The text of a presentation given at the Niche Media Conference in Tempe, AZ on Feb. 2. The purpose of the workbook is to help niche media organizations assess ways to use social media tools to advance their business goals.
1. A SOCIAL MEDIA
WORKBOOK FOR
NICHE MEDIA
BRANDS
Dan McCarthy, CEO
Network Communications, Inc.
2. Personal Proof of Concept:
Dan McCarthy’s ViralHousingFix
• Launched December 2008
• Hosted on third-party
host.
• Built on WordPress
• Thesis theme
• All-in-One SEO plug-in
• Twitter integration
• Facebook Connect integration
The purpose of the blog is to provide an outlet for
structured thinking and analysis about business issues
that I facing in my professional life.
The blog doesn’t address confidential information,
such as the company financials, or management and
organizational issues. It is primarily a strategy and
business information workspace.
4. VHF’s Digital Footprint
Channel Participation Comment
VHF.com 3K – 5K UV/mo Approx 1 post per day
VHF FB page 580 fans Auto feed of VHF posts
DRM profile 650+ friends Redistribute most posts, share broader range of
content
@danielrmccarthy 1230 followers 2,360 tweets; 7-10 per day
@viralhousingfix 65 followers Tweets of VHF articles, interesting content
Other platforms approx 1,000 FriendFeed, Posterous, Delicious, etc.
7. The reasons why social
media tools matter
Scale
Low-cost, high-impact way to connect
and interact
Flexible content distribution/creation
model
8. What do you already do on
the social web?
What are your personal activities?
9. What new things should you
do on the social web?
Connect your company with each
other
Connect your company with its market
Connect your brands with its users.
10. How to build out a
Community of Interest
The first step to experiencing the
power of social media tools is
identifying and connecting with your
Community of Interest
Personal
Professional
Brand-centric
The tools
Facebook
Linked-In
Twitter
12. How to invite your company
onto the Social Web
Project: Massive Network
Challenged company to create 1000
connections in 90 days.
Invited every one in the company to
connect with CEO
Offered web training through an
outside consultant
Verybasic how-to get started on
Facebook, Linked-In & Twitter
Issued progress updates every week
Result: 2400+ connections in 45 days
from 800 person organization
13. Some things to think about
Top-down leadership by example key
to this project
Question: Why are we doing this?
Policy: The less rules the better
14. Define your business goals
Internal goals
Communication
Collaboration
Efficiency
External goals
Increase awareness & contact with
advertisers
Increase diversity of content
Increase contact with readers
Increase print audience
Increase online audience
Increase magazine ad sales
Increase online/supplemental sales
15. The Niche Media Brand
Social Media Toolkit
A blog for frequent publishing
Integrated
into or supplemental to your
primary web site
Technology architecture issue
A network of social media identities in
order to drive your digital footprint
Facebook
& Twitter are the primary
complementary distribution platforms
A workflow that changes the content
distribution process
Sharing vs. Creating
18. How the brand footprint
works
At Home in Arkansas – January 2010
Magazine circulation: Web visits:
30,000 10,536
Facebook Fans: E-mail subs:
4,410 7,500
Twitter followers: Staff friends:
460 3,500
Total Network:
56,406
(47% digital)
26. AHIA:
Multiple web traffic sources
Jan 2010 Jun 2009 % CH
Unique visitors 7,173 4,019 78%
Visits 10,536 4,419 138%
Page views 21,610 12,500 73%
Traffic sources
Other web sites 4,105 1,458 182%
Search 3813 2908 31%
Direct 2618 932 181%
Top sections
Home page 2675 1807 48%
Blog 4107 351 1170%
Homes & gardens 6038 3572 69%
27. Sample work plan
Week Social Network Link building
distribution building
#1 Room of week Invitation to new 2 reciprocal link
5 - 10 sharing e-mail subscribers offers
elements 1 hour of Twitter 1 blog feature
Three magazine following
features 1 hour of FB
Resource friend
directory prospecting
#2 Room of the week 1 hour of Twitter Blog prospecting
5 - 10 sharing following Link offers
elements 1 hour FB friend
