Jennifer Cosenza, owner of Acorn Marketing By Design in Northwest Indiana joins us to talk about The Art of Social Media.
Here is the lightly-edited transcript:
00:00:10 Ryan
That’s why I would like to introduce our speaker today from Northwest Indiana.
00:00:15 Ryan
Jennifer Cosenza, who has an excellent presentation to share with us the art of social media.
00:00:22 Ryan
So Jen.
00:00:23 Ryan
You have the [room].
00:00:24 Jennifer
Good morning, good morning everyone.
00:00:26 Jennifer
It was great to meet you and learn about all your challenges and you know Kim, you can go ahead and post on social media.
00:00:36 Jennifer
It won’t cost you a dime if that’s the route you decide to go.
00:00:41 Jennifer
There are paid opportunities that you can spend money on.
00:00:45 Jennifer
But I’m not a huge fan of that.
00:00:47 Jennifer
I’m an advocate for organic, you know, growth.
00:00:50 Jennifer
Both Ann and Claire.
00:00:53 Jennifer
You know, maybe the scheduler could help you.
00:00:56 Jennifer
Facebook has a publishing tool that has includes a scheduler so you can go ahead and load up your schedule for a month out and then it will just post for you automatically.
00:01:08 Jennifer
You don’t have to think about your post.
00:01:11 Jennifer
That same day you can sit and put together a content calendar and use a scheduler, but we’ll we’ll talk about some of those things when we get into the presentation.
00:01:21 Jennifer
So great to meet you all.
00:01:23 Jennifer
I’m going to share my screen.
00:01:26 Jennifer
And talk to you today about the art of social media.
00:01:31 Jennifer
So good morning and your presenter today.
00:01:33 Jennifer
And again, my name is Jen Cosenza and I’m a repeat presenter in this forum.
00:01:39 Jennifer
I’m a seasoned marketer who owns I own my own firm in the northern part of the state.
00:01:45 Jennifer
It’s called Acorn marketing by design made in Indiana. I recently received the 2021.
00:01:54 Jennifer
Influential businesswoman award from Acquisition International and I actually received this award for the most influential social media marketing businesswoman in the Midwest.
00:02:07 Jennifer
So that was sort of a really neat recognition.
00:02:10 Jennifer
Today, though, we’re going to talk about marketing in the art.
00:02:14 Jennifer
Social media.
00:02:15 Jennifer
I think for marketers today having a strong social presence online is really crucial and this presentation is going to provide some guidance that you’re going to need to ensure that you’re getting the most out of all of your efforts.
00:02:30 Jennifer
And coming from you live from Newton County and then the business center.
00:02:35 Jennifer
Their business development center and their coworking space in Morocco, Indiana, recently moved out of the northern part of the state and headed South a bit and using their Internet here.
00:02:50 Jennifer
Because my Home Office isn’t done yet, so.
00:02:54 Jennifer
So let’s take a look at our path.
00:02:56 Jennifer
These are some of the areas that I wanted to talk about.
00:02:59 Jennifer
Today today, social media is more than just about marketing.
00:03:04 Jennifer
It’s about planning and being methodical about what you say about your business and social is involving and it impacts.
00:03:14 Jennifer
So many elements of the customer service experience. 84% of consumers say that the experience a company provides online is as important as the product and services itself, and that’s pretty huge.
00:03:31 Jennifer
So marketing and sales and service you know they all can deliver meaningful customer moments and engagement from your social platform.
00:03:40 Jennifer
So these are the areas that we’re going to run through today and we’ll talk about objectives and guidelines competition.
00:03:51 Jennifer
And learn about the social channels.
00:03:53 Jennifer
And then talk about insights and monitoring, which I.
00:03:57 Jennifer
Hear is a little people have questions about.
00:04:03 Jennifer
So a dedicated social strategy may mean.
00:04:09 Jennifer
May seem non essential to many businesses, but brands like Wendy’s and Denny’s and visit Indiana have all demonstrated success and I just wanted you to know that if you’re looking to build an effective social media strategy strategy, I think you know the areas that we’re going to cover today will help you.
00:04:29
It’s like.
00:04:32
So you know to.
00:04:33 Jennifer
Build a stronger customer.
00:04:34 Jennifer
Relationship today it requires insights that can be found on social media and I believe someone talked about insights.
