Social Media is constantly changing and we’re always learning new things. Here are seven facts we just came across:

1 Nearly half of your social media followers expect answers within an hour

According to Finextra, studies show that about 42% of customers who make product inquiries through social media platforms expect to get answers from brands within 60 minutes.

Yeah, achievable if you’re a small business and a social media tragic who spends his/her life socially wired. Otherwise not, unless you turn to Artificial Intelligence (eg chatbots) to meet those needs.

2 Facebook Custom Audiences targeting EU/UK consumers need explicit permission

As you may be aware, you can advertising directly to specific people on Facebook by uploading their email addresses to the site as part of a Custom Audience list. Because email addresses represent personal data, however, that information falls within the scope of the new EU/UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). You now need the explicit permission of each recipient (if they are resident in the EU or the UK) — or you risk mind-numbingly large fines. See our short book “What Marketers Must Know About GDPR” (now available on Amazon) for more details.

3 Instagram Stories are surprisingly effective

Instagram Stories — which, like Snapchat, let you share photos and videos with your followers, but each post you share expires and vanishes after 24 hours — are twice as popular as Snapchat. They’re also less curated and more ‘in the now’ than content that is posted to the actual feed, according to CMSWire, which makes them ideal for communicating informally, without the polished, super calculated shots that show up in a beautifully composed Instagram profile.

4 Most marketers now use a blend of paid and organic social media

As unpaid (organic) reach continues to drop for social media, brands are getting with the new program and adopting a blend of paid and organic. Most marketers (86%) already use both organic and paid approaches to social media, according to a recent Clutch survey, and almost 60% say they believe paid is more effective. In late 2016, surveys showed that 39% only or mostly used an organic approach, while 11% only or mostly used paid, and 35% reported using an equal mix of organic and paid social marketing to achieve their goals (per DentalEconomics website).

5 Social Media is turning previously-little-known Winter Olympics athletes into hyper-valuable superstars

The power of Influencer Marketing has been amply demonstrated over the last three months, thanks to the Winter Olympics. According to Forbes, from January to March, Brazilian skateboarder Leticia Bufoni drove 22.6 million social media engagements, which translates into $2.5 million worth of marketing and audience reach for Nike. In 2016, sports analytics company Hookit determined that Bufoni “earned much more media value online than many other major-sport female sports superstars” and was the “second most valuable female athlete for Nike.”

6 Is messaging about to vanish from Instagram?

AdNews reports: Instagram has been testing a standalone app for private messages called Direct, a first step toward possibly toward removing messaging features from the core app. Direct, which opens to the camera in the same way Snapchat does, has been available since December in six countries: Chile, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Turkey and Uruguay.

Although it is officially only a test, Instagram’s rationale for building the Direct app is that private messaging can never be a best-in-class experience when it lives inside an app meant for broadcasting publicly.

7 Don’t leave Influencer Marketing until the last moment

You’re not their only client: 68% of influencers surveyed say they work on three or more campaigns in a typical month. Particularly around major events or holidays (such as fashion weeks or Christmas), influencers can become fully booked. So if you decide you want to work with influencers, plan ahead.

Stay Up-To-Date with Social Media Marketing

Want to know more about Social Media Marketing? Check out our Principles & Practice of Social Media Marketing New Zealand online training course, constantly updated for 2018:

Social Media Marketing – NZ Online Training Course

** REVISED AND UPDATED FOR 2018 **

Now that social media is the place where most Kiwis spend a large amount of time online, there is a very real need for NZ businesses to learn how to make more effective use of Social Media Marketing to reach existing and prospective customers.

Here are a few of the reasons why NZ businesses need to know more about Social Media Marketing:

• Two out of three Kiwi Internet users visit social network sites every day. If you’re not active in their favourite forum, will they think of you when they decide to purchase the types of goods or services that you sell?
  
• Through those sites, they talk about what they need to buy and they ask their friends for recommendations. Are you listening?
  
• They follow brands and organisations on the social networks, so that they can be in the know about what’s new, what’s hot and what special deals are available. If they care enough about your brand to follow you on Facebook or Instagram or the like, what are you doing for them?
• They share stuff with their friends — the good, the bad and the ugly. If you’re being talked about and you don’t know what is being said about you and your products & services (and customer service successes and failures) in social media, you won’t have a chance to respond and fix any problems before they go toxic.

