The Digital Handshake: Proven Strategies to Grow Your Business Using Social Media

THE DIGITALHANDSHAKEProven strategies to grow your business using social mediaPresented by Paul ChaneyInternet Marketing Director, Bizzuka

Agenda• Adopting a social media

mindset

• Using the social media toolset

• Creating a social media engagement plan

Five consumer trends turning the world upside down

1. Consumer skepticism andresistance to advertising


Influence of word of mouth (mouse)

1977

Editorial 47%

Advertising 53%

Word of Mouth 67%

The website 8%

Advertisement 15%

Newspaper/Magazine recommended it 22%

A friend recommended it 76%

Which factors make you most comfortable purchasing a product? Mediaedge

Best source for adviceon a new product:Yankelovich

Television 21%

Newspaper/Magazine 26%

Info services (e.g. Consumer eports) 35%

Another consumer 67%

Among best sources for new ideas about products:NOP

2005

Editorial 40%

Advertising 50%

Word of Mouth 92%

The Insurgent Consumer

• By a 3 to 1 margin, people are far more likely to trust “average people like me”

• 67 percent of consumer goods sales are based on WOM (Word of Mouth)

• Consumers trust WOM recommendations far more than they trust traditional marketing and advertising

• People would rather hear about real experiences and perspectives than “marketing-speak”

Source: Edleman

From BOND…

…to BOURNE

1. Consumer skepticism and resistance to advertising

2. Media fragmentation is out of control


274

3000Daily advertising messages…

1960s… fewer ads… REACHED MORE PEOPLE… with undivided attention

2009… more ads… REACH FEWER PEOPLE… paying less attention

13, 500 radio stations… 4400 in 1960

17, 300 magazine titles… 8400 in 1960

82.4 TV channels per home… 5.7 in 1960

And the web… millions of sites, billions of pages

Percent of viewers who could name a brand advertised on TV program just watched:

1965= 35% 2000 =

<10%

ATTENTION ECONOMY

Information Overload



3. Increasingly the consumer is in control


Hey, did youhear about thatnew restaurant?

I heard theseafood wasgreat!

When can we go?!!

Twitter

SMS

Blogs

Tell meabout it.

SocialNetworks

Forums

Wikis

Podcasts

Video





4. The pressure is on to improve targeting – to achieve relevance and minimize waste

MarketableNiche

MarketableNiche

MarketableNiche





5. Companies held to new levels of accountability


Seen 5 million times in 1 month





5. Companies held to new levels of accountability


What’s a marketerto do?

Start aCONVERSATION

Social Media: Mindset & Toolset

Authenticity

TransparencyOpenness

Spread

It’s not so much about TECHNOLOGY

Social media is about PEOPLE

“First it’s an understanding that social media is about sociology and less about technology. It’s a mashup of new and traditional media that spans across advertising, PR, customer service, marcom, sales, and community relations.”

Brian Solis – PR 2.0

Social media is the democratization of information, transforming people from content readers into content publishers.

It is the shift from aone-way broadcast mechanismto a many-to-many model, rooted in conversations betweenauthors, people, and peers. (Wikipedia)

“MARKETS are CONVERSATIONS”

“PARTICIPATION is MARKETING”

We no longer simply TARGET AUDIENCES, we PARTICIPATE in COMMUNITIES.

Information has to be “Findable” and “Shareable”

Search Social

Every Voice Matters

Some Voices Matter More Than Others

WOM is More Important Now Than Ever

7/29/09 Listening is the New Marketing

Lose Control of Your Content

“For your ideas to spread and rise to the status of a World Wide Rave, you’ve got to give up control. Make your Web content totally free for people to access, with absolutely no virtual strings attached.”

- David Meerman Scott, author, World Wide Rave

More “Shared Connections,” Less “Destination Silos”

Skittles.com Bold Experiment

Website

Operating System of the Social Web

http://sn.im/twitterebook

Twitter is the New Email

It Doesn’t Have to be Expensive

The Way the Web Works…Today

Social Media Headquarters

Search engine marketingDirect communicationsRelationship marketing

Brand buildingCompetitive differentiation

Positioning as expertMedia and public relations

Exploiting marketable nichesLead generation

Internal communications

Better

Listings

On

Google

PRINCIPLE:Frequently-updated,Keyword-optimized,

Thematically-relevant posts= Better Returns on Google

Blogs allow organizations to…• Reach new audiences and build a loyal web following • Give your company its own unique voice on the web• Provide a place to collect and share ideas• Engage your customer in conversation• Get customer feedback• Enable a dialog between you and your customer

“It’s become an expectation that if you have a business, you havea blog. Consumers are looking to find a community around your service. They’re looking to have conversations with you about the products they’re using.” – John Jantsch, Duct Tape Marketing

"Anything which can get the right info to the right people at the right time, empower your company to become a thought leader, and let you know what your customers and the industry are thinking about you in real time is something that has massive value.“

– Jeremy Wright, CEO, b5media

Three Types of Blogs• Personality (CEO, C-level execs)• Company (News and Events)• Topically-focused (SEO)

After much personal research and experience, I've found that a genuine, helpful, humanized blog, combined with the art of cultivating and building relationships, can forge real connections, shape perception, improve customer service, and also enhance brand loyalty, reach, and resonance.

The truth is that a thoughtful and well-cultivated corporate blog can yield many benefits that not only help PR, but also enhance every facet of corporate communications along with improving sales cycles, customer service and ultimately loyalty.

