Social Networking For Small Business Edited

SOCIAL NETWORKING FOR SMALL BUSINESSES Steve Kessler :Your Denver DataMan

What we will cover…
Shifting trends in marketing
What is social networking?
Social networking safety and etiquette
The networks
Getting started with small business tools on social networking
Q&A

Emarketing
Emarketing refers to the use of the Internet to market your company including:
Websites
Blog
Email marketing
Social networking
Emarketing should be approached differently than traditional marketing
Emarketing needs to part of your marketing plan

Making Money Online

Push vs. Pull
Push vs. Pull Mentality
The accessibility and customizability of on-demand information is making consumers less receptive to content which they don’t find value in.
Push
TV
Direct Mail
Telemarketing

Push Vs. Pull
Pull
Websites
Blogs
Social networking sites
Podcasts
Hybrid
Email Marketing
Pay Per-Click Search Engine Results

Content Should be King
Success with Emarketing will come from providing content that your readers want!
Value added is not free consulting.
Define yourself as the expert
Create value
Define greater need
Some of the best content will be created by your clients, partners, and supporters.

Making Your Business Social
Clients, partners, supporters and others can:
Ask questions
Share experiences
Post pictures of events and products
Share expertise (especially in technology)
This content can be moderated, focused and controlled
Some fields have regulations and it is important to find out how these will effect your ability to use social networks
This new consumer content creator is called prosumer

Do I Still Need a Website
Your website is the hub of your online marketing

Social Networking
What is social networking?
Types of social networking
Why should I use social networking for my business?
How big should my network be?

What is Social Networking?
Social networking connects people
Social networks are formed around :
Likes
Needs
Interests
Locations
Friendships
Online social networks expose our connections to us and others
Let’s watch a video

Types of Social Networks
Purely social
Business
Knowledge
Hybrid

Why Should I Use Social Networking For My Business?
Social networks help you stay connected without pushing the information .
It provides us with a free or inexpensive way to keep in contact with our clients.
Social networks are where people are.
Social networks WILL only become more prevalent.

How Big Should My Network Be?

Getting Connected
Each network has its own process for getting connected
In general, the processes go like this
I know this person and I want to be connected.
Tell the system how you know the person.
Possibly provide information about the person to “prove” a connection .
The person verifies the connection.
Some of the networks are starting to penalize people who try and connect to people they do not already have a connection with.

Social Networking Safety and Etiquette
Who can see your data online?
Know your network
What to share /what not to share online

Who Can See Your Data Online?
It is critical to assume that EVERYONE can see data you post online unless you know you have a secure connection
Social networks have limited security
This is something that developers are considering as we speak
Social networks are not a place to share private data if you care who sees it.
You may share information with you friends, but it needs to be information that your boss or your clients can see.

Know the Network
Every network has a culture and norms for what is acceptable on that network.
LinkedIn
Corporate
Suit and tie like
Facebook
Fun
Jeans, T-shirt, and sandals
Ryze
Small business
Business Casual

What to Share
Do not share anything on a social network that you would not put share with anyone.
Even networks that control access to content are not guaranteeing privacy.
Separating your social life from your business life is becoming more and more difficult.

What Not To Share
Home address
Home phone
Private information
Where your kids go to school.

Balancing Sharing with Privacy
It is important to balance sharing with privacy.
Example – Facebook Events
This is one of the greatest
challenges of the digital
age.

The Networks
We will discuss networks you should know .
We will look at specific examples of networks for small businesses.

Social Networks to be Aware of

Why are There So Many Social Networks

Small Business Tools

Developed for the purpose of connecting people who do business with each other.
Primarily used for corporate networking
By the numbers
LinkedIn has grown to 9 million members—3.6 million of whom log in at least once a quarter.
The average LinkedIn user is 39 and makes $139,000 a year.
Of the total, 89,000 are chief executive officers, and nearly half a million others occupy another job in the C-suite.
From BusinessWeek
Free to start, but many costly additional features.

