- How can someone who is new to marketing utilize social media as a marketing tool?
The key is to just start posting and remember that social media is a long game. Like most marketing tools and strategies, you have to consider how social media fits into your business’ overall marketing goals. Don’t get discouraged when you feel like your channels aren’t growing fast enough, compare your growth and engagement percentages to others in your industry. In addition, make sure your team has well-identified responsibilities when it comes to your social media presence. It is very easy to let this fall through the cracks, even when you have good intentions.
- How do you find customers on social media if they don’t already like your page or are engaging with you online?
This is where advertising comes in handy. It allows you to be very specific about the target audience you want to reach, including those who are not yet connected with you. Just be sure that your page is offering value to your followers, not just advertisements for your business. The best way to organically increase your potential reach, or the amount of people who see your posted content, is to engage with other pages! Work with partners and begin tagging them in posts. The more shares your posts receive, the more potential eyes it has.
- What are some good tips to increase followers on various social media sites?
Advertising and engagement. Make sure to be responsive. If your followers tag their friends in comments, this is your opportunity to create a relationship and offer value to a potential new connection. Remember, social media is SOCIAL. Also, you can track your competitor’s mentions. If you notice someone tagging your competitor in a negative review, respond to that person! Let them know how you might offer a solution.
- When should a business implement Facebook and Instagram ads? Are they worth it?
There are many different reasons to integrate advertising into your social media efforts. A good way to sum it up is, add advertising when you can directly measure the results and impact they have on your social media and marketing goals. Is it brand awareness? Maybe it is sales. The better you measure your results, the more successful they will be.
Also, keep in mind your overall strategy when you look at a timeline for implementing Facebook and Instagram ads. Could you maybe spend some time investing in your quality of content before switching to paid ads? If you put money behind poor quality content, it will reach more people but you will not see a return on your investment.
- How can I cultivate and drive engagement consistently on various social platforms?
The best way to drive consistent engagement is to be consistent with your posts and consistent in their quality. If you cannot post great quality content five days a week, try switching to three days. Stay consistent, try out different themes and content, you will start to see a trend in the content and messaging your audience enjoys and that consistent engagement will begin to grow. You don’t have to overthink it. If you can create an awesome #TacoTuesday post that will be relevant and high-quality content for your audience, go for it!
- How can my company best grow our Instagram to 30k followers in 90 days?
If can you figure it out, can you share the answer with us? Hah! Just kidding…mostly.
Essentially, you’re saying you want to grow your IG by over 300 users a day. You might be able to do this by investing a significant amount in social media ads. But, are these followers going to engage with your content? Having a ton of followers looks good, sure. But it just isn’t as valuable as engaged followers who comment, like, share and advocate for your business. Try examining why you only want to grow followers. Will this link directly with your main goal for being on social media?
- What campaigns work best with social media?
The better question might be, what campaigns work best with your audience? Every audience is a unique snowflake. They have different expectations of a brand and what they expect for engaging content. The campaign should have a clear call to action, clear key performance indicators (KPI’s), and be “Easy, Fun, and Popular.” Once you have identified what would be most meaningful to them, work with your team on a rollout strategy. That way, you get the most out of your hard work!
- Is Twitter still relevant?
It depends on the target audience and the message you are sharing on social media. Every social media channel has its own unique purpose and place in the social media world. Twitter is there for breaking news and updates. It can also be there to address quick questions or customer complaints.
- What can I do to respond to a negative review?
Be genuine. How would you respond to a customer in person when they have a complaint? You will probably apologize and let them know how you will make it better in the future, or give them a discount. By simply apologizing, you can turn an upset customer into a happy customer. They want to know you are listening. The experience you offer to your customers online is an extension of your brand and shouldn’t be far off from the experience you would offer them in person.
Don’t use the same canned response, ensure that you address everything the person says, and leave them with some form of a solution. Is that contacting you directly if they have more questions? Trying your product a different way?
- What is your view on having a podcast for a company?
Mia: First, I would ask, why do you want to create a podcast and how are you going to track the ROI? I think podcasts can be a great tool, but they are a big investment in time and resources. Instead of creating your own, why not find an established podcast and reach out to be a guest. That’s a great way to get on the podcast circuit, establish your expertise, and it will have a bigger reach than starting a podcast from scratch.
