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Jump Start Your Small Business Using Social Media Welcome! We’ll be starting shortly. March 24, 2010 2-3 pm EST

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Our discussion today : <ul><li>Why social media works for small businesses </li></ul><ul><li>How to listen first before launching your campaign </li></ul><ul><li>How to create a social media strategy </li></ul><ul><li>What elements make up a successful campaign </li></ul>Does your business currently have social media included in your 2010 plan? a. Yes b. Not yet, but planning to c. No plans in 2010

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Presented by <ul><li>Nathan Eide </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Social Media Manager - Deluxe </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Nathan has 6+years in small business, agency & corporate eMarketing. </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Jared Roy </li></ul><ul><ul><li>President, Risdall Integration Group </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Jared is a big believer in the power of connecting brands with consumers in new & innovative ways. </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Josh Dahmes </li></ul><ul><ul><li>President, Risdall Online Marketing Group </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Josh helps clients understand how to utilize the internet as a promotional channel for their products and services. </li></ul></ul>

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Social Media – Why the Buzz? <ul><li>If Facebook were a country, it would be the third most populous with over 350 million users </li></ul><ul><li>In fact, Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months </li></ul><ul><li>1 in 6 higher education students are enrolled in online curriculum </li></ul><ul><li>80% of companies using LinkedIn as a primary tool to find employees </li></ul><ul><li>There are over 200,000,000 Blogs </li></ul><ul><li>34% of bloggers post opinions about products & brands </li></ul><ul><li>More than 1.5 million pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) are shared on Facebook ... Daily </li></ul><ul><li>1 out of 8 couples married in the U.S. last year met via social media </li></ul><ul><li>Social Media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the Web </li></ul>

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The landscape

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Why bother? <ul><li>“ For companies, resistance to social media is futile.” </li></ul><ul><li>Millions of people are creating content for the social Web. </li></ul><ul><li>Your competitors are already there. </li></ul><ul><li>Your customers have been there for a long time. </li></ul><ul><li>If your business isn't putting itself out there, it ought to be. </li></ul><ul><li>Business Week, February 19, 2009 </li></ul>

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Social media users are open to marketing <ul><li>34% used a search engine to research a product after seeing an ad on a social network </li></ul><ul><li>30% said they first learned about a new product or service via their social media use </li></ul><ul><li>28% showed interest in offers presented in a social media context </li></ul><ul><li>46% would discuss or recommend a product on Facebook </li></ul><ul><li>44% of Twitter users already have recommended a product </li></ul><ul><li>36% of YouTube users said learning about a brand on a social network site prompted them to visit an e-commerce site in response </li></ul><ul><li>Performics 2009 study </li></ul>

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Will Social Media Work For You? <ul><li>Did you go into business for a reason? </li></ul><ul><li>Do people hire you or buy from you because of your expertise? </li></ul><ul><li>Are you up on the latest trends in your industry? </li></ul><ul><li>The most common mistake with social media is thinking your expertise is common knowledge. </li></ul><ul><li>You don’t have to be a celebrity to be relevant on the web. </li></ul><ul><li>You already are someone who has valuable information, is a trusted source and knows how to communicate in a friendly, effective, and possibly entertaining manner. </li></ul>

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How Do You Get Started? <ul><li>Create a profile that helps people verify your legitimacy </li></ul><ul><li>Let consumers know to whom they are talking </li></ul><ul><li>Empower your social media representative </li></ul><ul><li>Be cognizant of privacy </li></ul><ul><li>Link to all your social media outlets </li></ul><ul><li>Be real. Be smart. Be helpful. Be funny. </li></ul><ul><li>Integration is the key </li></ul><ul><li>Facebook is NOT a strategy </li></ul>

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Where Do You Get Started? <ul><li>Yelp </li></ul><ul><ul><li>http:// www.yelp.com/minneapolis </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Twitter </li></ul><ul><ul><li>http:// www.twitter.com </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Facebook Pages </li></ul><ul><ul><li>http:// www.facebook.com /pages/ </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Blogging </li></ul><ul><ul><li>http:// wordpress.com / </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>http:// www.typepad.com / </li></ul></ul><ul><li>YouTube </li></ul><ul><ul><li>http:// www.youtube.com / </li></ul></ul><ul><li>LinkedIn Answers </li></ul><ul><ul><li>http:// www.linkedin.com /answers </li></ul></ul>

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Guidelines <ul><li>Be transparent and state where you work </li></ul><ul><li>Never represent yourself or your organization in a false or misleading way </li></ul><ul><li>Post meaningful, respectful comments </li></ul><ul><li>Use common sense and common courtesy </li></ul><ul><li>Stick to your area of expertise </li></ul><ul><li>When disagreeing, keep it appropriate and polite </li></ul><ul><li>If you write about the competition, behave diplomatically, have the facts straight and appropriate permissions </li></ul><ul><li>Never comment on anything related to legal matters </li></ul><ul><li>Never participate in social media when the topic being discussed may be considered a crisis situation </li></ul><ul><li>Be smart about protecting yourself, your privacy, and your company’s confidential information </li></ul>

