WSI Social Media Strategy Kit

Social media best practices, templates,
checklists, tools and resources

A Beginner’s Guide to Launching a
Social Media Strategy for Your Company

TABLE OF CONTENTS

WSI Social Media Strategy Kit
Introduction:
Why Does Your Company Need a Social Presence? 4
Before You Begin:
Educate Yourself and Your Staff 5
Ensure a Social Media Policy is in Place (template available) 7
Brand Protection and Consistency 10
General Social Media Guidelines 12
Where To Begin:
Choose the Right Portals for Your Industry 14
Overview of the Top 5 Social Portals 15
Top 5 Social Portals: 16
Blogs: Brief Overview 17
5 Reasons Why You Should Have a Company Blog 17
7 Secrets to Successful Blogging 18
Blogging Tools and Resources 20
Facebook: Brief Overview 21
How to Leverage Facebook in Your Company 22
5 Best Practices on Promoting Your Facebook Fan Page 24
The Difference Between Profiles and Pages 25
Facebook Tools and Resources 25
Getting Started With Facebook Checklist 26
YouTube: Brief Overview 27
Ideas on Promoting Your Company on YouTube 27
4 Steps to Getting Your Videos Ranked Higher 28
Online Video Production Tips 29
YouTube Tools and Resources 29
Twitter: Brief Overview 30
How to Leverage Twitter in Your Company 31
5 Ways to Get People to Follow You on Twitter 32
Important Considerations When Using Twitter 33
Twitter Tools and Resources 33
Getting Started With Twitter Checklist 34
LinkedIn: Brief Overview 35
How to Leverage LinkedIn in Your Company 35
10 Ways to Fully Leverage Your LinkedIn Profile 37
Important Considerations Regarding Your Profile Picture 40
LinkedIn Tools and Resources 40
Getting Started With LinkedIn Checklist 41

TABLE OF CONTENTS

WSI Social Media Strategy Kit (cont…)
Social Media Do’s and Don’ts:
Profile Creation 42
Community Building 42
Video and Image Sharing 42
Status Updates and Messages 42
Blog Posts and Comments 43
Privacy and Confidentiality 43
Social Media and PR:
Benefits of Conducting PR 44
7 Steps to Launching a Social Media PR Campaign 45
Optimizing Your Press Release 46
Checklists and Templates 47
Understanding Press Release Boilerplates 57
Free Press Release Distribution Sites 58
PR Tools and Resources 59
Measuring Social:
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Metrics 60
Monitoring Social:
Monitoring Your Online Brand Reputation (free tools available) 61
Social Damage Control:
Digital Crisis Management 62
Conclusion:
Locate an Internet Marketing Consultant 63
Access WSI’s Case Studies Portfolio 63
About WSI 64

INTRODUCTION
Why Does Your Company Need a Social Presence?
In today’s world full of new media and digital communication technologies, companies of all sizes
and industries have a huge opportunity to expand the reach of their messages using social media.
Social media has the potential to attract and hold the attention
of a vast demographic of people, especially those who have
grown numb to traditional media. Below are some other benefits
your company will experience by utilizing social media:

• Affordable Marketing – There’s no need for a large
budget to conduct social media marketing
• Viral Nature – Users can easily share your messages
with their friends with a click of a button
• Enhances Brand – Through social media you can build
and enhance your online reputation
•Builds Credibility – User generated endorsements are
more credibility than traditional advertising
•Increases Traffic – A well-planned social media strategy
will drive more traffic to your website
•Engages Customers – Connect with your customers and
respond to their feedback in real-time

What You Will Learn from this Social Media Strategy Kit
Though the majority of companies are aware of the benefits associated with social media, many
have not established a social media strategy. Why? It could be due to limited resources or simply
because they do not know where to begin.

To help your company get started with social media, WSI has created this Social Media Strategy Kit,
which contains best practices, checklists, templates, tools and resources so your company can:

 Educate yourself and your staff on social media
 Ensure social media policies and guidelines are established
 Ensure your brand is protected and consistent
 Create a social presence and community
 Utilize social media in your PR endeavours
 Measure your social activities
 Monitor your online brand reputation
 Establish a digital crisis management strategy for social damage control

It’s vital that your company stay up-to-speed with today’s evolving digital media technologies. This
way, you can monitor what customers are saying about your brand online, but more importantly,
leverage these new media tools to create and foster positive conversations around your brand.
Copyright ©2009 by WSI WSI Social Media Strategy Kit Page 4

BEFORE YOU BEGIN
Educate Yourself and Your Staff
A well-planned and properly implemented social media strategy can
drastically transform a company’s online brand. It has the capacity to
turn a local, small-scale business into an international brand name. On
the same token, it can destroy a company’s reputation just as easily if
that company chooses to ignore what customers are saying about them
online.

A better option is to be proactive and get on the social portals before
your customers start talking about you and, if possible, before your
competitors start utilizing social media, which will put you in a leading
position. But before a social media strategy can be implemented, the
first step is to educate yourself and your staff members on social media.

Appoint a Team of Social Media Gurus
Your company’s senior management executives must select a team who will become your in-house
social media gurus. These individuals will operate as your internal social media researchers, who
will go out, get educated on social media and share that knowledge with the rest of your staff.
Qualities to look for when selecting your team of social media gurus include:

 Those who are curious, innovative and display a strong interest in new media tools
 Those who practice social media in their personal lives
 Those who are self-learners and can teach themselves to stay up-to-speed
 Those who are comfortable training and educating their peers

Depending on the size of your company, it is recommended that you select a minimum of 3-4
individuals to compile your team of social media gurus. This way, multiple people in your company
are equipped with social media intelligence, which is better than relying solely on one person.

Enable Your Social Media Gurus to Get Educated
There are a variety of marketing agencies out there that offer a wide range of training
opportunities, including conferences, hands-on workshops and online training courses. In addition,
there are a number of free online tutorials covering the basics of social media . If you’re serious
about social media, it would be a good idea to invest in educating your team of social media gurus.

Since your team will likely be a group of curious, innovative self-learners, commission them to
research social media basics online. Once the basic principles are understood, take advantage of
external training opportunities available. Don’t think of sending your staff to these events as an
expense, but rather as an investment into your company’s social media strategy.


BEFORE YOU BEGIN
Educate Yourself and Your Staff (cont…)
Have Your Gurus Educate the Rest of the Staff
Though not every staff member in your Marketing Team will be actively implementing your social
media strategy, it’s wise to have your staff get educated on social media anyway. Therefore, once
your team of gurus are well trained on social media, have them train your other staff members on
what they’ve learned. There will likely be two levels of training required.

Level 1: High Level Overview for General Knowledge

As discussed, not every member of your Marketing Team will be active in the social space.
However, they should know and understand the basics of social media. So this group of staff
members should receive basic, high level training from your gurus (benefits of social media,
overview of the major social portals, tools and resources available, etc.). Some members of the
senior management team will likely attend this training.

Level 2: Advanced, Hands-on Training for Implementation Purposes

Within your Marketing Team, you will need to establish a “Social Media Team” (which will include
your gurus). This will be the group that will implement your company’s social media strategy, so
they will need to learn the ins and outs of these new media tools. In addition to the high level
basics, your Social Media Team must receive an in-depth, hands-on training session from your
gurus, as they will be on the frontline of your social media strategy.

Document Your Training
Be sure to document all your training content and create documents similar to Standard Operating
Procedures (SOPs). An SOP is a detailed description of commonly used procedures, which will be
required when it’s time to implement your social media strategy.

