Lunch & Learn
Complimentary Seminar
Social Media:
Myths and Realities of Web 2.0
June 24, 2009 – 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM

SOCIAL MEDIA
Myths and Realities of Web 2.0
Monica Wright

About VONT+HMG
• Full-service Web Marketing, including:
Web Marketing Strategy
Web Design
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Paid Search Advertising (PPC)
Social Media
Link Building
Banner & Email Marketing
• Maine-based with national and international clients
• HMG Search Marketing and VONT Web Marketing merged
in 2009
Experience
• 13 years of marketing / branding experience; strong focus
on social, SEO and web analytics
• Online career began with launching B2B sites in 1999
• Online product development, community and audience
building at MaineToday.com, increased traffic from 4 million
to 10 million page views per month in 5 years
• Now SEO & Social Marketing for VONT+HMG, contributing
author & blogger to searchenginejournal.com and other
industry sites

Today’s Agenda
• Define social media and its role within the marketing mix
• Web marketing and the different contexts of search and
social
• How people get socially connected and the social media
landscape
• Explore the Five Reasons for Engagement
• Review examples and case studies
• How do you start a social media campaign?
• Once you’re out there, how do you manage your online
reputation?
• What’s the ROI?
Social Media Is Not New…
Prodigy Launched In 1990
Live to the Public in
August 1991

Social Media Is Not New …
Forums in the late 90’s
Internet Relay Chat > ICQ > Purchase by AOL to become AIM
Social Media Is Not New…
Justin Hall, “The Founding Father of Personal Blogging”:
Justin’s Links From The Underground, 1994
1996
2009

Social Media Is Not New …
You’ve Got Mail, 1998
Napster Went Live June 1999
Social Media Is Not New…
Friendster 2002-03
MySpace 2004-07

Now, it’s … well …
Social Media Chaos

Possible Future of Social?
What Is Social Media Today?

What Is Social Media Today?
What Is Social Media Today?

What Is Social Media Today?
The Traditional Marketing Funnel
Source: Forester Research

The Social Marketing Funnel
Source: Forester Research
A Quick Step Back: Web Marketing & Strategy
Social Marketing is another channel
that fits in your overall Web
Marketing Strategy
• Website: content, design, navigation, actions
desired
• Blogs
• Email Marketing
• Reputation Management
• Banner & Text Advertising
• Search Marketing
• Link Building
• Community Building
• Affiliate Marketing
• Analysis
Integration is key, but more on that later …

Web Marketing: The Relationship Between
Search and Social Marketing
• SEARCH:
• Searcher has a question, conducts a search using a
specific query on a search engine.
• The results are keyword matching web pages and ads.
• SOCIAL:
• Interactions and activity between like-minded people.
• Recommendations, opinions, news, media are shared.
• It’s about sharing content.
Web Marketing: The Relationship Between
Search and Social Marketing

How People Get Socially Connected
Networking & Profiles Music & Podcasting
Blogging, Microblogging & News Bookmarking
Photos and Video
:
Other Stuff
Shopping/Reviews

A LOOK AT
Linked In, Facebook and Twitter
LinkedIn
Professional networking:
Build a network of colleagues,
clients, vendors, etc.
•Give/receive recommendations
•Join or create groups –
ask/respond to questions,
participate in discussions
•Develop a Company profile
•Post job openings
•Ask/Answer Questions
•Stay top-of-mind: your activities
get included in network updates
•Monitor Company presence in
social media, etc.
•Feature your blog posts

Facebook
Personal & Business Pages
• Broadcast and connect only with
your “Friends” & “Fans”
•Develop a Company page
•“Fans” will see your updates on
their home pages
•Start discussions, post events,
etc.
•Feature your blog posts, tweets,
etc.
•Create groups for your interest
areas
•New added features include
video, walls where fans can post
comments, photos
Twitter
Microblogging:
140 characters to say, post,
announce, ask anything
•Broadcasts information directly
online. Anyone can see it.
• Searchable
•www.search.twitter.com
•Follow people / organizations of
interest – professionally,
personally
•Develop a following of people
interested in your posts
•TweetDeck or
Seesmic Desktop
•#Hashtags

What Are The Reasons For Engagement?
Here are 5:
1. Name/Brand awareness and connection; Leadership
positioning in your industry.
Do something about the DISCUSSIONS about your brand.
What Are The Reasons For Engagement?
Here are 5:
2. Enhance relationships with current customers.
Visibly provide support and customer service.
Potentially decrease call center costs.
Fosters customer retention.

What Are The Reasons For Engagement?
Here are 5:
3. Share and receive information quickly, easily.
Test new ideas, products, offers … and gather feedback.
Instant focus group.
“Crowdsourcing”.
What Are The Reasons For Engagement?
Here are 5:
4. Start and build relationships with prospects.
Build a circle of influence .
Establish contact with people previously out of reach.

