When discussing Facebook, “Engagement” is a
very popular term, as it’s how we measure the success of a post. The
more activity and interaction a post has the more successful it is for
the business.
Now this concept of measuring engagement in recent
months has become more and more popular as brands and businesses start
to question the returns social media generates. Obviously any
advertising platform needs to achieve measurable results, and at this
point it seems “engagement” is the key metric for social media.
The
question then becomes what kind of posts generate engagement?
Facebook allows you to do text, video and image posts, not only that
but you can do pinned posts and highlighted posts. Recently they’ve
also introduced the concept of promoted posts where you can pay for
greater reach.
With all these different kinds of posts it can be
tough as a business owner to work out what kind of posts generate the
most engagement. Don’t worry though, you’re not the first business
owner worried about this, so I’ve decided to share some tips on how to
get the highest engagement on your posts.
As an Internet marketing consultant
I spend a lot of time strategizing with companies and also reviewing
competitors campaigns. In my experience and research here are some of
the key elements to a post that gets great engagement:
Key Element #1: Type Of Post
There
are 3 major post types, images, text and video. In my research and
experience image posts have achieved the greatest results. As Facebook
is a visual platform users generally engage more with pictures, so use
this to your advantage. Post images of your customers, images of your
products and images of your team.
Key Element #2: Content Of Post
When
posting on Facebook it’s important to ensure the content of your post
is something which your readers are interested in. Over the last few
months, the types of posts I’ve seen get most engagement are the “Like
If” style posts. For example “Like This Image If You Wear Prada On The
Weekend”. This kind of post entices the fan to like the post and can
also help with customer demographics research.
As a rule of thumb, choose post timings that meet
your current client behaviors, for example if you are busy in the
morning then post in the morning.
Now this is by no means an
extensive list, in fact I could go on for quite some time, but these 3
elements will help you to spike engagement with your fans. Leave a
comment below of what you believe are other key elements for enticing
engagement.
To be successful in social media and community management you need to keep track of the constant changes to that ecosystem. That’s because everything you know about Facebook, Twitter, and other social spaces today will somehow be different in six months.
Layouts will be altered, features will be added or removed, and new social networks may pop up.
So how should you keep track of all these moving parts? Here are six tips for staying on top of social media.
1. BLOGS
There are hundreds of blogs focused on social media. Keep it simple by signing up to RSS feeds and spend twenty minutes every morning catching up on your social media news. Stick to blogs that are updated daily and focus on providing content in social media and technology.
Consider adding these blogs to your RSS feed to get started: SocialTimes, Social Media Examiner, TechCrunch, and SocialMediaToday.
2. WEBINARS
Webinars are often offered by agencies and make for good social media resources. You can find webinars by searching on Twitter or registering on directories that list the week’s webinars. You can also attend paid webinars that go beyond the basics. In either case, you can find a good starter list at webinarlistings.com.
3. TRENDING TOPICS
Yes, reading your blogs in the morning is effective but information travels fast so pay attention to what’s trending on Twitter, too. First, make sure that you check your Twitter trend settings. Certain settings will spit out tailored trends, which you should probably avoid.
Also, if you don’t understand why a certain word or phrase is trending you can check out whatthetrend.com for explanations.
4. NEWSLETTERS
Not all newsletters are spam. Some are actually worth signing up for. If you’re OK with getting a daily newsletter, check out SmartBrief. If you prefer a weekly roundup then take a look at SocialFresh. These newsletters curate the best social media content from the web and create original highly informative articles as well.
5. MEETUPS AND TWEETUPS
Whether in person at a meetup or virtually at a tweetup, chatting with like-minded individuals will keep you on your toes, help you predict what’s coming next, and teach you new things about how others are behaving in social media. To find a group of social media fanatics near you check out Meetup.com.
6. TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION
If you are serious about educating yourself in the social space you may consider signing up for a training program or certification course. Whether you are looking for a six-week crash course or an ongoing education program, resources are available. To start, you can check out WOMM-COM and HootSuiteU.
There
is no denying that social media is vastly growing day by day. It has
become the most successful medium of communication among the people.
The rise of Facebook and twitter has taken the online marketing onto a
whole new level; most of the companies are using social networking
sites as a key variable for their brand promotions. It’s fast and
highly influential way of promoting brands and products. It is more
cost effective than spending your budget on online advertising such as
banner ads or PPC (Pay Per Click).
