1. Getting the most out ofsocial media Andrew Armitage Armitage Online Limited Kendal College 26th January 2011
2. Andrew Armitage Armitage Online Limited Digital consultancy Website design Web applications Online marketing Social media Clients include Zeffirellis Ambleside Windermere Lake Cruises Various hotels
3. Getting the most out of social media Do we know what social media is? Why social media? What do we want to get out of social media? How can we achieve ‘it’? How will we know when we’ve achieved it? The answers may not be clear cut – and will almost certainly be different for everyone in the room.
4. What are social networks? Forums Blogs Multi-media sharing Feeds Bookmarking Comment platforms
8. The impacts of social media Fundamental shift in online communication All major sites now have a social influence Social networks and blogs now account for 20 per cent of the total time spent online.
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13. The social media landscape TripAdvisor 41.6m visits over 40m reviews 6m photos uploaded Linked In Roughly 1% of users are responsible for 34% of all visits! 62% are passers-by and responsible for 18% of visits
15. “Consumers can now influence the marketdirectly. If companiesblow it, they may never get their chance”
16. “we don’t have a choice whether we do social media, the question is how well we do it” Erik Qualman socialnomics.net
17. Twitter Micro-blog 140 characters to share your message (tweet) People follow each other Use ‘#hashtags’ tags to categorise your posts or emotion Re-tweet (RT) to share posts you like and support your peers Informal conversation
18. Facebook Join networks organised by city/workplace/school Engage with interest groups Set up a business page or pay per click advertising Add ‘social connectors’ to your website Most effective for B2C businesses Can business audiences even get to Facebook? The “noticeboard”
19. Linked In Business oriented Join groups and engage in discussion with peers Link to your blog and twitter feed Add presentations about your company My CV
20. Slideshare upload presentations add to your linked in profile easy to upload and share content in word, powerpoint, pdf and more add pre-recorded audio – slide casting
21. Rules of participation Participate in conversation Make new connections Help people Listen to your audience Don’t block the competition! Gently ‘feed’ your other online spaces
22. Rules of engagement Users aren’t necessarily engaged Allow customers and followers to engage in their own time Review individual behaviour and respond accordingly Don’t get too bogged down with broad metrics Engagement could be more valuable than conversion
23. What should I say? Reference interesting statistics Share your followers posts Link to your other online profiles Occasional special offers Add value to your followers Don’t bore people – say something remarkable! Develop a content strategy
25. What about the impact of mobile? 50% of the mobile Internet traffic in the UK is for Facebook Social apps Location based services with GPS positioning The ability to quickly upload photos and links The ability to share anything instantly
27. What social media is not! A sales pitch PR Search engine optimisation …but it does support the above
28. What goes online stays online! Messages should be consistent Always be transparent The professional/personal divide Dissatisfied customers now have a very public voice It’s now more expensive to remove content than create it
29. Be ‘on brand’ Support your brand in all you say/do Use corporate and personal accounts Add value to your followers Who will be ‘the voice’?
33. new leadsGo where your audience is Use tools that are relevant for that audience
34. Social media barriers High risk Bad press Not saying the right things Not enough time However… There’s a risk to take by not engaging People can still say bad things about you Is saying nothing the right answer? Speculate to accumulate
36. Making the most of Twitter Join in conversations Offer your opinions RT tweets by leading industry thinkers Acknowledge the value offered by others Context and content is vital Use #hashtags to link to your subject Set searches for your subject area
37. Making the most of Facebook Secure your custom URL eg. facebook.com/armitageonline Facebook.com/usernames Customise your profile page Add some glue! Encourage participation and sharing Don’t make unreasonable demands on people’s downtime Add a ‘Like’ button to your website
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39. Tools of the trade Make use of a social media ‘client’ Tweetdeck Hootsuite Add all your profiles Update from a single place Check and update regularly Monitor Google Analytics Raven Tools
40. Measuring your success Google analytics Number of ‘likes’, ‘views’ and ‘followers’ Social media ‘sentiment’ tracking Direct campaign analysis
41. “social media is visible to everyone. A small mistake can soon go ‘viral’ causing huge damage to your brand”
46. Your own website Make sure the content is up to date Use landing pages – how strong is the funnel? Do the links work? Does it support your digital strategy? Is your website optimised for the search engines Your website will be the ultimate authority on your business
47. Getting started http://twitter.com http://facebook.com http://linkedin.com http://slideshare.net http://wordpress.com and for those looking for more information… http://socialnomics.com http://mashable.com
48. Summary Linked In for business discussion Twitter for customer/peer engagement and conversation Facebook is the notice board Use these to feed other channels such as Your website Online video Email signups Blog posts
49. What we now know Social media affects us all whether we like it or not Social media has unrivalled power and reach We should have some ideas of why we want to use social media and therefore some idea of what we want to achieve We know this is a marathon, not a sprint Find your audience, and engage with them.
50. “Don’t miss out on the conversation… …even if you just mostly listen in”
51. Where to follow me… http://uk.linkedin.com/in/andrewarmitage http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewarmitage http://www.slideshare.net/aarmita @aarmitage and @armitageonline on twitter awarmitage on facebook www.armitageonline.co.uk andrew@armitageonline.co.uk 015395 61956
