Developing a Successful Social Media Strategy

Social media has become an important driver today in the success of businesses and their products and services. Word of mouth has always been a top way to increase exposure and sales, but with mediums like Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest people can reach much larger audiences than in the past. With that said, it is important to have a social media strategy in place in order to define your goals and evaluate its success. Below is a 5 step chart to help develop your company's strategy. 

Step 1: Define your goal. Make it clear what it is you want to achieve with social media. This will help you in figure out your plan.

Step 2: Find Your Customers: Do a lot of research. Figure out where your customers are hanging out, what they're saying about you and your industry.

Step 3: Once you've found your customers, it's time to become a part of the conversation. Based on your experience and your research, determine the best platforms to use for your strategy.

Step 4: Put a plan into place: You've figured out what your objectives are, what you'd like to achieve, where your customers are most active and the best platforms to step into. You are ready now to create your plan.

Step 5: Evaluate: It's important to create a timeline for your strategy and evaluate it at the end to see where you are. Every month of 3-6 months you should look at your goals and see if the current plan is helping to reach them. If not, repeat steps 1-5 with a new approach.

5 Reasons to Hire a Social Media Agency

As large as Social Media has become in this day and age, it is still developing. The rules are always changing and sometimes it can be hard to keep up. The right knowledge and training can help navigate a company successfully through these murky waters. Here are 5 reasons your company should hire a social media agency to achieve your goals:

1. It Will Save You Time: Creating a successful social media campaign is a full time job. It takes hours of research to gather content, create the right message and execute it on all the right networks. Social Media Agencies do this kind of job each and everyday. They eat, sleep and breathe the latest updates and trends. Why not let the experts handle it?

2. It Will Save You Money: By hiring a social media agency, companies can skip the step of having to staff this sort of position. As mentioned above, social media is a full time job which means full time pay and benefits. With an agency, you'll reap the same rewards and save in the process.

3. Less Turnover Potential: You could staff a social media position within your company. However, the newest employee will need to get up to speed with company history, messaging and branding techniques. And after that, there is no guarantee that employee is there for the long term. With an agency, all information for you as a client is collected and can be accessed in a moments notice. Campaign statistics, marketing calendars etc. are all kept up to date and can easily be understood by all. With an inside staffing position your new hire will be playing roulette trying figure out where the other left off.

4. They Can Teach You What You Don't Know: Social Media experts have the ability to train your staff to understand the importance of a social media strategy. They can lend you and your employees advice on the latest trends, get them to delve into the social media world and assist in social media efforts by offering information you may not already know.

5.The Tools Are Already There: Social Media Agencies already have the latest tools and technologies needed to run a social media campaign. This saves you a step in having to purchase all of it yourself. Not only that, but they are already trained and familiar with the software and can put it to immediate use.

Foursquare Benefits for Business

A week ago today was officially Foursquare day. Feel free to head over there and check out all the fun ways they celebrated!

In honor of its one week anniversary, we thought we'd go a little bit in depth on this social media tool that has generated a lot of hype. Why use Foursquare if your a business? What benefits does it hold for you? Here are 4 great answers to those questions.

Consumers Love the Competition: Not only can those on Foursquare share new places and find new hangouts through checking in, but they can also earn points while doing it. They earn badges for being the first to check in somewhere or checking in somewhere the most often. Who doesn't like to gloat about being the mayor of somewhere right?

New Customers at no Cost: All you have to do is add your business to Foursquare and you've opened the door for a whole new group of consumers. While searching for a product or service, your business will then come up in their search and they are now aware of your offerings. Once they are aware you are out their that can then turn into them doing business with you.

Reward Your Customers: Those who check in often and help in supporting your business should be rewarded in some way to show appreciation. Offer coupons, special promotions or give them a shout out. Loyal customers deserve it and they will pay it forward!

Real Time Data: While users of Foursquare are checked in to a certain location they gain access to polls, questionnaires  quizzes, etc. This is a great tool for businesses to gain feedback from their customers.

Social media is all about creating awareness and building a loyal following all while having fun doing it! Foursquare is a great way to create all of that.

What Facebook Changes Mean for Your Brand

Are you familiar with the latest changes to Facebook? If not, Evoke came across a great blog post from The Targeted Group explaining the in depth details and impact these changes will have. Take a look!


A Close Inspection of Facebook’s Updates and What They Mean for Your Brand
Thursday, 18 April 2013 11:42  
Virginia Arnold


Facebook has been busy making changes to its functionalities in the last few months- eight since January to be exact- but don’t be overwhelmed by these new updates. Instead, optimize your brand’s Facebook page by using the following tips and best practices: 


Partner Categories
Through Partner Categories brands will be able to focus their advertising dollars on Facebook users with purchasing histories that suggest they would be interested in specific products or services. 

