Social'Media'in'Perspec0ve'An#overview#for#small#businesses

Marsha'Sanders'May'22,'2013'

SOCIAL'MEDIA'OVERVIEW'Source:'Three'ships'media'

Social'media'conclusions'  Just one part of an effective marketing strategy   Content is king

 Develop content of value to your clients   Establish yourself as the ‘go to’ expert in your area

  Research, research, research  Ask your customers where they are on social media, and

what are they looking for  Get market research on demographics and social media

  Set priorities for your time   Focus first on your website, then your blog, then a

company Facebook page  Your website is the only place on the web where you can

control your messaging and content

Different'types'of'social'media'sites'

'Social#media#is#any#website#or#mobile#func6on#that#enables#the#

sharing#of#content#with#other#people'

'Benefits'of'social'media'•  Build'your'brand;'generate'

awareness'•  Generate'qualified'leads'

•  Establish'expert'status'•  Provide'quality'customer'

service'

•  Generate'input'for'product'or'service'enhancements'

The'changing'world'of'social'media'

Put'social'media'in'marke0ng'perspec0ve'

CONTENT'IS'KING'

Content'–'Conversa0on'–'Community''

•  Content'is'king'•  Create'valuable'content'and'share'it'

•  Create'a'conversa0on'and'interact'with'your'clients'•  Clients'can'then'interact'with'each'other'to'create'an'engaging'community,'

at'this'stage'your'clients'can'actually'market'for'you'by'“liking”'and'“sharing”'

'

How'much'control'do'you'have?'

There'are'some'risks'to'your'business'when'you'don’t'control'the'content'

Source:'Richard'Stacy,'Social'Media'Architect'

WHAT’S'BEST'FOR'YOUR'BUSINESS?'

Source:'Jasmine'Sandler,'Search'

Engine'Watch,'May'9,'2013'

'

''

Facebook'(800M'users)'

  Facebook is a trusted, familiar platform – extend to your business

  Clients like to see the “real you, the real company” through interactions, photos, insider stuff

  Content needs to be relevant, add value, and some percentage should be light and entertaining

  Content “makes or breaks” engagement with your site   Accelerate ROI by showing up in as many users’ top

newsfeeds as possible   This becomes a cycle – post content that generates “likes”

and comments; future content then appears in newsfeeds of those that “liked” and commented

An'example'of'fun'content,'“can'you'relate?”'

Source:'ASPCA'

Facebook:'Ge\ng'started'

  Check out competitor’s Facebook pages to get ideas

  Easy to set up and run, and good to practice on before branching out on other social media sites

  Add very detailed information, including some marketing messages

  Start interacting: share photos, ideas, tips – anything that is an extension of your brand and offerings

Best'prac0ces'for'small'business''Smart'Passive'Income'

LinkedIn'(225M)'

  LinkedIn was developed to create and foster business relationships and networking; can create separate business pages

  Companies build profiles to   Showcase products and employee networks   Promote upcoming events

  Includes targeted advertising, and the ability to email all your connections

  LinkedIn Groups are effective and promote valuable networking with comments and status updates

  From B2B sales perspective, you can learn everything about prospects from their individual pages

Twi`er'(+200M'users)'

  This is where news breaks – real time conversations happen; the best social media vehicle for covering events

  According to Marketo, Twitter is the “water cooler for B2B marketers”

  Ability to linkback to your website and blog   Businesses can prospect leads and follow thought leaders on

topics of interest   Use the 4-1-1 rule (TippingPoints Labs and Joe Pulizzi)

  For every 1 self-promotional tweet, retweet 1 tweet, and share 4 tweets of relevant content created by others

  Follow experts in your field – study their use of Twitter   Follow back people who are following you   Search for tweets relevant to your products and services by searching

on your keywords

Twi`er'

Remember'that'with'followers'–'and'

tweets'–quality'trumps'quan0ty'

Luminaries'like'Seth'Godin'tweet'a'lot'

Example'of'an'effec0ve'tweet'from'Philips'Healthcare'

“One#week#le=!#Register#for#Clinical#Informa6cs#

User#Conf#Oct#19E21#Sign#up#nowEbe#part#of#the#

ac6on!#HeHp://bit.ly/pd5Qcl#cardiology”#

YouTube'(8'million'videos)'

  Videos that are on brand, on message, and deliver valuable content can drive qualified leads

  Videos can also be embedded on websites to add valuable content to the site

  Creating a YouTube channel builds client loyalty   Videos measurably boost SEO ratings on search

engines (53% higher chance to appear on Google search first page)

Pinterest'(49M)'and'Instagram'(27M)'

  Prospects and clients love visual client  Visual content has an emotional appeal   Show rather than tell to engage clients   Pinterest (49M) is an electronic image scrapbook (pinboard)

where users can share and organize visual imagery   Pinterest pages can be used as a landing page for email

campaigns or events with focused content   The boards are a unique way of organizing visual content   Instagram is where creative users post great visuals, but don’t

post a photo on Instagram unless it is visually engaging

Google+'(90M)'

  The next big social network after Facebook; includes business pages with About profiles

  Primarily a platform for content delivery rather than business networking (unlike LinkedIn)

  Content can rank higher in search engines because it is fed into personal search results for your G+ circles, including rich content – from YouTube or Pinterest

  G+ circles help marketers segment their lists   Negative

  Google is mandating G+ accounts for Gmail users   Business pages are still lacking in terms of B2B adoption

Blogging'

  Blogs can educate prospects for lead generation and facilitate interaction with clients   Blogs are powerful marketing assets as long as they are on topic

for prospects and customers; avoid selling   Research topics of interest to your clients and write about them

  How to blog   Use your keywords in your blog   Link to you blog from pages on your website   Include Calls to Action at the end of each blog

  What to blog about?   Post blog content to other outlets with Hootsuite

How'much'0me'does'it'take?'

  Twitter – 2x/day to 2x/week to keep content fresh   Facebook – 2x/week; 70% of all interaction occurs

within one hour of posting   Blogging – must be fresh; several blogs with

substantial content per month   Respond to comments within 24 hours

B2C'company'use'of'social'media'

WHERE'ARE'YOUR'CUSTOMERS?'

Source:'Pew'Research'and'Mashable'

Where'are'adults'on'social'media?'

GETTING'STARTED'

First'steps'

 Website is most important  Can control messaging  Not dependent on decisions made by social media

companies (MySpace, Plaxo, virtually gone)  Keep it up to date, add blog posts regularly

  Create a Social Media profile  Modify for different outlets  Read profiles of experts in your field and modify yours

after that

  Start with Facebook, then branch out to others

Takeeaways'  Go where your customers are

  Research. Ask your customers where they are on social media, what are they looking for?

  Read market research   Content is king

  Develop content that your customers are looking for   Establish yourself as an expert   Move from developing content, to joining the conversation, and

engaging the community   Where to begin?

  B2B and B2C customers behave differently   Begin by creating a Facebook page, add blogs to your website   Your website is your highest priority because you can control

you messages and content there. Social media and blogging are next

RESOURCES'

Some'useful'resources'

  Data: Pew Research – www.pewresearch.org  Demographics of social media users, 2/14/13   Social networking, 2012

  Developing content – www.copyblogger.com  How to develop content when you don’t have a clue

  How to blog – www.blogtyrant.com/how-to-blog   A guide to quickly start blogging

 Marketing – www.marketingprofs.com  Web marketing – www.marketo.com

Contact'

  Marsha Sanders marsha@koimarketingsolutions.com 617-KOI-0305