3 Things You Must Know About Social Media October 2016

Welcome to episode 305 of Hit the Mic with The Stacey Harris.

Hello, hello, it’s a new month and I’m super excited to share 3 things you must know about social media in October, 2016. We’re going to touch on a few things that are really good anytime, but they’ve come up a lot in either one on one calls, and that actually the second 2 things we’re going to talk about both came up in Hit the Mic Backstage over the course of September. I answered out for them, and now I wanted to bring it to you, because I find when these things come up for me over and over again, it’s because I need to share it with you, so that’s what we’re doing. We’re going to touch on again, 3 things you need to know. Let’s jump right in.

Number 1, this actually came up, I spoke at WordCamp Phoenix, which is a WordPress event in Phoenix, Arizona, this last weekend? Yeah, last weekend. This came up in a couple of conversations I had with people, either they were asking me a question about tools, or just in the course of our conversation about social media. I realized this is something that a lot of us struggle with, and that’s the idea of choosing a tool. I had a lot of questions about, “I am in x, y, z business, what should I use for social media? I do x, y, z, what social media tool should I use?” Here’s the thing, there is exactly 1 tool that everybody should be using. It’s the tool you’ll actually use. I like eClincher, I am a huge fan of eClincher.

I’ve talked about it before on the show, we did a whole episode about it. We’ve done episodes about several tool options, I can link to them in the show notes, I will actually link to all the episodes we’ve done on tools. We have another one actually coming next week, we’re going to be talking about CoSchedule next Friday. Here’s the deal, all of these tools have exactly one flaw. They’re not going to do it for you, you have to actually use them. That’s not a flaw so much as how a tool works. When it comes to choosing a tool, try a bunch on. That’s why they all have trials, and a lot of them have free levels that you can get started on. I think Buffer has a free level, and then you can actually trial the awesome, which is their premium level, which you need for stuff like Pinterest scheduling and access to more networks and stuff like that.

You can actually get a feel for these tools before you have to commit to them for life. Try them on, and use them. If you find that you get in and you hate the interface, and you just can’t function there, choose another tool. There are dozens, if not more. Social media marketing tools out and about and around. They’re only going to work as well as you show up and you use them. Make sure you’re utilizing those tools, try them out. Again, I will have links to a few of my favorites. My go to recommendations, because people still persist and want to know these, my go to is eClincher. I went from using 3 different tools to just eClincher. We’ve been using it for, I want to say like 6 months now, and we love it, it’s fantastic. Hands down my favorite social media tool I’ve ever used.

I’m not saying it’s a tool I’ll use forever, they could make changes, they could not make changes and somebody else could come in and fill gaps that show up in the future. It’s hands down my go to when it comes to social media tools, I love it. eClincher is my recommendation. If you’re looking for something free, Buffer’s a great place to start. Hootsuite’s a great place to start. I think Buffer is more intuitive and more attractive than Hootsuite, but I think Hootsuite’s a bit more robust, especially at the free level. Again, it just depends on what your needs are, so figure out what your needs are, and then pick a tool, and the magic, use the tool. That’s going to be mission critical when it comes to actually seeing results from that investment. Let’s move on, okay.

Number 2, and this is ripped from a one on one call actually that I had with a client this week, because especially going into launches, and big sales seasons for some of you, and then planning, maybe you’re planning a New Year’s launch, I’m guessing you’re planning that now. Don’t get so focused on ads that you forget the value your organic content provides. Sometimes it’s really easy when we go into a launch, or maybe we’re going to be really going hard at something like our membership side, or our passive income program we’ve got, moving into hitting our end of the year money goal. It’s really easy to think, “Okay, so this is what I’m going to spend on ads, this is the ad campaign I’m going to create,” and you go all in, you step up in a big, big way, you go pro with planning. Sometimes you drop the ball on your organic content, or the content you’re not paying to get seen on social.

You can do real disservice to that ads budget when you neglect to put some thought into what your organic content is going to be. Because you want that organic content to really boost up, to really support, to really reiterate the messaging around whatever it is your in launch mode for, whatever it is you’re running ads for. Let’s use a business coach as an example. Maybe I’m running a last launch of the year for a mastermind program that’s going to kickoff January 1, or January 4th, or whatever the first Monday of January is. We’re just going to say January 1, okay. The launch and the sale portion of this, is all going to happen in November and December. Then the program’s going to start in January. There’s going to be some pre-work they get to do to get them started. I’m totally making this up as I go, so if it makes no sense, that’s why.

We’re going to do that, right? Awesome. We have a webinar series, we have an opt-in, and a download, and a tripwire, and all sales funnels lead to purchasing this mastermind. We are aces top to bottom getting people right into the funnel that is this mastermind. We go, “Oh, but we got to make sure that content is going out on the Facebook page and the Twitter accounts. Oh, I’ll just schedule this, this is fine, this works,” keep it going. The disconnect is, is you’re leaving a lot of engagement space without any thought, without any intent, and it doesn’t serve your goal, and it doesn’t serve your community. That’s going to hurt your launch success, because now I’m getting a mixed message. Now I’ve got people I’m connecting with on this thing I just threw up, when really I’m trying to funnel everybody over to this mastermind message that’s geared around hitting their 2017 goals right from the start.

Instead, we want all of the organic content we’re posting, all of the stuff that just goes out to our Facebook news feed isn’t getting any ads money, same with Twitter, LinkedIn, wherever you are. We want that all to support that same messaging. Maybe your mastermind, your business mastermind is all around clarity, goal clarity, and taking action, right? Awesome, sign me up. You want everything you’re posting to speak to clarity, to goals, to achievement, to the pain points at which they’re getting interested in your program to solve. Because that’s going to be a consistency in message, it’s going to be a consistency in what to expect from you, and it’s going to mean that when I see your ad later for the webinar on the same topic, I’m already connecting you and that topic.

