Joanne Jacobs: How to use Social Media for Small Business
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Joanne Jacobs
Social Media Expert Consultant
Email: joanne@joannejacobs.net
Twitter: joannejacobs
Phone: (+44) 07948 318 298
Practical Social MediaPractical Social Media
for local businessfor local business
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Scope of the immersiveScope of the immersive
What are the tools?
Which tools should my business adopt?
How do I engage with my customers/clients?
How much staff time should be devoted to social
media activities?
How are my social strategies performing?
How can I be “creative and curatorial”?
Where to from here?
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Social networksSocial networks
Facebook, MySpace, specialist
networks (such as Gurgle,
BookArmy), niche communities such
as Ning groups.
Networks enable sharing of updates,
likes, images and media.
Businesses use social networks to:
Develop a community of advocates
Run a customer service channel
Drive traffic to their websites
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Business networksBusiness networks
LinkedIn, Plaxo, professional
communities and groups.
Business networks enable CV
promotion and connections between
like minded professionals.
Business networks are used to:
Recruit staff
Exhibit professional authority
Communicate with suppliers/clients in
groups
Target business questions to ‘serious’
individuals.
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Real time messaging/publishingReal time messaging/publishing
Twitter, Friendfeed, Google Buzz.
Real time messaging enables
conversations, fast promotion of
alternative content, and quick
responses to issues as-they-happen.
Businesses use real time messaging
to:
Promote events, blogs and activities
Engage with existing customers
Find new customers
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Rich media sitesRich media sites
YouTube, Vimeo, 12Seconds,
Audioboo, Flickr, etc.
Rich media sites are designed to
showcase images, video content,
audio content, etc.
Businesses use rich media sites to:
Engage audiences with a traditional
media-like content channel
Capture responses to events and
campaigns as part of a reporting or
promotional activity
Liven up static sites
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Social bookmarkingSocial bookmarking
Digg, Reddit, Delicious, StumbleUpon, etc.
Bookmarks are used as a means of curating
resources relevant to an individual, business
or network, as well as a simple promotion
utility.
Businesses use social bookmarks to:
Promote new content/products/services
Aggregate resources on area of expertise or
items of interest to one’s community
Vote up/down interesting content.
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Blogs & RSS FeedsBlogs & RSS Feeds
Blogs, keyword feeds and anything
other updating feeds.
Blogs enable sharing your expertise
while feed aggregation can be useful
to focus attention.
Businesses use RSS feeds to:
Demonstrate authority in your area of
expertise
Aggregate social content streams
(assets) into a single page online
Set alerts for brand mentions
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Social media tool variantsSocial media tool variants
1. Social networks
2. Business networks
3. Real time messaging and publishing
4. Rich media sharing
5. Social bookmarks
6. Blogs & RSS
ALL HAVE DIFFERENT BUSINESS FUNCTIONS
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Which tools are right for my business?Which tools are right for my business?
What do you want to achieve?
Establish your authority in your area of expertise
Customer service
Advertising
Community engagement
Active listening
Product development
Knowledge & crisis management
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Which tools are right for my business?Which tools are right for my business?
AUTHORITY: Blogs, Answering LinkedIn business
questions, responding to queries on twitter, curation of
useful resources for your communities in bookmarks
CASE STUDY:
Blogs as exhibitors
of authority
(Large) GM Motors: Fastlane
(Local) Butler Sheet Metal:
Tinbasher
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/proimos/4045973322/
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Which tools are right for my business?Which tools are right for my business?
CUSTOMER SERVICE: Twitter query response,
Facebook channels
Image source:
http://images.smh.com.au/ftsmh/ffximage/2009/03/12/switchb
oard1_wideweb__470x285,0.jpg
CASE STUDY:
Facebook for
customer service
(Large) VodafoneUK: Service
(Large) AT&T: Customer Care
(Local) Devon Travel
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Which tools are right for my business?Which tools are right for my business?
ADVERTISING: Twitter promotion, Facebook
fan pages, ads on YouTube.
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterblanchard/3402211563/
CASE STUDY:
Facebook fan pages
Starbucks
Disney
Visa
Oxfam UK
(Local) The Handbag Lady
(Local) Exeter Leukemia Fund
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Which tools are right for my business?Which tools are right for my business?
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: Forums and niche community
facilitation on custom networks (ning, etc), LinkedIn groups
CASE STUDY:
Linked In Groups
Internet Coaching Circle
Marketing recruitment
firm: StopGap
Fashion event:
Pure London
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinkmoose/93825403/
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Which tools are right for my business?Which tools are right for my business?
ACTIVE LISTENING: Responses via all social channels to
discussions and issues with your brand (not just own channels)
CASE STUDY:
Brand search and
twitter conversations
Local Business
Twitter Search:
Devon Stone
Stone tiling ;
Signs express
Need signage
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkadog/3353936487/sizes/m/
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Which tools are right for my business?Which tools are right for my business?
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT: Facilitating crowd sourcing
of product ideas and marketing research.
