Today we’ll talk
• What is conteantbout
• Creating a Content Strategy
• Creating a Publishing Schedule
• Creating & Managing Content
• Using Hootsuite to make life easier
• Environmental Scanning
– Need to know who and what is already out there.
• Are your competitors using social media?
• Are customers talking about your product or brand?
• Is there conversation about your niche?
• What channels are already active?
• Find Your Audience/Environmental Scan
– Listen and Monitor
• Google Alerts
• Google Blogsearch
• Twitter Search (http://search.twitter.com)
• Social Mention
• Board Tracker
• Trackur (www.trackur.com)
• Social Badges (on competitors’ websites)
• Setting Goals
– What are we trying to achieve?
• Article Pick-up?
• Better Customer Service?
• Foster word-of-mouth
• Learning/Listening
• Advocacy
• Loyalty
• Trust
• Influence
• Setting Goals
– Take an honest approach and ask what your goal is.
– Define your goal as specifically as you can.
– Ensure that it links back to a business goal in a
measurable way.
• Goal: Reach and inform stakeholders about
project X.
• Goal: Increase brand awareness to key prospects,
analysts and influencers.
• Business Goal: Engage community to improve
corporate reputation while gaining buy-in for
pipeline project.
– SM Goal: Reach and inform stakeholders about
project X.
• Goal: $4M in sales of widget X during FY2012.
– SM Goal: Increase brand awareness to key
prospects, analysts and influencers.
• Setting Goals
– How will you know that you have achieved your
goal?
– Determine what you will measure.
Metrics
• Quantitative
– Brand Awareness
• Increased reach
– PR
• Article picked up online
• Traffic sent from PR sites to your site
– Advertising
• PPC
– SEO
• links, rankings
• Planning
– Budget
– Human resources
– Technical resources
• What are your current activities, and how will
social media fit with them?
– Look at what you have now
• Website
– Who owns it?
– Does it work?
• Newsletter
• PR/Marketing/Sales etc.
• Choosing the right sites
– What tools will help you best reach your audience
and achieve your goals?
• Choosing the right sites
– Unless you uncover a niche social site where your
audience is, start with the basics.
– Blog, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn
• Choosing the right sites
– Before taking the complete plunge, test the
waters.
• Set up accounts and start by listening
• Read related blogs and especially the comments.
• Set up keyword searches in Hootsuite or using
http://search.twitter.com
• Set up Google Alerts – www.google.com/alerts
• Run a search on www.trackur.com or
www.socialmention.com at least once a day.
• What to listen for
– Complaints
– Compliments
– Problems
– Questions
– Word of Mouth
• Impact of activities – is word spreading?
• What to listen for
– Competitors
• What are they doing/saying?
– Influencers
• Who influences your audience online?
– Point of need
• Are people looking for a solution you provide?
• Identify which channels your audience uses
most.
– This will help guide your efforts when creating and
sharing information.
– Don’t discount social sites that are less active,
they will still help create links and boost SEO.
– General timeframe
for moving up the
social participation
levels.
•Contributing value through
content creation, helping
customers achieve their goals
Contributing
Level 5
•Telling your own story
•Sharing your brand’s passion &
personality
Sharing
Level 4
•Participating in conversations that
your customers are interested in
(broader than your brand)
Participating
Level 3
•Answering the “social phone”
•Responding to customers online;
helping/support
Responding
Level 2
•Monitoring & analysis
•Listening broader than your brand
(ex: point of need)
Listening
Level 1
Measurement & Analysis
•Contributing value through
content creation, helping
customers achieve their goals
Contributing
Level 5
•Telling your own story
•Sharing your brand’s passion &
personality
Sharing
Level 4
•Participating in conversations
that your customers are
interested in (broader than your
brand)
Participating
Level 3
•Answering the “social phone”
•Responding to customers online;
helping/support
Responding
Level 2
•Monitoring & analysis
•Listening broader than your
brand (ex: point of need)
Listening
Level 1
Measurement & Analysis
Progression
through levels 2-5
depends on your
comfort level and
readiness of your
audience to
participate with a
brand.
1-2 weeks
• Tone of your content
– Informative
– Instructional
– Entertaining
– Or all 3?
