Tag Archives: Deltina Hay

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June 28, 2011

How to create a social media plan in 4 beefy steps

This is part three of our three-part Social Media Planning series, broken down into the following phases:

  1. Social media analysis
  2. Social media strategy
  3. Social media plan (below)

Deltina HayIn parts 1 and 2 we’ve looked at how to create a social media analysis and strategy.

Now it’s time for four beefy steps for completing a social media plan:

1. Outline a phased plan

  • Using recommendations from your social media strategy, outline a phased plan.
  • Make your first phase as manageable as possible based on the organization’s resources.
  • Subsequent phases should evaluate existing tools and goal fulfillment.

Here is an example of a two-phase plan:

Phase one

  • Optimize existing website
  • Start a blog for the organization
  • Optimize or create optimized accounts with some social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
  • Create optimized accounts with and populate media communities such as Flickr and YouTube.
  • Integrate all of these accounts using an integration tool like Ping.fm or HootSuite.
  • Use an analytics/metrics tool such as PostRank or Radian6 to measure progress and success.

    • Continue reading →

June 24, 2011

Create a social media strategy in four steps

This is the second part of our three-part Social Media Planning series, broken down into the following phases:

  1. Part 1: Social media analysis
  2. Part 2: Social media strategy (below)
  3. Part 3: Social media plan

Deltina HayOn Tuesday I introduced this short series on how to create a social media analysis, strategy and plan, defining how those different elements are important to achieve an optimal result with social media.

Today we’ll list four steps for completing a social media strategy.

1A strategy for the organization’s existing website:

  • Outline a strategy for optimizing the organization’s existing website.
  • You may suggest adding a blog, placing social bookmarking buttons from addtoany.com, or placing widgets and badges to highlight the organization’s Social Web presence.

2A strategy for improving the organization’s presence in existing social media sites:

  • Outline a plan of attack for improving and optimizing the existing social tools the organization has in place.
  • This may include a strategy to engage more with fans or to refocus efforts on a more realistic target market based on the social media analysis.

3A social media tools strategy:

  • Outline the tools you believe will most benefit the organization and why.
  • Include a statement about how the organization might specifically leverage each tool, but save the details for the “social media plan.”
  • Here is a collection of social networking stats by Web Strategist that can help you back up your recommendations.
  • This should be an overview of your recommended social media strategy, the actual social media plan will come after this phase.

4A social media analytics and metrics strategy:

  • Include recommended analytics and metrics tools.
  • Outline a plan for establishing an existing base line to use as a basis of comparison.
  • Save more detailed tactics for the social media plan.

    • Continue reading →

June 21, 2011

A social media analysis in six steps

Whether you’re a seasoned social media user or a beginner, you can benefit from this three-part series focusing on social media planning, broken down into the following parts:

  1. Part 1: Social media analysis (below)
  2. Part 2: Social media strategy
  3. Part 3: Social media plan

Deltina HayAsocial media analysis should define an organization’s online goals and target market as well as the existing resources it has to apply to social media efforts.

A social media strategy should include how an organization can improve social media optimization for its existing website as well as recommendations of other social media tools and how an organization can leverage them.

For each tool recommended in the social media strategy, the social media plan should include an overall strategy for applying the tool specifically to an organization’s needs and tactics for managing and optimizing the tool. The resulting plan should reflect the needs and resources outlined in the social media analysis and strategy.

6 steps for completing a social media analysis

1Perform a SWOT analysis in addition to the items below.

The Canadian site SEO Wizardry has a nice example of social media SWOT analysis.

2Define the organization’s target market.

3Define the organization’s online goals. What, specifically, does the organization want to accomplish with social media?:

    • Get the word out about their brand.
    • Offer a platform for getting a specific message out.
    • Target new customers.
    • Sell more products.

4Assess the resources available to the organization.

    • Outline the resources the organization has on hand to facilitate social media efforts.
    • Estimate how many hours a day the organization can afford to expend on social media efforts based on this outline. Continue reading →
December 18, 2009

5 ways to increase the reach of your blog or RSS feed

survival-guide-toDeltina HayYou may be losing out on opportunities to improve the reach of your RSS feed or blog.

These optimization tips can help:

• Burn your feed to Feedburner.com. Take advantage of the optimization and analytics features they offer.

• Offer alternate ways for readers to subscribe to your feed. Use FeedBurner tools like email subscriptions and subscription buttons like the ones on AddtoAny.com to offer more choices for your readers.

• Add your feed to as many feed directories as you can. Don’t assume that just because a service is being pinged (notified) about your posts, that your feed is listed in their directory. Start by claiming your blog at Technorati.com. Then use the toprankblog blog directory list to find more.

rss_logo• Import your feed into your social networking sites. Facebook allows you to import RSS feeds into your profile and offers applications for you to import feeds into Facebook pages. LinkedIn offers an application to include your feed in your profile. And you can use a tool like HootSuite.com to import your feed into your Twitter account.

• Create a lifestream or social page. Start an account with a lifestreaming service like FriendFeed or create a page on a social site like Squidoo. Import your feed into your new accounts along with relevant information from your other social Web accounts.

Though these tips will help improve the reach of your RSS feed or blog, the best way to get more subscribers is to regularly generate as much quality and on-topic content as you can.

Previously in this series

December 1, 2009

How to advertise your business on Facebook

facebook advertising

A step-by-step guide — excerpted from Survival Guide Chapter 6: Social Networking

survival-guide-toDeltina HayHere is part 6 of the series I will post over the next few months based on chapters from my new book, A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization.

This book is meant to be a guide to building an optimized foundation in social Web for beginners and advanced users alike.

Chapter 6 of the book focuses on one of the most powerful social media strategies: social networking. These sites are incredibly effective outlets for finding new customers and readers, but if you don’t choose the right strategy, it’s easy to find your message spread thin. Below you’ll find a detailed explanation for creating and optimizing a Facebook page, as well as a Social Networking Strategy to help you prepare information and build profiles in social networking sites.

The following excerpts are from A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization: Strategies, Tactics, and Tools for Succeeding in the Social Web by Deltina Hay

Copyright 2009 by Deltina Hay. All rights reserved.

Creating Facebook Pages

Once you have a Facebook account and have completed your profile, log in to Facebook, and go to the “Advertising” link at the bottom of your Facebook profile page, or go directly to the Facebook business link. Continue reading →

August 5, 2009

Survival Guide Chapter 4: Building a WordPress-powered website

survival-guide-toDeltina Hay Here is part 4 of the series I will post over the next few months based on chapters from my new book, A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization.

This book is meant to be a guide to building an optimized foundation in the Social Web for beginners and advanced users alike.

Chapter 4 of the book is about building a Website using WordPress as a Content Management System (CMS). (As an immediate example, SocialMedia.biz is a site powered by WordPress.).

The following excerpts are from A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization:

Chapter 4: Building a WordPress Powered Website

The Anatomy Of A WordPress Site

Let’s look at the main elements of a WordPress site. Each of the examples in this chapter has these general areas, just represented a little differently. …
Continue reading →

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