the social landscape ebook - republic media

THESOCIAL LANDSCAPE

HAVE A LOVE/HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH SOCIAL MEDIA?

FOR LOCAL BUSINESSES

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WHAT IS ALL THE HYPE?

THE 800 LB. GORILLA

VIDEO RULES

GOOGLE YES, SERIOUSLY

BLAH BLAH BLOGS

I GOT A REP TO PROTECT

TWEET TWEET

LET’S CONNECT

STICK A PIN IN IT

#NOFILTER

WRAPPIN’ UP

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CHAPTERSTABLE OF CONTENTS

WHAT IS ALL THE HYPE

CHAPTER ONE

DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE

Local businesses actually only need 4 social media channels.

Social media means a lot of things to a lot

of people.

Depending on whom you ask, social media

is Facebook and Groupon and Snapchat

and Skype and Blogger, among many, many

other networks and sites. Most social media

graphics include a potpourri of logos. How

many times and how many ways have you

seen this? (»1)

But for local businesses, looking at a garden

of social icons doesn’t provide any direction.

And so we’re left with more questions

than answers. Do I really need a Meerkat

account? What is Meerkat, anyway? What

about Flickr? Maybe a Spotify playlist that

Not necessarily. Having too many social

channels can have an adverse effect. Simply

checking a boxes until you have the most

social media accounts is not a strategy.

Rather than spread resources too thin,

local businesses need to focus on a core

set of critical platforms that have the most

potential to drive business.

But what exactly is this core set? Is there

a universal social media toolbox for local

businesses?

Before getting into what goes into this

toolbox, it’s critical to understand the role

social media platforms play within a larger

communications strategy. Sure, all social

media is, well, social—meaning it is a forum

for dialogue and direct engagement with

consumers. But that’s not all social media

is—it’s an integral component of a larger

digital presence strategy. Social channels

and tactics feed directly (and indirectly)

into search engines, which improve organic

search rankings. Among local businesses

that have used social media for a year

or longer, 54% report that social media

websites, where consumers are guided

down a conversion path.

PAGE // 4CHAPTER ONE // WHAT IS ALL THE HYPE

THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF SOCIAL

INTRO

» 1 THE SOCIAL LANDSCAPE // 2015

Social media covers a wide range of activities and platforms – but all are connected by peer-to-peer engagements and user-generated content.

IMAGE CREDIT: FRED CAVAZZA

OK,BETWEEN 4 & 9-ISH.


WHERE TO BEGIN

SOCIAL MEDIA

First and foremost, are you (really) ready to tackle social media as part of a larger integrated marketing and communications plan?

Don’t be afraid to say no. In fact, among local businesses that do not use social media regularly, the single most-cited reason was uncertainty around how to use it effectively. Social media can be overwhelming; it is a game changer that continues to expand and evolve every day. Once you feel you’ve mastered it, inevitably an algorithm will change, or a new feature will be unveiled, or a new platform will emerge, disrupting everything all over again.

However dynamic it may be, when done effectively, social media (as an umbrella term) can both attract and convert potential customers and increase a customer’s lifetime value. How? For current customers,

social media fosters engagement, keeping your business top-of-mind and relevant. It brings your brand to life in an authentic and meaningful way. And, when you use social to push content, you can build a deeper rapport with your most loyal and valuable customers. For new customers, review sites and an active social

point for conversion.

In an April 2015 Capital One Spark Business survey conducted by Harris Poll, 26% of local business respondents point to social media as the marketing tactic from which they have seen the most ROI. If you’re unsure about how to leverage social media and activate it effectively for your business, we can help. More on that later—or you can skip ahead to the last page (but you’ll be missing out on a riveting tour of social media for local businesses).

Getting back to the idea of a universal

social media toolbox for local businesses:

this mythological beast exists. There is a

fundamental set of social platforms that

every local business should activate with

dedicated strategies. That doesn’t mean

this should happen all at once—rather,

these platforms need to be activated in

a progressive manner where each one

builds on the last, either directly or in a

complementary fashion. (»2)

You have to start with one before you can

get to eight, and (again) be careful not to

tackle all of them at once unless you have

the time, money, and resources allocated

to build them. Remember, more isn’t nec-

essarily better.

Each platform in social media plays a partic-

ular role: community, content, or reputation

management (or a combination of the three).

It’s important to cover all three because

they are what social media is all about.

