Facebook Says Relax: No Dislike Button Is Coming

Mark Zuckerberg didn’t quite break the internet, but he may have broken some people’s hearts Tuesday. During a Q&A session at Facebook’s headquarters, Zuck said, “I think people have asked about the dislike button for many years. Today is a special day because today is the day I can say we’re working on it and shipping it….What [users] really want is the ability to express empathy,” Zuckerberg added. “Not every moment is a good moment.”

Previously, he has been adamant about not offering a “dislike” button alongside the “like” button, for fear of the negativity it could (and most likely would) invite. Is this truly something being given to the users because they (we) have asked for it? Or, is this new button going to be offered so Facebook can find out more information about it’s users?

It should come to no surprise to any user that Facebook is based on a series of algorithms that curate your News Feed. Each time you go to Facebook, the algorithm shows you top or “most recent” posts from your friends and brands you have liked, in order of what you’ve told the site you want to see most – what you “like” most. Posts that receive the most likes are shown higher up in your feed, because that is what the algorithm has determined will attract the most user engagement. What throws this off, is all the posts that express emotions you don’t want to necessarily be seen as “liking.” Think of the time your friend posted about something sad – you didn’t know what to comment, but you wanted that person to know you felt for them – wouldn’t some sort of empathy button have helped?  Perhaps you didn’t even see that friends post, because the algorithm had already buried stories of that sort, from lack of likes.

This new button that for now, we seem to be calling the “dislike” button, would help you balance out those posts that would be odd to “like.” I imagine that what Zuckerberg and his team is working on isn’t a “bully” button, to hate on people, but will be a way to still interact with posts you don’t want to hide, but also don’t want to “like.” These sort of posts will still be viewable and come up high in your News Feed, and you won’t have friends coming to you weeks later inquiring why you didn’t mention anything about their father passing away.

Who does this help the most? Us? Facebook? This early on, I’m still a bit divided in my own thoughts. I think this will give us a chance to see more of what is important to us and our friends, at the same time giving Facebook the chance to keep us on their site longer, and find out more about our feelings, which leads to more ads and more dollars in Zuck and Facebook’s shareholders pockets.

What will this new button look like? A thumbs down would provide the yin to the yang of the thumbs up “like” button, but that doesn’t seem to be what Facebook wants to portray. Perhaps what would be more helpful would be a button that signals to the person that put up the post “I saw this,” or “I hear you.” In my eyes, that would be more of an empathy button, whereas a thumbs down button (and we do not yet know that is what this new button will be) gives off more of a judgmental feel.

However, will hitting “dislike” really show empathy? Or is it the lazy man’s response? Will it be more of a show, like “I want people to see that I don’t like this. But I can’t take the time to write out a true comment or express my feelings, so phew! I’ll just hit this button.” Liking something doesn’t actually equal engagement. Sorry, but it’s true. Actually engaging, sharing thoughts and feelings – that is what creates engagement, not the push of a button. Even the most perfectly placed emoji seems to create more engagement and has the ability to show more empathy than a “dislike” button push.

Honestly, I think it’s too early to start hating on this new button just yet. I don’t think Zuck would take the chance of alienating the 1 billion users by giving us all something that could offend and hurt people, or turn the site into a negative Reddit rabbit hole. We just don’t know what exactly is being created right now, and it seems too judgmental to fully express opinions on it without having all the information.

10 Ways Brands Are #DoingItWrong On Social Media

There’s a big difference between “being on social media” and “being social on social media.” Just because you are on social media as a brand, doesn’t mean that you can’t still be yourself, and still be social. In fact, I would venture to say that as a brand, it’s even MORE important to be your authentic self, despite being “behind the logo.”

In today’s digital world, social media is often the first experience potential consumers have with your brand. More often than not, they are going to your social media profiles first, before even visiting your website. Knowing how to use your profiles is of utmost importance in getting consumers to get an affinity with your brand. You can build trust through social, and trust leads to lasting, loyal consumers. Unfortunately, many brands are still missing out on this opportunity.

Done right, social media can be a game changer for your business. It can be the difference between a consumer choosing your brand over another similar product. It can be effective in finding your audience, engaging with them, and winning them over. Unless you’re making some very common mistakes.

If you are currently struggling, all is not lost! Let’s look at some common mistakes I see brands making on social media:

1.      Jumping in without a plan: If you are going to do anything ever, you think about it first, right? You want to do something, you have to have a “why” you want to do it, goals on what you’d like to accomplish by doing said idea, and at least some thoughts on how to get there. Without a plan, with realistic achievable goals, how will you know if you’ve done it?

2.      Auto-DMs on Twitter: Don’t. Just don’t do it. Never ever. Send a personal message or don’t send out anything at all.

3.      Thinking “It’s not you, it’s me”: No. It IS you. The collective you. Social media isn’t about you broadcasting your message or talking about yourself 24/7. All your content should be focused on your community, your audience, your consumers, your end users. Think about who you want to reach by using social media and tailor every message to that person. Yes, person – as in, I believe your content should speak to people as individuals, not throwing out words and blogs and tweets and posts en masse. Everything you send out or post should be addressing someone’s needs.

