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Social Media, How To Guide for
American Express Merchants
americanexpress.com.au/merchant
How to use Social Media successfully for small independent businesses
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Contents
Introduction - Page 3
1. What is Social Media? - Page 4
An introduction to Social Media and its role in the
digital marketing mix
5. Community Management - Page 18
How to talk to your followers
Summary - Page 19
Glossary - Page 20
2. Why does it matter? - Page 5
Benefits to small independent businesses in Australia
3. What can be done? - Page 6
Definitions and an overview of Paid, Owned, Earned
and Shared Social Media
4. How can I do it? - Page 7
Analysis of the main Social Media opportunities
available, with step-by-step instructions for small
independent businesses:
A . Facebook - Page 8-12
• How to set up a Facebook account
• How to create a Facebook Page
• How to create an advert
• How to manage your adverts
• Facebook Insights
B . Twitter - Page 13-16
• How to set up a Twitter account
• How to create a Twitter Profile
• How to create Promoted Tweets
• How to manage your Promoted Tweets
• Twitter Analytics
C . LinkedIn - Page 17
• A brief overview of options available to you
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Introduction
Introduction
In this guide, we explain the importance of social media
and outline the best ways for independent businesses to
use it. We offer you step-by-step instructions to help you
get started and provide you with tips on how to engage
with your target audience, make contacts and expand
your business network. There is also a Glossary on page
20, describing key terms which are marked in bold
throughout this document.
With more than 800 million active users worldwide,
Facebook is currently the biggest social media platform,
and is the focus of this guide. It is the most suitable
channel for small businesses; however we also explore
the different social media options available to you,
including Twitter and LinkedIn. Case studies highlight
how social media, when used effectively, can offer real
benefits to your business.
Source: Facebook, December 2011.
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1
What is
Social Media?
Why Users Follow Brands on Twitter
An introduction to Social Media and its role
in the digital marketing mix
Special Offers / Deals; 43.50%
Social media uses the connections consumers have
online to market products and services through the
power of word of mouth. Social networks are always
open and users can discuss your brand at any time.
These 4 steps show you how to be ready for this level
of interaction, building a two-way dialogue between
brand and customer:
Friends are fans
of brand; 6.30%
1. Building your presence online
People in Australia are spending more and more time on
the internet, including searching for restaurants, gift
ideas and shopping online. Make the most of this
opportunity, whether it’s through developing your own
website or social media page, or using other existing
platforms such as 3rd party websites or directories.
Current customer;
23.50%
Interesting
content; 22.50%
Other; 0.70%
Product or service
news; 3.50%
3. Talking to your fans
2. Growing your fan base
You can market your presence on social media platforms
either through paid media or by including a link in all
your customer-facing material, so that your customers
know you’re online. The pie chart shows the reasons
why Twitter members follow brands. With 43.5% of
users following brands for the special offers, by giving
customers a strong reason to seek out your social
channels, such as offering discount codes or unique
content, you’re more likely to get people taking the
time to find you online. In Section 4, we explain how
you can grow your fan base.
Talk to your fans in a way that will make them engage with your
content. This will help build a community around your brand.
4. Driving fans to your store
It’s important to drive fans from your social channels to your
shop/online store so that they purchase products. Using
Facebook Places you can now create a Check-in, and you
can even offer incentives to customers who Check-in. This
is then posted to their wall and their friends can see they
are at your store.
Source: Get Satisfaction, June 2011.
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2
Why does
it matter?
Benefits to small independent businesses in Australia
The 2011 social media report by SocialMedia Examiner
talked to 3300 social media marketers and found that it is
small businesses that benefit the most from social media.
We recommend you get to know your customers online and
speak with them directly about your products and what they
think of your business.
• Building relationships
A social media page is a great platform where your
customers can come together. Follow our community
management tips on page 18 and you can quickly build
a community around your brand that is both engaging
and cost effective.
• Customer insights
Social media channels have analytics tools available.
You’ll be able to track the number of interactions with
fans and see exactly what your target audience looks
like in terms of key demographics, gender, age, location
and more.
• Search Engine Optimisation
By creating a social media page or account with your
business’s name in the title, along with publishing links
to your website, you will also help make your company
appear higher in search engine result lists.
See Section 4 of this guide for step-by-step
instructions on the process of setting up a social
media page and how to make it work for you.
Source: SocialMedia Examiner, April 2011.
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3
What can be done?
