Getting Started with Social Media Marketing

Getting Started With
Social Media Marketing
Jannette Wing Pazer
jannette@dragonsearch.com
Christopher Short
christopher@dragonsearch.com

@DragonSearch
Some Social Media Vocabulary
• Profile – About you - what others see about you the person
• Page – About your organization - managed by people posting on
behalf of the organization
•On some networks, they’re the same.
•Usually differences between looks, features, privileges
•Login as a person, then administer the organization’s page.

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• Cover Image - large image across the top of your profile or
page.
• Profile Picture - smaller image representing you or your brand
(usually a logo).

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• Post or Tweet - a piece of content broadcast on a social
network
• Timeline– the list of posts on your profile or page
• Home Feed - a list of the posts from people or pages
you’re following
• Engagement - When you Like, Comment on or Share
someone’s post

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Your profile timeline:
Your
posts/tweets.

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Your Home Feed
Posts from people you
follow.

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• @Tag or Mention - tagging another user or page in your
post so they know you mentioned them and users can click
to see the tagged person or page.
• Hashtag or # - way to emphasize keywords that can link to
other posts using it, or to create a real time conversation by
monitoring the stream of all tweets using that hashtag
(Twitter chat).

@DragonSearch
Why Social Media?
• Increased exposure
• Increased traffic
• Developed loyal fans
• Provided marketplace insight
• Generated leads
• Improved search rankings
• Grown business partnerships
• Established thought
leadership
• Improved sales
• Reduced marketing expenses
From the 2015 Social Media Marketing Industry Report by
Social Media Examiner,
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/report/

@DragonSearch
Why Social Media Marketing?
An Analogy: A Trade Show in Cyberspace
From the NAB Show

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Audience: Trade Show vs. Social Media
Trade Show / Conference Social Media Marketing
Which show puts your products in front of the
people who want to buy them?
Create a strategy of which social media
platforms are right for your business.
Determine where your target audience is
online.
Which conference has speakers who are
major influencers in your industry that you
want to network with?
Who are the influencers and advocates on
social media you want to engage with and
create online relationships with?

@DragonSearch
Marketing: Trade Show vs. Social Media
Marketing Trade Show Social Media
Booth Table in exhibition area Social media profile page
Promotion brochures on the table promotional posts
Get Attention, Provide Value demos, presentations, give-a-ways multi-media, information, resources,
contests

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Trade Show: Get Attention

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Trade Show:
Waiting for the audience to come to you?

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Networking: Trade Show vs. Social Media
Trade Show Social Media
Networking, lunch table,
visiting booths
Engaging on social media,
liking, commenting, sharing,
chats
Follow-Up: Exchange
business cards, meetings
Direct message; exchange
emails, phone numbers.
Connecting With Your Audience

@DragonSearch
• A beautiful booth to draw them in:

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Cool Booth, But What’s Your Business?
• Even if your booth looks
good, does it say what
you’re selling? Does it
offer something
interesting that catches
your attention?
Image: http://www.exhibitcitynews.com/

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Twitter - Branding
Yawn… No attention grabbing branding – for a
marketing company!
No cover image!
Boring tweets!

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• An attractive profile page to draw them in:

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• Cool stuff at the booth and goodies that spread your
brand name around:
Image: Wowza.com

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Create images and
content to catch
their interest and
get them to share
with others:
And BACON is even more fun
than orange foam hats!

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Yawn…
No cover image?
You call that image food porn?
Boring looking tweets

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Which platforms are right for you?

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Commonly Used Platforms
From the 2015 Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Social Media Examiner, http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/report/

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Which is Best for Marketing?
Which social network
marketers say is the most
important one to grow and
market their business.
But also depends on what’s
right for your business.
(Note: Facebook is popular but
hard to build an audience without
advertising)
From the 2015 Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Social Media Examiner, http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/report/

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B2C vs. B2B
From the 2015 Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Social Media Examiner,
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/report/

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Instead of a Website?
• Websites are still important because you have control.
• A social network can decide you’re violating their policies
and suspend or delete your account.
• In social media, there is constant change, features come
and go.
• Should have both!

