Introduction to

Social Media for Business 12th January 2012

Maureen Wright, WSI Internet Consultant

Introductions

• Internet Marketing Solutions to Midlands based businesses

• Active FSB member, BLT committee member

• For business of all sizes and industries

• Our goal is to help businesses: - Elevate their online brand reputation - Generate more leads through the Internet - Increase revenue and profit

• We started in 2004, building websites and optimising them

Social Media is now an essential part of the marketing mix

What is Social Media?

social media is basically a

conversation

Hi! What’s up? Did you hear?

You won’t believe...

What is Social Media?

Quick Poll: Do you use Social Media? Personal use? Business use?

Social Media for Business

• What is Social Media and how you can use it

• Overview of some of the popular platforms

• Planning your Social Media Strategy

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Word of Mouth Trust

Why Is It Important?

Businesses Have:

static website & one way to be found

More Quality Content Published in More Places = More Customers

Social Media can provide: fresh Web Presence & many ways to be found

Business Publishes Content

Search Engines

Index

Consumers Discover

Consumers Comment &

Share

Business Listens & Engages

Discoverability

Improve reputation by actively monitoring and managing content & reviews

Word of Mouth

More easily found in the search engines with more pages and fresh content

Reputation

Increase online word of mouth by publishing quality content that is shared by fans & followers

What are the Benefits?

Why UK Companies Use Social Media

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UK Ad Spending on Social

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Top 6 Social Media for Business

Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Google+

How they work

How they can be used to raise your company’s online profile

There are many more – these are the most used and with greatest business potential

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Blogs: Brief Overview

What is a Blog? • A bit like a diary, geared towards specific topics with the goal of

providing frequent postings of information.

• In most cases, blogs are interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments and messages; it is this interaction that distinguishes blogs from static websites.

• Businesses can either incorporate a blog into their own domain so that their site can benefit from the fresh and updated content they add to their blog, which search engines love, or have it located externally, on one of the many blogging platforms.

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Why Have a Company Blog?

1. Easier than “news” articles or newsletters

2. Invites a conversation

3. Easy to distribute

4. SEO – fresh content

5. SEO – “big” website (100+ pages)

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Most Popular: Facebook

Facebook – Brief Overview

What is Facebook? • A social networking service that lets you connect with friends, co-

workers, and others who share similar interests.

• What makes Facebook different from other social networks is its extensive privacy controls, its development platform, and its large and quickly growing user base.

• With over 500 million active users worldwide, Facebook has even surpassed email as the most frequently used tool online.

• Facebook allows users to exchange messages, receive notifications of profile updates, upload & share photographs, organise events and more.

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How Can Companies Use

Protect your brand – Anyone can create a facebook page about your company. If you don’t create one yourself, then you leave the control up to your customers or even your competitors to “create” your facebook presence for you.

Engage your customers – Rather than waiting for customers to come to your website to find out what’s new with your organisation, why not connect with them where they spend their time? facebook is a great way to communicate promotions, contests and events.

Optimise your online presence – facebook is considered a credible source, is frequently updated and has millions of pages and links contributing to its high rankings in the search engines, so links from fresh facebook content can help your website rankings.

Generate leads – facebook can also be used as a potential lead generation tool and help qualify your leads. You could view the profiles of your potential prospects to learn more about them, to help you to build relationships

Develop customer loyalty – Through ongoing communication and regular interaction with your facebook fans, you will better retain your customers, increase referrals and enhance overall loyalty.

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Set Up Your Profile on

• Create your Facebook personal profile.

• Your profile page is where you can create a story around your brand and display what makes your products / services Take advantage of all the content headings available: Personal Info, Work Info and Photos.

• But be sure to keep the language Facebook-appropriate. In other words, speak to your Facebook audience and avoid unnecessary jargon.

• You can also create business pages which allow you to build a community online, with the ability to customize the experience fans have with your brand through a page. For example, you can add HTML, Flash and applications to your page, allowing you to create a unique experience for your fans.

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Get active on

• Post information and updates

• Join groups – search for relevant ones

• Answer questions – again search for relevant ones or look at questions posted by your friends (these can be liked – raising your profile)

• Encourage people to like your page and share your information

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Summary – why is Facebook so important?

It’s one of the most influential Social Media of today and:

1. Has 500+ million users

2. The preferred medium for a % of your customers

3. Segmented targeting

4. Even if you only have a personal and business ‘page’ at least you have a presence there

5. With the power of the consumer online, and with Reputation Management becoming even more influential in the buying decision, Facebook is the preferred method of communication for the under 30’s – who needs email?

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What is Twitter?

• What is Twitter? • Online portal based on continual updates of your

personal or business activity.

• “What are you doing?”

