Irregardless, here are 4 simple things you can implement that help you track leads, sales and social media ROI.

1) Offer Coupons & Secret Codes

Through your social media pages, offer secret deals or codes that people can use upon checkout. If your website doesn’t have a checkout and you’re more of a service-based business, tell your followers to “mention this post” upon payment to receive [10% off, free shipping, a coke, etc.].

2) Link to Landing Pages with Registration Forms

If you want to gather leads from your social media channels, then create custom landing pages with registration forms and share those links out via your social media outlets.

3) Create Social Media-Specific Phone Numbers

Are a lot of your sales done over the phone? Then make sure you give Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. their own phone numbers for people to call. That way, when the call comes in, you know what platform is proving your social media ROI.

4) Utilize Features in Google Analytics

Obviously, if you’re a marketer, you should be using Google Analytics. One overlooked feature is there is a “Social” link under the “Referrals” tab on the left of the page, and Google Analytics will show you what platform is bringing in the most traffic to your site.

Note: some people have found that Google Analytics misses about 30% of social referral traffic (Tweet this)

Also, don’t forget to set up goals in your Google Analytics. For instructions on how to create goals, see the tutorial on Google Analytics Help page

What other insanely easy ways have you shown social media ROI? Tell me what I missed in the comments.

–Lance Brown

Follow Lance on Twitter: @WTWH_SocialGuru

Little did I know that it would start a big debate in many LinkedIn groups I’m in as to whether or not I was holding the bar too high for hiring a social media marketing intern.

With questions such as:

Can you explain Facebook EdgeRank and its importance?
What is the difference between a LinkedIn Group and a LinkedIn Page and the benefit of each?
What is the most searched term in YouTube and why do you think it’s important?

I didn’t think I was out of line.

I got many comments along the lines of:

“You ‘re looking for more than an interns can offer”
“Interns don’t always have the skill set and are seeking real-world experience”
“You’re being unfair to a pool of interns”

Am I?

I argue that even with an internship, you need the basic skill set to do the job you’re applying for. If someone was interviewing for an accounting internship, would it suffice that they knew how to add and subtract? Or would you want the candidate to know at least some of the basics such as the difference between a credit and a debit or know what COGS stands for and its role in accounting?

My money is on the latter.

Just like simple math (adding & subtracting), anyone can post to Facebook and Twitter. For me to consider you as a serious candidate, I need you to demonstrate a basic understanding of “why” and not just “how”.

I don’t expect interns to have all of the answers, but this has opened my eyes to the question:

“Is it time for Universities to begin teaching the intricacies of social media marketing?”

While I don’t think that social media marketing is extensive enough to merit its own degree, I do think that marketing has had such a monumental shift that an “Online Marketing” degree should be taught and offered by most major universities as a part of their curriculum.

Online marketing is very, very different from traditional marketing and requires a large and vast knowledge of many things such as content marketing, search engine optimization, landing page optimization, community management, all in addition to social media marketing.

I mean, come on, if you can get a niche degree in Sports Marketing, why haven’t we caught up to the times?

What are your thoughts? Has online and social media marketing become so different from traditional marketing practices that it should be offered as a separate degree? Let me know in the comments.

–Lance Brown

Follow Lance on Twitter: @WTWH_SocialGuru

One of the subjects that I found most informative were the sessions on Pinterest because I know I’m not alone when I admit that I under-utilize this social media platform.

So, without further ado, here are some Pinterest best practices that I took away from Social Media Marketing World 2013.

Pinterest Best Practices

1) Be A Creator of Pins 

Over 80% of pins on Pinterest are repins, and the moral of the story there is be a part of the 20% and be a creator of pins, not just a re-pinner. (Tweet this)

2) Fill Your Boards and Pins With Keywords

This may sound like a no-brainer, but its astonishing to see how may people whiff on this point. Being found just by browsing can be very difficult, and its more beneficial to get in front of the persons eyes who are typing your keywords into the Pinterest search box.

Add text over your images to give your image context as well as increase its engagement rate.

3) Add Text to your Images

Don’t rely on people reading your pin’s description because chances are that they won’t. Adding text on top of your image can increase engagement with your post and can often put it in context. (Tweet this)

4) Make Tall Pins

Tall pins tend to get higher click-through-rates as well as more repins, so when you can, try and make your pins at least 800 pixels tall.   (Tweet this)

5) Pin Things Other Than your Products

There are a wide variety of things you can post that can drive traffic to your site as well as add value to the user. You can post things such as:

• 

  Pinning tutorial images can increase your click-through rate upwards 40%

  Infographics – Don’t have any? www.infogr.am is a great, free tool that provides infographic templates that are simple and easy to create

• Checklists – People love visual checklists and will repin them to save them for later
• Tutorials – Tutorial pins often have a collage or sequence of photos demonstrating how to do something. Tutorial pins often see a 40% (or more) higher click-through-rate compared to other pins (Tweet this)
• Blog Posts – This is a great way to gain traction to your blog. Find images related to your post (you can google non-royalty stock photos to find some) and don’t forget to overlay text on top of the photo describing the post or its title
• Videos – Yes, you can pin videos on your boards as well as images

6) Showcase your Products or Services In Action

When people are buying jewelry, for example, no one wants to see how it looks on a table, they want to see how it will look on them. So take the time to place your product or service in action and take a picture of it.

