Social media provides both opportunities and challenges for businesses. It allows for listening to customers, responding quickly to comments, and engaging audiences with questions. However, social media requires consistency, authenticity, and providing value without direct selling. Brands should integrate social media across their customer experience rather than using it just for promotion. While social media may not provide instant results, listening to customers and being likeable can help businesses over the long run.

1. Social Media: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly PRESENTED BY: LIKEABLE MEDIA Jenna Lebel, Managing Director @JennaL15 Tweet using #Likeable and #FTW2011 to enter to win a copy of Likeable Social Media!

3. The Good: Best Practices

4. Listen First and Never Stop Listening

6. It’s Not About You…

7. It’s About Them!

8. Find Your Voice

10. Understand How It Works

12. Be Timely Be Likeable Don’t Over-post

14. Respond Quickly to all Bad Comments

19. Respond to Good Comments too

22. Be Authentic

23. Share Stories (they are your social currency)

24. Ask Questions!

25. In a recent study, Likeable Media looked at Facebook posts that… 1. Pose a question or challenge directly to fans 2. Ask fans to “ like ” it 3. Announce winners of a Facebook-hosted contest or sweepstakes 4. Include “ everything else ” – all remaining status updates that didn't ’ t fit any of the above categories

26. Likeable Media found the following… • In 100% of cases, engagement rates for posts that asked fans to “‘ Like ’ this ” were up to 5.5 times (on average 2.7x) higher than those for other updates. • In 9 out of 10 cases, status updates that posed a question directly to fans were 2-6 times as engaging as other updates.

27. Integrate Social into the Entire Customer Experience (and compel your customers to be your first fans!)

28. -Your strongest assets are customers, staff, partners, and vendors -Incorporate “Like us on Facebook” and “Follow us on Twitter” to your websites, e-mails, business cards, and receipts -Add social plug-ins to your website and blog

30. Provide Value (Yes, for free!)

32. Make the Most of Facebook Ads

36. Admit When you Screw up, then Leverage your Mistakes

38. Consistently Deliver Excitement, Surprise, & Delight

39. Free meals, drinks PopCorners Delivery Truck

40. Online to offline

41. Don’t Sell! Just Make it Easy & Compelling for Customers to Buy

44. The Bad: Common Mistakes Brands Make

45. Not Responding

46. Being Overly Promotional

47. Social Media is NOT Your Soap Box

48. You Cannot Launch or Sustain Your Entire Business Via Social Media

49. Social Media Affects More Than Just Your Marketing Department

50. Results Will NOT Happen Overnight

51. If these rules are too much to remember… Listen! Be Transparent! Respond to Everyone! Just Be Likeable!

52. Thank You!