Social Media Building Your Brand - Digital Journey September 2017

September 2017
BUILDING YOUR BRAND
SOCIAL MEDIA

Social Media – Building Your Brand September 2017 Page 2 of 15
We’ll help you achieve more by using the Internet, online
tools, and digital technology more effectively.
There’s nothing we love better than helping people grow their
understanding of the online world, and adapt their businesses to
survive and prosper in the digital age.
We’re about empowering and enabling people to try new things,
and learn to use online tools and digital technology to their
advantage.
The Digital Journey Team

Globally
• More than half the world now uses a smartphone
• Almost two-thirds of the world’s population now has a mobile phone
• More than half of the world’s web traffic now comes from mobile phones
• More than half of all mobile connections around the world are now ‘broadband’
• More than one in five of the world’s population shopped online in the past 30 days.
SCENE SETTING
THE WORLD HAS CHANGED

New Zealand
Every two years, Auckland University of Technology and the World Internet Project (WIP) release
their latest research on the Internet behaviours of New Zealanders.
• 91% of New Zealanders are active Internet users. 70% spend 2 hours or more per day online,
with 58% spending 3 hours or more. 95% of all users browse the web and 85% visit social
networks.
• Laptops and mobile devices are the most popular devices for accessing the Internet. According to
the research, 75% obtained Internet access using a laptop, while 74% used a mobile phone and
70% used a desktop computer.
• Significant increases in online Government interactions demonstrate that both services and
consumer behaviours are maturing. 52% of New Zealanders logged in to secure areas on
Government or Council websites, and 55% paid taxes, fines or licenses online in the past year.
• Interestingly, more commercial Internet activities such as online seeking of product information,
buying, banking and paying bills are at similar levels to 2013. This may indicate a level of
saturation, in which case organisations can begin to focus a little less on onboarding, and more
on improving the experience.
• The younger a person is, the greater their Internet use. However, don’t think it’s just about the
millennials – for those under 45 years of age, 90% rate the Internet as an important or very
important source of information.
• According to eMarketer. New Zealand ranked fourth among all markets in the region in 2016, with
more than 79% of New Zealand’s population currently online.
SMBs in the digital race for the customer – Deloitte 2016
Australian and New Zealand data:
• Approx. 50% access social networking weekly
• 24% use social media to find info about a business
• 20% use social media to research products & services
• NZ & Aussie SMEs are using social media in a wider variety of ways…
o (customer engagement, customer service, targeted offers)
o Generated increased revenue of more than $30,000 a year

What does it mean for marketing?
Recently, www.smartinsights.com asked:
"Select one marketing activity that you think will give your business the biggest incremental uplift in leads
and sales in 2017 (or your clients if you work for an agency or as a consultant)".
From the 2,352 responses from marketers around the world:
• Big Data (including market and customer insight and predictive analytics)
• Content marketing Communities (Branded niche or vertical communities)
• Conversion rate optimisation (CRO) / improving website experiences
• Display (Banners, social media including retargeting and programmatic)
• Internet of Things (IoT) marketing applications
• Marketing Automation (incl behavioural Email marketing and personalisation)
• Mobile marketing (Mobile advertising, site development and apps)
• Paid search marketing, e.g. Google AdWords Pay Per Click
• Online PR (including influencer outreach)
• Partnerships including affiliate and co-marketing
• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO or organic search)
• Social media marketing including Social CRM and Social Customer Care
• Wearables (e.g. Apple Watch, activity trackers, augmented reality)