You may have heard of the terms Earned, Owned, Shared and Paid media to categorise media
for your business. Here is a quick explanation and how to apply this to the social media
environment, particularly Facebook.
• Earned Media
Organic coverage about your business as a result of
PR activity or news features, without having to pay
for it. On Facebook, this includes users who became
a fan of your page, shared a post or suggested your
page to their friends.
• Owned media
This includes content that your business controls, like
your company website, blog or newsletters. On Facebook,
owned media is your company’s Facebook Page and the
content published by you on the Wall, but not any of the
user comments.
• Paid Media
The advertising you purchase to create awareness
with a specific audience for a set time period.
On Facebook, this is the advertising you can buy to
generate more traffic to your Facebook Page to grow
your fan base.
• Shared Media
Online interaction with customers that results in content
is ‘shared media’, as the content is partially owned
and partially earned. When a Facebook fan comments
on your company’s post, this action will show up in their
friends’ news feeds and word of mouth marketing
is created.
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4
How can I do it?
In this section, we give an overview of the main social media opportunities available,
with step-by-step instructions for small independent businesses:
There are several free functions available such as
setting up a Facebook Page, Twitter Profile or LinkedIn
Company Page. This means you can expand your network
and interact with users without having to pay for it.
We recommend you start by choosing one social media
channel to focus on. As Facebook has the largest number
of users worldwide, this social network will offer you the
largest reach. It’s simple to use and is the social channel
we recommend for small businesses. However it is
necessary to manage your Page effectively and update
it regularly in order to get the most out of it.
Ads allow you to target your message to a specific
audience, such as a particular gender or age group.
As an American Express Merchant, you will have access
to our complimentary Geodemographic Data Reports
which can provide you with valuable information about
the types of people in the vicinity of your business,
who you may wish to target with your ads.
Twitter can be a quick and fun way to keep your followers
updated, however as Twitter is more focussed on tweets
(updates) rather than creating a homepage for your company,
it means you need to publish new content more frequently
than on other channels.
LinkedIn is recommended for companies who operate on
a business to business level. It is also worth noting that the
recently launched Google+ sits between Facebook and
LinkedIn, however is still not as widely used by small
businesses in Australia at this stage. Despite this, Google+
can be a good alternative to a full website, and is a great
compliment to organic Google searches.
Whilst publishing content to your social media page and
responding to your fans’ comments is a free and easy way
to engage with users, you may want to complement this with
advertising through these social media channels.
Facebook Ads, Promoted Tweets and LinkedIn Ads must all
be paid for, but are a useful way to raise awareness of your
brand, or of a particular new product or service, and to drive
traffic to your Company Page.
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4. A
Facebook
Launched in 2004, Facebook is ideal for smaller businesses as it offers free
marketing opportunities through setting up a company page, as well as
providing an advertising platform that allows you to target your
customers and easily control your advertising spend.
Aside from setting up a Facebook Page for your business,
there are other free benefits available, such as free
standard Facebook reporting. This includes data on
impressions, click through rate (CTR), cost per click (CPC),
cost per thousand impressions (CPM), spend, frequency,
connections and unique clicks for activity within Facebook.
Note: if you are sending users to other websites through
ads, then Facebook reporting will not track this.
If you would like to focus your marketing towards
specific groups or expand your fan base quickly, you
can opt for Facebook advertising. Ads are bought on
either a CPC or CPM basis. CPC is an ideal payment
method for advertisers who need to guarantee they
only pay for viewers that actually click on the ad and
visit their Facebook page/website. CPM is ideal for
advertisers who want to guarantee the number of
people who see their ad. Facebook advertising
can be used to drive traffic, sales, fans and
Return On Investment.
How to create a Facebook account
1. Go to www.facebook.com
2. Enter your details and click ‘Sign Up’
2. Complete the security check
4. As you are using this Facebook account to
create a business page, you don’t need to fill out
your profile information.
Whether you choose to set up a company page or
create an ad, you will need to set up a Facebook
account before you start.
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4. A
How to create a Facebook Page
1. Go to www.facebook.com/pages/create.php
2. Select the category that best fits your business
Facebook
3. Fill out the sub category and your business name –
this will be the title of your Facebook page.
Agree to the terms.
4. Select an image to use as your Profile Picture.
This should be your company logo, or an image
associated with your company.
5. Send the page to any existing friends you have in your
Facebook Profile or share it with a contact list. You don’t
have to do this now as you may want to add content to
your page first.
