All Posts, Social Media
Earlier this week on Blab, we did our show talking about Snapchat at a really basic and superficial level. I’ll be honest I’ve only used it personally a few times in the last 6 months, and don’t know all there is to know about the application. So Bess and I figured we’d learn a little bit about it and discuss it on the show.
The main thing I’d like to mention though is this, there are many social media channels out there. While Snapchat is pretty popular of lately, that doesn’t mean it’s the main network for you to shift all of your focus on. You’re really going to want to think about where and why you’d use it, and the benefits that you’ll be making to your audience. Just below this video are some great links to read to learn more about it and some ideal use cases. Be sure to share and let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Show Notes:
Snapchat Features You Didn’t Know Existed (Or Just Didn’t Know How to Use)
Snapchat Marketing: A Beginner’s Guide
Check out your Snapchat Analytics
Marketing, Social Media
There is no denying that many people are using social media in one way or another. There’s probably thousands of people each day that are new to it too. There are so many networks to use, and each one gets updated or releases new features so often, that I dare to say that everyone end up learning something the more they use social media. Here at Design Theory, we know a lot, but we try never to say that we’re “Gurus” that know everything. It’s hard to know everything when things change so frequently.
Now we’re online almost 18 or more hours a day. Be it on our smart phones, laptops, tablets, and desktops. One way or another we’re online and engaging our audience, partners, and clients in some form or medium. It’s a lot of work and a lot of constant effort. For the average small business owner deciding whether or not to get into social media, our advice is usually the same:
“Either go all in, or don’t bother at all“
Harsh? Yea a little but the reason why is we hate to see failed attempts. It is very easy to get confused when you’re first starting out. And those little mistakes that may seem insignificant to you, may cost you your online reputation.
Incomplete Social Profile
This is totally a rookie mistake, but you’d be surprised how many social accounts we come across that are only partially filled out. Have you ever seen that big goose egg on Twitter for a person or business? They probably haven’t ventured into the profile settings to upload a cool head shot or picture of their store or logo to show that they’re actually a real account. Or on Linked In where someone may use a picture of a cat or cartoon character as their profile photo. Not only is that not appropriate for that social site because Linked In is considered more of a professional business networking site, it looks like you don’t take your professional profile seriously. Facebook allows you to input a lot of information for your Business Fan page, so take advantage of that. In a lot of cases a successful Facebook page will show up in a Google search way before your website does. So be sure to have your best foot forward with all of your information listed.
Dormant Accounts
These are social media accounts of people or businesses that at some point got started, then got bored, frustrated, or lost interest and stopped using their accounts. I’m sure some of those people thought they’d get back on the wagon once they found some more free time in their day, have an upcoming event or sale that they’ll want to promote in the future, or some reason or other. However valid the excuse may be, to a potential client and your audience it now looks like you don’t take your social account seriously. And in that microsecond you lose a potential ear for someone who was willing to pay attention and follow your brand.
Duplicate Updates & Posts on All Mediums
Speaking of multiple accounts, don’t make the mistake in posting the same posts or status updates across ALL of your social media accounts. Its tacky and lazy. Sure that sounds mean, but it’s true. Most people are members of more than two social media platforms and they’ll see your post on one network then see the same one on another network word for word. It looks like a robot may have posted it or you’re not really putting time to pay attention to the conversations and tones of each network individually. Point is you can’t mix coffee with juice then a slushy and dip your donut in it and expect everyone else is drinking and eating the same things you are at each table.
Failure to Respond
This one kind of falls under the dormant accounts but in some cases is a bit worse. Have you ever reached out to a fan or someone on a social network and never hear a response? Or have you read a post that was just posted in the last few minutes of you reading it, and you like it and reply, and you never hear a response to your reply? Yea those are bad. It looks like you’re just talking and could care less about listening. Which really defeats the purpose of being “social” on these networks. There’s some etiquette for each network on reasonable response times.
