Practical Social Media Marketing Presented by Karen Porter UM School of Business Administration & ImpactOnlineMarketing.com ImpactOnlineMarketing.com Social Media Have You Frustrated? ImpactOnlineMarketing.com Frustration Factors       Just one more things small business owners need to worry about / take care of It’s confusing It changes all the time It takes too much time It’s easy to get distracted It doesn’t seem to work ImpactOnlineMarketing.com Why Social Media “Doesn’t Work”       Posts are self-serving Posting impersonal content that doesn’t relate Post erratically and / or infrequently Using the “wrong” social media Trying to post on too many social networks and it becomes hard to keep up Expecting the moon from social media! ImpactOnlineMarketing.com My Goal Today  Provide relevant, reliable, and up-to-date information you can immediately put to use  Pass along practical tips for effectively managing social media so that it doesn’t consume your life  Put to rest “advice” that is well-intended but that may be derailing your social media efforts ImpactOnlineMarketing.com The #1 Best Practice of Social Media  Know your target market!     What social media are THEY using? Where are they most likely to follow your business? What do they want to know about your business? What do they want to know that is related? Question: Is (are) the social media you are using now the BEST fit for reaching your target market? ImpactOnlineMarketing.com Quick Review of Top Social Trends and Social Networks in 2014  Facebook  Twitter  LinkedIn  Pinterest  Google +  Instagram ImpactOnlineMarketing.com 2014 Social Media Trends  Facebook post reach continues to decline / paid ads are necessary to guarantee high reach  Content MUST go beyond words – photos and video are a huge plus for stimulating engagement  Growth in visual social networks: Instagram / Snapchat  Google + gaining momentum and will become a significant player in 2014  Over 70% of employers are using social media as a screening tool when considering job applicants ImpactOnlineMarketing.com Facebook 2014  Largest social network with 1.2 Billion users  54% male / 46% female; average user age is 41  Posts with photos get most interaction  Internal scheduling tool works best:  “Like” comments, comment on posts  Reach continues to fall  Great “effectiveness measurement” tool: Likealyzer.com ImpactOnlineMarketing.com Twitter 2014  Vibrant social network with 560 users  Limits posts to 140 characters (recommended <120)  Hashtags (#) started with Twitter  Heavily used to follow news, celebrities, trending topics  55% female/ 45% male; 70% some college  Skews younger than Facebook  Difficult to build a “local” audience ImpactOnlineMarketing.com LinkedIn 2014  Primarily a business network with 240 users  Excellent B2B platform for businesses / consultants, etc  79% of users are age 35 or older  LinkedIn updates tend to be best read  Company pages can/should be developed  Thousands of active groups for relevant participation ImpactOnlineMarketing.com Google+ 2014  High growth, now at 400 users (many “forced” by Google)  Heavily skewed toward males; more educated  Tech was early emphasis / focus now much broader  Google known to “reward” Google+ users  No internal pre-scheduling of posts / must use external tool such as Buffer or Sprout Social ImpactOnlineMarketing.com Pinterest 2014  70 million users  68% female / 32% male; females 5x likelier to be active  Heavy emphasis on décor, babies, fashion, recipes, and weddings  Visual in nature – best for visual products/services  Need to verify account to access analytics ImpactOnlineMarketing.com Instagram 2014  150 million active users  Owned by Facebook  Users skew much younger – teens through 20s  Focuses on photos and 15 second videos  Photos & videos can be shared on other networks  Just staring to be used by brands / businesses ImpactOnlineMarketing.com Social Media KISS – F.O.C.U.S.  Focus – on 1-2 targeted social media platforms (make sure these are networks used by target market)  One in four rule (1:4 “Sales” Rule)     Sales – promote products / services directly Storytelling – about customers, people in business, philanthropy, etc Related info – related content of interest “Fun” content – related memes, cartoons, etc.  Calendar – plan monthly / quarterly in advance  Utility – use tools to make it easier (Sprout Social, Buffer, etc)  Social – create content that is “share-worthy” ImpactOnlineMarketing.com “Share-worthy” is KEY  “Share-worthy is NOT: ImpactOnlineMarketing.com Share-worthy Content  Is NOT:     Pitch, pitch, pitch Self-serving all the time One-sided communication IS:    Interactive – two way communication Involves your fans / followers / customers Engaging ImpactOnlineMarketing.com What All This Means for You    Use media that is right for your type of business Develop a social STRATEGY (don’t just try a hodge-podge of ideas hoping something will work) Use tools to help plan / post in advance and monitor / measure results  Do NOT try to “do everything” – just do one or two really well and you’ll have much better success  Focus on what you do best – consider outsourcing (just outsource wisely) ImpactOnlineMarketing.com Thank You!  Please feel free to contact me:    Get today’s PowerPoint deck & free downloads   ImpactOnlineMarketing.com => Contact (406) 529-8931 http://ImpactOnlineMarketing.com/montec Upcoming online / social media courses  http://umt.edu/ce/extended/noncredit/profdev/default.php ImpactOnlineMarketing.com