A Small Business Guide to Social Media

Best Practices and Implementation Strategies

About Margy

Sole proprietor Writer – communicationSocial media early adopter

You May Be Familiar With the Tools:

The Tools of the Trade

But Maybe Not So Much About The How, The When

and The Where

Best Practices andImplementation Strategies

Do Social Media Right And Everybody 

Will Know About You(in a good way)

Big Budget Love

Low Budget LoveBrigham Young University

Mmmm! What's Cooking Today?

Do Social Media Wrong And Everybody 

Will Know About You(in a bad way)

You've Probably Seen This Email Spam, and Lots Of It

Twitter Spam?

But What About:

Users Are In The Driver's Seat Be Careful What You Wish For!

How To Do Social Media Right

Implementation Strategies:Four Principles

First Principle:

Social media marketing is not free advertising. It's a user-driven communication medium.

• Don't hard-sell products/services• Have a commerce website or location for that• Consider buying an ad if you want to advertise

Second Principle: A social media campaign should be an addition to - not a replacement for - a traditional marketing strategy. Clients should already be:

• Networking • Communicating• Establishing competency

 Offline

Third Principle:

Social media campaigns require active participation • Do nothing and get nothing• Respond to others and they'll respond to you

Fourth Principle:

Social media campaigns take time and patience. Long-term process.

• Communication/marketing/community - not advertising• Have other strategies in place, too

Increasing Your Chances For Social Media Success

Research! Still need to know:

• Who are the customers or clients? • What type of business?• What type of client (age, occupation, income, etc.)

Different populations use the internet differently.

Client Research Will Help Establish:

• Which tools to use for which group• How those tools should work together

 Then they'll know:

The Social Media Marketing Mix

 Will depend on business. For example:  • Consultant (substantive): A blog, social network presence,

b2b networks, a podcast• Restaurant (real-time): Twitter or Foursquare • Artist (online display space): Blog or podcast for musicians, Flickr

for visual artists.

An Effective Outreach Strategy

Modes of Communication

• Email link to blog post• Facebook and/or Twitter signup on static website• Reference to web presence on printed materials

Business Must Communicate With and Respect 

Online Communities

Communicate

• Be a good guest• Respect community's right to privacy• Ask questions, give answers• Represent yourself honestly

Respect the Rules of Engagement

• Introduce yourself when linking or "friending,“ particularly if it’s someone you don’t know or don’t know well. Tell them why you want to connect

• Don't send excessive emails to an online group or Facebook page.

Reputation Concerns Are Legitimate

Business reputation is important. Balance. • Okay to set the terms of engagement• People can be vicious and destructive online• Don't censor, but don't allow flaming, either

 

Privacy Concerns Are Legitimate

• Balance accessibility with privacy• Some tools more private than others (Facebook pages vs. a

social network).

Time Concerns Are Legitimate

Small businesses have to juggle multiple time commitments

• Several posts, tweets, etc., a day are not feasible for many• Posts can be short: a picture, a quote, an observation• Posts can link to other posts 

 Too many posts can be as bad as too few

Finally, Remember:

Honesty Is The Best PolicyAnd

It's Okay To Ask For Help!

A well-managed social media campaign will lead to engagement that's supportive, useful and fun!

Thank You!