11. @ # RT A hashtagis a keyword with the “#” added immediately in front of the word (e.g. #Biggby) and helps describe an item and allows it to be found again by browsing or searching. These are included within a tweet. A Retweetis reposting another users tweet. This is denoted by putting a “RT” in front of the tweet. Replies are tweets sent to another twitter user. By placing “@” in front of a Twitter user name (e.g. @joshpremuda) a message is sent to that user – but can still be publically read.
15. Foursquar: a mobile application; cross between a friend-finder, social city-guide, and game.
16. Users “check-in” to places using their phone to earn points, badges and mayorships. CHECK-IN
17. Points are earned by checking in to places. Compete with your friends and other to earn the most points. Badges are earned by multiple check-ins, staying out late, eating pizza for 20+ days, and a number of other ways. Mayors are reserved for the one person who has checked-in to the venue more times than anyone else over a 60-day period.
19. EXAMPLE Monique’s Chocolates in Palo Alto, CA have acquired over 50 new customers and saw well over 100 redemptions as a result of running a Special Offer over the past seven weeks: Running the same Special in the local newspaper (cost of ad = $300!) has acquired only one customer with one redemption from that print ad. Source: Foursquare, July 2010
20. “ EXAMPLE AJ Bombers, a burger joint in Milwaukee, joined up with FourSquare last summer by promising a free burger and fries to anyone who dethroned its "mayor"—a title FourSquare bestows upon the person who "checks in" to an establishment the most via the free mobile application. The restaurant also ran a promotion where customers could get a free cookie by posting a recommendation to their FourSquare profiles of a menu item or something to do while they're at the eatery, such as play a board game. AJ co-owner Joe Sorge says sales of menu items promoted on FourSquare have risen roughly 30% since the restaurant began using the service. ” Source: Wall Street Journal, February 23, 2010
21. “Now that I’m on Facebook, there just aren’t that many mountains to climb”
I’m Josh Premuda. I consult companies on digital strategy. I work with businesses to find the best ways to use technology for their business. Today, I want to talk to you about social media. Some of you, I’m sure, are quite adept to Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites, and some of you may not be as comfortable. Hopefully there will be some things for everyone as I talk.I’m going to hit the highlights of things and I will stick around afterwards for a bit to answer any questions you might have for me.
Social Media is a conversation supported by (online) tools.Social Media can be a number of things: Videos, Podcasts, Blogs, Pictures, Tweets.Online tools are changing how we interact with customers. Things like LinkedIn, Twitter, Foursquare, YouTube, Flickr and Facebook.It can be a little intimidating and overwhelming, but I’m here to take some of the pressure off.So first…Why should you care?
You should care because of Digital Natives – the people, kids if you will, who have never known a world without computers, the internet or cellphones (gasp!)50% of the world’s population is under 30. These are the digital natives. If we don’t go to them, we’ll miss out on tremendous opportunities. These are the future coffee drinkers.
96% of digital natives are on a social network. This is their preferred method of communication. If you want to reach them, this is how we need to do it.
The writing is on the wall…social media is here to stay.Before I get too far, I’d like to see how many people have facebook accounts? Twitter accounts? Foursquare accounts? I’m going to touch on these three services.Some of this may be basic for the more fluent social media users, but I want to emphasize a few points that will be helpful for all of us in Social Media
Social media is fundamentally changing in the way we communicate. I want to help you as business owners to be best suited for this changeSocial Media has given individuals a platform to share their thoughts, their knowledge, and their identity not only with people you know but with a larger audience across geographical boundariesSocial Media has become an individual’s life stream. From what the individual does to likes or dislikes, to his or her interests, your thought process, Social Media allows you to share this with the world. Present information in several waysUse multiple communication techniquesCommunication can be one-to-one or one-to-many.
Every good conversation starts with listening.Participate by listening first, conversations second, controlling never. It’s essentially the old adage of listen twice as much as you talk. The goal is to build relationships and conversations there.
Focus on the social aspect, not the media. Another way to put this is that while it may seem like marketing your brand and product to your followers seems like the obvious way to utilize social media, it’s more important to engage in a conversation. Just be open and honest. Most importantly be yourself. SM and PR are cousins, but constant messaging to friends/followers/connections is a no-no.This is where the culture of BIGGBY can shine. BIGGBY is a fun and social environment, so show it through social media
Conversations about your brand are going to happen with or without you. So wouldn’t you rather be included in the conversation?Engage in relationships and connections.So what should you be doing? Here are what I think as the 3 main players in social media: twitter, facebook and foursquare.
