You’ve heard of social media – that’s why you’re here reading this book – but you just can’t get your head around why you need to implement it into your future business plan. To give you credit, it’s not as simple as the pros make it out to be. It can be time consuming and downright irritating if you don’t really know what you’re doing. You could wing it – that’s how so many have learnt to use it – but if you’re going the risk-free route it’s best to devise a strategy to get you the social media outfit that’s going to make you the centre of attention, and the envy of so many!

1. Being
Social
Riding th e new wave
o f o n l i n e m a r ke ti n g
Volume I Febuary 2012

4. Contents
Chapter 1 – So Are Your Social Skills In Order? 1
Chapter 2 – Searching For The Rich, The Fresh and The Funny 5
Chapter 3 – Building Social Connections 9
Chapter 4 – You’re Now Officially A Social Business 11
Chapter 5 – Your New Corporate Philosophy 13
Chapter 6 – Now Improve Your Sales 15
Chapter 7 – We’re Here To Help You 17
You’ve heard of social media downright irritating if you the centre of attention, age-group ranges between
– that’s why you’re here don’t really know what and the envy of so many! 18 and 34 year olds, with
reading this book – but you you’re doing. You could That is, so many as in the second largest and
just can’t get your head wing it – that’s how so close to a billion people! rapidly growing and rang-
around why you need to many have learnt to use it Social media gives you ing between 35 and 45
implement it into your future – but if you’re going the that big a target market! year olds. Moral of the
business plan. To give you risk-free route it’s best to Facebook statistics show story: It’s no longer consid-
credit, it’s not as simple as devise a strategy to get that their once young ered child’s play to get into
the pros make it out to be. It you the social media outfit users are now growing up the social media scene.
can be time consuming and that’s going to make you and their fastest growing

5. Chapter 1
So Are Your Social
Skills In Order?
“ If you make customers unhappy in the
physical world, they might each tell 6 friends.
“
If you make customers unhappy on the
Internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends.
- Jeff Bezos, CEO at amazon.com

6. Look Pretty, Talk Pretty
Stand up tall and don’t forget to
throw in some polite Humour.
Before you get
started on making money,
you need to learn the rules. Neti-
quette is one thing (at least, it’s that
one thing you remember from your
computer class back in the day), but if
you want social media
success you’re going
to need a complete
make-over! Look
pretty, talk pretty,
stand up tall, and
don’t forget to throw in some polite humour.
Who knew one day your worst nightmare of
attending Finishing School would haunt you in
the form of something as casual as
social media! At least the Finishing School isn’t
for you, it’s to turn
your business image
into the spectacular
young soul you
always dreamed it
would be. And when
your messy, misbe-
haved, youngster
transforms into a
handsome gentle-
man of a business,
you will be glad you
took the chance and
invested in good
social media skills
development. So here
is what you need to
know about online
social skills:

7. Like real life social
skills there are
psychological aspects
to online social skills
as well but, it’s just a
much harsher world
out there and you’ll
need to adapt. Here
are five tips for
acquiring the correct
social skills for social
networking:
1. If you’re going to
write a comment on a
blog post, comment
on a Facebook status
or send out a Tweet it
would be wise of you
to re-read it with the
eyes and mind of your
audience before you
press the Enter key.

8. Try to see
whether readers
will approve of the
message you’re trying
to get across before
you send it! 2. Support
your fellow bloggers,
Tweeters and social
networkers; instead of trying to fix the problem or tell someone
that they're doing something incorrectly, you might want to bite
your tongue and show a little more enthusiasm for the things
they've done well. 3. Be prepared for the fact that people are forming
an opinion in their minds about you as they read your status update.
It might be an intimidating thing to deal with but it comes with the
territory; you will probably do the same to others who join your
online community.
4. In your mind, you
know everything there
is to know about your
business niche. That’s
great; but it’s best to
save your know-it-all
attitude for your blog
(where you are boss, and
no one can argue it). On other social media platforms it is
wise to be less pedantic about what others have to say.
5. You could post anonymously, and a lot of people do, espe-
cially on YouTube, but if you don’t want to put your name
behind something you’re saying ‘publicly’ then you may
want to reconsider making the comment.

