Best Practices for Social Sharing

5 Ways Your Company Can Use Twitter Hashtags

If your company has a Twitter account, hashtags, better recognized as #,  should be a part of your social media strategy. Follow these five tips to improve your company’s hashtag strategy.

1. Look for Business-Specific Conversations

If you use Twitter for one thing, use it to learn from others. Look for hashtags such as #smallbiz or #socialmedia to find advice, resources, and influential people to follow. While using these hashtags to learn and gain advice is great, step into the conversation once and a while. Using a hashtag about a subject you’re interested in will put you in the conversation and will allow other people to engage with you too around that topic.

If you want to jump into a more specific conversation, narrow down the hashtag. For example, looking for a business savvy person to follow? Try #entrepreneurs. Wanting to meet new people? Try #networking.

2. Keep it Simple and Consistent 

When tweeting about a new blog post about creating and developing mobile apps, don’t do this: #MobileAppCreationandDevelopment. Try this: #mobileapp #development #design. Overwhelmingly long hashtags are hard to read, making your tweet buried in the mix, and also aren’t search-friendly.

3. Create Your Own Hashtag

Large and small companies can create their own hashtags, and they should! Hashtags are a great way to generate buzz around just about anything! For example, Domino’s Pizza told followers to tweet #letsdolunch. When the number of tweets reached 85,000, Domino’s split prices in half during lunch that day. Get creative! Hashtags are a fun way to engage with you followers and be more than just a Twitter account.

4. Organize Social Dashboards by Hashtag

Whether you use HootSuite or TweetDeck, using a social dashboard can conveniently keep you up-to-date with relevant hashtags for your company. You can create specific columns by social network, search term, or hashtag.

5. Take Advantage of Follow Friday

Micah Baldwin, CEO and Chief Community Caretaker of Graphic.ly, announced on Twitter that he would suggest people to follow every week. This trend took off with the hashtag #FollowFriday and has now been shortened to #FF.

You can use Follow Friday in two ways. You can create a list of great people to follow and try to fit as many of them as you can in a tweet using the hashtag #FF. You can also group your favorite followers in categories. For example, tweet #FF #entrepreneurs and then list the entrepreneurs you like following. This is a great way to contribute to the conversation while letting people know you like following them at the same time.

These are just 5 ways to use hashtags. What are some ways your company uses them?

Below is a current example of how our business used hashtags in the hiring process.

Recommended Read: The Social Media Bible

I recently started reading The Social Media Bible, by Lon Safko. I highly recommend this book to everyone; it’s full of great insight and interesting facts. Below are a few quotes I felt were worth sharing!

“The next most-asked question at my keynotes are ‘Where’s the ROI in social media marketing?’ and ‘How much money should I be spending on social media marketing?; My answer is always, remove the term social media from those questions and ask them again ‘Where’s the ROI in marketing?’ and ‘How much should I be spending on marketing?'” 

“Social media is only a new set of tools, new technology that allows us to more efficiently connect and build relationships with our customers and prospects. It’s doing what the telephone, direct mail, print advertising, radio, television, and billboards did for us up until now. But social media is exponentially more effective.” 

“Social media marketing is all about listening first, understanding the conversation, and then speak last.”

“Whether it’s a social network like Facebook or LinkedIn, Twitter or blogging, it’s about participating in that conversation and being there with a relationship when your prospect is ready to buy.” 

“By building relationships through social media, you build a more lasting trusted relationship that will result in more sales, fewer returns, and greater word of mouth.”

“The reason for Twitter‘s success was best put by Mark Twain, when he said in the late nineteenth century, ‘I apologize for the length of my correspondence. Given more time, it would have been shorter.'” 

“Kakul Srivastava, the general manager for Flickr, told me that there are three cell phones for every man, woman, and child on the planet. With that kind of technology penetration, you and your company needs to be participating.” 

“Anytime there is a tool that millions of people in one place at one time, all with common interests, are clamoring to use, you, as a businessperson, need to understand it and be a part of it.” 

Tips to Increase Your Twitter Presence

Calling all Twitter users! Whether you’re new to Twitter and you’re trying to build your follower base or you’re not-so-new to Twitter, if you’re wanting to increase your followers’ engagement, here are 5 simple tips you can use to build your follower foundation. Keep in mind, you can use these tips for your personal Twitter page or your business/brand’s Twitter page. 

