Basics of Social Media for Business, a continuing education class and the first step in the Social Media Certificate at Southeastern Community College's Center for Business.

1. SOCIAL MEDIA
For Business
BASICS OF

2. FOUNDATIONS OF
SOCIAL MEDIA
STRATEGY
Section One

3. Social Media is a P2P system. You are no longer a faceless
entity, but a human presence who interacts directly with
your consumers.
Person to Person

4. BEFORE
MASS
MEDIA
WE
WERE
SOCIAL
BUYERS
Markets were highly
personal and interactive.
Feedback was instant.
Success came from word of
mouth of happy consumers.
Connecting with others was
an expected part of the
process.

5. TRADITIONAL ADVERTISING
The Newspaper Association of America
reports that newspaper advertising revenue
is down to 1950's levels.
Nielsen reports that American's television
viewing habits are on the decline for the first
time in history.
Fortune 500 companies are reporting a
decline in visitors to their traditional
websites.
IS FLOUNDERING

6. #HELLO
THEY'VE MIGRATED TO SOCIAL MEDIA

7. SOCIAL MEDIA REKINDLES
OUR NEED TO CONNECT
It takes us back to the Person to Person dynamic. Business to
Business and Business to Consumer strategies won't work.
Feedback is quick and usually unedited.
Everyone's voice is equal on Social Media. Word of mouth will
make or break your business.
People are motivated to share to make a connection.

8. Social Media
Our Marketplace Roots
Takes Us Back To

9. QUESTIONS
If my company provided a human face to our customers
through our content, what would that look like?
In what ways can we become more human and accessible to
our customers? How does our company culture help or hurt
that process?
Who should be the face of our company? Are there many
employees already representing our company today on the
social web -- whether we know it or not? How can we get
them to help us?

10. Loyalty is one of the most important items to cultivate as a
brand. Small interactions on Social Media might not seem
like much, but you are building a personal relationship
with your customers.
Small Interactions
Hello! Heya!Hi!

11. Interaction Must Be
MEANINGFULYour customers see you as a potential friend. Don't ruin that.

12. You
Customer
INTERACTION
Talking at your customer isn't the
same as talking to your customer.
Customers come to view their
favorite brands and companies as
friends when loyalty is built.
Negative interactions always
stand out more than positive
ones.
Isn't One Sided

13. QUESTIONS
If a series of consistent, small, meaningful provocations can
lead to customer connection and perhaps even loyalty, what
would that look like in my industry? What kind of provocations
would engage our customers? What social media platforms
could potentially deliver this "drip, drip, drip" of
communications?
How are our competitors approaching this? How can we do
this better than them? Is this an opporunity to create a
distinctive experience for our customers?

14. QUESTIONS
Are customer service experiences with our company positive
or negative "provocations?" Are we creating advocates for our
brand or potential terrorist for our brand when we handle
complaints?
How is every potential customer touch point a provocation?
How can we turn touch points into trust points that encourage
deeper engagement with our company?

15. Getting out of the advertising mindset is the hardest part of
Social Media. It's tempting to say "Oh! Another advertising
platform!", but that's not how Social Media works.
Mindeset
BUY MY
PRODUCT!

16. SOCIAL MEDIA IS A
COMMITMENT
It's a combination of elements that you have to have
patience with and continue to nurture as it grows.
Targeted Connections
Meaningful Content
Authentic Helpfullness
=
Business Benefits

17. TARGETED CONNECTIONS
Content Strategy is just the
beginning, you also need to
consider a Network Strategy.
The long term goal should be to
build loyalty and engagement.
You must have realistic
expectations about your Social
Media audience. Nothing
happens over night.

18. MEANINGFUL CONTENT
Content needs to have value.
Content with value to your
followers will lead to
interaction.
Small, daily interactions are
key. Don't let your followers
forget you exist!

