In this article I’ll discuss:
- The three silos of social media management
- Daily social media management tasks, for the most popular social networks
- Twelve status update categories
- Inspiration and ideas for status updates
- Sixty status update examples
- Community management tips, and ‘rules of engagement’
- Social media success mantras, and some engagement tips
- Strategies for dealing with negative feedback, and positive feedback too
- Creative ideas for hashtags, and inspiration for blog posts
- How to identify and leverage influencers
Preface: I wrote this resource a few years back, when Pinterest was gaining momentum and when Instagram was only new. The consumer psychology tactics are still (and will continue to be) relevant to today’s times.
Part One: Three Silos Of Social Media Management
Daily social media management consists of three core tasks: community management, digital customer service and campaign deployment and optimisation. When executed correctly, these three components can positively assist consumers in their decision making process and have the potential to nurture (a) social prospects into customers and (b) customers into repeat purchasers/brand advocates.
Community Management
Social ‘community management’ is the process of engaging members of a social community by sharing compelling content, providing transparent value and communicating in a manner which creates a sense of affinity towards an organisation.
From a blue-sky perspective, social community management should be executed with the intention of producing ‘wow’ moments and should positively assist consumers in their decision making process (by making a brand ‘likeable’). Social community management includes active community networking (by actively contributing to other communities) and community management tactics.
Community management tactics include:
- Sharing links, images and videos
- Providing insightful commentary
- Asking questions, initiating conversation
- Seeking and engaging influencers,potential customers
- Monitoring hashtags, retweeting,liking pins
- Personifying brand values
Digital Customer Service
‘Digital customer service’ is the art and science of providing outstanding customer service to consumers via digital channels (commonly via social media platforms).Digital customer service is increasingly growing in importance as more and more consumers perceive the social web as a customer service channel.
Digital customer service execution is similar to traditional customer service: a brand must be actively visible and responsive to positive and negative comments from consumers. A brand must monitor the social web for indirect complaints (as consumers often complain in areas not directly visible on a brand’s wall or community).
Digital customer service tactics include ‘being seen’ in your community, and:
- Responding to enquiries
- Resolving complaints
- Providing ‘traditional’ customer service
- Monitoring for compaints/issues
Campaign Deployment & Optimisation
Campaign deployment and optimisation involves the design, creation and execution of custom or non-standard social media marketing activities or campaigns.This daily task will vary depending on live and planned campaigns and includes but is not limited to:
- Pay-Per-Click advertising
- Online store/e-commerce campaign
- Hashtag promotion
- Lead generation campaigns
- Community growth campaigns
- User Generated Content (UGC)campaigns
- Location-based campaign (using‘check-ins’)
It’s important to note that paid social media marketing initiatives like PPC advertising work will in conjunction with organic social media marketing. PPC advertising can be considered the engine for producing new followers (increasing reach) and organic social media marketing the engine for converting those followers into customers or advocates/repeat purchasers.
Part Two: Daily Social Media Management Tasks
- Post images or videos with questions,captions, and/or statements. Take inspiration from twelve status update categories
- Post links to value-adding content
- Using your business profile, share the content of other businesses or organisations
- Using your business profile, ‘like’ other businesses or organisations with a target market similar to your own
- Monitor a hashtag used by your target market, share or comment on posts that use the hashtag (using brand profile)
- Using your business profile, write a valuable comment on a page you already follow (make sure the page has a similar target market to your own)
- Using your business profile, write a valuable comment on an new external page with a target market similar to your own
Recommended Frequency:
Choose one or two of the above, three to five times per day.
Other Ideas:
- Images and videos are the most visible elements in Facebook’s News Feed
- ‘Shared’ items are also highly visible
- Remember to proacitvely reach out to newfollowers by increasing visibility of yourbrand page (on other brand pages etc.)
- Respond to followers. Initiate conversation where possible.
- Look for complaints or other comments. Reply where applicable.
- Tweet links to value-adding content
- Post questions or statements. Take inspiration from twelve status update categories
- Retweet valuable tweets from your followers; provide your own comments or insights
- Retweet interesting tweets from non-followers (particularly from your target market)
- Express your opinion, explain to your followers why you do what you do
- Provide commentary on recent events in your industry
- Thank new followers for following you (do this by literally thanking them in a tweet, with a mention of their username)
- Use hashtags to participate in group conversations but DO NOT promote your products in these conversations
- Monitor mentions of your brand name,products or industry, initiate strategic conversation with applicable consumers if required
Recommended Frequency:
Choose one or two of the above, three to ten times per day.
