Thursday 27 November 2014

Monday 24 November 2014

Sunday 23 November 2014

How to spend time on Social Media

Source: https://blog.bufferapp.com/social-media-manager-schedule-checklist

You spend part—maybe all—of your day on social media, hopping from network to network, checking analytics, planning ahead, and performing the sundry tasks of a social media manager.
Would it help to know that you’re not alone with keeping such a varied schedule? That your time on social media is shared by others?
I was curious for myself whether my social media manager workload and workflow were similar to someone else’s. Do we perform the same tasks? Do we create similar content? And, perhaps most importantly, do we take the same amount of time to do the same tasks?
Here’s what I found.

Inside a Social Media Manager’s Schedule

Social media tool Socialcast compiled the times and tasks of a typical social media manager schedule and placed them into this interesting infographic. Clearly, social media managers can put in a full day’s work.
Social Media Manager Schedule
Morning:
  • Check email
  • Reply and retweet
  • Post to social media
  • Publish a blogpost
  • Curate content
  • Followup with internal team on ideas
Afternoon:
  • Write a blogpost, create content
  • Inform team of importance of social media and tools
  • Revisit and followup on social media sites and profiles
Evening:
  • Review stats for the day
  • Sign up for chats, webinars, and events
  • Schedule social media messages for overnight and early morning slots
  • Check email again
Does this to-do list resemble yours?
Of course, there are many different ways to come at this matter of social media management. Finola Howard shared on LinkedIn about her daily social media habita schedule that takes just one hour each day to complete.
Here’s how it works:
  1. Vet new followers on Twitter using SocialOomph. Follow those who fit; ignore the rest.
  2. Measure what’s worked. Note your best-performing posts in a spreadsheet or other file so you can reference later as you hone your content.
  3. Schedule tweets and posts for the day. Finola uses Buffer to keep her queue filled up.
  4. Find unique content for each channel—Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.
  5. Respond and engage. Spend 15 minutes of the first hour here. Consider dipping in for 15 minutes at lunch and at the end of the day, too.
  6. Monitor engagement levels of fans and followers. 
Still another way to go about it is Neil Patel’s streamlined social media strategy. His quick and simple schedule for saving time on social media looks like this:
  1. Use social media management for posting
  2. Spend 30 minutes each day on social media scoping, i.e. finding good stuff to share online
  3. Assign customer service requests to a customer service team
  4. Check analytics weekly or every other day. Use your social media management tool for analysis.
Ready for still another view on the social media manager time schedule?
Here’s a take from Mark Smiciklas of Intersection Consulting. His infographictakes into account pretty much every element that could ever come into play for a social media manager.
social-media-manager-workweek-infographic

What we learn from these different schedules

These examples of social media manager schedules vary wildly. Some take all day, morning to night. Others take one hour.
How can we reconcile this?
I think we’re looking at two different types of schedules here.
There are social media managers who manage full time.
There are social media users who manage part time.
I’d imagine we’d still find some overlap between the two: full-time social media managers who create blogposts, for instance, or part-time social media managers who do spend a majority of time on social.
In general, though, you likely know where you fall on this spectrum. Is social media marketing a full-time, 40-hours-per-week job for you? Or do you perform social media management in addition to wearing several other hats?

The 12 tasks of  a social media manager

Social Media Manager Schedule

1. Curating

Depending on the type of content you share on social, curating can have a huge role in the way you create your updates. Discovering and vetting content from others involves having a deep well of sources to read—as well as the time to read it all.

2. Crafting

Once you’ve found what you want to share, it’s time to figure out how to say it.Crafting a social media update is likely a task that goes faster over time as you gain experience writing headlines, using the most impactful words, and arranging things just the perfect way.

3. Posting

Here’s where a social media management tool really makes a difference. Instead of logging in to a handful of different channels one after another, you can log in to your management tool once and post faster and easier.

4. Scheduling

The next step beyond posting is scheduling: writing your updates ahead of time and queueing them to post throughout the day, overnight, through the weekend, or any other time when you can’t be actively updating your accounts.

5. Measuring

Once your updates go live, you then dig into the metrics surrounding each post. How many clicks did the post receive? What was engagement like? Which stats matter most to you?

6. Analyzing

With the measurement numbers in hand, you can analyze and make your strategy moving forward. For instance, in analyzing the metrics, you might notice that it would be beneficial to change the times that you publish or to focus on a certain type of update. Constant measurement and analysis can reveal these opportunities.

7. Responding

Chances are that people will be responding to your social media updates or reaching out to you directly. At least some portion of a social media manager’s day should be spent responding, however you feel is appropriate—with a reply, a thumbs up, an outreach email, or something else.

