Networking and Social Media Q&A

The tables were turned at Wednesday’s Social Media Breakfast, held at Madison Radisson. Instead of a lone presenter, this month’s set up offered attendees – sitting at tables of 8-10 – the opportunity to collaborate, answer questions and share best practices for social media.

The questions were picked from 187 submissions to Social Media Breakfast over the last several weeks. Answers to the questions varied by table but we came away with great advice from everyone.

What are the top three metrics you track for both website and social media? Do you track these on your own (Google Analytics, etc.) or do you recommend a service/third party? Why?

• Top social media metrics – Engagement (clicks), reach, shares, video views and duration of video views are important. Likes on individual posts are helpful to see what your audience is interested in.
• Top website metrics – Page views, sessions, users and sign up forms are important.
• Many people use Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, Sprout Social and AgoraPulse. Some companies use a service or a third party. That is usually determined by the size of the company.

Is it better to spread yourself thin across multiple social media platforms or concentrate on one or two?

• You can’t be on all platforms. Concentrate on a few. Be where your audience is and where their attention is focused.
• Pick a few platforms and do those well.
• If there is a bigger social team, there are more resources to dabble in more platforms.
• If there is a smaller social team, it’s better to focus on one or two platforms.

How much time and effort should I spend each day?

• 20 minutes a day.
• Post daily – morning and afternoon.
• Two-three hours a day.
• Up to one hour a day.
• 15-30 minutes a day.
• Only do as much as you have time for.

How do you find/should you find different “voices” for each platform?

• Yes – you should find different voices for each platform. For Facebook, use formal voice. For Twitter, use colloquial voice.
• Know your audience on each platform and speak to those specific audiences. Think about how users will react to language.
• Find your personas and match language to them. You can make language changes but your brand and core values should stay the same.
• LinkedIn is the outlier. It has a different voice than other social media platforms.
• Look at your “north star” and build language from there.
• Put all content on one platform.
• Don’t change your approach based on the platform/ audience.

There is a lot of advice when it comes to using a social media calendar. What is most important to include? Should your calendar be digital or on paper?

• Content types, posting times, events, schedule and storytelling are important to include in your content calendar.
• Digital calendars offer the ability to share and edit among people.
• Use both digital and paper calendars.
• Don’t use a calendar.
• Keep a calendar to stay on track when you’re distracted.
• Give yourself time to plan and prepare. Be careful scheduling too far in advance. Be aware of what else is happening in the world.
• Use scheduling apps like Hootsuite or Sprout Social.
• Always use calendars to stay on topic and organized. Plan topics that coordinate with campaigns.
• A calendar with themes/ideas is great. There are some posts that should be curated and some that should be documented in the moment.
• There is no wrong way – whatever works for you and your company is best.

How do you get started with Facebook Ads? What are the top three things a new user should know before getting started?

• Set up your ads manager from the start.
• Get Facebook Pixel on your website.
• Understand what your objective is. Set up the ad to reach/engage the most people.
• Target based on demographics, age, industry, status, etc. Start small and grow. A little money goes a long way when using Facebook Ads.
• Use ads to explore different demos.
• Test two different ads to see which one gets best results.
• Look at data to see who clicked on your ad.
• Figure out your budget and stick to it.
• Ad hack – give things away instead.
• Be consistent with your ads. Don’t give up.

What are some ways to handle negative comments or challenging questions on social media?

• Acknowledge the comment right away. If it’s abusive, hide it. Treat it as an educational opportunity and invite commenter to take conversation offline.
• Use the situation as an opportunity to put your customer service on display.
• Listen, don’t defend.
• Don’t delete comments and don’t hide information.
• Use empathy.
• Take emotions out of the response.
• Flag false reviews on Google.
• Post your social media policy.
• Ignore the negative comment.
• Don’t feed the trolls.

This event was a great time of networking and learning from each other. We didn’t get to all questions but we’ll cover some of the topics over the next few months.

Written by Hywania Thompson, Writer and Editor, @hywania