Study Guide

What is earned media?

"Earned media" is the type of media or exposure your brand has earned by doing something positive or negative.

What business goals can different ad types help you achieve?

*Facebook Lead Ads* Capture lead information without directing people out of the Facebook platform. *Ads in the Instagram Explore Tab* People using Instagram Explore are exploring their interests and discovering new content creators. *Instagram Shopping Post Ads* Shopping Post ads allow you to include a tag that shows the product's name and price within your image. *Facebook Messenger Call-to-Action in Ads* Start conversations with ads on Facebook that include a call-to-action to send a message. *Using Facebook Messenger Story Ads* Run story ads on Messenger Stories. *Retargeting With Facebook Messenger* Sponsored messages allow you to advertise to people who have already interacted with your business in Messenger. *LinkedIn Message Ads* Send direct messages to your prospects to spark an immediate action. *Ads on Pinterest* Pinterest is great for businesses relying on photography to sell their products and who have a female target buyer persona

What are the best practices for creating remarkable social media ads?

*For high quality, create ads that resonate with your audience by:* Using language that your target audience uses. Using imagery and video content that is representative of your target audience. Offering value upfront and proving relevant content. *For high engagement, create ads that stand out in the feed by:* Experiment with different types of ad content, like videos or GIFs. Making your call-to-action visible and direct. *For high conversion, create ads that have a great post-click experience by:* Creating a landing page that's aligned with the messaging and style of your ad. Limiting your lead generation forms to only the most essential fields.

How do your social media goals and buyer persona figure into your content strategy?

*Goals.* What do you hope to get out of your social media efforts? Are you trying to grow your audience? Increase traffic to your blog or website? If you find that you don't have any specific goals yet for social, then the audit you perform will help you establish a benchmark for certain metrics so you that can develop new goals and work toward them. *Buyer personas.* How are they using each social network? What are they talking about? What are they interested in learning? Are you already engaging them in ways that resonate with them? If you don't have your business goals and buyer personas in mind as you're developing content and social campaigns, then you probably aren't using social as effectively as you could be. So you're creating your plan to achieve those goals and connect with those buyer personas.

What are the different crisis stages and what actions need to happen in each of these stages?

*Preparation* Investing in a proactive monitoring system Training your team members in crisis communication Creating a message map for responses, and statements for each situation Building healthy and interactive relationships with key parties *Response* React quickly, compassionately, with authoritative, clear words and actions Understand the emotions being shared on social media Pay attention to feedback, comments, sentiment, and false information that could be spreading Integrate social media messages to the appropriate medium and audience Monitor and integrate comments into crisis plan strategy Provide statements to audiences to take certain actions (embracing self-efficacy) *Recovery* Evaluate the overall sentiment of the messages Determine the overall response in the media and with key audiences Analyze the data to see what lessons to take away Evaluate team members and response strategies from crisis Determine best practices and lessons learned

What are the four categories of KPIs and how do they differ?

*Reach* Follower count: how many individuals follow your social channels. Impressions: how often your content is viewed. Mentions: how many times your brand is mentioned across social channels. Share of voice: how many people are talking about your brand vs. the competition. *Engagement* Likes or favorites: an indication that your viewers appreciate the content. Comments: direct engagement with your content. Sharing and retweets: a demonstration that your audience cares enough about your content to let others know about it. Ratings and reviews: a demonstration of strong engagement and opinion. Inbound website links: An indication that your content is interesting enough to click through to your site. *Return on investment (ROI)* Direct sales revenue Lead conversions Support costs per customer Lifetime value *Retention and loyalty* Reviews and ratings Issues resolved Service-level agreement Time to resolution Customer Satisfaction Sentiment

Can you explain the importance of testing, tagging and timing for content?

*TAGGING* When you tag people or businesses in your social posts, you're identifying them and essentially linking them in your post. When you tag a person or business in your social media posts, your posts may appear on their profile page. When you tag a location in your Facebook and Instagram posts, your posts will appear in the feed of that location. *Timing* Every social platform audience is different— *test* to see what works best with your audience. *Test* and tweak content and posting times.

What is UGC? Why is it important?

*User-generated content:* UGC helps brands understand their target audience. UGC improves site engagement and time spent on the website. UGC increases customer satisfaction through conversations. UGC provides means for other users to connect, which then builds a stronger community. UGC improves the brand's search engine ranking and online visibility. UGC is inherently peer-reviewed, making it more trustworthy

What's the difference between tone and voice? Why do they matter?

