Downtown Memphis Social Media Marketing Micro-Grant Toolkit 2020

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING TOOLKIT: DOWNTOWN MEMPHIS MARKETING MICRO-GRANT

What you need to get started!

• Brand elements - logo, photos, messaging • Internet connection • A cell phone or computer for daily social media maintenance • A camera or camera phone to capture photos of your business, customers, and products • Social media platform(s) (Instagram, Twitter and/or Facebook)

New to social media?

Before you begin to share content you will have to create an account(s) using your business email and select a username for your profile. If applicable, be sure to create a business account instead of a standard account.

• Use the same username for each platform (if possible). If your desired username is taken on one platform try adding something unique to it like 901 or MEM. • Use the same profile image for each platform. Most businesses use their logo which helps customers easily identify them on each platform.

• Make sure your pages are public!

Utilize the description section of your social platform. Most business bios include: primary contact information, physical business address, a link to your website and primary hashtags. (Links to positive articles are also great additions!)

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The Basics: What to Post and How Often • Create a posting schedule that you can maintain (if you don’t have time to post every day - don’t begin a 3x daily schedule - start small!)

• Share messages that resonate with your brand/products/services • Use rich media as much as possible - video, carousels, GIFs, graphics, etc in addition to photos.

• Share positive customer/employee stories & photos • Use consistent hashtag(s) with every post (see hashtag section below) • Ask questions - engage your audience!

• Engage, engage, engage. Use the 15 minute rule - utilize the 15 minutes after posting to follow, like and comment on each platform. This will prompt the algorithm to believe that you are utilizing it heavily and boost your content organically.

• Think about the images that make YOU stop when you are scrolling on your social media feed use images that would stop your scrolling. You can take these high resolution, eye grabbing images on your phone, if you don’t have professional shots!

• Promote upcoming sales and/or special events • Tag accounts that are relevant to your product/service (Ex: a restaurant tags a local farm where they source produce)

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What Each Platform Does Best!

Instagram is an all visual platform. Your profile is a grid of videos and images. Your content is introduced to others via their timeline, one photo or image at a time. Quality photos are key and your written message plays only a minor role in gaining attention. To create ads on Instagram, you must convert your personal profile to a professional account. Hashtags and tagging others will help your followers find your posts when they search those hashtags. Reels invite you to create fun 15-second videos to share with your followers. Record and edit 15-second multi-clip videos with audio, effects, and new creative tools to keep your audience entertained. Want to spotlight a new product or dish? Instagram is the way to go!

• Who does it well: Slider Inn, Prima’s, Maciel’s, Stock and Belle, to name a few!

Facebook is the OG social platform where the message is just as important as the image (unlike Instagram). Facebook makes it easy to create visually appealing text-only posts. Facebook features like events, groups, photo albums, automated responses and business pages can help you more fully utilize the platform to increase business.

• Who does it well: Wiseacre Brewing Co., Central Station Hotel, Tailor’s Union, Sabor Caribe, Walking Pants, to name a few!

Instagram & Facebook - Stories vs Wall/Feed Posts Your Feed or Wall, depending on the platform, is a static location where your audience can view your content. Images and content posted do not disappear unless you archive or hide it. This is the

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primary space where users can view hashtags.

Stories are callout content and are visible for 24 hours only. Stories live/exist outside of your Feed/ Wall and can be found at the top of your profile. You can also use hashtags in stories to reach new people, but think quickly!

Want your stories to last beyond 24 hours? Utilize highlights to compile permanent stories by theme. Simply click on the small plus sign on your profile image, upload, and share your pic or video.

• Who does it well: Prima’s, Loflin Yard, The Bishop, to name a few!

Twitter is an open social network for exchanging short messages of 280 characters or less. Want to take a quick poll? Twitter might be your best bet! Twitter is also the best place for fast real-time engagement, it tends to be news-driven. Create conversation during real-time events by tweeting and using relevant hashtags.

