Category Archives: #social

No Nonsense Guide to Small Biz Social Media

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Title: No Nonsense Guide to Small Biz Social Media

In an era of “Shop Local”, more and more consumers are looking to support smaller businesses.  In return, small businesses must effectively market themselves and ensure marketing strategies do not get stale.  Not sure where to start, then this No-Nonsense Guide to Small Biz Social Media is for you!

  1. Map it Out

This is not the kind of map you can find on Google; a Social Map  is a strategic outline for how a small business should approach their content marketing.  It is a written plan for social posts, goals, KPIs and is used to serve as a guide.  This map will be used in conjunction with a content calendar which organizes the content production schedule.

  1. Recycle

The notion of “recycled or reimagined” content is to squeeze every drop from your research to use in a variety of ways.  A rule for content  is to keep an open mind and develop all pieces to be part of a larger whole.  As you think of our project, we could share each other’s work on our social pages (bigger span of the content web) as well as leverage parts of it for infographics, videos and even blurbs for our Facebook posts (Twitter is more difficult due to the character limits).  This really is a way of “working smarter not harder” as there are more uses for each piece of content which to the outsider looks like new content.

  1. Fresh vs. Stale

Just like food, Content on a brand’s social page should be fresh, and not become stale.  Content can have varied support of organizational initiatives to enhance the image of the brand   One way to do this is by pre-scheduling content to post on the social sites (via Hootsuite, etc) so that readers have fresh content to read and therefore, remain engaged with your content.

  1. Listen to this…

Social media also allows an avenue for customer interaction, participation and feedback.   The notion of listening to customers is often thought of face-to-face though it is equally important to listen to the Groundswell.  This can be achieved through polls, asking questions and it also requires reading all customer replies and posts about your business.  This marketing intel can assist in featuring new products and/or altering existing ones.

  1. Go Outside the 4-walls

Social Media makes it easy for retailers to get out of their stores, and into homes with concepts just as Remarketing. Remarketing is a form of online advertising to re-target ads to users who have already visited a website (desktop or mobile).  These ads will appear when consumers browse the web; watch YouTube videos and/or reading news sites after they have interacted with the brand.  The benefit of retargeting is to keep a brand top-of-mind, especially to those who already looked at your site (whether or not they made a purchase).

What other no-nonsense ideas do you use for Social Media Marketing?

The End of the Pursuit

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As I neared the end of my Master’s I started capturing the raw emotion… so here it is for you reading pleasure. 🙂

9/15/18 – Pass/Fail

Those words are paralyzing my brain causing unnecessary feelings of doubt, pressure, panic, insurmountable obstacles and every other self-depreciating thought as I finish out my Master’s Degree.  I feel this daunting Capstone to be hand-cuffs that I must break in order to be free of school.  Free to relax, free to shut off my brain, free to not sit in an office 7 days a week and free from weekly judgement on my opinions (backed by at least 2 scholarly resources) in the form of a grade.  And lastly, free to once again be attentive to my family, to my needs and to whatever spontaneous decision floats my fancy.

I started this entry in the midst of editing the final touches of my capstone to accurately capture my raw emotion.  Perhaps this is like child birth in the regard that how I feel today (pain on a different scale), will soon be a distant memory.  I will not remember the agony and only remember the triumph of accomplishing something great.  (Side note: Sloane will ALWAYS be a bigger accomplishment than a piece of paper, just the analogy that popped in my mind.)

Am I done?

The next step arrives with its emotional friend “disbelief” that perhaps I have finished polishing all my artifacts.  Have I created an Integrated Marketing Portfolio for a fictitious floral company, based in Kansas is expanding globally in Finland in a proficient manner?  I sure hope so because anything more I add is just sizzle and not steak.

And while I understand the need to showcase that I can weave together 11 classes of content into one humongous final paper…it feels like calculus; not sure I will ever need (or want) to do this again.  I am not sure I will ever work with a floral shop who wants to expand internationally (if you know of one, send them my way, they can have my blood, sweat, tears and ideas).

What’s next?

I get to take “student” out of my list of “jobs” (Wife, Mom, Employee, Relative and Friend).  Am I walking at my commencement in May? Nope. This 110 week journey complete with 440 documents and 12+ books has taken enough of my time away from mornings, nights, weekends, breaks, vacations, holidays and life.   I don’t need to spend hours seated among a sea of caps and gowns, in a cold arena just to hear “Stacey York, Master of Marketing” (unless I am sitting next to my favorite birthday twin Samantha  in her cap/gown).

9/17 –Waiting Game  

O.M.G. can my capstone grade just post already?!  Yeah, that is about all I can think about…ugh, school is still consuming my waking non-working moments. Funny, after all this time I learned how to send grade notifications to my email. Now I can stop clicking refresh 20,000 times.

The only other time I felt this pressure in taking a test was driver’s ed. You remember, the road test, the written test and waiting to pass and get your license (and hoped you didn’t fail as it would crush you).

