Archive for the ‘Social Marketing’ Category

2018 USF Social Marketing Conference | Clearwater, FL

Thank you to all of our attendees, presenters and sponsors who made the 2018 USF Social Marketing Conference a success!

Join us for The 25th Social Marketing Conference at theSheraton Sand Key Resort in Clearwater Beach, Florida

Training Academy: Wednesday & Thursday, June 27-28, 2018

Environmental Training Academy Track: Wednesday & Thursday, June 27-28, 2018

Advanced Training Academy: Thursday, June 28, 2018

Main Conference: Friday & Saturday, June 29-30, 2018

#SMC2018 will arm participants with the tools and techniques to develop effective behavior change programs and campaigns.As well as expert speakers, cutting edge content and lively discussions, you can look forward to great networking.

Delegates attend from across North America and beyond, finding this conference to be among the best for helpful, down to earth advice and information that they can use to make their programs a success.

Additionally, at each conference, we honor some of the best upcoming and established practitioners and agencies in our field. You can learn more about the the five awards here.

So, escape the office and find inspiration.

Provided by:

See original here:
2018 USF Social Marketing Conference | Clearwater, FL

Social Media Marketing Made Simple: A Step-by-Step Guide

I dont think I need to tell you how big social media is.

Social media isthe fastest growing trend in the history of the world.

This sector has grown faster than the Internet itself.

Within the first ten years of being publicly available, the Internet managed to gather roughly 1 billion users.

If you think reaching nearly one in six people on the planet within ten years is fast, then I agree with you.

But, how about reaching one in five within nine years?

Since opening up for everyone to sign up on September 26, 2006, Facebook just crossed 2 billionmonthly active users as of quarter two of 2017.

Even though the world population has grown to over 7.5billion, by now, one out of every fourhumans on this planet has a Facebook account.

Facebook, quite literally, is beginning to take over the world. 62% of people in North Americause the platform, and the percentages for similar countries are equally staggering.

In some ways, Facebook is a country of its own. Its larger than any other country in the world, and one could even argue that its more connected.

And thats just Facebook.

We havent even taken into account the usership on all the other platforms.

By the end of that analysis, wed likely have trouble keeping count.

But dont mistakenly believe that people are only using these platforms once a month just because thats how most people go about measuring the stats.

In reality, people are using these platforms every single day. And they use them not just once per day, but multiple times.

People check, check, and check again.

In fact, were so addicted to our mobile phones and the social media apps on them that theres now a word for our obsession.

Nomophobia is the fear of not being near your mobile phone.

With such widespread use, social media presents an incredible marketing opportunity.

If youre not using social media marketing already, youll either have to learn it now or lose in the long run.

In this social media marketing guide, Im going to walk you through the 12most popular platforms.

Ill give you an overview of each one, show you how to build a successful social media strategy for them, and point you to some of the best places to learn even more.

Below is a table of contents, so you can quickly jump to whichever platform interests you the most.

But first, lets go over some definitions.

As usual, Wikipedia is a disappointment when trying to define social media marketing.It simply says, Social media marketing is the process of gaining website traffic or attention through social media sites.

Wow, who wouldve thought, right?

Id like to take a swing at defining social media marketing myself:

Social media marketing is the process of creating content that you have tailored to the context of each individual social media platform in order to drive user engagement and sharing.

You gaining traffic is only the result of social media marketing. What do you do to get that result? Create content that works well on each platform.

Naturally, however, each platform is different. On one, blog content is the master. On another, video dominates. And on another still, pictures win the day.

Thats why Im going to show you the differences between the top 12 platformsand how you can leverage each.

As youll see, each platform requires a slightly different strategy.

Because heres the thing: Everyone wants their content to go viral.

But, to do that, the content must be engaging so that people want to share it. Your content must be so good that it makes the user want to tell all of his or her friends about it.

Otherwise, your social media strategy will fail.

Youll have no shares, no viral content, and no traffic back to your site.

Even though you hear about the same few social networks all of the time, that doesnt mean there arent any others out there.

