Understanding Social Media For Business: Simple Simons Guides

Edition 1.02 -2016

First Published March 2016

Simple Simons Publishing

How and Why to Use Social Media

in Your Business Today

An absolute MUST read for anyone

who needs to know more about Growing their business using Social Media

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Copyright Notice 2015

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Table of Contents

Forward....................................................................................1

Who is Simple Simon?......................................................2

1. Introduction.....................................................................3

What You’ll Get Out of This Book...............................5

2.  Introduction to Social Media..................................7

What is Social Media?...............................................................7

Social Interaction - Self-Hosted and Hosted Solutions........8

Who Uses Social Media?...........................................................9

Social Media and Business.....................................................10

Different Businesses Should Use Social Media in Different Ways  11

What Can Social Media Do for Your Business?...................13

How Do Businesses Use Social Media?................................14

Summary Points.......................................................................15

3. Why Use Social Media?............................................16

Social Media Believers . . . to Social Media Sceptics.........16

Why You Can’t Afford to Ignore Social Media....................18

Some Common Reasons Why Businesses Don’t Use Social Media  19

The Cost - We can’t afford it...........................................19

The Time - We just don’t have the time........................20

Understanding - I don’t understand social media, plus it’s too complicated.  20

Importance - It’s a waste of time...................................21

Risk - It’s too risky...........................................................21

4. What Can Social Media Do for Your Business?  23

It Can Help You Find New Customers..............................23

It Can Help You Build Relationships with Your Customers  23

It Builds Trust with Your Customers................................24

It Can Help You Improve Customer Service....................25

It Helps You Build Your Brand and Increases Awareness  25

It Helps You Provide a More Personal Experience for Your Customers  26

It Helps You Listen to What Your Customers Are Saying - and What They Want  27

Some Things to Bear in Mind When Using Social Media..28

Post Interesting and Relevant Information They Won’t Find Anywhere Else  28

Become the 'Go-To' Page for Knowledge and Information Regarding Your  Product, Service and Industry  29

Don't Try to Sell on Social Media – It's for Building Rapport and Relationships  30

Don’t Make it All About Your Company – Discuss New Upcoming Developments, Relevant Industry News and Give Your Opinions  31

Make It Personal..................................................................31

Try to Add Humour..............................................................32

Do Not Post if You Have Nothing of Value to Say..........32

Make Them Feel Special....................................................32

What Do Businesses Using Social Media Need to Be Aware Of?  33

Social Media Provides an Opportunity for People To Criticise You  33

Don't Annoy People or Cause Offence When You Post..33

Social Media Doesn’t Provide All the Answers...............34

Engagement Takes Time....................................................34

Summary Points...................................................................34

5.  What Are the Main Social Media Networks?36

Facebook...................................................................................37

What Is It and How Does It Work?....................................38

Why Has Facebook Become So Popular?.........................39

Who Uses Facebook?..........................................................40

What Can Facebook Do for My Business?.......................40

Facebook Fan Pages............................................................41

Facebook Advertising..........................................................42

Promoted Posts....................................................................42

Facebook Offers...................................................................43

Facebook Advertising Targeting Options.........................43

Demographics......................................................................45

Interests................................................................................46

Behaviours............................................................................46

Success with Targeting Options........................................47

What Are the Advantages of Using Facebook?...............47

What Are the Disadvantages of Using Facebook?..........48

Twitter.......................................................................................50

What Is It and How Does It Work?....................................50

Why Are People So Interested in Twitter?.......................51

Who Uses Twitter?...............................................................52

What Can Twitter Do for My business?............................52

Twitter Advertising..............................................................53

What Are the Advantages of Using Twitter?...................54

What Are the Disadvantages of Using Twitter?..............55

Instagram..................................................................................57

What Is It and How Does It Work?....................................57

Who Uses Instagram?.........................................................58

What Can Instagram Do for My Business?......................58

What Are the Advantages of Instagram?.........................59

What Are the Disadvantages of Instagram?....................60

Snapchat...................................................................................60

What Is It and How Does It work?....................................61

Bringing Fun To Social Media...........................................61

Who Uses Snapchat?...........................................................62

How Big Is Snapchat?.........................................................62

Why Are The Advantages of Snapchat?............................63

What Can Snapchat Do For My Business?.......................64

Advertising on Snapchat.....................................................65

What Are The Disadvantages of Using SnapChat?.........66

Google+....................................................................................66

What Is It and How Does It Work?....................................67

What Are Google Circles?...................................................67

Why Are People Interested in Google+?..........................68

Who Uses Google+?............................................................69

What Can Google+ Do for My Business?.........................69

Advertising Using Google+................................................70

What Are the Advantages of Using Google+?.................71

What Are the Disadvantages of Using Google+?............72

Linkedin....................................................................................73