4.      Posting the same message to all social networks: Do all of your friends offline hang out in the same spot all the time? Do you have certain friends you see at some places and other friends you see in completely different places? Social networks are no different – you have different communities on each platform. People like Twitter over Facebook or Facebook over Instagram for various reasons, so you’ll need to tailor your content to each platform. Twitter only allows you 140 characters, but LinkedIn and Facebook don’t set that limit. So why post the same abbreviated content when you don’t have to? If you post the same message everywhere, you’re missing the opportunity to connect with people that don’t respond to certain platforms nuances. Also, why should I follow you on more than one network if I’m just going to see the same message everywhere?

5.      You aren’t responding quickly: When someone takes the time to contact you, whether it be for a positive or negative comment, respond to them. And FAST. I like to keep myself to under an hour as a response time. Social media gives us the idea that someone is monitoring profiles every hour of every day. While that’s not always the case, I’d recommend having part of your plan include a way of monitoring and listening to what people are saying, and developing a way to respond to them in as timely a manner as you possibly can.

6.      You are inconsistent: Consistency relates to quality and trust. Think of your friends – do you have one that you would call “flaky?” Someone that cancels plans at the last minute, doesn’t call or text you back as soon as you’d like them to, or someone you have a great night out with and then don’t hear from for a month? Don’t be that guy on social media. Let your community and consumers know they can rely on you.



This WAS a pretty great snack...

7.      Brands are forgetting to show personality: People respond to people. People are what makes up companies, and people are who is at their laptop or on their phone posting to social media sites. So why do some companies sound robotic? By offering opinions and taking part in conversations, you are able to emotionally connect with people and that will draw them in so they want to do business with you. Post things about yourself, add value to people’s lives. Help them. Answer questions. Be interesting and interested in other people – I promise, they will then be interested in you. This doesn’t mean you should share pictures of your breakfast every morning, but if you have a spectacular pancake, bacon sandwich or green smoothie to share, post it!

8.      Sell! Sell! Sell! No. Don’t. If you walked up to me at a concert I was at, said hello and introduced yourself, that might be enough for us to begin a relationship of some sort. I would realize that we shared common interests, and a simply “Hi! How are you?” would show me you were interested. If you walked up to me at the same concert and introduced yourself, then immediately tried to sell me concert shirts, I’d be pretty turned off. It’s not any different online. Social media isn’t an advertising platform, nor is it a commercial. It’s a…ready for it? SOCIAL NETWORK.

9.      You are expecting overnight success: Does it happen? Sure. But for most of us, building, growing and nurturing communities takes time. Allow yourself that time. I’m willing to bet that your best friends took time to get to know, right? Again, no difference online. Invest the time it takes, it will be worth it.

10.   You tell me! I get all my inspiration from my social media communities – I’d like YOU to tell ME what #10 should be! Tweet me @lucyrk78 and let me know?

7 Simple Ways To Build Trust For Your Brand Using Social Media

Every day on social media you see people talking about the importance of brands learning how to engage with their consumers, be more “human” and above all, be honest and transparent. Think about your life – how long would you stay friends with someone you didn’t trust? Would you continue to keep working on building that relationship? The same goes for brands. In order to grow their consumer base, they must build relationships. And those relationships must be based on trust.

Social media has leveled the playing field, opening up the opportunity for small brands to have the same chance of reaching as wide an audience as larger, more established brands. Trust goes a long way in cutting through some of the “noise” on social media, helping even start-ups gain attention and interest of existing and potential consumers.

Here are 7 ways brands can begin to build trust with their consumers using social media:

1.      Quick and Responsive Communication: If I am happy with a company or a meal or customer service I’ve received, I am more likely to go straight to Twitter with my comment. I am less likely to fill out a comment card. I have my phone with me at all times, so it’s much more convenience to simply pull it out and type out a quick message to the company. Studies show that if someone has a bad experience, they will take to social media first to communicate their complaint. If brands receive a complaint via one of their social media channels, that is a great opportunity to quickly address the consumer, take ownership of the complaint and see what they can do to remedy the situation. I believe that most issues can be resolved and less consumers will be lost if brands do this in less than 5 hours from the time they received the message. This also shows on a larger scale to more people that the brand is listening and concerned with what people are saying. If handled correctly, a well handled complaint can often turn into a great testimonial for the brand.

2.      People Buy From People: People often talk about being the same online as they are offline. In my opinion, that’s the only way to be. You are only one person, and if you are the face behind a brand, you are trusted to be for a reason. There is nothing I can think of that would make a good case for making a different persona online. If you want people to trust your brand as they would a friend, you have to speak with them as if they were your friend. Being yourself on social media also helps in keeping a consistent voice. If you are friendly and engaging one day and the next day you are simply selling your product with every message, people are going to be confused by your messaging and confusion leads to mistrust.

3.      Create More Often Than You Curate: People who are looked at to be thought leaders have many people that trust them. While sharing posts on social media that you have not written is very common, if that is all you are doing, you are essentially showing that your brand has no original ideas of its own. You become more of an echo than someone to be looked to for answers your consumers are seeking. If you aim to truly gain respect and trust, you will need to show you can post timely original content that is relevant to your audience.