You Think It Shouldn’t Cost Much
I saved this one for last because it seems to always be the elephant in the room. To be a little transparent, we get a good amount of emails and phone calls requesting quotes on managing creating social media accounts for small businesses. I would say the number one hesitation for us seems to be price. Yet we’re not the cheapest business in our local market and certainly not online. To give you an idea of a median price for a full package for social media management and marketing for Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, YouTube, and Pinterest; you would be paying around $2,000 a month. This includes metrics, tracking, custom Facebook tabs and landing pages, Call to Action and ongoing marketing initiatives, and of course constant up to the minute engagement.
After reading all this, I’d love to hear your thoughts and even your own experiences. Lets start a dialog with other readers in the comments below.
All Posts, Social Media
For those of you who question the validity of Twitter in business, I’m here to tell you to stop. Twitter, much like other mediums of social media, can affect your bottom line if you know how to use it. There is no one tactic to fit all, I can admit that, but that’s because each business is different and unique in its own way. Now lets talk about the numbers. You’ve seen some Twitter users with hundreds if not thousands of followers. From people you’ve never heard of to celebrities you have. However I’d like to expose a misconception in what novice people view in these numbers.
Follow for Follow: Now I haven’t been on Twitter since its original launch, but I have been around for a few years to see the evolution in its use. One of the things that annoy me and my team the most is people who follow only to get a follow in return. Oh they’re relentless too. I’ve even received followers that un-followed me months ago that tried to follow again to see if this time I’d bite. If I wasn’t in business to pay attention to who I follow and who follows our brand online they totally would have gotten me. So this thought that you must follow someone just because they’re following you is rubbish.
Follow Your Interests: I stopped short of saying “follow your heart” because that could easily lead you to trouble online. If you’re into woodworking, do a Twitter search for the keyword “woodworking” and see what pops up. Aside from the Tweets look at who said what and how long ago. See if you can jump into the conversation by @ replying. If the conversation or dialogs are of interest to you, go ahead and hit that follow button. Again, don’t hit it with the intent of getting a follow in return. Hit it because you value what that person has to say about that subject.
Thousands of Follows: Yea this is all too common these days. Check the screenshot below. How can you have 3,800+ follows and following 3,800+ and you’ve only tweeted 36 times? No website listed, No real name, No location. Clearly you bought all of those follows, and more than likely have a bot scrounging the net to follow people automatically. Don’t believe the hype people. When you come across these types of profiles just leave them be. Chances are they’ll latch on for a few days and drop off when their program notices you haven’t followed back.

Celebrities: They have big numbers because of the obvious. However they also have influence. The influence is what I strive to teach our clients to regard as important. If some pro-basketball player like Dwayne Wade said he was going to be at a Miami local night club, there would be a huge buzz around Twitter because of all the people who follow him. They’d RT that message and relay it to their followers by the hundreds or thousands just because of who he is and how highly they regard what he says. So be your own rock-star or celebrity in your local market.
Understanding social influence is what will keep social media in check. If we all went with the mentality of follow one and follow all, our timelines would be saturated with crap and Twitter wouldn’t be as fun anymore. I also think that’s what makes it great because you actually choose your level of noise.
There are sites out there where you can actually see some true numbers about Twitter handles if you really want to investigate the influence of a user. Sites like Twitter Grader, Peer Index, SocialBro, and Klout do just that. What you want to focus on in your own tweets, is the engagement. For a business, you can’t just run out there promoting your products and sales all day and expect orders to flood your site (unless you’re selling $2.00 Jordan sneakers). But seriously, find people who are talking about your industry or products and talk with them. Answer some questions they may have regarding their needs. Be a positive influence. Through the courtship, you’ll establish a relationship. Offer more information by answering a question and insert a link to your website or blog post that talks more about your answer. Being a great source for answers or information is where the true value is. That’s what gets you more followers and RT (re-tweets).
Have any other real tips about Twitter, please share with us in the comments below.