When these three purposes are executed

properly, the result is a harmonious effort

that expands a business’ digital presence,

enriches a customer’s experience, and

delivers against business objectives.

COMMUNITY

CONTENT

REPUTATION M.

» 2 HERE’S THE ROADMAP

Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest & Instagram are optional. Not all platforms are right for you and your companies marketing plan. The others (Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Blog & Yelp) are essential!


TRIFECTASAY HELLO TO THE

THE 800 LB. GORILLA

CHAPTER TWO

PAGE // 8CHAPTER TWO // THE 800 LB. GORILLA

THE 800 LB. GORILLA: FACEBOOK

For better or worse, everyone is on Facebook.

And by everyone, we mean 71% of adult

internet users and 58% of entire adult

population in the U.S.3 This channel offers a

tremendous opportunity to reach current and

prospective consumers, but the congestion

and clutter creates a challenging environment

to navigate and breakthrough.

In fact, 96% of all local businesses have a

Facebook account, and 98.99% of them

aren’t using it properly. Yes, we made that

up. But it’s largely true.

In the broad scheme of social media strategy,

what exactly is Facebook’s role? It falls

Building a community means letting your

ways to connect that are topical, engaging,

trending, relevant and—when appropriate—

humorous. It does not mean losing control

of your brand and throwing voice out the

window for the sake of relevancy. If you’re

96%OF ALL LOCAL BUSINESSES HAVE FACEBOOK

in the catering business, posting pictures

of your sweet dog Suzie might not be the

best idea; it’s off-brand and could make

people think that you allow Suzie into the

kitchen while you’re whipping up your latest

catering order. No, and no.

Facebook is a place where you connect,

engage, and dialogue with your most

passionate and loyal consumers. In true

community fashion, your consumers come

to share their pictures, write reviews, ask

questions, and air grievances. And you need

to be prepared for all of it, regardless of your

business. While Facebook wasn’t (originally)

built as a customer service application, the

ability to connect directly to a brand has

made the channel an avenue for compliments

and (often disproportionately) complaints.

Ignoring these comments—both the good

and the bad—can have a damaging brand

effect.

58%OF ENITIRE ADULT POPULATION USE FACEBOOK

Facebook recently revealed Pages Messaging

functionality to streamline customer service

interaction, which is a big improvement for

interacting with customers. As an extra incentive,

those brands that are particularly responsive

(meaning they respond to at least 90% of

messages and have a median response time

a Very Responsive to Messages badge from

Facebook.4 Subsequent badges will likely be

developed, but no others have been revealed.

In addition to the ability to direct message

customers from your business page, Facebook

Pages is launching additional updates that

for restaurants. This works to enhance digital

storefront capabilities, which 45 million small

businesses are using worldwide.5

Building content for a vibrant Facebook presence

is WORK. Best practices suggest posting a

minimum of three times a week (but not more

than ten times a week).6 Content should be

varied: images, pictures, text, video, and links.

Posts should be concise and interesting. And

while not an easy feat, creating content is only

one part of the equation.

need a spark. And you probably need a little

accelerant, too, to get it really going. Promoted

posts, sidebar ads, offers, and events powered

by advertising deliver the potential to reach

a broader (though targeted) audience. Ads

on Facebook are also the best way to get in

ACEBOOKfront of your consumers. In a January 2015

update to the newsfeed algorithm, Facebook

deprioritized organic / non-paid business

content in an effort to drive more revenue

improve Facebook users’ experience.7

Facebook has a big role in your social media

mix. As such, it should have a dedicated strategy

with optimized content and—yes, it’s true—

it is pointless to start investing in advertising.

variety of (awesome) content.

VIDEORULES

CHAPTER THREE

PAGE // 11CHAPTER THREE // VIDEO RULES

“If content is king, then video is the 530.4-carat crown jewel”

YOUTUBECONTENT

engaging? While focus-groups-of-one are

often terrible for validating a position, this

may be the exception. Think about what you

like to do on social media: it is very likely

you said watching cat videos. Yes, exactly! A

UC San Diego report estimates Americans

consume 11 hours of digital video a month,

which translates into more than 660 videos

(if they’re a minute or less).

If content is king, then video is the 530.4-carat

crown jewel (do take note this is the second

pillar in effective social media marketing:

content). If you’re not utilizing digital

video, you’re missing out on a tremendous

opportunity to bring your brand to life in a

medium that has no parallel.