• Who does it well: The Grizzlies, LeBonheur Children’s Hospital, The Arcade Restaurant, Memphis Chamber, Wendy’s (national example)

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LinkedIn is used for online business networking and professional advancement. Do you do corporate catering or have an item that would make a great “Employee of the Month” prize? LinkedIn might be the right platform to announce it. LinkedIn users are typically business professionals who look to LinkedIn for information on the business climate in their market or industry, which makes this a great place to share articles about your business, community or industry • Who does it well: City of Memphis - multiple divisions, LEO Events, Inferno, to name a few!

Youtube is a video sharing platform where users can upload a variety of content. It’s the perfect platform to show an in-depth behind the scenes view of your brand. You can even record tutorials and product information videos to expand your audience! Did you know that “how to” is one of the most commonly searched phrases on YouTube? Think about what your customer might be searching for and use that language to make your videos more discoverable.

• Who does it well: Center for Disease Control (CDC) , Alcenia’s The one thing that all these platforms have in common is that they all operate on their own algorithm that is fed by two things: engagement and paid ads/post boosting. Both are critical to success. To have success organically, it’s important to engage, engage, engage!

Other ways to stay connected: Snapchat, TikTok, email newsletter or blog.

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Tags/Hashtags - How to use/When to use Hashtags can increase content views and help get your profile discovered by your target audience.

When creating hashtags for your business, don’t be afraid to think outside of the box! You can even use emojis in hashtags!

Create a primary hashtag for your business that will accompany all of your posts. This can be your business name or community you serve, ie: #BestBookstore or #DowntownMemphis. Using a broad hashtag can be a useful tool in attracting new customers/audiences.

Your followers can search your hashtag for an expanded look at what you are posting and what others are posting using the same hashtag. For events and sales campaigns, hashtags can prove to be useful in tracking post engagement. Create a hashtag for your next sales promotion such as #12daysofDMC, create a contest asking people to use the hashtag and tag a couple of friends for a chance to win.

Search the hashtag to find your contest participants and select your winner.

Big, generic hashtags like #smallbusiness and #DowntownMemphis have been used thousands and even millions of times. For this reason, it’s best to use a combination of hashtags so that you can speak to the right audience. Example: Searching for only the #smallbusiness on Instagram results in 36M posts, but if you search #901downtownsalon or #downtownmemphissalon - there are 100 or less, making your chances of standing out in the group even better !! Use a hashtag search tool to research the audience and determine the best small, medium, and large hashtags for your brand.

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Hashtag Finder Resources • http://best-hashtags.com • https://www.tagsfinder.com/en-us/ • https://www.all-hashtag.com Create hashtag groups so that you can swap your most commonly used hashtags for newer ones.

Instead of using #smallbusinessowner in each post, switch it to #smallbizowner #memphissmallbiz #smallbusinessmemphis The hashtag search tools listed above will help you find alternatives.

Remember anyone can use a hashtag. Search any new hashtag ideas before using them to see if the hashtag has been linked to a negative experience or situation unrelated to your business. Searching these hashtags is also a great way to find new accounts to follow and engage with.

Don’t forget to use #DowntownMemphis in ALL of your boosted posts to include your business in a thread used by over 100k users.

To get you started, see below for a list of hashtags that are applicable for all our downtown businesses. #downtownmemphis #BackDowntown #shopdowntownmemphis #901downtown #901smallbiz #shopdwntnmem #DWTNMEM #support901

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Audience creation: How to identify your audience on social media Most social platforms (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook) have business page options that will track your engagement and collect your audience data for free. This information can tell you which posts get the highest engagement, what time your audience is most active, and who makes up your audience. You can also switch a pre-existing personal profile to a business profile at any time, although your past data won’t be collected.

• Your followers - you already have a direct line to this group, how are you cultivating and growing engagement?

• People who follow a hashtag you use - They’re interested in one or more of the hashtags you use, which is great! Engage with their pages and it’ll possibly lead you to discover new hashtags.