9. Chapter 2
“ Blogs are about sharing with authenticity. A good
enterprise blog can help you really connect deeply
with your customers in a meaningful way because
the content is not only relevant but, insightful and
personal. I think most enterprises miss that point.
“
When you do it right, your customers will walk
away not only having learned something new but
will also feel much more connected to your brand.
- David Armano, Logic + Emotion.

10. Whenever you get some
free time during the day,
use it! You never know how
much time you’ll have later
in the day.
Research is the key to any Whenever you have a free be putting up via social you will put up, what inter-
successful online venture, moment to get some facts media on a regular basis. esting reads you will share,
but especially when it straight, use it! You never Take an afternoon to sit and possibly what videos
comes to social media. know how much time down (preferably with you will upload. You’ll
The best thing about you’ll have later in the Google) and really get into want to pick things that fit
research, is that you can day. Time is precious. We understanding your niche. in with your niche. If
take it with you all know how very little of Then write down a you’re a hardware store, it
wherever you’re going in it we have every day, so it month’s schedule of what doesn’t make sense to
the form of your cell makes sense to strategize articles and blogs you will write a blog about the
phone/mobile device. what information you’ll write, what status updates latest fashion accessories

11. o r
new techno-
logical advances;
you’ll want to write
about things that
will interest your
commu-
nity. Pe r h a p s
some DIY tips
once in a while or a
pa i n t b r a nd
comparison would manage to pull it off, online community.
i n t e r es t y o ur get a professional to The more people you
r e a d e r s . Ri ch, help you. Hire writers have in your online
fresh, and funny is to write for you, and community, the larger
the way to go – ask get social media your online target
any woman and marketers to run all market will be. So
she’ll tell you these of your campaigns rember to make sure
are the three most smoothly and effecie- you send out informa-
important charac- nly. Creativity is also tion that’s rich, fresh,
teristics to look for important, the more funny, appropriate –
in a personality. inte re s ting your oh, and creative! –in
Believe it or not, campaigns are to order to stay in the
your online profile follow, the more social media market-
needs an amazing followers you will get ing game and get
personality! If you and the more people noticed out there!
think you can’t you will have in your

12. Rich,
Fresh,
Funny.

13. Chapter 3
Building Social
Connections
tweet!
“ You can’t buy attention anymore. Having a
huge budget doesn’t mean anything in Social
Media… The old paradigm was pay to play.
“
Now you get back what you authentically
put in. You’ve got to be willing to play to play.
- Alex Bogusky, Co-Chairman of CP&B

14. How to get in touch with consumers:
1. Input box
2. Direct traffic to your website
3. Give something away for free
Obviously, you can’t access the personal information of
your fans and followers on Facebook and Twitter. So how do you get
in touch with them in order to promote a product or send
out some catalogues, etc.? The answer is quite simple, and quite exciting
(especially if you’re new to the whole online marketing space.
Many business pages on Facebook have an input box that asks you for
your email address. Addresses are then stored and are accessible with
email marketing software. Pretty techy stuff, huh! Good news is you don’t
have to be a nerd to work it, just let the program do the work for you.
Another way to collect information is to direct traffic to your website
where they can subscribe to a newsletter (which you will have to follow
up with!). If your website is all done up and looking pretty, visitors will be
more inclined to slip you their personal information. On your website, you
can take pretty much whatever you like, from cell phone numbers to
physical and email addresses. You’ll use your email marketing software
to help you out here as well. If you don’t want the hassle of creating a
monthly newsletter, you could always give something away for free.
PDFs are a good option, whether it’s an e-book or your catalogue it
is wise to look into this option. It saves you the time

15. Chapter 4
You’re Now
Officially
A Social Business
“ Human beings are far more likely to com-
municate ideas and information with others
when they are emotionally engaged. Find
the key issues that concern your audience
and then inculcate them within your mar-
“
keting plan to get an emotional response.
- Maki, doshdosh.com

