Revved Up Broadcasting: Tools & Tips

Social media marketing is really exciting to some, and not so much (and sometimes even intimidating!) to others. We encourage you to take social media strategy with baby steps: one foot in front of the other — and assure you you’ll be running laps around your competitors in no time! Below, we’ve debunked some of our favorite social media myths with our take on social media truth!

Social media myth: I have a Facebook profile, so I’m sure I can tackle a social media campaign for my business.

Social media truth: Managing social media for your business requires planning and strategy.

There are a ton of ways to go about social media, but a strategic approach is absolutely necessary, and it will help you achieve goals much more quickly. Let’s face it: Your clients don’t care about what you had for dinner last night, that the weather is your favorite/cramping your style, or that you looove your significant other/baby/pet so much. So, make your broadcasts interesting and relevant — and keep them professional, inspirational, and centered around your business.

When creating posts, we follow our rules of promotion, otherwise known as the three Ps. To optimize your social media campaign, we suggest broadcasting on your social networks three times each (business) day, with one of each touching the following themes: professional, partnerships and personal.

Want to know what a typical day on Rhythm of Life social media looks like?

Morning (professional focus): Unsure of how to tackle your business’ social media marketing strategy? We can help you hit the ground running! Check out this week’s blog.

Noon (partnership focus): We’re digging this article on various social media strategies from the Content Marketing Institute. So fascinating!

Afternoon (personal focus): “We are all inventors. The world is all gates, all opportunities.”
 — Ralph Waldo Emerson

We know that this sounds like a lot of posts for your audience to receive, but you’ll get nothing if you interact and broadcast randomly. People have different online behaviors, and social media is like a river of information. At any given time, your message is floating down the river, and whoever is sitting on the bank as it’s gliding by will see it. People have different habits. Some check social media as a (well, stall tactic) to begin the workday, so get these people in the morning! Others check social media on their lunch breaks, for entertainment while they’re enjoying their turkey sandwich or various re-heated leftovers (slightly less counter-productive). Then, there are the folks who check their networks in the late afternoon or evening, once they’re home (time to unwind!). By broadcasting at the three different times each day, you’re increasing your odds of getting a click-through. It may also seem that 15 posts a week sounds like a ton of work, but it’s really pretty easy to do once you’re in the groove. We end up spending about 1 hour per client, per week — totally doable!

Social media myth: I don’t have time to manage social media for my business.

Social media truth: Yes you do!

Once you’re over the content creation hump (we suggest you re-purpose already created Web site, blog and marketing content, and supplement with any interesting articles you find relevant to your business), your next hesitation is most likely the fact that you don’t have time to sit down three times each day to post on Facebook and Twitter. We get it — life’s busy — and that’s exactly why we love Hootsuite. With this super simple (and awesome!), user-friendly online tool, you can sit down once a week and schedule all of your upcoming week’s social media broadcasts. Simply paste in your content, link, and pick a date/time on the calendar — voila!  Once the broadcasts are created, this usually takes us 30 minutes or less each week — speedy!

In addition to creating and scheduling social media broadcasts, we spend another three to four hours per client, per week, building social media communities, interacting with fans/followers, and trying to spark conversation in the networks surrounding our message/brand/collateral. (We’ll cover details in another blog, so stay tuned!) But, if you don’t have the time to do an all-out interactive campaign (spending an average of 5 hours per week), it’s OK to simply build your presence in the social media networks by only creating broadcasts and scheduling them systematically. In fact, it’s a great place to begin — as your social media communities continue to grow (and you have the resources to spend more time online), you’ll be inviting people to a party full of interesting tidbits, thoughts, conversations and interactions, instead of to an empty room (yawn!).

Social media myth: I can choose either Twitter or Facebook — I don’t need both.

Social media truth: Facebook and Twitter are both important to a well-rounded campaign.

We like to think of Facebook and Twitter using the following analogy: People usually have one TV station, with a specific newscast that they tune to daily for their information. They choose their favorite for whatever reason — based on specific talent, coverage, angles, or tones — but bottom line is, they trust this station and the newscast. Facebook is the social media version of the TV station, and your business page is the newscast — if you do it right, your fans will begin to trust you, and therefore tune into your broadcasts on a regular basis (hello, click-throughs). The news ticker that scrolls along the bottom of the TV screen as someone is watching their favorite programming is a quick fix —  a dose of news they can glance at as they’re cooking dinner or folding laundry. They don’t have to be entirely focused, but still get what they’re looking for. Twitter is the news ticker — providing relevant, interesting content to a busy, have-to-have-it-now audience.

So, why bother with Facebook? On average, Facebook is used more than Google, Yahoo, YouTube, Microsoft, Wikipedia and Amazon combined, and Facebook users spend an average of 20 minutes daily on the site.  This time and relevance allows you to build the relationship you have with your community. Your message will be received by people who care about it, and will yield a much higher click-through rate per broadcast (about three times more often, based on the work we’ve done with our clients), but it’s also much harder to gain a following (fans).

Now, why bother with Twitter? Each month, 180 million unique visitors tap into Twitter, and Twitter’s search engine receives 600 million queries each day. With the ever-increasing traffic and ease of finding a following (we follow as many relevant folks as possible, and usually see a 40 percent return of followers), your message is truly reaching the masses.

With the individual benefits that come with both networks, and the ease and convenience of scheduling multiple accounts through Hootsuite, why not just hit both — all the while knowing that you can even expand to include LinkedIn and WordPress at a later date, if desired. (OK, OK — we’ll slow down!)

Have we inspired you, dispelled the myths, shared our tips and truths — but you’re still in need of some serious social media strategy overhaul? Read: Crawling is more comfortable at this point? We dig this stuff — seriously! So, feel free to contact us. Our team of experienced and enthusiastic social media marketers can help you launch a campaign in just two short weeks (it’s not that we have an empty plate, we just love a challenge) — we’ll have you up and running in no time!

One Response to Revved Up Broadcasting: Tools & Tips
  1. The Big Three: Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn «
    January 31, 2011 | 10:20 am

    [...] about choosing Facebook and Twitter for your needs? For social media planning pointers, check out “Revved Up Broadcasting Tools & [...]

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