social media training, social media guide, social media
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Fenice Digital Social Media Guide www.fenicedigital.com
101 The Big Peg, 120 Vyse Street, Birmingham, B18 6NF tel: 0121 270 4762 e:[email protected]
Social Media Guide
Fenice Digital Social Media Guide www.fenicedigital.com
101 The Big Peg, 120 Vyse Street, Birmingham, B18 6NF tel: 0121 270 4762 e:[email protected]
Why Social Media is Important for your Business.
You can directly reach your market and share your business products/services/promotions
It is great for PR; you can use social media to build trust and value on your business
It can save costs on Advertising
Provides a two way communication tool giving you the chance to offer better customer
service
Most people will get in touch through social media such as Facebook or Twitter.
Depending on how many profiles you set up, social media is another selling platform.
Social media increases your search engine results page and works with SEO
You can associate with other businesses
You will gain the competitive advantage by being on social media and using it effectively
A Guide to Social Media
Social media is the best way to get your business, products or services out to the public without the
high costs of advertising. However, there are certain capabilities on Facebook where you can
advertise to a segmented market for as little as £3 per day. Twitter allows direct messaging and
marketing which is very useful for your company on getting your message across to your target
market. Other social networks such as Google+, Pinterest, Flickr, LinkedIn, and YouTube also have a
wide range of users which can be useful for your company. The idea is to find out exactly which
social networks your target market use the most and what for. The posts on social media should not
be based entirely on marketing your products but more on solutions to problems. You can use social
media to tell people what makes your brand unique, tell people what your brand does, and explain
why you have the solutions to their problems.
Facebook:
Once again everything is based on your target market. So timing your posts on Facebook is very
important. (There is no point sending one out at 10am if your relevant market will not see it) You
have to remember that posts on all social media are on a timeline. There a millions of users posting
every second so as soon as you post your comment it will go further down the line every second.
What you want on Facebook is maximum exposure, so posting out every hour or two depending on
the times your target market are on the site will give you the exposure you want. Make sure your
posts are interesting; you are not only using social media to market your company but also to
engage with the audience, so put a post-up about the latest game, or a new film, or simply post with
some eye catching images and videos. (It will make you look human). You can also create adverts on
Facebook starting from £3 to your target market. But remember, the posts only count when you
have likes that can actually see them. There are a number of ways to increase likes on your Facebook
page such as, free gifts, competitions, free eBooks, reports, etc. Facebook also allows you to create
group forums, pages, question polls, and events.
Fenice Digital Social Media Guide www.fenicedigital.com
101 The Big Peg, 120 Vyse Street, Birmingham, B18 6NF tel: 0121 270 4762 e:[email protected]
Twitter:
Quality is always better than quantity so having thousands of followers is great to look at but only
useful if those followers are people who know and talk about your business. However, numbers do
look great so working to get followers up on your Twitter account is always good. This can be done
using the same techniques as Facebook and by following others for follow backs. (Never buy
followers). The same as Facebook, your posts are on a timeline, and Twitter does not notify
followers when you have made a post the same way Facebook does. This means you should post a
lot more on Twitter than you do on Facebook (no less than 7 times a day). These posts are important
for engagement with your audience and marketing your company so make sure they are as
interesting as those on Facebook. Engagement is always useful in gaining reputation and loyal
customers so remember to always get back to your comments in the friendliest professional
manner. Use #hashtags to connect with people who have the same interest in what you post about,
and make sure you have a burst of information in the 140 characters. Twitters latest capability is the
use of Lists. You can create lists on anything and invite people who have the same interest to
converse on a topic.
LinkedIn:
LinkedIn is a large business network. Same again, it is not as effective unless you have a number of
connections on your personal profile or followers on your company page. To get the most out of
LinkedIn, it is best to take part in discussions and even start your own. Just like other social networks
you can post updates but you will also be notified when there are new discussions for you to take
part in. It will benefit a company giving it the professional look and being show-cased on a
professional network. Another superlative feature on LinkedIn is it will increase your SEO on Google
search. Having written a concise summary of your company or yourself will help you gain
awareness, but make sure this is also consistent with all of your other social networks along with
images. Another useful way of using LinkedIn is setting up a group, you can invite members and treat
it as a big business networking group.
