Hey everyone, it’s Janet Johnson again here with Social Media Hangout Time and I’m here with, of course, Kimmy, our social media puppet.
Hi everybody!
And we have a guest today who I’m really excited to meet because we have talked online for a long time. We go back and forth on the internet but never met face to face so we have Ravi Shukle.
Hi Ravi!
Hey guys! Hi!
Thank you so much for coming on Ravi. We really appreciate it and we are excited to learn to teach us some stuff about Facebook today. But first what I want to do is read your background so that people that have never heard of you before know up who you are.
So let me read a little bit about Ravi and the reason I’m going to actually put in my feedback of why I know him is I actually first saw you talking with Scott Ayers. And so Scott Ayers is with Post Planner and I saw that you’re writing for Post Planner later on and I’ve done a couple of past blog post for Post Planner myself and so I thought oh Ravi is now doing a lot of Post Planner so that’s excellent and congratulations on that, too.
Thanks.
So Ravi is, his passion about helping others with their social media efforts and keeping up-to-date with latest changes and trends. And he’s been on the internet with social media for over 5 years with multi-national brands. And now enjoys sharing his knowledge to help businesses grow and engage their audience online. You can be sure to find him, and I will vouch for that, online constantly answering questions and providing feedback. So welcome. So tell us a little bit about, Ravi, let’s start with why you got started? How did you get started with social media?
Sure. Actually the, it’s a funny story because I’ve actually always been using social media before the term was recognized then, even before it became a job opportunity. So while I was starting it was all about online marketing and online media so social was there but there wasn’t any big boom within social. I started my first job in an SEO agency and from that I was able to grasp how search works, how that ties into social and from there the kind of agency I was at I could see that this guy’s clearly passionate about face-off marketing and social media and so they called that they would niche for me to work on small social projects. After a few months of that I actually got, scouted by a different agency to help manage their social so this was now my big opportunity to work in a fully social environment so you can imagine I was very excited. I had the interview and everything and the first day arrived. Funny enough they didn’t tell me it was for a multinational brand that I’ll be managing the whole social media and it was literally one guy managing the whole process. And to go deeper, to manage Facebook,Twitter and YouTube from scratch was definitely a big experience. I was lucky because from that I can basically, everything I learned online, all these new experiments with posts, post types, content, I can actually have fun with it. So I was able to bring that to the brand. I was doing that for a few years. So the start actually came about from, I guess, earlier days I was tending to social, talking back and forth. I actually made it myself, it’s kind of saying I’m weird but I was actually still fascinated how I can talk to some one else online within a few clicks and typing a message even though they’re based either somewhere here in London or somewhere around the world. That kind of connecting side of things is always been a part of what I do and being able to manage it for that brand was a great experience. That’s kind of how things blossomed from there.
Well look at us, we’re talking, we’re in the United States in rainy, thundery, stormy Minnesota right now. You’re talking to a puppet, too.
Yeah. No kidding.
Face-to-face, I mean.
I can’t tell you how hard it would have been if I had to be a puppet offline. To find an audience is kind of interesting. People look at you strange but you can connect online.
There’s a few movie roles out there for puppets so is Hollywood still an option?
Oh hook me up!
And Kimmy loves to ask a question…she just has a little fun with this so she has to ask you something here.
I have a question for you. When you were asked to interview with a puppet what was your first thought?
I actually thought it was really cool because part of me is still a big kid so I love all these, even cartoons, anything geeky and techie, I’m usually all over it. So I was actually looking forward to it rather than surprise. I was like I can’t wait to have a conversation with a puppet.
Thank you so much, we appreciate it. It’s always fun to get the people’s reaction.
And you have to, you’re friends with Scott, so you have to bug him that it’s not so bad because he’s afraid. He’s afraid of puppets. There’s nothing to be afraid of with Kimmy.
Yes, exactly. I like to give him a heads up.
Well great! Well let’s get in to our meat here of Facebook marketing. And I have learned a lot from you on Facebook with your Facebook Marketing. And so let’s talk about business owners, specific, the pages and just get into a little bit about what to do with social media. First up, why beyond Facebook? The big talk lately has been Facebook is not worth it, have you heard that? Probably. So why is Facebook worth it?
