DIGITAL - How to Conduct a Social Media Audit

Measuring social media is always a challenge.

A great tool for digital marketers is a social media audit.

A social media audit is the process of reviewing what’s working, what’s failing and what can be improved upon across your social media channels.

When you conduct a social media audit, you collect and analyze data from all of your social media accounts looking closely at your activity, results, audience, and financial investments.

And there are a plenty of tools out there to help you create a social media audit that works for your company or organization.

Hootsuite has a template for an audit so you don’t even have to create the document - just fill in the blanks.

Social Media Examiner recently posted an article about how to conduct an audit that also has information about the value of the results.

The format of Harvard Business Review’s template - which includes who, where, what, when, why and opportunity - provides a clear and simple result that is easy to understand and develop future goals from.

A Sproutsocial blog post has detailed information to help you determine what you want to include in your template, how to determine the best and worst performing channels, and even reminds you to check your branding across all your digital marketing efforts.

While audits take time, they are important to help keep a business on track and meeting organization goals.

They don’t need to be done weekly or even monthly.

Most organizations complete a social media audit quarterly, twice per year or annually.

DIGITAL - Live Video: Tips and Techniques for Creating Great Content

Live video - everybody’s talking about it, everyone says you should do it, and you need to do it well.

Social Media Examiner’s latest podcast features Alex Khan, the founder of Attractive Media, a German social media agency that helps businesses with live video.

Khan says that in only two years, he’s built his audience from nothing to 230,000 followers and 55 million hearts on Periscope, and he shares tips for creating great content.

According to the podcast, Khan believes people watching live video are always interested in five topics:

• Personal stories
• Behind the scenes
• Q&A’s
• Giveaways
• Sneak peeks

And your video doesn’t need to be limited to one topic, you can incorporate more.

The good news he shares is there is no expectation of perfection when you’re live - the medium is appealing because it replicates the way people connect and talk to each other in real life.

Khan shares the best ways to open and end a live stream and when to ask for a share or follow - hint: it’s not at the end - and he goes on to discuss code word strategy, software that adds graphics and animation, and much more.

Listen to the entire podcast of Live Video: Tips and Techniques for Creating Great Content.

DIGITAL - Cool Tools for Social Media Marketers

Looking for tools or apps that can correct your grammar and spelling, create motion graphics, provide 'caller ID' for email, or create graphics of your Google Analytics data?

Social Media Examiner has come up with 23 Cool Tools for social media professionals.

Everyone has hit publish on a post without realizing there was a spelling or grammar error - sometimes only learning about the blunder when a reader makes a negative comment.

You can prevent those embarrassing mistakes by using Grammarly.

Grammarly, which has free and paid versions, is software as well as a browser extension so you can drop documents to be reviewed or have it correct as you type on the web.

If you are looking for an editor, Editorr has a team of them who will take your press release or post and polish it.

The first 100 words are free, after that you pay for words as you go.

Google Data Studio will take the data from Google Analytics and lay it out in a dashboard with components of your choosing.

Pie charts, bar charts, geomapping - they are all available to step up your social media reports.

Motion graphics are made simple with Ripl which allows moving text, captions, and video.

Want to know the details of a person sending you an email without looking them up? Use Senders.

Senders will give you the person’s name, title, and bio, along with links to his or her Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook accounts.

It shares last tweets, their Twitter follower count, links to the Google search for that person and is free.

You can have some fun with FUNIPICA - a lens you can clip onto your laptop, computer or smartphone which gives you a super-wide lens with a slight fisheye effect.

Want to get close up and personal? Unscrew the top of the FUNIPICA and it turns into a 15x macro.

There are cool tools in the Social Media Examiner post that will publish to Instagram and Twitter, send meeting invitations that include available meeting times pulled directly from your Google Calendar, manage an overload of tabs on your browser and much more.

Read the entire article.

DIGITAL - LinkedIn Changes: What Marketers Need to Know

Design changes to LinkedIn are rolling out to account holders.

Many of the updates align the desktop version more closely to the mobile version - making a smoother transition between the two.

The dimensions of the background photo have changed and LinkedIn has made it easier to write posts, find new contacts and interact with connections.

The content sharing section is in the centre of the clean looking homepage and includes an easy to access button to create an article, which is the same as publishing a long-form post on LinkedIn Publisher.

The biggest change is to the Search section which no longer has the advanced search options - you need to purchase LinkedIn Premium for advanced search, saved search and tagging.