Lizzie: I totally agree with Mia. Podcasts can be a great marketing tool, but it is quickly becoming a saturated space. Remember why people enjoy podcasts: it’s creative entertainment. If you enter into creating podcasts looking to increase sales, you will never achieve the results you’re looking. People don’t listen to podcasts with the intention of being sold something, they listen because they are invested in a story, want to learn something, or be entertained.
- What does an impressive portfolio look like for someone who is trying to get into the social media realm straight out of school?
This is a great question that is relevant to anyone breaking into the social media space, no matter what age. Nothing looks better than experience managing campaigns and being able to communicate results. It is hard to understand or explain social media without actually going in and doing it. We recommend volunteering your time to manage a nonprofit or other organization’s social media channel that needs help and keep track of how you improved their performance. Lots of organizations need help with social media, and there’s nothing like hands-on experience to get you ready for a position in social media.
- What can I work on to create a portfolio to show future employers that I am able to utilize social media?
Quantify and communicate the results you got for the clients / social media accounts you worked on. How did those results affect the business overall? The better you can communicate this, the more you will stand out from other applicants.
If you are not in a position where you have had any applied experience, get as many certifications under your belt as you can. You can also begin writing your own strategies for companies you admire and posting them online. Try starting with these:
- Google Ad Words
- Facebook Ads
- Write your own strategy! Check out how this person called out Slack’s poor blog content and showed how she would make it better. This is a great example of marketing your skills while providing some great value to the customer.
- How as a young professional who is new to marketing with little experience can I utilize social media as a marketing tool?
The best way to showcase what you can do is by building and establishing your personal brand on social media. If you say you know about social media, but you barely post on your own accounts, to a potential employer, that might make them question your knowledge. Potential employers are looking you up online, so make sure your online presence matches how you want to present yourself professionally. You can also begin posting to your own blog, once you have a few posts under your belt, apply to be a writer for other social media news outlets! Build your position as a valued thought leader that way.
- Do you listen to any podcasts that have good insight on marketing/social media? If so, what are they?
Mia: My favorite marketing resource is eMarketer. They have a lot of free, educated, and well-informed marketing content. It’s not all of that “fluffy” marketing guru stuff, it’s real, analytical, and I learn something new almost every time I listen to it and read their articles: https://www.emarketer.com/articles/topics/emarketer-podcast
Lizzie: I haven’t found any good marketing/social media podcasts, BUT the podcast Being Boss is run by two women who own a content strategy business. The podcast primarily targets freelance workers, but I find lots of great nuggets of information from listening. Not only do they talk about using social media and marketing as a tool, but also professional skills building and finding your worth in your work.
- What are some of your biggest pet peeves as social media marketers?
People buying fake followers, hands down. It cheapens the community and engagement we work so hard to build on social media. Buying followers and creating fake engagement also makes it nearly impossible to utilize any of your analytics or gauge what content your target audience will actually respond to. You might be surprised how many people buy followers and engagements, but it is easy to spot! Ask us how and we would be happy to show you.
- Why/How did you enter the social media marketing field?
Mia: For me, I’ve always naturally looked for new ways to promote and grow a business, before I even really knew what marketing was. A friend helped me get some experience in a communications office as an intern, and from there I was hooked and I knew marketing was for me. Social media was a brand new medium that not many organizations knew how to use. I was already experienced with social media and I learned how to use it as a marketing tool. Because there was a big need for those skills, I’ve been able to evolve my love for social media and our community into a career.
Lizzie: I kind of fell into this field and loved it. While I was in college studying copywriting, I had a book blog that I ran with a friend. We made it really successful by using social media tools and engaging with our readers. When I was done with school, I realized I had gained the most applied experience from what I did on my blog! Smashing together my love of writing with my experience in social media, I have found a great niche creating content for our clients while also using my love of the platforms to educate others.
- How can I become a marketing badass?
- Keep on keepin’ on! Show up and do what you say you’re going to do. People will learn to depend on you and trust you.
- Read A LOT, use the platforms, and most of all: keep it fun.
- Follow your interests, you don’t need to know everything about everything, just as ensure you know the most about your favorite aspects of social media.
- Go to meetups, follow sub-reddits, make connections and watch your badassery grow!