Profiles
LinkedIn Profiles let each user share information about themselves and a resume of what they do.
LinkedIn Profiles also show activities, relationships, groups, recommendations and use of LinkedIn .
Profiles can be seen by members and non-members.
Example Public Profile

Recommendations
Recommendations provide a way to for people to share their experiences working with you.
Recommendations have to be approved by you.
It is considered good etiquette on LinkedIn to give a reference once you are given one
There is nothing wrong with requesting a reference from someone on LinkedIn using the request feature.
Remember people are asking for these recommendations so take them with a grain of salt.

Answers
A place to answer questions on many topics .
A place to find experts for your own questions.
A way to ask your connections for questions.
Linked In Answers

Connections
On LinkedIn, you can ask for introductions.
You can invite people who you know
You have to have the person’s email address to invite them to be “LinkedIn”.
Some people put their email in their profile so that you can get linked with them even if you don’t have their email.
IDK’s
You can send messages to people
Some messages are free others you have to pay for

Facebook is a hybrid between social and business networking .
Facebook started out as a social network .
Facebook is best to reach people between 18-30, but the demographics are expanding rapidly.

Growth From FastCompany

By Age From FastCompany

Profiles
A page that shares about an individual
A connection on Facebook is called a friend.
Profiles are personal, but all your friends can see them.
It is important to manage your privacy settings to control what is published to whom.

Pages
A place for businesses, candidates, musicians, and others to share information about themselves.
Facebook pages are not personal profiles.
Users can become your fan for a page.
Pages can have many types of content including text, pictures, video, events and other applications.
You can use Facebook Insights to generate great reports.

Ads
Provide ads in context information in an individual’s profiles
Can show ads that show that your friends have bought something or like something
Great tracking of views and clicks

Used to connect people finding each other in the on-line world in the off-line world.
Often times used by organizations to keep people organized
South Metro Chamber of Commerce uses Meetup very well.
Free unless you are the group leader

A social network built around personal and now business videos.
You can imbed the videos you post on YouTube to most any other website, blog or social network.
Often used as a video blogging tool.
A great place to post FREE videos about your company.

Twitter – Blogging is Social
Blogging is a form of social networking in a way
Twitter is micro-blogging
Twitter lets people follow you and build networks of people you follow
Twitter can be used to share business information

Getting Started with Social Networking
Navigating Sites
Registering
Building a profile
Planning
Building and share your presence
Help it grow

Web 2.0 Look and Feel
Many people will talk about a Web 2.0 look and feel.
You may even hear it called AJAXY.
Web 2.0 refers to user interaction, contribution, and dynamic moving of parts.
For example, on a Facebook Page you can move content areas around and save them automatically.
Navigating a Web 2.0 feeling site is a skill necessary for using the Internet today.

Registering for a Social Network
Registering for social network generally requires providing:
A name
Valid email address
Basic demographic information
Information specific to the site your are registering for

Building a Social Networking Profile
Choose what information you want to share
Know your audience
Include enough information to make it interesting
Its OK to share something a bit more personal on network like Facebook because we do business with people we know like and trust

Planning
It is critical to plan how you will use social networking .
Know what you want from a network
Friends
Business contacts
Answers
New clients
Consider which networks to use
You can’t be in all places
Plan

Building and Share Your Presence
Build a profile that has good content
Share your profile with others
Email Signature
Website
Invite your contacts to be your connections on your website.
Build & Share

Help it Grow
Respond to comments posted on your site
Add content
Video
Notes
Blogs
Invite people
Post content on others pages that includes your address
Be part of the community
Help it Grow

Conclusion

The Future of Social Networking
Social networks are growing
Social networks will become more centralized
Google Open Social is making it so that profiles can be shared and other software can use social network information
SalesForce.com and LinkedIn
More sites will add social components to their sites
Small businesses will find creative ways to build on prosumption and the social aspects of the Internet

Social Networking For Small Business Edited

by Steve Kessler on Jan 25, 2009

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