• Your competitors followers - This group has expressed an interest in products similar to yours.

Check out their pages and engage with them to build your audience.

• People who are interested in the products or services you offer • People who live in Downtown Memphis - What better supporters than the ones in your backyard?

• People who visit Downtown Memphis - (think about tourists’ interests: music, food, history how can you reach this audience and invite them to your business?)

• Community partners - Your community partners aren’t necessarily your target audience, but a good partner is your best hype man. Make sure they see and engage with your content. (Ex. Downtown Memphis Commission, Memphis Tourism, Choose901, City of Memphis, etc.)

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Tips to add to your social experience!

• Post with personality! Create your “voice” and stick with it! But don’t be afraid to show a little personality. Remember this is SOCIAL media, be social!! Try using emojis, chatting with your customers, and posting about real-time events. A good start is to come up with a few words that describe how you want your voice and image to sound and look. For example, Walking Pants in South Main might describe themselves as: hopeful, unique, believers of impossible, heart-focused, and loving. Refer back to these words when you’re writing your content. Does it match what you want your followers to know about your?

• Think of the visual. This is true on all platforms. Instagram is all about the visual - photos like “vanishing points” and photos with faces in them are some of the highest performing. On Facebook, this means making text easy to read. Try breaking up text to make it easy to read and pleasing to look at. o Additional example: https://www.instagram.com/p/CAeDXzWof6l/ • Utilize features that increase engagement. Post to your story or reel(via instagram), retweet and re-share, repost positive things that your business has been tagged in, and remember to say “Thank you,” to the original person who posted.

• Utilize user generated content. Ask your customers permission to use their photos. Comment something like...”Love this shot! Thanks for sharing. Would you mind if we reposted it to our page?

And of course, we will give you photo cred”

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• Repurpose existing content + materials. Already have an email blast going out? Repurpose that bit of content for social. Have a graphic or flyer for an upcoming event? Post it on Facebook with a short caption and a link to a Facebook event! Look for opportunities in your current business practices that will serve you well on social.

• Automate it! Apps like Hootsuite, Planoly, and Later allow you to pre-schedule posts for multiple social platforms in advance. These tools are designed for business just like yours and are priced using sliding fees based on need/usage.

• Optimize your content. Use language that your followers are likely to be searching.

• Influencer Allies. Partner with local social influencers (or nano-influencers) who may want to try and share your product. (Be sure to work with them personally to give them the best experience!)

Ask us for ideas! We may know someone!

• Make sure you’re following and engaging with them so the connection is authentic. To reach out, you can say something like… o “Hey X, We’re X - you may have heard of us, since you’re out and about in Downtown Memphis! We think you and your followers would really love our X. Would you be interested in coming in to experience/try X?”

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• Giveaways. Social media giveaways are easy ways to increase engagement! Add a call-to-action and see who participates. Don’t forget to celebrate your winner!

• Links help. A great thing about social media is your ability to share links to other/expanded content! Facebook and Twitter will automate an image for your post when you include a link.

Instagram has the best link sharing capability of all the platforms with features like “link tree” and “linkin.bio.” These features shorten links to allow you to embed the link in your bio without going over your character count.

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Social Boosting/Paid Posts - Pay for More Engagement Before you begin: You can develop audience groups that look like your typical customer by creating custom or lookalike audiences via demographic and behavior targets, or you can import your actual customer data. If you are looking to expand your reach, you may want to target users who have identified as having specific interests. Example: If you have fitness apparel, you might want to target customers who have identified as liking camping.

Ways to spend your $$: • Promote (boost) top performing posts - simply find your most loved previous post and pay to have it reach a new audience (see audience creation section).

• Use A/B testing. Create a post with the same copy and use two different images - see which performs best. Repeat!

• Carousel ads are a kind of advertising format that combines multiple videos or images into a single ad. Carousel ads are most popular on Instagram and Facebook, where you can showcase a number of images to improve your chances of a conversion or sale.

