PracticeWEB Social Media Workshop

Social Media Workshop With James Scanlan and Collette Easton

Agenda

Quiz Social Media Outlets Interesting Statistics LinkedIn Facebook Twitter What is a Social Media Strategy Using Social Media to generate enquiries Social Media for SEO Social Media Policy Hints & Tips

Quiz

1. What is social Media?2. Name 5 Social Media networks3. How many registered users has LinkedIn?4. According to Internet Advertising Bureau, what is the

gender split of LinkedIn?5. According to Sage, how many accountancy practices

were using Social Media during 2009?

Quiz6. According to the Internet Advertising Bureau, which is the

biggest age group of Facebook?0-1213-1818-2929-3435-4445-5455+

7. According to Internet Advertising Bureau, what is the gender split of Facebook?

8. How many characters can be tweeted?9. On average, how many tweets are broadcast daily?10.Name 3 business benefits to be gained from Social Media

Social Media is…According to Wikipedia:Social media is media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media uses web-based technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogues

This means Humans sharing their thoughts and opinions using Technology that is readily available, easy to use and free Passing those opinions and thoughts to their network

People gain information, education & news etc. by electronic and print media. Social media are distinct from industrial & traditional media such as newspapers, TV & film. These networks are inexpensive (often free) to use and are accessible to enable anyone to publish or access information therein.

Social Media is…A powerful marketing tool which could spur your business growth

1. Natural – social media can expose your business to a large group on individuals, without having to pay for visibility. Most outlets are free and harnessed properly will generate potential leads

2. Defensible – These channels easily add other ways to increase your traffic, and even could control it through effective planning

3. No Cost/High ROI – most outlets are free to use and if you are planning to handle the campaign in house then the opportunity is to create leads without any expense

4. Complement other marketing efforts – An effective approach that will not create conflict, only support to other marketing efforts

Benefits of Social Media: What’s in it for my Practice?Early Adopters

January 2010: Sage surveyed 2000 small and medium sized firms and found 8 out of 10 firms are missing sales a client engagement opportunities by not using Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn for any aspect of their operations.

Social media provides a new way for small businesses to ‘listen in’ to online conversations and gauge people’s perceptions, engage and educate existing or prospective customers and build an official online brand presence.

Mobile applications also offer competitive advantage by providing business owners and employees with critical customer information and productivity tools anytime, anywhere.

The research also highlighted that the small businesses that do engage on social networks chose Facebook (32%) as their desired platform over LinkedIn (28%) and Twitter (19%). This suggests that small businesses see Facebook as the best way to connect with their customers.

Interesting Statistics E-Consultancy Social Media Statistics Compendium published in July 2010

Visits to News and Media from Googlenews and Facebook

Facebook was the fourth biggest source of visits to news and media sites towards the end of 2009, after Google, Yahoo! and msn.

(Source: Experian Hitwise,

February 2010)

The Importance of User Generated Reviews

Marketing your Practice

More than half of UK online customers say reviews are extremely or very important in making an online purchase, and more than half say they have more trust and respect for brands that show product reviews.

(Source: Bazaarvoice/Vizu Research, 2007)

The power of Business Blogs

Marketing your Practice

Business blogs begin generating significantly more leads when they have a median of 24 or more articles posted.

(Source: How Many Posts Does Your Business Blog Need to Grow Leads?, Hubspot, April 2010)

Social Media Outlets

The Corporate BlogCorporate Weblog used by an organisation to reach its organisational goals. Blogs posts & comments are easy to reach and follow due to centralized & structured conversation threads.

More than 12% of Fortune 500 companies blog

Nearly 70% of large companies have established a blog

Business blogs begin generating significantly more leads when they have a median of 24 or more articles posted.

Source: How Many Posts Does Your Business Blog Need to Grow Leads?, Hubspot, April 2010

Facebook is a social utility that connects people with those who work, study and live around them

UK Audience: 27,815,540

Sex Distribution %Male 48.1Female 51.9

Age Distribution %<13 1.114-17 11.718-24 26.825-34 26.435-44 1745-54 9.955-64 4.765+ 2.4

Twitter is a micro-blogging service, that allows users to send & receive text based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the users profile page.