7) Don’t be afraid to upload your pins in bulk

Now you have to be careful with this one because you don’t want to go and post 300+ photos and absolutely clog someone’s Pinterest feed, but don’t be afraid to upload maybe 10 at a time. Doing this will help your products be seen as they will be grouped together as if it were its own category within the user’s feed.

A special thanks to all those whom I met and learned from at #SMMW13.

-Lance Brown

Follow Lance on Twitter: @WTWH_SocialGuru

What are your favorite quotes about the social media field? I’d love for you to share them with me in the comments below or tweet them to me @WTWH_SocialXprt.

1. Boost your response time
How-to: @tag fans, companies when commenting back

2. Track timing and frequency of posts
How-to: Find your high-frequency windows

3. Include one call to action per post
How-to: Use words such as share, comment, like, click here, sign-up and join us

4. Run a contest
How-to: Ask fans to submit cover photos for something relevant to your industry and feature that cover photo for one week

5. Vary content type
How-to:  Post pictures, videos, press releases and blogs

6. Test audience targeting
How to: Select the image of a target and choose your target audience when posting to Facebook

7. Spotlight your fans
How-to: Host Fanpage Friday – Let your fans promote their own page (good to do before a big announcement to boost EdgeRank) 

8. Build an interest list
How-to: Include public profiles and fan pages all centered around a relevant topic

9. Host events
How-to: Reply to questions between certain hours on a certain day of the week

10. Pay for more reach
How-to: Facebook advertising, video advertising, promoted posts

Follow Heather on Twitter: @WTWH_SocialXprt

And as always the Design World Network of sites are optimized for mobile viewing on all mobile devices.

Go here if your looking to view our print magazine digital editions - these are digital renditions of Design World, Solar Power World and Windpower Engineering & Development magazines. These non-Flash technology editions display the digital edition beautifully in the browser without the need for plug-ins or Flash. The digital editions can be viewed on any modern, web-enabled device, such as a desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

I’ve compiled a list of ten do’s and don’ts of social media best practices for business.

Do’s

1) Use Social Media as a Window

Social media gives businesses a great opportunity for people and customers to connect with them on a different emotional level. Don’t be afraid to use social media as a channel to show your company’s personality or culture. You can post pictures of company parties, service projects, NCAA tournament brackets, competitions, etc. Any chance that you can make your company more human via social media, take it.

2) Post Regularly

An unwritten rule of social media is be consistent. As a marketer, you learn a lot about generating and maintaining TOMA (Top of Mind Awareness). Posting regularly will help maintain TOMA with your customers and fan base and will help build your credibility as a good source of information in your industry (assuming you’re posting great content).

Opinions vary on how often “regularly” is, but I think a good balance would be once an hour on Twitter and once per day on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and others.

3) Make Social Media a Habit

Along the lines of posting regularly, whoever manages your social media profiles should make checking social media as much as a habit as checking your email (Tweet this). You should be checking your social media profiles twice per day, minimum; I recommend checking it in the morning when you get in, then later in the day as you’re preparing to leave.

4) Stay Classy

Whenever there is negative or conversation on a particular topic or even around your brand, companies MUST take the high road and stay positive. Don’t use social media to belittle others or your competition; if you do, it will only end badly for you.

5) Track Your Successes

Successes can be defined hundreds of ways, and your definition of “success” should be tied to your company’s social media goals and plan. Whether it be number of fans, retweets, or engagement levels, make sure you’re recording it.

Don’ts

1) Be “That Guy”

Don’t be like “that guy” and jump into the conversation, beating your chest and saying how great you are.

You know when you go to a party and there’s always that one person that everyone knows is there, but no one knows why they’re there or who invited them; then the next day you’re driving down the road you see them and you say, “Hey, that’s THAT GUY!”.

Don’t be “that guy” who is rude (post derogatory/offensive content) , loud (post way too frequently), or arrogant (only talk about yourself).

