1. Telling Your Story in Just
30 Minutes a Day
By
Holly Porter, Marketing
Specialist
MidAtlantic Farm Credit
2. Agenda
• What is social media?
• Plan to save time
• Key platforms to consider
• Tools to save time
• Success stories
• Resources
3. What is social media?
• The online tools used to do what you’ve been
doing for years – networking and building
relationships
4. Social media stats
• Over 80% of all American use a social network
• Americans spend more time on Facebook than
any other U.S. website
• As of September 2011, there were over 800
million Facebook users
5. Social media stats
• As of September 2011, 200 million Twitter
users – more than 50% active users who log in
once a day
• 230 million tweets a day
• Over 147 million members of LinkedIn
• 40% of social media users access through
mobile devices
6.
7. Plan to save time
• Create a social media strategy
• Think of it just like any other marketing
strategies
• Consider goals, audience, messages,
strategies, tactics and measurables
8. Social media strategy
• Goals – number of fans, followers, etc.;
interaction; number of blog postings
• Audience – customers, potential customers,
family, friends, co-workers, other realtors
• Messages – what’s your competitive
advantage
• Tactics – Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+,
YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, Wordpress, ??
• Measurables – how to determine goals
11. Facebook
• Connect with friends, family, customers,
consumers & peers
• Participate/Create groups – things you are
passionate about
• Develop lists
• Remember content – be active
• Use photos/vidoe when you can
12.
13.
14. Twitter
• Twitter is a free social networking micro-
blogging service that allows its users to send
and read other users’ updates (tweets), which
are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in
length – Wikipedia.com
• Cocktail party with lots of mini conversations
going on
15. Twitter
• Set up identifiable twitter name
• Complete and customize your profile area –
160 characters
• Start tweeting
• Find people to follow
• Engage
16. Twitter
• Learn the lingo
– Twitter handle = Username
– Update = Tweet (a posting)
– @Reply = public message sent from one person to
another
– Direct Message (DM) = “private” message sent
from one person to another
– Retweet (RT) = to repeat what someone else has
tweeted
– Hashtags (#) – group events, ideas for search
17.
18.
19. LinkedIn
• Geared towards professionals looking to
network
• Great way to showcase expertise
• Approximately 408,000 active realtors with
579 realtor groups
20. LinkedIn
• Set up profile – 100% completeness
• Use keywords to optimize profile
• Set up – email, text
• Start connecting
• Join a group or two
• Ask and answer questions – remember these
are professionals
21. Promote
• Add social media icons to current website
• Add social media to mailings/flyers – Find me
on Facebook; Follow me @Name
• Add social media to business cards
• Add social media to signage
• Add social media to ads
22. Time saving tools
• RSS feeds/Social Searches
• Third-party apps – Hootsuite, Tweetdeck
• Mobile apps
23. RSS & social search
• Real simple syndication
• Great tool to help give ideas and more info
about topics or for name searching
• Delivers content right to your
computer/mobile device
24. RSS & social search
• Web-Based - Google Reader, My Yahoo,
NewsGator
• Browser Built-In – Firefox’s Live Bookmarks,
Internet Explorer 7
• Mobile Readers – Yahoo Mobile, Google
Mobile, AOL Mobile
• Email-based – Google Alerts, Yahoo!Alerts,
Mozilla Thunderbird
25.
26.
27. Third party apps
• Don’t Tweet from Twitter
• Schedule postings
• Monitor several social media tools in one
28. Third party apps
• Desktop Applications
– TweetDeck – tweetdeck.com
– Seesmic Desktop – desktop.seesmic.com
– Yoono – yoono.com (Firefox & Google Chrome)
• Browser-Based Applications
– Hootsuite – hootsuite.com – free or paid
– SocialOomph – socialoomph.com – free or paid
– Ping.fm – free service
29.
30.
31. Mobile apps
• Social media set-up – Mobile, Text, Email
notifications
• Free apps for most mobile devices – Facebook,
Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn
• Hundreds of other apps specific for social
networking
32. Resource list
• www.socialmediaexaminer.com/26-promising-social-media-stats-for-small-
businesses/
• Brian Solis – Altimeter Group -www.briansolis.com
• About.com – Marketing – Laura Lake -
marketing.about.com/od/socialmediamarketing/a/5-Steps-That-Will-Give-You-A-
Winning-Social-Media-Strategy.htm
• appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/category/51
• iphone.appstorm.net/roundups/lifestyle-roundups/100-social-networking-apps-
to-feed-your-internet-addiction/
• Social Media Examiner – socialmediaexaminer.com
• Mari Smith – Facebook – marismith.com
• Hollis Thomases – WebAdvantage.net
• NAR - Field Guide to Social Network for Realtors -
www.realtor.org/library/library/fg125
• HubSpot.com – Intro to Twitter for Business
• Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Social Media for Dummies Books
33. Thank you!
Holly Porter, Marketing Specialist
MidAtlantic Farm Credit
hporter@mafc.com
800.573.3028
Find us on Facebook – MidAtlantic Farm Credit
Text: like MidAtlanticFarmCredit to 32665
(FBOOK)
Follow us on Twitter - @MidAtFarmCredit
Notas do Editor
Before we go too far, I’d like to see what you’d like to learn more about, to make sure it gets discussed?
How many are here to learn about SM for business? How many for personal?
How many of your are already on Facebook? Account or page? Linked In? Twitter? YouTube? Blog?
Any other social media platform?
Let me intro myself – 11 years with MAFC, current LEAD MD Class VII fellow working with SM for @ 3 years,
attended several workshops and classes just like this, as well as use many of the resources I’ll give you at the end.
This is the agenda that I plan to cover for today
We’ll do a very general over of the what social networking is and jump into some of the best ways we’ve found to help save time while still getting the most of your social networking.
