I had the pleasure of representing Social Ape at Social Media Marketing World in San Diego last week and I must say that it was an incredible experience. Not only did I meet new people who have the same passion for social media and marketing that I do, but I learned so much from the dozen sessions and panels that I attended. I was also able to see several of the folks speak who have paved the way for social media marketers and continue to inspire me on a daily basis.
I returned to Charlotte with 14 pages of notes and the opportunity to listen to ALL of the sessions at the conference via audio recordings. But for those of you who weren’t able to attend, we’ve put together a list of takeaways from the event and included the tools and strategies that your business should be investing in over the next year. I hope the list is helpful!
-April
Snapchat
Strategy Tips:
- Snapchat is the social media network to “un-brand” your brand. It is an opportunity to be real with your fans and followers. When people see brands having fun on Snapchat, they become more interested.
- Use more colors and drawings when possible in snaps
- Don’t let your followers consume ALL of the content. Keep your snaps as short as possible, giving them just enough time to view the content.
- Create Snapchat stories that will last 24 hours. Create short snaps to “bump” your content back to the top of followers’ lists then after 24 hours, take a break to let the story disappear.
- Give away freebies to make snap viewers feel important
Content Examples:
- Show your business behind-the-scenes using a combination of video, photos, drawings, interviews, etc.
Contest Examples:
- Send a snap with a bit.ly URL and ask your followers to take a screen shot of it, then visit that specific page later to enter a contest
- Create a digital maze then ask your followers to find their way through the maze and send a screen shot back with the solution. The first person to send the correct solution back will win the contest. (Mind blown!)
- Create a scavenger hunt by snapping photos of where the hidden prizes are located. The first person to find the prize will win!
Live Video (Periscope, Facebook Live)
Strategy Tips:
- Reveal what your followers are missing by going behind the curtain using live video
- Inform followers of critical situations that need live updates or give insight to live events
- Create a blog post to summarize the questions asked during the live video and embed the video in the post
- Share “snackable” content to share and promote live video
- When working with Influencers, choose influencers who understand your niche, not the influencers who have the most followers
Content Examples:
- Southwest Airlines answered questions on Periscope during a storm where there were lots of delays and cancellations. They confronted a difficult situation head-on to provide transparency for customers.
- Southwest Airlines also live-streamed the unveiling of a new plane to give customers a sneak peek
Social Media Customer Service
Strategy Tips:
- Embrace complaints! Answer them every time and in every channel.
- Only reply twice to complaints. Do not let the user publicly shame you. First, apologize publicly (for the “spectators”) and ask the user to send you their contact information. Take the conversation offline. If the user refuses even after this attempt, walk away. It will only make the situation worse if you continue to engage.
- Treat online and offline customers the same. You wouldn’t ignore someone calling your business to complain, so why would you ignore someone complaining via social media?
- Do not ignore review sites, including Yelp
Facebook Ads for Online Businesses
Strategy Tips:
- Make list-building a priority. Which “bucket” will each person end up? Create Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced buckets and place appropriate users in those buckets based on their behavior.
- Create an awesome piece of content that will draw people in and make them click through. It is MUCH cheaper to do this than asking users to buy right away. Once you do this, you can create other actions. Selling to warm leads is more successful than selling to cold leads.
- When using images in Facebook Ads, photos of the person selling the product work better with people who already know that person. For people who are not familiar with this person, clean graphic images work the best.
- Use pixels (conversion codes) to create a funnel. If people have already opted in on your website, create a different path for them compared to someone who have not opted in.
Questions to Ask:
- What is my trigger for these people? What can I give to them that will provide value?
- What is the end goal? How do I get there?
Strategy Tips:
- Edit your LinkedIn profile to people you want to attract today and even tomorrow. By adding more keywords that suit your needs now, you’ll be able to attract those type of people.
- Create your profile to solve problems for the people looking for you on LinkedIn. What problem do you solve? How can you help future clients or employers?
- Include personal tidbits in your profile to appear more personable.
- Give endorsements to 10+ people per day to encourage them to do the same. Genuinely give recommendations to your peers and ask for them in return.
- Tip: Turn off profile updates when you edit your profile! You don’t want to “spam” your connections when you overhaul your profile.
- According to LinkedIn, one update on LinkedIn per day will result in reaching 60% of your connections. Post interesting ideas and insights at least once a day.
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