Connect • Converse • Collaborate

Enhancing Social Media for Business

• Value of social media• Getting connected with the ‘Big 3’• Branding, blogging, internet marketing, SEO• Content strategies• Questions• and possibly...A few extras...

Social Media is just one component of Internet Marketing as are Websites, blogs, vlogs, emails, e-newsletters, etc.

Definition of Internet Marketing

Internet marketing is the process of marketing goods or services through the Internet - both for those whose income is derived solely from the Internet - and for those who have a brick and mortar location but choose to advertise on the Web. (source: About.com)

Now that Google and Bing are displaying real-time Twitter and Facebook search results, it’s critical for businesses to have a presence on social media.

The umbrella term for the many tools that allow people to socialize on the Web, such as social networking sites, blogs, wikis, etc. (source: Principles of Internet Marketing, Jason Miletsky

Course Technology 2010)

Definition of Social Media

Social Media - It’s not Twitter or Facebook It’s the power of the network.

Big Game Advertisers Tap social media to Extend Buy Early peaks of spots were launched prior to the big game,

voting was done throughout and large numbers of hits continue to spike today.

Not all social networks are the same...

“LinkedIn is for people you know.Facebook for people you used to know.Twitter for people you want to know.” – Author Unknown

The World’s Biggest Professional Network.

Over 101 million users worldwide... and growing fast.

Linked

• The social network to be when you are seeking employment

• Great source for finding leads resources

• Connecting with professionals from small businesses to fortune 500 companies

41.1% Female, 58.9% Male

18-24 = 20.9%25-34 = 35.8%35-54 = 36.3%+54 = 6.9%

credits: Amodiovalerio Verde

100% Complete ProfileImportant because it is the main way of showing up in search results.

You need at least 3 recommendations to have a 100% complete profile!

How To Get The Most Out Of LinkedIn with your Profile

LinkedIn offers a professional profile for a fee. A free LinkedIn profile will suit most small businessess.

Share Your Basic InfoFor the right people to find you make sure you get your basic info right so people can find you.

Executive SummaryThis is where most people start when they review your profile. Be creative, use keywords and include your most important service or products.

Add Education and Previous Job Experience

Connect with people that you knowfrom work, school/college.

Viewers of your profile, customers, vendors,lenders will check your education.• Assists in completing the profile entirely• Highlight all your experience and connect with co-workers.

Use a Spellchecker: First impressions count!

Go to http://www.google.com/toolbar/ff/index.html

Use Recommendations Effectively

• Customize messages

• To get recommendations,

start by giving them

Send PersonalizedConnection Requests

Send an invite from the contacts profile page and click on “Add to your network”.

Be careful about reaching out to people you do not know.

Change it UpDrag and drop parts of your profile around.

Importance Of SharingLinkedin offers real time sharing similar to Twitter. Add high quality content of interest to your network and groups.

Introduce Your Company on LinkedIn

1. Go to the “Companies” menu on LinkedIn

Connect with 85million business members

You can’t set up a profile page as a company page in LinkedIn. Set up a company page with these steps.

2. From company, select “Add Company”

2. Enter basic information, a description, industry, number of employees.....

3. Follow the wizard – add your logo, locations, blog feed, products and services

LinkedIN then pulls in data from the site.• median

age, • top schools

and other companies you are connected with.

Customize Your Page

1. Introduce your staff

2. Add service, products with graphics, video, blog or vlog feeds

3. Get Recommendations and Display on your Page

4. Follow Us on LinkedIn Button

5. You can now feed blog posts and tweets automatically to the

overview page.

6. The analytics on the business page tracks:

• your page views • who has visited • what industries are interested

in your company • companies who have been looking at your page.

Has your competition stopped in?

6. Get Client Recommendations without them having to go to LinkedIN

Just add a “Recommend” button to your website and it populates back to your LinkedIn business page!

7. Groups are an integral part of LinkedIn- • great places to network • find followers • meet industry experts.

New features for groups to help cut down on spam

RecommendUs!

8. LinkedIn Share Button The same as a ‘Share button’ on

Facebook. The exception is that it updates all your LinkedIn network connections.