Don’t be intimidated! Digital video is actually

quite cost-effective in social channels,

there is a much higher tolerance for lower

production value. Smartphones offer decent

quality, and there are plenty of free video

editing products available that will get the

job done. The possibilities are endless for

what you might want to showcase. Going

back to your (hypothetical) catering business,

how about showing how you select the

freshest produce for your daily special

(offering a bit of education for diners and

highlighting product quality)?

There are many video platforms, all with

their own niche, but YouTube remains the

dominant player and a critical component

in your social media mix. Every day more

than one billion users on YouTube consume

hundreds of millions of hours of video,

generating billions of views. No, you won’t

get all of those eyeballs, or even a tenth

of them. But, without question, NONE of

them will see your content if it isn’t there.

Furthering the case for YouTube is its ranking

as the second largest search engine, behind

Google, and it’s consistently ranked among

the top three most visited websites. As if

that were not enough to warrant a YouTube

page, YouTube’s popularity and reach is

augmented by its inclusion in Google’s

web and video search—so a properly

tagged video can enhance and improve

your organic search rankings.10

2NDYOUTUBE IS THE 2ND LARGEST SEARCH ENGINE

There is quite a bit of strategy involved in

optimizing a YouTube channel, but you need

not go through those efforts just yet. As

crazy as that sounds, until you’ve mastered

the core set of social media channels, trying

to build out a YouTube following isn’t a

worthwhile endeavor. Rather, for now at

least, focus on using YouTube simply as

fuel for your other channels (e.g. Facebook).

if you really want to get after it.

GOOGLEYES, SERIOUSLY

CHAPTER FOUR

PAGE // 13CHAPTER FOUR // GOOGLE YES SERIOUSLY

GOOGLE IS SOCIAL

In order to have a YouTube account, you

will need to create a Google account

for your business (if you don’t have one

already). Your Google account universally

provides access to the entire Google

product suite, which includes more than

50 products.11 (Did you know Google was

that big? And—without cheating—how

many can you name?) Included in this suite

is Google+, the perpetual underdog of

the social universe. Size and penetration

may never be its strengths, but Google+

First and foremost: the biggest advantage is

Google+’s relationship with Google search.

(Hint: they’re part of the same company).

There is a natural feed of Google+ “+1”

activity into search, which can improve

your organic search rankings.12 You’ve

probably noticed a trend here: both

YouTube and Google+ can help with your

Google search organic rankings. Search

is another unruly animal, and everything

you can do to tame it is worthwhile.

GOOGLE MY BUSINESS

WHY?Be found on google maps,

keep business listings current & respond to reviews

GOOGLE+

Improve organic search listings (help customers

& OF COURSE YOUTUBE

The more active you are on Google+,

the more Google gets an understanding

of who you are and what you’re about.

Link out to your other social channels

(cross-pollinate—this cannot be stressed

enough!) and link to important pages on

your site. Your content is indexed, so be

sure to keep critical keywords top-of-

mind and prevalent (but don’t keyword

stuff—Google is smart enough to sniff

that stuff out).

PLAN TO POST A MINIMUM

OF 3 TIMES A WEEK

CO M M U N I T Y & R E P U TAT I O N M A N A G E M E N T

1

2

3

There is a third ingredient that rounds out the Google

social pie for local businesses: Google My Business.

Google My Business (formerly known as Google Places)

is how you claim your listing, update your phone

number and website, add hours, and verify your drop-

pin in Google Maps (if you have a physical storefront

can select your service area and keep your business

address hidden. The Google My Business dashboard

is also where you can (and absolutely should!) begin

responding to reviews.

Given they are both inherently attached to your

master Google account, there isn’t a need for one to

precede the other. That said, prioritizing your Google

My Business account makes the most sense given

the popularity of Google search. Once this is done,

you can begin pushing content to Google+. In terms

of what to post to, think of the platform as being

very similar to Facebook: you’ll want to share status

updates, push back to your blog, post pictures and

images, showcase video, and curate relevant links.