To help meet the needs of Kiwi businesses, we have revised and updated our well-established (since 2010) online training course which covers both the principles and practices of Social Media Marketing in New Zealand.

This is a thirteen-part online training course providing a comprehensive introduction to Social Media Marketing, from the Basics to comprehensive information on the leading social media networks relevant to New Zealand marketers.

This online training course is conducted on a web-based e-learning software platform, enabling course participants to proceed at their own pace, accessing materials online. This particular online training course provides content in a variety of multimedia forms, including videos, slideshows, flash-based presentations and PDF files. No special software is required to participate.

Course lessons will be provided in thirteen parts, for participants to access in accordance with their own timetables. Interaction with the course tutor is enabled through the platform software tools (with telephone backup if required).

Feedback from previous Social Media Marketing online training course Participants

• “this was the best professional development course I have done in many years” – Mark R, senior Agency Exec responsible for social media
• “thought the information within was outstanding” – Ed P, General Manager
• “What I loved was that I started with a fairly rudimentary understanding of social media but have learned a lot – including where to find more information as I need it.” – Fiona W, Marketing Manager
• “I found it relevant, informative, topical, insightful and a bloody good read. It’s never evangelical, too techy, patronising, assumes that you know too much or too little about digital and has a warm sense of humour in the communication throughout which helped faciliate the learning process for me.” — Adrienne B, new media senior executive
• “Thanks for pointing me in the direction of this course! It’s been extremely enlightening” — Shayne P, design agency director
• “Rapt with what I have seen of the course” — Julia R, fashion editor
• “I’m really enjoying the course – learning a lot – and I know the two friends I persuaded to join us are also loving it.” — Lavinia C, designer
  
• “Am thoroughly enjoying the content!” – Kara B, magazine co-ordinator
• “I completed the first lesson today and found it really interesting and love the interaction already! I am so looking forward to the second lesson already …” — Annette B, public relations director
• “I was already engaging with social media and have been doing so for about 6 years or so. Remembering the days when all of my friends were on Bebo and MySpace and seeing how this has now shifted so dramatically. But, did I know how to use social media in a marketing and business sense? No, I simply did not. This course was a great way to show me how to do that.” — Sheryl K, online marketer

COURSE CREATION AND TUTORING
This course has been created and is tutored by Michael Carney.

WHO SHOULD TAKE THE COURSE
Any Business Owner, Marketing, Advertising, PR or Communications professional who, while they may have a fair knowledge of what social media options are out there, don’t know how to use them effectively (and have a perfectly reasonable fear of doing the wrong thing in a very public arena).

WHAT YOU SHOULD LEARN AS A RESULT OF THE COURSE:

• The principles of effective marketing in social media
• Which social networks are strongest in New Zealand, who uses them and what works best on each network
• What social media can do for your (or your clients’) business
• The best tools and techniques for monitoring social networks
• How to really understand and engage with the consumer
• How to create relevant, informative, killer content for your social media programme
• How to define and measure meaningful numbers to determine the success (or otherwise) of your social media activities
• Answering those questions that (if you’re not prepared) could kill your career
• How to watch for, and adapt to, the Next Big Thing in Social Media (whatever that is)

COURSE CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION:
WHY SOCIAL MEDIA SILENCE IS DEADLY

In which we put Social Media in context in the modern world; discuss the reality that the medium is a runaway success (regardless of whether marketers choose to participate or not); deal with marketers’ biggest fears about the medium; and discuss the key principles of effective marketing in social media.

LESSON ONE: THE BASICS
I’VE JUST ARRIVED FROM OUTER SPACE. TELL ME ABOUT THESE “SOCIAL NETWORKS”.

For those a little fuzzy on the basics: we introduce the concept of social networks; talk about the main players; show you how to check out and claim your digital identity at key online sites and services; and (if you’re not already there) invite you to sign yourself up to the primary social sites.

Lesson Two: Facebook

In Lesson Two, we examine what really works on Facebook for NZ businesses. We spell out the characteristics of successful Facebook posts and identify 20 different posting formats that get noticed and get shared.

