Social Media for Business Coggno Webinar

Social Media for Business
with Deltina Hay
(deltina@deltina.com)

A Webinar for

Webinar based on the online course:
Social Media 101: Business Essentials
Only available on Coggno!

In this first section:
How businesses use social media
➢ Overview of social media tools
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(Click on any course image you see to learn more
about that course...)
(Go to the end of the slides to watch the Webinar)

How Businesses Use Social Media

How Businesses Use Social Media
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In Social Media Examiner's fourth annual social media study, more
than 3800 marketers reveal where they focus their social media
activities, how much time they invest, and what the rewards are
The study looked at a wide range of business types, as well as how
long the marketers in those business had used social media, and
how much time they commit weekly
Among other things, this study looked at how marketers thought
their social media efforts were paying off
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/SocialMediaMarketingIndustr
yReport2012.pdf

Marketers
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Increase Exposure

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Increase Traffic

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Marketplace Insight

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Generate Leads

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Search Rankings

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Grow Partnerships

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Reduce Expenses

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Improved Sales

Increased Exposure
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Even with little time
investment, 85% of
marketers reported
increased exposure for
their business
And 95% of those with
3+ years invested
reported increased
exposure

Increased Traffic
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Increased traffic
occurred for 74% of
participants
With as little as 6
hours per week
invested

Social Media and Business
Marketplace Insight
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Over half found social
media to be helpful in
understanding the
marketplace
More so for B2B
versus B2C

Generated Leads
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Most also saw results
in lead generation
With small businesses
benefitting most

Search Rankings
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Most prevalent among
those using social
media for a year or
longer
More benefits for those
investing more than 6
hours a week

Grow Partnerships
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74% with 3+ years
invested saw the most
new partnerships
But 44% with at least 6
months invested also
gained partnerships

Reduce Expenses
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Nearly half of those
who spend at least 11
hours a week saw
reduced marketing
expenses
Self-employed were
more likely to save
money

Improved Sales
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Most marketers who
have used social
media for 3 years
report an increase in
sales
Small business owners
see the most results

Small Business
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Another study by Intuit
Connecting with
customers

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Visibility

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Self-promotion

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Getting news out

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Stay ahead of
competition
http://billingmanager.intuit.co
m/websites/small-businesssocial-media-infographic/

Missing the Mark
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Sometimes business
misses the mark
As far as which tactics
reach customers
Where business think
status updates are
most effective
Consumers say
special discounts are

Other Ways Businesses Use Social Media
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Nonprofits tend to use social media differently than for-profit
businesses – raising awareness, fund raising, and outreach
Many companies use social media for recruiting new talent
And social media is being used more and more for customer
service across many industries

Planning
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➢

Regardless of how
social media is used
Research also shows
that having a solid
strategy for using
social media is
paramount to
success...

Overview of Social Media Tools

Social Media Tools
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Blogs: WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr, Typepad

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Microblogs: Twitter, Tumblr

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Mobile/Location-Based Tools: Foursquare, QR Codes, Mobile Apps

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Social Networks: Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Plus

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Video Sharing Sites: YouTube, Vimeo

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Image Sharing Sites: Flickr, Instagram, Pinterest

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Document Sharing Sites: SlideShare, Scribd, Docstoc

Social Media Tools
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Social Bookmarking Sites: StumbleUpon, Delicious

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Crowd-Sourced Sites: Reddit, Digg

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Q&A Sites: Quora, Yahoo Answers

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Social Media Management Tools: HootSuite, Sprout Social

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Social Media Analytics Tools: Google Analytics, Raven

Top Social Media Tools for Business
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Facebook

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Twitter

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LinkedIn

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Blogs

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Google Plus

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YouTube

Facebook For Business
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Facebook is used the
most for B2B lead
generation
41% of companies who
use Facebook report
getting leads
http://www.insideview.co
m/social-selling

