Social Business Basics Clinic

Social Media Basics
For Small Business
Summer Company SM Clinic July 2013

• We are NOT a social media ‘gurus’
• We are experienced business strategists who also knows social well
• Lateral, tech-savvy hybrids spanning strategy, design, implementation &
analytics
• Diehard data geeks & Compelling narrative story engineers
• Committed to holistic approach to business strategy
• Silo-busters and frequent dinosaur-tippers
Introduction @krcraft & @gdiver62
© 2013 Aptisense #SummerCompany Social Media Clinic Presented by: @krcraft & @gdiver62

© 2013 Aptisense #SummerCompany Social Media Clinic Presented by: @krcraft & @gdiver62 3
What you will learn here today…
Social media is not just getting a
bunch of likes or followers.
If you think it is, then you’re doing it
wrong!

•What is it?
•Why do it?
•How do you do it well?
Social
Strategy
•Channels
•Content/Blogs
•Tools
•Analytics/Measurement
How-to
Clinic Overview
OUR OBJECTIVE:
That each person in this room leaves with at least one new insight today. Whether you are just starting out with social
media, or have been participating for several years, we want you to learn something new today.

This is the first day of the rest of your
social business experience
Gain name recognition and credibility.
Attract new contacts, maybe even customers!
Use free marketing channels and tools optimally.
Become a finder (not just a minder or grinder).
Build a collaborative brand community.
We’ll be talking about integrated digital marketing to increase your brand
visibility with these goals:

Overview
Think of social media as another way to connect with people. You might go to a school function and while
there talk to 25 different people. Those are 25 connections.
The idea behind social media (or micro-blogging) is similar, but you are broadcasting ideas/thoughts that you
have to people with whom you may or may not already have some connection.
Your friends/followers/connections look through those things and may find them useful or interesting.
And so might people in the public that you haven’t yet met. And they may rebroadcast/retweet your ideas to
their followers.
As with blogging and producing content for your own web site (or attending a school function),
don’t do it just for marketing purposes.
The people who make lots of beneficial connections through social media are
interested in the people and subjects about which they are connecting.

Biggest Mistakes SMBs make on Social
Leaping in without a strategy and goals.
Lack of Brand Voice clarity.
Failure to engage.
Inconsistency. Social Business takes time &
commitment.
Failure to analyze results.

How to do Social without Sucking 101
RECIPROCATE! Share, engage, converse, debate, guide, help, serve, instruct, comfort, laugh, learn.
Become an expert in your field. Your new business (like many professions) just one long apprenticeship.
Learn about your colleagues and partners and their areas of expertise (and cross-market).
Get to know your customers. Read about each client's business (client web site, google.com).
Attend regional events. Network. Be visible. Be social online & off.
Read at least one newsletter or magazine in your field, cover to cover. Share what you learn.
Aim for perfection in every update and post; you are the editor and publisher!
Your written work (updates, posts, comments, and e-mails) will live forever. Keep that in mind.
Be civil. Be polite. Follow the Golden Rule. Don’t unto others …

• Your reputation evolves from business, marketing and brand strategy. Do you know
what your strategy is?
• What element of existing marketing content and plans can extend to social? Or what
additional content do you need to create?
• Build social around your essential brand idea or core element of your value
proposition. Do you know what your brand value is?
Before you dive in and do it wrong...
If you don’t know these things, take a step back and figure them out.

How do you do it right?

strat·e·gy
A method or plan chosen to bring about a desired future, such as achievement of
a goal or solution to a problem.
“Social Media” is not a strategy.
It is posting to media channels on which
you use a set of tactics to achieve
objectives.
Strategy - Definition

Social Media is Pervasive. You need a plan.
Why Do We Do Social?
One compelling reason: The Customers now control
the conversation about your brand.

Clarify how you will reach objectives. 2
1 Set clear goals.
3 Define your social brand ‘voice’.
AGENDA
Know how to apply the tools and manage the information. 4
Learn how to tweak performance. 6
5 Know what success looks like.
Why a Social Strategy?

Being ‘social’ is not a strategy. If you dive
into it with no clear strategy, you have
absolutely no right to expect it to work.
Be Realistic
“We have a Twitter account, we're a social business!“
is like saying,
“We have an oven, we are a gourmet restaurant!“
Why a Social Strategy?