I’ve heard a lot of things about Facebook not worth it and also people have been talking about organic reach dropping down and business owners are kind of getting worried that if this continues the way it is then maybe they’re not seeing as much benefit. But with the actual Facebook as a whole, it is important to realize that these kind of changes in Facebook happen on a weekly basis. There’s always something that’s getting changed or updated but with regards to the fundamentals of managing a page – creating great content, solving a problem, optimizing that and reaching the ideal audience is always going to deliver results. With the recent updates now, Facebook ads may seem like they play a vital role, which is true, but there’s different ways you can promote your content. And with advanced Facebook targeting now, business has now got even better chance to reach their exact type of audience. My advice to people starting out on social, specially with Facebook, is that it does work, it’s a great way to network and build relationships with your customers but it’s not something that happens overnight. It’s a long-term plan. So you can’t actually share everything in a space of a week and start looking at the ROI and your figures and realize that nothing’s happening. A lot of people still think you can’t get sales and receive real ROI from it but if you target the right audience, if you’re use the right tools or competitions and you’re getting their attention in a way that they actually enjoy then it can be a great way to increase sales and traffic to your website or any of the competitions.
Yeah, I couldn’t agree more. So let’s talk a little bit about the how – how would you suggest, you just talked a little bit about people getting started on Facebook, how would you suggest they get started and how would they keep that reach up? Maybe they’ve up for awhile, how do they keep the reach up? Let’s talk a little bit.
Great. So the way that you reach your audience obviously you have your existing fans. So whether you’re starting from scratch or you already have an existing audience, the number one way to keep that reach up and engagement up is content. So that’s content that you have to research. So what I’d advise struggling with that side of things is to create a content calendar. What that simply means is the simplest is an excel table but you have the days listed out, let’s just say Monday to Sunday. You have them spaced out for a week or two weeks and you literally plan what you’re going to post. Now, a lot of business are kind of like ‘what do I post, there’s so much information out there.’ A good way to do it is just simply see, have a look at what your competitors are doing, do research around the kind of topic that are related to your business and see what else is out there. You could even use Google as a keyword tool and find out what other people are searching for around your field and use this as a screen for content. There’s no shortage of it but finding the right mix is something that you as a page owner is going to have to test out. So whether that’s images, quotes, questions. It’s good to have a mixture of these types of contents and find what works and continue to use that.
Yes, yes. And what about like the Kimmys of the world who run a business and just say ‘oh, you know…’
Yeah.
..writing on time.
Let me jump in Janet.
Go ahead.
You know being in a salon we have so many customers that they really do engage with us on Facebook. And we noticed a big decline, obviously, over the couple of years. What do you have suggestion for a small business owner, we are super busy and sometimes it feels like we’re just posting graphics and images, but what can we do a little bit differently that will help increase our engagement?
Sure. That’s a great question. What I would say straight is salon business is a people business like everyday interacting face-to-face. You heard stories from customers in that kind of environment. So the #1 that I’d say is showcase your customers as a salon. Obviously you need to ask their permission but showcasing the latest styles, getting testimonials from your happy customers. Maybe even finding out what makes them come back and why the enjoy the service that they receive. Highlighting those in the post would help, build a social proof and also show other customers that this is something that other people are enjoying. They can find out for themselves how they can receive similar treatment. Spotlight your customers is my answer to that.
You know one thing that you said was ask your customers why they’re coming back, I just thought, you know what, I can do a quick video clip on my iPhone. That’s a great idea! I’m going to do that. I think that’s great. Thank you.
Yeah, no problem. It sounds obvious because with salons you get repeat business because some of them, your customers like to come on a regular basis, special occasions but there’s always one reason or another why they want to come in. So if it’s your friendly service, you welcome them with a smile, that’s something that everyone has to know about and by posting that on your page, your fans will then associate you with that great service.
Absolutely. Love it! So why would you say it’s important to get the strategy in place? We’re talking about this her doing these different pictures. Shouldn’t it just be random, should she have a plan?
Sure.
What kind of strategy did you think Lisa should have, or Kimmy? Sorry.
Depending on, so obviously you have to look at how many fans you have. Facebook has a great built-in insights section. In that insight section you can have a look at what posts are getting the most engagement, also the type of post that get the most engagement and the kind of best times to post, it’s important to realize. I’ve seen a lot of infographics and information out there saying that when it comes to Facebook there’s a golden rule like weekends get the most engagement, Fridays at 7 pm. The reality of it there is no golden time. That is a 100% back. The times change in a weekly basis. There might be a time on the weekends people are online a little bit but it doesn’t apply to all businesses. With regards to the content I would say have a mixture. In terms of salons you could have a look at different treatments that people might require, how that solves their problems. Like if it’s looks on dying their hair or it could be different skin treatment. Find out the reasons people come into the salon and try and showcase the benefits of your customers using you as a service to help them for their situations. It could be as simple as someone has a birthday / wedding, from whatever it is and they just want a different look. So if your business is able to give that then letting your fans know the process and how you did that or showcase your services but not in a promotional way saying ‘buy our hair lightening for $x amount.’ More like the natural way saying ‘this is what we did for this customer and she’s / he’s very happy with it.
