Social Media for Business Customers

“The use of Social Media tools may not change your organization's underlying business principles, but it allows
you to alter your existing work practices by incorporating more efficient, practical applications. Because of
social media applications, it's easier than ever before to find ways to "work smarter."

Sandra Hastings offers training, marketing, and management services to help you reposition your business and/or
workforce system:
Web site design and redesign services to update your Internet site from static to interactive and tips as well as strategies
for using e-marketing to rebrand your workforce system or business to improve brand recognition and increase sales.
Services to redesign your capacity building efforts to

Management consultation to help you create the strategy and road map for lasting change that aligns with current trends
and legislative mandates. utilize Web 2.0 tools to offer just-in-time training and to integrate tools that improve connectivity and
collaboration among employees at multiple worksites to reduce capacity building costs and improve business practice
efficiency.

Recruitment webinars and podcasts for businesses - especially small and medium-sized businesses - to help integrate
competitive recruiting practices (e.g., emerging use of social networking tools).

I am energized by the infinite possibilities we have to creatively solve challenges and position for the
future. And, I am eager to work with you to find customized solutions to your most pressing concerns.
I am energized by the infinite possibilities we have to creatively solve challenges and position for the future. And,
I am eager to work with you to find customized solutions to your most pressing concerns. Sandi Hastings

Sandi Hastings
Sandra Hastings Hastings.Sandra@gmail.com 1

Sandra Hastings
Sandra Hastings Associates


Learn and apply three concepts or ideas


Learn how to harness technology – Social Media
– to improve service to businesses and expand
your own career options

2 Sandra Hastings Hastings.Sandra@gmail.com 4

1. Common definitions - social media and business
services

2. Social media mandate for business services

3. Use of online information and resources to expand
relationships and market penetration

4. Application of social media tools

5. Questions and answers


Social media = online content created by people

Content readers publishers

Online connections personal relationships
Source: Wikipedia, 2009.


Tools designed to encourage social interaction among
users:

 Web 2.0 tools build Internet relationships

 Web 3.0 tools build relationships on mobile devices

Social media tools are always designed to build
relationships and create trust!


Business services are:

1. All services a system provides to businesses

2. Employer services – recruitment and hiring services

3. Provided by multiple partners

4. Generally limited because of staffing levels

5. Separate from – not integrated in job seeker service
operations


1. President Obama‟s administration is using social
media to promote transparency & communication
www.opendol.ideascale.com/
www.Facebook.com/Departmentoflabor
www.youtube.com/usdepartmentoflabor
www.twitter.com/usdol
www.Data.gov
www.recovery.gov
www.dol.gov/recovery

2. It expands our service delivery options in a tough
fiscal Environment


3. Social media is no longer a trend, it‟s a critical
strategic business mandate

80% of all businesses use social media

75% Use LinkedIn to check backgrounds
66% Use LinkedIn to recruit

4. Our business customers are online…we must
respond to remain competitive


% of Social Media Tactics Used by Small
Respondents Businesses (December 2009)
75% Have a company page on a social
networking site (e.g., Facebook)
69% Post status updates and articles on
social media site (e.g., LinkedIn)
57% Build their networks through sites like
LinkedIn
54% Monitor positive/negative feedback
about organization
39% Have a blog in areas of expertise
26% Tweet about areas of expertise
16% Use Twitter as customer service channel
8% Other

N=89; The State of Small Business Report 2/16/10 www.eMarketer.com

5. Our competitors are using sophisticated
social media strategies to communicate with
businesses

http://manpower.com/research/research.cfm

How do your value-added services
compare?


Companies use social media to:

• Have two-way communication with customers and
potential customers
• Share news, information, and content
• Create brand awareness
• Hold contests and competitions
• Get to know consumers
• Recruit and hire


www.potterybarn.com

What Are Your Resources?
www.starbucks.com
Do You List Them as Links on
Your Web pages? You can leave ideas on the home
page.
Do You Ask Customers to
Join Your Community? You can add your opinion about the
“bold” coffee.

The North Carolina governor is a leader in the use of social media in government. Notice
that this Web site has a slide show to describe the Recovery Act projects in NC. You can use
PowerPoint presentations to create this effective strategy when you don’t have a lot of time or
extra resources. Also see www.governor09.nc.gov for NC’s social media tools.