Plan on posting a minimum of three times a week,

but not more than ten times a week, just as you do

on Facebook.6

GOOGLE MY BUSINESS

GOOGLE IS SOCIAL

PAGE // 14CHAPTER FOUR // GOOGLE YES SERIOUSLY

BLAH BLAH BLOGS

CHAPTER FIVE

Now that the basics are covered, we can start to dig

into the next level of content marketing as it relates

to social. You need a blog. It sounds just as archaic as

saying you need a website (which you do, but that’s

for another day), but the fact is you really do need a

blog. And your blog needs to be responsive, meaning

it will adjust to smaller screens such as tablets and

smartphones.

What roles do blogs play in social? Aren’t they outdated?

Blogs are where you can build more robust content

beyond the character limitations (real or imagined)

of traditional social channels. It is a place for telling

the full story—if you have a consumer who wants to

know more about your business, this is the place to

give them what they want. Similar to video, blogs

are where you can showcase expertise, share news,

delve deeper into new product / service features,

celebrate achievements, spotlight employees, and

give your interested consumers more.

Blogs, of course, are great content for sharing and

teasing on social. You can—and you absolutely

media channels. By linking back to your site, you have

the opportunity to move consumers further down the

conversion funnel. And more time on your site registers

with search engines and facilitates optimization. (It

always seems to come back to search, doesn’t it?)

MOBILE — OPTIMIZED BLOGS

CONTENT

PAGE // 16CHAPTER FIVE // BLAH BLAH BLOGS

The best place for hosting a blog is on your own site domain. It cannot be overstated: having more content on your site will help with search engine indexing, and the more robust that content is the better search engines will understand what your business is all about. If your site doesn’t have this functionality, you can consider using a platform such as Blogger or Tumbler. Though not ideal, using a third-party tool is better than having nothing at all. And you can always port the content over later.

At minimum, you should plan on posting at least once a week. But really, the more you can post, the better. Research has shown that businesses with 16 or more blog posts per month got almost 350%

four or less monthly posts.13

While blogs are timely and should be updated regularly, building a library of

allows you to dig back into the archives to share posts that are related or relevant,

posts from other channels. Compounding

from previous month(s) that continues to

for driving as much as six times the site visits as a normal post. Certainly not all blog posts will turn into compounding ones, but the impact of the ones that

BE PASSIONATE. BE ENTERTAINING. BE SMART. BE MEANINGFUL. BE YOU.

PAGE // 17CHAPTER FIVE // BLAH BLAH BLOGS

BLOGS

I GOT A REP TO PROTECT

CHAPTER SIX

PAGE // 16CHAPTER SIX // I GOT A REP TO PROTECT

You’ve got Facebook, YouTube, Google+ / Google My Business, so it’s time to start tweeting, right? Not just yet. Before building out additional social channels, it’s critical to ensure complete reputation management coverage.

To start, imagine this: when someone you don’t know (or even someone you do know) tells you how great they are, the amazing talents they have, and their lack of faults, what is your reaction? Likely a scoff, probably a smirk, and

braggart, a narcissist, and possibly a liar. BUT if someone else tells you those things about the very same person, you might consider that there is some truth to their words.

Businesses, especially local ones, are no different. Naturally, a business is going to paint a portrait of itself as a smart

And consumers are savvy to this messaging, so they tune out the marketing or take it with a grain of salt. But when someone else says those things, whoa, suddenly there is credibility and value that can only come from a

third party, even if it is from a stranger or anonymous. Welcome to the world of reputation management: the

Consumers love reviews. In a survey of U.S. Internet Users, only 11% said they don’t take notice of online customer reviews. That leaves 89% reading reviews, with 68% claiming positive customer reviews make them trust a local business more.

OVERALL RATINGS

60%

QUANTITY OF REVIEWS

44% 38% 33% 26%

SENTIMENT OF REVIEWS

AGE OF REVIEWS

DID THE BUSINESS RESPOND


THE VALUE OF REVIEWS

REPUTATION MANAGEMENT

WHAT ARE THEY PAYING ATTENTION TO WHEN JUDGING A LOCAL BUSINESS BASED ON REVIEWS?

Furthermore, just like other social platforms, review sites factor heavily into organic search. An update to Google’s algorithm released in July 2014 gave more prominence to these types of sites, and, in many instances, Yelp listings now rank above business websites.

Beyond aligning to consumer behavior and improving natural search, active reputation management has been correlated directly to revenue. In 2013, the Boston Consulting Group found that small businesses with a free business owner’s account saw an average of $8,000 in annual revenue from Yelp. And those who actively shaped their digital presence through advertising on Yelp saw an annual average lift in revenue of more than $23,000.