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How to Choose - Goals
• What do you want to use Social Media for?
• Placeholder – claim your digital real estate
• To showcase your brand/products/services
•Pictures? products? articles?
• Sell products
• Collecting leads
• Advertising
• Frequent Updates: Daily menus, coupons, deals
• Easier than updating a website
• Connecting with your customers
• Customer service
• Getting reviews

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Social Media Explained
Image by @douglaswray
https://www.instagram.com/p/nm69
5/?hl=en

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Facebook
Two types of entities:
• Personal Profile
• My friends
• Page
• For your business, organization, cause, personal
brand
• Our fans
• Also Groups, Events, Interest Lists, Apps

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Facebook Person/Page Relationships

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Facebook – Person Profile

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Facebook – How it Works
• You login as a person, and can change identity to be your business
page/brand
• People are “friends” with each other. Must be mutual.
• People can “Like” business pages. Pages can “Like” other pages.
• Ability to post links, images, video
• Ability to @tag people and pages when logged in as a person. Can only
@tag pages when logged in as a page.
• Facebook chooses which content to show people, so reach is limited,
shows bias
• Reviews on your page (cannot delete any)

@DragonSearch
Facebook - Style
• More personal, less business-like
• Tends to focus on positive, personal experiences
• Usually don’t want to “Friend” people you don’t know
• Pages cannot “Friend” people, but can “Like” other pages

@DragonSearch
Facebook - Pros
• Very large network, Over 1 billion users
• Great for brand exposure and customer relations
• Easy to switch between being yourself or representing a
business
• Multiple people can manage a page
• Advertising is inexpensive and very effective
• Incredible amounts of data about Facebook users for targeting
• Ability to schedule posts for a future date.

@DragonSearch
Facebook - Cons
• Difficult to grow a following or have your posts seen
without advertising
• Post reach is very low until people start engaging with the
posts

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Twitter – How It Works
• One type of entity
• One login per Twitter account (handle)
• Will have to share password with anyone else managing it
• Tweets are limited to 140 characters
• Anyone can “follow” other Twitter users
• Retweeting: Tweet someone else’s tweet
• Ability to post links, images, video
• See all the tweets from the accounts you follow
chronologically
• Twitter lists can group Twitter accounts together

@DragonSearch
Twitter – Style
• Short and to the point, often what’s happening in real time now
• Use hashtags to find topics or create conversations
• Twitter chats
• OK to follow and engage with anyone
• Everyone is an equal entity
• Use @-tags to bring people into a conversation, or give them
credit for something shared
• Use your brand as your username, so it works in a sentence &
keep it short

@DragonSearch
Twitter - Pros
• Very large network
• Ability to quickly respond to clients and customers
• OK to tweet to strangers, good way to connect with influencers
& customers
• Twitter cards can include a call to action
• Twitter lists great for organizing other Twitter accounts for
monitoring, engaging, curating, complementing
• Twitter chats: good for exposure & networking
• Useful to follow conversations at conferences via hashtag

@DragonSearch
Following Tweets at a Conference
Join the conversation whether you’re there or not! See all tweets
using hashtag: #NAB2014

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Twitter - Cons
• Advertising is more expensive
• Frustrating for wordy people!
• Lots of fake users out there, jibberish, self-promotion and
spam

@DragonSearch
Twitter - Use Images!
Catch my
attention
when your
tweet scrolls
by!

@DragonSearch
LinkedIn – How It Works
Two entities:
• Personal Profile
• Company Page
• Also Groups, Jobs, Publishing

@DragonSearch
• People profiles are similar to resumes
• People can “connect” with other people, must be mutual and
identify the relationship
• People can “follow” company pages
• Company pages cannot follow others
• Engagement is by people; Companies cannot engage with
other’s posts

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• People and companies can post their own updates
• People or pages cannot post on others’.
• Employees should maintain complete profiles using industry
keywords. They are the company ambassadors.
• Heavily used by recruiters

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LinkedIn Degrees of Separation
• The bigger your connection network, the more likely your profile
information will be seen when searched for
• Connection between people measured by degrees (1st, 2nd, 3rd)
• Beyond 3rd degree, can’t see much info on a person.
Search for “digital marketing” on LinkedIn

