Social Media Basics

SOCIAL MEDIA BASICS By Anna Harper-Hess Twitter- @aharperhess Facebook- www.facebook.com/aharperhess LinkedIn- http://www.linkedin.com/in/aharperhess

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ME…
Social Media & Marketing Specialist with Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea
BA in Sociology
Graduate student – thesis on Social Media
In the process of building my own website www.aharperhess.com

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT CRIMSON CUP…
Founded in 1991 by Columbus native Greg Ubert
We roast coffee and teach others how to be successful in the specialty coffee industry
We have one company owned coffee house on High Street in Clintonville
Social Media has been an integral part of our marketing plan since November of 2008.

WHY SOCIAL MEDIA?
According to Erik Qualman, author of Socialnomics,
“ In less then three years, [social media] has become the most popular activity on the Web.”

WHY SOCIAL MEDIA?
Social Media technology has allowed us to connect quickly and stay connected to our various networks, which means:
Closer relationships
Quicker access to new opportunities
It’s also allows users to meet new people.
Similar to a networking event, social media applications like Twitter allow users to find and meet new people, which means new opportunities for you and your business.

GETTING STARTED
Start Out Slow
It’s easy to get started in social media, but often people feel overwhelmed by the options.
You don’t need to be on every social media site ever invented. Pick and choose which you plan to check out and eventually want to be a part of.

GETTING STARTED
Research, Reasearch, Research
To determine which sites are the best for you do some research:
What are your competitors doing?
What are the sites you hear about the most?
What are your friends and family using?

GETTING STARTED
Creating a Username
After you have determined which sites you are interested in using, you will create a username.
Use your real name when possible
Make your username simple to remember
Try to keep your username consistent across multiple sites

GETTING STARTED
Creating a Profile
After you have determined your username, create a profile
Use a real picture of you or your company logo so people know you are not SPAM
Include a short bio with a link to your website or blog

GETTING STARTED…
After You Sign Up, Be a Voyeur.
To learn the social norms on any social media site it’s helpful to observe how people interact.
Watch the conversations taking place
Check out profiles of influential people
See how people communicate and learn what the signs mean
Example: Crimson Cup

FORMULATING A PLAN
It’s important to have defined business goals so you aren’t wasting your time (or anyone else's).
What do you hope to achieve?
How will this program impact your overall goals?
How much time do you have to devote to this plan?

BUILD YOUR NETWORK
You have a plan, now it’s time to start building a network around your plan.
A few tips:
Be authentic
Listen, listen, listen
Participate – have conversations
When possible, meet your followers/fans/friends in real life
Go to tweet ups and networking event
*Remember: social media takes time and effort and you will need to be consistent and have organizational support*

MEASURING SUCCESS
Now your social media program is up and running it’s important to know how to measure your success
This is dependent on your program, but some common ways to track are:
Analytics – url tracking, Google Analytics, etc.
Coupon codes
Sites like http://websitegrader.com will give you a wealth of info, which you can track

KEEP GROWING YOUR PROGRAM
Be Curious & Try New Things!
Watch for trends to ensure you are maximizing your social media program.
Check out new social media services
Read articles and attend seminars
Set up saved searches to see what people are saying about you or your organization
Send messages at different times of day and see what’s most successful
Try unique promotions and track their results
Example: Romeothecat

IN SUMMARY
Developing a social media program is easy and useful, but it does take time, research, and dedication
Make sure you:
Do the research to determine which sites will work best for you.
Establish an easy to remember username for each site and build a profile with picture
Watch what others are doing to learn social norms
Develop a plan and build a network
Measure your success
Try new things

THINGS TO AVOID
Here are some things you definitely shouldn’t do on your social media site.
Constant self promotion
Profanity or acting in a way which will turn off a portion of your followers
Attacking your company, co-workers, etc.
Ignoring your friends/followers/fans
Putting your program on auto-pilot all the time
Avoiding those who have had a negative experience with your organization
Excessively talking about the minor things in your life
On Twitter, try to keep more followers then you are following

REFERENCES
Here are some excellent resources to help you get started:
Books:
Inbound Marketing by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah
Socialnomics by Erik Qualman
Websites:
www.socialmediatoday.com
http://mashable.com

SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS
Hootsuite or Tweetdeck are great Twitter clients with built in url shortners (bit.ly and ow.ly)
TheTwitcleaner will help you clean out the spam from your followers
Google Alerts – this service will send you various links to information which lists your company
Google Analytics
Facebook, LinkedIn both have ways to install blog and twitter applications on your page
Mobile applications for Facebook, twitter, blogs, etc.

CONTACT ME! ANNA HARPER-HESS
@aharperhess
www.facebook.com/aharperhess
www.linkedin.com/in/aharperhess

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Social Media Basics

by Anna Harper-Hess on Jan 13, 2010

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