We have compiled a list of techniques for promoting your brand on social media. A few of the major techniques are shared below:
Building Relationship with the users:
Creating a Twitter or Facebook fan page
doesn’t mean that your brand is promoted. Consider this as you are
entering into a party room and to make contact you need to socialize
with others or as we say engage with the user. Make sure that whatever
you are sharing is interesting and worth sharing, so it can build
interest of the users and project your brand image as an innovative
and outstanding idea that encourages users to interact and engage
themselves with the brand.
Update your content regularly:
This
is very important for any brand and product that there content is
always updated and is related to the market trends. Because users are
mostly not interested in the past details, they always look for the
latest and new offerings. So keep in mind if you are posting or sharing
anything be sensible and intelligent.
More Viral Promotion:
Always
keep in mind that whenever you are offering something new to your fans
make it viral to increase its value. Some of the social networking
sites like “Groupon”is following this strategy. Viral promotions can enrich user’s voice in social media.
Visibility:
Social
media will give you visibility and enhance your target market. It will
provide you a chance to present your qualities to the wider
audience.When users subscribe to your page or “like” your brand, they
can see all the updates and activities. If things are interesting the
users will repost or share your activity with his/her friends and try to
be part of the activity.
Respond Quickly:
Another important part of developing a better social media strategy
is to keep in touch with your fans or customers by responding them as
quickly as possible, so they feel themselves worthy and valuable. It
becomes very easy for brands to engage users and build their brand
loyalty among the people by responding early.
Conclusion:
At
the end, there are so many things that you can do to increase your
audience. Using social media platforms gives you an edge over your
competitors (especially from those who are not using social media).
Remember, you presence on social media platform is not the only key for
the success of online marketing, it’s the interaction with users that
counts.
You know you should listen to your customers and you are aware that
social media has been the new way for people to express their opinions
about products and services. But what are the platforms available and
what are the differences between each one of them? Here is a quick guide
for you:
FACEBOOK
What it is: It is the most popular
social network with over 800 million users. People usually build
profiles to keep in touch with family and friends. Lately it has been
used by businesses as a marketing tool. On Facebook people can send and
receive messages, chat online, post pictures and share links and videos.
They can also "like" a page - there are six types of pages: local
businesses, companies, products, artists, entertainment and community.
Facebook offers many options to interact such as the Wall, photo albums,
comments space and the "like" button, where people click if they like
the comment or post. If users don't like something or someone, they have
the option of blocking the person's updates or deleting the person from
their profile.
What do you need to know: Facebook is a great way
to generate customer loyalty and there are many ways to do it. But
because it's a very personal network, people don't appreciate when
businesses overload their pages with information or un-wanted promotions
and they usually block the pages if that happens. The best way to
increase interaction is by sharing useful content, asking customers'
opinions and giving quick answers-Facebook users really expect you to
reply A.S.A.P. In other words, show you care about them and they'll care
about you.
Vocabulary you need to know: Wall-page where people
post and receive comments; NewsFeed-page where Facebook shows the users
what is going on with friends and pages they like. It shows popular
posts first and then most recent ones.
TWITTER
What it is:
It is a platform that shows real-time updates. On Twitter you can
choose which updates you want to see and you can also use the search
engine to look up other people's updates on a specific subject.
Businesses can use Twitter to inform about their products and services
and to see what people are saying about them. Twitter was created in
2006 as a texting program and grew to be the only real-time information
platform in the world.
What do you need to know: Twitter is a
great way to spread the word about your business. People sign up for it
to get news before anyone else - so make sure you post there first. Many
times, news was on Twitter before it appeared on big media channels
such as CNN. Twitter updates can be only 140 characters long.
Vocabulary
you need to know: Twitter has a very particular vocabulary. Users are
called Tweeters and are divided in two categories: Followers-people that
see your updates, and Following-people that you choose to see updates
from. Also, the updates-or the things you write-are called tweets.
FOURSQUARE
What
it is: It is the first location based platform for mobile devices
(smart phones, iPods, iPads). It is not as popular as Facebook and
Twitter but it has been growing fast. People use it to "check-in" at
places and to show their friends where they are. They can also leave
comments and reviews about the place they are at.
What do you
need to know: Foursquare offers many tools to attract customers to your
venue and it is a great opportunity for a business to grow loyalty and
to get new customers. Facebook has a similar feature (Facebook Places)
but FourSquare lets customers write reviews right away and search for
places nearby. Businesses can use FourSquare to give away coupons,
prizes and virtual badges, making the whole experience feel like a fun
game. The platform offers a dashboard (a data report) where you can see
when and how many people went to your place.
What
it is: Websites that provide information about a business, including
location, hours of operations, amenities and customer reviews. Each
website has different features but they are all very similar in content.