00:04:44 Jennifer
UM, maybe it was Kim not understanding.
00:04:47 Jennifer
Maybe who your customer was.
00:04:49 Jennifer
Eau Claire wanting to know more about metrics.
00:04:53 Jennifer
Great customer experiences on social start.
00:04:56 Jennifer
When you engage, you know with your social media behind the scenes.
00:05:01 Jennifer
So it’s sort.
00:05:01 Jennifer
Of that, after you post and we’ll talk a little bit about that down the line when we get into workflow.
00:05:09 Jennifer
But first and foremost, you want to establish guidelines.
00:05:12 Jennifer
It’s important if you are part of a team to include your team for input, and I’m thinking of Leah in this example because she’s part of a bigger nonprofit who has social media.
00:05:28 Jennifer
Support behind her.
00:05:30 Jennifer
So social media, it’s organic.
00:05:32 Jennifer
It changes every day.
00:05:34 Jennifer
Uhm, bureaucratic policies with a team aren’t likely.
00:05:39 Jennifer
To be successful.
00:05:40 Jennifer
So instead, you’re going to want a culture of innovation at your office idea sharing, problem solving.
00:05:47 Jennifer
Be creative.
00:05:48 Jennifer
Even if there’s two of you, one of you 12 of you, there is a direct link between internal organizational culture and policies, so.
00:06:00 Jennifer
In fact, it’s the policies.
00:06:02 Jennifer
They write that shape our.
00:06:03 Jennifer
Culture, so as you think about your social media policies and you know include processes that reinforce a culture of evaluation and learning for colleagues that are going to interact with your social media. And I think Leah can shake her head here. You know Phil’s friends.
00:06:23 Jennifer
Has a culture where you know they are very faith driven and there are areas with their teams that they pack themselves for.
00:06:35 Jennifer
Social media discussions which will help.
00:06:39 Jennifer
So if you’re part of a team, just make sure to establish some guidelines before you jump into this.
00:06:45 Jennifer
I’m always a big fan of understanding who your competition is on social media and sort of what is their narrative.
00:06:53 Jennifer
You know what are they saying?
00:06:55 Jennifer
I think it’s really healthy to maintain your competitive landscape by being aware of real time companies in your space and kind of monitor.
00:07:07 Jennifer
You know you may think, oh, I don’t have time for that, but I think you really want to make time for that.
00:07:12 Jennifer
Keeping tabs on your competitors, you know, and what they’re doing on social media can be very valuable for you to understand what they’re saying, and it will help you understand maybe what your best practices could be, not only for your industry, but for your business as well.
00:07:32 Jennifer
And I think it will help you understand your point of differentiation.
00:07:36 Jennifer
So before you jump in and you decide OK, I want to do some posting.
00:07:40 Jennifer
I think taking a step back and understanding the competition.
00:07:44 Jennifer
Will really be helpful to you.
00:07:49 Jennifer
So a lot of you talked about all the.
00:07:51 Jennifer
Different channels, right?
00:07:52 Jennifer
I think to find relevancy with your audience, it’s important to be active on the channels that your customers are already using.
00:08:01 Jennifer
So let me say that again to be relevant with your audience.
00:08:06 Jennifer
It’s important to be active on the channels.
00:08:09 Jennifer
That your customers are already using.
00:08:12 Jennifer
So think about your small business or your nonprofit and think about the types of customers that.
00:08:17 Jennifer
You have today.
00:08:19 Jennifer
And the types of customers that you want tomorrow determine the best channels and the right technology for your business by evaluating them.
00:08:29 Jennifer
Based on their strategic fit, what their impact is, how feasible it is, is it for you and then rank each channel based on that criteria and then have a plan to post online on a consistent basis.
00:08:44 Jennifer
So let’s take a quick peek.
00:08:46 Jennifer
Some of you weren’t sure what channels you’re using or how to use them.
00:08:53 Jennifer
You may have seen this with the cat reference or coffee reference.
00:08:58 Jennifer
You know, I.
00:08:58 Jennifer
Like the ice cream reference, right?
00:09:01 Jennifer
So Facebook I like ice cream and you make a post.
00:09:07 Jennifer
Instagram I’m about to eat ice cream.
00:09:11 Jennifer
You know when you’re using hashtags, although I would use hashtags on Facebook.
