A cheat sheet to becoming a key social media network competitor
New Post has been published on https://www.promotingmedia.com/cheat-sheet-social-media-network/
A cheat sheet to becoming a key social media network competitor
Social media network is a game changer. This is the 20th year of the internet. A few years after the internet went public, social networks started to arise. People suddenly felt a strong need to be connected around the clock. They had to know what their friends/family were doing, where they were at, and be in on the aspect of each other’s lives. At that time, buying local was still a major player. But times have changed and the tables have turned. Now, around 80-90 of purchases are through social media network or the internet. You have to get on board with this (if you’re lacking). And, if you just need new ideas, this a good idea to find them.
I believe there are six major players in social media network. These are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, and Google+. To get ahead of your competitor, you have to dominate one or more of these networks. Through this cheat sheet, I’ll give you an overview of how you can do just that.
Throughout this guide I’ll talk about the following subjects, in relation to all the social media network:
Without any further ado, let’s get started!
If you’re a website owner, you may spend hours or days creating content. Blog posts, videos, podcasts or images—you try new ways to reach your audience. But they don’t comment, like, tweet, share and so forth. What is holding them back? What is keeping them from engaging in your brand? This answer lies in the algorithm of each social media network.
Recently I’ve discovered that not many people are engaging with my Facebook author page. It turns out that Facebook does not show your content to all that subscribe to your site. Rather, you have to pay to boost your content up so more people see it. It starts at $5 and goes up from there, dependent on the type of audience you want to reach. Here are other ways to engage your audience that work on all the social media network:
Create shareable content. Your audience needs to stop and take notice. Many on social media network scroll through their news feeds with their thumb, but what you have should be that pause. Make them care about what you have posted. It could be a quote or breaking news. The content could relate to your book launch or a giveaway. You have to make it interesting. They are only going to stop if they feel there is an incentive. What’s in it for them? What’s the value of your content to everyone they connect to via that social media network? Only then will they click share.
Include a call-to-action. A call-to-action is asking your customers to do something:
Sign up for my free course and be entered in a giveaway of my upcoming book!
Read this blog post to get a 50% off coupon to our paid membership site.
Retweet our webinar to get a free coaching session.
Mix up your content. Don’t always post blog posts. Don’t always post videos or podcasts. Mix it up. Post a poll or engage your audience in a photographic contest. While it’s all right to post blog posts, videos or podcast files—mix them up in topics. Have guests posters come onto your blog and offer their expertise. This livens up your blog and extends your audience. Now, not only do you have your web traffic, but you have web traffic from that site in which the guest poster has authority. Having guest posters, too, gives you credibility and authority within your niche.
Use live chat. Your audience wants to connect with you. Take the time to get on Facebook Live and live stream Instagram. This is an excellent way to step out from behind your brand. It gives you an opportunity to connect with customers on a one-by-one basis. Answer their questions and communicate with them through the video. Give them credible information that they can take away from your video. Don’t just Google a topic before you hit record. Focus on a topic that’s within your niche. If you have a background in a topic of which you’re speaking, you’re going to look better on camera speaking on it.
Let’s move onto marketing. For this section, I’m going to give a brief overview of each social media network and it’s marketing techniques.
Facebook. Facebook has a wide-range of marketing opportunities. There are free and paid:
Facebook Pages. Do you own a business page? Take advantage of this by marketing your brand on it. Make sure you have a professional headshot photo (or your brand’s logo). You should also have a cover image that is brand-oriented. This could be a photo that illustrates your line of products, for example or a photo that has your web address. You also want to have an about section. Who are you and what is your business? Make it as specific as possible. This is where you want to stand out from your competitor. This is a free advertising option so use it.
Facebook groups. Within every niche, there are promotional groups to sell products. I probably belong to 10+ groups just to sell books. Take advantage of this free advertising. If you have a new product, seek out these groups and promote your product! Nobody will know your product is there unless you toot your own horn. You’re going to have to repost your product’s advertisement at least twice a week to keep sales up. So save the advertisement in Notes or another program. Then, put it on your calendar as a task. It’s free advertisement so why not?
Facebook ads. These start at $5/day. You can pay more if you want to reach more people, but don’t overpay if you’re just a newbie. These ads let you target people by demographics, interests, occupation and how they surf the internet. You can target by Apple or Android, whether they use Safari or Chrome and much more. But I’m going to give it to you straight. Using Facebook ads has a learning curve. If you don’t see a high conversion rate the first time, don’t give up. Change up your keywords and try again. It could be your audience was too big, not targeted right or so many other reasons.
Twitter. Twitter—the land of 140 characters. If you want to market here, you creatives have to be…well, creative.
Twitter chat. If you want to actively gain new followers, Twitter chat is the way to go. Look for businesses that fall within your niche or industry. This is an ideal place for you to stand out from your competitors as you showcase your company, its values, and its products. You have the opportunity to create a special image, rather than just tweeting out a text. This captures the attention of your audience and draws them into your content. Likewise, it opens the door to more replies, retweets, and mentions. If you get people talking about your company, you may have already won.
Direct messages. Once you have followers, you can use the direct message approach. This is where a company directly communicates with their customer. Many companies use this approach to survey their customers. What types of products do they want? Do they find the current products useful? They many send copies of books to review and so forth. Use this method to communicate with customers that are dissatisfied with your products and to send coupons. There are many creative ways in which it can move your business forward.
Twitter lists. These are lists on Twitter in which you can add 500 Twitter accounts. Use these lists to spy on your competitors. Add their accounts to the lists that you want to watch. I’m more than certain they have your Twitter account on one of their lists and are spying on you, so why not do it as well? Check out what type of content they are posting, how engaged their followers are and when they post. Learn from all these techniques and your business is going to take off.
Google+. Google+ has millions of users. Are you using it? If not, you may not want to miss out on it.
Google+ Events. Does your business go to trade shows? Are you an author that does regular book tours or book signings? You have to sign up for Google+! Google+ Events allows you sent out invitations to anyone that is signed up for the network. It doesn’t matter whether they are on your friend’s list. This is a wonderful way to advertise and get exposure to your brand. It could be a game changer for your business. You could send out invitations to webinars, work functions, and parties. Wouldn’t you want your target audience to know you launched a product or service? I sure would!
Advertise your Google+ page. You should have a solid social presence. If you have a page on Google+ (or anywhere)—this should be on every other social page. This includes your website. Having your social pages advertised this much gives your audience the opportunity to find you. If they prefer one social media network media network over another, it means they don’t have to be on Facebook or Twitter all the time. They can interact and engage with your brand directly on Google+. This is going to drive sales and customer service. It’s going to seal your authority as a business and make you more credible.
Take advantage of Google+ Hangouts. This is what sets Google+ apart from the other social media network. It’s the company directly communicating with the customer. Everything done here is unscripted. Have your CEO or a salesperson get in front of the camera and give the customer a behind-the-scenes, tour, for instance. Or, bring on an expert that would sway the customer to purchasing one of your products. Make the person that speaks to the camera likable and relatable. This is how you’re going to get people attracted to the content.
LinkedIn. LinkedIn is all about networking and making connections. These connections may be customers or other businesses. Your profile should professional and testify to the authenticity of your brand. Here are some of the best ways to market your product:
Paid ad campaigns: Similar to Facebook, LinkedIn gives businesses the opportunity to promote their content. LinkedIn takes targeting demographics a step further, however. Whereas Facebook allows you market gender, occupation, interests and so forth—LinkedIn allows you to target employer, industry and even a person’s aptitude or skills. LinkedIn gives you the option of running your advertisement CPC (cost-per-click) or CPM (cost-per-impression). The second option costs an average of $2/ad, which is a bit less expensive than Facebook. For more information, go here (http://marketingland.com/linkedin-paid-ads-a-beginners-guide-69920).
