How To Get Business With Social Media

Welcome to the CPCUG E&C SIG Washington DC Event 19th Sept 2009 How To Get Business With Social Media Shashi Bellamkonda Register for the first-ever GrowSmartBiz Conference! A Premier Networking Event for Entrepreneurs - SEPT 29, 2009 | Washington, D.C Details: http:// growsmartbusiness.com /small-business-conference

How To Get Business With Social Media Shashi Bellamkonda CPCUG E&C SIG - Washington DC -19th Sept 2009

Hi ! I am Shashi Bellamkonda (@shashib)

Head of Social Media Strategy at Network Solutions ( Unique title Social Media Swami)

I am the Network Solutions listening post in the Social Media

Helped Network Solutions win

2008 SNCR Excellence in New Communications Award for Online Reputation Management

2009 a Gold Quill Award of Excellence in Social Media from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC).

Speaker - `How to Sell Social Media to Your Boss' and 'Social Media Tools for Small Business at SXSW, IABC, Affiliate summit and others

Today’s Discussion

Social media background

Strategy

Useful Tools

Q&A

Online Tools Used by Small Business

Network Solutions – University of Maryland Small Business Success index http://growsmartbusiness.com

Majority of Web users participate in Social Networks

This year, 59% of active Web users—those with access at least every other day—reported having a Social Networking profile

Source:http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007232

It’s not going away, it’s becoming more prominent

Social Networking has been the global consumer phenomenon of 2008. 1

Two-thirds of the world’s Internet population visit a social network or blogging site and almost 10% of all internet time. 1

Facebook added its 300 millionth user in 2009. If Facebook were a country, it would be the fourth-largest in the world after China, India, the US.

From January to March 2009, people ages 26 to 44 made up the fastest-growing segment of the US Facebook population 2

1 http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/nielsen_globalfaces_mar09.pdf

2 http:// www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R =1007034

What Skeptics Say About Social Media ?

No way to measure? Is there any ROI?

All these will pass

They are not mainstream, nobody pays attention to them

We cannot not control the message, lack of consistency, danger of going haywire

Not effective and measureable

Photo Credit : http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonnygoldstein/2546693421/

Social Media for Small Business

Small Business can utilize social media to level the playing field against bigger, stronger competitors.

Connect with Customers and Community

Improve chances of being found online – more results

Manage your brand and reputation online

Get more referrals and customers

Your audience is everywhere

Business use of Twitter

http://venturebeat.com/2008/12/15/twitter-has-made-dell-1-million-in-revenue/

Even chips have their own page !

Network Solutions Swami’s - 3 Word Mantra Photo: courtesy: http://flickr.com/photos/metrojp/92038203/ LISTEN PARTICIPATE Photo Courtesy: http://flickr.com/photos/redcarpet/50339009/ CONTRIBUTE Photo Courtesy: http://flickr.com/photos/presta/129832836/

Listening Tools

Google Alerts

Twitter

Friendfeed

Technorati

BackType

Buzzlogic

BuzzMonitor

SM2 by Techrigy.com

Radian 6

Participate :Comments, conversations & Guest Posts Blogs Media Podcasts Answers Forums and Niche Social Networks Video

Contribute

Tell your story

Make videos of your expertise

Talk about your employees

Share exciting events/news

Rohit Bhargava’s says in “ Personality Not included” to follow UAT formula – UNIQUE, AUTHENTIC, TALKABLE

Social Networks

Facebook

Create Business Pages

Post to your wall

Add links to profile

Post on network

Myspace

LinkedIn

Update your profile

Answer questions

Facebook Profile Page

LinkedIn Profile Answers Groups

User Reviews Take Ownership of your listing Encourage customers to review Thank and respond to reviewers

Opportunity to listen, participate and contribute in one place

140 characters is hard

Tool connecting humans

Recommend products

Provide feedback

Discuss ideas

Get Customer Service

Reply to all the people who @ you

Retweet or tweet interesting links

Join conversations

3 tweets a day keeps the doctor away

Press Release

Your story can now be headline news

Use free press release services

Pitchengine.com

Pr.com

PRlog.com

i-newswire.com

Prleap.com

24-7pressrelease.com

Make your own Newsroom

Blogging Basics: Reasons to Blog

Help others with your knowledge

Improve Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Gain Visibility as a Thought Leader

Conversations with your audience

Crisis Management

Customer Service

Share Company Announcements

Multi media

Flickr

Youtube

LiveStream

ustream.tv

TubeMogul

Seesmic

Oovoo

And hundreds of others

Social Bookmarking

Del.ico.us

Stumbleupon

Furl

Ma.gnolia

Blogmarks

Simpy

Popurls

Social aggregators

Digg

Mashable

Reddit

Easy to submit to multiple social bookmarking and aggregators

AddThis

ShareThis

AddtoAny

Document Share

Slideshare.net

Docstoc.com

Scribd.com

4 Point Social Media Strategy

Brand / Reputation Management

Connecting with Customers

Community Outreach

Get new business

Network Solutions Strategy : Changing Perceptions

First Half 2008:

Approximately 60 percent of Network Solutions social media conversations negative

Perception of Network Solutions as domain registrar only

Changing perception become critical for long term health

Planned Approach

Listen and engage customers directly

Online

At conferences

General participation

Respond to feedback, calls for help and knowledge

Build positive equity through valuable content

Community member

Twitter Conversations

Reply to all the people who @ you

Retweet or tweet interesting links

People like conversation

3 tweets a day keeps the doctor away

Built online relationships offline

Results : Online Positive Reputation Grows

Network Solutions won the Society of New Media Communications and Research Award for Corporate Online Reputation Management

2009 a Gold Quill Award of Excellence in Social Media from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC).

What Does the Future Hold

More community engagement

Events

Online monitoring

Content: Seeking to help small businesses, web companies during recession

Smart Business Success Index : GrowSmartBusiness.com

Continued blogging with new voices

Expanded offerings

Women Grow Business

Webinar

Small Business Conference

Training other advocates

Social Media

Twitter

Blogging

Bookmarking

Your Social Media Plan

Setup Alerts

Join and setup profiles in 3 social networks

15-20 minutes a day tracing the alerts and responding

Choose 3 blogs on your field to read and comment

Converse, don’t sell

Answer questions and become an expert in your niche on LinkedIn

2 hours a week - Learn and write about the products you promote

Measure your efforts

How many times were you mentioned

How many people read your posts

Inbounds links

Are your customers evangelizing

Attend one local event a month| Ask for help from the community if you need it

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