Defined
Objectives
Brand Profile
Channel and
Content Maps
Measurement
and Analytics
Cornerstones of a Social Strategy

CORE STRATEGY – Mission, vision, goals, objectives.
RESEARCH – Channel and conversation mapping.
MEASUREMENT – How will you know if it is working?
TACTICS and TOOLS – How to manage it. What to share.
IMPLEMENT – Start, measure, tweak, repeat. Iterative.
How To Create A Social Strategy

• building or maintaining an image or reputation.Branding
• selling a product or service directly to users.Direct Sales
• converting a user into a customer through the use of a conversion funnel.Indirect Sales
• finding out insights about your customers, your market, or your industry.Research
• helping users who are already customers.Customer Service
• build a community that learns from and helps each other. Work together.Collaboration
What are your objectives on social media?

1
Set goals
2
Follow regular routines.
3
Have established processes.
4
Tweak activities by analyzing performance.
AGENDA
Start with a smart, basic framework
How To Do Social Business Well

• Most social strategies are hybrids. There is no such thing as a ‘one-size-fits-all’
social strategy. (And never take advice from ‘gurus’ who say otherwise.)
• Aim high and have a long term plan, but baby steps are often the best way to
start.
• Learn from others, and guides, but tailor to your own situation and goals.
• “Listen, learn, create, and respond,” is an excellent starting strategy.
That Said …
“A framework is an invitation to think, not an excuse not to.”
Debra Louison Lavoy - Director, Global Strategic Marketing, OpenText

Defining a Social Brand
“A social brand is any company, product, individual that uses
social technologies to communicate with the social
customer, their partners and constituencies or the general
public.”
Social Spammer or Social Brand?
 Note that says ‘communicate with’, not ‘to’.

Elevator speech 101
• Why is it called an elevator speech?
• Why do you need one?
• Why do you need more than one?
• Different situations call for different messages. Different audiences call for different
talking points.
• Features of an elevator speech
• Short. Concise. Leave the listener wanting more.
• Elements of an elevator speech
• Core message stays the same no matter the audience or situation.
• Differentiation; what makes you special?
• Your enthusiasm. Your emotional connection. Memorable points about you.
• Delivering your message
• Don’t sound rehearsed. Maintain eye contact. Know when to stop. Don't be creepy.
• The end result?
• Create awareness. Create interest.

Your Brand – online and offline

Integrated Marketing
Cross-pollinate Awareness
• Newsletter
• Google Adwords
• Your Website
• Social Media – Facebook and Twitter for general information and
acknowledgement of milestones
• Leveraging partnerships – content collaboration
• Press Coverage & Reviews
• Print/Audio/Video Campaigns
• Contests, Surveys, Deals, Coupons

• True “brand integrity” is a powerful engagement motivator. Think
about how your brand treats:
• Customers
• Employees
• Community
• Environment
Create a community of ambassadors to
spread the love!
Brand Evolution

• Have profile collateral ready
• Tagline, logo image, profile bio
• Lock down all channel handles
• SMB Quickstart Guide: http://sqz.co/g7L9Czd
• If you don’t have a web site, create a simple blog site on Wordpress for free, or
create a Facebook page for your company
• You’re trying to drive social contacts to a destination that tells them more about your
company, products and services
• Content inventory and a content calendar
• Have schedule of objectives for first month
• Analyze, tweak, repeat
Getting Started

Tactics
Put a human face on the organization.
Entertain or Inform. Or both. But be relevant.
This does NOT mean “create a press release feed” or constant one-way sales pitch.
Become a valuable content curator for your industry.
Listen and be responsive.
Tell Strategic Stories (consider a storytelling strategy).
Create “insider” vibe with special social-only promotions.

• How are others in your industry using social successfully?
• Conversation maps - What channels are your
customers, partners, and employees using?
• Content Maps – What do you have and what do you need
to create?
• What do your customers and partners want from you?
Promotions? Customer service? Event details? Pointers to
other cool stuff? Status updates? Cross-promotion?
Research

Define Your Voice

Social Channels in a nutshell

Blogs Micro-blogs Social
Networks
Video Sharing Social
Bookmarks
Image Sharing Podcasts
Brands B2B B2B B2C B2C BOTH BOTH B2B
Effort 6 8 6 4 3 4 7
Reach 5 7 7 8 6 6 6
Example
What Channels Should You Use?
What channels should you use? Where are your customers, partners, advocates??