4.      Be Transparent: This does not mean you should reveal company secrets, but the more you show you have nothing to hide, the easier it will be for people to trust your brand. A good example would be, if someone posts a complaint on your brand’s Facebook wall, do not simply delete it. Address it, and leave it up on the timeline to show that you have nothing to hide and no matter what, you will listen to what people are saying and will address it.

5.      Be Accountable: We all make mistakes. You may have forgotten to send something out on a certain date, making a shipment arrive late, or you may have tweeted something that perhaps offended people. Don’t ignore or make excuses for these occurrences. Acknowledge that you understand what you have done wrong, and do what you are able to, to right the wrong as quickly as possible.

6.      Be Helpful: Remember, this is not about YOU. This is all about your consumer. By being a member of the community, and using social listening, you will find out what your consumers are seeking to find out, or what questions they may have. This is what should drive your content. Being someone’

7.      Do Not Auto-DM on Twitter: Just don’t do it. No. Matter. What.

These are just a few of many ways brands can build trust on social media. Remember that without your consumers, you don’t have a brand! Focusing on gaining the trust of your community as well as expressing gratitude for that trust will help you develop and deepen relationships, ensuring your business continues to grow.

 

Emotional Connection is the Key to Brand Loyalty

Ten years ago, the idea of emotionally connecting to a brand was something we did, but never thought about. The idea of connecting to a bank or insurance company was unheard of! Today? I was so moved by Chase Bank

’s commercial full of puppies that I had to tweet them immediately and tell them. Happy it was my bank and that like me, they loved puppies, I told them so through a tweet. Within seconds they tweeted back about Chase loving dogs. Immediate emotional connection. I was happy that they acknowledged my tweet to them and responded with a great response, and I was happy that I was with a bank that I had something in common with. While that still seems odd, even writing it, emotionally connecting with consumers is the key to brand loyalty.

Let’s look at a hypothetical scenario: You have been purchasing a certain brand’s hair color for the past 20 years since you began coloring your hair. You love the color, the price is reasonable and you are always able to find the product at your local store. Then you read a blog about this new company that’s come out with what looks like the exact same color. Suddenly on social media, you see more and more people mentioning this new brand. You get in the car and go to a store looking for this product so you can at least check it out for yourself. It’s a few dollars more, but you decide to pick it up to see what the buzz is about. You color your hair and while it’s not exactly the shade you have always done, you like it. You tweet the new company to let them know you tried it but that it’s too expensive when you’ve already got a product you like. Within minutes, they respond to your tweet in a positive way, and ask for your email to send you a coupon. If this were me, I would make the switch to the new company. I am a firm believer in “We vote with our dollars,” and I support companies that I believe in. Having shown me that they are listening and willing to do something to gain my business is enough for me to make the switch. I’m immediately emotionally connected to a company I feel has my best interests at heart and wants to do better by me.

What drives us as people? My answer: emotions drive us. Have you ever gotten bad service at a restaurant that made you so upset that you immediately went to leave them a bad review? On the flip side, has someone in a store ever gone out of their way to help you and you filled out a comment card commending them? Those are both examples of being driven by our emotions.

We are all a brand. Some of us work solely for our personal brands while others of us have brands as clients or our own companies. The easiest way to create emotional connections with our audience and our community is through social media. It has broken down that “fourth wall” and made it easier for people to come to us, they don’t have to jump through hoops and codes and pages to send us an email on a website. They don’t have to wonder how long they’ll be on hold if they call our help departments. Its real time, and we are (hopefully) always there to answer them.

In everything I do for marketing clients, I keep one sentence top of mind: People buy from people they trust. Social media gives us the opportunity to create trust with people on a daily basis. How do we do that? The same way you would build trust with a new friend. You are consistent. You show up. You respond when someone speaks (tweets) to you. You try to be helpful. I am a big believer that the online world is no different than the offline world. There are just different people you know there. Think about where your friends hang out. Aren’t there some people you go to one specific restaurant or bar to meet some of them at, and another to meet another group of friends? I look at social networks like Facebook and Twitter the exact same way. Those are two additional places for me to see my friends.

Social media makes connection to people scalable. You aren’t just throwing out words to the masses, hoping that something will stick in the ‘right’ person’s mind. You are able to have 1:1 conversations with people to build brand trust and loyalty. You will get to know the people in your community and they will get to know you. The companies that are excelling and will continue to get this. They know the power of having a brand voice that people relate to. It’s less of “new marketing” than it is a shift in focus to more personalized marketing.

How do you get started? The same way you would get started with a new friend. Ask questions. Be interested and interesting. Share parts of yourself, and be there when people share parts of themselves to you. Consistently show up. Follow through, do what you say you will do. Keep conversations relevant. Be helpful. What can you and your brand do to make peoples’ lives better? Don’t just talk about yourself. Today, it’s more about the people behind the brand than it is about the actual product. Your stories add faces to the brand, and people connect with those faces and those stories.

What tips would you add? Tweet me @lucyrk78 and let me know!

