Social Media Marketing
for the Channel
Lori Robinson
Director of Marketing
Chris Allen
Director of Sales

Specializing in scalable, result-based channel
demand generation services to the technology
industry.
Customer Profiles
-Manufacturers & Distributors eCoast Facts
-National VARS  Years in Business: 9
-Regional & Local VARS  Employees: 135
 Location: Rochester, NH
Service Offerings  30,000 square foot location
-Demand Generation  Footprint: US/Canada & Europe
-Pay-for-Performance Appointment Setting  Ownership: Privately Held
-Closed-Loop ROI Tracking  Number of Calling Agents: 100
-Web Marketing  50+ Manufacturer Certified Agents
 Approved Channel Vendor for; HP,
Technology Specializations Microsoft, Cisco, HDS, Juniper,
-Networking Avaya, Avnet, Sun, Symantec, Dell.
-Unified Communications
-Network Security
-Storage & Virtualization
-Managed Services
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Why the
Reluctance?
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

How Are VARs
Using
Social Media
Today?
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

VARs are Using it to
Find New Customers
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

VARs are Using it to
Improve Close Rates and
Shorten the Sales Cycle
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

VARs are Using it to
Increase Customer
Satisfaction
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

…and look for new hires
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Best Social Media Apps
for
Building Relationships
that
Convert to Customers
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com Twitter.com/LoriRobinson

= Business Networking
= Community Networking
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com Twitter.com/LoriRobinson

varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com Twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Edit the Default on this Section
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Change Links to Use
Keywords
Default:
My Company
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com Twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Add Your Company
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com Twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Search - Companies
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varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com Twitter.com/LoriRobinson

varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com Twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Get Recommended
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Answers
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com Twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Join Groups
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com Twitter.com/LoriRobinson

varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com Twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Dive Right In!
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Company Brand or Personal Brand?
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Show Your Personality!
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Optimize Your Account
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Follow People and they will
follow you back!
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

www.wefollow.com
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Search.twitter.com
search.twitter.com
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Start by
LISTENING
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com Twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Publish helpful content
Respond and he will likely retweet!
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Free Applications that Make it Easier!
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com Twitter.com/LoriRobinson

www.tweetdeck.com
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com Twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Setup Your Search Threads
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

www.TweetVolume.com
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Cisco Partner Shares
Twitter Best Practices
District Manager Kevin Carpenter
http://blogs.cisco.com/channels/comments/cisco_partner_shares_twitter_best_practices/
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Links to
List Preview
Video
Link
Social Media
Links
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

“My job is to help you do yours”
www.force3.com

Embed Video in Your Blog
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Keywords in Title and Description
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Promote Your Videos!
• Tweet about it (a couple times is OK)
• Use a URL shortener to track (bit.ly)
• Post a YouTube link in your status
• Send it to your LinkedIn group
On your Blog …and your website
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Blog
“A well-written company
blog is the gateway drug
to Social Media”
- Seth Simonds
@sethsimonds
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com Twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Blog See How Others Do It
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com Twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Blog
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com Twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Blog
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com Twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Blog
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com Twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Blog Best Practices
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Blog Best Practices
• Never Sell – Share your knowledge, tips, offer advice, it’s all
about helping them, not you
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Blog Best Practices
• Never Sell – Share your knowledge, tips, offer advice, it’s all
about helping them, not you
• Your Time is Valuable - Don’t spend more than an hour on one
article
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Blog Best Practices
• Never Sell – Share your knowledge, tips, offer advice, it’s all
about helping them, not you
• Your Time is Valuable - Don’t spend more than an hour on one
article
• Use the 50/50 Rule – spend 50% of your time on the content
and 50% on the title
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Blog Best Practices
• Never Sell – Share your knowledge, tips, offer advice, it’s all
about helping them, not you
• Your Time is Valuable - Don’t spend more than an hour on one
article
• Use the 50/50 Rule – spend 50% of your time on the content
and 50% on the title
• Don’t Date It – If you’re just starting out make it easy on yourself
by leaving the article undated until you get up to speed
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Blog
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com Twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Blog Post your Blog on Twitter
Allows you to automatically update your twitter stream with
content you’ve published elsewhere
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com Twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Blog Sign Up on Technorati
Allows you to automatically update your twitter stream with
content you’ve published elsewhere
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com Twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Blog
Email existing customers &
friends, invite them to
comment!
Send it to your vendors and the
thought leaders in your industry.
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com Twitter.com/LoriRobinson

What It Looks Like All Together
This Way
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

www.managedtech.com

Blog
Blog
www.managedtech.com

Video
Video
www.managedtech.com

Webinars
www.managedtech.com

@managedtech

And the very last thing
you will want to do
as soon as you’re ready…
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Update Your Business card!
And your email signature
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson

Get in the game!
Get
Start a Blog
Use
And don’t forget video!

How we can help
Chris Allen
Director of Sales

Blog
“A well-written company
blog is the gateway drug
to Social Media”
- Seth Simonds
@sethsimonds

eCoast Blog Management
Blog Management Overview
Best way to get started in Social Media Marketing
No more playing phone tag with your prospects…
Blog Blog management from eCoast includes the
following services to get your new blog started:
1. Blog domain name registration.
2. Installation of blog software, add-ons, and plug-ins.
3. Custom blog design reflecting your company’s brand.
4. Development of an editorial calendar & content plan.
5. Training on blogging techniques and best practices.
6. Monitoring & measuring of your blog’s success with Google
Analytics software.

Blog Management Media Roadmap
Social Deliverables
No more playing phone tag with your prospects…
Social Media Roadmap
• Designed to get your Custom Playbook
Blog/Twitter/LinkedIn Networking
• 3 month plan to get you started with
recommendations moving forward
• Includes distribution of information
to different media types, platform
types and people, especially key
mavens in the industry

Take the next step today.
Contact sales@ecoastsales.com
Or call us at 877-766-7355

Resources
eCoast: www.ecoastsales.com, twitter.com/eCoast
eCoast Social Media Marketing Services: www.ecoastsales.com/creative/blog.cfm
VAR Marketing Blog: http://varmarketing.ecoastsales.com/
Twitter: www.twitter.com, http://search.twitter.com, www.twitterfeed.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com, http://www.facebook.com/advertising/?pages
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com, www.linkedin.com/answers
Social Media Marketing: An Hour A Day – by Dave Evans, Paperback
Secrets of Social Media Marketing: How to Use Online Conversations and Customer
Communities to Turbo-Charge Your Business! – by Paul Gillin, Paperback
Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time – by Joel Comm
varmarketing.ecoastsales.com www.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson