Note: Social Media Citizens collaborate with different blogs in Europe. The bloggers we collaborate with are also the co-founders and admins behind the Social Marketing Forum. This post is written by John from socialemailmarketing.eu

This blog has been bringing news, tips and interviews regarding social media marketing, email marketing and the integration of both for three months now.

This weekend, after having a chat with some friends (thank you Tamara), I decided to focus more on hands-on advice.So I created a 14-page guide on how to develop a social media marketing strategy. It also contains an action sheet about social media marketing. In this first guide (so I hope there will be more) I look at some of the main strategic social media marketing considerations and provide you a list of questions to ask yourself before implementing a social media strategy or to improve your existing strategy.

I cover topics such as key success factors, creating value and relationships, the role of social media, the importance of listening, letting go of your brand, social media hubs and what I call ‘conversation rooms’. The guide also sums up some strategic considerations regarding social media marketing.

I hope it helps many of you to look at social media marketing from a no-nonsense perspective and hope to provide follow-up guides that elaborate further on some topics. Now, what do you have to do to get this paper? Simple: I offer it as a gift to all the people that have signed up and hopefully will sign up to my newsletter. And I promise the newsletter will contain valuable tips too!

If you want to see a preview of the newsletter, click here and for more whitepapers, check out this little library.

With everyone going on about the wonders of Facebook and Twitter, our poor friend LinkedIn sometimes gets left out in the cold.  While not one of the most visible sites, it is definitely one of the most powerful.  With millions of people from all over the globe taking part in the conversation on LinkedIn, it is definitely a place online where your audience thrives.

What I usually hear when I speak to prospective clients about LinkedIn is that “I’m not B2B, I’m B2C.  LinkedIn will never work for me.”  Aside from that statement oddly rhyming, that statement can’t be more false.  Whether you are B2B or B2C, you can carve out your own audience on LinkedIn.  I’ve said this quite a bit, and lately people have been asking me to put my money where my mouth is asking “Can you prove that there is ROI in LinkedIn?”  My answer, “Absolutely!”

About 60% of my business comes from LinkedIn.  True.

While my firm may be unique, we handle accounts for a wide array of clientele that get results on LinkedIn.  Not only sales and referrals, but speaking engagements, sharing of content to a wide audience, hits to their website, media appointments and much more.  I’m not saying that 60% of your business WILL come from LinkedIn, but it is definitely a spot where you need to be.

But my purpose here isn’t to sell you on the wonders of LinkedIn.  It is targeted to those of you out there who are registered with LinkedIn (for a week, a year, 10 years, whatever) and don’t have your completed and are just waiting for the magic to happen.  Generally those like this complain that they don’t see any results from LinkedIn.  Here’s why: you’re not doing anything.

So let’s get moving and create some stellar results!  Here are my 5 LinkedIn “Must Haves” when you are trying to market yourself using this massively useful site:

1.  You MUST Fill Out Your Profile:  A name and title is not enough.  LinkedIn gives you ample opportunity to showcase yourself and your brand.  Instead of leaving half of the profile blank (the percentage of which LinkedIn will show you on the right hand side of your profile), why not take an hour or two and really fill it in properly.  Want people to call you?  Add a phone number.  Want people to look at your website?  Mention it with hyperlink at the drop of a hat.  Don’t skimp here…this is where people are going to find you credible or not credible.  Oh, and one final thing.  Have a professional profile picture, nothing wild and off brand.  No picture = no credibility in my book. Read the full story

The social media landscape is changing at a rapid rate.  The reason?  More people are joining the “social media game” everyday….some who you wouldn’t even expect!

Recently I was looking at some very interesting statistics reported by Yougov.com which illustrated some very interesting trends.  I thought I would share them with you as they may just change the way you think about sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.

Here are the top 10 social media statistics that just might surprise you:

3 out of 5 Facebook users access the site more than once per day AND the younger the user, the more they log on.

Men are more likely to use Twitter or YouTube.

Woman are more likely to go on Facebook multiple times per day.

Some of the most staggering growth has been in in the 55 plus market.  Over 40% of 55+ social networkers have been registered on the sites for less than two years!

Even more interesting? 28% of Facebook users are over 55.

Men and youngsters are more likely to be influenced by what they read on social media and are more likely to engage by commenting and interacting.

Of the market of 18-24 year olds, 62% interact through comments and such.

Of the market of 55+ users, only 32% interact through comments and such.

On social media sites, men tend to be draw to topics such as sports, newspapers, radio, financial services and music.