Using social media as part of your marketing toolbox can enable you to reach
more customers while enhancing relationships with existing customers.
Facebook is a casual, friendly online environment. Getting your business on Facebook offers many
advantages including branding, customer engagement, community building, market research and
targeting, low cost marketing and SEO benefits - helping your business to be found online. It has the largest
blend of demographics of any social media platform. You can find plenty of useful, easy to understand
information on using Facebook to market your business here.
Twitter is a public forum where anyone can read and share messages. Made up of 140 character messages
called 'Tweets' Twitter members can broadcast tweets and follow other users to receive their tweets. This
gives businesses a way to communicate directly with present and future customers in real time.
Benefits include the ability to broadcast messages to thousands of people, instead of just one. With
approximately 215 million active users, Twitter can be a great way to connect with your customers and
get their feedback.
If you are not familiar with Twitter, take a look around and review how your competitors are using the
platform. If you’re still unsure whether it’s the right fit for your business, Twitter provides a guide on the
basics, information on marketing with Twitter, and some success stories.
SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS
OVERVIEW OF KEY

LinkedIn is a social networking site for people in professional occupations, it is a social media platform
suited to B2B (Business-to-business) marketing. LinkedIn is of a more conservative nature when compared
to Facebook or Twitter. Users of this channel are generally seeking professional and informative content.
Setting up a LinkedIn company page can raise brand awareness, promote job vacancies and educate
potential customers about your products and services. You can use LinkedIn to generate business leads
and strengthen customer relationship by sharing company updates. To find out more about how to set up
a LinkedIn company page, and how to showcase your business on LinkedIn, take a look at their online
resources.
Google+ is a social network and more, it integrates the entire Google toolkit, and carries significant weight
for improving organic search visibility. It makes sharing and managing content across all Google services
easier. Google+ is a powerful tool for connecting with your customers, whether they are looking for your
business on Search, Maps, Google+ or mobiles devices. Google+ pages perform well in Google search
results, displaying key information such as your hours of operation and contact details.
You can also use your Google+ page to build a loyal fan base; customers can show their appreciation with
ratings and reviews, endorse your content and re-share your posts. Get started by creating a Google+
page.
YouTube is the most popular video broadcasting website, with over 1 billion unique visitors every month.
YouTube is also the largest search engine after Google — YouTube videos are around 50 times more likely
to show on the first page of search results as part of the blended results shown by Google.
This social media channel could be right for your business if you can visually showcase your products or
services, or would like to establish yourself as a leader in your field. YouTube is a powerful platform to tell
your businesses story, and to let your customers tell their stories about your product or service. The
National Business Review provides an article on the many advantages of YouTube. To find out more about
how to get started on YouTube take a look at the Creator Hub.

Instagram is a visual marketing platform. Creating a brand profile on Instagram can increase your brands
visibility to an engaged audience. Photo and video content is a powerful medium for connecting with
customers and creating an emotional response.
Photos can bring your products to life. Crowdsourcing photos and videos of customers using your product
can be a powerful way to connect with your audience. Instagram is a lot like window-shopping on a phone
or tablet, showcase pictures of current and upcoming products to build brand awareness and increase the
visibility of your latest offerings. The Instagram Help Centre provides a guide to the basics of getting your
business on Instagram.
Pinterest is known for its significant reach within the female demographic as 42% of online women use
Pinterest. It’s a visual channel which displays beautiful images - this can be great for businesses who have
great images of their products (especially home decor, living hacks, art, food, fashion, garden
design). People can store images on boards they create around their own interests. Clicking an image
takes you to a website.
Snapchat allows you to send videos and images, which disappear after a maximum of 10 seconds. Or a
collection of images (called a story) which disappear after 24 hours. 86% of SnapChat users are under 35,
so it's great if you want to target millennials. Check out what's the point of Snapchat to learn more. Also
take a look at 10 ways to use Snapchat for business.

