1. How Social Media Can Help
Your Small Business Succeed
September 16th, 2014
Don Baron
SMB Business Development
Hootsuite Media, Inc.
@donjbaron

2. Talk Overview
• What is Social Media and why is it important?
• Social Media Networks and Demographics
• Social Media Marketing Strategies & Tactics
• Social Media Sales/Support Strategies & Tactics
• Example Execution Plans
• References / Case Studies
@donjbaron

3. The What’s and Why’s of Social Media

4. Social Media: Personal vs. Business
@donjbaron

5. Social Media: Personal vs. Business
@donjbaron

6. Social Media: Easy to start

7. Why Social Media?

8. Why Social Media?

9. Barrier to Entry
SPEND
AUDIENCE SIZE

10. Social Media Engagement Characteristics
• Affordable and Effective Targeting
• Actionable
• Built in Advocate Amplification
• Casual
• Ubiquitous and Active
@donjbaron

11. Social Media Networks
http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/social-media-stats-2014_b54243

12. Social Media Networks
http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/social-media-stats-2014_b54243

13. Marketing Effort B2B vs B2C
B2C B2B
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/SocialMediaMarketingIndustryReport2014.pdf

14. Some more numbers
of online users rely on social media before making purchase decisions.
http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/newswire/2012/how-connectivity-…
of consumers say they will change their shopping behavior in response to social media
content.
of consumers rely on social media to influence their purchasing decision
(ODM Group)
of consumers cite social networks as a way they discover new brands,
products or services:
http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Social-Media-Weaves-Its-Way…
46%
85%
74%
33%

15. Strategies:
Marketing, Sales & Support
@donjbaron

16. Strategies – Marketing
VS
@donjbaron

17. Strategies – Choose Networks and Demographics

18. Strategies – Create a following

19. Strategies – Amplify your Success

20. Strategies – Drive traffic to your website

21. Strategies – Paid Marketing

22. Strategies – Be realistic about your spend

23. Strategies – Pick your best content

24. Strategies – Clear plan to conversion

25. • Marketing Tactics
Marketing Tactics
@donjbaron

26. Marketing Tactics – Create an online presence

27. Marketing Tactics – Create an online presence
• Start with your webpage – this is still the cornerstone
• Find your voice and use it
• Let people engage you on your site
• Highlight your successes
@donjbaron

28. Marketing Tactics – Rich Content

29. Marketing Tactics – Create Rich Content
• Use content that catches your audience’s attention
• Content doesn’t need to be you selling stuff – anything that
makes the readers’ lives better, more productive, or just gives
them a good laugh
• Encourage your customers to develop content / Contests
• Use #hashtags to attach to trends (#IceBucketChallenge, e.g)

30. Marketing Tactics – Schedule and Streamline

31. Marketing Tactics – Schedule and Streamline
• Spend an hour a week planning a social media calendar
for that week
• Schedule content so you don’t have to be there when it posts!
• Use tools that allow you to post to more than one network at a time
• Use shortened links to track success (bit.ly, ow.ly , etc)
@donjbaron

32. Marketing Tactics – Target Influencers

33. Marketing Tactics – Target Influencers
• Influencers have a bigger reach than you
• Get their attention / engage
• Use twitter lists to keep up with important people in your industry
• Look at the content that resonates with their followers – emulate
@donjbaron

34. Marketing Tactics – Listen Smartly

35. Marketing Tactics – Listen Smartly
• Use tools that allow you to stream several social networks
into one place
• If your business is local, use Twitter geo-searching
• Use lists to target specific users
• Create notifications on your mobile device to respond more quickly
@donjbaron

36. Marketing Tactics – Paid Media

37. Marketing Tactics – Paid Media
• Get specific about your target demographic. You know your
customers, target them ! FB is especially excellent at targeting.
• Re-use content that’s worked for your organic reach, use analytics to
help you optimize performance
• Consider retargeting technologies
• Read up on some best practices:
http://blog.hootsuite.com/facebook-ads-twitter-ads-best-practices/

38. Sales and Support – Two sides of the same coin

39. Sales and Support
• Create a brand page on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, etc.
• Listen for twitter Keywords that indicate buying decisions or support
questions , set up notifications on your phone.
• Listen locally / Listen topically
• Connect to your systems of record
• Commit !
@donjbaron

40. Example Execution Plans
@donjbaron

41. A few models and commitment levels
• Upfront Effort
• Research (3-6 Hrs.)
• Startup (5-10 Hrs.)
• Recurring Options
• Light: 1-5 Hrs. / Week
• Involved: 5+ Hrs. / Week
@donjbaron

42. Research (3-6 Hrs)
• Map your customers to knowledge of network demographics
• Find businesses like yours that are successful. Learn.
• Determine mix of Marketing/Selling/Support business goals
• Talk to an expert
• Be realistic
@donjbaron

43. One Time Startup Effort (5 – 10 Hrs)
• Create a rich social rich profile on targeted social networks
• Create a landing page to collect email addresses
• Sign up for a productivity tool , mobile too.
• Follow/like 3 influencers, 3 customers, 3 competitors
• Fill your first content calendar
@donjbaron

44. Ongoing work (1-5 hrs / week)
• Research what’s new this week (new products/trends?)
• Fill your content calendar for the week , including 3 original pieces of
content (could be just a tweet)
• Engage with 3 customers, 3 influencers each week
• Spend 10-15 minutes a day scanning
@donjbaron

45. Ongoing work (5+ Hrs/Week)
• Decide whether to outsource or go in house
• Content!
• Develop a paid advertising strategy
• Run a monthly contest to build lists
• Spend 1 hr a day engaging (split AM/PM)
• Measure success
@donjbaron

46. Reference
@donjbaron

47. Reference
Which networks are right for you / Getting started?
http://blog.hootsuite.com/what-social-networks-should-you-be-on-twitter/
http://blog.hootsuite.com/guide-to-getting-started-on-facebook-twitter-google/
Small Business Strategy and Success
http://blog.hootsuite.com/save-time-and-resources-with-social-media-3-tips-for-small-businesses/
http://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-for-business/
http://blog.hootsuite.com/linkedin-for-small-business/
http://www.slideshare.net/hootsuite/10-social-media-marketing-tips-for-small-businesses
http://www.slideshare.net/hootsuite/smss-lookbook
http://blog.hootsuite.com/facebook-ads-twitter-ads-best-practices/
Advanced Strategy:
http://blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-create-a-social-media-strategy/
http://www.slideshare.net/hootsuite/hootsuiteanalyticsbestpractice
@donjbaron

48. Thank You!
Don Baron
@DonJBaron
www.hootsuite.com