Hollie Clere, Author at The Social Media Advisor

February 14, 2017
Social Media Marketing

#AwesomeEngagement – Paying Attention to What You Share

There are several different elements that comprise a solid social media marketing strategy. Content creation, scheduling, peak posting times, platforms…. Engagement is just one piece of the puzzle. However, engagement is such an essential aspect that is frequently overlooked or avoided. It doesn’t matter what sort of quality content is posted if no one is engaging with your page. It’s extremely difficult for business page engagement to happen spontaneously or organically without activity from an admin. People want to engage with a person, not a static page full of posts – even if they are phenomenal posts.

As if all of that isn’t complicated enough, your company should really have an engagement strategy developed. Going in and commenting, liking and sharing other posts is important but, as with any marketing strategy, determining ahead of time what to engage with will increase your ROI and results.

Engagement Strategy

WHAT you engage with is one of the keys to drawing your ideal target audience to your page and motivating them to linger, follow and interact with your posts.

Does what your sharing strike a chord with your followers?
Does what your sharing inspire new visitors to hit the follow button on your page?
Your business might share common influencers with your readers – do your posts reflect that?
Do your posts have questions or interactive elements that your readers will want to respond to (quizzes, contests, etc.)?
Are you sharing content just to share it and remain consistent OR to stand out and be a different voice in your field?
Are you simply selling to your potential audience instead of inspiring them and giving them the tools to be better?

Influencers

Don’t fall into the trap of being afraid to share quality content from other companies. Influencer marketing is a buzzword right now because it works. Make sure you are tagging, mentioning and sharing the work from your top clients, power partners and favorite influencers. This will expand your viewing pool to include the networks of those individuals.

Share As Your Page

While there is nothing wrong with promoting engagement using your personal profile, your business page needs the attention more than you do. The algorithms make it tough on business pages to get noticed and really benefit from organic reach. Make the time to engage with other people, companies and posts AS your business page.

Get Local

Most likely you operate your business, and network, locally – not on a national level. That’s too big of a pond and there are too many fish. Social media doesn’t always make it simple to discover and interact with people directly within your community. Spend some time seeking out local groups and finding ways to build a presence in those communities without coming off as only having an interest as a solicitor. Follow the local news outlets and organizations that already have a built-in audience of people nearby that might benefit from your work.

Algorithms

The algorithms are mapped to look for specific things. Engagement is a HUGE piece of this. Links to content not created by you are eagerly sought out by these formulas, as well as authentic links back to your work from other people. This is why guest posting is so popular. The more you engage, prove that you are a real, legitimate business and build a following – the better your organic reach will be. Your posts will have higher probability of being displayed to your audience. It’s a win/win/win – for you, for your readers and for the social platforms. Companies that try to “work the system” for better reach without investing time in making it a genuine and authentic experience for people may see some immediate results but will not generate the longer-term perks that actual engagement creates.

Curation

A positive, and often overlooked, benefit to spending time on engagement is that YOUR feed begins to fill up with exactly the type of content you like to see and share. A well-curated newsfeed will save you from hunting the gigantic World Wide Web for content that resonates with you. It will be right there every time you open up your social network. Learn how to unfollow individuals and companies that share content that is irrelevant to you or that you don’t want to see. Exercise your right to hide sources and block pages and people. Trust me, it will be worth it. There will no longer be a need to “take a break” from your social media because you are tired of seeing negative content AND you’ll have a better pool of posts to share from right at your fingertips.

Does your company have a social engagement strategy in place? How often do you go onto your social networks and participate in this practice? I’d encourage you to set aside a time, either daily or weekly depending on your schedule, dedicated to nothing but engagement.

Want to know more? The Social Media Advisor can show you how to #BeAwesome with your social media engagement and really become a powerhouse when it comes to your company’s social media experience.

Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!

Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+,YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram and the tools to manage them.

Click here for her Social Media Workshops, Classes and Seminars

February 7, 2017
Social Engagement

#AwesomeEngagement – How to Engage Using Your Facebook Business Page

It’s no surprise that Facebook still holds the crown for most used social media app. The algorithm changes have made it challenging for businesses to gain any true organic reach on the platform. One of the ways to get more presence is to use the app as your business page, but this can be confusing for the average Facebook user. How do you develop #AwesomeEngagement with your readership and represent your business at the same time?

Who are you?

It starts with connection. They need to know who you are. Facebook tools are the best place to start. They make it easier than you think to connect.

Begin with the “about” section of your Facebook page. Your website link, hours of operation, etc. are imperative for business connections. If you have a brick and mortar shop and no hours of operation listed, a potential customer may keep scrolling by, and so does that potential sale. Fill out the short and long versions of the “about” section. Keep it to the point, but try to throw a little humor into the mix. Each social media platform is its own search engine, so capitalize on that by using keywords in this area.