Blogging is about extending a voice, connecting people, and nurturing relationships. This is the only foundation for which any blog strategy should be built.

Brian Solis

www.briansolis.com

A cord of three strands…

…is not easily broken

Charles Lauller’s LinkedIn Strategy

• Drop all of the bogus I'm pimping me and my company bologna.

• Be yourself. Honest, sincere, authentic (assuming that's you)

• It's cliche, but “seek first to understand, then be understood.”

Ways to Use Facebook

• Personal Profile• Public Profile• Events• Groups• Ads• Apps• Lexicon• Insights• Search• Share• Connect

• Twitter growth since June 2008 = 1,500%

• Over 22 million visitors in May 2009

• Over 44.5 million visitors in June 2009

• Site attracts more people than Ticketmaster, Wall Street Journal and LinkedIn

• Latest craze? Cultural Phenomenon? Tool for Business?

Twitter’s Explosive Growth

Yes!

Twitter’s Explosive Growth

Celebrity Adoption Fuels Growth

How Business is Using Twitter

• A recent survey said that most users (89%) of Twitter agree that companies should engage their customers there.

• Over 80 percent indicated they also have a better impression of companies that use Twitter for customer service (81%). http://tinyurl.com/twitterusersurvey

• Survey of 700 Twitter users, 56 % use Twitter for business purposes. http://bit.ly/JqChq

How Business is Using Twitter

How Business is Using TwitterNetwork with others in their industry or community

Stay connected to customers and prospects

Monitor what is being said about their company, products, services, industry &

Gather valuable feedback about products or services

Raise awareness about the company, product or service

Find answers and get advice

Offer proactive customer service

Promote events, products and services

Drive traffic to the company website or blog

Incite word of mouth among customers and others

Share helpful content such as articles or blog posts

Generate leads

Major Companies Using Twitter

• Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users' updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter

• High latency instant messenger

• Presence application

• Social instant messaging application

• Search engine

• Whatever you need it to be!

What is Twitter?

What is Twitter?

The Infamous Question

What does the community care about?

What resources would they find valuable?

Five Things to Consider

• Username

• Avatar

• Bio

• Link

• Custom Background

Customizing Twitter Backgrounds

• Photoshop (or other image editor)

• Powerpoint (save as jpeg)

• Online Tools• TwitterImage.com

• TwitterPatterns.com

• Twitbacks.com

• iStockPhoto.com

Common Twitter Shortcuts

• @username – Sends reply to individual, but in public timeline

• d username – Sends private, direct message to individual

• RT = Retweet – Forwarding someone else’s tweet

• # = hashtag – Used with Twitter search for keyword/topic

• Other shortcuts – Refer to Twitter help

Twitter Rules of the Road

• You must win the right to be heard

• Don’t follow, if only to pitch

• Provide value to the community

• It’s okay to mix business with pleasure

Twitter eBook

• Complete Guide to UsingTwitter for Business

• http://sn.im/twitterebook

• @pchaney

Social Networking Best Practices• Online social networking just like other forms; similar rules apply

• Come dressed for the occasion• T-shirt/shorts; business suit; business casual

• Same true online social networks

• Profile and avatar (photo) serves that purpose

• Work the room• Face-to-face networking “work the room”; shaking hands, introducing yourself

• Online, participation is your price of entry

• Leave comments on blog posts; join a Twitter chat; friend others on Facebook

• Ask for a business card• Common practice to share business cards

• Friending someone is online equivalent

Web Site Strategy

Online Marketing Strategy

Social MediaMarketing Strategy

Listen Engage Measure• Share of voice

• Tone of voice

• Trends over time

• Who’s talking

• Where talking

• What saying

Social Media Marketing

STRATEGY


• Tone of voice


• Who’s talking

• Where talking

• What saying

• Respond to comments on blogs

• Participate in forums, discussion groups

• Join social networks

• Start a blog

• Create a podcast

• Start an online group or community

• Optimize your website for search engines

• Start an email newsletter


STRATEGY


• Tone of voice


• Who’s talking

• Where talking

• What saying

• Respond to comments on blogs

• Participate in forums, discussion groups

• Join social networks

• Start a blog

• Create a podcast

• Start an online group or community

• Optimize your website for search engines

• Start an email newsletter

• Listen again

• Understand what you want to accomplish

• Qualitative vs. Quantitative

• Standard metrics

• Social media specific

• The three “outs”

• Measurement tools


STRATEGY

Standard SM Specific Three Outs• Unique visits• Total visits • Time spent on site• Page views • Bounce rate• Referrers• Click-thrus and other conversion metrics• Keywords• Search engine entry• Organic search ranking

• Blog post to comment ratio

• Number of RSS feed subscribers

• Twitter retweets

• Number of videos shared

• Customer sentiment gauged via ratings-reviews

• Number of times blog post was bookmarked using Digg or Delicious

• Outputs – who’s talking

• Outtakes – what they are saying

• Outcomes – effect having

• Awareness

• Engagement

• Velocity


STRATEGY

Paul ChaneyInternet Marketing DirectorBizzuka, Inc. (www.bizzuka.com)

www.thesocialmediahandyman.comwww.thedigitalhandshake.comwww.facebook.com/thedigitalhandshakewww.twitter.com/[email protected]

The Digital Handshake: Proven Strategies to Grow Your Business Using Social Media

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