*VOICE* The distinct and steady personality and style of your brand. *TONE* A subset of VOICE, it refers to the moods and attitudes of specific content pieces, which can change depending on the channel, the situation, and the audience.

What are the three tips that can help you narrow down your choice of a social media tool?

1. Write down the 25 most important social media features that you think you might need. 2. Review the list and circle your top 5 features. 3. Use these two lists to evaluate potential tools.

Why does a buyer persona matter in social media?

A buyer persona helps you determine who your ideal customer is.

Define what a crisis is and how this compares with a social media crisis.

A crisis is an event that either causes harm or the potential for harm to an individual or organization. A social media crisis is when this happens on social media.

What are the benefits of having a social media policy?

A social media policy helps protect the *reputation* of the brand by providing guidelines and best practices for employees.

What is a vanity metric?

A surface-level metric: numbers or statistics that look great on paper but don't correlate to business success.

What are must-have components for an effective crisis communication plan?

A team of executive personnel from legal, investor relations, management, and communications groups. Brainstorm all the potential issues and risk scenarios. Create prepared statements. Outline key risks and their level of severity and responsibility. Determine which stakeholder will be notified at what risk level. Create internal contact lists and the departments to be involved. Alert stakeholders using the risk-levels you've preset.

When should you pitch your product to a person in social media?

After you build a relationship

What is employee advocacy?

An employee advocacy plan: You may have employees who are active on social media who are influential and can advocate on behalf of the company with the communities they represent on social media.

What are some main guidelines and questions employees need to ask about social media?

Are employees aware of the fact that while their profiles may be set to "private," they are really not private? Do employees know the risks associated with what they post online and how it might be perceived by others? Do they know how it might impact the brand? Are employees aware of which third-party apps are collecting information about them? What are some of the biggest challenges employees feel they have to be aware of when it comes to social media?

What are some ways you can get started working with influencers?

Ask to interview them, and include their commentary or quotes. Ask for advice you can share with your audience. Host an AMA (Ask Me Anything) webinar. Get a testimonial from the influencer.

Why should you be careful about monitoring competitors?

Be careful that you don't become so obsessive watching the competition that it might over-influence your strategy. Inbound is about being customer-centric, not competitor-centric. It's good to know what your competitors are doing so you can better position yourself, but do it to help your customers.

What are the takeaways from the Southwest Airlines and Uber case studies?

Be empathetic and prompt

What metrics should you track in an audit?

Best- and worst-performing posts Posts with the most engagement Post frequency What types of content have the best and worst performance The publishing time of posts that have the best engagement Video views Click-through to content Post reach and impressions Number of Twitter mentions Effective keywords Response rate Sentiment

How can influencer marketing and UGC make a difference to your social strategy?

Build consumer trust and loyalty Extend your brand reach into audiences that may not follow you Provide social proof and amp up your credibility Extend your budget Put you directly in touch with your audience Boost SEO and Enable you to get past ad blockers because the content doesn't come across the same way as a typical ad

What marketing tools can you use to delight customers into promoters?

Call-to-action

What are the different kinds of influencers?

Celebrity influencers Industry influencers Journalists and media personalities Content creators that develop highly consumable content Content creators who are behind the scenes creating content brands can leverage Micro-influencers Local influencers

What are some ways to incentivize employees to participate in employee advocacy programs?

Competitions, leaderboards, free swag, and prizes are just a few items to consider.

What are some reasons that content curation matters to your strategy?

Content curation saves time and money. Content curation builds industry connections. Building industry connections through content curation can also help extend your social reach. Sharing curated content also enables you to post a bigger variety of content. Content curation shows your diverse knowledge as a thought leader.

What are the steps to take to start an employee advocacy program?

Create a starter team. Educate and provide guidelines for your employees. Give employees the tools to create and distribute content easily. Acknowledge and reward employees who are seeing the results of their actions. Expand to include more employees.

What are the types of social media crises?

Cyberattacks and hacking Advocates calling for boycotts A live video covering a crisis Fake news and rumors Employees going rogue Trend-jacking during a sensitive situation Widespread public outrage to a post

What are the different types of social media team models?

Decentralized model Centralized team Hub and Spoke model Multiple Hub and Spoke model, or "Dandelion" model Holistic model

What are the benefits of doing social customer service?

Drive brand awareness. Sell more products and services. Humanize your brand. Build loyalty. Drive revenue growth.

What are some reasons that a marketer would want to use one social platform over another?

Each platform has different benefits and a different audience.

Why is an employee advocacy program important?

