MAKE IT WORK FOR YOU.Oklahoma Transit Association – 2012 Winter Conference

January 25-27, 2012

Click Here to Follow With Your Smartphone!

Show of Hands SurveyHow Comfortable Are You With Social Media?

No E-Mail DEFINITELY

No SM

I LOVE E-Tools and Use Them Effectively

I E-Mail – But SM Is Too

“Out-There” For Me

I Use SM Personally

But Haven’t Figured It

Out For My Business

I Have An SM Profile But

Haven’t Done Much With It

What We DON’T Want.No plan, halfway filled out profiles, lost customers, waste of time, waste of energy and a frustrated business owner…

Create YOUR Specific Strategy• Identify: Your Objectives• Identify: Your Audience

– The Target Audience You Wish to Grow– Your Strong Supporters/Friends/Family– Your Stakeholders

• Identify: Calls to Action• Identify: Benchmarks – When Will You Feel Successful?• Identify: Keywords (AND USE THEM) – SEO• How will you measure success?

– Followers– Visits– Return on Conversation?

• Best Tools For You

Objectives: What Are YOUR Goals?

Some objectives may be:Brand AwarenessCredibilityDrive Traffic to WebsiteProduct Sales

SOCIAL LISTENING –Often neglected

LocationProductServiceProspective CustomersUSEFUL TOOL: HootSuite.com

SoMe FACTS• The number of people visiting SM sites has

increased 24% over this time last year.

• SM Usage by Small Business has DOUBLED from last year – >75% use it

• Almost ONE-HALF of Small Businesses have successfully connected with NEW customers through Social Networks

• 51% of Facebook Users & 64% of Twitter Users are More Likely To Purchase Brands They Follow

STEP 1: GET ON THE BANDWAGONIntegrate Social Media

WHY INTEGRATE SOCIAL MEDIA?Websites aren’t enough anymore…

Website.101• Should be the HUB of all YOUR marketing

– Print & Electronic!

• Should be your 24/7/365 Sales Tool

• Should be:

– Relevant - Fresh – Up To Date

– Informative on your topic

– Able to be Shared

• More Sharing = MORE EYEBALLS on your product!

• USEFUL TOOL: Addthis.com or Sharethis.com

– Constantly Monitored – Analytics!

WHY ??• People on Facebook

– 800+ Million Users

– 50% Log On At Least Once Per Day

– Average User has 130 Friends

• Activity on Facebook

– 900+ Million Objects To Interact With

– Average User is Connected to 80+ Pages, Groups or Events

– More than 250 MILLION Photos Uploaded DAILY

– Over 350 Million Users Access Their Account on a Mobile Device

FEATURES

• Insights – Analytics & Demographic Information on Every Post

• Advertising – Very Targeted “Pay-Per-Click” Marketing

• Link to Other Fan Pages as “Favorites”– Other Local Products

– Other Local Opportunities

– Community Pages

– Organizations Your Company Supports

• It Matters in SEO

What’s SEO?ArborDay.org Facebook.com/ArborDay

IN OTHER WORDS: THE MORE PINGBACKS YOU GET FROM SM THE HIGHER YOUR COMPANY CAN RANK IN SEARCH ENGINE SEARCHES

Building Profiles = Building Credibility

• Education & Expertise

• Testimonials or Clients You Have Worked With

• Link / Address to Other SM You Use

• Link / Address to Website

• SlideShare Link

• Groups Of Which You Are A Member

• Upcoming Events – ALWAYS Updated!

Don’t Neglect YouTube

flickr

END RESULT: More Pingbacks to Your Website = Higher SEO

• Be the Expert

• Take Short Videos of What You Do, How You Do It, People Enjoying What You’ve Done

• Upload and EMBED

• 24 hours of video uploaded every MINUTE

• Average User Spends 15 minute PER DAY on YouTube

• YouTube EXCEEDS 2 BILLION views per day – Nearly Double the prime-time audience of all 3 major networks.

• Pictures Say A Thousand Words

• Post Pictures of:– Products

– People Enjoying Products or Events

– Successful Events

– People, People, People!!

Where Does Twitter Fit In?

• Share Links to USEFUL Information– DO NOT share trite/worn out/blast type info

• Share Event Information

• Share Success or Celebrate Events

• Share “Specials”– Twitter Only Coupons

– Twitter Only Sales

• Followers– Quality Over Quantity

– Beware of SPAMMERS – Someone who is following LOTS of people with very few followers themselves.

Make Your Twitter Profile UniqueCreate A Custom Background

How To Create a Custom Background1. Create a Twitter account. If you haven't gotten around to signing up for Twitter

yet, what are you waiting for? Go to twitter.com and sign up for an account.

2. Decide what type of image you want to portray. Part of the difficulty in setting the correct background is deciding what you want your Twitter page design to say about you. Many folks take any image or graphic and upload it to their Twitter account without much thought. Take some time to come up with something that speaks of your style, taste and personality.

