Social Media Engagement For Dummies E-Book

Aliza Sherman

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 550

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

Put "engage" front and center in your social media marketing engagement strategies! When you focus on the engagement side of a social media marketing strategy, you'll build and grow relationships with followers and customers, craft content just for them, analyze how they're responding, and refocus and refresh your campaigns accordingly. This smart guide shows you how to do all that, and then some. From building trust to sparking conversation to using video and other tools, this creative book is a must read if you want to discover all that goes into the most important aspect of today's social marketing. * Helps you build and foster social media relationships with potential customers, fans, followers, and current customers * Shows you how to spark actions, reactions, or interactions--and make things happen * Explores the fundamentals, especially for do-it-yourself small-business owners and marketers * Covers building trust and credibility, creating connections, encouraging sharing, using social networks to engage, using email marketing or SEO to engage, and much more Social Media Engagement For Dummies will help you connect to followers, convert them to customers, turn them into evangelists for your company, and boost your bottom line!

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Social Media Engagement For Dummies®

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Copyright © 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2013936419

ISBN 978-1-118-53019-1 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-53023-8 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-53028-3 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-53026-9 (ebk)

Manufactured in the United States of America

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About the Authors

Aliza Sherman is a pioneer and visionary in the web industry who travels the world to speak to diverse audiences about the Internet, social media, mobile marketing, new technologies and applications, entrepreneurship, and women’s issues. She founded the first woman-owned, full-service Internet company — Cybergrrl, Inc. — and the first global organization for women — Webgrrls International. A serial entrepreneur, she also started one of the first social media marketing agencies and one of the first mobile marketing consultancies. Newsweek named Aliza one of the “Top 50 People Who Matter Most on the Internet” for her early Internet work, and Fast Company named her one of the “Most Powerful Women in Technology.” She is the author of ten books, most of them about business and the Internet. She and Danielle co-authored the book MOM, Incorporated.

Danielle Elliott Smith is a digital correspondent, host, storyteller, speaker, media trainer, and (most importantly), mom to two sweet and sassy small people — Delaney, 9, and Cooper, 7. In her “free time,” Danielle juggles work as the founder of ExtraordinaryMommy.com and DanielleSmithMedia.com, and she hosts and produces her lifestyle series, “Keeping Style in Your Life.” She also creates original content for the well-known online magazines Babble and SheKnows and shares vlogging and media tips for people wanting to jump on camera. An award-winning former television news anchor and reporter, she has covered everything from the red carpet at the Academy of Country Music Awards to the Vancouver Olympics Games and the NFL Pro Bowl in Hawaii. Danielle has been featured on the CBS Early Show, NPR, MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News and in USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and Pregnancy & Newborn. This is her second book; she had the pleasure of co-writing her first one, Mom, Incorporated, with Aliza.

Dedication

From Aliza Sherman: To my loving family: Greg, my Renaissance man husband, and Noa Grace, 6, who now knows why Mommy had her nose in a computer — again.

From Danielle Elliott Smith: To my extraordinary husband, Jeff, for holding my hand throughout this process. I couldn’t have done it without you. I’m one lucky girl. And to my sweet small people — Punky and Coop — thank you for inspiring me to live my passion and for proving to me that I truly can do both: be your mom and live this dream. I’m grateful for you every day.

Authors’ Acknowledgments

We’d like to thank our families and good friends, who have been supportive of us throughout the book-writing process.

Thank you to our team at John Wiley & Sons, Inc. — especially Nicole Sholly and Amy Fandrei, who guided us beautifully through this process and held our hands when we needed it. Many thanks also to Kathy Simpson, Rebecca Whitney, Amanda Graham, Joe Waters, and everyone behind the scenes who helped make this book a reality. A monumental thank you as well to Ellen Gerstein, who saw potential in us from the beginning and believed that this was our next book. Ellen, you and Amy were right.

