Donegal Local Enterprise Office Training Workshop Tuesday 6th November 2018

1. Using Social Media for
Business
Michael Keogh
www.EntrepreneursAcademy.ie

2. Why Social Media is important to every business?
To research the impact of a
Facebook page on a business’
sales and growth, a Facebook
experiment was conducted and
reported on the Harvard Business
Review.
Researchers set up a Facebook
page in order to see the impact
that it would have on customer
behaviour.

3. Why Social Media is important to every business.
Over several weeks the brand
connected well with its target
audiences, with regular posts
about the goodies they offered.
It also conducted contests and
promotions to keep customer
interest high.
They again conducted a survey of
customers, Facebook fans and
customers who were not fans of
the page.

4. Why Social Media is important to every business?
❖ Customer visits to the store
increased after they became fans
of the Facebook page, though
expenditure per visit at the store
remained the same.
❖ Overall, fans went to Dessert
Gallery 20% more than
customers who were not fans of
the Facebook page. They also
became the highest spending
customers at the store due to the
increases number of visits.

5. Why Social Media is important to every business?
❖ Fans shared positive reviews
about the brand with their
friends and recommended it
strongly.
❖ Fans preferred to choose
Dessert Gallery over other
establishments that sold
similar products. They were
also more emotionally attached
to the brand than customers
who were not fans.

6. Why Social Media is important to every business?
❖ 92% of all consumers report
that a word-of-mouth
recommendation is the
“leading reason they buy a
product or service.” (Nielsen
and Roper Reports)
❖ Social Media is word of mouth.

7. Personal vs Business Posting
Personal Business
Post random thoughts, opinions, reactions,
photos or whatever you feel like sharing
Have a specific purpose for posting. Build
awareness, provide solutions drive sales,
build a community and Responding To A
Customer (More later).
Post whenever the mood takes us Post consistently and when your customers
are most likely to be online. Use analytics to
find out these times
Tend to brag a bit Business page version of bragging is selling.
Need to earn the privilege to sell. Max 20%
Snap a photo and post it immediately Edit your photos, Brand them with your
company colours / logo etc. Then resize &
filter them so as to be perfect for your chosen
network.
Use a specific channel because you like it Pick your channel based on your target
market
Post and forget about it Don’t abandon your audience. You’re there
to interact with them. Reply to their
comments, Tag them, Chat with them and
Thank Them Online.

9. Set up a business page on Facebook properly
❖ Facebook starts with your personal profile.
❖ It is from here we set up our company page.
❖ Your company posts will appear in your profile, but your private
posts will NEVER make it in to your company page.

10. Set up a business page on Facebook properly
❖ Optimising Your Profile
Settings on Facebook Pages
❖ Fill out your profile completely
and accurately, and keep SEO
keywords in mind when
writing your About section.
❖ This is what Google will look at
when it sees your Facebook
Page.
❖ Don’t forget your website URL.

11. Set up a business page on Facebook properly
Cover Photo
❖ This is your vital first contact.
❖ Your cover picture should tell
the story of what you do.
❖ Include a clear value
proposition to help is necessary.

12. Set up a business page on Facebook properly
Value Proposition
❖ Clearly articulates your product
or service's unique value, and
how it benefits customer
❖ Cite a clear product or service
benefit
❖ Set your brand apart from your
competitors
❖ Instil confidence the brand will
deliver on its promise

13. Set up a business page on Facebook properly
Profile Picture
❖ Your Profile Picture serves two
purposes.
❖ It validates who you are by
providing a picture.
❖ It supports the narrative that
you are Likeable, Trustworthy
& Competent.

14. Set up a business page on Facebook properly
❖ Tips
❖ Go asymmetrical. Symmetry in
a photo is boring and can seem
threatening.
❖ Face the light.
❖ Make your picture the full 180 x
180 pixels.

15. Set up a business page on Facebook properly
❖ You should not use a logo or
graphic design unless it is for a
company. Then use your
company logo.
❖ If you trade as yourself (e.g. a
dentist) use a photo of your
face.

16. Protect Your Brand
❖ Claim your vanity @username.
❖ Make your page look more
professional (and much easier to
share) by customising your
Facebook public profile URL.
❖ Instead of a URL with a million
confusing numbers at the end, it
will look nice and clean.

17. How to use Facebook effectively as a marketing tool?
Your Facebook Page makes your
business:
❖ Discoverable: When people search for
you on Facebook, they'll be able to find
you.
❖ Connected: Have one-to-one
conversations with your customers,
who can like your Page, read your
posts and share them with friends, and
check in when they visit.
❖ Timely: Your Page can help you to
reach large groups of people
frequently, with messages tailored to
their needs and interests.

18. How to use Facebook effectively as a marketing tool?
❖ Remember: Your Page is an
extension of your business. It's
an easy way to share updates
and more with the people who
matter most.
❖ It's ready to help you engage
your customers on desktop
and on mobile.

19. How to use Facebook effectively as a marketing tool?
Identify your audience
❖ Not only can you reach more
people through Facebook, you
can reach the specific people
who are most likely to become
your customers.

