5 Social Media Tips NOT to Follow

As social media strategists, we always talk about the best practices to implement -- but rarely do we discuss which not to follow when executing a digital program. Here are a few tips to stay away from to be as successful as possible on social media:

1. Place all of your attention on one platform. Although it's suggested to focus on the larger social platforms such as Facebook or Twitter to reach the largest audience, neither one is the end-all, be-all. Instead, take the time to find out where your audience is and try various platforms to determine where your business will be the most successful.

2. Have a presence on every social platform. We encourage you to try new platforms, but they may not all be the right fit for your company. Instead, choose a few that you see the most engagement on and be mindful not to spread yourself too thin. Remember: it's quality versus quantity!

3. You should automate all of your posts. We're all for scheduling tweets or posts to help make your life easier, but the majority of your content should be done in real time. Why? Because your company will come across as being more authentic, which will translate positively across platforms to your audiences, creating more brand loyalists.

4. Delete negative comments to protect the company. It may seem natural to delete not-so-flattering commentary about your business to save face, but it actually makes your brand look less transparent. Embrace all comments from users and react in a polite manner to increase the chance of changing a fan's opinion, instead of pushing them away.

5. You don't need to pay a cent with social media. Yes, many social platforms are free to use, but don't be fooled! A successful digital strategy typically includes having a budget (whether small or large) that support an individual or team to monitor and engage with fans on multiple platforms, obtain analytics to measure ROI better and fund advertising or sponsored posts to get your message to the largest number of fans possible.

Tell us: What other tips would you recommend brands NOT to follow on social? 

-- Samantha & Mike

Business Reviews to Change Future Facebook Marketing

As you may have noticed, Facebook has begun to introduce their latest roll out: business reviews. In the same fashion that fans can rate movies or books on a one to five star scale, Facebook is now letting users rate brand pages in the same fashion. Such ratings have started popping up on varying business pages to the right of the company's name at the top of the Facebook page.

According to TechCrunch, the new rating system is available to a small group of pages --for now. In addition to the new search functions added to the platform last year, the business reviews will show up when fans search for particular topics like "restaurants nearby", etc.

A spokesperson from Facebook noted, “Star ratings encourage more people to rate a business, making it eligible to appear in News Feed and help others discover a business they didn’t know about previously. For businesses themselves, this also leads to greater brand awareness.”

It has yet to be determined whether or not the rating system will be mandatory for brands to use on pages. If they do become a default, brands will need to rethink how they are engaging and marketing to fans, as the page will inherently function more as a customer service platform. Because many users have varying reasons for Liking a page, an in-your-face star rating would certainly play a part in whether or not one engages with it -- just as it does for other review sites like Yelp and Angie's List. Personally, we're looking forward to see how this roll out will impact small businesses in the future.

Tell us: Have you seen the new business rating system on Facebook pages? If so, how do you think it'll impact upcoming marketing efforts?

-- Samantha

Social Commerce Growth with Hashtags

Over the past few years, many social platforms have tried their hand at social commerce: the act of purchasing goods via social media. Although social commerce (a $14.25 billion industry) has seen its ups and downs, it's becoming increasingly more popular -- thanks in part to the hashtag.

Hashtags first began on Twitter, then grew to be included on other social sites like Instagram, Facebook and Google+, etc. They're essentially labels that help aggregate content and are very helpful for those who are interested in the same topic.

When it comes to searching online, businesses are using hashtags as connecting links between social networks. No longer is it simply social marketing, but it has truly become social commerce with a component of virality that includes discounts, coupons and more. When a friend buys something online via social, it is assumed that their friends will see the purchase and be prone to buy something as well. When you tie in hashtags, whether targeted or more general, a brand is automatically reaching a larger audience across multiple platforms.

As many researchers have found, the majority of the population go on social media to shop, read reviews (from strangers or friends) and more. Although those specific social platforms in use may vary, hashtags tie particular topics together while maintaining streamlined and simple programs for the user.

Today, companies like American Express have teamed up with Twitter to create a way to instantly shop with the use of an "actiontag." A user would simply tweet/post the distinctly branded "actiontag" which would automatically purchase the product. Additionally, hashtags are being used across a multitude of websites (to better filter content for fans), contests (to spark creativity) and even to help distribute discounts online, which in turn have proved to go viral with fans.

Although there's a lot more to witness as the relationship between social commerce and hashtags blossoms, we hope businesses will use the hashtag more creatively and effectively to promote sales in the future.

Tell us: Does your small business use hashtags in current marketing programs?

-- Samantha

Small Business Growth Through Digital Media

In today's world, small businesses must accept and embrace digital media.  Having said this, there are often limiting factors (from financial to a lack of knowledge) that can impact companies from figuring out how to successfully integrate a social strategy with an already existing more-traditional marketing strategy.

Reports from the National Small Business Association's 2013 Technology Survey state that one in 10 small companies do not have a website and about 30% of them don't use social media.

Thankfully, there are many options for small business to engage with their customers, partners, etc. through digital media. Whether it includes Facebook posts, tweets or videos, the options are endless -- and quite easy to execute if the right strategy is developed beforehand.

For those who don't believe in the benefits of social media or don't believe that they have enough time to entertain such ideas, they're missing out on wonderful marketing opportunities. If used correctly, small businesses can not only grow their own communities and overall brand awareness, but their sales as well. 

