Social Media for Small Businesses: What Blogs, Forums and Social Networks Can Do For You

Social Media for Small Businesses: What Blogs, Forums & Social Networks Can Do For You October 30, 2008 Paul Roetzer President, PR 20/20 1

“Your brand is what Google says it is, not what you say your brand is.” - Chris Anderson, Wired Magazine editor 2

What is Web 2.0 (aka the Social Web)? • Consumer-generated content • Mass collaboration • Inbound marketing [Blogs, Social Networks, Forums, Micro-Blogging, Social Media Newsrooms, Photo Sharing, Virtual Worlds, Wikis, Podcasting, Webinars, Online Videos, RSS Feeds, Social Bookmarking] 3

Inbound Marketing Snapshot • Permission-based (NOT interruption-based) • Consumers choose to learn more about you • The Four Ps: Personas, Participation, Publishing & PageRank • Strategies: Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay-Per- Click (PPC) ads, blogging, social media, content publishing (video, audio, copywriting), website development, analytics http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/4357/Are-the-Four-Ps-of-Marketing-Dead.aspx 4

Social Media Participation • Watch video from other users = 29% • Read online forums or discussion groups = 28% • Read blogs = 25% • Maintain a social networking proﬁle = 20% • Comment on someone else’s blog = 14 % • Publish, maintain or update a blog = 11% • Use RSS = 8% US: Forrester's North American Social Technographics Online Survey, Q2 2007, 10,010 respondents. 5

Social Media by the Numbers • More than 112,000,000 blogs • 4 out of 5 bloggers post brand or product reviews[1] • 6 of the top 10 Websites in the U.S. are social media sites • Social networks unique visitors in June 2008: Facebook (29 million), MySpace (59 million) and LinkedIn (10 million)[2] [1] Technorati State of the Blogosphere; [2] Nielsen Online. June 2008 6

Goals of the Social Web for Biz • Create connections and build relationships. • Optimize Websites for improved search engine rankings, which generates Website trafﬁc, inbound links and leads. • Establish professionals as experts, thought leaders and innovators. • Manage your brand online. • Grow smarter and faster than your competitors. 7

Marketing in the Social Web Part 1: Tools of the Trade Part 2: Building Your Social Web Strategy Part 3: Resource Center 8

Part 1: Tools of the Trade Monitor, Participate & Publish 9

Tools of the Trade (Monitor) Blog Search Discover blogs in your industry 10

Tools of the Trade (Monitor) Really Simple Syndication (RSS) Feeds Consume and share regularly updated content • Delivers updated content from blogs, news sites, forums • Feed is transmitted from the host site and received by your RSS feed reader 11

Tools of the Trade (Monitor) RSS Feed Readers Monitor all your priority RSS feeds on one page www.netvibes.com/pr2020 12

Tools of the Trade (Monitor) Google News Alerts Keep a pulse on your online brand with email alerts from Google www.Google.com/Alerts • Company name (with variations) • Key executives • Priority keywords (comment opportunities) • Competitors • Events • Products/services 13

Tools of the Trade (Participate) Social Bookmarking Find and share great content 14

Tools of the Trade (Participate) Social Networking Build connections, relationships and community 15

Tools of the Trade (Participate) Online Forums Contribute to the discussion • Wikis • Product reviews • News articles • Social networks • Blog comment sections • Video & photo sites 16

Tools of the Trade (Publish) Websites Generate trafﬁc and convert visitors into leads • www.WebsiteGrader.com • Content Management System (CMS) • SEO tools • Analytics • Lead forms & intelligence • Technical support • Blogging platform http://www.pr2020.com/Blog/post/2008/08/5-Things-to-Ask-before-Hiring-a-Web-Development-Firm.aspx 17

Tools of the Trade (Publish) Search Engine Optimization Generate trafﬁc, inbound links and leads • Create a keyword universe (300-500 words) • Prioritize keywords (25-50 words) • Use is titles, meta data, subheads, copy • Optimize anchor text from inbound links 18

Tools of the Trade (Publish) Search Engine Optimization 19

Tools of the Trade (Publish) Blogging Platforms Select a powerful publishing tool for your blog • Simple RSS and email subscription • Social media integration • Technical & community support • Categories • Tags • Pinging services • Multiple authors • Custom URL with your own domain Blog Software Comparison Chart: http://www.ojr.org/ojr/images/blog_software_comparison.cfm 20

Tools of the Trade (Publish) Multi-Media Sites Publish photos, podcasts and videos 21