2) Ignore the Chatter

Whether you believe it or not, the reality is that people are talking about your brand, and chances are, they’re doing it on social media. When people tweet at you or write/comment on your Facebook wall, the worst thing you can do is ignore them. You don’t need an elaborate response, a simple “like” of their comment/post or “favorite” of their tweet can suffice.

3) Be Mr. Know-It-All

Your company doesn’t sell everything that’s ever been made, so don’t post about everything as if you’re expert. I don’t follow ESPN to get updates on politics and I don’t like Procter & Gamble’s page to hear their opinion on Kim Cardashian.

Know your audience and stay within your niche and what you know best (Tweet this).

4) Beg

Contrary to the opinion of some social media experts, I have the belief that it’s a social media faux pas to ask your Twitter followers to go and “Like” your Facebook page or visa-versa. Here’s an idea, if you want more people to share your posts and tweets, then create more shareable content!!! (Tweet this)

5) Be an Egghead

Don’t be an egg-head, fill out your profile

Being an egg-head is a figurative term for not having a fully filled-out profile (i.e. Twitter users with no profile picture). Again, this is boils down to if you’re going to be in social media, be fully-invested in doing so and commit to it.

Your company’s social media pages are in fact secondary websites. You wouldn’t leave your primary website under construction or incomplete with missing text and/or broken images, and you shouldn’t accept any less from your social media platforms. More often than not, consumers will see your social media pages long before they ever visit your website, so you don’t want to give them a bad first-impression.

Taking the time to make sure your page looks good and stands out will go a long way. Don’t be an egghead, just do it (Tweet this).

Have more suggestions that I missed? Let me know in the comments.

-Lance Brown

Follow Lance on Twitter: @WTWH_SocialGuru

In the past few weeks, I’ve been interviewing for a social media internship and I’ve been amazed at the lack of real social media talent that’s out there.

Everyone thinks that just because they have a Facebook page and half-complete LinkedIn profile, they’re a suitable candidate for a social media manager position.

News flash: you’re not.

When you’re hiring a social media manager for your business, the biggest mistake you can make is hiring a recent college grad with no real social media experience. Just because someone is young, does not mean that they have the business acumen for social media.

If you want a good social media manager, here are six base questions that I believe every social media manager should be able to answer with little to no difficulty.

1) Can you explain Facebook EdgeRank and its importance?

Social media managers who use Facebook in their social media strategy need to have a good understanding of Facebook EdgeRank  and how it affects your posting strategy (Read: What is Facebook EdgeRank?).

The Facebook EdgeRank Algorithm

Desired Answer: Facebook EdgeRank is the algorithm that Facebook uses to determine what items populate your and your followers’ Facebook news feed. It gives more weight to videos and pictures over text-only status updates, factors in how old the post is, and determines whether or not your fan would be interested in this content based on their previous interactions with your page. Understanding EdgeRank very important because it determines which of your page’s posts get in front of your fans’ eyes. You need your content to be engaging because if the fans disregard that post, it can ruin your page’s affinity score with that fan, decreasing the chance that they will see your future posts.

2) What is something that most every tweet should include and why?

When someone follows your brand on Twitter, everyone does so with some sort of self-interest (i.e. give-a-ways, information, entertainment, etc). Your tweets should be geared to giving the audience something, and one thing is for sure, that something is not to hear “how great you are” (Read: How to Properly Mingle in the World’s Largest Cocktail Party Called Twitter).

Desired Answer: Most every tweet should include a link to something; whether it be an article, a page to enter a give-a-way, or a photo/video, tweets should be thought of as a launchpad to something else where your followers can find more information about the tweet. Putting a link in your tweets adds value to your followers and it gives them the opportunity to engage with your tweet & brand. If your link is useful and/or desirable to them, they’ll undoubtedly pay even more attention to you once you’ve proven yourself as a good source of whatever it is they want.

3) What is the difference between a LinkedIn Group and a LinkedIn Page and the benefit of each?

Most brands should set up a Company Page over a Group on LinkedIn

I frequently see brands set up LinkedIn group pages when in fact they should have set up a page instead (and visa-versa). While most LinkedIn pages sit stagnant, a savvy social media manager will utilize this oft-ignored resource.

Desired Answer: A LinkedIn group is in essence a forum hosted on LinkedIn where users can ask questions, talk, and swap ideas around a particular brand or product. Groups should usually be used by very large brands that have a lot of discussion around their product. Just because you have a group doesn’t mean that people want to come and talk about how great you are, that’s not realistic.

LinkedIn pages, on the other hand, should be set up by everyone, even if you already have a group. Pages are great for keeping your followers up-to-date with new product information, pertinent industry news, new jobs available, etc. Companies should set up a LinkedIn page and list their products and services, but keep it general, you don’t want to re-create your entire website.

