What's the use of social media?

What’s the use of social media? “ This presentation will be a waste of time if…”

In the next 90 minutes
Find our level
Answer questions
Real life conversation
Case studies
Create your ‘to do’ list

Hands up
Who’s got photos up on the website flickr?
Who regularly looks at their website analytics?
Who has a facebook page for their business?
Who’s tweeting my remarks this evening?
Who has ever uploaded a youtube video?
Who regularly updates their blog?
Who has a headache already?
“ This presentation will be a waste of time if…”

Challenges in Context Fix with money? Product Website Visibility Quality offering √ Customer experience √ Design √ User experience √ Profitable √ Advertising √ SEO √ Word of mouth x The bar is always getting raised

Source: Marta Kagan's 'What the F**K is Social Media (one year later)'

Why does everyone want to do it?
Business in the 80’s and 90’s was all about power and money and shouting!
You had to be (or pretend to be) a certain way.
Their kids grew up thinking that was dumb.
New consumers can’t be bluffed, bribed or bullied – that feels good! Feeling good is infectious.
For the first time in history, the same devices used to consume media, can also produce it.
People ‘do it’ because they can & it’s human nature!

Source: Marta Kagan

“ The internet? We are not interested in it.”
Bill Gates, 1993

“ If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less”
Some American Army Dude

What is Social Media?
People having conversations online
____________ ________________________

What’s the big deal? ONE to MANY is now MANY to MANY Conversations get amplified… quickly Source: http://matchstic.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/bad-customer-service.jpg

What do I need to succeed? Time, Passion, Humility, Integrity = Authority

Time Passion Humility Integrity Authority Start from here Not from here

How can I use it?
Network Research Loyalty Monitor Share Refer Service Sales* Branding Product Development Employee comms Recruitment Demonstration Fundraising Crisis Response Search engine rankings Awareness
* sales result from using the correct strategy rather than BEING the strategic focus

Old Objectives New Objectives Shout loudest Become the voice of authority Reach as many people as possible Build deep relationships with 150 other authorities Automate everything to reduce costs Participate in your community Sell, sell, sell Find ways to help people become advocates by adding value

The power of reviews sales conversion % cost/sale

Guess how much she spent on SEO?

FLOG the BLOG

The case for blogging
“ Surely people won’t be interested in reading about the minutia of my life/business?”
People want to know they’ll have ‘an experience’ if they visit you
Google loves good quality blogs
I travelled the world for insights…

Rainforest Inn, Costa Rica Pottery House, UK

Their home page is dedicated to reviews Integrated: TripAdvisor and Facebook page Invite to follow on twitter & subscribe to blog Invite to subscribe to podcast on iTunes

Not much text to describe product Mouse over plan to see images Embedded youtube clip

Last blog post

Bill’s view
“ Most B&B industry blogs are either wordy advertisements or travel blogs about the local area. Usually there are very good travel websites which list off everything a guest could possibly find in your area that you can link to or if not you can make a page on your website with a run-down of the nearby attractions. As to advertisements for specials and the like, that is best done with an email you send out to past guests or perhaps in your twitter feed. The blog is for interesting stories that excite you the inn keeper. It can be about the on-going renovations of your B&B. It can be about the difficulty of marketing. It can be about shopping for breakfast ingredients.. whatever.”

Pottery House Blog topics: Local walks John actually did yesterday!

Which is better – Silicon or metal bakeware? Chickens think hail is dinner

John’s view
“ I recently set up a Twitter account and sorted out my Facebook page, however I'm yet to be convinced that social media is any great driver of business to us.
I am convinced though that it is a great compliment to our existing web site. I think as part of your online presence it's something active and current and gives people a feel that they are seeing into your business... Otherwise a web site can have the feel of being very static...there are B&Bs round here who's web sites haven't changed since we started up 6 years ago. ”

Bill and John’s 6 rules for B&Bs
1. Keep it personal and interesting. Let potential guests find out about your personal side. Entertain them just like you would in a breakfast conversation. Be positive.
2. Never mention a past guest. Don't complain about the things in your area which bother you. 3. Update your blog at least 2-3 times a month. A blog which hasn't been touched for months or years is worse than not having one at all, because it just gives the impression that you're not that interested in your business.

4. Let your enthusiasm come through. Your blog should suggest to people "Look at me, look at how much I care about my business and my customers, and look how wonderful this area is". If you see a rare bird but missed the photo, post another photo (give credit) and talk about how cool the bird is to you (without making it sound like an advertisement). Almost every post needs to have a photo.
5. Link to other bed and breakfast blogs that you find interesting - grow your blog roll in a genuine way.
6. Comment on other B&B blogs to foster connections – bed and breakfast guests tend to search around all over the world for different interesting lodgings.

Take a breath….
what have we learned?

Five F’ing challenges
F irst step
F inding a ‘voice’ & interesting stuff to talk about F inding enough time…. regularly F aith F ollow the trends (eg Foursquare)

To Do List
Commit time
Know your starting point
Select your measures of success and analytics
Set up alerts
Turn your site social, add content sharing tools
Discover the best space(s) for dialogue
Listen, understand issues & opportunities
Publish content that builds your authority
Find ways to help people become advocates
Stop if it’s not fun anymore

"Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value."
Albert Einstein

Resources
Mashable
HubSpot (incl Websitegrader )
inngenious.com
hotelmarketingstrategies.com
TQ / TN ( Social Media for Tourism )
Twitter: MattLawton , PunkLogic

http://www.punklogic.com.au	84
http://www.slideshare.net	15

What's the use of social media?

by Matt Lawton on Jun 08, 2010

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

2 Embeds 99

Statistics

What’s the use of social media? — Presentation Transcript