 

Brands & The Art of Storytelling

 

Brands telling stories is nothing new; what is new is the focus on the concept, with the rise of content marketing and social media. 17 years ago when I first started in marketing and branding, we knew that what we were doing was telling stories, but I’d never seen the term in a marketing plan or strategic document. Today, I hear and see it all the time.

We are more accustomed to seeing brands tell short stories through the use of print, radio and television advertising. There would be a short plot somehow tied to the product (albeit at times a bit too loosely) and the brands would hope we’d quickly connect to the idea or story presented in the ad and remember their product. If the brands were a product that could easily be demonstrated, we would get a bit more robust story of the brand via in person appearances, if the brands were lucky enough to catch our attention as we passed them in say, a grocery aisle.

Storytelling is as old as humankind. Perhaps the first glimpse of it is seen in ancient hieroglyphics, stories depicted as pictures on walls. Fast forward – what would a campfire be without friends sitting around telling stories? We like stories because we can relate to them. We can see ourselves or people we know in them. It shows us that we aren’t all as different as we may appear.

All brands, just like all people, have many different stories to tell. Without those stories, products and brands are just that, but with stories, they become human, living and breathing. Brand stories are often what makes us choose one brand over another with a similar product. If I can see myself using a product, or hear a brand story that shows me how that brand will make my life easier or better, and much more importantly – when a brand reaches out to me and continues a conversation with me, I am much happier choosing them over a competitor. Even if I’ve used another brand for years.

Traditional marketers always needed to rely on their creativity, but didn’t often have to have much in the way of writing skills. That has all changed for today’s marketers. In today’s “new marketing world,” brands often have people with job titles like “Brand Storyteller” or “Creative Content Director.” Does that mean that only those with an MBA in journalism or fiction writing are getting marketing jobs these days? Not at all. Many strong marketers have long realized the necessity of being able to tell a good story (in the true, honest sense) and possess those capabilities. The marketers in highest demand today are those that can find a way to reach consumers through emotional and relatable stories, getting people more involved in the brand through the use of content marketing and social media, as well as finding ways to be involved in the “right” events i.e. right place right time to offer consumers an experience with the brand.  



So many stories to be told!

Are these skills marketers can learn? I believe they are. I think there are certain intrinsic qualities that draw people to the field that most with marketing jobs possess, but I also believe that the right marketer can grow and develop people to find their own strengths in the industry. At the same time, I also fully believe there are certain intrinsic qualities that will prevent certain people from excelling at branding, content marketing and storytelling. If you don’t have the inner knowledge of yourself and ability to be honest, open and at times vulnerable within your community and with your audience, I think you’ll have a hard time connecting with consumers. Brand storytelling is no longer a static ad, it’s a real person standing in front of you, or also sitting in front of their computer engaging with you in real time. If that is hard for you to with people in general, it’s going to be even harder to get people to relate to you and your brand online. That’s not to say you need to be a comedian or constantly “on” with people. It just means that you are going to need to be able to find emotions that live within you that your consumers can relate to.

Is all content marketing storytelling? No, and I believe this is a big misconception some brands are sadly operating under. Sometimes content is there to provide proof, numbers, hard data. That’s not storytelling. There is nothing I can emotionally relate to when just handed numbers. Storytelling on the other hand, is all about emotion, evoking feelings in your community, consumers and potential consumers. Storytelling is both inspirational and aspirational. It is the art of getting someone to want to join your brand’s journey.

How do you know what stories to tell? As with everything else with branding and social media, it will all come through listening to your community. They will tell you what they need, what they want – it’s all of our jobs as marketers to listen to them, and get to know what drives each one of them. This isn’t a one-time thing, you have to be constantly and consistently engaging as a member of those communities to learn as much as you can. Just like people evolve and change and grow and even as they change their minds or beliefs, so must your brand and your marketing and your stories. A good marketer will always be ready to pivot and shift tactics to keep your community and audience inspired and connected.

I’d love to hear what brands you are finding are doing really well with brand storytelling. Tweet me @lucyrk78 and let me know?

Creating A Content Marketing Strategy

No matter what stage in the lifecycle of your brand that you are currently in, you have undoubtedly heard of Content Marketing. You might even already be creating content. Or, you might have recognized the need to begin creating a Content Marketing Strategy, but aren’t quite sure where to start.

Content helps your community and your audience relate to you. The more helpful and relatable you are, the more people want to begin a relationship with you. Isn’t that how you began most of your friendships, whether they be online or off? By relating and finding things in common with people? Relationships deepen, you find you are able to be there when friends need you, they are there for you when you need them…The more you consistently put out great helpful content, the more people learn that you (your brand) are someone they can look to when they have questions, and that leads to trust. If you are a brand, trust is the most important goal I can think of – people buy from people they trust.