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LinkedIn – Profile
• Summary
• Experience
• Education
• Projects
• Skills
• Organizations
• Publications
• Honors & Awards
• Courses
• Volunteer Experience
• Recommendations
View Recent Activity: Status Updates

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LinkedIn – Company Page
• Company information
• Recent Updates (posts)
• Employees

@DragonSearch
LinkedIn - Style
• Business focus, great for B2B or professional networking
• Best to connect with people that have some connection with
you
• Participate in groups & answer industry related questions &
start discussions (people only)
• Showcase your professional reputation
• Encourage reviews and endorsements

@DragonSearch
LinkedIn - Pros
• Good place to show off your expertise, thought leadership
• Employees profiles likely to show up in Google search results
• Advertising can be accurately targeted towards job titles &
industries
• Can add videos and Slideshares to your profile

@DragonSearch
LinkedIn - Cons
• More primitive technology and interface, lots of bugs
• Advertising is very expensive
• Companies cannot @tag others in their posts
• Cannot edit a post afterwards
• Cannot control who claims to be an employee

@DragonSearch
Google+ - How it Works
Three types of entities:
• People profiles
• Posts, collections, videos (from YouTube)
• Company pages
• Map related pages
• Created via Google Maps
• Can be merged with Company pages
• Also Communities
• CONSTANTLY IN FLUX

@DragonSearch
Google+ - How it Works
• People profiles can create Business Pages
• Pages for local businesses will have Reviews and a map
• Reviews show up in search results
• You can follow people or pages
• Communities share similar interests
• Collections save posts of interests based on topics

@DragonSearch
“Classic”
Layout
• About tab
with lots of
information
about your
company

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The New Google+
• Minimal company
information in tiny “i”
circle (see arrow)
• Changed cover image size
so most of us need to fix it
• Pushing “Collections”,
which now show before
your posts

@DragonSearch
Google+ - Style
• OK to follow people or pages you may not
know personally
• Posting is mostly news and articles
• Good to @tag people (but interface is tricky)
• Google+ uses the “+” sign to tag people.
• Hashtags OK, but best after the post’s text
to not distract
• Mostly marketers, many abandoned pages
or pages created automatically and never
used

@DragonSearch
Google+ - Pros
• Must have to show up in Google Maps & the Search Engine
Results Page (SERP)
• Helps your content show up in search results
• Communities help you find others with similar interests
• Integration with YouTube
• Audience segmentation using Google+ circles

@DragonSearch
Google+ - Cons
• Google keeps changing the way it works
• Appears to slowly being dismantled
• Lack of activity; Not widely used, rarely brings traffic to your
website
• @tagging people or pages is infuriatingly unreliable or annoying,
don’t know which to use for tagging if there are duplicates
• Frequent duplicate pages, hard to figure out who owns them

@DragonSearch
So Why Use Google+?
It’s vital for Local Search!

@DragonSearch
Google Maps and G+
Information,
images and
reviews came
from their
Google+
page.

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G+ and Search Engine Results
Information, images and reviews in knowledge graph box on right side of search results
came from their Google+ page.

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Instagram – How it Works
• All about images
• One login per Instagram account
• Will have to share password with anyone else
managing it
• Must be on mobile phone to post your
images
• Can follow other users
• Can @Tag other users
• Can Like or comment on other’s posts

@DragonSearch
Instagram - Style
• Be creative!
• OK to follow people or pages you may not know personally
• Heavy use of hashtags to navigate
• Very popular with younger demographic
• Totally image focused
• Usually lots of engagement

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Instagram – Pros & Cons
Pros:
• Great for showing off products, promotional campaigns
and contests
• Can simultaneously share your image on multiple social
networks
• Can manage advertising through Facebook
Cons:
• Must have your images on your mobile phone to post

@DragonSearch
Instagram
Scroll
through
images
posted
by who
you
follow.
Search for
image types
using hashtags.

@DragonSearch
YouTube – How it Works
• User account (person), and channel
• Multiple managers are permitted
• Can create playlists of other’s videos
• People subscribe to your channel,
and can comment, like or add to
favorite lists
• Annotations in your video can
provide links to other videos, or
additional content on your website.

