It is a misguided question often asked: “How much does social media cost?”
We hear it all the time. As marketers, a lot of us have even asked it or are asking it now. The question, “How much does social media cost?” is one that has surged in popularity as of late, but anyone who actively operates a social business knows why it is somewhat misguided.
So what makes the question misguided? The nature of asking why it is misguided might lead us to think that we are going to be given some convoluted, pseudo-existential response, but the fact is that it is quite simple. The question, “How much does social media cost?” is misguided because of the simple use of the term, ‘social media’.
What’s wrong with the term ‘social media’?
The buzzword on the tips of everybody’s tongue is ‘social media’. We know that it resonates when we talk to clients, and we bring it up because we know that clients expect to hear about it. While the media type is important, we have to step away from the term and look at the words and what they mean.
Social is self-explanatory. It is something that connects people. But media is plural. So basically, when we take a step back, we are saying, “How much does it cost to connect with people in different ways?” Now we’re getting somewhere.
What should the question be?
Now that we know that using the term ‘social media’ is misleading, we need to ask ourselves what the proper question is. We need to ask ourselves, “What is the cost of running a social business?”
A page on Facebook, boards on Pinterest and a Twitter account might look good, and they might be ‘free’ to create (if you don’t count the time it takes to create them) but what is the overhead of running a social business? This is where you have to think of ‘social media’ as more than a few networks – it is the new way of conducting business.
What is the cost of running a social business?
First of all, we need to stop thinking of social as MySpace, Friendster, Facebook and subsequent networks. Yes, these were new ways of connecting people, but the concept of social selling was nothing new. Blogs and email, even your website, were the original forms of social media; hubs in which people could connect. So what does it cost to apply that approach to your entire business?
First look at what departments are going to go social. If you are going to transition your customer service onto social channels – a more cost-effective, time-efficient and customer preferred way of doing business – how much will it cost per issues handled? Determine how much work will exist, how many people it will take to handle it and how much it will cost to employ those people. (NOTE: You might be the sole proprietor of your business. That’s great! But don’t sell yourself short. Your time is very valuable, and you need to figure out what your opportunity cost is to handling these facets of your business on your own.)
Most people are not looking at bus benches. They are spending hours a day looking at Facebook. They are sifting through billions of pieces of content on Twitter. They are conducting Google searches and clicking on results. They are looking for jobs on LinkedIn. You might hope to drive traffic organically. But these social channels need to make money, too. You are going to need to invest in your social business to see returns.
Advertising on social media is still young enough that it is affordable. Take advantage of that. Create highly customized ads that target your ideal candidates. Drive people to your website with your ads, or grow your brand’s market presence. Determine your budgets, as you have in the past, and test them to see what works.
There is no magic button or single answer. You might hear about a video that goes viral and figure, “I can do that, too!” You can try. But you might be sorely disappointed. Your social business is going to take a serious commitment, an investment and a new way of thinking.
So, how much does social media cost? Social media is your new business. It is not a standalone tool. Do not simply throw stuff against the wall and see what sticks. Take social seriously and invest appropriately.
Have you developed a Social Business Plan? See how t2 can help you put one together here.
Where have you invested most in your social business? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
4 Social Media Campaigns to Test this Holiday Season
/by Corey PadveenAs the holidays approach, you need to find a way to leverage social media campaigns to boost your presence in the market.
Below are four very simple and potentially lucrative ideas for social media campaigns that your company should invest in this holiday season. The holidays are all about bringing people together, and what better place to do that than on social media (with the exception of home, of course)!
Holiday Pin-To-Win
People love pin-to-win campaigns on Pinterest. They allow people to express themselves creatively and share their pinspiration with a large audience. If you have an active social audience and are part of a visual industry, consider hosting a pin-to-win campaign on Pinterest!
There are a lot of easy ways to run these types of campaigns. You can either host the campaign yourself, or use a software provider like Woobox.