(http://www.linkedin.com/publishers)

Time to Fly over to Twitter.

As Chris Brogan says Twitter allows us to interact with people around the world in three different ways:1) Send a short message to a bunch of people publicly2) Send a short message to a specific person publicly3) Send a short message to a specific person privately

• 175 million registered users

• 95M tweets are written per day

• 52% Female, 48% Male

• 8% Of Americans Use Twitter

55+ = 9%45 to 54 = 17%35 to 44= 27%26 to 34 = 30%18 to 25 = 13%13 to 17 = 4%

Join the conversation!

TWITTER - News asit’s happening, -the real magic of Twitter is the continual flow of real-time news that matters to you. (see also paper.il)

Using Twitter for Business

Twitter is a micro-bloggin service.

• You can post updates with 140 characters or less.

• Get in the practice of using less than 100 characters so your entry can be retweeted

• The links within those 100 characters post lead you to a lot of interesting content.

• Messages from others you follow will show up in a readable stream on your homepage timeline. Click links in others’ Tweets to view: websites, photos and videos they

have posted.

Bit.ly - use to shorten website

links - and you can track the hits to it.

• Develop and Promote Your Brand

• Track and Analyze Your Campaigns

• Interact with your customers

• Promote blog entries, e-news links, webinars...

• Introduce upcoming events, sales, create interest during event

• Track what people are saying

Twitter can be used for Marketing •PR • Customer Service

Set up your profile

• Add your company website• Add links for Facebook, LinkedIn profile, blog...• Create succinct bio with energy & what you do• List your location. • Choose whether you want your tweets

private of not.

Be transparent - don’t tweet things you don’t want people to see!

Add your Profile pic or Avatar: For a company page use your company logo.

Customize your page,If you keep the default page layout others may assume you are a spammer • Custom or Twitter backgrounds available. • Choose theme that is relevant, with colors

that work with your brand

Start Tweeting!

Add a few tweets before you start worrying about getting followers. • demonstrates your style and content

Build A Voice: retweet, reply, react, others are more likely to find your messages if they are retweets or replies)

Tweet What?

1. Retweet (RT) another post, mention someone other people follow, reply to someone elses post:

To mention a person add the @ symbol before their username (such as @connectgraphics love this info! will be directed to me and I can reply publicly)

2. Projects you are working on3. Who you will be meeting with that day

Be careful! don’t post duplicate, or near duplicate, updates or links - retweet!

4. An event or place you are going to (share a link if applicable)

5. An observation such as how great this social media introduction was ;-)

6. Tweet about what you’re doing, thinking or feeling

7. Something you have read or watched: Post a link to an interesting video, blog post or news article, etc.

Keep in mind buzz words that attract:• free, • how to,• tip, • RETWEET, etc.

8. Promote your content: Post a link to your company website where you have tips or blog entries, etc.

9. Link someone else’s content: Promote a blog article as a helpful resource someone else has written

Places to find content:stufftotweet.compopurl.com

Basic Tweeter Vocabulary

Popular Terms / Practices:

#Hashtags - community-driven convention• adds context and metadata like inline tags on Flickr• create a hashtag simply by prefixing a

word with a hash symbol: #hashtag. • hashtags.org provides real-time tracking

of Twitter hashtags.

Opt-in by following @hashtags

Twitter Handle, To Follow, Follow Back, Hashtag#, Retweet (RT), Tweet Stream, etc.

Twemes also offer real-time tracking

Building Followers

1. Start by finding and following other interesting Twitter accounts. • Businesses you love • tweeters your friends follow

2. Advertise your Twitter user name on all collateral such as email signature, your FB

and LinkedIN profiles, etc.

3. You can choose to build your numbers by following everyone or base who you follow

on whether is it relevant to your goals.

4. Try to add to conversations with “Tweeters” who have a large number of followers and ride their wave.

5. Another way to build followers quicker is to get listed in WeFollow (WeFollow.com).

6. Get listed in directories that get lots of traffic • Twellow (Twellow.com)- Twitter Yellow Pages • Twitdir.com. - Get listed in multiple categories • Search Google to find more directories.

