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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

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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.

Pinterest

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

[email protected]

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.