We’d also like to thank our book agent, Jessica Faust, of BookEnds LLC.

Special thanks to the many folks from companies, big and small, who shared their stories and thoughts on social media engagement with us so generously, many of whom are now featured in this book. Your input was invaluable and so appreciated.

We’d especially like to thank the members of our communities in our favorite social networks — people who connect with us regularly and make our day. We are grateful for your support.

And you, our readers — thank you for choosing this book to guide you on your social media engagement journey. We hope that your journey into this digital space is an exciting one.

From Aliza Sherman: I couldn’t have completed this book without my co-author, Danielle, who jumped on this book-writing adventure with me back in 2011 to co-create MOM, Incorporated. The book journey was a new challenge for us both and one that I couldn’t have tackled without her by my virtual side, to talk me off the ledge and to infuse the contents with her incredible spirit. Cheers to you, my friend!

An extra-special thank you to my husband, Greg, my daughter Noa Grace, to my parents, Lucy and Mike Sherman, and my sister Leah. All five share the title of my Number One Fans and Supporters.

A big thanks to Chelsea, Angeles, Erica, Kelly, Annie, and Heather for keeping me on track from day to day, especially when I was eyebrows-deep in the manuscript for this book.

A heartfelt thanks to Terry Wheatley for her encouragement and sage advice. I’m so lucky to count her as mentor and friend.

From Danielle Elliott Smith: As with our last book, my biggest chunk of gratitude heads northwest, to snow-covered Alaska, where my co-author, Aliza, would sit, “Skype-ing” with me, chatting by phone, hopping into a Google+ hangout, and e-mailing document after document back and forth as we labored over this book. For your willingness to work with me on yet another book, and for more than that — your friendship — I am grateful.

I’m thankful for the many friends who built me up, and talked me down, as I worked my way through this project — especially Alli and Barbara. To the friends who have known me for decades and still keep coming back for more: Rose, Karin, Erin, Heather, Taralyn, and Eileen — I adore you deep in my soul. And to Ally, for your patience, hard work, sweet spirit, and ability to keep me on track — I couldn’t do it without you.

And finally, to my family. Mum and Dad: A blanket thank-you for being you — two people I love deeply. To Paula and Rick, for your never-ending support, for your ability to make me laugh, and for giving me your son, I’m so thankful. To Jeff, for believing in me when I didn’t, for sleeping on the floor of my office so that I’d feel inspired to write, for refusing (against your better judgment) to yell at me for writing all night, and for being the best daddy in the universe: I love you, and I’m forever grateful. Delaney and Cooper, your enthusiasm for everything I do is contagious. I want to be you when I grow up. Every day, you make me better. Thank you for believing in your mommy. You are one of the biggest reasons I now hold this book in my hands!

Publisher's Acknowledgments

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Social Media Engagement For Dummies®

Visit www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/socialmediaengagement to view this book's cheat sheet.

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

Foolish Assumptions

Conventions Used in This Book

What You Don’t Have to Read

How This Book Is Organized

Part I: The Basics of Social Media Engagement

Part II: Exploring the Elements of Social Media Engagement

Part III: Examining the Basic Engagement Tools

Part IV: Engaging Through Additional Social Channels

Part V: Leveraging Audio and Video for Engagement

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I: The Basics of Social Media Engagement

Chapter 1: Explaining the Why, Who, and How of Social Media Engagement

Seeking the Benefits of Social Media Engagement

Keeping up with changing consumer needs

Humanizing your brand in the marketplace

Strengthening connections with customers

Tapping into new markets

Reaping the rewards of an engaged community

Seeing How People and Organizations Engage with Social Media

Individual consumers

Online communities

Your business

Your employees

Setting Goals for Social Media Engagement

Building trust and credibility

Being present with a human touch

Creating connections

Sparking conversations

Driving interaction

Chapter 2: Assessing the Impact of Social Media Engagement

Considering the Downsides of Social Media Engagement

Managing the “time suck”