7. Go to the ‘Who to Follow” tab at the top of your Twitter page.

• Import your Address book

• Also there are suggestions in the

right panel of your page.

• Search by handle, subject, etc.

8. Follow people back who follow you & search their follow list.

9. Interact - retweet, ask and reply, discuss, Socialize- do not just promote your company!

10. #FollowFriday (#ff) very popular feature - all day Friday people suggest others to

follow. (Also #MarketerMonday (#MM))

11. Connect and engage regularly, send quality content and share ideas.

12. Mention and thank people

If you provide valuable content people will come that are interested.

Better to have one person engaged than a 1000 who don’t care.

It’s not just about the numbers.

• Tools like HootSuite and TweetDeck, etc. - manage more than one persona or network.

Additional Ideas and Resources

• Post your Twitter handle as a link when commenting on blogs and articles.

• Share your tweets with Facebook One way is to go to your Twitter profile -

Connections. Another option is to use a widget.

• With Twitterfeed.com, and other tools you can set up a schedule for your tweets.

• Explore advanced Features: lists, direct messages, and favorites.

• Find tips and instructions on Twitter -Go to Help

Connect your Twitter account to your blog, Facebook and Website with widgets, links, etc.

How to Add a Twitter Widget To Your Website

• Go to ‘Business’ in your side panel. • Access Resources and Widgets• Add a variety of widgets & logos to your social networks, website or blog.

• Select Widgets• Select My Website• Select the widget you want to display.

Choose: Profile, Search or Faves Widget

• Add Tweetmemes/Share Buttons to your blogs, article etc.

• Use the Twitter App, TwitPic, etc. on your Mobile Devices include photos, videos, etc.

• Remember Bit.ly - to shorten URLS- and track the hits to it.

• Add the standardized social media buttons to your blog and website

Twitter is now protecting users privacy by going though OAuth to link up your Twitter account. (good for security no passwords, etc. need to be shared.)

Connecting to Third-Party Applications

• Be an active user

• Remember to use Hashtags

• Conduct a contest

• Don’t Spam, Be honest and transparent

• Create a list of useful tweets

• Use Twitterfeed or similar services

Twitter Tactics to help Expand Your Influence

• Join a Twitter chat -#specific topic at a set time.

• Broadcast live events - like seminars you attend…

• Create a #hashtag to promote events- encourage attendees to share it (before, during and after event)

• Reciprocate by following back

Hashtag Search Engine with Statistics:http://wthashtag.com/Main_PageHow to use a Hashtag by Mashable: http://mashable.com/2009/05/17/twitter-hashtags/

Follow Twitter Conventions

Twitter’s down... Let’s Check Facebook

More than 500 million active users

Where all your customershang out.

• 50% of active users log on to Facebook daily• Average user has 130 friends• People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on FacebookSource- Facebook - 2-4-2011

About 70% of Facebook users are outsidethe United States

US Stats: 55.5% Female, 44.5% Male

US Stats cont.:3 to 12 = 4%

13 to17= 22%18 to 34 =42%35 to 49 = 20%

50+ = 12%and growing

Source:QuantcastUpdated May 2010

• Delayed - Next: Feb 2011 http://www.quantcast.

com/facebook.com

Facebook Mobile Stats: APPS

• There are more than 200 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices.

• People that use Facebook on their mobile devices are twice as active on Facebook than non-mobile users.

• There are more than 200 mobile operators in 60 countries working

to deploy and promote Facebook mobile products

Source- Facebook - 2-4-2011

Facebook Women-Connect commented on

your status

Whether you are choosing to connect with family, friends, discovering old school buddies, neighbors, business associates. Since everyone is here, your businesses needs to be here.

Let’s dive in and focus on Facebook Business Pages.

Facebook is #1 for Networking

It comes down to what purpose the page serves. • Member based organization - group page may work

well. The biggest benefit of the group page is that you can send announcements to the whole group.

• Businesses selling a product or service- best served by a Facebook Page.

There is no cut off to the amount of people who like it, you can install third party apps, add widgets and feeds from your page to your website and other

online sources.