• What Do Companies Use Twitter For? • Customer service • Public relations and news • “Advertising” of new products • Thought leadership and knowledge sharing • Research and development (e.g. Ford Motor Car)

Using Twitter for Business

• 8 Main Ways Businesses Use Twitter:

• To expand their customer database

• To increase their brand recognition

• To demonstrate their expertise

• To ask questions to a community

• To build trust and a loyal community

• To gain subscribers for permission based marketing

• As a customer service tool

• As a research tool

Twitter Summary

• Can work in a business context

• Good way to spread the word

• Use to link to longer posts or articles elsewhere

• Get started by following people - comment / retweet

Brief Overview

What is YouTube? • YouTube is the leading video sharing website that allows registered

users to easily upload and share video clips across the Internet through websites, mobile devices, blogs and email.

• It also allows users to conduct a keyword search to browse the video database on their website.

• People can see first-hand accounts of current events, find videos about their hobbies and interests and discover the quirky and unusual.

• As more people capture special moments on video, YouTube is empowering them to become the broadcasters of tomorrow

PEOPLE SEARCH FOR THINGS IN YOUTUBE ALMOST AS MUCH AS THEY DO IN GOOGLE

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YouTube: How it Works

• Like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, YouTube is free to use.

• All you need to do is register with the site and create a profile if you want to post videos or comments. The videos you publish -which include tags, a category, and a brief description -can be made public or restricted to members of specified contact lists.

• YouTube also allows videos hosted on its site to be embedded in other Web pages, such as blogs or websites.

• Creating your own YouTube Channel gives you an opportunity to showcase your brand, adding more credibility to your commercial presence.

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YouTube: Getting Started

• Think about what you could make videos about

• Search in Youtube for your industry keywords, to see what’s there already

• Videos don’t have to be expensive – try your mobile phone!

• Create a channel, upload videos, optimise for your keywords

• Embed the videos on your website

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Linkedin: Brief Overview

What is Linkedin? • Business-oriented social networking site • Over 100 million global users, about 5 million in UK, and growing • Registered users maintain a list of people – referred to as

connections – who they know and trust in a business capacity. • Linkedin incorporates a “gated-access” approach whereby any

contact with another professional requires a pre-existing relationship, a shared connection or an introduction from a shared connection.

• This level of privacy has led to its popularity amongst professionals. • Additionally, it can be used to demonstrate your business’

competence and expertise, thereby establishing the integrity upon which businesses depend.

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Linkedin for Business • You need a strategy for your networking

• LinkedIn finds the right people and the connections you have with them

• Ask who are the people who will be most likely to be in the best position to help me?

• Join groups, answer questions

• Networking attitude needs to be to share information in a reactive and proactive way without expecting anything in return

SEO power of Linkedin

The Power of Connections

Linkedin Business Pages

• Create a Linkedin Business Page

• Ensure that you create a profile for your key company employees, such as your Directors.

• You can list all of your services here – a bit like a mini-website

Finding New Prospects

• Watch the Network Updates:

– Has someone changed position at a company?

– Has someone joined a new company?

– Who has joined your groups?

– Who is asking questions?

– Who knows a prospect you are trying to reach?

– Who is connecting to who?

– Who has viewed my profile?

Linkedin Summary Linkedin is THE professional Social Media, Research & Marketing tool:

• Builds and reinforces your reputation like no other tool can

• For B to B allows you to ‘deep research’ prospect customers

• Create demand to ‘buy from you’ rather than you ‘selling’

• Strengthens personal and company credibility

• Provides ability to quickly grow a powerful network

• For B to B it’s a good lead generation engine to use

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Linkedin - Getting Started

• Set up your profile

• Go through your email address book, invite people to connect

• Join groups

• Take part in the conversations

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Google Plus

What is Google +

• New Social network launched in June 2011

• Now has 40 million users

• Initially aimed at personal users

• Now has business pages too

• Rival to facebook

• You need a Google account to use it

Google + Features

• Put your contacts into “circles” and decide what information you want them to see

• Separate business and personal

• Hangouts are a way for groups of people to have online meetings

• Huddles enable you to send text messages to groups of people

Google + - Getting Started

• If you already have a Google account you may have been invited to join

• Google “google +” to sign up

• Set up your profile and invite contacts to join your circles

top 10 listings of search can be seen as your Online Reputation

Management

Bear in mind that some of these may be out

of your direct control

What is Your Online Reputation?

Tips for using Social Media in your business

• Think about what you want to get out of it - Part of your marketing and communications plan - How to reach the right audience

• Consistency of messages - Your company “voice”

• We always recommend (if you have employees):

– You have a social media policy in place

– You identify staff to train up and act as leaders (if appropriate)

– You document your training and turn it into your own Standard Operating Procedures

Keys to using Social Media

• Social Media Marketing (as with all marketing): – Be Authentic

– Be strategic

– Be engaging

– Be an expert

– One of the easiest ways is to have opinions on other people opinions!

If you think your customers are using Social Media, you should be using it too.

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Thanks for listening – any questions?