Other Ideas:
- Write short, punchy tweets
- Use hashtags to increase visibility
- Frequent news updates work well
- Respond to followers. Initiate conversation where possible.
- Look for complaints or other comments.
- Monitor mentions of your brand name,products or industry, apply customer service strategies if you find problems
- Post images or videos with questions,captions, and/or statements. Take inspiration from twelve status update categories
- Post links to value-adding content (an external URL), act as a source of information in your industry
- Write a valuable comment on an external page with a similar target market
- Search for groups in your industry
- Share the content of other businesses or organisations
Recommended Frequency:
Choose one or two of the above, one to three times per day.
Other Ideas:
- Act as a source of information in your industry
- Provide excessive value to followers (push the ‘wow’ effect)
- Frequent news updates work well
- Demonstrate your opinion, however be careful not to offend or appear overly opinionated
- Respond to followers. Initiate conversation where possible.
- Look for complaints or other comments. Reply where applicable.
Google+
- Post images or videos with questions,captions, and/or statements. Take inspiration from twelve status update categories
- Post links to value-adding content (an external URL)
- Comment on an external page’s post;provide as much value as possible
- Monitor a hashtag used by your target market, share or comment on posts that use the hashtag
- Share the content of other businesses or organisations
Recommended Frequency:
Choose one or two of the above, one to three times per day.
Other Ideas:
- Use in a similar fashion to Facebook
- Post links to your own site. Google will give greater authority to your website in organic search results if Google+ is used to share links
- Respond to followers. Initiate conversation where possible.
- Look for complaints or other comments. Reply where applicable.
- Pin with the intention of producing ‘wow’ moments and fostering a strong positive set of emotions towards your brand
- Pin images of your products in use
- Pin images that your target market will find useful
- Make sure you provide links back to your website
Recommended Frequency:
At least three to ten pins per day.
Best Results:
- Share visual examples of your product and all things loosely related to your industry.
- Visually represent your Community Value Proposition.
- Share images that invoke strong emotion (remember: consumers buy from those they like and trust).
- Stay consistent
- Use Pinterest analytics to determine which pins send the most traffic to your website.
- Respond to followers. Initiate conversation where possible.
- Look for complaints or other comments. Reply where applicable.
Part Three: Twelve Inspiring Status Update Categories
Need inspiration? Use these twelve status update categories to create compelling and value-adding posts for your social profiles.
Passion Question
Ask a question about a common passion or frequently discussed topic in your community. Be sure to respond and demonstrate your presence in the conversation.
A general ‘passion question’ is ‘Where would you go if you won the lotto?’ or ‘What would you ask for if you had three wishes?’
Recommended frequency: Max 1-3 times per week
Share or ReTweet From Other Social Profile
Share a status update or Retweet a follower or non-follower’s post.
Recommended frequency: Unlimited*
Value Share
Share a link to a page or video, or post an image which provides transparent value to your community. Provide this value in alignment with your Community Value Proposition.
Share a post that will make your followers say ‘wow’.
Combine a ‘Value Share’ post with a ‘Passion Question’ for a powerful post.
Recommended frequency: Unlimited*
Offer/Discount
Provide an exclusive offer or discount to your community. Do this manually or via a Facebook ‘Offer’.
Recommended frequency: 1-2 per week, avoidbover-promotion.
Industry News or Current Affair Commentary
Provide news or information about your industry or a current affair. Add your own commentary. Provide a link if possible.
Ask a question about the event, or provide your insights.
Recommended frequency: Unlimited*
Fill In The Blank
Post a sentence with a blank word and ask your community to fill in the gap.
Example: ‘Fill in the blank: My favourite day of the week is______‘
Combine a ‘Fill In The Blank’ post with a ‘Value Share’ for a powerful post.
Recommended frequency: Unlimited*
Humour
Say or share something containing an element of humour. Use carefully.
Combine with a ‘Fill In the Blank’ or ‘Passion Question’ for a powerful post.
Recommended frequency: Unlimited*
Poll or Survey
Create a poll or survey and share it with your community. Facebook has an inbuilt poll tool. Survey Monkey is a powerful survey tool.
Recommended frequency: Max 1 per week
Fact or Trivia (Statement or Quiz)
Share a piece of trivia or a fact about a common passion or frequently discussed topic in your community. Ask a difficult question about a similar common passion or frequently discussed topic.
Combine with a ‘Passion Question’ or ‘Value Share’ for a powerful post.