When I’m starting out to write, either for my own blog or on behalf of one of my brand clients, I always start out with 3 very specific questions to guide my words:

1.      Is this necessary?

2.      Is this needed?

3.      Is this helpful?

While it might first appear that Questions 1 & 2 are similar, they’re actually quite different. I look at Question 1 as – has what I’m thinking about writing or about to write filling a hole? Do I have the opportunity to help people find information on something I haven’t, myself, been able to find information on? While I look at Question 2 as – have I been listening and talking with my communities and have I found that they are asking for this information? If I can answer YES! to each of those three questions, I am more confident in sitting down to write. If I cannot answer yes to each of them, I remind myself that I’m not writing just for my own enjoyment (though I do, just to practice my writing), I’m writing for the people in the communities I keep myself in. When I am writing for a brand, I always try to keep top of mind – This isn’t about me. This is about my customers.

If I am aiming to create more of a Content Marketing “Strategy,” there are more things to consider, and it’s necessary to delve deeper. Before we begin any sort of plan, we need to ensure we know our goals and who we are creating content for.

1.      Have we defined our audience? Do we know who will be receiving the content we will be providing?

2.      Can we define characteristics of that audience? Do we know more about them past their buying triggers, so we can create a more comprehensive plan?

3.      What are our goals? What are our marketing objectives? How will our content marketing program help us get closer to achieving those goals?

4.      Have we spent enough time to begin to understand what content our audience is looking for? (While we will NEVER stop listening and talking with our community and our audience, we have to start somewhere)

5.      What format does our audience and community like to receive content marketing in? Is it infographics? Videos? Text? Blogs? Live Streams? Webinars?

6.      Where will we distribute our content – where is our community RIGHT NOW? Where is our audience? Where are the people we are not yet reaching but aim to?

7.      Do we currently have the staff, resources and budget for a true Content Marketing Plan to be effective? If not, where we will get these resources?

8.      How will we track and analyze metrics? How will we know we are getting closer to recognizing our goals?

The most important thing to remember is that although you have laid out a roadmap with your strategic plan, you always have to plan for the unplannable. You will need to be ok with the idea that your entire plan might need to be scrapped and rewritten at any time.

Do you have a Content Marketing Strategy? What have you found are the most important pieces in it? Do you feel that your strategy is allowing you to feel ready to begin creating content? Tweet me @lucyrk78 and share some of your content marketing ideas with me!

Instagram Updates Explore Tab - But Is It Enough to Rival Twitter?

Tuesday, Instagram users saw an update appear in their app store. The first part of the update now shows users trending topics, tags and places that is continually updated, allowing us to look at events and pictures in real-time that are happening nearby. If you are looking for a more worldly view, you can also select various locations around the word, rather than only viewing local content.

Coincidentally (not terribly), this update has come just days after Twitter announced Project Lightning – an update coming this Fall, where users will see even more timely events as they are happening. While I don’t think Instagram will ever rival Twitter for its ability to break news as it happens, this certainly gets my attention as a play to begin to compete. The problem as I see it is that Instagram isn’t updated as often or as quickly by users as Twitter is. That’s why the hashtag “#latergram” is so popular on Instagram. I believe more people tend to upload photos hours or days after a photo was taken. I know this is true for me. If I’ve got something I find exciting to share with my community, I will first go to Twitter with it, over Instagram, knowing that I can post a photo at any time to the latter’s platform.

The second part of the update now includes curated content. This content currently is chosen by the Instagram team (as opposed to each user) and offers a rotating choice of topics such as “NBA Rising Stars,” “Trending Places,” “Extreme Athletes” and “Towering Rocks.” It remains to be seen if a time will come that we will be able to choose our own topics, which personally seems like it would be more beneficial. I’m an NFL fan, I’d much rather see “NFL Rising Stars,” I don’t much mind missing out on NBA rising stars. Call me when Michael Jordan’s records are being obliterated!

For local marketing initiatives, the trending places will be helpful. Once you click on “Trending Places,” you are taken to another screen with both cities and venues. You can choose to see more of what is happening near your physical location, or satisfy your sense of wanderlust and explore exotic locations you might not otherwise have access to.

What I find most interesting is that Instagram still does not allow users to seamlessly toggle between accounts. As someone that manages the social media for multiple clients, this is a feature that I NEED. We know that the technology allows for this – Twitter has always allowed you to easily switch between accounts without having to log in and out and remember even more passwords. Even more interesting is that with all the people tweeting and mentioning and bemoaning the inability to do this on Instagram, there has been no response from the company. I would be pacified with even a simple “We hear you,” or “Here is why we don’t currently have that feature” response. Social media stats come out daily about how many people expect quicker responses when tweeting to brands nowadays, and to have a company as largely used as Instagram not address our concerns and opinions is surprising to me.

What do YOU think? How will you use the new Instagram explore tab? Will you begin to look to Instagram for another source of breaking news?

Building Online Communities

I hear and read a lot on Twitter lately about people looking for quick magic answers on how to build thriving online communities, and people looking for advice on “how to best reach our audience.” Those two things are not the same – communities are groups of like-minded people that get together for a myriad of reasons, but that always share knowledge, ideas and most importantly conversations. On the other hand, an audience receives this knowledge, these ideas, etc… The best way I can describe the difference is: a community is engaging and interactive, while an audience passively receives information.

A community is something that will live with you throughout the lifecycle of your brand, when built and nurtured “right.” They will get to know you, and you will get to know them. Both you (and/or your brand) and the members of the community will ideally grow as a result of your relationship.

