1. Demystifying social media and blogging

2. 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?

3. Why social media and blogging?

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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
Archive: Organizes older blog posts

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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

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

20. 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?

21. Best practices for profiles, posting, and content

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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.

25. 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

26. Blogging and social media take commitment

27. 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.

28. 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