Social Media Checklist

Social media sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Linkedin, and others provide an exceptional opportunity for businesses to not only market their services and/or products online, but also to gain considerable ground with search engine placement.

LNP Studios has put together a checklist to help you start and target your campaign, so you can feel confident that you're reaching the best demographic for your company.

Questions To Define Your Target Demographic

Before getting started with any social media campaign, lay down some groundwork by answering the following questions and defining your target demographic.

• Who are my clients? (Individuals, Small Business, etc..)
• Where are my clients located?
• What commonalities do my clients share?
• What do my clients want?
• How do I reach them?
• What are their motivations?
• What problems can I help them solve?
• What content would be the most useful to my clients and potential clients?

Questions To Ask Your Company

Once you know your target demographic it's time to start doing some research on the types of information you can provide your followers.

• Can your business show off its work?
Does your company have a portfolio that it can share with online followers? Or perhaps client testimonials that can be used as status updates? Don't be afraid to show your work off and how happy your clients are. Just remember there is a balance. You don't want all your updates to be about your services and your work. You also want to educate and inform your following.
• Can you establish yourself as an expert in your field?
Establishing yourself as an expert in your field can work extremely well for professionals such as accountants, doctors, and lawyers. Consider offering videos of recent presentations, uploading presentation slides, or even hosting a webinar to address current issues in your field.
• What can I update about?
This is a big question a lot of companies have. It's important to not only market your company and services and help people see the problem you can solve, but also to educate and engage your community. Consider posting about upcoming speaking engagements, free seminars, news in your industry that would be relevant to your following, pictures of your staff or holiday parties (within reason), customer testimonials, and events in the community. Once you start listing out the possibilities you'll find the content options are endless.
• Are there niche communities where your target demographic congregate?
For example, LNP Studios deals a lot with entertainment clients. There are a number of forums and fansites dedicated to actors and TV shows that our clients are trying to reach. So we set up presences for our clients in those communities and also use blogger outreach to help gain attention and exposure for our clients. This doesn't just apply to entertainment however. There are online communities for almost every field. As a quick way to get started, we recommend checking out MeetUp.com in order to connect with other web savvy members of your field or to meet people who need your services. For example, we're a member of a Blogger MeetUp in Atlanta, and we actually have met quite a few people there who have needed assistance in setting up blogs.
• Who are the major players in your field? Are they on social media?
If the major players in your field aren't on social media then you truly have a head start on them. But if they are, try to connect with them and take note of their social media strategies. What works for them and what doesn't?
• Who is your dream client?
Establishing who your dream client is and where they can be found online is the first step in attracting their attention. Through Facebook and LinkedIn advertising campaigns, you can attract the attention of individuals and businesses who meet your "dream" criteria. This is another demographic that is important to define before reaching out. Contact us today for more information.

What Are The Best Content Formats For Your Company?

Can you provide your followers with unique video, blogs, bulletin boards, or multiple social media accounts? It all sounds fantastic when you're getting started, but if you're managing a campaign on your own, keep in mind how many of these platforms you will realistically be able to keep up with.

• Facebook/Twitter
We recommend these at the very least. This is where you're going to build your online following. These are the users you're able to direct to your website as well as your other online destinations (Online video, webinars, etc...).
• Foursquare
Foursquare is a great service for anyone who has a physical location where they receive clients. It will allow your customers/clients to "check in" at your location. You can offer them discounts, or if they're the mayor (at your location more than anyone else (Foursquare terminology) you can offer them something special to reward their loyalty. The benefit on your end is you're able to track the people that come into your business, and you're also able to attract new customers from your visibility on the platform.
• Online Video
Creating videos doesn't have to be hard or terribly involved. The Will It Blend series is a great example of that. Within the first 24 hours of uploading their first video they had over 1 million views, and the company sold out of their $600 featured blender. Today the video has over 9 million views. Think about what you would pay for your products or services to be viewed by that many people? Most companies cannot afford that type of media exposure, yet with YouTube, it's free.

