It’s important that businesses realise that they need to do some planning and have a strategy before jumping in and posting random updates on Facebook and Twitter! If brands are going to be successful using social media to boost their businesses, a social media strategy is key. People often get blinded by the excitement of having new social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn and YouTube that they do not realise they need to plan, set goals and measure results to be successful.

Digital marketing is a constant process. Building a website is just the beginning; keeping it updated with good quality interesting content is the challenge! Sending an email marketing campaign at Christmas is great, but why not send one more regularly and build up that relationship with your readers?

One of the things I do for my clients is creating detailed digital marketing and social media strategy and marketing plans for their business. So, I want to share some tips that I think will help you build your social media strategy:

1. Choose the best platforms for your business:
   If you are a small business with very little resources then maybe consider using one social media platform and do it well. Remember, it is better to be really good at one social media site than be weak on many! Consistency and quality matter more than being on each and every social media platform. Pick one or two social media channels and do them well first and then you can add in more as you go. If you only have time to manage one social media site, you might consider focusing in on Facebook. It is the largest social media site with 1.1 billion users and that is probably reason enough to pick Facebook if you only have time to manage one site.
2. Allocate the resources required:
   Setting up a Facebook page, twitter account or Pinterest profile is the easy part. After that you have to create and post great content, grow your community, engage with your audience, support other people’s communities, keep up with site changes, etc. Who is going to be responsible for these platforms?
3. Set goals and choose a Timeframe: 
   When I ask people about their goals for social media, I usually get one of two answers; “More Sales” or “Ehm, well everyone else is using Facebook so I kind of felt I should too”.
   You need goals so that your social media marketing is focused and effective. I recommend starting with big, wide reaching goals first and then breaking those bigger goals down into smaller pieces and establishing performance benchmarks and timelines for each piece. So, here is an example. A business I met with recently said ”I want to use Facebook to boost my business”. How do you know if social media is working? Instead, I suggested to the client that they aim to “develop a Facebook strategy to drive 50 new potential customers to my online store in the next 3 months”. Automatically their focus was on marketing activities and a social media strategy to support that goal.
4. Carry out real time analysis:
   By measuring and analyzing your social media marketing efforts in real-time, you will track overall progress to your larger goals. However, it also highlights what is working and what is not. By knowing what isn’t working, you can make the necessary adjustments and do more of what IS working!
5. Create a content calendar as part of your content strategy:
   My rule of thumb is the 80:20 rule. 80% of your content should be interesting, useful, relative to your brand but entertaining and so on. The other 20% of your content can be promotional material – although I would also be cautious about how you word promotional posts. If you post promotional updates more than 20% of the time, people will consider you a “spammer” or push marketer and will either unlike your Facebook page, unfollow you on Twitter or worse still stop shopping with you! So, what are you going to post the other 80% – 90% of the time? The answer is things that are interesting, motivational, funny, useful or otherwise have VALUE to your community. How often are you going to post? What times of the day and days of the week are you going to post? A content strategy and plan answers all of these questions!
6. Develop your brand’s tone of voice:
   Work on figuring out your rand’s persona, tone, purpose and language.
7. Carry out regular analysis:
   Use tools such as Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, Twitter analytics or other tools like Hootsuite, SocialBro, Raven etc. Monitor social media activity by keeping track of activity, influence and interactions. Other metrics worth monitoring include downloads, installs, views, clicks, sign ups and traffic referrals. Don’t forget to monitor strategic objective metrics such as sales, customer service and brand awareness.
8. Be social, be fun, take risks and do more:
   While being informative is hugely important for a brand to communicate their message to consumers, it’s also important to remember that people use social media in order to be entertained and informed.

Do you have a social media strategy in place? If so, what works best for you? Do you schedule posts and tweets?

Download the Social Media Strategy Presentation for FREE

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1. Plan ahead

This is number one for a reason; the first step for creating a Christmas digital campaign should be planning. Think of what you would like to include in the content, any special offers and so on. What are your key messages? Plan your website content (and blog posts) as well as a schedule of Facebook/Twitter updates. Of course, it is also very important to integrate your digital and traditional marketing campaign.

 2. Design for Christmas

Update your social media graphics (Facebook cover, Twitter header etc.) to have a Christmas theme.  Consider sending out an email newsletter to your customers this Christmas perhaps including a discount or free gift. Use the Christmas theme throughout all your marketing efforts.

3. Analyse last year’s Christmas Campaign

When planning your Christmas or seasonal marketing programme, start by taking a look at the same time period in previous years. We’re all only human after all, so learn from your previous mistakes, build upon previous successes and make this year’s seasonal period the best one yet for your organisation. Take note of any good points and any bad points from the digital marketing campaign including content, graphics and engagement on social media as well as reviewing the analytics for your website and do a keyword analysis. Look and what you did last year, then modify it to make it even better.