1. Personalize Your Page

Take advantage of all the opportunities Twitter provides to personalize your page and have it represent who you are, what you’re interested in, or what you’re looking for. The left side of your Twitter page should be your primary focus. There you can put photos, logos, or contact information. For bigger brands or public figures, validating your account is a good idea. Also, use the “about” section wisely and put together a to-the-point and effective bio. When followers can quickly get a sense of who you are and what you’re about, they’re more likely to follow you. 

2. Ask Interesting Questions and Ask for Help

Create conversation; don’t wait for the conversation to come to you. Your followers are a great resource for feedback and help. If you’re a brand, questions don’t have to necessarily be about your products or services– asking someone’s opinion and making it clear that it’s appreciated goes a long way. Be creative and make it fun! 

3. Re-tweet and Reply (in Moderation)

Re-tweeting (RT) and replying to tweets is an easy and effective way of acknowledging your followers and letting them know you find their tweets valuable and informative. But most of all, this lets them know you appreciate their following. 

However, make sure your re-tweets and replies are balanced. Creating conversation is important, but remember that you don’t want your Twitter feed to turn into a long list of “@reply” posts. If anything, this will decrease your number of followers, because most of them don’t have the patience to look through the conversation to find out what it’s all about. 

4. Post Relevant Updates

By posting relevant and informative information and links, followers will start to consider you as a good source of information and will find it worthwhile to engage with you. 

5. Go Back to the Basics with Follow Friday (#FF)

Putting some time and thought into a #FF post is worthwhile and a great form of engagement. It’s an easy way to give a shout-out to your favorite followers and let them know you acknowledge and like their tweets. It’s also a quick and effective way to make a recommendation to the rest of your followers on who to follow. 

What tips do you use to get the most out of your Twitter account? We’d love for you to share. 

Facebook Dominates Social Networking Traffic Worldwide

According to a new infographic map, Facebook shows a strong hold on traffic to various social sites worldwide. 

Vincenzo Cosenza, an Italian-based social media strategist, has studied the most popular social networks used across the globe and has put together a map to highlight the leading platforms. He posted his findings on his blog.  

Facebook, which has more than 845 monthly active users, is the top-used social networking site in 126 out of 137 countries analyzed, including the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, Japan, Brazil, and India. 

Although Facebook has its roots in the U.S., with 222 million users, Europe is the continent with the most Facebook users, 232 million. 

However, Facebook is not the top player in Russia, China, Vietnam, and Latvia. 

“If we take a look over Facebook’s shoulders we can see the battle for the second position between Twitter and LinkedIn or, especially in Europe, between Badoo and Twitter,” Cosenza noted on his blog.

What do you think? Do you think other social networking sites have the potential to pass Facebook in the future? If so, which sites in which regions?

Recruiting through Social Media

“Social media touches every facet of business and is more an extension of good business ethics.”

-Erik Qualman, author of Socialnomics

When recruiting through social media, think of these tools in the following ways:

1) Facebook – The Coffee Shop. Fans see updates in real time so you can post about job openings, trade shows, etc. You can also create pages for job listings.

2) Twitter – The Speed Date. Include links to job postings. Can post several times a day. You can get conversations started here very easily.

3) Your Blog – The Open House. Your blog shows off your business’ personality and is a great venue for posting job openings.

4) LinkedIn – The Networking Event. Users can follow your company page and you can post jobs inexpensively on your Career page.

5) YouTube – The Public Access Cable Channel. Videos can showcase your company so prospects can “meet” the people or place they will be working with/at. You can also create a recruiting “commercial”.

For more information on recruiting through social media, click here.

Tips for Authentic Social Media Engagement

If you want your brand’s social media presence to be viewed as authentic, you need to know what your brand stands for and know what is important to your audience. Above all, you must always be honest. Here are three tips that will help your brand’s social media presence appear authentic.

1. Focus on the individual.

Individuals are the most important asset to your brand when it comes to social media, because they provide a real human perspective on the web. When reaching out to your audience, remember your audience is made up of individuals. Try to steer clear of referring to them in the masses, which will take away your brand’s authentic feel.

2. Listen up.

Your brand’s social media presence should remain a form of two-way communication. It’s important to constantly be aware of feedback given by your audience. You also need to be tuned in to what is important to your audience. This will allow you to provide content that your audience is asking for.

