Social Media Marketing Workbook 2019

by Adam Schaffner

  Social Media Marketing Workbook 2019

  How to Leverage The Power of Facebook Advertising, Instagram Marketing, YouTube and SEO To Explode Your Business and Personal Brand

  Written By

  Adam Schaffner

  © Copyright 2019 by Adam Schaffner

  All rights reserved.

  The content contained within this book may not be reproduced, duplicated or transmitted without direct written permission from the author or the publisher.

  Under no circumstances will any blame or legal responsibility be held against the publisher, or author, for any damages, reparation, or monetary loss due to the information contained within this book. Either directly or indirectly.

  Legal Notice:

  This book is copyright protected. This book is only for personal use. You cannot amend, distribute, sell, use, quote or paraphrase any part, or the content within this book, without the consent of the author or publisher.

  Disclaimer Notice:

  Please note the information contained within this document is for educational and entertainment purposes only. All effort has been executed to present accurate, up to date, and reliable, complete information. No warranties of any kind are declared or implied. Readers acknowledge that the author is not engaging in the rendering of legal, financial, medical or professional advice. The content within this book has been derived from various sources. Please consult a licensed professional before attempting any techniques outlined in this book.

  By reading this document, the reader agrees that under no circumstances is the author responsible for any losses, direct or indirect, which are incurred as a result of the use of information contained within this document, including, but not limited to, — errors, omissions, or inaccuracies.

  Table of Contents

  Preface

  ◊ Chapter 1: Why Use Social Media and SEO For Your Brand in 2019

  ◊ Chapter 2: Building a Personal Brand in 2019

  ◊ Chapter 3: Building Your Core Brand Strategy: 5 Tips for Success

  ◊ Chapter 4: Identifying Yourself & Creating Your Offer

  ◊ Chapter 5: Instagram Marketing For Your Brand in 2019

  ◊ Chapter 6:Instagram Stories

  ◊ Chapter 7: Facebook

  ◊ Chapter 8: Facebook Advertising

  ◊ Chapter 9: Twitter

  ◊ Chapter 10: Youtube

  ◊ Chapter 11: Social Media Strategy Worksheet

  ◊ Chapter 12: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

  ◊ Chapter 13: SEO Worksheet

  ◊ Chapter 14: Tips and Tricks to Social Media Marketing and SEO Success in 2019

  Conclusion

  Preface

  Nowadays, it goes without saying that when someone starts their own business - whether it is selling products or services - they should create social media pages for it; and most people do. However, social media marketing is often seen by business owners as the simple process of creating a page and posting on it from time to time, when in reality it is so much more than that. It requires a well-established strategy and it needs to be monitored over time, just like any traditional marketing plan would.

  Besides that, not having a website (or having one with a bad design and user experience) is a red flag for most consumers. Just think about what you do when you want to know more about a certain product, brand or person. You go straight to Google, don’t you?

  In this e-book, I will talk to you about Social Media and SEO trends and predictions for 2019, as well as tips and tricks that will help you achieve a better performance online when you promote your own personal brand. You will have blank space to take your notes so that, in the end, you will have everything you need to start and maintain a strategy for your brand on the Internet.

  Chapter 1: Why Use Social Media and SEO For Your Brand in 2019

  During the last few years, entrepreneurship and freelancing have been on the rise. So many people have been opening their own businesses, making money on the side and, in a growing number of cases, quitting their jobs to commit themselves fully to their own brand. All a person really needs to attract clients is access to the Internet. That, combined with the growing desire, particularly by the newer generations, to not be stuck in the traditional 9 to 5 lifestyle, is resulting in a huge shift in the way that people work. They want to have freedom to work from home, from the cafe, from the beach or from the other side of the world; and they want to be their own bosses.

  Everybody is on social media and everybody uses search engines when they need to know more information about any given topic. That means that, for business owners - be it traditional ones or the entrepreneurs and freelancers I just talked about - it is absolutely crucial to invest in Digital Marketing efforts, and both Social Media Marketing and SEO are two of the biggest components of that area.

  Social Media Marketing is a form of Digital Marketing that, just like the name suggests, consists of any efforts you put into the usage of social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, to promote a business and increase traffic and leads. Different businesses have different goals, needs and customers, and that translates into the type of platforms that are more advantageous for them, but I will dive into that later in the e-book.

  SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and it consists of the efforts invested towards improving a website’s organic traffic on search engines. In other words, working on your SEO means working on your website so that, when a user searches for certain keywords that you define, your website will appear, at least, on the first Search Engine Result Page (SERP) - and, of course, the ultimate goal is for your web page to be the first one on the list of results.

  If you have a business or are starting one in 2019, there is no doubt about whether or not you should invest in these areas, and statistics from previous years prove so:

  The Global Digital Report 2018, by We are Social and Hootsuite, states that in 2017, over 4 billion people worldwide used the internet and a little over 3 billion were active social media users (you should also consider the fact that these numbers have been continuously increasing over time so, as I write this e-book they should be bigger and, as you read it, even bigger). The same report showed that, in January of 2018, each person spent an average of 6 hours a day using “internet-powered devices and services” (Kemp, 2018) and that, although the distribution of Internet is not yet balanced, countries with low penetration rates have seen a fast and continuous growth on their Internet usage.

  According to The 2018 Sprout Social Index: Realign & Redefine report, 60% of consumers want to know about new products and services on social media, 59% are interested in educational posts, 56% in entertainment, and 49% in inspirational posts.

  58% of users prefer visual content, which comes as no surprise, since the human brain processes images 60 000 times faster than text (Elsenberg, 2014).

  45% of consumers use social media for customer service purposes.

  During 2017, for each second that went by, there were 11 new social media users. Crazy, isn’t it?

  In 2017, users spent almost 1.5 trillion dollars on e-commerce.

  For someone who owns a business but who’s not familiar with Digital Marketing, Social Media Marketing might seem like something really easy to handle, while SEO might seem like the complete opposite. As you will understand throughout this e-book, neither of those is necessarily true. However, before you even think about your digital presence, your brand needs to be well settled - and that is exactly what I will talk about in the next chapter.

  Chapter 2: Building a Personal Brand in 2019

  A business is a commercial enterprise, but behind every business there is an individual
and now more than ever, people want to get to know and connect to those individuals. That is the big reason why it is so important to have a personal brand. And that applies to those who already have an established business, as well as for those who are just starting one.

  So your personal brand differs from your business brand, in the sense that it is about you as an individual - you are the product being marketed, so to speak. It is a person who communicates with your audience and who shows your ideals, opinions and values more than a business brand would. In other words, a personal brand is more human: it is about putting a face to the product/service and allowing customers to relate to it, turning your brand into more than just a source of sales.

  As you read this you might start feeling a little bit discouraged because you are not a celebrity and getting followers and visits is not that easy. Well, the key to success is a positive attitude! Keep in mind that you are still a person with expertise and knowledge to share and that the goal is not to reach the entire world, but the people who make up your business brand’s audience target.

  Benefits of Creating a Personal Brand

  You build a connection with your customers, and they see you and your brand as trustworthy

  It is just like building a relationship with a new friend. First you get to know them, you keep interacting and learning more about their opinions and, after a while, voilá, you have a new person in your life who you know you can trust.

  With the proper work being done, the same thing can happen between your personal brand and the customers. People will start remembering your name and your face. Because you are an actual person - and not just a logo or a slogan - consumers can feel an emotional connection with you and, with time, they start trusting you, which will reflect on the performance of your business brand. You may even become a thought leader in your industry, which is the quintessence of trust.

  It is a great way of growing your network

  If the efforts you put into your personal brand go well, you will start gaining followers online, that is, other people who want to keep up with what you have to say on your digital platform profiles. Among those followers, you will find a lot of people who are your current clients and want to keep up with the news, as well as some prospect customers.

  In addition, there will also be people interested in collaborating with you and/or people who work in the same industry and who can be great contacts to have on your contact list. And the great thing is that, once your personal brand is well established, this networking process will become automatic, the follower count, the mentions and the direct messages will come to you and all you have to do is reply to the ones that seem interesting. You will not have to do all the work that goes into networking. And, as an entrepreneur, we bet you know how difficult finding new contacts can be!

  It gives more visibility not only to your brand, but to yourself as a professional

  A personal brand is one more channel to promote your product or service, so it is clear why having one can increase the visibility of what you are selling. When you put yourself out there as the owner of business XYZ, people get to see a part of the brand that they haven’t seen before: the person behind it. And a person can be so much more than a business owner! So, having your own personal brand and working on it can get you to a point where you start having access to more (and more diverse) career paths that maybe you would not find with just a business brand. For instance, it is not uncommon for people with successful personal brands to be invited to speak at conferences or teach workshops about their area of expertise.