6. If you have one, add the URL of your website and a short
description of your business
7. Your branded Facebook Page has now been created.
To add content to your Facebook Wall, click on ‘Wall’
on the left hand side. You can then add a ‘status’ –
a message that goes to all your Facebook fans, or share
photos, links, videos or ask questions.
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4. A
How to create an advert
1. Login to your Facebook account and go to ‘Advertising’
at the bottom of the log in page, then click on the
‘Create an Advert’ button.
Facebook
4. On the Targeting page, select who you would like to
see your ad, and then select ‘Continue’. Facebook will
highlight the estimated reach for your targeting selection
on the right-hand side.
2. Enter the Facebook Page or website URL you’d like
the user to be directed to when they click on the ad
3. Enter the ad copy and image. The copy should be
under 25 characters for the Title and under 135 characters
for the Body.
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4. A
Facebook
5. Select the account currency, country and time zone
and give your campaign a name to identify it in
your reports.
6. Add the maximum daily campaign budget (this is the
maximum amount you are willing to spend per campaign
per day. Facebook cannot guarantee this will be spent but
sets a cap)
8. Review the ad details then click ‘Place order’.
Add payment details then ‘Submit’.
Your ad will then go through an approval process
before going live, which can take up to 24 hours.
7. Select the pricing method and set the maximum bid you
are willing to pay per click/per 1000 impressions
(per 1000 appearances of an ad on a web page) and
click ‘Review advert’.
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4.A
Facebook
How to manage your adverts
You can ensure you get the best results from your
Facebook campaign by monitoring the CTR (the percentage
of users who have seen the ad and clicked on it).
The higher the CTR, the stronger the results.
Optimise the profile targeting
Target the most responsive demographics, locations,
interests etc. For example, if females are responding to
an ad better than males, allocate more of your budget to
females. The key is finding the ‘Interests’ which are best
suited to your target demographic. If you sell football boots,
you can target users whose interests include football.
Optimise the creative
Selecting strong imagery and clear, concise messaging
makes ads relevant, resulting in better response rates.
Optimise bids and budget
Facebook works on a bidding system. You tell Facebook
how much you are willing to pay per click or per 1000
impressions, and Facebook then use this, along with the
quality score of the ad, to determine the ad rank.
Optimise towards day of week/time of day
Showing ads at the optimum day of week/time of day is
essential when trying to generate strong response rates.
These may vary by market, so find which times/days work
best for you.
How to manage your adverts
Facebook provides results by location, demographic,
relationship status, language, education, workplace,
interests and connections, allowing for granular reporting.
In this way, you are able to determine which offer, image,
ad copy etc. is most effective for each targeting profile.
You can access Facebook Insights by going to your company
Page and clicking ‘Insights’ in the list under the Profile Picture.
You will see the data in the form of a graph, as well as see
statistics for individual posts.
You should test various bid prices, as the first bid you test
may not deliver. Test bid prices at incremental levels to see
which ones produce the best results. Remember to switch
off any ads with bids that do not deliver. Assign campaign
budgets according to the strongest performing ad variants.
Optimise the landing page
Is the Facebook user responding to the landing page they
are being sent to by purchasing your product? If not then
make any necessary changes. Consider developing a
Facebook landing page to avoid the user having to leave
Facebook when they click on an ad.
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4. B
Twitter
With more than 300 million users worldwide, the micro
blogging service has quickly established itself as the
place where news breaks first. Their free services
are an effective way to connect with customers and
potential customers.
Although setting up an account and tweeting are free, it
may be worth investing in Promoted Tweets if you would
like to target any specific groups that may not follow your
brand already, therefore expanding your audience.
Promoted Tweets are priced on a cost per engagement
(CPE) basis, so you only pay when someone Retweets
(i.e. forwards on your tweet for their followers to read),
replies to, clicks or favourites your Promoted Tweet.
However impressions on Retweets are free and can
extend the reach and cost-effectiveness of your campaign
many times over.
How to set up a Twitter account
1. Go to www.twitter.com/signup
2. Enter your details
3. Enter your company or brand name as your Username.
This will be the title of your Twitter page.
4. There are several ways to find followers on Twitter.
Search for competitors and companies within your industry,
search within relevant categories (this will increase your
exposure to other users with an interest in this area) or
search your email accounts for contacts who use Twitter.
Source: Business Insider, May 2011.
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4. B
Twitter
How to create a Twitter Profile
1. Click on the ‘Profile’ button at the top of the page,
and then go to the ‘Edit your profile’ tab
2. Select an image to use as your profile picture.
This should be your company logo, or an image
associated with your company.