9/18 – Your Final Grade is…

As I am on the phone with my friend & colleague (Kelly), I see an email come across and the long subject line is:   MKT-700-Q5274 Marketing Capstone 18TW5 – Updated Grade: Your grade for “9-1 Capstone Components 1 and 2: Integrated Marketing Portfolio and Executive Summary Presentation” has been updated.

I scramble. I see my grade in the email yet I don’t believe it. I log into the SNHU portal to see it there, to confirm what I saw in the email.  All the while I am saying in the phone “oh my gosh, oh my gosh, holy cow, hang on, let me see” (and Kelly replying what? what is it?).  O.M.G. Yes, indeed I got an A!

Let the flood gates open…tears of joy, tears of relief, tears of freedom.  I am graduating with my Master’s in Science in Marketing (concentration in Social Media).  I do have a final week of schoolwork (easy stuff) for the other class (yes, 2 classes a term to finish before March 2019).   Though regardless, I am going to graduate.  My degree will “confer” on October 1, 2018.

Thank you

The list of people for me to thank is quite hefty as so many have gotten me through the last 25 months of schoolwork.

  • First and foremost Todd & the girls have been super patient and understanding on all the things we delayed due to my “homework”. They were totally cool when I dragged my books/laptop to the Dominican on our Nickelodeon vacation, or when I locked myself in the office with classic music on loud enough to drain out Fort Nite.  Thank you all for the love and support so that I could focus on finishing my Master’s.
  • My Mom & Dad took care of Sloane countless times when I needed time to focus on my papers (or just because she asked to go there, not sure which it was at times). I know my college path was different than most, though my parents always believed in me so I believed in myself.
  • My birthday twin and college buddy Samantha. I met her on my 2nd term and knew that we were very similar and could be great friends. Little did I know we’d share the same birthday (not the year). No words can ever describe how much I appreciated having her by my side for the last 9 terms (that = 100 weeks).
  • ALL my friends who allowed me to skip out on events, be stressed out, panic, those who offered me kind words, were my cheerleaders, a shoulder to cry on, let me do homework while getting my hair done, taken me on a walk to decompress, took my darn coffee survey twice and especially those who knew when I needed a big pour of wine.
  • My employer for Tuition Reimbursement (it’s how I got an undergrad & graduate degree) and my colleagues who had to hear me drone on about why they too should go to school (and/or the project du jour).

While I didn’t intend this to become an acceptance speech, to me this is far better than a mere 3-seconds of hearing my name in an arena, isn’t it? 🙂

In the words of Cookie Monster:

Future Implications

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Look into my crystal ball… and see the wonders to unfold in the future of Social Media.  Ok, so it is hard to truly predict the future of social media though there are a few insights we can gain from where we’ve been and what the future may hold.

I have been in the field of telecommunications for over two decades which means I have seen a lot of advancement in technology and how it brings people together as we adapt to the technology.  I remember when wireless (cellular) technology converted from Analog  to TMDA, CDMA & GSM and then 3G, 4G/ LTE  and now VOLTE  with all of these changes has come new ways for human to connect which in turn, changed how we interact with each other on a daily basis.

I vividly remember a video from 2001-ish (that we watched on a VCR so I cannot locate it on YouTube) “predicting” that we could play video games against each other on our phones.  At the time, I looked at my sleek Nokia  “candy bar” phone that allowed me to talk and text and was in disbelief that any of that would happen in my lifetime.  Fast Forward to 2017, and my Samsung device has the capabilities of transferring money through Cash App , playing Words with Friends, sending videos as well as access to a variety of social pages.

So, what does the past mean for the future of Social Media Marketing?

A recent article in Entrepreneur should capture the attention of brands as they look to stay ahead of upcoming trends and advancement in social media marketing.

  • Diversity of Posts – As technology evolves, so will the thirst of social users to have new ways to share their lives on the social sphere. While users currently use pictures, videos and text and layer in audio, the future will have more integration, and likely a higher emphasis on audio components.  Brands will need to explore how to tap into the ability to provide sharable content which includes integrated and live engagement with their brand.
  • Paying for Peace & Increased Privacy– As brands continue to use social platforms to target consumers, conversely consumers will begin to pay to escape these advertisements. This is similar to the shift in TV and Radio with the ability to DVR shows and uses commercial-free music streaming.  Brands will need to focus on compelling content that keeps a consumer’s attention and is not seen as an advertisement.
  • Videos – Live content is on the rise with Instagram Stories, Facebook Live, Periscope and this will continue to be on the rise as social moves forward. The challenge for brands will be engaging consumers to watch their entire video content and not just the first few seconds. This means front-loading them with compelling content that draws them in to watch the full video.

As we look to create the future of Social Media which comes first, change in technology or change in human behavior?

I think they are interrelate and interdependent.  Human Behavior (the need to share, connect and build relationships) drives advancements in technology (new social platforms and currently unimaginable apps).  Conversely, advancement in technology molds human behavior as consumers adapt to the tools available to interact socially.

What do you see in the crystal ball for Social Media?

Viral Marketing Initiatives

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What is Viral Marketing?