• Choosing keywords
1. List topics
2. Fill in buckets with potential keywords
3. Short-tail & Long-tail keywords
• Choosing keywords
1. List topics
2. Fill in buckets with potential keywords
3. Short-tail & Long-tail keywords
4. Research related terms
• Choosing keywords
1. List topics
2. Fill in buckets with potential keywords
3. Short-tail & Long-tail keywords
4. Research related terms
5. Research what competitors are doing
• Choosing keywords
1. List topics
2. Fill in buckets with potential keywords
3. Short-tail & Long-tail keywords
4. Research related terms
5. Research what competitors are doing
6. Narrow your list
• Time management
– Figure out how managing social media will fit in
your schedule.
• 30 minutes in the morning to listen and
comment/respond
– Check blogs, Facebook and Twitter
• Publish new blog article
– Share link on Facebook and Twitter
• 30 minutes in the afternoon to listen and
comment/respond
• Time management
– Use tools that allow you to post to multiple
channels for multiple accounts/clients
• Hootsuite still #1 in my book
– Twitter
– Facebook profile and pages
– LinkedIn
– Apps for other networks
– Reporting
– Team management
• Content Schedule
– A major part of Producing and Posting
• Establishes what will be published and when
• Helps you manage your time in creating valuable
content
• Especially important for blogs
• Content Schedule
– Make someone responsible for content
– Engage them early on
– Enable them to ask questions
• How is this content request related to our business
goal?
• If they can’t do this they will get swamped.
• Content Schedule
– Document your content sources
• Newsletters
• Brochures
• Tradeshows
• Meetings
• Events
• Social Media
• Content Schedule (editorial calendar)
– Map out first 6-8 weeks of content at a minimum
• Establish a 52 week blog schedule
• Content Schedule – where will it come from?
– PR/Comms will have to create content (50%)
– Internal (non-PR) Staff can write content (10%)
– Article Summaries and links to external content
(10%)
– Videos, podcasts, pictures, polls and more (10%)
– Re-purpose your existing content (10%)
– Misc (10%)
• Start small
• Less content more often =
– More user friendly
– Better quality
– Less expensive
– Easier to manage
500 words once a week.
Audience
• Stakeholder Group
– This could be community or staff segmented by
location, functional area, or other factors?
Audience
• Key Characteristics
– Relevant details that help shape communication,
such as: mobility, shift work, community
demographics, perceptions from previous
initiatives, others.
– How active are constituents in social media? What
tools are they using?
Audience
• Current Level Of Understanding
– What is the current understanding about
brand/product/cause?
– What will enable or hinder receipt of your
message -- what is of most interest and concern to
them; perceived threat or opportunity, what will
be seen as a gain or loss.
Audience
• Desired Behaviour
– What do you want done, or not done, as the result
of this communication?
Strategies
• The activities that you will use to achieve your
goal, not the tools.
Strategies
• Example
– Goal: Excellent oral health care for every senior in
the region.
– Strategy: Inform adults caring for elderly parents
about importance of oral health.
– Tactic: Use Facebook page to engage adults in
conversations about their parents’ oral health.
• ‘My Story’ campaign on Facebook to encourage adults
to share their stories.
Inform, Involve, Inspire
• Inform
– Content designed to provide the user with
information on your brand, issue or cause.
– Focus on why it is important to them.
– Over time, shift to provide them with the
information that they need to be informed
advocates and champions for your cause.
Inform, Involve, Inspire
• Involve
– Content should engage the user, and have them
participate in the discussion or conversation in
some way.
– Can be as simple as liking a post on Facebook,
signing an online petition or actually coming out
and participating in events.
– Should include a call to action.
Inform, Involve, Inspire
• Inspire
– Content is created to inspire some sort of action
from the user.
– Always accompanied with a simple way to
complete the call to action
– Enable the user to carry the message forward to
their peers – online and offline.
Writing for Social Media
• Relevant, useful, and interesting
• Easy to understand and share
• Friendly, conversational, and engaging
• Action-oriented
Writing for Social Media
• Relevant – WIIFM?
– Time
– Location
– Audience
– Interests
Writing for Social Media
• Relevant – Time
– School is out for summer! Ow.ly/jdjdjdjd has great
tips on how to keep kids active.
Writing for Social Media
• Relevant – Location
– Think last winter was cold #yyc? Check out
Ow.ly/jchdhdh and learn how to lower your
heating bills.
Writing for Social Media
• Relevant – Audience
– Learn how to protect your #aging parents’ health.
Ow.ly/jdjdjd It’s the little things that count.
