How To Maximize Your Digital Presence with Dr. Karen Freberg
Underdog Sports works with our Partners in hopes of supporting their goals and helping them develop and grow their business.
There are many small business owners who try to manage and grow their social media following, while performing the day to day activities of a business owner. Our goal of this post is to help streamline these activities.
Underdog Sports asked Dr. Karen Freberg several questions about small businesses and their use of social media. Karen is an Associate Professor in Strategic Communications at the University of Louisville. Freberg has presented at professional and trade conferences such as PRSA, SXSWedu, and Cannes Lions.
Karen shares some of her secrets and favorite social media management tools below. Enjoy and make sure to take notes.
Nick Cipkus: Most small businesses have a social media presence but struggle to maintain fresh content. What would you do in their situation?
Dr. Karen Freberg: I think this is a constant struggle for all social media professionals. I’d recommend first evaluating what content seems to be working for them, and see if there is a consistent theme. I’d also do some informal research and ask fans + customers and even employees - what type of content would they like to see? What stories do they want to see from the small business?
Nick Cipkus: What three social media tools (scheduling, photo editing, etc) are your favorite?
Dr. Karen Freberg: I love Hootsuite for management and scheduling. I am also a big fan of Meltwater for media analysis, Adobe Spark for content creation and branding (a great tool for small businesses!) and HubSpot for content marketing. All of these brands have their own certifications available for professionals to have.
Nick Cipkus: Which social media channel is the most powerful? Why?
Dr. Karen Freberg: This all depends on the person, but for me, it’s been Twitter. It’s been the most powerful networking and community building tool I have used for my classes, as well as for my own personal work. The people I’ve been able to connect have become good friends and dear colleagues in the field. The #SMSports and #SMprofs community have been especially rewarding. I’ve also found this to be the place where I have been able to introduce my students to fellow professionals, which has lead to great opportunities for them. Twitter has been the ultimate platform for knowledge sharing, community building, and real time conversations.
Underdog Sports appreciates Dr. Freberg providing us with some great content. Twitter is also my favorite social media platform. I am building Underdog Sports and Twitter has been a big part of my growth. We hope you are able to use some of the information above and apply it to your current business.