June 21, 2011 CSC Small Business Workshop: Social Media

for SMBs Lisa Throckmorton

SpeakerBox Communications

Introduction

  SpeakerBox Communications is a Local Boutique PR firm

(Less than 20 people; Not just competing with other PR firms for visibility, but with

subwoofers and the Bud Light Speaker Box tailgate toy).

Social Media: Why Now? WIIFM? (What’s in it for Me)

Just a Few of the Objections Around Social Media for Small Business

  “My customer isn’t on Facebook or Twitter.”   “I don’t have enough time or the resources

to go down the social media path.”   “I have a limited marketing budget and need

to focus on lead gen.”   “ I have no idea what I would even tweet

about.”   “There are so many social networking

options, where do I even start?”

The Data   Facebook.com Average user is connected to

80 community pages, groups and events; FB generates a staggering 770 billion page views per month.

  Twitter: the number of 30-49 year olds who use the service has doubled since late 2010 - from 7% of such users in November to 14% in May 2011.

  YouTube - more video content is uploaded to YT in a 60 day period than then three major U.S. television networks creates in 60 years.

With so many options; Which do I choose and why?

First, “Which Ones?”

  The ones you probably know: – Facebook – Twitter – YouTube – LinkedInbusiness professionals

And the less familiar…

  Flickr - An image-and video- hosting Web site where community members can share and comment on media.

  Digg - A social-news site where users can discover and share content.

  StumbleUpon - A social-news community where members discover and share Web pages.

  Reddit - A social-news community where users post links to the site’s home page.

  Tumblr - A social-networking site where users can ask and answer questions.

Reason #1: Customer Communication

  Facebook: the hub through which to drive social interaction. Companies can use FB to get their messages out/receive customer feedback.

  Twitter: the ultimate outbound messaging tool. Inbound communications are quick and to the point, allowing for simple monitoring and management of conversations.

  YouTube: video is a powerful channel for customer/prospect education.

Reason #2: Brand Exposure

  Facebook: Using pages as a persona allows   Twitter: It’s not what you say, but what you

can others to say about you that has a real impact!

  LinkedIn: Shows the professional prowess of your company. Encourage employees to build profiles: Show off your solid team!

  YouTube: Great platform to share messages that align with how you want to be perceived.

Reason #3: Traffic to your site

  Digg: the most consistent viral-traffic generation site that can send tens of thousands of visitors to individual posts.

  StumbleUpon: the social media equivalent of a traffic Grand Slam—it doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's huge. Keep discoveries diverse, it has the potential to deliver thousands of visitors.

Reason #4: SEO   Flickr: Strong indexing in search engines and

passes links and page rank.   YouTube: Good for building links back to

your site because the videos rank very well.   Digg: Indexes your stories quickly (popular

or not). Populars ones attract bloggers.   StumbleUpon: Large user base; many

people can find stories and link to them.   Tumblr: high potential from a link-building

perspective. Sites rank well in the search engines.

Reason #5: Talent Acquisition

  Facebook: great for community building and showing off a great company culture. Encourage your employees to share great company news/job opportunities on their walls.

  Twitter: tweet your job postings; showcase your companies expertise.

  LinkedIn: Share job openings with “the professional web.”

The Path to Adoption: Don’t Try to Boil the Ocean

B2G Communications Evolution YESTERDAY

Core set of print publications

Website optional

Golden reporter rolodex

Product focused

Printed “clip” books

Press releases

TODAY

FedScoop, GovLoop, GovTwit, GovConWire,

OhMyGov, NextGov

SEO or No-Go

Followers with authority

Specialization and Solution-centric

Google analytics

Corporate or thought leader blog

THE GOOD NEWS: YOU ARE MORE IN CONTROL THAN EVER!

@NASA @U.S. Army @U.S. Coast Guard @The White House @USA.gov @NASA Goddard @US Dept. of Labor @FEMA @ExportGov @US Dept of Education

“The Government Isn’t On Twitter…” http://www.nextgov.com/thefeed/

“The Government Isn’t on Facebook”   White House - Fans: 327,592   Marine Corps - Fans: 83,144   Army - Fans: 49,416   CDC - Fans: 21,257   State Department - Fans: 16,386   NASA - Fans: 7,768   NASA JPL - Fans: 6,536   Library of Congress - Fans: 6,520

B2G Content for SMBs = THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Listen What does your customer read?

What does your customer need?

What is the one thing you provide that they

want the most?

Create Create content for

your expertise vis-à-vis customer needs

Address customer objections with strong

messaging

White papers, articles, speeches, videos, blogs, releases

Engage Write once, use 5X!

Work to make it two-way for high impact

Build plan/create channels for reaching

your target

Engage customers, partners to speak on

your behalf

What Does Thought Leadership Really Look Like?

  Google searches for your solution produce your name.

  3-5 pieces of content exist on your specialized skill or solution.

  Awards honor you around your best practices internally.

  Conferences seek you out for speaking engagements.

  You have written a book that relates to your specialty.

  You have bylined articles in influential publications.

  Social media engagement: your ecosystem follows your lead.

  You are seen as an expert, and thus, business comes your way.

Step-by-Step Communications Strategy

1.  Create your top 2-3 agency targets

2.  Understand their mandate/agency objective

3.  Understand the channels they use to learn about you

4.  Know what they read, where they “live”

5.  Reconcile your specialty with their needs

6.  Build your content plan from there

7.  Become a thought leader in their eyes!

When your prospect is ready to buy, make sure you are everywhere they look!

If You Can Only Do One Thing…BLOG!!!

  Highlight your SME and almost 100% of the time the customer or partner will: – know you can solve their problem more

completely that they can; – know they don’t have time to apply the

solution themselves; –  try NOT to use you, fail miserably, and then

become even more desperate to retain you!

  Your blog posts can be syndicated to Facebook and Twitter automatically and help with SEO.

Example: USIS (www.usis.com) - #62 on Washington Technology’s Top Contractor’s List   They Keep it Simple: Facebook, Twitter and

Podcasts

HELP!!!

  Shoutlet – Social media marketing communications platform.

  Sprout Social – Social media dashboard, monitoring, workflow, influencer and contact management.

  Sendible – Social media marketing platform.   HootSuite - Social media dashboard for

managing social content and engagement on multiple networks with team workflow.

  Seesmic – Manage social marketing activity on Twitter, Facebook, FourSquare, Google Buzz and Linkedin.

Twitter Sidebar…

QUESTIONS?

Content sources: SocialMediaToday, Pew Research, CMO.com, Mashable, NextGov, GCN.com and Daniel Odio

Lisa Throckmorton SpeakerBox Communications

703-287-7803 lthrockmorton@speakerboxpr.com

Twitter: speakerbox