This is a team session that I lead in January discussing the importance of Social Media Optimization including: social media tactics, social media analytics and techniques to aid in community management for social profiles of all different kinds. Users were also asked to tweet their questions during the luncheon to contribute to discussion later.

1. Social Media in Short- a #LearningLuncheon
10 January, 2014
By Jarobin G. Gilbert ( @JaroG4)

2. Today’s Discussion
§ If you’d like to participate in today’s discussion on
Twitter. You can do so by logging into @PathTeamQuest
on the network from your mobile device with the login:
pathinc
§ Use the hashtag #LearningLuncheon to follow along

3. Why Use Social Media?
• Conversation channel that is independent of other networks but ties in.
• Gathers and reaches a different kind of audience especially a mobile-onthe- go-hyper connected generation.
• A digital extension of oneself through which they can display their lives,
interests, questions or memories.
• Allows a more human side to a brand or a company.
• Platforms for sharing content.
#LearningLuncheon

4. Social Networks We Use at Path
Facebook –Absolute connection page, chance to
connect with brands and other consumers,
customers or interested parties. A go-to for almost
all kinds of updates and the most likely of the four
for the average social media user to have other
than email itself. A good home base for brands
that are trying to have a social media presence and
convey their place under the social media sun.
Twitter—Connection, chat and constant info
channel. With 140 character limit, short and
to-the-point messages are best. This is not
only great as a two way channel but is also
good for sharing content from your own
website or entities but also sharing material
that is relevant to your industry and
community. Always able to be alive with
chatter. Build loyal following for informative
purposes and updates.
#LearningLuncheon

5. Social Networks We Use at Path
Google + -- Connection Page, mainly important for link
building purposes and great for SEO efforts. Also
reaches a community that perhaps is not so
mainstream. However since google + also directly
affects rankings, it is important to share on google plus
perhaps more than any other network. Even if people
aren't connecting with your page initially. ( In 2014, it
will be important to begin connecting more followers,
fans, users to the Google Plus pages to interact and
share content here)
LinkedIn- Professional network. Follow not only
your colleagues and peers but also follow your
favorite companies, and professional interests. You
can also join groups and have a conversation about
topics in your own industry, or begin to pluck and
post content about an industry relevant to yours
that may draw more of a following in the long run.
#LearningLuncheon

6. Social Networks We Use at Path
Instagram-- Great for graphic displays
and a way to drive people to learn more
about your page/brand and community.
You can leave a link to your website in
the profiles themselves now. Uploading
relevant photos and creating engaging
content around those can help people to
interact with you on a more frequent
basis.
Pinterest-- Display network, graphics
which hopefully then lead to websites. A
great way to linkbuild for your own site,
and gain the attention of those in your
communities around a number of topics.
Can also share pins to Facebook and
Twitter for more longevity.
#LearningLuncheon

7. Why Does Any of This Matter?
Social media, the game is all in the name. For it to be effective you need to be social
creatures yourselves.
Much like any gathering or party, there are minglers and there are wallflowers.
Whichever one you decide to be will directly impact development of your social street
cred and the experience your social media followers will have with you and how visible
you will become to others. How can you influence this in a positive way?
Here are a few tips to keep in mind while you’re building and managing you
social media communities
#LearningLuncheon

8. Share Frequently
• Regardless of the network, you have to be posting something
across your channels. Static channels are a sign of indifference,
lack of attention or worse, a dead line of communication.
• Being an infrequent communicator never guaranteed anyone
friends, fans or followings. In this life or the next, get chatty across
channels within reason and figure out who your brand’s personality
is within that space.
• If you want to get people to know you, you have to talk about
yourself or your interests at least a little bit.
#LearningLuncheon

9. Build a Community
• Find out what is most relevant to your brand’s M.O. and seek out
those with whom you have common traits.
• Chat them up: like ; favorite; retweet; ask questions; leave
comments, vote, tag others and most importantly share others’
content too.
• You will find that social networks take on the belief of Karma when
used properly. Be nice, share and give credit and thanks where its
due.
#LearningLuncheon

10. Shake It Up- Don’t Have a One Track Mind
Making the same kind of posts every time you share something can
result in fewer and fewer engagements and reactions over time. More
likely than not, it is to your advantage to be sure to change up the kinds
of posts you use per network. This can include but should not be limited
to…
• Plain Text Updates (General Info, Questions, what's going on
with the brand in question)
• Photos
• Video (Where possible)
• Links to webpage your page content (Look what I did!)
• Links to relevant industry content (Look what they did!)
• Links to other social properties (Check out where else I am!)
• Participate in chats
And……
• Don’t always talk about yourself.
#LearningLuncheon

11. Respond Frequently
• A matter of habit, when posts go unanswered or unacknowledged for
a long period of time (varies by account) it can affect how much
further engagement you may get in the future.
• Be sure to check up on posts within a few hours or the next day to
see who interacted with your content and how. Doing this shows a
human side of managing a profile and helps to build loyalty and bring
in more fans as well. Also acknowledge their participation.
#LearningLuncheon

12. Ask “Who Are You?” & “ What Do You Want to Be ?”
• Chances are you know a lot about your
clients and what their needs are, but I’m
also willing to bet that they know their
industry more than you do.
• Ask them questions or their thoughts
about what would be good to share over
their channels. It not only gives you
insight into the industry and more ideas,
but it also helps you to better determine
what to post when you run out of ideas
and also lessens the element of shock in
case something goes wrong or is
incorrect.
#LearningLuncheon