So Kimmy, what would you say? What do people come in for?
Yeah, definitely. We have a certified colorist in our salon. She’s always talking about the latest colors and
Green and pink?
Green and pink, you bet! She’ll travel around the world and do some coloring so people will come to her because of the involvement that she has on Facebook. She’ll tell people ‘I’m going to Canada and I’m going to learn and I’m going to be certified in this new color technique.’ So people always want to know the latest and greatest.
Yes.
And we have a nail technician and she does fancy design and she’ll post some of the newest designs. So definitely they come to us because we’re up on the trends.
Exactly. So I know a lot of business on Facebook so when something trends, you’ve seen examples on Twitter with Oreo and NFL when brands just want to jump and be part of the conversation. But even something like a nail salon you can still do that. So let’s just say it’s the World Cup at the moment. Let’s just say someone comes in and get their nails painted with their favorite country’s flag. That would be a great post. You relate into your salon, it relates to something current people are interested so it’s just an example of how you can use your business to showcase that side of things. Feel free to share those stories. If she’s traveled around you can easily share a photo of the destination she’s traveled in and let your fans know that she’s learned this new technique. So if you want try out come down and check us out.
That’s a great idea.
Kind of talking about piggybacking on the trending contents. Do you want to get into that a little bit more on how people would find that and do it?
Yeah sure. So on Facebook, if you go to your home screen, so to say, this is where your profile is and everything. On the right hand side you’ll see a trending column similarly to Twitter. It’s just displays trending topics that are happening at the moment. So I think there’s about 5 or 6 in that list and you can see more. So it’s a good way for you to have a snapshot to keep an eye on it. It’s important to realize not all trending is going to suit your business so like if it something a sporting event or something like when the royal baby came. It seemed like every brand had a say on it so not everything applies. But if there are certain fun things that you think will fit in then by all means there are ways to tie into your brand in a clever way like we mentioned with the World Cup thing. So it’s not promotional but at the same time you’re having fun with it.
I like that and I think some do the trending where they follow the trending content of sad news and use that awful news to their benefit and that’s the type of thing I’d be careful of and watch out for because that’s not what we use. So I love your point is it needs to relate to your business and you want to make it something that is relateable and fits in because you don’t want to just use for the benefit of, to promote yourself.
Yeah. I mean if there’s a way to cleverly tie in without directly relating to then by all means go for it. Nail salon or salons is closely related to fashion so there’s always premiers, there’s always fashion shows, so showcasing maybe a certain celebrity’s look and if you’re able to replicate something similar and one of your customers is like, “thanks, you’ve done a great job; I’ve got certain look on Friday night.” So if you can relate that to something that’s happening with fashion then that’s always be going to be something people are looking for. Just finding current trends relateable to your business or finding a fun way to tie it is always a great way to find content and help the content spread, as well.
Yes, yes, I agree. So what trends are you noticing right now? Like what trends in the world of social media, Facebook, that kind of thing? What’s your “predictions” for the future here?
People are getting busier everyday. We’ve got less and less time and that’s why things like Instagram, Pinterest and those social networks has flourished because you just need to use your mobile. You literally scroll through and consume the content in a couple of seconds. Double tapping does not take any time so in that sense we’ve got less time now to grab the kind of attention of our customers or fans. So visual content is going to be huge in the form of video. So Instagram obviously got video. Pinterest, not a lot of people are aware of video, you can use video as well as images. And as well as Facebook. I’ll definitely make your pages visual so practical examples should be for your blog posts they offer the link image preview. So it’s great to optimize your images to fit the preview but also to stand out so you can either play around with colors, use bold images. Use that visual space to grab your users’ attention. You’ll see it commonly in viral websites like a woman hit a cave, you’ll never guess what she’s discovered. It’s like the intrigue makes you want to go and click the link. So if you can build the intrigue on your post, find out why the latest style got her photo shoot or whatever it’s like. If you can find a way to build that interest then I think visual content is the way to go social. So video and images need to be optimized and stand out.
