Social Media Management is an Art and a Science

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Miller Finch 2 Comments

 

Social Media Management is both an art and a science for business marketing, and social media managers are not all the same.

Social Media Managers are all a little different in their style and method.  Just as artists paint in different styles — impressionistic, realistic, abstract — social media managers all ply their art and science a little (or a lot) differently from each other, though using the same material platforms.  Styles of managers vary according to their own creativity, knowledge and personal background, the client’s industry, and the individual client.

Choosing a social media manager should be a partnership of sorts, one Miller Finch Mediawhere you like their work and personality, and what your goals are.

Some professional social media managers are very corporate-focused, some more focused on particular industries or professions, and many are generalists. Social media management also varies according to the needs of the client — some clients have no posting material of their own, so the manager must curate content for them, and some client accounts need more monitoring or audience building.  A good social media manager can select just the right appropriate content to share and know the correct timing and platform in doing so.

The social media manager must also have the right business skill and knowledge to understand the client, the client’s customers, and the client’s profession or industry. An SM Manager who’s never read the Wall Street Journal would not be a good fit for a financial or accounting client.  Similarly, a vegan SM Manager would not be a fit for a burger restaurant.  At our firm, we’ve had the experience of working in a wide variety of industries and can understand a multitude of clients and their needs.

The best social media managers will also ‘reach over’ the client to the client’s customers to update the platforms with information useful to the client’s customer.  For example, social media for an accounting firm will focus on content helpful to businesses or individuals, versus content pertinent to the accountants, such as new certification requirements.

Monitoring the social media platforms is very important to connecting with people on social media and responding to their comments and inquiries.  Social media is not only about posting, it’s about the followup.  Monitoring is usually an additional fee, but well worth it when you have a sudden (or even not so sudden) problem on the client’s Facebook or Twitter and the social media manager, monitoring the platforms, can quickly respond or send a message to the client to respond if it’s something the manager cannot answer. With larger, national or regional, companies, monitoring the social media platforms is a necessity, not a luxury.

The best social media managers do not punch a 9 to 5 clock, as social media is always ON and so must we be too.  We also must be excellent multi-taskers and keep everything straight — not posting to the wrong accounts for example, or mistakenly posting personal updates onto a client account.  In all our time doing social media for clients, we at Miller Finch Media are proud to say that we have been totally on the ball for our clients for updates, spelling, and correct wording.

So when you are choosing a social media manager, have a conversation with them after seeing their portfolio because you can’t just be guided by the portfolio since your needs may be different. Portfolios give you an overview of what’s been done, but not what can be done for your needs and budget.  The portfolio clients may have had budgetary or other restrictions that color the account management for that client.  Your social media updates and the management of your platforms will be unique to you and your goals.

If you have any questions, we would love to answer them for you. Just give us a call M-F, 9-6 ET at 770-289-5681  or shoot us an email at: millerfinch@millerfinchmedia.com

Thanks!

 

Author: Miller Finch

 

Blog and Commentary by Miller Finch , ,

Social Media Bullies – Commentary

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Miller Finch 4 Comments

 

This is a commentary on what I’m seeing more of out there in social media manager land.  The Social Media Bullies — the snarks and self-appointed arbiters of the “right way” to do social media — are growing in numbers.  What started as a friendly and helpful community, is now turning into a finger-pointing, dismissive, and angry bunch.  I am appalled and dismayed.  This is not how I operate and I cringe at this behavior.  There is a huge amount of fighting going on, especially on Twitter, among these people.  Bullying and general nastiness. It’s ugly.

There is one particular person who is dictatorial and punishing in her approach to other Miller Finch Mediasocial media managers, pointing out on a nearly daily basis what others are doing wrong. She of course is the total and complete arbiter of what the “right” way is to do anything social media, and if it’s “wrong” in her opinion, the lashing is swift and brutal. There is no diplomacy or niceness in her approach and yet her pic is one of a happy-looking, smiling face.  She sponsors a Facebook page sharing party, but refuses to like other pages if they dare do something slightly wrong! The pettiness is astounding. Why even have such an event? Maybe it’s to find more victims for her tirades, I don’t know, but it makes no other sense to me.  And what’s even more amazing to me is that she has an entire coterie of buddies who applaud her!  Perhaps it’s a fear factor like in high school — make friends with the bully before she attacks you too.