Make sure all that content, even other people’s content, even the content you share from other sources, make sure it all feeds that same message, that same thought process, that same opportunity for learning, and that same solution. Because again, it’s a consistency of message, and it connects, even when we’re talking about other people’s content, it connects you, in my mind, with that thing, with that piece of the puzzle if you will, okay. Don’t leave your organic content just sort of off to the side without thought. Give it the same intent, planning, give it the same strategy backed decision making you would your ad campaign that you’re spending money on, because it’s going to help the money you’re spending your ads on. The money you’re spending on ads is going to go further when there is a consistent brand message from all pieces. Cool? All right.

The third thing I want to talk about to kickoff October, I’m pulling it right out of Hit the Mic Backstage. If you haven’t joined us inside of Hit the Mic Backstage, we do office hours once a week, and then inside of our private community you can actually ask me questions anytime. I’m just guaranteed to be there for 2 hours once a week live. Once a month we do office hours with live profile reviews, and so it’s really the best way to get a pro’s eyes on your stuff all the time, your issues, all the time. That’s a really cool thing about it. This is actually pulled right from an office hours question that I got this week, because, well, it’s about the boost button. I give the boost button on Facebook kind of a hard time. If you’ve ever listened to me talk about Facebook ads before, you know that the boost button is not my favorite option.

Somebody in … One of our members inside of Hit the Mic Backstage asked me if the boost button was really bad, or if it could be used for what she needed? Here’s the thing, much like social media tools, there aren’t really bad ones. Well, there are bad ones, but the worst thing that happens is, is that people are using them without thought. It’s a tool, so the same is true with the boost button. The boost button is a tool, if you’re not using the tool correctly, you’re not going to see success. However, if you use a tool correctly, it can be really, really helpful. I in fact, occasionally, do use the boost button, but that’s because I’ve done some of the other work to make sure that that boost button is effective. No, the boost button is not bad. How you are using it in some cases, that’s what’s bad.

How can we use the boost button effectively? Let’s go back to our example where we were talking about, “I’m a business coach, I’m launching a mastermind.” Let’s say the cart actually opens January 1st, and then the program starts in February for the sake of this example. Right now as we’re going into the end of this year, I want to start building a reputation around this topic, so that when I go full on in December, pre-launch, and then in January 1 when the cart opens, you’re already connecting me. Again, that organic content I’m posting is going to land with ease, and the ads I’m posting are going to land with ease. I’m probably going to start talking about some of these messagings, these messages, excuse me, and getting you interested in this stuff, and maybe even getting you on a wait list, or signed up to opt-ins that I can later use to funnel you into the program right now, absolutely. That’s fantastic, let’s do that.

In those cases, occasionally I will use the boost button because of 2 reasons. A, it will get you used to seeing my face so that when I start running ads … Because here’s the deal, we all know organic reaches a small percentage of the total people who like our page. It’s just the way it is guys, embrace it, it’s the way it is. There’s a section of my audience that may not have seen my Facebook posts in a while. They may not have seen my face in a while. I want to make sure that I’m getting in front of them now, so that when my ads come and say, “Hey, come do this thing,” it’s not out of left field. It’s, “Oh yeah,” and they’re already reintroduced to how epically awesome I in fact am. I will use the boost button on some content, and I will drive it to a targeted section of my page likes, and/or a pre-built custom audience.

Now if you don’t know what a custom audience is, we need to chat. Check out Backstage, so we have a whole training on Facebook ads, that will help get clear. You need to have that built. When a Facebook ads boost button is a bad idea, is when you have no idea why you’re doing it, you just want to increase your reach for the sake of increasing your reach, and you haven’t built any kind of audience. I don’t ever want to see you doing, people who like my page and their friends, because here’s the thing, your … The person who likes your page’s third grade teacher does not care about you, and does not care about what you’re talking about. What’s going to happen, is you’re just going to be providing noise to their news feed, and best case scenario, they ignore you. Worst case scenario, they block you, they hide, and that’s now negative feedback on your ad, which is negative feedback on your profile. You don’t want that, you want the ad to be seen, you want the ad to be connecting.

Put it in front of the people who are actually going to care about it. That is going to be critical in making sure that you see actual results with the boosted post, okay. Again, you need to know your goal, and you need to have a custom audience built so you know exactly who it’s getting in front of. That’s so, so important. All right? All right. Short answer, boost button, not bad. How some people use it, very bad. All right. I feel better now that I’ve been clear about that. There you have it, 3 questions. 1 from a speaking engagement, 1 from a client call, and 1 from Hit the Mic Backstage. I feel like that was a really good rounding out of sources of questions this week.

If you want to join us at Hit the Mic Backstage, now really is the time. We’ve got some really cool stuff coming up. In this month we’re doing 2 really cool trainings, 1 on free challenges. If you’ve ever wanted to run a 3 or 5 day free challenge to grow your email list, we’re doing a whole training on how to do that, how to market it, this month inside of Hit the Mic Backstage. I’m so excited for that one. Again, these trainings are members only. Make sure you come and join us. You can cancel absolutely anytime, there’s no long term commitment, and I would love to see you in there, and I would love to get my eyes on your content, and your profile, and all of that good stuff. Come check us out, hitthemicbackstage.com. All right. See you on Tuesday.