Writing for Social Media
• Relevant – Interests
– #Foodies in #yyc – we’ve found the best dishes to
keep you warm this winter. Ow.ly/jdjdjd
Writing for Social Media
• Useful
– Study shows adding carrots to diet reduces gum
disease. Why? Because they’re delicious and
crunchy! Learn more about gum disease at
yyy.yyy.ca.
Writing for Social Media
• Is it SHAREABLE?
– Put relevant information at the beginning of your
post.
– Use fewer characters than allowed to make sharing
easy.
– Keep messages short but relevant.
– Test your message on a cold reader. Could someone
“get it” in less than 2 seconds?
– Provide enough context so your message can stand
alone.
Writing for Social Media
• Do
– Use contractions
– Write in first or second person (I, we, you)?
Writing for Social Media
• Don’t
– Use colloquial language (y’all, ain’t, you guys).
– Use trendy abbreviations (UR for “you are”).
Writing for Social Media
• Is it action oriented?
– Use action verbs such as “learn,” “watch,” or
“join.”
– Include links to Web content that offer more
detail.
– Use ALL CAPS sparingly, for emphasis only.
Challenges experienced publishing
content online
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%
Finding Relevant Content
on a Regular Basis
Managing Large Amounts
of Content on Different
Topics
Improving SEO
Finding Time to Maintain
Online Presence
Finding Time to Publish
Content
Did content curation help?
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Finding relevant content on a
regular basis
Managing large amounts of
content on different topics
Improving SEO
Finding time to maintain
online presence
Finding time to publish
content
Agree
Strongly Agree
http://stuff.scoop.it/nl/upload/pdf/Impact_of_Content_Curation_on_Business_Goals_in_2013.pdf
How to curate
• Google Alecrtsontent
• Social news streams
• Social bookmarking
• Curators
• Who will ‘own’ social media internally?
• How will it be organized?
Organic Centralized Coordinated
• Natural growth
• Requires fewer
resources
• Less consistent
• Runs deeper in
organization
• One department
controls efforts
• Not spread or
used broadly
• Does not move
as ‘quickly’ as
other models
• Clear set of rules
and guidelines,
best practices
• Each department
executes
Writing for Facebook
• Best time to post
– When fans are not at work
– Posts between 8PM and 7AM receive 20% more
engagement
http://www.jeffbullas.com/2012/02/29/10-powerful-tips-to-increase-fan-engagement-on-facebook/
Writing for Twitter
• Message (or tweet): Messages are composed
of up to 140 characters of text or links.
Writing for Twitter
• Retweet (RT): If a tweet (or message) from
another Twitter user is relevant, the retweet
function allows you to forward their message
to your network.
• Modified Tweet (MT): A retweeted message
that had to be modified to fit the character
limit.
Writing for Twitter
• Mention: Twitter enables users to
automatically link to each other by putting the
@ symbol in front of the username in a
message.
Writing for Twitter
• Include Twitter handles
http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/create-perfect-social-media-posts-slideshare
Writing for Twitter
• Hashtag:
– Hashtag is created automatically when you put
the # symbol before a word.
– Using a hashtag enables other people to join in a
larger conversation on a topic or find information
quickly.
Writing for Twitter
• Hashtag:
– Tweets with 1-2 hashtags receive 21% higher
engagement than those with 3+
– Only tag the most important word that represents
the theme of your tweet
Writing for Twitter
• Hashtag:
– 17% of the top 1000 search terms on twitter turn
over every hour
• Don’t force trending hashtags into your tweets
Writing for Twitter
• Short URL: Links can be compressed using
tools such as ow.ly, which bring them down to
about 15-20 characters.
– Place links in the middle of tweets
Writing for Twitter
• 140 characters is too much.
– Best engagement on tweets 120-130 characters
Writing for Twitter
• Use abbreviations, but keep it professional
– Avoid UR, L8R
Writing for Twitter
• Share.
– Share photos and behind the scenes info about
your brand, issue or cause.
– Give a glimpse of developing projects, events and
important meetings.
Writing for Twitter
• Listen.
– Regularly monitor the comments about your
brand, issue or cause.
Writing for Twitter
• Ask.
– Ask questions of your followers to glean valuable
insights and show that you are listening.
Writing for Twitter
• Respond.
– Respond to compliments and feedback in real
time.
Writing for Twitter
• Demonstrate wider leadership and know-how.
