Get In The Conversation For ABRA

“ No profession stands to influence the market place more than Social Media .” Paul Gillin , The New Influencers, A Marketers Guide to the New Media
INTRODUCTION

Social media defined
10 keys to social media success
Social media tools
Social media myths
3 take away messages
Help is here
INTRODUCTION

Social media is a conversation online.
Look who’s talking :
your customers
your employees
your investors
your critics
your fans
your competition ....
anyone who has internet access and an opinion .
SOCIAL MEDIA DEFINED

The conversation is not :
controlled
organized
“ on message ”
The conversation is :
organic
complex
speaks in a human voice
Social media is not a strategy or a tactic – it’s simply a channel .

Social Networks
News & Bookmarking
Blogs
Microblogging
Video Sharing
Photo Sharing
Message boards
Wikis
Virtual Reality
Social Gaming
Related:
Podcasts
Real Simple Syndication (RSS)
Social Media Press Release

The power to define and control a brand is shifting from corporations and institutions to individuals and communities .

It is about putting the “ power ” back in the hands of the individual and realizing that focusing on important markets and influencers will have a far greater impact than trying to reach the masses with any one message or tool.
Brian Solis, The Media Manifesto

91 % say consumer reviews are the #1 aid to buying decisions - JC Williams Group
87 % trust a friend’s recommendation over critic’s review - Marketing Sherpa
3 times more likely to trust peer opinions over advertising for purchasing decisions - Jupiter Research
1 word-of-mouth conversation has impact of 200 TV ads - BuzzAgent
* Slide courtesy of Digital Influence Group

Social media sites are the fastest-growing category on the web, doubling their traffic over the last year.
73 % of active online users have read a blog
45 % have started their own blog
39 % subscribe to an RSS feed
57 % have joined a social network
55 % have uploaded photos
83 % have watched video clips
Universal McCann’s Comparative Study on Social Media Trends, April 2008. 17,000 respondents from 29 countries, *using internet at least every other day

Social media can help you in all stages of your PR campaign:
research
strategic planning
implementation
evaluation

Learn what people are saying about you
Create buzz for events & campaigns
Increase brand exposure
Identify and recruit influencers to spread your message
Find new opportunities and customers
Support your products and services
Improve your search engine visibility
Gain competitive intelligence
Get your message out fast
Retain clients by establishing a personal relationship
Be an industry leader – not a follower

Reach
Website visits / views
volume of reviews/comments
Incoming links
Action & Insight
Sales inquiries
New business
Customer Satisfaction / loyalty
Marketing efficiency
Engagement & Influence
Sentiment of reviews/comments
Brand affinity
Commenter authority/influence
Time spent
Favourites / Friends / Fans
Viral forwards
Number of downloads
Source: The Digital Influence Group, Measuring the Influence of Social Media

10 KEYS TO SOCIAL MEDIA SUCCESS
KEYS TO SUCCESS

Experiment early and often
Try a variety of social media tools
Be yourself , make some friends , and share
KEYS TO SUCCESS

Spend time upfront planning how you will use social media
Think POST :
P eople
O bjectives
S trategy
T echnology
KEYS TO SUCCESS

Find where your audience is participating and indentify the influencers
Read industry blogs (including comments)
Google your company name & your competition
Find tools that can help you listen
KEYS TO SUCCESS

Avoid puffery (people will ignore it)
Avoid evasion and lying (people won’t ignore it)
Companies have watched their biggest screw-up's rise to the top 10 of a Google search
Admit your mistakes right away
KEYS TO SUCCESS

Don’t be afraid to share. Corporations, like people, need to share information to get the value out of social media
Make your content easy to share
Incorporate tools that promote sharing:
Share This, RSS feeds, Email a friend
KEYS TO SUCCESS

Don't shout . Don't broadcast . Don’t brag .
Speak like yourself – not a corporate marketing shill or press secretary
Personify your brand – give people something they can relate to.
KEYS TO SUCCESS