Differences between a business page and a group page

Biggest benefit for both pages of course is the ability to stay connected to your contacts. As all social networks Facebook is built on relationships.

Going Viral -By getting customers to like your page all your posts will be entered into their newsfeed for all of their friends to see. It is like a personal recommendation.

Be where your customer is.

American members

average 421 minutes on Facebook per month

(2-2011source: Mashable.com)

Face it we need to set up pages.

Business Pages and Group Pages look the same and are very similar to set up.

We will cover specifically a business page.

How To Build A Successful Facebook Fan Page

2. Go to the Advertising Section click Pages. Or go to: http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php. Click ‘Create a Page

3. Choose your page - are you a business,

brand, cause, celebrity, etc.

1. Login to Facebook - You must have a personal profile.

• Add your logo & branding elements• Hold off on inviting friends

until after you have added content.• Add applicable pictures• Make your page dynamic

by adding applications like FBML.

5. Design your page

4. Name Your Page •Agree to page terms

6. With dynamic Facebook pages you can customize

the tabs • Build a mini website. Add

videos, products, etc. • Add a custom

designed landing page and encourage liking the page.

7. Link your website, blog, social media profiles,

etc.

Facebook Mark-up Language (FBML)

8. Add a button on your website to promote your Page. Place code in your website.

9. Edit your page - choose ‘edit page’ on right. Include location, and information.

10. Maintain your page - post new information regularly. Specials, trends, updates, information your customers will appreciate it. Have fun!

11. Once you have 25 members who like your page you can get a vanity URL. Such as facebook.com/connectiongraphics.

12. To increase likes, be creative, offer free reports, e-books, polls, contests , etc. to make people visit your page. Have people like the page before they can access the giveaway.

When friending people set up Lists in Facebook to target your messages.

• Go to your profile • Go to Account• Create a list• Choose the list to add the new friend when you accept or send a new friend request.

More than 20 million people connect every day with pages. Make sure they are connecting with you!

1. Don’t Have two Profiles: Personal and Professional. If Facebook catches you they will shut you

down. Be yourself and be transparent with your friends and business contacts. Use the lists feature and other privacy settings in FB.

2. Creating a Profile for Your Business Instead of a Page Profiles are meant for people, pages are

meant for business. There are added benefits with a business page, auto likes, analytics, etc.

What not to do on Facebook:

3. Turning Off Wall Posts for Your Business Page The point of Facebook is to interact with

your community! I want to know the business wants to hear what I have to say-and on their turf.

4. Not Updating Your Business Page If you update your business page with

interesting content, your users are more likely to engage with your page, these interactions show to their friends…

It is the viral,interaction that makes Facebook

such a powerfultool for

business.

What not to do on Facebook 2:

5. Not Being on Facebook Even if you think Facebook is a fad and

will be gone in a few years, it is still huge now, don’t miss riding the wave. With over 500 million active users Facebook has captivated your target market.

One of the fastest growing demographics are users over 55. The majority of Facebook users right now are older than college age.

YourCustomers

Are onRight Now

What not to do on Facebook 3:

Social Media StrategyA social media campaign can be successful if it is well planned and well executed.

Company Social Media Manager:

A person trained to share corporate message, ethics, brand claim and campaign objectives.

This person should be transparent in all communications and consistent in style in each network. All interaction should come naturally to reach and interact with your audience.

Consider outsourcing options carefully

Who is Responsible For All of This?

The dedicated person is responsible for:

• Posting messages, news, images or videos on social media and corporate website

• Replying to the users

• Starting discussions

• Participating in the community

• Writing and maintaining a corporate blog

• Tracking mentions and reviews

The Main Tasks of a Social Media Campaign:

1. Account Setup (check)

2. Developing & Managing Community This is the most important part of the

campaign. Repeat all tasks previously mentioned for company Social Media Manager; post, update, track, respond...

3. Moderating - Ensures fair play within your social media places.

4. Monitoring - What are people saying about you or your brand?

Google Alerts, Facebook Search, Tweetdeck shows where you have been mentioned, etc.

