AN OVERVIEW OF A FEW SOCIAL MEDIA SERVICES MARK 490 Week 2.

AN OVERVIEW OF A FEW SOCIAL MEDIA SERVICES

MARK 490Week 2

Today’s class

• Some tools for managing social media• Current use of social media tools – an

overview– Twitter for business and organizational

marketing– Pinterest for business and organizational

marketing– Facebook for business and organizational

marketing

SOME TOOLS FOR MANAGING SOCIAL MEDIA

Some free tools to help you manage social media

• To manage your accounts– Tweetdeck– Hootsuite– Buffer

• Storify – collect and publish tweets to show a “story”• Klout - “influence” scoring service• Tweepi – helps you manage your followers• These are just a handful of software tools that you can use

for free (several also have paid services too)• We will look at enterprise software for managing multiple

accounts in a future class– Fun fact: among the 140 global corporations studied for the “

Strategy for Managing Social Media Proliferation” report, they each have an average of 178 different social media accounts.

TWITTER

What makes twitter unique?

• “Twitter stands in a class apart from other social media because of the open invitation it gives us to talk to the world at large. On Facebook, Tumblr, or Instagram, you have only two options if you want to meet new fans and potential customers..First, someone might find you..and decide to follow you. Second, a customer might share a piece of your content and [someone] might be intrigued enough to follow you. Either way, you’re stuck outside until that person decides to let you in….Everyone else is off limits”– Gary Vaynerchuck

Gary Vaynerchuck. Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World. Harper Business. 2013

Caveat…

• Don’t abuse that open-ness and use twitter to do overt selling or self-promotion

• Tell a story• Provide value in an authentic manner

Twitter Basics• Tweets and direct messages• Replies, retweets, modified tweets, and quoted

tweets• Hashtags• Followers• Images, Video, Animated GIFs• Lists• Twitter chats• Twitter Search• Your Profile• Twitter for Websites (extending reach)

Tweets – they happen in real-time• A tweet can be no more than 140 character. • A tweet can be addressed to someone (an @ mention) by

including their @username• A tweet does not need to be addressed to anyone at all• A tweet can include a hyperlink (usually shortened so it

uses up as few characters as possible)• Tweets are PUBLIC by default and practice. ANYONE can

view all of your tweets by going to your profile or by using Search

• Your FOLLOWERS can view all of your tweets in their TWITTER STREAM or TIMELINE

• However - If you start a tweet with @username it will be seen only by those users who follow both you and the person you are tweeting to (unless someone looks directly at your tweets via your profile)

• Starting a tweet with a ‘dot’ or a word means that it will be seen by everyone following you

Direct messages

• DMs are private messages, viewable only by the sender and the receiver

• Start a tweet with DM or D then the person’s @username

• You can send DMs by default:– only to users who follow you– you can receive direct messages from any user

that you follow

• BUT you can opt-in to allowing anyone to DM you

• Be careful about how CASL might apply

Replies, retweets, modified tweets, and quoted tweets

• Replies go to the person who authored the tweet (and usually) anyone else who is mentioned in it

• Replies are public just the same as any other tweets

• Retweets (RT) are just what they sound like! A repost of a tweet from someone you follow

• Modified tweets (indicated by MT) are retweets that have been altered slightly to make them shorter

#Hashtags• Hashtags are words that become hyperlinks if they

begin with a #• They create a way for tweets to be followed and

connected – via link, search, trends, lists etc• You can add an existing hashtag to a tweet to add to a

conversation – your tweet will have a better chance of being seen that way

• Or create your own #nospaces – short is best as they use up characters– What’s the challenge with this?

• How Hashtags Work on Twitter, Instagram, Google Plus, Pinterest, Facebook, Tumblr, and Flickr

• Don’t overuse them (The Tonight Show "#Hashtag" with Jimmy Fallon & Justin Timberlake)

Followers and Following

• Follow relationships do not have to be reciprocal• When you follow an account, you will see the

tweets from that account in your timeline• Twitter does not algorithmically manipulate

your timeline• The list of accounts you are following is public

and can be viewed via your profile– Yes, we are judging you….– If you find someone interesting, look at who they

are following to find more (potentially) interesting accounts

Images, Video, Animated GIFs

• In late 2013 Twitter introduced inline images from its own pic.twitter.com service and then video from Vine – examples from Buffer

• Tweets with images get more engagement• Instagram photos and videos that are

tweeted do NOT appear inline and need to be clicked to be opened

• Animated GIFs introduced in June 2014• Periscope for live streaming introduced in

March 2015

Lists

• Lists are used to slice and dice your twitter stream to focus on what is most important to you

• You can add twitter accounts to your lists even if you don’t follow them

• The number of lists that your account has been added to is another good measure of success

• Using Twitter Lists

Twitter chats

• Really useful for increasing your exposure and building a professional network

• Real-time discussion using a hashtag so you can follow the conversations

• Very wide range of topics• Schedule of twitter chats

Twitter Search

• The native Twitter search is rather cumbersome

• Search by username, keyword, hashtag

• Advanced search provides more options

• When we look at Hootsuite we will take a more detailed look at the data that can be extracted into separate streams and how we might use it

Profile

• Have one! Fill it out• For professional purposes you should have

a photograph of yourself or at least a logo – your objective is to make connections

• Profile should contain information about your interests and who you are

• Should contain a link to another online presence of your choice

• Think about how your profile looks on mobile and on the desktop

Extending the use of twitter – website integration

• Twitter provides a variety of widgets – Buttons for following an account, hashtag etc–Widgets for embedding tweets on a web

page– Embedding a timeline– Tweet buttons on a page

• Code for tweeting a text snippet – ClickToTweet tool generates the code. Some examples of how to use itTwitter for Websites

Owned, earned, and paid media on Twitter

• Owned – an organization’s own twitter account or accounts

• Earned – follows, retweets, favourites, lists, mentions

• Paid – Twitter for Business: Advertising– Promoted accounts– Promoted tweets– Promoted trends

Questions to ask about your twitter content

• Is it to the point?• Is the hashtag unique and

memorable?• Is the image attached high quality?• Does your voice sound authentic?