●

●
●

Marketers rely on
Facebook
To distribute content
http://contentmarketingin
stitute.com/2011/12/201
2-b2b-contentmarketing-research/

●

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Facebook outranks other
social media sites
When it comes to
acquiring business for
most companies
http://blog.hubspot.com/
where-do-marketers-getcustomers

●

●

For Consumer Goods,
Facebook outperforms
other social media sites
With regard to
generating leads for
business

LinkedIn For Business
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LinkedIn is used for B2B
lead generation
Generates more leads
than Facebook, Twitter,
or Blogging for B2B

●

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Marketers rely on
LinkedIn to distribute
content
Second only to Twitter

●
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LinkedIn ranks second
When it comes to
most companies

●

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LinkedIn outperforms
other social media sites
in many areas
With regard to
business

Twitter For Business
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Next to Facebook,
Twitter is used most for
B2B lead generation
Companies who use
Twitter get twice as
many leads as those
who don't

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Marketers rely on Twitter
to distribute content
More than any other
social media platform

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Twitter even outranks
Facebook
When it comes to
large companies

●

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Except for Consumer
Goods, Twitter is right in
line with other social
media sites
With regard to
business

Blogging for Business
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Next to Google Plus
Marketer want to know
more about blogging...

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Company blogs come in
at number three
With regard to
business

●

●

And also comes in
number three for most
business types
As far as acquiring
customers

●

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Blogs are also used for
B2B lead generation
33% of companies use
blogging to generate
leads

Google Plus
➢

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Though Google Plus is growing as a social networking and a
professional networking site
Its importance lies in how integrated Google Plus is with Google
Search...

Google Authorship
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●

Google Authorship
shows “author”
information within
Google search results
Activate this feature by
linking the places you
author information (like
blogs) to your Google
Plus profile

Google Page Verification
●

●

Improve the look of your
website's search listing
By linking your website
to your Google Plus
page

Google Plus
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●

Not surprising,
marketers want to know
more about Google plus
More than any other
social media tool

YouTube for Business
●

●

From the Social Media
Examiner study
Most marketers planned
on increasing their
efforts on YouTube

Social Media and Business
YouTube
●

●

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Next to Facebook,
Twitter is used most for
B2B lead generation
Companies who use
Twitter get twice as
many leads as those
who don't
Source: InsideView.com

Planning
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Regardless of the tools
used
Having a solid plan for
those tools is also
paramount to success
That, and optimizing
as you go...

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In this section:
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Planning for social media
Measuring your success
Integrating, automating, and streamlining
Engaging and managing your time
(Click on any course image to learn more.)

Social Media Planning

Tools for planning:
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Social media SWOT analysis

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Social media strategy

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Social media plan

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Social media analytics plan

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Social media integration plan

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Social media optimization and search plan

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Social media guidelines and policies

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Social media listening and engagement plans

What is a SWOT Analysis?
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SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and
Threats
The SWOT analysis is a tool used for:
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Obtaining an overview of business issues

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Understanding situations in businesses or organizations

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Assessing feasibility of a particular strategy

What is a SWOT Analysis?
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A SWOT analysis is a great way to kick off your social media strategy by
brainstorming the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats your
business has – or will encounter – when implementing a social media plan
The SWOT analysis process is not complicated – just create four sections
in a document
Use each section to place your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and
Threats
Based on questions specific to your business and social media...

Social Media SWOT Analysis
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Are your employees familiar with social media tools, and
understand how to use the tools to the company’s advantage?
Do you currently have employees/business owners who use social
media for personal use and understand how to engage on social
media platforms?
Does your company have the creative people required to develop
quality content and communication on a regular basis?

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Do you have a happy satisfied work force that your company feels
comfortable allowing employee/customer interaction using social
media?
Does your company have a disgruntled work force which could
cause detrimental company messages being broadcast to
consumers?

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How do you perceive your customers and potential customer’s
familiarity and comfort zone with new technology?
Are your customers currently using and adapting to the various
social media tools and networks available?
Are your customers using social media for personal or business
reasons?