We look at:

• What you should talk about most of the time on Facebook (hint: it’s not endlessly flogging the products that you sell)
• The 10 most important factors that consumers look for when deciding whether or not to buy from you (and how you can improve each aspect)
• The four most important services you can provide that will have consumers recommending you to their friends
• What you need to know about the new Facebook Marketplace (before it gets swamped)
• What Facebook Remarketing is all about (and why it can almost miraculously improve your online business)

Then we review the types of posts worth sharing, accompanied by a wide range of examples, including:

• Plenty of stories from local and international businesses who are using Facebook effectively
• The hotel chain that has twice as many people talking about it as the chain has followers
• The radio station that has truly mastered the art of Facebook
• Examples of posts that really tug at the heartstrings
• The Facebook page that had 247,756 Facebook likes but managed to get 775,600 people talking and 160,000 people sharing
• Practical posts that get people sharing

And many many more.

Lesson Three: Online Video

Video is central to Facebook’s vision for the future of the platform. In 2014 CEO Mark Zuckerberg was quoted as saying “In five years most of Facebook will be video”. we’re not quite there yet, but 2019 isn’t very far away at all — and already online video is becoming dominant.

One of the reasons why video is so important for business: after watching a video, 64% of users are more likely to buy a product online.

In this lesson, we discuss exactly what you need to know about online video (especially on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube), including:

• How much more likely people are to watch live video (compared to video which is not live)
• The dramatically-increased performance of Facebook video posts compared with photo posts
• The perceived benefits (and barriers) of live-streaming video and how live streaming is currently being used by businesses
• Success secrets of online video – including the exploding watermelon video that reached more than 10 million people

Along the way, we explore:

• 11 steps to creating an effective video content strategy
• Essential tips and techniques from the YouTube Creator Playbook
• Video marketing tips from the experts
• 30 practical tips to help you create the best live-streamed videos
• The surprising legal ramifications of live content streaming (what you don’t know could cost you bigtime)

Lesson Four: Instagram

Despite the newfound popularity of social video, images continue to be a vital part of the Social Web. In Lesson Four, find out what you need to know about Instagram, including:

• What we know about Kiwi Instagram users
• How leading brands are winning with this image-based network
• How to use Instagram to its full potential
• Smart visual content strategies
• What you should include in your Instagram profile
• Creative ideas for using Instagram for marketing
• The importance of hashtags (but how NOT to overuse them)
• Using Instagram for instant feedback (for better or for worse)
• How often you should post to Instagram (and what NOT to post)
• The vital intelligence you can gain, just by tracking Instagram usage
• Five tips for amazing visual content

Lesson Five: Social Media Advertising

As the social networks limit organic reach — the numbers of your followers who might see your social media posts just because they follow your page — organisations have turned to advertising to communicate their messages. In this lesson we examine how to make the most of your advertising options across various social media networks — and how to really take advantage of the enhanced targeting opportunities that social media provides.

We also explore:

• how to take best advantage of Carousel Ads, Lead Ads and other Facebook and Instagram options
• Facebook’s Canvas, full-screen mobile ad experience
• using Calls to Action more effectively
• how leading advertisers are using social media
• using your existing customer and prospect lists to develop custom audiences

Lesson Six: Pinterest

If your target audience is female, you really should include Pinterest as one of your social media marketing tools. Here’s how Pinterest describes itself:

Pinterest is a Virtual Pinboard. Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.

In this lesson, we explore:

• The latest local and international statistics
• How marketers are using Pinterest
• Pinterest’s Business Pages
• Pinterest case studies, best practices and inspirational guides
• What you simply must know about Pinterest’s Secret Boards
• how you can make the most of rich pins on Pinterest

Lesson Seven: Google Plus

Google Plus is strategically important, even though it really isn’t much of a social network (and has, not unreasonably, been described as a ghost town). Still, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use it. In this lesson, we cover:

• Google Plus stats and demographics
• Why Google Plus is so important for SEO — and for your online credibility
  
• The implications of Google blending Google Plus with Google Shopping
• Why Google Plus matters more than ever for local businesses
• The controversial Google Plus sharing policies

Lesson Eight: LinkedIn

It’s the world’s leading network for business professionals — and if you don’t know how to use LinkedIn effectively, to conduct research, get introduced to warm prospects and to close sales, you could be leaving a lot of potential B2B revenue on the table. In this lesson, we share the latest developments and strategies for LinkedIn, including:

•  the marketing implications of Microsoft’s US$26.2 Billion purchase of LinkedIn
•  the importance of LinkedIn social selling
•  the three simple secrets of effective LinkedIn prospecting
• what you need to know to close more sales through LinkedIn
• five ways in which you (if you’re not careful) can ruin your LinkedIn profile
• getting the most out of LinkedIn’s sponsored content options
• why your organisation should have LinkedIn guidelines for employees

Plus Action Steps for each section.

