Social Media Primer

Rickey Gold & Associates Marketing Communications

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Social Media & Social Networking

• Twitter• Facebook• LinkedIn

• How do they work?• Why do you need

them?


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What is Social Media?What is Social Media?

• Tools for sharing information and communicating online

• multimedia• text• audio• video• photos• live feeds


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Top Social Media ToolsTop Social Media Tools

Digg (social news/voting)

Yelp! (opinion site)

Wikipeidia (directory)

Technorati (news aggregator)

YouTube (video sharing)

Flickr (photo sharing)

Blogs (communicating)

Twitter (micro-blogging)

De.licio.us (social bookmarking)


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What is Social Networking?What is Social Networking?

Building relationships, making connections, and creating communities online…via computer, cell phone, PDA

Social Networking Sites: My Space, Ning Create your own social networks.

Business Networking Sites: LinkedIn

Business/Social Networking Sites: Facebook

http://www.ning.com/


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Where do I start?Where do I start?

• With a plan

• What’s your goal? What do you want to accomplish?– Build visibility– Meet potential clients, colleagues– Develop business alliances

Then decide which tools you’ll use and how much time to spend.


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Think SECCIThink SECCI

• Share

• Engage

• Connect

• Communicate

• Interact


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LinkedInLinkedInBusiness networking geared to professionals

Based on six degrees of separation

Uses:Referrals, getting new clients,developing business alliances,finding a job, sourcing vendors.

Perks:Find/develop new business

communities,

post and find events, share articles and industry news

increase visibility.


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FacebookFacebookSocial and business networking

• Began in 2004 as a social network for 20-somethings

• Today, new users are increasingly over 35

• Now over 180 million active users, 65 million in U.S.

• 2nd most popular online destination after Google


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Facebook for Business Uses:• Stay in touch with clients and friends • Create a customer-based community• Share company news via text, photos, videos• Announce & publicize events • Roll out new products

Goal: • To engage potential clients in a conversation• To build your brand by building a community

Process should be: soft sell.Think interaction.


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Twitter

• Social media tool called “micro-blogging”. • Messages limited to 140 characters • Purpose:

– Immediate, real time, “conversing” with other people

(peeps) – To share a thought or opinion, a link, an article, or promote

something

• It is NOT about what you’re having for lunch!


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More On Twitter

• The process is referred to as following.

• You choose those people you wish to follow.

• They do the same.

Public or private?• You can respond to someone publicly -- so anyone can see.

• You can respond directly, or privately.


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Twitter

Uses

• Engage with people with a common interest

• Gain knowledge from experts in various fields

• Achieve visibility

• Expand your network


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Using Twitter EffectivelyUsing Twitter Effectively

• Tweets may be business or social-related or both.

• Blatant selling will not work….you’ll lose followers.

• The “best” tweeters have distinct styles.

• Let your personality show. Be interesting.

• 80% business; 20% personal (you decide)


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Now What?Now What?

Maximizing Social Media

How these tools work together. A tweet on Twitter includes a link to an article on a website

you’ve never seen. Article includes a link to a slideshow created and stored on

LinkedIn or Facebook From LinkedIn, you can share the slideshow via SlideShare on

Twitter, via email, etc.

The possibilities are endless. And it happens in real time.


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The ValueThe Value

• Cost-effective: free marketing tools

• Flexible: can do anywhere there’s internet access

• Build your business community

• Improve morale

• Increase sales

• Engage in “no cost” market research


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The Value ( The Value ( Part 2Part 2))

• Build your brand

• Gain trust

• Extend your reach: followers who like you tell others

Social media and networking are the ultimate WOM or viral marketing tools


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Who’s using these tools well?Who’s using these tools well?

• Companies big and small.

• Zappo’s -- CEO tweets, all new hires must use Twitter.

• Dell --Very proactive. Uses for direct sales, targeted marketing.

Numerous Facebook pages, including Dell Outlet for coupon

distribution only.

• Best Buy -- CEO holds worldwide meetings while he’s

speaking. Viewers can interact and respond.

• Popeye’s

• President Obama


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Other Ways to Use SOther Ways to Use Social ocial Media/NetworkingMedia/Networking

Thank you @pistachio (Laura Fitton) for most of the following:

• Project sharing• Problem solving• Sales teams• Event planning • Mentoring

• Purely social (morale)


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Not everyone is doing a great jobNot everyone is doing a great job

• Motrin and the “Mommy Bloggers”

• Skittle’s

• Why campaigns fail:

- lack of authenticity

- hard sell

- insincerity

- not responding quickly to defuse a problem


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Success StoriesSuccess Stories

Comcast Cares

Turned around a reputation for lousy service andpoor customer response.

• Had a plan.• Apologized for snafus.• Customers can now interact directly with Comcast.• CEO, Frank Eliason, tweets. Puts a face to the

company name.

http://www.conversationagent.com/2008/05/comcast-cares-o.html

http://www.conversationagent.com/2008/05/comcast-cares-o.html


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The Lesson?The Lesson?

• Don’t just jump in. LISTEN for a while first.• Experiment… carefully.• Honesty is imperative. You want to build trust. • Let people see the human side of your company

….this is about people sharing.• Assume nothing.• Monitor everything. Engage … Engage … Engage


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Twitter RevisitedTwitter Revisited

What I’ve learned so you don’t have to:

• Think of this as traditional face-to-face networking….only backwards.

• People who tweet are genuinely nice.

• Take your time. Find your personality.

• See what attracts you. Whose posts do you enjoy?

• When you’re ready, then get involved.


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Twitter Revisited Twitter Revisited (Part 2)(Part 2)

• Try and tweet every day. • 4x day is a good average if you can do it… and if

you have something worth saying.• Don’t spam tweet!• Twitter can be addictive. Decide how much time you’ll

spend each day (back to the plan).• Social media/networking is extremely efficient. • You’ll spend much less time on email.


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Twitter ProtocolTwitter Protocol

• Some of the gurus believe you have to follow everyone who follows you.

• It’s called “twitter etiquette”.

• Guy Kawasaki (online publisher)Followers: 85,831Following: 93,108Updates: 19,996

• Others disagree.

• Peter Shankman (HARO)Followers: 31,293Following: 701Updates: 3,254


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Twitter PersonaTwitter Persona

• Some people use their real names.

• Some use taglines.

• Guy Kawasaki: @guy Kawasaki

• Peter Shankman: @skydiver

• Tribune Media: @ColonelTribune

• I use: @messagemasseuse

You decide how you want to be known.


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Other Social Media Tools

• De.licio.us: social bookmarking

• Digg: social news/voting• Yelp!: share an opinion• Flickr: photo sharing

• You Tube: video sharing

• Wikipedia: free directory of collaborative contributions

• Technorati: news aggregator of user-generated content

http://delicious.com/rickeyg



http://digg.com/

http://www.yelp.com/chicago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://technorati.com/


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Social Media Primer