Stephen Fairley, CEO of The Rainmaker Institute, the US’ largest law firm marketing company that specializes in lead conversion for small law firms and solo professionals, recently published a lengthy and highly detailed slideshow on The National Law Review that made me sit up and take notice: http://bit.ly/19Fc5hE
If you’re too short on time to read the original, here’s a précis of his presentation, “Social Domination: How to Conquer ‘The Big 3’ Social Media Networks” (FB, LI, Tw):
Parts (1) and (2) of his presentation addressed (1) the need use all three of the three social media levers (FB, LI and Tw) complementarily and (2) how to ‘perfect your machinery’ by optimizing the postings you make over each network, so that they succeed by getting read, replied to, and recirculated . . . .
(A) Over Facebook:
Fairley cites the recent statistic that only 20% of the 1500 stories filtered through the average FB user’s news feed, in one day, will actually make its way to that user. Posting options on FB include status updates, links, photos, videos, event-promotion and check-ins.
- To ensure that your posting is included in that feed, he says, you should remove links from your copy: use photos instead. Photos get 53% more likes than a non-photo posting, and 104% more comments than that same text-based posting, with the same information.
- Since photos appeal aesthetically, use the largest image upload possible and reposition timeline photos, so that they appear front and centre in your posting. And highlight horizontal photos by using a horizontal display.
- Post your information to your timeline, before placing it in your album, since the former is more likely to be engaged with, by readers.
- Use titles in your links that are less than 100 characters, as they are more likely to be clicked on.
- Keep your copy succinct, as greater response is elicited by very brief or brief posts, rather than by longer ones.
(B) Over LinkedIn:
Fairley says that there are 3 Million companies which have LI Company pages and that 87% of users trust LI as a source of information that affects decision-making. LI is 277% more effective for lead generation than FB and Tw. Posting options on LI include status updates, links, photos, and video links.
- To ensure that your copy is trusted by readers, include the shortened link (from bit.ly or tinyurl.com) early in the copy of your post, so that it will be tracked more readily. (Or you can use a third-party application (e.g. HubSpot), that automatically tracks all of your social posts.
- Focus your attention on one post per week that will get wider distribution in LinkedIn trends and targeted emails, producing a greater boost in traffic.
- Be active in LI groups—53% of LI users join ten or more groups, but be sure to engage with them, and don’t merely observe, passively.
- Use LI announcements—leads generated on a day when you announce something over LI soar above any other days.
(C) Over Twitter:
Fairley says that while it took three years, two months and one day to pass from the first tweet ever made and the one billionth tweet, now 1 billion tweets are made internationally within a single week! Posting options on Tw are status updates, links, photos and videos.
- Keep your tweets short, in order to get them read. No more than 120-130 characters, tops. Always use shortened links (e.g. by bit.ly).
- Include twitter handles in your tweet and you’ll increase the chances that others will re-tweet you.
- Know that “reply” is not the same as “mentions”—anyone who follows the person being tweeted at, and the tweeter, will be able to see a “reply” tweet. So this is not the forum for confidential comments.
- Tweets with 1-2 hashtags get 21% higher engagement than those with three or more hashtags. So use hashtags economically: tag the most important word that represents the content of your tweet.
- Don’t force putting trending hashtags into your tweets, as 17% of the top 1000 search terms on Twitter “churn over” each hour.
- Include visual content, by directly uploading photos to Twitter: don’t just cite the link. And know that Instagram photos don’t appear on Tw.
- Place links about 25% of the way through your tweet, not at the beginning or at the end. And include them in you profile bio.
- Post tweets at optimal times: Fairley says that the highest number of clicks appear between 1pm and 3pm (Monday to Thursday). The best time to read retweets is 4 pm- 5pm on Friday.
Part (3):
Fairley closes his analysis by reminding us that just broadcasting your social messages is not an effective way to use social media. Engaging others in conversation is also not accomplished when you only monitor your messages or the news feed. As others elsewhere advocate, he stresses that sharing valuable content with a lead will captivate them and promote a genuine interest in learning more about you and your services. Reading up on your lead’s interests and needs will make them feel noticed and engaged.
He also recommends monitoring a discussion via Google Alerts, to notify you when a discussion needs attention. And he says that quarrels over all three platforms are a part of good discussion, so long as all parties can talk about their concerns.
So as not to waste valuable time, Fairley recommends that you spend
45 Social Media Minutes/Day, as follows:
10 mins. – Scan FB wall for comments
1 min. — check FB messages
15 mins. – check for Twitter chatter with your leads and customers
2 mins. – scan Google Alerts for important product mentions
2 mins. – update LI company page
5 mins. – find and flag industry-related LI Today articles
10 mins. – Monitor and respond in LI groups.
If you change this scale, he says, be sure to change all of the components and not just individual parts, in order to properly build that “alliance” among these ‘Big 3’ social networks.
I hope you’ve found useful this précis of Stephen Fairley’s presentation on how to make the most of the ‘Big 3’ social media networks. Since social media is defining the future for the marcom world, executives need to optimally use these networks, to stay afloat. Fairley’s content starts us in the right direction.
How will you improve your social media usage, this week? What goals do you want to achieve, through it?
To read and view Fairley’s slideshow, visit: http://bit.ly/19Fc5hE