Lesson Nine: Community Management and Influencer Marketing

Great! You have an enthusiastic following on your chosen social network. But how do you engage effectively with these followers? And how do you reach out to influencers — those who have significant communities of their own?

In this lesson we explore strategies, techniques and best practice, including:

• taking full advantage of Facebook Groups
• Influencer marketing strategies that work
• the vital importance of customer service through social media
• tips and wisdom from leading community managers
• foibles and failures to avoid
• identifying and connecting with Kiwi influencers

Lesson Ten: Twitter

Twitter has come under fire recently, with several potential buyers of the struggling social network operator seemingly turning up their noses and declining to bid. Even so, Twitter can still be a powerful marketing medium if you use it correctly.

In Lesson Ten, we bring you up to speed with Twitter, including:

• what Twitter includes (and no longer includes) in its 140-character message limit
• 7 tips for maximizing Twitter as a marketing and engagement tool
• the best brands on Twitter (and why they’re so successful)
• Twitter’s new people tagging and multiple photo sharing options
• Twitter tools that will boost your productivity
• Twitter and video: what you need to know

Lesson Eleven: Tools & Tips

Next, we take a look at the latest tools that will help you manage your social media needs effectively.

In this lesson, you’ll learn:

• what you can and should measure as you use social media to market your products and services
• the top tools recommended by leading social media experts
• smart strategies for best engagement with your followers
• new social media trends to watch for

Lesson Twelve: Monitoring

DON’T SAY A THING. JUST LISTEN FIRST (EVEN FOR JUST 10 MINUTES A DAY), THEN THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU’RE HEARING. MAYBE THEN YOU CAN TALK.

We know you want to get your teeth into Social Media fast, but you need to start by just listening. And yes, you can do it for just ten minutes a day (if you’re very focussed). In this lesson, we show you where and how to listen (and where to find the mostly-free tools to do so); what to listen for; who to listen to (identifying opinion leaders); and we talk about how things can go wrong and how to react to problems when they arise. In this lesson, we also cover NZ’s Harmful Digital Communications Act and why it’s so essential to monitor your social media properties on a daily basis. Your homework will involve listening, listening, listening.

Lesson Thirteen: Metrics & ROI

OVERCOMING THOSE QUESTIONS THAT KILL MARKETING CAREERS

Social Media in its early stages avoided those awkward issues about Return on Investment and whether it really delivered value for the time and money involved. Now times are tougher, the budgets are tighter and CFOs are asking the hard questions. In this lessons we look at the metrics that are nice to have but more importantly at the ones that matter. We also identify strategies you can follow to develop useful, meaningful measures that satisfy the C-suite. You can guess what your homework is.

CONCLUSION:
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE, AND WHO’S DRIVING?

Social Media (it seemed) arrived faster than a speeding bullet. What’s next for the medium, how do you tell, and what can you do to prepare? We look at the trends and offer some advice.

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TIMING

The next course begins on Monday 27 May, 2024.

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INVESTMENT

This thirteen-part online training course is available for $697. However we offer an Early Bird Discount of $100 — pay just $597 for bookings received by Monday 20 May, 2024.

Bookings are confirmed on receipt of payment, which can be by bank deposit or credit card. We can raise an invoice in advance if you need it.

To reserve your place in this course, please pay by credit card through PayPal by clicking here:

If you would prefer to pay by bank deposit, or require an invoice, please send an email to [email protected] with your requirements.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

You’ll receive our emailed confirmation of your booking. Then on the first day of the course we’ll follow up with details of your Login and Password, along with an Enrolment Key for the Social Media Marketing online training course.

If you have any questions, or would like more information, please email us at [email protected]