2 features prospecting
#3 Room of the week Invitation to new 1 Blog feature
5 - 10 sharing e-mail subscribers
elements
E-mail link to
social network
#4 Room of the week Twitter following Review new links
5 – 10 sharing FB prospecting & traffic
elements Blog prospecting
28. Sample tracking &
measuring
Social Network Link
distribution building building
Weekly Total referrals FB friends # of blogs
in week Twitter linked
Most active followers Blog referral
sharing E-mail traffic
elements subscribers Most active
blogs
Monthly Unique visits Totals Friends Blog referral
Page views Total followers traffic as a %
Popular Total e-mail of UV’s
pages/sections subscribers Google
Traffic sources PageRank
29. Using social media tools to
build & maintain Audience
Share content regularly
Create multiple social identities to share
content into
Supplement with regular subscription
newsletters
Create brand blog
Use polls, discussions to engage
audience
Promote print features in advance
using Sharing Model
Web is not only for news
Feature print features multiple times
across digital footprint
30. Using social media to amplify
and improve marketing
Have sales team connect with
marketplace using social identities
Facebook a strong tool
Give sales team access to Brand fan
page
Create marketing content on brand
blog
Promote relationships, events in your
marketplace
Photos, photos, photos
As team gains expertise, organize
social media webinars, learning
sessions
31. Strategies for increasing
Web traffic and sales
Implement sharing model
Build Digital Footprint
Build volume of shared content and
links
Create content relationships with other
leading bloggers in your market
Outcome is more inventory and more
business activity for your advertisers
Design web presence to drive one or
two key actions
Search professional directory
Access contextually relevant advertising
32. Strategies for building
interactive Community
Share
Invite perspective and interaction
Profile Community submissions on blog
and in printed product
33. Strategies for creating new
Revenue sources
Basic directory listings
Basic web sponsorships & display
advertsing
Online promotion packages that take
advantage of digital footprint
Facebook & Twitter promotion
Blog promotion
Time-sensitive announcements
34. Understanding skill and resource
requirements to implement social
media tools
New technology resources
Open-source content management system
Wordpress
Drupal
Hosting environment
Cloud resources allow for minimal capital
investment
Amazon
HTML/PHP programming experience
Social media experience
New processes & skills
Social-media enabled organization
Content & marketing teams trained on
using web publishing & content sharing
tools
Openness
Willingness to experiment
New inteactive product packaging
35. Thinking about Cost &
Approach
Low-cost, rapid development
Focus
on getting the content tools into the
market as quickly as possible
Reduce focus on design, functionality
Characteristics of social media tools allow for
quick changes of design & functionality
Adapt and change as you gain experience
in the market
Time-Neutral Method
Sharing process should not create more
work
Determine how much time to create an edit
page
Identify content sourced through Sharing
Process & incorporate it into print feature
Usethe content-sharing process to create print-
ready content
37. Summary &
Recommended Sources
Social media can increase the connectedness and
relevance of your organization and brand.
Social media will drive your brand’s digital
footprint.
Social media will expand your digital revenue
opportunities.
Your existing business processes and technology
investments can be adapted to leverage social
media tools at little additional expense.
Some Sources:
Dan McCarthy’s ViralHousingFix (www.viralhousingfix.com)
DigitalSherpa (www.digital-sherpa.com)
Dan Blank (www.danblank.com)
Greg Satell (www.digitaltonto,.com)
Eric Brown (www.apartmentveteran.com)
Olivier Blanchard (www.thebrandbuilder.com)
Mack Collier (www.mackcollier.com)
eMedia Vitals (www.emediavitals.com)
Folio (www.foliomag.com)
38. A SOCIAL MEDIA
WORKBOOK FOR
NICHE MEDIA
BRANDS
Dan McCarthy, CEO
Network Communications, Inc.