All this high school-style bullying is a very sad state affairs, not only for the social media managers themselves, but for their clients too.  Would you hire such nasty people for running your business social media accounts?  I wouldn’t!  With such anger so close to the surface, you’d live with anxiety for when that anger might explode on your page, profile, or Twitter account.

What if you and that social media manager had a falling out? Could you trust that that person won’t put out negative posts or tweets under your name or attacking you or your business?

How would you know?  You don’t, really.  But you can see what posts they put out on their own social media accounts and blogs and get an idea of their personality.  If your gut is giving you a red flag, trust it.

The thing about social media is that it changes all the time, so a rule or guideline that worked last month may be different this month. Social Media Managers stay on top of these things, the good ones that is.  The problem is that the platforms don’t always stay on top of their own rules!  Jumping because the platform says to, yet doesn’t check if you have or not, isn’t always necessary to my thinking (but don’t tell the Rules Bully that!). It can be costly to adapt to those changes — the 20% rule for FB images comes to mind — for smaller clients, and the penalties are preceded by a warning, limiting the danger.  For large national brands, however, I would definitely adapt and adjust immediately as they are a bigger target and likely to be badly penalized if Terms of Service are not followed to the letter.

Humans are messy and nothing is ever hyper-perfect, not even with these “perfect” bully people, though they don’t see it. To get all worked up over every single thing fails to see the larger overview. Yes, details are important, I’m not saying they aren’t. But you have to ask, how important is it? What impact does this detail have on the overall effect of getting the job done?

For example, if the job is to get the dishes washed, do you really care about the exact degree of the water temperature? No, just that it’s warm.  Does it matter if you use a big squirt of detergent or a small one? No, just that you use soap.  Does it matter if water gets on the floor?  No. Wipe it up. These details are not important to the grand scheme of things in getting the dishes washed.  The same is true for social media or any other endeavor.  Don’t sweat the small stuff because the bigger picture is what counts.

The Rule Bullies are overly concerned with minutiae.  They don’t discriminate in their vitriol, everyone is painted with the same nasty brush.  Rather than being all ticked off, the bully can educate, inform, guide.  And do it with a smile.  Not smash everyone (and truly, everyone has something wrong to bash according to these bullies) with the self-important, imperious hammer they wield.

Claiming something is “Not social” when their own behavior screams Anti-social …. well, that doesn’t make for a very good SOCIAL media manager now, does it?

 

If you don’t want to deal with snarky and self-important social media managers elsewhere, you’ve come to the right place. We treat you with respect and courtesy and handle your accounts with savvy professionalism without ever jamming it to you.   Let’s talk and get to know each other.  770-289-5681 or millerfinch@millerfinchmedia.com

 

Author: Miller Finch

 

Blog and Commentary by Miller Finch ,

Small Businesses and the Value of Social Media Marketing

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Miller Finch 4 Comments

 

The Marketing world consists of many avenues of communication, from your  Miller Finch Mediabusiness cards, your signage, your product – price – promotion – people – and place (5Ps), how you answer your phone & greet customers, your website, your advertising, and much more, and now, your social media platforms.

If someone were to ask you, what’s the Return on Investment for your sign, your phone or your website, do you know?  Probably not.  But you know it would have a negative impact if you did not have those things.  They are so ‘normal’ as to not be thought of as special anymore.  Social media as a part of a marketing mix is now the norm, but it is amazing that many businesses still disregard it as a waste of time and having no value, holding it to a different standard than other marketing tactics when part of the problem may be their own actions or inactions.

Is that advertising campaign you just ran a waste of time and money?  Unless you are giving out coupons that can be redeemed — and you tally those redemptions — you really don’t know what effect your marketing and advertising is having.  You are advertising and marketing to get your name out there to generate more sales by interested people.  If you don’t market or advertise, you are unknown.  If you don’t ask how people found you, you have no idea of the ROI of those efforts. If you don’t benchmark your numbers, it’s a guess.