– Reference articles and links about the bigger
picture as it relates to your brand, issue or cause.
Writing for Twitter
• Champion your stakeholders.
– Retweet and reply publicly to great tweets posted
by your followers and advocates.
Writing for Twitter
• Use photos.
– Tweets with pictures get 55% increase in
engagement
– Upload pics directly to twitter
• Instagram posts appear as a link
Writing for Twitter
• Timing.
– Highest number of clicks appear between 1PM-
3PM Mon-Thurs
– Best time for RTs: 4PM-5PM Friday
Writing your Blog
• Good Content
– Finding the balance between writing for humans
and writing for machines
• RULE: Write for people first, search engines second.
– Create content that people will want to refer other
people to (generate links)
Writing your Blog
• Good Content
– Engaging
– Valuable
– Informative
– Funny, witty, insightful
– Easy to read
– Updated regularly
Writing your Blog
• Where to start?
– Start by answering some of your audience’s most
popular questions.
• Answer what’s in it for me?
– Conduct brief interviews with experts from your
organization.
– Share personal stories.
Writing your Blog
• How often?
– As often as you want people to pay attention
– As often as you have something valuable to say
Writing your Blog
• How often?
– Plan for at least 1 substantial post per week
• 500 words
– Incorporate shorter ‘update’ or timely posts
throughout the week
• Under 300 words
• Photos, videos or thoughts on another blog
Writing your Blog
• Repackage
– Look at the material you already have.
• Reach out to others in your org.
– Have them write down every question they are asked for a
day.
• Reach out to those already engaged for their stories.
Writing your Blog
• Curate
– Curate, or aggregate, other valuable pieces of
content.
– Make sure it’s valuable:
• Are you saving the reader time by putting all of these
resources in one place?
• Are you offering your own opinion and insight against
what somebody else has said?
Writing your Blog
• Planning content
– Have an editorial calendar or content schedule
– Help you map out your frequency, give you a
general idea of the content you’ll be creating
– Serve as a blogging schedule
– Help you develop an approach or focus
• Specific topics or issues for specific times. Ex Awareness
months
Writing your Blog
• Planning content
– Editorial calendar helps you maintain a balance of
content types
– Outlines various topics and lengths
• Ex. posts that are short and shareable vs. those that are
meaty and comprehensive.
Writing your Blog
• Make it easy to consume
– Think about how you can make your posts easiest
for the reader to consume and digest.
• Headlines are the most important element of your blog
posts.
• One of the best things you can do to capture readers’
attention is to write an awesome blog title.
Writing your Blog
• Headlines and Titles
– How-to
– How not to
– Clear and Direct
• 5 ways to use Twitter like a pro
– Create a sense of urgency
– Be controversial
– Be sensational
– Be newsworthy
– Use numbers
Writing your Blog
• Headlines and Titles
– Might be the most crucial part of actually getting
readers to start reading your post when they see it
in an RSS reader or search engine results page.
Writing your Blog
• Format for readability
– Use headlines and sub-heads to break up
thoughts and blocks of text.
– Use bullets and lists
Writing your Blog
• Choosing a Topic
– take a little extra time defining your topic and the post will flow
better and you’ll develop something that matters to readers.
• The Opening Line
– FIrst impressions matter. Once you’ve got someone past your
post’s title your opening line draws them deeper into your post.
• Your ‘point/s’
– A post needs to have a point. If it’s just an intriguing title and
opening you’ll get people to read – but if the post doesn’t
‘matter’ to them it’ll never get traction.
• Call to Action
– Driving readers to do something cements a post in their mind
and helps them to apply it and helps you to make a deeper
connection with them.
Writing your Blog
• Add Depth
– Before publishing your post ask yourself how you
could add depth to it and make it even more
useful and memorable to readers?
• Quality Control and Polishing of Posts
• Timing of Publishing Your Post
– Strategic timing of posts can ensure the right
people see it at the right time.
Writing your Blog
• Writing the post
– Make sure it will be useful (as defined by the reader)
• Entertaining
• Educating
• Informing
• Debate – some blog readers want a place that they can have
a good old fashioned dialogue, debate or even a fight over
an issue
• News
• Community – tap into the need that people have to connect
and belong.
– Often the topic is secondary here.
Writing your Blog
• Writing the post
– Make the content completely relevant to the title.