• Utilize Instagram and Facebook shop - The new “Shop” feature gives your business an online storefront for people to explore your best products. You can share featured products through your organic posts and Stories, or have people discover your products in Search & Explore. When someone taps a product tag on your post or a product sticker in your story, they’ll be taken to a product description page where they will see more information about your product.

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• Collection ads are powered by your Instagram or Facebook shop. You create a collection of items from your “shop” to promote in an ad. These ads encourage your audience to browse and shop within the collection.

• Promote your Facebook or Instagram page through paid stories.

Best practice is to switch out creative at least every 14 days so that your copy, photos, video, etc does not get stale or redundant.

Measurements for success • Engagement - Likes, shares, comments • Followers • Increased sales, visits, etc.

Free apps to help you be successful • Preview • Phlanx • Canva

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Canva

Canva is a online tool that makes it easier for you to create beautiful graphics for social media! The platform is available on desktop and mobile making it accessible anywhere. Canva has a library of customizable templates to help your business look aesthetically pleasing. Its’ drag and drop editor is flexible enough so that you can bring your ideas to life!

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Examples:

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All Platforms

The Peabody Hotel used two images across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter to spread the news of their USA Today award.

The messages have slight variations depending on the audience. Some incorporate hashtags and links.

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Instagram

Stuck on what types of images to post? Here are a few feeds from Downtown businesses who do it well!

Remember that your Instagram followers will see each image individually as they’re scrolling through the app, so make it memorable and eye-catching!

Stock and Belle is a lifestyle store with accessories, furniture, clothing, and more! In the image above, Stock and Belle’s most recent Instagram posts show off items in the store, while creating an earthy, natural feel.

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Hashtags are a great way to pull people in!

You can add them throughout your post instead of saving your hashtags for the end of your post (as seen in the Downtown Memphis post)!

Greyhound Memphis uses a variety of hashtag sizes to reach their audience.

They use broad hashtags such as #foodpics and more narrow, niche hashtags such as #ilovememphis and #ig_ memphis.

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Facebook People love animals! Showing that business is petfriendly is a great way to relate to your audience and build community.

Giveaways are a great way to create shareable content. Partner with another business to reach their audience!

Giving credit by tagging - alerts the tagged entity’s audience, as well!

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Tailor’s Union uses Live Watch Parties to virtually invite people back to their space and support local musicians.

Sabor Caribe has an automatic reply feature set up with pre-populated common questions. As soon as customers visit their Facebook page, the chat box pops up so that the customer can reply with questions they may have.

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Facebook has recently added an option to online events so that creators and hosts can earn money.

Consider hosting your next event online for a fee!

Stories

Using GIFS paired with fun fonts / doodles, and great images is a great way to get customers engaged!

Tag your location in Instagram Stories so that you will appear on the “places” tab of the Explore section.

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Add this “Support Small Business” sticker to your posts!

IGTV & Reels

Instagram TV is a new way to watch longer, vertical video from users around the world. Videos can last up to one hour.

Instagram Reels are fun videos shared with anyone on Instagram. Record and edit 15-second multi-clip videos with audio, effects, and new creative tools.

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Twitter Your company bio can be brief and fun, like the Grizzlies or use your motto/tagline like the Memphis Chamber.

LeBonheur Children’s Hospital uses a fun video to emphasize their GREAT NEWS. Arcade Restaurant uses a simple image of their food, a fun question, and their operating hours to engage and inform potential customers of their menu options.

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LinkedIn

Companies such as Inferno and LEO Events use LinkedIn to showcase their latest work and provide information relevant to their fields. Their business largely involves helping other businesses promote their messaging via events or branding. You can use LinkedIn to promote your business offerings, share company news, and publish pieces to promote your expertise!

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Downtown Memphis Commission 114 N Main Street | Memphis TN 38103 | 901-575-0561 downtownmemphis.com | @downtownmemphis

Developing a Downtown for Everyone!