Recommended frequency: Unlimited*
Internal Content Share or Custom Collateral
Share a blog post, page or other item from your website.
Design or produce images, infographics or videos specifically for your social community.
Recommended frequency: Unlimited*
Brand Announcement, Feature Post or Question
Make a special announcement or statement about your brand. Share a picture or video about a product or service you offer. Or, ask a question that involves your community in an internal business decision. Involve your community in the day-to-day running of your business.
Recommended frequency: 1 per week
Part Four: Inspiration and Ideas for Status Updates
Questions to help you create value-adding status updates and content:
- What is it that your ideal customers love the most about your products, brand or industry? How can you amplify this passion? What actions can you take to lever this passion to your advantage?
- What are your ideal customers generally passionate about? What actions can you take to lever these passions to your advantage?
- What do your ideal customers like to do in their spare time? How can you provide value to these things?
- What are your ideal customers interested in?
- What are the pain points of your customers?
- What are some of your ideal customers’ needs, and how can you help them with these needs?
- What will make your ideal customers say ‘wow’?
- What kind of things do your ideal customers like to read about?
- What kind of things do your ideal customers like to share with their own networks?
- What do your ideal customers need to achieve success in their career or lives?
- What can you do or share to save your ideal customers money?
- How can you genuinely assist your ideal customers in their decision making process, even if it’s not for your own product?
- How can you go out of your way to make your ideal customers’ day?
- What wisdom or knowledge can you share that will make you an authority in the eyes of your ideal customers?
- What can you offer that is different to your competitors?
- What can you share or uncover that will greatly advantage your ideal customers?
Best-practice guidelines and tips for posting text, image, video and link status updates/posts:
- Use a ‘narrative’ approach that tells a story: keep your status updates as linear and jointed as much as possible.
- Do not post too frequently as consumers may become ‘numb’ to seeing your brand and will therefore not respond. Note: if you post frequently, ensure all posts provide UNIQUE value.
- Remember to show passion and emphasize the strong points of the image/video/link/content you are discussing.
- Say positive things that validate why you are in business.
- Demonstrate to your community the things you value.
- Showcase how awesome your existing customers are.
- Showcase your customers using your products or services.
- Say things that are designed to elicit a positive response.
- Overcome conscious or unconscious objections members of your community members may have about engaging your services.
- Share symbols of the qualities of your brand in the form of links, images, videos and insights.
- Display your uniqueness. Display how you are unique in comparison to your competitors.
- Share industry news (be the source of information in your industry).
- Demonstrate thought leadership. Be the ‘sharp end’ of the industry. Say and do things that will earn you respect.
- Demonstrate the inner workings of your organization. Share pictures of staff, and other items that make your organization more ‘real’.
- Share facts about your company, product or industry. Share facts about anything that produces a ‘wow’ response.
- Celebrate good things. Celebrate public holidays etc.
- Share ‘top five’ lists about things relative to your industry.
- Create images of quotes and brand them with your logo. If the quotes are powerful enough, they will spread virally (which increases visibility of your brand).
- Ask inspirational questions. Ask questions about the things that inspire your customers.
- Use the positive feedback and comments from customers on yourFacebook profile to help sell your brand. Try and keep the thread alive – this will prolong the visibility of the positive comment (which means your customers will be promoting your product or service for you).
- Allow your followers to demonstrate their superiority, ego, intelligence or social or economic status to yours and their community. Give your followers an easy way to make themselves look good.
Content Sources
Setup Google Alerts
Use Google’s free alert function (www.google.com/alerts) to alert you of new content. You’ll be made aware of new content as Google indexes it.
Use a social media search engine
Use a social media search engine such as Social Mention (www.socialmention.com) to search for your content keywords. Bookmark the content source for future reference.
Use Pinterest as a content source
Follow Pinterest users who share material relevant to your content keywords. Share this material in your own social media marketing.
Subscribe to industry blogs
Look for blogs relevant to your industry and share their content. Where possible, use an RSS reader to streamline all of your blog subscriptions.
Create web bookmarks
If you find a useful site, bookmark it using your browser’s bookmark feature. Create a collection of bookmarks containing strong content sources.
Find other social media users/profiles
Find other social media users who share great content.Subscribe to other social media users who may share content similar to your own. Share the content they share (either obviously, by sharing their post, or discreetly, by sharing the content directly from its source).
Other content sources:
- Technorati
- Blogorama
- Google news
- industry magazines
- Google+
Part Five: Sixty Status Update Examples
Type: Passion Question
Specific question about a passion:
- What’s the best way to XYZ?