We are a leading
resource for
„green”…what is your
strategy for sharing
information about
green jobs, training,
retraining etc.?

Create and publish your
green resources.


www.dell.com uses the
community to gather
information that is then used
to sell their products.


Strategy Strategy

Text messaging Multiple languages
Blogging Videos
Facebook page Podcasts & jobcasts
LinkedIn page Contests
News alerts Non-recruiting sites


Share Information Enhance Relationships/
& Resources Expand Market Share

• Build credibility
• Network online to access new customers
• Demonstrate expertise
• Share information with tips for how to use
the materials
• Provide opportunities to discuss key issues
• Use testimonials to build brand and
awareness
• Respond to what customers are saying
about your services
• Use analytics to drive service options


www.stempower.groupsite.com

Business connections
best testimonials

Businesses
share files

Build an interactive website for businesses to develop local contacts –
local groups similar to LinkedIn or Facebook.

No social media

No interaction

Streaming news –
regional
partnerships

Great Organization of
information by topic

Great story of impact of the
WIB

http://workforcezone.net/


www.ewib.org

Many opportunities to click through and leave information, get
information, begin training, immediately contact a business
services representative.


 Provide a strong avenue for broadcasting testimonials that
describe how you are serving businesses

 Allow you to drive more businesses to your Web site

 Can easily post videos on Web site or as a link within an eBlast
or eNewsletter

 Are FREE service to increase your visibility

 Is growing in popularity and becoming more accepted as a
method for reaching constituents


―It’s not about driving people to your website with your video, it’s how
broad you can make your reach and how many people interact with
your video that really matters.‖ Cynthia Francis, CEO Reality Digital

1. Post videos to your Facebook page.

2. Be active on YouTube.

3. Join live-streaming sites (Ustream).

4. Use video functions on social aggregators (Digg,
Readdit, StumbleUpon).

5. Shoot your own video blog (vlogging)

 Share labor market information

 Share new program and service information

 Can offer free video training as an online service (short
offerings)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB4sdjIJIG0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC3bDAPEOPI&NR=1

www.youtube.com/usdepartmentoflabor

www.nationalskillscoalition.org

www.vcruit.com

http://standoutjobs.com

http://commoncraft.com

 Highlight the central theme

 Provide a link to your Website‟s URL

 Include images (http://www.istockphoto.com)

 Have an RSS Feed link & provide multiple sharing options

Use Internet communication basic rules:
 Offer an easy “unsubscribe” option

 Provide a way to change address

 State your privacy policy

 Have contact information including street address, phone
number, website, and fax number for your organization


You can group by:
Segmentation breaks your audience
into groups of customers with Industry
similar characteristics Hiring patterns

The goal is building relationships, Size of company
to know your audience‟s needs Number of yearly hires

Segmenting your list will lead to Use eNewsletters to:
more targeted messages with action • Invite businesses to events –
taken job fairs
• Promote job seekers to hiring
companies
If you don‟t segment, you are not • Share program updates
building relationships with • Share regional successes
individuals targeting specific • Offer training for companies
• Survey subscribers needs and
interests
interests


www.constantcontact.com


LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site for professionals
to develop and maintain a list of contact details of people they know and
trust in business – their ―connections.‖

LinkedIn can then be used to find jobs, people and business
opportunities recommended by someone in one's contact network.

Employers can list jobs and search for potential candidates.

Job seekers can review the profile of hiring managers and discover
which of their existing contacts can introduce them.

LinkedIn also allows users to research companies where they
may want to work


1. Complete a compelling profile – individual & corporate

2. Search for contacts

3. Grow your network shamelessly

4. Grow your network strategically (e.g., make
recommendations)

5. Ask for introductions


6. Fill downtime with LinkedIn activities

7. Join groups where you’ll find your target audience

8. Act on network updates

9. Ask for introductions

10. Ask & answer questions


Some of the search
options

You can also link to your tweets from the
Company Buzz, link to your blogs, and link to
your Slideshare presentations.


Partial list of
statistics to help
you analyze your
contact lists.


