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Industry Insights: 10 Do's and Don'ts on Social Media for Politicians

10/3/2019

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By: Johana M. Caba

In this day and age, everyone is on social media! Politicians are among those that use social media to talk about laws, share projects and communicate directly with their constituents. Unfortunately, not all politicians have a good social media strategy. They might have a good team, but some do not want to listen to social media strategy advice. On the other hand, some like Corey Booker do a great job with their social strategy.  

  1. Do not overdo it with the posts. Some politicians tend to overdo it when it comes to posting. They over saturate their feeds with irrelevant posts about every single step in a construction project and every single thing that goes on in their daily lives. The problem with this strategy is that the most important posts get lost within all of the unnecessary ones. In addition, it begins to annoy followers that end up muting the accounts or unfollowing. Transparency is good, but people are not interested in seeing everything. It is recommended that instead of sending out over 10 posts in one day, limit it to two or three to ensure that important information does not get lost and that followers do not get annoyed. 
  2. Do utilize social graphics. Almost everyone utilizes social graphics because they are engaging and grab the attention of followers. Although a lot of the most well-known politicians have a team that creates graphics for them, local politicians tend to have less innovative graphics. For example, some create posters and graphics on PowerPoint and Word, which is not necessarily bad, it is just not innovative. PowerPoint and Word are great for designing posters, but social media graphics need to be engaging. Using programs like Canva and Adobe Spark allow content creators to utilize new graphics and animated graphics that really grab the audience’s attention. 
  3. Do not forget to use hashtags and mentions. When I first started working as a social media manager for a politician, the first thing I did was conduct a social media audit (before the job interview). I noticed that they were not using hashtags or mentioning people and organizations. Hashtags and mentions help you get your posts viewed by a larger audience, not just your followers. After implementing this strategy, the social media growth of this politician boomed and I was able to grow his audience by thousands within a few months.  
  4. Do keep your personal profile separate. A lot of people have two separate profiles, one for just family and friends, and one for the public. It is recommended that public figures such as politicians keep their friends and family in a private profile. Not everyone wants to see intimate family pictures nor is it necessary to gain attention. Rather than having the same profile for personal and public purposes, have separate ones and occasionally post about family on the public profile. You can use national holidays like Grandparents Day to post about your grandchildren and children rather than inundating your professional profile with photos of their daily lives.  
  5. Do not forget to proofread your content. Proofreading is important in every single industry. We often forget to proofread on social media because it is social media. We may think that spelling rules don’t matter on social media, but they do. It is important to take the time before posting and re-read everything a couple of times. This will ensure accuracy and bring your content to the next level. Sometimes we even try to post so fast to accommodate our bosses that we skip the proofread and later someone will point it out or we will notice and have to go back to edit. Remember, take the time to proofread before sending out every post. 
  6. Do utilize features like Facebook Live and other livestream services. When it comes to livestream we tend to imagine random people recording their rants online for the world to see. But, if you are strategic you can use these formats to create buzz around events, press conferences and ribbon cutting events. As a politician, you can utilize Facebook Live and Instagram Live to keep your constituents informed about important events that can affect them. This is also a great way to build a positive reputation and demonstrate the work that you are doing to help the community that elected you. Keep in mind that a livestream is similar to a live broadcast on television, so plan your words ahead of time and make sure not to go off on irrelevant tangents or rants. 
  7. Do not engage in social media feuds. In recent years, we have seen social media users actively engage in feuds or post racist comments which later come back to haunt them. Everything that you post lives on in screenshots, archives and shares. Remember to be cognizant of what you post and what you reply to commentators. Sometimes it is better not to reply publicly to comments from critics, rather message them privately or write them a letter. It is not necessarily wrong to comment back, but as a politician it is better to handle serious issues behind closed doors. If the issue is not that serious and the person is just ranting, then do not engage. Often times, it is better to remain silent than to begin replying to every comment that ignites a spark. 
  8. Do schedule posts. Scheduling posts is a great way to ensure that relevant information always reaches constituents. Important information such as voting registration, government office information and small business information can be extremely useful to followers. This information can be scheduled to post at times when you know that there are no events or press conferences to use for content. Some government information is not created for sharing on social media, so create engaging graphics to use in order to grab the attention of followers. 
  9. Do not be unreachable. What do I mean by this? Simply put, engage with your audience. Don’t just post pictures. You need to be engaging and listen to what people are saying. Don’t be over sensitive and want to reply to everyone, but be aware of what others are saying about you. In this way, there will be no surprises if a journalist asks you a question or if residents are calling your office. A part of this step is to let your team know when you have seen a comment that you do not agree with, don’t simply get angry when your team has not seen the comment because there is no notification once you open it. Sometimes there is a lack of communication between your team and yourself, but it is better to discuss issues respectfully. 
  10. Do determine what platforms are best for you. Some platforms don’t suit everyone. Twitter and Facebook Pages are great platforms for politicians, but this does not mean Instagram is right for you. This occurs because you have to understand your target audience and the demographics that tend to utilize these platforms. You might notice that Instagram is not growing fast while twitter is booming. This all comes down to the demographic. In Twitter, there tends to be more political discussion than on Instagram mainly due to the fact that Instagram is a visual platform while Twitter is not. Twitter’s public nature allows for politicians to flourish while Instagram might not grow as rapidly due to the visual component. 
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The Best Social Media Platforms to use for Every Business