8. Listening

In addition to responding to direct contact, you can also keep your ear to the ground via a listening tool or an advanced search that helps bubble up those conversations about you and your brand. It’s amazing how many opportunities are out there that might be missed without proper listening tools in place. For instance, following Twitter mentions for “@buffer” might not turn up all results when folks talk about “Buffer.”

9. Engaging

In addition to replying and responding, there’s also an element of outbound happiness in engaging with your community and other accounts. This can happen via chats or comments, delight campaigns to reach out to others, and by following, friending, liking, and retweeting content from others.

10. Helping

Occasionally, folks might come to you with problems—bugs, breaks, troubleshooting, big questions. These can fall into the realm of the social media manager to handle as best as can be. (Neil Patel’s advice as mentioned above is to send this task along to a customer support team.)

11. Planning

What is the roadmap for future social media marketing? Every so often, the manager needs to zoom out from heads-down work and take a big picture view of things.

12. Experimenting

We’re a bit partial to this one at Buffer. We love experimentation, and this ties into many different tasks already on the social media manager schedule: curating new ideas to try, measuring results, analyzing the numbers, scheduling, crafting, and posting.

The social media manager checklist

Just as there are many different day-to-day schedules of a social media manager, there are also many different checklists, depending on what exactly you have on your plate with your social media management.
Here are four ideas of checklists to get you thinking about what might be included on your daily to-do list.

Mindbrew Creative’s Daily 8

1. Browse social media for the latest news, trending topics, and conversations
2. Post to Twitter
3. Post to Facebook
4. Post to your LinkedIn profile and company page
5.  Post to your personal Google+ profile and communities
6. Post to your Google+ business profile
7. Take pictures of your latest work. Post to Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, and Tumblr.
8. Engage with your followers and influencers

The Hero X Social Media Checklist

social media checklist

Hootsuite’s 7 Daily Habits of a Social Media Manager

1. Keep your ears open to what users are saying about your brand
2. Stay on top of your metrics – Stay on top of your key social media metrics—reach, engagement metrics, new followers, CTRs to your site, advertising ROI, and the like
3. Watch your back – competition tracking
4. Make new connections
5. Share at least one great ‘happy customer’ story every day
6. Keep up with customer care queries
7. Build your content pipeline

Business 2 Community’s Daily Checklist

  • Post At Least Once Per Account
  • Like All Comments Left On The Previous Day’s Posts
  • Respond To At Least Five Comments Per Day, Per Site
  • Connect With At Least One New Person
  • Share At Least One Thing Someone Else Has Posted
  • Respond To All Valuable Messages You Have Received

Our approach at Buffer

I’ve mentioned so far that social media management seems to fit into two distinct types: the full-time job and the part-time job.
Maybe there’s a third way, too?
At Buffer, we’ve found the the job of social media manager to be a team effort. Here’s how things look on the social accounts we manage.
  • 1 person for updates
  • 1 person for engagement
  • A team of people for support, response, and happiness
I fill the queues with content from our blog, content from other sites, and miscellaneous announcements and inspiration.
Nicole posts updates that engage the community with questions, she hosts a weekly Twitter chat, and she is in the comments and replies on a daily basis.
Every member of our customer happiness team spends time on Twitter, answering questions and replying to those who reply to us.
All in all, up to ten Buffer employees will have their hands in social media management any given week.

Finally …

What does it look like to be a social media manager?
Certainly it is one of the best jobs out there. You get to engage with others and share helpful content all day long.
And that’s the other element of the job: It can take all day. Full-time social media managers take on a huge number of tasks, and the time involved can grow exponentially along with the scale of the strategy.
How much time do you spend with social media management? 
I’d love to hear what your days look like! Please do share in the comments.

Why Copyblogger Is Killing Its Facebook Page

Source: http://www.copyblogger.com/bye-facebook/

Really useful analysis on why some platforms don't work for some brands

Sunday 16 November 2014

We tested all the best advice to get more clicks on Facebook. Here’s what worked

Source and MUST READ http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2014/11/14/tested-best-advice-get-clicks-facebook-heres-worked/

Conclusion: Which Facebook marketing tips work?

