As a community manager working with multiple social channels, it is a challenge to try and create engaging dynamic content, share it, and track it.  After establishing the branding voice (tone), I consider the content format and theme to determine what social media channel will be most receptive to the post.

Create a content calendar in Excel and organize the tabs for posts, tracking, and reporting.  In the post tab, include columns for:

• post date
• social channels
• post content
• post format/type
• category/theme
• tracking link

Creating a category column and adding a keyword to the theme will help identify the post content and aid in keeping messages fresh when you need ideas for future posts.  At a quick glance you can see over time how many videos, images, events, and other post types were shared. Frequency to the social channels and what was posted will become more visible as well.  By organizing the tracking and reporting tabs similarly, you will notice trends in the popularity of  post categories, and the results of how it was re-shared, so you can adjust accordingly when generating new content.

Many social media channels accept dynamic content formats. Focusing on what format the content is posted in will help narrow down the audience, frequency, and what channel to share it with.

• Links – always good to incorporate links from a variety of sources. A thumbnail preview in Facebook can highlight and hyperlink to a web page or article. Also, content that is too extensive for a post can be linked to another source. Social Media tracking should always be included and can be hidden by using a shortened link. 
• Videos – sharing from YouTube with another channel promotes within both communities. It is important to incorporate tags and descriptions to YouTube video’s because they can add SEO value to the content.  Don’t forget the length or size of the video maybe be limited by the channel you are posting too.
• Photos – mobile apps for certain channels tend to focus on photos, so use them as often as possible. Try to embrace tagging people/organizations/pages and include comments to enhance the reach and engagement.
• Slide Shows/Catalogs/Brochures – more professional content is better shared in a channel like SlideShare or Linked In, and then sharing the links with other channels to direct the right traffic to the content.
• Blogs/Articles/Press Releases – starting an account with Tumbler or Dig to share content is great exposure for more informational content.  You can also share the links to these with other social media channels to attract even more traffic across all channels.
• Check-Ins – although it’s a feature within a social channel, including reminders to check in can provide reporting data and better awareness of a physical location. Recently, Google+ integrated businesses on Google Places with the ability to offer Check-In Deals.

While maintaining involvement in multiple channels, a content calendar can provide a general guideline for post creation and help to maintain the branding voice.  The size of your audience should also be considered when selecting a channel.  If your presence on Facebook is larger than Twitter, then the main content stream should be shared with the largest audience first.  Keep in mind, posting is a trial and error process and you will learn from experience.  It is best to be diligent about tracking, monitoring and reporting on what posts are working the best for your audience to keep them engaged.  This will only help you to improve how and what you are sharing over time and in turn grow your social presence.

Do you already have a unique way of organizing your content?  Let us know!

YouTube activated a new channel design that drastically changes how the videos and information is being displayed. Utilizing a more marketable format for promoted videos and advertising, the design primarily changes the layout of the channel page by displaying information about the channel more prominently.  YouTube channels will all eventually be updated to the new design by March, 2012. Listed are the advantages for using the new YouTube channel design.

• Header – a sleek header design has a larger avatar/logo image and channel name, a subscribe button that turns green with a plus sign when rolled over, and the channel stats (subscribers and video views). The emphasis on the stats is great for a quick glance to gauge the channel’s popularity.
• Tabs – re-organized the navigation into Featured, Feed, and Videos.  Edit channel includes template options to organize how the videos, playlists, and channels will display on the Featured tab.  There is an option for selecting a featured video to play in the viewing area and the ability to remove advertising.  Your Feed tab will be updated by your activity on YouTube and you can choose to filter what is shared in the settings.  The Videos tab will display a thumbnail grid view with various sorting options for the videos on the channel.
• Search –a search bar has been added for finding videos specific to that channel. For channels that have a lot videos and users wanting to drill down into old content, this has been a long awaited, much appreciated add-on to the page design.
• Profile Panel – was located below the main video description but now has prime real-estate being positioned higher on the page and in left column replacing the previous video navigation.  This area first displays the channel description, URLs, social media icons (hyperlinked), and other details can also be seen, however you can select what you’d like to show via the edit button.   Featured channels can also be added to highlight partner channels or related channels to your field of expertise.

There are a lot of articles circulating about the benefits of mobile advertising. In fact, many companies and brands are embracing mobile advertising and seeing impressive results. However, the mobile advertising market hasn’t been cornered by one particular vendor and some are wondering if Facebook is going to join the mobile scene.