  More Sales

  The combination of the four benefits mentioned above - the trust, the connection, the new contacts and the visibility - will increase your product or service exposure, make your audience grow and, ultimately, translate into the bigger goal: more sales!

  Chapter 3: Building Your Core Brand Strategy: 5 Tips for Success

  After reading the benefits on the last chapter, you may be interested in building your own personal brand. Just like with a business brand, doing so is all about strategy. Once you have your core strategy settled, nourishing your personal brand will become more and more natural to you. Here are some tips to build your core personal brand strategy:

  Be yourself. This is key to a successful personal brand, because it helps you maintain a consistent image. Otherwise you will have the extra work of having to keep up with the lies you tell your audience and, as good as those lies may make you look in the beginning, it will never be worth it. The truth always comes up and you will not only have a lot of explaining to do, but you will lose the trust your followers put in you. Everyone prefers authenticity and that is what will bring you the type of followers you want to reach.

  Now, that does not mean you cannot change your opinions - it is human nature to do so. Just be honest about it. Just because you post something today, it does not mean that you have to defend that stance for the entire time you have an online presence. People change and grow, and followers will understand that, as long as it comes from a place of sincerity towards yourself and them.

  All of this means that you have to know who you are. You might tell me, “Of course I know who I am!” But do you know how to use that to market yourself? The next chapter is all about identifying who you are and using that to design your offer, so don’t worry, I will help you with this tip.

  Choose your target. This one comes hand in hand with the previous tip. Being authentically yourself means you will not appeal to everyone - and that is not the goal anyway!

  Consider your area of expertise, your communication style, the message you want to convey and your overall goal with this brand. By doing so, you will find the niche of people you want to reach. Having a clear idea of who you want to talk to will makes things a lot easier when the time comes to actually do the talking.

  Write down the target audience you want to reach with your personal brand.

  Be an expert. You are probably a good professional in the industry you work in. The difference between a good professional and an expert lies particularly on the process of continuous learning. Become an expert by keeping up to date with everything going on within said industry. You can do so by reading magazines and books, by listening to podcasts, by following relevant pages on social media, by keeping in touch with other people within your niche - all you need to do is find your method(s) to make sure you are consistently updated.

  And, of course, only say something when you have something meaningful to say. Talking about a situation just to say you did will not help you become a relevant voice; you will just be another person on the Internet.

  Write down the sources you will use to update yourself.

  Have a visual side to your brand. We have mentioned before how important visuals are in the online universe. Having a logo, a website and even business cards with consistent, top quality design makes you automatically look more attractive to potential customers and partners. Don’t worry if you are not a designer, this is a task you can definitely outsource.

  And on the topic of visuals, when you use photos of yourself, go for high quality ones, that will appeal to your target (which should not be hard, if you follow tip number one).

  Take time to regularly work on your website, as well as on your social media profiles. I will let you know how later in the e-book!

  Chapter 4: Identifying Yourself & Creating Your Offer

  I have highlighted the importance of being honest and authentic before. It is impossible to do that if you don’t know yourself and a good way of working on it is by answering some self analysis questions.

  What is my area of expertise and what can I offer to my audience?

  What are my strengths and my weaknesses as an individual?

  What are my strengths and my weaknesses as a professional?

  How do I deal with big obstacles?

  What is my biggest goal in life?

  Which skills do I still need to work on to achieve that goal?

/>   What type of people do I usually get along with easier in “real life”?

  If I was someone else, why would I follow myself on social media?

  What are my biggest passions?

  How would those around me describe me?

  Now that you have answered these questions, you probably have a better sense of self. Summarize and compile the information you have written down and try to understand how you can use it to market yourself and to acquire more skills through a personal brand. If it makes it easier, you can even write it down as if you were describing someone else, as such: “[Your name] is a [your professional], with expertise in [...],” and so on.

  You can write down your notes below.

  Chapter 5: Instagram Marketing For Your Brand in 2019

  Instagram is a visual social media mobile app, where the user’s profile is composed of photos and videos, and the feed shows all the photos and videos posted by the people who the user follows (ordered by an algorithm, instead of chronologically like it used to be). Instagram also has a temporary content component: the Instagram Stories, but it has evolved so much during the last few years that I believe it deserves a chapter on its own, which is the next one.