What
do you need to know: Review websites are really important for
businesses. Google revealed that 97% of customers look online for a new
place to go. And they are influenced by other people's opinion. So make
sure you monitor every website and respond to each bad review you get
with an explanation. Customers really appreciate when a business' owner
takes the time to do it.
GOOGLE+
What it is: It is the
newer social network out there. It's still in beta phase (a testing
period) but it promises wonders. There has been a lot of talk about
Google's new platform but the network was opened to the general public
on late September/2011. It is very similar to Facebook but it's evolved
around Google tools.
What do you need to know: Nothing yet.
Google+ just launched its Business pages and while big brands and
professionals are crazy about it, customers are not there yet. Keep one
eye on it too. It could become a powerful network once it incorporates
all Google services.
Search algorithms have used machine learning and artificial intelligence to predict which of the billions of pages on the Internet might be most relevant to your search.
Google has spent so much time, money and effort trying to make their search engine the most accurate when searching on it, but what do people really care about when they look for information?
What really makes a search result the most accurate or best of all online?
Microsoft Bing is revamping its search engine to include a sidebar to enable you to obtain recommendations from users of Facebook when making a search on Bing. It is not just Facebook but they are planning to include many other networks.
Bing will be able to deliver results based on what your trusted sources of information (your friends and acquaintances) think.
They have made this move following the fact that "90% of people consult with a friend or expert before making a decision"
The sidebar appears on the right-hand side of all searches, so when you do a search Bing will suggest "Friends Who Might Know" about the topic based on the information in their Facebook, Likes, profile information, photos, etc.
This move takes searching online to a whole new level, you don't just rely on the information found about it because it seems to be the most popular or the most visited, but you are able to see who in your network may have a recommendation, a suggestion or the expertise to guide you on your search, based on their own experience and knowledge.
This will push companies to increase the quality of their customer experience, customer retention, the influence they have on social networks to gain more recommendations and to put even more effort to grow their brand awareness.
This is only one more step forward to what the future seems to look like when bringing social networks to search engine rankings and optimization.
By Milli Ponce
by Guy Kawasaki. The author of Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions.
On March 8, I introduced my tenth book. There are few processes that I enjoy more than a product introduction, and this one enabled me to try many social media techniques and online tools and services. After only a week, the book was on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists. I have to conclude that at least some of that success was due to the promotional techniques I employed.
Here, I’d like to outline the 12 things that I did to launch my new book, including information about costs and vendors I used, as well as analytics. Though my “product” is a book, the methods I used can apply to product introductions in general. Hopefully this post will provide marketers with ideas for how to launch just about anything.
1. Facebook
A Facebook Fan Page is the quickest and easiest way to get a web presence for a new product. These pages are very valuable for building community and spreading the word because Facebook offers built-in capabilities such as commenting, liking, sharing and uploading photos and videos. Fan Pages are not as flexible as websites, but implementing social features is much easier.
The challenge with Fan Pages, and websites of any kind, is to attract visitors. One thing that I did was to offer a PDF version of my first book, The Macintosh Way, to anyone who “Liked” the page for my new book. (The rights to my first book had reverted to me, so there was no cost.)
There were a few costs involved. I used Hyperarts to design my Fan Page, which cost about $2,500. I used OfficeDrop to scan The Macintosh Way, which cost in the between $100 and $200.
2. Website
After two months, I revisited my decision to rely primarily on a Facebook Fan Page and supplemented my existing website with materials about my book. The resources I wanted to provide would have overwhelmed my Facebook Page with tabs. I wanted a way to provide my bio, pictures and bookstores without Facebook membership requirements. No matter how many people are on Facebook, it doesn’t have all the people in the world. Facebook is also a private business, which means they can (and often do) unilaterally make major changes with little warning to users. The lesson here is that while a Facebook Fan Page is great, its flexibility and capacity are limited. You’re also subject to the whims of the company.
My goal with the website was to make it as easy as possible for reviewers to obtain all the background information and pictures necessary to review my book. I even supplemented the picture page with photos of enchanting people (e.g. Queen Latifah), places (e.g. Istanbul), and things (e.g. 1964 1/2 Ford Mustang) to provide a subtle reference to the title (Enchantment). I contracted my buddy Will Mayall to make the book website, and you should expect to pay around $2,500 to create a simple brochure site from scratch.
In addition to resources for reviewers, I added audio and video to my website. Because I do many speaking engagements, it was easy to amass a collection of video and podcasts about the book. I provided them for two reasons. First, they are selling tools for potential readers. Second, reviewers can embed them on their websites and blogs for their readers. I used Craig Hosoda to edit my videos, which you can expect to cost a few hundred dollars per clip. When you’re speaking, if an organization is already recording your presentation, you won’t have to pay for a crew. If you have to pay for a crew, however, it will cost $1,500 or so, plus editing.