When it comes to the interest of women on social media, they flock to fashion, beauty, food and drink.

Here’s a more detailed breakdown of the differences in how men and women engage on social media:

Music: Women 12.3% – Men: 17.6%
Sports: Women 5.4% – Men 15.5%
TV: Women 10.5% – Men 12.6%
Newspapers: Woman 4.3% – Men 8.8%
Food/Drink: Woman 7.0 – Men 8.3%
Travel: Women 6.9% – Men 8.3%
Fashion: Woman 2.9% – Men 7.8%

These statics show that as our social media community grows, we can see definite trends in usage that illustrate there are many opportunities to promote your business online.  The days of Facebook being only used by college students is well and truly behind us and we are now in the days when grandma is using Facebook and grandpa is on Twitter.

As an owner of a social media marketing firm, everyday I speak with people who are trying to make the most out of their Facebook and LinkedIn profile, or making their “tweets” count on Twitter.  The following are a few of the most common mistakes that I have seen companies make on social media and what we can do to combat them in the future.

This is a very important one.  With all of the hype around social media (and also due to the fact that creating accounts is free and easy), many of us are eager to just jump in head first.  Keep in mind that social media is a branding and visibilty platform and thus needs to carry the right messaging and voice.  Before you go full speed ahead, first see what you are getting yourself into.

I suggest creating a sparse profile and taking the time to look through each site.  Where is your target market?  What is your competition doing right (which can really help you come up with a strategy)?  What applications can be useful?  How are people communicating?  What tools to I have to communicate with my market?  While Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter can work to everyone’s advantage, if you only have time to manage one or two presences, it is best to be able to pinpoint the right ones and save yourself time and effort.

Top tip: a great way of seeing what sites suit your business is by asking your existing audience via polling.

Mistake #2: Lack of Focus

When you execute an advertising campaign, you know who you are targeting.  When you do a public relations campaign, you know what market you are trying to reach out to.  When you do an email marketing campaign….well, you get the point.  Social media is no different.

Social media allows us to target with laser focus, you just need to identify who you are trying to reach.  Once identified, the key is to connect with “meaningful people” not just random people to get “the numbers.”  Come on, why connect with 10,000 people who don’t care about you?  What good does that do?  Find connect and engage with people that matter.  Focus!

Mistake #3: Lack of Consistency

If you are going to do social media, make sure to do it on a consistent basis – not whenever you can grab a free second.  By consistent I mean daily, weekly, bi-weekly…on some sort of schedule.  Since you are growing your audience, you need to be in front of them gaining that visibility and credibility consistently.  My tip?  Create a schedule of when you will be executing social media and what messages you will be highlighting.  It takes a few minutes, but can save hours of weekly work.

No time to even make a plan?  Outsource!  It’s not a dirty word anymore.

Mistake #4: Using a 100% Push Marketing Approach

Push marketing is used all of the time in traditional marketing.  While it is a perfect fit in many instances, it is not the foundation of an engaging social media strategy.  Push marketing literally “pushes” what you want from your audience directly on top of them, while “pull” marketing using social media is about starting a conversation, engaging, enchanting and much more.  My suggestion is to use a 90% pull and a 10% push marketing equation.  This is something that I have used and it works a treat.  This way you can grow your audience and create value before offering up a special discount.  If they believe you to be credible through your pull approach, when you incorporate the push elements you will have higher levels of success.

Mistake #5: Wrong Goals

Truly look at what you are trying to achieve, and “more sales” is not enough.  Social media has many outcomes, so it is smart to have a broader scope.  Think in terms of hits to your website, newsletter signups, ebook/book sales/downloads….this is the way to go!

Mistake #6: Lack of Planning

Again, I am going back to the importance of a  plan:  without a plan, you plan to fail.  Although we know this cliche all too well, there is definitely truth to it.  Why?  Because a strategic plan saves you time and money – two things that we all can use, right?

Sit down and figure out your marketing strategy and then layer your social media strategy on-top.  Social media can support and enhance everything you do, you just have to keep the two connected.  Without the connection, you are wasting the power of cross marketing and branding.  Flying blindly in a new marketing medium could not only be risky for your reputation, but also cause you more trouble than you can handle.

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I hope that these mistakes are ones that you have not made and if you have, you will no longer make.  It is important for us to all to take a close look at our plans and strategies in order to see how strong and effective they can be.  Without strategy or planning, a social media marketing campaign takes a lot more time and a lot more effort to execute.