Employees embody trust and authenticity in a way that a paid spokesperson cannot do for a brand. Brand advocacy helps businesses drive active employee participation, leveraging their knowledge to generate and distribute content. Employee-generated content also represents an incredibly effective way to reinforce company culture and values, showing how these concepts practically translate into real behaviors and campaigns promoted by the people who run the company.

What types of audiences will you find on each social media platform?

Facebook, Instagram, Messenger: B2C LinkedIn: B2B Twitter: middle-aged and B2B Snapchat: young people

What is content curation?

Gathering content that's relevant to a particular topic or area of interest and then sharing it with your audience.

What are the four areas to know when exploring continued success in social media?

Governance, risk, and ethics Employee guidelines and social media policies A crisis communication plan An employee advocacy plan

What are some benefits of social selling?

Individuals are no longer going into stores and browsing or picking up the phone to reach a sales rep to make a decision. Instead, they are looking at online reviews, reading forum commentary, watching videos made by the company and by customers, and asking the internet about your products and services. This happens long before they will reach out to the company.

What kinds of influencer campaigns are there?

Influencers sharing brand content you've created Influencers sharing brand content that they have created Sponsored posts that feature the influencer Contests or competitions Events with face-to-face contact with the influencer Channel takeovers - let them run your Instagram for a day Live-streaming events Road trips with influencers - going city to city so fans can meet them Guest posts

What are some proactive steps to take if a crisis hits on social media?

Investing in a proactive monitoring system Training your team members in crisis communication Creating a message map for responses, and statements for each situation Building healthy and interactive relationships with key parties

What are the benefits of having a social media strategy?

It helps you expand your other marketing efforts. It will help you build brand awareness. It is one of the most powerful ways to connect with your audience. You can use social media to attract buyers.

What is a social media policy?

It outlines how an organization and its employees should conduct themselves on social media.

What are some KPIs you should consider tracking?

Lifetime Value Lifetime Value Multiplied by Conversion Rate Average Sale Pay-per-click Ad Valuation Resource Savings

Why is a buyer persona important to social selling?

Narrowing down who your buyer helps you become very focused in your outreach strategy.

What components should your social media team plan contain?

Plan business and social goals one to three years out. Consider your stakeholders' needs. Identify possible social media roles based on those goals. Develop a timeline for reaching those goals and building the team. Allocate or advocate for resources. Evangelize your plan throughout the organization.

What are some things that social media and metrics can affect?

Product development and roadmap Marketing campaigns Sales efforts Recruiting efforts Public relations Customer service and loyalty programs Employee advocacy

What are the three metrics that Facebook uses to measure ad performance?

Quality Engagement Conversion

What are the advantages of advertising on social media?

Reach specific target audiences Variety of ad formats Invest in efforts that drive leads and sales

What are some things you can do to foster more general social engagement?

Respond to comments. Be honest, transparent, and personal. Be funny. Offer additional value. Ask for reviews. Ask for product commentary. Conduct polls. Respond to comments in real-time. Tag guests. Reference the amazing content of others. Consider starting a group. Ask a question and respond to the answers.

What are some things you can do to get started doing social customer care?

Respond to comments. Consider creating a dedicated handle for customer service to help keep your customer care and marketing messages separate. Go beyond just responding and seek out engagement. Be authentic and human in your responses. Commit human resources to respond. Consider connecting your social customer care to an in-house customer care team or a call-center customer care team. Develop an FAQ (frequently asked questions) document to use when responding. Consider if using a chatbot can help.

How can social media listening increase customer advocacy?

Responding only to positive social posts and re-sharing them tells the rest of your followers how great you are. Responding only to negative social posts with helpful, knowledgeable responses shows that you care.

What is an SLA?

SLA, or service-level agreement. This is a commitment by the company to handle social media inquiries in a certain amount of time. This may differ by company. Some brands resolve to respond to customers within minutes, others within two hours. An SLA will help you set expectations with your customers and help your company measure results.

What are the various kinds of social media tools available to marketers?

SOCIAL LISTENING AND MONITORING TOOLS Publishing and Community Management Tools

What are some leading indicators of revenue success?

Sign-ups for email, webinars, and events Product downloads and trials Purchases Downloads of marketing materials Visit-to-lead conversion rate Sentiment analysis Competitor benchmarking Website traffic Reach and engagement Audience size Campaign results

How do you know which social networks to start with?

Social listening Buyer persona Competition information

What are some ways to get users to create UGC?

Start with social listening. Search for conversations by location and hashtag to see how your audience is already talking about you. Branded hashtags are connected to your brand or product in some way but are really about your customers. One fun thing that you can do to encourage user-generated content is to randomly reward your followers who are creating great content.