The advantage of social media marketing is that it’s marketing where most people are, especially Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for B2B’s.   The sale is not made on social media, the sale is made on  your website or at your physical location.  Social media, like other marketing tools,  makes you visible to the audience that needs you and will buy from you from your website or retail location.

Social Media is NOT sales, it is Marketing to make those sales.

Marketing takes consistent effort to stay in front of your audience.  If you aren’t seen, you are forgotten.

Problems getting in the way of seeing the value of social media for small businesses are:

1. Not being aware of core problems in the business to remedy them.  If your restaurant, for example, has received negative reviews (plural) on Yelp and other review sites, then take heed and fix them! Social media (which includes review sites) will only make any problems you have worse. You want to have all your ducks in a row before venturing into social media where all problems will be exposed.  This is part of the fear of small businesses in using social media, but if the business has nothing to fear, then social media should be used to connect with its customers.

2.  Believing that social media is the magic charm to increase sales. Social media is only one part of your marketing mix that includes online and offline advertising, and your 5P’s. Marketing generates interest in customers to make a purchase.

3.  Not giving enough time or money toward social media marketing.  If you are getting a new business launched or relaunching your existing one, updating your social media accounts (if done properly) for a few months will not lead you to the holy grail.  It may take a good year before your efforts are rewarded, so consistency is key.

4. Not posting at times your audience will see them.  You can’t blast out a bunch of posts at 5am because that’s when you have time to do them.  No one will see these posts in their newsfeeds which is where people see updates. Very rarely does anyone go to the specific page. So though the page has lots of updates, nobody is seeing them if posted at the wrong times.  Three posts per day, spaced at different times, is a good schedule for Facebook and LinkedIn.  Twitter can have more updates because the feed is faster.

5. Posting constant promotional updates.  Nobody wants to see “buy me” posts all the time, it gets spammy and you’ll be Unliked, losing fans.   Posts should follow the 80/20 rule of 80% helpful, interesting, or fun, and 20% selling.  The aim is to be social, not hyper-promotional.

6.  Not monitoring your social media and responding to comments, RT, queries, complaints, and reviews.  Social media is the new watercooler, and  your customers are talking about you whether you are there or not.  Pay attention and respond.  And do not erase negative comments, use them as a customer service opportunity. When others see how well you handle problems, you will gain new fans of your business.

7.  Relegating your social media platforms to an untested intern or lowest paid employee.  Your social media business accounts are visible to everyone — your customers and your competitors.  Do you really want the low man on the totem pole to be front and center representing your business?  If it’s just another task for them, they most likely won’t take the care and brainpower to use social media for your business properly. Just because they tweet for their own accounts, does not mean they can do it for your business.  Social Media is an Art and a Science, not a task.

8. Not understanding that Search algorithms take into account Social results, making social media activity very important in being found online.

9. Not advertising on Facebook, if that is one of your social media platforms.  Facebook’s newsfeeds are increasingly limited as to what they show, based on their algorithm. In order to break thru and be seen, it is now necessary to Boost Posts or advertise with Ads or Sponsored Stories.

Keep in mind too that each social media platform has its own system and culture. What works on one doesn’t necessarily translate well to other platforms.  Sending out one post across all platforms you use is not wise. Yes, it gives you a presence on the other platforms, but not in a good way.

Social media is slowing catching on for small business, but more understanding of how it works would be of benefit to them.  Clean up internal business problems, long term consistency, proper postings and timing, monitor and respond, devote time and/or monetary resources, and don’t expect miracles.

This is a long, slow effort over time to allow your business to become familiar, liked and trusted by your potential customers and to interact with your present customers to enable them to become your advocates.  It’s a courtship and you must lead the dance.

When your Social Media Marketing efforts are lagging from lack of time, knowledge, and personnel, contact us to solve those issues for you.  Email us at millerfinch@millerfinchmedia.com  or give us a call for a Free Consultation: 770-289-5681 during 9-6 ET M-F  Thanks! Hope to hear from you soon!