4. What are your competitors doing?

Subscribe to competitor newsletters to see how they are running their Christmas email marketing campaigns. Maybe go on Twitter and search for “newsletter” to get ideas from other companies running email campaigns. A good idea for the retail sector could be to run an email campaign under the theme of “12 Days of Christmas” with a different discounted product every day, or a different prize everyday on Facebook and so on. Look at your competitors blogs from last year, what did they write about? Check them out on social media. Who were they talking to? Listen to your customers. Ask them what they would like. Search for keywords on Twitter or on Hootsuite and see what people are saying. Perhaps be “different” and do an alternative Christmas.

5. Share important information

Don’t forget to let everyone know opening hours over Christmas to make everyone aware of any days that you are not operating. Also include any latest dates on ordering products to make sure they can be delivered in time for Christmas. These are important pieces of information which may have a big impact on purchases made online!

6. Don’t just sell

Make sure you have other content in your digital campaign, like any blog posts that are relevant to your products or service or any helpful content on your website or company news. Ensure that if you are running a competition on your social media that the normal everyday posts continue and don’t just get replaced with Christmas competitions and promotions.

 7. Email your market

In order to increase online sales through Email Marketing this Christmas you need a good schedule, tempting deals and optimise campaigns for mobile and social. Email marketing stills provides excellent ROI compared with other marketing tools.

8. Don’t Forget your Mobile Audience

Don’t forget about mobile users when posting to social networks, blogging and email marketing. Always analyse your web analytics to monitor mobile traffic and which devices are used most often. Remember that with one in three emails being read on a smart phone or tablet it is critical that they are optimised to be read on these devices. Remember that “register”, “sign up” and social media “follow” buttons need to be “thumb-friendly”.

10. Don’t flood your customers with too many updates

Timing is key! Planning your Christmas campaign early is essential. Executing that plan too early may annoy your customers. The first week of November is an acceptable time to start. If your Christmas promotional updates begin too early, you run the risk of a rise in unsubscribes, unfollows and unlikes, so keep your campaign short and sweet! Best thing to do is start working on engaging with your customers and building up that relationship, then when the time comes, you will have plenty of brand advocates to spread the Christmas cheer

When do you start your Christmas campaign?

PS. I can’t believe I have Christmas and Christmas pictures up on my blog in September!!!

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If you do things in public be aware of social media – most people have a smartphone with good camera and instant access to the internet and social media. Social Media has changed the way people interact. If its not something you would be happy for your parents or employers to see or witness then think twice. In today’s world of social networking, it is hard to strike a balance between staying connected and maintaining a measure of healthy privacy.

How to make your social media more private:

• Be aware and educated. Everyone needs to be more aware of social media – tagging photos or uploading photos is now a part of everyday life.
• Adjust the privacy settings on each social media platform you use. Check which third party apps have access to your social media profile and what information they have access to.
• Change your passwords on a regular basis. Use a combination of symbols, letters and numbers. Also, it’s advisable to use a separate password for each social media network.
• Ask your friends to consider the ramifications too before they post or tag any images of you on the internet. Don’t forget that Facebook uses facial recognition software to offer automated photo tagging now.
• Keep up to date with the Privacy policies which change frequently from site to site so make sure you regularly watch for updates and review your privacy settings.
• Do not post information that would make you vulnerable, including your birth date, physical address or other details that help identity thieves.
• Protect your privacy online and remember that photos are searchable by employers so always think twice before uploading. If you’d rather pictures of you weren’t shared online, then tell your friends.
• Be careful about “checking in” on Facebook and Foursquare. Don’t share travel plans! Some sites will allow other individuals to check you in to geographic locations. Many people don’t mind this option, but remember that when you tell people where you are, you are also telling them where you aren’t – at home.
• Be selective about instant sharing on social media, think before you post!
• Before you click “post” or “share” think about the consequences. Could this embarrass you or damage your career prospects? You need to manage your personal brand, this includes a certain amount of self censorship!
• Use your judgement when it comes to the digital world, just as you would in the real world.
• If something posted about you and you don’t like it or want it there, report it to the social media site immediately.
• Remember, anything you post online can “go viral” and removing a something is not a guarantee it’s gone. People often take screen shots of these “viral posts”.
• Don’t post anything online that you want kept private.
• Don’t put on social media what you wouldn’t put on a billboard!

Think about it — social media has been integrated into our daily lives, and it is now as simple as picking up your smartphone, starting up your favourite social application, and sharing an update to your network. Think carefully about your social media engagement approach.

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1. PinPuff.com: According to the PinPuff.com website, “Pinfluence is a relative measure of your popularity, influence,  activity, reach (& celebrity levels if applicable) on Pinterest on the scale of 100. It also decides monetary value of your pins & traffic your pins generate. Higher is your Pinfluence score, higher are the chances of you getting Big Brands’ attention for working with them on Pinterest. Average score on Pinpuff is 32. And a Pinfluence score of 50 or above is a good score.”

