Demystifying social media and blogging

Topics in this module Why social media? The roles of websites, blogs, and social media Blogs and blogging Social media platforms Best practices – profiles, content, and posting How do you measure success?  

Why social media and blogging?

The roles of websites, blogs, and social Trainer Guidance Websites, blogs and social should all be parts of your social media marketing strategy Website Blogs Social

Websites are for information and interactions Product and services information Company history Contact information Career information News, offers, and events Blog postings Calls to action and offers Landing pages News and events

Blogs are for content and followers Different than typical website content Designed to establish credibility and thought leadership Can dive into technical subjects or include your opinions Blogging and social go hand in hand Blogging gives you content to distribute Social gives you distribution channels for that content Drive traffic to your website Blogging and social media are a great way to drive more traffic to your website

Social media is for conversations Attract and engage your audience Personal touch Listen and communicate with them Build relationships, prospects, clients, fans Sharing and distributing content Articles, client success stories, case studies, blogs, promoting events Demonstrating expertise and thought leadership Social can even improve SEO

Blogging promotes your credibility as a thought leader A blog is one of the best ways to bring traffic to your website. They establish and promote your credibility as a thought leader, and that counts for a lot more than the words on your website’s pages. Being a thought leader is a crucial element of selling today. In a market where it is increasingly difficult yet very important to differentiate yourself, blogging allows you to make that distinction. By communicating your meaningful and insightful knowledge, you and your organization stand out as someone worthy of listening to. You may use blogs to express your and your staffs vertical market insights, technical expertise, and other areas where you have something interesting and worthy to say. You can also use blogs to share content from other channels, adding your own comments & perspectives. A nice outcome is that being a thought leader increases your SEO rankings, which in turn increases visitors to your website and blog. Thought leadership = higher SEO rankings Higher SEO rankings = more site visitors

Setting up a blog Make it part of your website and your brand i.e. blog.yourdomain.com Consider multiple sections that: Showcase your thought leadership Showcase your technical expertise Focus on a balance in overall design Make it reflect your brand and website Attractive and mobile-responsive design Segmented and digestible copy

Search Engine Optimize (SEO) your blog Use keywords In content, structure, and URLs Use internal linking To other blog posts To other content on your site Keep it fresh Make it relevant, current, timely Make it useful and informative

You should use some/all these blog features Featured posts: A posting you want to draw attention Recent Posts: Links to recent blog postings Search: Enables visitors to search by keyword, tag, title, or category Categories: Topical categories of various blog posting Tags: Keywords that help SEO Subscribe: Visitors receive blog posts in email Archive: Organizes older blog posts

Followers, following, influencers, connections Trainer Guidance Social is about getting followers and following others

Major social media snapshot LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Google+ YouTube Purpose News, articles, and networking Building relationships and staying in touch with customers News, articles, and conversations News and articles “How to” content and industry expertise Best for Business development and thought leadership Building brand loyalty PR and thought leadership SEO Generating brand awareness Downside Limited interactions Limited B2B reach 140 characters or less Not widely used Resource intensive

Use LinkedIn for Millions of business-oriented users Developing professional networks Conveying thought leadership Branding your company Researching prospects or clients Driving traffic to blogs

LinkedIn personal profile vs. company pages Use personal profiles for Your personal information Connecting with people Joining groups Interacting with members of groups Publish articles with links to blog, website Sending personal messages Interacting at a personal level LinkedIn Sales Navigator for sales prospecting Use company pages for Your company information Branding Sharing content (blog, news etc..) Product news Job postings

Use Facebook for Branding Event promotion Trainer Guidance Although Facebook is generally oriented around individuals, it has a role for your business Branding Event promotion The lighter & more personal side of business Photo libraries Driving traffic to website

Facebook company page vs. personal profile Use personal profile Personal Connect with friends Share personal content Use company page for Branding Sharing Company Content (Blog/News etc..) Product News

Use Twitter for Composing easy-to-consume content Posting micro-blogs linked to blog site Promoting thought leadership Company branding Posting real-time news Driving traffic to website

Use Google+ for Branding Driving traffic to website Enhancing SEO through content

Use YouTube for Improve thought leadership credibility Showcasing videos that you create If a picture tells a thousand words, how many words does a video tell?

Best practices for profiles, posting, and content

Regarding social media profiles and postings Keep refining your profiles Write in a conversational tone Use dialogue and conversations Focus on professionalism Be seen as a thought leader Don’t spam followers/connections Don’t “sell” on your profile

Best practices for writing content Focus on your audience – who, what for, and why Think about your target persona, your objective, and your value proposition Proper, professional grammar Cite your sources and link when relevant Industry jargon is OK Moderate and respond to comments Length, tone, and images Be unique and have a personality Don’t bash competition Use images wisely

How often should you post? (on the high-end) Social media platform Frequency Comments LinkedIn 20 times per month Approximately 1 post per work day. Mix your messages up into different LinkedIn groups and use both your company and personal page Facebook 1-2 per day and 1 per weekend Over posting has been known to go against you with regards to engagements and likes Twitter 4-15 times per day (not including retweets and likes) Remember if you are dealing with different time zones then you need to post accordingly Google+ 1-4 per day The key to Google+ is to use it to help with improving your SEO YouTube 1+ per month Frequency and timing play a big part, so make sure to mix it up until you find the right balance.

Use an editorial calendar Define and control the schedule Creating and publishing content Regularly & consistently Where & when you will publish Keep it simple Ideas for topics Where & when to publish Create content based on schedule

Blogging and social media take commitment

Measure success What are your objectives? Getting leads Increasing new sales More website traffic Nurture prospects through the buyer’s journey Increasing followers Increasing engagements Now that you have setup your social media channels and are posting messages, it is critical that you start to measure your success to understand what is working and what is not working. How do you want to measure success? What are your objectives? For some that maybe as simple of knowing you are increasing the number of your followers every month and that you are see engagements happening. Or more than likely you want know if your social media plan is increasing the number of leads you get, is it driving more traffic to your site and more. One mistake many people make is that they don’t track and analysis the traffic to their website. Take advantage of the available analytic tools on each social media platform to monitor your traffic and activity. Social media may be doing a wonderful job of getting people to you website but once people get to your site what happens next? Are they responding in the way you wanted? Is their activity meeting your objectives? If not, don’t stop. Refine and improve your social media strategy. It may be helpful to find a qualified social media consultant/company who can assist you with improving your strategy. Make sure the consultant/company understands your business and is also using social media within their organization. If they are not then that is certainly a red flag. If you are not getting the results you want do not stop using social media. instead find a social media or blog consultant to review your strategy.

Review Blogs educate, inform, and establish thought leadership Use each social media platform for its best purposes Use them all to drive traffic to blog and website Create and publish regularly and consistently Get organized with an editorial calendar