How to make social media work for your business, adapted from first presentation for the Oklahoma Transit Association.

1. Click Here 
to Follow
With Your
Smartphone!
MAKE IT WORK FOR YOU.
Oklahoma Transit Association – 2012 Winter Conference
January 25-27, 2012

2. Show of Hands Survey
How Comfortable Are You With Social Media?
I Use SM
Personally
I E-Mail – But But Haven’t I Have An SM I LOVE E-
No E-Mail SM Is Too Figured It Profile But Tools and
DEFINITELY “Out-There” Out For My Haven’t Done Use Them
No SM For Me Business Much With It Effectively

3. What We DON’T Want.
No plan, halfway filled out profiles, lost customers, waste of time, waste of energy
and a frustrated business owner…

4. Create YOUR Specific Strategy
• Identify: Your Objectives
• Identify: Your Audience
– The Target Audience You Wish to Grow
– Your Strong Supporters/Friends/Family
– Your Stakeholders
• Identify: Calls to Action
• Identify: Benchmarks – When Will You Feel Successful?
• Identify: Keywords (AND USE THEM) – SEO
• How will you measure success?
– Followers
– Visits
– Return on Conversation?
• Best Tools For You

5. Objectives:
What Are YOUR
Goals?
Some objectives may be:
Brand Awareness
Credibility
Drive Traffic to Website
Product Sales
SOCIAL LISTENING –
Often neglected
Location
Product
Service
Prospective
Customers
USEFUL TOOL:
HootSuite.com

6. SoMe FACTS
• The number of people visiting SM sites has
increased 24% over this time last year.
• SM Usage by Small Business has DOUBLED
from last year – >75% use it
• Almost ONE-HALF of Small Businesses have
successfully connected with NEW customers
through Social Networks
• 51% of Facebook Users & 64% of Twitter Users
are More Likely To Purchase Brands They
Follow

7. STEP 1: GET ON THE BANDWAGON
Integrate Social Media

8. WHY INTEGRATE SOCIAL MEDIA?
Websites aren’t enough anymore…

9. Website.101
• Should be the HUB of all YOUR marketing
– Print & Electronic!
• Should be your 24/7/365 Sales Tool
• Should be:
– Relevant - Fresh – Up To Date
– Informative on your topic
– Able to be Shared
• More Sharing = MORE EYEBALLS on your product!
• USEFUL TOOL: Addthis.com or Sharethis.com
– Constantly Monitored – Analytics!

10. WHY ??
• People on Facebook
– 800+ Million Users
– 50% Log On At Least Once Per Day
– Average User has 130 Friends
• Activity on Facebook
– 900+ Million Objects To Interact With
– Average User is Connected to 80+ Pages, Groups or
Events
– More than 250 MILLION Photos Uploaded DAILY
– Over 350 Million Users Access Their Account on a
Mobile Device

11. FEATURES
• Insights – Analytics & Demographic
Information on Every Post
• Advertising – Very Targeted “Pay-Per-Click”
Marketing
• Link to Other Fan Pages as “Favorites”
– Other Local Products
– Other Local Opportunities
– Community Pages
– Organizations Your Company Supports
• It Matters in SEO

12. What’s SEO?
ArborDay.org Facebook.com/ArborDay

13. IN OTHER WORDS:
THE MORE PINGBACKS YOU GET FROM SM
THE HIGHER YOUR COMPANY CAN RANK IN
SEARCH ENGINE SEARCHES

14. Building Profiles = Building Credibility
• Education & Expertise
• Testimonials or Clients You Have Worked With
• Link / Address to Other SM You Use
• Link / Address to Website
• SlideShare Link
• Groups Of Which You Are A Member
• Upcoming Events – ALWAYS Updated!

15. Don’t Neglect 
YouTube
• Be the Expert
• Take Short Videos of What You flickr
Do, How You Do It, People • Pictures Say A Thousand
Enjoying What You’ve Done
Words
• Upload and EMBED
• 24 hours of video uploaded • Post Pictures of:
every MINUTE – Products
• Average User Spends 15 minute – People Enjoying Products or
PER DAY on YouTube Events
• YouTube EXCEEDS 2 BILLION – Successful Events
views per day – Nearly Double – People, People, People!!
the prime-time audience of all 3
major networks.
END RESULT:
More Pingbacks to Your Website = Higher SEO

16. Where Does Twitter Fit In?
• Share Links to USEFUL Information
– DO NOT share trite/worn out/blast type info
• Share Event Information
• Share Success or Celebrate Events
• Share “Specials”
– Twitter Only Coupons
– Twitter Only Sales
• Followers
– Quality Over Quantity
– Beware of SPAMMERS – Someone who is following
LOTS of people with very few followers themselves.

17. Make Your Twitter Profile Unique
Create A Custom Background

18. How To Create a Custom Background
1. Create a Twitter account. If you haven't gotten around to signing up for Twitter
yet, what are you waiting for? Go to twitter.com and sign up for an
account.
2. Decide what type of image you want to portray. Part of the difficulty in setting
the correct background is deciding what you want your Twitter page design to
say about you. Many folks take any image or graphic and upload it to their
Twitter account without much thought. Take some time to come up with
something that speaks of your style, taste and personality.
3. Consider the screen real estate. The important information to be viewed on
Twitter occurs in the center of the page. No matter how many images or
sayings you have on your background, the center of the screen belongs to
Twitter. Therefore you have to create a background that gives Twitter center
stage.
4. Go large. Larger images and/or graphics reduce the necessity for tiling an image.
It gives the appearance of one large background specifically made for Twitter.
Try starting with an image as large as 1600 x 1200.