• Comes back to trust
– Write like it’s a conversation
• Man vs. machine
– Use images and videos
• Hold the reader’s hand if you’re walking them through
something
– Keep the sentences short
Writing your Blog
• How to promote your blog
– Find other bloggers
• Leverage your existing connections and create new
relationships.
• Reach out to influential bloggers in your industry and
attract their attention through mentions on your blog
and social media.
• Create an opportunity for them to share your blog
posts across their network.
• Create link-building opportunities
Writing your Blog
• How to promote your blog
– Be social
• Use other social networks to promote your blog
• Publish your blog to the main social sites
• Make sure you have social sharing buttons so that
others can share as well
– Also important for SEO
Writing your Blog
• How to promote your blog
– Be social
• Keep in mind that your message may not always be the
exact same across platforms
– Your Facebook post will be different than your Tweet.
• Use plug-ins or a tool like Tweetdeck to post across
platforms
Writing your Blog
• How to promote your blog
– Use your existing web presence
• Add banners and call-outs to your existing website
Writing your Blog
• How to promote your blog
– Talk about it whenever possible
• Use real-life events to mention your blog and drive
people back to it
– Ex. If you’re doing a presentation, post your slides to your blog
and have people download them.
Writing your Blog
• How to promote your blog
– Talk about it whenever possible
• Add your blog address to your email signature
Writing your Blog
• Stay relevant
– Keep listening and monitoring what’s hot in the
blogosphere and social media
– Ask your readers what they want to read more
about
Writing your Blog
• Manage the conversation
– Make sure you check and respond to comments
• Even negative ones
– Monitor the conversation on other social channels
too
– Think about how you want to handle comments
on your blog
• Auto post
• You approve/moderate
• 87% of users trust LinkedIn as a source of info
used in decision making
• LinkedIn is 277% more effective for lead
generation than Facebook or Twitter
• Rally around one post per week
– Can get you into trends
– Focuses discussion
• Share offers
– Promotions and marketing offers can be
successful on company pages
• Think like a journalist
– Use concise intros and snappy headlines to drive
engagement
– Include a call to action and link
• Posts with links have 2x the engagement
– Ask questions
• Include images
– +98% engagement
• Make sure thumbnail matches message
• Include videos
– Play right in LinkedIn
– +75% engagement
• Test to find the right mix
– Test timing, frequency and type of posts to find
the content your audience responds to
– Still maintain editorial calendar
• Use comments to extend the conversation
– Comments can be used to add additional views
and directly engage followers in conversation
• Moderate/Light
colour
• Images with 50%
colour saturation
get repinned 4x as
often as those with
100% saturation &
10x as often as
black and white
images.
• 81% of internet users watch video online
• Average viewer watches 170+ videos per
month
Online Video & PR
• YouTube Audience
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDtf3ZnFb
2s&feature=relmfu
Online Video & PR
• Why?
– Extend your brand
– Launch a campaign
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embe
dded&v=tRQVJ4xBgTI#!
– Respond to a crisis
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embe
dded&v=0wK1127fHQ4#!
– Uncover communities
Online Video & PR
• Why?
– Provide info to bloggers/media
• Interview clips
• Product demos
– Generate buzz & raise awareness
• http://www.youtube.com/user/Blendtec?feature=watc
h
Your Video Strategy
• What role do you want video to play?
• Goals & Objectives
• Define Target Audience
Content
• Content should be
– Informative
– Entertaining
– Relevant
– Engaging
Content
• Quality
– Audience
• Broad vs. Targeted
– Beware of copyrights
Content
• Freshness
– Frequency
• 1-2 videos a week for optimization
– Consistency
• Try to upload videos at approx. the same time each
week
– Length
• Keep videos under 5 mins.
Content
• Engagement
– How will you get and keep attention?
• Contests
• Shout-outs
• Titles and graphics
• Interesting content
Content
• Engagement
– Need to capture attention in first 15 seconds
– Use a ‘Call to Action’ with link
• Subscribe
• Sign up now
Branding YouTube
• Selecting a name
– Relate to what your objectives are
• Brand
• Info
• Customer Service
• Location / Regional
• Campaign Name
Be Social
• Connect with users
– Encourage comments
– Post replies
– Comment on other content
– Create Video Responses
– Encourage others to subscribe to, rate and share
your videos
– Join groups, forums and contests
Be Social
• Link to other brand channels
– Add them to favourites
– Like their pages
Spread The Joy
• Embed your videos in blogs and other pages
• Send links to others that might be interested
Measure and Assess
• YouTube Analytics
– See what days, times, topics get the most views
– Viewer stats
– Subscribers
• What videos resulted in gained/lost subscribers
– Likes/Favorites/Comments/Shares
– Traffic Sources
Measure and Assess
• Retention Rates
– How long did people watch your video
– When did they stop
– Why
I work at Amplifi, where we specialize in creating engaging communications for inspired change.