3. Keep it real.

Today, millennials can spot an inauthentic brand from miles away. Growing up with the Internet, they have high expectations of what brands should provide them. Millennials expect brands to reach out to them with a real voice, and they want a brand that promotes public engagement.

Use these tips to create an authentic social media presence for your brand. Being authentic on social media sites can be the factor that puts your brand above others.

Six Trending Social Networks to Watch

1. Path

Path acts as an online journal that allows you to keep in touch with friends by posting pictures, travel updates, and the music you are listening to. Path also allows you to share your updates on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr.

2. Banjo

Banjo is a location-based tool that alerts you when friends are nearby. You can connect your Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and Instragram accounts, and Banjo will alert you when those connections are nearby as well. This tool also tells you about popular activities nearby.

3. Glancee

Glancee is also a location-based tool that helps you discover nearby friends. This tool also lets you keep notes about your encounters and events.

4. Localmind

Localmind is a tool that gathers information from users about nearby events, restaurant specials, and attractions. This tool is similar to Foursquare; users can earn karma points for posting advice for others around their location.

5. Fancy

Fancy is very similar to Pinterest. This tool allows users to “fancy” products they love and file them into categories. The difference between this tool and Pinterest is that Fancy allows users to actually purchase the products right from Fancy.

6. Gogobot

Gogobot is also similar to Pinterest but for travel content. Gogobot allows you to plan vacations by looking at other recommendations and share your own travel stories and recommendations to others.

 

Do you use any of these social networks on the rise? Which ones are your favorites? Pros and cons? We would love to hear your recommendations!

Successful Social Media Contests

Our previous blog post provided tips on how to successfully create a social media contest. Here are a few social media contests that companies implemented that were both highly successful and creative!

1. Citizen Eco-Drive

During the 2011 U.S. Open, Citizen Eco-Drive, a sponsor of the competition, ran contests on Facebook and Twitter offering a free watch to a daily winner. In order to win, people had to follow, like, retweet or answer trivia questions. This contest was successful because of the easy entry, great prize and huge fan engagement.

2. Bing

Bing, a popular search engine, created a jingle contest where users uploaded a video of their “Bing Jingle” for a change to win a prize. This contest was promoted across its social media outlets and resulted in increased engagements and word-of-mouth marketing.

3. Dodge

Dodge recently launched the “Find the Dodge Journey” campaign, which was a real-life scavenger hunt with the prize being a free car. Dodge used YouTube to create viral videos that hyped up the exciting adventure.

4. Basecamp

Basecamp, a web-based project management tool, recently created a “Tell A Friend” contest that offered a discount to new users that signed up through references of a friend. This contest successfully promoted word-of-mouth marketing through friends and co-workers.

5. Carnival Cruise Line

Carnival Cruise Lines recently launched a social media contest asking participants to create a “Didja Ever” list, or a bucket list. By submitting a “Didja Ever” list, participants were entered to win numerous prizes, one being a free trip for two on one of its popular cruise ships, Carnival Magic. This was an extremely successful campaign and helped them gain more than 1 million Facebook likes.

For more successful social media contests, check out Mashable’s article, 10 Companies That Hit the Bullseye With Online Contests. 

Launching a Social Media Contest

In the past, we have created fun Facebook contests for our clients that have successfully increased “likes” and page activity. Something as simple as giving away a gift card or a unique item will generate interest and activity on social media platforms. Mashable’s article on how to successfully launch a social media contest provides great tips and insight. Here are some tips that we have found helpful.

1. Know who the contest is targeting and why.

The first step of creating a contest is understanding your target audience and the objectives you want to come from the contest.

2. Make the contest rules simple.

Be sure that the entry process of the contest is easy to understand. Also, make sure the requirements of the contest are clearly explained and laid out.

3. Continuously communicate.

It is important to continuously communicate to your audience throughout the entire contest. Communication should target both prospective contestants and active participants. You should also communicate to your audience after the contest is over, such as announcing the winner and thanking them for participating.

4. Learn from your experience.

Once the contest has ended, take the time to learn what succeeded and what failed. Use this evaluation as an opportunity to improve your future contests.

These tips, along with experience, will help you start and improve contests for your brand and for your clients.