And as we go along, we’ll look at some successes that others have had, to see how you might be able to incorporate them into your business.
How many of you have attended a Farm Bureau event? DE Ag Industry dinner?
Participated in an organization or fundraiser? Why? Some personal; some business – to meet people and to connect with them.
Same with social networking – only you are doing it on the computer or smart phone.
I believe Social Media is one of the best things to happen for telling the ag story (Agvocacy group next door); Low cost; high impact
Many articles are saying that social media is changing small business for the better, and here are some of the reasons
Okay, Holly, we’re already convinced, now how do we make it work in our already busy lives?
This slide shows the hundreds of different social media sites out there – it’s overwhelming, isn’t it? It doesn’t have to be.
MidAtlantic had the same dilemma you are probably in – we knew social media was a great addition to our marketing, but how do we manage it all.
If you are here representing a business, or looking to use SM for agvocacy, here are some important steps for saving time
The first step we did – sit down and create a social media strategy as part of our overall marketing plan.
You know you can’t do everything out there, so figure out what you can do.
Messages – What sets your business apart? Specific products? Events?
How does that competitive advantage translate to online?
Some additional tips in setting up your social media strategy
Content is king; Honest voice
This is probably the toughest part – but so essential. Will leave a longer impression on people;
content involves not only what you share, but commenting on others as well – we’ll talk in a minute about some tools to help you on finding what others are saying easily
Some stats have shown for every 10 posts, there should be 6 personal, 4 marketing/promoting – 60%/40%
Use same keywords throughout different platforms – for business this all comes back to search engine optimization
Again, just like your other marketing strategies, you can’t do all things and do them well.
So find what works best for you. These are tons out there, and that could be a whole presentation in itself, so we’ll just review 3 of the top ones for today.
Goal should be to attract people to your site, build trust, gain visibility. People want to know you for who you are.
Develop or participate in groups that are key to things you are passionate about – poultry farmers in Kent county; Women in Ag in Delaware
Create lists – Click lists – create lists; can automatically put in list when requesting or confirming friend. Can go back and add people – Manage Lists; Can post only to certain lists
Other tips – Photos from the farm, on the tractor, at ag events – be engaged
I’m often asked about privacy – be sure to adjust these to what you want.
For business pages, everything should be open, and you should allow people to post to your page.
For personal, you may want to have just friends see postings or do a custom setting.
Text messaging for the world to see
One of the best sources for agvocacy
Twitter search and “Who to Follow” feature, look at who is following people you follow, don’t follow too many people at once – Twitter ratios;
25 – 50 per day – allowing time for people to follow you back;
set up topics to search for and talk with people – answer questions, give advice – Don’t sell right away.
Amber - Twitter
Hashtags are easy ways for people to search for particular topics or key words.
Think about your favorite TV show – how many have recently seen the pound sign with the name in the corner - #TrueBlood, #AmericanPickers.
The TV shows use those as ways to monitor what people are saying and create talk around an even or topic
individuals can use them to find other people interested in those shows.
Could have a hashtag for Women in Ag conference – to encourage people to talk about it
Great resource included to help with Twitter
If Facebook is a coffee shop; Twitter a cocktail party; LinkedIn is a Chamber/Farm Bureau event
Education, work experience, photo, recommendations
Keywords – expertise or business – what you sell
Many groups you’ll have to request to join – they are private – this makes the info and people a little more reliable
Groups are a rolodex of resources – I don’t have all the email addresses, but I can ask questions and get answers to particular topics
Build it, and they will come – NOPE; just like traditional marketing, you have to promote.
Just like promoting a website
But again, these are just additional marketing tools to get to your overall goal of selling whatever you have
So don’t forget what you already do – just integrate – very much like you did when you first set up a website, I’m sure.
So, you know you want to be involved with social media, you have the strategy, have chosen the platforms,
now how in the world do you keep it all straight, and not be on the computer 6 hours a day?
Not even sure where to start for content. It’s out there.
And even if you are just getting started in social media, I bet your name or company is already out there.
Even if you aren’t in the conversation, it’s going on without you. Stay on top of that through searches.
Set up searches for your name, company, competition key words
Browser Built-In – Internet Explorer – Windows 7
Email based mobile readers
BIG TIME SAVER!! When on the computer at home or another mobile device or tablet
Set up columns or silos of information based on what you want to see
Some are free and some you have to pay for certain parts
In general facebook doesn’t work as well in these, but still a good quick source
Columns
Manage several handles
Filter searches
Similar with hootsuite
Remember the stat that 40% of folks are viewing social media via mobile devices?
Many of the apps I mentioned previously are also available for mobile, but here are a few more to look into – I’ve included a couple of resources to check out.
If you have automatic feeds to your phone if someone should mention or post on your pages, then it saves time from having to go into the sites as often, too.
Another easy way to stay connected by your mobile device is to make sure when you set up your social media platform, you allow for either email or text notifications.
You can also upload photos from your phone as well – you’ll want to be sure to check your mobile and data plans
Local Farmers Insurance agency in California.
Welcome page – charitable donation & using video
Also note the tabs – get a quote, products, testimonials – a mini website to keep people on the page longer
Local business – Fifer Orchards in Camden, DE. Photos, updates – even when not in season; Twitter feed; recipes, tips, events, when products are in season - timeliness
These are several of the social media resources that I use either daily or while I was setting up this presentation.
Many of blogs that you can set up using those RSS feeds
Hollis is local – based in Havre de Grace
Thank you for your time. I hope that today I’ve helped you:
Understand social media little better
Offered some time saving tips
And shown you some ideas from other successful sources
Ask one thing of everyone here -
Like or Follow