Google+
Google+ (Google plus) is a sharing social network. Like every other it helps connect people all over
the world and has millions of active users. You can share photos, posts with people who are in your
circle, and add pages for your company. Your circle can consist of business people, families or
friends. It is also useful for holding ‘hang out zones’. Having Google+ and continuously updating it
with posts will immensely increase your SEO which makes your company easier to find on the search
engine. You can also add links to your websites and other social media pages to get people to follow
your page. As a social networking site, Google+ has not been used to network because of the lack of
people ‘networking’ on there. However, if or when it does become heavily used, it is always best to
have it so you can increase traffic to your website, increasing SEO. Even if you do not have many
people in your circle always be sure to add posts, press releases, blogs, and more regularly for SEO
purposes.
Fenice Digital Social Media Guide www.fenicedigital.com
101 The Big Peg, 120 Vyse Street, Birmingham, B18 6NF tel: 0121 270 4762 e:[email protected]
Flickr
Flickr is used for sharing photos, however since the introduction of Pinterest and Instagram it has
slowly lost users and use for commercial reasons. With a Google account you are able to share
images and videos of your products without putting commercial details such as prices. Flickr is made
for photo sharing, you can also post other photos not related to your company and it will create a
connection between your company and another person because of similarities of interest. It is
always good to find out what your target market are interested in so you can post about it and
engage with them. (Building relationships) As Flickr is also run by Google, it will help SEO for your
company.
This is not only image sharing but a whole massive board sharing social network that allows you to
share images and articles, with almost everyone worldwide. When uploading articles, be sure to
have it under description of an image. You can create boards/categories which hold different
images, the great thing about this is being able to pin products from other websites onto your
account. The more you have the more you will be able to show similarities with other people, follow,
and get followed. As a business you are able to create a Pinterest business account which will let
you add widgets to your website. People can pin things with a pin button from your website on to
Pinterest. The purpose is to connect by sharing interest.
YouTube
The more people you have following, liking, pinning on and about your company the better. They do
not have to share it, they can just talk about it, and everyone has heard, ‘have you seen it on
YouTube’. As a business or individual you can set yourself up a YouTube channel for advertising,
marketing and sales purposes. People who want to build a public profile will usually post ‘How to’
videos, it will show professionalism and expertise. People can easily share videos and you can
measure success with views. The best ways to market your business using videos is by uploading
video blogs, (nobody wants to read a long posts). You can browse videos by name, type, key words,
etc, and because it is owned by Google it will also benefit the SEO.
How to measure your social media success…
- Recommendations by clients/customers.
- An increase in the number of fans/followers of your brand or business.
- A higher position in search engine rankings.
- More page views and a higher number of visitors to your main website.
- More posts/mentions about your brand or business.
- A decline in advertising costs.
- An increase in turnover from existing and new customers.
Fenice Digital Social Media Guide www.fenicedigital.com
101 The Big Peg, 120 Vyse Street, Birmingham, B18 6NF tel: 0121 270 4762 e:[email protected]
Image Dimensions
Facebook: Cover Photo: 851 pixels wide and 315 pixels tall Profile Picture: 180 pixels wide and 180 pixels tall
Twitter: Head Image: 1500 pixels wide and 500 pixels tall Profile Picture: 400 pixels wide and 400 pixels tall
YouTube: Background image: 2560 pixels wide and 1140 pixels tall Profile picture: 55 pixels wide and 55 pixels tall
Google+: Cover Photo 1080 pixels wide and 608 pixels tall Profile Photo: 250 pixels wide and 250 pixels tall
LinkedIn Company: Horizontal Logo: 100 pixels wide and 60 pixels tall Cover Photo: 646 pixels wide and 220 pixels tall Company comment logo: 50 pixels wide and 50 pixels tall
Pinterest: Profile Image: 160 pixels wide and 165 pixels tall
Fenice Digital Social Media Guide www.fenicedigital.com
101 The Big Peg, 120 Vyse Street, Birmingham, B18 6NF tel: 0121 270 4762 e:[email protected]
Now you know about social media. Let’s look at how you can make the most of it… Firstly you need to know that Social Media is a large part of regular media and it can be very
effective for your business. It is greatly recommended that your business does have a social media
presence for many reasons such as looking up-to-date and getting people to know about the
business directly.
