the highest-rising flames have been extinguished, it’s time to get out there, clearly explain what had happened and convey your sincerest apologies.
We’ve all seen examples of CEOs and VPs posting videos to blogs, YouTube and other social channels explaining a situation. A branded apology is much better than a quote in a news publication. You want people to see that you are taking ownership of a mistake and, more important learning from it.
6. Know When You Can’t Win
According to Jay Baer, “Never send a third reply. A third reply is an argument, not an answer. On the third reply, you take it offline.” Put simply, you can’t please everyone. There are some times when you simply aren’t going to give an audience member what he or she wants. You need to know when to walk away.
Continually responding doesn’t look good. Your brand does not need to get the last word in. When responding to individuals, send the apology, maybe send a follow up explaining what had happened, but don’t start going in circles. Accept that a crisis means you might lose a fan or two. It’s a reality of doing business on a large, public and social scale.
Conclusion
Your brand should learn from what has happened. A crisis is a great opportunity to see what works and what doesn’t. Learn what makes you audience tick and what they dislike. This will help generate brand loyalists down the road and keep you from encountering another crisis.
How does your brand handle crises? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
5 Bitly Features You Probably Didn’t Know About
/by Corey PadveenBitly is a great tool for shortening links and watching the clicks come in, but there are some great additional features as well.
When you hear someone mention Bitly, your immediate thought is something along the lines of, “Link shortening!” While Bitly is a great tool for shortening links and monitoring clicks, there are some additional Bitly features that are extremely valuable to the optimization of your activity on social media.
These four Bitly features are not universally known, but are definitely worth remembering.
Bitly Analytics
You account shows you how many clicks a particular link (or a version of a link) has garnered, and a lot of people think that the counting stops there. But for serious marketers who are looking to optimize their activity, there are Bitly insights a click away.
When you copy a link and paste it into a new tab or window with a small ‘+’ next to it, you are introduced to a world of insights about the activity that has taken place on that link. Similarly, if you have access to the link in your account, you can simply click on the ‘View stats’ link (shown above) and see the same insights.
See what Bitly analytics look like when you dive in!
Competitive Insights
What a lot of people don’t seem to realize is that these Bitly insights can be viewed by anyone. So next time you see a competitor using a Bitly link, copy it, add the ‘+’ mentioned above and take a look at the activity on their link.
These insights can provide you with some idea of how to position your product on social media, what demographics to target and how to optimize your content schedule for optimal exposure and click-through rate.
Custom Links
Data shows that social media users are generally more comfortable clicking on a link when they know where it is going. From a content marketing point-of-view, this means that your posts shouldn’t have cryptic, ambiguous calls-to-action like, “Want to Make Money?” or “Start Your Journey Here!” Instead, they should be clear and straightforward. The same goes for your links.
One of the best features when it comes to Bitly is that you do not have to be a webmaster to customize your links. Sure, there are options to fully-customize (go to the Advanced section in your Bitly account’s Settings) but you can also simply customize the ending of your link.
Instead of a messy bit.ly/abc123-style link, you can click on the pencil next to your link (see it in the image above?) and customize it! Of course, if someone else has already taken your customized link, you’ll have to think of something else, but the more specific you are the better. For example, in the link above you’ll see that we changed it to t2SocialBlog so that people know they are clicking through to our blog and not some spam-filled webpage.
Networking
Wether you are sharing links with your public community (hence the ability to make links public) or you are creating bundles on Bitly to share with your personal networks, Bitly offers you the ability to be social right from your link shortening dashboard.
One of the great features of Bitly is that it is, essentially, a content curation tool as much as it is a link shortener. By building a community and actively participating in it, you might find that you can access a bundle with some great new content or resources and add to your sea of most-visited websites.
Real-Time Media Map
One of the cooler tools that exists out there today is Bitly’s Real-Time Media Map. Though it is still working it’s way into the market (only showing information for the United States right now) it is a very unique, fun and informative resource.
Start by choosing the type of media you want to peruse (say for example magazines or newspapers) then see what accounts are being shared most actively in different states in real-time. You can track the hottest accounts and keep up-to-date with the most popular stories as they are shared with Bitly links.
As this tool evolves, it will certainly become something worth leveraging for your own insights and strategies.
Next time you find yourself shortening a link with Bitly, remember that the information you receive is much more than some data on the number of clicks you have had. What link shortening service do you use? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
How to Use Twitter Analytics to Optimize Ad Targeting [VIDEO]
/by Corey PadveenAre you optimizing your ad targeting on Twitter?