Preparing a Social Media Strategy

Social media strategy:
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Define your overall goals

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Define your target audience

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Define the organization

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Determine your resources

Social media strategy:
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Analyze existing social media presence

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Analyze website for social media optimization

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Outline general strategy for website and existing presence

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Outline strategy for adding new tools

Define Your Overall Goals
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What, specifically, do you want to accomplish with social media?
➢
➢

Target new customers?

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Sell more products?

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Establish thought leadership?

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Drive more traffic?

➢
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Raise awareness about a brand or cause?

Generate leads?

Choose only one or two goals to start, this will help keep topics
focused.

Strategy for Expanding Existing/New Presence
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Choose the tools you believe will most benefit the business based
on goals, target audience, and resources
Explain and justify why specific tools were selected
Include a statement about how the organization might generally
leverage each tool
But save the details for the social media plan...

Creating a Social Media Analytics Plan

General Strategy
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Know your goals

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Establish baselines

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Use more than one tool

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Analyze, evaluate, take action

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Don't get overwhelmed by all the “advice” out there

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Stay focused: Slow and steady wins the race

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That, and optimizing as you go...

Establish Baselines (KPIs)
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Based on the goals from your strategy, establish measurable baselines you
can use for comparison later
Create a spreadsheet that includes:
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Review counts

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Number of hits in Google

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Website stats

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Current sales numbers

Other baselines specific to your goals

More qualitative elements such as thought leadership, influence, or
customer satisfaction can be trickier to measure – but not impossible

Analytics Tools
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Use more than one tool to get the “big” picture

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Different tools give different insights

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Analyze and evaluate using tools

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And take action when you find issues

Analytics Tools
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There are plenty of built-in or “internal” tools you can start with:
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Facebook Insights

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WordPress Stats

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YouTube Analytics

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Pinterest Analytics

Analytics Tools
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And, there are many “external” tools as well:
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Social Mention

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Klout

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HootSuite (especially for Twitter)

Google Analytics

And plenty of paid tools, too...

Don't Get Overwhelmed With Advice!
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I am not saying you shouldn't keep on top of changes, just find a
few reliable sources and stick with them.
My recommendations are:
➢
➢

Tech Crunch

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SocialMedia.biz

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SocialMediaToday

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Mashable

SocialMediaExaminer

And trust your own instincts!

Preparing a Social Media Plan

All About the Tools
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➢

The social media plan is about applying the tools recommended in
the strategy
And defining tactics and a plan of action for each tool
For each tool recommended in your strategy, include an overall
strategy for applying it specifically to the organization's needs, and
tactics for managing and optimizing

Social Media Plan
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The plan should include an initial, manageable set of tools in
addition to recommendations for a second and third phase of
additional tools and strategies
The resulting plan should reflect the needs and resources outlined
in the social media strategy
The plan should also consider any weaknesses or threats
discovered in the social media SWOT analysis

Fleshing Out the Plan
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For each tool in your outline, and for each phase, define specific
strategies and tactics to use while implementing the tool
Include a general strategy for applying it specifically to the
organization's goals and target market
Include tactics for managing and optimizing the tool based on the
organization's resources

Example: Facebook Page for Service
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Create a Facebook page for the organization

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Offer informative status updates using links, images, and video

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Offer updates that make offers to “fans” or “friends of fans”

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Stay engaged with fans – respond to them directly using first name

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Import blog posts, Flickr images, YouTube videos, and Pins into news feed

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Use HootSuite to make regular status updates

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Encourage fans to ask questions and respond promptly

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Check out what the competition is doing

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Post badges on Website or blog to encouraging visitors to become fans

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Add a Facebook Like Box to your website or blog

Content Marketing Plan
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If applicable, add a content marketing plan once the social media
presence has matured
Content marketing is the creation, publishing and promotion of
value-based content (blog posts, articles, white papers, e-books,
infographics, etc.)
In such a way as to draw in possible clients who are actively
searching for information relevant to your product, service or
business proposition

Creating an Integration/Automation Pla

Integration and automation plan:
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Goals of the plan:
➢ Maximize the exposure of your content
➢ Get exposure for all your accounts
➢ Streamline the posting/updating process
➢ Automate whatever you can
Identify the content to integrate
Familiarize yourself with the methods
Map your plan...