 

Blog and Commentary by Miller Finch , ,

Social Media Marketing is Not a Magic Bullet

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Miller Finch Leave a comment

Social Media Marketing is not a magic bullet to fix your business.  Social media only

Social Media is not a magic bullet.

Social Media is not a magic bullet.

expands and amplifies what is already going on in your business. So if your customer service is terrible with your employees treating your customers like dirt, for example, then those customers will take to social media to vent about it. Social media is the new version of word of mouth times 1000.

Oftentimes, businesses don’t reply to customers who have issues or problems. Ignoring customers just increases the fallout, whereas answering the customers gives the business an opportunity to correct problems and show that they value the customer.  Pretending these problems don’t exist and ignoring the customer does not make the problem go away, but the customer surely can.  And shutting off the ability for customers to contact you does not keep you safe from complaints. They may not be able to post on your Facebook wall, but you can be sure that they are venting elsewhere.

Social media can be used for customer service, and many big companies use Twitter for this. Customers can get a faster response via Twitter than they can by phone or even Facebook.  Small businesses too should follow this lead and use social media for connecting to their customers and showcasing to others how they solve individual customer problems. It can be a useful gauge as to where the problems are for the business and a guide for them to make improvements.

Recently McDonald’s and Walmart were in the news for their customer service problems, and are losing customers because of them.   McD’s was blasted for their rude employees and slow service, but it appears that they want to tackle this issue. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324010704578414901710175648.html?mod=e2tw  However, McDonald’s has a closed Facebook wall, not allowing anyone but themselves to post on it. Hmm. Why? Afraid of their customers?  It’s a missed opportunity for business improvement and customer satisfaction.

Walmart had an extremely large number of complaints of empty shelves, but nothing so far has been changed.  http://www.businessinsider.com/wal-marts-customer-service-issues-2013-4  Walmart does have an open Facebook wall for their customers to post on and Walmart does answer their customers regularly.

Small business also needs to stay aware of and respond to review sites such as Yelp, Insider Pages, Urban Spoon, Google reviews, and the like.  Businesses of all types are listed and reviewed (not just restaurants) on these sites and attention must be paid to what the clients and customers are saying.  Keep in mind that for every person who takes the time to write a review, there are 10 more who feel the same way but haven’t said anything.  These reviews are a heads-up to the business to improve themselves and to respond to the complaint. It’s also a good thing to thank the good reviewers too.

So if you are thinking of doing social media, remember that social only amplifies publicly what is already going on in your business.  If your business is great, you will have lots of brand advocates and happy fans, if not, detractors (but truth  tellers) will point out your flaws and problems for everyone to see.  Fix your core issues, if you have them, before venturing into social media marketing.

You want Fans, not Foes.

 

 

Blog and Commentary by Miller Finch , ,

Social Media Marketing Management Services

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Miller Finch Leave a comment

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING MANAGEMENT SERVICES PACKAGES

Major Social Media Platforms plus Instagram Miller Finch Media

Major Social Media Platforms plus Instagram
Miller Finch Media

Contact us for a Free Consultation and Brief Analysis of Your Social Media Marketing:  770-289-5681 9-6 ET or email us: millerfinch@millerfinchmedia.com

Miller Finch Media - Social Media Marketing Management - Atlanta - NY - USA

Miller Finch Media …. because you just don’t have time to do it all!

All Social Media Marketing Management Packages include a preliminary conversation to discuss marketing plan, website analysis & update schedule, branding and logo design, existing social media efforts if any, social media strategy, content factors, budget, platforms, target markets, offline efforts, events & promotions, etc. From this discussion, an appropriate Plan selection is made, and the project can begin. You will have a designated contact at Miller Finch Media during business hours, and we require a designated contact from you as well.

 

All Plans are for a three (3) month minimum. Note: The Budget plan is only for Twitter accounts with under 2500 followers and/or under 1000 Facebook fans.

Advertising fees & setup costs are separate charges.  Photography and Video shoots & edits are additional fees. 

PLATFORMS: Facebook, *Twitter, *LinkedIn, *Pinterest, *Google +.   (*You may choose your personal account or your business account on these platforms. Facebook is business page only.)  All Plans include a custom Facebook URL if needed, a Twitter handle, and/or LinkedIn custom URL if these platforms are selected.  If Pinterest is selected, 4 boards will be started that reflect your business. For YouTube and Instagram, please contact us for information & pricing.

