Wednesday Words: Viral Marketing

We've all seen the ad that gets shared by all of our friends, our friends' friends and our friends' friends' mom (if she's on Facebook/Twitter/Whatever Social media).  They shared the video because it's cute or "you have to see this, it's great" and that becomes the next thing that has been viral marketed.

That's what today's word is: Viral Marketing.  Viral Marketing is a risky technique where marketers hope that users share the information to each other repeatedly leading to wide coverage and interest.

Unfortunately, there is no sure fire way to create a "viral video or "make something go viral."  How viral something will be is impossible to predict. Basically it comes down to something that strikes a chord with someone and it gets shared, it strikes a chord with others, shared and goes from there.

It is definitely a risky marketing technique, especially if you invest thousands of dollars into creating a video that you expect to go viral and it doesn't.

So if you're looking into viral marketing, just remember, it's not a guarantee of marketing success.

Wednesday Words are a series of definitions released on Wednesday each week regarding a word found specific to Facebook's social media platform, or may be a generic word dealing with social media. These definitions are to help provide you with a better understanding of common and uncommon terms associated with Facebook and social media. You can find all the Wednesday Words by clicking on the Wednesday Words tag below.

Tuesday Tips: Advertising with Facebook

This post isn't necessarily a tip, but rather an explanation about the posts I'll be making in the coming weeks, including Tutorials for Facebook advertising.

The next few weeks topics will be talking about paid advertising with Facebook, the various things you can do, various audiences to target and why to do so. There are mixed feelings from many folks as to whether or not you should pay Facebook for advertising.

Ultimately, Facebook is a free service and you get what you put into it for marketing. Many people thought marketing would be free, but Facebook saw it as a way to monetize their system and, let's be honest, it's a reasonable expectation to pay if you're going to be promoting your company for free outside of your promoted posts via Facebook.

There are many theories behind what happens when you pay for advertising that I don't intend to go into in my posts, but I will share them on Fridays and Saturdays which are reserved for sharing articles from other social media blogs and sites.

Do you have any experience with advertising on Facebook or other social media sites?  Would you be interested in guest blogging?  If so, contact me via Facebook PM here.

Tuesday Tips are a series of tips released on Tuesday each week regarding a hint or tip to help you manage and market your Facebook presence better.  You can find all the Tuesday Tips by clicking on the Tuesday Tips tag below.

The Monday Search: Job Listings as of 03/16/2015

There are many jobs available out there for people knowledgeable about Social Media, but sometimes finding the job isn't easy.

Don't worry! Each week (when I have time) I will be featuring 3-5 jobs currently available as of Monday. Additional sites will be linked at the very bottom of the article and listed as sources. Other sites may be listed as well.

Here are this week's job listings I found interesting:

emotion studios, inc., is hiring a Social Media Strategist in the San Francisco Bay Area

Responsibilities:

• Work directly with Director of Account Services, Chief Creative Director and Project Producers to develop strategy, design social media rollout plans as well as implementation and execution of components of the social media plan
• Supervise the scheduling and publishing of campaign content, and monitor and engage in conversations in communities, including Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and YouTube
• Gathering and distributing product feedback to inform teams across client organizations
• Create daily/weekly content for social media platforms across campaign specific social media pages
• Develop social media initiatives that incrementally improve client community size and engagement month-to-month
• Lead day-to-day social media activities with each campaign from concept and research through implementation
• Collaborate with client social media, communications, marketing, sales and other key channels to develop social strategies that align with and support the core goals of individual client stakeholders and brand
• Educate on emotion studios’ social policy and best practices, and provide training to employees who need assistance with social media presence 
• Measure and optimize content based on analytics
• Act as a thought leader and advocate for social media by helping teams across the organization with social media inquiries
• Responsible for client competitor monitoring and on-going analytical report including but not limited to, campaigns, tactics, content direction, contests, etc.

Qualifications:

• 5+ years' experience required in social media and digital marketing
• Experience developing strategic social media platforms as well as planning for, implementing and interpreting the collection of performance metrics
• Experience working with or interacting with established social media teams
• Demonstrated strong team building and leadership capabilities
• Experience managing Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Vine and YouTube accounts
• Strong project management and communication skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication, and strong editing skills
• Creativity with an eye for best practices in social media platform design
• Track record of performance excellence planning, developing and managing projects and multiple work streams
• Outstanding interpersonal skills, including a proven ability to work across different audiences, personalities, and experience levels
• Bachelor's Degree in a related discipline preferred
• Analytical experience using a wide variety of analytic tools, e.g. Radian 6, HootSuite, Sprinklr, Google Analytics
• Abilities in social platform development and rollout, including content publishing calendars and tools such as Hubspot, etc.
• Proven experience in managing projects and deliverables to strict deadlines