@DragonSearch
YouTube - Style
• Lots of how-to videos, user-generated content,
video blogging
• Where millennials are getting their
entertainment, new online celebrities created
• Important to optimize your profile and video
descriptions for search
• Show off your brand’s personality
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmZiqwRnwtM

@DragonSearch
Not your average boring lawyer…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmZiqwRnwtM

@DragonSearch
YouTube – Pros & Cons
Pros:
• Over 1 billion users
• Great for showcasing products, services and personality
• Videos can be shared on multiple social networks
Cons:
• Resource intensive to create
content
• Hard to direct traffic back to
website, people get sucked in to
watch more videos

@DragonSearch
Pinterest – How it Works
• Imagine a cork board where you pin pictures of things
you like.
• Very visual
• Account can be person or business
• Only one email login, but can login via other social
networks
• Curate images and videos, pin them to topic boards,
comment, like and re-pin.
• Click on a pin, it links to the original website location
• People can follow each other’s accounts or specific
boards

@DragonSearch
Pinterest - Style
• Majority female demographic
• Popular topics: DIY, crafts, wedding planning, recipes, jewelry,
fashion, home interior
• Highly important for businesses related to food, fashion, art and
decorating
• Important to optimize your board and pin descriptions for
search
• Highly addicting - digital collecting & hoarding!

@DragonSearch
Pinterest – Pros & Cons
Pros:
• Great for branded images, showcasing products
• Easy way to create portfolios showcasing your work (artists, designers)
• Products can be purchased directly from Pinterest on mobile
• Place pins can show locations on a map
• Easy to recycle evergreen content (i.e., not time sensitive)
• What gets pinned by others shows future intent
• Can see all the pins that came from your website
Cons:
• Tricky for non-visual businesses (like insurance, lawyers)

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Pinterest Example

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Good Pinterest Board – Appealing, Informative

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Bad Pinterest Board – All Promotional, No Info, Unappealing Images

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Other Important Sites
• Reddit - geeky, indepth conversations
• Yelp - Must have for brick & mortar businesses, reviews
• Q&A sites - Answer questions and show your expertise
• Quora - any topic
• Avvo – attorney
• Niche sites for almost anything!
• They may not be as popular, but it’s YOUR audience!

@DragonSearch
How to Choose Which Social Media Platform?
• Choose based on:
• Your Goals
• Your Audience
• Think about your type of content you’ll be
sharing

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How to Choose?
• Do you have lots of images, or can you find lots
of images related to your business?
• Pinterest - worth collecting or curating
• Instagram – worth posting & commenting on others,
use hashtags
• Also share images on other social platforms
• Do you have video content?
• YouTube
• Instagram (if less than 15 seconds)
• Also share videos on other platforms

@DragonSearch
How to Choose?
• B2B? Non-visual Business?
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Facebook advertising for inexpensive
targeting
• Need to do outreach, networking
• Twitter
• LinkedIn Groups
• Google+ Communities

@DragonSearch
How to Choose?
Passion Groups
• Your business often connects
with passion groups, hobbies
• Reddit
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Pinterest
• Google+ collections (maybe)
• Twitter chats

@DragonSearch
How to Choose
• Brick & Mortar Store
• Must have Google Plus
• Consider mobile users
• other social platforms depend on the type of business
• E-commerce
• Pinterest
• Can purchase items directly from promoted pins.
• Facebook

@DragonSearch
How to Choose
• For Customer Service
• Twitter
• Facebook
A quick way to respond to
customer questions.

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Who is Your Audience?
• Make lists of
• who your customers are
• who they hang out with
• what do they have in common?
• what are the demographics?
• what interests & hobbies do they have?
• what behaviors do they exhibit?