LOCATION MARKETING & REPUTATION MANAGEMENT:  As add-on to any package. See below.

SOCIAL MEDIA COACHING/TRAINING:  We are pleased to offer individualized or group teaching services to you and your organization.  Our classes may be had in person in the Metro Atlanta area, or by web elsewhere.  Costs per hour per person are $150. Contact us to learn more.

A Final Note:  We are experienced Social Media Marketing Managers and business people, and understand the functionality of social media platforms, what they can do and what they cannot.  We welcome input, but not micromanagement.

We value the trust you have placed in us to market your business, and we will do so as if it were our own and in keeping with the parameters of the social media platforms. We only ask that you trust us in allowing us to do for you what we do best — Social Media Marketing Management for your business.  That’s why you’ve hired us.  Give us the ball and let us run with it.  We don’t fumble.  Thank you.

 Miller Finch Media’s Social Media Marketing Management Plans:                                  

Miller Finch Media. Client Notes on Services

 Miller Finch Media Corporate Plan Svcs Pkg

Miller Finch Media Premium Plan Services Pkg.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Miller Finch Media. Best Value Plan Services Pkg.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Miller Finch Media. Budget Plan Services Pkg.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Miller Finch Media. Location Marketing Services

 

Please contact us with any questions you may have or to setup a time for a conversation to assess your needs. 770-289-5681 9-6 ET or email us: millerfinch@millerfinchmedia.com  We will be most happy to help you!  Thank you for visiting, and we look forward to speaking with you very soon.

 

Author: Miller Finch

Miller Finch of Miller Finch Media - Social Media Marketing for Business ATL - NY - USA
Miller Finch of Miller Finch Media – Social Media Marketing for Business ATL – NY – USA

Updated May 1, 2013

 

Social Media Marketing Management ,

Cheap Social Media Cross-Postings Flatline with Your Market

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Miller Finch 2 Comments

So you finally realize that you need to have your business on Social Media, but time and budgets are tight. You really don’t know all the ins-and-outs of these social media formats and you may not care; you just want a fast, easy, and cheap solution to be on them.

Or so you think…

There are many social media companies out there who offer you a cheapo deal on posting updates on your social media accounts. The reason they are so cheap is that they cross-post the same update across your major platforms. So your audience is seeing the same exact posts on your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn.  So?  This is a good thing, right? Well, no, it isn’t.

(These cheapo companies also rarely offer Monitoring for comments, questions and likes, leaving your audience and potential customers hanging in the wind when they contact you. But that’s a whole ‘nother post.)

The problem with cross-posting the same update is that each platform has a different audience, and so what works on one is not a good fit for the others.  Each audience wants to feel “special” in receiving updates just for them, not a shotgun blast that has another platform’s shortened URL connected to it, and the updates must suit the audience.

Picture it like movie going:  Your family all goes to the multiplex (social media), but you each go to different movies (platforms).  Social media platforms are similarly differentiated by their users.   Business news thrives on LinkedIn,  Twitter eats fast & short updates (and lots of them), and photos and interesting info work best on Facebook.

But when you post a Facebook update and shoot it out to Twitter, the link appended to it starts with “fb”, so it’s obvious that the post came from Facebook.  Twitter users really don’t like to see this shortened URL, and Facebook users really, really don’t like Tweets (especially with hashtags!) used as Facebook updates.  And if you post something funny on LinkedIn that is better suited to Twitter or Facebook, that’s generally a thumbs-down because LinkedIn is not the place for humor. It’s pretty much buttoned down and serious.  Appropriate LinkedIn updates can be shared onto Twitter directly from LinkedIn. Use this ability wisely and sparingly!

OK, so your fans and followers and connections are all getting the same information, regardless if it suits the platform they’re on or not. The problem is then that it becomes just so much noise. They are seeing the same stuff over and over again since many people are on  multiple social media platforms.  They tune you out, your posts become spammy to them because they are seeing them everywhere, and sharing your updates is nil.  They don’t care anymore.  You are a spammer. They won’t share your updates with their followers to save them the pain. They might even unlike or unfollow you depending on their tolerance level.