Overcoming the barriers to entry

Surviving information overload

Dealing with potential backlash

Avoiding inconsistent messaging

Measuring the Value of Your Social Media Engagement

Determining what interactions are valuable

Knowing which numbers to measure

Setting benchmarks to evaluate progress

Reassessing to improve engagement

Leveraging success

Chapter 3: Discovering Social Media Engagement Tools

Considering Traditional Online Communications Tools

E-mail

Online forums (groups)

Websites and blogs

Engaging with Social Networks

Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

LinkedIn

Google+

Incorporating Audio and Video Platforms

Audiocasting or podcasting

Videocasting or video podcasts

YouTube

Recognizing Other Social Engagement Tools

Mobile applications

Location-based services

Part II: Exploring the Elements of Social Media Engagement

Chapter 4: Building Trust and Credibility

Earning Trust in Social Media

Making your message clear

Giving your team clear guidelines

Interacting authentically

Finding your brand’s voice

Contributing meaningfully to the conversation

Listening carefully to your community

Responding promptly for greater impact

Giving the audience what they want

Building Trust in Traditional Online Marketing

Engaging appropriately with the media

Adding engagement to press releases

Soliciting third-party endorsements the right way

Assessing Trust and Credibility

Analyzing sentiment and impact

Measuring the amplification of your messages

Chapter 5: Demonstrating Your Online Presence to Maximize Engagement

Setting Realistic Goals Up Front

Assessing your capacity

Evaluating the competition

Paying Attention to Demonstrate Presence

Being notified when you need to engage

Responding to comments and following up

Establishing a Presence Process

Creating a messaging map

Developing a social media editorial calendar

Setting a Schedule

Determining how frequently to update

Figuring out the best times to engage

Deciding when to interact

Chapter 6: Creating Connections

Starting with Your Connection Goals

Setting short-term goals

Establishing longer-term goals

Identifying Your Audience

Determining who you’re trying to reach

Finding your audience online

Figuring out what your audience does online

Creating a Space for Engagement

Setting ground rules for participation

Offering a forum for opinions

Showcasing what others know and do

Getting the Engagement Ball Rolling

Asking for action

Offering rewards for action

Handling negative feedback

Chapter 7: Driving Interaction

Creating the Setting to Stimulate Engagement

Moving past the what’s-in-it-for-me? mentality

Building a space where people feel comfortable

Inspiring others to pay attention and care

Starting Conversations

Tapping in to trending topics

Lighting a fire with hot-button issues

Turning to humor

Building engagement by way of inspiration

Providing Additional Incentives for Sharing

Offering freebies and discounts

Holding contests and sweepstakes

Aligning your company with a cause

Part III: Examining the Basic Engagement Tools

Chapter 8: E-mail, Forums, Blogs, and Websites

Creating Social-Powered E-mail Newsletters

Choosing an e-mail marketing tool

Putting out the word

Prompting subscribers to become fans

Driving more than clicks

Participating in Online Communities

Forming and growing an online community

Identifying the people you want to reach

Crafting appropriate messages

Entering conversations effectively

Forming Your Own Groups and Forums

Evaluating the benefits of a custom group

Choosing a group management tool

Building groups in social networks

Enhancing Blogs and Websites for Engagement

Facilitating sharing with social network widgets

Expanding commenting with apps

Chapter 9: Facebook

Building Deeper Relationships on Facebook

Growing Your Page Community

Increasing follower loyalty

Promoting your business page with your personal Timeline

Standing Out in the News Feed

Navigating EdgeRank

Crafting engaging posts

Adding visual elements to draw instant attention

Reaching out to other pages

Determining post timing and frequency

Driving traffic to your page with cross-posting

Leveraging the Advanced Features of Facebook

Tagging photos and posts

Scheduling posts for the greatest impact

Optimizing your page for search engines

Graph Search

Advertising on Facebook

Embedding social widgets

Analyzing Facebook interactions

Chapter 10: Twitter

Engaging in Real-Time via Twitter

