Navigating Social Media

By Sharon A.M. MacLean

Navigating Social Media

You have an important story to tell. Finding ways to share

your message can be daunting when it comes to modern

marketing. This ebook sheds light on your mission.

Navigating Social Media

Contents

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1 Letter from a recovered print publisher 3

2 Where do you start:

-Define your goals 5

-Identify your personas 6

-Install a process 7

3 Do a Marketing SWOT 8

Find your Story 9

4 Create and bank content 10

-Type of content 11

-Consider the content purpose 12

-Build lists 13

5 The holistic nature of online marketing 14

Navigating Social Media

Keeping up with shiny new marketing tools can overwhelm you and

blow your budget. Believe me, it’s a painful experience—one that you

want to avoid. Thank goodness, there are strategies to avoid such

calamities.

A new era We had no blog, LinkedIn profile or

PayPal account. Twitter was eight

years away from dreaming up 140-

character text messages. Early

digital photos looked like people had

been photographed in coffins—

lifeless.

Google first posted the name of a magazine I published in 1998 titled

Edmontonians. I remember being dumbfounded that something

called a search engine knew about a magazine covering business

people in Edmonton, Canada.

Letter from a print publisherWho made the social scene

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Navigating Social Media

Letter from a reformed print publisher,

continued

The concept of positioning the magazine online was intriguing to me,

though. I anticipated reaching new readers by sending out stories into

cyberspace from our thought-leading columnists and inspired

photographers. No longer would we be restricted by the number of

pages we could afford to print. Sadly, hardly anybody knew our website

existed unless we told them.

The solution came in the form of social platforms. We joined them and

invited contacts to our networks to share the magazine’s stories. We

also discovered the new media meant learning a new language and

culture. It became necessary to learn the reasons behind the rise of

social media and to study how best to use the many tools.

This ebook is for those successful business owners and executives

who want to learn more about these strategies and tools, too. It’s for

savvy business leaders who don’t want to get left behind.

Here’s to your business success,

Sharon MacLean

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Navigating Social Media

Where do you start? Here.

Online marketing is confusing for many people. There are important and

powerful routes to take that will make your life easier.

1. Define goals

• Geography: Local, Canada,

North America, Worldwide

• Horizon: one quarter, one year,

three year, five year

• Breadth: corporate,

departmental, type of

information/service

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Navigating Social Media

2. Identify your personas

Learn what your audiences search for online.

• Demographics: Age, Gender, Income, Occupation

• Geographic location

• Interests/Behaviour

• Specific needs for each audience

• Criteria they use to visit your profile

• One-time vs recurring visits

• Timeframe for making a decision

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Navigating Social Media

3. Install a process

Define SMART goals: specific, measurable,

achievable, realistic, timely

Determine your available time and

resources

• Become consistent with your plan

• Develop proficiencies with tools

• Track communications

Select vendors/tools

• Learn and use time-savings tools

• Develop your contact lists for emailing,

LinkedIn, Twitter and others

• Develop useful content

Social media:

It’s not magic

• Viewers research and

compare online

• Most actions entail

multiple visits and many

touch points

• Taking action means

determining priorities for

time and resources

• Success requires a

holistic, integrated

approach

• Goal setting combines a

systematic approach and

creativity

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Navigating Social Media

Do Your Marketing SWOT

Do you know the strengths and weaknesses in your organization? Take

an inventory and capture the issues you believe are relevant in each of

the quadrants. This reflection gives you an objective look at your

business.

STRENGTHS• List of contacts

• Natural networker

THREATS• Stays the same

OPPORTUNITI

ES• Open to ideas

• Increased sales

WEAKNESSES• Contacts not

segmented

• Poor database quality

SWO

T

S

T

W

O

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities,

Threats

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Navigating Social Media

Find your story

Your story--described online as content--

is what drives online search engines.

Content is anything relevant to you and

your company and takes the form of

imagery and text, video, audio, and

pictures.

Think educational.

This means anything from a basic blog

or vlog (video blog) to social network

posts and automated email to the ebook,

podcast, webinar or teleseminar to the

traditional newsletter or catalogue. Of

course, anything you choose must be

engaging and sharable for potential

clients to take action.

Content is driven by defining your target

audience or “persona” which is slightly

different for the online audience. Learn

how your prospects search to solve their

pain points.

Teresa Spinelli found her

corporate story: “Where the

language of love is great food.”

“Learn how your

prospects

search to solve

their pain

points. “

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Navigating Social Media

Kiid

Create and bank content

The big lesson I learned about writing for traditional vs online

marketing is the old-style is more promotional.

The creation of content requires a shift in your thinking, from “all about

us” to “all about the reader.” We now have unlimited space to provide

more educational and meaningful content; people expect this

approach now.

The good news is you aren’t paying for

mistakes that appear in print, radio or TV.

You get to change content based on

feedback. You can also ask these

questions:

• Which pieces do people download

most?

• How frequently is your audience

responding to or sharing your

content?

• Which ones fell flat?

A simple strategy will save you time and effort.

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Navigating Social Media

1. Targeted content

2. Unique content

3. Relevant content

4. Expert content

5. Visual content

6. Useful and educational content

7. Personal content

8. Creative content

9. Entertaining content

10. Context of content

Types of content

• Consider the

content purpose

• Website is the

epicentre of

holistic

marketing

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Navigating Social Media12

Consider the content purpose

Navigating Social Media

Which keywords might your prospects use? How do they search?

Determine how those words align with your business goals, and how

frequently they search for the keywords.

For example, perhaps you determine your customers use Bing to do

price comparisons, browse Chrome, and search before 8 am every

morning. These habits inform content strategies that call prospects to

take action with your company.

Tip: As a call-to-action, offer explanations on how the plumbing and

electrical for a new housing development was designed.

Tip: Create a sign-up form offering ideas on “How to select a wealth

management advisor” to build your prospect list.

Tip: If a user clicks on mobile communications devices, you might

include ideas on how to manage wireless expenses for the entire

company.

Build lists

Offer a call-to- action that moves the visitor

through your sales funnel.

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Navigating Social Media

The holistic nature of

online marketing

Your opportunity

Shape your

personal and

professional

brand

Build

relationships

with existing

clients,

prospects, and

partners

Establish

connections with

influencers

Capture a

competitive

edge

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Navigating Social Media

Navigating Social MediaBy Sharon A.M. MacLean

Sharon MacLean

President, WorldGate Media

LinkedIn: Sharon A.M. MacLean

As a lifelong communications strategist who became a magazine

publisher, I led a team who created original content with forward-

thinking solutions. Forging relationships and building community

networks became second nature for us. As early adopters of social

media, we also positioned the magazine online using Twitter,

Facebook, LinkedIn, and automated email marketing.

During the life of the publication, we originated the famous Sizzling

under 30 that celebrated 200 young business leaders; Women in

Business, Family Business, International Business; and Visionaries in

Technology, among others.

I sold the magazine in 2010 after 21 years. This opened the door to an

invitation by investors to lead another remarkable team who built a

marketing portal for wellness experts. Today, I like to help successful

business people adapt their traditional sales and marketing methods to

the new world of social enterprise.

Twitter: sharedmaclean

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

B. 1.855.572.4884

C.780.886.5957

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