Optimizing Social Media

Optimizing Social Media

A Portsmouth Startup Meetup presentation by Crystal Paradis | @laughtercrystal

Oh wait, none of these are about me

― David Foster Wallace

“It is named the ‘Web’ for good reason.”

Optimizing

• Being found

• Time management

• Return on investment (ROI)

Being found

• Social > Website

• Social proof

• Personality

• Convenience

Being found

• Connect conversations about you to contact info

• Know when people are talking about you

• Let your fans promote you!

Common advice ≠ Truth

“Only join social media channels that you have time to maintain.” — #donotagree

• At least be findable on Facebook & Twitter, at minimum

• Set up email notifications so you don’t unknowingly ignore people, but let them find your contact info!

Facebook• Complete “about” section

• Hours

• Website

• Phone Number

• Address

• Categories and Subcategories!

• Custom URL (possible baseline 25 likes)

• Photos (people! tags!)

https://www.facebook.com/business

Twitter

• Bio

• Products/Services

• Dates/Hours

• Extra links

• Hashtag if applicable

• Website! (or Fb page)

https://business.twitter.com/

LinkedIn

www.linkedin.com/company/

• Add as a Company Page

• (requires domain-name email address)

• Optimize images

• Add all specialties

• Have all employees LINK!

• Traffic through LinkedIn is high quality

Google Places

https://support.google.com/business/

• Photo

• Address(es)

• Hours

• Services

• SEO!!!

Time Management

Image credit: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/

Email Notifications!Settings

Settings

Settings change frequently, your screen may vary.

Time ManagementPosting frequency:

• Facebook

• Check daily

• Post 2x week

• Twitter

• Check daily

• Post 2x day

• LinkedIn

• Check daily

• Post 2x week

• Google +

• Share blog content

• Pinterest

• Share blog content

What if no one likes me?They probably just haven’t found you yet!

Tips to boost Likes:

• Invite all your friends

• Have stakeholders invite all their friends

• Give things away!

• Engage, engage, engage

Getting seen in the News Feed

• Don’t wait to be seen—email links of new posts to stakeholders, ask to like/comment/share

• USE PHOTOS! They get more eyeballs & shares lead back to your page.

• Tag ALL THE PEOPLE! (exponentially increase views)

• Cheat! Break it up with adorable animals or pretty photos of surroundings

• Think about what will stand out in the feed (this changes often)

#Twitter

• Tweetdeck!

• Lists!!!

• Follow your industry leaders

• Read, read, read

http://www.laughtercrystal.com/2013/12/05/twitter-101-getting-started-with-twitter-lists/

Building a Following

• Think about your audience

• Provide value

• Curate what YOU find valuable

• Invest time — you get what you give!

• Be awesome

Time Management• You get what you put into it!

• Minimum — 1-2 hours a day

• Set specific, measurable goals

• Get professional help

• If you outsource, outsource local

• Supplement with in-house

Time Management

• Content Calendar!

• Map out content each week

• Plan, but be flexible

• Consistent voice—one editor if multiple contributors

Content Calendar• Simple spreadsheet or

calendar (online or paper)

• Type of content to post each day on each channel

• Where possible, fill with actual content that you can easily cut and paste

• Experiment with series, trends, etc.

• Adjust based on performance (measure, analyze, adjust, repeat)

Professional Audit

Return on Investment

• Social—one of the few ways of advertising that you can truly measure

• Reporting!

• Sprout Social

• Hootsuite

• Native analytics

Should I buy #socialLOVE?• What are your goals?

• Pricing is very specific—is X amount of qualified views worth X amount of dollars?

• Big campaigns, events, promotions might be worth it

• Will definitely get more eyeballs, up to you if it’s worth it.

Is it working?• Conversions!

• Customers

• Traffic

• Visibility!

• Power of suggestion/exposure

• Personality to attract the right clients

• “Superfans” will talk you up

• Reporting, analytics, etc.

• Social media exclusive deals

• Ask! Mention your social media content IRL

Pinterest: Hubspot Twitter: @suddenlyjamie

Facebook: STREET Blogs: KISSmetrics, Copyblogger

LinkedIn: Mashable Google+: SeapointDigital

FMI

Also find me on all the things!

laughtercrystal.com

vtldesign.com

@laughtercrystal

@Vital_Design

#PortsmouthLOVE

@nhwritersproj

#portsbkfstclub

@socialseacoast

#TEDx03801

Questions?