We tried seven of the best Facebook marketing tips we had for getting better results with our Facebook marketing. Here’s how they went.
  1. Post at non-peak times – evenings work great
  2. Post 6x per day – no change
  3. Post 1x per day – no change
  4. Post questions – drop in engagement
  5. Change the style of the update – slight increase
  6. Post only link updates – big increase
  7. Post different images as links – original graphics do better than stock photos
Our takeaways:
  • Share link posts
  • Share in the evenings
  • Create a main image/graphic for your post

What Boomers And Gen Xers Get Wrong About Social Media

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2014/11/14/what-boomers-and-gen-xers-get-wrong-about-social-media/

Networking Hours

SOURCE: http://beesocialmarketing.co.uk/twitter-networking-hours/

As you may or may not be aware of there is an ever-growing list of networking hours in the UK. These hours take advantage of the power of the ‘hashtag’ to connect likeminded businesses and users. All you need to do is add the hashtag of the hour you wish to join in with at the right time! You can then increase your post’s reach by a potential retweet, promote your business to the right people and get connected with locals, industry users and potential customers and clients. The hashtag, if it is a big enough networking hour, could potentially start trending, imagine how many users would see your post then! Networking hours are the perfect opportunity to increase your business’ exposure and to raise awareness of your brand. There are both regional and industry led networking hours ranging from #weddinghour to #MumpreneurHour! It won’t take you long to find the long list of networking hours and you will find there are many in your area, so get involved.
It's only fair to share...Share on FacebookTweet about this on TwitterShare on Google+Share on LinkedInPin on Pinterest
The first time you join a networking hour introduce yourself and say you’re new, users are often very welcoming and are likely to reply or retweet. Include within your post an eye-catching picture of perhaps a product or your logo to make it stand out even more.
blog_post_twitter_networking.fw
A shop connecting with #yorkshirehour for the first time
Then join the networking hour weekly or as often as possible, to post updates and news regarding your business. You’ll find there will be other regulars, interact and engage, it is likely you will have common ground to talk about that could be industry or location based. If you help them out with a follow or a retweet it is likely they will return the favour. Thanking people for a follow or a retweet is often a good conversation starter. Making such contacts increases your business links, shows you promote good, friendly customer service and could lead to a future referral or opportunity.

Twitter Networking Hours List

Monday

#JobHour10am to 11amFind vacancies, apply for jobs and discuss employment-related issues with other job seekers and/or employers.
#LedburyHour11am to 12pmNetworking hour for the Ledbury community.
#UKBizLunch12pm to 1pmA general lunchtime networking hour, every day Mon – Fri
#HerefordHour1pm to 2pmNetworking hour for the Hereford community.
#BizHour2pm to 3pmA daily networking event for all businesses.
#SouthWestHour2pm to 3pmNetworking hour for the South West of England community.
#B2BHour3pm to 4pmA general networking event for all businesses.
#FollowHour3pm to 4pmNetwork to get more followers,  Monday to Friday from 3pm-4pm.
#CumbriaHour7pm to 8pmNetworking hour for the Lake District community.
#DarloBizHour7pm to 8pmNetworking hour for the Darlington community.
#MondayMadness8:30pm to 9:30pmA general networking event for all businesses.
#BrandYorkshire8pm to 9pmBrandyorkshire organise a number of networking events throughout Yorkshire.
#CheshireHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Cheshire community.
#GPlusHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour designed to allow you to gain some Circle Members and +’s.
#HarrogateHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Harrogate community.
#LincsHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Lincolnshire community.
#MarketHour8pm to 9pmFind out and chat about all of the UK’s markets.
#NorthEastHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the North East of England community.
#PboroHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Peterborough community.
#UDONetwork8pm to 9pmA general hour of business advertising.
#StHelensHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the St Helens Community
#BizMumFollow9am to 9pmDay-long networking event for entrepreneurial Mums.
#TwitterBrothers9pm to 10pmNetworking hour for men on Twitter (Don’t worry there’s #TwitterSisters for us girls too!)