@DragonSearch
https://www.dragonsearchmarketing.com/digital-marketing-resources/social-media-strategy-templates/social-media-audience-segmentation/

@DragonSearch
Audience Segmentation
• Birders
• nature lovers
• bird seed, bird house buyers
• birding clubs
• Sports enthusiasts
• Hunters
• Concert goers
• Sightseeing
• National parks
• wildlife
Influencers
• Author of birding books who tweets a lot
• Speakers at ornithology conventions
You sell binoculars

@DragonSearch
Where is Your Audience?
• Social Media platforms?
• demographics
• business vs. personal
• groups/communities
• Forums
• Meetup Groups
• Trade Shows, Conferences

@DragonSearch
Audience Exercise - Self Storage Business
Who needs self storage?
People who are moving Who knows people who are
moving?
Realtors
Moving companies
Newcomers clubs
Architects
Interior decorators
What interests people who are moving?
Interior Decorating
Architecture
Storage organization ideas
Boxes, bins
Local services
Where can I find content
about these things? Architecture magazines (e.g., Dwell)
Organization magazines (e.g., Good
Housekeeping
Blogs about organizing clutter
Where can I find people interested in those
things?
Local town bulletin boards/forums/groups
Q&A sites about living in different locales
DIY groups for creative storage ideas
Realtor lists of local services
Which social media platforms have these
interest groups?
Pinterest boards for interior decorating, DIY
Local town Facebook groups
Realtors on Twitter, Facebook, etc…
Usefulness not limited to only social media marketing!

@DragonSearch
Brand Voice
• What message are you trying to convey?
• What image resonates with your target
audience?
• Would the Texas Law Hawk persona work for a
corporate attorney vs. criminal defense attorney?
• Do you post as “I” or “we”?
• Are you a person or a company?
• What to avoid discussing
• If someone helps you with social media, be sure
they know this

@DragonSearch
Planning Your Social Strategy
1. Determine your Goals
2. Determine your Target Audience
3. Choose your Social Media Platforms
• Which platforms are worth spending your time on?
• Create a profile to claim your digital real estate
• Do you want to just “maintain” a presence on some platforms?
• Which platforms will you invest time and energy for posting,
monitoring and engaging?
• If you already have social media accounts, which are bringing in
traffic to your website? (check Google Analytics)

@DragonSearch
At a Minimum
It won’t help to grow your business, but will at least help make people
aware you exist, claim your online space, and help with credibility.
• Claim your digital real estate
• Optimize your About section using industry keywords
• Add profile and cover images that are attractive and
speak to your audience and convey your brand
• Make sure you have a link back to your website

@DragonSearch
Growing Your Audience - Visibility
Visibility
• Link to your social accounts from your website
• Add to your email newsletters
• Include links to other social accounts from each social
account

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Growing Your Audience - Engagement
• Like/Follow other pages
• Engage with other’s posts from your business
• Use hashtags for key industry terms people will
search of.
• #bored isn’t going to help
• @-tag others in your posts so they know you’re
talking about them
• Participate in social media groups
•Facebook and LinkedIn groups
•Twitter chats
•Google+ communities

@DragonSearch
Growing Your Audience - Ads
Social Media Advertising
• The fastest way for getting Facebook Likes
and engagement, otherwise your posts
won’t have enough reach
• If you have a mailing list, like MailChimp,
Facebook will integrate with it and create a
target audience for your ads based on:
• the people on the mailing list
• friends of the people on the mailing list
• look-a-like profiles similar to the people on your mailing
list

@DragonSearch
Growing Your Audience - Facebook
• More Likes doesn’t mean more people
actually see your posts.
• The more someone engages with the content on
your Facebook page, the more likely your posts will
show up in their home stream.
• Example: On a page with 3000 Likes:
•A post that got 3 likes had a reach of 454 people.
•A post with 66 Likes, 11 shares and 3 comments had a reach
of 3,900.
•Thin content sometimes works – a post asking how much
snow people got had 4 likes and 6 comments had a reach of
1,294.
•What does your audience like to talk about?

@DragonSearch
Don’t Wait for Them to Come to You

@DragonSearch
Contact
Find out how DragonSearch can provide a social media
marketing strategy specific to your goals and audience:
https://www.dragonsearchmarketing.com/
Christopher Short – christopher@dragonsearch.com
Digital Marketing and Video Specialist at DragonSearch
Jannette Wing Pazer – jannette@dragonsearch.com
Digital Marketing Strategist at DragonSearch

Getting Started with Social Media Marketing

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