4) What is the most searched term in YouTube and why do you think it’s important?

Every brand and social media manager ought to have a YouTube strategy whereas it is the 2nd largest search engine in the world behind Google. Video has become a vital piece of content marketing and will continue to be so in the foreseeable future.

Desired Answer: The most searched term is “How to”. This signifies that people are mostly using YouTube to learn: learn how to fix or solve a problem, learn how to do their job better; learn how to make something, etc. Companies should create at least some videos that answer common questions within their industry with the titles of the videos matching the verbiage of the question (for example, the title of a video could/should be “How to make a cake”, etc.) to help with branding and positioning.

5) How should Google+ communities be used in a social media strategy?

Google+ communities are relatively new and vastly underutilized, but they can be a good resource for link clicks and site traffic.

Desired Answer: Google+ communities are a great way to find conversations around your industry and begin engaging with users in that community. These communities are great places to find new customers and introduce them to your brand or product. Brands should be active in these communities, but as always, they shouldn’t post only about themselves. 

6) As a Social Media Manager, what do you see as some up-and-coming social media platforms?

Google hopes to change how we see reality with its new “Project Glass”

This question is a great question to learn whether or not the candidate has their finger on the pulse of the social media industry. A good social media manager should stay up-to-date with what’s new, what’s the buzz, and how their social media strategy will possibly be affected by the changning landscape. This question’s desired answer (below) will obviously vary depending on what’s new when you’re interviewing, so it will be on you, the interviewer, to have at least a vague idea of what’s new in social media.

Desired Answer: As of today (March 29, 2013), probably some of the newer and under-utilized platforms may be MySpace and Twitter’s Vine. Another thing that B2C companies ought to pay close attention to isn’t necessarily a platform, but Google’s “Project Glass” (Read: How Augmented Reality How and Will affect Your Social Media Strategy). 

What other questions would you ask? Have you had any struggles finding good social media talent? Let me know in the comments.

-Lance Brown

Follow Lance on Twitter: @WTWH_SocialGuru

No one has been able to come up with a one-size-fits-all solution, and I attribute that primarily to the fact that everybody has different goals of what they want from social media.

Below, I’ve posted nine simple calculations that can help you in your endeavor to measure social media ROI. These equations can help you put some tangible numbers next to your social media efforts.

WARNING: Basic math will be required

(note: some calculations may say tweets/posts or shares/retweets, but they can be switched out in any equation and some are platform-specific)

How to Calculate Social Media ROI

#1

Problem: Do people value your content enough to share it?

Solution: Total tweets÷ Total retweets  = Retweets per Tweet

#2

Problem: Does your content drive desired actions?

Solution: Total tweets ÷ Total tweets clicked = Clicks per tweet

#3

Problem: Are your customers engaged with your content?

Solution: People are talking number (from Facebook analytics) ÷ Number of Facebook fans = % of fans who are engaging with your content

#4

Problem: Are people converting their interest in your brand?

Solution: Number of quitters (from useqwitter.com) ÷ Number of Twitter followers = % of Twitter followers who have unsubscribed

#5

Problem: What type of content should you be posting?

Solution: Total Facebook posts (of one type) ÷ Total engagement (views, shares, etc.) = Engagements per post

#6

Problem: Do you have the best follow to follower ratio?

Solution: Total followers ÷ Total people you are following = Twitter following ratio

#7

Problem: Are your customers committed to you?

Solution: Total Twitter followers not following you back (use manageflitter.com) ÷ Total followers = % of Twitter followers not following you back

#8

Problem: Are people sharing your content?

Solution: Go to search.twitter.com and enter “RT @Your_Handle” = Total number of times your content was retweeted

#9

Problem: How many people are seeing your content?

Solution: Number of people who have seen your Facebook post ÷ Your Facebook fans = % of follower who have seen your post

-Lance Brown

Follow Lance on Twitter: @WTWH_SocialGuru

“How do we use it?”

“How do you show ROI?”

“What’s its long-term viability?”

While no one has the concrete answers to these questions, one thing you need to determine the future is to remember its past.

When considering whether or not social media will “last”, Copyblogger makes an interesting claim that social media is not anything new and that you can trace social media clear back to 1971.

Depending on you look at and define “social media”, they may be right.

Social sharing is not a new concept, it has been around for decades. And surprisingly, most online social sharing still happens outside of social networks. (Tweet this)

With that in mind, social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+, etc. are just new avenues to do what we’ve always wanted to do online — exchange ideas and information.

“Social media” isn’t going away anytime soon; it may change sites or avenues, but our desire to share information to our personal network will never die.

-Lance Brown

Follow Lance on Twitter: @WTWH_SocialGuru