Wikipedia alone lists over 200 of them.

This great graphic called The Conversation Prismgives a good overview.

While this list is fairly up to date, it may come as a surprise to you that its entirely different from the first version of this graphic from 2008.

All versions aggregate around 200 services, but from version to version (which they usually update every 2-3 years), the creators remove over 100 social media platforms and add another 100.

The world of social media is changing incredibly fast. So when youre just starting out, start with the ones that have been around for years.

Betting on the next big thing can pay off if youre right. But, if youre just getting started on a social media strategy, you cant afford to not have a Facebook page or a Twitter account since weve already seen how effective they are.

Lets look at some key social media terms.

Content: Content is whatever you are posting. It can be a Facebook status update, a photo on Instagram, a tweet, something to pin on a board on Pinterest, and so on.

The graphic already showed you that content comes in many different forms and that you need to custom-tailor it to each platform. Whats even more important than content, though, is context.

Context: Gary Vaynerchuk said that if content is king, then context is god. You can have a great joke, but if you place it somewhere inside a 3,000-word blog post, very few people will see it. On Twitter, however, that same joke as a tweet might crush it.

And, the opposite is also true. Packaging your entire blog post into one tweet is hardly possible, so try a good call to action with some relevant hashtags instead. And that brings us to hashtags.

Hashtags: By now, theyre a very common form that people use to add meta information on almost all social media channels. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest all use hashtagsto let you describe the topic of your content or mark it as part of current trends.

They make your content easy for users to discover and therefore more likely that theyll share it.

Shares: Shares are the currency of the social media world. Shares are all that matters on social media.

People will keep talking to you about impressions, click-through rates, and potential reach. But none of these tell you whether people actually pass on what you have to say.

When people engage and interact with your content, thats good. But, when they share it, that is the time when you celebrate.

A great tool to measure shares and the overall impact of content is BuzzSumo:

The more shares, the more people love your content. Its the best form of engagement that people can have with it.

Engagement: This is ageneral term that means that people interact with the content that you produce. It can be a like, a recommend, a comment, or a share. All of these are good, but the shares are where its at.

Now that weve covered some definitions, lets take a look at some social media marketing trends for 2018.

The social media world changes faster than any other online space.

And keeping up with it isnt an easy task.

So here are a few trends youll want to keep in mind. Most likely, these trends will impact not just 2018, but also the future years to come.

Heres what they are.

Organic reach is down

Once upon a time, a social media user could post compelling content and easily grow their social media following.

After a few months, theyd receive loads of friend requests, comments, shares, and likes, all because of their amazing content.

But today, thats not so much the case.

In fact, most social media platforms are making it increasingly difficult to build an organic following.

And its not unintentional.

Heres why. As the ability for organic superstars to shine goes down, something else goes up.

You guessed it: ad spend.

Of course, thats just Facebook. But the truth is that its the same for every social media platform. They make it more difficult for users to grow their own organic platform so that businesses spend more money on advertisements.

In fact, one change that Facebook made caused a 52% drop in organic reachper post in just a few months.

Remember: Social media platforms are businesses.

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and every single other social media space wants to make money.

And they do that by connecting you with paying customers. Ideally, they do that well. But ultimately, they are each in it for the money. So you have to watch out and measure your own efforts to see what works and what doesnt.

Social is becoming more pay to play

As organic reach becomes more difficult, businesses have to pay to play.

They can no longer trust savvy content marketing efforts to build a following.

The more that social media algorithms prioritize advertisements, the more that businesses are willing to pay.

This is why social media ad spend is on the way up. Advertising budgets for social media doubled from 2014 to 2016.

Thats not very surprising, really.

It makes sense when you find out that social media companies make practically all of their money from advertisements.

In other words, social media is only free for users because advertisers are paying loads of money to reach those users.

The user is the product.

But to reach them, you have to pay.

Fortunately, if you choose the right social media platform for your business to invest money into, that wont be too big of a problem.