Brands can leverage this new Facebook feature by advertising products or services that build on purchases users have already made. For instance, a computer company may choose to advertise computer-maintenance services instead of computer hardware since they have access to a group of users that are guaranteed to already own computers.

Facebook Home 
While the success of Facebook Home is yet to be determined, it does bring into focus an important social media trend: mobile marketing. Brands should remember to make their Facebook content mobile friendly. Keep it short, to the point, and include media-rich elements, such as infographics, to help users digest the information.

Ads in News Feed
This new advertising feature allows businesses to target specific audience members with posts that appear in their News Feed. Since these posts will be shared with Facebook users that have expressed interest in the types of products or services being advertised, the ads should be optimized for engagement through the use of language and images that relate specifically to the target audience. 

Reply Button
Brands can now reply to specific comments on their Facebook posts. This new function makes it easier for brands to manage comments and to host events that foster engagement, such as open forums or questions-and-answer sessions, directly on their Facebook page.

Cover Photo Freedom
Businesses on Facebook now have more freedom to add text that encourages interaction with the brand page to their cover photo. Some previous restrictions that are no longer in place include: Adding contact information, suggesting users “like” the page, and including call-to-action text such as “tell your friends”. 


These well-designed brand cover photos are great examples for companies hoping to refresh their Facebook presence: 












Brand Cover Photos from giniarnold




Hashtags
In mid-March The Wall Street Journal announced that Facebook is working to adapt hashtags into its standard functionalities. Facebook hashtags will help businesses be found more easily by allowing users a way to search for posts referencing topics they find interesting. To prepare for this new function, brands on Facebook should compile a list of strategic hashtags that can be used when the feature is launched. Look to current Twitter efforts for inspiration. 

The New News Feed
The updated News Feed layout, not yet available to all users, places a specific emphasis on brand cover photos and profile images. It is now more important than ever that brands are cognizant of their photo choices. This new, prominent position in users’ Timelines is a great opportunity for increasing network size, so use these images to attract and engage.

Facebook Graph Search
Some Facebook users are still waiting to receive access to Facebook Graph Search, but that doesn’t mean businesses should wait to optimize their page. Brands should pay special attention to the “About” section of their profile, making sure it includes a description with keywords that describe the company.

Has your brand found success with Facebook’s latest updates? Let us know your tips for Facebook optimization in the comments section. 

How NOT to Use Hashtags

As promised, Evoke Creative Group is going to be giving some tips today on how NOT to use hashtags. Follow carefully as proper use of hashtags is important in promotion, brand building and social media.

1. Creating your own hashtag find, but dontstringtogetherabunchofwords like this, put a # in front of it and call it a hashtag. The reason we don't do this is because it's hard for people to make out exactly what it says. If they can't understand it, they won't click on it. So keep your hashtags short and sweet.

2. Don't always put yourself in the same category. By this we mean try to be a little creative. When posting quotes or pictures or articles, try to reach beyond your normal industry hashtags to find a new audience.

3. Don't distract from the message. A few hashtags within a tweet is fine, but don't get so caught up in how #pretty and #beautiful they are to #tweet that your entire #message is #built on them. See, is can be a bit distracting.

4. Don't be negative and controversial in your hashtags. We always applaud honesty, but twitter isn't the place for a business to post controversial or negative opinions.

Got other ideas for ways NOT to use hashtags? Let's here it!

Hashtag Fun

We've all seen then and some of us even use them, but what exactly are hashtags and how can you use them to get the most out of your social media? We'll tell you!

• Hashtags are a great way to categorize your discussions to make it easier for those interested to find you and what you post
• They are a great way to keep track of live events such as promotions, conferences, webinars etc. Creating a hashtag to be used during these specific times helps with networking and keeping others up to date on what is going on.
• It makes it easier for your target market to find you. Hashtags not only categorize your topics, but it helps your customers to find you. When they are searching specific hashtags for things that interest them, if you use the correct hashtag they can search through and find you and your relevant and informative content. 
• Gain new followers. Although hashtagging isn't necessarily directly related to an increase in followers it can be a great success. Those who happen to fall upon one of your tweets while searching a specific hashtag may be interested in the content you are putting out and want to stay up to date with your happenings, so they'll choose to follow you. 

There are right and wrong ways to use hashtags. Using it the right way can be very beneficial for promoting your brand and gaining credibility. Using hashtags incorrectly can cause frustrating results. We will discuss this in our next blog post so stay tuned!