Much like a cold or flu, Viral Marketing is when there is a high pass along rate from person to person (ie: shares, retweets, comments, etc.).  Over the years, there have been many examples of successful viral campaigns, and all of them utilize a few key characteristics.    Check out these Viral Campaign Traits as well as stellar examples for each:

Viral Campaign Traits & Examples

  1. Current – Old news is just that, old and forgotten. Viral campaigns are trend-setters on new-news which is why being current tops the chart of traits for a viral campaign. Take for example Planet Fitness who capitalized on one of the 5th worst power outages in NH this week with offering FREE visits to their NH facilities for shower, power and to use their equipment.  This social reaction filled a current need for those without power and, helps Planet Fitness to showcase their clean gym facility.

 

  1. Relevant – Relevancy can either be related to your target audience or more general in nature to attract a broader audience. Animal Adventure Park reached a broad audience and topped You Tube charts with April the Giraffe  as viewers anxiously awaited the birth of the baby giraffe (and then the name of the baby).  Here are their impressive campaign metrics:
  • 232 million live views
  • 6 billion minutes of live watch-time
  • 2nd most viewed YouTube History in 66 days
  • Top 5 most-watched moments for a live event on You Tube

 

  1. Creative – Creative marketing requires making new connections, with a focus on the unexpected. Housecleaning is what most considers a boring chore which is why the Clean  snappy, tongue in cheek and buzz worthy Valentine’s Day Video Ad was creative for this cleaning supply giant.  The Mr. Clean You Tube Video garnered these impressive metrics with its creative spin on cleaning every nook and cranny in your home:
  • 11,700 impressions across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in ONLY 1 Minute.
  • To date, there have been over 17,500,000 views of this video.

 

  1. Purposeful – There is a difference in purpose and purposeful as it relates to marketing. Being purposeful focuses on a problem or challenge and uses sale of products and services to create positive change. As we are coming up on Black Friday, it comes to mind the story of REI  who took chance a few years ago with #OptOutside.  This campaign encouraged people to go outside and enjoy the beauty of the world instead of shopping on Black Friday. This has been so successful; other companies have joined in this effort and REI has used #OptOutside consistently to showcase that their brand is focused on the great outdoors.

 

  1. Shareable

Social Media is no longer just for the tech-savvy, it is a platform to leverage the internet to inspire millions to follow a story, share it on their own feeds and participate in conversations (and debates).  It should come as no surprise that one of the most shared campaigns has been surrounding President Trump.   There is a Huffington Post  titled “An Open Letter to My Friends Who Supported Donald Trump” which was shared a total of 2.2Million times across Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ and Domain shares.

The fun part about Viral Marketing is that you never know what will take off, what will speak to the masses, and how far it will reach the depths of social media.  There are so many examples of viral campaigns, what is your favorite one and why?

Differentiation – The Facebook War of Chevy vs. Ford

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Social Media has changed the way many industries market to consumers and the automotive industry is no stranger to utilizing this medium.  So, who uses it best? And, what exactly does “best” mean in terms of a Social Media Strategy?  Join me in a Facebook Face-Off of Chevy vs. Ford.

The last attempt at comparing these automakers and their Social Strategy was in 2014.  At the time of that Face-Off Ford won overall based on Mentions and Conversation Mapping though Chevy did rank higher Social Sentiment.  How do these automakers stack up in the Social Swirl in 2017? Let’s find out…

Chevy – Find New Roads

This year started off with a bang as Chevrolet (GM) became the first automaker to use Facebook Live to showcase their new vehicles.  Imagine an up-close and personal video of the new automotive from the comfort of your home.  This is a great example of keeping up with the advanced in social media while leveraging a platform that is already being used and has 19 Million Followers on the Main Chevrolet Facebook Page.

Chevy – Their Social Strategy

GM’s Social Strategy in 2017 was to promoting its electric vehicle to a carefully selected audience through an integrated campaign. Its print ads in science and technology publications delivered part of that message to some of that audience. Its billboards helped it to reach another audience segment. Facebook Live expanded the audience further. It provided more information in a 25-minute segment than any commercial could have done, and it engaged its core audience deeply enough to generate over 800 comments. A full list of Chevrolet (and GM’s) social pages can be found here.

Ford – Go Further

In contrast, Ford has not been touted for emerging social trends to showcase its breadth of vehicles.    Main Ford Facebook Page has only 8 Million which is less than half that of its nemesis Chevy.  There have been no earth-shattering uses of Facebook much like Facebook Live though that doesn’t mean they are not finding ways to educate through this medium.

Ford – Their Social Strategy

In a 2014 Review their Facebook strategy they were engaging with consumers by asking for photos of the worst pot holes.  This then opens up dialogue to educate consumers on what to do when you’ve hit one and how to “fight back”.  This is a great way to evoke two-way engagement though their current efforts seem to be less interactive and more 1-way videos that do not inspire engagement.  Other Ford social campaigns (outside of Facebook) can be found here.

From a Facebook, it appears that Chevy is agile and forward-thinking.  I am curious; does their Facebook Live post increase your consideration to go buy a Chevy?  Why or Why Not?