Introduction to
Social Media
Strategic Online Marketing
June 25, 2009

Who We Are::
thunder::tech is an integrated marketing agency that
provides services in:
 Web design and development
 Graphic design
 Interactive media
 Video
 Public relations
 Advertising
 Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Team Members::
Kristin Hall
 Operations Administrator
 Oversees recruitment, employee welfare,
company administration and new business
development
Christina Karas
 Public Relations Coordinator
 Works with traditional and nontraditional media

Today’s Topic::
Social Media
 Introduction to social media
 Why it’s important to online marketing
 Creating a social media campaign
 Case Study: Brothers At War

What is social media?::

What is social media?::
• Social media describes the onlines tools that people use to
share content, profiles, opinions, insights, experiences,
perspectives and media itself, thus facilitating conversations and
interaction online between groups of people. These tools
include blogs, message boards, podcasts, micro blogs,
lifestreams, bookmarks, networks, communities, wikis and
vlogs.
– (-WebProNews)
• Social media is any site where users create their own
content and interact including::
– Blogs
– Microblogging
– Facebook and MySpace
– Flickr and SmugMug
– delicious, Digg or Reddit

The world of Social Media::
 There are more than 200 million active Facebook users around the
world with an average of 120 Friends. (-Facebook.com)
 Facebook has 70 million unique visitors in the United States (-
PCMag)
 In the U.S., there are 94.1 million blog readers, which is equivalent
to 50% of American Internet users (eMarketer)
 Worldwide, 184 million people have started a blog and 346 million
people read them regularly. (-Universal McCann)
 In Feb. 2008, Twitter had 475,000 unique visitors. By Feb. 2009, the
site grew 1,382% to 7 million unique visitors. (-Nielsen)

Why Social Media is Important to Marketers::
 Social media is based on user-generated content and
information
 Marketers want users to be advocates for their
brand, product or service
 Large amount of active users
 Speed of communication
 Ability to build and maintain direct relationships

How Social Media can Benefit Brands::
 An opportunity to provide accurate information and
stay in control of the message
 Develop new relationships
 Engage consumers with a brand
 Monitor conversation to find unsatisfied consumers or
properly address a situation
 Increase search optimization efforts

Social Media is Intimidating::
 Problems can spread quickly:
 Ex: Motrin Moms
 Companies have no control over what employees or
the public publishes
 Ex: Dominos
 Speed and constant connectivity
 Power of Word of Mouth
 Difficult to find the time to effectively manage
 Drafting value-added messages

Creating a Social Media Campaign::
All social media campaigns must maintain the
elements of all strong advertising campaigns
including:
 A purpose
 Goals and objectives
 Key messages
 Tactics
 Measurement

Creating a Social Media Campaign::
Before beginning a social media campaign, an
organization should:
 Determine that social media marketing is a correct
strategy for their organization
 Understand how social media platforms work and
how users communicate in the space
 Listen to conversation on the sites to learn more

Creating a Social Media Campaign::
When creating a strategy, make sure you have:
 An understanding of the platforms
 A knowledge of where your target market
communicates
 A dedicated staff member or team to oversee
the social media pages
 A daily time commitment to the campaign

Integrate campaigns with online content::
Social Media campaigns work best when they work
hand in hand with existing online promotions:
 Link to social media profiles from the home
page
 Make social media profiles easy to find and
clear
 Integrate social media into e-mail marketing
campaigns

Integrating to offline promotions::
Social Media campaigns can also boost your traditional
marketing efforts:
 Design with the same look & feel to create a
consistent brand presence
 Use similar key messages
 Drive users online through print design and
traditional advertisements

Measuring Your Social Media Campaign::
Social media campaigns must demonstrate value:
 Measure followers, comments and posts
 Look at the amount of conversation on a
network
 If possible, measure sales leads through social
media sites

