The text of a presentation given at the Niche Media Conference in Tempe, AZ on Feb. 2. The purpose of the workbook is to help niche media organizations assess ways to use social media tools to advance their business goals.

1. A SOCIAL MEDIA
WORKBOOK FOR
NICHE MEDIA
BRANDS
Dan McCarthy, CEO
Network Communications, Inc.

2. Personal Proof of Concept:
Dan McCarthy’s ViralHousingFix
• Launched December 2008
• Hosted on third-party
host.
• Built on WordPress
• Thesis theme
• All-in-One SEO plug-in
• Twitter integration
• Facebook Connect integration
The purpose of the blog is to provide an outlet for
structured thinking and analysis about business issues
that I facing in my professional life.
The blog doesn’t address confidential information,
such as the company financials, or management and
organizational issues. It is primarily a strategy and
business information workspace.

3. VHF & Google Juice:
A Sample

4. VHF’s Digital Footprint
Channel Participation Comment
VHF.com 3K – 5K UV/mo Approx 1 post per day
VHF FB page 580 fans Auto feed of VHF posts
DRM profile 650+ friends Redistribute most posts, share broader range of
content
@danielrmccarthy 1230 followers 2,360 tweets; 7-10 per day
@viralhousingfix 65 followers Tweets of VHF articles, interesting content
Other platforms approx 1,000 FriendFeed, Posterous, Delicious, etc.

5. Definition of Social Media

6. Examples of social media
tools

7. The reasons why social
media tools matter
 Scale
 Low-cost, high-impact way to connect
and interact
 Flexible content distribution/creation
model

8. What do you already do on
the social web?
 What are your personal activities?

9. What new things should you
do on the social web?
 Connect your company with each
other
 Connect your company with its market
 Connect your brands with its users.

10. How to build out a
Community of Interest
 The first step to experiencing the
power of social media tools is
identifying and connecting with your
Community of Interest
 Personal
 Professional
 Brand-centric
 The tools
 Facebook
 Linked-In
 Twitter

11. The Community of Interest

12. How to invite your company
onto the Social Web
 Project: Massive Network
 Challenged company to create 1000
connections in 90 days.
 Invited every one in the company to
connect with CEO
 Offered web training through an
outside consultant
 Verybasic how-to get started on
Facebook, Linked-In & Twitter
 Issued progress updates every week
 Result: 2400+ connections in 45 days
from 800 person organization

13. Some things to think about
 Top-down leadership by example key
to this project
 Question: Why are we doing this?
 Policy: The less rules the better

14. Define your business goals
 Internal goals
 Communication
 Collaboration
 Efficiency
 External goals
 Increase awareness & contact with
advertisers
 Increase diversity of content
 Increase contact with readers
 Increase print audience
 Increase online audience
 Increase magazine ad sales
 Increase online/supplemental sales

15. The Niche Media Brand
Social Media Toolkit
 A blog for frequent publishing
 Integrated
into or supplemental to your
primary web site
 Technology architecture issue
 A network of social media identities in
order to drive your digital footprint
 Facebook
& Twitter are the primary
complementary distribution platforms
 A workflow that changes the content
distribution process
 Sharing vs. Creating

16. A Sharing model

17. The influence of networks in
driving content usage

18. How the brand footprint
works
At Home in Arkansas – January 2010
Magazine circulation: Web visits:
30,000 10,536
Facebook Fans: E-mail subs:
4,410 7,500
Twitter followers: Staff friends:
460 3,500
Total Network:
56,406
(47% digital)

19. A brand tracking model
From Dan Blank of www.danblank.com

20. Frequent content sharing on
the AHIA blog

21. Distribution & community on
Facebook fan page

22. Distribution on Twitter

23. Monthly tracking shared with
content team
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At Home in Arkansas
Online Dashboard
Dashboard December 1, 2009 - December 31, 2009
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Site Usage
7,295 Total Visits 0:06:57 Avg Time on Site
16,855 Total Pageviews 70.08% % New Visits
2.31 Avg Pages/Visit
Visitors Overview Traffic Sources Overview
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6,179 Total Visitors 16,855 Total Pageviews
Content Channels
STYLE & SHOPPING HOMES & GARDENS
1,360 Total Pageviews 3,846 Total Pageviews
790 Total Visits 1,602 Total Visits
1.7 Avg Pages/Visit 2.4 Avg Pages/Visit
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24. Focus on key content areas
At Home in Arkansas - Page 2 December 1, 2009 - December 31, 2009
MY NEIGHBORHOOD BLOG
85 Total Pageviews 4,548 Total Pageviews
49 Total Visits 2,966 Total Visits
1.7 Avg Pages/Visit 1.5 Avg Pages/Visit
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TRAVEL & ENTERTAINING FASHION & BEAUTY
694 Total Pageviews 594 Total Pageviews
491 Total Visits 362 Total Visits
1.4 Avg Pages/Visit 1.6 Avg Pages/Visit
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FIND A PROFESSIONAL / FIND SHOPS AND SHOWROOMS Featured Video Plays
1,458 Total Pageviews
783 Total Visits 12 Featured Video Plays
1.9 Avg Pages/Visit
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25. AHIA:
Google Juice

