My name is Jessica Peterson. I started my banking/finance career in 1994. During my career, I was a partner in a lending firm, won a national lending award, and was top in sales for a bank. Through the years, I have read and learned hands-on what does and does not work to insure success in business.

Getting Started on Social Media

14 Steps to Social Media Success

A few questions…

• How many of you are currently using social media to market your business?

• How many of you have thought about using social media to market your business?

• How many of you are using Facebook personally?• How many people here have Twitter accounts?• How many of you don't have a Twitter account

because you really don't care what people are having their coffee this morning?

• How many of you have a LinkedIn account?

Does the technology behind social media freak you out?

Success on social media comes down to one thing: The ability to communicate content that is interesting to a community of people who might

be interested in what you have to say.

Here are some questions to which you can say yes!

• In your business, do you know why you do what you do?

• Does your company or business have a mission statement? • Do you know the unique selling point of your product or service? • Do you know who your customers are? • Do you know what differentiates you from your competitors? • Do you know what your competitors are up to? • You know what's hot in your industry right now? • Do you have anything interesting to say?

The magic formula to social media success:

• Know who you are • Know what you have to sell • Know what's happening in your industry• Know who your customer’s are• Know what your customers want • Have information they might find interesting• Share some content • And listen listen listen!

Social Media is a Tool

Social media is just a tool. Just like your telephone or computer.

Step One

Write down who your niche market is.

Step Two

Make a list of all the things that your niche customer or client base is interested in.

Step Three

Do you know people who are either influential to your customer base, influential in your industry, or both? If you don't know them, do you know where to find them?

Step FourWrite down all the keywords or search terms that your customers or clients might type into Google in order to find a company like yours.

Step Five

Do you know where your customers are and where they're talking to you? Do you know where and how they're finding you? Write it down. And if you don't know the answer, then start asking them!

Step Six

Write down the names of some competitors (or as I like to call them in social media, comparables.)

You Have Your Foundation…

• Now….

Step SevenChoose the social media site that you want to get started in (or improve). It might not be the social platform you are most comfortable in.Most common question is which one should I be on? Ultimately you want to be set up on all of them. The next question is which one should you give majority of your attention to? Here are a few tips and you can make the decision.

Facebook Facts and FiguresComplied by Jeff Bullas, as of April 2012

• Monthly active users now total nearly 850 million• 250 million photos are uploaded every day• 20% of all page views on the web are on Facebook• 425 million mobile users• 100 billion connections• Zygna’s games revenue is currently 12% of

Facebook’s total income• 2.7 billion “likes” per day• 57% of users are female

Some facts and figures to note about Twitter

• There are over 465 million accounts• 175 million tweets a day• 1 million accounts are added to Twitter every day• Top 3 countries on Twitter are USA at 107 million,

Brazil 33 million and Japan at nearly 30 million• Busiest event in Twitter’s history is now “Castle in the

Sky” TV screening 25,088 tweets per second (previous record was the last minutes of the 2012 Super Bowl with 10,245 tweets per second).

LinkedIn

LinkedIn started in 2003 as a professional business social network and as of  February 2012, has over 150 million members according to the official press release from LinkedIn.

• 2 new members join every second• USA leads membership at more than 57 million, Europe has more than 34

million members• 60% of its members live outside the USA• In 2011 there were 4.2 billion professionally oriented searches on the LinkedIn

platform• LinkedIn now has over 2,116 employees (at the beginning of 2010 it had only

500)• The fastest growing demographics are students and recent college graduates• Revenues for 2011 reached $522 million• LinkedIn is the 36th most visited website in the world• Widely used for companies looking to hire a person or firm, or a person

looking for employment

Youtube facts and figures• 3rd most visited website according to Alexa• 2 billion views per day• It handles 10% of the internet’s traffic• Average YouTube user spends 900 seconds per day• 44% of YouTube’s users are aged between 12 and 34• Over 829,000 videos are uploaded every day• Average video duration is 2 minutes 46 seconds• 78% of traffic is outside the U.S

Pinterest Facts and FiguresPinterest is a collection of boards where you can search for

products, photos, and inspirational quotes. You can “pin” photos that you like on a board. Most common are vacation spots, wedding images, childrens crafts, food, fitness, quotes.

