What Is Social Media & How Can I Leverage SM for My Business?

What Is Social Media? Communication Collaboration Multimedia  Social networking  Social  Podcasts  Discussion groups bookmarking &  Webinars  Internet forums tagging  Photo sharing  Social news  Micro-blogging  Video sharing  Opinion sites  Event listings  Livecasting  Wikis  Blogs  Other “Social Media is any new web tool or technology that connects people.” - Matt J. McDonald 2 ©2009 Social Media Works • www.socialmediaworks.net

Websites Are Interconnected Unlike a standalone website, all of these Social Media sites interact & connect with each other. Even a small business can leverage SM to gain a lot of visibility, quickly & easily! 4 ©2009 Social Media Works • www.socialmediaworks.net

Communication Sites Social Bookmarking Micro-blogging Events  Facebook  Twitter  Meetup  LinkedIn  Eventful  MySpace  Localist  600 Block Blogs Forums Discussion Groups  WordPress  vBulletin  Google Groups  TypePad  phpBB  Yahoo! Groups  Blogger  Windows Live Groups 6 ©2009 Social Media Works • www.socialmediaworks.net

Collaboration Sites Social Networking Social News Opinion Sites  Facebook  Digg  epinions  LinkedIn  Mixx  Yelp  MySpace  Reddit Wikis  Wikipedia 7 ©2009 Social Media Works • www.socialmediaworks.net

Multimedia Sites Photo Sharing Video Sharing Livecasting  Flickr  YouTube  Ustream.tv  Photobucket  Vimeo  Justin.tv  SmugMug  Revver  Skype  Part of Facebook  Part of Facebook or LinkedIn  Standalone or  Standalone or embeddable on Other embeddable on other sites  Podcasting other sites  Art, Audio and Music Sharing 8 ©2009 Social Media Works • www.socialmediaworks.net

Social Media & Social Networking  Social Media refers to online tools for sharing & discussing information. Social Media is  Social networking is the use of a shift in how communities of interest to people connect to others. discover and  You can use Social Media to share facilitate social networking. news, informat  Social Media broadly covers ion and other the online resources that content. connect people in cyberspace. 9 ©2009 Social Media Works • www.socialmediaworks.net

Identify Your Target Markets  Target marketing is critical to the success of any business. First, identify:  Your core service or product  The key users of that service or product  Communities of those users online •Start with your traditional leads; find them online. •Search for new lead channels. 10 ©2009 Social Media Works • www.socialmediaworks.net

Go Online, Grow Offline! In the offline world, social networks help people:  Find jobs ONLINE social  Make new friends networks work the same  Connect with potential partners way, but you can Think about a close connection who make & manage was once a friend-of-a-friend-of-a- connections with friend or a chance encounter. them more  How long did that connection take efficiently. to happen?  What if you would have missed that connection? 11 ©2009 Social Media Works • www.socialmediaworks.net

Social Media for Businesses Your company can use SM as part of a strategy to:  Deepen relationships with existing customers  Generate new leads  Find professional partners for new ventures  Target a specific industry  Do market research  Improve customer service  Brand yourself as an expert in your field  Leverage multiple sites and networks to work together 12 ©2009 Social Media Works • www.socialmediaworks.net

Target Specific Audiences  Define your current audience(s).  Define any new target audiences  Define demographics  Define location Either swim with the fishes  Reevaluate your market or scare the fish away! 13 ©2009 Social Media Works • www.socialmediaworks.net

Combine with Real Life Interaction The most powerful approach to Social Media is not only to use it to find new leads, but to turn these into REAL WORLD CONNECTIONS. 15 ©2009 Social Media Works • www.socialmediaworks.net

What Social Media Isn’t  Difficult or hard to get started using quickly  A replacement for traditional marketing methods  A replacement for face-to-face contact  Going to work without a commitment of time and effort  A solution in itself – It is a PART of your business plan! It is a new TOOL to allow you to work faster and smarter. It keeps working 24/7. 16 ©2009 Social Media Works • www.socialmediaworks.net

Before Getting Started  START WITH YOUR BUSINESS PLAN.  What are your goals/desired results?  What makes your company unique?  Does your business have the capacity to meet goals?  Who is your target audience(s)?  Will you commit to being consistent in your activity online?  What do you need to learn to get started? HAVE A STRATEGY! Following NO plan will mean wasted time and no results 17 ©2009 Social Media Works • www.socialmediaworks.net