Channels: LinkedIn
Great for business visibility.
Build Your network.
Join groups and post YOUR info.
Post about others and have others post about you.
Start an industry-related group.
Read updates.
Use consistently.

Channels: Twitter
Don’t mix professional and personal messaging too often.
Follow others who influence you, can influence your career track, companies
you want to work for/with, etc.
Use an update management program like TweetDeck or Hootsuite.
Share interesting and relevant information. Yours and others.
Use hash tags (#) and lists.
Engage. Start or join conversations. Use mentions and retweets.

Channels: Facebook
Always a good option  but be careful.
Don’t combine personal and professional.
Have separate personal and professional pages.
Business Pages - promote specials, events, services, products, and more .
Can be used for Customer Service – if you monitor it closely.
Fan pages picked up by search engines.
Built in analytics.

Channels: Pinterest
Think visually.
Introduce yourself as a business with a picture and fun profile.
Be a selective curator. Pin interesting things about your industry.
Pin graphics to promote products and services.
Share marketing videos.
Post ideas and how-to’s.
Have customer ‘pin it’ contests where they can pin items to your board.

Channels: YouTube
It’s easier for some organizations to Show their value, rather than Tell (write) about it.
Creating original video content improves your SEO.
Video content is a powerful branding tool.
Huge potential to get your message in front of a wide audience.
Video content is quite easy and inexpensive to produce.
Video plays better on mobile devices.
YouTube advertising fees much less than Google.
Don’t expect anything to go viral, but you never know what will go viral.

Channels: WordPress
It’s FREE way to create your web site.
But you can also upgrade to paid version as your business grows.
Beautiful style themes available to select from & customize.
You can add new posts, pictures, links all by yourself without paying a web designer.
Many themes are mobile-ready.
Wordpress integrates with many, many social channels with cool widgets.
There is lots of support available on the web for WordPress questions/training.

“Content is the currency of the web.”
What to Share
If you were a potential client, what would you be looking for?

1
2
3
Follow interesting people who are already successful in your industry.
Follow relevant hash tags and LinkedIn groups.
AGENDA
Sources for inspiration
Read more than you post. Social updates. Blogs. Newsletters.
Have lots of informative and helpful content. Establish credibility as someone who
is knowledgeable in the field.

Internal
Blogs
Website
Product/Service Mktg
Testimonials
Customer Support Info
Videos, Images
Company Events
Sales, Contests, Surveys
Press and Media
External
Other Blogs
Industry News
Community Events
Community/Industry Reviews
Industry Events
Podcasts, Videos, Images
Partners/Alliances
Evolving
Tweets
Facebook Posts
G+ Updates
LinkedIn Discussions
Blog Comments
Hashtags/Trends
News Events
Types & Sources of Content

Hash Tags
#socbiz #socbizWR

There is so much to look at, how do I begin to
tackle this?
Daily Social Activities

1. Make your updates easily Retweetable. Leave a few characters free for RTs.
2. Use URL shorteners. (Bit.ly) Saves space and provides analytics.
3. Add Personal comments/opinions when you RT something or share someone
else’s content.
4. Use Hash Tags, (but not too many in a single tweet and only when relevant.)
5. Understand Visibility rules of twitter. Do you know who can see what you
share?
Tips on Crafting Tweets

Visibility filters exist across all social channels.
Visibility

• Basic tweet formula (sample)
• Link to product content + Product benefit + hashtag + CTA.
• Each tweet should have a specific audience
• Customers, advocates, vendors, community, industry.
• Add value
• Share something instructive or compelling.
• Triggers
• Mentions, issues, questions, product schedule, news.
• Caution
• Avoid being spammy. No more than 2 tweets per hashtag per day.
Twitter Example

How to write a well-constructed tweet:
Something to grab attention + Who + Verb + What + Link + CTA:
Status updates: what you are doing/working on/attending that might interest others.
When you retweet – add your voice.

Key Reputation Risk Reminder
NEVER, ever share something you
haven’t viewed yourself first. Ever.
Trust us on this one.