Facebook is recognized as one of the top social media sites. Plus, numerous businesses appreciate the advance targeting features that are available in Facebook such as demographics, interests, connections, etc. Some would like to use these advanced settings to reach the mobile market. This means businesses would already be prepared to pay Facebook to reach their respective audience. Another plus is that people use their cell phones to check on their Facebook accounts already, so it’s not like Facebook would have to entice anyone to go on their site via a mobile device. They also, have loads of mobile user data at their fingertips. According to an article on CNET, “Facebook already has access to data of a large mobile user base”… Facebook says nearly half of its nearly 800 million users already log in via mobile devices, giving the network momentum in a market estimated to be worth $630 million.” 

Facebook seems to be in a great position to join the mobile market, and despite rumors that they will be offering mobile advertising soon, Facebook has declined to speak about the matter.  Many businesses will benefit if Facebook gives them the ability to run mobile ads.  The ball is in their court to enable mobile ads and only time will tell how they’ll proceed.

If you have a smartphone or tablet then you are already using apps everyday to perform any number of tasks from online banking to reading the news. If you have a Facebook account, you are probably using apps there, too. Apps in Facebook are the marketing tool for engaging and growing the audience of your company page. There are numerous Facebook apps available.  Below are just a few types of Facebook apps that you can develop or use to make your company page more robust. 

Integrate non-Facebook social media channels – other social media channels can be added as “tabs” to your Facebook page.  If you are posting to channels like YouTube and Twitter, you can combine that content on your company page via an app. Check out the apps that are available for YouTube and Twitter.  

Contests – apps for any kind of contest or giveaway can be custom developed, purchased, or found for free.  Consider using a fun app like the “fan of the week” app and reward the winner with a prize to keep fans coming back to your page.

Products – developers can create a shopping cart app that fans can access for exclusive deals or purchase directly from your online store without ever leaving your company page.

Contacts- gathering contact information can be as easy as adding a contact us form to your page.  Consider a “Request a Quote”, or “Sign Up Today” as a call to action for the title of tab for your app.

Customized – creating a customized app that fans can add to their pages for anything from trivia to coupons will build brand awareness and target niche audiences. Potentially this can generate new visitors when existing fans share updates from the app.

There are so many variations of apps that you can use within Facebook.  Many apps are free; making Facebook a one-stop environment with everything you can imagine doing online.  These powerful social marketing tools will continue to become more important when enhancing your EdgeRank.  With that in mind, what apps will you use to keep your audience engaged?

To Blog or Not To Blog?
That is the question.
 
A blog’s purpose is pretty simple, to provide useful content for readers and consistently feed the site fresh and relevant content. Ideally, the post should contain keywords and phrases that your prospects will be searching for, as this will help your post gain organic positions.

To achieve effective results from blogging, it’s important to make weekly updates to ensure the site stays high and relevant among the top search engines. – I know, I know! Sometimes it’s hard to come up with topics for a new blog – most good blogs don’t talk about the company or the blogger themselves. When trying to figure out what to blog about, think about your reader (prospect/consumer). What are they searching for and what’s hot at the moment? Sometimes a good topic is to talk about difficulties and challenges most of your readers face. Example: if your clients often find themselves thinking if they should or should not blog, you could blog about the benefits of blogging. – do you get the picture here?

By blogging, you can also establish the company as an expert in the field. Writing good content that is relevant to your readers will help convey that your company and site are a valued, trusted resource. As you can imagine, by doing this, you will be bringing back your readers and encouraging them to contact you or your company.

So…. to answer the question, “To Blog!”

This is a question that many companies raise as they manage the day-to-day Facebook posts, tweets, blogs, etc.  It’s a full-time job for large companies, and for smaller companies it often falls to the marketing department to manage or “test” to see its effectiveness.

While measuring results of every single post isn’t always possible, many studies point to the fact that social media is in fact valuable for brands.

eMarketer recently published data from a study about the immediate and prolonged results of social media campaigns.  What they found is quite astounding.

• After exposure to a social media campaign, the likelihood someone would recommend a product increased to 61% (up from 39% pre-exposure to the campaign).
• One year after being exposed to the campaign, their likelihood of recommending a product remained elevated at 55%.
• An individual’s purchase intent after being exposed to a social media campaign increased to 69% (up from 38% pre-exposure to the campaign).
• A year later the purchase intent was still as high as 61%!

More about this study can be found here. This data clearly indicates the importance of social media marketing and the profound impact that it can have on word of mouth marketing (via recommendations) and purchase intent.

Your company should be participating in social media, if you’re not already.  And if you are already participating, you should be developing social media campaigns.  Too many companies simply post content on a daily basis, with little thought to their overall goal.  Social media campaigns should be created throughout the year to coincide with your other marketing efforts (online and offline).  You should focus on creating meaningful campaigns - ones that will be remembered and shared.  They could include giveaways, contests and/or user generated content.  Social media lends itself to engage with potential customers and companies should leverage this it to its fullest potential.