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Did you know that social media captures a third of the time spent online? And contrary to what you might think, Generation X (ages 35 to 49) members spend about 32 hours a week consuming all media, while millennials (ages 18 and 34) spend about 27 hours. Those are huge chunks of time, so marketers are busily competing to grab some of that time and attention.
Keeping up with the latest social channels and their functionalities can feel like a full-time job, and if you’re like most marketers, you’re probably juggling other responsibilities, such as reporting on social media metrics, growing your audience, and collaborating with other teams. We’ve put together a quick Slideshare giving you a handful of do’s and don’ts that you can apply to your unique business goals and customers.
Meanwhile, some marketers and business leaders are very savvy at reaching and attracting customers — after all, the oldest social media networking sites like Xanga, Myspace, and Friendster were created 10+ years ago.
These experts are experienced, have seen what works and what doesn’t, and have followed trends and technology for years. Here are some tips from social media super users that you can use for your own benefit:
On social ROI:
“When I hear people debate the ROI of social media? It makes me remember why so many businesses fail. Most businesses are not playing the marathon. They're playing the sprint. They're not worried about lifetime value and retention. They're worried about short-term goals.”
On images:
“Every social media post should have a beautiful graphic. If there are two identical stories, the one with the beautiful graphic will always win.”
On creating shareable content:
“Be clear in your value and intent. Whether it’s web copy or offline marketing, talking about your business, the value it offers and the intent behind it not only educates potential customers, but also allows them to make quicker decisions.”
On building trust:
“Build trust by not sharing topics out of your wheelhouse just because they are trending. But do sprinkle personal posts, they bring humanity to your brand.”
On aligning content and social:
“Content is the ‘fuel’ of social media and to have an opportunity for vast reach, you need a source of ‘rich content:’ a blog, podcast, video series, or visual content. Don’t worry about being everywhere. Pick one of these sources that matches the skills and personality of your business and do it well for a year or two before diversifying.”
Read Mark Schaefer’s best quotes on content marketing, as shared on the Marketing Cloudcast.
On humanizing your social presence:
“Think of personalizing your brand, not getting personal. The former means showing that you’re a real human being, with actual blood flowing through actual veins. You have a point of view, real character, a personality. The latter is sharing details that are intimate or too specific to you to have relevance for the larger community you are trying to build. Exactly where that line is varies according to your own brand and that of your company.”
Get Ann Handley’s 6 top writing tips for marketers from her appearance on the Marketing Cloudcast.
On creating employee advocates:
“The key to successful advocacy is to truly empower your employees by providing social training, support, and most importantly the freedom to represent your brand (and theirs) in a creative, personalized way. If you show your employees that your primary concern is helping them grow, then they’re going to be that much more apt to support you in your efforts.”
“Social media automation can take an hour or two to set up and learn, but once you turn it on and let it start purring away, it will make your social media way sexier. Subscription costs are negligible compared to the time you’ll save. Pick a tool, and go!”
On interacting and engaging with people:
“(Small businesses should) take 10 minutes a day and jump into social media to have conversations with your customers, followers, and fans just like you’re at a networking event. If you don’t have anyone populating your pages with comments or questions, go find conversations on Twitter or Facebook Groups or elsewhere and engage there.”
On handling negative comments and complaints:
“There are always going to be negative comments, and a big majority of those tend to be frustrated customers who tried to get an answer and couldn’t go anywhere else and resorted to Facebook. The first thing you’ve got to do is immediately acknowledge the comment and just say, “Hey, I’m sorry to hear about that.” The second thing is to try to determine whether or not this person is out to get you or whether they just truly want to get their problem resolved.”
On what to publish:
"You can buy attention (advertising). You can beg for attention from the media (old school PR). You can bug people one at a time to get attention (sales). Or you can earn attention by creating something interesting and valuable and then publishing it online for free: a YouTube video, blog, research report, infographic, Twitter feed, Facebook Live stream."
On deciding what channels to use:
“Social media’s power is its ability to help you connect and build relationships with your ideal clients. Why would you want to put time and effort on a platform where your community is not active or there at all?”