I checked my “Pinfluence” and got a disappointing 22. I must remember to pin more often!! What’s your Pinfluence?

2. Pinreach.com: provides you with analytics to study your influence on Pinterest except without the value estimation you can find in Pinpuff. It does however have other features to offer. To use Pinreach, visit the website and click on the ‘Sign Up’ button and fill up the registration form together with your Pinterest username. When registration is completed, you will be redirected to your analytics page. There are four tabs available on Pinreach to study your Pinterest activity in details.

3. PinSearch: Pin Search is an extension for Chrome browser that will let you easily find more related photos and information of a photo you found on Pinterest. To start using, head over to the Pin Search extension page on your Chrome browser and click ‘Add to Chrome’. Once added to Chrome, open the Pinterest website and you will see an additional ‘Search’ button at the bottom of the ‘Comment’ button, when you hover over any images on Pinterest. Clicking on this ‘Search’ button will direct you to a Google’s search results page that is related to the image you selected.

Do you use Pinterest? Are there other tools for Pinterest that you use and would recommend?

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Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. Pinterest allows you to organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. You can browse pinboards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.

People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and share their favorite recipes.

Q: How do I ‘pin’ an image from the web onto a board?

A: There are a couple ways to do this. You can go to the menu bar at the top right of the Pinterest page and click [Add -> Add Pin]. From here, you can enter the URL of the website image and click ‘Pin it”.

Q: How do I find boards or members that I would like to follow?

A: You may want to choose some interesting boards or members you’d like to follow at [Boards -> Staff Favorites]. Here, the Pinterest team has chosen some of their favorite boards.

Q: How do I rearrange my boards so that my most frequently viewed are at the top (or any other arrangement)?

A: The pinterest staff has recently added this feature. Go to [Your user name -> Your Boards]. This should produce all of your boards. There is a ‘Rearrange’ button in the top right corner. Click that button, move your boards in the order you want, then click save. It’s as easy as that.

Q: How do I delete a pin or a board?

A: For either a board or a pin, you should see an ‘edit’ button when you hover over the image. Click ‘edit’ and then ‘delete (pin or board)’ in the new window that appears.

Q: How do I add a button to my blog or website?

A: To add a ‘follow me on Pinterest’ or a ‘pin it’ button to your site or blog, go to [About -> Goodies]. From here, you can select the type of button you want. Once you select it, the embedded code will appear. Copy the code, then (I’m speaking to wordpress users because that’s what I am) add it to your  widgets. Within wordpress dashboard, go to ‘widgets’, then select a text widget to add to your sidebar (or where ever you want it) and paste the embedded code in the text area of your widget.

10 quick tips for Pinterest for Business

1. Use keywords in your descriptions. A lot of people leave descriptions like “Love this!” on their pins. I’m guilty too. However, keyword-rich descriptions will help get pins and boards found more easily via search. Great for all of us!
2. Edit your pins. If you need to edit a pin, hover over it and click on the “Edit” button that appears. If you need to find the pin first, hover over your name in the top right of your screen, click on the “Pins” link in the dropdown menu. This will show you all your pins listed by the most recent. If it’s an older pin, click on the “Boards” link while hovering over your name and then you can find your pin by topic.
3. Tag people in pins. Simply add the “@” sign to your descriptions to tag someone so they know you were talking about them.
4. Organize your boards well. If your boards are clean and organized, you’ll get more followers than if everything is thrown around randomly and there’s no rhyme or reason to your pinning. Be specific with board titles also.
5. Don’t just be a repinner. Be a pioneer pinner. In other words, don’t just repin what others have already pinned. Always be on the lookout for new pins that no one else has found.
6. Don’t forget the iPhone app to use Pinterest on the go. Find them on the goodies page or in the app store.
7. Keep track by finding out what of yours has been pinned. Type this into your browser (replacing “yourdomain.com”):  http://pinterest.com/source/yourdomain.com
8. Link your site to your profile. You can make a clickable icon appear in your profile if you include your web address in your Settings. This will put a globe icon directly underneath your bio.
9. Create exclusive boards. Make some boards exclusive to Pinterest followers only, so they’ll get content there that they won’t get elsewhere. This is good if you are anxious to increase your Pinterest followers.
10. Spread out your pinning throughout the day. Pin throughout the day so you’ll always have fresh content on your followers’ homepages. When people search by category (which is how I most often find new pinners to follow), the most recent content will show up at the top of the page. Make it your goal to have content on the front page of your category as often as possible. Rather than pinning lots of stuff at once, spread out your pinning.

Are you on Pinterest? I am still getting used to it… You can follow me here!

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