- Can anyone give any tips on how to XYZ?
- A common problem found with ABC is XYZ. Anybody got any pro tips for tackling this issue?
- Pictured here is a ABC. What would be the best way to XYZ?
- Where’s the best place to find a high-quality XYZ?
- Can anybody provide any insights or comments on the latest XYZ?
- Which works better, XYZ or ABC? Let us know why you think so!
- A common rumour says XYZ. Is this true? Why do you think so?
- Many users of XYZ prefer ABC. Others prefer DEF. Which do you prefer? (Or do you sit on the fence?)
- What’s the best part about using an XYZ?
General passion questions:
- Let’s pretend you just won a hundred million dollars. What’s are the first three things you do? What are the first three things you’d buy?
- A genie in a bottle comes to you with three wishes. What do you ask for?
- Where’s the best skiiing destination?
- Pictured here is XYZ beach. Where’s the best beach in the world?
- If you could master any language in ten minutes, which language would it be?
- Tell us your favourite Champagne house/beer/scotch etc..
- If you had thirty minutes to spend as much money as you could, how would you do it?
- You have the option to either (a) receive the deeds to your own private island or go to the moon. Which would
you do, and why? - On a scale of one to a million, how much do you love XYZ?
- You have a flying carpet. Where’s the first place you’d ask it to take you?
Type: Value Share
- Provide information, insights and general value to your community.
- Make a statement about that provides value or an insight into your passion.
- Link to a blog post that solves a common issue or problem experienced by your community.
- Share a value-adding image.
- Share an infographic (image or video).
- Link to a page on your website that helps your community in some way.
- Provide a link to a coupon website, or an asset that may save your community money or time.
- Alert your community about dangers or other important information.
- Provide inspiration in the form of quotes, images, links to inspirational material.
- Introduce your community to other communities or individuals who may help solve their problems.
Type: Fact Or Trivia Quiz
- Ask a question about an item or element of a picture or video you share.
- Ask a general trivia question about something your consumers are interested in (or are passionate about).
- Ask a ‘question of the week’ or ‘quiz of the week’.
- Run a ‘name a celebrity’ quiz (describe the celebrity without saying their name), offer a prize to the winner.
- Quote a famous saying and ask your community to name the person.
- Ask a ‘true or false’ question.
- Ask a question and provide a multiple choice style answer.
- Share a link to a quiz or riddle website.
- Run a scavenger hunt, where your followers need to find something on the internet and share the link.
- Run a competition where the first correct answer to a trivia question wins a small prize.
- Notes: Try and incorporate a ‘fact or trivia quiz’ with your CVP or product/service offering.
Type: Fill In The Blank
Specific fill in the blank:
- The best way to XYZ is to __________.
- This picture would be so much better if it had a _________ in it.
- The XYZ in this picture is __________.
- The XYZ in this picture is thinking “__________”.
- Pictured here is a __________.
- The biggest problem with the XYZ in this picture is __________.
- The biggest problem occurring these days with XYZ is __________. (Explain why!)
- One of the best things about XYZ with ABC is __________.
- In your opinion, the best way to solve XYZ is __________.
- Caption this image. (Make sure you share an image)
General fill in the blank:
- If I had a million dollars, I’d buy a __________.
- If I could live anywhere in the world, it would be __________.
- My favourite time of the year to travel is __________.
- My favourite power saving tip is __________.
- When I celebrate, my favorite drink to toast is __________.
- My favourite sportscar/luxury car/boat is __________.
- I would rather be sipping a __________ right now.
- My favourite city in the world is __________. (Tell us why)
- The first words I say when I knock off on a Friday afternoon are “__________”.
- If I saw the Prime Minister in the street, I would say “__________” to him/her.
Remember to include elements of your Community Value Proposition into status updates as much as possible. Lever the passions and common interests shared by your community.
Part Six: Community Engagement Tips & Rules Of Engagement
Community Management Tips:
Use a content calendar
A content calendar (also known as a content editorial calendar or content marketing calendar) is a calendar used to plan and track the content that is shared on a social networking profile (or profiles). Using a content calendar saves time and prevents content from being ‘re-shared’ or doubled up in a social media profile.
Use tracked links
Use shortened, tracked links via a link-shortening tool such as Bitly or Google URL Shortener. These links take up less space in your posts and allow you to track how many people click them (and other information about the visitors who click on your links).