Our simple pragmatic approach will help you create a plan that doesn't sit on the
shelf gathering dust, but helps you get the results you want.
Marketing through social media has become an integral part of the modern marketing mix. Social media
marketing on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (and many others) is helping businesses build better
relationships with existing customers and reach new ones.
Social media marketing often incorporates content marketing. Content marketing provides a customer
with value in a way that traditional marketing does not. Customers get consistent, regular, useful
information in such a way they build a relationship with your business, which in turn leads to trust, loyalty
and sales.
Why do I need a plan?
Taking the time to write a plan will help ensure that your social media use will benefit your business. It
will also enable you to:
• Consider risks and benefits of each tool and select the one(s) appropriate for your business.
• Know where you are heading and define what you hope to achieve through using social media.
Strategic vs operational
At Digital Journey, our approach is to write a social media plan which details your social media
parameters (think strategic) and a publishing schedule which contains the details of each social media
post or message (think operational).
Getting started
To help small/medium businesses we have compiled a simple approach to creating a social media plan.
Step 1: Define your target audience
Who are you trying to reach? Where do they spend their time online? How can you help them?
SOCIAL MEDIA PLAN
CREATING A
SOCIAL MEDIA PLAN

Step 2: Identify your objectives
These should be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and within a time frame). Define
what it is you want to achieve through the use of social media. For example, do you want to increase sales,
build your customer database or create brand awareness? Ideally your objectives should tie in with the
overall goals of your business.
Step 3: Determine the types of content you will produce
Which would best achieve your objective/s? A competition, how-to guide, case study, info-graphic, blog
post, instructional or product video etc.
Step 4: Identify your channels
Think about where your target audience spend their time online – where are they in a buying mindset?
Step 5: Map out your timeline
Remember to be consistent and focus on quality over quantity. The detail, such as publish dates, should
be included in a publishing schedule.
Step 6: Document how you intend to measure success (and failure)
This may be webpage/social media stats, emails opened, documents downloaded etc. Before getting
started it may be useful to audit your existing social media accounts. This information can be used as a
baseline from which you can judge the success (or not) of any new activities.
Creating a publishing schedule
Once your plan has been defined, you can use it to create a publishing schedule. This is essentially a list
of your planned social media posts or messages, and can take some of the stress out of managing your
social media activities.
Stuck on what to write about or how to write it?
For your plan to be successful it should generate a two-way conversation. As well as being shareable,
your content should trigger discussions and encourage comments or action of some kind. Consider the
issues in your industry, questions your customers are asking, and any current trends relevant to your
products, services or customers.
Try to create value without overselling. Consider providing discounts and information around your
products or services. When used wisely, photo and video content can be much more engaging and
effective than text. Social media isn't a space for hard selling. Your tone is likely to be more informal and
conversational. Again, keep your customers in mind. What would they expect on this social media
channel? Decide on the tone and keep it consistent throughout your posts or communications.
Remember, your social media plan should not sit on the shelf gathering dust. It should constantly be
changing as new social media channels emerge, objectives are achieved, new challenges arise and your
metrics identify successes and failures.

Heard of user generated content (UGC)? It's the pictures, tweets, videos, blogs
posts, that others say about your product or service. It's about others promoting
your brand, often without even realising it.
UGC is often read, watched and shared by potential consumers. Consider these stats:
• 93% of consumers find UGC helpful when making a purchasing decision.
• User generated videos on YouTube get 10x more views than content created and uploaded by the
actual brand.
• 70% of consumers trust online peer reviews and recommendations more than professional
content and copy.
• 64% of customers will actively seek out online reviews before making a purchasing decision.
Still not convinced UGC is important for your business? Then check out these 38 mind-blowing stats about
UGC.
How to encourage UGC
A common way to encourage UGC is to provide your customers with the ability to review or rate your
products and services. For more information on reviews and how to encourage them, check out online
ratings and reviews.
Let's take a minute to consider why consumers post content. Often, it's to share their experiences, have
the chance to win something, or sometimes to build a connection with like-minded people.
How can your organisation tap into this?
Have a look at what type of material your consumers are already sharing - can you use this to your
advantage? Search social media sites such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter by hashtag and location
to see what (if anything) has been posted about your brand.
GETTING GREAT
USER GENERATED CONTENT