26. AHIA:
Multiple web traffic sources
Jan 2010 Jun 2009 % CH
Unique visitors 7,173 4,019 78%
Visits 10,536 4,419 138%
Page views 21,610 12,500 73%
Traffic sources
Other web sites 4,105 1,458 182%
Search 3813 2908 31%
Direct 2618 932 181%
Top sections
Home page 2675 1807 48%
Blog 4107 351 1170%
Homes & gardens 6038 3572 69%

27. Sample work plan
Week Social Network Link building
distribution building
#1 Room of week Invitation to new 2 reciprocal link
5 - 10 sharing e-mail subscribers offers
elements 1 hour of Twitter 1 blog feature
Three magazine following
features 1 hour of FB
Resource friend
directory prospecting
#2 Room of the week 1 hour of Twitter Blog prospecting
5 - 10 sharing following Link offers
elements 1 hour FB friend
2 features prospecting
#3 Room of the week Invitation to new 1 Blog feature
5 - 10 sharing e-mail subscribers
elements
E-mail link to
social network
#4 Room of the week Twitter following Review new links
5 – 10 sharing FB prospecting & traffic
elements Blog prospecting

28. Sample tracking &
measuring
Social Network Link
distribution building building
Weekly Total referrals FB friends # of blogs
in week Twitter linked
Most active followers Blog referral
sharing E-mail traffic
elements subscribers Most active
blogs
Monthly Unique visits Totals Friends Blog referral
Page views Total followers traffic as a %
Popular Total e-mail of UV’s
pages/sections subscribers Google
Traffic sources PageRank

29. Using social media tools to
build & maintain Audience
 Share content regularly
 Create multiple social identities to share
content into
 Supplement with regular subscription
newsletters
 Create brand blog
 Use polls, discussions to engage
audience
 Promote print features in advance
using Sharing Model
 Web is not only for news
 Feature print features multiple times
across digital footprint

30. Using social media to amplify
and improve marketing
 Have sales team connect with
marketplace using social identities
 Facebook a strong tool
 Give sales team access to Brand fan
page
 Create marketing content on brand
blog
 Promote relationships, events in your
marketplace
 Photos, photos, photos
 As team gains expertise, organize
social media webinars, learning
sessions

31. Strategies for increasing
Web traffic and sales
 Implement sharing model
 Build Digital Footprint
 Build volume of shared content and
links
 Create content relationships with other
leading bloggers in your market
 Outcome is more inventory and more
business activity for your advertisers
 Design web presence to drive one or
two key actions
 Search professional directory
 Access contextually relevant advertising

32. Strategies for building
interactive Community
 Share
 Invite perspective and interaction
 Profile Community submissions on blog
and in printed product

33. Strategies for creating new
Revenue sources
 Basic directory listings
 Basic web sponsorships & display
advertsing
 Online promotion packages that take
advantage of digital footprint
 Facebook & Twitter promotion
 Blog promotion
 Time-sensitive announcements

34. Understanding skill and resource
requirements to implement social
media tools
 New technology resources
 Open-source content management system
 Wordpress
 Drupal
 Hosting environment
 Cloud resources allow for minimal capital
investment
 Amazon
 HTML/PHP programming experience
 Social media experience
 New processes & skills
 Social-media enabled organization
 Content & marketing teams trained on
using web publishing & content sharing
tools
 Openness
 Willingness to experiment
 New inteactive product packaging

35. Thinking about Cost &
Approach
 Low-cost, rapid development
 Focus
on getting the content tools into the
market as quickly as possible
 Reduce focus on design, functionality
 Characteristics of social media tools allow for
quick changes of design & functionality
 Adapt and change as you gain experience
in the market
 Time-Neutral Method
 Sharing process should not create more
work
 Determine how much time to create an edit
page
 Identify content sourced through Sharing
Process & incorporate it into print feature
 Usethe content-sharing process to create print-
ready content

36. Communicating organizational &
personal benefits
 Connection with the market
 Broaden personal portfolio of skills
 Personal brand

37. Summary &
Recommended Sources
 Social media can increase the connectedness and
relevance of your organization and brand.
 Social media will drive your brand’s digital
footprint.
 Social media will expand your digital revenue
opportunities.
 Your existing business processes and technology
investments can be adapted to leverage social
media tools at little additional expense.
Some Sources:
Dan McCarthy’s ViralHousingFix (www.viralhousingfix.com)
DigitalSherpa (www.digital-sherpa.com)
Dan Blank (www.danblank.com)
Greg Satell (www.digitaltonto,.com)
Eric Brown (www.apartmentveteran.com)
Olivier Blanchard (www.thebrandbuilder.com)
Mack Collier (www.mackcollier.com)
eMedia Vitals (www.emediavitals.com)
Folio (www.foliomag.com)

38. A SOCIAL MEDIA
WORKBOOK FOR
NICHE MEDIA
BRANDS
Dan McCarthy, CEO
Network Communications, Inc.