Use a social profile management program
Use a profile media management program such as Hootsuite. Hootsuite allows you to manage multiple profiles and save regular searches (for brand, competitor and industry surveillance purposes).
Share images or videos in Facebook where possible
Images and videos are given more priority in the Facebook News Feed and therefore increase the visibility of your brand. A combined image/video and text post is an ideal ‘attention grabbing’ post. This can also be applied to shared links.
Regularly update your Facebook cover profile image
Update the ‘cover’ image in your Facebook profile, as this will appear in the news feeds of your followers.
Use custom Facebook apps
Use custom Facebook apps to increase the engagement on your Facebook fan page.
Retweet strategically
Use the ‘Retweet’ feature in Twitter to gain the attention of potential followers.
Promote a hashtag
Promote a hashtag in marketing material. This promotes conversation around your brand.
More Tips & ‘Rules of Engagement’:
Respond quickly
When you engage with your community, make sure you respond quickly and ‘strike while the iron is hot’. Try and engage followers while their positive energy is focused towards your brand.
No traditional ‘hard-selling’
Do not hard sell. If you wish to promote something, act on an approximate 9:1 ratio. For every one time you promote/sell, provide at least nine other ‘value adding’ (non-sales) messages.
Have a ‘relationship building’ mindset
Social media and social communications revolve around building relationships. Aim for long-term growth instead of short term profit.
Talk with, not at
Do not talk AT your community, talk WITH them. Assume you are in sitting in a room, face to face with your followers. Don’t say or do things you wouldn’t normally ‘in person’.
Be innovative
Think of ways to be different. Produce ‘wow’ moments. Do and say things that demonstrate your ability to ‘think outside the box’.
Be sociable
Take the ‘cocktail party’ approach and assume you are trying to impress each member of a cocktail party. To make friends, you must be a friend.
Actions speak louder than words
Remember that actions speak much louder than words. Try and follow this principle in your social media marketing. Remember: “the things we say and do are symbols of who we are”.
Use the power of association
Try and get your followers to associate positive thoughts and emotions with your brand. Share great content that makes your followers say ‘wow’. Say things that impress your followers. Aim to produce a strong positive
emotional bond between your followers and your brand identity. A greater emotional bond = more likelihood of greater sales or increased sales referrals.
Always look for buying clues
Look for clues that indicate one or more of your followers might be ready to purchase from you. When you find such a clue, offer supreme customer service to those followers, to advance them in their decision making
process.
Be the ‘good guy’ in your industry
Look for other industry leaders and share or retweet their content. Chances are, they will support you back. Sharing the content of other experts demonstrates the ‘value’ you are giving to your customers.
Show your emotions
The nature of social media allows you to demonstrate your emotions (and seem more like a ‘human-centric’ brand instead of a sterile business identity). Describe the things you love and are passionate about.
Amplify other marketing campaigns
Use the social web to amplify other marketing campaigns you are running. This can be done by sharing links to your web campaigns or mentioning your offline campaigns.
Thank people for following or liking you
Express your gratitude if somebody follows you on a social profile. Say thanks to them. Doing so will contribute to the emotional connection they have with your brand.
Understanding why consumers interact with a brand’s social profile
Understanding why consumers interact with a brand’s social profile assists the process of designing and executing community nurturing and growth strategies. Consumers interact with a business’ social community for some or all of the following reasons:
- To learn about a product or service, to see if it suits their need or needs
- To look for reviews or feedback (in the form of ‘social proof’) about the quality and value of a product
- To lodge a complaint, or resolve a customer service issue
- To gain exclusive information or discounts
- To appear associated with a brand, or be a part of a brand’s offering
- To receive value
- To share their opinion about the brand
- To demonstrate the fact they have purchased, or are going to purchase
Part Seven: Success Mantras & Consumer Engagement Ideas
Success Mantras:
Mantra One: Deliver excessive and transparent value
The social web allows business owners and executives the ability to add an extra ‘value dimension’ to their product or service offering.
This is done by:
- Sharing useful, relevant or humourous information/content,
- Offering supreme digital customer service,
- Acting as a reliable source of information,
- Generally helping your followers overcome their problems, and
- Providing extra ‘general’ value depending on the nature of your industry.
Delivering excessive value assists your prospects in their decision making process (generally in your favour).
Mantra Two: Consumers purchase from brands they like and trust
Remember consumers buy from brands they like and trust — the best way to make a brand like you is to provide transparent value in a way that helps consumers solve their problem (without the expectation of a
purchase).
You have the opportunity to demonstrate your ‘likeability’ and other personality traits that no other medium can transmit.