By logging all your training content, your company relies on processes and documentation, rather
than people. This way, if a staff member is away from the office or leaves your company, you still
have documentation of all the knowledge that you invested in.

TIP: Make sure all staff members sign an agreement stating that all material
they learn while attending company sponsored training courses must only be
used and practiced solely for the company’s purposes and objectives.


BEFORE YOU BEGIN
Ensure a Social Media Policy is in Place
What is a Social Media Policy?

A social media policy is a document that outlines the corporate guidelines and principles of
communicating with the public using social media platforms. The policy applies to all employees
and is effective at all times – both during and after work hours.

Importance of Establishing a Social Media Policy

Whether or not your company is active in the social space, your employees are likely interacting on
the social portals - even when they’re not on the job. Therefore, regardless of how active your
company is in the social space, you must ensure you establish a corporate social media policy.

Your employees must be aware that any mention of your company (whether in professional or
personal use of social media) must be done in a responsible manner. It is vital that your staff
understands that all content associated with them must align with your company’s values and
professional standards. Also, a social media policy will reiterate for employees that company loyalty
extends to all forms of communication, both inside and outside the workplace.

Tips for Writing a Social Media Policy
State an objective. Tell employees right from TIP: Use the template on the following
the start what they will take away from reading page as a basis for creating to your own
the policy. This will usually be covered in the corporate social media policy.
“overview” section of the policy.

Specify branding standards. Include information on how your company’s brand should be
represented in the social portals, including corporate colors, fonts, logos, etc.

Outline appropriate communication practices. Employees should know how to communicate on
the social portals, both on and off duty, to responsibly represent your company’s brand.

Discuss confidentiality. Be sure to educate your employees on the importance of protecting your
company’s intellectual property.

Update your policy regularly. The social media world changes by the minute. New tools and
applications are introduced to social network users virtually everyday. Therefore, your policy must
evolve on a regular basis to keep pace with the changing social environment.


BEFORE YOU BEGIN
Social Media Policy Template

Click here to download this social media policy template.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN
Brand Protection and Consistency
Registering Your Brand and Trademarks

When your company launched your website, you had to register a branded domain name (ie:
ABCCompany.com). It is equally important to register your brand and any trademarks you have on
the social portals - even if you are not yet active in the social space.

People are registering for usernames and social media accounts every day. It is vital that you
protect your brand and trademarks by creating company branded accounts on all social media
portals even if you are not utilizing these portals yet. This way, when you are ready to embark on
your social media strategy, you can be confident that no one else is using your brand name. Also, if
you have any trademarks, it would be a good idea to register and protect those as well.

Some companies have failed to reserve their brands, and as a result, other users have gone ahead
and registered accounts using their brand names. For example, Microsoft does not own
http://www.youtube.com/Microsoft, a channel that has almost 20,000 views. Also,
http://www.youtube.com/McDonalds doesn't belong to McDonald's, but to a company that is
using the channel to promote their own line of burgers.

Defining Your Social Presence Look and Feel

Your company likely has a branding policy, which outlines corporate branding standards, and a style
guide, which defines your corporate colors and fonts. In all of your marketing materials, you likely
follow these guides to keep your company’s look and feel consistent. So why should your social
presence be any different?

Your social media presence should be treated like any other marketing endeavor. It should consist
of the same look and feel as your company website and marketing materials. This way, when
visitors migrate from your website to your corporate blog, Twitter page or YouTube channel, they
won’t feel like they’ve landed on a totally different page. A consistent look and feel for your social
pages will give visitors a consistent experience with your brand.

Creating Company Branded Templates

When creating a corporate blog, you generally have freedom to customize your blog’s look and
feel. Some social media platforms, such as Twitter and YouTube, allow for the same freedom. In
these portal, you can upload a personalized template to represent your social page. In such cases,
you would need to have a company template created for you, which consists of your logo and
corporate colors and fonts.


BEFORE YOU BEGIN
Brand Protection and Consistency (cont…)
Sample Branded Templates (Twitter)

Below are two branded Twitter templates that WSI Corporate created.

Below is how one of the Twitter templates appears when it is in use.


BEFORE YOU BEGIN
General Social Media Guidelines
Each social media platform has its own rules and regulations but the social media guidelines listed
below are a standard list that applies to all social media interactions. It is important that you
enforce these within your staff to ensure all employees follow these guiding principles.

Be Transparent
Your honesty—or dishonesty—will be quickly noticed in the social media environment. If you are
conversing about your products or services, use your real name, identify that you are representing
your company and be clear about your role. If you have a vested interest in something you are
discussing, then be the first to point it out.

Be Judicious
Make sure your efforts to be transparent don't violate your company’s privacy and communication
guidelines. If you want to write about the competition, make sure you know what you are talking
about and that you have the appropriate permission. Also be smart about protecting yourself, your
privacy, and your company’s proprietary and confidential information. What you publish is widely
accessible and will be around for a long time, so consider the content carefully.

Write What You Know
Make sure you write and post about your areas of expertise, especially as related to your company
and products/services. Also, write in first person. If you publish to a website outside your
company’s site, please use a disclaimer like this: "The postings on this site are my own and don't
necessarily represent ABC Company’s positions, strategies, or opinions". Also, please respect your
company’s brand, trademark, copyright, fair use, trade secrets (including your company’s processes
and methodologies), confidentiality, and financial disclosure laws. Remember, in the end you are
personally responsible for your content.

Perception is Reality
In online social networks, the lines between public and private, personal and professional are
blurred. Just by identifying yourself as a representative from your company, you are creating
perceptions about your expertise and about the company. Be sure that all content associated with
you is consistent with your work and with your company’s values and professional standards.

It's a Conversation
Talk to your readers like you would talk to real people in professional situations. In other words,
avoid overly pedantic or "composed" language. Don't be afraid to bring in your own personality and
say what's on your mind. Consider content that's open-ended and invites response.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN
General Social Media Guidelines (cont…)
Are You Adding Value?
There are millions of words out there. The best way to get yours read is to write things that people
will value. Social communication should help your customers, partners and co-workers. It should be
thought-provoking and build a sense of community. If it helps people improve knowledge, build
their businesses, solve problems, or understand your company better—then it’s adding value.

Your Responsibility
What you write is ultimately your responsibility. Participation in social networks as a representative
of your company should be treated seriously and with respect for your company’s brand. Please
also follow the terms and conditions for any of the social portal sites.

Create Some Excitement TIP: For a summary of these
guidelines, refer to the “Social
Share with the world the exciting things your company is
Media Do’s and Don’ts”
doing—and open up the channels to learn from others.
section on page 40.
Be a Leader
There can be a fine line between healthy debate and inappropriate reaction. Do not disparage your
competitors, and understand that in the event you receive criticism of complaint know that you do
not need to respond to every single one. Try to frame what you write to invite differing points of
view without inflaming others. Once the words are out there, you can't really get them back. And
once an inflammatory discussion gets going, it's hard to stop.

Did You Screw Up?
If you make a mistake, admit it. Be upfront and be quick with your correction. If you're posting to a
blog, you may choose to modify an earlier post—just make it clear that you have done so.

If It Gives You Pause, Pause
If you're about to publish something that makes you even the slightest bit uncomfortable, don't
shrug it off and hit 'send.' Take a minute to review these guidelines and try to figure out what's
bothering you, then fix it. If you're still unsure, you might want to discuss it with your senior
management or your social media consultant. Ultimately, what you publish is yours—as is the
responsibility. So be sure.


WHERE TO BEGIN
Choose the Right Portals for Your Industry
Define Your Social Media Goals

The first place to start when choosing the right social media portals for your company is to define
the goals you would like to accomplish in your social media strategy. This will help outline your
social media roadmap.

For example, if you are looking to connect with your customers online and send them quick
updates about your company, then Twitter and Facebook would be ideal simply because of its
ability to push messages to your community instantly. If you are looking to educate your customers
by posting regular articles, then creating a company blog should be your first social media priority.
If you have video commercials you would like to publish online, then obviously YouTube would be
your preferred portal, and so on.

Go to Where Your Audience Is
The next thing to look at is where your audience is most active. This will vary depending on your
industry. To help you do this, you may want to examine the following graphic. Below is a matrix
illustrating how leading Social Media Experts from WSI ranked the top social portals for each
industry based on their experiences working with clients.


WHERE TO BEGIN
Overview of the Top 5 Social Portals
Get the Basic High Level Knowledge

The below graphic provides a high level overview of the top 5 social portals: Twitter, LinkedIn,
Facebook, YouTube and blogs. Learning general knowledge on the target audience, message types,
message preferences, hours to manage and business benefits of these portals will help you select
which ones you should focus on first.


TOP 5 SOCIAL PORTALS
Introduction
Emerging platforms for online collaboration are fundamentally changing the way companies
operate, offering new ways to engage with customers, colleagues and the world at large. It's a new
model for interaction and offers you the opportunity to build stronger, more successful business
relationships, showcase your products and services and help you increase brand exposure. It is also
a way for you to take part in global conversations related to your industry.

This section will cover the 5 most popular social media platforms:

Blogs

You will learn an overview of each platform, as well as:

• Best practices on use
• Important considerations
• Examples of how the portals can be used to raise your company’s online profile
• Tools and resources available
• How you can get started

Whether you are just getting started in social media or have been using it for months or even years,
this section will provide you with some great foundational information on how to effectively
leverage social media in your everyday business activities.


Blogs: Brief Overview
What is a Blog?
A blog is type of website that is geared towards specific topics with a goal of providing its audience
with frequent postings of information. But there are some questions with regards to the best
practices of blogging and what needs to be done in order for your company blog to be successful.

Companies would do well to incorporate a blog into their company website, so that their site can
benefit from the fresh and updated content they add to their blog, which search engines love.

5 Reasons Why You Should Have a Company Blog
1) The Ultimate Humanizer
Writing a blog allows you to express the personality behind your company and brand. Your
customers ultimately need to feel comfortable with you and your company if they are going to give
you their business. Blogging allows you to showcase that you are knowledgeable in your industry
and you are more than just a corporate brand; you are real people.

2) Easy Distribution
At its very core, a blog is a website. As such, the content contained within them is easily
distributed, easily shared and easily reference by others. If you provide great content and promote
your company blog well, your blog will likely be picked up by others and mentioned on other blogs
as well. This all contributes to building your company brand.

3) Better Than Your Email Newsletter
Blogs are essentially more easily edited versions of a newsletter. You can update your company
blog on the fly, any time you need to and virtually anywhere you have a connection to the Internet
(computer or mobile device).

With a newsletter you are limited in your updating capabilities once you have distributed that
newsletter to your database. So if you are looking to have an easy way to give your audience
information in a frequent manner, blogging is the ideal solution.


5 Reasons Why You Should Have a Company Blog (cont…)
4) Great Place for Comments
Like all of the other social media tools referenced in this
kit, blogs have the room for comments and feedback. It is
another great way to find out how your company is doing
and connect with your audience / customers.

5) SEO Benefits
As mentioned earlier, when written strategically, blogs can drive your organic rankings on search
engines, and in today’s world, we all know how important it is to be visible online. If you are going
to use a blog platform external of your company website, be sure your posts provides links back to
your site, so it can also benefit from an SEO perspective.

7 Secrets to Successful Blogging
1) Narrow Cast
Blogs are generally regarded as broadcast platforms as anyone who connects to the Internet may
view it. By having a very targeted topic, you can greatly enhance the benefits derived from your
company blog. As part of your online marketing strategy, you may create multiple sales pages with
different copy for multiple visitor profiles or have specific landing pages created to drive specific
traffic to a particular offer or information. You can extend the depth and reach of a blog in this
same way by using narrowcasting channels.

2) Invite a Conversation
One of the most important aspects of developing a
successful and popular blog is growing your audience
of both new and loyal readers. A critical component of
achieving those goals is to develop relationships with
your readers.


7 Secrets to Successful Blogging (cont…)
The first thing you need to do to start the conversations on your
blog is write compelling blog posts. Through these posts, invite the
readers to join in by either leaving comments or sharing their
thoughts and option on the subject. When your readers take the
time to join in the conversation, make sure that conversation is
truly two-way by responding and making your readers feel
comfortable in expressing their thoughts and opinions on your blog.

3) Always Link, Always Be Relevant

We all understand the importance of linking as it relates
to search engine optimization. Well the same holds true
for linking in your blogs as well. The combination of
strong link anchor text and theme-relevant content gives
the blog exactly what the search engines are seeking and
is another reason why linking to relevant blog posts or
other resources is so important. Finding and creating the
links for your blog posts can take longer than writing the
post itself, but the benefits are well worth it.

4) Write for Web Readers
The flicker flicker syndrome is why Web readers don’t read word by word; they scan. Many
successful blogs keep their content brief and focused, use short sections with clear titles, keep long
dense documents deeper in the site and link to them from the blog and use words that anyone can
understand.

5) Publish Consistently
Would you buy a newspaper everyday if the articles in that paper never changed? Probably not.
The same theory applies to blog content. If you don't update your blog with a new post, there is no
reason for people to visit it. However, if you post new content frequently that is timely and written
in a style people enjoy, they are likely to return again and again to read what you have to say. The
more frequently you publish new posts, the more new content there is for people to see, and the
more reason there is for people to visit again and again.


7 Secrets to Successful Blogging (cont…)
6) Take Risks
Blogs provide the potential to significantly change how an company
interacts with its customers / employees / shareholders / partners,
etc. Allowing consumers to share opinions on your business
offering can be a big risk, but it is one worth taking. Besides, if you
don’t allow them to voice their options, they will only voice them
elsewhere. Wouldn’t you rather have them be voiced in a forum
you control and can react to quickly rather than elsewhere on the
web?

7) Be AUTHENTIC
From a business and organization perspective, authenticity in the blog atmosphere is key to the
audience. They want to make sure they see your company in a real light and that they are able to
“trust” your thoughts and actions. This secret is not only applicable to blogs but to any
communication you do on social portals.

Blogging Tools and Resources
• Pingoat – pinging service
• Pingomatic – another pinging service
• AudioBlogger – audio post to your blog via phone
• BlogRolling – a service to manage your blog roll
• Creative Commons – copyright protections service
• Feedburner – RSS tool that adds a variety of features to your blog’s RSS feed
• Picasa – find, edit and share all the pictures on your PC
• Flickr – Store and share your images - good way of hosting images if you don’t have a
standalone blog on your own domain.
• Flock – A browser that enables sharing and blogging from within it
• Copyscape – allows you to track down other sites that are stealing your content
• TalkDigger – ‘find, follow and join conversations evolving on the Internet.’
• Blog Flux – Stats, Pinging and Directory


Facebook: Brief Overview
What is Facebook?
Facebook is a social networking service that lets you connect with friends, co-workers, and others
who share similar interests or have common backgrounds. It has come a long way since its original
use as a network for college students. What makes Facebook different from other social networks
is its extensive privacy controls, its development platform, and its large and quickly growing user
base. In fact, with over 350 million users worldwide, Facebook has even surpassed email as the
most frequently used tool online.