What Should You Be Posting on Social Media

With all that is available in the social media realm these days there are so many creative ways to create awareness for your business. It's important to remember not to flood your tweets and posts with constant sales messages. That is a big turn off for consumers. So just what should you be post on your social media sites? Here are some great ideas:

1. Give them a sneak peek of a product currently in development: Leave them wanting more! Let them know you're working hard to create something they're going to want to be on the lookout for.

2. Introduce them to your employees: Being able to relate to a business and its brand is important to consumers. It builds trust and loyalty. What better way to do that than to show them who is working hard behind the scenes.

3. Pictures: Whether you're a restaurant showing off your daily special, an amusement park bragging about your newest attraction or an auto dealer introducing your newest car to the lot, these are great ways to keep consumers up to date on happenings with your business.

4. Acknowledgements: If someone mentions you good or bad, it's important to let them know you hear them. Thank them for their support and their comments.

5. Everyday life: There's no better way for consumers to bond with a business than being able to see the people behind it are human themselves. You don't need to get too personal, but hey if you just ran your first half marathon, participated in a local event over the weekend or visited a new restaurant in town, don't be afraid to share it.

6. Current Promotions: Without flooding your social media sites with constant sales pitches, do let consumers know when you're running specific promotions so they can take advantage.

7. Relevant News: If you've found articles, blogs or any relevant news stories relating to your industry or your area, share it.

8. Answers to Frequently asked Questions: Inform consumers of your policies, business hours and any other information you think they should know. The easier it is to find the better.

9. Fun Facts: Engage fans with information they might not know about you, your business and your employees. Trivia, quizzes and fun facts are a great way to shed a positive light.

Social Media Tips for Business

With the popularity of social media on the rise, creating an effective social media campaign is on the fore front of many businesses minds. However; where to start and how to implement a successful campaign can be overwhelming for those who aren't familiar with it. Here are 4 social media tips all businesses should know.

• Keep Content Interesting:  A Facebook timeline or twitter feed is saturated with posts so you want to make sure that yours stands out. The use of  images, videos and links that are relevant to your brand and worth seeing can help get your customers attention. 
• It's Not Always About Sales: Saturating social media with promotions and sales posts will deter customers from returning to your social media pages. No one wants to be bombarded with constant sales pitches. Be sure to limit the amount of times per week these posts are made. 
• Behind the Scenes: The more consumers know about your business the better. Building trust and familiarity between your customer and your brand can create customer retention. Posting about your employees, daily activities and customer appreciation are just a few things you can do to show who you are and that you care.
• Ask for Customer Interaction: Asking customers to "Like" your post on Facebook or retweet on twitter are simple ways to expand your customer reach and keep your customers active. It could be as simple as "Like this if you have plans on this beautiful Sunday" to asking to retweet if they love the product they bought from you. 

Corporate Responsibility: What Is Your Business Doing?

From a business standpoint, giving back to the community is called Corporate Social Responsibility. Haven't heard of it? Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a company's commitment to practice ethically while assisting in building the economy it thrives in. 

Customers purchase products and services from companies they trust. This is why building relationships is so important in the success of a business. Companies that have a heavy impact within the community and give back to those who support them are more likely to gain trust and inhabit valuable returning customers. 

A survey by Landor Associates, Penn Schoen Berland and Burson-Marsteller proved the important of CSR to customers when it found that even in today's struggling economy
75 percent of consumers believe social responsibility is important. Another 55 percent  said they would actually choose a product that supports a particular cause over other similar products that don't.

Wondering what you can do within your community to insure your trust in customers, place your business in a positive light and help strengthen your local economy?

• Donate to a local charity 
• Sponsor a local event
• Find something you are passionate about and help create awareness
• Encourage your employees to volunteer around the community.  Maybe at a food kitchen, animal shelter or children's youth programs.

There are so many things that can be done. The main idea is to just give back. Spend some time helping others and really make a difference.

Learn From Your Competition: 4 Questions You Should Ask Yourself

Competition doesn't always have to be the enemy. Competition can also be a valuable learning tool.

In today’s social media age, it is easy to keep an eye on your competition. As mentioned in the “why all businesses should be on twitter” blog it’s a way to see what customers are saying about them. But there are a lot of other things you can learn from them throughout social media.

 Here are a few questions to ask yourself about how your competition interacts with their customers and also how their customers interact with them on Facebook.

         What type of posts get the most responses from their customers?

    What type of specials are running through their fan pages?

What type of information are they putting out there?

          How active are they and does it seem to be working?