As a small business, social media is overwhelming and often feels like you’re just spinning your wheels. You have to figure out where to be, how to be engaging, and how to get results - all with a limited amount of time and resources.
Last week, we had a fantastic webinar with Patrick Gillooly, Director of Social Media for Constant Contact, where we discussed integrating social media into your business strategy. Some highlights from the webinar:
How to choose the right social networks for your business
The 15-minute social media plan
Getting started in the pay-to-play world of social media
In this post, you can watch the webinar in its entirety and read some of the questions asked by our attendees. Interested in our free, future webinars? Sign up here to stay informed!
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I want to share my Constant Contact campaign on social media. How can I do that?
Our Social Share feature allows you to easily share your campaign on Twitter, your business’ Facebook page and your personal LinkedIn account.
When I use Social Share, can I make different posts for each social media platform?
How can I export my social media followers and upload them into my account? What about the other way around (upload my contact list to Facebook/Twitter)?
We are a permission-based company which means that lists of contacts cannot be uploaded into your account who did not opt-in to receive your emails. On Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin, take the sign-up form URL and include the link in a tweet/post. Another step is to then pin the tweet or post so it’s easily seen by anyone who views your account.
The best way to have your contacts follow you on social media is to include social media icons in your emails and link them to their respective pages.
What is this Facebook Lead Ad feature I keep seeing in my account? Can I view reporting?
We have integrated with Facebook to introduce Facebook Lead Ads. These allow you to grow your contact list through a Facebook ad and target either a Lookalike Audience created by Facebook or a group of people based on interests or location. Once the ad is published, you can view the Lead Ad reporting to see how it’s doing.
There are so many different social media platforms out there. Which ones should I be using for my business?
It really boils down to your industry, your resources, and what the goals are for your business or nonprofit. For a better understanding, check out our blog article “Which Social Media Platform is Right for Your Business in 2019?” There’s even a handy infographic!
What content should be I posting on social media? I can’t seem to come up with good ideas for my business/nonprofit.
Set aside some time to look back through past tweets or posts to see what was most engaging. Maybe your followers really like hearing about your upcoming events or you had a lot of comments on a photo showing employees behind-the-scenes. Most people are scrolling quickly through their feeds and visuals are a great way to grab their attention. Include a short caption and link to a relevant page if it fits what you are trying to achieve. Use our Social Media Planning worksheet once you have those goals in mind to organize all of your ideas into a calendar layout.
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Wow, we had so many amazing questions from attendees that we came back for more! Patrick and Dave Charest, Director of Content Marketing for Constant Contact, covered a few more topics in an After Hours webinar, including hashtags, a strategy for posting on Twitter, and engaging with followers on Facebook.
What goals do you have for your business or nonprofit this year? Are you using social media to help achieve them? Let us know what you think!
"There's a multitude of ways to engage your audience through us using your social platforms - via ads, social post metrics, email links, and more! " - Will
