Social Media 101How to Use Social Media Effectively

Agenda• What is SM?• Who uses the Internet and SM?• Our environment• LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter • Focus on Twitter• Success stories• Retweeting• Top 5 Rules• What we can do

What is Social Media?

• Web 2.0

• Fastest growing part of the Internet

• Networking

• Sharing

• Building communities

• Karma/Brand exposed

• WOM

Case in Point

• Shift Communications– Random selection: BMW– Google search #8: Blog “Posts from the BMW

Category at AutoBlog”– 285,000 links to blog– #56 out of 50,000,000 blogs– Active community: Comments and posts– No one from BMW participated– Imagine the impact of contact between BMW and

enthusiasts: loyalty, content to share, demo of care

Who Uses the Internet?• 73% Canadians use Internet daily• NS & NB are 4th and 5th highest users• Urban: high speed• 67% of Cdns access the Internet while watching TV• 49% have wireless• 30% have more than 2 computers• More than 80% of Atlantic Cdns have mobile phones• Use of smart phones on the rise

What About SM?

• As high speed is available, SM use increases• SM use grew by 48%• 61% of online consumers research with SM• 63% use SM for news & info• 40% use SM to communicate with orgs.• 50% of Cdns have an SM profile• 93% of these are on Facebook• 26% of Cdns are aware of Twitter; 6% use it

SM in Atlantic Canada

• 60% of Atlantic Cdns use SM– Up 14% in one year

• 600,000 are daily/weekly users

• 3,000 citizen blogs in NS; slightly less in NB

• 52% of users in NS are 35 and older

Age and SM

• Facebook: 42

• MySpace: 18

• Blogging: 36

• Twitter: 34

• Under 30: video

• Over 30: photos

• Under 40: less email

Top SM Activities

• All SM use is increasing in Atlantic Canada

• Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter lead

• Twitter grew the most in last year

• Flickr is the most popular photo sharing site

Our Environment

• Increased competition– Volunteers, donors, time, other events

• Limited resources– Financial, human, technical, material

Marketing

• 7 to 30 touches before people buy

• People become active when the time is right for them

• Build recognition & reputation

• Set achievable goals

• Know your supporters/customers/audiences

FB, Twitter, LinkedIn• Three favourite sites in Atlantic Canada

• LinkedIn is an exclusive club

• FB is like a networking event

• Twitter is a tailgate party– Fastest growing site in Atlantic Canada– Unknown

LinkedIn

• Don’t talk to strangers• Connections• Power of personal connections & shared contacts• Upload your resume• Invite those you know• Ask for referrals• Join groups• Link Twitter, blog, events

Facebook

• 80 million users• Friends• Informal but there are rules of engagement• Friend requests: those you know• Join groups to make new friends• Create pages• Create events• Exponential WOM

Twitter

• Microblogging: Communication in 140 characters • Followers• Casual• Tweets• Invite your friends to Twitter• Follow people & hope they follow you• Engage through sharing useful info + commenting• Lean but powerful

Anatomy of a Twitter Page

• Home

• Profile

• Find people

• Settings

Navigating Twitter

• @username

• DM

• Hashtag: #

• RT

• URL shortners (bit.ly)

What to Tweet?

• What do they want?

• What do they need?

• How can you address that?

The Science of ReTweets

• http://danzarrella.com/science-of-retweets.pdf

Epic Change

• Epic Change– Twitter: raised $11,000 in 48 hrs

• Clear, audacious goal• Urgency• Easy• Fun & positive• Leveraged existing networks• Recognized top donors

Dollars for Darfur

• Facebook Group:– 5,000 student members– $150,000 in 2007

• Harnessed energy

• Networks

• Easy

• Incentives

Discussion/Flipchart

• How could we use Twitter?

• For what purpose?

• What could we tweet?

• How could we manage a twitter account?– Multiple tweeters?– Responsibility of one?

Tweeting• Tips

• Urgent action

• Special events (leading up to)

• Reports

• Other followers or community events

• Invitations to real or viral events

• News

• Ask questions

• Live microblogging

• Changes to events

• Tweets from the road

• Use hashtags for easy following

• RT

Top 5 Rules

1. Listen

2. Get involved

3. Give up control

4. Be honest

5. Think long term

What Can We Do?

• Ideas?

Ideas• Limited resources?

– Create SM Team

• Post photos• Create and share video

– YouTube capability

• Communicate• Engage• Begin thinking about mobile messaging capability

Resources

• Thanks to:– Media Badger

– 30 Days to Social Media Success, Gail Martin

– Ryan McNutt, Dalhousie University

– Stats Canada

– PrimalMedia

– The Science of ReTweets, Dan Zarella

– Brink: A Social Media Guide from the Edge, Shift Communications

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