In this information-packed session, Mari Smith walks you through specific steps to overcome the challenge of diminishing organic reach on Facebook, leverage your own content and that of others ("OPC"), cultivate powerful relationships with influencers and superfans and provide exemplary customer service.
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How To Build Powerful Relationships on Facebook and Beyond
Relationship marketing has been around for eons; what’s changed in recent years is how we connect with our marketplace. Facebook, in particular, has created a fundamental paradigm shift in how we communicate and do business around the world. There is an art and science to using Facebook a) to foster power relationships with key influencers, and b) to reach the maximum potential audience and convert them into paying customers. In this dynamic session, social media thought leader and top Facebook marketing expert, Mari Smith, will show you:
- how to connect with, and court, power influencers
- proven organic ways to expand your reach and click-through rate
- specific steps to growing your email list using Facebook
- and much more!
4. 4
“Our goal is to
reach a point
where ads are
as relevant and
timely as the
content your
friends share
with you.”
~Mark Zuckerberg
Source: bit.ly/1h47fzO
Photo credit: bkmag
32. 32
Increase Organic Reach
1. Post outside business
hours
2. Mix up the frequency
3. Mix up the post types
4. Test post length
5. Include @ tags of other
Pages
6. Drive traffic from other
sources
7. Repost popular posts
38. 38
Connect with Mari on these sites:
Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/marismith
Facebook Profile: www.facebook.com/maris
Twitter: @marismith
Instagram @mari_smith
Google+: www.google.com/+marismith
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/marismith
Mari’s website: www.marismith.com
Editor's Notes
Presentation for Social Media Day San Diego, June 30th, 2014 and National Speakers Association annual conference “Perform 2014” in San Diego, July 1st, 2014 (event runs June 29th to July 2nd).
See more at: http://www.socialmediadaysandiego.com/ & http://www.nsaspeaker.org/attend/
Hashtags: #SMDaySD and #NSA14
Connect with Mari on these sites:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/marismith
Twitter: @marismith
Instagram @mari_smith
Google+: www.google.com/+marismith
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/marismith
Mari’s website: www.marismith.com
No amount of sophisticated technology will EVER replace in-person, real life connecting. You can look people in the eye, read their body language, shake their hand, feel their “vibe” and more.
The next best thing is video, especially LIVE video – e.g. Hangouts on Air!! (Best thing to come out of G+!)
Must approach social media as if you were live, in person. Would not go up to a total stranger at a mixer and shove a big banner in their face asking them to buy from you.
The secret to success on Facebook and all social media, is to be a MEMBER first, then a marketer. When you log on to Facebook as a user – notice how you feel about certain posts in your news feed. What friends’ posts catch you attention? What business/brand posts catch your attention? Which ones annoy you and make you want to hide, unfriend, unlike?
NOTE: People come to Facebook because they are a FAN OF FACEBOOK first… they don’t log on each morning dying to know what Target or Skittles or Starbucks has posted on their Facebook Pages that day! IF they are fans of your company and IF you are posting relevant, timely, quality content and IF you’ve found the right formula to get into the News Feed of your fans, then they may engage.
The more you can craft your BUSINESS PAGE posts in a way that seamlessly blends in with your fans’ friends posts, the more humanized your company content will be. There is a fine art and science to this. Remember, think like a member first, then a marketer!
Business users on Facebook had it real good for about six years… now, Facebook is definitely “pay to play!”
Organic reach is reported to drop to as low as 1-2%.
See: http://valleywag.gawker.com/facebook-is-about-to-make-everyone-pay-1547309811
The average number of Facebook friends is 338 (compared to 130 back around 2008). 15% of Facebook users have more than 500 friends.
From Pew Research: Among adult Facebook users, the average (mean) number of friends is 338, and the median (midpoint) number of friends is 200. In other words, half of all Facebook users have more than 200 friends, and half have less than 200.
“500 terabytes of data are uploaded to Facebook every 24 hours.” Source: http://seanclark.com/content-marketing-2/web-needs-human-content-curation/
From Facebook: Every time someone visits News Feed there are as many as 1,500-15000, potential stories from friends, people they follow and Pages for them to see, and most people don’t have enough time to see them all. These stories include everything from wedding photos posted by a best friend, to an acquaintance checking in to a restaurant.
Facebook’s director of product management for News Feed told TechCrunch this April the total number of Pages liked by the typical Facebook user grew more than 50% last year
See: https://www.facebook.com/business/news/News-Feed-FYI-A-Window-Into-News-Feed
For more on the data scientist experiment, see:
Facebook tinkered with users’ feeds for a massive psychology experiment
http://www.avclub.com/article/facebook-tinkered-users-feeds-massive-psychology-e-206324
CONTENT: “90% of data in the world today has been created within the last two years.” Source: IBM
“Every two days we now create as much information as we did from the dawn of civilization up until 2003.” Google’s Executive Chairman, Eric Schmidt
Despite this “dismal” picture, business MUST continue to use Facebook! It remains the world’s NUMBER ONE social network with 1.28Bn monthly active users, almost 80% of which log on via mobile devices and are twice as active as desktop users.