3. Consider the screen real estate. The important information to be viewed on Twitter occurs in the center of the page. No matter how many images or sayings you have on your background, the center of the screen belongs to Twitter. Therefore you have to create a background that gives Twitter center stage.

4. Go large. Larger images and/or graphics reduce the necessity for tiling an image. It gives the appearance of one large background specifically made for Twitter. Try starting with an image as large as 1600 x 1200.

How To Create a Custom Background

5. Remember that all screen resolutions are not the same. The smaller the screen resolution, the lower the likelihood of your image will have to repeat. In other words, if you elect to use an image that has a flower located to the extreme left of the screen, on a lower resolution screen (800 x 600 for instance), the flower displays once. A screen with a resolution of say 2048 x 1536, the flower will display tiled on the screen several times.

6. Think about using a border. When creating an image, remember that a small portion of the top of the screen is dedicated to the Twitter logo and user navigation. It's a little easier on the eyes if the design included a boarder over which the Twitter logo and navigation could sit without having to fight against a busy background.

7. Upload your image to Twitter. Once you've played around with the image, upload it to Twitter to see how it looks. Log onto your account. Click "Design" found under the "Settings" tab. Once on the design screen click "change background image." Once you upload your image, check it out to see if you like it. If you don't you can change it or use one of the Twitter default images until you come up with something you like.

TWEET-TIP

Although you’re allowed 140 characters in any tweet, try to keep them under 120…

Why?140 On The Money – But That’s Good Info That SHOULD Be Shared With My Followers

But Look What Happens When I Try To RT To My Friend - @SoldOnShawnee (+14 Characters)…

Do YOU think that tweet was RT’d?

By limiting yourself to 120 characters, you make it EASY for people to share your great information…

Google+ Pages

Search + Your World – New Prioritization Standards

How to set up your own Google+ Page

• http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/29982/Google-Finally-Allows-Page-Admins-Rolls-Out-Other-Improvements.aspx

Just Like You Hang a Sign to Tell the Neighborhood You’re OPEN

Make Sure Your Customers Know You Are Online – Make it Easy to Find You

Provide the Address to Your Profile in Multiple Locations

Create Unique URL’s

Use QR Codes

WHAT’S A QR CODE?Connect Print Media to Electronic, Traceable Resources

Use for Sales, Product Information, Or to Make Connections to Social Media

GENERATE QR CODES FOR FREEUSEFUL TOOL: QuikQR.com

USEFUL TOOL: Red Laser QR Code Reader

Consider Sharing Your Wisdom - BLOG

• Small Businesses That Blog See 55% More Visitors to Their Website

• They See 97% More Link Backs to Their Website – SEO!

• 434% More Indexed Pages – SEO! SEO!!

• BUT….– It’s Not For Everyone

– Do You Have Something To Write About More Than Once? If Not, Maybe Occasional Press Releases Are Better

– Consistency is Rewarded by SEO and Builds Trust With Customers, if You Can’t be Consistent – Don’t Bother

Info is Good – Traceable Data is BETTER

• USEFUL TOOLS: to Determine Your SM Effectiveness

– Google Analytics (FREE!)

– Bit.ly

• (Shorten Your URL’s for Twitter Usage, then track the clicks!)

– FaceBook Insights

– TwitterCounter.com

Interact Often with your Customers / Fan Base / Followers

BEWARE: Timing is EVERYTHING

SoMe Rules!1. Ignore Nothing! - #ReputationMonitoring

2. Commit! – AT LEAST 10 minutes per day

– USEFUL TOOL: HootSuite.com

3. Update! – If it’s not fresh, IT STINKS

4. Separate! – Personal vs. Professional

5. It’s NOT All About You!!!

Sources• Social Media Image - http://www.wizmarketings.com/wp-

content/uploads/2011/06/Austin-Social-Media-Marketing.jpg• Mark James – SlideShare.net - http://www.slideshare.net/ED_Solutions_Inc/ed-

solutions-social-media0311final2• Social Media Bandwagon - http://directory.ac/social-media-marketing-

improvement.html• Share Buttons - Addthis.com• Social Media Facts – CrowdSpring.com• Facebook Facts – Facebook.com• Website Hub – WhoisGregg.com• Social Media Images -

http://media.photobucket.com/image/social%20media/blong72/social-media-icons.jpg?o=70

• Kim Dean Art - http://twitter.com/#!/kimdeanart• YouTube Facts - Viralblog.com• How To Create A Custom Twitter BackGround -

http://www.ehow.com/how_4613303_twitter-background.html• Blogging Facts - http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/5014/Study-Shows-

Small-Businesses-That-Blog-Get-55-More-Website-Visitors.aspx• http://smallbiztrends.com/2009/08/blogging-best-seo-tool-small-businesses.html

LET’S TALK ABOUT YOU!!

QUESTIONS?COMMENTS?

Connect with Me!

Rachael K. Geiger

405.556.1167@RKBGeiger

Gplus.to/RKBGeiger

SlideShare.net/RKBGeiger

rgeiger2010@gmail.com