00:09:15 Jennifer
Too, although it’s not in this slide I.
00:09:16 Jennifer
Didn’t create this slide.
00:09:18 Jennifer
Twitter Ice cream is amazing YouTube.
00:09:21 Jennifer
Look at this video of my ice cream disaster LinkedIn.
00:09:27 Jennifer
I am a professional ice cream eater, right Pinterest?
00:09:31 Jennifer
Look at these beautiful ice cream dessert.
00:09:33 Jennifer
Words and how about a recipe?
00:09:36 Jennifer
So these are the core ones that I kind of want to go through today.
00:09:40 Jennifer
They all have a different voice, right?
00:09:43 Jennifer
So posting the same kind of content across all the channels won’t give you meant much results because the audiences are different.
00:09:53 Jennifer
And they’re expecting different kinds of contents.
00:09:56 Jennifer
Does that make sense?
00:09:58 Jennifer
So I want.
00:09:59 Jennifer
To talk about Facebook.
00:10:00 Jennifer
UM, many of you use it. It is a 2.7 billion number of monthly active users. The largest age group is 25 to 34 in ages.
00:10:15 Jennifer
And the gender is split 44% female, 56% male. So in my eyes that’s pretty close.
00:10:23 Jennifer
38 minutes average time spent per day, and I heard Jeanette. I think she was on like an hour.
00:10:29 Jennifer
And she had to limit her time.
00:10:32 Jennifer
So despite you know the ongoing controversies, Facebook still remains one of the most used and engaged with social platforms.
00:10:41 Jennifer
So don’t discount that.
00:10:42 Jennifer
For your business.
00:10:44 Jennifer
I want to talk about Instagram.
00:10:47 Jennifer
1 billion number of active monthly users. The largest age group is very similar. 25 to 34 in age of 57% female, 43% male, 29 minutes average time spent per day. I think you know Instagram has a sort of steady.
00:11:07 Jennifer
Documented growth
00:11:09 Jennifer
That is, cementing it as the second largest network after Facebook, so you know if your users fall within Instagram.
00:11:18 Jennifer
I think it would be to your benefit to you know really spend some time on that Channel and the publishing tools with Facebook or Instagram will allow you to cross.
00:11:29 Jennifer
Post, which is great and you can schedule your posts so there are some advantages there.
00:11:36 Jennifer
If you’re using the publishing tools within Facebook or Instagram and you can change your narrative per platform so you know I like ice cream on Facebook.
00:11:48 Jennifer
You know I’m about to eat ice cream.
00:11:50 Jennifer
On Instagram, so you know, think about the narrative there. Twitter 187,000,000 number of monthly active users.
00:12:01 Jennifer
The largest age group is 30 to 49 years old. The gender is 68% male and 32% female. So you see a shift there 3.53 minutes average time spent per day.
00:12:19 Jennifer
4 minutes is really the tops of what anybody is spending on.
00:12:25 Jennifer
Twitter usage and the user base has remained fairly.
00:12:30 Jennifer
Assistant over time, this relatively straightforward, shorter time indicates the interactions signal.
00:12:39 Jennifer
It’s just a quick place to get news, so think about if you’re using Twitter, you know is it right for your small business or your nonprofit?
00:12:48 Jennifer
Uh, YouTube I I I need to spend more time there.
00:12:52 Jennifer
That’s a challenge for me, uh, 2 billion number of active monthly users.
00:12:58 Jennifer
You know, people use it as a search engine, so on the financial side or the tax side, you know I could see a huge opportunity there for.
00:13:08 Jennifer
Little, uh?
00:13:10 Jennifer
5 minute sessions that you can talk about your services that people can search for, and then you’d come up. Uh, largest age group is 15 to 25.
00:13:22 Jennifer
Gender is equally split 5050, but 42 minutes average spent on line on time per day, so this is you know, hugely popular among young users. But it really highlights the need of a long term shift.
00:13:43 Jennifer
Toward video content for your business.
00:13:45 Jennifer
So think about it.
00:13:46 Jennifer
It’s it’s pretty important if you don’t have a video strategy today, I’m sure that’s something that Ryan can help you with, or I’m happy to answer any questions you have you have, but you should think about a video strategy.
00:14:01 Jennifer
Many of you mentioned LinkedIn.
