1. Selling Social Media toYour Boss: A Seven-Step Plan Cynthia Closkey Big Big Design IABC/Pittsburgh, 21 Jan 2010

2. 3. 4. 1. Start Listening

Monitor what is being said online

• About your company

• About your competitors

• About your market

Dont react yet; gather information

• Look for trends

• See who is participating

• Get a feel for whats happening

5. How to Listen & Measure

Your primary tool: dashboard ofRSS feeds

• Google & Google Blogsearch Alerts

• Twitter Search

• Technorati

• YouTube

Bookmark key articles & data points

Choose a few credible number sources

• Alexa

• Quantcast

6. 2. Align with Your Organizations Goals

Choose one of your organization's major objectives to address

• No formal objectives? Articulate some: Increase sales, Increase market share, Reduce costs

Determine how social media could help fulfill the objective

• Online-only discounts -> Increased sales

• Passionate customers -> Increased market share

• Online discussion -> Lower support costs

7. 3. Match Your Idea with Data

Choose data & examples(from step 1) that apply to organizational objective(from step 2)

Assess which social network will have the most value & impact in reaching the objective

• Use Quantcast

8. 4. Follow a Model

Choose an example of someone else doing something similar: case study

Map to your organization

• Situation

• Objectives

• Actions

• Results

9. 5. Create a Proposal

Develop a plan for a pilot project

• Simple, low-cost, focused

• Finite duration

• Measurable results

Create a one-page proposal

• Goals

• Costs and resources (including time)

• Schedule

• How youll measure results

10. Ideas for Pilot Projects

Facebook fan page

Twitter account to respond to comments/criticisms

Internal-only twitter or collaboration

• Yammer & Teambox

Blog -- especially special-purpose or short-term blog

Twitter contest (need really good prize plus follow-through plan)

Internal-use wiki

11. Setting Expectations & Building Momentum

Facebook & forums

• If membersdontknow each other, need 400 members + real interaction from humans in your organization for active conversation

• If membersdoknow each other, smaller group can have discussion, but anticipate that many people will only read/not comment (lurkers)

12. Setting Expectations & Building Momentum

Twitter

• Need to respond same day or next day & sound like a human

• • Offer offline ways to connect(phone, direct email)

• No more than 50% links and automated tweets

• Must have a follow-up plan for continuing relationships after any giveaway/contest

13. Setting Expectations & Building Momentum

Blogs

• Developing a voice takes at least100 posts

• • May start to get the hang of it in1 month / 30 posts

• Must participate/comment on others sites to become part of the community(and generate interest in your own site)

14. 6. Anticipate Objections

Prepare to answer questions& address concerns

• Risks to the organization

• Past experiences and how this differs

• Organizational culture

Dont include them in the proposal!

• Put on a separate page for your reference

15. Common Objections/Questions

Its all people saying what they had for lunch.

Our customers arent online.

What if someone writes something bad?

Who has time for this stuff?

What if it doesnt work?

This needs to go throughMarketing/Customer Support/Legal/etc.

16. 7. Make Your Case

Present in a short, face-to-face meeting

Let her/him ask questions

Be ready with answers

Admit what you don't know

Uncover the hurdles

• If I can address that concern,would you say yes?

17. 18. More Resources

How to sell social media to cynics, skeptics, & Luddites, Robin Broitman http://www.interactiveinsightsgroup.com/blog1/how-to-sell-social-media-to-cynics-skeptics-luddites-tips-resources-advice/

Social Media Case Studies Superlist, Robin Broitmanhttp://www.interactiveinsightsgroup.com/blog1/social-media-examples-superlist-17-lists-and-tons-of-examples/

19. Fallback Plan

Send boss to our workshop:Social Media:What Every Executive Needs to Know(& your employees already know!)

http://socialmediaexec101.eventbrite.com

20. Contact me

Cynthia Closkey

• Big Big Design ( www.bigbigdesign.com )

• [email_address]

• @cynthiacloskey on Twitter