Most social media sites still have very reasonable advertising costs, particularly if you have thought through your advertisements well.

After all, the better your ads, the less youll spend.

Channels are merging

As entrepreneurs create social media websites, the possibilities become increasingly endless.

And that trend isnt slowing down. As new ways of communicating, reaching customers, and pulling leads develop, so do strategies that are equally innovative.

Take, for instance, cart abandonment emails.

More here:
Social Media Marketing Made Simple: A Step-by-Step Guide

Ace 2019 with 5 Expert Social Media Marketing Tips

Holiday season is the perfect time for some marketing on social media. This Holiday season, MTA experts share some of the top social media marketing tips to help you bring your A-game in 2019.

Social media is an active channel for companies to build their brand, establish thought leadership, and interact with their community. Since we are a couple of weeks away from 2019, almost every marketer will be busy planning for their next year's social media strategy.

An updated GreenZone, few additional features evaluated and here comes the refreshed Buyer's Guide no SMB can afford to miss!

In this article, we bring five social media marketing tips from MTA experts to help you prepare for the coming year.

Before coming to the strategic and tactical part of your social media plan, evaluate the performance of your content for the current year as this will allow you to set the tone for the next year.

Go through the analytics/insights section of your social media profiles to see the effectiveness of your content. Understand what type of content resonates with your different personas. While doing so, you will also come to know the ideal time and day to post different types of content.

Paul Herrera, Co-Founder and COO of Maven recommends the following 3-step framework:

Also Read: Dont Let a Limited Budget Hinder Your Social Media Campaign

If you are running your marketing plans through guesswork, you are doing it wrong. Modern marketing is data-driven where you can virtually measure the impact of every single activity. Despite this, many marketers commit the dire mistake of not setting up any goals and measuring anything. In such cases, youd find marketers saying, Well, we stopped doing social media because it didn't work us."

To avoid this, start by setting the right goals and metrics, choosing the right audience, and using it as a foundation to create your strategy.

While addressing the social media mistakes to avoid, Neel Sinha, Founder, MyLnk, says, "To get success in social media, marketing strategy should have well-defined goals, the target audience must be identified, tactics to be employed should be implemented, the right amount of time should be invested, and proficient workforce should be employed to perform the tasks."

Also Read: What Are the 4 Key Metric Types for Social Marketing Automation?

This leads to different communication strategies and messaging for different channels, in the end confusing the audience. To indeed ace customer engagement in 2019, marketers must approach marketing as a whole rather than siloing it.

Jitesh Banga, Product Marketing Strategy, Adeptia says, A smoother symbiosis between all social channels can help propel new horizons and innovation. Enterprises can set up a unified interaction center, counteract many scale issues, and swiftly deal with silos that prevent teams from boosting business loyalty and improving social engagement.

Also Read: 5 Ways to Turn Social Media Interactions Into Actionable Sales Leads

In the early days, marketers used social media as a one-way communication channel but successfully evolved into using it as a platform to build and manage a community of their brand.

Eric Meyerson, Head of Marketing, Sensai, emphasizes on the importance of listening to your audience. Even if you dont spend a dime on sponsored posts or Facebook ads, it can still be useful to use Facebook or other social platforms as a listening tool to keep a finger on the pulse of public opinion. You might glean insights just from listening that can help you improve your customer experience or head off the next public relations snafu, he adds.

Also Read: 10 Ways to Ace Social Media Marketing In 2020 And Beyond

AI and machine learning have already made giant strides through content curation, chatbots, email personalization, voice search, etc. to name a few. Since social media is a densely populated space, it doesn't take much time to turn a minor mess up into a major disaster. Thankfully, AI can be of a huge help by implementing the right damage control practices.

Pritha Bose, Marketing Content Specialist, Aritic informs, Brands can find themselves in a sudden nightmare if product hoax stories or product disasters or trolls from competitors make way into social media. Luckily, AI is on its way to curating conversation flows and content to manage such fiascos. Using various filtering systems, AI systems are capable of monitoring millions of user comments across a large range of platforms and predict an emergency long before it occurs in real-time.