Companies are Leveraging Facebook for:
Branding - Facebook can be a great resource for generating brand awareness, as it has become
popular amongst various age demographics and can be a great interception point for building your
relationship with you consumers and prospects.

Customer Engagement - Using Facebook applications can be a great way for communicating
promotions, contest and events. Again it is another interception point that can be leveraged to
entice consumer engagement with your brand, your products or your service.

Drive Web Traffic - Facebook can act as a portal point for driving traffic to your company website
and other online properties.

Reputation Management - Facebook can be a useful tool for seeing what users are saying about
your company and brand. In addition your Facebook profile can now be indexed in the search
results and as a result can provide another favorable listing in the organic search results of the
engines.
TIP: Text, text, text, text, Text, text, text, text,
New Customer Acquisition - Facebook provides an opportunity to find consumers you may have
not otherwise discovered. Text, text, text, text, Text, text, text, text, Text,
text, text, text, Text, text, text, text, Text, text,
Lead Generation - Similar to the previous point is thattext, Text, text, act astext, Text, text, text,
text, Facebook can text, another potential lead
generation tool that can be used to qualify leads. Reviewing potential text, text, text
text, Text, prospects' profiles may help
you build a relationship with your prospects and aid in the lead generation qualifying process.

Client Retention - Provides another potential interception point to build a relationship with your
customers.


Facebook: Brief Overview (cont…)
Companies are Leveraging Facebook for: (cont…)
Access to the Social World and its Inherent Value - aka the Cool Factor - You never know who is
using Facebook. Consider the following scenario: a potential prospect could be doing research on
your company or brand and may use Facebook to see if you have a presence there. Then they see
that you have a Facebook profile and see a number of positive posts about your brand. This in turn
can shape their sphere of influence and could end up being one of many deciding factors as to why
the prospect selects your company over your competition.

The perception that Facebook is "IN" and the fact that your company is using Facebook could help
influence their perception of your brand. Having said that, there are still many who are anti-
Facebook, so it could also affect the perception about your brand. The fact remains is that
Facebook continues to gain popularity and it is not going away anytime soon.

Feedback Mechanism - Using Facebook and the various applications available can help you
understand consumer behavior based on the sharing of content and commentary on the social
networking site.

Build Business Use Cases - Facebook can provide you with an opportunity to build successful
business cases as you target specific vertical markets with specific business objectives.

How to Leverage Facebook in Your Company
As a company, you can use Facebook the same way as outlined above. If you don’t know where to
begin, start with the following:

Facebook Pages: These "Fan" pages give your company an identity on Facebook and they have
much more functionality and opportunities to engage with your customers and prospects than a
Facebook Group does. Use your fan page to:

• Build a following and create buzz about your business in your local area and among other
professionals
• Promote any special offers
• Highlight upcoming events that your company may be holding

Click here to get more information on how to set up your business Facebook page.


How to Leverage Facebook in Your Company (cont…)
Polls: Facebook Polls are great for companies looking to get a
quick answer about a particular campaign they’d like to
implement, or just to find out information and opinions from
a specific demographic. What type of polls could you run?
Here is a list to consider:
• Industry poll - to see what industries your fans belong to so you can communicate to their
specific vertical
• Services/Products poll - see what services or products your fans already use and what
ones they are looking to use
• Trends poll - ask them what other social media platforms they are using and what they
are using them for
• Stats poll - post a stat relevant to your company/industry and poll your fans on how they
relate to the statistical data
• Seasonal polls - see if your fans have any new plans for the upcoming season and how
your product/service can apply to their goals

Check out this the Facebook Poll page for more information on how to set up polls and include
them in your Fan page.

Advertising: Facebook has a powerful advertising engine
that enables companies to specify a specific demographic
target, see how many people that demographic will hit, and
advertise to that demographic.

If you are looking to broaden your advertising spend for your
company, this may be something to consider. Please be
advised though that compared to Google AdWords, the click
through rates for Facebook ads are low, however the cost is
low as well. For more information on how to set up
advertising campaigns through Facebook, click here.


5 Best Practices on Promoting Your Facebook Fan Page
1) Create an Engaging Page
Use applications like the discussion board and YouTube video
box to add more interesting and engaging content to your
page. Give users a reason to become a fan of your page and
engage with you.

2) Leverage the Viral Nature of Facebook (The News Feed)
The added benefit of creating an engaging page is that every time a fan engages with your page –
from becoming a fan, to posting a comment, to attending an event – that activity is published to
their “news feed”, which is seen by all of their friends on Facebook. When a user first logs into
Facebook, they see a feed of their friends’ recent activity, so your fan’s each and every activity on
your page gets shared with a greater network, giving your company more visibility.

3) Draw on Your Existing Network
You most likely already have email subscribers and blog readers – so make sure they know that
they can now become a fan of your company on Facebook. Consider emailing your opt-in mailing
list, including a link to your page in your email signature, blogging about your Facebook page, and
posting a link or badge to your page on your website or blog.

4) Make Your Page Publicly Searchable
By default, your page will be public so that it can get indexed by search engines and give you the
opportunity to drive organic search traffic to your page. If you don’t notice your page showing up in
searches, make sure you have set it to be publicly indexed and searchable. Go to “Edit Page” and
then “Settings” and set your page to be “Published (publicly visible)”.

5) Use Facebook Ads for an Extra Push

Facebook ads allow you to advertise a website or something on Facebook, including pages, groups,
and events. If you’re familiar with Google AdWords, the system for building and running ads on
Facebook is very similar. Facebook has a great resource guide detailing the best practices for
advertising on their social portal. So if you are looking to do some advertising for your company on
Facebook, be sure to visit http://www.facebook.com/ads/best_practices.php and learn from
Facebook directly on how to advertise on their portal.


The Difference Between Profiles and Pages
On Facebook, profiles are meant for people and pages are
meant for businesses. However, you are going to need to
create a company profile in order to create a company Fan
page. The Fan page is where you will want to concentrate
your efforts for the following reasons:
• Pages allow you to designate multiple administrators, so that you can have multiple
people help manage the account, and if one of your administrators leaves the company,
you can still have control over the page.
• Pages are, by default, public and will start ranking in Facebook and public search results.
• Pages are split into different categories (local businesses, brands, musicians) that help you
get listed in more relevant search results.
• Personal profiles have friends, which require mutual acceptance, whereas anyone can
become a fan of your page without first going through administrator approval.

Facebook Tools and Resources
Facebook Marketing Guides:
• Inside Facebook blog dedicated to providing information on how to market on Facebook -
http://www.insidefacebook.com
• Check out the HubSpot Page (http://facebook.hubspot.com) to see some of the ways to
create an engaging page, and also become a fan to get updates about future resources

Usability Tools:
• Firefox Add-ons for Facebook - http://facebooktools.blogspot.com/

Research Tools:
• Lexicon - This Facebook tool allows to you to find out what people are saying on Facebook
and understands the trends that are happening so you can tailor your information and
communications to these topics where applicable.

