Presented by Karen Porter UM School of Business Administration & ImpactOnlineMarketing.com Grow Your Business with Social Media - Without Losing Your Mind! ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Social Media Have You Frustrated? ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

How Many of You… Feel frustrated or confused about social media? Are regularly posting via ONE social medium? Are regularly using MORE than one social media? Are using: Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Google + Other ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

My Goal Today Provide relevant, reliable, and up-to-date information you can immediately put to use Pass along practical tips for effectively managing social media so that it doesn’t consume your life Put to rest “advice” that is well-intended but that may be derailing your social media efforts ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

The #1 Best Practice of Social Media Know your target market! What social media are THEY using? Where are they most likely to follow your business? What do they want to know about your business? What do they want to know that is related? Question: Is (are) the social media you are using now the BEST fit for reaching your target market? ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Quick Review of Top Social Trends and Social Networks in 2014 Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Google + Instagram ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

2014 Social Media Trends Facebook post reach continues to decline / paid ads are necessary to guarantee high reach Content MUST go beyond words – photos and video are a huge plus for stimulating engagement Growth in visual social networks : Instagram / Snapchat Google + gaining momentum and will become a significant player in 2014 Over 70% of employers are using social media as a screening tool when considering job applicants ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Facebook 2014 Largest social network with 1.2 Billion users 55% female/ 45% male; average user age is 41 Posts with photos get most interaction Internal scheduling tool works best: “Like” comments, comment on posts Reach continues to fall Great “effectiveness measurement” tool: Likealyzer.com ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Twitter 2014 Vibrant social network with 560 users Limits posts to 140 characters (recommended <120) Hashtags (#) started with Twitter Heavily used to follow news, celebrities, trending topics 55% female/ 45% male; 70% some college Skews younger than Facebook Difficult to build a “local” audience ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

LinkedIn 2014 Primarily a business network with 240 users Excellent B2B platform for businesses / consultants, etc 79% of users are age 35 or older LinkedIn updates tend to be best read Company pages can/should be developed Thousands of active groups for relevant participation ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Google High growth, now at 400 users (many “forced” by Google) Heavily skewed toward males; more educated Tech was early emphasis / focus now much broader Google known to “reward” Google+ users No internal pre-scheduling of posts / must use external tool such as Buffer or Sprout Social ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Pinterest million users 68% female / 32% male; females 5x likelier to be active Heavy emphasis on décor, babies, fashion, recipes, and weddings Visual in nature – best for visual products/services Need to verify account to access analytics ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Instagram million active users Owned by Facebook Users skew much younger – teens through 20s Focuses on photos and 15 second videos Photos & videos can be shared on other networks Just staring to be used by brands / businesses ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Social Media KISS – F.O.C.U.S. Focus – on 1-2 targeted social media platforms (make sure these are networks used by target market) One in four rule (1:4 “Sales” Rule) Sales – promote products / services directly Storytelling – about customers, people in business, philanthropy, etc Related info – related content of interest “Fun” content – related memes, cartoons, etc. Calendar – plan monthly / quarterly in advance Utility – use tools to make it easier (Sprout Social, Buffer, etc) Social – create content that is “share-worthy” ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

“Share-worthy” is KEY “Share-worthy is NOT: ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Share-worthy Content Is NOT: Pitch, pitch, pitch Self-serving all the time One-sided communication IS: Interactive – two way communication Involves your fans / followers / customers Engaging ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

What All This Means for You Use media that is right for your type of business Develop a social STRATEGY (don’t just try a hodge-podge of ideas hoping something will work) Use tools to help plan / post in advance and monitor / measure results Do NOT try to “do everything” – just do one or two really well and you’ll have much better success Focus on what you do best – consider outsourcing (just outsource wisely) ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Thank You! Please feel free to contact me: ImpactOnlineMarketing.com > Contact Get today’s PowerPoint presentation & more Upcoming online /social media courses ImpactOnlineMarketing.com