00:14:03 Jennifer
It’s a great place for business owners.
00:14:07 Jennifer
It’s a great place for networking, right?
00:14:11 Jennifer
But you always want to make sure that you’re providing value back to your connections.
00:14:16 Jennifer
Otherwise you’re just sort of an unknown connection within LinkedIn.
00:14:20 Jennifer
So posting on a consistent basis is important. 738 million total users.
00:14:27 Jennifer
The largest age group is 46 to 55 and the gender is split 51% male, 49% female, but 63% of LinkedIn users access the network monthly and 22% of the users active.
00:14:46 Jennifer
Access the network weekly so it gives you an idea on you know how they’re on there.
00:14:52 Jennifer
You know LinkedIn continues to be a great source for B2B marketers looking to find targeted and motivated audiences for their campaigns. So I think it’s important to have a LinkedIn presence.
00:15:06 Jennifer
Pinterest would be one of the last ones I really want to.
00:15:09 Jennifer
Talk about 400,000,000 number of monthly active users.
00:15:15 Jennifer
The age group is 30 to 49 in terms of ages and the gender here you’ll see much differently on 78% female, 22% male.
00:15:26 Jennifer
So 14 minutes is the average time spent per day on Pinterest and predominantly female.
00:15:34 Jennifer
You know, base highlights one of the most significant splits in social media.
00:15:38 Jennifer
Demographics wise when it comes to gender, Pinterest is really more about female users.
00:15:46 Jennifer
They’re very product focused.
00:15:48 Jennifer
I think there’s huge opportunities with Pinterest.
00:15:52 Jennifer
Just that exist for small businesses and nonprofits to market themselves.
00:15:57 Jennifer
So this will kind of this kind of gives you the the smaller lay of the land of social channels.
00:16:03 Jennifer
Many of you didn’t know which one you should use or which voice you should.
00:16:07 Jennifer
Use with it.
00:16:09 Jennifer
Always kind of come back to the screen and Ryan can share this.
00:16:12 Jennifer
Presentation with you.
00:16:14 Jennifer
This will help you understand the narration for each session.
00:16:17 Jennifer
For each social session.
00:16:20 Jennifer
But I want to get into workflow, so you’re thinking about posting on social media and I think you want to understand how your interaction is going to be handled.
00:16:33 Jennifer
So you and your officemate can understand you know the level of involvement.
00:16:40 Jennifer
If any or what’s a.
00:16:42 Jennifer
Created with each task, right?
00:16:44 Jennifer
Because you’re thinking of content.
00:16:46 Jennifer
Since you’re writing content, you’re sharing content.
00:16:49 Jennifer
You’re engaging with content, and you ultimately want to grow your customer base.
00:16:54 Jennifer
So I like this workflow.
00:16:57 Jennifer
I think the hours on it are, you know, off for a small business, but I think here’s an example workflow that you can think about when you start.
00:17:07 Jennifer
Wanting to post online and I think you want to think about beginning.
00:17:11 Jennifer
With research and.
00:17:12 Jennifer
Manning, so the first step to any social media marketing strategy is research and planning.
00:17:18 Jennifer
You know you should first dedicate time to figure out what your social media should look like.
00:17:25 Jennifer
And this includes understanding you know your company goals.
00:17:29 Jennifer
Are they in line with today versus a year ago, right?
00:17:34 Jennifer
Uhm, does your content that you’re putting online match your goals?
00:17:40 Jennifer
It’s only it’s so interesting ’cause I asked that question a.
00:17:43 Jennifer
Lot to small businesses that I work with and what they’re posting online doesn’t align with their goals.
00:17:50 Jennifer
And then you can kind of see where the disconnect is, right?
00:17:54 Jennifer
So think about you know what you’re posting.
00:17:57 Jennifer
Does it tie back to your goals?
00:18:00 Jennifer
And you’d think, oh that’s a simple thing to know, but a lot of people just kind of stray from that.
00:18:06 Jennifer
And I’m a huge calendar girl, so I flight out my content by the month.
00:18:12 Jennifer
And I am really methodical in how I organize my content and the messaging I say every day and I think it’s important to not be reactive and be proactive and how you’re, you know, deciding what you want to write and share every day.
00:18:30 Jennifer
I think you’re.
00:18:32 Jennifer
Page will only become valuable and only grow.