• December of 2011 Pinterest became one of the top 10 largest social networks with 11 million visits per week

• In January it was driving more referral traffic traffic to retailers than LinkedIn, YouTube and Google+

• Over 10.4 million registered users• Nearly 12 million monthly unique visitors• Most of the sites users are female• 97% of the site’s Facebook “likes” are by females• It is the fastest site in history to break through the 10 million

unique visitor mark

Google+ Facts and Figures• It was launched on June 28, 2011• Google+ reached 10 million users by July 14,

2011• 67% of Google+ users are male• Google “+1″ button is served more than 5

billion times daily• It is gaining 625,000 users per day• Anticipated 400 million users by the end of

2012

History of Google+

• Facebook - If you are in a business that has a database and is relationship-based. For example, chiropractor, car sales, real estate agent, loan officer.

• Pinterest - If you have a tangible product, such as coffee, picture frames, pottery, housing.

• Twitter - If you are in a relationship-based business but do not have the database yet.

• Youtube and Google+ - If you are trying to be higher up in search engines when someone looks for a business.

Which social media site is best for me?

Step 8-Consider other sourcesThere are other free sources for you to exploreMantaYellowbotYelpLocal.comKudzuMerchant CircleYahoo LocalFoursquare

Step Nine

New? Create an account and use those search terms (keywords) in the description sections.

Already have an account? Add more keywords to existing profiles.

Why? So that you can get found, not only in the social media sites themselves, but on Google.

Step Ten

See if your competitors are on social media. If they are, research what comments or articles are creating engagement.

Step ElevenFind Influencers and follow them. What are they talking about? What can you share? Majority of the time people like to see their articles shared. Can you build a relationship with them? Interview them?

Step TwelveStart researching content. The good news is you don't have to create all your own content. Do make sure it is what your sphere wants to hear.

Step Thirteen

Start sharing some of that interesting content. And once in a while you can even pitch your own product or service.

Step Fourteen

Tell your customers and clients you are on social media. Give them social buttons and easy links to find you. Is it posted on your website and email?

Magic Number

Here's the magic number in social media. • 20% of your audience is the influencers who

will share 80% of your content. • 80% of your content should be interesting,

valuable, fun, or intriguing. 20% of your content can be used to pitch your product.

• Listen 80% of the time. Talk 20% of the time.

Important that you have quality over quantity for likes on your business page, unless your business needs that image.

Choose your words and verbiage carefully – keep it POSITIVE and call for action in your posts.

Posts should be interactive. Say “Like this post if you…” or “Share this post if you…” Ask people what they think of your post.

Pictures and statistics will engage more people.

Utilize contests to connect to people. Take a picture, best video, etc. “Like” this post and for each new like, money will be donated to a non-

profit organization

Promotions keep people coming back. “Free this morning only!”

Since Facebook is the most popular, we will dig a bit deeper with Facebook

Facebook Page InsightsBusiness page administrators can use the Page Insights feature to assess the performance of their page, learn which content matters most to their audience, and discover the optimal ways of getting people to tell their friends about you.

How to view your Page Insights:

Click on the gear icon on the right side of your page, under your cover photo.

Click on “View Insights”

Why do I need to use Page Insights?By understanding what interests your audience the most, you can tailor your posts to meet their needs and wants. This will, in turn, increase the number of people talking about your business!

Facebook Page Insights continued There are four ways to measure the overall performance of your page using the Page Insights feature:

1) Total Likes – The number of people who like your page.

2) Friends of Fans – The number of people who are friends with your fans, including your fans.

3) Talking About This – The number of people who created a story about your page. A story is created when: Someone likes your page Comments on, likes, or shares your post Answers a question you asked Mentions your page Tags your page in a photo Recommends or “checks in” at your page

4) Total Reach – The number of people who have seen any content associated with your page.

Facebook AlgorithmThe Facebook algorithm, EdgeRank, decides which posts are seen in your friends’ newsfeed.

An “Edge” is generated any time a friend: Posts a status update Comments on another status update Tags a photo Joins a fan page RSVPs to an event

Every “Edge” is a potential newsfeed story. “Edges” are ranked, hence the name “EdgeRank”, and only the highest ranked “Edges” are displayed in your newsfeed.