Will it resonate with the twitter audience?

Gary Vaynerchuck. Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World. Harper Business. 2013

Twitter successes and disasters

• Oreo shows what it means to be responsive and seize the moment– SuperBowl 2013 power outage “You can

still dunk in the dark” tweet

• Too many disasters to choose from…..for example Chrysler’s famous critique of Detroit’s drivers

Twitter successes and disasters – your turn

• Work in small groups• Do some research• Find one example of a fabulously

successful use of twitter• Find one example of a terrible twitter

#fail• Be ready to demonstrate your

findings to the class

PINTEREST

What is distinctive about Pinterest?

• VERY visual• Female demographic outnumbers male by

a wide margin• Very fast growth rate since launch in 2010 • Very effective for actually selling stuff…

via direct click through to product• Some worries about copyright issues

because of image placement on third-party website without permission

Think creativity…

• “Unless you sell a product that no woman in a million years would want for herself or any person in her life – and that’s a pretty limited list of products – or your legal department is dragging its feet, you’re a dope if your brand is not on Pinterest”– Gary Vaynerchuck

Gary Vaynerchuck. Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World. Harper Business. 2013

It’s all about understanding the psychology of the user

• Creative• Aspirational• Somewhat playful• A bit like an instant gratification

magazine• Users 79% more likely to purchase

something via Pinterest than via Facebook

• Pinterest produces 4 times the revenue-per-click of Twitter

Gary Vaynerchuck. Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World. Harper Business. 2013

What is Pinterest?

• Place to create online collections – primarily images and video

• Pins are “visual bookmarks” that link back to the site they originated on – a referral for a brand

• People add pins directly from websites or apps via a “Pin-It” button

• Users create collections of “Pins” into “Boards”• Any pin can be “re-pinned”• Home feed – pins from people you follow

appear there

Interaction and engagement

• Likes• Follows• Re-Pins• Comments

Business accounts• Identify yourself as a business

– Verification available (adds to consumer confidence)

• Create a range of boards with different themes related to your business (people follow individual boards according to their interest)

• Naming of boards is important (so they can be found via search). Keep the name length to 20 characters or fewer (so it doesn’t get cut off). Be clever and creative

• “Secret” boards available – create a collection before you publish

Best practices

• Don’t just pin your own products• Pin related products from others• Be creative – tell an inspiring story• Make sure your own product pins link

back to somewhere useful (NOT just your home page)

• Pinterest for Business (pdf)

Some examples of good use of Pinterest

• Whole Foods Market – food and aspirational kitchens

• How realtors are using Pinterest• NHL – note use of hashtags

What’s important

• High quality content – especially photographs

• Good descriptions (used for search too)/ aspirational messaging

• Encourage a sense of authentic community – not overbearing selling. Think long term

• Make sure the link goes somewhere useful. Every photo should have a relevant hyperlink

FACEBOOK

Facebook

• 11 years old (founded in 2004 – became a public company in 2012)

• At the end of Q4, 2014– 1.39 billion active users (log in once a month

or more)– 890 million daily users (745 million of them on

mobile)– Over 1 million advertisers– Revenues for the full year 2014 - $12.47 billion

• Mostly from advertising

So, what is a marketer to do?

• Marketers use Facebook for owned, earned, and paid media because….

• “Familiarity breeds acceptance.” Vaynerchuck

• “Hard to dismiss a platform as skewing too young, or too experimental, or too trendy, when your niece, your brother, your seventy-two-year-old dad…are on it” Vaynerchuck

Paradoxically, it is the size of the platform that causes the problem for marketers

• With that massive amount of content streaming into a users Newsfeed, it is almost impossible to get and keep attention.

• Marketers need to understand how Facebook manages the Newsfeed algorithm, called Edgerank– Video from Annalise Kaylor “Mastering

Facebook Edgerank” (29 minutes)

The Edgerank algorithm tweaked to reduce organic reach

• Analysis of more than 100 brand pages - organic reach was around 6 percent, a decline of 49 percent from October 2013

• For large pages with more than 500,000 Likes, organic reach hit 2 percent in February 2014

• “Organic reach of the content brands publish in Facebook is destined to hit zero. It’s only a matter of time.”

• Marketers being pushed to paid media

http://social.ogilvy.com/facebook-zero-considering-life-after-the-demise-of-organic-reach/

Other significant Edgerank changes aimed at reducing spam• Aimed at reducing spam

– “Likebaiting” – asking “News Feed readers to like, comment, or share the post in order to get additional distribution beyond what the post would normally receive” is now being targeted

– Frequently circulated content (ie. Reposting of memes etc)

– Spammy links (deceptively phrased)– Facebook is encouraging authentic conversation and

relationship building not begging or bribing fans

• Aimed at balancing posts from friends and posts from Pages in newsfeed– Further reduction in organic reach for brands and

other publishers

Facebook marketing products

• Facebook for business• Build a page, not a personal account– Some best practices in maximizing referr

als and driving activity on FB Pages (from FB itself)

• Facebook advertising products– Sponsored stories problem

• Boosted posts (also called Promoted Posts)

Facebook metrics• Earned media – engagement metrics

(we will look in a bit more detail at these later on)

• Facebook business products for measuring success with Pages and their advertising products– Page Insights– Ads Manager– Conversion tracking