Once you set up the “about” section, look to the link options. You have newsletters, sales, and several other sections you can fill out. This is the backbone of your Facebook generated leads. Before you start your awesome engagement, they need to have a way to follow up with a purchase or other call to action once they do reach your page.

Use your Facebook analytics to determine where your readers come from and when they are the most active on your page. Find the most active times, and make sure you’re there to connect.

Now, let’s move on to the content. Every social media app has their unique selling points geared towards their audience. Facebook gives you a chance to share, like (love, cry, or be angry, as well) posts, comment, and move on quickly to the next thing.

You want your content to be interesting. It needs to make them stop and pay attention. There are several ways to do that. There is no point in investing in an engagement strategy when you haven’t given viewers something to engage with.

Using Facebook as Your Business Page

In May of 2016, Facebook changed the feature that allowed admins to swap easily and quickly between their personal and business pages. The Social Media Examiner goes into this change into more detail in this article. However, they didn’t take the option away, merely changed the way it is used. Basically, you are now given drop down options so that you can like and comment on your pages as your company page instead of as yourself. This allows you to engage, and develop a public presence, as your company on the site. While you can engage with other people and pages as you… that doesn’t always make an obvious connection with your work. Spending time regularly to connect with others as your company is a great a way to boost engagement for your Facebook page.

Sharing Content

Share what interests you and also what gets others interested. Facebook users will share things that make them feel good, angry, or that they can agree with on a humorous level. Whatever content you share, make sure it aligns with your brand in a way that won’t destroy a new potential client or customer’s trust in your company.

If you simply share links to articles without giving at least a one sentence summary of why you liked it, your audience will keep scrolling by. Your content needs to be engaging, eye-catching, and timely in order to gain audience participation.

The real key is to share the content of other Facebook pages that have a similar targeted audience as your own. Make sure to tag them as you share them. This is the foundation of influencer marketing. Putting your Facebook business page out there for people to see and check out takes an investment of time but is a free way to build your organic reach.

Talk to them!

You have comments on your Facebook page. While some may be spam, most of the engagement through comments belong to curious people and current (or past) customers and clients. If you find negative reviews here, don’t delete them! Engage with them. Don’t argue, or try to prove your point, as that will look like you are attacking them. Instead, thank them for their comment (if it was constructive), and then let them know how you can help. Do you want them to contact your customer service department? Or return the item? Or, better yet, can you help them right there? If so, that unhappy customer can turn into a raving fan of your company.

When a Facebook Page fan (a person who has liked your page) leaves a comment on one of your posts, their friends (and followers, whether it’s a personal or business account) will be more likely to see that post. Did you know that? Get your current fans engaged and you’ll build more connections.

Surveys and quizzes are great ways to get them to interact with you. You can set them up on the page or through a secondary service, but whatever you do, proofread everything before you release it.

Thank your audience often and with sincerity. People want to feel appreciated, and that’s hard in this high-paced mobile world. A simple thank you is enough to get people to slow down for just a minute. If you use images or video to do this, even better!

Create calls to action. Social Media Examiner had a wonderful roundup of the different types of calls to action:

CTA to encourage engagement—“Please take a moment to leave your comments or thoughts below.”

CTA to drive the reader to other content—“For an in-depth look, sign-up to download our white paper.”

CTA to increase signups or lead capture—“To get regular updates, sign up for our weekly newsletter.”

CTA to nurture leads—“Watch this video for a more in-depth look at how this product can help improve your business.”

CTA for sales—“To get immediate access to this training and all the bonuses, click here.”

Schedule your posts

Catch their eye

It was mentioned earlier, but it bears repeating. Images, emoji use in your posts, and video creation are amazing tools that catch the viewer’s attention. Remember that most users won’t go to your Facebook page until something catches their eye (even if they’re your fans). You need to post regularly, at peak hours, and use engaging images, quality videos, and solid emoji usage in posts to slow them down enough to click on your Facebook page link and see more. Tag other people and pages that will help build your reach. Make sure your are doing all of this as your business page!

Engaging with your audience is easier than you think. Don’t pitch yourself in every post, and at the same time, don’t ignore your chance to gain sales either. It’s a balance that comes from some quick analysis and a steady schedule. Build that bridge of trust with your current clients and customers and you’ll find more connection than ever before. While you can do this with your personal profile, building your brand will require that you spend time engaging as your business as well.

Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!

Click here for her Social Media Workshops, Classes and Seminars

January 31, 2017
Social Engagement

#AwesomeEngagement – How Social Engagement Benefits Your Newsfeed

Social media has become interwoven into the fabric of our society. We use it for personal reasons, socializing, networking and for work. Billions of people are using Facebook every day. The popularity of social media has the app companies tweaking their algorithms regularly to keep their offerings relevant. The enormous amount of data available to us each day would be overwhelming if not for this process. However, that also means that we may not be seeing everything that we want to see in our feeds – or, conversely, seeing too much of what we don’t want to see.

