Social Media for Small Business

Social Media for S i l M di f Small Business Small Business September 30, 2010 S b 30 2010 University of Houston University of Houston SBDC Clear Lake

Promised Content P i dC t t

Make informed decisions. Make informed decisions What you should know before diving in. Shorten the time you spend online. Sh t th ti d li The core social media tools that are best for you and your business. your business Keep your customers coming back for more. Winning content that is most relevant to them. Wi i t t th t i t l t t th Know how you’re doing. A handful of simple tools to help measure the reach of your efforts.

Agenda A d

Social Media Overview Social Media Overview Examples Stats St t The Tools Blogging LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Time Management Metrics

No time to view this today … y check it out!! Social Media Overview,, “Did You Know, Ver.4.0,” created by Xplane, the Visual thinking company. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILQrUrEWe8

the world we live in now Social Media for Business Social Media for Business [the world we live in now] [the world we live in now]

. . . has changed a LOT g Business Social Media for Business Social Media for [the world we live in now] [the world we live in now]

Social Media? S i l M di ? What is it? What is it?

New Ways of Connecting New Ways of Connecting Concept and design by Schipul, the Web Marketing Company; http://www.schipul.com

Social Media is a conversation . . . Social Media is a conversation . . . Concept and design by Schipul, the Web Marketing Company; http://www.schipul.com

. . . between actual humans . . . between actual humans

Put another way, Put another way it’s a human conversation it’s a human conversation that takes place online . . . that takes place online

. . . and the conversation is global. d th ti i l b l

2/3 of the global internet population use social networks use social networks

3 out of 4 Americans are using some form of social media

but WAIT . . .

If it’s so GOOD .. If it s so what are companies AFRAID OF? Flickr Creative Commons photo by Vitor Bezrukov http://www.flickr.com/photos/s‐t‐r‐a‐n‐g‐e/382031318/sizes/m/

Employees Will Waste Time W Ti

We’ll lose control of ’ll l l f OUR BRAND OUR BRAND

Seriously? S i l ?

Someone might steal our steal our SECRETS! 24

Either way?

It’s GONNA happen . . . with you or without.

91% of professional p marketers are using social media for their clients’ products Even higher % of small of small business owners are doing so are doing so Next 4 slides from: 2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, by Michael A Stelzner, http://www. SocialMediaExaminer.com

The top two cited benefits of social media are 85% increased exposure/visibility 63% more traffic / subscribers

Top 4 preferred social media tools Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Blogs

B2B = biz to biz B2C = biz to consumer

B2C enterprises more focused on Facebook B2B concentrate more on LinkedIn They also use more blogs

www.martellhomebuilders.com

Let’s Review L t’ R i

The Community Tapestry Project, Moon Rain Centre, Ottawa BC

Blogging Basics Bl i B i

http://blog.blinds.com ‐ The Finishing Touch After running two Houston window blind stores for more than a decade, Jay Steinfeld and his wife and business f partner moved most of the business to the Web in 1996, f founding g Blinds.com, now a $50 million business and the No. 1 seller of blinds online.

Best reason to blog: your Blog (or Website) g y g( ) is your BRAND. Not Twitter, FB, or LinkedIn Best way to start blogging B t t t t bl i Monitor a group of relevant blogs (via Bloglines.com or Google Reader) such as - Daily Blog Tips http://www.dailyblogtips.com/ h // d il bl i / Post a few comments 7 Blogging Lessons Learned the Hard way 7 Bl i L L d h H d http://www.ewkrausecom.com/theportal/ blogging/7‐blogging‐lessons‐learned‐the‐hard‐way gg g/ gg g y

LinkedIn builds professional builds professional connections

LinkedIn Factoids A new member joins LinkedIn approximately every second. every second. There were more than a billion people‐ searches through the site last year g y Executives from all Fortune 500 companies are LinkedIn members 50% of Fortune 100 companies hire through LinkedIn Over half a million LinkedIn groups exist

Go after (and offer) recommendations!

Make your own mark

LinkedIn summary fill out ALL of your profile! ask and answer questions participate in groups / discussions INVITE FRIENDS

Twitter – Twitter – commo faster faster than you can think than you can think

Twitter Things to Know g Twitter now has 105,779,710 registered users. New users are signing up at the rate of 300,000 per day. , p y Twitter's search engine receives around 600 million search queries per day. Of Twitter's active users, 37 percent use their phone to tweet. Over half of all tweets (60 percent) come from third party applications.

Great Great companies monitor often & RUN to the & RUN to the problem!!

Twitter is a great “channel” for non‐profits!!

When you find A great way to A t t compatible compatible brand yourself friends, visit on Twitter is their lists to with a custom with a custom find others find others background.

Don’t use Twitter like a Billboard; ENGAGE, converse, RT!!

