When publishing a post on LinkedIn, make it six to eight paragraphs in length.
From author and marketing leader Chuck Hester.
For more LinkedIn tips and best practices, check out the latest episode of Social Geek Radio.
Tag: Social Geek
The 3 Best Things I Heard at Google
Thanks to Google’s franchise team for hosting several Franchise brands, Google partners, and other marketers at last week’s Google International Franchise Assembly Summit.
We saw many fantastic presentations from Google at GIFA. Here are my 3 favorite speakers, along with a favorite quote:
- Monica Plaza, Consumer Surveys Head of Sales:
“You Are Not Your Target Market.”
. - Gopi Kallayil, Chief Evangelist, Brand Marketing:
“Don’t be afraid to experiment in digital marketing!”
. - Todd Rowe, Director, Global Head of Channel Partnerships:
“Are your industry’s emerging experts promoting YOUR brand? Or your competitor’s?”
For more on GIFA, tune in to Social Geek Radio Wednesday 5/20 at 8pm ET as Deb Evans and I welcome back Brandi Kloostra and Leah Stewart of Service Brands International to review everything GIFA!
Social Geek Tip of the Week: Don’t Inadvertently Advertise Your Competitor
Be careful of inadvertently advertising a competitor.
If you share curated content like news articles and blogs, be sure to read them thoroughly before posting to your company’s Facebook page or Twitter account to make sure you’re not giving a paid plug to a competitor.
I have been very close to sharing a post from a site but did a quick double-check to find that a competitor gets a big (and often paid) credit in the last paragraph.
Social Geek Tip for Next Week: Change Your Facebook Cover Photo
Tip for next week: start changing your Facebook cover photo once per month. And, don’t just switch out the cover photo on your main brand page, but also change it on all child pages, franchisees’ pages, and any other business units’ pages too.
Even if once per month seems too often, at least update it next week. My guess is that it’s been up there a while! A simple change will register as a post with an image in your fans’ newsfeed. With organic reach approaching zero, that may not be a big idea but it can’t hurt.
Not having the time to change multiple pages’ photos is not a very good excuse to skip this. If you have multiple pages for the same brand with different locations or franchisees, use the same photo. And, if you want to know about using a management app to change cover photos simultaneously, send me a note.
Social Geek Tip for Next Week: Follow Every Person Who Follows Your Brand on Twitter
Follow back every person who follows your brand on Twitter.
Every one? Yes!
Following back every person who follows you, as well as every one who Tweets to you or mentions you in a positive way is the easiest and cheapest way to start engaging an individual. And that’s what this entire social universe is all about.
I can’t count the number of times I have engaged (as a customer) a brand like a hotel, airline, or restaurant with a question, suggestion, or compliment only to not have them follow me back after our initial exchange was finished. They missed out on a great opportunity for a customer to feel valued.
Why would you not follow them all back? Are you worried that it’s too many people to read through in your stream? You will never watch your whole stream anyway – you will be searching for specific words, hashtags, or getting alerted to mentions of you.
The only ones you might want to skip are those who appear to be robots or selling a certain number of followers for money. But even for those, what harm does it cause?
Social Geek Tip for Next Week: Post Photos, Not Just Links
Share Photos, Not Links on Your Facebook Page
When you post a link on Facebook and your fans share that post on their profiles or pages, it will state, “Jane Smith shared a link”.
But when you post a photo and your fans share that post on their profiles or pages, it will state, “Jane Smith shared (YOUR BRAND NAME)’s photo.”
This is extremely valuable real estate! In the age where organic reach is falling fast, your best bet to reach new consumers (without paying for ads) is to have your current fans share your content and have their friends see your name on the content. If you’re posting links, they won’t see your brand name. If you’re posting photos, they will see it!
But what if the whole point of the post is to drive traffic to your website, blog, or article on the “other end” of that link? Simple – create the post as a photo first, then paste your link as part of the body of the text above the photo. This now clickable link will be just as accessible.
Bonus – by posting as a photo not a link, you can choose an image and size instead of leaving it up to the thumbnail choices!
Example:
In the above example, a link to a great Social Media Today article was shared by Manalto. But Manalto posted it as a photo with a link. When another Facebook page, FranTech, shared Manalto’s post, Manalto’s name was shown. If it was only a link, Manalto would not be visible on FranTech’s post.
Social Geek Tip for Next Week: Keep Your Videos Short
Keep your brand’s YouTube or Facebook videos short. 5 minutes is plenty. 3 minutes is better. 1 minute is better yet!
Most people don’t have the bandwidth – literal or figurative – to watch more than 5 minutes. The majority of potential viewers would watch on their phones and may not have fast wi-fi. Long or slow video is the easiest way to get your video skipped!
Social Geek Tip for Next Week: MLK Day Observance
Be mindful that Monday is Martin Luther King Jr Day in the US. Your fans and customers will see lots of great MLK-related posts in their feed throughout the day. Don’t be the brand that shouts about a sale or 10% off or some loud sales pitch in the midst of this stream of content. Share an inspirational quote or image or something else that your fans will appreciate.
On the other end of the content spectrum, the State of The Union Address is Tuesday night. This means your fans will see more argumentative political posts than usual on Wednesday and your posts may get buried deeper than usual. If you have timely content or messages you need to get out, Wednesday would be a good day to boost a Facebook post. Some positive messages might play well here too to rise above the political debate.
Social Geek Tip for Next Week: Don’t Slack During the Holidays (part 2)!
Marketers: you may have time off, but your customers and fans will be online more than ever the week of Christmas. They will be shopping as well as keeping up with friends & family.
And on Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning, many people will be opening their new tablets and phones. What’s the first thing they will look at? Facebook!
Be sure they see your brand throughout the week with posts, promoted posts, and other content of value.
Social Geek Tip for Next Week: Change Your Location
Need some new ideas for your blog, landing pages, or social media posts? Change your location.
I don’t mean change a setting on your phone or tablet. I mean change your actual physical location. It doesn’t have to be a tropical island, just different.
Go to the lobby of your building or hotel. Change to a new coffee shop. Or just move to a different room of your home. New surroundings will give way to new ideas.
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