We hope these expert tips will guide you towards the right path in planning your social media activities for 2019.

If you have any questions about social media marketing, feel free to drop them in the comments below!

Also, dont forget to share this article on your social media handles, and tag us!

Read more:
Ace 2019 with 5 Expert Social Media Marketing Tips

How to Sell Behavior Change with Social Marketing

For many nonprofit managers, marketing equals fundraising.

But your organization exists for more than just bringing in donations. Withsocial marketing methods that help change behavior change, you can fulfill your mission.

Although social and commercial marketingusesthe same tools, they do not have the same goals. Social marketing sells behavior change while commercial marketing sells things.

Many people confuse social marketing with social media marketing,peer-to-peer communications, orconsumer-generated content.

But social marketinghas been around fordecades.It's been used to address issues like family planning,HIV/AIDS, andbreast cancer screening.

When social marketers create a marketingstrategy, theyusethe samemarketing mix as commercial marketers.

But, they adjust the social marketing mixfor their uniqueproducts and environments.

So what does the social marketing mix look like?And how is it different from theFour Psthat commercial marketers use?

Social marketing products arenot usuallyphysical items although some are, such ascondoms.

Social marketers sell a particular behavior. And while that behavior might be life-saving, people might notwant to do it. Eating more fiber, conservingwater, exercising, or getting a colonoscopy may not seem pleasurable.

So how do you help people want to do these things? You must use the same tools ascommercial marketers.Promote the product'sbenefitsbased on the target audience'score values. Show them how using the product helps them become the person they want to be.

People don't mind paying to change behavior as much as they dislikethe social and emotional costs.

How can youto reduce the "price" as much as possibleandmake it easy to perform the behavior?

How will you make the product available? How and where can people carry out the action? Where can they get the product?

The idea of a camera's aperture is relevant here.

A camera's lens opens and shutsin a snap to let inlight when you take a picture. There is also a small window of opportunity to communicate your message to atarget audience. And at a time and place whenthey can act on it.

Your potential participants will not go out of their way to look for your messages. Go to them and help them learn about the product and perform the behavior.

How you promote social marketing does not differ much from commercial marketers.

One key difference may lie in the types of target audiences addressed. Many of the people that you try to reach are not theconsumers that abusiness would even consider going after.

They may be lowincome, non-English speakers, hard to find, and notinterestedinchange.

Only the most creative social marketers can promote their products to these hard-to-reach populations.

Becausesocial marketing programs are so hard, wehave to addfour more Ps to the social marketing mix

To planand managea social marketing campaign we mustconsider allthe people involved.We must addressthe target audience, groups that influence them, policymakers, and the media.

There are also the people within your organization that you must convince or inform.

For instance, board membersand management staff must approve theplans. Even the receptionist needs to know what to do when someone calls in response to your campaign.

Many social marketing issues are so significant that one organization cannot address them. That's when you need partners to pull off a particular campaign.

Partners, such asother nonprofits, government agencies, and businesses,should have one or more of theseattributes:

Government or organizational policies can promotesocial change on a large scale.

When policies supporta particular behavior, people aremore likely to make thechange and stay with it.

Most nonprofit organizations cannotset aside a percentage of their revenue for marketing activities.

Use the social marketing mix to go beyond fundraising. Use marketing to make an impact on the lives of the people your organization exists to serve.

Read more from the original source:
How to Sell Behavior Change with Social Marketing

Hospitality Social Media Marketing News – hotelnewsresource.com

Happy 2019, everyone! As we move into the new year, its time to take a look at our social media strategies to assess whats working and how we can better connect with our guests. This includes assessing all the new social media that impact hotels and resorts, so take a look at everything thats happened over the holiday break so you can get your campaigns up to speed.

Hospitality Social Media Marketing News - January 17, 2019 Issue

Happy 2019, everyone! As we move into the new year, its time to take a look at our social media strategies to assess whats working and how we can better connect with our guests. This includes assessing all the new social media that impact hotels and resorts, so take a look at everything thats happened over the holiday break so you can get your campaigns up to speed.