It is great to think that getting on social media will automatically bring in customers and revenue;
however, this is only successful when used right.
What you need to do when you get on social media is build up a valuable reputation and form
relationships that you will keep and nurture.
It is all about building up your presence, your likes, and your reputation.
Social media is a way to get easy exposure for your business, you will be exposed to thousands of
people as well as your target market, and this is what will get people to know your business better.
Remember I said social media is only effective when used right? People who post on behalf a
business seem to think they should be posting about business services and products only. This is not
true! People come to social media in their spare time for sociable reasons and for something to talk
about. So, as well as filling your profiles with products and services, fill it with things that make
people laugh, information about your industry, help tips, and remember you are a human.
Trust is a big thing to have when starting a business; people need to trust your products or services
to use them, so use social media to build trust. Be honest about your followers, never buy them!
You will eventually be caught out. So without thinking you will ‘seal a deal’ build up your trust and
interact with people with open honesty and friendliness.
Back to not just shouting about your business!
Filling your social media full of your business services, products and offers will definitely help you
lose people. Yes, you should do this, once or twice a day, otherwise how will people know what you
do?
Tip: use the 80/20 rule where 80% is all help tips and 20% is on your business
But you can also promote your business in a highly effective way by providing value to your profiles.
Do this by giving the people what they want; they don’t only want see what your business does.
They want to see things they can reply to, things that make them laugh, information that will help
people in their industry, basically interesting stuff. This is the only way you will make your business
seem approachable.
Fenice Digital Social Media Guide www.fenicedigital.com
101 The Big Peg, 120 Vyse Street, Birmingham, B18 6NF tel: 0121 270 4762 e:[email protected]
A few ideas below…
If you’re a PR company, post some tips, latest PR advances and PR news. This will interest
people in your profession and businesses that need help getting awareness.
As a gym you would post more than what is so special about your gym. You would post
health tips, motivational posts and gym tips.
As a clothing company, you can post about your stock. But it would be a lot more effective if
you create an image for your brand. Don’t just boast how your products look but more how
it will make the person wearing it feel.
Try to find out exactly what your target market/audience/readership are interested in. Then you
can form a relationship with them based on personal interests.
Keep everything original. This doesn’t mean copy and pasting other peoples work. Make your own to
share with people. Think of your own tips and news.
When you start doing this you will see your social media grow with more people. Why? Because they
will appreciate your posts that are useful and eventually, they will approach you ask for help.
Don’t just leave it…
Many companies start up on social media; gain followers and likes then leave massive gaps or just
completely stop using it all together.
Having a social media presence doesn’t mean you should post every 10 minutes or even every 30
minutes. But keeping it consistently updated gives your business an organised look. However when
the social media is left abandoned, it will damage the qualities valued by potential customers.
Think of social media as a massive timeline. When you type a post, someone else will post 1 second
later, so your post will go further down that timeline as time passes. It is advisable to post at least
once an hour depending on your target market.
Do not post at 9am if your target market won’t see it.
Also remember that posting once or twice times a day will give you missed opportunities. Post at the
most effective times to see the full benefits of engagement and strike lucky if your post is at the right
place at the right time.