My area of focus is advocacy. Online and print. Around legislative/policy, brands and causes
We help amplify messages so that people and organizations are heard.
Operate on inform, involve, inspire.
Where are the group members in terms of progress?
Where are they in use of social media?
What are their experiences with social media?
Challenges?
Tools they are using?
Basically – information packaged for online consumption
Helps you achieve your goals by creating value for your audience.
I
Popular: Engage
Popular: Engage
These are the basics. The tone and conversation ends up being significantly more complex. Social media gets into customer service, crisis management. Key is to make sure it is valuable.
Start a list of topics that are important to your business. These will form “buckets” for your keywords.
These are topics that you blog about or write about regularly already.
For me: Bucket = Social Media. Keyword phrase: writing for social media. Engaging audience in social media. Digital storytelling Etc.
Make sure you have a mix of short – 1-2 word – phrases and long-tail – longer sentences.
Blogging vs. how to write a great blog post
Easiest way – punch in a Google search and see what related terms come up.
Google search and SpyFu.
Use Google Trends and Keyword Planner Tool to narrow your list down.
One example
I
If you haven’t already done this, I recommend that you do.
Great for gathering insights into what people share and what type of content works for the people you want to reach.
Start a spreadsheet and track the messages that get RTs and shares.
I
I
I
Social media is most effective when the content relates to a particular interest or desire of a specific group of people. Because your target audience can receive multiple messages from multiple sources every day, try to make your messages relevant, useful, and interesting so your audience will interact and be engaged.
Relevant social media content makes people think “This matters to me.” Relevant information can be based on timing, location or geography, specific audience or their interests.
Relevant social media content makes people think “This matters to me.” Relevant information can be based on timing, location or geography, specific audience or their interests
Relevant social media content makes people think “This matters to me.” Relevant information can be based on timing, location or geography, specific audience or their interests
Relevant social media content makes people think “This matters to me.” Relevant information can be based on timing, location or geography, specific audience or their interests
Relevant social media content makes people think “This matters to me.” Relevant information can be based on timing, location or geography, specific audience or their interests
When people can use the information to change their behaviour, learn something new or change their lives, then it’s useful
Interesting content is more likely to be shared.
This can be subjective, so try to find something that’s interesting to your target audience.
Your message is facing some stiff competition, so it has to be easy to read, understand and share.
Your message is facing some stiff competition, so it has to be easy to read, understand and share.
Your message is facing some stiff competition, so it has to be easy to read, understand and share.
Your message is facing some stiff competition, so it has to be easy to read, understand and share.
Collecting or gathering the best content and re-distributing it to your audience.
Does not mean passing it off as your own…
Scoop.it, an online content curation tool, surveyed 1,550 professionals to understand their business goals and challenges. Found:
72% struggle to find the time to publish
61% struggle to find the time to maintain an online presence
56% face SEO challenges
54% struggle in managing large amounts of content
48% struggle to find relevant content on a regular basis
Finding relevant content on a regular basis – 88%
Finding the time to maintain online presence – 64%
Improving SEO – 65%
Manage large amount of content on different topics – 68%
Finding relevant content on a regular basis – 70%
Social news streams = using platforms like Twitter to search hashtags and keywords.
Curators = storify, scoop it, etc.
A fairly inexact science. These ratios are more of a guide. Experimentation is needed to find what works best for you. These were originally published in an article by Buffer.
Introduced by TA McCann from Gist.com, the 5-3-2 rule of social media sharing aims for a blend of your content, others’s content, and personal updates. Note that the 5-3-2 is not a daily quota but rather a ratio for any group of 10 updates you post over any timeframe (same goes for the rest of these ratios, too).
5 should be content from others
3 should be content from you
2 should be personal status updates
Much like the 5-3-2 rule, the 4-1-1 Rule seeks a good ratio of content from others, content from you, and reshares. Popularized by Andrew Davis of Tippingpoint Labs and Joe Pulizzi of Content Marketing Institute, the 4-1-1 looks like this in practice:
4 pieces of relevant, original content from others
1 retweet for every 1 self-serving update
Shai Coggins of Vervely has a somewhat unique approach to a balanced sharing schedule. The 555+ Guideline seeks to add some variety to a timeline and to keep your social media profile from “looking like a pulpit.”