Twitter is a microblogging, social networking service allowing you to post, respond and monitor quick conversationsThe messages sent on Twitter are Tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author's profile page and delivered to the author's subscribers who are known as followers.Messages can be replied to, reposted (retweeted) or just read. And, not to get too far ahead of ourselves, there are also hashtags which if used in unison will be the pound sign with a word or letters immidiately following creating a searchable category for that tweet.
Here is the basic lingo for Twitter. A tweet is a message that you send via Twitter.Replies are tweets sent to another twitter user. By placing “@” in front of a Twitter user name (e.g. @joshpremuda) a message is sent to that user – but can still be publically read.A hashtagis a keyword with the “#” added immediately in front of the word (e.g. #Biggby) and helps describe an item and allows it to be found again by browsing or searching. These are included within a tweet.A Retweetis reposting another users tweet. This is denoted by putting a “RT” in front of the tweet.There are a number of tools out there to make your life easier with Twitter. Monitoring software allows you to keep track of all references to Biggby or Biggby East Lansing or Coffee or whatever you’re interested in tracking. These softwares also make the conversations easier to maintain as well as listening to what’s going on. Everyone has their favorites and there are a ton.
In this case I directly sent a message to BiggbyBob asking about the chai tea you sell. You retweeted my response and answered my question allowing anyone else who had a similar question to learn the answer. Quick answer and it shows the accessibility of Biggby Bob. In this case it works like a phone call would but there is a benefit that many people, not just the person asking the question, will now know that chai can be purchsed. If you’re looking for someone to pattern or learn from on Twitter, I’d suggest paying attention to your own BiggbyBob. He does a great job of responding, being open and tweeting people.
Facebook is a social networking service. And frankly it’s becoming little bit of everything. A place to post messages, photos and more.It’s a tool designed to help you stay connected with your friends. They’ve created a whole set of tools for businesses and brands to mimic the personal experience.Great way to gather a community of users for market research, customer service, community messaging
With a little technical help, you can setup a custom landing page for visitors of your facebook page. You should encourage people to “like” your status, check-in with Places.Here are a couple of examples of custom pages. I stuck with a coffee theme here, so please don’t boo me as I chose some competitors. I really want to show you how some others are using facebook to keep the content and statuses fresh, as well as encouraging customer participation
Foursquare is probably my favorite of the social networks and the one where I see the most benefit for business owners. Foursquare is a mobile application that is a cross between a friend-finder, a social city-guide, and a game that rewards you for doing interesting things.
Foursquare lets you "check in" to a place when you're there, tell friends where you are, and track the history of where you've been--and who you've been there with.
Foursquare challenges you to explore your city in new and fun ways by earning points, winning mayorships, and unlocking badges and specials for trying new places and revisiting old favorites.Points are earned by checking in to places. Compete with your friends and other to earn the most points.Badges are earned by multiple check-ins, staying out late, eating pizza for 20+ days, and a number of other ways.Mayors are reserved for the one person who has checked-in to the venue more times than anyone else over a 60-day period.
Businesses are leveraging Foursquare through incentives. Users are encouraged to check-in, become mayor and earn discounts, find coupons and other things. There’s really not much maintenance for business owners. You set up your program, enter a special and let your customers show you when they earn the incentive.Here are a couple recent examples. Go to the GAP, check in, and show your check-in to the clerk for 25% off. Mayors of Whole Foods get a $25 gift card each month. Here are a couple more instances where smaller businesses are putting Foursquare to use.
Monique’s Chocolates in Palo Alto, CA have acquired over 50 new customers and saw well over 100 redemptions as a result of running a Special Offer over the past seven weeks:Running the same Special in the local newspaper (cost of ad = $300!) has acquired only one customer with one redemption from that print ad.
AJ Bombers, a burger joint in Milwaukee, joined up with FourSquare last summer by promising a free burger and fries to anyone who dethroned its "mayor"—a title FourSquare bestows upon the person who "checks in" to an establishment the most via the free mobile application.The restaurant also ran a promotion where customers could get a free cookie by posting a recommendation to their FourSquare profiles of a menu item or something to do while they're at the eatery, such as play a board game.AJ co-owner Joe Sorge says sales of menu items promoted on FourSquare have risen roughly 30% since the restaurant began using the service.
This is the wrong attitude. Getting everything setup is the easy part. Participating, engaging and keeping up with your customers is hard work.
You get what you put into it. If you put the time and energy into participating in social media – engaging people, joining conversations – and do so honestly, you’ll reap the rewardsAs you begin with social media, I suggest taking 15 minutes at the beginning and end of your day to see what’s going on, send a tweet, respond to friend requests and just get comfortable.
Don’t be scared. Be yourself. Listen. And be honest.
Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions and I will stick around a little bit for additional questions.