00:18:36 Jennifer
If you consistently have a plan to share content and now people are thinking, I don’t have the time, but that’s what the publishing tools are for.
00:18:45 Jennifer
You can sit and write it all at once.
00:18:47 Jennifer
So don’t feel overwhelmed and and Ryan can probably help you with a, you know, a a workflow plan.
00:18:54 Jennifer
But the worst thing I think.
00:18:56 Jennifer
That you can do is just jump into posting and sharing with really not having any plan.
00:19:03 Jennifer
To achieve your success online.
00:19:05 Jennifer
So you have to have an online success plan in your head on how you want.
00:19:10 Jennifer
To, uh?
00:19:13 Jennifer
Post so the second piece is creating content, so this is a huge thing.
00:19:19 Jennifer
So once you have a plan set, the second step should be creating your content and mainly this includes writing blogs, articles that can should be shared.
00:19:29 Jennifer
I’m going to.
00:19:30 Jennifer
Be really specific here, you know, be authentic.
00:19:33 Jennifer
Be unique, so if you’re sharing, you know a Ford article from the Ford manufacturer.
00:19:41 Jennifer
You are not being unique because that was already shared by Ford.
00:19:46 Jennifer
Does that make sense?
00:19:47 Jennifer
So anything that you’re sharing, you know, make sure that you are authentic and you are unique.
00:19:54 Jennifer
You know, obviously you’re going to share what you do on social media, and ultimately you wanted to drive traffic to your website so you know that’s the ultimate goal and Ryan and I talked about that, you know, kind of.
00:20:06 Jennifer
At length this morning, through newsletters and things like that.
00:20:10 Jennifer
So companies that publish 16 or more blog posts a month.
00:20:17 Jennifer
Get four times more traffic than companies that publish anywhere from zero to four monthly blog posts a month. So think about that you know, maybe schedule 2-3 a week. Blog posts. The more blog posts and white papers and infographics that you create.
00:20:37 Jennifer
You’re going to establish your business as a bot leader, and that’s hugely important, especially on LinkedIn.
00:20:45 Jennifer
Where there are other business owners and employees along as users.
00:20:52
So the third.
00:20:53 Jennifer
Area I think about is curating content.
00:20:56 Jennifer
So important aspect to any marketing strategy is thinking about your content.
00:21:01 Jennifer
You know spend time each week searching the web for maybe.
00:21:04 Jennifer
Insight, insightful and inspiring content that.
00:21:08 Jennifer
You can write about.
00:21:10 Jennifer
It’s an integral part to engaging your audience to keep them interested, so if you follow me at all, any core marketing, you know, I’m very marketing focused, right?
00:21:20 Jennifer
And I talk about my business, but I also want to be helpful, so I’m constantly sharing tips and strategies.
00:21:30 Jennifer
Pieces that people can just take and use, and I found that especially in LinkedIn you know it’s hugely valuable to to provide.
00:21:40 Jennifer
Value to your.
00:21:41 Jennifer
Followers and it keeps them coming back.
00:21:44 Jennifer
So think about.
00:21:46 Jennifer
You know content and.
00:21:49 Jennifer
Uh, kind of finding the right words that you want to use content wise.
00:21:54 Jennifer
Again, think about your competitors.
00:21:57 Jennifer
Watch what they’re doing.
00:21:59 Jennifer
You want to interact as a thought leader in your industry and having good content will help you with that.
00:22:08 Jennifer
So then the next thing is you want to share your content right?
00:22:12 Jennifer
And everyone was like, well, you know, I think about it and then I just never go back to post it or oh, I just don’t know what to say and I know I should post, you know, I think once you have gone through, you know planning out your content, creating your content.
00:22:29 Jennifer
Uhm, now it’s time to share and don’t be shy, I don’t.
00:22:34 Jennifer
Believe you need.
00:22:35 Jennifer
To you know, throw up all over the Internet, but I think one really valuable post.
00:22:41 Jennifer
A day is super helpful.
00:22:44 Jennifer
I post once a day on my channels and if there are other things that are really interesting that come up maybe throughout the day or I’ve gone to a Chamber luncheon and I want to talk about that, I’ll go ahead and post it, but I’m not posting six things a day.
00:23:01 Jennifer
From my business page, I really in concise and I’m very methodical.