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Create Your Strategy <ul><li>Identify Objectives </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Restate your objective so that it is “SMART” (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-based) </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Tie your objectives back to your overall company goals & objectives </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Identify Audience </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Who do you need to reach to meet your objective? Why this target group? </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Is this a target group identified in your company’s communications plan? </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>What key points do you want to make with your audience? </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>What social media tools are they currently using? </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Where do those people live online? </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Do you have a built-in community, or do you need to create one? </li></ul></ul>

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Create Your Strategy <ul><li>Turning Strategies into Actions </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Find & Follow </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Listen & Learn </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Integrate across all marketing efforts/channels </li></ul><ul><li>Where’s your home? </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Do you need a website? </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Getting the work done </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Who will implement? </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Can you allocate a minimum of five hours per week to your strategy once you've passed the learning curve? </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Do you have the most efficient work flow and tasks in place? </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Do you need any outside expertise? </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Will your work depend on any other resource or person? </li></ul></ul>

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How will you know if it works? <ul><li>Do you measure up? </li></ul><ul><li>What is your original, measurable objective (e.g., # of event attendees or new customers)? </li></ul><ul><li>What hard data points or metrics will you use to track your objectives? </li></ul><ul><li>How often will you track? </li></ul><ul><li>Do you have the systems and tools set up to track efficiently? </li></ul><ul><li>What questions will you ask to generate insights? </li></ul><ul><li>Who will participate? </li></ul><ul><li>Do you go past ROI? </li></ul>

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WiseGrass <ul><li>WiseGrass is a Pennsylvania-based, lawn care business that does a fantastic job of utilizing social media. </li></ul><ul><li>Mix of content types </li></ul><ul><li>Share on Facebook and blog </li></ul><ul><li>Scour reviews on Yelp, Yahoo and Google local search </li></ul><ul><li>Respond in kind to reviews </li></ul><ul><li>Value-added information </li></ul>

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WiseGrass <ul><li>Social media is the new Word of Mouth! </li></ul><ul><li>Capture testimonials </li></ul><ul><li>On every page, they offer testimonials from happy customers: </li></ul><ul><ul><li>After trying to take care of my lawn needs and failing miserably, I called Paul. After just a few months the results are amazing. My lawn is now #1 —Chris Millersville PA • 9 months, 3 weeks ago </li></ul></ul><ul><li>The best feature is how they openly collect them </li></ul><ul><ul><li>A simple web page asks, “How was your experience?” and gives customers 150 characters to tell the world. </li></ul></ul>

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What Do You Take Away? <ul><li>If you have a blog it should be the center of your social marketing efforts </li></ul><ul><li>Establish a consistent habit of posting, and stick to it </li></ul><ul><li>Get to know other bloggers and tweeters in your industry, and become a valuable part of the community </li></ul><ul><li>Mix up your content types </li></ul><ul><li>Twitter is all about two-way conversation </li></ul><ul><li>Ask for retweets (politely) </li></ul><ul><li>Use a Twitter client to help you manage your activities </li></ul><ul><li>Think before you post/tweet/reply </li></ul><ul><li>Integrate, integrate, integrate </li></ul><ul><li>Use calls to action to entice people to stick around </li></ul><ul><li>Keep an eye on what people are saying about you and your competitors </li></ul>

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Build A Listening Dashboard

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Build A Listening Dashboard If I told you that you could listen in on your customers and prospects? Would you listen? <ul><li>What type of impact do you think a listening platform would </li></ul><ul><li>have on your business? </li></ul><ul><li>Respond to Reviews d. Brand Monitoring </li></ul><ul><li>Customer Service e. Not sure what a listening </li></ul><ul><li>Reach out to Prospects platform is </li></ul>

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www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount

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www.google.com/alerts

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RSS <ul><li>RSS (Real Simple Syndication) allows you to subscribe to any website that has one of these in the address bar. You can then track every site you’re subscribed to without having to go to each individual site. </li></ul>

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www.google.com/reader

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www.search.twitter.com

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www.socialmention.com

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Google Blog Search

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www.technorati.com

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www.flickr.com

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www.YouTube.com

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Build A Listening Dashboard

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Above all, remember…..

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The author is responsible

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Questions? Nathan Eide Social Media Manager, Deluxe Corporation [email_address] Jared Roy President, Risdall Integration Group Jared@risdall.com Josh Dahmes President, Risdall Online Marketing Group [email_address]