20. How to use Facebook effectively as a marketing tool?
To help you connect, consider:
❖ What do your ideal customers
have in common?
❖ How old are they and where do
they live?
❖ How can your business help
them?
❖ Would one group be more
interested in specific messages,
products or services?

21. How to use Facebook effectively as a marketing tool?
Create compelling content
❖ As you post updates, photos and more,
think about what your customers find
interesting and inspiring.
❖ Be authentic: Share what you're
genuinely excited about and your
customers will be excited too.
❖ Be responsive: When people comment
on your posts, show that your business
is listening and that you care. If you
need more time to answer a question,
let them know that you're looking into
it.

22. How to use Facebook effectively as a marketing tool?
❖ Be consistent: The more regularly
you post, the greater an opportunity
you have for connecting with people
and building trust. Setting a
schedule for your posts can also
help to maximise your time.
❖ Remember: Your recipe for success
is to create Page posts that are
interesting and valuable to your
customers – and to target your
messages so that the right people
see them.

23. Post to Facebook
❖ Pose a Question
❖ One of the simplest and most
effective ways to kickstart a
dialogue with your Facebook
fans is to ask them a question.
Basically, you’re inviting a
response.

24. Post to Facebook
❖ Ask Fans to Make a Choice
❖ A fun way to get your fans to engage with you is to publish a “this or that”
post. Ask people to choose a side, pick a favourite, or make a choice between
two things.

25. Post to Facebook
❖ Post When Your Fans Are Online
❖ People use Facebook at different times of the day. Some are on Facebook
throughout the day, while others may only check it in the early morning or
evening. If you’re randomly publishing a few posts each day, there’s a good
chance some of your audience will miss them.

26. Post to Facebook
❖ Share Relevant Images
❖ A picture can say a lot more than a text post. A visually striking
image can bring the rapid thumb-scroller to a halt.

27. Post to Facebook
❖ Engage With Other Brands

28. Facebook Advertising
❖ Facebook offers 11 marketing objectives based on what you want
your ad to accomplish.

29. Facebook Advertising
❖ Brand awareness: Introduce your brand to a new audience.
❖ Reach: Expose your ad to as many people in your audience as
possible.
❖ Traffic: Drive traffic to a specific web page or app.
❖ Engagement: Reach a wide audience to increase the number of
post or Page Likes, increase attendance at your event, or
encourage people to claim a special offer.
❖ App installs: Get people to install your app.
❖ Video views: Get more people to watch your videos.

30. Facebook Advertising
❖ Lead generation: Get new prospects into your sales funnel.
❖ Messages: Encourage people to contact your business using
Facebook Messenger.
❖ Conversions: Get people to take a specific action on your
website (like subscribe to your list or buy your product).
❖ Catalog sales: Connect your Facebook ads to your product
catalog to show people ads for the products they are most likely
to want to buy.
❖ Store visits: Drive nearby customers to bricks-and-mortar stores.

33. Instagram
❖ The purpose of Instagram is to
authentically connect with
your target audience through
visual imagery.
❖ 80% of marketers use visuals in
their social media marketing.
Video (63%), alone, has also
surpassed blogging (60%) in
usage as a social media
marketing asset.

34. Instagram
❖ When people hear information,
they're likely to remember only
10% of that information three
days later.
❖ However, if a relevant image is
paired with that same
information, people retained
65% of the information three
days later.

35. What is Instagram?
❖ It's like a simplified version of
Facebook, with an emphasis on
mobile use and visual sharing.
❖ Just like other social networks,
you can interact with other
users on Instagram by
following them, being followed
by them, commenting, liking,
tagging and private messaging.
❖ You can even save the photos
you see on Instagram.

36. Why is Instagram so popular?
❖ Instagram is also primarily
mobile.
❖ This makes engaging with the
network inherently more
intimate, creating more
human-like interactions
between consumers and
brands.

37. Which businesses benefit the most from Instagram?
❖ Brands in every industry and
niche can benefit from
Instagram. But the platform
might not be as helpful
marketing-wise
for B2B companies.
❖ Due to its visual nature and
user base, Instagram tends to
cater more to B2C businesses.

38. Is it easy to get followers and grow a community?
❖ Yes and no.
❖ Getting followers and growing
your business through
Instagram is work. It requires a
lot of research, time, and trial
and error to figure out what
works for your specific
business.
❖ But once you establish yourself
on Instagram, your business
will thank you!

39. Getting to Know Your Instagram Followers
❖ Make a list of your top 10
competitors and find them on
Instagram.
❖ Take a look at the users who are
commenting and review their
discussions. What are they saying
and asking? What are they interested
in? Research these followers’
profiles—the ones who are really
engaging with your competitors—
and see what other pages they are
following.
❖ Look for similarities and themes.

40. Cultivating A Consistent Theme
❖ You want your Instagram
account to be like a favourite
TV show or channel.
❖ Your followers will enjoy it
because it consistently gives
them something they like and
depend on (whether that’s
products, quotes, videos,
images, etc.).

41. Using Instagram Stories
❖ Instagram Stories
❖ Instagram recently introduced
its new Stories feature, which
is a secondary feed that
appears at the very top of your
main feed.
❖ You can see it marked by little
photo bubbles of the users you
follow.