TIP: For more information on how you can set up your company
Facebook Fan page, have a look at the Facebook start-up
checklist on the following page.


Getting Started With Facebook
Your Company Facebook Fan Page Start-up Checklist

Visit this URL
• http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php

Pick a Category for Your Page
• Under the category select a sub category. You will not be able to change this later.

Enter a Name for Your Page
• This should be the name of the business you are representing
• Specific guidelines for the name of your Facebook page are below

When Setting Up a Facebook Vanity URL…
• For your company, you can either use your company name, a combination of your
company name with your main service (ie: ABCCompany_WindowCleaning), or your
company domain name (ie: if your company domain is ABCCompany.com, your
Facebook URL would be: www.facebook.com/ABCCompany)

Include a Short Description of Your Company
• Go to the "Add Information to this Page" area and enter your description
• Include information such as your company’s industry and your products / services

Upload a Company Logo to the Page
• This is beneficial from a branding perspective

Publish Your Company Fan Page
• Click on your business name in the top left corner (it's a hyperlink)
• Then click "publish this page" (unless you do this, nobody but you will be able to see
your new Facebook business profile).

Finally, Become a Fan of Your Company Fan Page
• From your new profile page, click “Add to my products”. This way, you become the
first “fan” of your company Fan Page
• Once you've become a "fan" of your company, your friends on Facebook will see a
message in their home page. Hopefully, some of your Facebook friends will become
fans of your company page as well. Then, their friends will see a message, and so on…


YouTube: Brief Overview
What is YouTube?
YouTube is the leader in online video, and the premier destination to watch and share original
videos worldwide through a Web experience. YouTube allows people to easily upload and share
video clips on www.YouTube.com and across the Internet through websites, mobile devices, blogs,
and email.

Everyone can watch videos on YouTube. People can see first-hand accounts of current events, find
videos about their hobbies and interests, and discover the quirky and unusual. As more people
capture special moments on video, YouTube is empowering them to become the broadcasters of
tomorrow.

How Does it Work?

Like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, YouTube is free to use. All you need to do is register with the
site and create a profile if you want to post videos or comments. The videos you publish - which
include tags, a category, and a brief description - can be made public or restricted to members of
specified contact lists.

YouTube also allows videos hosted on its site to be embedded in other Web pages, such as blogs or
personal websites.

Ideas on Promoting Your Company on YouTube
When it comes using YourTube to promote your company, here
are some ideas on videos you can created and upload to
YouTube and also your company YouTube channel.

• Existing company webmercials
• Video version of your company blog posts
• Videos on your product / service demos
• Videos of company events
• Videos of customer testimonials


4 Steps to Getting Your Videos Ranked Higher
YouTube video search uses a variety of signals to determine the
placement of a video in their rankings, including the video file
name, title, and any associated metadata. The more information
provided about a video, the better it can be searched.

In general, YouTube strives to give the best possible objective video result. That said, here are
some best practices that you can use to help your videos rise in the search results:

1) Add a Descriptive Title to Your Video
When users search for a video on YouTube, they will find your content easier if you include an
accurate and descriptive title for your video. An engaging title can also help your video stand apart
from the rest of the crowd.

2) Make Your Descriptive Content Clear and Specific
Try to determine what content your video contains that will help users find it and distinguish it
from other videos. Providing content that is descriptive, accurate, and unique is an important
factor. Using complete sentences in your description is also a good idea. For more information,
you can reference what should I put in my video description?

3) Provide Accurate Tags
Including tags that users may use when they search or browse videos also helps. However, avoid
using techniques such as keyword stuffing which will ultimately hurt your videos rankings.

4) Embedded Videos
Embedding videos on your website may make your videos more discoverable and easier to find on
the web. For information on how to embed videos, please refer to how do I embed videos on my
website or blog?


Online Video Production Tips
Be Professional
Nothing can quickly turn off your target audience as a poor
quality, slow loading video. No need to rent an expensive studio to
create a top-notch online video. Incorporate basic stock
photography and video clips from sites such as iStockphoto.com.

Stay Focused
An online video isn’t meant to convey your entire product line or multiple features. Hone in on one
key message with the strongest lead benefit. Create one video to demonstrate one product. A
simple clip is more likely to be viewed in its entirety for today’s distraction driven viewers.

Broaden Your Reach
YouTube isn’t the only site to submit your video production to. New competitors have emerged
including Google Video or Blinkx, a video search engine with over 18 million hours of video.
Another tool introduced by the company allows advertisers to place targeted text ads in any video
embedded in a website.

YouTube Tools and Resources
• Google has also published webmasters guidelines that apply to all sites that embed or
point to video content. This document also provides important quality guidelines that
webmasters should take into consideration when linking to or pointing at videos.

• YouTube Handbook: Everything you need to know about watching and producing videos
for YouTube.


Twitter: Brief Overview
What is Twitter?
Twitter is an online portal based on continual updates of your personal or business activity. Its
primary service is for friends, family, and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through
the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

Over the last year, Twitter has become a popular avenue for businesses to communicate with the
audiences that matter most to them (ie: customer base). Its inherent nature as a real-time news
feed, its every growing population (8 million plus users in March 2009) and its low cost of use (it’s
free - only cost is resources) makes it an ideal business tool.

What Do Companies Use Twitter For?
• Customer service
• Public relations and news
• Advertising of new products
• Thought leadership and knowledge sharing
• Research and development

There is no question that Twitter is the most talked about social portal at the moment and many
companies have jumped on the bandwagon and are using Twitter in their business. Whether you
are just getting started or have been using Twitter for months, the information in this section will
ensure you are using this tool effectively.


How to Leverage Twitter in Your Company
Twitter is no longer a peer-to-peer communication
vehicle; it is now a great way for companies (like yours)
to engage with their consumer base. Below is a list of
the many ways that Twitter is being used as an everyday
business tool.

Main Ways Businesses Use Twitter:
• To expand their customer database by locating individuals with the same interest and
need your company addresses
http://tweetsourcer.com

• To increase their brand recognition amongst their followers
http://mashable.com/2009/05/20/twitter-personal-brand

• To demonstrate their expertise and have followers look to them as a source of
information and subject authority
http://mashable.com/2008/12/19/how-to-win-twitter-friends/

• To ask questions to a community and get answers
http://mashable.com/2009/04/21/twitter-questions-answers

• To build trust and a loyal community amongst their followers
http://mashable.com/2008/11/17/twitter-community-donts

• To gain another avenue for permission based marketing

• To use as a customer service tool
http://mashable.com/2009/05/09/twitter-customer-service

• To use as a research tool
http://mashable.com/2009/05/03/twitter-research-tools/
.


5 Ways to Get People to Follow You on Twitter
The more people who follow you on Twitter, the more
influence and networking opportunities you have. Thus,
it makes sense to try and build a following. Here are
some best practices on getting others to follow you:

1) Follow Them
There’s an almost automatic reaction to follow people who follow you. However, there’s a backlash
against people who follow just about everyone for the sole purpose of gaining followers. In short,
be discriminating with whom you follow.

2) Post Some Good Tweets Right Before Following Someone Else
Help people to decide to follow you by posting some good, informative tweets. This will help them
to see that you are providing valuable information through your Tweets. Remember to tweet
regularly.

3) Complete Your Company Bio
People rarely follow strangers, so complete your one-line bio and include your company URL in the
“More Info URL” section of your profile. People want to know who they will be following before
they actually follow them, so providing them this information upfront will help.