HOW DOES THIS AFFECT ME?

Most of your Facebook fans never see your status updates! According to Facebook, only 0.2% of all stories are published in the newsfeed. (insidefacebook.com)

What factors influence the algorithm?The actual EdgeRank algorithm is unknown to the public and is always changing. Facebook did release the three ingredients used to determine the algorithm.

1) Affinity Score – how “connected” a person is to the “Edge”. For example, if you frequently write on your sister’s wall and you have 75 mutual friends, your affinity score with your sister is high; Facebook knows you will probably want to see her posts.

2) Edge Weight – Each category of “Edges” has a different weight. Comments are worth more than likes; videos and photos weigh more than links. Higher weighted “Edges” are more likely to show up on your friends’ newsfeed.

3) Time Decay – The older the story, the less points because it is “old news”. Older posts are less likely to be published in the newsfeed because newer posts have a higher score.

How can I best use this information?

It’s almost impossible to trick an algorithm into thinking your content is interesting. Instead, try changing the wording of your content so your fans interact more with your posts.

Here are some examples: “Click “like” if you agree with this statement:...(write a

statement)”

“Fill-in-the-blank: One way I can help someone today is by _____. We went to the soup kitchen and served lunch to the local homeless.”

“Yes/No: I eat breakfast every morning. We have samples of a delicious and nutritious breakfast shake available at our store!”

On a scale of 1-10, I think our cities roads need to be widened. Click on the link to see the Department of Transportation’s plans for our city.

Advertising on FacebookFacebook rakes in $1 billion per quarter in advertising revenue. Here are ways some of the top advertisers on Facebook are using the social media site.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-30-biggest-advertisers-on-facebook-2012-9?op=1

Fab.com uses Facebook to boost one-to-one relationships with customers. Virtually everyone who posts on Fab’s page gets a personal response. WOW!

Proctor & Gamble CEO Bob McDonald realized the free viral exposure of his company on Facebook has been very effective. P&G thinks it can generate $500 million in Facebook and other social media.American Express created an app that

allows cardholders to link their cards to their Facebook accounts. In return, they get deals from various companies.

Experian encourages financial literacy and promotes saving through chatty questions and quizzes.

Starbucks used a Facebook contest to launch its Pumpkin Spice Latte this fall.

Anheuser-Busch Inbev bought mobile ads to increase their fans on Facebook. They also offered special incentives only for those who were their fans on Facebook.

Ford knows their ads are “more effective when strategically combined with engaging content and innovation.” They also believe that someone who “likes” you on Facebook is more willing to advocate your brand.

How To Advertise on Facebook

Currently, you have 3 choices for advertising on Facebook:

1) Marketplace Ads – These ads are one-way communication and less engaging.

2) Sponsored Stories – Often referred to as a “voice of friend”; they are shown to friends of fans and include the friend’s profile photo and their name.

3) Page Post Ads – Display the same content in an ad as what is on your page

Types of Marketplace Ads

Standard Ad – drives traffic to your site Like Ad – drives traffic to your Facebook page App Ad – drives traffic to an app Event Ad – promotes an ad

An example of a “Like Ad”

Facebook has three sales channels – Direct (a.k.a. managed accounts), Inside, and Online

How To Advertise on Facebook continuedSponsored Stories add the social aspect to advertising on Facebook.

Sponsored stories are shown to friends of fans and include the friend’s name and photo. This is where the social aspect comes into play.

Sponsored Stories can be created from any of these actions:

• Page Like – user likes your page and their friends will see this

• Page Post Like – user likes a post on your page

• Page Post Comment – user comments on a post

• App Used or App Shared – user interacts with your app

• Check In – user checks in at your location

• Question Answered – user answers a question you asked on your page

• Event RSVP – user indicates they are attending your event

How To Advertise on Facebook continuedPage Post Ads use content from your business page in an advertisement. If a user is not already connected to your business page through a friend, they will

see an ad and have the ability to “like” your page.

Page Post Ads options currently include:

• Text – you make a text-only post on your page• Photo – you post a photo to your page• Video – you post a video to your page• Link – you share a link on your page that directs traffic off of

Facebook• Question – you ask a question or make a poll• Event – you create an event

Jessica Petersonjessica@customerwowproject.com970.222.2891