And then you brought up the good, the other point you brought up was mobile. Mobile is becoming…
Yes, exactly. Mobile is a huge part of it. Facebook’s mobile users are increasing on a yearly basis, on a rapid rate. So recently they’ve started introducing soon to come out like a search feature for posts and ads are out obviously mobile optimize. If you got an app you can optimize your ads for mobile downloads, something you definitely look/need to consider when creating your content because if it is visual then that’s something that one would notice on their mobile a lot quicker than a typical link post that hasn’t been optimized. So visual content and video content are both great way, just making it share-able. So if your website is mobile-optimized, that’s another essential part, a lot of people click these links on Facebook via their mobile. So if does take them to your website you need to ensure that the images there, the content, everything is mobile-optimized and also offers easy sharing. So having that in place is definitely going to be something you want to look up moving forward.
Fantastic, those are great tips. I think these are very important to look at. We did have a conversation with another individual all about the mobile website, stuff like that. But I know, I’m sure, you guys too. It drives me crazy when I click on a link on my phone and you can’t open it or you have to scroll side to side or something like that. So it just shows if we’re annoyed, think about the people that we’re marketing to. So everybody needs to remember that – look at their stuff via mobile also so that their putting good stuff out there.
Yeah.
You know..
Yeah I mean another thing…
Go ahead.
I was just going to ask you about Facebook ads because I’ve just switched my Facebook marketing to a mobile platform and I’m getting better results because of the Facebook ads and where you can place your ads. Do you have any insights on Facebook marketing ads?
Yeah, sure, so Facebook have launched their new audience in search which allows you to filter even further into the type of so-called fan that you want to reach. So you’ve got age, gender, location, even workplace targeting so it’s a good time to niche down and find out who your ideal customer is. It’s no longer good enough to say it’s all small business owners or it’s everyone aged 50-60. You need to get a little bit more specific with who’s actually interacting with your brand, what your kind of customers are, your ideal customers are then using information such as graph search which is basically Facebook’s built-in search which allows you to find pages your fans are interested in. You could type that into the search so I can say for example fans of Ravi Shukle who also like and then you’ll be able to find a list of pages that your fans also like. That’s a great way to find out if there’s a majority that like a certain page it then becomes an option for your ad targeting so you could think outside the box and say I want target everyone who’s interested in, let’s say, social media but who also likes maybe a Nike, for example. You can get a broader idea of your audience so graph search is a good way to find out what your fans like and what their interests are and you can use that to target the ads towards those individuals.
Fantastic tip! That’s something that even it’s a little more advanced for people listening to that because that was a fantastic tip.
Yeah it sounds very technical but the reality of it is literally at the top of your Facebook bar where you normally type in the name of your friend to find a profile you can literally type in a question to find out what people are interested in to do with your business page. So you literally type in the fan page name and type in people are interested in and you get a list of Facebook coopering up. It’s something you can test out if you want more information on that I’m happy to provide it, I can drop you guys a link and you can take a look but it’s just a good way to get insight on your customers.
Great! We’ll let’s finish up I always ask this question. We want to give our audience something to do within the next 24 hours that’s going to make a difference in their business. What kind of action step or steps would you give them to easily implement?
The first thing I would say is whether we like to believe it not we can’t be online 24/7. So it’s good to schedule your content ahead of time. What I mean by that is I don’t mean schedule all your posts and then go and sit back and relax and not look at it. If your post is going out at 5pm by all means schedule it a week in advance, two weeks in advance but then when it goes live be there to interact with the comments and be there to engage. So the first thing I would say is you don’t have to be online all day so plan your content in advance. We understand things happen in real times so a good starting could be between 1 and 2 weeks so plan out those posts in advance. Use insights to help identify the key times. Schedule those in. You can use Facebook’s built-in scheduling tool or you mentioned Scott and Post Planner. I also like to use Post Planner, it’s a great tool to schedule things out at the times you want and also to find great content. So scheduling your content now in advance, being there to engage – those are 2 great things to implement right now which will save you a whole bunch of time. It means you don’t have to be online all day, you just respond to the comments as they come in but your mind’s at ease knowing that your page is running effectively without you having to be there all the time.
That’s a great tip, thank you.
You want to finish up Kimmy?
All right, yeah. Can you tell us where people can find you, how would you like them to connect with you and if you have a website address or LinkedIn or where would you like people to connect up?
Sure, you can reach me on my website its ravishukle.com. So that’s R-A-V-I-S-H-U-K-L-E.com and for all you guys on Facebook that enjoy getting these Facebook tips, my fan page is just facebook.com/ravishukle again, same spelling. So I post daily tips there and if you do have any questions or anything you want to go over, feel free to just drop me a comment and I’m more than happy to help and look into it for you.
Okay, thank you so much for being on the show.
Yeah, thanks. Nice to meet you. Thank you Ravi.