10/3/2019

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By: Johana M. Caba

​Every social media platform is different. Some work great and some don’t get the following or visibility that works for your business. Not every social media platform is necessary for you business. Instead of having everything, try having the most active platforms for you business and industry. Below are the best social media platforms to use for every business industry:

  1. Twitter is a public platform which means your posts can be seen by anyone, even if they do not have Twitter themselves. This is a great platform to post quick information that will interest your target audience. It’s good to be creative here and include visual content as this can help with your engagement rates. Twitter is good for the hospitality, service and retail industries.
  2. Instagram is a visual platform. This means that your content needs to be visually engaging. These can be graphics designed for social media or photographs. Instagram is great for the retail industry, particularly if you share great photos from photoshoots and reshare user-generated content from followers. This platform is also good to use for the hospitality industry. Restaurants, for example, can use Instagram to share tantalizing photos of their delicious food and of customers enjoying their food.
  3. Facebook is the one platform you should have no matter you industry. There are over 2.4 billion monthly active users on Facebook. This means that your target audience is most likely on this platform. For this reason, no matter you industry, you should have a Facebook page to share content and communicate with potential customers. This is a great platform for lead generation and for advertising. 
  4. Pinterest is the right platform for the retail, hospitality and services industries. This platform is all about engaging photos. For example, decorating and remodeling are great businesses to use Pinterest to get their brand and ideas out to a larger target audience. If your business is on Etsy, for example, this is also a great platform to showcase your products and sell them. 
  5. LinkedIn is a professional platform. Not all businesses need a LinkedIn page. In our opinion, LinkedIn is better for services-based businesses. For example, law firms, communications agencies and larger organizations can benefit from this platform in terms of networking and recruiting. Since this is a professional networking platform, it is recommended only for services industries.
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Content Strategy: The things you should know

10/3/2019

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By: Johana M. Caba

​In the world of social media, we often hear the word “content” being used when discussing social media strategy. Content is typically referring to any written or graphic piece of media created and owned by your organization. This part of your integrated marketing communication plan is the unique piece of media that demonstrates to the public who you are, what you stand for and how you support your community. 


Content creation is a piece of the content strategy that is integral to your success, particularly your success on social media. Creating engaging content helps your business grow and keeps consumers engaged. Still, there are things that you need to keep in mind to create good content. Among these things are your audience, your story, the platforms you will use and the management of your content strategy.

Your audience is an important part of your content strategy puzzle. You need to keep in mind who they are and what they want. In addition, you need to create content that not only fits with your target audience, but content that is easy to share online in order to broaden the reach of it through shares and likes. Another thing to keep in mind with your audience is the problem that they want to solve. Why are they searching for your industry? Why would your company be the right fit for their needs? These questions can help you create content that can appeal to potential customers that don’t know what their problem is and for customers that know their problem and are currently looking for a solution. 

Your story is the part of the puzzle that makes you unique and helps your organization stand out from the crowd. What is it that you do that makes you special? Is it the way you solve the problem or is it the friendly demeanor of your employees? Or, maybe it’s your personal background? Did you have the same problem in the past and couldn’t find the solution that met your needs? These are great questions to ask yourself when crafting the story of your business. Emotional appeal is an essential part of your story. This type of appeal is important because it resonates with your potential consumers. Content that tells your story and appeals to emotion helps you identify with your target audience and helps you stay in their minds long after they have seen your content.