What Are The Reasons For Engagement?
Here are 5:
5. Drive traffic organically .
Social media sites are blending with traditional sites in
search results.
People spend more time interacting with each other and
share and distribute what they find online.
The Key To Social Media Is Content
SOCIAL CONTENT > WEB CONTENT > IMPROVING SEARCH TRAFFIC > ONLINE $ALES
Fun,
Transparent
Conversations
Brands add Entertainment
(Games,
(Customer
Service)
VALUE Facebook Apps)
When they
are socially
connected
Useful Tools
(Widgets,
Shortcuts to Desktop
Useful Apps)
Information
(Mobile)

What Does It Look Like?
Companies that are experimenting with social media in different ways.
A few links:
http://www.beingpeterkim.com/2008/09/ive-been-thinki.html
http://mashable.com/2008/07/23/corporate-social-media/
BlendTec Jeep Jobs In ME Portland Press Herald
Dell JetBlue Brewer, Maine Beadin’ Path, Freeport
FujiFilm Virgin Portland Magazine Portland Downtown District
Nike Wharton School Tri-Maine.com Maine Home + Design
Zappos Xerox National Fisherman Maine Women’s Fund
Dairy Queen WWE WCSH Dragon Fire Martial Arts
Intel Chevrolet Wind Energy Maine Maine Indigent Defense
Delta Best Buy SkiMaine Center …
New York Times MTV
McDonald’s American Express
Arvada, Colorado Comcast
What Does It Look Like for LAW FIRMS?

CASE STUDY: SalesForce
The world leader in SaaS solutions
Over 1M users worldwide
The Situation:
• January – April 2006 experienced significant outages
• Customers fight back on the blogosphere launching sites like Gripeforce.com
(Google it..)
The Resolution:
• Created http://www.trust.salesforce.com
• “Success is built on trust, and trust is built on TRANSPARENCY.”
• Salesforce Idea Exchange – increased speed of innovation.
• 2 new releases in 2006 > 4 new releases in 2007. All customer-driven.
• Created the “Service Cloud” – now integrated with Twitter, Facebook.
CASE STUDY: Coombs Family Farms
• Leading Organic Maple
Syrup Brand
• Working with retailers to
create recipes in order to
increase sales
The Situation:
• Build brand awareness with
the LOHAS (Lifestyle of
Health and Sustainability)
consumer segment. Heavy
Web users.
The Resolution:
• Increase product reviews,
blog postings, recipes
• Viral videos: How to tap a
maple tree

CASE STUDY: Coombs Family Farms
The Results:
• Increased third party distribution of video (embedded code offered by
YouTube). Video had been live for a year already.
• Video views grew by 33% in one month
• Improved rankings for “how to tap a maple” – currently four Coombs
listings on Page 1 search results
• Increased Total Site Traffic 97% YTY
• Increased Referral Traffic 190% YTY
Total Site Traffic
How Do You Start?

The Only Rules Are:
STRATEGY
INTEGRATION
COMMITMENT
Strategy
• Identify the specific audience you’re trying to reach -
behaviors, preferences for content, sharing, media
types, etc.
• Set specific goals and objectives that can be measured.
• This not a direct sales pitch. Instead it’s directly
influencing what users / customers are looking for.
• Work out a strategy for reaching those goals with the
intended audience.

Integration
• Figure out which mix of tactics will support and
execute the game plan .
• Make it EASY for people to share your content. It
doesn’t always have to go back to your website.
Social media is powered by the act of giving.
The best thing you can give someone is the ability
to give to others.
• Put proper measurement tools in place and identify
what actions and goals to analyze.
Commitment
• Content strategy? Get one. If what you do doesn’t work,
find something else that does.
• Once you stop, it’s harder to go back and gain traction.

How It Works Together
Social Media Is Part of Your Web Marketing Strategy
STRATEGY > INTEGRATION > COMMITMENT
Reputation Management:
WHO IS TALKING ABOUT YOU?
How to manage your reputation:
• Do not be defensive: Acknowledge, understand and try to resolve
the concern or negative feedback. How you handle it can almost be
as powerful as the solution.
• Have a well-executed plan in place: Don’t wait for the negative
postings to accumulate. Be as proactive with happy customers as
you would be with negative feedback. Show your appreciation.
• Be objective: If you need to get a good grasp on the outside
perception of your business, hire help to identify where the trouble is.

Reputation Management:
WHO IS TALKING ABOUT YOU?
It doesn’t need to cost thousands of dollars in tools.
But you do need to pay attention, that alone can
go a long way to building your brand and business.
Reputation Management:
WHO IS TALKING ABOUT YOU?
FREE TOOLS PAID TOOLS
• Monitter
• BlogPulse •Trakur
• Moreover
• Google Alerts • BrandsEye
• MonitorThis • Buzzlogic
• Google Blog Search
• TweetBeep • Radian6
• Yahoo News RSS Feed
• BackTweets • Buzzstream
• BackType Blog
• TweetVolume • Vocus / PR Web
Comments Monitoring
• TwitterMeter • Hubspot
• Who’s Talkin
• Scoutlabs
• Raven Tools

What’s the ROI?
The ROI is less defined as Return on Investment and more about the
RETURN ON INFLUENCE
Analyze the hard facts first, and decide what you want to measure.
• Site Traffic (ultimately conversions)
• Reviews & Ratings (what people are saying about you)
• Growing Audience (social networks)
• Overcoming Competition (visibility)
What’s the ROI?
Many companies have a value for a customer

WHAT’S THE ROI
Where Are Your Online Customers Coming From?
What’s the ROI?
Where Are Your Online Customers Coming From?

What’s the ROI?
Where Are Your Online Customers Coming From?
Social Media Tactics Will Evolve,
But It’s Still Marketing
• Social Media is about influence … NOT control.
• Influence the influencers by giving something
that can be shared. It’s ok for your content to be
shared.
• Follow a Plan
Strategy > Integration > Commitment
• Measure results
• Don’t give up!

Thank you
Monica Wright
VONT Performance Web Marketing
mwright@vontweb.com
Twitter: @monicawright