How do you make the algorithms work for you instead? You have to invest a bit of time to get the huge payoff in the long run. It’s SO work it though. Here is a list of things to do on Facebook to improve on the content in your feed and increase the amount of quality, catered to you, posts.

Engage, Engage, Engage

The algorithm tracks how often you like, comment and share. The pages and people you interact with the most are the ones you will see more often in your feed. If you like something but are in a rush, do a quick thumbs up as you scroll. REALLY enjoy something? That’s when you comment and share. You will have to train the algorithm to display the type of content that resonates with you.

Hide Sources

Did you know that you could hide sources? If a friend or business page posts something you don’t feel good about – but normally shares quality content – simply click the arrow in the top right of the post and hide the source. That way you are still seeing that individual or company’s posts but nothing from the source that you didn’t care for.

Unfollow

It can be tricky when a friend or family member becomes a problem on your social media feed. Unfriending someone may seem a bit too extreme and cause more drama than you’d like. You don’t have to unfriend them, however. You can choose to Unfollow them instead. This means you are still friends on Facebook but you won’t see what they post. This can often be a win/win.

Click Cautiously

Our curiosity can often get the best of us and that is why click bait is prevalent in social media. There are multiple issues with click bait – or misleading posts created to convince you to click on a link – but the one we are most concerned about here are related to the algorithm. Not only can click bait be a waste of your time and lead to potential malware issues, but it also informs the algorithm that you were interested in that post and that source. Which means, guess what? More click bait in your newsfeed. Links are great but use some caution. If you are uncertain but still curious, open up a separate browser window and do a search for the topic in question instead of clicking that link.

While this blog post has mainly focused on Facebook, these methods can be effective on any social media platform where you spend your time. It will take some effort on your part in the beginning but ultimately you, and your feeds, will benefit from the cultivation of content that you actually want to see.

Own a business page or social media account and want to encourage more organic engagement? Make sure you are creating quality, consistent content that your audience will actually want to engage in. If you feel like your social pages aren’t getting enough attention, ask yourself whether or not you are publishing content worth engagement.

Want some help with doing a social media audit or suggestions on how to improve your social content? Give us a call. We know exactly how to help you #BeAwesome with your social so that you can make those algorithms work for you, instead of against you.

Want even more detail on this topic? Check out this Buffer post on Decoding the Facebook NewsFeed.

Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!

Click here for her Social Media Workshops, Classes and Seminars

January 24, 2017
Social Media Marketing

#Trendsfor2017 – Lead Generation in Your Social Media Should Be 80/20

It is often said that Generating Leads (in both quality and quantity) is a marketer’s most important objective. Lead generation is the engine that keeps your sales funnel full of sales prospects while you sleep, run your business, or are otherwise engaged.

In 2017, lead generation needs to be your 80/20 focus. For those who don’t know what I mean, the 80/20 rules (or the Pareto Principle) states that roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the effort. If you want to succeed, you need to find the 20% and focus on that. Lead Generation is key to that success.

This critical marketing tool is often overlooked, but is necessary to run a sustainable business. There are four crucial elements:

Offer

In order for a customer to be interested in your services or products, you must provide quality content. Thanks to fraud and rampant spam, it is harder than ever for people to give up their information to you. If you provide an irresistible offer, however, they will be inclined to work with you. Offers can include ebooks, whitepapers, coupons, product demonstrations, free webinars, free consultations, and more. You can have as many offers as you like, but keep in mind that each offer will require its own landing page. See more on that later.

Call-to-Action

A call-to-action (CTA) is an eye-catching text, image, or button that links direction to a landing page. This gives people an easy way for people to find and download your irresistible offer. Your CTA needs to be engaging and easy to navigate, or else you’ll miss the opportunity.

Landing Page

Landing pages are far different than normal website pages. It is a unique and specialized page that is tailored to the offer that got them there. Remember when we said you needed one landing page for each offer on your website? This is what we mean. A landing page needs to be focused. No side bars, flashing ads, or other article suggestions here. You don’t want to give them an excuse to click away. That’s why it’s called a funnel. You block out the distractions and let them focus on what they want: namely, your content. This, in turn, lets you get what you want: their information so you can begin your process of converting leads into paying clients and customers.

Form

The form is a key ingredient for lead generation. You must capture the information of the person who receives your content. Remember, this is an equal exchange of information. You provided something they needed in exchange for their contact information. But how much information should you gather? That’s easy: the minimum amount of information you need in order to sustain their trust. It will be directly proportional to the content you provide. If you offer a downloadable printable checklist, don’t expect to get their name, email and mailing addresses, phone number, and credit card information. You can ask for their first name, email address, and maybe a contact phone number if the content warrants a phone call from you. Most of the time, you gain more interest by keeping the request to a name and email address. So, keep that in mind.

This is one trend you shouldn’t shy away from. #BeAwesome in 2017 and take your social media to the next level!

Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!

Click here for her Social Media Workshops, Classes and Seminars

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Author: Hollie Clere

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