The social media platforms that you will use for your business are important. As a business, you don’t have to be on every platform. For this reason, it’s important to identify which platforms fit your business the most and which ones will help you reach your target audience. Instagram is great for visuals. This is a platform you can use if you have content that is visually engaging. Twitter is great to use because it is a public platform, meaning that everyone can see what you tweet even if they don’t have twitter themselves. Facebook pages are also great for businesses because they help your target audience discover you. They have flexibility with visual posts and posts that you need to read rather than see. Pinterest is another great platform especially if you are selling products. Take a look at our other article on The Best Social Media Platforms to use for Every Business.

Managing your content strategy is an essential part of the whole process. After creating the right content for your business, you need to share it. This is where a social media or content manager comes in to schedule posts to be shared at the most engaging times for your industry. There are specific times on each platform to increase reach, visibility and overall business growth. For these reasons, it’s important to have someone that knows the industry and knows social media to help you use your content in a way that effectively helps you grow your business.

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What is a Social Media Strategy?

10/3/2019

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By: Marlene Urena

For businesses that are trying to establish themselves on social media, it is important for them to create a social media strategy in order to effectively reach their end goals. A social media strategy is a plan of attack that a business creates in order to reach their social media goals. This plan should be designed to manage the company’s social media presence and performance and make any changes to reach the business’s goals overall.
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To create an effective social media strategy, a company needs to clearly define their social media goals. Without clear goals, it will be difficult to understand what needs to be done and the employees who manage social media will not be trying to reach these goals in the same way. That is why it is important to develop SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-based).

After goals are defined, companies must analyze their environments and markets in order to see what approach they will take in their social media strategy design. To create an effective design, companies should understand the trends in society and associated with their consumers to understand what needs to be changed in their current strategy and how it will help them reach their goals. In order to do this, a social media market analysis and social media company SWOT analysis should be done.

When the business clearly understand the trends in society and consumer behavior on these platforms, they can begin to plan relevant content for their social media profiles. Please refer to our What is content strategy? article for more information on content creation. They should also schedule their posts according to the consumer behavior on social media to reach as many people as they can at the best times. 

When their strategy is implemented, the last thing for businesses to do is to evaluate their performance. Any changes that seem fitting should be made to the strategy because change is inevitable in an organizational environment. Being able to adapt to these changes is what really defines how strong a company’s strategy is. A strong social media strategy is the recipe for success in marketing in today’s world. 



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Why does your business need social media?

10/1/2019

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By: Marlene Urena
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As technology is enhanced, people and businesses find better means of handling their brand. In today’s age, about half of the world’s population uses social media in one way or another. This growth in social media users has created a more effective and less costly way for businesses to market themselves, as well as improve their brand to satisfy the needs of their end users.


Social media has become a widespread medium for companies to build their brand and spread awareness. It is important for companies to establish themselves on social media platforms in order to reach their vast amount of users and increase the company’s exposure to potential future customers. While some platforms are more useful in some industries compared to others, it is important for businesses to have a social media presence and generate more leads and keep up with their competitors. If you want to learn more about which platform is right for your business, please refer to our article The Best Social Media Platforms to use for Every Business. 

Social media is also a great tool to engage with consumers directly. Since these platforms provide consumers with a way to directly contact the company or engage with their posts and media content in different ways, the business will be able to see how their consumers are reacting and they can make more optimal decisions. They can also address any issues faced by consumers directly, improving customer service quality as well as their image. 

Profile analytics can easily be tracked from these platforms as well, so businesses can monitor and evaluate how their engagement is changing and if they have had any growth over time. One way to boost engagement is to promote posts, which can also be easily done from these apps themselves. They provide businesses with a more affordable way to reach a larger audience than if they were to pay for traditional marketing techniques. 

Companies should take the time to invest in and create social media marketing plans in order to stay competitive and be as transparent as they can be to their consumers. Consumers respect a company they can trust, and a social media presence will make their experience with a brand feel more personal. 

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    ©️ Johana M. Caba,
    Marlene I. Urena and
    JM Integrated Marketing. 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site's author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Johana M. Caba, Marlene I. Urena and/or JM Integrated Marketing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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