Q1. Which two social media platforms should I be on?

It depends on the type of business you run and your objectives for a campaign. If you are a B2B organization (selling to other businesses) then LinkedIn is a must. That combined with Facebook and/or Twitter and also a Google AdWords campaign.

Companies in general should always have Google AdWords or Bing Ads running alongside social efforts.

Social Media can generate Awareness

Google/Bing Ads will help businesses capture intent

Q2. I would love to use social media but I’m concerned about negative feedback. What’s the best way to get around this?

Social Media channels are setup to help organizations be engaged wit their audience. Businesses should address all feedback diplomatically.

When running a social ad campaign on twitter, you can actually filter out negative sentiment as part of the campaign setup.

Q3. Should I invest in Facebook or LinkedIn? How will I know which platform is better and/or more productive?

There are great reasons and use cases to invest in both. LinkedIn is highly accurate and where most individuals keep their professional profiles up to date. Many do not keep their personal information as up to date on Facebook.

LinkedIn is very accurate especially to those who keep their professional profile up to date. Facebook is more informal and several do not keep their personal details up to date.

When targeting B2B business professionals, LinkedIn may be more expensive (for PPC advertising), but it is the best route to go. B2B on Facebook does work and should not be written off, however the approach from a targeting perspective may vary.

On Facebook, using the typical job title or job function targeting is not quite ideal. One should be creative using custom audiences and overlap targeting. Facebook is where people keep in touch with family and friends. Leverage that mindset in the creative or targeting (interest targeting).

Q4. What advantages does Pinterest have over Facebook?

Pinterest is relatively new, so we can’t determine how effective it is from a paid perspective.

However, Pinterest is an excellent visual network. It is great for retailers, designers, etc. One must leverage attractive creatives on Pinterest that people are would likely re-pin to their own personal pages.

Q5. What’s the best solution for small companies that go Global? Should they have on Facebook page for all markets or separate pages with targeted content?

The answer depends on if you plan to promote in different languages or really want to appeal to people in different culture. It is recommended to do both of these, in which case, a separate page per major international presence is a good idea.

If however, resources are scarce a single page is fine. You must be mindful to target ads and channels to the audience that will appreciate the content the most.

Q6. How do you manage content on multiple channels like Facebook and LinkedIn?

Tools available to assist in managing campaigns on multiple networks including Facebook and LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is focused more on B2B professionals, whereas Facebook is where you mingle with friends and family. Therefore, your content should adapt to the different environments.

Q7. What types of posts work best?

This all depends but we can tell what types don’t work well. These include random stock photos or photos of your logo.

A business should focus on something engaging, with minimal text that shows the value they’ll get from the product/content/service.

Q7. I have read that 20% should be product related and 80% should be “YOU” related – is this correct?

Yes, however it should be more “YOU” related as possible. This means that the message should should speak to the users and their needs rather than just highlight the product.

If you help readers become better at their trade and get value, they’ll respect the brand that created the content.

Q8. How do I get engagement with something that isn’t essentially sexy?

Firstly, Imagery is a huge game changer.

Secondly, people want to gain knowledge. It is advisable to create content that unveils the science, process and technique behind the trade, after which businesses can target audiences that tend to have overlapping fascination.

Q9. What metrics to consider for a “Successful Post? Do the number of “Likes” matter?

It depends on your goal and your piece of content should have a material goal and not just focus on likes, comments, shares, etc.

Other metrics to consider include:

  • Conversion Rate
  • Time spent on the article
  • Email Captures
  • Purchases

Q10. What should the Maximum or Minimum audience size that we should target per ad?

The goal is to maximize the target audience, however, businesses should not go too broad where one starts to target people who are not in the intended target audience.

Q11. What is the next big platform in social? What will it do differently?

It’s not certain what new social platform will emerge. Some speculate that Pinterest will do well while others are state that niche networks that cater to much larger brands like snapchat will be the next big platform.

Regardless, what it drills down to is content. If the content created attains engagement, then regardless of the platform, the message will flow through.

On a side note, Google just updated their algorithm to include opt-in push notifications options to websites for those people using Google Chrome. We should see other browsers integrate these changes soon and brands can use this as a way to inform the people about their latest promotions, offers, etc. It is an extraordinary achievement as even if users are not on the webpage or have the app running notifications will still pass through.