While reputation management includes much more than review sites, within the social-sphere there are three sites that are critical, leading the pack in terms of review density and user engagement: Facebook, Google My Business, and Yelp.

Facebook? Check!

Google My Business? Check, check!

Next is Yelp—and it’s an important one. In July 2015, Yelp pulled in more than 45 million unique visitors, which is a 12.1% increase over the previous month and a 46.1% over July 2014. It’s safe to say, Yelp isn’t going anywhere.

KEEPING UP WITH YOUR CUSTOMER

REPUTATION MANAGEMENT

Actively managing review sites, such as Google My Business and Yelp, means more than just correcting your name and address and updating a few images—it means embracing the feedback you receive and being responsive.

What if you have a collection of negative reviews? Can’t they be deleted? No, because that would compromise the integrity of these sites and damage their credibility. While not ideal, don’t worry too much about the negative reviews—only about 1 in 10 consumers (12%) said a negative review would deter them from returning to a business.7

What you can do is own it? Admit error, take ownership, resolve the issue, and make it good—this is how to turn a negative review into a positive representation of your business’ customer service strengths. Don’t be defensive, don’t offer excuses, and don’t be judgmental. Treat your online reviews just as you would a customer talking to you face-to-face.


Don’t just focus on the negative, either. Foster ways to increase the positive. Blatantly requesting reviews is frowned upon, but it’s not entirely out of bounds. Encourage your best customers to share their experiences on Yelp and the other review sites you manage (but don’t offer them an incentive or reward—that is out of bounds). Satisfied customers are willing to help, but too few are being invited to do so. Train your team to remind customers of your social presence, including review sites. Include links on your website and, if possible, create some in-store merchandizing to remind consumers to share their experiences.

Beyond Yelp, there are other sites that make sense to ensure you have the proper listing and possibly inspire respondes, depending on your trade and business segment. (»3)

BE POSITIVE


» 3 BUSINESS SEGMENTS VS. SITES

BUSINESS SEGMENTS SITES

EVERYONE

SERVICE-BASED

TOURIST ATTRACTIONS

FOOD/ENTERTAINMENT

REAL ESTATE

AUTOMOTIVE

HEALTHCARE

YAHOO! LOCAL / BING LOCAL / YELP

ANGIE’S LIST

TRIP ADVISOR

TRIP ADVISOR

ZILLOW / TRULIA / REALTOR

CARS.COM / EDMUNDS

HEALTHGRADES / VITALS

TWEETTWEET

CHAPTER SEVEN

You don’t need Twitter. It’s true.

What? Heresy! How can anyone afford to pass on one of the most popular social platforms? Well, unless your business deals with time-sensitive news or deals, Twitter may not be right for you.

If you do have a high volume of worthwhile content, then Twitter is a great platform to activate. Not sure what that means? Consider this: best practices suggest you should plan on posting a minimum of

of how often you can post.2 The Twitterverse moves insanely fast, and topics trend and fade in the blink of an eye. Given the truncated real estate, there isn’t much time or a need to linger.

If you are unable to build a dedicated strategy for utilizing the fast-paced nature of Twitter, then it’s better to stay off the channel. Otherwise, you’re investing resources (time is money, and money is, well, money) into something that will not deliver against business and brand objectives.

Still not convinced? Take a look at the successful brands and businesses on Twitter and count the number of tweets posted daily. Start with @Target, @MichelinTyres, and @NatGeo for inspiration. Sure, these are big brands with teams of people dedicated to managing their social channels. That is partly the point—if you’re unable to invest in the resources to make the most of Twitter, then tacking it on to current workloads isn’t a worthwhile endeavor.

PAGE // 23CHAPTER SEVEN // TWEET TWEET

COMMUNITY

500mil.TWEETS ARE SENT

EVERY DAY!

NEED TWITTER?

PAGE // 24CHAPTER SEVEN // TWEET TWEET

“You will also need a robust content calendar to map out several topics to tweet about every. single. day. ”

For comparison, go back on Twitter and search for

posting, very few followers, and repurposed content. This is a drain on resources more than anything and is not worth even minimal effort.

