13 Lessons From Upworthy & BuzzFeed: Viral Content's Secret Sauce As social sharing has accelerated at an exponential rate over the last several years, so too have a slew of enterprising and innovative new sites that have learned to successfully leverage the full scope of social. Two in particular, BuzzFeed and Upworthy, have had growth so substantial that it’s been hard not to hear about or notice their meteoric growth. BuzzFeed has tripled its monthly unique visitor counts over the last 24 months, from 4.3 million to 19.3 million. At its current projected trajectory, it's set to eclipse sites like The New York Times, Huffington Post (also started by a BuzzFeed founder), and CNN over the next few years. Clearly these two sites have tapped into something important that’s fueling their massive growth, but what is it? Lesson 1: Important Audiences Are the “Bored at Work” and the “Bored in Line” Alleviate boredomConnect with their current frustrations Lesson 2: What Content Spreads Depends on the Platform Lesson 3: Certain Content Types Work
14 Tools to Streamline Your Social Media Marketing Do you want to manage social media more efficiently? Do you have the right tools? To streamline your approach, you’ll need resources that work well with your business. In this article I’ll share the best tools to manage and optimize your social media marketing. Find 14 tools to streamline your social media marketing. #1: Find Your Audience Once you define your target audience(s), find the social media platforms they frequent online. Here are tools you can use to find your audience across the web. Followerwonk My favorite (and free) hidden gem is Followerwonk. Traackr An influencer marketing platform, Traackr creates specific lists of influencers and their qualifications, based on the criterion put into the system—whether it’s a region (New York) or topic (chocolate-lover). Search for influencers on Traackr. This technology searches all public-facing channels and builds full online profiles for every influencer on the list ranked according to reach, resonance and relevance. SEMrush Hootsuite Kapost
How to Use Social Psychology to Improve Your Marketing Are you planning a social media campaign? Do you wonder why some marketing campaigns are more successful than others? The recent ALS Ice Bucket Challenge went viral because they used powerful psychological concepts to influence participation. In this article I’ll share the concepts ALS used to achieve overwhelming success and how you can use them. Find out how to use social psychology to improve your marketing. #1: Appeal to Indirect Public Commitment We are more likely to act on and complete a task when we promise ourselves we’ll do it. Publicly passing a challenge to others compels them to take action. The ALS Association used this concept in a somewhat different (but equally effective) way: participants weren’t making the commitment themselves; the person nominating them was publicly making the commitment for them. How You Can Use It Take a step back and look at your campaign to see if there are opportunities to ask people to make a public commitment. #2: Question Personal Identity Conclusion
How to plan your Social Media Posts: 10:4:1 Rule Do you manage a social media account or multiple accounts and scramble to find a method to produce and organize content that gets engagement? What if I told you there was a science to the art of creating social media content that gets noticed ...There is a beautiful tool called the "10-4-1 rule" that can assist you with knowing the exact amount of content that should be curated and produced to evolve your social media marketing plan. If you haven’t heard of the 10-4-1 rule with regard to creating great posts for your social media marketing campaigns, let us introduce you to a wonderful tool that is going to help you in many ways. Essentially the 10-4-1 rule is a ratio of what messages to send out over a 15-post period across your social media platforms. The truth is, creating fantastic content isn’t always as easy as you may think. 1) Consistency 2) Building trust as an expert to your audience That sounds easy, but often it isn’t.
21 guidelines every social media policy needs Kerry Gorgone wrote a blog post about whether you should friend your employees on social media. I have a hard time with this for two reasons: I met each of my employees through social media, which means I was friends with them there before they started working for me. Social media is part of what my team does, so there is a big blurry line between personal and professional. Right now, it's probably OK (I say "probably" because my staff may tell you differently), but as we continue to grow, this may be something I need to keep in mind. It might not be OK to be friends with all of my employees on social media. That's why a social media policy is so important. The legal ramifications Peter Fischer, an attorney at Stokes Roberts & Wagner, says it's best to have a policy with a signature line where employees put their John Hancock. In accordance with National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) laws, he recommends the following: The social media policy It doesn't have to be. State where you work.
16 Tools Every Social Media Manager Should Use This post was originally published on Feb 4, 2014 Smart businesses know that social media is a power to be reckoned with: social media channels create a direct line of communication between your company and consumers and give anyone with an Internet connection instant access to the latest buzz around your products or services. Not to mention, they can help you to generate revenue, while building your brand presence. Let that marinate for a second. The 16 tools below will help you and your social media manager take on the complexity of the job. 1. Those who have Google Analytics installed on their website can use Visually’s Google Analytics Report: an app that creates a custom infographic of your website’s activity and performance. Pricing: Free 2. This free, easy-to-use Twitter management tool allows you to oversee all aspects of your Twitter account(s) in one interface. 3. 4. Like Hootsuite, Sprout Social is a social media dashboard that monitors and manages multiple social networks. 5.
5 Tips for Running Successful Social Media Campaigns Do you use social media campaigns to engage with your customers? Do you need tips on how to create more effective campaigns? Whether you want to build better campaigns or are ready to try your first one, there are certain pitfalls you should avoid. In this article I’ll share five tips for building and running successful social media campaigns. #1: Choose and Build the Right Campaign Social media campaigns offer a wide array of options, from voting contests to newsletter signups to interactive quizzes—and everything in between. Different campaigns deliver different results, so before you begin, have a clear idea of what you hope to accomplish. Find tips for running a successful social media campaign. Dozens of companies offer campaign-building software. Campaigns that look great on mobile aren’t a luxury anymore—they’re a requirement. Look for a service that allows you to install campaigns anywhere. #2: Try Action-Gating Facebook is one of the most popular places to run campaigns. Wrapping Up
10 Successful Facebook Marketing Examples Is your Facebook engagement dropping? Need some inspiration to pump up your Facebook marketing? As the Facebook news feed continues to change, it’s important to figure out how to make the platform work for you. In this article I’ll share Facebook pages from both large and small brands, and tips to incorporate their tactics into your Facebook marketing plan. Discover ten brands successfully using Facebook. #1: Qatar Airways Qatar posts a number of pictures about football (soccer in America), which is what their fans care about. Post about things your fans care about. Qatar also changes their cover photo often, which is a great way to promote something new. Change your cover photo with a new message to your fans. Key Takeaways: Post what engages your audience and change your cover photo often. #2: Dove This inspiring video helped Dove get close to half a million views and thousands of likes, comments and shares. Create and share videos, since video gets more engagement on Facebook. #3: Oreo