Social media for small businesses: getting started

Social Media – where to start?
Pete Wilson, Digital Strategy Manager, Sage UK
Bonjour pwils10! Now you know how to greet people in French!

Social Media – What is it?
Social = sharing
Media = content
“ Social media is the most visible way to demonstrate your companies credibility to the type of customer you wish to attract’
Penny Powers, Founder of Ecademy

Online communities of like minded folk linked through technology

Social Media insight
Sometimes small is beautiful

It’s reputation
How big is the gap?
Monitoring social media can help

Social media has created new measures of trust
We are all being judged by these

Free but it’s not without cost
It requires an investment of time
It is a long term commitment
“ Social media is content hungry. Encouraging people to get involved and showing them the value of their contribution is vital to maintaining momentum.”
Cath Sheldon, Digital PR Specialist Sage

A traffic driver to your site
A boost to your visibility
An online equivalent of attending trade events
“ The link between social media & SEO is proven. Sites, such as Yelp &Trusted Places demonstrate the power of user reviews.”
Dan Horsford, Digital Media Strategist, PHD

Social Media activity can start with your site
‘ Share’ tools can spread the word
User reviews add trustworthy content
RSS feeds can push content out for you

Tangible demonstration of your expertise
The start of building a trusted business
“ Social media has always been about the individual and SMEs are typically run by individuals. By building the individual’s reputation the companies brand is built.”
Paul Mead, MD, VCCP Search

A customer support channel
An early warning system
But sets an expectation amongst users
If you are listening to me you will act on what I say.

Be prepared for really honest feedback
How you react speaks volumes about who you are
On the information superhighway bad news never dies

Social Media – Getting started
Are the basics of digital marketing in place?
This is the stuff that will make money now

You need an end destination for social media to deliver value
A site or blog that converts interest into action
Twitter is not the end game

Set goals & measures

Social media is so new that there are no rules about what or how to measure
But starting by listening to what is being said about your industry and your company is a good starting point

Eavesdrop

Define your online personality

Based on your eavesdropping get a little more active

Develop a content strategy
What - audience needs?
What - subjects and formats?
When - sustainable frequency?
How - measure?

Reactive to proactive

As you bring other people into the activity you will need guidelines
What we say, how we say it
Exit strategy
How we distribute comments internally

OMG . MBL IS TH FTR OF SCL MD
Mobile is social
Location based apps can prompt trial
Barcodes are beautifully trackable
Again technology (smartphones) make this possible

Social Media – Getting started ‘ People overestimate the impact of new technology in 2 years and underestimate the impact of new technology in 10’ Bill Gates

Social Media – Useful links Join these www.ecademy.com www.linkedin.com http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=721#!/ pages/create.php http ://twitter.com / Use these http://hootsuite.com / www.blogger.com/start www.google.com/alerts www.backtype.com Read these http://mashable.com / http://econsultancy.com / http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites

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Social media for small businesses: getting started

by Sageukofficial on Oct 21, 2010

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Social media for small businesses: getting started Presentation Transcript