Understanding how individuals, brands, and small businesses use Twitter

Conveying who you are on Twitter

Devising a plan to keep up with fast-moving conversations

Measuring Twitter engagement

Making an Impact in the Twitter Stream

Crafting attention-grabbing tweets

Leveraging links to get results

Retweeting and @mentioning others

Being “present” even when you’re not

Increasing Engagement via Twitter Features

Giving kudos using Favorites

Building connections via lists and columns

Getting personal with a direct message (DM)

Attracting more followers with widgets and buttons

Adding Twitter to Facebook (and vice versa)

Accessing Twitter on the go

Part IV: Engaging Through Additional Social Channels

Chapter 11: Pinterest

Creating Connections by Incorporating Visual Elements

Preparing your business account

Setting up the right boards for your brand

Pinning to clearly convey your messages

Connecting using pins, repins, likes, and comments

Quantifying the value of Pinterest

Getting Noticed In People’s Pin Feeds

Seeking and pinning winning images

Honing your repinning strategy

Knowing how often and how much to pin

Leveraging Pinterest Features to Increase Engagement

Adding hashtags to attract attention

Getting noticed by tagging others

Running a contest to increase interactions

Inviting participants to group boards

Benefitting from Pinterest Integration

Inspiring others to pin your images

Linking Pinterest to Twitter

Integrating Pinterest into Facebook Timelines

Integrating Pinterest into Facebook Pages

Chapter 12: LinkedIn

Setting Up Your LinkedIn Profile

Creating a new public profile

Editing and enhancing your profile

Reaching Out and Connecting with Your Peers

Engaging in reciprocal interactions

Joining LinkedIn Groups

Communicating through Your Company Page

Creating a Company Page

Making the most of your Company Page

Stimulating Interactions through Updates

Posting compelling content

Interacting with others in the feed

Taking Advantage of More LinkedIn Features

Giving and receiving recommendations

Providing endorsements

Forming and managing a LinkedIn Group

Gauging LinkedIn Results

Tracking interactions

Analyzing engagement

Checking the business benefits

Using analytics tools

Chapter 13: Google+

Checking Out the Benefits of Google+

Getting Your Feet Wet on Google+

Building your personal profile

Setting up a Google+ business page

Setting up an effective page

Getting into the Flow of G+

Leveraging long-form publishing

Posting multimedia

Interacting in the stream

Building your page audience

Expanding Your Google+ Engagement

Circling your connections

Connecting with groups in Hangouts

Leveraging the power of +1

Collaborating in Google+ communities

Chapter 14: Location-Based Services

Bridging the Real and Online Worlds with LBS

Choosing an LBS (or two)

Setting up an LBS account

Making Connections with LBS

Checking in to locations to engage others

Discovering others nearby

Tying images to places through geotagging

Using LBS for Promotions

Doing business with Foursquare

Tapping into the power of Instagram

Linking LBS for integrated posts

Offering deals driven by check-ins

Adding Mobile to Your Engagement Mix

Reaching customers through SMS marketing

Using QR codes for location-based marketing

Geolocating and geotagging

Creating hybrid online/offline engagement

Part V: Leveraging Audio and Video for Engagement

Chapter 15: Audio and Videocasting

Enhancing Your Marketing with Audio

Using podcasts to build an audience

Publishing audio from a mobile device

Adding audio to your social network

Offering Teleseminars and Webinars

Seeing the benefits of webinars and teleseminars

Choosing between webinars and teleseminars

Selecting the right tool

Getting More out of Multimedia

Conferencing with video

Engaging with live streaming video

Showing on the go: Mobile video

Chapter 16: YouTube

Using Video to Build Community

Capturing your audience’s attention

Optimizing your YouTube Channel

Creating a playlist

Maximizing your subscriber base

Interacting with the YouTube community

Standing Out on YouTube

Producing video content that keeps people watching

Mastering metadata

Using annotations and thumbnails

Extending Your Reach with Video

Embedding and integrating your videos

Taking advantage of video responses

Uploading video on the go

Analyzing your impact

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Chapter 17: Ten Social Media Engagement Mistakes to Avoid