A free, online social networking site that connects
people through online communities

 The social media site with the largest audience

 An informal network for sharing life‟s journey

 1/3 of global audience is 35-39 years of age

 1/4 of global audience is over 50 years of age


1. Complete your profile to earn trust.
2. Establish a business account if you don’t already have
one.
3. Adhere to the Facebook business rules for business
accounts.
4. Install appropriate applications to integrate feeds from
your blog and other social media accounts into your
Facebook profile.
5. Separate personal and professional profiles with
―Settings.‖


6. Create friends lists such as ―Work,‖ ―Family‖ and ―Limited
Profile‖ for finer-grained control over your profile privacy.

7. Post a professional or business casual photos of yourself
to reinforce your brand.

8. Limit business contacts’ access to personal photos.

9. Post your newsletter subscription information and
archives somewhere in your profile.


1. Obtain a Facebook vanity URL to help people find you.

2. Add your Facebok URL to your email signature and all
marketing collateral to help prospects learn more about you.

3. Post business updates on your wall.

4. Share useful articles and links to presentation and valuable
resources that interest customers and prospects on your
wall to establish credibility.

5. Combine Facebook with other social media tools like
Twitter.

6. Research prospects before meeting or contacting them.

7. Upload your contacts from your email client to find more
connections.

8. Use ―Find Friends‖ for suggestions of other people you
may invite to join your network.

9. Look for mutual contacts on your contacts’ friends lists.

10. Find experts in your field and invite them as a guest
blogger on your blog or speaker at your event.


11. Market your products by posting discounts and package
deals.

12. Share survey or research data to gain credibility.

13. Use Facebook Connect to add social networking features
to your web site.

14. Suggest friends to clients and colleagues — by helping
them, you establish trust.


 Start a group or fan page for product, brand or business

 Add basic information to the group or fan page

 Post upcoming events

 Update your group or fan page on a regular basis

 Join network, industry and alumni groups related to your
business.

 Use search to find groups and fan pages related to your
business by industry, location and career.


Sandra Hastings Hastings.Sandra@gmail.com

A service that is second only to Facebook in popularity –
with individuals and businesses.

Use Twitter to attract and stay connected to business
customers (e.g., share new strategic documents)

Use Twitter to search for job candidates when recruiting for
companies

Post “in-demand” and “hot jobs” on Twitter to increase the
number of potential job applicants for key business clients

Help small and mid-size companies create Twitter strategies

Check out http://twitter.com/MO_Workers44


 Flickr - Photo Sharing Application
 Message Boards – a segment of a Web site that
hosts an open discussion among users
 Podcasts—Short recordings about a variety of topics
that can be purchased, downloaded for free, or posted
on web page
 Blogs - A portion of a website (or a separate entity
altogether like Twitter) in which an author posts
discussion topics or information to be shared with
followers
 Personal Blogs = Online “Diary”
 Organizational blogs = Information sharing/news updates


• Have staff present small bits of business information on
podcasts (no more than five minutes is best)

• Upload podcasts to all social media sites

• Have management create podcasts to share updates with all
workforce center staff to keep them informed about how
businesses are hiring

• Have management staff create training podcasts to help staff
improve performance in specific areas – building skills
aligned with DOL policies & recommendations


1. Assign staff to write ―business services‖ blogs to address the most
common issues that stump local area companies

2. Have businesses make blog posts (e.g., describe the skills they are
looking for in job candidates)

3. Post the blogs on all computers – staff and resource room and upload
the blogs to all social media sites

4. Make sure the blogs encourage comments from the audience, have a
forward and share functions

5. Publish a list of business related social media blogs for staff and
business customers to keep them abreast of latest information –
provide blog links on your Web site


Some topics to follow include:

• Economy
• Economic development
• Green jobs/economy
• Recruiting and hiring
• STEM
• Educational reform
• Regional collaboration


What’s your
personal
commitment to
continuous
learning?

Experts say you
must log 10,000
hours of learning to
become a Social
Media expert and
maintain that status


1. Create a list of new business services resources
2. Build social media learning into daily work (15 minutes a day)
3. Ask businesses what they want & develop toolbox of new tools
& products for them
4. Coordinate with job seeker services staff and share your
learning to improve job candidate preparation


Sandi Hastings
Sandra Hastings Associates
Contact Information:
Phone: 860-643-0624

www.sandrahastingsassociates.com

Hastings.Sandra@gmail.com

Follow my blog http://sandrahastings.wordpress.com/
Become one of my LinkedIn connections and introduce me to your
friends - http://www.linkedin.com/in/sandrahastings


Social Media for Business Customers

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