Use Topsy.com search engine in order to trace what people say about your website on Twitter

5. Tracking -Various tools available to do so (Google Analytics, Tweetmeme, Tweetstats, etc.) to measure campaign effectiveness.

One of the most common things to monitor is traffic and the conversion rates.

Content Strategies

Generate new content, update frequently

• Use Social Networks as ‘outposts’ for broadcasting marketing message

( YouTube, Slideshare, Scribd)

• Tools like HootSuite and TweetDeck, Smartphone Apps,

• Direct blog posts to LinkedIN, etc.

• Calls to action

• Get involved with Groups

• Posting and answering questions - Good ways to build friend base

• Secure contact emails for personal contact, email blasts, direct mail promos, etc.

Content Strategies 2

Example: A hotel ran a campaign utilizing all of the big three, plus blogs, YouTube, emails, website, etc.

The Two Main Objectives

1. Increase the brand awareness and build an e-mail database for Email campaigns.

2. Increase the online bookings, the Twitter followers, the Facebook fans and the views of the videos on YouTube.

Campaign Case study

The results of the campaign

• The website visits were increased by 187%

• The visits on the booking engine were increased by 227%

• The Facebook fans were increased by 150%

• The Twitter followers were increased by 80%

The results of the campaign cont.

• The views of the videos on YouTube were increased by 100%

• A big Email Database was created since lots of people subscribed to the hotel’s newsletter

• Additionally the traffic on the website of the hotel and the bookings remained high for a long period after the end of the contest.

Launching a contest or giveaway:

Contests engage your community.

• Determine your goals -building new product awareness? increase traffic? Fans?

• Review the rules of the media you are using (Twitter, LinkedIn)

• Provide Information Customize a tab in Facebook and post info.

about the contest and official rules.

• Make sure all your social media channels are in place.

• Make sure you are active, regularly posting content, video, etc.

Produce campaign materials(text, messages, email announcements, graphics, web pages, flyers, etc.)

Promote through all channels you set upThe big 3, email, blog, ads if budget allows

Launching a contest or giveaway 2:

Summer Flavors Contest

Main Objective:Drive fans to the company’s Facebook page and stores.

Post Contest Rules to a tab of the corporate Facebook page

Requirements was to post creative comments of 50 words or less about 3 signature ice cream flavors

Contest Case study

VIRAL ACTION:Entrants

shared and encouraged

their friends to vote for them.

• Nearly 4,000 people entered the contest.

• Increases sales of 3 flavors from previous year.

• 3,000 shares resulted in more than 1,800 people voted. (with use of an application by Wildfire Interactive.)

• Winners were posted on the company page and were

awarded a trip.

Contest Results

It is important to check each sites

contest and sweepstakes rules prior to

launch!

Offer Case Study - eGifts

Friends can send their Facebook friends an eGift, from your Facebook fan page.

The eGift shows up in the recipient’s News Feed on Facebook, so all friends can see it. (Viral Effect again)

Like a gift certificate, recipients can redeem the gift by showing a printout of the email that is sent or show the code on their mobile phones.

Add-on apps run the eGift

feature. Think of all the possibilities!

eGift Social, created by First Data Corporation

1. Do your homework Learn more about your customers and their

preferences. Conduct surveys, ask questions

2. Innovate Fan Pages need to stand out from the millions of

others. Use a combination of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube for campaigns.

3. Reward fans with Offers and Promotions Motivate people to act, launch offers and

promotions.

Leveraging Content and your Fan/Friends base

4. Maintain Transparency - Everything that you do is viewed by your followers.

5. Begin to Sell Using Social Media - Facebook pages can be online stores. If fans can make a transaction from your Facebook page without clicking elsewhere you can close a sale quick.

Remember to make it fun and interactive, have fun and good luck!

Leveraging Content and your Fan/Friends base

Questions?

Extraspaper.il -organizes links shared on Twitter into a newspaper-style format.

RSS Feeds - like getting pizza delivery (get RSS logo and get TwitterFeed logo)

Klout Scores

Branding

Wiki

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How to Use QR Codes

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