Google Calendar Excel Pinterest Etsy. Co-schedule ($15-60 month) SproutSocial ($59-500/month) Pinterest Etsy FREE. Fee-ba$ed

Transcription

1 16 tips for successful social strategy in 2016

2 #1 Google Calendar Excel Pinterest Etsy Co-schedule ($15-60 month) SproutSocial ($59-500/month) Pinterest Etsy FREE Fee-ba$ed

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4 #2 But, it s also important how you deliver the message and context/conversion is now queen! Use more verbs and less nouns. Remember, how you say things (all caps, bold, red, exclamations!!!!!) is important as what you say. Use video--in 2017, video will account for 70% of all consumer internet traffic. Prepare evergreen content for slower social times. Pay attention to seasons, holidays and events

5 #3 Push out messaging as if you were the end recipient. Is your message compelling, useful, fun, attractive, educational, beneficial? How can you beef it up if not?

6 #4 Facebook posts with images see 2.3X more engagement than those without images. On Instagram, photos showing faces get 38% more likes than photos not showing faces. Pinterest = image! 44% of online women use Pinterest compared with 16% of online men. Know your audience, what they relate to and where they re grabbing your information (measurement). 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. BUT, don t take images from the internet without permission! Pay attention to copyrights, creative commons license agreements and attribution. Tip: find great images at: Canva, Death to the Stock Photo, PicJumbo, New Old Stock, or take your own photo! Source: Hubspot and bootstrapbay.com

7 #5 Five times as many people will read headlines than body text. Respect your reader s experience. Don t over deliver a fancy headline with content that is lacking. Headlines with eight words had a 21% higher click through rate than the average title. Be careful to not sound robotic or title generated. Employ the good, better, best principle. Source: Outbrain, Hubspot, Courtney Seiler, Social Media Examiner

8 Visitor Center Opens This Weekend. Places to see in Kansas City. Historic Review of the Freedom s Frontier Heritage Area. Saturday Happenings at the Visitor Center! Kansas City: A visitor perspective. The Making of the Freedom s Frontier National Heritage Area. Games and prizes and cake, oh my-- stop by the NEW Merriam Visitor Center! 12 Must-See Stops in Kansas City. Throwback Thursday: The Enduring Struggle to Become a National Heritage Area. Good Better Best

9 #6 If 25 people retweet Ask a question Thank a fan. Lunch deal of the day Enter to Win! 7 tips to. Download your Free How to

10 #7 Refer back to PIM: plan, implement, measure! Planning ahead yields better content and greater engagement from more thought-provoking posts. My process: plan posts1-2 weeks out schedule posts response time goals review insights Know when your users are engaging (insights or stats); post around their schedule 1-3 x week Facebook 1-3 x week Twitter 3-4 x month Pinterest New to Instagram 1 x month blog 2-4 x year YouTube exploremerriam

11 #8 People like tips, tricks and numbered lists. They scan to see if they MUST read on. Make them relatable. Don t forget an image. Examples: 19 milkshakes to try in NYC 25 essentials you MUST pack for your next road-trip 5 Great Girlfriend Getaways

12 #9 Share, like and follow to gain potential followers to your own accounts. Comment to engage and start a conversation. Be responsive on your own posts no social wastelands! DON T SCREAM AT YOUR FOLLOWERS USING ALL CAPS!!! Be transparent, but don t over share give readers a reason to click or read on, but be mindful of their time. Think twice before mixing personal and professional networks just to gain fans. KC fave: don t overuse #hash tags Don t push out too much in one day you ll lose people by clogging their feed. Keep it classy opinions are one thing, arguments or foul language is another. Keep your social profiles updated, verified, consistent across all networks and visually appealing. Entertain and inform more than you sell. People can sniff out spams and scams pretty quickly. Remember, spelling and grammar is important! Double-check your message before clicking submit. KC fave: know your audience/demographics

13 #10 When is the best time to post to social media? During someone s downtime say, when they re eating a burrito. That s the basis behind the Burrito Principle, an idea brought forth by Darian Rodriguez Heyman of Social Media for Nonprofits.

14 #11 As of this moment, Instagram has 200 million users and posts average 37 likes or comment each with Monday at 6:00 p.m. being the most popular time to post. But, does Instagram make sense for YOU? Rather than try to juggle the hundreds of social platforms out there today (and more popping up overnight), instead manage a few really well. If your fans aren t on that network, but they love your products or offerings, they ll find a way to follow you elsewhere.

15 #12 Tagging people in your message will make it go further. But, be careful before someone. It s always a good rule of thumb to ask permission first. Most people are fine with tagging and will even share your message to their own social accounts to spread the message love.

16 #13 Real people doing real things not the khaki mafia. Stock photos are good for backgrounds, nature, landscapes and generic images not the high-five crowd above. Use your own images whenever possible and edit with CANVA, PicMonkey or even an app with filters.

17 #14 Sometimes, pushing a product or special event is worth a small investment. Facebook ads, promoted Tweets or promoted Pins are all ways to spread the word with targeted objectives and targeted audiences. Example: Merriam s Big 12 total spend $ month campaign. Merriam s Big 12 program on Facebook yielded: 2,402 clicks to web.16 per click 59,793 reach

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19 #15 Quick and easy to setup, and free - some networks take only 10 minutes to setup and activate an account. Low-commitment - if the page is not working for you or performing as expected (or you re not active any longer) it s easy to remove. Global more people are on FB than who know about your business website. Engagement drives back and forth interaction. Limited design With social media, you have to follow their layout. Open forum You have to monitor the site. In other words, the public can put comments on your social page or their profile referring to your page. You re not in complete control. Limited reporting tools The level of reporting and features available are often less than with a website. You only get the information the social site chooses to give you. Lack of ownership The social media provider s terms and conditions control what content and promotions can be presented. For example, if you want to run a contest, you must follow their rules. Also consider what happens if the provider shuts the site down and if this is your only online presence. You also lose control over user ratings and rankings those can t be removed typically so reputation is everything. Social Media

20 Cost effective Free websites, depending on your budget and business needs, may be a good starting place. You can always add to or improve upon your free site later. Credibility Consumers expect companies to have websites today. They trust a business more if it has a website. Full control When you own your own website, you have control over its design and features, even if you use a low-cost or free website builder tool and start with a template. You can typically personalize a template to make it look uniquely yours. Better marketing With your own website, you have more freedom to communicate with and sell to your customers. A website not only has more space to market your business, but you can include more marketing features such as videos, customers reviews, blogs, e-commerce and special promotional offers. Reduced overhead Most consumers prefer to get a business s information online. If you make your website a useful source of self-service information, it can reduce your operating costs, but don t replace all your humans with a digital portal people do want to speak to or have access to a real person. 24-hour availability Your website is open for business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, anywhere in the world even if you re actually closed. Maintenance Depending on the size of the site, keeping content up-to-date will require some time and effort. Plus, there are domain and hosting fees annually and potentially limited storage space. Increased complexity The more sophisticated the design and functionality, the more money and time it will take to design and set up. More marketing effort You have to work to get traffic to your website. That means you have to have a marketing strategy and implement it. Website

21 Have limited time for social networking? Are you a one-man marketing show? Maximize your time in 30 minutes per day. Here s how #16

22 Karen Crane, Director Merriam Visitors Bureau