Tuesday

#JobHour10am to 11amNetworking for employers & job seekers to fill or find vacancies.
#UKBizLunch12pm to 1pmA general lunchtime networking hour, happens every weekday.
#YorkshireJobsHour12pm to 1pmFind vacancies, apply for jobs and discuss employment-related issues with other job seekers and/or employers in Yorkshire.
#BizHour2pm to 3pmA general daily networking event for all businesses.
#NorthEastHour2pm to 3pmNetworking hour for the North East of England community.
#B2BHour3pm to 4pmA general networking event for all businesses.
#FollowHour3pm to 4pmMonday to Friday from 3pm-4pm.
#ColchesterHour4pm to 5pmNetworking hour for the Colchester community.
#TendringHour4pm to 5pmA networking hour for#Tendring businesses on Twitter.
#SurreyHour7.30pm to 8.30pmNetworking hour for the Surrey community.
#FashionHour7pm to 8pmA business networking hour for those in or looking to get in to the fashion industry.
#UKMarketingHour8pm to 9pmA general networking hour connecting UK marketing professionals and those looking for marketing.
#KentHour8.30pm to 9.30pmNetworking hour for the Kent community.
#MallowMummies8.30pm to 9.30pmA general networking hour for small & micro businesses.
#SoutheastHour8.30pm to 9.30pmNetworking hour for the South East of England community.
#WiltshireHour8.30pm to 9.30pmNetworking hour for the Wiltshire community.
#AvYourSay8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Amber Valley (Derbyshire) community.
#CalderdaleHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Calderdale community.
#DiscoverRipon8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Ripon (North Yorkshire) community.
#DoncasterHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Doncaster community.
#GooglePlusHour8pm to 9pm (*every 3rd Tues of the month)Networking hour designed to allow you to connect, network & learn from G+ users.
#HampshireHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Hampshire community.
#KetteringHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Kettering community.
#KingsLynnHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Kings Lynn (West Norfolk) community.
#MerseyBiz8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Merseyside community.
#NidderdaleHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Nidderdale AONB, & Pateley Bridge community.
#SheffieldHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Sheffield community.
#StaffordshireHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Staffordshire community.
#WestMidlandsHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the West Midlands community (#WestMids also may be used).
#WetherbyHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Wetherby community.
#KingOf9am to 9pmFor the guys on Twitter – a general networking hour for men.
#TALKT9am to 9pmA networking hour of sharing yours/other’s artwork.
#SmallBizHour9pm to 10pmPromoting UK small businesses.
#CharityTuesdayAll DaySupport a cause or promote your cause every Tuesday on Twitter.

Wednesday

#JobHour10am to 11amFind vacancies, apply for jobs and discuss employment-related issues with other job seekers and/or employers.
#UDONetwork12pm to 1pmA general hour of business advertising.
#UKBizLunch12pm to 1pmA general lunchtime networking hour, happens every weekday.
#SMHour12pm to 2pmA two-hour networking session, in which you can pose questions and look for/offer advice on social media.
#WOW1pm to 3pmTweet @Jacqueline_Gold for chance of a RT.
#BizHour2pm to 3pmA general daily networking event for all businesses
#CoDurhamHour2pm to 3pmNetworking hour for the County Durham community.
#EssexHour2pm to 3pmNetworking hour for the Essex community.
#B2BHour3pm to 4pmA general networking event for all businesses.
#FollowHour2pm to 3pmGet more followers! Monday to Friday from 3pm-4pm.
#Teestime3pm to 4pmNetworking hour for the Teesside community.
#BraintreeHour4pm to 5pmNetworking hour for the Braintree (Essex) community.
#HarlowHour4pm to 5pmNetworking hour for the Harlow community.
#FlutterBiz6pm to 7pmA networking hour for UK businesses to promote themselves.
#HandmadeHour7.30pm to 8.30pmA networking hour for those who craft, do art and handmake products.
#RydaleHour7pm to 8pmNetworking hour for the Rydale & Yorkshire Coast community.
#StirlingHour7pm to 8pmNetworking hour for the Sterlingshire community.
#BuyBritishBrands8.30pm to 9.30pmA networking hour focused on British – buy/sell British products and services, offer advice/support and chat.
#Funickers8.30pm to 9.30pmA fun networking hour.
#GossipGirls8.30pm to 9.30pmA networking hour for the ladies – chat, sell, promote, support.
#WedChat8.30pm to 9.30pmA networking hour focused on weddings and all that comes with them.
#WorthingHour8.30pm to 9.30pmNetworking hour for the Worthing community.
#BerksHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Berkshire community.
#CambsHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Cambridgeshire community.
#CornwallHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Cornwall community.
#DevonHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Devon community.
#EastMidlandsHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the East Midlands community.
#FBLikeHour8pm to 9pmA networking hour dedicated to helping you promote your Facebook page.
#HarboroughHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Harborough community.
#MidlandsHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Midlands community.
#NorthWestHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the North West of England community.
#OrganicHour8pm to 9pmA networking hour for everyone who loves organic – food, skincare, environment, fashion & policy.
#OxHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Oxfordshire community.
#SalisburyHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Salisbury community.
#ShropshireHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Shropshire community.
#StaffordshireHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Staffordshire community.
#YorkBizHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the York community.
#YorkshireHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Yorkshire community.
#ScotlandHour9pm to 10pmNetworking hour for Scotland.
#WeddingHour9pm to 10pmA networking hour focused on weddings and all that comes with them.
#IrishBizParty9pm to 11pmA networking hour for Ireland.
#WeddingWednesdayAll DayDay-long networking focused on weddings and all that comes with them.