5 updates about you and your content
5 updates about others
5 responses/replies
+ miscellaneous posts that add value like #FollowFriday or user-generated content
Mentioned on the Hootsuite blog by Sam Milbrath, the Rule of Thirds is a perfectly balanced way to split up your social media posts. It works like this:
1/3 of your updates are about you and your content
1/3 of your updates are for sharing content from others and surfacing ideas
1/3 of your updates are based on personal interactions that build your brand
The Golden Ratio from Rallyverse covers similar ground as the 5-3-2 rule, albeit with a couple small tweaks to the percentages and the content. Here’s how Rallyverse proposes an ideal sharing ratio:
30 percent owned
60 percent curated
10 percent promotional
This really depends on the platform.
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Length of Facebook posts: Wall posts less than 80 characters receive 66% higher engagement.
Posts between 1-40 characters generate highest engagement.
What are the pros/cons of automating content on Facebook?
Pros: efficiency, time saving, ensures content is being consistently posted.
Cons: Lack of engagement, no conversations, non-responsive
Tag people and pages.
Bring them into the conversation.
Catches their attention
Different groups of people are going to participate in different types of conversations.
Ex. Retail orgs have great success with fill in the blanks: The one accessory I can’t live without is _____________.
Select what groups you want to send messages/posts to
Find ways to involve fans and let them decide what happens on the page.
Vote to decide profile pic for the week.
Contest – who can submit the best pic or video.
Could be as simple as recognizing them for their participation on the page. A shout-out or thanks.
CBC Radio 3 – brings in guest hosts from the blog. Rewarding people that are active in the social channels by allowing them to actually contribute to the radio programming.
Try bringing in guest champions to do Q&A or share a series of stories on their experience.
Embed Ustream or Livestream and do live chats.
A great way to make your page interactive and hold attention.
Simple posts achieve the most engagement.
Best time to post is when fans are not at work. Posts between 8PM and 7AM receive 20% more engagement
Brands researched by Buddy media posted regularly throughout the week, but had the best engagement on Weds and Sunday.
Posting 1-4x per week produces 71% higher engagement. Don’t over crowd their newsfeeds.
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Including a person/brand’s handle ensures they get a notification. Increases chances they’ll notice you and RT.
Save space. Are trackable.
Aim for 110 for it to be shareable. Shortned links will be 15-20 characters + RT and @ mentions.
As with all social media…
As with all social media…
As with all social media…
As with all social media…
As with all social media…
As with all social media…
As with all social media…
Twitter users tend to prefer a direct, genuine, and of course, a likable tone from your organization, but think about your voice as you Tweet. How do you want your organization to appear to the Twitter community?
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You should always plan for blog content to get published at certain times, but also be able to take advantage of news stories to create a timely blog post and leverage the buzz that’s already being generated around the topic.
We’ve covered this…
Pinterest has its own distinctive character as a social network.
Facebook as a network of people, and Foursquare as a network of places. Pinterest is a network of things … and it seems like on a network of things, faces are actually a distraction.
Little background: Pinterest includes loads of photos, particularly product images, shot against a plain white background. When an artificial background rises above 40 percent of the total image area, repins are typically halved or quartered. Use a background that provides a compelling context in minimal space — like Deen’s picnic table above.
Multiple colors: Images with multiple dominant colors garner more than three times the replies as images with just one. Hence the strong pink, light green, dark green, red, and gray patches in Deen’s photo above.
Lots of red: Predominantly red or orange images get twice the repins of predominately blue images. (Dig Deen’s tomatoes and pink bowl.)
Moderate light and color: Performance falls off at the extremes. Images with 50 percent color saturation got repinned four times as often as images with 100 percent saturation, and 10 times as often as totally desaturated (black and white) images. A similar dynamic holds true for brightness; very light and very dark images are, generally speaking, repinned one-twentieth as often as images with medium lightness.
Portrait style: Images did best in a vertical orientation with an aspect ration between 2:3 and 4:5. This is a peculiarity of Pinterest, Gupta says: The service tries to rescale or otherwise adapt images that fall outside of this range, making them look bad.