Slides for a presentation to SCORE counselors. Focused on best practices and implementation strategies.

1. A SCORE Consultant's
Guide to Social Media
Best Practices and
Implementation Strategies

2. About Margy Rydzynski
• SCORE Client
• Consultant, sole proprietor
• Background in writing/communication
• Started as a personal user of social media tools

3. Now That You Know What:

4. The Tools of the Trade

5. Let's Talk About The How,
The When and The Where

6. Best Practices and
Implementation Strategies

7. Do Social Media Right And
Everybody
Will Know About You
(in a good way)

8. Big Budget Love

9. Low Budget Love
Brigham Young University

10. Mmmm! What's Cooking Today?

11. Do Social Media Wrong And
Everybody
Will Know About You
(in a bad way)

12. You've Probably Seen This
Email Spam, and Lots Of It

13. Twitter Spam?
But What About:

14. Users Are In The Driver's Seat
Be Careful What You Wish For!

15. How To Do Social Media Right
Implementation Strategies:
Four Principles

16. First Principle
Social media marketing is not free advertising. It's a
user-driven communication medium.
• Don't hard-sell products/services
• Have a commerce website or location for that
• Consider buying an ad if you want to advertise

17. Second Principle
A social media campaign should be an addition to - not
a replacement for - a traditional marketing strategy.
Clients should already be:
• Networking
• Communicating
• Establishing competency
Offline

18. Third Principle
Social media campaigns require active participation
• Do nothing and get nothing
• Respond to others and they'll respond to you

19. Fourth Principle
Social media campaigns take time and patience.
Long-term process.
• Communication/marketing/community - not advertising
• Have other strategies in place, too

20. Increasing Your Client's
Chances For Social
Media Success

21. Research!
Still need to know:
• Who are the customers or clients?
• What type of business?
• What type of client (age, occupation, income, etc.)
Different populations use the internet differently.

22. Client Research Will Help Establish:
• Which tools to use for which group
• How those tools should work together
Then they'll know:

23. The Social Media Marketing Mix
Will depend on business. For example:
• Consultant (substantive): A blog, social network presence,
b2b networks, a podcast
• Restaurant (real-time updates): Twitter or Foursquare
• Artist (online display space): MySpace or podcast for musicians,
Flickr for visual artists.

24. An Effective Outreach Strategy
Modes of Communication
• Email link to blog post
• Facebook and/or Twitter signup on static website
• Reference to web presence on printed materials

25. Business Must Communicate With
and Respect
Online Communities

26. Communicate
• Be a good guest
• Respect community's right to privacy
• Ask questions, give answers
• Represent yourself honestly

27. Respect the Rules of Engagement
• Introduce yourself when linking or "friending"
• Don't send excessive emails to an online group or
Facebook page
• Don't follow total strangers on Twitter (stalking)

28. Some Ideas And Suggestions for
SCORE Counselors

29. Use The Tools Yourself
• Learn by doing
• Lead by example
• Know what you're talking about
Will also enhance SCORE's reputation and increase its
visibility to millions of potential new clients

30. Typical Client Concerns

31. Negative Feedback Concerns
Are Legitimate
Business reputation is important. Balance.
• Okay to set the terms of engagement
• People can be vicious and destructive online
• Don't censor, but don't allow flaming, either

32. Privacy Concerns Are Legitimate
• Balance accessibility with privacy
• Some tools more private than others (Facebook pages vs.
a social network).

33. Time Concerns Are Legitimate
Small businesses have to juggle multiple time commitments
• Several posts, tweets, etc., a day are not feasible for many
• Posts can be short: a picture, a quote, an observation
• Posts can link to other posts
Too many posts can be as bad as too few

34. Finally, Remember:

35. Honesty Is The Best Policy
And
It's Okay To Ask For Help!
A well-managed social media campaign will lead to
engagement that's supportive, useful and fun!

36. Thank You!
Questions?