4) Add Your Twitter Feed to Your Blog and Other Social Media Profiles

If you have a following at your blog or a lot of connections on Facebook or LinkedIn, you can
leverage this audience to increase your followers onTwitter.

5) Reply to People You Are Following - especially if they’re not yet following you
That’s a good way to engage someone and get them to follow you, even if they didn’t follow you
immediately. Remember though, some people have thousands of followers and may not be able to
respond to every reply.


Important Considerations When Using Twitter
Twitter has grown into a business tool over and
therefore is becoming a testing ground for sales pitches
and affiliate marketing.

However, neither Twitter nor other social networks react well to individuals who are transparent
in their business approach. Having followers in Twitter does not necessary mean you can pitch
and market to those people immediately. If you are going to use Twitter as a business tool, make
sure you do the following:

• Have provided a good source of recurring information to your followers
• Interact with followers communicating to you
• Don't hard sell in Twitter
• Build a strong foundation of reputation amongst your followers first
• Become known as an expert or resource first

Twitter Tools and Resources
Search Tools:
The Twitter search box will search matches in others’ profiles, but not in individual tweets. Here are
a couple of 3rd party tools that allow for more advanced searches:
• Who Should I Follow?: Finds and suggests like-minded people based on your tweets.
• Summize: Search tweets for keywords and offers lots of customization tools.

Publishing Tools:
Whether you are managing just one Twitter account or multiple accounts, the follow tools will help
you publish your tweets more effectively.
• Tweet Deck TIP: For more information on how to get started
• Seesmic
with Twitter, have a look at the Twitter start-up
• Splitweet
checklist on the following page.

Twitter Utilities:
These additional tools will help to make your Twitter life much easier.
• TweetLater: Allows you to schedule posts for a later time.
• Twimailer: An enhanced email notification with more information on those who follow
you so you can see if you want to follow them.

Twitter Guides:
• http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/
• http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/


Getting Started With Twitter
Your Company Twitter Page Start-up Checklist

Get Your Twitter Account
• Go to http://www.twitter.com/signup
• Your company Twitter account is to be set up on company name

Complete Your Company Bio
• Be sure to include a URL in the “More Info URL” section of your company profile
• If you are adding your email address to your profile be sure to use your company
branded domain name based email address

Customize Your Twitter Background
• Use a company branded Twitter template for the background of your Twitter page

Adjust the Design Settings to Incorporate Your Corporate Colours
• Login to your Twitter account and click on Settings > Design > Change Design Colors
• Set the colours to your corporate colours as indicated in your company style guide

Post Some Good Tweets Before You Start Following Others
• In the “What’s Happening” comment box, type in your tweet (limited to 140
characters)
• Ensure your tweets are informative and offer value to the public

Conduct a Search and Find Others to Follow
• Remember to follow those who are relevant to your company and industry
• Also, if you find that people are following you, be sure to return the favour

Add Your Twitter Information to Your Marketing Materials
• This includes incorporating a feed to your company blog, adding it to other social
media profiles and offline materials like your business cards

Start Conversations
• Use the TweetDeck to reply to people you are following (especially helpful if they’re
not yet following you)


LinkedIn: Brief Overview
What is LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site mainly used for professional networking and
as of May 2009. It had grown to more than 40 million registered users, spanning across 170
industries.

The purpose of the site is to allow registered users to maintain a list of contact details of people
they know and trust in business. The people in the list are called connections. This list of
connections can then be used in a number of ways:

• To gain an introduction to someone you wish to know through a mutual, trusted contact.
• To find jobs, people and business opportunities recommended by someone in one's
contact network.
• To list jobs and search for potential candidates.
• To review a person's profile before entering into a business relationship with them.

The "gated-access approach" that LinkedIn utilizes (where contact with any professional requires
either a pre-existing relationship or the intervention of a contact of theirs) has built trust among
their users and is one of the reasons it has become the preferred social portal for professionals.
LinkedIn is a superb tool for creating, developing, and maintaining business relationships. It can be
used to create awareness of yourself among those who do not know you, but whom you’d like to
know, and to demonstrate your company’s competence and expertise in order to establish the
trust upon which business relationships depend.

How to Leverage LinkedIn in Your Company
Below are the main ways in which you should be leveraging LinkedIn to promote your company.

Connect with other members from your company: Do a search for your colleagues on LinkedIn
and invite them to become a part of your community. Also, try conducting a search for members,
partners or affiliates of your company and send them an invite.

Join groups: Find and join communities of professionals based on common interest, experience,
affiliation, and goals. Stay in touch with organizations, schools, and companies that you are and
were a part of and build your connections. Groups are also ideal for networking with professionals
with similar interests and goals, and allows for collaboration in a professional community online.


How to Leverage LinkedIn in Your Company (cont…)
Try doing a general keyword search for groups related to
your company’s core product or service offering and also
for industries that relate to your company.
Access LinkedIn's Group Learning Center directly at this
link: http://learn.linkedin.com/groups/.

Create your own group: You may also want to consider creating your own group to generate
connections directly related to your company. If you are creating groups remember to always
provide value. NEVER sell your products/services. Simply showcase your expertise by posting
useful information and generating discussion by asking questions.

Here are some ideas for types of groups you could create:

• Create a group specifically for those who have done business with you
• Create a group based on your company’s main service, and consider making it for a
specific industry or target audience

For more information on how to set up your own LinkedIn group go to:
http://learn.linkedin.com/group-management/

Answer Questions: By answering questions put out by members of your groups or members of a
group you belong to, you will start to gain credibility and showcase your expertise in your field. So
if you think you have some valuable information to add to a question, be sure to take the time to
share your thoughts. Make sure that you do not do any hard selling of your products / services
when answering questions. This will only turn people off and lower your credibility. The strategy
here is to openly share your expertise with other members. This way, down the road they will
remember you when a need for your products / services arise.
Use LinkedIn's Direct Advertising: The advertising channel offered by LinkedIn allows you to find
Text, text, text, text, Text, text, text, text, Text,
the perfect audience for your company with highly-targeted text advertising. Through their
network you are able to:
text, text, Text, text, text, text, Text, text, text,
text, Text, text, text, text
• Reach a rapidly growing community of over 43 million professionals.
• Select your ad's audience by seniority, industry, job function, company size and more.
• Write, target, and start your ad in minutes. Pay by clicks or impressions. Get started with
as little as $50 USD.
• Leverage the power of LinkedIn by using your professional brand to put a face to your
company.
• Target your ad to potential customers based on geography.


How to Leverage LinkedIn in Your Company (cont…)
Depending on your company, LinkedIn members may
make an appropriate target audience if your
product/service caters to professionals.

If you are doing paid advertising on other directories and search engines, you may want to seriously
consider testing the advertising feature for LinkedIn as well. For more information on how to
advertise with LinkedIn visit: https://www.linkedin.com/directads/.

