Let's face it: social media is here to stay. Successful businesses leverage social media to grow and connect to their ideal clients. Here are a few simple social media tips to help you leverage the platforms and maximize your chances of growth.

1. SOCIAL MEDIA MADE EASY
Ashley Northington
DENOR Brands & Public Relations

2. About Ashley Northington
Ashley Northington is a recovering journalist who is dead set on helping
people, organizations and brands share their stories with the world. She is an
award-winning public relations consultant, entrepreneur, writer and media
connoisseur. She is the founder and director of the boutique public relations
firm, DENOR Brands & Public Relations.
A native of Nashville, Tennessee, Ashley is a graduate of Tennessee State University where she earned a
Bachelor of Arts degree in English and a minor in women’s studies. Ashley also holds a Master of Public
Administration with concentrations in public policy and higher education from Louisiana State University.
Learn more at www.ashleynorthington.com.
Her career spans more than a decade and
includes reporting for The Tennessean, Associated
Press, USA Today and The (Shreveport) Times. She
has also served as a press secretary and public
information officer for the Louisiana Department of
Education, as well as a research analyst at the
Bureau of Governmental Research.
Through her work with DENOR Brands & Public
Relations, Ashley has developed compelling public
relations and branding plans for clients in the
entertainment, lifestyle, business and public service
industries.

3. We’re here to learn how to leverage
social media to grow your business.
Why Are We Here?

4. Let’s face it.
Social media is here to stay. Brands without
a social media presence are likely doomed
to failure. If you want to be successful in
business, you must determine how to
leverage social media to grow your
business and connect to your ideal clients.
The Facts

5. Consider these facts:
http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/s
ocial-media-statistics-2014_b57746
The Facts

6. Creating the WHY
WHY ARE YOU HERE?
Some people will tell you that you should be on
each and every social media platform possible to
maximize your chances of reaching your target
audience.
This could not be farther from the truth.

7. Creating the WHY
YOU SHOULD BE VERY STRATEGIC ABOUT THE
SOCIAL NETWORKS YOU ENGAGE IN.
You should be able to give a solid answer to WHY you or your
brand is engaged on whatever platforms you’ve chosen. You
ought to be able to create a why for each network. If you can’t,
then it’s time to move on.
You don’t need to use each and every one of them. Some may
not work for your business. Some may be to burdensome for you
to manage.

8. Questions to Consider
Is my target audience using this platform?
Are people engaging with me on this network?
Am I engaging others?
Is it relatively easy for me to be consistent?
Am I being consistent?
Can I create opportunities to highlight my product or services?
Why am I using this network?

9. Find Your Place!
Find your place on social media. You may
choose to engage in one social network or a
few. The key is to only engage in networks that
are relevant to your industry or allow the best
opportunity for you to connect with your ideal
clients.

10. Find Your Place!: Actionable
Determine where your target audience
is and engage on those networks only.

11. Social media is all about connecting
with others. Like, follow, monitor
important influencers in your industry
and in your ideal customer pool.
Connect!

12. Connect!: Actionable
Find and follow at least FIVE people
relevant in your industry on your chosen
social media platforms.

13. There are millions of interest-based and
industry-specific groups formed on most
social media platforms. These groups are
filled with users who share content, pose
questions, and most importantly, looking
to do business with experts.
Join!

14. Join!: Actionable
Find and join at least FIVE industry-
specific groups on your chosen social
media platforms. Google+, LinkedIn or
Facebook are great places to start.

15. Engage!
In order to get the most from social
media, you must actually be active on
social media. This means you should be
using your profile to post meaningful
content, not observing the activity of
others.

16. Engage!: Actionable
Be active on social media three times
per week. Start by posting something
relevant TODAY.
Bonus: For each person that signs up on the sign-in sheet or leaves their
business card with me, I will send them a social media schedule to help with
social engagement.

17. Interact!
In order to really grow your presence,
respond to people's comments, pose
questions and participate in discussions
relevant to your specific industry.

18. Interact!: Actionable
Post a question on LinkedIn or Facebook
or Google+ and follow the responses.

19. Share!
It’s not just about you. On social media, you
can afford to share the spotlight every once
and a while. It’s ok to share your links to your
blogs or Facebook posts, but be sure you’re
sharing the links to other influencer blogs and
articles.

20. Share!: Actionable
Share at least two pieces of relevant
content from others each week.

21. Use Hashtags!
Hashtags, we used to call them pound
signs. Hashtags are a way for social media
users to tag their posts with keywords,
which in turn make them easier for
social networks to organize and users to
search. Add hashtags to your post to
highlight keywords and important content.

22. BONUS – How to Use Hashtags
How to Use Hashtags
Using a hashtag in a social post is as simple as adding the ‘#’ sign before a
single word or phrase without spaces or punctuation (numbers are okay).
Don’t string too many words together with a single hashtag.
If you tweet with a hashtag on a public account, anyone who does a
search for that hashtag may find your tweet.
Don’t #spam #with #hashtags. Don’t over-tag a single tweet.
Use hashtags only on tweets relevant to the topic.
Create your own hashtag to promote a specific product, event or service.

23. Use Hastags!: Actionable
Use hastags.org or whatthetrend.com or
twubs.com to identify hashtags relevant to
your industry. Start tagging your posts with
those hashtags. As an extra step, you can also
tag the location in which you are interested in
doing business and the location in which your
business is based.

24. Jump In!
You don’t have to be invited to the party on
Twitter or Facebook or Google+ to make a
contribution. If you see one of your followers or
followees having a conversation you know
something about – jump in! It’s perfectly fine
to add your own flavor to the conversation.

25. Jump In!: Actionable
Use hashtags to identify interesting
conversations and jump in!

26. Listen!
Most of us think we're joining social media to
broadcast all of the wonderful news
happening at our respective companies.
Not true.
Social media has given us the opportunity to
talk to more people, but it has given us an
equal opportunity to listen to more people.

27. Listen!: Actionable
Browse the content and interactions in the
groups you join. Search hashtags to read the
comments associates with it. See what
interests your ideal client and your peers. Tailor
your content based on their interests. Listen to
see what issues they’re experiencing and see
if you and your business can solve their
problem.

28. Bonus
Numbers don’t lie, but fake ones do.
It’s important to gain a large following.
However, its more important to have a following
that’s connected and engaged in our posts –
even if it’s smaller than what you’d like.

29. Here’s Your Chance…
Ask Me Anything.
Do You Have Any Questions?

30. Find Me
Ashley Northington
DENOR Brands & Public Relations
700 Craighead Street, Suite 107
Nashville, Tennessee 37204
Office: 1.855.809.6697
Email: info@denorbrands.com
Twitter & Facebook: @ashnorthington | @DENORPR
ashleynorthington.com | denorbrands.com