3. Review Copies
Most publishers send out 100 to 200 galleys/books to reviewers (this number will vary depending upon how well known you are, if you’re a first time author, the size of your publisher, etc.). These promotional copies go to recognized book reviewers and A-listers in a segment. I decided to target a different review audience. I own a site that aggregates RSS feeds from about 20,000 bloggers. I offered a review copy to all 20,000 people no matter what their blog topic; 1,300 requested a copy, and we sent one to anyone who asked. I also used eCairn to identify the key social media bloggers and offered a copy to them, too. Because I wanted broad adoption of the ideas in this book, my goal was to get reviews in as broad a spectrum of blogs as possible, instead of only the usual book review and business blogs.
All told, we sent out approximately 1,600 copies. This resulted in approximately 150 interviews and 200 reviews before the book was available. These reviews appeared in blogs that covered areas ranging from beauty products to dog training.
The amount you can expect to pay for something like this depends on how you count the cost of a galley or a book plus shipping. A good estimate is $10 per book or galley including shipping, so this cost $16,000, but my publisher paid for this, not me. I also compiled all the reviews on a webpage for two reasons. First, to create the overwhelming impression that reluctance to read the book was futile. Second, to acknowledge all the reviewers for their hard work.
The lesson here is to cover the earth with as many product trials as possible. Don’t focus on only the A-listers — “nobodies” are the new somebodies in the flattened, social networking world we now live in. You never know who’s going to make your product “tip.”
4. Email
I’m a big believer in email marketing. It cuts right to the point. People either open the email or they don’t. They either click through to a page or they don’t. They either buy or they don’t. Every step is measurable.
On the day that my book hit the stores, we sent out 160,000 emails; 130,000 of those email addresses came from thirty years of making contacts, and 30,000 came from AlwaysOn, as a favor. Building a quality pool of email contacts is clearly something anyone can replicate, but it takes time.
Of the 160,000 recipients, 3.75% clicked through to the order page. Email may be old school, but it’s cheap and effective.
We used Emailvision to do the mailing, which costs $1,000 per month for the service, plus a $4,500 setup charge. It was no cost — other than time — for the email addresses.
5. Pay Per Click
To tell you the truth, I don’t understand the black magic of pay per click (PPC), so I relied on a buddy from my Apple days named David Szetela. He ran a six-week program on Google AdWords, Facebook ads and Twitter (Promoted Tweets) for search terms such as “Dale Carnegie.” In addition to obtaining several hundred pre-orders, the Twitter campaign for Enchantment caught the attention of the Wall Street Journal, who gave me a nice plug.
We used Clix Marketing to manage the campaign, plus Google and Twitter placement fees. You can expect to pay as little or as much as you can afford on PPC marketing. You can create the campaigns by yourself and pay a few hundred bucks for the ad placements, or hire an agency and pay thousands for their fees and expanded ad placement. The lesson here is that PPC may seem like black magic, but it’s worth trying for a few thousand dollars to see if anything will stick.
6. Photo Contest
In order to generate awareness of my book, I ran a photo contest. I used a Facebook app that enabled people to submit pictures in five categories, and a popular vote determined the finalists. I selected the winners. The prizes were five Nikon 3100s and an Apple iPad. That contest resulted in 1,150 entries, 35,000 visits, 70,000 entry views and 10,500 votes.
What I learned was that people love photo contests. It’s an easy and inexpensive way to build buzz. Beware, however, the people who are professional contestants and people who game the system. At the end, manually pick the winners and don’t depend solely on popular votes. Also be wary of local contest laws, which may govern the types of contests you can run and the value of the prizes you hand out.
I used Strutta to design the contest app, which can cost about $2,000. The prizes (in this case a few Nikon cameras and an iPad) bumped up the costs about another $4,000 or so.
7. Quizzes
The quiz started as a final exam in the book, but I also wanted an online version so people could determine if they should to read the book. I created online versions for both Facebook and my website.
At first, I had only a Facebook version, but similar to my Fan Page, I realized that there are people on the planet who weren’t members of Facebook yet, so I also created a standalone website version. Here’s a mind blower: Approximately 700 people took the Facebook version, and 2,900 people took the standalone website version, even though it came out two weeks after the Facebook version. This is something to think about. Don’t focus all your energy on Facebook.
I used Wildfire, which costs about $400 per month, to create a self-serve quiz. I hired Electric Pulp to create the website version, something that costs in the neighborhood of $3,000.