Twitter Analytics may be simple and easy-to-use, but they can be extremely valuable when crafting an ad strategy on the network. While our business might target one demographic with ad platforms like AdWords, Facebook Advertising or even LinkedIn, we might find that there is an entirely different demographic engaging with our brand on Twitter.
One of the benefits of creating an ad account on Twitter is access to the analytics of your audience. Learn where they are, what their interests are and use that information to craft highly engaging ads. Take a look at the simple tips in this video to see exactly how you can take advantage of the insights offered by Twitter Analytics in order to optimize your next ad campaign on the network.
Why Every Business Should Blog [INFOGRAPHIC]
/by Corey PadveenDo you have a business blog?
Every brand should have a business blog. It’s as simple as that. Whether you post to your business blog every month, every week, or every day, there are a number of assets that it can provide in addition to generating a significant degree of brand and Social Equity.
In this great infographic from Quick Sprout, some of the greatest benefits of your brand owning a blog are outlined. Take a look at the assets that it can provide and let us know what you think the greatest benefits of a business blog are in the comments below or on Twitter!
6 Social Media Engagement Mistakes to Avoid (at All Costs)
/by Corey PadveenMake sure you avoid these social media engagement mistakes like the plague!
The (slowly slipping into the category of ‘age old’) expression of “Think before you tweet!” has never been more true than it is today. With billions of people tuning into social platforms and listening to what you have to say, you (and your brand) simply need to be on top of your game when it comes to sharing information and engaging in conversation.
There are some social media engagement mistakes that brands will simply have a next-to-impossible time overcoming. After all, you are only as good as your most recent crisis, and you want to keep those to a minimum. These social media engagement mistakes are a surefire to see you brand come under heavy criticism, particularly if they go viral. And isn’t that always the case with these kinds of situations?
1. Arguing
Do not argue with your customers on social channels. Ever. It doesn’t matter how wrong they may be, and how right you think you are. The second you respond with the maturity of a pubescent high-schooler, you’re brand does not look good.
We all say that social media requires a human touch. But at the end of the day, there are certain human qualities we would like to leave out of our brand. One of those is the argumentative nature of human beings. It may sometimes result that you are better off ignoring a comment (still not a great option) than arguing in the public’s eye. Consumers will side with each other.
2. Automation
Automating certain posts and your content schedule is fine. No one expects the average brand to send out messages all day long, and sometimes the process is made much easier when certain aspects (not all, but a select few) can be automated. The one thing that has no business (and never will have business) being automated is engagement.
The human touch mentioned above is all about that engagement people are looking for with brands. If you plan on automating responses (as is done with email responses) than expect to see your brand laughed out of the socialsphere. It’s happened to bigger brands than you might think.
3. Grammatical Errors
OK, granted, your brand can recover from grammatical missteps. In fact, a lot of people won’t notice them. And, at the end of the day, they happen. But your brand is not supposed to make little mistakes. If you plan on presenting your brand as the best in the business, keep a close eye on syntax. People pay a lot of attention to those kinds of things.
Keep your brand integrity in order and proofread social media engagement posts before they go out. Sometimes a little something might get by you. That is especially true if you post content to multiple channels on a constant basis. Don’t make your brand look bad by engaging with a consumer directly and making a little, avoidable mistake like this.
4. Bulk Responses
If you plan on engaging as a brand, do it as conversations are taking place. Nothing looks worse in a Twitter feed than radio silence followed by dozens of responses, one after another, to messages sent to your brand days, if not weeks before you responded.
If you can’t engage in real time, don’t worry about it. It’s not a practice that every brand is comfortable with, and not one that should be approached without serious consideration of the pros and cons. That said, if engagement is in your bag, make sure you have an appropriate strategy that addresses comments and questions in a timely manner.
5. Automated ‘Thank You for Following’ Messages
This is, for the most part, relegated to Twitter. Have you ever followed a brand only to receive a direct message shortly thereafter thanking you for the follow and directing your to their blog, website or Facebook page? It’s annoying and defeats the purpose of engagement.
As with the automated responses mentioned above, the automated ‘Thank You’ message takes away from the personal touch that social media engagement offers and reflects poorly on your brand. That said, a personalized ‘Thank You’ message is a great way to welcome a new follower.
6. Bad Mouthing Competition
We have seen plenty of great examples of brands – sometimes competitors – coming together on social media for a wonderful experience for fans. But, as with arguing, getting into it with a competitor is a direction that should be avoided at all costs.
You want to showcase your highlights, not another brand’s flaws. Commend your peers on jobs well done and tout your own successes. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all, just, get along?
What other mistakes can you think of that brands should avoid when it comes to social media engagement? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
4 Growth Opportunities You Might Have Overlooked
/by Corey PadveenGrowth opportunities exist all around us on social networks, and there is a good chance we have overlooked one or two.