What should you do it if you are arguing for money to start a social media project?

Tell them why your plan will make or save them money. Demonstrate projected ROI. Show them statistics to back up your claim.

What are the ethical and legal implications that are included in a social media policy?

Terms of service agreements Disclosure of information such as copyrighted content or sharing of trade secrets Privacy, bullying, and cyberattacks Risk of false rumors and information

What are the three types of social media content?

Text Visual images Video

What different types of content can be created on each channel?

Text: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn Image carousel: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter Video: all Live video: Instagram, Facebook, Periscope (Twitter), YouTube Short-form video: TikTok, Byte (Twitter) Stories: Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, Snapchat Polls: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

How do you calculate social ROI?

The ROI of a social media action is calculated by dividing the net income by the cost of this action and multiplying it by 100.

What are some issues employees may be faced on social media?

The biggest risk that a company faces is the sharing of confidential information.

What is the difference between bashtags and hashtags?

The difference between bashtag and hashtag is that a bashtag is a hashtag intended for promotional use that gets repurposed by third-party users to criticize that which it was intended to promote or make the opposite point while a hashtag is to label (a message) with a hashtag.

What considerations do you need to make when planning how to structure your social media team?

The types of roles you need how they map to your goals How agencies may be able to help you meet your needs, particularly if you are a smaller team The structure of your team itself and how it works

What are the three main reasons people use social media?

They want to be: INFORMED ENTERTAINED CONNECTED

What are the steps you need to build a social media strategy?

To be able to explain each social media channel. To understand the impact of social listening and engagement. To develop a content strategy for your social media plan. To be able to identify ways metrics are crucial to your success. To integrate social media into your other inbound efforts.

How can a social media audit help your business?

Understand the effectiveness of your social media efforts and adjust what isn't working. Develop or adjust a social media strategy that aligns with specific, actionable business objectives and goals. Discover trends you can use to create or modify social media campaigns. Receive valuable insight into customer sentiment and perception of your brand. Provide executives and your team a look into what is or is not working so you can manage and justify social media spend.

Why do you want to measure social ROI?

Understand the effectiveness of your social media efforts and adjust what isn't working. Prove the value of social media within your organization. Show how social media can impact all departments, going beyond marketing and sales to HR, engineering, and PR. Understand and measure brand reputation and gain control of that conversation. Prove to executives the value of budgeting for your social media efforts.

How does social media advertising compare to your organic social media strategy?

Unlike in organic social media where you're reliant on your followers, social media advertising allows you to target people who haven't heard of you yet.

How can UGC help your brand?

User-generated content creates a competitive advantage for brands that are inherently difficult to replicate because communities can't just be copied.

How can competitive intelligence inform your sales and product teams?

Well, for one, you and your competitors are innately participating in the same industry. When rising tides lift all boats, understanding those tides is pretty important to guiding your company's strategy. Your competitors might be more or less susceptible to a particular variable that influences them. Monitoring your competitors can help you get ahead of industry-wide changes.

What considerations do you need to make when building a budget?

What social content do you need to create? Will you need to hire freelancers or a digital, social, or ad agency? What's your ideal mix of organic and paid advertising? How much advertising do you think you will require? Are you considering paying influencers to promote your products? Do you have the right staffing for your plan? Which services and tools do you need? How much will they cost?

What's the difference between social listening and social monitoring?

Where they differ is in your objective. *You can use social listening to centralize conversations about your brand so that you can join them.* Social listening may be used by sales reps, social media managers, and even executives in your company. On the other hand, you can use *social monitoring to actively look for mentions and conversations that pertain to your brand, your products, your hashtags, your employees, your competitors, and your customers.*

What are the main components that need to be in a social media policy?

Who your company spokespeople are How you will address customer complaints How you will handle PR inquiries Guidelines for stock and investor relations How you will address copyright infringement Social media dos and don'ts How to respond in conflict situations What employees can and can't share in social media How employees can protect their privacy Compliance expectations and rules

What social media expenses should you track?

Work hours Agency or freelance costs Social media software and services Content development expenses Advertising costs

What is one of the most important things to keep in mind when working with an influencer?

Working with an influencer is not about you. When you choose to work with an influencer, you want it to be a mutually beneficial relationship.

What are the benefits of engaging directly with your social audience?

You can improve your reputation, especially if you are engaging with unhappy individuals. You can answer questions that many of your prospects and customers might have. One-to-one engagement helps you provide additional value to your audience. You can amplify your reach. You can increase customer loyalty.