8. Infographic
I love infographics because they can communicate so much in so little space. I wanted to create an infographic that would provide an overview of the book and act as a resource that bloggers could embed in their reviews. Many bloggers did in fact use the infographic I had made as part of their review. To make the graphic, I hired Column Five. Good infographics can cost up to $1,500 to 2,000, but it’s worth the return. Lots of bloggers like to embed infographics and they have the potential to go viral.
9. Badges, Buttons, Banners and Stickers
I created badges, buttons, and banners so that people could declare that they are enchanting. These badges aren’t exactly ads for the book — they’re more like a “seal of approval” that people can display. They do, however, link to the book’s Facebook Fan Page and allow people to promote the book. I also included the badges on other websites that I own and operate — essentially advertising one of my products on another. In the first few weeks, there were approximately 100,000 impressions of the badges around the web. Lesson learned: People like to embed badges and wear them on their clothes. This is a cheap way to gain exposure.
I used Samuel Toh and Ana Frazao to design the badges and banners. You can expect a cost of about $50 per badge for something like this. I liked the website badges so much that I asked Sam Toh to design a sticker for SXSW. Then my buddies at Walls360 printed 2,500 of them. You can see them in action here. These are no ordinary stickers. They are printed on fabric so you can use them over and over, which means they come at a premium and cost about $1 each. Disclosure: The author is an adviser to Walls360.
10. Wallpapers
Once you have an infographic and badges, you might as well go all the way and create wallpapers too. These wallpapers enable people to have book-themed desktops and homescreens on their computers, phones and iPads. I don’t expect many people to use them, but what the heck, right? I used Ana Frazao again for this project, and you can expect to pay about $400.
11. PowerPoint
If the topic of enchantment proves popular, organizations will pay me 50 times a year to give a speech based on the book. Therefore, skimping on a PowerPoint presentation or trying to make it myself made little sense. Joshua Bell doesn’t use a cheap violin and Yo-Yo Ma doesn’t use a toy cello, so why should I use a crappy PowerPoint presentation? Ana Frazao was my designer of choice on this project, as well, and the price for this can be around $3,600. But remember: A slide presentation is a window into your soul. Do you want your soul to look cheap and unprofessional?
12. Thank You Slideshow
It takes a village to finish a book: publisher personnel, book designers, beta readers, web designers, graphic designers, and more. You would be amazed. I tried to list all of them in the Acknowledgments section of my book, but that felt very 1.0. So I asked my buddies Brad Jefferson and Andrew Jacobson at Animoto to create a thank you slideshow for the team behind my book.
You can expect to pay up to $50 per month if you use the professional version, with which you create your own slideshows (Brad and Andrew did mine as a favor to me). However, for the small amount of trouble of collecting pictures and laying them down to a music track, you can show some gratitude to the people who helped you launch your product. It’s worth the time and expense!
Conclusion
While my new product is a book, you can apply these ideas to almost any product introduction. Every one of these vendors did a great job for me, and I would use them again in a second. Of course, when I’ve provided cost estimates in the past, there are always people who say, “You paid that much for that? I could have done it for a third of the price!” Yeah, well, there are two things to consider.
First, I’m providing ballpark numbers for what people should expect to pay — I didn’t necessarily pay all of these prices.
Second, and more importantly, even if I did pay these prices, I didn’t have the bandwidth or desire to shop around, check out vendors and negotiate. Time is money and I was plenty busy making three speeches a week around the world, parenting four kids and being interviewed three to five times per day. And there’s a lesson in that too: If you try to optimize every decision and you define optimization as doing things as cheaply as possible, you might end up with a steaming pile of crap. The big picture is to launch a product as big and fast possible and to succeed — not save the most money.
Luckily for you there’s an easy fix to make sure everyone sees your tweets. Simply put a character before the @ reply and suddenly Twitter thinks you want the whole world to see this tweet. Experience has proven that using a ‘.’ before the @ reply is about as unobtrusive as it gets (and only uses 1 extra character from the 140 allotment).
For example:
Because I included a ‘.’ before the @ reply, now my tweet will be seen by ALL of my followers, not just those who also follow @Sprout_Insights.
Problem solved.
An Alternative Solution
The fix, above, is elegant but it still takes up 1 potentially valuable character. You can obtain the same goal, not losing any extra characters and still having your tweet readable by all of your followers by simply rearranging your tweet so that the @ reply is not at the very beginning:
So, what do you think? Useful tip? Still not sure what this is all about? Or glad to know there’s a way to make your tweets seen by the widest audience possible? Either way, why don’t you let us know by leaving a comment below.
