Twitter makes it incredibly easy for brands to connect with their consumers and for people to connect with other people of the same interest from all over the world. It’s why I still love twitter today. I love connecting with people in my industry, participating in chats like #BlogChat or #TourismChat, and tweeting about the big game with other fans from around the world. One of the other reasons that I enjoy Twitter is for the customer service that brands can provide their customers. I recently experiences this first hand. When my AT&T internet promotion expired, after getting no where by calling, I turned to Twitter. I tweeted to them and within an hour I received a response, saying they had me covered and to DM them. I proceeded to DM with them back and forth and finally receiving a fantastic new promotion. They provided great customer service right through Twitter.
Top 5 Things Brands Should Stop Doing On Social Media
As the new year is now in full gear, I have read numerous articles on Digital Trends and what to look for the upcoming year. The more I look around and notice that brand / businesses are still falling short on social media and digital. In order to advance digital in 2017, we first need to correct our mistakes and enhance what we were doing in 2016. Social Media has been around for awhile now, and many people managing brands Social Media channels have years of experience doing so, and should be well past the ineffective social media and digital habits. If you have not made any New Year’s Resolutions yet, there is still time to do so, and you and/or your business is still doing any of these, let’s make a resolution to stop and adopt better practices, strategies and become better marketers.
Here are my social media, digital and web items that should be left in 2016.
Why Twitter Is Still Relevant
Twitter has always been my favorite Social Media network. You can interact with beat reports of your favorite sports team during the game, meet people from across the country in the industry you work in, network with people, share your expertise, interact with people while watching your favorite TV show or at a conference, and see what people are saying about a variety of topics. I love watching a game or a national event through my Twitter feed. It provides me with great insight into what is happening during the game or event, plus, it can be absolutely hilarious sometimes.
Which is why I thoroughly enjoyed Twitter during the presidential debates and feel that Twitter is still relevant. According to Twitter, the first presidential debate was the most tweeted about presidential debate ever, as there was fact-checking tweets, hilarious memes, a fantastic commentary from tweeters around the country. In recent weeks there has been a lot of speculation of a Twitter takeover, the engagement boost that the platform received should emphasis its’ strength.
But what makes Twitter so relevant during the debates and other live events?
Importance of Twitter for Brands
When I first joined Twitter back in 2007, it was a different time. Twitter was in it’s infancy, ad agencies didn’t see the value, but us marketers did. It was a way for people to connect with people, learn from others who they may never have met and interact with brands. It was a place where the early adapters would have conversations with brands, reporters other folks in their industry, etc. I have met some amazing, awesome, smart people on Twitter that I still connect with today.
Today, over one billion Tweets are sent every three days. It is a different time. There are more people on the platform than ever before. More people are engaging with hashtags, brands, sporting events, etc. It is a place where live marketing can happen in a moment, hence the Oreo lights out ad (You can still dunk in the dark), when the power when out during the Super Bowl a few years ago. Read more
My Periscope Perspective and Tips
When new technology comes out or becomes hot, I like to test it personally and then figure out how it can be used for the brand. I think of what I would do with it to promote the brand, how it will benefit the brand and do we have time to incorporate it and do it well instead of just doing it because everyone else is doing it. If this is another social network, I think about how it will be incorporated in our strategy and how we will get people to follow us on this new network and be relevant.
Recently, for the first time, I decided to add Periscope to our wheelhouse and do some live videos when we are out filming creating our YouTube videos for Visit Lake County. The first video I did was 2 weeks ago, and it was on Six Flags Great America making their announcement of a new coaster coming in 2016. I figured this was a pretty easy and I could potentially have a decent attendance, especially with some coaster enthusiasts. As it turned out, I was quite surprised with how it went and the amount of people who were watching us live and interacting us. Read more
How much time do you spend on Social Media Marketing?
Alright, it is time that I get back to blogging outside of work. Why, you ask? Well, a lot has been going on and I feel that can use these medium to express my thoughts and hopefully teach others about the world of Social Media Marketing and learn something as well. Plus, I have a lot of topics on mind. I was giving a Social Media presentation to our partners at work on Friday and I was asked the question, how much time should you spend on Social Media? That question was immediately followed up with; we want to get on Twitter but have been told that it will take a lot of time monitoring. We will get into why you have not been doing Social Media in a later post, so we will only be focusing on the question of how much time should be spent on Social Media.
At work, we are a small office where everyone wears multiple hats and we have a wide spread Social Media program that includes, blogging, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Flickr, Pinterest, Google + and Instagram. So for me at work, to run an effective Social Media campaign a minimum of 4 hours a day is needed. In my mind, that is on the low end. I know that each company and industry are different and that time will vary depending on what your Social Media Campaign includes. Some companies will even have a dedicated Social Media specialist doing this full time.
Now, back to question, that I was asked, how much time do you spend on Twitter? I believe that Twitter alone can be done in less time. There are programs that allow you to set-up keywords, and offer great analytics and they are Hootsuite, TweetDeck, Sprout Social and there are others. In full disclosure, I am a Hootsuite fan.
I answered the question, by saying that you can do Twitter in an hour to an hour an a half a day, but yes you have to monitor throughout the day. Hootsuite is a great program to let you do this and it allows you to link it to Twitter, Facebook, etc. I recommended doing some research before hand to see what your customers are talking about and what your competitors are doing. I would follow your competitors, set up your keywords to what others are talking about and join the conversation. People don’t just want to hear about you, they want specials / deals and want to feel like they are communicating with someone. Twitter is about sharing and listening to what others have to say. Brands should have a human voice behind it as well and not just advertising. Hootsuite is free and is a web based program. You can check-in to see what people are saying in the morning, schedule your tweets, reply to people and check your keyword columns. Then leave the program up on your desktop all day and check it every half hour or so. We can get into when to post and what times work best in another blog post, but after 5pm you still have to monitor it. Remember, just because the work day ends at 5, Social Media does not.
How much time do you spend on Social Media a day? If you were only doing Twitter and nothing else how much time would you spend on it?