Training Your Team
In addition to working with companies on a one-on-one basis, social media consultants and agencies often offer training on using social media such as Facebook. Companies around the world are registering their employees for online boot camps, sending them to conferences, and even bringing trainers onsite to educate the entire staff.
You have a lot of options to get more training for your team. The training options outlined in the following sections all have their advantages and disadvantages. Like any type of education, the most effective method depends on your learning style. And of course, it also depends on your available time and budget. Ultimately, they all offer great training opportunities.
Online Training
Brief tutorials to full-length social media training courses are available online. These can take the form of webinars, teleseminars, virtual conferences, podcasts, telecasts, teleclasses, and online university classes.
These are the quickest ways to learn more about social media in a very short amount of time. They are relatively inexpensive, costing anywhere from $99 and up.
Depending on the size of the class, it may not be the best option if you have a lot of questions that you want to get answered. For a brief overview, they are short, concise, and get your team information quickly.
This option ranges from consultants who come to your location and train your staff, to attending a conference and participating in a social media session, to a small, customized, focused workshop.
Timing-wise, these occur on a monthly to quarterly basis with prices generally ranging closer to $499 and up.
The size of the classes can vary. Conferences may have more than 100 people in a session while workshops can have fewer than 25 attendees. If you attend one of these training sessions, bring along your social media plan and try to get feedback on it.
These kinds of events can be very advantageous and far more cost-effective than bringing on a consultant/agency for a contract.
Books, Articles, White Papers, and Websites
Social media marketing is not rocket science. You can find all you need to know on your own. It might take some time and commitment to master the details, but it’s doable.
Facebook and other social media platforms offer countless resources in the Help sections on their sites, and success stories you can draw on appear across the internet on social media magazine sites, blogs, and even the social networks themselves. We recommend a few of them in Appendix B of this book.
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Many social media professionals offer special discounts to attend their events if you register early, are a fan, and subscribe to their newsletter.
Diving into a New Social Platform
Social networks are constantly evolving, and you need the latest information to be able to participate in them effectively. By hiring a social media consultant to help you, you will save time by not having to constantly search for what has changed. Facebook is continually updating its site in order to stay competitive with other social networking websites.
Companies sometimes start using Facebook without any real reason except that it’s the biggest social network and everyone else is on it. In some situations, there might be a valid reason to seek out niche sites that are populated with a smaller but concentrated dose of your target audience. A social media consultant will be able to tell you whether Facebook is in fact the place you need to be to market your business online effectively.
Here are some areas where a consultant can help you with Facebook:
• Identifying your audience demographics and seeing how many Facebook users exist in your target market
• Finding the top influencers who have Facebook accounts
• Creating an optimized Facebook account that is visible to everyone
• Developing a process to export your Facebook fans and compare them to your list of current or prospective customers
• Giving you qualitative and quantitative proof that Facebook will work for your business
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There will always be new social media platforms coming out; it’s smart to do your due diligence to find out if you should be playing ball on the new field. A social media professional will be able to give you the scoop on the new site so you don’t have to conduct the research yourself.
Exploring the History of Projects
If you’re considering working with a social media professional, ask for some links of Facebook pages or other social networking pages that they have built, and visit those pages.
Each social network enables you to see historical conversations. They are a great way to see how companies talk and how fans/followers respond.
On Facebook, click older posts. On YouTube, click view all comments. On Twitter, just keep scrolling to the bottom of the page.
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Do your homework and dig into a Fan page’s history to see how successful the page has performed. Scroll to the bottom of the page and keep clicking older posts. If you do this during daytime hours, you will likely be able to see posts back for years. This option isn’t always available at night, when Facebook is backing up its site.
The Art of Real Referrals
So here’s the deal when it comes to getting references from consultants/agencies. The typical process looks like this:
1. You request a few references.
2. The consultant/agency gives you a list of them.
3. You call the references and they give you glowing reviews.
The problem with this approach is that the consultant/agency’s approved client list has been prepped. I’m not saying they are running a scam, but when anyone has been prepped, the messages can come out a little canned.
Have you ever watched the TV show Law and Order? On the show, lawyers coach the client on what he will be asked and what he should say. The outcome is that it looks polished. People generally are not that polished in life, and when they are not it’s usually when they are giving you the raw, unvarnished truth. This is probably one of the greatest things about social media. It brings out our real personas.
Here are some tips for getting authentic feedback about a consultant or agency:
• Don’t just request references. Ask for names of companies that your social media professional has worked with and seek out employees with that company and talk to them via social media.
• Go a step further and cold call them. Take them by surprise and ask them for five minutes of their time. Explain to them that you are in the same situation they were and need some help in making an important decision.
• Google the company and their list of references for keyword phrases like “success,” “fail,” and “contest.” Make sure to search the social network search engines, including the Facebook search tool.
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One of the hardest things in selecting a partner to work with is determining how they will work for you. There are some great consultants and companies out there. Make sure to meet the people who will be working your account, not just the sales representative.
We don’t recommend calling companies out of the blue from a client list on a social media professional’s website. They might have worked with the company in a capacity that has nothing to do with the type of help you’re seeking.