Fenice Digital Social Media Guide www.fenicedigital.com
101 The Big Peg, 120 Vyse Street, Birmingham, B18 6NF tel: 0121 270 4762 e:[email protected]
Show a bit of yourself…
This does not mean post your daily life story. It simply means, once or twice a week, tell the people
about yourself. I like different types of technology. By doing this you will make your social media
account seem more human. Tell them about the latest film you went to see at the cinema, or even
how your day is going. Either way, look authentic.
Help…
This is all about giving without getting back. When you post useful content, it doesn’t have to be your
trade secrets, people will start thinking about you when they need the of services or products.
People appreciate your help and will naturally want to give back.
Social interaction…
Social media is a two-way communication platform which means you can talk to your fans, and
replying is a must. This is a great opportunity to learn from your people. Ask questions like, what
do you think? People will respond for you to respond back. You can also offer rewards to those you
comment in the right ways. (This also works great to increase your likes and followers)
And don’t forget, you can also comment on other peoples posts.
A Quick Social Media Recap
Facebook…
With billions of users on Facebook alone it is only wise to make sure your company has a
professional Facebook business page. As a B2C company, Facebook will definitely work for you in
showcasing everything you need to the consumer world.
The tools of Facebook:
You can set up more than one business page
You can share posts, create your own posts, share videos/links/images.
Comment on other posts
When people ‘Like’ your page they will see everything you post on your page.
Allows a two-way communication
Create polls and events.
Fenice Digital Social Media Guide www.fenicedigital.com
101 The Big Peg, 120 Vyse Street, Birmingham, B18 6NF tel: 0121 270 4762 e:[email protected]
Facebook will also let you advertise at a cost to your targeted market. This will increase likes to your
page and create more awareness. The best ways to get likes for you page is to place your Facebook
page on your website and other social networks. Request people and friends to like and share your
page.
The more likes you get the better. Remember, there’s no point posting all day long if nobody will see
your posts.
Twitter…
Twitter Jargon explained
Tweet: The messages of 140 characters to showcase your business
Follower: Someone who has followed you and will see your tweets
Follow: when you follow someone, you will see their tweets, and they will not see your
tweets unless they follow you back.
Retweet (RT): When someone copies ‘retweets’ your tweet onto their timeline.
Hashtag (#): the hashtag (#, followed by a single word) By tweeting something like #gym,
after a tweet will allow anyone who searches #gym to see that tweet.
Lists: Made for people with the same interests. Create your own lists or subscribe to lists.
Viewing a list timeline will show you a stream of Tweets from only the users on that list.
DM: Direct message
Favourite: When someone likes your tweet, instead of a RT they will favourite your tweet.
Twitter deserves more gratitude than it actually gets. It is the best known platform where you can
directly target your target market and send out tweets and direct messages to those potential
customers.
Tweets can be made public or private. However, you are on social media so it is not advisable to
make your profile private unless you really do have something to hide.
Do not expect to make many friends on Twitter because it is not Facebook, you can think of twitter
to be one massive conversation with hundreds of people about different things. You may relate to
something someone tweets and reply.
Twitter is great for direct marketing. If you mention a twitter name in your tweet they will see it and
if they retweet it, that’s a bonus. Don’t forget you can also directly message people who follow you
back.
Warning: Do not look like spam
Fenice Digital Social Media Guide www.fenicedigital.com
101 The Big Peg, 120 Vyse Street, Birmingham, B18 6NF tel: 0121 270 4762 e:[email protected]
LinkedIn…
An online business network, online CV, and business social network; as a business individual you
should be on this. And if you have your own business you can also start up your own business page if
you have a domain email address.
After setting up a personal account and connecting with people, which is very easy, you can set up a
business page or group that people will follow. And remember, this is also social media so keep it
updated, make comments, and take part in discussions.
Google+…
If you own a website then getting onto Google+ with a personal profile as well as a page will boost
your SEO for your website and make you a little more well known.
As Google+ established in 2011 it hasn’t been seen as a social network. But it is one that is used by
millions of people and you can connect to them by inviting them into your ‘circle’.
The whole idea of joining Google+ is to give you and your business a greater online presence.