Flying by the Seat of Your Pants

Using Too Much Automation

Broadcasting or Sharing Only Your Content

Being Inconsistent

Lacking Personality

Ignoring Feedback

Assuming That Social Media Is Easy

Spamming

Posting the Same Content Everywhere

Repeating Mistakes

Chapter 18: Ten Businesses That Excel at Social Media Engagement

Wine Sisterhood

Mabel’s Labels

Girls Crochet Headbands

Ramon DeLeon, Marketing Mind behind 6-Store Domino’s Pizza Franchise, Chicago

Cabot Creamery Cooperative

Nylabone

MomBiz

Blendtec

Chobani

AJ Bombers

Cheat Sheet

Introduction

You’ve probably heard that “business as usual” is no more. The way that people communicate, market, and sell has changed dramatically since the advent of social media marketing. We’re here to tell you that even though the tools are new and different — and seem to change regularly — you can definitely find out how to master them.

Every step of the way, we coauthors emphasize the best practices of online marketing, customer service, and genuine human communication. As a business owner, you benefit from knowing not only how Internet tools work but also how people use them and how you can leverage them to better reach the customers and prospects who matter the most to you and your business.

About This Book

Social Media Engagement For Dummiesstarts by shedding light on the fundamental principles of social media engagement — the ingredients that put the social in social media marketing. Effective social media engagement (or SME, as we often refer to it throughout this book) should provide tangible and measurable results for your business and boost your bottom line.

By mastering the techniques in this book, you strengthen your connections with potential customers. But don’t stop there: Convert potential customers to actual customers, and then use SME tactics to turn customers into active and passionate evangelists for your company.

This book is a practical, hands-on guide to social media engagement, and we speak from experience. We don’t only consult and teach others to engage well via social media — we also benefit daily as business owners ourselves, by avidly using social networks and social media tools and platforms. We use these tools to communicate our messages to our respective audiences and to connect with the people who read, listen to, and watch what we publish online.

We build relationships with our audiences and truly care about them. In turn, we are humbled to see that our audiences trust us and respond positively to what we say and do online. We are confident that you, too, can benefit from social media engagement.

Here are some of the things you can do with the information in this book:

Understand and apply the elements of social media engagement.

Find out how to plan ahead for engagement.

Determine which social media tools are right for you.

Effectively incorporate engagement into your social media campaigns.

Measure your social media engagement efforts.

Social Media Engagement For Dummies isn’t meant to sound technical or geeky. We take a down-to-earth approach to the technology and provide a lot of explanations and examples so that you can immediately incorporate SME strategies and tactics into your online marketing efforts. We’re results-oriented, and we know you are, too.

Foolish Assumptions

We do our best to be clear and detailed in our explanations of suggested tools and tactics. We assume, however, that you have a basic understanding of several ingredients:

You have more than entry-level knowledge of the Internet.

You have a website and you know what a blog is, even if you don’t personally blog.

You’re aware of, and familiar with, some of the most popular social networks.

You have at least one social networking account for your business.

You’re engaging in forms of online marketing and even social media marketing, and you’re looking to increase the effectiveness of those efforts.

You know that your participation is the key to successful social media engagement.

More than anything, you value your customers — you want to bring more customers to your business, and you want to turn all your customers into enthusiasts.

Conventions Used in This Book

To be consistent, we use these common For Dummies conventions:

The first time we use a new term, we define it and italicize it.

When we tell you to type something (in a box or a field, for example), we put it in bold.

When we mention a website, a network, a platform, or an online application, we provide the URL for your convenience.