UK Audience: 17,645,500

Sex Distribution %Male 40Female 60

Age Distribution %<1314-17 1218-24 625-34 1535-44 2945-54 2355-64 1265+ 2

LinkedIn is a business oriented social networking site, mainly used for professional networking.

Audience: 80,000,000 registered users


Age Distribution %<1314-17 318-24 225-34 1535-44 3045-54 2955-64 1765+ 3

MySpace is a free online community of personal profiles. A MySpace profile usually includes a digital photo & in-depth info about personal interests. Minimum age requirement of 14. Musicians & bands used it to establish a free online presence and communicate with fans.

UK Audience: Generates over 2 million users monthly Sex Distribution %

Male 36Female 64

Age Distribution %<13 Includes up 1714-17 3418-24 825-34 1235-44 1645-54 2155-64 765+ 2

Bebo an acronym for blog early, blog often. Users receive a personal profile page where they can post blogs, photos, music, videos or questionnaires.

UK Audience: Generates over 4 million users monthly


Age Distribution %<13 (included to 17)14-17 4518-24 725-34 935-44 1445-54 1755-64 665+ 2

Delicious is a social bookmarking web service for storing, sharing and discovering web bookmarks. Social bookmarking is a method for web users to organize, store, manage & search for bookmarked resources online – can be used as a scale of popularity.



Age Distribution %<13 -14-17 3.218-24 7.125-34 17.435-44 Combined 31.845-54 Combined 31.855-64 27.165+ 13.3

Digg is a social news site. An online PR site allowing story submissions and a voting system.



Age Distribution %<13 -14-17 1218-24 825-34 1835-44 2745-54 2055-64 1265+ 3

Sumbleupon is a recommendation engine. Allows users to discover & rate pages, photos and videos personalized to their tastes & interests.



Flickr is an image & video hosting website and online community. Widely used by bloggers to host images embedded into blogs & social media.



You Tube is a video sharing website, display a wide variety of user-generated video content.

Generates over 50 million users monthly

Sex Distribution %Male unknownFemale unknown

Age Distribution %<13 unknown14-17 unknown18-24 unknown25-34 unknown35-44 unknown45-54 unknown55-64 unknown65+ unknown

Creating Networks

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a business oriented social networking site. Launched

in May 2003, it is used for professional networking, spanningmore than 200 countries worldwide.

• Connect to colleagues past and present

• Discover inside connections

• Full of industry experts willing to share advice

LinkedIn Profiles LinkedIn Groups

LinkedIn Answers LinkedIn Events

Facebook

Facebook is a social network service and website launched in

February 2004 that is operated and privately owned byFacebook, Inc.

• As of July 2010 Facebook has more than 500 million active users

• Facebook is US 3rd largest company after Google and Amazon, worth $41B

• In March 2010, more people visited Facebook than Google

Facebook

Facebook Pages

• Public profile that enables you to share your business with facebook users

• Creates a presence that looks and feels like user profiles to connect with customers

Facebook

Facebook Groups

• Not as feature rich as facebook pages

• Increasing onus on facebook pages for use by brands

Facebook

Facebook ‘like’

• Allows other websites to embed a facebook ‘like’ button on their pages

• Enables users to share stories and content with their network, wherever they happen to be online

Facebook

Targeted Ads

• Display ads solely on users meeting demographic profile requested

What is Twitter?

Twitter is a free social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read other users’ updates known as tweets.