Facebook is the #1 social network referral traffic source -- it generates more referral views than all the rest combined.
See: http://marketingland.com/ghost-town-google-social-referral-graveyard-88790
From Contently.com: http://contently.com/strategist/2014/04/11/facebooks-goodfellas-moment/
“In an era where everyone is a publisher, owning your own audience is more valuable than ever — and there are no shortcuts. It’s time consuming, and it’s not cheap. But it’s the only answer to a new media world that’s changing as fast as brands can keep up.”
As John Battelle noted, becoming a brand publisher is an existential choice — it’s not “should I publish content,” it’s “where should I publish content.”
Examples of content publishing companies who OWN their audience. They’re building on their own “land” – American Express OPEN Forum, Cox BLUE, Social Media Examiner
Try your hand at running contests, but be sure to collect email addresses. You can administer contests on your wall now.
See these helpful resources:
Timeline Contest Creator: https://heyo.com/timeline-contest-creator-live
Timeline Contest App: http://www.contestcapture.com
Contest Capture to track entries: http://www.contestcapture.com
See www.heyo.com for this handy one-click sign up feature – get people to opt in without leaving Facebook.
Use 22Social App, include a CTA button. See: www.22s.com/marismith
Google Hangout > simultaneous broadcast on your Facebook Page > syndicate through unlimited Facebook Pages!! Big CTA button can be coded to an outside URL or use 22Social’s SCRM feature and get an export of subscribers with their Facebook data!
Aggregated Facebook comments.
NEW FEATURE: Paygate via PayPal – your Facebook community can buy from you without leaving Facebook!
Are you making good use of FRIEND LISTS and INTEREST LISTS? Be sure to create your own and/or subscribe to others. Go to: https://www.facebook.com/addlist
See this tutorial on how to create and use lists: http://www.marismith.com/how-take-back-control-of-your-facebook-news-feed/
Create a list in your industry and add a good selection of quality pages/people to it – then share the list abundantly! Of course, make sure you also add your own profile/page to the list. That’s what Mari did with this Facebook Experts & Resources list with over 36,000 subscribers!
Stay on top of Facebook’s constant changes + get daily marketing tips by following this list managed by Mari: https://www.facebook.com/lists/10150585382860868
Encourage your fans to create a list and add your page to it.
Increase your visibility in the News Feed by enabling FOLLOW on your personal profile and publishing content to PUBLIC as well as FRIENDS ONLY. You then have three opportunities to be seen in the News Feed: Friends, Followers and Fans (via your business page).
Granted, this might not work for everyone… but it’s worth a try! Mike Stelzner does this very effectively.
Be sure to periodically post on your personal profile wall an invitation for your friends and followers to LIKE your fan page!
FOCUS: Follow One Course Until Successful
Speaking at the Silicon Beach Fest in Santa Monica, Calif., Facebook’s Director of Strategic Accounts, Mark Wallrapp, talked about how many brands on social media (including Facebook) try to do too much or spread their focus too thin, in hopes of casting a wider net:
“I think a lot of smaller companies try to be all things to all people. Identify what you’re good at and then own that and go a mile deep. I think sometimes companies try to go a mile wide and you’re just never going to land.”
SOURCE: http://www.insidefacebook.com/2014/06/25/how-should-brands-approach-facebook-marketing-now/
“Get known for uncovering valuable content and you can build an authority for yourself in your market sector.” Sean Clark - Co-founder of curation app http://kurasie.com
See: http://seanclark.com/content-marketing-2/web-needs-human-content-curation/
Up until 2010, Mari curated 100% of her content for her social channels. She then started observing herself very closely as to what content she chose and what she would ignore. She created a very exacting, step by step process and trained team members how to curate on her behalf. This saves as much as two hours EACH DAY!
Speaking at the Silicon Beach Fest in Santa Monica, Calif., Facebook’s Director of Strategic Accounts, Mark Wallrapp, talked about how many brands on social media (including Facebook) try to do too much or spread their focus too thin, in hopes of casting a wider net:
“If you zoom out, we’re in this world where there’s just infinite amounts of information. The way to build a business or stand out among all that clutter is to TAP INTO EMOTION, or is to stay authentic to the brand voice.”
SOURCE: http://www.insidefacebook.com/2014/06/25/how-should-brands-approach-facebook-marketing-now/
It’s VERY easy to make people’s day – simply pay attention. Listen empathetically. Give generously. Go the extra mile. Surprise and delight!
How can you make people feel important offline, too? Compliment, connect, find ONE thing! Then take online too - tweet the person! Business cards are so 2008. Get someone’s Twitter handle and that’s all you need to keep your new connection going!
According to new research from Accent Marketing, 72% of consumers only want to interact with brands when they comment on their social media channels, and 82% of consumers use Facebook to speak with a customer service representative.