Two New Features Arrive in Facebooks Business Manager

Image source: Matt Navara

What This Means for Hotels

This isnt a huge change, but if you find yourself regularly adding new team members or third-party partners to your Facebook accounts, this could make it a little easier and give you more control. It doesnt seem to have rolled out to everyone at this point, so if you dont have it yet, you hopefully will soon.

Facebook Group Admins Can Share Feedback on Removed Posts

Facebook Groups have offered a new moderating tool for admins, allowing them to offer private feedback to the author of a removed post. The member will be notified that their post was deleted, and theyll be given information from an anonymous admin (not a specific one) about why that was the case.

What This Means for Hotels

Facebook Groups are an excellent community-building tool, and when it comes to Groups that are centered around your hotel or resort, its important to stay on top of its moderation. Using the feedback tool to keep your members following group rules without running the risk of accidentally publicly shaming someone can keep your community growing and moving in a positive direction.

Instagram Rolls Out Video Scheduling

Post scheduling through third-party software has been available for a while, but it was only available for images. Instagram updated its API towards the end of last year to allow the scheduling of videos on Instagram, too. Social media scheduling software is starting to catch up and offer this feature to subscribers, so keep an eye out for this one.

What This Means for Hotels

The ability to schedule video content to Instagram will be a game changer, especially considering that video has proven to yield high engagement rates on the platform. Now, you wont have to worry about taking time away from your guests to ensure that your Instagram videos go live at peak posting times. Keep an eye on your social media scheduling software, as theyll likely be releasing this feature soon if they havent already.

YouTube Ads Updated in Response to Changing User Patterns

User video consumption and behavior continually evolves, and YouTube ensures that theyre adapting frequently. Their ad system is being updated as a result of changing viewing patterns. These changes include:

Image source: Google

What This Means for Hotels

YouTubes dedication to change its ad offerings alongside evolving user behavior is a huge advantage for advertisers. By stacking ads, for example, users will have fewer ad breaks and are therefore more likely to watch the full video-- and all of its ads. This is good for both the content creator and all the advertisers trying to bid on those competitive placements.

Hotels and resorts should carefully consider whether or not they want to exclusively target TV viewers for their campaigns, as the inability for users to click on a link while watching could potentially decrease the effectiveness of ads meant to drive conversions. Ad campaigns that are focused on brand recall, however, could see great results from this.

YouTube Creates Their Own Version of Stories

It feels like 2018 was the year of Stories, and now YouTube is catching up to Facebook and Instagram to offer their own unique take. Their short-form video format-- titled Reels-- has been rebranded into YouTube Storiesand recently released with a new set of creator tools to accounts with more than 10,000 subscribers.

Image source: Google

Unlike on other platforms, these Stories will be available for a full seven days before they disappear to maximize views. They canshow up in the home feeds of both subscribers and non-subscribers.

What This Means for Hotels

The Stories feature has been hugely popular on both Instagram and Facebook, and it may see the same engagement from YouTube followers, too. If you have those 10,000 subscribers, test them out to connect with past, present, and future guests. The community-building features that are focusing on engaging with your audience could be a huge asset for this, giving you the ability to publicly respond to comments with photos or videos to keep the conversation going.

Hospitality Social Media News is brought to you by Lodging Interactive, a full-service digital marketing and social media engagement and reputation management agency exclusively servicing the hospitality industry. Through its web design and search optimization division as well as its CoMMingle Social Media Division, Lodging Interactive provides effective Internet marketing services to hundreds of branded and independent properties as well as management companies, restaurants and spas. For more information:

Telephone: 877-291-4411

Email: info@lodginginteractive.com

Subscribe Now - It's Free & Never Miss an Issue.

Logos, product and company names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

2019 Hotel News Resource

See original here:
Hospitality Social Media Marketing News - hotelnewsresource.com