Thursday

#BizHour2pm to 3pmDaily general networking event for all types of businesses.
#AycliffeHour3pm to 4pmNetworking hour for the Aycliffe community.
#B2BHour3pm to 4pmAnother general networking event. Chance to shout out your business.
#DigiJobsHour3pm to 4pmA networking hour aimed at students looking to get into the digital industry, seek advice/ask questions/look for jobs.
#FollowHour3pm to 4pmGet more followers! Monday to Friday from 3pm-4pm.
#ChelmsfordHour4pm to 5pmNetworking hour for the Chelmsford community.
#UKBizLunch12pm to 1pmTweet while you eat! A productive way to spend your lunch – a general networking hour, happens every weekday.
#BlackpoolHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Blackpool community.
#BradfordHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Bradford community.
#CottageHour8pm to 9pmA networking hour for holiday cottage owners to tweet offers, promote their business and general chat.
#DerbyshireHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Derbyshire community.
#EastAngliaHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the East Anglia community.
#GatesheadHour8pm to 9pmNetowrking hour for the Gateshead community.
#HullHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Hull community.
#LancashireHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Lancashire community.
#LeedsHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Leeds community.
#LiverpoolHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Liverpool community.
#ManchesterHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Manchester community.
#NorthantsHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Northamptonshire community.
#NottsNatter8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Nottingham community.
#SheffieldBizHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Sheffield community.
#SheffieldHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Sheffield community.
#SomersetHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Somerset community.
#SouthWestHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the South West of England community.
#SudburyHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Sudbury community.
#SunderlandHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Sunderland community.
#SussexHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Sussex community.
#UKStartUpHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for UK Start Ups.
#WakefieldHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Wakefield community.
#WarringtonHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Warrington community.
#WirralHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the The Wirral community.
#YorkHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the York community.
#DartfordHour8.30pm to 9.30pmNetworking hour for the Dartford community.
#QueenOf 9am to 9pmFor the ladies on Twitter – a general networking hour for women.
#MumpreneurHour9pm to 10pmA networking hour for working, entrepreneurial Mums.
#JobHour10am to 11amFind vacancies, apply for jobs and discuss employment-related issues with other job seekers and/or employers.
#MKHour8.30pm to 9.30pmNetworking hour for the Milton Keynes community.
#TwitterSisters8.30pm to 9.30pmThe ladies on Twitter join forces and network amongst each other (Related: #TwitterBrothers).

Friday

#ClevelandHour10am to 11amNetworking hour for the Cleveland community.
#ConnectFriday10am to 11amA general networking event.
#JobHour10am to 11amFind vacancies, apply for jobs and discuss employment-related issues with other job seekers and/or employers.
#LondonHour11am to 12pmNetworking hour for the London community.
#EcoHour12pm to 1pmA networking event for people interested in/involved in the eco industry and the issues surrounding it.
#UKBizLunch12pm to 1pmTweet while you eat! A productive way to spend your lunch – a general networking hour, happens every weekday.
#EcoHour12pm to 1pmA networking hour for those interested in/invovled in the eco industry and/or issues surrounding it.
#PartyBizHour1pm to 2pmA networking event for the Party & Fancy Dress Industry.
#BizHour2pm to 3pmA general daily networking event for all businesses.
#B2BHour3pm to 4pmA general networking event for all businesses.
#FollowHour3pm to 4pmGet more followers! Monday to Friday from 3pm-4pm.
#GBHour4pm to 5pmA networking hour for the whole of Great Britain.
#RetailHour8pm to 9pmA networking event for those involved in/interested in the retail industry and issues surrounding it.
#NorthWestHour9pm to 10pmNetworking hour for the North West of England community.

Saturday

#SatChat8am to 9:15amNetworking for Saturday mornings.
#SpeedNetworking6pm to 7pmA general networking hour for UK businesses and organisations.
#BrandYorkshire8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Yorkshire community.

Sunday

#SmartSocial9am to 12pmThe award for businesses who are smart with social media.
#SBS5pm to 7pmSmall Business Sunday – tweet @TheoPaphitis.
#HartlepoolHour6pm to 7pmNetworking hour for the Hartlepool community.
#CoDurhamHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the County Durham community.
#HolmfirthHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for the Holmfirth community.
#WalesHour8pm to 9pmNetworking hour for Wales.
#Funickers8:30pm to 9:30pmA fun networking event.
#EnglandHour9pm to 10pmNetworking hour for England.
#BrumHour8PM to 9PMNetworking Hour for Birmingham.
TAGGED: