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.

Thoughts on Facebook Hashtags

If you haven't been hiding under a rock the past few weeks, you are aware that Facebook has become a part of the hashtag world. Now no matter what you're thinking, you can share it with others outside of your friend circle. Here's a few interactive questions this week we'd love to hear your answers to:

Have you used Facebook hashtags yet?

Do you plan on using them?

Do you think Facebook did the right thing jumping on the hashtag bandwagon?

Feel free to answer these questions by commenting on our Facebook page

How to Make Social Media Fun

One of the reasons we use social media is because it's fun. I know, you're probably asking, if we're using social media for business, how can it be fun? Well, we're going to show you a few ways you can make social media fun!

1. Contests - Everyone loves prizes. Have your customers take creative pictures with your product and post on social media sites

2. Polls- Poll your customers on the next product idea or their favorite so far. Get creative

3. Recognition - Recognize a valued customer. Choose a customer of the month and they can receive a discount for their next purchase. This may incline others to shop more often so they can be next!

4. Show Your Best Side: Post being the scenes photos of your employees hard at work, customers (with permission) who visit that day and show your followers how down to earth you are. Remember, it's all about being relatable.

5. Be Witty: Do you blog? If not, maybe you should start! You can blog about anything industry and product related. If people enjoy your posts, even laugh a little, they are more than likely going to share with a friend.

Social media is a great way to create awareness for your business, but it doesn't always have to be business. Spruce it up a little and have some fun. Your customers will thank you!

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. 

Social Media Made Easy

With so many social media sites out there it's hard to keep track of what you use each one for. Well, no need to wonder anymore. Evoke is happy to share a fun, easy guide created by Blog Tyrant. A simplified look into the social media mind:

Be sure to take a look at the rest of the blog for step by step tips!

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. 

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?