Post on 04-Jan-2016
Social Media 101By @Brian_Hayden
#SocialBUF
Goals
Learn what platform (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) is best for you.
Learn how to communicate with those platforms
Answer any long-standing, burning questions you have.
Don’t be the monolith.
No matter what platform you’re on, the content should be:◦ -Conversational & interactive
Two-Way, not one way communication Resonate emotionally Not an advertisement
Talk to and with people, not at them
I.e. VBN provides news links to Buffalo visitor attractions, upcoming events, etc.
Restaurants could feature a menu item of the week
Hotels could feature snippets of positive Tripadvisor reviews.
Law firms could ask prospective customers to tweet legal questions to them.
Provide content relevant to your followers
Example 1: Newsie’s at Shea’s
Get ready, because the Tony award Winning Newsies comes to Shea’s on Sept. 29!
Example 2: Newsie’s at Shea’s
FacebookPROS CONS
Still the most widely used (1.49 billion active users)
- Content you post not easily seen unless it’s very popular.
- Great analytics - Tough to grow a page without a budget for promoted posts
Good for building a local audience(friends, loyal customers)
Tougher for building a beyond-Buffalo audience… unless you pay
TwitterPros Cons
Short, succinct way of communicating
Length can occasionally be limiting
Can reach a wide audience Developing hyperlocal audience can be challenging
316 million users and growing Average age 37, versus 40 on Facebook (Could be good or bad)
Tweet visible by everyone Tweets are short-lived
InstagramPros Cons
No Character limit Not easily shareable
Great for business with compelling photo stories to tell.
Tough for most other businesses
Fast growing (VBN from 1,000 to 7,500 in 18 months)
90 percent of Instagram users under 35
Mobile Audience only Mobile audience only
First things first on Twitter
After that…
Anatomy of a Tweet
Inserting a link = 20-23 charactersInserting a photo… about the same.
Both make Tweets more informative and engaging, but both take up nice real estate too.
- Links are automatically shortened.
Standard rule of thumb
When you write a Tweet, ask: Am I reaching as many Twitter users as I could be?
Make the Most of 140 characters
- It’s time for another great weekend of art at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery and Burchfield Penney Art Center! http://www.visitbuffaloniagara.com/things-to-do/art/ !
Example One (138 characters)
- Great upcoming art weekend @albrightknox & @bpartcenter http://www.visitbuffaloniagara.com/things-to-do/art/ !
- Alerted Twitter accounts of Albright-Knox and BPAC
Adding mentions (Example two… Only 92 characters long)
Great upcoming art weekend @albrightknox, @bpartcenter #buffalove #buffalo - http://www.visitbuffaloniagara.com/things-to-do/art/ ! (plus photo)
124 Characters, joins a larger conversation
Example Three
Be helpful… Chime in. You can use hashtags to join in on a
conversation, but you can also create and monitor conversations of your own!
Hashtags allow a whole community to engage with your followers, not just those with the keys to the company twitter account.
Trending Hashtags
Search for Twitter handles and popular hashtags to expand your reach BEFORE Tweeting to see if you’re joining a popular conversation (example: #buffalo, #Buffalony & Buffalove are both widely used, #Beaufleuve is not)
DON’T Tweet out your Facebook status updates
DON’T speak all in hashtags “#smh #whyyyyyyyy #can’t we #pound @patriots”
Dos and Don’ts
Create and publicize a hashtag, or follow along with a widely publicized one, to see where you can engage with potential followers.
Be helpful… chime in.
If you Tweet it, they will come
How we tracked it
Buffalo Niagara Marriott… sign at concierge desk: “Questions about Buffalo during your stay? Tweet us @buffalomarriott or #marriottbuf!”
What you can do with a hashtag
On the Anchor Bar Menu: “Share your story of your first plate of Anchor wings to #bufwings for a chance to win a double order!”
On Martin House Complex pamphlet: “Remember that question you were meaning to ask on your tour? Tweet to #flwbuf and we’ll answer it!”
Great social media posts don’t always fit into a 9-5 work schedule.
Be immediate
It uses handles and hashtags too!
The GREAT thing about Instagram
Snap, filter, caption, share