42. Using Instagram Stories
❖ Tap any one of these bubbles to
see that user's story or stories
that they published over the
last 24 hours.
❖ To publish your own story, all
you have to do is tap your own
photo bubble from the main
feed or swipe right on any tab
to access the stories camera tab.

43. Instagram for business
❖ How do I run ads directly
from Instagram?
❖ You can run ads directly from
the Instagram app.
❖ You must be an admin on the
Facebook Page connected to
the Instagram account. If
you're not a Page admin, reach
out to to someone who is.

44. Instagram for business
❖ To Promote your post
1. Go to your profile.
2. Tap the post you'd like to promote.
3. Below the post's image, tap Promote.
4. Fill in the details of your promotion by setting
things like Audience (who you want to reach),
Budget (how much you want to spend) and
Duration (how long you want your promotion
to run). Tap Next once you've completed these
details.
5. To complete your promotion, tap Promote.

45. Love #hashtags
❖ Hashtags can skyrocket your
business to new heights, but if
used too frequently or without
a clear strategy in mind, they
become pointless and
inefficient, e.g.: #happy
#superhappy #ecstatic
#jumpingforjoy
#whatsanothersynonym.

46. Love #hashtags
❖ You should use hashtags in
every single caption. But don’t
stuff too many in the caption
itself.
❖ Great captions are compelling
and readable, and too many
hashtags can turn users away.

47. Love #hashtags
❖ Include your branded hashtags
and perhaps a few more in the
caption, but add the majority
(30 is the maximum) as the first
comment on the post.
❖ Tags for Likes
❖ Display Purposes

48. Shadowban
❖ What Causes an Instagram Shadowban?
❖ Shadowbans exist to deter users from a specific kind of
behaviour—whether that’s being spammy, inappropriate, or
even abusive. In the case of Instagram, the platform seems to
mostly be targeting users who display spammy or
inappropriate behaviour.
❖ What’s interesting, however, is that certain “non-spammy”
behaviours have also been lumped-in as a way to get
shadowbanned, such as using the same hashtags over and over
again.

51. Twitter: what is it?
❖ Twitter (/ˈtwɪtәr/) is an online news and social
networking service on which users post and interact
with messages known as “tweets". Registered users can
post tweets, but those who are unregistered can only
read them.

52. Why should I be on Twitter?
❖ Listen and learn.
❖ Find out what’s going on in your industry and what
your customers are interested in.
❖ Drive awareness.
❖ Raise the profile of your business and increase the
impact of your marketing by using Twitter to regularly
communicate with your followers.

53. Why should I be on Twitter?
❖ Provide customer service.
❖ 73% of SMB Twitter users said Twitter provides them
with a quick way to reply to customer service issues.
❖ Connect with influencers.
❖ Twitter breaks down the barriers and enables you to
connect with anyone. It’s a great way of joining or even
starting discussions with influencers and industry
experts.

55. Finding Followers

56. ❖ Harness Your Hashtags
❖ Think of hashtags as a way to make your posts searchable, almost as a form
of SEO for your Twitter account.
❖ According to data and best practices on how to use hashtags, tweets with at
least one hashtag receive 12.6% more engagement than those without them.

57. Finding Followers
❖ Master the Arts of Tagging,
Retweeting & Replying
❖ Getting more followers on
Twitter means making the most
of the time you spend on the
platform.
❖ Regularly engaging with other
users via tagging, retweeting
and replying immediately lets
followers know that you’re
human and gets more eyes on
your brand.

58. Twitter tools to make life easier.
❖ Tweet Deck
❖ Designed specifically for
Twitter, it is probably the best
integration tool out there.
❖ Use it in the cloud or
download the software to you
computer.
❖ Live Demo.

60. Overview
❖ Why is LinkedIn best place to
market your business?
❖ 1. Build your Professional
Network via Social Media.
❖ We all know how important
networking is. LinkedIn
establishes the perfect
environment for building your
network.

61. Overview
❖ 2. Increase Exposure with a
LinkedIn Company Page for
Products and Services.
❖ We all know LinkedIn is the
professional market place.
Simply by having a place here
brings credibility to your
business. Being outstanding
on LinkedIn gives you a huge
competitive advantage.

62. Perfect Your Profile
❖ Complete your profile to 100%.

63. Expand Your Network
❖ However many connections we have on LinkedIn, we want more!
❖ To connect with someone just look them up and ask to connect.

64. Expand Your Network
❖ You will be asked how you know this person.
❖ This is to keep things reasonable and to reduce
the number of unsolicited and unrealistic
connect requests.

65. Expand Your Network
❖ Groups
❖ LinkedIn groups are a great source for finding new connections.
❖ Groups have become tougher to wade through, since many are not
managed well and are overrun by spam.
❖ However, there are still plenty of high-quality groups. You just have to
do your research.

66. Spread the word
❖ Groups.
❖ Join groups in your niche.
❖ Answer questions that you’re
knowledgeable about.
❖ Use this opportunity to gain
more connections.
❖ Create a group of your own.

67. THE END
(and the beginning)
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