If you simply must use Twitter, or you think there is the potential for a competitive advantage, think about

exclusively through the platform. You will also need a robust content calendar to map out several topics to tweet about every. single. day. You can expect to ride trending topics for a few, but it isn’t enough to ride someone else’s wave. You will need plenty to talk

value to draw in (and retain) consumers.

LET’S CONNECT

CHAPTER EIGHT

LinkedIn is often overlooked with local businesses, largely because of its limited nature—but surprisingly LinkedIn ranked third among social networks used to follow local businesses, behind Facebook and Twitter.19

needs: recruitment and B2B marketing. If you have turnover (or you’re growing and need to attract new talent), building a presence on LinkedIn can make you stand out to desirable recruits. LinkedIn gives you a platform for showcasing culture,

your business is to work for (at least, that’s the takeaway). An added bonus is the ability to post jobs and have an integrated application—potential employees can point and click their way into your consideration set effortlessly.

LINKEDINCOMMUNITY

GET LINKEDIN!LETS CONNECT!

IS THE PLACELINKEDIN

For B2B businesses, LinkedIn is THE place to connect with other businesses and celebrate your products and services in an appropriate environment. LinkedIn skews older in the social media landscape, with people ages 30 – 64 being more likely to use the platform, a result of the professional nature of the site.3 The comparative maturity of its users (19 – 29 on other platforms) means that you’re more likely to reach decision

In terms of the mechanics, content on LinkedIn is similar (in form) to what you would post on Facebook—blog post links, pictures, videos, links to external content—what differentiates LinkedIn from Facebook is the content subject matter you publish (again, think of how you would talk to someone you are recruiting vs. your consumer) unless your business is B2B in nature. In terms of frequency, there is still a need to keep the content fresh with posting an average of two to

that are relevant (but keep it limited to about 20% or less of your content plan).2

“LinkedIn skews older in the social media landscape, with people ages 30 – 64 being more likely to use the platform”

PAGE // 27CHAPTER EIGHT // LET’S CONNECT

STICK A PIN IN IT

CHAPTER NINE

THE DRAW?

The ability to create collections—or boards—of content around a theme.

it with images akin to women’s interest magazines and sharing widely. The core demographic on Pinterest has not changed much. She is female (80%) and likely between 25 and 54 years old. Her interests are food and baking, home,

fashion. Pinterest serves both as her inspiration and aspiration.

Does this mean your business must be a restaurant, retailer, salon, or gym to use Pinterest? Absolutely not! But it

INTERESTdoes serves as a good guiding light for what content resonates on the platform. There are plenty of successful brands

upon their core set of products and services and lean into a larger lifestyle positioning. Real estate agents can certainly showcase their home listings and open houses, but they also have permission to curate content around home staging, design trends, improving curb appeal, hot paint colors, and life hacks to improve Feng Shui. What about a car dealership? Natural extensions might include road trips, the best take-out in town, and car accessories.

COMMUNITY & CONTENT

PAGE // 29CHAPTER NINE // STICK A PIN IN IT

Pinterest took the social scene by storm when it launched, hitting 11.7 million unique monthly U.S. visitors in less than two years and crossing the ten million mark faster than any other standalone site in history.20

Unlike other platforms, where marketing messages can be perceived as interruptions, Pinterest users are actively engaging with brands and products by pinning or re-pinning branded content. They are primed for marketing interaction, and Pinterest is a top referral for many business sites (second only to Facebook). Pinterest also offers a buyable pins that include a “Buy It” button, which allows pinners to purchase immediately from the platform.

Because Pinterest users aren’t daily users (only 27% log in daily, according to a Pew Research Center’s April 2015 survey), content updates need not be as frequent. However—you knew it wouldn’t be that easy—there should be a considerable amount of content built across multiple boards even before launching. Pinterest users can follow boards individually as well as brand / business

PINNED IT

PAGE // 30CHAPTER NINE // STICK A PIN IN IT

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pages, which means there are multiple ways in which your content can get in front of their eyes. There is an inherent longevity of content, which is refreshingly different than other social sites—but this can be a curse, especially if you are linking to products and / or services that are no longer available. While content may not be needed daily, there has to be meticulous pruning to ensure content is current and (if leveraging ecommerce) still available for purchase.