Facebook = Facebook = TOTAL transparency TOTAL transparency

The numbers speak for themselves p More than 500 million active users 50% of active users log on to Facebook in any 50% of active users log on to Facebook in any given day Average user has 130 friends e age use as 30 e ds People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook 70% of Facebook users live outside the US There are more than 150 million active users There are more than 150 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices.

Create Raving Fans – Put ALL of Facebook to Work for You http://www.facebook.com/blindscom

Use Facebook to Take Your Non‐Profit to the Next Level http://www.facebook.com/SLGTCommunity

Promote Events to E t t Support Your pp Business or Non‐Profit N P fi Goals

You can set custom privacy settings for settings for individual posts.

Best Things to Do with Facebook g Fan pages Custom HTML (FBML) See BlindsCom Welcome Page, previously. Here’s a how: P i l H ’ h http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how‐to‐ customize‐your‐facebook‐page‐using‐static‐fbml/ Special content Events How to Manage Your FB Privacy Settings With Three S p e sts Simple Lists http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/13/how‐to‐ effectively‐manage‐your‐facebook‐privacy‐settings‐ with‐l/ with‐l/

build a build a social media plan . . . social media plan that works for you that works for you

Fast Company Blog; The Ten Commandments of Social Media BY FC EXPERT BLOGGER LON SAFKO Tue May 5, 2009

’s s ’s 10 Commandments of Social Media 10 Commandments of Social Media I. Thou shalt Blog (like crazy) g( y) II. Thou Shalt Create Profiles (everywhere) III. Thou Shalt Upload Photos (lots of them) IV. Thou Shalt Upload Videos (all you can find) p ( y ) V. Thou Shalt Podcast (often)

’s s 10 Commandments of Social Media VI. Thou Shalt Set Alerts (immediately) VII. Thou Shalt Comment (on a multitude of blogs) VIII. Thou Shalt Get Connected (with everyone) VIII Thou Shalt Get Connected (with everyone) IX. Thou Shalt Explore Social Media (30 minutes per week) per week) X. Thou Shalt Be Creative (go forth and create creatively)!

A simpler approach

Finding the right social media websites Finding the right social media websites Look at what you’re already using (and your friends are using friends are using Look at what your clients and competition are using (do some Google searches) using (do some Google searches) Find the industry trendsetters – and copy their success their success

How to connect with the right people How to connect with the right people Who are your industry’s leaders? o Conference speakers f k o Journal writers o Fortune 500 or 1000 Watch them (as many as you can identify) on Watch them (as many as you can identify) on LinkedIn Clients (ditto) Clients (ditto) Colleagues (ditto)

Make the Most of Your Time Focus your presence on one social media channel at a time Master it and move on to another . . . or not Schedule time (at least an hour) for social media every day – make it part of your routine Don’t just promote yourself – ENGAGE o A good mix is 80% conversation & promoting others’ content; 15‐20% promoting your own) Go at your own pace G t Enlist the help of trusted friends; interns Attend classes or networking groups d l k

Metrics ?? How Will You Know When You Get There

Ignore meaningless metrics like i l i lik “number of followers.” A successful campaign is more than just a body count. j y

General Metrics Facebook Metrics ‐ Google Analytics Google Analytics ‐ Facebook Insights g Metric M ti Tools Blog Metrics Blog Metrics Twitter Metrics ‐ Twitalyzer ‐ Google Analytics ‐ HootSuite

What are you going to measure? Fans? Comments? Subscribers? New customers? Engagement levels? Responses? What are you going to measure against? What are your benchmarks? Where is your starting point? Thanks to Sandra Fernandez, Public Relations Manager, Houston Public Library for all the Metrics Wisdom!! @sandrasays

Things you can start tracking today, for free # of Followers, Fans, Subscribers # f F ll F S b ib Traffic to your blog (VISITORS not Hits) Conversations/Comments / o On your blog o F b k Li k dI Facebook or LinkedIn page o Responses on Twitter Links to your site or social Links to your site or social media channel Clickthroughs on links you on links you post to your networks Retweets, Trackbacks, Retweets, Trackbacks, Sharing

Google Analytics http://www.google.com/analytics http://www google com/analytics

Other great (free) measurement tools Alexa (http://www.alexa.com/) HootSuite (http://hootsuite.com) Feedburner (http://feedburner.google.com) Three that cost $$s TweetMeme Analytics (http://tweetmeme.com) Radian6 (http://www.radian6) Omniture, by Adobe (http://www.omniture.com) (h // )

Thanks for Coming!!

Let’s Connect! Elaine W Krause @ewkrause (on Twitter) http://www.linkedin.com/in/ewkrause http://www linkedin com/in/ewkrause http://ewkrausecom.com/theportal

Social Media for Small Business

by Elaine W Krause on Oct 01, 2010

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Social Media for Small Business — Presentation Transcript