The profile section is now called Me - just like the mobile app - and contains a new section called Accomplishments where you can add publications, courses, projects, certifications, honours, awards and patents.

Interactions have been given their own section in the new interface. The section also includes who has followed you, engaged with your content, has a work anniversary or published an article, and more.

Messaging, Jobs and Ads seem to be the only areas that have not been changed.

Vivika von Rosen, author of "LinkedIn Marketing: Hour A Day" and listed on two of Forbes “Most Influential Social Media” lists, has written a comprehensive account of the LinkedIn interface changes for Social Media Examiner.

Read her entire article.

DIGITAL - 10 Ways to Grow an Organic Instagram Presence

Instagram offers businesses the opportunity to reach new users without buying ads.

 

With that opportunity, and over 500,000 active monthly users, it’s not surprising experts are predicting that over 70% of brands will be using the platform in 2017.

Sue B. Zimmerman, a featured speaker and recognized Instagram expert, provided Social Media Examiner with 10 Ways to Grow an Organic Instagram Presence.

While you may be aware of the importance of posting consistently, responding to everyone who engages with your posts, and leaving thoughtful - not generic - comments, Zimmerman’s professional tips go a step farther.

Cross-promote to gain followers

If you have a blog or are on Twitter, Facebook, or Snapchat, you’ll want to broadcast and amplify the fact that you’re also on Instagram.

Add emojis to boost discoverability

Instagram reports that nearly 50% of all captions and comments on Instagram now have an emoji or two.

Use audience preferences to inform your content strategy

It’s important to go back through your photos periodically to see which posts got the most likes and comments. This helps you serve up more of what your followers are interested in and weed out the types of posts that don’t perform well.

Create quote graphics to reach new users through shares

Sharing quotes in images on Instagram isn’t an unheard-of tactic, but it’s important to post only high-quality pictures and take time to select quotes that are relevant and meaningful to your target audience.

Offer “share for shares” to boost exposure

You offer to share an account or a product post that’s relevant to your own brand and your partner agrees to do the same for you.

Go into the detail of these Instagram tips and five more - read the entire article.

DIGITAL - Free Sample Class from Social Media Marketing World Conference

Social Media Marketing World, presented by Social Media Examiner, is touted as the world’s largest social media marketing conference with 4,000 attendees and over 120 of the world’s top social media pros.

The three-day event takes place in San Diego, California on March 22, 23 and 24, 2017.

Attendees can choose from over 120+ expert-led sessions and workshops covering social media tactics to content creation to social strategy.

New in 2017 is the Creator Series with over 40 sessions dedicated to vlogging, blogging, podcasts and live video.

Extensive networking is built into the event because the power of social media is, of course, the social networking opportunities it provides.

Keynotes include Turning Customers Into Life-Long Advocates in the First 100 Days with Joey Coleman, a customer advocacy consultant and coach who has worked with Hyatt Hotels, NASA and Zappos, and Michael Stelzner speaking on Social Media Marketing in 2017: What the Newest Research Reveals.

Stelzner is the founder of Social Media Examiner.

Registration includes:

• All 120+ expert-led track sessions, workshops and keynotes
• Access to the Networking Plaza
• Access and transportation to the opening-night networking party on the USS Midway aircraft carrier on Wednesday evening
• Access to the second-night party on Thursday evening
• Continental breakfast on Thursday and Friday
• Lunch on Thursday and Friday
• Recordings Pass for audio access to all sessions, workshops and keynotes for one year.

Airfare and hotel accommodations are not included in the registration fee but attendees receive the best rate at affiliated hotels.

If a trip to San Diego is not an option, virtual passes are available which give purchasers full access to recordings of every session.

Unsure if the conference is for you? Try a free sample class.

View a presentation by Mark Schaefer, author of The Tao of Twitter and The Content Code, as he discusses the biggest obstacles to social media (Return on Investment, Reach and Resources) and how to overcome them.

DIGITAL - How to Achieve YouTube Growth

If you already have a YouTube channel and want to optimize it to get more subscribers, or are starting a new channel, Social Media Examiner has a podcast for you.

The podcast features Tim Schmoyer, founder of Video Creators, a YouTube channel and website that helps people grow their YouTube subscribers.

Schmoyer has over 200,000 subscribers, over 10 years of experience and millions of views.

He stresses the importance of your channel having a focus, targeting a specific group of people and delivering a very specific value.