If your business is driven by services or B2B in nature, let’s be honest, Pinterest might not be a

is big, its size alone doesn’t warrant the effort. Remember, the less you do better, the more return

#NOFILTERCHAPTER TEN

If you target Millennials (ages 18 – 34) who tune out traditional marketing messages and vehicles, engage them on their home turf: Instagram. As of last year, 53% of Millennials were on Instagram.3 Instagram can be confusing for local businesses because it is a mobile-native social site. A mobile-what? Mobile-native, meaning it was built for smartphones. So if you logon to Instagram from a computer, you can view content but you cannot post anything.

INSTAGRAMTo be successful on Instagram is to embrace the platform for what it is: a single stream of images (or 15 second videos) that may (or may not) have been enhanced using

by a caption and hashtags. Images are not clickable (so you can’t post a link to buy directly—at least not yet), but you can direct consumers to click on a link in your bio. A best practice is to have a dedicated blog or destination that doesn’t change, where your Instagram images can click back to, rather than changing it every time you post. Consumers can comment and like your post—but sharing is a bit trickier and requires using a third party app (such as Regram).

COMMUNITY & CONTENT

Why is Instagram such a hit? Unlike Facebook, the stream of content is pure—it

Advertisements are limited and entirely in stream, which makes them a part of the experience (versus an intrusive sidebar or wrap around). Instagram has announced additional advertising features, such as direct-response ad units, that will launch by the end of 2015 and include enhanced measurement and targeting features, such as custom target audiences.

LATERGRAM

CHAPTER TEN // #NOFILTER

Why would a local business want to activate Instagram? Images and video are powerful ways to communicate products and services and to build a brand. Similar to Pinterest, Instagram is a platform for expanding on your core brand and incorporating lifestyle. The uncongested and clean interface creates an opportunity for organic content to be seen—unlike on Facebook where it is shuffled to the bottom of the pile. The downside

referrals back to your site—but that will come with time. The ability to include shop now and other call-to-actions is available for ads, but that functionality does not exist in the platform otherwise.

Finally, if it hasn’t been said enough for every other site, Instagram needs its own content plan. Best practice is to post daily—at minimum—given the propensity of Instagram users to engage with the site every day (59% do).14

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WRAPPIN’ UP

CHAPTER ELEVEN

DOING SOCIALRIGHT

EXAMPLE

PAGE // 35CHAPTER ELEVEN // WRAPPIN’ UP

1 FACEBOOKYou tease that you’ll have a limited-

runs out! You post your video of the

production the day before. On the 19th,

you wish everyone a happy National

Ice Cream Day and offer a free second

scoop to anyone who likes or shares

your post.

2 YOUTUBEYou create a farm-to-table video

capturing the sourcing and production

“REMEMBER THE SECRET IS TO DO LESS, BETTER.”

Whether you’re just starting out on social or rethinking your presence,

discipline and dedication are critical to you success. If your plan is to create

a Facebook page, a YouTube channel, a Google+ page, a Twitter feed, a

Each channel has nuances that make them unique—and treating them the

same is like using a hammer for jobs that require pliers, screwdrivers, wrenches,

and saws. Sure, you can probably get the job done—but it’s going to be

messy and of poor quality. You will likely do more damage than if you hadn’t

done anything at all. Consider your most loyal and engaged consumers: if

they connect with you across multiple platforms, you have an opportunity to

build on your message rather than repeat it. Over and over and over again.

The key to diversifying content effectively (rather than simply repurposing)

across social platforms is to think of them building upon one another in a

complementary manner.

Remember the secret is to do less, better. Start small—focus on mastering

on as you can. By starting with Facebook, you build a base from which you

can cross-promote your other channels—you can add free apps to integrate

Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube as tabs on your Facebook page

(all the more reason to have different content across those channels!).

By the end of the day, you will have published quite a bit of content—but

the variety of media and topics build to bring the entire story to life. Your

most loyal customers, who connect with you across multiple channels, are

moved to engage with you and come into the storefront for the celebration.

Having a hard time wrapping your

head around how to do this? Here is

an example to illustrate better:

You’re the proprietor of a gourmet small batch ice cream shop, and National Ice Cream Day (July 19th) has arrived. Here’s how you’re activating it across your social channels.

» NEXT PAGE

WRAPPIN’UPBuilding an editorial calendar for every day of the year across the entire core

set of social platforms is a lot of work. Look at the example and think through

how many hours it would take to do this level of engagement every day. (It’s

easy to see how there are full-time social media managers now, isn’t it?) If you

cannot dedicate the resources, pare down your presence and do less better.