Facebook Holiday Offer
Have you ever created an offer on Facebook? For brands with a physical presence, offers can be of great value. If you add a theme to your offer – in this case, the holidays – it can be even more beneficial. People love the idea of specials and savings during the holidays. After all, the season is expensive enough as it is. If you show your fans and followers that you are giving them a way to save this year, they will certainly appreciate that.
With the right offer designed for your fans, you can certainly expect the returns on your investment in boosting that offer to a wider audience to be very high.
Promoted Holiday Tweets
If you have created a landing page for a holiday ebook, service or special, or simply want to attract new followers by appealing to their holiday spirit, then promoting specific tweets with a holiday motif will certainly give your Twitter marketing a boost.
Target specific users and interests on Twitter and share your content to increase clicks to your pages and conversions from a targeted audience.
Promote Holiday Pins
Have you seen or used the new promoted pin feature on Pinterest? Yes, the photo-sharing network has gone the way of Facebook and Twitter and begun allowing advertisers to promote their content. Just in time for the holidays!
Try promoting pins with embedded links to your website that follow a holiday motif. This can be your marketing experiment this holiday season.
These are just a few social media campaigns you can consider launching this year.
Can you think of other social media campaigns that might generate high returns during the holidays? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
How to Embed a Tweet on Your Blog Post or Website [VIDEO]
/by Corey PadveenEver wonder how to embed a tweet on your blog? Follow these easy steps to do it today!
If You Ignore Your Social Data, You Ignore Your Business
/by Corey PadveenIf you are not paying attention to your social data, then you are ignoring one of the most valuable assets you have in your social business.
Paying attention to these insights is going to be an integral part of running a successful social business. How will you know if your strategy is generating results and helping your business grow if you are not monitoring your initiatives’ performance?
Below are three types of social data you should keep a close eye on when it comes to your social business’s performance (and a few places to monitor that data).
Demographics Engaged
There are billions of people active on social networks every day. It is nice to think that every one is a potential customer, and a good way to overcome the fear of getting started, but the reality is that your real potential customers are making themselves shown every day – you just need to know where to look for them.
Look at your Facebook Insights to see what groups of people are consistently engaging with your content. The new Facebook Insights provide some great ways to do this. If you are running Twitter ads, pay close attention to those most actively clicking on your promoted tweets. On LinkedIn, look at your company page stats to see what groups of people find your company most interesting.
These are just a few of the easy ways you can monitor your most engaged demographics and understand how you can better align your business to target these markets.
Ad ROI
Social advertising is not being given enough credit (yet) as a legitimate source of advertising. Trust us, it is. But still, entrepreneurs running their own operations are often throwing a few dollars behind a Facebook as hoping that is generates some clicks and brand awareness. Not enough!
Set goals, target specific demographics and, both when it is over and while it is running, pay attention to your results! When looking at this social data, you might find that a user-base you hadn’t anticipated being so attracted to your offer is up there with the most active. Knowing your market’s wants and tailoring your services to provide for those wants is what keeps you ahead of the competition.
And it’s easy to find! In your Twitter Ads Manager, Facebook Ads Manager, LinkedIn Ads Manager and others, you can see all of this data in real-time!
Content Strategy
Once again, simply sharing content is not going to drive the results you hope to get as fast as you hope to get them. Every once in a while, we have a brilliant idea that helps our content go viral. And I don’t know about you, but those blue moons have been coming around less and less since the whole world has started trying to create their own viral video. Focus on how your content is being engaged with, and optimize your strategy accordingly.
Again, Facebook Insights provides you with some great insight into what types of content are generating interest. You can also look at your LinkedIn Page Insights, among other sources. This information is out there ready to help you succeed on social. Use it to your advantage!
Find out how t2 can help you leverage your social data here.
How are you leveraging the power of social data? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
Everything You Need to Know About Privacy and Security on Facebook [INFOGRAPHIC]
/by Corey PadveenPrivacy and security on Facebook are concerns for both companies and individuals.