Like any other relationship in your life, both online and off, it takes work. Think of the friends you have offline – how did that friendship begin? What makes it continue to grow, deepen and become more meaningful? Do those same things with your online communities. There is no reason to be any different online than you are offline.

If you are building an online community as a brand, there are a few steps I would recommend, to help you get started.

1.      See where people are already talking about you. If people are talking about your brand and excited about it more on Twitter, start there. If there are more people you see mentioning you on Facebook, start there.

2.      Get to know the people in the community as you build it. Again, all relationships take time. Give yourself time to get to know each member. What do they like to do? What other brands do they like besides yours? Where do they spend their free time? What sort of work do they do? These are all things I would like to know about potential close friends, whether they are online friends or friends offline.

3.      As you’re getting to know each member in your community, you might find certain members have more in common with others. Help make those introductions. Help them grown their own communities!

4.      Be you. Have you ever been at a dinner party and there’s that one guest that only is talking about himself, boasting about things that you couldn’t care less about? Don’t be that guy. You are representing your brand for a reason – your sparkling personality! Don’t be afraid to show it and let people get to know more about you, as well as your brand. Don’t let a keyboard make a conversation awkward or any different than it would feel if you were talking with a new friend in person. (for the record, I’m often quite awkward when meeting new people, but that’s ok! We’re human.)

5.      Be consistent. What do you say about those friends that make plans, then cancel them, or see you for a date and then disappear for 3 months? Honestly, we ALL have that friend. Personally? I call them flakes. And it’s not a good thing – it’s annoying, right? To never know if you can depend on that person or not, or know if you make plans, that they won’t fall through last minute? Again? Perhaps I’m repeating myself, but it’s one of my most favorite movie quotes, so I’ll say again, “Don’t be that guy.” Be reliable. It’s a good personality trait no matter what you’re doing.

6.      Remember to keep things relevant. If you were reading this article, and knew from the headline that it would contain tips about building a community online, and suddenly there were paragraphs about my dog’s fear of thunderstorms, you’d be pretty confused, right? That’s because how my dog feels during rain has nothing to do with steps in building community. It’s something you might find out being IN a community with me, as I talk about my dog all the time, but it has no relevance here. You might get sidetracked once in a while, but try to keep your voice and message consistent and clear, and most importantly, relevant. People joined your community for a reason – don’t give them reasons to leave, or find it’s not what they wanted to be involved in when you came together.

7.      Be a community insider. You are a member of the community just as much as anyone else there is. Don’t look at it as being any different – share successes of members of the community, comment on things they share with you, join conversations.

8.      Bring online, offline. As you grow and get to know your community, see if you can meet anyone for coffee. Do you travel for work often, as I do? Even better! Now you’ve got the opportunity to meet even more people! I like to organize “Tweet-Ups” in each city I visit, so not only do I get the chance to meet more people in person, but other members of the community get to meet each other. You’ll be surprised how many people live in the same city and don’t ever meet up. I like to bring together, and it’s always so much fun!

9.      Try to have an attitude of gratitude. At the end of the day, your brand is nothing without people that like it and support it. So why not continually remember that, and always strive to make those people feel as important as they are? Surprise gifts are fun, but not always necessary. Inherently, people like to be acknowledged. Don’t you? I know I do. A simple thank you isn’t always so simple to some people, it means a lot more than you think.

10.   Remember to always monitor the community. If you aren’t paying attention to certain metrics, how do you know if your community is growing and thriving? How will you know what you’re doing well within the community and what more people would like to see you doing?

I wish Top 10 Lists were about 20 items longer. I’m so passionate about the communities I’m fortunate to be involved in and would love to say so much more! For now though, I’d love to hear what YOU have found – what makes your community great? How did you begin to grow it? What have you learned from your community that you didn’t know before you started?

Here's a shot from a recent Tweet-Up in LA!

Understanding Faceboook Insights and Twitter Analytics

In yesterday's blog, we started talking about the importance of knowing how and why it’s necessary to continually be monitoring and analyzing your social media analytics. When I first began testing, I wasn’t ready to delve into tools and putting budget towards analytics just yet. Luckily, Twitter and Facebook have been doing more and more to allow users to monitor results on their platforms while in the app (or desktop).

Keep in mind – you have the ability to track almost any kind of data imaginable. That doesn’t mean that all is necessary and relevant to YOU. Sort through the data to determine what is most important for you to learn about your community to help further your ability to reach your goals and grow your engagement.

Facebook Insights                                                                                         

 

Each admin of a Facebook page has access to insights. You can find these by clicking the Insights tab in the Menu bar at the top of your page. This will give you ‘insight’ into your posts, your fans and your reach.

There are many things you can look at in Insights: weekly reach, how well each post has done, what is being looked at the longest…There are six ways Facebook breaks down the information:

1.      Overview – this shows how your page is doing, how many new “likes” you received, and how each post was received, how many people engaged with it, what times they saw it, how many people shared the content…

2.      Likes – This shows you how many new likes you have received and how many people have un-liked the page. If you are doing an ad campaign on Facebook, this is where you will see how many organic vs paid likes you have received.