Part 2: Building Your Social Web Strategy 22

Building Your Social Web Strategy 1) Who will you reach? 2) What will you publish? 3) How will you measure success? 4) How do you get started? 23

Who Will You Reach? Audience Segments • Customers • Employees • Prospects • Community • Mainstream media members (print, broadcast) • Suppliers/vendors/ • Social media afﬁliates (bloggers, forum participants, social networkers) 24

Who Will You Reach? Buyer Personas • What are their goals and aspirations? • What are their problems? • What media do they rely on for answers? • How can you reach them? • What's important to them? • What words and phrases do they use? • What sort of images and multimedia appeal to them? 25

Who Will You Reach? Social Technographics 26

Who Will You Reach? Demographics Generation Y (The “Millenials”) • Baby Boomers: Born 1946-1964 (ages 44-62) • Generation X: Born 1965-1980 (ages 28-43) • Generation Y: Born 1981-1990 (ages 18-27) • Generation Z: Born 1991-Present (ages 17 & under) http://www.forrester.com/Groundswell/proﬁle_tool.html Data from Forrester Research Technographics® surveys, 2007. For further details on the Social Technographics proﬁle, see groundswell.forrester.com 27

What Will You Publish? Content Marketing • Blogs • White papers • Optimized press releases • By-lined articles • Case studies • Photos • eBooks • Podcasts • Online magazines • Videos 28

What Will You Publish? Ideal Blog Topics Sample Blog Editorial Calendar • Commentary on MSM articles, other blogs, news, events, trends • Relevant links • Tools, resources, tips, ideas, lists • White papers, case studies • Company news • Photos, video, podcasts 29

What Will You Publish? Blogging Tips — Domain Name ✓ www.Blog.com ✓ www.Blog.YourCompany.com ✓ www.YourCompany.com/Blog X www.Blog.Wordpress.com X www.Blog.Blogger.com X www.Blog.Typepad.com 30

What Will You Publish? Blogging Tips — Engage Your Readers • Write with passion in an authentic, human voice. • Make every post relevant to the wants, needs and interests of your readers. • Publish content on regular basis. Target once per week at minimum. • Encourage comments and stimulate discussion. 31

What Will You Publish? Blogging Tips — Makes Post Easy to Read • Limit to 400 words or less whenever possible. • Use lists, bullet points, bold facing and headlines. • Write in short paragraphs. Never more than 6 lines of text. 32

How Will You Measure Success? Search Engine Rankings • Brand • Products/Services • Industry/Divisions • Geographic Searches Difficulty Cost Per Click Rank Visits Leads Company Name 75 66 <$0.50 1 65 10 Service #1 500 70 $1.85 8(+10) 50 5 Service #2 800 72 $2.05 45(-12) 4 0 33

How Will You Measure Success? Inbound Links 34

How Will You Measure Success? Site Analytics • Visitors • Pageviews • Bounce rate • Keyword performance • Time on site • Referrers 35

How Will You Measure Success? Connections • Leads • Subscribers • Comments • Followers 36

4 Steps to Get Started . . . 1) Conduct social media searches of blogs, forums and social networks relevant to your company and expertise. 2) Monitor news, trends, blogs and forums through RSS feeds & Google Alerts. 3) Become a part of the community. • Read and comment on blogs and forums. • Join a variety of social networks. • Use social bookmarking sites such as Digg, Delicious & StumbleUpon 4) Create a content marketing strategy and start publishing great multi-media content that’s highly relevant to your audiences. 37

Part 3: Resource Center 38

Resource Center Books • The New Rules of Marketing & PR by David Meerman Scott • Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff • The Corporate Blogging Book by Debbie Weil • Wikinomics by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams • Meatball Sundae by Seth Godin 39

Resource Center Blog Posts PR 20/20 — All posts tagged “sbc08” http://www.pr2020.com/Blog/?tag=/sbc08 • The New Four Ps of Marketing • Six Tips for Getting Started on Twitter • 8 Blogging for Business Tools • 5 Things to Ask When Hiring a Web Firm • Managing Your Online Reputation • Selling to the Future: Learn Your XYZs 40

Thank You Paul Roetzer, President | PR 20/20 email: paul@pr2020.com twitter: @paulroetzer blog: www.PR2020.com/blog (800) 920-1623 www.PR2020.com 41

Social Media for Small Businesses: What Blogs, Forums and Social Networks Can Do For You

1 comments

Notes on slide 1

16 Favorites