We are always looking for growth opportunities on social media. After all, why does our business have a presence on these networks if not to expand? The social web is filled with these growth opportunities, so it shouldn’t come as any surprise to hear that we might have overlooked one or two.
These four growth opportunities are surefire ways to get your brand noticed in new communities and by potential customers across the social web.
Google+ Communities
Before the detractors attack Google+, keep in mind that it is a Google-owned product. That alone makes it important. What’s more important is that this year, according to SearchMetrics, Google+ +1s are the most important ranking factor for your content on Google (shown in the chart below).
Communities on Google+ are groups of individuals with similar interests. When you share content from your brand’s profile to these Communities and it generates shares, +1s and comments, that’s a powerful ranking factor for Google. It becomes even more important if you have influential users engaging with your content. All that to say is do not overlook the power of Google+ – and Communities in particular – when it comes to increasing your brand’s presence on search engines.
Quora
Sometimes all people want is an expert opinion without having to pay an expert for their opinion. Enter Quora.
If you are not familiar with Quora, it is a network where people ask questions and have them answered by others with the answers. Simple, and a great opportunity to showcase your expertise in a given field.
Create alerts for yourself to be notified of new questions that come up in your given field and make it a point to show people just how much you know by answering questions. It is important that these answers are detailed, on point and not self-promotional. You are there to be an expert, not to sell your services. That comes naturally when people see how qualified you are.
LinkedIn Groups
First of all, if you have not joined as many groups as you possibly can, do it now. There is no reason not to be engaging with your industry peers wherever possible. Moreover, this is a great way to increase your relationships on LinkedIn.
In these groups, you might have noticed an influencer rating on the right-hand side. Engaging and, more importantly, starting conversations in these groups (not just sharing your content, but maybe asking a question every once in a while) is a great way to build your influence. People take note of a top influencer in their groups and, a generally common reaction is to view their profile, maybe research their company, etc.
Groups aren’t all about finding interesting articles; they are a great way to generate new interest in your business and your expertise.
Bookmarking
Effectively bookmarking your blog posts, articles and guest blogs with proper tags is a great way to generate exposure. Take something like StumbleUpon, for example. You have people regularly clicking through content to find something that they might like, based on their preferences. By properly assigning your content to a category, you are more than likely to have someone interested in what you have to say landing on it.
Bookmarking is an excellent way to generate new exposure. Sites like Digg allow your network to see what you have archived and share it with their extended networks as well. Don’t overlook the value of simply clicking the icon and bookmarking your content (and ensuring that it is enabled on all of your pages, of course).
Are there any other subtle growth opportunities that have worked for you? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
Demographics of the Top Pinterest Influencers [INFOGRAPHIC]
/by Corey PadveenWhat are the key demographics of the top Pinterest influencers?
Influence is a powerful phenomenon in any industry, and that is particularly true on social media. The folks at HelloSociety have done some research to determine exactly what the demographic composition is of the top 100 Pinterest influencers.
Not surprisingly, they concluded that the majority of these tastemakers are women in major American markets with a higher education (much like the largest demographic of active Pinterest users). What is interesting, however, is that these Pinterest influencers are regularly active on the network, sharing several pieces of content per day and generating a ton of engagement.
Have a look and see if there are any surprises that catch your eye! Tell us about them in the comments below or on Twitter!
8 Important Facebook Mobile Stats and What They Mean for Your Business
/by Corey PadveenThe importance of Facebook mobile for business has grown considerably with the increasing popularity of the app.
One of the most fascinating realities of the digital marketing world is the rate at which it evolves. It wasn’t long ago that Facebook and MySpace were the only two ‘networks’ out there as we understand the term today. The idea of connecting on mobile devices was an afterthought at best. Today, Facebook mobile is becoming exceedingly important to business, and the proof is in the numbers. Below are a few of the most impressive (and shocking) statistics when it comes to Facebook mobile with some explanation as to how these numbers relate to your business.
1. There are 945 million monthly active users (MAU) on the Facebook mobile app.
That means that nearly every Facebook user is taking advantage of the network on-the-go. In today’s mobile business landscape, your brand cannot afford to be stagnant. You need to travel with your Facebook audience and appeal to them with mobile friendly content (i.e. responsive and short).
2. There are 8,400 Facebook advertisers on mobile.
This is a huge opportunity! There are over 25 million businesses with registered pages on Facebook and on the website, there are only a million advertisers. That’s roughly 4%. If you think that is a big opportunity, consider how few advertisers there are competing for attention on mobile!
