Social Media tips

1 What is Social Media?

2 Why should I listen and participate in Social Media?
3 How can Social Media benefit my business?
4 Best practices: 5 step process to generate increased ROI?
5 Increase exposure / expand reach
6 What are the top 3 Social Media sites?
7 What other Social Media could advantage your business?

8 What is a Microblog, how is it being used for Business?

9 What can you do with Twitter? Twitter Do’s Twitter Dont’s
10 What are Social Networking sites and how are they being used for business?
11 What can you do with Social Media? Do’s Social Media Dont’s Social Media

12 What are the investments in time and effort?
13 What are the benefits of outsourcing?
14 What are serious outsourcing partners to consider?

15 Best practices in Social Media Marketing

1 What is Social Media?

   Social Media, is a complex, organic online conversation.

2 Why should I listen and participate in Social Media?

·       91% online users say consumer reviews are the number 1 aid to buying decisions

·       87% trust a friend’s recommendation over critic’s review

·       It is 3 times more likely to trust peer opinions over advertising for buying decisions

·       1 word of mouth conversation has impact of 200 TV ads.

* According to Buzzer Amsterdam, 80% of your exposure is due to word of mouth.    http://www.buzzer.nl/

3 How can Social Media benefit my business?

·       generate exposure for your business – 81%

·       Increases subscribers/traffic/opt-in list – 61%

·       results in new business partnerships – 56%

·       Helps increase search engine rankings – 52%

·       Generates qualified leads – 48%

·       Reduces overall marketing expenses – 45%

·       Close actual – 35%

4 Best practices: 5 step process to generate increased ROI?

1. Formulate a clear strategy

2. Establish a Web Presence

3. Expand online reach

4. Nurture & build relationships; interact with target audience

5. Properly Maintain Web Presence

* Main goal users Social Media: build relationships online by connecting, making friends, interact, provide, contribute.

* Musts:  At least once a day you need to be in your profiles; and make sure your profiles are consistent.

5 Increase exposure / expand reach

Increase exposure in order to:

·       Support your products and services

·       Create new business by converting ‘watchers’ to prospects

·       Reinforce credibility and retain clients

·       Create buzz for events and campaigns

·       Improve search engine visibility

Expand reach out to:

·       Create strategic partnerships

·       Identify and recruit influencers to spread your message

·       Gain competitive information across diverse audiences (external analyses)

·       Be an industry-leader, not a follower; contribute by being a trend setter in your field

·       Get your message out to many FAST (NOT your sales ad or pitch….)

* Main reason for users to be in Social Media= TO BE WITH FRIENDS
If you want to do business with those users, you’d better become friends with them. Trying to push your products and service obviously won’t work. The time of selling and telling is over; it’s all about listening, interacting, contributing…..about building relationships

6 What are the top 3 Social Media sites?

·       Twitter         86%

·       LinkedIn      78%

·       FaceBook     77%

7 What are other Social Media could advantage your business?

·       biznik.com/                 for b2b. B2c for partnerships

·       plaxo.com/                  for business community of 50 mln

·       merchantcircle.com     for (local) business profiles (google high rank assured)

·       qalias.com/                  for creating search engine friendly business utilities

8 What is a Microblog, how is it being used for Business?
Twitter is a Mircoblog with up to 2 sentences ( 140 characters)
People use microblogging to follow their friends; companies use it to market their products or services by giving them an identity/voice

9 What can you do with Twitter?

·       Promote contest

·       Share timely information

·       Spread useful links

·       Personify your Brand

·       Build credibility and influence

·       Follow competitors

·       Connect with people or businesses with a common interest

Twitter Do’s:

·       Sound like someone who just happens to work at your company

·       Make your product look friendly

·       Answer and post questions

·       Build buzz for big releases or events

·       Announce deals, news and updates

·       Write from a receiving perspective

* Give potential followers some information so they can decide if whether they want to follow you based on content: f.i. If you’re interested in Online MarCom, follow me.

Twitter Dont’s

·       Sound like a press release

·       Spam with links about your company websites, whether in tweets or in private messages

·       “visit my website”

·       Don’t self promote

*Power of Twitter is that it’s  a search platform, design to be indexed. Tweets are included in Google finds.

10 What are Social Networking sites and how are they being used for business? What are the dos and don’ts?

·       People and organisations connect with friends, colleguas, and fans

·       Facebook and LinkedIn provide a microsite for your business within the social framework

11 What can you do with Social Media?

·       Create online profiles

·       Share photos, videos, audio, links

·       Sent private and instant messages

·       Learn about people and organisations

Do’s Social Media

·       Create a Social Media presence to promote your brand

·       Point your fans to your company blog or contest

·       Encourage a discussion and participate frequently

·       Explore targeted advertising opportunity

Dont’s Social Media

·       Create a page and neglect it

·       Try a hard sell approach (it will work against you!)

·       Spam your friends with constant messages. You’ll drive them away

·       Post false information

12 What are the investments in time and effort?
How many hours per week on average do entrepreneurs and executives spend on successful Social Media Marketing campaigns in order to properly maintain them?

32 hrs per month, per profile X 6 prominent sites (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Plaxo, Qalias, Biznik) = 192 hrs per month

13 What are the benefits of outsourcing my Social Media Marketing?
Why does in not make sense for busy entrepreneurs and executives to manage their Social Media Marketing?

Safe on invested Time and Effort. Social Media only works if you are consistant. If you don’t have the time, outsource it! 


* Musts in Social Media:
   use productivity tools such as http://www.hootsuite.com, http://www.tweetdeck.com
   develop a Social Media strategy beforehand

14) What are serious outsourcing partners to consider?

·     authoritydomains.com: offers a kick-off promotion plan and training how to use Social Media for marketing
Cost: 200$/hr off-site consulting fee, 500$/hr on-site consulting fee

·      learn2linkonline.com: offers a three hour consulting strategy session & additional hourly training sessions.
Cost: 3000¢ consulting strategy (1000/hr), 200$/hr training sessions on how to use Social Media yourself.

·     collaborativecopywriter.com: offers profile and text invitations for LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.
Cost:
1500$ LinkedIn profile setup
1000$ Facebook profile setup
Facebook mail campaign: 5200$ weekly emails,  2600$ semi-weekly emails, 1200$ monthly emails
300$/Twitter post

15. What are examples of best practices in Social Media Marketing:

Bridge2Growth used Social Media to market their message and develop long term relationships with other businesses. This networking, in addition to traditional marketing, resulted in one of their best attended events ever, at half the cost.

Tim Jackson, brand manager for Masi Bicycles USA, has used Social Media, particularly blogging to strengthen their brand image, and help double company sales, within his first two years at the company.

Carolines comedy club doubled her ticket sales and are retaining website visitors longer than before thanks to a revamped site that includes blogging and a video archive of past performances.

The Coffee Groundz in Houston Texas has taken Twitter in a whole new direction. And have nearly double their clientele in the process. By sending a direct message to @coffeegroundz customers can place an order to be picked up through drive through or delivered to their table in the cafe. This alone had built them a community of over 9000 Twitter followers.

Libby Barney of B&D Consulting used her hobby to create new friends on Facebook, an then used status updates to showcase her work as a life sciences attorney. These updates have created professional conversations, and have provided her with more business.

MyWorkButterfly built their network before their business. Their survey on Facebook provided them with the first members of their site and a loyal communikty who knows they’re being listened to.

source: Webinar hand-out by Socialmediamagic.com