3.      Reach – this data tells you how many people saw each piece of content you posted, if anyone liked it, clicked on it or shared it.

4.      Visits –  looking at visits will show you the number of times the different tabs on your page (photos tab, info tab, timeline, etc.) were viewed, and how any times people came to your page from a website outside of Facebook.

5.      Posts – this might be the most important piece to look at. Posts show you a breakdown of the days and times your fans are online, the paid and organic reach of your posts, as well as interactions with them i.e. comments or likes.

6.      People - I like to break down the people that like my brand’s pages. You are able to see the gender of the people that like that certain page, as well as their age and locations. Having demographic data for your community can further help you tailor your content to relate the most to them. Some people call this “creating target audience personas,” but I’m not a huge fan of that term.

Facebook Audience Insights

               You can further break down the information on all the people that have “liked” your Facebook page. There are five ways Facebook has broken down this information: Demographics, Page Likes, Location and Language, Facebook usage (are your visitors coming from mobile, desktop, etc) and Activity (are people coming to your page to shop? Just to gather info?)

Once you become more comfortable looking at and analyzing this data, it will help show you what sort of content your audience is looking for from you, so you know what to post more of or less of. This information will also give you a better idea of what you might want to spend money on: posts that might be worth “boosting,” or whether you should begin Facebook Ads at any certain time.

This is just the beginning of all the Facebook Insights offers. Which insights have you found to be most helpful?

Twitter Analytics

Midway through 2015, Twitter rolled out their native analytics platform, available to all Twitter users. In Twitter Analytics, you are provided with a 28 day review of the response for each tweet – what people have RTd, mentioned, clicked on and marked as a favorite.

Just like Facebook Insights, Twitter offers you a variety of measurable metrics. The options that I have found most useful are:

1.      Tweet Activity -  If you click on any individual tweet, you are shown all the engagement on that tweet, including clicks on URLs if there is one in the post, how many people clicked your username in response to reading that specific tweet, and clicks on images if there is one in the post, expanded details.

a.      This is further broken down into 3 sections:

                                                    i.     Impressions – here you can choose a date range to see how many impressions you have received on your tweets. It is broken down by organic impressions and paid (promoted tweets, ads, etc) You are kept within a 91 day (random) window for the dates you can choose to analyze. Most valuable here could be the “Impressions by Time of Day,” so you know moving forward, when most of your community is available to speak with!

                                                   ii.     Engagements – There are no filters here, but you are given a wide range of information including: Impressions, Retweets, Replies, Favorites, and User Profile Clicks. What I have found interesting is how many times I have had a tweet retweeted, without the person actually opening the link included in the tweet. In my eyes, I see this as people beginning to have trust in what I (or my brands/clients) are tweeting and see it as beneficial. Also, that could show that certain words and headlines resonate with our community.

2.      Followers – This might be my favorite analytic on the Twitter interface. Not only can you see the demographics of your followers, their marital status and location, you can further break down the information via the Lifestyle tab. The information here shows you the Top 10 interests of your followers. By learning the subjects your followers tweet about the most, you are then able to join conversations about things that interest them, find things you have in common with to help begin engagement, and get a better understanding of the content your followers would be most interested in receiving from you.

Have you checked out your Twitter Analytics Dashboard yet? I’d love to hear what information and what tabs have been most meaningful to you. Tweet me @lucyrk78 and share some of your data with me!

Always. Be. Testing.

You have built or become involved with a great brand. You have done research and social listening to find where your customers were, and built social networks to be able to have conversations around the clock with these customers. You’ve even written a robust social media marketing plan and your community is growing, so it’s working, right? You’re done! Sorry, no. Not so fast.

Remember yesterday, when videos didn’t automatically play on Twitter? Just one example of how fast social media changes. It is constantly evolving and adapting and you have to also, in order to stay competitive and to ensure what you originally planned still works.

When you set your social media goals, they included clear KPIs, yes? If you’re not currently testing against those, how well are you really doing? If you aren’t measuring if what you are doing works and is moving you closer to achieving your goals, how will you know when you get there? One way, is to take a bit of advice from Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross. Today’s “Always. Be. Testing,” is the new “Always. Be. Closing.”

But wait. Didn’t we go into marketing, so we wouldn’t have to ever do math? Now we have to look at analytics and extrapolate data from them? I was terrified of people that would mention A/B testing and data analytics. Just like I was scared to ride a bike, until I started to ride. Most things in life seem scarier when we think about them, than they are once we start them, aren’t they? Testing on social media was just like that for me. For a while, I got away with not testing. I was growing my brand’s social media presence, I was having amazing conversations and meeting some great people online, and sales were up! On the surface, everything was great. But it could have been BETTER. And why settle? My excuse (to mask my fear of the unknown, or my fear that I was too old to learn new things like testing) was “I work with startups! We just don’t have the budget for fancy tools.”

Good news. You don’t have to have a budget to begin testing. You can actually begin right this second to measure and monitor your social media presence and hopefully bring you closer to realizing your goals.

