Must Know Skills To Master Social Media?

When most of us use social media, we're goofing off.

But for a lucky subset of America, being on Facebook, X and the rest . . . is part of the job! Which begs the question: What exactly do you need to master, if you want a corporation or nonprofit to hire you as a social media wizard?

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The right way to find out is to cull through mountains of job ads, taking note of the exact skills being sought. That's what Zippia, a career-resources site, has done. The result: a fascinating new list of the 15 social-media skills or competencies that sit at the top of employers' lists.

The most in-demand skill: knowing your way around Facebook Insights. More than $20 billion a year is spent on Facebook advertising -- which creates plenty of work for people who help run such initiatives. If "targeting," "optimization" and "cost-per-click" intrigue you, that's a good sign.

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Bear in mind: We've rapidly moved past the days when collecting a lot of "likes" or followers was enough to convince your bosses that a social-media presence on Facebook was a success. The Facebook dashboard for creating and tracking social-media campaigns is as intricate as a church organ. Success means being able to work it carefully -- and boldly.

The second most-demanded skills relate to Twitter, which can be a lot more turbulent than the orderly world of Facebook advertising. Some companies achieve winning results with offbeat Twitter campaigns. What's universal, though, is a desire to monitor Twitter for signs of customer indignation ... and to have crisis-minded specialists on hand who can deal with unexpected disruption.

Rounding out the list of the five most in-demand skills: Instagram, online presence and company website -- all of which are shown in blue in the graphic above. After that, the five skills in green, which call for expertise in platforms such as YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Tumbler. Beyond that, the skills in in orange, which related more to traditional marketing and public-relations duties, such as customer service, content strategy and press releases.

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Do employers across the United States all want the same basic skills? Intriguingly, the answer is no. Zippia's content marketing editor, David Luther, observes that "social media managers who live in the same region tend to list similar skills, though they differ from those who live in other regions. You can almost predict what part of the country a resume comes from."

Zippia's data team split job ads into three regions: East Coast (led by the New York City region), Heartland (led by Chicago) and West Coast (led by Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. "Facebook Insights and Twitter are the top two skills across the board," Luther said, "but it seems like the heartland prefers to use social as a functional part of the (sales) funnel, the West Coast values social media for its own sake, and the East Coast is all about analytics."

Guest Authored By George Anders. George writes about innovation, careers and unforgettable personality's. One of his Forbes Magazine cover stories has turned into a new book: "You Can Do Anything: The Surprising Power Of A Useless Liberal Arts Education." Learn more at GeorgeAndersBooks. Follow George on Twitter.

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Today's solopreneurs are living and dying by their social presence.

By sticking to this checklist, you can save yourself from scrambling for a social strategy and focus on what really matters:

Growing your business..

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  Authored by:

  Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, Colorado. I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)

Social Media Startup Mistakes YOU Can Avoid?

15 mistakes startups make on social media that yours can easily sidestep..

Too many platforms being used? Lack of visuals? Misuse of hashtags? No social media manager? The list goes on..

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If you're a new business owner, you likely know all too well that establishing a strong social media presence is a must.

Like any marketing tool, however, social media is useful only when it's used effectively. Just posting a cute picture of your cat with your brand logo up in the corner won't cut it.

So, if you recognize yourself here -- and are vowing to make your social media work (better) for you -- here are 15 social media mistakes and how to avoid them.

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1. Not Having A Target

Every startup needs a business plan, and your plan for using social media needs to be part of it. The key to setting goals for social media is identifying your target customers, then determining where to find them. If your demographic is women, look to Pinterest, but if you're aiming for customers under 25, check out Snapchat.

2. Not Using Metrics

Having a target helps only if you measure how well you're hitting it. With tools like Facebook Insights and Twitter Analytics, you can track how customers reacted to specific posts, how often your brand is mentioned, which demographics responded most favorably and much more.

3. Using Too Many Platforms

It's easy to get caught up in the excitement of launching your brand, and join every site available. However, trying to juggle Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, and a partridge in a pear tree will lead only to burnout. Start with just a couple of platforms and post regularly.