In Deloitte and MIT’s social business research report, companies cited that one of the top barriers preventing them from going social is a concern with security on social networks. As the reality about privacy and security on Facebook comes to light, this is a concern shared by individuals as well. When you consider how many people have been rejected from or even lost their jobs because of what was said or found on social channels, it is no wonder that this is such a dominant concern.
That is why Inside Facebook has put together this infographic with every bit of information you are ever going to need (at least until the next major overhaul) when it comes to your privacy and security on Facebook.
Of the information presented below, perhaps most startling is the fact that over six-hundred thousand accounts are compromised on Facebook daily. Sure, that’s only a small fraction of a percent of the active accounts on the network, but that is far from a negligible statistic.
Take a look at the data below and consider if you have properly protected your information.
Have you ever had any major security issues with Facebook or another network? Tell us about it in the comments below or on Twitter!
How Much Does Social Media Cost?
/by Corey PadveenIt is a misguided question often asked: “How much does social media cost?”
So what makes the question misguided? The nature of asking why it is misguided might lead us to think that we are going to be given some convoluted, pseudo-existential response, but the fact is that it is quite simple. The question, “How much does social media cost?” is misguided because of the simple use of the term, ‘social media’.
What’s wrong with the term ‘social media’?
The buzzword on the tips of everybody’s tongue is ‘social media’. We know that it resonates when we talk to clients, and we bring it up because we know that clients expect to hear about it. While the media type is important, we have to step away from the term and look at the words and what they mean.
Social is self-explanatory. It is something that connects people. But media is plural. So basically, when we take a step back, we are saying, “How much does it cost to connect with people in different ways?” Now we’re getting somewhere.
What should the question be?
Now that we know that using the term ‘social media’ is misleading, we need to ask ourselves what the proper question is. We need to ask ourselves, “What is the cost of running a social business?”
A page on Facebook, boards on Pinterest and a Twitter account might look good, and they might be ‘free’ to create (if you don’t count the time it takes to create them) but what is the overhead of running a social business? This is where you have to think of ‘social media’ as more than a few networks – it is the new way of conducting business.
What is the cost of running a social business?
First of all, we need to stop thinking of social as MySpace, Friendster, Facebook and subsequent networks. Yes, these were new ways of connecting people, but the concept of social selling was nothing new. Blogs and email, even your website, were the original forms of social media; hubs in which people could connect. So what does it cost to apply that approach to your entire business?
First look at what departments are going to go social. If you are going to transition your customer service onto social channels – a more cost-effective, time-efficient and customer preferred way of doing business – how much will it cost per issues handled? Determine how much work will exist, how many people it will take to handle it and how much it will cost to employ those people. (NOTE: You might be the sole proprietor of your business. That’s great! But don’t sell yourself short. Your time is very valuable, and you need to figure out what your opportunity cost is to handling these facets of your business on your own.)
Most people are not looking at bus benches. They are spending hours a day looking at Facebook. They are sifting through billions of pieces of content on Twitter. They are conducting Google searches and clicking on results. They are looking for jobs on LinkedIn. You might hope to drive traffic organically. But these social channels need to make money, too. You are going to need to invest in your social business to see returns.
Advertising on social media is still young enough that it is affordable. Take advantage of that. Create highly customized ads that target your ideal candidates. Drive people to your website with your ads, or grow your brand’s market presence. Determine your budgets, as you have in the past, and test them to see what works.
There is no magic button or single answer. You might hear about a video that goes viral and figure, “I can do that, too!” You can try. But you might be sorely disappointed. Your social business is going to take a serious commitment, an investment and a new way of thinking.
So, how much does social media cost? Social media is your new business. It is not a standalone tool. Do not simply throw stuff against the wall and see what sticks. Take social seriously and invest appropriately.
Have you developed a Social Business Plan? See how t2 can help you put one together here.
Where have you invested most in your social business? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
How To: Get People to Click on Your Links
/by Corey PadveenWhat can we do to get people to click on our links and increase our website’s traffic?