For more information: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs2/view/46826959?trk=jserp_job_details_text

Hello Innovation is hiring a Social Media Strategist in Detroit

Responsibilities:
Social Strategy

• Plan and execute engagement and lead driven social media strategies
• Provide strategic planning, support and recommendations to include social media as an important element of marketing programs
• Collaborate with our Marketing and Creative teams to ensure the branding/voice of all our social media outlets are cohesive with other channels and initiatives
• Develop best in class social experiences with the help of cross-functional teams
• Create programs that leverage earned, owned and paid media
• Leverage social media analytics to optimize campaigns and provide clear recommendations on how to further grow engagement and increase leads via social media
• Develop and manage vendor relationships to grow social reach, engagement and conversion
• Constantly keep up with industry and social media trends
• Educate  team around the implementation of new social media tactics and technologies
• Document and streamline social media workflows and guidelines
• Manage social media deliverables, timelines, and budgets

Community Management

• Work with Marketing team to plan and execute content / editorial calendars
• Brainstorm, draft and post content for our portfolio of businesses’ social channels including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube and Google+
• Moderate channels and act as a brand ambassador by interacting with customers and fans on social communities in an authentic, genuine and human way
• Identify, document and build relationships with key influencers to generate brand exposure, interaction, and leads via advocates and fans
• Work with Marketing and Creative teams to plan and manage the production of social media content
• Focus on ROI and continual optimization and improvement of social activity
• handing off to sales, customer support, HR etc.

Qualifications:

• Expertise in social media strategies, technologies, platforms, services and measurement techniques (3+ years)
• Demonstrated experience creating and executing a social media strategy that builds fan base, increases engagement and drives conversion
• Analytical-minded and well-versed with social analytical tools and reporting
• Strong copywriting skills leveraging SEO / SMO techniques
• Extensive experience in social media copywriting & community management
• Must be a “self-starter” with the ability to excel in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment with minimal supervision

F\or more information: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs2/view/48292801?trk=jserp_job_details_text

Northeastern University is looking for a Social Media Strategist in Boston

Responsibilities:
The Social Media Strategist is responsible for the development and implementation of a social media plan for Northeastern University. S/he should be adept at data analysis, iterating the plan regularly so that it most effectively enhances the brand, emphasizes organizational messaging, and deepens relationships and engagement with key audiences.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in English, communications, journalism, technical writing, new media or other related field
• Four to six years experience in a communications and/or marketing position managing social media accounts and campaigns
• Experience working in higher education, a large non-profit/public organization or advertising agency preferred, but not required
• The ideal candidate will have an appreciation and understanding that the social media ecosystem is evolving, and he/she is driven to stay abreast of the latest trends and best practices. Experience with social media tools such as Radian 6, Hootsuite, Buffer, etc is expected.
• Technical savvy and experience with web content management systems is required.
• Outstanding writing, English grammar, and spelling for the purpose of composing outwardly facing communications are a must.
• Strong project management skills and a high attention to detail is necessary to manage a diverse array of projects at any given time. S/he will follow through on tasks and instructions with minimal management and will take responsibility for his/her work. A positive attitude and sense of humor is needed.
• Proven ability to work independently and as part of a team, including the ability to manage multiple projects effectively and at a fast pace in a deadline-driven environment.
• Must be available for frequent night and weekend work.

For more information: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs2/view/50832513?trk=jserp_job_details_text

Other listings:

• Media Bistro Job Listings (note not all the jobs listed here are social media positions):http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter-jobs/?c=stnav
• LinkedIn Social Media Job Listings: http://www.linkedin.com/job/q-social-media-manager-jobs and http://www.linkedin.com/vsearch/j?keywords=socialmedia+manager or http://www.linkedin.com/job/q-social-media-marketing-jobs or http://www.linkedin.com/job/q-social-media-strategist-jobs
• CareerBuilder: http://www.careerbuilder.com/Jobs/Keyword/Social-Media-Manager/
• Indeed.com: http://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=Social-media
• Simply Hired: http://www.simplyhired.com/k-social-media-jobs.html 

The Monday Search is a brief listing of jobs available for those in the social media marketing field. All jobs are found through internet searches and are just featured because they are of interest to me. Monday Searches will contain links to sites with other job listings in addition to the ones listed here.  If you are interested in having a Social Media job opening featured for your company, please send me a message via Facebook on my page or my profile.

Wednesday Words: Clickbait

Today's word is Clickbait, or as I love to put it "Bad headlines that don't tell you jack about the story." Which is pretty much what Clickbaiting is.  Clickbaiting is writing a headline that encourages readers to click on it to find out the whole story.  They are designed to pique your curiosity and are often headlines like "You Won't Beleive What Happens Next" or "This One Weird Trick Works".  Then you find that you actually do belive what happens next or duh, of course that trick works.

As of this year (2015) Facebook is actively working against Clickbait articles, trying to have an algorithm to where they don't appear as high in feeds when shared by folks and the origial poster. I applaud Facebook for taking steps to exterminate clickbaiting.

If you are considering sharing clickbait articles, please don't.  It's annoying and only makes people distrust you and your brand. Create unique, intriguing article headlines that attract people rather than creating a lie to draw them to your page and website.

Good luck!

Wednesday Words are a series of definitions released on Wednesday each week regarding a word found specific to Facebook's social media platform, or may be a generic word dealing with social media. These definitions are to help provide you with a better understanding of common and uncommon terms associated with Facebook and social media. You can find all the Wednesday Words by clicking on the Wednesday Words tag below.

Tuesday Tips: Advertise to Current Fans

This advice may sound silly, but with the drastic decrease in the amount of content fans see from your page, if you have a marketing budget, you should promote some of your posts to your current fans.  Doing this will increase your reach (especially if they like or share the posts) and potentially get you more fans from their likes and shares.

According to Facebook, advertising to current fans will increase you reach by 3-to-5 times what your fanbase is. I'm not sure if this stat is still accurate, but it would definitely be interesting to see.

Tuesday Tips are a series of tips released on Tuesday each week regarding a hint or tip to help you manage and market your Facebook presence better.  You can find all the Tuesday Tips by clicking on the Tuesday Tips tag below.

The Monday Search: Job Listings as of 03/09/2015

There are many jobs available out there for people knowledgeable about Social Media, but sometimes finding the job isn't easy.

Don't worry! Each week (when I have time) I will be featuring 3-5 jobs currently available as of Monday. Additional sites will be linked at the very bottom of the article and listed as sources. Other sites may be listed as well.

I got a little behind on getting this written so instead of putting the description with the jobs, I'm just linking a number of jobs for you to check out.

Here are this week's job listings I found interesting:

The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is hiring a Full-Time Social Media Manager in Bethesda, MD.

Responsibilities:

• Creating, curating and editing fresh, dynamic and engaging content for our social communities
• Developing compelling digital campaigns
• Designing eye-catching visual content and social media graphics including backgrounds, profile images and cover images 
• Advising and coaching internal staff on social media strategy for organizational initiatives
• Reporting, analyzing and interpreting social media analytics to guide strategy and implementation of social media campaigns
• Working closely with the web and social media team on daily execution of strategy on multiple digital channels

Qualifications:
The successful candidate will be creative, forward-thinking, resourceful, adaptable, and have a positive attitude and strong work ethic. Must have a bachelor’s degree in communications, digital marketing, journalism or a related field and 7-9 years of experience in communications and/or social media management for a large organization.

Social media community management systems such as Hootsuite, social media analytics, Photoshop required; familiarity with Google Analytics.

Outstanding writing, verbal and interpersonal skills. Strong project management skills.

For more information: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter-jobs/jobview.asp?joid=177530&page=1

Mediacom is looking for a Director of Social Media in New York, NY

Responsibilities:

• Develop social strategies (both organic & paid) plans and presentations. 
• Define, develop and deploy social media programs and best practices.
• Manage all social media related client communication, client deliverables, project timelines and reporting 
• Proven ability to champion social media to multiple stakeholders: clients, client legal teams, planning team, digital team and outside agencies/partners.
• Track competitive intelligence, deliver competitive analysis and identify trends.
• Establish proper metrics of measurement for each client campaign.
• Provide insights and analysis around program performance.
• Prioritize projects based upon a solid business case and determine guidelines for evaluating benefits and risks for certain Social Media engagements.
• Ensure all Social media strategies and tactics support client objectives.
• Lead in writing agency POVs and case studies.
• Develop scopes of work.
• Coordinate with media planning teams and partner agency contacts.
• Find opportunities for incremental account growth.
• Nurture and strengthen client's understanding of the space.
• Train and educate staff.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree
• Hungry, never say die attitude, proven leader
• 8-10 years of agency side experience 
• Strong understanding of the social and digital space. Conversant with current/evolving Social Media strategies, measurement tools/ technologies and knowledge of social media marketing industry benchmarks
• Established relationships with Facebook/Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr and other social media organizations
• Demonstrated critical thinking and problem solving abilities 
• Strong experience in marketing Fortune 500 brands
• Excellent written, verbal communication and presentation skills
• Proven ability to make complex concepts simple and actionable
• Ability to coordinate with multiple internal stakeholders

For more information: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter-jobs/jobview.asp?joid=177576&page=1

Mediacom is hiring Social Media Editor in New York, NY

Responsibilities:

• Research, develop and manage content, including story ideation and copywriting based upon strategic direction, for our clients’ online communities, press releases, web articles and video blogs.
• Work with designer to create visual “micro-content”.
• Concept ideas based upon client brief.
• Partner with designer to find and use visual assets to support posts.
• Find opportunities to sell in new, innovative creative ideas.
• Work with senior team members to recommend technology vendors, as required.
• Craft Point of View (POV) documents for current media tools/trends.
• Build and manage the work flow process for approving content.
• Establish social content marketing best practices and manage social content KPIs

Qualifications:

• Creative, independent person who digs cool work.
• Knowledgeable in the social space, understand what’s going on with social and key platforms such as: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, Foursquare, Vine, etc. to consistently meet tight deadlines
• 1-2 years of agency side experience required. 
• Must be comfortable talking and presenting to clients.
• Strong writing skills: concise, detailed, and organized.
• Attention to detail and timelines are critical.
• Solid experience using Microsoft office products, including heavy use of Excel.
• Aptitude for measurement and analysis.

For more information: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter-jobs/jobview.asp?joid=177577&page=1

USAA is hiring a Social Media Intern in San Antonio, TX

Responsibilities:

• Acquires and applies basic knowledge of the line of business (LOB), its products and processes. Considers appropriate LOB process technology integration approaches to mitigate risk.
• Provides consultation and advice to P&C executive leadership on social strategies focused on P&C talk and its corresponding promotion via social networks.
• Conducts research and acts as focal point on emerging trends, technologies and platforms in employee/employer interaction and communication. May develop executive level presentations.
• Gathers employee feedback, analyzes data trends and develops work products designed to increase and maintain employee/leadership engagement in social media platforms.

Qualifications:

• Basic knowledge of relevant industry practices and trends.
• Functional knowledge of Microsoft Office tools to include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and/or Access.
• Data Analysis Tools; and any other applicable Internal/External System.
• Currently pursuing a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Business, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Management or Digital and Social Media or related field of study.

For more information: https://search.usaajobs.com/en-US/Job-Details/Intern-Social-Media-Job/San-Antonio-TX/xjdp-jf839-ct104385-jid41393069?s_cid=SH

Other listings:

• Media Bistro Job Listings (note not all the jobs listed here are social media positions):http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter-jobs/?c=stnav
• LinkedIn Social Media Job Listings: http://www.linkedin.com/job/q-social-media-manager-jobs and http://www.linkedin.com/vsearch/j?keywords=socialmedia+manager or http://www.linkedin.com/job/q-social-media-marketing-jobs or http://www.linkedin.com/job/q-social-media-strategist-jobs
• CareerBuilder: http://www.careerbuilder.com/Jobs/Keyword/Social-Media-Manager/
• Indeed.com: http://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=Social-media
• Simply Hired: http://www.simplyhired.com/k-social-media-jobs.html 

The Monday Search is a brief listing of jobs available for those in the social media marketing field. All jobs are found through internet searches and are just featured because they are of interest to me. Monday Searches will contain links to sites with other job listings in addition to the ones listed here.  If you are interested in having a Social Media job opening featured for your company, please send me a message via Facebook on my page or my profile.

Friday Sharing: Leveraging Instagram Videos for Social Media Success

I have to admit, until I read this article earlier this week, I hadn't really given much thought into using Instagram for marketing that much. This article made me rethink that a bit. Now if I could just get away from my dislike of video for everything it would make me rethink it even more.

The article, posted by MavSocial, talks about the growth of online users watching and using videos and the speculation that the number of online video users will double to 1.5 billion by 2016. They also predict that online video traffic will account for 55% of all consumer internet traffic.

Instagram is playing a part of this as companies that can't afford expensive TV commercials are turning to Instagram with short video productions.

The article then goes on to outline what types of videos companies with a small video marketing budget can make and remind people that the videos can be shared to Facebook. I'd like to note they can be shared on Twitter and other social media platforms as well.

Check out the article here: http://mavsocial.com/leveraging-instagram-videos-for-social-media-success/