“Workshop” Objectives•Overview of Social Media in general, what’s out there etc.

•Focus on Facebook and how we can use this tool to market our businesses.

•Set up a Facebook Fan page and briefly go over features

•Fan page vs. creating a Group.

•Brainstorm with other professionals possible content for our Facebook campaign.

•Discuss analytics

•Review 4 or 5 useful apps on Facebook and how to use them.

•Does this Social Media “list” seem overwhelming?

•While it may be debated who is and who isn’t a Social Media expert some truths remain: While some may choose to hire “gurus” or consultants to manage their social media campaign, you don't have to. It is more of a time issue than anything else

•Social Media is NOT that complicated. There are many (maybe too many) different sites out there but none of them are very difficult to participate in.

•YOU already have the tools needed to launch a Social Media campaign because you are the expert for your own business.

• Unlike traditional marketing, Social Media involves engaging with your customers, talking with them and showing them that you're listening. Social Media is all about sharing, and by making your brand part of your customer's social life you will get their loyalty and they will spread the word to their friends. Clever social media marketing can be of great benefit to any company, and it's specially good for the following things:

- Customer engagement

- Brand Credibility

- Faster feedback

- Low cost

Are these things that you are interested in as a business owner?

What is Social Media? Why should I jump on the “bandwagon”

•Social networks and blogs some of the most popular activities online, beating personal email. 67% of global users visit member communities and 10% of all time spent on the internet is on social media sites.

Looking for a new job? 80% of companies use, (or are planning to use), LinkedIn as their primary tool to find employees during the course of this year. The site has just celebrated reaching its 45-millionth membership.

•Around 64% of marketers are using social media for 5 hours or more each week during campaigns, with 39% using it for 10 or more hours per week.

•By 2010 Gen Y will outnumber Baby Boomers….96% of them have joined a social network

•1 out of 8 couples married in the U.S. last year met via social media

•The #2 largest search engine in the world is YouTube

Facebook in a nutshell

•Set up a picture and “profile” which is description about yourself or your business

•Find 'friends' or get 'fans'

•To get friends simply find people and requestto be their friend, they can accept or ignore

•Fans need to see your Page and join on their own

•FB users can read and write updates as often as they wish and say what they wish.

•Others can comment, like, dislike, just read, or even hide posts.

Why Facebook?

• The average U.S. Internet user spends more time of Facebook than on Google, Yahoo, YouTube, Microsoft, Wikipedia and Amazon COMBINED!

• If Facebook were a country, it would be the fourth most populated place in the world. This means it easily beats the likes of Brazil, Russia and Japan in terms of size.

It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million listeners. Terrestrial TV took 13 years to reach 50 million users. The internet took four years to reach 50 million people... In less than nine months, Facebook added 100 million users.

•"Facebook" is the second most popular keyword on Google globally.

•Facebook has more than 350 million active users, of whom 35 million update their status boxes everyday, and serves 200 billion page impressions a month

Some Facebook Statistics•The average user has 130 friends and spends 55 minutes a day on Facebook.

•The average user sends out 8 friend requests and writes 25 comments per month

•The 35-54 year old demo is growing fastest, with a 276.4% growth rate recently.

•The 55+ demo is not far behind with a 194.3% growth rate

•The 25-34 year population on Facebook is doubling every 6 months

•There are more females (55.7%) than males (42.2%) on Facebook – 2.2% are of unknown gender.

According to a recent poll (of social network users between 18-24), the top four reasons for joining a brand or fan group on Facebook:

•get news or product updates (67 percent)

•view promotions (64 percent)

•submit opinions (36 percent)

•connect with other customers (33 percent)

And while 84 percent see ads on social networks, a whopping 74 percent say they click infrequently and 36 percent say they don’t click on ads at all.

There are more than 3 million active fan pages on Facebook

Some questions to consider concerning content for your FB page

Who is my audience? What is my target demographic?

Individuals of all ages interested in ecology and wildlife. Families with children. Tourists visiting the LR area. Families living in NH and surrounding states.

Why are they interested in my business? As a place to visit, learn, entertainment.

What are their interests? NH wildlife, green living, conservation, ecology,

NH species, Lake conservation, lake wildlife, outdoor activities and sports, gardening, green practices.

What are some other resources I can use?

Web – NH Fish and Game; Cornell Lab of Ornithology; World Wildlife Fund; National Audubon Society; Greenlivingideas.com.

Print – Sierra Club Knowledge Cards; Previous vetted SLNSC materials (calendars, newsletters) Books in the SLNSC library,

Other area buisnesses/organizations – Lakes Region Assoc; VistitNH; White Mtn. Attractions; Belknap Landscaping; Polar Caves; The Flume; Funspot; AZA list of Zoos with over 1000 fans.

Helpful hint: Become a fan on other related and/or similar businesses for ideas. See what they are doing and saying.

Groups VS. Pages

•Groups are not indexed by search engines like Pages are

•Groups can send emails driectly to members inboxes vs Pages that can send updates that can only be viewed on facebook

•Groups have more control over who can participate.

•Groups cannot use applications

•Groups do not offer visitor statistics, Pages do

•Inviting other friends to join groups is easier to do on a mass level

In short:Groups are better for short-term discussion or announcementsPages are better for maintaining long-term customer client relationships

Bring on the fansThe share button on the bottom left allows you to send a message to Up to 20 friends at a time

•Use the 'suggest to friends' button under your profile picture to selectup to 20 friends from your lists and a message will be sent to themsuggesting that they become fans.

•Using your status box, request that your current fans do the same with their groups of friends.

•Post signs encouraging customers to join you on FB

•Send an email blast requesting that your clients become fans.Put a request in a newsletter

Become fans of others

Once you have over 1000 fans you can get a vanity URL

What are ApplicationsFacebook Applications (also known as "apps") are basically Features that can be added into your existing personal or business Facebook Page.

•The procedure for adding most Apps to your FB page is essentially same.

•Go edit page link under your profile picture•Find the app by using app search box or browsing•Click on app then click add to my page button•Select the page you wish to add it to if you have more than one.•Return to your edit page screen and click edit•Usually here you have to give permission or allow the app•Go to application settings button and add the tab

You can re-arrange the tabs simply by dragging and dropping them.

Some potentially valuable applications

•Notes – Can link this to your blog to have update and announce each time you post a new blog.•RSS feed reader – bring in your RSS feeds to instantly updateon your page.•Twitter – Link to your Twitter account•Youtube player and/or video box – upload your businesses Youtube videos to your FB page.•Reviews – Clients can post reviews for others to view•Posted items pro – upload multiple types of media to your page•Static FBML – Customize your fan page to look like your websiteor just jazz it up using html code.

There are 100's of applications and newones being developed as we speak. Thebest way to find out which ones will benefit you is to search.