3. Enter your business name, location and company
URL if you have one. You can also add Twitter logos
icons, widgets, and buttons to your website or blog so
that users can easily click through to your Twitter profile.
These tools can be found at https://business.twitter.com/
4. Enter a short description of your business in less than
160 characters
5. If you also have a Facebook page, you can automatically
post your Tweets to Facebook by linking your accounts.
6. Use your Profile to reinforce your business’s branding by
choosing the background and text colours on your account.
Select the ‘Design’ tab and then ‘Change design colours’.
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4. B
Twitter
How to create Promoted Tweets
When using Promoted Tweets, they can either be
targeted to Search results or to user Timelines.
Promoted Tweets in Search: These appear at the top
of the results page when users search for their interests
on Twitter.
Promoted Tweets in Timelines: These will reach users
who are similar to your current followers and will appear
at the top of their Timeline on their homepage.
1. Log in to your Twitter account and
go to https://business.twitter.com/advertise/start/
3. Click on ‘Create a new campaign’ and select
‘Promoted Tweets’, and choose whether you want to
target Search results or target Timelines.
4. Add any keywords and/or countries you want to target
5. Select which of your tweets you would like to promote
6. Assign a campaign budget and daily budget for your campaign.
Then assign a bid based on the suggested bid price.
7. Give your campaign a name to identify it in your reports
2. Fill in your details and click ‘Submit’
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4. B
Twitter
How to manage your Promoted Tweets
Twitter Analytics
The following tips can help you improve the performance
of your Promoted Tweets:
The Twitter Analytics function is only available to brands
that use Promoted Tweets. The Analytics dashboard provides
information on engagement levels, number of followers,
Retweets and reach.
• Always add direct links to more information about the
product or service you are advertising
• Include a strong call to action that encourages sharing
and engagement
• Include photos and videos to encourage interaction
• Target users who are similar to your existing followers
to expand your reach
• Promote tweets to Timelines to engage your followers
• Promote tweets to Search to ensure conversation
around your brand points to the exciting new product
or service
• For keywords, include your branded terms as well as
any Hashtags included in the actual tweet
Like Facebook ads, you can also manage your Promoted
Tweets based on your bid and campaign budgets.
See ‘Optimise bids and budget’ in Section 4.A Facebook:
How to manage your adverts.
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4. C
LinkedIn
This professional social network has more than 175 million users,
and focuses largely on the business to business (B2B) audience.
You can set up a Company Page for free, which you can
use in a similar way to a Facebook Page by posting status
updates, article links and photos. However the main focus
on LinkedIn is reaching out to other companies.
Among the free benefits available on LinkedIn is the ability
to search for and connect with other businesses and it
allows other users to find you too.
The free ‘Recommendations’ function can also be a great
advantage as customers can review and comment on your
business, which provides a trusted source of information
for other users.
Like Facebook, creating adverts must be paid for according to
the bid system. You will have control over your daily spend,
and you can choose between CPC and CPM payment methods.
You can find statistics relating to your ads on the LinkedIn
Ads dashboard, including information on impressions. You
can access this by clicking ‘Advertising’ at the bottom of
your homepage, then ‘Manage Your Ads’ and go to the
‘Reporting’ tab.
LinkedIn’s paid for services can also give you access to people
you are not already connected to, expanding your reach to the
entire 175 million users on the network.
Source: LinkedIn, December 2011.
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5
Community
Management
How to talk to your followers
The moderation and management of your social
channels is key to the success of your online
presence. This can include defusing online situations
and keeping users engaged.
• Set house rules
Talk about what the page is for and what you would
like to achieve. Detail how you will manage abuse,
such as removing content. It’s also a good idea to
leave an email address if users wish to contact you.
Facebook allows you to set up your own rules in
addition to the existing Facebook policy. Include this
in the ‘About’ tab. You can edit this by going to
‘Edit Page’ and selecting ‘Basic Information’.
• Moderating content
If a user has posted something that is not acceptable,
you can remove it by selecting the ‘X’ in the top right
corner of the comment on Facebook and choosing the
‘Hide post’ option. This content will now be hidden from
everyone except you and the user who posted it. This is
not an issue on Twitter, as you are the only one who can
post content to your Profile.
• Frequency of posts
Create a monthly or weekly plan to set the topics and content
of your posts/tweets in advance. This will make sure they are
coherent and the tone of voice is consistent. Anywhere between
3-5 posts a week for Facebook and LinkedIn is recommended.