When you plan and execute your organic social media marketing, make sure your social personality is likeable and transparen.
Mantra Three: To make a friend, you have to be a friend
A positive ‘real-life’ relationship is a two-way exchange of friendship and social media is no different — to make friends, and therefore build relationships, you have to be a friend. When you engage with your
communities, be happy, genuine and friendly. Keep this in mind when you execute your organic social media marketing strategies.
Mantra Four: Demonstrate your unique values
Remember to demonstrate the unique values, characteristics and unique features of your brand where possible (Note: I’m stressing the word uniqueb> here). The social web is a very competitive place and is filled with noise from competitors (even non-competing brands) which means you need to communicate uniquely and demonstrate your brand’s uniqueness as much as possible.
Mantra Five: Make your followers say ‘wow’
Lastly, the ‘silver bullet’ or killer strategy that will energize your social media marketing is to make your followers say a simple, three letter word: ‘wow’.
If your followers are saying ‘wow’ about your brand (or something you have done or shared), they are (most probably) feeling good feelings. And, they’re probably associating those good feelings with your brand which means they’re producing a strong relationship with you. This can lead to three things: increased advocacy, increased referrals and increased sales.
Consumer Engagement Pro-Tips:
- Share content or status updates that play on the passions of your target market. Consumers love discussing their passions. They will hold you in high regard if you share their passions.
- Time of day tips:
- Consider when your target market and community use social media profiles. Post when they are online or generally most active/responsive.
- Post on the weekends (or schedule posts for the weekend).Many demographics use social media more frequently on weekends.
- Avoid posting during business hours or directly after work. Aim for after 7pm weekdays when consumers access digital devices after dinner etc.
- Include images with status updates. Images are eye catching and have a higher likelihood of appearing in a follower’s News Feed. Add a comment about the image and/or a question or call to action (such as ‘‘‘Like’ this if you like XYZ’’).
- Use unusual characters to create emphasis. Examples include:
- We have a **very** special announcement:
- >> Hot off the press <<
- This is big news <—–
- Ascii art, custom symbols or emojis
- Provide a question at the end of status updates or tweets where possible. Make a statement and follow up with a question. Could end with ‘Yes or No?’ or ‘True or False?’.
- Provide a call to action at the end of posts where possible. Calls to action examples include: “Caption this image,” “Hit ‘Like’ if you’re an XYZ fan. (Insert image of XYZ),” “‘Share’ if you love XYZ! (Insert image of XYZ),” “Breaking news: XYZ is ABC! Retweet to yours.”.
Success in social media is achieved by:
- Understanding the language and psychology that motivates your customers to buy
- Showcasing a ‘likeable’ social media personality to produce ‘wow’ moments
- Demonstrating your unique qualities and features/benefits that positions your brand above your competition
- Proving transparent value that assists your customers go about their everyday lives, not just in their decision making process
- Providing a sense of belonging to your community members, and the opportunity to share or embody your brand values
- Treating the medium as a nurturing tool: aiming for long-term success instead of short term quick wins
Part 8: Positive and Negative Feedback Strategies
Positive Feedback Strategy
It’s important to respond to positive feedback — it demonstrates to your followers that you are listening (and engaging) with your social communities (remember: have a ‘relationship building’ mindset). If somebody gave your organisation a compliment in real-life, you would acknowledge him or her, right? It is this recognition that can convert a happy customer into a brand advocate, and demonstrate to your followers that you are thankful for the positive energy.
When you reply to your positive comments, make sure you do the following:
- Thank the follower for the comment. Recognise that the consumer has taken time out of their day to send you a positive message. Keep the positive energy flowing.
- Where possible, offer the customer something extra, or provide extra value to them.
- Finish the comment with a further extension of your service. Ask if you can do anything else for them.
Here are some examples:
Thanks for your kind words Mr Smith! It’s always encouraging to hear positive feedback. While you’re doing XYZ, have you considered looking at ABC? This might make your stay even better! Let us know if we can do anything else.
Thanks for the feedback Mr Smith. Hearing this makes our day! We did some further research into XYZ and found ABC. It might make your stay even better? Thanks again! Let us know if we can help with anything else.
Remember to lever the positive energy the happy consumer is harbouring for your brand — these consumers will be the easiest to convert into brand advocates (and brand advocates will market your products or services for you).
Negative Feedback Strategy
- Do NOT delete the negative comment. Deleting the negative comment could make the situation worse. Note: if the comment contains offensive language it may be appropriate to delete the comment. Use your judgement.
