SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING TOOLKIT Social Media - Marketing Toolkit 1
INTRODUCTION Social media is here to stay. That s a good thing. It can help you better serve and understand your customers. There are dozens of social media sites, but the most popular/ones you should consider are Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Tripadvisor, and Instagram. While they all work a little differently, what links them together is their goal of creating a community among their users who will want to share content (photos, videos, links, etc.) about their lives, experiences, and interests. This document can help you get started. WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS? What do you want your social media presence to do? Maybe you want to attract new customers or just engage with existing customers. Before you begin, make a statement about what you want your efforts on social media to achieve. For example: I want my social media to showcase my B&B through images and news updates and allow me to answer questions from potential guests. WHAT SOCIAL CHANNELS SHOULD YOU USE? There are a lot to choose from. We recommend you start with one and, once you feel comfortable and if you feel you have the time, you can open a second channel. For example, maybe you start a Facebook page and then expand to include a Twitter account. Social Media - Marketing Toolkit 2
SETTING UP FACEBOOK Facebook is the largest social network, with over 1-billion users worldwide. Facebook users create a profile, add friends, post status updates and other content (e.g. photos from their vacation, interesting articles, etc.), like pages (profiles for businesses, celebrities, organizations, etc.) and comment on and share content posted by friends. If you want to share a variety of content (photos, links, videos and status updates) and access a broad range of people, Facebook is the channel for you. How to set up your business s page 1 Sign in to create your Personal Facebook Account. If you are not on Facebook already, you will need to create a personal Facebook account. Head over to www.facebook.com and complete the necessary information on the Sign-Up form on their homepage. 2 Create a Facebook Page for Your Business. Now that you ve created your personal account, log-in and visit www.facebook.com/pages/create/ and follow the steps to get your Business s page up and running. 3. Regularly create and post content to your page. Posts with photos and videos get the most engagement (likes, comments and shares), so try and enrich your posts with visual content for more opportunity to engage with existing and potential new customers. Engage/interact with fans and other pages who comment on your posts as much as possible. If a question is posted to your Page or post, reply ASAP. Be sure to Like and engage with other relevant businesses and pages on Facebook as well. Engaging with other brands can increase your exposure to new customers. Social Media - Marketing Toolkit 3
SETTING UP FACEBOOK CONT D How to set up Your Business s page cont d 4. Measure your efforts. On your Facebook business page, click on the Insights tab, located in the middle of your Page Manager s Dashboard. If you re having trouble finding and using Insights to evaluate your performance, visit https://www.facebook.com/ help/www/336893449723054/ for a detailed explanation published directly from Facebook. Social Media - Marketing Toolkit 4
SETTING UP TWITTER Twitter is a microblogging site that allows you to post messages of 140 characters or less. People can choose to follow your Twitter account to see your posts. You can retweet posts, reply to posts or choose to send a Direct Message (DM) to another Twitter user, if they are following you. All Twitter activity (except DMs) is public. This means you need to be careful about what you post and say. Everything you do on Twitter represents your business. If you want to talk about your business and engage with customers with short, frequent and relevant content, Twitter is the social channel for you. 1. Visit www.twitter.com/signup and enter the required information to create your business s account. Part of this process is creating your handle or username. Your handle is how your business will be recognized on the platform, so decide what you want your handle to be. Because all tweets have to be less than 140 characters, and handles get included in that count in replies and retweets, you don t want it to be long. Maybe your business s name or an abbreviated version of it. 2. Search for and follow businesses or people that interest you, other local businesses, publications you like to read or who write about your area, etc. 3. Tweet regularly (2-3 x day). You won t get followers unless you Tweet! Include pictures, links to articles of interest or promotions, news, etc. from your business. Keep in mind these pieces of content count toward the 140 character limit per tweet. Social Media - Marketing Toolkit 5
SETTING UP TWITTER CONT D 4. Be part of the conversation. Twitter is about two-way communication. If you see someone saying something interesting, either reply to them using an @-mention or retweet their message so your followers can see the message too. Social Media - Marketing Toolkit 6
YOUTUBE YouTube is a collection of user generated and professional videos users can watch, comment on and share. YouTube videos range from the extremely silly, to how-to videos, to video blogs (vlogs), to home movies and more. YouTube is the largest collection of video content on the Internet. If you want to tell your business s story via video, this is the social channel for you. Something to Think About: If you re not comfortable creating or using video as a medium, you ll need another resource to help you with this channel. 1. A Gmail account is required to publish video on YouTube. We recommend you create a Gmail account specifically for your business so it is separate of your personal affairs. To create a Gmail account, visit: www.gmail.com 2. An easy, step-by-step guide to initially setting up your YouTube account and uploading video can be found through Google Support: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/3309389?hl=en 3. Make sure to take advantage of headlines, video descriptions and tags when uploading your videos. YouTube is connected to Google and using consistent keywords relevant to your business and its location can increase how easily potential customers can find you in Google. Social Media - Marketing Toolkit 7
INSTAGRAM Instagram is a smartphone application (app) that allows you take photos, put a filter on them for visual enhancement, then share with users who follow you. Instagram is available for both Apple and Google Android phones (e.g. iphones, Samsung Galaxy) and tablets (e.g. ipads and Samsung Galaxy Tablets). Instagram is very similar to Twitter and Facebook, but only uses picture and short, 15-second video clips. You sign up for an account, follow other people to see their photos, like or comment on photos. You also take photos (either from your phone s built-in camera or from within Instagram), select a filter for them, and post them to the network s stream. If you have an iphone or Google Android phone or tablet and want to promote your business and engage with users through images and short video, Instagram is the channel for you. Something to Think About: Instagram is a visual channel. Consider whether or not you will be able to keep it up-to-date with interesting pictures before signing up. Visit https://help.instagram.com for an easy, step-by-step guide on getting set Social Media - Marketing Toolkit 8
TRIPADVISOR TripAdvisor is a travel planning and reviewing website. Users can register and rate and write reviews of restaurants, hotels, etc. These are posted to the website and can be shared across other social networking sites. Research shows ratings and reviews from real people play a key role in a traveller s decision-making process. TripAdvisor is an important tool, because so many people visit the site every day. If you want to begin raising your business s profile and gathering user ratings and reviews, this is the channel for you. Something to Think About: TripAdvisor requires a time commitment from you. You ll have to regularly check it to see if there are any customer comments or complaints that must be addressed. 1. Visit www.tripadvisor.ca/owners for an easy, step-by-step guide on setting up a page for your business. 2. Once your page is set up, monitor the activity to see what kind of reviews you get. Don t just ignore a negative review, respond with any questions and let people know what has been done to rectify the situation. Social Media - Marketing Toolkit 9
TRIPADVISOR CONT D Tourism New Brunswick has sponsored pages where TripAdvisor users make reviews, comments and plan their trip around our province. Should you join or update your TripAdvisor account, please let us know so we can make sure our information is up-to-date. Make sure you visit both our Canadian and American Trip Advisor pages to see if your business has been reviewed on the New Brunswick page. Canadian: http://www.tripadvisor.ca/tourism-g154956-new_brunswick-vacations.html American: http://www.tripadvisor.com/tourism-g154956-new_brunswick-vacations.html For assistance in setting up your TripAdvisor account, please contact: Anne Guimond Tel: (506) 457-7874 Email: anne.guimond@gnb.ca Social Media - Marketing Toolkit 10