Methods
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Widgets, badges, plugins, applications, embed code, etc.
Connected accounts (within the tools)
Automation tools

Danger!
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➢
➢
➢

It can be disastrous connecting social networking accounts
like Twitter and Facebook
And somewhat senseless
Only use the “connection” method for media communities
And use automation tools for blanket posts

Mapping your plan...
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➢
➢
➢
➢

WordPress website
Twitter Account
Facebook Page
LinkedIn Profile
Google Plus Profile
YouTube Channel
Flickr Account

Approach by content, then by method
➢
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Break it down by content type, then by method of integration
First by type: Video, Images, Pins, Presentations, Status
Updates, RSS feeds, etc.
Then by method: Widget, Embed, Connection, Automation
Tool, etc.

(Video)
Embed
Connect

Application
Embed Playlist Gallery

Connect

(Images)
Application

Widget

Connect
Connect

Decide on Automation
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➢

Treat status updates like content
Decide whether you will use a tool like
HootSuite
If so, make sure none of your networks
are presently connected!

Blog Posts and Website Integration
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Create a similar map for how you will feed your blog posts
into your other social media accounts
And how you will integrate your social media presence with
your website...

Engaging and Time Management
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How you engage on social media channels should also be
influenced by your goals
You don't want to (necessarily) engage for the sake of
engaging – anymore than you want followers for the sake of
followers
Engage based on what you want to accomplish...

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If you want to establish thought leadership:
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➢
➢

Share articles on current industry topics, and add commentary to
encourage conversation
Google Alerts is a great way to find relevant content

If you want to sell products:
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Post coupons or run contests
Engagement comes from using the coupon or entering the contest

If you want to improve customer relations – post polls that
encourage discussion...

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Here comes the contradiction...
One of the issues with Facebook pages is that only a fraction of
updates land in any one fan's feed
Facebook uses an algorithm that determines which content a user
might prefer to get in his or her feed
Part of that algorithm is based on how often a fan interacts with a
specific page's updates
Therefore, it doesn't hurt to add a bit of “fluff” to your pages to
encourage “likes” and “shares”

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Amusing images or videos get a lot of likes and shares

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As do anecdotes and quirky news

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Choose something that is appropriate for your audience to break up
the promotional updates
The more your fans share the “lighter” updates, the more chance
your important updates will land in their feed...

Light Updates
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➢

My strategy is to post
a “nature pic of the
day” since I am an
amateur nature
photographer
I also post a weekly
“Happy Monday” photo
of my stoic 25 lb
problem cat, Wolfgang

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How much time you commit should depend on your goals and what
type of engagement you plan
Schedule a specific time each day to post updates, write blog posts,
and whatever else is in your strategy
A management tool like HootSuite allows you to create updates or
share articles and have them land when your page is most active
Unless you are monitoring a contest or other initiative, schedule
specific times during the day to engage, and set a time limit
Use mobile apps to help monitor...

DeltinaU Courses Coming Soon to Coggno!
January 22, 2014:
●
YouTube Essentials
●
Pinterest Essentials
February 1, 2014
●
Introduction to Blogging
●
Social Media Analytics Essentials
●
Social Media Widget Essentials
●
Social Media Integration Essentials
February 14, 2014
●
Search and Social Media Optimization Essentials
●
Social Media Guidelines, Policies, and Ethics

YOUR LOCAL TRAINING PARTNER
Click image to learn more...

Q&A
with Deltina Hay
(deltina@deltina.com)

for

Social Media for Business Coggno Webinar

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Social Media for Business Coggno Webinar