- Acknowledge the person and the comment with a short reply. Note that it may not be appropriate to ‘apologise’. Here are some examples:
“Hi Mr Smith, thanks for your message and I understand your concern regarding the XYZ situation. One of our customer service representatives will contact you as soon as possible to address this issue. – Your First Name”
Or:
“Hi Mr Smith, we are very sorry for the inconvenience you have experienced here. One of our customer service representatives will contact you directly to resolve this issue. – Your First Name”
Note: Be sure you put your name at the end of the comment. This is to make it clear that you are a human replying to the comment.
When you handle a complaint in this situation, make sure you do the following:
- Rapidly acknowledge that the complaint has been made. The worse thing you can do in this situation is ignore the comment, or delete the comment altogether.
- Be humble, but confident.
- Take the problem offline. Where possible, try and locate the customers contact information in your internal database. If they are not a customer yet (and you do not have their personal information), try and facilitate a private message session. In the private message, ask the person for their contact information so you (or your
customer service team) can speak to them directly.
It’s important to have this strategy clearly defined in case of an emergency — this way you will not be ‘at a loss for words’ when a negative complaint is made on your profile.
Avoid a broad ‘cookie cutter’ approach to your replies – make sure you have a framework or outline for your reply but avoid ‘cut-and-pasting’ replies word for word. Each situation will require a unique response.
The manner in which you handle this situation could even create a brand advocate. If you go above and beyond to resolve the situation, the customer could be so impressed that they spread the ‘good word’ to their own networks.
Part Nine: Hashtag Tactics & Blog Post Inspiration
Hashtag Tactics
A hashtag is a single word beginning with a hash (‘#’) inserted into a social message (such as a tweet, post or status update etc.). A hashtag exists to categorise a message or to directly associate the message with a commonly discussed topic. Hashtags also allow social messages to be found easily in a search.
Hashtags allow users to discuss common trends or topics quickly and easily.Hashtags can be inserted into the middle of #sentences or placed at the end of the message. #likethis
Hashtags help expose a brand to new audiences. A brand may use a hashtag to associate itself with a commonly discussed topic or trend, or to participate in a conversation about an event or particular topic. A hashtag may also be used as a customer service tool by asking consumers to mention the hashtag when they wish to gain your attention, although you will have to constantly monitor for the mention).
Hashtags can be used in Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and Instagram.
Two methods for choosing a hashtag:
- Create your own hashtag as part of a social media campaign or customer service channel, or
- Tap into the conversation around a commonly used hashtag.
Important: Don’t abuse or overuse commonly used hashtags. This may create a negative reputation for your brand.
How to use hashtags to increase brand visibility:
- Add a commonly used hashtag to a value-adding tweet, post or status update. It’s essential that you provide value in your message. This will (a) increase visibility of your brand and (b) demonstrate your value proposition.
- Find a person or group of people in your target market and use a hashtag they’ve used recently. This may get their attention and gain them as a new follower.
- Monitor a hashtag commonly used by your target audience. Initiate conversation with people who mention the hashtags your are monitoring. This can be as simple as a retweet or as complex as a reply message.
- Remember to keep your communications relevant to the hashtag you are discussing.
Choosing a hashtag? Hashtag tips:
- Choose a hashtag that is short, punchy and clearly descriptive.
- Don’t #over #use #hashtags #like #this (this is called hashtag spam).
- Check the hashtag isn’t already being used for another purpose.
- If your hashtag contains more than one word, use capital letters at the beginning of each word (Example: #CreateAHashtagLikeThis)
- Use hashtags that are relevant to your product/service, industry and Community Value
Proposition. Make sure your hashtag(s) demonstrate the value you provide.