19. How To Create a Custom Background
5. Remember that all screen resolutions are not the same. The smaller the screen
resolution, the lower the likelihood of your image will have to repeat. In other
words, if you elect to use an image that has a flower located to the extreme left of
the screen, on a lower resolution screen (800 x 600 for instance), the flower
displays once. A screen with a resolution of say 2048 x 1536, the flower will display
tiled on the screen several times.
6. Think about using a border. When creating an image, remember that a small portion
of the top of the screen is dedicated to the Twitter logo and user navigation. It's a
little easier on the eyes if the design included a boarder over which the Twitter
logo and navigation could sit without having to fight against a busy background.
7. Upload your image to Twitter. Once you've played around with the image, upload it
to Twitter to see how it looks. Log onto your account. Click "Design" found under
the "Settings" tab. Once on the design screen click "change background image."
Once you upload your image, check it out to see if you like it. If you don't you can
change it or use one of the Twitter default images until you come up with
something you like.

20. TWEET-TIP
Although you’re allowed 140 characters in any tweet, try to keep them
under 120…
140 On The Money – But That’s Good Info
Why?
That SHOULD Be Shared With My Followers
But Look What Happens When I Try To RT To My
Friend - @SoldOnShawnee (+14 Characters)…
Do YOU think that tweet was RT’d?
By limiting yourself to 120 characters, you make it EASY for
people to share your great information…

21. Google+ Pages
Search + Your World – New Prioritization
Standards
How to set up your own Google+ Page
• http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid
/29982/Google-Finally-Allows-Page-Admins-
Rolls-Out-Other-Improvements.aspx

22. Just Like You Hang a Sign to Tell the Neighborhood You’re OPEN
Make Sure Your Customers Know You Are Online – Make it Easy to Find You
Provide the Address to Your Profile in Multiple Locations
Create Unique URL’s
Use QR Codes

23. WHAT’S A QR CODE?
Connect Print Media to Electronic, Traceable Resources
Use for Sales, Product Information, Or to Make Connections to Social Media

24. USEFUL TOOL: Red Laser QR Code Reader
GENERATE QR
CODES FOR FREE
USEFUL TOOL: QuikQR.com

25. Consider Sharing Your Wisdom - BLOG
• Small Businesses That Blog See 55% More Visitors to
Their Website
• They See 97% More Link Backs to Their Website – SEO!
• 434% More Indexed Pages – SEO! SEO!!
• BUT….
– It’s Not For Everyone
– Do You Have Something To Write About More Than Once? If
Not, Maybe Occasional Press Releases Are Better
– Consistency is Rewarded by SEO and Builds Trust With
Customers, if You Can’t be Consistent – Don’t Bother

26. Info is Good – Traceable Data is BETTER
• USEFUL TOOLS: to Determine Your SM Effectiveness
– Google Analytics (FREE!)
– Bit.ly
• (Shorten Your URL’s for Twitter Usage, then track the clicks!)
– FaceBook Insights
– TwitterCounter.com

27. BEWARE: Timing is EVERYTHING
Interact Often with your Customers / Fan Base / Followers

28. SoMe Rules!
1. Ignore Nothing! - #ReputationMonitoring
2. Commit! – AT LEAST 10 minutes per day
– USEFUL TOOL: HootSuite.com
3. Update! – If it’s not fresh, IT STINKS
4. Separate! – Personal vs. Professional
5. It’s NOT All About You!!!

29. Sources
• Social Media Image - http://www.wizmarketings.com/wp-
content/uploads/2011/06/Austin-Social-Media-Marketing.jpg
• Mark James – SlideShare.net - http://www.slideshare.net/ED_Solutions_Inc/ed-
solutions-social-media0311final2
• Social Media Bandwagon - http://directory.ac/social-media-marketing-
improvement.html
• Share Buttons - Addthis.com
• Social Media Facts – CrowdSpring.com
• Facebook Facts – Facebook.com
• Website Hub – WhoisGregg.com
• Social Media Images -
http://media.photobucket.com/image/social%20media/blong72/social-media-
icons.jpg?o=70
• Kim Dean Art - http://twitter.com/#!/kimdeanart
• YouTube Facts - Viralblog.com
• How To Create A Custom Twitter BackGround -
http://www.ehow.com/how_4613303_twitter-background.html
• Blogging Facts - http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/5014/Study-Shows-
Small-Businesses-That-Blog-Get-55-More-Website-Visitors.aspx
• http://smallbiztrends.com/2009/08/blogging-best-seo-tool-small-businesses.html

30. LET’S TALK ABOUT YOU!!
QUESTIONS?
COMMENTS?
Connect with Me!
Rachael K. Geiger
405.556.1167
@RKBGeiger
Gplus.to/RKBGeiger
SlideShare.net/RKBGeiger
rgeiger2010@gmail.com