3. There was an 89% increase in the usage of Facebook Messenger among teens (16-19) in 2013.
To anyone that tells you Facebook is losing its teen demographic, refer them to this statistic. The popularity of Facebook among teens still exists, it is just evolving as the nature of teen engagement does: moving to mobile.
4. 927 million hours are spent every month on Facebook apps and games by Facebook mobile users.
Are you a game or app developer, or are you considering gamification for your brand? Then you should probably consider spending some time focusing solely on Facebook mobile apps. Why? Because people are spending over an hour per month, on average, playing games on Facebook mobile. In an age where it is hard to keep someone’s attention for more than eight seconds that’s quite an achievement.
5. There are 556 million daily active users (DAU) on Facebook mobile.
Consider this: if you have a mobile ready blog that you share across your social networks every day, there are 556 million people that can be targeted through social ads on Facebook mobile to read your article.
6. Your content is twice as likely to be shared or clicked on a mobile device than it is on a desktop.
The world is full of distractions and perhaps the greatest distraction of all is in the palm of your hand. Think about your daily activity on your mobile device; you are probably liking pictures on Instagram, liking status updates and re-tweeting great content on Twitter. Well, when you share content to Facebook mobile, users are, as with anything on mobile, twice as likely to engage with it than they are on a desktop.
7. 60.3% of social sharing on mobile devices can be attributed to Facebook.
Massive engagement is generated from Facebook mobile. Of all the social networks on which people can share content, Facebook is the most active. If you are trying to reach a broader audience and expand your mobile presence on social media, there are few options better than Facebook.
8. 45% of social logins are through Facebook.
If you require a login on your mobile site or app, make sure there is an option for social logins. People simply want to press a button and have their Facebook account connected to an app as opposed to creating an account. This is also beneficial when it comes to targeting your content strategy, as you will have far more insight into your engaged audience (through Facebook).
How do you leverage the power of Facebook mobile for your branding and content strategy? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter! (Stats courtesy of ShareThis, TechInAsia, Facebook, Venture Beat, AllFacebook)
Super Targeting Your Social Ads: Reaching the Right Audience
/by Corey PadveenWhen it comes to targeting your social ads, what should you consider in order to find the perfect audience?
Perhaps the greatest evolutionary feature that has resulted from the recent history of advertising is the specificity with which you can be targeting your social ads. By properly targeting your social ads, you can significantly increase your reach and decrease your cost-per-acquisition, whether that is new followers, clicks or something else.
But so few publishers are taking advantage of these advanced targeting capabilities and it is hard to understand why. After all, one of the greatest benefits of running a social business is increasing efficiencies, and this is one of the ways in which that can be done.
So next time you decide to run a social advertising campaign, keep a few of these important criteria in mind for targeting your audience.
Interests
This seems like an obvious one, but it is so rarely used. Instead of A/B testing ads on social media to find the right audience, most brands simply throw out a net and hope to catch something.
The ability to target users by interest is extremely valuable. You can craft ads around these targeted interests in the hopes of finding higher engagement (often achieving that goal). People are out there telling you what they like; why not listen?
Age
People of different ages have different priorities. More importantly, your key demographic of customers might fall into a particular age bracket.
The ability to target by age means that you can specify whether you want your ads to reach an already engaged audience, or try to penetrate a new age demographic. Again, targeting by age allows you to test different copy to see what kind of rhetoric resonates with a young or older audience.
Job Description/Title
While this is a feature unique to LinkedIn, it is extremely valuable when trying to reach decision makers.
Often, we do not have control over whether or not the people seeing our ads are decision makers at their respective companies. We simply have to hope. On LinkedIn, however, we can not only see the job level of our engaged audience, but target an audience by seniority. This makes it much easier to reach decision makers and get your message out to the right people.
Location
Again, this is a demographic that seems obvious, yet publishers are not using it in the most effective ways.
As with age, people in different locations (even within the same country) have different priorities. If you sell skiing equipment, you won’t want to target people in South Florida. (In fairness, that’s an oversimplification of the issue, but the easiest way to convey the message.) Craft your ads according to the priorities of the people in specific locations and change the message for others.
Commonalities
One of the most valuable features of Twitter and Facebook advertising is the ability to target users who follow or like similar brands on the network.
When someone likes other brands in your industry, they are all the more likely to be interested in your brand. By targeting your ads and sponsored messages to these users, you can be sure to see your clicks and conversions rise.
Remember, even if your super targeted social audience is small, it is a group of people that are more likely to engage with the content you are sharing. Would you rather have ten million impressions, or an engagement rate ten times the industry average with a sensationally low CPA?
What are some of the target audiences you hope to reach with your social advertising strategy? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!