00:23:05 Jennifer
Out sharing my content again.
00:23:09 Jennifer
Having a calendar will help you.
00:23:11 Jennifer
There are other publishing tools out there beyond the Facebook Instagram alignment.
00:23:18 Jennifer
There are tools like Hoot suite and Buffer that can integrate all of your channels and you can post to them.
00:23:26 Jennifer
That way, little known secret I use buffer.
00:23:31 Jennifer
It helps me change the.
00:23:33 Jennifer
Narrate the narrative in each channel. I have all of my channels integrated in buffer and it’s a great. It’s the best $150 I’ve ever spent.
00:23:45 Jennifer
Because I write it, you know, at the beginning.
00:23:48 Jennifer
Of every month.
00:23:49 Jennifer
And I know exactly what.
00:23:50 Jennifer
I’m going to say every.
00:23:51 Jennifer
Day and it takes me an hour.
00:23:54 Jennifer
It’s not bad for images and content.
00:23:58 Jennifer
So, uhm, the fifth thing is engaging with your audience, so you’ve done all the preliminary pieces and you shared your content.
00:24:08 Jennifer
But now you want to engage with your audience and honestly.
00:24:12 Jennifer
After you share.
00:24:13 Jennifer
Your content, you know your marketing is not done.
00:24:17 Jennifer
You actually need to engage with your folks online, and the sad truth is that only 20% of social media comments ever receive a result. A response from the small business, and I do.
00:24:32 Jennifer
That’s I think that’s.
00:24:33 Jennifer
Staggering, I’m like, Oh my.
00:24:35 Jennifer
Gosh, you know most businesses are missing out, so it’s a huge valuable opportunity that if people are commenting or sharing, thank them for sharing.
00:24:47 Jennifer
If they’re commenting on your post, you know, please engage with your audience.
00:24:52 Jennifer
You know.
00:24:52 Jennifer
Listen to what they have to say, join in in the conversation.
00:24:57 Jennifer
If they’re asking questions.
00:24:59 Jennifer
And honestly, you know it builds community and I’m a huge community builder.
00:25:04 Jennifer
If you know anything about me, you know community engagement, and I’m not talking about the town that you live in community, I’m talking about.
00:25:13 Jennifer
Like your business community, you know your connections.
00:25:17 Jennifer
You know Ryan and I talked this morning about some of the groups that he’s created, and I think there’s value there in creating.
00:25:25 Jennifer
Unity, whether you have followers on your page or you have you know people within a.
00:25:32 Jennifer
Group, so you want to try to actively find people who can be an influencer and help you with social narrative.
00:25:45 Jennifer
You know Eric comes to mind there.
00:25:48 Jennifer
He’s really great on LinkedIn.
00:25:51 Jennifer
With sharing and being engaging.
00:25:55 Jennifer
So if you want to be known, you know you also have to take the time and you know be engaging yourself.
00:26:03 Jennifer
So we talked about.
00:26:05 Jennifer
Uhm, creating the content and sharing the content.
00:26:11 Jennifer
You know you can run social campaigns and you know beyond the basic social media sharing and engagement, you can develop a unique social media campaign.
00:26:23 Jennifer
Example, you know ads.
00:26:25 Jennifer
Or boosts through.
00:26:26 Jennifer
Facebook, but I’d be really cautious there.
00:26:29 Jennifer
I think you really most small businesses that I mentor really need to spend time on their own pages.
00:26:38 Jennifer
Before they jump into running ads, ’cause running an ad isn’t just going to make it all better.
00:26:47 Jennifer
I think you need to have you know the right user base on your own page.
00:26:51 Jennifer
Your page needs to have everything you know.
00:26:54 Jennifer
All the eyes and the Tees dotted and crossed.
00:26:58 Jennifer
So if you have any questions like is your page ready, I’m happy to take a look at it.
00:27:04 Jennifer
Lion can as well.
00:27:05 Jennifer
But there are, you know, make sure.
00:27:07 Jennifer
You have a.
00:27:07 Jennifer
Phone number and email address.
00:27:09 Jennifer
Your websites listed?
00:27:11 Jennifer
There’s a whole list of things that you just want to make sure that every social channel has in there.
00:27:17 Jennifer
You know all the all the sections are filled out.
00:27:21 Jennifer
Part of this is analyzing your results.