Three mistakes people/organizations make on YouTube:

• The belief you need high-end production and equipment when viewers are actually very forgiving of a shaky camera when the content is valuable.
• Lack of attention to creating title and thumbnails when most traffic comes from suggested videos by YouTube - where viewers click when enticed by titles and thumbnails.
• Taking too long to hook viewers when you have 15 seconds maximum to make that click worthwhile.

Having a channel strategy and customizing your channel are all touched on in the podcast.

Schmoyer says most people don’t realize it, but the majority of viewers subscribe by clicking the red subscribe button underneath the header image, as opposed to the subscribe button underneath every video. So customization is key.

A channel trailer is important and it shouldn’t be your best video. The job of the trailer is to communicate your value succinctly.

Another area to focus on is the playlists beneath your trailer because these are examples for potential subscribers.

To really grow an audience, Schmoyer says you need to do four things:

• First, deliver good value to viewers.
• Second, do it consistently.
• Third, ask people to subscribe.
• And fourth, tell viewers why they should subscribe.

Listen to the entire podcast to learn all the details for a successful YouTube channel.

DIGITAL - How to Promote Your Product on Facebook

Are you looking for new ways to promote your product that also helps build trust, grow your audience and increase brand engagement?

Social Media Examiner has come up with some fresh ideas in their Five Ways to Promote Your Products On Facebook.

Ask Fans to Show Their Love

Set up a user-generated content campaign where you ask customers to share photos and videos of them using, wearing or talking about your product.

This type of campaign shows your product in an authentic way and can help you reach a wider audience as the post will be seen by all your customers’ friends.

Demonstrate Creative Ways to Use Your Product

Customers want to know and it doesn’t need to be fancy. Simple video demonstrations that you create or customer video that you share work well.

Incentivize Word-of-Mouth Referrals

Create a loyalty program where you can reward customers for referring friends to your business by sharing your page with their Facebook friends.

Build Trust With Ratings and Reviews

Facebook has a ratings tab that you just need to activate.

Make sure when you ask your fans for ratings and reviews, don’t be intrusive or offer incentives and always follow Facebook’s Community Guidelines.

Target Prospects With Facebook Ads

You can use your own company data and Facebook Insights to target audiences similar to your current buyers.

Read the entire article for all the details.

DIGITAL - 2016 Social Media Marketing Industry Report

After surveying over 5,000 marketers, Social Media Examiner recently released its eighth annual social media study.

In this free report, you’ll discover:

• What social platforms marketers will focus on in the future
• The top social media questions marketers want answered
• How much time marketers invest in social media activities
• The top benefits of social media marketing and how time invested affects results
• The most common forms of content for social media marketing.

The report also examines the role of content in social media marketing, live video, paid social media, how marketers respond when new networks emerge, and how bloggers re-publish their content.

They take a look at how business-to-business companies' social marketing differs from business-to-consumer companies. Also highlighted are the significant changes since the 2015 study.

Download your free copy here.

DIGITAL - Measure Social Media Using Google Analytics

If you’re using Google Analytics and looking for a way to measure your social media, look no further.

Social Media Examiner has come up with four ways to use Google to determine how digital media affects your business.

Verify Social as a Traffic Driver

Google Analytics will provide a look at the overall traffic sources that deliver visitors to your site or blog. Included in this report is traffic from social media.

When you see traffic from social media alongside the traffic from other channels, it’s easy to see the impact social has on your site’s traffic.

(Social Media Examiner)

This information can be broken down even further - into specific social media channels.

These reports can be found under Acquisition.

Attribute Revenue to Specific Social Media Posts

When you’re creating posts for social media, you can include links back to your site that Google Analytics can track, sort, and analyze.

When you combine these links with UTM tracking and goals, you get insight into how social media is impacting revenue. Depending on how detailed you’d like to get with it, you can set unique UTMs for all of your social media, per channel, or even per update.

Find Out How Visitors From Social Media Consume Your Content

Google Analytics will allow you to track three other types of goals: duration (how long social media visitors stay on your site); pages/screens per session goals and event goals (how many times visitors from social media play video on your site).

See How Social Media Impacts the Conversion Path

If your business or brand wants to learn how social contributes to something like acquisition or to know how effective social media is at driving email subscriptions, there are conversion funnel reports that can show you just how influential social media is in making these conversions happen.

Don’t worry if some of this sounds complicated. Social Media Examiner provides step by step, simple instructions.

Read the full article here.