Blog Post Inspiration
- Case study about a problem you solved for a client, walking through the challenges you faced and how you faced them
- Story about an event in your career that taught you something valuable
- Analysis or solution to a commonly occurring issue in your industry
- Resource list, list of free resources
- Pro tips or industry best-practices (anything to demonstrate your thought leadership)
- Answers to frequently asked questions (from prospects or customers)
- Beginner’s guide to your industry (be seen as an ‘educator’)
- Charts or graphs about statistics in your industry (this is called an ‘infographic’)
- Free templates or documents that will help your community solve a problem
- History lesson about something in your industry
- Customer success story, discussing your involvement with their success (explain how you did it)
- Industry quotes, inspiring quotes
- Create a list of people to follow on Twitter
- Write a hypothesis about something, begin an experiment over multiple posts
- Product review or analysis (this is a chance to demonstrate your analytical thinking)
- Common misconception or objections your prospects may have about engaging you or your brand
- List of ‘best of’ items (eg. ‘top ten’ list) in your industry
- ‘How-to’ guide, explaining how to do something in your industry with text and/or images or diagrams
- Describe and debunk myths or false beliefs that arise in your industry
- Disagree with a widely accepted statement, explain why (this is a chance to demonstrate your analytical thinking)
- Prediction for the future (explain your thought process)
- Your opinion on a current topic or industry trend
- Guest post by another blogger, or write a post for another blog
- Inside ‘snapshot’ into the behind-the-scenes of your business
- Product comparison, multiple product analysis (yours, or another brand’s product)
- Productivity tips and/or tools
- Explain ‘what not to do’ in your industry, help readers avoid common problems
Part Ten: Influencers & Management/Productivity Tools
Identifying and Nurturing Influencers
Influencers can be identified executing the following strategies:
- Use your content keywords to search for blog posts using Google, Yahoo! and social media search engines like SocialMention (www.socialmention.com). Examine the blog post and the authors of the blog posts – if the authors have many followers on Twitter, have many comments on their blog or hold a general sense of authority, they
may be a suitable influencer. - Use your content keywords to search Twitter for new potential followers. If they discuss your content keywords (or anything else similar to your industry) they may be a suitable influencer.
- Use a tool such as FollowerWonk (www.followerwonk.com) to search your current Twitter network and identify influencers.
- Look offline for influencers, and follow them online.
Use the following online tools to help you determine influencer score:
- Complete.com
- PeerIndex.com
- Kred.com
- Alexa.com
- Klout.com
Influencers can be nurtured by executing the following strategies:
- Firstly, follow them on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest (if applicable)
- Reach out to them on Twitter. Retweet their Tweets and say things such as: ‘‘I liked your post on XYZ. Particularly… etc.’’ or ‘‘Thanks for your post on XYZ. ’’
- Comment on their blog posts
- Share their blog posts, give them praise and respect when sharing
Influencers should be treated with care and respect – when nurtured correctly, they can become beaming advocates for your brand. However, they could become your biggest ‘nightmare’ if treated incorrectly.
Influencer Tips
- Remember to build a relationship with the influencer first. You will need to give before you receive anything from them.
- Treat the person as if you met them at a cocktail party. Build rapport, give value, be a friend. You may even be able to meet them offline to build rapport.
- Make it obvious that you have taken the time to read through their website and understand their offering. Ask them questions or create a discussion around something they have said.
Social Media Management & Productivity Tools
Goo.gl – (www.goo.gl) – Free link shortener service offered by Google
Bit.ly – (www.bit.ly) – Free link shortener service
HootSuite – (www.hootsuite.com) – Premium social platform management tool.Allows multiple platforms and profiles to be managed at once. Free and paid versions.
Tweetdeck – (www.tweetdeck.com) – Free Twitter management tool.
Sprout Social – (www.sproutsocial.com) – Premium social platform management tool. Allows multiple platforms and profiles to be managed simultaneously. Free and paid versions.
Market Me Suite – (www.marketmesuite.com) – Premium social platform management tool. Allows multiple platforms and profiles to be managed simultaneously. Free and paid versions.
Google Alerts – (www.google.com/alerts) – Free tool designed to send email alerts when new pages are published on the web, specified by any pre-determined keyword or search term.
ShortStack – (www.shortstack.com) – Highly flexible tool for creating custom Facebook Apps.
SocialMention – (www.socialmention.com) – Social web search engine. Searches social media channels for any keyword.
DropBox – (www.dropbox.com) – Cloud based file storage tool. Allows local folders to be saved to the cloud and synced across multiple computers. Also allows large files to be shared. Free and paid versions.
SugarSync – (www.sugarsync.com) – Cloud based file storage tool. Allows local folders to be saved to the cloud and synced across multiple computers. Also allows large files to be shared. Free and paid versions.
Wunderlist – (www.wunderlist.com) – Free and powerful tool for creating and sharing lists.
Evernote – (www.evernote.com) – Tool for organising and sharing notes and other pieces of text. Great for planning, note taking and other text-based tasks. Free and paid versions.
Google Docs – (www.docs.google.com) – Free word processor, spreadsheet editor, presentation editor, form editor and cloud file storage service offered by Google. All files are kept in the cloud.
Thanks for reading – I hope you gain value from this. -Ben