13. Listen to Your Audience
• Much like you check the news on TV, or on your phone in the
morning, social listening is a crucial part of making social media
networks “pop”.
• Take the time and make a habit of using your networks to find
out what those in your community are actually talking about.
You can use tools to help you gather this info.
• This can help you to build the initial and ongoing communities
that are best suited for the social media accounts you’re
running.
#LearningLuncheon

14. Home Is Where the Heart Is– So Is Your Website
• When it comes to social media sharing, your website is your
home base for information, content and general awesomeness.
It’s where you can show people who you are, what you’re about
and why you’re here.
• Your website can be your greatest resource/ weapon amongst all
social media tools. When talking over social networks, you can
always link to it, tell people to check it out and share from it. It
has no expiration date.
#LearningLuncheon

15. What’s a # Got to Do with Me?
• Hashtags (#) help to gather content and commentary all under a common
thread and make it visible to people following it.
• Use relevant hashtags to make what you’re posting on Instagram, Twitter
etc… searchable by other users and, to see what other users post under
the same one. It’ll help you build a community and make interactions
easier.
• Don’t make hashtags longer than 20 characters and if it’s two words,
capitalize each word to make it easy to read. (e.g. #PolarVortex,
#BridgeGate, #SEOChat, #SMWNYC, #KnicksTape, #Scandal or #SOAFX) .
• Make hashtags sensible.
• Don’t use inappropriate hashtags that bear no meaning to you.
#LearningLuncheon

16. What Are the Tools?
Share, Optimize, Measure and Repeat
o Facebook Insights
o Use the Post Level and Page Level data to
help you to see where you’re performing
your best
o See which kinds of posts get the best
desired results.
o Optimize next month’s content based
around said information.
#LearningLuncheon

17. What are the Tools?
Share, Optimize, Measure and Repeat
o
Hootsuite
o
Schedule/ program outgoing posts across twitter, Facebook, Google
o
Mine information from Facebook, Twitter, & Reddit
§
Develop hashtags and keywords that best fit the brand,
Retweet, Or use according to how you see fit
§
Change your topics in Hootsuite searching every month
(even if it’s the same theme, find topics that stick out or
are close.
§
Use these feeds to find and monitor chats. Develop your
own chat. Find other likeminded followers not suggested
by twitter, but by yourself instead.
o
Link shortener!
o
Analytics (For Free!)
#LearningLuncheon

18. What are the Tools?
Share, Optimize, Measure and Repeat
o Tailwind
o
Measure the volume and
longevity of your pins.
o
Find out when the optimal time
to Pin is and how often.
o
Find other similar accounts and
boards to yours to maximize your
following.
o
See the stats of the communities
you follow. See, pin, do it again!
#LearningLuncheon

19. What are the tools?
Share, Optimize, Measure and Repeat
o
Statigr.amo
o
o
o
o
#LearningLuncheon
Check optimal times to share images
Check most used hashtags on your
photos
See most used hashtags on IG to help
to help optimize photos
See which filters are most effective
Check the rate at which your IG
content is being liked.

20. What are the tools?
Share, Optimize, Measure and Repeat
o
Sprout Social Insights
o
Find out if your brand skews heavily male or female
and determine age group of followers/fans
o
Track the number of clicks your shared links are
receiving
o
Track number of Tweets, Retweets, Mentions,
Unfollows. DMs down to the day (optimize around
info see which works best)
o
Link shortener!
#LearningLuncheon

21. What are the tools?
Share, Optimize, Measure and Repeat
o Twubs
o Monitor ongoing Twitter chats in
real time.
o Participate in chats with automated
hashtags.
o Track hashtags.
o REGISTER custom hashtags.

22. What are the tools?
Share, Optimize, Measure and Repeat
o
Social Bro
o
See profile evolution and prediction based on tweeted
data
o
Check language pie graph of your twitter community
o
See optimal time to tweet/ share
o
Check your overall influence
o
See who your influential followers are
o
See who your inactive followers are (those who haven’t
tweeted in 3 months or more)
o
See who your newest followers are (those who have had
an account less than 3 months and use it frequently—find
opportunities to engage with them more—build a
community)
#LearningLuncheon

23. What are the tools?
Share, Optimize, Measure and Repeat
Google Chrome Social Extensions
o Install the social management buttons directly into your
chrome browser(s) to help you share content more
easily and more importantly immediately.
o Some examples of what you can install are
• Twitter
• Hootlet (Connects to Facebook, Google Plus &
Twitter)
• Sprout Social (“” “”)- Track Links through shortener
• Pinterest
• Google +
• Buffer (Connects to Social Bro, Twitter, Google Plus,
LinkedIn)
• + Button (Connects to any number of other
platforms)
#LearningLuncheon

24. Conclusion?
Portrayal- The channels are a way to tell not just the world who you
are and what your about, but what makes up the world you specialize
in.
Persist- It doesn’t happen all overnight. Find a theme, develop and
stick with that theme . Develop it along the way and keep talking,
keep building communities, keep being yourself.
Patience-- remember that social media much like the businesses we
manage takes time to develop, nurture and perfect. Along the way there
are going to be ups, downs, questions and growing. Whether your client is
boring or boisterous, it all takes time to get a rhythm and rhyme that
works for you.
#LearningLuncheon