Below are some ideas on how you can encourage UGC for your business:
• Consider having a photo booth or backdrop that your consumers can take a photo against. The
backdrop should identify your brand in some way. If it's a great photo opportunity then users will
often tag your brand when they share the image on their social media sites.
• Create a hashtag for your brand. Hashtags are widely used in social media to categorise posts and
search topics of interest. By encouraging consumers to post photos with your hashtags, you will
have an easy way to view the photos that are being taken and it gives potential consumers the
opportunity to search through these photos for an inside look at your product or service. If you
have a physical location make sure you have signage reminding people about your hashtag.
• Run a competition to encourage UGC. It might be a photo contest, where users are required to
post a picture of themselves using your product or service. Maybe you can curate the best photos
on your social media site (with their permission of course) to create a beautiful gallery of your
brand.
• A simple way to get started is to send an email after each order asking if everything was OK and
requesting that the customer review their purchase.
Just be clear you know from the start who owns the content created on your forums, posts, etc. We think
the best way is to assume that without clear prior agreement the user expects to own the content they
post on the internet. If you want to use their content in some way, make sure you get permission, most
will be flattered. However, using content without permission could anger loyal followers.
In summary
UGC can build trust in your brand and leverage your relationship with your loyal customers. There is a lot
of content on the Internet and examples of successful UGC campaigns. We think this guide
from SproutSocial is a good place to start.

Content marketing delivers value to potential customers in a way that traditional
marketing does not.
Traditional marketing channels are becoming less effective. We fast forward through TV adverts, and surf
the web in such a way we absorb the information we are interested in, often automatically filtering out
the ads at the top and side of webpages. That’s why many businesses are turning to content marketing.
Content marketing can provide your existing and potential customers with value in a way that traditional
marketing cannot.
What is content marketing?
Content marketing is about providing relevant and useful information to customers to build trust,
relationships, sales and loyalty. Often content marketing is used to position a business as a leader in its
field or as an authority in a certain area.
Because of the evolution of marketing channels, and the flexibility and immediacy that social media
provides, content marketing is often delivered through social media channels.
Create a plan
To improve your chances of success we recommend developing a content marketing plan and activity
schedule. Ideally, this would be designed to support an overarching marketing strategy.
Because content marketing and social media planning often go hand-in-hand, the plan can be known by
different names (content marketing plan, content plan, social media plan, social media strategy, or
content strategy etc). Regardless of the name, a good plan should include:
• Your content marketing objectives
• Your target audience/s
• The type of content that is best for each of your target audiences and the best format (tutorials,
guides, interviews, info-graphics, video, curated content etc)
• Who will be responsible within your organisation for creating the content and any additional
resources or budget required
ADD MORE VALUE
WITH CONTENT MARKETING

• A list of the promotional channels you will use to publish each piece of content (email list/s, social
media, relationships with trusted sources)
• A timeline on when each piece of content will be drafted, finalised and published
• How you will measure the success or failure of each campaign.
When thinking of a plan or strategy we often remember behemoth documents that take months to create
and then sit on a shelf gathering dust… the memory alone is enough to put you off getting started.
You don’t need a large formal plan, but you should take the time to think through and write down your
objectives, who you are trying to reach, how you are going to do it and what your measures of success
will be. If you don’t have a plan you risk spending hours creating ineffective content, or simply doing
nothing at all.
Read How to Develop a Social Media Plan for easy to follow advice on creating a social media plan and
links to useful templates.

Free online assessments and resources / 1:1 Coaching / Partnerships
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Each assessment will provide you with a tailored action plan and
priority list showing what steps you need to take to get the most
out of the Internet, online tools and digital technology - no matter
who you are.
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Your tailored action plan and priority list will include useful and easy
to understand information on different digital topic areas and links
to relevant free resources on our digital resources website.
WHERE TO NEXT?

Social Media Building Your Brand - Digital Journey September 2017

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Social Media Building Your Brand - Digital Journey September 2017