Social media best practices, guidelines, and policies for businesses, why social media is essential for businesses today, and how to effectively integrate it with other business activities. Learn more about Dell Social Media here: http://dell.to/11DoZIp

1. 5 Steps to
Social Media for Business
Emmet Porter & Connie Bensen
DellTrainingCenter.com

2. www.DellTrainingCenter.com
Basics for Success in Social Media
1. Purpose for using social media for business
2. Importance of having guidelines and policies
3. Importance of growing your social media community
4. The importance of a content strategy
5. Integrating social media into other business activities

3. 1. Why Social Media?
Social media is being used by businesses around the world to
communicate with customers, suppliers, partners and the media.
Social media can support traditional forms of communications in a
wide variety of ways.
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4. Basic Statistics
Facebook – 955 million users (June 2012)
YouTube – over 700 videos shared each minute (YouTube 2012)
Twitter – over 140 million users (2012)
• Social media fosters a genuine connection between a company
and its customers
• Consumers gather 60% of information they need to make a
purchase before speaking to a salesperson
• Positive word of mouth can be enhanced by building relationships
with online influencers
• A fifth of journalists use Twitter for sourcing stories
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5. Using Social Media effectively
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• Be Transparent
• Be a good
ambassador
• Follow the law
• Be Respectful
• If it makes you
think twice,
stop!
• Fix mistakes
• Add value
• Think of social
media as a
conversation
• Be interactive
and proactive
• Don’t brag

6. 2. Guidelines and Policies
Social media enables us to engage in dialogue, provide and exchange
information, and build understanding. But like every communication channel
you must take care to use it responsibly and have a set of guidelines for
employees.
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7. 3. Growing Your Community
Managing social media is like tending a garden. You can’t leave it untended
and you have to work hard to grow and maintain your social media
presence.
You also need to ensure that you have a cohesive presence across all social
media channels.
For example: If you upload a product video to YouTube, then you should
write a blog post about it, Tweet a link to it on Twitter, share it on Facebook.
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8. 4. Creating a Content Strategy
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A comprehensive content strategy requires planning and
leverages many different types of content.
News &
Events
Expert Insight
Product /
services info
Opinion /
Comment
Time sensitive content based on facts, events &
happenings
Deeper knowledge from industry experts & thought
leaders
Tell your network about your products & services
but avoid the hard sell.
Commentary on what others are saying. You can be
controversial but objectivity is key.

9. 5. Integration with other Business Activities
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Social Media works best when integrated with all other
business activities.
• It can tie in with other online marketing activities.
• It can help promote events.
• It can reduce recruitment costs through social media profiles promoting
the company as a great place to work.
• It can help spread content assets, allowing them to be shared across
social networks.
• It can help drive traffic.
• It can be used to gain feedback, as well as signal a crisis looming.

10. Ready to learn more?
You can find a complete course covering these topics at
the Dell Training Center: DellTrainingCenter.com
We also have courses on:
• Twitter
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Blogs
Dell also has a Social Media Toolkit which includes best
practices and case studies.
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