Catgory: Best Practices

Five Critical Components to a Solid Social Media Strategy

By Guest On June 2, 2015 In Best Practices, Social Media with 1 Comment

Sometimes I hate the term social media because it pins us to the platforms. For those who have read my blog before, this statement probably doesn’t surprise you. In my opinion, at the highest level, social media is a form of communication. The platforms may come and go, but the need to reach people online (in consumable, meaningful ways) will not.

I’ve seen the tunnel vision focus on platforms translate into strategy. And while platforms are obviously an important key to social media success, they are only a piece of the puzzle. I believe a good social media strategy is composed of building blocks. If you can lay the proper groundwork, then the result will be a strong social media strategy.

Below are my five basic, but critical, components to a solid social media plan:

1. Meaningful goals.

The best way “to do” social media is to be strategic. At the end of the day, your social media goals should map back to organizational goals.

Why are meaningful goals so important? I’ve read before that eight of 10 CEO’s don’t trust social media. In my opinion, the only way to change that perception to educate and demonstrate how social media can add value to organizations. This work begins with setting goals. Your goals should cascade down from organizational goals to make them meaningful. Keep that in the forefront of your mind as you embark on your goal-setting journey.

2. Content plan.

Interesting content is a top three reason people follow brands on social media (found here). In this day and age, good content is the key to standing out from all the noise.

At the heart of every social strategy should be a great content strategy. I firmly believe that working on a content plan before you focus on the platforms will help you tell a more meaningful and cohesive brand story. The key is to create a content plan that maps back to your overall goals, positions your product / organization in the right light and tells your story.

3. Defined brand voice.

Having a defined brand voice is a critical component to success. People want to connect with your vawoo.co.uk/vaping-space/ on a human level in social media. Your brand voice should reflect your company, be consistent and be one that you own. People will see right through your voice if it’s not authentic.

Make sure you take the time to build a brand voice. Doing the work upfront will help everyone in your organization tell a cohesive brand story in compelling fashion.

4. Platform strategy.

A platform strategy allows you to manage content distribution and messaging that best drives engagement, consumption and reach through each social media outlet. A good platform strategy understands that each platform is different, and it leverages those platforms in a way that is native to them (how are people using the platform? Mimic that the best you can). Remember, what works on what platform won’t work on the other… that’s always important to keep in mind.

5. Measurement for success.

Finally, every social media strategy should measure success (circling back to your overall goals). Make sure you are crunching meaningful numbers that can influence your work and / or demonstrate value. Additionally, you and your staff should be empowered to make changes based on the data. Why measure success if you can’t take action?

In my opinion, if you can develop these five key components the result will be a strong and meaningful social media strategy. It’s a lot of work, but it’s important. Additionally, this foundation will help you as your move on to other areas of strategy, such as cross-platform campaigns and influencer outreach.

So now it’s your turn…in your opinion, what components are critical to developing a solid social media strategy? 

 

10 Tactics That #Win On Twitter

By Guest On October 21, 2013 In Best Practices, Twitter with 1 Comment

One of the keys to a great Twitter presence is varying your tweets. If you never surprise your fans with different content, then how do you expect them to spread your message? Below are 10 easy messaging tactics to get your fans to share on Twitter:

1. Empathize with your fans.

2. Dish out a little banter (at the right time).

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It’s Okay Be a Little Human After a Loss

By Guest On September 30, 2013 In Best Practices, Twitter with 3 Comments

I think one of the most difficult tasks of a team’s social media manager is how to handle a loss. Your fans are a passionate group and this passion increases tenfold during a loss. One miswording can throw them into a tizzy. You have to tread lightly. I get it.

I’ve been following the Twitter coverage of college football teams this season though, and I’m convinced that a loss is an opportunity to show empathy, be relatable and be human. All too often I see tweets that read just like a box score:

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Creating Infographics? Keep These Five Things In Mind.

By Guest On September 4, 2013 In Best Practices

There is a trend underway in the digital / social media + sports landscape, and we’ve seen it even more since football has started… data visualization.  Infographics are being used to replace game notes, celebrate wins, compare matchups, highlight student-athlete stats, etc.

I love this trend toward data visualization. It makes sense. Here are just a few reasons why:

  • People are visual by nature. Sixty five percent of us are visual learners, according to the Social Science Research Network.
  • They help increase traffic to your website. Publishers who use infographics grow in traffic an average of 12% more than those who don’t (source here).
  • Infographics are easier to consume. It takes us less than 1/10 of a second to get a sense of a visual scene (Merieb, E. N. & Hoehn, K. Human Anatomy & Physiology).
  • Still not convinced? This should do the trick.

If you decide infographics should be a part of your content plan– or they already are– here are five things you need to consider to make them bigger, better and more meaningful:

1. Make sure you have the basics down.
As with any piece of content, infographics need to have a purpose.  Content without purpose is like driving without a destination (it’s pointless). If you plan to create an infographic, make sure you have a firm understanding of the objectives, audience, goals, etc.  If you need help setting content marketing goals, this can help.

2. Try to find a common theme / story.
The best infographics I’ve seen use data to tell a story. It’s not enough to simply take data and turn it into a pretty picture. Take the time to figure out how you can weave all the data together to tell a story. Storytelling is a powerful mechanism that increases virality, so in the long run, the extra time spent number crunching and analyzing will be well worth it.

3. Create an amplification plan.
You can’t expect to post your infographic on the web and have it take off on it’s own;  it needs a push or two or more.  Make sure you come up with a plan for amplification before your infographic goes live. Figure out how you can slice and dice your infographic into smaller pieces of content for your social media platforms. Find the most tweet-able nuggets to share with a link to the full piece. Know which social media platforms it will do best on. Remember, really great content is worth sharing more than once.

4. Differentiate the content / theme from week-to-week.
If you plan to create an infographic every week (like game notes for football), make sure you have a content plan to differentiate the infographics. If your infographics look the same every week, you’ll eventually lose your audience. You don’t have to share every great nugget all at once.  Pace yourself. 

5. Measure your success.
One of the best things about the social and digital space is the instant access we have to feedback and data. Make sure you take a look at the data available to understand what worked with the infographic and what didn’t. Page views, reach, shares, engagement and sentiment are just a few ways you can measure success depending on your goals.

Now it’s your turn… have you used infographics before? If so, what were your keys to success?

How Do I Get Better Engagement On My Facebook Posts?

By Guest On August 23, 2013 In Best Practices, Facebook

Despite the doom and gloom we sometimes see about the state of Facebook, Mark Zuckberberg’s empire still reigns over all other social media platforms.  With close to a billion active users on the site (compared to Twitter’s 200 million and Instagram’s 130 million), it’s a platform that we have to embrace and one where we need to continue to innovate.

Aside from the number of active users, I have other reasons to believe Facebook is still a huge asset to sport teams and leagues. Here is why:

  • Facebook has created a platform that plays to visuals; visuals allow us to portray the emotion in sports and high arousal compels people to share.
  • Facebook users share 2.5B pieces of content on the site each day according to Nielsen.
  • According to State of Search, 47% of Americans say that Facebook has a greater impact on their purchasing behavior than any other social network (hello ticket sales).

My point is this:  As we all get excited about new and emerging platforms, we can’t neglect Facebook . Additionally, we need to make sure what we are doing on the platform is meaningful.
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