The SBPR Social Media Challenge

Every January the Sunny Bird PR team take on a social media challenge, which sees the team go head to head to win a holiday abroad!

At the beginning of this month, each team member presented their yearly review of the SBPR social media channel they manage, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. We analysed our engagement, reach, impressions and followers and pinpointed the content that worked, and the content that didn’t work so well from 2019. Using this information, and up to date research into social media trend forecasts for the year ahead, the team have now prepared their January social media strategy for each channel.

What is the Challenge?
The challenge is for each team member to organically increase all the social media statistics on the channel they manage by 100% compared to December in just one month. This means doubling engagement rates, post reach, post impressions and follower increases.

Of course, successful content is not one size fits all, each social media platform has different algorithms and measures of success. If the team are going to succeed, they will have to work hard, do lots of research, carry out lots of split testing, create bespoke content and unmissable opportunities for their audiences to engage.

Why do we do it?
With social media algorithms constantly adapting and changing, no business can afford to be complacent with their social media strategy. At Sunny Bird PR we pride ourselves in being social media experts, which means we always reflect and put into practice our own up to date knowledge across the SBPR social media platforms as well as providing this service to our clients.

Who’s doing it?
Laura is all business on LinkedIn and her tactic is: “To engage more with other users on LinkedIn to create meaningful connections and improve the engagement on our own LinkedIn page.”

Josh will be putting all of his creativity into 180 characters on Twitter where he will: “Include call to actions within each post to maintain engagement.”

Grace is going to be stunning Instagram with beautiful imagery and engaging stories: “I am going to create aspirational imagery to feature on the feed with informative captions and lots of well thought out hashtags.”

Annabel will be sharing all of our news and updates on Facebook, and asking for our community’s feedback: “My Facebook content will start conversations through sharing Sunny Bird PR’s knowledge and asking our followers for their opinions in 2020.”

How will we stay on track?

Every Monday in January the SBPR team will meet and discuss what they have achieved for their social media channel in the previous week, analysing each post and engagement, discussing how they can improve for the next week – if we want to smash our goals, we should be improving by 25% week on week!

These meetings are an opportunity to celebrate successes, offer honest critiques, and where the whole team can make suggestions for improvements. By discussing our progress as a team, it means we all gain a strong insight into each social media platform – preparing us for when we switch up our platforms in 2020.

Our next social media course is from 10AM-2PM on Thursday 20th February, tickets are available on our website www.sunnybirdpr.com/social-media-course. At this course we will share our tried and tested social media tactics to help you maximise your social media presence and use it to the best of your advantage. This half-day course will teach you everything, from paid for advertising to organic reach and all the jargon in between.  

Building A Community on Social Media

When it comes to creating a direct line of communication with your audience, there is no tool more valuable than social media.

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn aren’t just platforms for you to share your brand’s content with your audience, they also provide you with a way to communicate and engage with your brand’s followers creating your very own community. Brands that do this successfully are rewarded with organic brand champions and ambassadors as well as a sounding board offering a valuable insight into what is, and isn’t, working for their brand.

Two brands that have successfully created engaged social media communities are Jimmy’s Iced Coffee and Bliss Sanctuary for Women.

On Jimmy’s Iced Coffee’s social media accounts the team frequently share content posted by their community, and they respond to every comment in their unique and funny brand voice.

Bliss Sanctuary for Women make sure that their posts address their audience in first person, and use images of real guests who have visited their sanctuaries.

The social media shop window

You should approach your brand’s social media in the same way that you would your shop window if you had one. It is the first thing a potential customer sees when deciding whether they will engage with your brand.   

This means that social media isn’t just a shop window for content, it offers your potential customers an insight into how you deal with customer service issues too. If a potential customer browses your social media pages and sees that you are not creating a community with your audience, not answering their questions or listening to their opinions they are likely to take their business elsewhere.

So how can you build your community through social media? We have compiled some tips below to help you get started:

1.) Actively communicate

It might seem obvious, but communication is the foundation of all successful social media platforms. Brands which respond to comments, ask questions, and involve their followers with brand decisions gain not only the trust, but the respect of their followers.

2.) Be consistent with your engagement

Consistency is key when it comes to social media. Set aside half an hour at the start of every day and half an hour at the end to completely dedicate time to your social media engagement – this might be answering your audience’s comments, tagging them into posts, following new accounts or sending responses to messages.

3.) Step outside your own feed

Social media isn’t just about the space that your brand calls home, but the space that your followers, competitors, fans and collaborators curate too. Take the time every day to comment, like, share and engage with the content produced by these accounts. Both the Instagram and Facebook algorithm will prioritise your content if it detects that you are making meaningful connections with your followers – which means the more conversations you are having, the more your content will be seen.

4.) Make use of social media tools and trends

Instagram stories are more than just a feature to post quick snippets and videos. You can use stories to host polls, schedule Q&As, quiz your audience and much more. Stories that ask for involvement from the audience stand out, and when your followers see that you are asking for their opinions, they will want to be involved. 

5.) Keep it real

Making the most of real-life events and moments for social media content is an essential way to raise your brand’s value in the eyes of your customers. Showing your customers that your brand exists outside the screen builds your credibility, and keeps your brand feeling human. From working with influencers, highlighting your staff, shooting content at events and inviting your community to try products, there are many ways that you can bring your brand to life in your content.

For example, if you are a fashion brand, you could consider using a social media influencer that your community admires to promote your product. This activity could be as simple as sending an influencer a gift and asking them to share it on their social media platform.

An engaged social media community is an invaluable asset for businesses and can help to increase brand reputation, grow brand value in the eyes of the customer, and to receive constructive feedback. By dedicating your time to building your own community, we guarantee that you will see positive, tangible results for your business.

If you would like to learn tried and tested social media tactics to help you maximise your social media presence, grow your online community, and use it to the best of your advantage, then join the SBPR team on Thursday 20th February 2020 for our Social Media Masterclass.  Our half-day course will teach you everything, from building your community to increasing your organic reach and everything in between.

https://www.sunnybirdpr.com/social-media-course

Organic reach on social media is going down, but can you beat the algorithms?

A few years back, those of us promoting via social media would have measured success by the amount of likes and followers generated. This was true across the board from Facebook, Twitter & Instagram.

However as the social network giants changed their algorithms to prioritise the most relevant content for its users, a lot of likes are no longer a guarantee for reaching your fans. Now, your posts will only reach a small percentage of your followers through what we call “organic reach” (the amount of people who see a post without you paying for it). It’s the social networks’ way of encouraging businesses to pay for promotions, ensuring the ‘social’ aspect doesn’t drown in a sea of brand promotions.

These changes have made it increasingly difficult for businesses to reach their consumers without breaking the bank on sponsored posts, no matter how amazing the product is. To help you along, we have compiled some tips on how to maximise your social media strategy:

Twitter’s organic reach is 3.61%, meaning if you have 500 followers, your posts will reach 18. You can improve these numbers by commenting on current news and trending hashtags. If you post about today’s big news from the perspective of your business, you become visible to the thousands of Twitter users following current events. You can also collaborate with people and organisations around you, when you tag them in your posts and vice versa, you will reach new followers - a win-win situation!

Facebook has the lowest reach, with an average 2.6% of users reached per post. To get your posts into more newsfeeds, you should feature more video content as they are favoured by Facebook’s algorithm. Make your content shareable; whether it’s by including cute cats, cool facts or amazing achievements, you want people to share your post with their friends and family.

Last week saw the rollout of the “Explore Feed”, this new feature can be found in the menu with your groups, pages and events - look out for a tiny spaceship in a red circle! This new feed is designed to show you posts that Facebook thinks you will find interesting from pages you may not be following yet.

In a few countries (not the UK), an alternative version of this feed is being trialled where the original news feed is reserved for posts from friends, family and advertisers and the pages you follow are pushed into the Explore feed. Countries in the trial are reporting a loss of around 60% in both organic reach and number of interactions (likes, comments and shares). Facebook says there are currently no plans on taking this feature globally, but with it already being tested in six countries, we will be keeping an eye out for it as a UK rollout could mean big changes for us and our clients.

Instagram used to be the king of organic reach at around 20% thanks to its chronological news feed, but since introducing a new algorithm to show users the posts they would “care about the most”, this number has gone down.

Instagram does still favour more recent posts however, so it’s important to know when your followers are online and post at those times. Another way of increasing your Instagram presence is by using hashtags, but make sure they are specific and relevant to reach the people who are genuinely interested in what you have to say (stay clear of #LikeForLike and #FollowForFollow!). A good idea is to look at which hashtags are frequently used by your friends and competitors and use these. A word of caution though; if you use the same hashtags too often this can lead to what is known as a “shadowban”, where Instagram flags your posts as spam and blocks you from showing up in some searches without informing you. Hence it’s always best to keep your content varied and original.

If you have done all of the above and still wish to take your social media presence that little bit further, paying for sponsored posts doesn’t have to cost a fortune if you know who you want to target. If you’re not sure how, we’re here to help. Call us on 01202 293095 to find out more!

Instagram Update – Interactive Polls

You may have noticed in the last few weeks that Instagram has introduced a new feature that allows users to add polls to their Instagram stories. The new ‘interactive poll sticker’ enables users to upload a photo to Instagram stories and create a simple two option poll which they then place on top of the photo. The poll collates the results in real time and then like a normal Instagram story, it disappears after 24 hours.

As the creator of the poll you’ll be able to see how many votes each option receives, along with the choices that each voter makes. It provides direct interaction with your followers and has proven very popular since its launch at the beginning of the month.

Simply create an Instagram story, swipe up and choose the poll function, customise the options and then the app collates the results for you.

There are a number ways that this new fun feature can be used to boost your Instagram game. Below are just a few suggestions to get you started…

1)       Ask for feedback

There’s no better way to find out what your audience wants than to come straight out and ask them. The new poll tool is a quick and effective way to do this. Questions could include:

·         Do you like our new packaging design?

·         Would you like to see our product in a bigger size?

·         Would you like to see more blog posts with tips? Or fun personal blog posts?

·         What flavour do you prefer?

2)       Jump on the back of trending topics

If there’s a trending topic or current event, then join in the discussion and engage with your audience. Pose questions around the topic in a way that will relate to the majority of your audience, whether that be through playful questions or questions of a more serious nature. It shows that you’re aware of the events that are important to your consumer and that you relate to your target demographic.

Remember the trending photo of the trainer that recently divided the nation? Some people were adamant that the shoe was grey and aqua, others convinced that it was pink and white. This would’ve been a brilliant time to harness the new Instagram poll feature in a fun and engaging way.

3)      Market Research

The new poll tool can be used as a free way to collect data from your audience. If you’re sourcing responses from other social media platforms then including your Instagram stories audience will boost the volume of data collected.

There are many creative ways to incorporate the new polls feature into your social media strategy. It’s a useful and fun feature that can easily be used to engage with your audience. Give it a go today!