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Social Media Today’s Hands-On Training Series presents:

Small Business Focus:Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Now Google+

How to Participate

• Submit your questions in the GotoWebinar presentation window

• Follow along and share your thoughts on Twitter at #SMTlive

About the PanelLauren Simonds is Managing Editor of Small BusinessComputing.com and Ecommerce-guide.com, helping small business owners and managers understand technology, so they can make better buying decisions, save money and increase productivity.

Cindy Meltzer is the Community Manager at Isis Parenting, responsible for digital marketing strategy, including creating educational blog and video content as well as managing and monitoring social channels for the Isis brand. She also blogs at The Social Craft.

Pamela O'Hara is president of BatchBlue Software, which she co-founded in 2006, and is a founder of SBBuzz, a live Twitter chat that amassed nearly 20,000 followers in its freshman year and which invites small businesses to share their tech know-how.

Chuck Hester is a LinkedIn power connector with more than 11,000 direct connections, and a sought-after expert on the subject of using LinkedIn for media relations, personal and professional branding, and how to use social media to build business contacts.

James A. Martin runs an online marketing and editorial consulting business, with clients ranging from self-employed entrepreneurs to large corporations such as Cisco and Adobe Systems. He helps businesses of all sizes with SEO, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and blogging.

#SMTlive

What Social Media Can Do For Your Business

• “Join the conversation” (it’s happening whether you’re there or not)

• Connect directly with customers, influencers, potential investors

• Learn about co-marketing opportunities and events relevant to your biz

• Increase brand awareness and “buzz” about your product(s), as well as monitoring your brand and what people are saying about you

• Provide customer service

Cindy Meltzer

#SMTlive

Choosing the Right Platform

• Know your target customer• Do some research– how much time do they spend

online? where do they go?• Consider hardware. Are they using mobile? Tablets?

Cindy Meltzer

#SMTlive

Avoiding Social Media Risks

• Don’t open a channel if you don’t plan to maintain it. It’s better to be truly present on one channel than barely there on three.

• Marketing messages are more well received in the context of community, conversation and the sharing of information. Social media is not your marketing megaphone.

Cindy Meltzer

#SMTlive

Connecting with Customers

• Be friendly and personable in tone• Diversify your content to keep people interested• Respond as quickly as you can• Know that your customers will treat social media as

a customer service portal, so treat it as such

Cindy Meltzer

#SMTlive

Measuring Your Efforts

• Set goals—what is it you are trying to accomplish?• Look beyond number of fans and followers• Google Analytics is your friend– it will track how

much traffic is coming to your site from social platforms, and how often they convert

• Other free measurement/analytics tools: Hootsuite, Facebook Insights, bit.ly, Klout

Cindy Meltzer

#SMTlive

• Think strategically• Where should you be?• Who will monitor it?• How often should you post?• What content goes where?• What should you be measuring?

• Act naturally• Keep up the conversation• Provide support everywhere• Engage & promote your followers• Less is more

Pamela O’Hara

#SMTlive

• Promotions• Contests• Customer Support• Announcements• Case studies• Company news• New hires

• Pictures of everything• Product demos• Surveys• Advertising

Where we do it• Facebook http://facebook.com/batchbookCRM• Twitter http://twitter.com/batchbook• LinkedIn http://linkedin.com/batchblue-software• Blog http/blog.batchblue.com• Flickr http://flickr.com/batchbluesoftware• YouTube http://youtube.com/batchblue• Google+ coming soon

What we do

Pamela O’Hara

#SMTlive

Batchbook Social CRM

http://batchbook.comhttp://blog.batchblue.comTwitter @batchbookFacebook.com/batchbookCRMLinkedIn.com/batchblue-softwareFlickr.com/batchbluesoftware

Pamela O’Hara

#SMTlive

Chuck Hester, APR

– Managing Partner, The Affinity Alliance, Inc.– Chief Connections Officer, Chuck Hester Enterprises– Public relations counsel to companies worldwide– Creator/Organizer of LinkedIn Corporate Bootcamps – LinkedIn Power User with more than 11,000 first level

connections– 30 years experience in marketing and public relations– Author, “Linking in to Pay It Forward: Changing the

Value Proposition in Social Media

Chuck Hester

#SMTlive

LinkedIn

• 110 + million active users• Founded in 2003, one the oldest social networks• More than ONE MILLION user groups and forums• NOT just for job seekers and recruiters – home to

sales, customer service, marketing and C-level executives

Chuck Hester

#SMTlive

LinkedIn and Your Professional Brand

• Be Transparent• Treat your connections like they are physically in

front of you• If you’re open, the opportunities will come• Be consistent in your contacts• Don’t number munch• Be part of the community

Chuck Hester

#SMTlive

The System: How to be a Power Connector in 15 minutes a Day!

• Connect with the Connectors • Connect with one, ask for five• Post your profile on key groups• ALWAYS personalize your invitations• Ask a contact if they are linked• Answer invitations in a timely, but reasonable

manner

Chuck Hester

#SMTlive

Top 10 Most Common Mistakes in Using Social Media for Marketing

• Social Media is about community – not marketing. Don’t sell, have a conversation.

• Don’t be something you’re not. Social media is about transparency

• listen, don’t BROADCAST• Avoid flooding the social media networks with your messages• Once a relationship is established don’t abuse it for your

marketing/pr purposes

Chuck Hester

#SMTlive

Top 10 Most Common Mistakes in Using Social Media for Marketing

• Live by the tool, die by the tool• At the end of the day, you need to measure results

– keep that in mind when using social media• Personalize your company by having real people,

not logos be part of the dialogue• ALWAYS remember it’s a dialogue• Set aside a specific amount of time for social

media, otherwise you will get lost!

Chuck Hester

#SMTlive

• SEO helps potential customers find you• Social media helps existing customers &

friends connect to you• SEO can help your social media efforts• Social media can help your SEO

James A. Martin@ james_a_martin

#SMTlive

• SEO – the right keywords, the best links• How to use SEO in your social media efforts

– Use primary keyword phrase in social profiles– Use trending keywords in social media updates– Go for retweets and shares

• How to use social media to help with your SEO– Online reputation management– Control as many Google search results as possible

• Blogging is good for SEO• YouTube is good for SEO• One tool, multiple postings

James A. Martin@ james_a_martin

#SMTlive

Thanks for Joining Us

• This webinar will be available on-demand at www.SocialMediaToday.com. Stop by to learn more and share your comments.

• Connect with our panelists on Social Media Today using the search function:

Join us November 1st for…

• A conversation with Brian Solis