THERE IS GOOD NEWS! YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE THE EXPERT

We get social. We have teams of social media marketers, and we provide

services that can help you think through what is the best social media mix.

can uncover insights for your industry and customers to help you make an

informed decision.

Once aligned, we know how to dial in to listen to, engage with, and reach

customers by building a steady stream of marketing and lifestyle content

encourages engagement over time.

If you are curious about our social media management services,

contact us to talk more.

3 GOOGLE+You wish everyone a happy National

Ice Cream Day and link back to your

blog post.

4 BLOGYou write a longer-form post on the

history of ice cream, the growing pop-

ularity of artisanal ice creams and how

you came to love it all.

5 YELP

you’ll be open two hours later tonight

for late-night cravings and the chance

6 TWITTERYou tease the “holiday” in the morn-

ing, in the afternoon you declare an

sale from 3p-5p, promoted exclusively

through Twitter. And after dinner you

remind folks it’s not too late to get your

7 LINKEDINYou share a post thanking your vendors

and suppliers for their high-quality,

exceptional customer service—you

couldn’t be celebrating National Ice

Cream Day without them!

8 PINTERESTYou update your menu board with

(and remove it as soon as it runs out).

9 INSTAGRAMYou post a 15 second video of ice

cream being scooped and invite your

customers to come celebrate National

Ice Cream Day with you.

THE SOCIAL LANDSCAPE

SOURCES

1 “Reasons that US Small-Business Owners Do Not Use Social Media Regularly for Business Purposes, April 2015” Capital One Spark Business 12 Aug 2015

2 “Marketing Tactics from Which US Small-Business Owners Have Seen the Most ROI, April

2015” Capital One Spark Business 12 Aug 2015

3 Duggan, Maeve; Nicole B. Ellison, Cliff Lampe, Amanda Lenhart and Mary Madden. “Social Media Update 2014: Demographics of Key Social Networking Platforms” Pew Research Center 9 Jan 2015

4 “Pages Messaging: New Ways for People and Businesses to Connect” Facebook for Business Facebook 5 Aug 2015

5 Greenberg, Julia. “Facebook’s Way Past Friends—It Wants to Be Your Whole World” Business Wired 8 Sept 2015

6 Collier, Azure. “[Infographic] What and How Often Should You Post on Social Media?” Constant Contact 2 Aug 2014

7 “An Update to News Feed: What it Means for Businesses” Facebook for Business Facebook 14 Nov 2014

8 Zverina, Jan. “U.S. Media Consumption to Rise to 15.5 Hours a Day—Per Peron—by 2015” UC San Diego News Center 6 Nov 2013

9 “Statistics” YouTube 9 Sept 2015

10 Edward, Tony. “YouTube Ranking Factors: Getting Ranked in the Second Largest Search Engine” Search Engine Land 24 Jul 2015

11 “About Google: Products” Google 9 Oct 2015

12 for Business” Yahoo! Small Business 10 Sept 2015

13 Kolowich, Lindsay. “How Often Should Companies Blog? [New Benchmark Data]” Hubspot 9 Apr 2015

14 of Blogging for Business and Marketing” Hubspot 30 Sept 2015

15 “Local Consumer Review Survey 2015” BrightLocal 20 Aug 2015

16 Lindteigen, Rachel. “Google Maps, Yelp & Local SEO in 2015” Search Engine Land 19 Dec 2014

17 DiGrande, Sebastian, David Knox, Kate Manfred and John Rose. “Unlocking the Digital-Marketing Potential of Small Businesses” bcg.perspectives Boston Consulting Group 19 Mar 2013

18 “Yelp.com July 2015 Unique Visitors” Compete.com 9 Sept 2015

19 “Yodle Insights: What Consumers Want from Local Businesses” Yodle Jun 2015

20 Constine, Josh. “Pinterest Hits 10 Million U.S. Monthly Uniques Faster Than Any Standalone Site Ever—comScore” TechCrunch 7 Feb

21 Duggan, Maeve. “Mobile Messaging and Social Media 2015” Pew Research Center 19 Aug 2015

22 2 Williamson, Debra Aho. “Pinterest for Marketers: What You Need to Know” eMarketer 24 Feb 2015

23 “The Next Steps for Ads on Instagram: New Formats, Increased Relevance, Broader Availability” Instagram 2 Jun 2015

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