CASE STUDY:
Product development
online (SMEs)
Threadless
Local Motors
Brickfish: Design a Coach tote
Tauntaun sleeping bag
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pargon/2444155973/
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Which tools are right for my business?Which tools are right for my business?
KNOWLEDGE & CRISIS MANAGEMENT: Facilitating crowd
sourced knowledge and enabling information access in crises.
CASE STUDY:
Crisis wiki
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/msvg/4433428957/
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Which tools?Which tools?
IMPORTANT: It is better to have no social
media assets than establish tools that are not
updated and where you do not converse with
your audience.
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gcfairch/4385543669/
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Engaging onlineEngaging online
Engagement has a series of
manifestations:
Responding to queries
Conversing with
customers/contacts
Active listening
Dealing with negativity/conflict
Facilitating change in
communities
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bensonkua/2743081060/
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Engaging onlineEngaging online
RESPONDING TO QUERIES: This needs to be
triggered by alert systems and searches on keywords.
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/70554893@N00/4284764493/
CASE STUDY:
BT Care
Irena Vaksman (Dentist)
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Engaging onlineEngaging online
CONVERSING WITH CUSTOMERS/CLIENTS: This
means listening and responding, and taking an interest
in the lives of those people. Not broadcasting.
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nostri-imago/2866399803/
CASE STUDY:
Kerry@DELL
DIRECTTV
(Local) H& R Block
(tax agents)
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Engaging onlineEngaging online
ACTIVE LISTENING: Active listening involves searches
on keywords and engagement on social sites other than
your own branded assets.
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/danielduende/30444390/
CASE STUDY:
Boardtracker
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Engaging onlineEngaging online
DEALING WITH NEGATIVITY & CONFLICT: Need to
ensure that responses to negative feedback are
appropriate.
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sylvar/3054077849/
CASE STUDY:
Nestle and Greenpeace campaign ;
Kevin Smith & South West Airlines
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Engaging onlineEngaging online
FACILITATING CHANGE: Change can be a result of mergers &
acquisitions, adoption of new technologies, changes in staffing etc.
Social media can be used to collect info about problems in
processes & put minds at ease about new co-workers.
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/spursfan_ace/2328879637/
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TimeTime
The amount of time you
spend with social media is
dependent on what you want
to achieve.
Conversations are NOT
time wasting.
Need to balance time spent
in content production with
listening, tracking and
engaging.
ROUGH GUIDE
TO MINIMUM TIME
INVESTMENT
Monitoring staff
= 20% of workload
Contributing staff
= 10-15% workload
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PerformancePerformance
Tracking divided into:
Mentions and sentiment
Workload reduction for
traditional customer
service channels
Brand awareness &
product enhancement
SALES
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lrargerich/3969494964/
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PerformancePerformance
MENTIONS & SENTIMENT: Mentions are great but only
when sentiment expressed is positive.
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/noelzialee/233883651/
CASE STUDY:
Social Mention
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PerformancePerformance
WORKLOAD REDUCTION: Normally quantitative
research in terms of number of calls to
helpdesk/customer care, and time spent on dealing with
issues.
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gadl/320300354/
CASE STUDY:
Microsoft Xbox support
Clinical trial recruitment
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PerformancePerformance
BRAND AWARENESS & PRODUCT ENHANCEMENT:
Active listening activities can enhance brand awareness
by responding to questions in your field of expertise
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wonderlane/4234358423/
CASE STUDY:
LinkedIn Answers
Answers.com
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PerformancePerformance
SALES: In the end, a social media strategy that fails to
improve brand awareness, attract new sales or increase
intention to purchase, is a failed social media strategy.
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/timparkinson/930660427/
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Performance: basics and top tier monitoringPerformance: basics and top tier monitoring
Google analytics: http://www.google.com/analytics/
Radian 6: http://www.radian6.com/
Scoutlabs: http://www.scoutlabs.com/
Hootsuite: http://hootsuite.com/ (Twitter)
Google Real Time: http://www.google.com/realtime
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PerformancePerformance
PLEASE NOTE:
Tracking numbers of fans/followers is completely
pointless
Tracking number of comments is mostly pointless
Tracking unique views on websites is pointless if
conversions are low
Image Source: http://www.purchasetwitterfriends.com/
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Creativity and curationCreativity and curation
Best approach to social
media is not a sales
approach, but rather
creative and curation
oriented
Chances are, if something is
interesting to you, it will be
interesting to others
A curatorial approach to
content development and
aggregation will organically
generate attention.
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/laffy4k/404321726/
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Where to from here?Where to from here?
1. Establish what you want to achieve
2. Analyse social presence of competitors
3. Gather examples of quality social media interaction
4. Commit resources to social media
5. Implement, augment, review and improve
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Questions?Questions?
Joanne Jacobs
Social Media Expert Consultant
Email: joanne@joannejacobs.net
Blog: http://joannejacobs.net/
Twitter: joannejacobs
Skype: bgsbjj
Skype-in: (+44) 0208 144 9348
Mob: (+44) 07948 318 298