Relationships First?  THINK OF SOCIAL MEDIA AS A COCKTAIL PARTY.  It’s 80% social, 20% business.  Let people get to know you FIRST. Then they will ask, “What do you do”?  Be available to answer questions Wouldn’t you rather do and be helpful. business with a friend?  Be yourself and let your personality shine online!  THIS IS A SUBTLE SALES PROCESS. 19 ©2009 Social Media Works • www.socialmediaworks.net

Trust Leads to Referring Others  If content that you contribute is VALUABLE, people who see it may be motivated to share it with others!  Think of someone sharing your content as a powerful, “word of mouth” referral. Don’t you prefer a recommendation from a friend over an ad? With ONE CLICK,  Sometimes your content will be so your readers can share your content with many hot that it spreads like wildfire over other sites! the Web. Other times, the pace may be slower, but TARGETED sharing can be just as good for business. 20 ©2009 Social Media Works • www.socialmediaworks.net

Still Hesitating about the Benefits?  Your competitors are using Social Media.  Your customers are using Social Media.  You can stay connected with your current contacts in a faster, more efficient way.  Using Social Media is more efficient than networking only offline.  By using Social Media you retain some control over your brand.  Through Social Media connections you can find out about offline events.  Through Social Media connections you can promote your event.  Ignoring the Social Media phenomenon won’t make it go away! 21 ©2009 Social Media Works • www.socialmediaworks.net

Get Started Now! “I’m not sure where to start!”  We know; Social Media can be confusing. Get some training, and plan to keep learning as the technology changes and new networks spring up! You can get up and running quickly, and learn as you go! See our site for help and resources! “Isn’t it too late to get started?”  NO! While a number of early adopters have been using SM technology for a while, it is still very early in the process. This means you will have a HUGE ADVANTAGE over those companies that wait. “I’m not ready now... maybe next year.”  It will be much harder to catch up in a few years. Don’t get left behind your competition! Build your strategic plan so that you can grow with this boom. 22 ©2009 Social Media Works • www.socialmediaworks.net

Why Social Media Works We approach Social Media with a broad range of experience: User-centered Design Writing Project Management Editing Usability Evaluations Marketing Database Development Analytics 23 ©2009 Social Media Works • www.socialmediaworks.net

Why Social Media Works We have a broad vision to see how Social Media can benefit the many industries we have worked in: Corporate Small business / Entrepreneurs Government Media (Radio/TV/Podcasts) Non-profits Retail & eCommerce Technology 24 ©2009 Social Media Works • www.socialmediaworks.net

Social Media Works Ongoing Training Training Guides Events Join our site  Written for the to keep your Book us to come busy professional knowledge train your group!  Quick to read & up-to-date!  Boot Camps easy to  Webinars understand  Conferences  Full of specific Consulting  Lunch & Learns tips for  Too busy? businesses  Hire us to help! 25 ©2009 Social Media Works • www.socialmediaworks.net

Team Consulting Services Design Strategic Planning Metrics Branding, or new Marketing Tracking traffic to site design & strategies & site your website & development architecture adjusting to meet your goals Content Research Virtual Assistance Copywriting & Research of Setting up or editing with your keywords, markets maintaining your keywords and your Social Media sites competitors 26 ©2009 Social Media Works • www.socialmediaworks.net

About Us Linda Schenk, Founder & CEO  “Virtuallinda” has been building websites since 1997.  View her work at www.cirquel.com.  She is an entrepreneur & networker.  She has an extensive background in branding, web design and usability.  She has a passion for design, technology, networking and teaching people new skills. 27 ©2009 Social Media Works • www.socialmediaworks.net

The Social Media Works Team  Passionate about our work and wanting businesses to achieve their goals  Has an entrepreneurial spirit and constantly looks outside the box for solutions  Loves the ever-changing technology, seeing it as a challenge to stay ahead of the curve  Enjoys connecting with others or being the link between two previously disconnected contacts 28 ©2009 Social Media Works • www.socialmediaworks.net

Keep on Top of New Trends  Hours of Training Join our site and let us  Hundreds of pages of reading do the work for you!  Following all the Experts Our team tracks new  New technology Daily technologies and tools and will evaluate their usefulness for the busy FILTERED by Social Media Works professional You get targeted knowledge, on-going socialmediaworks.net alerts, network of business people 29 ©2009 Social Media Works • www.socialmediaworks.net

The Social Media Network Connect with us on Twitter, LinkedIn & Facebook  Get connected online with other professionals  Encourage networking & sharing of ideas  Find out about offline events  www.socialmediaworks.net/twitter  www.socialmediaworks.net/facebook  www.socialmediaworks.net/linkedin Need More Help? Find out about our services: socialmediaworks.net 30 ©2009 Social Media Works • www.socialmediaworks.net

What Is Social Media & How Can I Leverage SM for My Business?

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