Still sound too overwhelming? You can do something even simpler. We have a client who has a videographer follow him around to his presentations and then we break down the video from those presentations and upload them to YouTube using the appropriate keywords.
• Photo Galleries
While it may not be obvious at first, there are a lot of good networking opportunities on Flickr. You can use your profile on the site to advertise your company, products, and services - but you should keep the sales pitch to a minimum. Again this is another venue for you to establish your company as a source of information.You should register an account on the site that matches your company's domain name and upload your company's logo as your "buddy icon". Next, upload quality photos (your products/services, employees, company events, and other things related to your business) and make sure to write the appropriate text for each photo, again keeping the sales pitch to a minimum. Describe what products/services you provide and where they can be acquired. Also find and join appropriate groups that are related to your field and share your photos in those groups, and link your website to your Flickr account.
• Podcasts
A podcast is a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication. Consider creating podcasts and offering them from your site to download as well as iTunes. Why should you podcast? It's free, it offers a deeper connection by allowing people to hear your voice or see you talking about your products/services, it adds additional value added to your website, and there are over 160 million iTunes users. Take a moment and just do a search on iTunes for your industry and see what you find. You'll find lots of podcasts where individuals and companies are taking the opportunity to educate people and establish themselves as experts in their respected fields. If you decide to do a video podcast, also upload your videos to YouTube. If you're providing good content you'll find that a number of people will actually subscribe to your videos.
• Blogs
Blogs allow for you to demonstrate your expertise, add regular fresh content to your website, help with SEO, provide engaging content that you can link to on your social media sites, and it gives visitors a valuable reason to keep coming back to your website. Websites that don't regularly update do not receive repeat visitors. Blogging on a regular basis (once a week if possible) helps to give your customers additional information about the industry you're in and the services or products that you supply. Need help starting a blog? Contact us today.
• Webinars
There are a number of benefits that come from holding an online seminar including promoting your product/service, building up a list of contacts, keeping expenses low (you're not having to pay for a venue or other amenities of a traditional seminar), showcasing your company as a recognized industry authority, and of course adding value to your business. Having a webinar allows you to expand your reach beyond just your traditional clientele. Anyone in the world can attend a webinar. Location and travel are no longer issues.
• Website Content
Content drives action. Great content not only brands a company as a trusted resource, it also calls people to action whether that is to buy, apply, or subscribe to something. The content on your website directly contributes to your company's online reputation by showing thought leadership in the marketplace of ideas. Make use of this opportunity.
• Message Boards
Message boards are a great way to network and establish yourself as a respected member of your field. Try to locate the most influential message boards for your industry, register an account, and get posting on issues that you are knowledgeable on. Build yourself up as an expert. Even movie studios and TV shows have started message board accounts to post about their films/shows. Our CEO Emma Loggins' site FanBolt has numerous studios/networks posting on the forums including Disney, ABC Family, and USA Network. As a site with over 95,000 members, it's easy to see why the studios and networks would want to have a presence on FanBolt and also open up a dialog with fans.

This doesn't just apply to message boards, also comment on blogs that are relevant in your industry. Be sure to leave your contact information so that if someone is interested in what you have to say, they can follow up with you for more information. Think of this as the question and answers section on LinkedIn, however instead of directly interacting with industry professionals, now you're interacting with consumers.
• Digital PR
PR is not just about reaching out to press outlets anymore. Good PR is now about reaching consumers directly. People trust consumers (i.e. bloggers) more than they trust advertising according to the Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey. Reaching out to websites that distribute related content to your products or services is a great way to get additional creditable exposure and also provide the potential for your products/services to go viral. People tweet and share good blog posts and may do that with a blog review of your brand.

Time To Get Started

You know your demographic, you've done your research, and now you have your content... So what's next?

• Listen
Listening to your following is the most important thing you can do with social media. If they hate something you do - or they love something you do - listen, respond, and grow your company with your following in mind. You can grow when there is dialog. Advertising is no longer a one way street from your company to the consumer.
• Reputation Monitoring
You need to be prepared for negative feedback. Even though you try your hardest, you may have a customer that has had a bad experience with your products or services. Chances are they are going to either blog, tweet, or facebook about it. A lot of companies try to stay clear of addressing this, but that's not effective. Thousands of people are going to see it, and you have to make sure that you address the problem publicly. If you do nothing, it will look like you don't care. If you reply trying to correct the situation or offering your apologies, then people will see that you are pro-active and it will help to counter balance the negative effect. If you're not monitoring your online reputation, someone should be. Contact us today for more information.
• Create a Schedule
Creating a schedule of when you are going to interact and create content for the social networks you are on is a must. It can be time-consuming, and it's important that you actually set aside time to focus on these accounts if you actually want them to be able to provide additional value to your company. If you do not have the time to do this, consider hiring a firm that can do this for you. LNP Studios helps a number of diverse clients with not only the creation and optimization of their social media accounts but also with the continual maintenance of these accounts. Contact us today for more information.
• Market Offline
Social media and web marketing isn't going to bring you overnight success and isn't the answer for all your marketing needs. It's simply one piece of the puzzle that must be executed with a specific target in mind. Social networks provide additional channels in your marketing mix and extend your opportunities to reach and engage with your audience.
• Ask For Client Participation (If Appropriate)
This goes hand-in-hand with listening. Ask for feedback from your clients. Ask them to post reviews for your services and products on Google, Yelp, Facebook, or other sites that are relevant in your industry. Ask for their opinions on your marketing campaigns, what their reason was for picking your company, and what hesitation (if any) they had about choosing a company.
• Track Your Traffic
Talk with your web designer about ways that you can track traffic to your website and quantify the results of your social media and web marketing. AT LNP Studios we use analytics software on our clients' websites, and it allows us to see where people are coming to their website from, what keywords they were searching for, what their geographic location is, and so much more. We have an accounting firm that actually receives 30% of their traffic from Facebook, so that easily allows them to see the numbers and quantify the results of social media in comparison to traditional marketing.

Do you have a social media presence? Do you need someone to maintain it for you? We can help! Drop us an email for a free consultation.

Want more on social media marketing? Check out our blog for more tips and tricks!