What Is It and How Does It Work?....................................73

Who Uses Linkedin?............................................................74

What Can Linkedin Do for My Business?.........................75

Linkedin Premium Services...................................................77

Premium Membership.........................................................77

Sales Navigator....................................................................77

Recruitment Services..........................................................78

Targeted Advertising...........................................................78

What Are the Advantages of Using Linkedin?.................79

What Are the Disadvantages of Using Linkedin?............81

YouTube....................................................................................82

What Is It and How Does It Work?....................................82

Who Uses YouTube?............................................................83

What Can YouTube Do for My Business?.........................84

What Are the Advantages of Using YouTube?.................86

What Are the Disadvantages of Using YouTube?............86

Pinterest....................................................................................87

What Is It and How Does It work?....................................88

Who Uses Pinterest?...........................................................88

What Can Pinterest Do for My Business?........................89

What Are the Advantages of Using Pinterest?................90

What Are the Disadvantages of Using Pinterest?...........91

Summary Points.......................................................................92

6.  Putting Together Your Social Media Marketing Strategy  93

Social Media Marketing Strategy.........................................93

10 Steps to Ensure a Successful Social Media Marketing Campaign  94

1.Know Your Audience.....................................................94

2.Understand Who Is Your Ideal Client or Customer..97

3.Understand What You Are Trying to Achieve.........100

4.Write Down Your Marketing Objectives..................100

5.Spy on the Competition..............................................101

6.Pick Social Media Sites That Best Suit Your Business and Prioritise Your Action Plan Accordingly  102

7.Create Content in Blocks and Schedule the Posts in Advance to Help Automate the Process  103

8.Allow a Reasonable Budget to Get You Started......106

9.Track Your Results Closely and Respond if Necessary  107

10.Make it part of your Ongoing Marketing Strategy  107

Summary Points.....................................................................109

7. Getting Involved........................................................110

Outsourcing Social Media Management............................110

Web Marketing Agencies.................................................111

Freelancers/Consultants...................................................111

In-House Social Media Management..............................112

Hybrid Strategy.................................................................112

Summary Points.....................................................................113

8. ‘Need-to-Know’ Social Media Terminology..114

9. Additional Tools and Resources........................121

Tools........................................................................................121

Other Social Media Websites..............................................122

Conclusion.........................................................................125

Forward

Having a keen interest in technology, I like to keep abreast of the latest developments. However, the biggest problem is information overload.

With the whole world being connected where the answer to everything is at our fingertips, it is difficult to filter out the relevant information. It was not that long ago when the must-have business and personal management tool was the Filofax.

These days, there are thousands of to-do list and business management programs available. They profess to simplify the process of running your life and business. However simply finding the one that suits you can take weeks.

Time is becoming more precious and instead of making our life easier, the demand on our time has increased. Therefore it is important that we filter out the noise, and reduce the content that we allow into our lives. Simple Simon Guides do exactly that.

This is the reason we created the Simple Simon series. We are the noise cancelling system for your life.

The idea is to take, what can be an over-complicated explanation, and boil it down to its essence. In other words, to simplify it into digestible, bite-size chunks, that will allow the reader to understand the important aspects of the topic without going into too much technical detail.

More information can be found at www.simplesimonspublishing.com

Who is Simple Simon?

Don’t be fooled into thinking he is a fool; Simple Simon is a smart guy. He is usually busy, works hard, and doesn't like to waste his time.

He wants and needs to be informed, but is not looking for long-winded, step-by-step tutorials, but more of a synopsis or summary of a topic or particular subject.

He likes to keep things simple where he can and doesn't require an in-depth understanding of the topic in question.

Preferably, he wants and needs to know enough to be able to discuss these subjects in an intelligent way with his team, business partners, and colleagues.

As an example, such topics could include the following:

●  I know everyone is on Facebook but isn't it just for kids and funny cat pictures?

●  I understand the benefits of advertising on the internet, without having to know how to setup Adwords on Google. What I need to know is what other options are out there?

●  I don't want to know how to install and set up Wordpress. But I would like to know why I should use this in my business, as opposed to an HTML template?

Understanding Social Media is the first in the ‘Simple Simon’ series and provides the reader with an overview of some of the social network sites available today and how to use them in your business.

1. Introduction

It’s hard to imagine the world without social media. Sites like Facebook and Twitter have totally changed the way we communicate and share information with each other. There’s one thing for sure: social media is here to stay.

As a business owner, social