There are a few easy steps you can take to get people to click on your links and increase the traffic you drive to your website. After all, what is the point of writing all this great content if no audience is lucky enough to read it?
Capture Their Attention
Have you ever been sifting through content online and come across a title you just had to click on? This is the first thing you should consider when trying to get people to click on your links. Consider two titles. The first reads, ‘How To Write a Blog’ and the second reads, ‘5 Ways to Write Viral Blog Content’. You will most likely be more interested in clicking on the second article.
Be Specific
Building off of that first tip, the best way to capture the attention of your audience is to be as specific as possible in your article’s title. Let people know exactly what they are going to get when they click on your link. Vague, cryptic titles are not as enticing as some people think. They also come off as spam.
When you see a link that says, ‘Want to Grow Your Business?’ you are more than likely thinking that you will be directed to a spammy sales page. Tell people what they are clicking on so your traffic is interested in what you have to say before ever arriving at your site.
Tailor Your SEO Sections
When you share an article to a blog post and you are trying to drive clicks to your site, you will definitely want to have information in the title and meta description relating to that specific article – not your site in general. On WordPress, a plugin as simple as Yoast will allow you to add these fields in simply and avoid generic descriptions showing up with your articles.
Having these segments complete is not only good for SEO, but good for clicks, too.
Recycle Your Content
The shelf life of a tweet is said to be about fifteen minutes. For a Facebook post, it used to be roughly two hours. With the new Facebook algorithm, it is likely less now if you are posting as your page. How far do you think your content is going to reach if it is only visible for a short while? Probably not very far.
You are going to need to share your content on an ongoing basis to every one of your networks. If you want to increase your brand’s exposure and get eyes on your blog, then you are going to have to share it’s content regularly. It might take some work, but with so much content being shared to the web on an ongoing basis, organic traffic is only going to come if you start by aggressively sharing your content – and sharing it often.
These are just a few ways to drive more traffic to your blog or website. How do you increase the clicks on your links? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
15 Amazing Social Media Marketing Statistics (in Pictures!)
/by Corey PadveenThese social media marketing statistics will make the case for the transition into a social business!
As marketers, we are all looking for that one piece of crucial information that will help us convince our clients (and, in some cases, our own management) that the need to become a social business is greater than ever. These fifteen social media marketing statistics are certainly impressive, and should help any marketer get over that last hurdle when it comes to proving that social is a necessity!
Now, if those stats don’t get you excited about the prospect of becoming a social business, little else will! Social media is quickly spilling over into every demographic and in big ways. The marketing landscape has been drastically altered by the presence of social, and it is time for your brand to become a social business!
Find out what a social business looks like here and let us know how your company is social! Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
How to Measure ROI on Facebook in 3 Easy Steps [VIDEO]
/by Corey PadveenMeasuring ROI on Facebook is essential to knowing the success of your program, and it is much easier than you think.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel here.
Op-Ed: You’re Only as Good as Your Worst Interaction
/by Corey PadveenManaging your reputation on social media is an integral part of any comprehensive social business strategy.
One of the realities of doing business is that the larger we grow, the more likely we are to encounter that individual that doesn’t like our product, our service, or simply has a bad experience. And what happens then? Well, a recent study by ZenDesk shows that 95% of customers who have a bad experience tell someone about it, compared to 87% who shared a good experience. Maybe we just like to tell others about our suffering, but the fact remains that you can be sure that a customer who has a poor experience with your company is going to go out there and tell the world. And it is now much easier than ever before.
And so we come to the title of this article: your brand is only as good as your worst public interaction. What did an angry customer have to say about your brand? How did you handle it? Your reputation on social media – on every platform from Facebook to Yelp! – is going to be affected in a much greater way by how you handle your unhappy customers than how you handle the satisfied ones.