CASE STUDY

Think like a contributor , not a marketer
Consider what is relevant to the community before contributing
Don’t promote your product on every post
Win friends by promoting other people’s content if it interests you
KEYS TO SUCCESS

Don’t try to delete or remove criticism (it will just make it worse)
Listen to your detractors
Admit your shortcomings
Work openly towards an explanation and legitimate solution
KEYS TO SUCCESS

Don’t wait until you have a campaign to launch - start planning and listening now
Build relationships so they’re ready when you need them
KEYS TO SUCCESS

You need buy in from everyone in the organization
Social media is relevant to your organization and not an option
Get your communications team together, discuss the options, get professional advice
KEYS TO SUCCESS

THE TOOLS
SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS

People and organizations connect and interact with friends, colleagues and fans .
Facebook and MySpace pages provide a micro site for your business within the social framework.
THE TOOLS

create online profiles
share photos , video , and audio , links
send private message and instant message
learn more about people and organizations
join groups and gain fans
THE TOOLS

Do
create a page to promote your brand
point your fans to your company blog or contest
encourage a discussion and participate frequently
explore targeted advertising opportunities
Don’t
create a page and fail to maintain it
try a hard sell approach
censor comments
spam your fans/friends with frequent private messages – you’ll drive them away
post false information
THE TOOLS

Social bookmarking sites allow users to save , share , organize , comment on and search webpage bookmarks
Community votes on your submissions so they either rise to the top or drop to the bottom
THE TOOLS

Do
link to relevant articles about news in your field (not just your own content)
make friends with other bookmarkers in a legitimate way
respect the terms of service
(reddit allows self-promotion, digg does not)
Don’t
spam by consistently bookmarking your own material
cheat by tagging your bookmarks with irrelevant popular keywords
open multiple accounts and vote for yourself – you’ll be exposed
THE TOOLS

A blog is a website with regular entries of commentary or news
Blogs serve to establish your company as transparent , relevant , active , and expert
THE TOOLS

engage in dialogue with your customers
improve your search engine visibility
promote product launches and events
gain expert status by providing useful tips
THE TOOLS

Do
post on a regular schedule
encourage conversation by asking questions
respond to customers ' questions and concerns
use a few bloggers from your company for more viewpoints
post product reviews from customers or industry experts
Don’t
write press releases – be real about why something is exciting
let complaints go unanswered
make users register to comment – they won’t bother
delete fair but critical comments
THE TOOLS

Microblogs are blogs limited to a sentence or two (about 140 characters )
People use microblogging to follow their friends
Companies use it to market their product or services by giving them a voice/identity .
THE TOOLS

promote contests
share timely information
spread useful links
personify your brand
build credibility and influence
follow competitors
THE TOOLS

Do’s
sound like someone who just happens to work at your company
put a friendly face on your product
pose and answer questions
announce sales, deals, news, updates, and build buzz for big releases or events
Don'ts
sound like a press release
spam with constant links to your company website, either in tweets or private messages
THE TOOLS

THE TOOLS
Video sharing sites let you upload videos and share them with people.
They’re a perfect repository for video blogs , taped seminars , witty Power Points , commercials , how-to’s and a behind-the-scene look at your organization.

THE TOOLS
helps you gain exposure and direct traffic back to your website
sparks interest without a hard-sell
videos can be low-fi and cheap to produce - immediacy and content is more important than quality.
videos can be a place to showcase your leadership in a field, and spread customer testimonials

THE TOOLS
Do
be informative , useful , or entertaining
create a summary and detailed description
post video replies to others
allow commenting and participate in the conversation
save bandwidth costs on your website by hosting videos on YouTube
Don’t
just upload infomercials
be afraid to experiment until find a formula that works.
pull down other people’s videos showcasing your product for copyright infringement
make your video longer than it needs to be – keep it concise and entertaining

THE TOOLS
A wiki is a website that allows visitors to easily add , remove , and edit content – this makes them great collaboration tools
Wikipedia, for example, is an encyclopedia is written collaboratively by volunteers from all around the world; anyone can edit it

