Social Media Engagement For Dummies

Learn to: Connect with prospects and turn them into customers Build trust and credibility Use social networks to engage your customers Involve customers through video, blogs, and e-mail Connect with your customers, captivate them, provide value, and watch your business grow Social media engagement can help you turn prospects into customers and customers into evangelists for your business. This book shows you how to build those relationships, maintain a viable presence on social networks, and give customers a reason to interact with you. See how to enhance your credibility and start conversations that will keep you connected to your customers. What it is — understand what goes into social media engagement and measure its value It's all about trust — build trust by listening to your community and providing clear messages, prompt responses, and authentic interactions Let's talk — learn effective ways to join or start conversations in social media and how to encourage participation Nuts and bolts — establish a process, identify goals and targets, explore available tools, and create a realistic schedule for social media activity Branch out — explore ways to communicate on Pinterest™, LinkedIn®, Google+™, and location-based services Look and listen — use audio and video creatively to help build a community Get noticed — create a useful e-newsletter and add apps or widgets to your Facebook page and website Open the book and find: Incentives for people to share your message What numbers to measure Advice on managing time for social media Why being present is so vital Tips for handling complaints Ways to keep your marketing message consistent Help with maximizing Pinterest and Google+ Ten common mistakes to avoid

Introduction  1 Part I: The Basics of Social Media Engagement  7 Chapter 1: Explaining the Why, Who, and How of Social Media Engagement 9 Chapter 2: Assessing the Impact of Social Media Engagement 25 Chapter 3: Discovering Social Media Engagement Tools 43 Part II: Exploring the Elements of Social Media Engagement  65 Chapter 4: Building Trust and Credibility 67 Chapter 5: Demonstrating Your Online Presence to Maximize Engagement 85 Chapter 6: Creating Connections 105 Chapter 7: Driving Interaction 121 Part III: Examining the Basic Engagement Tools  137 Chapter 8: E–mail, Forums, Blogs, and Websites 139 Chapter 9: Facebook 157 Chapter 10: Twitter 183 Part IV: Engaging Through Additional Social Channels  209 Chapter 11: Pinterest 211 Chapter 12: LinkedIn 241 Chapter 13: Google+ 263 Chapter 14: Location–Based Services 281 Part V: Leveraging Audio and Video for Engagement 301 Chapter 15: Audio and Videocasting 303 Chapter 16: YouTube 317 Part VI: The Part of Tens  335 Chapter 17: Ten Social Media Engagement Mistakes to Avoid 337 Chapter 18: Ten Businesses That Excel at Social Media Engagement 343 Index  353

Aliza Sherman launched the first full–service Internet company, Cybergrrl, Inc., and the first global Internet networking organization for women, Webgrrls International. Danielle Elliott Smith is a digital correspondent, speaker, media trainer, vlogger, and brand spokesperson and is the founder of ExtraordinaryMommy.com.