Case Study::
Brothers
At
War

About Brothers At War::
 A documentary film by a first-time director who
embedded with combat units in Iraq to understand what
his two Military brothers experienced
 Financed by friends & family
 Supported by Gary Sinise, Norman Powell and Akron-
resident David Scantling
 Distributed by Samuel Goldwyn Films
 Very small marketing budget and very limited traditional
advertising
 Theatrical premiere in March 2009

Goals of the Social Media Efforts::
 Increase awareness of film
 Promote conversation and word of mouth buzz
 Drive grassroots participation to create demand at
local theaters and encourage sponsored screenings

Social Media Presence::
 Facebook
 An official Fan Page
 YouTube
 Channel and multiple videos posted
 Twitter
 MySpace
 Ning
 iMeem

Challenges::
 Little to no public awareness of the film
 Movie campaigned through film festivals for a distributor in
2008, which included setting up profiles on YouTube, MySpace
& iMeem
 Multiple users with varying degrees of experience created
accounts
 As a result, the film’s Twitter account was identified as a
spammer
 Too many sites with mixed messages

Tactics::
Through a review & audit, thunder::tech’s first steps were to
evaluate the content and use of all profiles
 Revamp the pages with the correct content and images,
which included official trailers, the logo and correction
information about release dates
 Create a consistent voice with consistent key messages
 Create a singular voice and designate a point person for
communication

Tactics:: Messaging::
 Updated connections with information about release dates and
theater locations
 Shared press coverage including print stories, online
coverage, video clips and blog coverage
 Notified connections about special offers and appearances
 Invited connections to be a part of the process by getting
involved, telling a friend or leaving a message on the Brothers
At War Web site

Tactics:: Relationship Building::
 Answered inquiries about how people could see the film, where it would be
playing and how to get tickets
 Identified advocates and made sure they received invitations to screenings
 Ex. Twitter ticket giveaways
 Ex. Milblogging.Com
 Arranged for blogger to be part of press day in Washington D.C.
 Noticed enthusiastic supporters and provided them with information about
Task Forces
 Ex. Facebook discussion board
 Developed relationships by answering posts, questions and retweeting. Kept
a high level of engagement with supporters through out process

Tactics:: Integration::
 Web site
 Links were included on the home page for all social media
sites
 E-mail Marketing
 Icons were incorporated into the design of the e-mail
marketing template
 Speaking and press interviews
 Mentioned the social media pages
 Events
 Grassroots events such as screenings mobilized audience

Results::
Results from the efforts were measured on number of participants
and engagement level of online users. Results included:
 3,291 Facebook Fans
 1,838 Twitter Followers
 731 MySpace Friends
 Over 50,000 YouTube Views
 Including more than 23,000 views of official trailer with
123 accompanying comments
 7,320 YouTube Channel Views
 179 YouTube subscribers
- As of June 22, 2009

Social Media & Students::
 Marketing professionals want to hire new graduates
who understand how to use these tools
 Your future employer WILL Google you, so make
sure your online presence is an accurate reflection of
your skills
 Social networking is a great way to network and find
jobs
 All thunder::tech internships are listed on Twitter!

Get Involved::
 Maintain an ACTIVE and PUBLIC social media
presence
 Blog, try Twittering, use Flickr or FriendFeed BUT,
you don’t have to have it all
 Choose the networks you enjoy communicating on
and become an active participant
 Continue to learn – social media is constantly
changing so stay fresh with your knowledge.

Learn More::
 Cleveland Social Media Club
 clevelandsmc.ning.com
 Mashable.com
 TechCrunch.com
 Social Media Insider (e-mail newsletter)
 Smart Brief on Social Media (e-mail newsletter)
 Find a blog or e-mail publication that you enjoy
reading

Thank You! ::
Feel free to contact us at anytime::
 On the Web: www.thundertech.com
 Our Blog: Chatter.thundertech.com
 Twitter: @thundertech
 LinkedIn
 www.linkedin/in/christinakaras
 www.linkedin/in/kristinhall23