Which venue is right for your company??? All of them???
SocialNetworks….soooooo many how do you choose???? Here are four of the top Social networking sites that you if used as a tool can steer traffic to your website. There are may more that venues that I have not commented on in detail here today, Digg, Hubub, Stumble Upon, Reddit, Tumblr, Pocket are site you can share with from our site.
Overarching Action Items
Choose owner for all of social media. Having one person handle each site can be a benefit.
Set up social media posting cadence. As with anything formulating your company policies is a must.
Choose a social media management platform.
Determine social media voice. What is you message?
Set up an employee social sharing platform like GaggleAmp
FACEBOOK
For the most part people do use Facebook for business. However, if used correctly Facebook can be a very valuable platform to generate revenues. Let’s face it, FB is the most popular and has the most people of all social sites floating around their site. They have analytic tools that will assist you with monitoring you use and traffic.
Objectives
Brand awareness and engagement. We all want everyone to know immediately who we are.
Lead generation or customer acquisition. Offer deals or use QR codes for promotional purposes.
Share a mix of relevant links, blog posts, and engaging content. You can configure you blog so the link will automatically post to you Home Page.
Promote upcoming events. Offer a 10% discount if they mention they say you add on FaceBook.
Engage with influencers. Create content that will generate conversation and discussion.
Action Items
Set up sponsored posts and ads
Set up Facebook tabs that sync to your marketing automation platform…
Both items are simple enough. The trick is to stay creative with your posts and ads.
Key Metrics
X-number of posts per day. This will be a re-occurring theme. How many do you need to be successful with your objectives?
Page follows. This is a FaceBook thing. All networks have a way to “follow” someone or a company.
Likes. Again Likes are the home page for all to see.
Engagement and comments. As you gain followers you’ll definitely increase the number of comments you start to receive.
Referring traffic. This will be something you’ll be able to monitor with FB analytics.
Shares. Encourage sharing of your articles and posts.
Lead generation/new customers. Be consistent. Do you want/can you afford to give something away every day, once a week???
LINKEDIN
This is a business networking site. A very good site for business minded people. Occasionally you’ll run into the immature and obnoxious that will create issues because they just do not like you, your company for whatever reason they decide. For the most part though, the members of LinkedIn are professional and are there for the same reason you are, to generate business for their company.
Objectives
Brand awareness and engagement
Lead generation or customer acquisition
Share a mix of relevant links, blog posts, and engaging content. Again you can configure your blog to automatically post to your home page.
Promote upcoming events. Find the right groups for your organization to post in.
Engage with influencers. Always attempt to comment on articles that the BIG names in business write and post.
Action Items
Create and join relevant groups. There are so many group on this site. Select the groups that will benefit you and your goals. If you find too many groups that create divide in your industry, instead of starting a new group use a group page set up to promote your business activities and make professional announcements.
Encourage employee participation.
Monitor and participate in Q&A. ALWAYS pay attention to what others are saying
Set up sponsored posts and ads. Using the “Premium” membership will allow you do to much more than a standard membership.
Key Metrics
X-number of posts per day. Again, what will be right for your company?
Page follows. Not quite like FaceBook but there is a button to follow people and companies on LinkedIn.
Comments, likes, and shares. This can be tricky sometimes. I belong to some groups that have over 2,000 members and you’ll always see the same people commenting or posting. Some people just want to “belong” and will never say a word in a group.
Group participation. It is easy to encourage, getting 100% participation is altogether another matter.
Referring traffic.
Lead generation/new customers. As with any network this creates new revenues.
TWITTER
Twitter can be fun as you are limited in message size on your “Tweet”. However, as you move along and learn to use this venue you’ll get creative on how you say thing to get your message out there.
Objectives
Brand awareness and engagement
Lead generation or customer acquisition
Share a mix of relevant links, blog posts, and engaging content
Segment influencers and create lists
Communicate issues from social media to support team and ensure follow-up
Listen and respond to relevant conversations
Build reputation
Action Items
Utilize promoted tweets and pinned tweets
Set up Twitter Lead Generation cards
Key Metrics
X-number of posts. Again you can configure your blog so when you post the link automatically “Tweets”
Followers.
Mentions
Retweets
Number of lists
Hashtag usage
Influence of Twitter followers
Lead generation or customer acquisition
Referring traffic
Favorited tweets
I have to say this is a site that we are still learning to use correctly to maximize the potential. Acquiring followers is a key.
GOOGLE+
This is Google version of Facebook. Personally I find this venue far more professional. Again the key is to get followers to engage and share.
Objectives
Brand awareness and engagement. I have found G+ to be an excellent venue to develop a following and establish “Brand Awareness”
Lead generation or customer acquisition
Share a mix of relevant links, blog posts, and engaging content
Action Items
Optimize for SEO and set up Google rel=author tag.
Create and promote upcoming events
Utilize Google+ hangouts
Key Metrics
X-number of posts. Accomplished with the proper configuration. Post directly to G+ from your blog or website
Google+ circle adds/follows. As with any site who will benefit your business. Who will bring traffic to your site?
Google+ mentions. This when someone mentions you by name in a comment
Google +1. Google’s version of “Share”
Referring traffic. The key is to understand you local demographics.
PINTEREST
Pintrest works with photographs. You’ll see photos on most every article I write so the information is pushed over to this site. I have found it extremely useful with our featured Recipe of the Week. People always like to see good food!! Again learning how to maximize the sites potential is a key element.
Objectives
Brand awareness and engagement
Lead generation or customer acquisition. While we have yet to actually receive a “sale” via this venue we do receive several “site hits” via Pintrest. So at this time we are happy with the results.
Share a mix of relevant imagery—both brand-related and fun. As with any venue, everyone want to enjoy themselves when “shopping”
Action Items
Create boards leveraging both content and company culture
Follow other businesses, thought leaders, customers, and partners
Again learning how to use this site properly should bring you better results than we have at this time.
Key Metrics
Pins
Repins, Pinterests version of “Share”
Followers. I am actually surprised at the amount of “hits” our site receives from this venue.
Purchases from pin. Our next goal will be to figure out how to convert the visits to sales.
Referring traffic.
As I am the only one that handles all of the activity of this nature for our company things can become overwhelming at times. Should you be in the position to have two or more qualified people who really understand how to setup and use these site to maximum their potential. Once you accomplish this you’ll find you revenues increase and you brand recognition will happen. As with all things in business, patience can be golden!!!
We always want results NOW. Just remember…All good things come to those that wait. Time is not your enemy here; it takes time to develop your Company Brand and reputation. Don’t get disgruntled because you do not see results tomorrow.
Tune in tomorrow as we will discuss Photo Sharing, Online Video ,Presentation Sharing,
Until Next Time
Happy Gardening
Written By: Aaron Aveiro and the good folks at Marketo
Photograph courtesy Google Images