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4. Posting The Same Content To Multiple Platforms

Copying and pasting is for spammers, not entrepreneurs. Another reason to start small is so that you can adapt and optimize your content to the conventions of each platform. Reading a press release about your new product through Twitter and then seeing a photo of it on Instagram will keep customers engaged on multiple levels.

5. Losing Out On Traffic

You may do your best work at 2 a.m., but that doesn't mean your customers will be awake to read it. Make sure you are posting when your base is online. According to Buffer Social, Facebook engagement rates are highest on Thursdays and Fridays and hit a weekly low on Saturdays, whereas click-through rates on Twitter peak on the weekend.

6. Writing Too Much

The good things you have to say about your startup could fill an encyclopedia, but on social media, less is more. Facebook posts with 250 characters or less get 66 percent more engagement, and although all tweets are necessarily short, those with 100 characters or less still get 17 percent more engagement (again, according to Buffer Social).

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7. Misusing Hashtags

Hashtags help cut down on characters and craft targeted exposure for your brand, but only if they are used strategically. Tweets with hashtags have double the engagement, but engagement drops when more than two hashtags are used. Photo captions crammed with hashtags are less likely to be read.

8. Not Paying Attention To Visuals

The impact of visual marketing is well established. Tweets with images are retweeted 150 percent more often, and Facebook posts with images get 2.3 times more engagement than their text-only counterparts. Blurry photos and a lot of stock footage will make your business appear amateurish. Instead, up your game with high quality images, infographics and videos.

9. Neglecting Your Bio

On sites like Instagram, your bio is the first thing potential customers see. Successful businesses combine necessary information with creative flair to make their brands stand out. Describe the values behind your company in a few brief words, show the human side of your business with photos of your team or even use emojis to demonstrate how to use your product.

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10. Not Responding To Customer Complaints

Every business gets occasional complaints, but when a customer posts an angry rant to social media, the rest of your customers are there watching how you handle it. Always respond to complaints promptly and in a professional manner. Ignoring the complaint, deleting negative comments or posting a sarcastic retort will only make matters worse.

11. Not Asking For Customer Feedback

Never pass up an opportunity to find out what customers think, especially when it comes to a future product launch. Customers respond best when given a number of options. Post open-ended questions to get a dialogue started in the comments section, create polls and surveys for anonymous feedback or form focus groups using Google+Circles or Facebook Live Q&A.

12. Promoting Too Much

While it may seem counter intuitive, promoting your business too much can backfire. According to Social Media Today, just 20 percent of your posts should promote your brand and 80 percent should be other content. If you sell a line of protein supplements, for example, link to news articles about nutrition, share your favorite smoothie recipes and post photos of you and your protein-fueled kids crossing the finish line at your local 5K run.

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13. Lacking Engagement

Social media doesn't work if you don't socialize. Growing your business requires connecting with like-minded individuals via private messaging, commenting, or sharing their content, not just pushing your own. If you aren't trying to find ways to add real value to the lives of your target audience, you could potentially be making a fatal social media mistake.

14. Not Creating A Social Media Policy

One off-color remark or embarrassing photo can do a lot of damage when shared umpteen times. Every company needs a written code of conduct for its social media users. Profanity and racist or sexist language are clearly problematic, but you should also consider the values of your base. If your company sells vegan-friendly clothing, for example, avoid posting a selfie with a plate of chicken wings.

15. Not Hiring A Social Media Manager

By now, you're wondering how you can possibly devote the time necessary to launch a social media campaign effectively. The answer may be that you can't. Resist the temptation to enlist your tech-savvy teenage nephew or your already-swamped secretary and instead hire a professional. Look for an applicant with technological background, writing skills, marketing experience and entrepreneurial vision to take your startup's social media to the next level.

Guest Authored By AJ Agrawal. AJ He is CEO and Co-Founder of Alumnify, an alumni-engagement platform. He's a Growth Marketer, Entrepreneur and Content Creator for Entrepreneur, Forbes, FastCompany and Fortune Magazine. Follow AJ on Twitter.

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"15 mistakes startups make on social media that yours can easily sidestep..

Too many platforms being used? Lack of visuals? Misuse of hashtags? No social media manager? The list goes on.." -AJAgrawal

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  Authored by:

  Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBr@nd.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, CO  where I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)

Social Media Content Curation Tools?

