Hootsuite Analytics Tutorial

One of my first tasks as a Social Media Specialist was to create a tutorial for Hootsuite Analytics. I'd only just started using HootSuite for monitoring social media, let alone for tracking statistics, so who was I to create a presentation to be shown to clients?

I love Prezi. I can do anything on Prezi. I can create a presentation and think through the process with Prezi. When I'm given a task to make a PowerPoint, I run to Prezi to conceptualize it, plan it out, and get everything I want into it. There is nothing like being free of slides and just spreading out in an online space.

So I came up with this tutorial. Looking through it now, it's very simplified and dated, and almost comes off as a Social Media for Dummies lesson plan. It's very step by step and perfect for a business owner just venturing into Insights and scheduling tools like HootSuite, RavenTools, and Time.ly.

Social Media Marketing as a Science

Social Media Science

Recently, I did some work with the social media experts in downtown Portland, Bonfire Social Media (or, Bonfire Marketing). I didn't know it at the time, but Bonfire has a bit of a name here in the PDX. It's BIG, according to one of my graphic designer friends.

As with any agency, mentioning their clients is a big no-no, so for this I'll just refer you to their site to find the types accounts they work with. But I can say, that I'd never worked on accounts of this size (and influence) before--a popular brand with high visibility, a television network, and a large community of fans faithful to a childhood show. During my short time with the agency, I got to experience a different side of SMM, community management, and even fandom.

As an avid absorber of current, highly-publicized things, I know what it's like to be a superfan. Boy bands, movies, books, reality television shows... If it's being blasted across all channels, chances are that I'm into it. So when I visit popular Facebook pages as one of a million "likes," I'm happy to go with the flow of whatever they say. A new episode of True Blood is coming out? I'm in the flurry of fans debating what's going to happen, looking for spoilers, and sharing content on my blogs.

With Bonfire, I got the chance to be the moderator on 3 pages like this. I managed the files, the stats, the responses, and was aware of what the followers were talking about. They got a branded sweatshirt off Etsy? The actors are using profanity and posting inappropriate pics? It was my job to find these things, alert the primary, and document it in Basecamp. I also know how difficult it is to wait for the next chapter of a story, or a follow-up album,  so it was a bit strange to be on the other end keeping fans excited about the new season, while not actually telling them anything new and deleting spoilers.

Another thing that was exciting (and darn scary) was posting on an account with a ton of fans just waiting for a new post. What if it wasn't proofed correctly? What if the text skews while submitting? What if I post the wrong image? Thankfully none of these things happened! With pages this popular, over 1000 people see the post before it even loads on your screen. Spam is already all over the new post, as well as answers, comments, and fan praise.

What I learned in my previous position as a Community Specialist with Blue Volcano Media, is that nothing is more important than relating to your audience, focusing on your followers, and interacting as often as possible. Thanking each individual follower, directing them to your website, or a blog post they might find interesting, or commenting one of their own posts. I grew an account from 191 followers to 1200 in just a few months by doing this--and paying attention to them. What was the goal? Interacting, sharing, conversing. This was the way to grow the community into loyal customers!

It was a different ball game with Bonfire because of the size of the accounts. So much time was spent monitoring, brainstorming, and tracking metrics, that interaction was limited. And with the influence of the accounts, there were only a few approved answers to use for replies, and every post was meticulously done. But what was really the kicker, was the stats.

They are experts, specialists, and while creativity and "fun" are emphasized, it really only comes down to one thing: numbers. Every week, every day, clicks, likes, money on ads spent, cost per fan, people talking about this, are noted in a spreadsheet somewhere to be used in the client updates. Charts and graphs, analyses and summaries, all updated constantly. Instead of focusing on getting new fans (those are inevitable), they are going for having a specific number of fans by X date. Instead of telling the client that they will manage and grow their customers through Facebook, they are out to achieve goals and prove their influence on the business.

For this kind of company, social media is a science (not an art), and it's worth it. One thing I took away from my time there was the passion that the boss had for proof in numbers. He is out to show every client that these techniques, these advertisements, and our social media efforts got them those sales, that influence, and that success. Every new development on Tech Crunch was so exciting because it was another way to promote social media and how it can make or break a company, or a marketing campaign. Also, I've never seen someone so pumped about Facebook ad re-targeting.

Every Social Media Manager should intern at an agency like this, just to see how it looks from the other side, where you aren't focused on raising awareness and growing communities, but on learning how strategy plays a part in statistics. In these types of companies, the audience is the client.

Focusing Your Social Media Content

It's easy to approach your Facebook and Twitter pages with the sole purpose of promoting your brand, products, and services. Why wouldn't you want to optimize your content with industry-specific posts? Because it isn't about you and your business, it's about your customers and their community as a whole!