16. Hats off to you for getting this far!
The journey doesn’t end here though;
this is merely the beginning of one
that’s going to prove to be very fruitful
and rewarding for you and your brand.
Before you get to the rewards, here are
a few guidelines to get you to the top
with your shirt on your back and
your sanity in place…
Lisa Barone, co-founder of Outspoken Media, Inc. has written an article on Things
That Great Brands Do In Social Media. Here are just a few of her tips to help you over
the many hills and mountain peaks you will encounter and get you through the Ever-
est of obstacles when you need it most. According to Lisa, great social media brands:
1. Bring sexy back to word of mouth marketing.
2. Dedicate time to answering questions from customers and people who
are encountering the brand for the first time.
3. Constantly poll their community for opinion, feedback and criticism.
4. Make a habit of highlighting other brands that are doing cool things…
5. Don’t forget to tie offline events into what they’re doing online so there’s cohesion
between strategies.
6. Give us the ‘why’ to go along with their social media calls to action.
Most of them are
pretty obvious, but very
easy to leave out. Or we might
be busy trying to
hold up our ‘real’
business in one
hand and our
‘social’ busi-
ness in the
other that
we forget
that they
need to
draw from
o n e
another
and link
up some-
how. These are all common mistakes of
businesses starting out in the blogosphere.

17. Chapter 5
Your New
Corporate
Philosophy
“ Activate your fans, don’t
just collect them like
baseball cards.
- Jay Baer, Convince & Convert
“

18. You know the old saying ‘the customer is always right’?
Social Media takes this old saying, dips it in chocolate,
and hands it out on street corners to very eager passers-by.
Since the Social Media revolution, customers have come to
realise just how much pull they have with corporations via
the Internet. They know just how much damage a nasty
comment on a Facebook wall or a Twitter mention can
do, and they’re exercising their consumer rights like
never before!
And if your corporation
doesn’t have the capacity to
deal with a negative remark or
two, you will quickly lose your repu-
tation and credibility. Whether you are aboard the social
media ship or not, others on-board could be bad-
mouthing you nonetheless. If for only this reason, it
makes sense to rather hear about your corporate short-
comings via some kind of platform then to lose more cus-
tomers to a statement you do not have the means justify.

19. Chapter 6
Now Improve
Your Sales
“ We’re living at a time when attention is
the new currency. Those who insert them-
selves into as many channels as possible
“
look set to capture the most value.
- Pete Cashmore, Founder of mashable.com

20. You’ve embraced the change you’ve
had to undergo, and you are loving
your new found online fame; the
trick is to keep the momentum
going. Don’t give up on your social
media goals just because things are
going very slowly in the beginning.
Chances are, it will go REALLY
slowly at first. Just know that
potential customers are sizing you
up, checking whether you’re legit,
whether it’s worth it for them to
link with you, and whether you’ve
been around long enough to not
suddenly disappear off the realm
completely, but mostly, they just
want something for free.
If you can hang on during the first
few months and continually intro-
duce creative ideas to entice people
toward your social profiles, you will
be sure to reap the benefits. Brian
Moran of Get 10000 Fans, a web-
site based-business on helping
people use Facebook effectively for
business purposes, says “you need
to use your Facebook page to sell
directly to your fans. Put all of your
products/services out there so that
they are linked directly to your
website and your e-store.”
Here are a few things you can do in order to improve your sales:
1. Promote your products and services regularly; there should always be some kind
of business activity happening on your platforms.
2. Use pay per click advertising to help you with online promotions, e.g. Google
AdSense, Facebook advertising, etc.
3. Everyone likes to receive, and they do especially on the Internet. Competitions,
freebies, and polls are all great ways to get customers to interact with your brand
and once they receive their gifts they might be more inclined to support you in
the future.
4. Strategize as well as your income revenue as well as your profitability like you
would your everyday business. Try not to cross your two incomes in the
beginning or at least keep track of them separately for a while so that
you can monitor progress and viability

21. Chapter 7
We’re Here To
Help You
“ Social Media marketing is about brands
acting, well, social. Which means they
need to show up to the party with a nice
bottle of wine, if that’s what the party
“
calls for. They need to come ready to have
a dialog, and add value to the event.
- John Battelle, Founder & CEO of Federated Media Publishing,
battellemedia.com

22. Feeling intimidated?
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23. Socially Yours,

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