Social Media Marketing

MAM Summit Recap: Facebook IS Losing Its Cool

October 26, 2012 by eglomb

This blog post is written by guest blogger Laura Harders

Since I’m a blogger & social media consultant, I really gleaned a lot from the social media geared sessions at the Mid-Atlantic Marketing Summit in Baltimore. Directly following lunch, I had the pleasure on sitting in on the session “Is Facebook Losing Its Cool” with Moderator Rob Pegoraro, and speakers: Mitch Arnowitz, Managing Director of Tuvel Communications; Geoff Livingston, author & marketing strategist; Cary Lawrence, VP of Business Development at Social Code; and Kari Mitchell, Director of Digital Marketing at HZDG.

My takeaways from the session included:

1. Facebook IS losing its cool (almost unanimous amongst the panel of speakers).

2. Facebook is still an important social network and place where the largest audience is.

Some of the “issues” with Facebook that were discussed deal with the privacy perception and continual changes. I know for many bloggers and marketers, the change in reach of your message has been frustrating. Just because you have fans, doesn’t mean they will see your content. You now have to “pay to play”, in other words, you need to pay for Facebook post promotion and advertising in order for your fans to see your content in their news feed.

Some other takeaways for me:

Facebook usage has declined among young people.
Facebook has become more “noisy.”
Younger users are more likely to “like” a brand than older users.
Older users are more likely to click thru ads than younger users.
Facebook advertising is now an opportunity to amplify your message.
Facebook’s Timeline feature allows ongoing conversations with a readable thread, unlike other social platforms.
Out of all four panel members, only one “friends” their clients on Facebook. The majority of the speakers felt that their personal FB account was reserved for family & close friends, a smaller network.
Key to Facebook marketing is to gain “shares” as social validation for your brand & message.

Is Facebook losing its cool? Yes it is– for both users & brands. And while it’s still one of the predominant social media platforms, the importance of targeting other niche networks is critical, as well as creating custom approaches & goals on a variety of social media platforms.

Now its your turn! Do you agree with the panel conclusion that Facebook’s loosing its mojo? Please let us know in the comments below.

Laura Harders is a blogger and social media consultant living in the Washington DC metropolitan area. Besides working with small businesses to develop their social media marketing strategy and content, she also runs a popular, local deal blog, Beltway Bargain Mom, and teaches Coupon Classes.

4 Things You Should Do Before Hiring a Social Media Agency

August 23, 2012 by Kari Rippetoe

It seems like every marketing and PR shop out there is “doing” social media – everything from influencer outreach and managing your social media presence to “getting you (insert number here) more followers – guaranteed!”. And yes, Tuvel is also a digital communications shop that offers social media services (and we do some great work, too). But the task of choosing a social media agency to help you out should not be taken lightly.

Before even starting to look at potential social media agencies, there are 4 important steps you need to take (by the way, this will help you tremendously when it comes time to writing up that RFP for agencies to bid on):

Do your research. Just as you would research the online and offline publications your audience is reading, you should also do some preliminary research into their social media habits. Are your customers/members/attendees using social media? If so, where are they? What are they talking about? This is certainly something a social media agency can help you do, but this cursory research will help you gain valuable insights and establish goals. Which is the next thing you should do…

Establish goals. This is where you need to ask yourself WHY your brand should be using social media. Use the insights from your preliminary research, in conjunction with your high-level business goals, to determine specific, trackable and realistic goals for your social media marketing efforts. Examples might be:

Increase awareness of your brand or product.
Establish a customer service channel through social media.
Establish your brand as a thought-leader.
Increase new leads and sales.
Increase traffic.

Evaluate resources. You may have already determined that you need to hire a social media agency to provide your organization with the additional knowledge and people-power to run a successful social media program; however, you should still evaluate the resources you already have in-house who will be assisting with program implementation, or even carrying on the effort after the agency has laid the groundwork.

Set expectations. Make sure that your internal team and management are clear on what to expect from social media. Everyone needs to understand that it will take time to build traction. Social media is also so much more than a set of tools – a well-defined social media strategy will have content, email, PR, sales and customer service elements woven into it – and everyone will need to pitch in time and effort to make it work, in tandem with the agency.

What steps do you take before hiring an outside marketing or communications agency, social media or otherwise?

How Nonprofits can Raise More Money Without Asking for More Money

July 23, 2012 by Kari Rippetoe

What does a struggling economy do to struggling nonprofits? According to a new study from Giving USA, charitable giving only grew by 0.9% in 2011. And guess what? Little growth is expected in 2012.

Depressed yet? Never fear. In this excellent post on Frogloop, Allyson Kapin outlines some ways nonprofits can boost donations in 2012. One tip that stood out to me:

Don’t always ask for money. Many nonprofits are so focused on raising money and meeting their budgets, they often don’t treat their donors as important stakeholders in the organization. Your donors are a critical part of your community and want to be a part of your organization fighting for social change. Show them how they can help you meet your mission through actions, volunteer opportunities, social events, etc. Give them several paths to engage with your organization and make them feel like they are a valuable part of your mission. And of course you can ask them for money along the way.

To many nonprofits, this may seem counterintuitive; but Allyson makes an excellent point that ultimately comes down to your relationships with your donors.

If you take the time to identify your key advocates and build relationships with them, the return will be worth the time investment. Offer value and make them an important part of your efforts and organization, and you will see them giving more of their time and money in return.

Here are some ways nonprofits can build relationships with donors:

Identifying key advocates and influencers: Conduct research to compile a list of those who are your strongest advocates or can influence others to do so. Check out this handy infographic from SmallAct and BlackBaud on identifying your influencers and scoring them for fundraising efforts.
Developing opportunities of value: Think about all the different ways these key advocates can help your nonprofit – such as, like Allyson mentioned, volunteer opportunities and social events. Other ways might be through online word-of-mouth – spreading the word through their social networks through a blog post, tweet, donation widget, etc.
Reach out: This is where you engage your advocates without asking for money. Ask them where they want to be involved and develop those opportunities for them. Focus on those who respond to your outreach and concentrate your community-building efforts on them.
Keep building those relationships: Keep key advocates and influencers updated with new information and opportunities, ask for their input on a continual basis, and use their feedback. Through ongoing relationship and community-building, you can develop broader fundraising programs that engage not only them, but their communities.