More men than women use Twitter to speak to a brand they have purchased a product from, and 75% of Millennials find it helpful when other customers or followers respond to a question or comment they’ve posted on a social media channel, while only 55% of Baby Boomers feel the same way.
Source: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/228759/consumers-viewing-social-as-customer-service-chann.html
Note from Mari: One of the BEST investments companies of any size can make is in highly trained, super friendly and positive community managers. If your business serves a global audience, you may need to deploy 24/7 social media support.
Facebook now has an engagement team! Watch their facebook.com/facebook & facebook.com/marketing – responses, using commenter’s first name only in an @ tag, signing off with first name of admin.
Mari has a separate community management page called Team Mari – chief Moderator, Juan Felix in the Netherlands logs on daily via the Team Mari page and does an incredible job of responding to Facebook Q&A on Mari’s main fan page. He also works for Social Media Examiner in the same role.
See Ryan’s story at: http://nashvilleryan.wordpress.com/2014/01/10/a-lesson-from-mercedes-benz-on-social-media/
Ryan bought a new Mercedes Benz for his 29th birthday and posted photos on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter with @MBUSA.
Within minutes, MB favorited his tweet and replied with a @Tweetacoffee to thank Ryan for his purchase. They also had taken time to read his bio, know that he had a dog named “Congressman Cooper” and mentioned him in a tweet, too!!
@NashvilleRyan proudly displaying his Mercedes Benz along with his fun dog, @NashvilleCooper!
@NashvilleRyan proudly displaying his Mercedes Benz along with his fun dog, @NashvilleCooper!
Lisa Spector is a long time Facebook friend and client of Mari Smith’s. When Mari recently adopted a beautiful Bengal cat, Baby, Lisa very kindly mailed Mari a CD of “Through A Cat’s Ear.” Lisa is a talented musician and composes relaxing music for cats and dogs.
Baby the Bengal, Mari’s gorgeous adopted kitty cat LOVING Lisa Spector’s relaxing CD! Baby is 9.5 years old and came to Mari by way of a dear friend. This is Mari’s first pet as an adult – aw!!
Shoutout to Petbox – one of the presenters at Social Media Day San Diego – what a fabulous invention that helps humans and animals. Fast growing company, based in San Diego. Love their consistent branding!
Eyeballs are everywhere online, especially looking at the Facebook News Feed. That’s why Facebook Ads WORK!! But what about local businesses with physical premises? Think about where the eyeballs of every passerby and person who comes into your store/premises looks – doors, windows, shelves, ceilings, checkout, etc. Also, if your business plays music, then you also have a way of reaching people auditorily. Petco do a great job of this – periodically the in-store music stops and an announcer encourages people to upload a photo of their pet to Petco’s Facebook page (or post to Instagram or Twitter) with a certain hashtag. Being a fairly new pet owner, this really caught my attention and made Petco stand out for me in terms of their social media savvy!
See also this humdinger post by our friends at Buffer: http://blog.bufferapp.com/facebook-reach-strategies
SOCIAL calls to action – to increase engagement ON Facebook
SALES/SIGN-UP calls to action – drive fans off Facebook, increase opt-ins, clickthroughs, sales.Click here / Sign up today / Get your ticket / Join us at … / RSVP here
Find and court influencers across many social networks. Send them public kudos, private messages, and the occasional gift/card in the mail! Give them a phone call now and then! How can you surprise and delight?!
Keep a super VIP list of influencers and super fans and give them a headsup when you have a new blog post, new announcement, new product, etc. and they will all help you spread the word. Never take this tactic for granted. Thank your peeps profusely. Often people send DMs but few people send a personal email or even a phone call to request help getting the word out – think about how you can stand out from all the rest of the people/brands asking influencers for their support.
Identify your Facebook (and Twitter!) superfans – an app like http://booshaka.com can help.
“If a customer has written a review about how they love your product, invite them to be involved in the process of developing it; ask them to come to a taster day or trial your new product pre-release. Make sure they are first to know about company news, and give them special privileges for being involved with your brand. Super fans are already engaging with your brand online. By inviting them into your inner circle you are simply increasing their potential - after all, the combined reach of your customers will go a lot further than that of your own social media channels.”
Source: http://www.yomego.com/blog/posts/2013/october/7/finding-your-brand%E2%80%99s-super-fans-online/
Are you using the Pages to Watch feature? It’s in your Insights – study pages in the same/similar industry and/or pages in totally different industries.
Facebook is in the process of slashing organic page reach down to 1 or 2 percent.
“Companies on Facebook will have to pay or be pointless.”
See: Facebook is Ending the Free Ride - http://valleywag.gawker.com/facebook-is-about-to-make-everyone-pay-1547309811
One way to get creative ideas for your own paid Facebook promotions is to study what’s working well for other companies. See Facebook’s Success Stories at http://facebook.com/business/success
Connect with Mari on these sites:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/marismith
Twitter: @marismith
Instagram @mari_smith
Google+: www.google.com/+marismith
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/marismith
Mari’s website: www.marismith.com