Integrate LinkedIn into Your Marketing: This tactic is applicable for all social media profiles you
have, but is specifically important for LinkedIn if your target audience is business professionals.
Here are some ideas on which marketing pieces you should incorporate your LinkedIn profile into:

• Banners, posters and ads
• Business cards - include all your social profile URLs on your business cards
• Marketing collateral - include with the rest of the contact details
• Email signature - Add the LinkedIn logo or icon to your email signature with a direct link to
your profile

10 Ways to Fully Leverage Your LinkedIn Profile
LinkedIn is, first and foremost, about individuals, so it is recommended that your company
spokesperson (ie: company president) create a LinkedIn profile to represent your brand. Here is a
list of recommended best practices:

1) Ask to Connect

TIP: Text, text, text, text, Text, text, text, like
Whenever you have interactions with people, ask them if they’re on LinkedIn and if they’dtext, to
connect. Try sending LinkedIn requests shortly after receiving someone’s business card. You’ve got
their email address, so it will be easy to find them on LinkedIn and considering they just gave you
their business card, they likely have an interest in creating Text, text, text, text, Text, text, text,
text, text, a relationship.
text, Text, text, text, text
2) The More You Give, The More You Get
Fill out as much of your profile as you can. The more information you put in, the more connections
you’re making and by doing so, you’re creating more opportunities for people to find you.


10 Ways to Fully Leverage Your LinkedIn Profile (cont…)
For example, by including former employers on your
profile, you will be connected to other LinkedIn users who
have worked for that company. Same with colleges - by
including the colleges you attended, you’ll be connected to
others who have attended the same college.

3) Use Keywords That People Will Likely Be Using in Their Searches

As you put yourself in the mind of the people by whom you want to be found, think about what
searches they’d perform on LinkedIn in order to find you.

Build up a list of those keywords and search phrases and use them throughout your profile. This is
a similar activity to doing keyword research for an online marketing campaign. Try using Google
Insights and Google Trends to build these keyword searches.

4) Don’t Hide

All your search engine optimization will go to waste if you hide your profile. The two things that
people do when researching business associates is: Google them and search for their LinkedIn
profile. Change the settings on your profile to “Full View” so your profile can be fully indexed by the
search engines.

5) Recommend

Give and ask for recommendations. Recommend those you think are worthy before they ask you
to recommend them. They will often return the favor. Recommendations are yet another aspect of
LinkedIn that helps to establish trust and allow you to control which ones are displayed in your
profile.
6) Update Your Status text, Text, text, text, text

Update your status regularly and strategically. Use your status update to remind your network
what you do and what you know. You can also use your status update to share articles or news
stories about your company with your network.

If you plan on including links in your status use a URL shortener like bit.ly or http://tinyurl.com to
save space in your status updates and to track how many clickthroughs a given link garnered.


10 Ways to Fully Leverage Your LinkedIn Profile (cont…)
7) Personalize Your URL
Change your LinkedIn profile URL from the default set of
numbers to your name. This helps people find you when
they search for your name within LinkedIn as well as in
Google and other search engines.

8) Join Industry Groups
Search for and join industry-related LinkedIn groups, even if there is no activity within them. The
icons for those groups will show up on your profile which tells people at a glance that you are
involved in your industry and presumably knowledgeable about it. It also creates a connection
between you and anyone else who is a member of that group. If the group is active, join in the
conversation where appropriate. This is an opportunity to demonstrate your expertise.

9) Ask and You Shall Receive
If you want to make connections with a specific type of person, you can use LinkedIn’s Answer
feature to try and attract them by posing a question the LinkedIn audience. Think about the type of
person you want to reach and then formulate a question for which you think that person would
have an opinion about that they’d like to share.

10) Spread the Love
Answer questions posed by others. This, again, is another
aspect of LinkedIn that can be used to demonstrate your
TIP: Text, text, text, text, Text, text, text,
competence. If you use this tactic, don’t just dotext,
intellectual handstands to show off your knowledge,
actually answer the question. text, text, Text, text,
text, text, text, Text, text,
You should come text, Text,wanting totext the person
across as text, text, help
who posed the question by sharing your expertise. If you
are truly helpful to the person, they’ll consider assigning
you as the best answer among the group. Your answer
and any answers you have that are highlights as best
answers will be displayed on your profile


Important Considerations Regarding Your Profile Picture
Saying your LinkedIn profile picture should appear
"professional" states the obvious. But more specifically,
paying a professional photographer to give you a few
headshots to choose from is worth the modest
investment, because your picture is one the first things
people will notice on your LinkedIn page.

If you don't get a professional photographer, then be sure your
picture is on a fairly neutral background with very good lighting.

And on the issue of timeliness, while you don't need to update
your picture every year, it should still match up pretty well with
your current appearance. General rule of thumb is: "If people are
going to meet you and be surprised by the difference, it's time to
get a new one”.

LinkedIn Tools and Resources
Unlike Twitter and Facebook, LinkedIn doesn’t have many apps, but the apps that they do have can
be helpful for positioning and to create more contact points. Here are some to consider:

• The WordPress and BlogLink apps allow you to send your blog posts automatically to your
LinkedIn profile.
• The Twitter app allows you to connect your Twitter updates to your LinkedIn status
• The Google Presentation and SlideShare apps let you embed PowerPoint presentations
you’ve created into your profile.
TIP: specific audience by carefully text, text,
• The Polls application can be used to attract aText, text, text, text, Text, text, crafting the
right poll question. Text, text, text, text, Text, text, text, text, Text,
• If you travel a lot, the MyTravel application lets you know your network’s travel activity so
you can see when your colleagues are intext,same Text, text, text, yet more opportunities
the text, place, creating text, Text, text, text,
to connect. text, Text, text, text, text
• The Amazon Reading List app lets you list the books you’ve read, the books you’re
currently reading and those you’d like to read and it connects you with other who are using
the app.
• Resource: LinkedIn's eLearning Modules: http://learn.linkedin.com/training/

TIP: To ensure you are getting the most out of your LinkedIn profile, have
a look at the LinkedIn start-up checklist on the following page.


Getting Started With LinkedIn
Your Company LinkedIn Profile Start-up Checklist

For a social network like LinkedIn, it is recommended that you create a profile
for your company spokesperson, such as your president, from which all
corporate messages will be distributed. Then your company staff members can
create individual LinkedIn profiles and associate themselves as employees of
your company.

Own a Profile That Truly Represents You
• List your current and past positions & education along with your tenure there. This
helps the right people and opportunities find you.
• Add a profile photo– people never forget a face!
• Add a summary paragraph. Think of it as your professional elevator pitch.

Ensure Your Connections Represent Your “Real-World” Network
• Use webmail import to see, in seconds, all the people you know who are already on
LinkedIn. You can then select who you wish to invite to join your trusted network.
• Upload a contacts file from Outlook, Palm, ACT!, or Mac Address
• Search for and connect with colleagues and classmates that are already on
LinkedIn.

Leverage the Power of Your LinkedIn Network!
• Post a question on Answers and tap into the experts you’re connected to and the
entire LinkedIn network. With a professional community of 40+ million, this is the
perfect place for those tough questions.
• Look up someone’s profile before you meet with them. Learn their background and
see who you know in common to get off to a fast start.
• Search for Service Providers and select based on trusted recommendations from
people in your network. Anonymous web searches to find providers are a thing of
the past.

With a profile and connections that truly represents you and your “real-world” network,
you’re all set to get the most out of LinkedIn.


DO’S AND DON’TS


SOCIAL MEDIA AND PR
Benefits of Conducting PR
Whether your company is launching a new product / service line or your business is participating in
or sponsoring a local charity event, the way to get your news story out there is through PR.

PR is one of the most cost effective forms of marketing. Some have said that “an editorial is the
ultimate advert”. Though advertising gives you complete control over the way your brand is
positioned, a top-quality, third party, editorial endorsement offers greater credibility.

