This document provides guidance on building a following on social media platforms. It recommends identifying your target audience by knowing your customers, what they like, and where they engage. It suggests preparing content by developing great content, curating relevant content, and creating engagement. Finally, it outlines growing your network on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook by connecting with others, sharing stories and questions, building your profile, following others, and engaging with your community. The goal is to provide value to customers to help build your following.
4. Curriculum
PLATFORMSPRODUCT
ELECTIVES
FIRM OF THE
FUTURE
Scott Zandbergen
Date: July 26
THE DIGITAL
LANDSCAPE
Dave Fleet
Date: August 9
ESTABLISHING
YOUR ONLINE
VOICE
Neil Mohan &
Leilah Ambrose
Date: August 23
BUILDING YOUR
FOLLOWING
Andrew Wall
Date: September 6
SEO 101
Leandro Dumlao
Date: September 20
LINKEDIN 101
Michael Thomson
Date: November 15
BLOGS 101
Jennie Moore
Date: November 1
FACEBOOK 101
Mitch Bell
Date: October 18
TWITTER 101
Devon Burke
Date: October 4
YOUTUBE 101
Jill De Larzac
Date: November 29
INSTAGRAM 101
Bianca Freedman
Date: TBA
FACEBOOK &
TWITTER ADS
Alexandra Krivov
Date: TBA
PODCASTS 101
Michelle Long
Date: TBA
BYLINES 101
Sarah Triantafillou
Date: TBA
GOOGLE+
Bryan Tritt
Date: TBA
5. According to a survey conducted
by research firm Clutch, almost
half (47%) of small businesses
aren’t actively using social
media.
6. Leveraging the Opportunity
Ready
Identify Your Audience
• Know your customer
• Know what your
customer likes
• Know where your
customer engages
Aim
Prepare Your Content
• Develop great content
• Currate relevant
content
• Create engagement
Fire
Grow Your Network
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Facebook
8. “Without an audience, there’s not
much use for a social media
strategy. In today’s marketing
age, your audience matters more
than ever. Every business needs
one to survive.”
Audience: Marketing in the Age of Subscribers, Fans & Followers” by Jeffrey Rohrs
10. Know What
Your Customer
Likes
“All you have to do is
stop thinking like a
marketer and start
thinking like your
consumer”
Dave Kerpen
• Respond quickly
• Be authentic
• Be honest and transparent
13. Action Items
1. Write down description of target
audience
2. Write down a list of other
marketing initiatives that you
can cut back on
3. Look for and find your audience
15. “One of the fastest ways to turn
off an audience is to serve them
irrelevant content.”
“Epic Content Marketing” by Joe Pulizzi
16. “Content needs to be
tailored to the specific
audience at each
segment of a sales
funnel”
Kissmetrics
• Define your goals
• Create an editorial calendar
• Check your metrics
Develop
Content
17. Collect relevant research
on a key topic for your
readers.
Great tools
• TweetDeck
• Flipboard
• Buffer
Curate Content
19. Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan
Editorial Calendar
Develop content Scheduled posts
Real time posts
#Thrive
#QbConnect
20. Action Items
1. Write down a list of questions to
ask your customers
2. Take existing content and re-
write it for the web
3. Create a plan for creating
content
22. “Social media is about the
people! Not about your business.
Provide for the people and the
people will provide you.”
Matt Goulart
23. The Platforms
Facebook
72% of online American
adults use Facebook, a
proportion unchanged from
September 2014
LinkedIn
LinkedIn is the only major social
media platform for which usage
rates are higher among 30- to
49-year-olds than among 18- to
29-year-olds
Twitter
Twitter is more popular
among younger adults —
30% of online adults under
50 use Twitter
25. “Facebook is the most
viral platform in
marketing history”
Dave Kerpen
• Add value
• Be authentic
• Be honest and transparent
Connect
26. Share interesting and
enjoyable stories so
customers can share
them with their friends.
• Tell your story
• Inspire customers to tell stories
• Ask Questions
Share Stories
27. Facebook advertising
provides you the
opportunity to really
hone in on your
audience.
• Nano target
• Experiment
• Monitor
Advertise
29. “On LinkedIn, it’s your
picture, name and
professional headline
most times that people
see”
Viveka von Rosen
• Start with a professional photo
• Make your headline stands out
• Fill out as much of the profile as
possible
Build Your
Profile
30. “Make sure that you can
be found by the right
people at the right time.”
LinkedIn
• Import your address book
• Discover “people you may know”
• Advertise
Build Your
Network
31. “It’s important to be
active on LinkedIn, and
that starts with posting
status updates
Social Media Examiner
• Share an update
• Write an article
• Leverage notifications
Stay Connected
32. Twitter“The viral power of online media has proven how fast
creative ideas can be spread and adopted”
Tina Brown
33. “User follower bases
directly correlate with
how much they tweet”
Beevolve
The Anatomy of a perfect Tweet
• A link
• A picture
• 3 hashtags
Engage
34. In the #Discover section
of your dashboard,
Twitter recommends
“Who to follow” for your
account.
• Add your contacts
• Follow industry leaders
• Follow your followers followers
Follow
35. Repeat
“Unless you’re a
celebrity like Justin
Bieber or Hilary Clinton,
you’re going to have to
work at building an initial
following on Twitter”
Forbes
• Remove non-followers
• Stay Nano targeted
• Monitor your stats
36. Action Items
Know Your Customer
• Describe your target audience
• Use ad platforms to define market size
• Listen to your community
Prepare Your Content
• Write a list of topics your customers like
• Write a list of questions to ask
• Ask how you can help your community
Grow Your Network
• Actively seek out your customers
• Respond to every customer
• Provided value (for free)