According to PQ Media, "digital media usage among U.S. consumers is estimated at nearly 15 hours per week. By 2017, it's expected to hit 19.30 hours per week" (USA Today article). By these numbers alone, it's clear that to be top of mind for the consumer, one must be active within social media. This doesn't mean you have to bump an important project off the books, but instead think of it as a benefit to the company (rather than a burden). By taking a little time each day to be active (monitor what people are saying about you, post interesting updates, form relationships with the audience, etc.) you can create brand loyalists that can take your company to the next level.

It will take time, but it will be worth it. Here are a few ways to get started!

• Find out what others are saying about you. Google or Bing your company and be 100% aware of what you find as a result. Turns out, your customers (both current and future) are doing the same thing and it's critical to know what people are finding.
• Market your social presence everywhere. Add social information (like Facebook and Twitter links) on business cards, your website and within emails so as many eyes as possible see your digital efforts and can later connect with the brand online.
• Insert your company into the conversation. Don't post company-centric information only. Instead, find out what your fans are talking about and post/tweet with something that relates! For instance, if you're own a exercise company, try posting lifestyle-themed content like healthy recipes or exciting workout tips to keep your audience engaged and wanting more.
• Be successful on mobile. Over half of the adult population owns a smartphone, while slightly less own a tablet as well. Because of this, your company website, social presence, etc. must show up clearly and work properly for those who are not on a desktop computer.

Tell us: What is your small business doing to enter the digital world?

-- Samantha

How to Use TweetDeck

Need an easy platform or management tool to help you juggle multiple Twitter accounts at the same time? Try TweetDeck by Twitter. No only does it make it easy to multitask, but there are options to schedule tweets and track multiple keywords/hashtags, etc.

TweetDeck has a new version which boasts a better layout and backend framework that is truly derived from the Internet. Now, you can access TD through multiple browsers including Firefox and Google Chrome and can be obtained for Windows 7 or OS X (versus only limited options previously).

Want a log in right now? Head to http://web.tweetdeck.com to start your own account.

Getting Started:

As soon as you've created your own log in, you can add multiple Twitter accounts to the dashboard by clicking on the (+) Add Column button at the top of the screen. Each column on the dashboard will keep one feed of information visible and will be set based on your own preferences. We prefer to keep columns like the Timeline (similar to the typical Twitter newsfeed you see at Twitter.com), Interactions (to see who has recently mentioned us), Messages (to track direct/private messages) and several unique #'s to make sure that we're staying up to date with current conversations that are happening around us.

Scheduling a Tweet

The best part about TweetDeck is the ability to schedule updates at specific times. This function will allow you to queue up your tweets for the upcoming day or week (or month), so that you have time to do other important things! Keep in mind: We don't recommend scheduling tweets too far in the future as you still want your content to remain relevant with your audience.

To schedule a tweet, simply click the blue icon in the upper right (or left) hand corner which will let type out your tweet and subsequently, change the future posting settings. Be sure to double check the date and time of your intended scheduled tweet before clicking the "Tweet" button to set the tweet.

TIP: Add another column to your dashboard that contains future tweets. This way, you'll be able to easily delete, add or change scheduled tweets.

And there you have it! A simple platform to use to help manage all of those interesting accounts that you're using -- or following! We use TD daily and believe that it helps us stay up to date with the hottest conversations taking place around the world and more easily allows us to tweet succinctly and successfully to our target audience(s).

Tell us: What management system do you use to organize your social accounts?

Samantha & Mike

Worried About Instagram Ads?

We all hate ads being shoved in our face left and right, but don't be scared, it seems Instagram's new ad campaign will actually be pretty pleasant. Pleasant ads? Hard to believe we know, but Instagram is being very careful not to repeat mistakes made by Facebook when they first introduced ads. Instagram plans to slowly integrate these new "promoted" posts by allowing only a few, hand-picked, brands with successful existing accounts. Such brands include, Levi's, Ben & Jerry's, General Electric and PayPal. By only allowing access to these big, well funded brands, the posts are much more likely to be high quality, enjoyable photos. Here are two examples from Levi's and Instagram themselves:

As you can see, these are actually pretty cool photos. If you don't agree and would rather not see a certain add, you even have the ability to click on the "..." in the bottom right-hand corner and hide and provide feedback on the ad. This will help Instagram learn what you like and provide more appropriate ads in the future.

Will these ads continue to be visually appealing and unobtrusive as time goes on? We will have to wait and see. No one really likes ads, but it is refreshing to see that Instagram is making the user experience its number one priority. How do you feel about this new introduction?

Mike & Samantha

What is More Important to Teen Buying, Twitter or Facebook?

We have been seeing more and more data indicating that Facebook's popularity among teens is fading. What was once the coolest social media platform has been losing ground to others, like Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, etc. An October 10th survey of 8,650 teens by Piper Jaffray, looked at the popularity of the two mega-platforms in relation to purchasing influence.

Unlike most studies we see, this one focused solely on how each platform influences teens on what hey buy. Although friends still take the top spot as most influential, the internet is gaining ground as number two. More than half of the teens studied admitted that social media plays a part in their purchases. The social media platform that proved most influential was Twitter, followed by Facebook, with Instagram coming in third. With their looming IPO, this seems to be some promising information for Twitter.

Of course, Facebook still takes top honors as most dominate platform. Facebook boasts 94% of teens having an account, however, that number seems to have plateaued. Although the user base is smaller, Twitter is on the rise with teen users doubling since 2011 at 26%.

We are very interested to see what happens with the fast approaching Twitter IPO. Will it get over-hyped like Facebook and crash right out of the gate?  Or has Twitter learned from Facebook's mistake and planned a more conservative launch. Let us know what you think.

-Mike & Samantha