SOCIAL MEDIA

For Small Business

@rjdavila LinkedIn.com/in/ralphdavila

WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA?

How would you define social media in your own words?

According to Brian Solis, Social Media is:

“The DEMOCRATIZATION OF INFORMATION, transforming people from content readers into PUBLISHERS. It is the shift from a broadcast mechanism, one-to-many, to a many-to-many model, rooted in CONVERSATIONS between authors, people, and peers"

In the past, you pushed your message to a specific audience (i.e. – Advertising, Direct Mail)

Super Bowl Ad Introducing Macintosh - 1984

Super Bowl Ad Featuring E-Trade - 2010

Sources: Mac Ad. Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20254513_20009920,00.htmlE-Trade Ad. http://www.esquire.com/the-side/feature/new-etrade-commercials-2010

Not much room for two-way communication◦ Word-of-Mouth was sought out most (Water-cooler talk

after a funny ad last night during Super Bowl)◦ Contact through phone (Customer service) or in-person

(In line at the store)

Brenda, did you see that

hilarious ad last night? WOW!

I’ve been telling everyone!

Brenda, did you see that

hilarious ad last night? WOW!

I’ve been telling everyone!

Transparency was tougher to identify◦ Example: Car dealerships always say they’re largest or

have most sales…

Source: http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2009/12/07/lost-locations-roundup-flying-a-service-station-king-midget-factory-custom-car-dealership/

The one-way model has morphed into a two-way model

The Company>Customer relationship has become a cyclical, web-like model

Source: http://www.vedainformatics.com/blogs/5-things-about-social-media-marketing/

BusinessBusiness

MessageMessage

Reaches Customer, trickles down to friends and friends of friends

Courtesy of Socialnomics

The digitized version of in-person, word-of-mouth communication

In real-time and immediate A digital medium allowing your audience full

access to support, critique and bash you to others ALL about content! The phrase “Content is King”

was never more important Most importantly - TRANSPARENT

WHAT ARE THE MAIN SOCIAL MEDIA

NETWORKS IN USE?

1

2

3

There are 750 million + “active” users Roughly 206.2 million people in the U.S. are on

Facebook

Sources: http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/facebook-statistics-stats-facts-2011/SocialTRAK, Value of A Facebook Fan. June 2010. Independent Study.

Business/ Organizational Fan pages are perfect for building online communities/engagement/interaction

The first social network to go public with an Initial Public Offering (IPO)

Has more than 100 million users worldwide 2 billion + people searches in 2010 Executives from every Fortune 500 company

could be found in 2010

Source: onlinemba.com infographic.

Group/Business pages allow for sharing of information and help connect professionals

More than 106 million accounts Is based on 140 character posts There more than 55 million tweets each day 45% of users are between 18-34

Source: http://www.onlinemarketing-trends.com/2011/03/twitter-statistics-on-its-5th.html

Great tool for customer service dept., during a crisis and other real-time comm. uses

WHAT IS ITS PURPOSE IN BUSINESS APPLICATIONS?

Facebook◦ The 35+ demographic accounts for more than 30% of the FB

user-base◦ On average, fans spend an additional $71.84 on products

compared to non-fans

LinkedIn◦ 68% of the users are over the age of 35◦ 69% of all users make more than $60K/year

Twitter◦ 30% of users have annual household income of $100K +

Your audience uses these social networks everyday. So how are you reaching them?

You’re probably not…

Let me show you what you’re missing

DON’T just create a social presence because everyone else is!

Just because you have a page doesn’t mean you’ll succeed

QUESTION: How many of you have stumbled across a Facebook Fan page that hasn’t been updated in more than 6 months?

Social Media is Strategic… and it shows

Keep it simple when developing strategy Be realistic. Start small. Go after the lowest

hanging fruit and build from there…

Three key questions that will drive strategy:◦ 1) What are you trying to achieve?◦ 2) Who are you trying to reach?◦ 3) How will social media tools help facilitate this?