Due to the fast-paced nature of the Twitter feed, we recommend
updating your Twitter Profile with 3-4 tweets per day.
As with all these recommendations, try it and see what frequency
works for you. The great thing about social is that you are in
control, and you can adjust at a moment's notice.
• What to talk about
Topics can include your company’s news and events such as
product launches, competitions and promotions, industry news
and any other areas of interest.
• Expanding your reach on Twitter
@Mentions can help expand your Twitter network through
interacting with other users’ tweets to increase your exposure.
#Hashtags can also help increase your number of followers
through the search feature, so should be used as much
as possible.
• Know which content works and why
The average user will follow lots of pages, and all those pages
are fighting to get into that user’s news feed. Facebook wants
to show people content they are interested in, which means
pages with higher ‘EdgeRank’ will be seen by more of its fans.
EdgeRank is an algorithm Facebook uses to decide which page
posts you see in your news feed.
TBG Digital’s research has shown that Facebook Pages with
low EdgeRank could potentially only be seen by 6-8% of the
total fan base, whereas those with a high EdgeRank will be
seen by 30+% of the total community. The more your community
is engaged (clicking, Liking, sharing), the more people will see
your content.
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Summary
Introducing social media into your marketing plan can offer many advantages
to your business. By expanding your online network and raising awareness of
your company within the marketplace, you will be able to grow your customer
base and increase brand loyalty.
You can create your own online community that will allow you
to have more control over the business messages you communicate,
as well as provide an insight into what your customers value most
about your brand.
Now that you have the knowledge and tools to make your business
more social, start taking advantage of the benefits available.
Whether you opt for free communication or paid for advertising,
there is a wide range of opportunities to create a successful social
media presence for your business.
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Glossary
Ad history: The past performance of an ad
Ad rank: Determines the position of your ad in search
results. The higher the ad rank, the higher the ad positioning
in search engines such as Google. Ad rank score is based
on the bid and quality score of your ad
CPR: Cost per Registration is a pricing method for
ads (Spend/Total no. of Registrations)
CTF: Click to Fan Rate is the percentage of users who have
clicked on your ad and become fans of your page. It indicates
the quality of traffic your ad has generated
Bid: The maximum amount you are willing to pay per click
or per thousand impressions (maximum bid). Facebook then
uses this, along with the quality score of the ad, to determine
the ad rank
CTR: Click Through Rate is the percentage of impressions that
have resulted in a click through. CTR is calculated by dividing
the number of clicks by the number of impressions. It indicates
the attractiveness of the ad
Clicks: The number of click throughs that have occurred as a
result of a user clicking on an ad and being redirected to a
Facebook page or advertiser’s web page
EdgeRank: An algorithm Facebook uses to decide if you do
or don't see page posts in your news feed. The more users
engage with your page and posts, the more likely your posts
are to enter all of your fan's news feeds
CPC: Cost per Click is one of the online payment models by
which advertisers pay for each click through made on their ad.
This is an ideal payment method for advertisers who need to
guarantee they only pay for those viewers of the ad that click
on it and visit the Facebook page/page on their site
Engagement: Total interactions (comments, Likes, clicks, shares)
Engagement Rate: Total interactions (comments, Likes, clicks,
shares)/total impressions
CPE: Cost per Engagement is a pricing method for ads
(Spend/Total no. of Engagements)
Hashtags: These allow you to mark keywords or topics by putting
a ‘#’ symbol in front of the word you wish to highlight
CPF: Cost per Fan is a pricing method for ads (Spend/Total no.
of Fans or Likes)
Impressions: A single appearance of an ad on a web page
CPM: Cost per thousand impressions (CPM) is one of the
online payment models by which advertisers pay for every
1,000 impressions of their advertisement. This is an ideal
method of payment for advertisers who want to guarantee
only the number of people who see their ad. The ‘M’ in CPM
is from the Roman numeral for 1,000
Mentions: Mention begins with the ‘@’ symbol, and refers to
another user's Twitter username
Quality score: The most influential factor on quality score is
CTR but it also includes other factors such as ad history.
Used by Google, ninemsn, Yahoo!7 and Facebook to determine
the ad rank and CPC. The better the quality score, the lower
the CPC and higher the ad rank
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Small Print
American Express Australia Limited (ABN 92 108 952 085);
Registered Office, 12 Shelley Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia.
®Registered trademark of American Express Company.
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