The Intelligent Traveler
Put yourself in the customers’ shoes. Let’s say you are planning a trip and you are considering staying at one of two hotels. Assume the prices and amenities are all the same. Well, if you are like 65% of online travellers, then seeing a management’s response to comments on a social channel like TripAdvisor would sway you to book with the responding hotel. (Google, January, 2013)
People like the idea of accountability, and when you avoid dealing with issues head on, you are hurting your reputation on social media. Owning up to your brand’s mistakes, and showing people that you are taking strides to both remedy situations as they arise and prevent them from ever occurring again goes a very long way.
Nobody Cares What You Did Right
When you are buying a product on eBay, and you see that a seller has a rating of 99% from 100 buyers, are you going to care about the 99 people that said, “Great job! Fast delivery! Recommend seller!”? Or would you be more concerned with finding that one comment that reads, “Item was not as described. Seller did not respond to questions. Would not recommend.”? Probably the second one.
You can do something right a thousand times, but that one time that things go wrong, people will remember it. It is here that you need to shine. It is easy to handle happy customers. How you handle unhappy customers on public forums is what is going to influence future buyers.
The Ostrich Never Dealt with Social Media
Burying your head in the sand while people speak out against your service or brand might have worked back in the days of phone and mail. But now, when people can reach out to networks of thousands, you had better be ready to respond. Clearly, ostriches never had to deal with issues on social media.
Have a plan in place for every plausible scenario. You need to know the Dos and Do Nots for handling crises and unhappy customers before you have to deal with crises and unhappy customers. The last thing you want to do is learn from your mistakes when your mistakes have already resulted in consumers making up their minds. Read up and do the research on the mistakes of others and devise strategies for managing your reputation on social media from these.
It might not be an ideal situation, but the fact is that your brand is only as good as it’s worst interaction on social media. This is where people are going to do their research; consumers trust each other, not your brand. But you can change that by properly managing your brand’s reputation on social media!
Find out more about becoming a social business and managing your reputation on social media here.
Do you research products and services on social channels before making a decision? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
5 Tips for Brands on Instagram
/by Corey PadveenBrands on Instagram are still relatively young, but there is still a lot marketers can learn from their successes and failures.
Below are five things you can learn from other brands on Instagram and apply to your strategy in order to get the most out of the network.
Quality is Better than Quantity
Have you ever scrolled through your Instagram feed and noticed a half dozen posts from the same user, all in a row, all with a message to follow someone, or double tap an image, or some other pseudo-promotional content? No one likes it, and it is a very easy way to lose followers that actually check Instagram regularly.
One of the things that attracts people to the app is the ability to make the ordinary look extraordinary. Focus on sharing something that people will love and it will go a lot further than sharing a lot of forgettable posts.
Have a Strategy
Like any other one of your social networks, Instagram is going to need a content strategy if you want it to work for you. ‘Getting started’ with Instagram means doing just that.
The same way you created a content strategy and schedule for your other channels, do so for Instagram. It will make the management of your account much easier and you will be able to find success much quicker.
Create a Brand for Your Brand
What content are you sharing that people are most responsive to? At t2, we have branded ourselves with dogs. What symbolizes your brand? Figure that out and share content that is immediately recognizable as your own. You want people to know that the image is coming from your account, and not have to look up at the user to see who posted it.
Set Goals
What are you trying to achieve with Instagram? Again, this is not a tip unique to the network; this is something that should be practiced on every one of your social channels. That said, it still needs to be done. Otherwise, who is to say that your work on Instagram is doing you any good. Work towards a goal and determine how you plan to measure the steps you are taking to achieve it.
Soft Sell
This is the most important tip of all. As noted above, reaction from users to the sponsored ads has been very negative. While some people don’t seem to mind it, those that do, mind it a lot.
Remember, Instagram is an app. You should be sharing images that increase brand awareness. This is not the place to solely promote your product or service. Familiarize people with your brand so that you remain top of mind. Then, when the time comes, you can leverage this brand awareness and drive sales from the network. Patience is a virtue – especially on Instagram.
How have you found success on Instagram? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!