140-character micro-blog Free service/Tool 20-million users Follow people or groups or businesses

For some it’s about daily life…

• What you had for lunch• How you slept• What’s going on at work• Random musings

For some it’s about following celebrities…

Getting started…

Create an account• www.twitter.com• Full Name• Username (“handle”)• Password• Email• Bio (160 - characters)• Photo

http://www.twitter.com/

Find People to Follow…

Search for people you know• Import an email list• Find people with similar interests• Search.Twitter.com• WeFollow• MrTweet• Twellow• Buzzom• Look to see who others follow

Twitter Mobile Applications…Windows CE Android• ceTwitiPhone• Tweetdeck• TweetDeck• Tweetie 2Blackberry• Uber Twitter• Seemic• The Official Twitter AppAndorid • Seemic• Twidroid• HootSuitePalm Pre • Twee• Tweed• TweetMe

Twitter Etiquette... • Complete your bio and pic• Think twice before tweeting in an altered state• Consider pausing between tweets• Keep small conversations private• Be transparent• Be vague when twittering private social events• Remember everyone can hear you• What’s rude in life is rude in Twitter• Be yourself• Add detail to @replies so people can follow the conversation• Keep within the character limit• Don’t lurk• Leave when you want• Plug moderately• Don’t spam

Social Media Strategy

What is a Social Media Strategy?In order to develop and launch a strategy (ie building you digital community), you must:

Benchmark existing activity

Survey your stakeholders

Create a content strategy

Business objectives – have you a marketing plan

Configure or build the tools and processes

Plan and execute cross channel activities to seed awareness and interest

Setup reporting

Using Social Media to generate enquiries

5 Steps to generate enquiries1. Identify your exact target market Not every social media outlet is necessary, and would probably be a waste of time

2. Join in the conversations If you discover a conversation about your expertise then join in! Doesn’t matter if it is

a negative conversation – as long as you are honest you should be able to get something out of it

3. Give more and Give all The amount of communication is important. The more you blog and post content, the

more you will attract customers. If your website is geared up to convert traffic into leads then social media will increase you sales

4. Learn the tools effectively Understanding each of the tools, their purpose and functionality will assist you greatly.

If you want to grow presence socially then Facebook is the best, if you want to concentrate on business-focussed questions then LinkedIn is the ideal network

5. Measure the Leads Using analytics to monitor potential leads on your website is an essential to

understanding if your campaign is getting an ROI

Monitoring Social Media

The Importance of Monitoring Online Reputation

Most important factorsto the reputation of acompany.

[Source: Edelman, January 2009)

Efficiency Tools…

• Hoot Suite• Tweetdeck• Social Oomph• Ping.fm

Tweetdeck…• Quick views• Auto-shortening• Translate to other language• Multiple accounts and platforms• Twitter• Facebook• LinkedIn

HootSuite…• Schedule tweets• RSS Automation• Multiple adminsistrators• Analytics• Choice of Ow.ly or Ht.ly

URL Shortener• Multiple accounts and

platforms• Twitter• Facebook• LinkedIn

Analytics...• Social media is about

influence• Traditional media is about

velocity• Social media is about

acceleration• Tools• Twitter Grader• Twitter Analyzer• Twinfluence

Monitoring ActivityConsider Software service

• Why are you monitoring• What insights/benefits fo you want to gain• Listen/filter/fine tune – don’t track irrelevant issues• Reporting – frequency/detail/KPIs• Trip wire alerts• Which departments have a stake• Integration with other marketing/PR• External support• Historical data

Social Media for SEO

Social Media for SEO• Search engine optimisation is a combination of on and off page optimisation

• Trust and authority are key attributes for natural search

• A fragmented and aging web means that search engine listings return more than just websites

• Many social media websites are only partially spider-able

• For example a Twitter shortened URL is not conducive to SEO, undermining anchor text benefit

• People like to link to interesting and useful content, how to’s, top 10’s and sites that update frequently

• Social Media activity happens so fast that posts are pushed down & off page in a matter of days, often not getting indexed, giving less value

• Social Media networks are being used as a search engine and therefore part of the strategy per se

• Social media activity is a key component of Best Practice SEO and critical in terms of the overall SEM strategy

Social Media policy

Social Media PolicyPolicy is essential to:• Protect partners (PI)• Protect firm reputation• Crisis Management• Ensure consistency• Protect staff• Policy Tool www.policytool.net

Other considerations:• Giving advice

• IT security • Data leakage• Malware• Identify theft• System hacking

• When Social Media goes wrong

Hints & Tips

PracticeWEB Social Media Workshop

Business

Transcript of PracticeWEB Social Media Workshop