Types of goals and objectives:◦ Build awareness◦ Change perceptions◦ Reach new audiences, new geographic areas◦ Communicate during a crisis◦ Gain feedback on a product or service◦ Use it to see what your competitors are doing◦ And on and on…

Set your goals and make them your guiding light!

If not, you’ll end up like this guy!

Social media allows precision audience targeting (demo info, user data, etc.)

Once you know your target audience, social media allows you to build a community◦ This community allows the online conversation to

become offline (real world) Gain some basic insight into your audiences’

habits, likes and dislikes◦ Can help target better

Friday, August 12, Facebook began allowing businesses to target by ZIP Code.

Graphic courtesy of Technorati

If you’re brave, take a stab at trying them all!

By the way, this is only just a few of the thousands out there!

Begin by researching where your audience resides online

If you have a direct competitor, review their social networks and take notes

You don’t have to use every available social media network!

Start slow… if your customers use Twitter the most, start with Twitter

How to begin using these social media sites

Create a social media policy guide, including: How to respond to positive and negative posts or comments Who should be responsible for posting and responding Rules for use for employees with their own personal

accounts

Create a basic messaging platform What is the essence of our business or

organization? Capture that essence with key words and phrases Develop a tone, a context to your posts and

responses… what’s your business’s PERSONALITY?

DO NOT post sales pitches. Create a conversation that engages them to talk about your business.

Make your entire team part of the messaging discussion◦ That brings them in on the ground floor

Give them ownership, claim to this “voice” you’re creating for your business

Ensure the person/s who are the “content creators” keep continuity in that voice

Give access to your SM accounts sparingly, to those you trust most – they will be the digital voice of your business!

Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn make it extremely easy and intuitive to create accounts.

When setting up pages, use your business identity (name, logo, other key info)◦ Don’t use a person or mascot for your page◦ It creates confusion unless you are a prominent brand

that rests its brand ID on this person/mascot

Top line information ◦ Logo and tagline if you have one◦ Business background (Facts and stats)◦ Location and hours of operation◦ Contact information (Website, email, phone, etc.)

What do I do next after these social networks have been

created?

Now that you have a page or pages, you are in charge of the content

Keep a calendar of when and what to post Your personal account is now connected to the

fan page as an administrator◦ DON’T accidentally post something thinking your fan

page was your personal page

Just because you created it, doesn’t mean your customers will flock to your page

It takes a little leg work… some manual labor Do research. Find where your audience hangs

out. What they like.◦ Again, look at your competitors pages, or similarly

aligned fan pages

Courtesy of: http://blog.sironaconsulting.com/sironasays/2011/02/the-use-of-social-media-in-the-last-12-18-months-has-become-a-widespread-tool-in-the-business-toolbox-although-frustrating.html

Send a message to your friends to check out your new business page and “Like” it◦ A great way to get a small base of fans◦ Friends are more prone to share with their friends

Targeted advertising with small budget◦ Can target by geography, zip code, etc.◦ Create an incentive when advertising (Coupons)

Run a contest or giveaway to compel people to “Like” page

So, you’ve found some people, you’re:◦ Promoting yourself to local people on Facebook◦ Requesting folks on LinkedIn for your business page◦ Following influencers and their friends on Twitter

What do I do next?

Whether you’re using just one or three social networks, begin by adding rich content!

Begin by posting messages that introduce your business to the world and welcome everyone to join in on the conversation

Add a few more… ensure there’s substance! Keep the message consistent across networks

Ask a tough or compelling question

Share a link to recent media coverage on your business

Get people talking!

Share content between social networks Cross-linking creates great search engine

optimization – It makes your business get found easier!

Always try and tie your links back to your website for best increase in search results

Tom Duke will moderate questions…

Ralph J. Davila, APR

@rjdavila LinkedIn.com/in/ralphdavila