Social Media Made Easy 2.0 Take the necessary steps to grow your business. 2 | Social Media Made Easy 2.0 - Table of Contents Table of Contents Introduction 3 Facebook 4 Twitter 11 Pinterest 19 Google+ 23 LinkedIn 26 Foursquare 32 Yelp 37 Groupon 40 Living Social 44 In Closing 48 3 | Social Media Made Easy 2.0 - Introduction Introduction Does this sound familiar? “I don’t do facebook.” “It seems like a complete waste of time.” “Why would people care what I had for dinner?” “I don’t want people all up in my business.” These are the words of friends, co-workers, and family members. These are the words of people that either do not want to get engaged or maybe are just a little confused about how to. This guide has been developed for those that are interested in participating, but may be confused with all of the options, terminology, and ins and outs of the various social networking sites. Despite what some may think, social networking is not new. Social networks have been around for far longer than we have been online. We’ve all belonged to social networks, and we still participate in social networks whether we realize it or not. More importantly, social media use has skyrocketed in the last 6 years, with a 356% increase in the U.S. alone. This social networking guide will help you understand some of the most popular social networking sites - both for businesses and individuals. Have you ever met someone at a social gathering and found that you didn’t have much to talk about until you found out you both went to the same college? Suddenly, you have plenty to talk about. Social networking online is not much different. At first, you may find yourself alone, but as you partici- pate, your list will grow. And, like life, the more you participate, the more you will get out of it. Social networking is about engagement and building relationships. We hope this guide will help get you started and give you the confidence you need to get off the fence. 4 | Social Media Made Easy 2.0 - Facebook Facebook What is Facebook? Facebook is a social networking service and website. Facebook has more than 900 million active users, who may create a personal profile, add other users as friends, and exchange messages, including automatic notifications when they update their profile. Facebook users must register before using the site. Additionally, users may join common-interest user groups, organized by workplace, school or college, or other characteristics. Why Your Business Should Join Facebook If you have a business, and you’re not on Facebook, you’re passing up a fantastic opportunity to grow your business and connect with potential customers. Facebook is one of the most powerful tools for new businesses building a presence online. If you’re not making the most of the possibilities it offers, you are not doing everything you can to attract new business. Social media sites, like Facebook, are revolutionizing the way businesses connect with customers. Your business should be a part of that. Facebook Basics for Your Business Facebook Pages Profiles exist for individuals who use Facebook, and pages exist for businesses, causes and organizations (referred to as “business” from here on out for simplicity). The page needs to be associated with an e-mail address for the person in charge of the entity. You start the process by providing contact information, adding an image (company logo or a picture identifying your company), notifying your fans, assigning administrators (the people who will have control and access to the page for posting and managing), and promoting the page. Facebook Groups While a page is created by the business and associated with someone who runs the page, groups are supposed to be created by those outside the business who want to talk about the business. The best analogy for a Facebook group is that it is like a blog that the business itself does not sponsor or participate in. Facebook Ads Facebook ads allow you to promote your business to the 900 million users of the site. You can hone in on demographics to be associated with your ad such as location and age and pay only when the ad is clicked upon. This is a great tool to use once you have the Facebook page up and running and want to draw more attention (in the form of potential customers) to it. Facebook ads are not very expensive and you can easily experiment with them. 5 | Social Media Made Easy 2.0 - Facebook Facebook Places Facebook Places is an application that lets users “check-in” to businesses and locations on their mobile phone, so friends know where they’re hanging out and what they’re doing. If a business has their address updated on their Facebook page, the check-in application will recognize the user’s location and will update the check-in through the business page. If the location is not reconized, users can “create a place”. The user can add a title and details to this “place” and save it to Facebook’s database. Businesses can claim these places by searching for their name in the Facebook search bar. When they find Places that users created for the business, they simply “claim” the page through a verification of ownership process. Once the Place is claimed by the business, users can check-in directly to the business with the check-in application. Define Your Goal for Your Business on Facebook You will need to ensure that you create your social networking strategy on Facebook, as well as build a professional and appealing page on Facebook. Find Quality Business Connections on Facebook You can find quality business connections on Facebook by doing a direct search in your niche through the Facebook search bar. Search for businesses that appeal to your business, demonstrate similar interests or personalities, and are somehow related to your business, but are not direct competitors. Give them a “Like” by clicking the “Like” button at the top of their page, and chances are they will return the favor. Create a Company Blog and Link to Your Facebook Business Page Create articles based on your niche on Facebook that will import from your blog or website. You should also create videos based on your niche on Facebook. How Your Business Can Use Facebook Effectively How Often Should You Post on Facebook? Writing once a day is great. If you are writing every half hour or every hour, it would definitely be too much. With that said, you may have times when you want to update your status on Facebook more often than once a day, depending on how much you need to communicate and how much is going on in your business. Always ensure that you post content that your readers find interesting and relevant. The more useful the information, the more often they will return to your website or Facebook page. Think Content The most effective way to drive interactions on your Facebook page is by creating fresh and unique content. Your followers can start a discussion when they have an interesting topic to tackle. Don’t blast your network with promotional materials, but post content valuable to the community. Rest assured they will want to share that further. 6 | Social Media Made Easy 2.0 - Facebook Stay in Touch Constantly Respond to fans and people who “like” your company as many times as possible. If they have a question or a request, spend the time to address these. Though this takes time, it helps strengthen your brand and drive happy reviews. Graphics Matter Using images and photos on Facebook is critical to attracting people’s attention. Multimedia messages present an effective marketing channel that more companies can now leverage. Even a simple step like letting people tag your photos can turn into a great opportunity. Not only do graphic images create higher levels of engagement with fans, but when you allow people to tag themselves (and their friends), it will generate more exposure for your company over this vast social media platform. Don’t be Sales-ey Publishing your own content on Facebook depends on the frequency and character of your content creation. If you have an active blog that is not product-oriented, but provides resources your fans will find educational, share these links. Same goes for your new videos and presentations. Become an Industry Resource Though Facebook seems like a great marketing channel for business-to-customer companies like Starbucks and Coca-Cola, it is also successfully used by many business-to-business companies. B2B companies can use Facebook to “become an industry resource.” Facebook Timeline Facebook Timeline is the newest layout available for personal and business pages. This unique layout divides your profile into two main columns, with a line down the middle representing the passage of time. The very top of your page lists your notifications, new likes, page insights, private messages, and even page tips. Fans can see every post, photo, video, and status update from your business, since the inception of the Facebook page. In addition to uploading a profile picture, you are able to create a unique cover photo to showcase your brand. Distribute Power Social media for business should be distributed among several team members. That gives you the opportunity to experiment with different communication styles and add a richer set of content ideas and engagement tactics. It is important that everyone on your team is on the same page for when to post, what to post, and how to respond to critism and feedback.