Don’t overlook your profile. As I said, LinkedIn is about connections. Customers want to know who you are, where you come from and how credible you may be. Fill out your profile accurately and honestly. Recommendations are something that makes LinkedIn stand out. These may as well be shutouts. These are customers praising your company for your strengths and accomplishments. Try to get as many as you can. These speak volumes to a newbie that is on the fence when it comes to buying your products. Also, don’t forget contact information: phone, address (if applicable), e-mail and web address are the basics. Include this information for everyone in your company or just the main people but make sure it’s there.
Share content. Does your website have a blog? Share your blog posts on your LinkedIn profile. Why wouldn’t you take advantage of this? It’s one more site that’s going to drive web traffic to your content. A reader may not encounter your brand or Twitter or Facebook, but they land on your ad via LinkedIn. Suddenly they are intrigued and look up your company page. They see you have a blog and have completely filled out your profile. This is a wonderful way to turn a lead into a conversion—which, as we all know, turns into a sale!
Instagram. Marketing is easy when you market on Instagram. Facebook owns the social media network so, when you create an ad, it appears on both sites. How lucky are you! Here are some other helpful tips.
Create a business account. If you are a business, portray yourself as a business. Make sure all your content is professional. You may consider sticking to a theme, such as quotes or behind-the-scene photos of your company. But, at the same time, this can lead followers astray from your brand. So mix up your content. Have a good mixture of photos and video. Use both these content types when you do promotions or launches for products. While you can upload a stock photo, I wouldn’t recommend it unless it as text. On a final point, toot your horn about your business and your other social media network accounts. Your customers have to know where to find you.
Don’t forget to cross-promote! Do you really enjoy a company? Give them a shout out on Instagram! It’s popular on Instagram to promote products of other companies. And here’s the bonus. Not only will your followers see the post, but so will the followers of the company you promoted. You should also be on the lookout for similar companies to your own. If you sell lawn chairs, for instance, look for companies that sell lawn chairs. Connect with them. Ask them if they can promote your products and you will promote theirs. This is called being a social media network influencer and it gets your name out there!
Don’t forget the call to action. Remember, you’re a business. What do businesses do? They make money! How are you going to make money when you don’t move the customer to do anything? Persuade them to click the picture and sign up for your e-mail newsletter, get into a free giveaway for your book or to sign up for your webinar. Drive them to your landing page to order your services. Tell them why they should be interested and they are more than likely to do it.
Pinterest. This brings us to the last social media network in this section-Pinterest. It’s fairly new, but completive all the same. Here’s how to market on it.
Create boards focused on keywords. If you’re new to Pinterest (or never been on it), a board is where you share links. Each link you bookmark is referred to as a pin. When you organize your pins into keyword-focused boards, it helps those on Pinterest locate what your brand is about. Each company does this differently. Some only pin their content, while other companies pin their content in addition to content that may be relevant. Find what balance works for you and stick to it.
Share your Pinterest RSS feed. What’s that? Yes, Pinterest does have an option to share what you pin through your social media page. Share this link everywhere. Post it on every social media network page that you own. Advertise your RSS feed to your readers. They could put this web address into apps like Feedly and automatically get notified when you upload a pin. If you have a WordPress site, download a widget that allows you to showcase your Pinterest pins directly on your website. This is going to help you increase your followers and build your brand.
The Pinterest Shop. The best part of Pinterest is the Pinterest shop. Are you selling a book or a product? Advertise it in the Pinterest shop. You can list the item’s description and its price. This new feature hasn’t been around long but it’s genius! People click on your link and they are taken to whoever is selling your product. But the presence of your book (or product) is key. Think about this way: If it wasn’t on Pinterest, would they find it?
Finally, this wraps up where we started: engagement. Knowing when to post is half the battle.
Best: 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.; 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Worst: Midnight to 8 a.m.
Best: 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.; 8 p.m. to 1 a.m.