19. AUTHENTIC HELPFULNESS
Change your mindset from
"selling" to "helping".
Being helpful instead of
pushing a sale will nurture that
all important brand loyalty you
are building.
Free, no strings attached
content may feel like a step in
the wrong directly, but it's
critical to your long term
strategy.

20. But How
Does Free
Content
$0
$0
Drive
Sales?

21. FREE CONTENT
WHY IT WORKS
Giving away secrets, tips and tricks builds confidence in
your brand and in you as an expert in your field.
The appearance of transparency cultivates trust.
Free content ignites interaction, and interaction is
needed to strengthen your network.
Human beings prefer to work with people who's
knowledge they value and opinions they trust. Free
content turns customer perception of you and your
brand in that direction.
Examples of Free Content
Case Studies
White Papers
Ebooks
Recipes
Slide Presentations
Videos
Newsletters
Stories
Reviews
Infographics
Photos
Podcasts
Instructions

22. QUESTIONS
What are the ways our business can systemically build our
audience of relevant connections? Do we know where are our
customers getting their information today?
If we think beyond the company news releases, how can we
create content that is really useful to our customers? What
content do we already have at our company that can be re-
purposed for social media sites like Facebook, YouTube and
Twitter?
How can we be even more helpful to our customers? Can we
distinguish ourselves in this way by using social media to
reach and help customers in new ways?
What part of our corporate culture would enable this change in
mindset? What is going to hold us back? What is my role in
preparing us for success?

23. If someone goes to Google today to find out about your
products and services, where are they ending up? A
competitor site? A negative review on Yelp? A friend's blog
entry about that time your store front flooded? Building an
Information Eco-System will get the traffic to you instead
of someone else.
Information Eco-System

24. Brainstorming
Content

25. LEADS
HOT LEADS
PROSPECTS
CUSTOMERS
Sales Funnel

26. QUESTIONS
What social media platforms should be in our "information eco-
system?"
Should we limit our efforts at first to concentrate on the social media
platforms most likely to deliver results? Do we have the appropriate
skills and resources to do them?
What metrics would we use to determine if we are connecting to our
customers in the right places?
Do we expect the social media platforms in our information eco-
system to change over time? How do we prepare for this? How do
we know when to shift?

27. Content. Content. Content. Are you sick of that word yet?
Content is so much more than words on a blog, a video on
YouTube, or a new photo on Instagram. Let's take a deeper
look at why content is so important.
Content is King

28. THE POWER OF CONTENT
How do you gain power on the internet?
INFLUENCE

29. GOOD, BETTER, BEST
TYPES OF CONTENT
Content can come in many forms. Famous quotes,
recipes, funny photos, links to other content, blog
entries, etc.
The more value to your consumer your content provides,
the richer it is. Statistics, reviews, tutorials, or
educational information related to a specific industry
are all examples of rich content.
Think about the substance of your content. What does it
offer your audience? How can you expand on it?

30. Blogs
Video Series
Podcasts
RICH CONTENT VEHICLES

31. QUESTIONS
What are our existing sources of content that could be
leveraged across the social web?
How are our competitors using content on the Internet? Is
this field getting saturated?
What is our company's best source of rich content? A blog?
A video? A podcast? Or something else?
How would a content marketing strategy affect our current
resources and how would we adjust?

32. REVIEW
Social Media is build on a person to person model.
Small interactions help you build loyalty
Your mindset has to be geared toward helping instead
of selling.
Your information eco-system is going to pull in leads
that you are currently losing to other sources.
Content is the catalyst to your successful social media
campaign, breeding influence through rich content.

33. THE FIVE MOST
DIFFICULT
QUESTIONS
Next Week - Febuary 2,
2016 @ 6 PM

34. IN SECTION TWO
WE WILL ANSWER
What is the value of social media and how do we measure it?
We're in a niche market. Do we really need to use social media?
How much should we budget for this effort?
How do we handle the negative remarks?
We have limited resources. Where should we focus our efforts?