So doing it this quick & dirty way – cross-posting on all your platforms  – doesn’t optimize your social media presence positively.  All your social media efforts, as cheap and “efficient” as they are, are wasted effort and money.  You are saving pennies and throwing away dollars because your marketing is being tuned out, ignored, and perhaps even blocked!  Yes, you have a presence on social media, but having a presence as a spammer is boring and detrimental to your reputation.  You want to attract people and turn them into your advocates, not repel them.

These are examples of unique posts vs. cross-postings. As you can see, the cross-postings are flat-lined. Dead in the water. No activity of likes, shares, comments.  The unique postings on the other hand create a lot of lively action with clicks and shares.  Which would you rather have?

Example of Cross-Posts Flatline. Originally were unique posts that yielded activity.

Example of Cross-Posts Flatline. Originally were unique posts that yielded activity.

Miller Finch Media

Example of Unique Posts Creating Activity

Here’s how to get people to really like you, follow and connect with you (I’m speaking especially to the small biz owner who IS his/her business), and share your updates to promote your brand and your business to their followers:

#1.  Post unique updates to each platform. —  Once in awhile, something pertinent to all camps may be cross-promoted — a special event, a new blog post, news they can use — but not as a regular habit.  And don’t post this at the same time on all platforms. Stagger it. You want to stay fresh and interesting.

#2. Keep your posting mix to the 80/20 rule.  – 80% interesting, helpful information relative to your industry, 20% selling posts. In other words, for every 4 helpful posts, 1 post will be salesy.  And within those 4 helpful posts, share or retweet posts from others. This is the “give to get” rule that helps make you a social presence.

#3. Have a variety of content in your posts — Posting just texts or just links or just photos or just quotes is dull.  Mix it up, do some of each sprinkled throughout your updates. Content is all important (see also #4). Posting something fun on Facebook or Twitter is also nice in that it shows you are human.  Important to Note: Facebook’s upcoming new Newsfeeds will apparently emphasize photos, making them larger in the newsfeeds.  Keep your smartphone/camera handy for original content.

#4. Content! — Wading through the web to find just the right content to share on your social media platforms takes an enormous amount of time, but it’s necessary to fill the always-hungry streams of social media — and this is where many accounts fail. They don’t post for days, weeks, or months for lack of content. Their websites are lacking fresh content as well.   Without fresh updates on both website and social media platforms, Google Search’s algorithm will have a tough time finding your business as Search now includes all web activity.

You have another option: Create your own content.  This too will take time in writing, editing, finding a license-free image (no, you can’t use Google Images) for your article or blog post (yes, you need an image!), and then promoting it on the social platforms from your website.  Creating your own content can also be photos, recipes, videos, your Etsy products, etc.  When you showcase your own content, you tell the audience who you are, how you think, and what makes you different from others.  It helps your audience get to know you, and people buy from who they know, like, and trust. Getting to know you takes time as well as content.    It’s all about time to do this yourself or real money to pay someone to do it right.  Calculate your value per hour/week/month vs. outsourcing cost. You can always make money, but you can’t make time.

You know now from this post that those cheapo Social Media outfits will not benefit your business. You will get what you pay for.   Like a shirt, you can get a cheap shirt at Walmart for $10 and it will fade and fall apart after a few washes, wasting that seemingly good $10 deal because now you need another one.  Or, you can spend $40 for a shirt at L.L. Bean (my personal fave) that will hold up for years and still make you look good.  Your choice.  A fast non-fix or real value.

Look good and be social! Be a Company that your audiences Like and want to do business with so much that they become your brand’s advocates.  You can’t do that plastering the same stuff all over the place.  It’s cheap and it shows.

When you are ready for a real value approach to your marketing on social media, contact us.  We are not in the nickel-diming business, and neither should you be.  770-289-5681  millerfinch@millerfinchmedia.com   Metro Atlanta – New York – USA

 

Author: Miller Finch

 

 

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