Do this by adding all of your other social media links with your Google+ profile.
One major tool on Google+ is Google Alerts http://www.google.com/alerts. Here you can set alerts
on content that would be valuable to you so you don’t need to research them. And they will be sent
to you as requested by Google+. There’s no need to worry about finding interesting and relevant
information to post about when you have Google Alerts set up.
YouTube…
Get your own online channel with an URL that you can choose. Upload videos, webinars, and video
blogs. With a massive audience, if you want to look professional in what you do it is always great to
have your own YouTube channel with videos of you giving away tips.
Remember, as a video, make it interesting.
Fenice Digital Social Media Guide www.fenicedigital.com
101 The Big Peg, 120 Vyse Street, Birmingham, B18 6NF tel: 0121 270 4762 e:[email protected]
The Big Five…
1. Facebook business page (http://www.facebook.com)
2. Twitter account (http://www.twitter.com)
3. YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com)
4. LinkedIn company profile (http://www.linkedin.com)
5. Google+ company page (https://plus.google.com/)
Make sure you grab your domain on all of these. (Please note, you cannot do this on Google+,
however, it is always best to be on there for SEO reasons.)
For example Fenice Digital has…
Website www.fenicedigital.com
Twitter https://twitter.com/fenicedigital
It is best to keep them all the same/similar so people can find you much better. And when people
type your business name into Google, it will all pop up.
Now the most important part of Social Media, the Content…
Five easy tips to creating content
1. Keep it interesting
2. Keep it fresh
3. Keep it human
4. Be creative
5. Be formal and informal
It cannot be repeated enough how important content is on social media. If you follow these five tips
you will fly by your content planning and it will be much easier to create new content.
You are allowed to repeat content that received interest by others. If it was retweeted or shared
when you first put it up, then repeat it the next week.
Your content doesn’t have to be long essays, if you have paragraphs full, then split it up into smaller
posts with images (images generally gain a lot of interest). If you have long blogs, create videos for
your YouTube channel.
Fenice Digital Social Media Guide www.fenicedigital.com
101 The Big Peg, 120 Vyse Street, Birmingham, B18 6NF tel: 0121 270 4762 e:[email protected]
How often should you post?
There is no fixed guideline on how much you can and cannot post on social media. But you always want to look professional and not too desperate with the
amounts of time you post.
So below is a short guideline you can follow. But please remember, the time you choose to post should depend on your target market. If you think they
won’t be on social media at 6pm then don’t post at 6pm or they may not see your post.
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Google+ YouTube
3-5 updates per day.
5-10 Tweets per day 1-5 updates per day 1-5 updates per week. 1 update per month. You can
pre-record videos and
upload once a month.
Remember to always post at selected times depending on your target audience
You don’t have to post the same posts in every social media but if it fits, post it.
Post with pictures where possible
Circulate your social media on other social media
Fenice Digital Social Media Guide www.fenicedigital.com
101 The Big Peg, 120 Vyse Street, Birmingham, B18 6NF tel: 0121 270 4762 e:[email protected]
Next steps…
Now you know how to take over social media and you have realised the possibilities are endless, it’s
time to take action.
If you feel your business will benefit from social media, which it will, get on it straight away. Don’t let
any more time pass.
Add the social media plug-in sharing buttons to your website so people can start liking, sharing and
following you.
And most importantly, have fun!
Last but not least…
Good luck with your future social media adventure and thank you for reading.
If you haven’t done so already please
1. Visit my website at www.fenicedigital.com
2. Like my page at https://www.facebook.com/fenicedigital
3. Follow me on at https://twitter.com/fenicedigital
4. Connect with me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/fenicedigital
Many thanks
Dilan Parbat
Marketing Executive
www.fenicedigital.com
0121 270 4762
About Fenice Digital:
Fenice Digital specialise in high performing online marketing strategies and
compelling corporate branding and graphics design services. Our services include
Search Marketing, Branding and Logo Design, Website Design and Creative
Production.