10 quick tips: get the most out of social media

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10 quick tips: get the most out of social media Steve WrightHead of Social Media & Community, Future plc

Future | Social media | September 2013

• Future’s combined Facebook, Twitter and YouTube audience: over 6m

• Facebook fans: up 47%• Twitter followers: up 53%• YouTube subs: up 219% • Traffic to Future sites from social

media: up 52%

First, some numbers

• Amplify messages• Advocacy, loyalty, community• Feedback• Monitor what’s being said• Join relevant conversations• Find influencers and build key relationships• Reach new and existing audiences• Enhance our sites and apps• Add value

What’s the point?

SearchConnect when needed

Where does it sit?

EmailLasts until user opens it

Social• Connect randomly• Lasts a few hours, if that

Lead generation

It’s a cliché but:

• Content is king

• Crucial to social, SEO and increasingly marketing in general

• Future has 20+ year heritage of strong content

Example #1

1.8k likes; 181 tweets; 100 +1s; +328 on Reddit

200k visits from social media(90% from Pinterest)

Evergreen, visual, useful:solves a problem

Example #2

1.5k likes; 256 tweets; 32 +1s; 406 Stumbles

160k visits from social media(90% from Pinterest)

Evergreen, sharable, useful:solves a problem

Content types

• Breaking news• Photography and video• Infographics/instructographics• Reference/resource• Lists (eg top tens)• Opinion• Polls/quizzes• Competitions• Good (or bad!) reviews• Interviews/Q&As

“The most important algorithm you’ve never heard of”

Tip 2. Facebook’s algorithm

Because it’s all about this

Why Newsfeed is key

• The majority of fans interact with you there, not on your page

• But as little as 12% of the average page’s fans see each post. Of a page with 1,000 fans, that’s 120

• Newsfeed is a chart, not a newsfeed. How do you top the charts more often?

Only Facebook knows

• Ranking algorithm a closely-guarded secret

• More than 100,000 different factors

• But we’ve got a good idea of the important ones…

WEIGHT Posts have different

value: videos, photos, links, status updates

AFFINITY Between page and

fan: shares, comments, likes

TIME DECAY How long ago was the

post, comment or like?Future | Social media | September 2013

Understanding the algorithm

• Negative feedback also increasingly important

• If you get unlikes, hides or spam reports, your reach is affected

• Facebook Insights now gives you this info

Facebook Insights tells you

Using Facebook effectively

• Keep this ‘credit score’ in mind whenever posting

• Quality not quantity • Use Insights to find best post

types and engagement rate• Encourage interaction: ask

questions, be pithy. Yes/no, fill in the blank, “click like if…”

• Join the comments: improve affinity, combat time decay

Facebook giveaways

• Everyone loves free stuff• Facebook promotions build

audience and awareness• Aim for more than just a ‘like’• Make sure you know the rules

Don’t do this

• Share competitions are against Facebook’s rules

• Your Facebook page could be deleted

• Like or comment to enter is now allowed

• But you get no data

Instead, do this

Before like:

Instead, do this

After like:

Use other channels

Facebook Ads: then

• Small display ads• Hard to be creative• Limited use• Low click through• Not on mobile

Facebook Ads: now

• Newsfeed presence• Work on mobile• Much improved CTR• Fantastic functionality• Not just fans or friends

of fans: precise targeting

Facebook Ads: features

Custom audiences

Lookalike audiences

Example

• Facebook Ad campaign• Custom audience of

lapsed subscribers• Dedicated landing page

dramatically increased conversions

Twitter

Tip 5. Searching Twitter

Twitter.com/search-advanced Topsy

Find relevant tweets

recommend "mountain bike" OR "road bike" -filter:links

Tip 6. Finding relevant people

Twitter Lists

• Public or private• Don’t need to follow• Riders, journalists,

clients, influencers…• Look for other public

lists• Use

Tip 7. Make people click

Future | Social media | April 2013

• Tweets can be very boring

• Is your tweet informative or entertaining?

• Stand out from the crowd

Example

Being clickable

• Ask questions; invite responses; withhold something

• Be pithy; write ‘headlines’• Aim for less than 140 characters• Always ask yourself: why should people click?

Tip 8. Google Authorship

• More eye-catching in search = more traffic

• Increase that valuable search result real estate

• “More by this author”• Authority: demonstrates you

know what you’re talking about

plus.google.com/authorship

Social media doesn’t stick to UK office hours. Neither should you

Best times to post

Scheduling

Facebook scheduling Twitter scheduling

Tip 10

Look beyond Facebook

• 70m people; ~70% female

• Very visual and can drive great traffic

• Better ecommerce spend than Facebook

• Pinners alerted when price drops

Adding pins

pinterest.com/source/bikeradar.com

• “Front page of the internet”

• 4.8bn page views a month

• r/Bicycling, r/MTB, r/Bikeporn…!

• Can drive huge traffic but…

• Tread carefully

reddit.com/domain/bikeradar.com

• No silver bullet or one-size-fits-all approach• Don’t expect huge traffic or instant revenue• But set long-term goals and have a strategy• You will drive engagement, brand

awareness, loyalty and advocacy

In conclusion

Any questions? For more info on how we can help you with social media: Claire Hawkinsclaire.hawkins@futurenet.com

10 quick tips: get the most out of social media

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