Take Your Business to the Next Level with Social Media

Amanda O’Brien | Hall Internet Marketing

Introduction• Amanda O’Brien, VP of Marketing at Hall Internet Marketing• This presentation will be available online after the conference.

You will receive an email for the Summit session website approximately 1-2 weeks after Summit.

• Follow Sage on Twitter: @Sage_Summit– Use the official Summit hashtag: #SageSummit

• Follow me on Twitter: @hall_web and @amanda_pants

HI!

How popular is social media?• 3.5 billion pieces of content

shared on Facebook each week

• 96% of 18-35 year olds are on a social network

• 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations

• 30 million tweets per day• If Facebook was a country, it

would be the third largest country in the world

http://engaugemedia.com/the-numbers-dont-lie/

Businesses are using social media to connect with people…

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thisparticulargreg/362937046/

But is it moving their bottom line?

or

Social Media is more about building relationships

Not an advertising platform

Social Media is about building relationshipsPhoto credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/colleen-lane/4989879947/

Crafted

One way

Set it and forget it

Each person is personalizing their internet experience

Social Media is about building relationshipsPhoto credit: http://blog.franciscocosta.com/2010-with-a-tin-foil-hat.html/

Start with a plan

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jakeandlindsay/5524669257/

Social Media Goals• Decide what success is

– More inbound traffic– Website conversions– More mentions– Better search rankings– Establish yourself as an expert

“You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going, because you may never get there.”

Social Media Plan• Create measurable goals and a plan to get there

Social Media Strategy• How are you going to get from where you are to your goals

– What will you measure along the way?– How much time are you going to set aside?– What tools are you going to use?

Rank higher for a search term

Where are you now for that term?

Site optimized for that term? Need inbound traffic

LinkedIn Answers, search twitter, answer and refer

Blog posts on topicMentions, RTs, Inbound trafficWhere am I now?

Stand out from the crowd

Vanilla doesn’t move the ticker

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinksherbet/3398923323/

Stand out from the crowd

What makes you different from your competition?

• How can you use that to your advantage– Location– Methodologies– Customer Service– Products– Speed– Your network– Cost– Experience

What do your most loyal customers say?Photo credit: http://cheezburger.com/View/3495816192/

Stand out from the crowd

Start with one thing (or two) and do it well– When you are ready, move on to the next– The most important platform is the ones your customers are on

Optimize social media efforts – smarter and more efficiently

Stand out from the crowdPhoto credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/skinnyde/12980283/

Determine what is working• What is bringing traffic to your site?• What times of day are working?• What can you automate?

Stand out from the crowd

Mix up your content• Space your posts out over time• Mix up the types of content• Ask questions, request feedback

Stand out from the crowd

Think before you post• Know your keywords• Think about the newsfeed, not your wall or page

Stand out from the crowd

Target the right people• Build on current relationships• Identify pain points of your customers• Update geographically

Stand out from the crowd

I want to go viral!

Create content for your website• More of what is ‘working’ less of what isn’t• Say the same thing but differently• Reuse content you already have• Analytics

– Referring traffic– Content views

Drive traffic to your website

Social Media keeps changing• Terms and conditions• What is hot

Drive traffic to your website

Regularly post content on your site, use social media to get them there

Drive traffic to your website

• Blog posts• eBooks• Webinars• PDFs

Create landing pages and goals for them• Pages that encourage a conversion

Drive traffic to your website

Get people on your property– Get them to convert on your website– See their activity

Drive traffic to your website

Strengthen Relationships with customers & potential buyers• Interact and share content from other people• Tailor your message to specific target markets• Test Facebook advertising to see how many of the people you

are trying to reach are on Facebook

Website visitors into customers• Website conversion• How to Best Manage and Grow Your Website for Lead

Generation with Jenika July 12 at 10:00am.• Give them an action to take• Content for different users

– Researchers– Current customers– Purchasers

To do now: Reorganize your social media efforts• Build out your business Facebook page, like other pages, use

as a news aggregator and participate as your company– Using a personal page? Create lists

• Clean up your Twitter account with a service like manageflitter – less about numbers and more about who

• Lay out the welcome mat on your website and set up goal conversions in analytics

• Figure out where you want to be and set expectations!

What is next?• Mobile• Personalized internet experiences• Social Media backlash?• Google+

Summary• You need to have a plan in place to reach your goals• Work social media into your companies culture• Word of mouth marketing with new tools• Measure your results as you go• Stick with what works• Find a social media travel agent

Your Feedback is Important to Us!• Please visit a Sage SummitSurvey kiosks to complete the

evaluation form for this session. • Remember each completed survey form is another entry

for one of three iPad drawings.• Your feedback helps us improve future sessions and presentation

techniques. • Please include your session code on the evaluation form: 8612

Contact Information• Presenter Contact Information:

– Amanda O’Brien– Hall Internet Marketing– amanda@hallme.com– @amanda_pants

• Follow Sage on Twitter: @Sage_Summit– Use the official Summit hashtag: #SageSummit

• Thank you for your participation.