One of the most time-consuming tasks that comes with being a social media manager is find relevant, interesting, and valuable content to share with your audience..

Many spend many hours every week seeking out content that they can share. After all, who wouldn't want to stay on top of your industry's latest trends?

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The truth is that for many social media managers, there just isn't enough time to dedicate to this task when there are some excellent tools already out there. Successful content curation is all about knowing your audience.

Once you've nailed your audience, you then need the right tool. Here are some of the best I've personally used to curate content.

Tool #1: Curata

Curata is an enterprise content curation system that is powered by the INSPIRE discovery and recommendation engine. Curata is amazing at finding content that is relevant to your audience once you fill out your profile and customize the categories that it pulls from.

Additionally, Curata has publishing and promotional modules that allows you to repurpose curated content across channels that include your blog, social profiles and newsletters.

However, Curata is a bit on the pricey side. At a starting price point of $499/month, it's safe to say that Curata is only going to be suitable for large teams with a hefty need for curated content across many social accounts.

Tool #2: Pocket

If you struggle with finding great content on the fly, Pocket might be the perfect solution for you. Pocket will help you to stack shareable content in your account that can be shared at a later date, rather than rushing to find shareable content when you need to load your account.

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Pocket is simple. When you see something that you like, you click the Pocket plugin button, and the content is stored in your account. It's compatible with cross-platform usage, so it doesn't matter if you find the content on mobile or desktop, it's all going to the same place.

Tool #3: Scoop.It

Scoop.it is the most straight-forward content curation platform that you will find. With an interface that will remind you of Pinterest, Scoop.it aims to make finding relevant, shareable articles simple. Not only does it provide you with recommendations based on the categories that you select within your account, but it also allows you pull content from what others in the platform have shared.

Scoop.it sends out a daily update of topics that you can follow to find relevant content.

Currently, they offer both free and paid versions of their software. The free version will allow you to monitor a single topic and use the content generated on up to two social media accounts. The $11/month package allows you to follow multiple topics, and share the generated content across all of your social media channels.

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Tool #4: Feed.ly

Feedly is a glorified RSS feed that has become the de facto replacement for Google Reader (RIP). You create an account, add a few of your favorite sources to feedly, and then you can browse through the aggregated news feed.

For curators that already know where they want to pull a bulk of their content from, there is nothing better than Feed.ly. The system allows you to aggregate all of your favorite sources in one location on your desktop and mobile devices.

Feed.ly also allows you to sort sources by category, giving you an almost unlimited number of ways to segment the content that you aggregate for your social media marketing efforts. For $5/month, you can gain access to their addition features that include additional search options, customer support, and Evernote integration.

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Tool #5: Storify

Storify is simply a box that you can put all of the social media content that you come across that all relates to a specific category or event. Users can search, browse, or create stories from social media sites. During live events, it can be difficult to discern a true story from a barrage of Tweets. Storify allows you to handpick tweets that, together, tell the story of the event or topic in question.

Tool #6: PublishThis

PublishThis has a lot in common with Curata. The company touts its recommendation algorithm as the main selling point of their software. To put it simply - PublishThis offers recommendations for you based on the categories that you select. Additionally, PublishThis gives you API access to publish content to a wide variety of different platforms and apps, making it easy to curate content and share it with the entirety of your audience.

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Tool #7: TrapIt

TrapIt is designed to allow users to set up collections of different pieces of content, called "traps." that serve as the basis for a feed of real-time content based on the topics that you select. The company claims to combine technologies that power search, A.I. and hand-crafted curation to deliver superior curated content.

Guest Authored By Mike Templeman. Mike is an entrepreneur and writer who is passionate about startups and marketing. He's also the founder of Foxtail Marketing, a digital demand generation firm that is one of the fastest growing agencies in the country. When he's not working, writing, or speaking, he enjoy watching 80's action movies and spending time with his family. Follow Mike on Twitter.

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“There are many different products that can save you a great deal of time by making it easier for you to find, share, and aggregate future content to share with your audience.

So, use this list as a starting point in your search for the right solution.

Because, the less time that you spend finding new content to share the more time you can spend genuinely engaging with your following..”

• 

  Authored by:

  Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at GetMoreHere.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, Colorado. I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)

Follow Me Yonder..