THE TOOLS
Do
find references to your organization and have inaccuracies updated
read the terms of use to ensure you are allowed to edit an entry about you
research competition
use wikis to collaborate with your team
Don’t
rely on social reference websites to be accurate
spam or overtly advertising – it could get you banned
use it for Search Engine Optimization (Wikipedia prevents search engines from following links)
Don’t sabotage competitor’s entries about competitors (You could get caught)

Internet-based 3D virtual worlds like Second Life reimagine our world with all its potential for commerce and branding
people interact through characters called avatars
residents explore , meet other residents , socialize , participate in individual and group activities , and create and trade items and services with one another
THE TOOLS

hold media conferences in Second Life to generate buzz (World Bank reports in world)
create and sell branded products accompanied by coupons and advertising for real-world stores
purchase land, build stores, and open for business
publish streams of audio or video on people’s properties
THE TOOLS

Do
Use it to generate publicity publicity for real world activities
find experts to imagine and manage your brand presence in this virtual world, or do thorough research – it’s complicated
be inventive – for example, when someone drinks your product, you may create a script that makes people dance, turn into a cute animal, or speak only in song for 30 seconds
THE TOOLS
Don’t
just try to recreate your real-world brand experience – leverage the possibilities of the virtual world since fantasy is what brought people are there.
be afraid to site this one out. If your audience isn’t there and you don’t have a vision to create a meaningful experience don’t bother.

THE TOOLS
A podcast is a series of audio or video files which is distributed by syndicated download to your computer, for use on an MP3 player or computer.
Podcasts can be simple recordings of conversations , presentations , or interviews
They’re a chance to provide build an audience around your brand or message.

THE TOOLS
Do’s
come up with a format ( form, topic, and duration)
prepare don’t script (or you’ll sound stiff)
use a good microphone (but no need to over produce)
promote your podcast on your website and podcast directories
Dont’s
worry about length
invest in a lot of equipment – simple tools and software are all you need to get going
leave too much time between podcasts – it could prevent you from building an audience

THE TOOLS
RSS is a way for content publishers to make blog entries , news headlines , events , podcasts and other content available to subscribers.
an effective way to distribute your content and lead users back to your website

THE TOOLS

THE TOOLS
Do
offer RSS feeds for your website’s blog , news , events , and podcasts
subscribe to RSS feeds relevant to your industry or interests
include a title and description only so subscribers need to visit your site for the full story
track your subscribers
Don’t
spam your subscribers by including excessive advertising in your RSS feed
go overboard – limit RSS feeds to content frequently updated
freak out when a splogger hijacks your content – this could actually help your search engine rank

THE TOOLS

SOCIAL MEDIA MYTHS
THE MYTHS

“ Social media is just a fad – it will go away.”
THE MYTHS

“ Social media is inexpensive .”
THE MYTHS

“ If we put our content online we’re just giving our expertise away for free! ”
THE MYTHS

“ Social media might work for certain industries and business models but it won’t work for us . ”
THE MYTHS

“ Tell the programmers to set up that social media thing….and get them to make it viral while they’re at it!”
THE MYTHS

“ YouTube is that site for funny cat videos – you’ll cheapen our brand by putting our video on there!”
THE MYTHS

“ I’ve started a Facebook page so I’ve got social media covered !”
THE MYTHS

“ If we just delete all negative comments no one will see them .”
THE MYTHS

“ No seriously, I don’t think anyone will notice if we delete those negative comments.”
THE MYTHS

“ If we build it they will come .”
THE MYTHS

“ Social media is for kids .”
THE MYTHS

“ We can’t measure social media results. ”
THE MYTHS

“ We have to figure this all out before we start using social media.”
THE MYTHS

“ Social Media is hard .”
THE MYTHS

“ Social Media is easy .”
THE MYTHS

3 TAKE AWAY MESSAGES

Peer-to-peer discussions are more influential than the mass media
Participate by enabling and feeding the conversation (follow the 10 keys to success)
Be transparent & honest

Get In The Conversation For ABRA

by Chris Husong on Jun 05, 2009

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