Social media is increasingly important for businesses. Over 800 million people use Facebook and over 100 million use Twitter monthly. 91% of large companies use social media for marketing. Businesses use social media for various purposes like lead generation, customer service, and product development. Effective corporate blogs from companies like Starbucks and Disney help build brands and engage customers. Custom content like blog posts, videos and newsletters on social media can boost sales and reach new customers.

1. Social Media In Business
Why & How Businesses are Going Social
Gayle Christopher, PhD
@gchristo | http://www.gaylechristopher.com

2. Owned, Paid, and Earned Media

3. As of December 2011
• 800 million FB users
• 100 million active Twitter users
• 39 million tumblr blogs
• 70 million Wordpress blogs
• Social networking accounts for 16.6% of all time spent online
• 9 out of 10 US internet users visited a SN site in a month
• 1 in 6 minutes online is spent on a SN site
2.4 Billion social network accounts worldwide

6. Also, lead generation, customer relationship management,
product development

7. Overall, 91% of the Inc. 500 are using social media to market their brands.

9. paid media

10. Also, inbound-sourced (SEO) leads close at more than 8X those of outbound-sourced leads.

12. How are businesses getting social media done:

14. 12 Reasons Businesses Should Blog
1. Search Engine Bennies
2. Marketing Differentiation
3. Infinite Search Life
4. Virtual Sales Call
5. Content Engine
6. Direct Sales
7. Indirect Sales
8. Public Relations
9. Product Development
10. Crisis Management
11. Customer Support
12. Reach

15. • 52% of consumers say blogs impacted
purchase decisions
• 57% of marketers have gotten new customers
via their blogs
• 42% of consumers look to content for info about
potential purchases
• 61% of consumers are more likely to purchase
from businesses that offer custom content
• 19% of beauty buyers who made purchases
based on blog posts say they stumbled on the
content via search

17. Types of Custom Content:
Blog posts
Newsletters
White Papers
Presentations/Webinars
Videos
Podcasts
Curated Lists/RSS feeds
Infographics
Apps/Games
Promotions

18. Examples of Effective Corporate Blogs
Starbucks (New product development, engagement, crowdsourcing)
Whole Foods (Brand image, direct sales)
Patagonia (Brand image, community engagement)
Marriott (Customer satisfaction, sales, crisis management)
Fiskars (Customer engagement, brand awareness)
Disney Parks (behind the scenes)
Flickr (community engagement)
Network Solutions Small Business (relevant, topic-specific information)

19. Top 10 corporate blogs 2011
Seomoz.com
Kissmetrics.com
Compassion International
Hubspot
Flowtown
Arment Dietrich
Exact Target
Playstation
Radian6
Webtrends
Wildfire
Source: http://socialfresh.com/top-corporate-blogs/ (based on calls to action, content, consistency, and audience)
See also: http://www.invesp.com/blog-rank/Corporate_Blogs

20. Resources
http://www.umassd.edu/cmr/studiesandresearch/2012inc500socialmediaupdate/
http://blog.hubspot.com/Portals/249/docs/ebooks/the_2012_state_of_inbound_marketing.pdf
http://blogs.forrester.com/interactive_marketing/2009/12/defining-earned-owned-and-paid-
media.html
http://technorati.com/social-media/article/state-of-the-blogosphere-2011-part1/
http://socialfresh.com/top-corporate-blogs/
http://www.invesp.com/blog-rank/Corporate_Blogs
http://www.sysmos.com
http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Presentations_Whitepapers/2012/2012_US_Digital_Futur
http://royal.pingdom.com/2012/01/17/internet-2011-in-numbers/

21. Social Media In Business
Why & How Businesses are Going Social
Gayle Christopher, PhD
@gchristo | http://www.gaylechristopher.com