Conducting PR in Your Community Helps You…
• Clearly communicate key messages to an external audience
• Increase brand recognition and visibility in your market
• Generate third party endorsement for your product / services
• Create more credibility than traditional advertising
• Enhance your company spokesperson’s status in your community

A well-written online press release can increase your search rankings, improving your overall online
presence. Positive coverage can spike website traffic as well as attract public interest and stimulate
new business inquiries. Public relations also has the potential to create an advantage over your
competitors who may not be utilizing PR effectively.

Now with the emergence of digital media and new technologies, managing your brand’s reputation
is no longer just a focus on the print media; it involves listening to what your customers are saying
on the forums, blogs, social network portals, etc. As a result, brand reputation monitoring must
become a vital component of your PR program in order to ensure accurate and relevant
information reaches your readers.

The most common newsworthy items that would merit a PR campaign are: events, launches,
partnerships, recognitions / awards, and charitable involvement. Within this section, you will find
the tools, checklists and templates needed to run a successful social media PR campaign for each of
the above news items.

TIP: Take advantage of the PR checklists and
templates available in this section to help you
write and distribute your press release.


SOCIAL MEDIA AND PR
7 Steps to Launching a Social Media PR Campaign

Step 1: Define your main PR points. When beginning a social media PR campaign, the best place to
start is to define which details you would like to include in your press release. Incorporate the
most important details and a clear “call-to-action” while avoid including non-critical
information that would be better suited for your company site or blog.

Step 2: Draft a press release. Within this Kit, you will find several PR templates that you can follow
when drafting your social media press release. If you do not have the in-house resources to
write a PR, WSI would be pleased to offer you copywriting services as well as manage your
online PR campaign.

Step 3: Make your PR social. Don’t forget to include “social components” in your press release in
order to ensure that it gets maximum reach on the social portals. To help you do this, WSI has
composed several checklists with the top social media components to include in your PR
campaign.

Step 4: Distribute your press release. Once your PR has been reviewed and approved by all necessary
parties, it’s time to distribute it to the media. Start with your local newspaper, business
magazine and community publications. Then hit the online audience by submitting your
release to several free PR distribution sites. At the back of this Social Media PR Kit, you will
find a list of free PR distribution sites. Again, WSI would be happy to manage your online PR
campaign, so you can focus on what matters most to you – your business!

Step 5: Share your PR with your online community. The key phrase here is “online community”. In
order to run an effective social media PR campaign, you must first develop an online
community. This is your opportunity to broadcast your news story on the social portals, such
as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Post the release on your website, company blog and
bookmark it on the social bookmarking sites. Contact WSI to learn more about how to grow
your online community.

Step 6: Pass the message on. Social media is viral, so encourage your online community to share your
PR with their online following. It also doesn’t hurt for your staff and other parties involved in
the news item to share the message with their online following as well.

Step 7: Follow up. The great thing about social media is it allows you to communicate in real-time. So
keep your online audience aware of the latest updates of your news item. Follow up, gather
their feedback and comment back.


SOCIAL MEDIA AND PR
Optimizing Your Press Release
The keywords that you choose to use in your press release play a key role
in whether your PR appears in the search engines when users search for
keywords relevant to your news item.

Why Optimize Your Press Release with the Right Keywords?

• Google, Yahoo! and Ask now include a greater variety of content in their general
search engine results pages, including a mix of blogs, video and even news items.
• Journalists, reporters and bloggers often set up “news alerts” with various sites, such
as Google, which are triggered by particular keywords.
• Online PR distribution channels such as PRWeb, PRNewswire or BusinessWire have
turned into “press release search engines” where journalists search for news items.

Tips to Consider When Optimizing Your Press Release
Do your keyword research. Before you sit down to write your press release, ensure that you
have a list of relevant keywords ready. Take advantage of keyword research tools, such as
Wordtracker, to understand which keywords users are typing in the search engines.

Start with the headline. Consider your online PR as a web page and optimize it the same way,
starting with the title (headline). Try to keep your headline down to 80 characters and include
the most important keywords of your press release within the headline.

Pay special attention to the first paragraph. While it is important to incorporate relevant
keywords throughout the PR, be sure to pay special attention to the first paragraph. Since the
first paragraph is usually a summary of your news item, it’s a good place to incorporate the
secondary keywords that support the theme of your release.

Link to relevant pages on your website. Web pages often link to other pages and so should
your press release. Add links to your PR to relevant pages on your company website (ie: for a
new product launch release, include a link to the Products page of your website).

Include links to multimedia content. By adding links to photos hosted on Flickr or videos
hosted on YouTube, your PR will have a greater opportunity to achieve a good position in the
search engines. (PR templates with multimedia content ideas are in the next section.)


SOCIAL MEDIA AND PR
Conducting an Event? – PR Checklist
Conducting a local event or participating in an industry-related tradeshow is an excellent reason to
run a PR campaign. It can help you generate more attendance, locate sponsors and increase exposure
for your company. When distributing a press release highlighting your event or tradeshow
participation, be sure to include these social media PR “must haves” in your event PR campaign.

A link to a landing page on your company website promoting your event, allowing attendees
to register for your event, or with more information your tradeshow involvement.

A link to the venue in Google Maps to provide travel directions to attendees.

Links to share the press release on the social networking and bookmarking sites (Digg,
Delicious, Newsvine, reddit, StumbleUpon, Facebook, Google Bookmarks, Twitter, MySpace,
LinkedIn). You can get the bookmarking code to add to your online PR at ShareThis.com.

Links to your company’s social network pages with more details about the event, such as the
date, time, venue, agenda, registration fee and a link to sign up.

A link to a company blog with perhaps a photo and biography of the main presenters of your
event and a synopsis of key takeaways or special discounts attendees will receive.

Links to any recent news coverage of the event or tradeshow. The links can be directly from
your press release or from the relevant landing page on your company website.

A photo of the main presenter (ideally the company spokesperson), or a photo of a past
event. Alternatively, you can include a logo for that event if you have one.

A link to a video and/or podcast with a message from the main presenter, company
spokesperson or event organizer.

An RSS link to invite readers to subscribe to regular updates from your company regarding
this and any future events you may hold or tradeshows you may participate in.

An event-specific boiler plate at the end of the press release. Please use the boiler plate
questionnaire on Page 17 to ensure you capture the right information in your boiler plate.


SOCIAL MEDIA AND PR
Conducting an Event? – PR Template
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

CONTACT INFORMATION
Event Organizer or Company Spokesperson:
Phone:
Email:
Skype:
Website:

HEADLINE | should cover: company name, theme of the event, location
SUBHEADLINE | should cover: target audience of the event, brief outline of topics to be covered

BODY BLOG AND RSS
Preferably bullet points covering the following: Links to company
blog with event info
♦ Theme or title of the event ♦ Speaker name and to subscribe for
♦ Date and time ♦ Registration fee RSS updates
♦ Venue and city ♦ Special discount (if applicable)
♦ High level agenda topics ♦ Registration link

MULTIMEDIA
Including any of the below elements allows for more a interactive audience experience.

♦ Photo of main speaker or ♦ Podcast message from main ♦ Video message from main
past event, or event logo speaker or event organizer speaker or event organizer

PRE-APPROVED QUOTES
Collect about 2 quotes from 2 contacts. The quotes can be from either:
♦ Event organizer ♦ Main event speaker ♦ Past or current attendee

SHARE NEWS STORY LINKS
You can include links to relevant news coverage to date or links to news sharing sites, such as:

EVENT SPECIFIC BOILER PLATE
Include information related specifically to the event.

COMPANY BOILERPLATE
Include information related specifically to your company.


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