Social Media Fundamentals & Best Practices By Tom Taylor, Social Media Manager Connelly Partners, .

Social Media Fundamentals & Best PracticesBy Tom Taylor, Social Media ManagerConnelly Partners, www.connellypartners.com

Overview

• Who’s Tom?

• Why is social important

• How to get started with social

• How to maximize your efforts

• MOTT Social

Who’s Tom?

• Connelly Partners, Social Engagement Supervisor– Social strategy development– Community management & monitoring– Content development, production & curation– Reporting, analytics, & optimization

• Working hand-in-hand with MOTT on all things social

• Where can you find me?– LinkedIn– Twitter: @thom_taelour

What do we currently know & why is it important?

What do we currently know?

• Social media has become part of our everyday lives– There are nearly 850 millions users on Facebook– 23% of Facebook users check their account 5+ times a day– 80% of social users prefer to connect with brands through Facebook– In 2012, there were 175 million tweets sent every day– 32% of all Internet users are using Twitter– 11 new accounts are created every second on Twitter

• Social is (and will continue to be) visual-dependent:– 250 million photos are uploaded to Facebook every day– 5 million photos are uploaded to Instagram every day– 5 Vines are shared every second

Why is it important?

• The influence of social recommendations (specifically amongst Millennials: who fall between the ages of 16 – 29)

Why is it important?

• The ability to inspire travel through social content

Why is it important?

• The ability to inspire travel through social content

Why is it important?

The Big Question: Social ROI to the $$ with destination marketing?•We can influence & inspire travel through visual & resourceful content•We can stimulate exchange and interaction between brand & community

How do you get started?

1. Goals & Objectives• What is it that you’re trying to accomplish?

• Foster relationships?• Generate awareness?• Drive traffic to your website?• Inspire travel to your destination?• Create a social presence as a customer service outlet?

2. Content Strategy• What is it that you’re going to say?• How do you plan to say it?

3. Resources & Process• What’s available content & resource-wise?• Do you have the bandwidth? Full-time commitment

How do you get started?

How to maximize your efforts?

• What to publish• When to publish• How to publish

How to maximize your efforts?

• What to publish• When to publish• How to publish

Content Buckets:• 3-4 content subjects/topics that are relevant to your brand/destination

– What content is already available? – What types of content can you develop?– What content can you regularly curate?

How to maximize your efforts?

• What to publish• When to publish• How to publish

Determine when your audience wants to hear from you:• AM/PM, daily vs. weekly, frequency & volume• “When would you like to see this post?”• Trial, error & optimization

Starting point:• Post: Monday, Wednesday, Friday• Pre-10AM, 2-3PM, Post-8PM

How to maximize your efforts?

• What to publish• When to publish• How to publish

The weight of content:

• Facebook’s EdgeRank• Affinity• Weight• Time

• Photos = More Engagement.• Plain Text = Greater Reach.

Story Bumping: Allows engaging posts that you haven’t seen to be bumped up to the top of your News Feed later in the day.

Takeaway: An increase in engagement per post leads to an increased lifespan within the News Feed.

Understanding Facebook’s latest News Feed updates.

How to maximize your efforts?

Last Actor: Takes into account the last 50 engagements a user has performed, and populates similar content within their News Feed based on those engagements.

Takeaway: An increase in engagement among a user creates a much greater likelihood of that user seeing your content again.

Understanding Facebook’s latest News Feed updates.

How to maximize your efforts?

How to maximize your efforts?

• What to publish• When to publish• How to publish

The power of a question:• Driving a response• Starting a conversation

How to maximize your efforts?

• What to publish• When to publish• How to publish

Details & Mechanics• Attaching links correctly

How to maximize your efforts?

• What to publish• When to publish• How to publish

Details & Mechanics• Properly tagging on Facebook

– “@name of Facebook page”– Links to the page mentioned– Notifies the page mentioned

How to maximize your efforts?

• What to publish• When to publish• How to publish

Details & Mechanics• Twitter:

– Simplicity & curiosity

How to maximize your efforts?

• What to publish• When to publish• How to publish

Details & Mechanics• Twitter:

• #Hashtags• Organizing conversations• Reaching conversations

How to maximize your efforts?

• Process & Organization

– Content calendar– Develop a rhythm

How to maximize your efforts?

• Process & Organization

How to maximize your efforts?

Formula to success: each week, do this:

1. Drive to your website/informational

2. Visually featured your product/destination

3. Curated content relevant to your brand

4. Ask a question, start a conversation

5. Utilize a text-only post

6. Feature content worth sharing• Did you know/fun facts• Holidays/timely news

How to maximize your efforts?

• Process & Organization: Monitoring & engaging

Is it working? Facebook’s Insights will tell you.

Growth: Likes, followers, and advocates.

•Are you fostering a relevant and meaningful community that you can market to on an ongoing basis?

Engagement: Likes, comments, shares, retweets, mentions, replies, or clicks.

•Each social interaction is considered an endorsement, and leads to a greater affinity among fans

Reach: The number of users who see your content within a social media channel.

•The value in social media beyond gaining likes, is the ability to communicate specific messaging to large groups of relevant consumers

Is it working?

• What are the KPI’s?– Social referral traffic

Is it working?

• Sift through the noise, and focus on the metrics that align with your goals & objectives:

• Growth • Engagement • Traffic

MOTT Social

MOTT Social

What we publish:•Content Buckets

– Useful & resourceful: Massavacation.com– Engagement-driven: questions & conversation starters– Entertaining & compelling: sunsets, landscapes, unique

When we publish•1-2x/day: Facebook: 2x/Saturday & Sunday•3-5x/day: Twitter•3-5x/week: blog

How we publish:•Photo & Link heavy•How can we incorporate a question?•Ensuring that those mentioned are benefiting

MOTT Social

What we publish:•Content Buckets

– Useful & resourceful

MOTT Social

What we publish:•Content Buckets

– Engagement-driven

MOTT Social

What we publish:•Content Buckets

– Entertaining & Compelling

MOTT Blog, MassFinds

Leveraging in-depth blog content•The power of fresh, frequent content•Utilizing SMEs (guest bloggers)•Platform for storytelling

Two Takeaways

1.Be visual, use photos.

2.The more engagement, the greater the reach.

How can we work together?

Contact: Tom Taylor, ttaylor@connellypartners.com

Questions?