When we provide a URL, it looks like this: www.dummies.com.

What You Don’t Have to Read

You don’t have to read this book sequentially, and you don’t even have to read all its sections in any particular chapter. You can skip sidebars and read only the material that helps you complete the task at hand, or you can start by reading only the sidebars, to access information that you can apply immediately to your social media engagement efforts.

How This Book Is Organized

Social Media Engagement For Dummies is split into six parts. Think of the earlier parts of the book as introductions to theories, concepts, and tools; think of the latter parts as plans for turning concepts into actions. In this section, we briefly describe what you’ll find in each part.

Part I: The Basics of Social Media Engagement

We start this book with an overview of social media engagement, from understanding the concepts to using the tools. Part I begins by justifying your investment in social media engagement and explaining the concepts. We explain measurement and the value of engaging, and we introduce a variety of online tools for implementing social media engagement tactics.

Part II: Exploring the Elements of Social Media Engagement

Moving beyond the basics, Part II delves more deeply into the concepts of social media engagement, including building trust and credibility, creating connections, and understanding the importance of being present in social networking. We explain how to start, and participate in, online conversations and drive interactions that help you achieve your business goals.

Part III: Examining the Basic Engagement Tools

In Part III, we review online communications tools that you may already use and others that you may not be using yet. We outline how to use these tools — from the more traditional e-mail, forums, blogs, and websites to Facebook and Twitter — specifically for social media engagement.

Part IV: Engaging Through Additional Social Channels

We don’t stop with the popular social networks covered in Part III; in Part IV, we look at a few up-and-coming networks that are changing the way people engage online. We break down the ways that Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google+, and location-based networks (such as Foursquare and Instagram) provide opportunities for engagement in more ways that drive results.

Part V: Leveraging Audio and Video for Engagement

We’d be remiss not to mention multimedia options for social media engagement. In Part V, we cover ways to use audio and video to capture your audience’s attention and encourage interactions. We cap this part with a close look at YouTube features that facilitate engagement.

Part VI: The Part of Tens

In typical For Dummies fashion, this book includes The Part of Tens to give you quick-reference guides to social media engagement. First, we fill you in on common social media engagement mistakes that you definitely want to avoid. We finish this part with the stories of ten businesses that use social media engagement tactics successfully.

Icons Used in This Book

What’s a For Dummies book without icons to point you to helpful information that’s sure to help you along your way? In this section, we briefly describe each icon we use in this book.

The Tip icon points out helpful information that’s likely to make your job easier.

This icon marks an interesting, useful fact that you may want to remember for later use.

The Warning icon highlights pitfalls you should avoid. With this icon, we’re telling you to pay attention and proceed with caution.

When you see this icon, you know that there’s technical information nearby. If you’re not feeling technically minded, you can skip it.

Where to Go from Here

Like any ForDummies book, this one is written to ensure that you can dive into any section at any time and find useful information. Parts I and II offer an introduction to theories, concepts, and tools; Parts III, IV, and V lay out distinct road maps for turning concepts into actions. Don’t hesitate to skip around this book and refer to it often as a step-by-step guide to completing a task or simply as a refresher. Use the table of contents to find the chapters that can serve you immediately, such as a specific social network, or check the index to key in on a particular concept or task.

Occasionally, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., has updates to its technology books. If this book has technical updates, they'll be posted at www.dummies.com/go/socialmediaengagementfdupdates.

Part I

The Basics of Social Media Engagement

Visit www.dummies.com for helpful For Dummies content online.

In this part . . .

  Find out about the goals of social media engagement and why they matter.

  Gain insights into the impact and value of engaging via social media.

  Get a handle on the variety of online tools that you can use to engage effectively with your audience.

Chapter 1

Explaining the Why, Who, and How of Social Media Engagement

In This Chapter

Recognizing the benefits of social media engagement

Identifying the many roles of social media