Social Media for Business 101
Presented by: Jennifer Cohen
Something Creative, LLC

Good Morning and welcome!
Here is a short clip to get it started…

Little Web History…
●1994- Search engines were created
●1995- Amazon.com, ebay, Craig’s List, pop-up ads were create, 16 million Internet users
●1998- Google launches, PayPal founded, 75,000 commercial sites, 147 million users
●1999- Term “blog” was coined, Napster launches
●2000- Web surpasses 1 billion indexed pages, 20,000,000 registered domain names
●2003- MySpace launches
●2004- Facebook launches
●2005- YouTube launches
●2006- Twitter launches, 92 million Websites
●2007- 1.1 billion people are using the Internet and women outnumber men, 120,000 blogs
are created daily
●2008- 79% of US consumers made an online purchase in the last 6 months, 100.1 million
Websites
2009- 1.5 billion users and over 100 billion live Web pages

What is Social Media?
● User generated content So Why use Social Media?
● Transforms people from content ● Reach
readers into publishers ● Accessibility
● Allows online connections forming ● Usability
personal and business relationships
● Timeliness
(“Networking”)
● Permanence
● A shift in how people discover, read and
share news, information and content
● Transforms monologues into dialogue
Source: Wikipedia, “Social Media”

Social Media Marketing
● Engaging consumers using online networks
● Creating a dialogue with consumers
● Monitoring online mentions
● Humanizing a brand
● Building relationships/generating leads
“The key to Social Media success is to listen, engage and build relationships”

Social Media Networks

Social Media Networks
Social Network use by
adults with Internet
access grew from 8%
in 2005 to 35% in
2008, according to the
Pew Internet &
American Life Project.

Social Network: “Profile”
● Created in 2004 (same year blogs went mainstream)
● Started as a network for college students
● Expanded its reach to be available to everyone, including
businesses through the creation of Fan pages .
● Currently, there are approximately 175 million users
● 4th most visited site
●Business Application: Facebook Fan page used as a way to relay
information such as discussions, photos, videos, etc. Allows
consumer interaction and participation.

Social Network: “Profile”
Fan Posts

Social Network: “Profile”

Social Network: “Profile”
● Established in 2006
● Micro-blogging answering the question “what are you doing?”
● Currently there are about 6 million users
● 37th most visited site
● In March 2009, a Nielsen.com blog ranked Twitter as the fastest-
growing site in the Member Communities category for February
2009. Twitter had a growth of 1382% for that month.
● Business Application: One to many and one-on-one
communication, instant feedback and personal interaction

Social Network: “Profile”

Social Network: “Profile”
● Established in 2006
● Used as a professional “linking” network
● Currently about 36 million users
● Business Application: Professional networking, visibility, create
a company profile page, recruitment and lead generation

Social Network: “Profile”

Social Network: “Profile”
● Established in 2006 ● Established in 2006
● Video-sharing site ● 19th most visited site
● 3rd most visited site ● Approximately 115
million blogs overall
● More than 6 million
views in Jan. 2009 ●Business Application:
Showcasing business,
● Business Application:
feedback, interaction
Can create branded
channels

Social Media for Business
Brand Brand
Awareness Loyalty
Customer Lead
Service Generation
Increase
Website Traffic

Consumers are turning to Social Media to
be engaged and for “specials”…

My first “Tweet”…
Getting Started in Social Media
● Social Media requires a planned strategy based on many factors
including:
● Where is your target audience?
● What makes them tick?
● What motivates them?
● How do they prefer to be reached?
● What type of time and resources can be dedicated to the
initiative?
“Plan the Work, Work the Plan”

Updating my “status”…
Maintaining a Social Media Strategy
● Occupied social spaces need to be active with interesting and
engaging content
● A strategy should include short-term and long-term goals and
benchmarks to be sure the strategy is being implemented
● A calendar of social media efforts will keep efforts in check and
coordinate activity to keep it current
“Plan the Work, Work the Plan”

A “blog” of predictions…
The Future of Social Media
● Facebook Connect expansion
(bringing your consumer into and “on” your page)
● Personalized social networks and newsfeeds
● Targeted social networks for advertisers
● The “me” factor
“Plan the Work, Work the Plan”

References
Sites:
Wikipedia.com
Mashable.com
Ploked.com
Books:
Groundswell by Charlene Li & Josh Bernoff
Magazines:
Entrepreneur
SmartMoney
BusinessWeek

Signing out…
QUESTIONS??