Discover them for yourself, both Free to try!
Social Dashboards

Prioritize just like you read  Left to Right
Monitoring and Managing

Responding to Events
Mention Direct Message
New FollowerFavourite

Getting to Know People

Blogging
Blogs are a good way to drive traffic to your web site, establish you as
leader/expert and share others’ content (as associating yourself with others helps
your credibility).
Like many marketing methods, if you are going to do it yourself, you really have to
like doing it and want to do it for reasons other than marketing.
Write good stuff!
Guy Kawasaki Explains How Entrepreneurs Are Getting Social Media All Wrong:
“My recommendation for SEO is very simple. It’s Write Good Stuff.
In my mind, Google is in the business of finding good stuff. It has thousands of the smartest
people in the world, spending billions of dollars to find the good stuff. All you have to do is
write the good stuff; you don't need to trick it. Let Google do its job and you do your job."

Some quick blogging statistics:
• 181 million worldwide
• 50% women 18-34
• 1-in-3 bloggers moms
• 70% have gone to college
• 3x more likely to be active on social media
• 1-in-4 active web users are bloggers
• 30% of blogs are consumer-generated
Source: Nielsen© 2013 Aptisense #SummerCompany Social Media Clinic Presented by: @krcraft & @gdiver62 52

Some quick business blogging
statistics:
• 60% of businesses have a blog
• 35% actively blog once a month
• 65% haven’t updated their blog in over a
year
• Businesses with more than 50 blog posts
experience 77% increase in monthly leads
• B2B blogs generate 67% more leads per
month
• B2C blogs generate 88% more leads per
month
Source: Blogging.org© 2013 Aptisense #SummerCompany Social Media Clinic Presented by: @krcraft & @gdiver62 53

So, should all businesses blog then?
That depends…
If you’re blogging for the right reasons, then Yes.
If you’re blogging for the wrong reasons, then No.

The right reasons:
• You’ve got something to say
• You have a dedicated time to write
• You have a blog strategy
• You have a content calendar
• You will be measuring
• You will be consistent
• You will be open
• You have it aligned to your brand

The wrong reasons:
• Your competitors are, so you should
• “Every business should blog”
• It will Power Ranger your SEO
• You think the words ‘blog’ and ‘blogger’ are kinda sexy
• You got a good deal on a FlipCam

Blogging and marketing – goal #1
•Thought leadership
•Awareness
•Visibility
•Promotion

Blog Post Writing 101
• Be specific. Pick a topic
for each post and stay
on it.
• Use language that
creates excitement &
interest.
• Use a template for a
standard format and to
organize your thoughts
and ideas.
• Link to additional
content sources on your
own or others’ web
sites.
Core Topic/Theory/Issue
Opening paragraph with summary of topic and key concept.
(Set some tension here pros & cons of the issue. You can make
slightly controversial statements here.)
Counter Theory/Issue
Discoveries, advantages &/or obstacles.
Elaborate on Theory/Issue
Describe what it means, what your opinions are.
Conclusion/Guidance
End with Insight - Solutions/Suggestion (Bullet points)
ALWAYS end posts with some sort of important question. You want
people to engage, to comment, to argue, to ask more questions.

Sample Post Using this Format

•Product
•Sales
•Leads
•Acquisition

•Retention
•Customer
Feedback
•Focus groups
•SCRM

Putting it all together

Sample Event Content

Evolving Content

Collective Use of Content
Collectively, different people in different roles, with both separate and shared
goals, used all of these types of content in various integrated combinations for
this event:
• Business and personal blogs
• Social channels Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, G+
• Web linking and back-linking to sponsor organizations
• Email marketing campaigns
• Print media and advertising
• Good old fashioned phone, email & F2F invitations

SMB Web + Content + Social Example

Look! They match!
Consistent brand image, styling and voice on web site and social profiles.

Blog
• Great Place for new or reno design inspiration!
• Ongoing topics: building permits, new home how-to, gallery
highlights, testimonials
Twitter
• Design philosophy, construction considerations, before & after
gallery, featured plans, #newhome, #homedesign, #contractor
• “First we make it work, then we make it look good. Elegant
simplicity in #KW #newhome #design http://sqz.co/x2A4FfR “
Content Plan - Sample

15% increase in web traffic to website
15 new Regional followers
Connect with 5 new regional contractors
25% increase in contacts via website email, blog or social requests
Monthly Goals - Sample

How Do I Know What Is Working?
Content
Map Analytics
Performing
Content &
Behaviors
Identified

Measurement
Evil = Anything can be measured
Essential = Analysis that turns data into actionable
intelligence.
the devil is in the details

• Biggest evil of all: most orgs don’t bother to
ask customers what they want before planning
social strategies.
• Mindless measurement: tracking stats
without setting goals.
• Metrics without analysis and action aren’t
worth tracking at all.
• Customers will measure you by their own set
of metrics, which might be far different than
your own. Find out what they want.
• Metrics must be tied to business
goals, events, and KPIs.
• Metrics are rarely static. You can support
dynamic changes by implementing a
repeatable process for
measurement, analysis, & action.
EVIL ESSENTIAL
Evil & Essential

Mastering Metrics
• Singular metrics aren’t useful. Metrics should be
grouped and compared from multiple pivots. (i.e. channel to channel)
• Metrics are rarely static. Have core benchmarks, but
tweak, refine and add as you surface new intelligence.
• Segment metrics based on use cases and jobs to be done – not just
revenue.

Wrong Answers Vs. Right
Questions
POINTLESS ON POINT
We got 10 new followers this week! Of the 10 new followers we got this
week, 4 of them joined our community
after liking post X, and 3 of them
shared it along to their followers with
positive sentiment.
Post shares are up! Post shares are up by 12% over last
month. Three key posts contributed to
this: X, Y & Z.
3 people commented on that post! Of the three people that commented
on the Strategy post, two thought it
was smart, and one added further
suggestions we can incorporate into
additional content.
76

Mindless Measurement
Arm decision makers with actionable intelligence; NOT empty metrics. “WOOT! We have
10 new followers!” just doesn’t cut it.

EVENT-BASED LISTENING
ALL businesses share
one commonality:
Large or small, every
organization has
events.
Before
DuringAfter
78

Types of Events
• New blog posts, mail campaigns, product
launches, sales/promotions, conferences, webinars, even
things like relocation of an office facility.
• Service disruptions like RIM or Rogers outages.
• Even a tweet is an event. Especially the snarky ones. ;)
• Events may have additional (tightly and loosely) related
events – Press release, analyst opinion, stock price
decrease, pissed off customer, lost follower, great
testimonial.

CAUSE TO CORRELATION
Monitor
Feedback
Assign
Action
ProcessResponse
Analyze
Tweak
Share
80

Snapshot Analytics

Which channels from which regions?

Is anyone reading what I post?

1. Link to one of my blog
posts.
2. Number of people who
clicked in to read the post
directly from the link I
shared on social channels.
3. Total number of people
who clicked on this
shortened link. This means
others shared the link, too.
4. Number of people who
‘faved’ the link in twitter.
Content Performance – What are they reading?

Events > Metrics > Results
•Exclusive sale on Twitter generated 1,200% ROI in 24 hours on promoted tweet. (Twitter, 2011)
Bonobos
•Online community drives 56% increase in Gen X customer base versus year ago.
Charles Schwab
•Friending Honda campaign increased Facebook fans from 15k to 422k, generated over 3,500 dealer quote requests.
Honda
• 75,000 product and service ideas suggested. (Forrester, 2008)
Starbucks
• Exclusive flash sale on Twitter raised the maximum $50,000 in charitable donations for Stand Up To Cancer. It was also
one of the top five sale days ever for the airline. (Twitter, 2011)
Virgin America
• Exclusive flash sale on Twitter drove 25% increase in sign-ups over the previous week to Elevate, Virgin America’s loyalty
program. (Twitter, 2011)
Virgin America
Source: http://www.dachisgroup.com/2012/01/social-business-roi-examples/
85

Acquire
Reward
Retain
Value Chain – Community Lifecycle
Reward your connections - new
or existing, leads or not – with
consistent value.

Tools & Technology
We recommend these additional tools. All have free versions available:

So… to recap.
Strategy Brand Content Consistent Relevant Monitor Manage Measure
If you want to reach
higher levels of success
as a social
business, just follow
these steps.

We’d like to extend our thanks to all of you for attending the Summer Company
Social Media clinic today. We hope we achieved our objective so you feel more
powerfully armed with useful marketing and social business knowledge.
Thanks also to Rob Clement for inviting us to provide this session.
If you learned beneficial skills here today, don’t forget to mention that when you
complete your feedback forms at the end of the Summer Company program. Give
lots of kudos to Rob and the rest of the Great Team at the Waterloo Region
Small Business Centre !
And if you didn’t learn from the session and enjoy it, please BLAME Kelly. Not
Rob, not Gord.
Our Thanks To You

Q&A
Connect with us:
LinkedIn: Kelly Craft
Twitter: @krcraft
LinkedIn: Gord Diver
Twitter: @gdiver62

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