competitive advantage - social media
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Improving Your Competitive Advantage
Using Social Media
Today’s Agenda• Reality Check• Competitive Advantages/Strategies
–Blogging–Facebook–Twitter
• Next Steps
The Future is HereIt’s just not evenly distributed yet
4 Ways Social Media is Changing Business
• From “Trying to Sell” to “Making Connections”
• From “Large Campaigns” to “Small Acts”• From “Controlling Our Image” to “Being
Ourselves”• From “Hard to Reach” to “Available
Everywhere”http://mashable.com/2009/09/22/social-media-business/
Only 14% of People TRUST ADVERTISEMENTS
78% TRUST the Recommendations of OTHER CONSUMERS
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How we communicate has changed.
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Traditional – You get it from us Social – You get it from your network
• Educate your Customers• Engage in Conversations• Product Service Innovation• Listen• Reputation Management• Direct Marketing to people interested
rather than mass market to all• Closer Relationships - make competition
invisible• Give people something to talk about
Social Media Competitive Advantages
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Resilient Leaders--Resilient Organizations 8
RSS & SocialBookmarking
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BLOGSCompetitive Advantage
How Blogs Help• Achieve Expert Status in your field• Promote Your Name, Brand,
Product/Service• Deliver Traffic to your Website• Increase Your SEO Rankings • Creating a real dialogue with those who
matter• Lead Generation• Education is the new marketing• Differentiating your business, products
and services • Develop marketing materials by
repurposing your posts
• Educate your Customers• Engage in Conversations• Product Service Innovation• Listen• Reputation Management• Direct Marketing to people
interested rather than mass market to all
• Closer Relationships - make competition invisible
• Give people something to talk about
Tells personal
stories to share
experience.
Encourages
photo sharing!
Stories from
owners of
puppies!
Video blogging
of ‘how tos’ to
show people
how it is
actually done.
Recommends
specific
products and
then
demonstrates!
More about
human interest
than selling…
really ‘sells’ his
community!
They blog
about products
related to the
season, the
uses, how to
be ready for
specific
situations and
service calls,
how to save
money using
their products,
etc.
Blogging Strategy
One Post Per WeekBrainstorm• What can you educate your clients on• What are new trends happening in
your industry• What are all of the things that make
your company unique• What are all of the things that you care
about outside of work; things that make you more than just work
Steve’s Plan• M – Inspirational posts for Small
Businesses; Encourage steps• T - Tools Tuesday• W - Case Study on business or tool• T - Publicly answer a question that
came up from a client, employee, or friend
• F - Best of the week – what I am reading, fascinated by
TWITTERCompetitive Advantage
How Twitter Helps
Customer service Reputation management Constant stream of new ideas
and links Instant access to what is being
said ‘right now’ Network with others in your
industry Extend your reach – become a
thought leader
Educate your Customers Engage in Conversations Product Service Innovation Listen Reputation Management Direct Marketing to people
interested rather than mass market to all
Closer Relationships - make competition invisible
Give people something to talk about
What is
fresh/hot out of
the oven from
breads and
cakes to
cookies and
treats. Share
photos in the
tweet.
Bakery treats
that come to
you. They
tweet where
they are going,
so customers
can meet the
truck.
- Customer
tweeted an
order –
gained
attention
- Host Tweet-
ups that is
still the
largest
“Tweet-up”
gathering in
Houston
- Doing more
‘tech’ parties
Submit your
packages to
the Direct
Message
feature of
twitter to be
able to track
any packages
using any
shipping
service, going
anywhere.
What business
could use this?
How could you
use this?
Twitter Strategy
• Decide: Who do you want to follow you?
• Find 10 people each day for 10 days whom you want to follow you, and follow them first- watch your followers grow!
Beth’s 30 day plan• Commit 15 minutes every day to Twitter.
– Day One: Listen– Day Two: RT – Day Three: Follow back.– Day Four: Check your DM and @ messages – Day Five: Choose one person you are following,
who has a large number of following/followers. Go through who they are following and follow people to build your own list.
– Day Six: Strike up a conversation, answer someone’s question or offer assistance
– Day Seven: In the search bar, type in some keywords with and without a #hashtag and see all the current twitter chatter on a topic you care about. You may find more people to follow and/or conversations to join.
FACEBOOKCompetitive Advantage
How Facebook Helps
• Educate your Customers• Engage in Conversations• Product Service Innovation• Listen• Reputation Management• Direct Marketing to people interested
rather than mass market to all• Closer Relationships - make
competition invisible• Give people something to talk about
• Target advertising• Inner-circle
Features customers
before/after shots
Frequent status
updates
Chronicle a Training
trip to New York this
year, sending
pictures, new fashion
tips and trends, and
other interesting
tidbits back to MN
Selling CD’s via
Facebook fans
Demo music
Networked blogs
Fan photos/events
related to CD release
Facebook Strategy
• #1 Competitive Advantage you can have in Facebook is “Presence”. 80% of Fan Pages are stagnant for months! Engage your fans daily with something; status updates, photos, links, and ongoing comments in threads.
Beth’s Strategy• 1 update every day• Integrate with other
tools (YouTube, etc)
• Add photos
Social Networking at its FinestNovember 2008
John McCain
• Facebook Fans: 620,359• Twitter Followers: 4,603• YouTube Views: 2,032,993• MySpace Friends: 217,811
Barack Obama
• Facebook Fans: 2,379,102• Twitter Followers: 112,474• YouTube Views: 18,413,110• MySpace Friends: 833,161
The System
• Assessment• Strategy• Small Steps• Measurement• Celebrate Successes
Measurement
NCP
Resources• Blogging - Give Me 15 Minutes and I Will
Give You The Formula To Blogging Success• Is There A Quick Way to Secure Your
Identity On Social Websites• Is Twitter For You?
4 Ways Social Media is Changing Business
• From “Trying to Sell” to “Making Connections”
• From “Large Campaigns” to “Small Acts”• From “Controlling Our Image” to “Being
Ourselves”• From “Hard to Reach” to “Available
Everywhere”http://mashable.com/2009/09/22/social-media-business/
• Educate your Customers• Engage in Conversations• Product Service Innovation• Listen• Reputation Management• Direct Marketing to people interested
rather than mass market to all• Closer Relationships - make competition
invisible• Give people something to talk about
Social Media Competitive Advantages
Blog: www.stevegasser.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/stevegasser
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/STEPHENGASSER
Facebook: www.facebook.com/stephen.gasser
YouTube: www.youtube.com/VIVIDINSIGHT
Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/vividinsight
De.lici.us: www.delicious.com/stevegasser
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