One of my former accounts, a well-known virtual call center, gave me a very limited range of topics to promote on their Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google Plus pages. As a new Social Media Specialist, I had no problem with going with the flow and sticking to the requested keywords: the cloud, home-based call centers, and customer service. For Twitter, my audience was business executives, clients, and popular industry leaders like Flavio Martins (The Managr), Peter Cashmore (Mashable), and Inc. For Facebook, my audience was the group of extremely loyal customer service agents employed by the company.

Twitter, G+, and LinkedIn couldn't be changed at all, so #custserv, #cloud, and #callcenter were all used frequently. I found the right content, the right people to follow, and RTed the most popular articles as soon as they showed up in my feed. Nothing spectacular clicks-wise, but regular interaction wasn't surprising. I shared our own blog posts, job listings, and pages as well.

But for Facebook, this same tactic got little results. For a page with a lot of traffic, and a lot of "likes" on every post, it was strange to see that there was so little interaction. I had seen a few quotes posted in the past, about success and management, but only with a handful of likes. I experimented with posting times, but nothing stood out there either.

Who are customer service agents anyway? Who are these people? What are they interested in, and what are they sharing?

These agents were mostly women, stay at home moms with families. Most of them probably don't check Facebook for customer service tips, quotes, and news about the cloud! So I started approaching my posts differently. This was during the Pinterest craze, full of work at home moms and crafty ladies. I mixed my customer service posts up by switching those about cloud, with big, eye-catching photos. Interactive posts like, "Show us your workspace!" with a pic of a really chic home office, or "It's the last day of summer! In 5 words, tell us what you'll miss the most" with a bright image of a cherry popsicle and our own caption.

Both were VERY well received, with more likes, shares, and comments than ever before. But the real topper was the pin above, paired with a simple "You are the best agents in the business. Thank you for all that you do!" Comments flooded in, with praise for the company, expressions of gratitude, and job inquiries.

Through the rest of my contract, and with my other accounts, I took the initiative to focus on relatable content that would be enjoyed, and not just optimized industry news and topics.

LinkedIn Profile

After making the decision to move, Seth and I started scouring job sites. I dug through the bags of merchandise I'd taken from Michigan Tech's career fair over the years, finding company names and searching their sites for job postings. I started worrying about my resume and eventually fleshed it out...

In my excitement I started looking at places to live, moving companies, top restaurants in the area. All for what we're calling "the dream."

I even told my current boss about my excitement, my goal to get out of here and hopefully make it in a big city (Seattle). She didn't sound all too excited--and not just because she'd be losing a valuable team member if I was actually successful. She's all about simplicity, living simply, without the frills. It was that mild discouragement which convinced me to flesh out my LinkedIn profile and finally work on it regularly.

I'm a Social Media Specialist - Community Manager, Technical Writer, and Editor... Pretty much what everyone is in Seattle, besides those measly software engineers.

Here's my permalink:
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/brenda-harjala/39/322/6b7

It's technically my FIRST day!

Thanks to oDesk, and the wonder that is Skype, I actually began my new job. That's right, after leaving my position as Assistant Photo Editor just yesterday, it was quite timely that I started my new one today!

This job is quite different, and instead of sorting the photo files of others, I am managing Social Media accounts! I'm having staff meetings and conference calls, and just spent the last few hours diving into Twitter, Facebook, and anything I could find about cars. I'm feeling really special, and really fortunate to have found oDesk and this company.

"Social Media Assistant" is the second big job that I've taken through oDesk, and I wasn't even slightly sure how I managed to get an interview and do well. But it was quite a wonderful surprise!

In July, 2011, I got an "Invitation to Interview" from the owner of a social media marketing firm. After looking through the requirements I thought I'd give it a shot and take the interview. I needed a degree in Liberal Arts, experience with popular social media platforms (Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook), and a big interest in in-depth social media management. I have no degree in Liberal Arts, barely use my Facebook account, and only heard vaguely of people getting paid to Tweet and post on Facebook.

Alas, I had the greatest interview with the owner via Skype. I was so nervous up to it that I was almost sick with worry, constantly researching in order to get myself more prepared, coming up with questions and ruling out "stupid" ones. I had such a bad headache that I hung out in bed to keep myself from running to the computer to look up more stuff. But all that stress was for nothing. The owner was hilarious, we talked about dogs, Star Trek, and skipping town for paradise.

I waited patiently for weeks for her response, only to get the message that she couldn't hire me then, but that I would be first in line for the next available position. To me, having experienced that before, I thought I'd have to wait until next year sometime and tried to get comfortable being poor for a while, eating roman noodles and streaming Netflix. There wasn't a minute that went by that my husband didn't complain about not being able to GO anywhere or DO anything.

But one morning, about a week ago, I thought I'd "keep in touch" as she'd asked and inquired about some things I could research and read while waiting for a position to open up. Quite shortly afterwards she wrote me back saying she could hire me right then to take on some new accounts and to set up a meeting on Skype. We met, it went awesome (more talk about randomness) and I stayed logged in for a staff meeting an hour later.

I spose that's the end of that story! oDesk is magic!