1.      Time of Day

When you post, is almost equally important as what you post. If you are posting life changing content and no one is online to see it, did it really happen? It certainly won’t achieve the results you are hoping for. Every industry and community is different, so there is no magic answer as to what time is best to post on what social network. It would be easy to say “Don’t post in the middle of the night, everyone is sleeping.” But some brands do a majority of their work in different time zones from where their marketing team resides, so the middle of the night for some, might be lunchtime to others.

My suggestion: Post the same message at different times of the day, then look at which of those posts is receiving the most engagement. What post are people responding to? Marking as a favorite? Retweeting? If you do this for at least two weeks (you want a large source of data, you can’t make a determination if you only test once) on every day of the week, you will find what times during each day are the “best times to post on social media” for YOU.

2.      Text Content vs Visual Content

Do your community members and consumers respond better to posts with photos? Videos? Straight text? Write a post and test! Once you’ve determined what the best time to post is on Tuesdays, for example, release this post the first week with no photo or video. The next week, release it again, but this time add a photo or video and less or no text. Which got more likes? Retweets? Comments? Try this again on different days of the week for a couple of weeks, and that will help you determine what your community likes to see from you.

3.      Posting Frequency

Is there any correlation to how often you post, and how quickly your engagement rates are growing? This is another test you run by simply trying it. On specific days (for example every Monday and Tuesday) try posting quality, relevant content to a specific social network (you can repeat this with each one, but let’s start with Twitter) twice during the hour that you’ve already found is your personal “best time to post on Twitter.” The next week, on the same days at the same time, try posting 4 times during the hour. Did you receive more engagement on those posts the first week or second week?

There are also a great many free tools you can use to help measure and monitor the work you are doing on social media, but the networks themselves offer great information, if you know where to look. Two of my most used are on Facebook and Twitter. (there are also free analytic tools available for LinkedIn – both for business pages and individuals, Pinterest and Google+)

Part II will discuss how you can use Facebook Insights and Twitter Analytics.

You Could At Least Have Bought Me Dinner

As a blogger, I often find it hard to price my services. I find it easier when it comes to marketing and PR, but harder when it comes to giving out quotes for social media and blogging. Although it might not seem like it, the days of working as a full time social media person or blogger are still relatively quite new. There are as many variables as there are people looking for work – engagement rates, social media following numbers, conversion numbers, reach, what topics you write about with authority, what brands you have worked with – the list is almost never ending. 

Dinner in Exchange for Work?

I also find that because so many people see this as a way to be “livin’ the life,” i.e. working from home, seeming to set your own hours, looking at it as getting to be your own boss – prices fluctuate all over the board. Add to the equation, not everyone writes or creates content as their full time job. Bloggers and people that work as social media community managers and consultants rarely discuss their pricing with others – perhaps this is to remain competitive, or maybe it’s to avoid competition and bidding wars altogether.

Outside of blogging and social media, there are not many other industries where people would see no problem with asking someone to work for free, guest blogging, or helping with marketing plan writing or design…I had a handyman come over today to hang some pictures, install a couple locks and make a plan to put a fence in my backyard, and it would never occur to me to say to him, “Thanks for spending two hours here. I’ve got a soda to offer you, cool?” It would never cross my mind that he wouldn’t expect to be paid, so why do we, as bloggers and community managers?

I’m not sure I’ve got the right answer to this. I do, however, have a ton of questions that come to mind when I think about it. I’ll be asking you these questions during this Monday’s #contentchat (June 22^nd, 2pm CST). I’d like to get YOUR thoughts on things like:

1.      Is low self-esteem an inherent trait in bloggers? Those that work in social media? Why else wouldn’t we feel strong enough to demand we’re paid what we’re worth?

2.      Is there ever a time it’s ok NOT to be paid?

3.      Is there any truth to the statement, “I am not yet expecting to be paid while I’m growing my readership” ?

4.      Why do friends think it’s ok to ask us to write for them for free? My friend is a lawyer, should I ask him to take on whatever case I might one day have, and represent me for free? Maybe for a free lunch, in exchange for all the hours he will spend on my case? (not to mention the cost that he incurred while attending law school, in order to put himself into a position TO help me)

5.      Does it make you feel good if people ask you to do blogging or consulting for them, but don’t offer to pay you? Does it make you feel like a ‘thought leader?’

6.      Is it just too hard to say “NO?”

I feel that as bloggers, and people that are regularly engaged on social media, we are already sharing a lot of our knowledge or “secret sauce” items that we’ve learned along the way, and picked up via experience working in the field. Why, then, do people still want to “go to lunch and pick your brain?” If they find what you have to offer so valuable, why would they expect us to simply give away what we do for a living?

On the flipside, how would our paying clients feel, after finding out we’re doing work for ‘friends’ for free? Wouldn’t that jeopardize all our other business relationships?

My biggest “problem” is that I love to help people. I love the moment of discovery when you realize that something you’ve said or shared gives them their lightbulb moment. So I can, at times, find myself in a position of sitting at “lunch” with people and freely sharing, only to feel later on down the road that perhaps I’d been taken advantage of.

I can’t wait to further discuss this with everyone in #ContentChat Monday! I hope you’ll join me – I’m sure a lot of us have experienced this very thing, yes?