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Social Media and Affiliate Marketing Affcon 2010 Social Media and Affiliate Marketing Affcon 2010

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Key points <ul><li>What are your merchants and customers discovering about you </li></ul><ul><li>Integrate Social media to your traditional marketing </li></ul><ul><li>Looking over your competitor's shoulders? Using listening tools for business Intelligence. </li></ul><ul><li>Harnessing the power of conversations to build a new base - Facebook, niche networks </li></ul><ul><li>Telling your story - Building a new audience through content- blogs, videos.. </li></ul>

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Social Media audience is growing <ul><ul><li>Gartner : By 2014, social networking services will replace e-mail as the primary communications vehicle for 20 % of business users. </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>With 500M users Facebook could be the 3rd largest country in population (China and India are larger for now) </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>LinkedIn Now 60 Million Strong </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Nearly three quarters (73%) of online teens and (72%) of young adults use social network sites </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1293114 </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Social-Media-and-Young-Adults.aspx </li></ul></ul>

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How Businesses use Social Networking Tools <ul><li>Connect with customers </li></ul><ul><li>Get ideas, trends, buzz </li></ul><ul><li>Find peers and network </li></ul><ul><li>Easy distribution of content </li></ul><ul><li>Greater reach </li></ul><ul><li>New clients </li></ul>

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See the full study at http://www.GrowSmartBusiness.com

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25% Small Business use social media presence – Doubled since last year <ul><ul><li>Network Solutions – University of Maryland Small Business Success index http://growsmartbusiness.com </li></ul></ul>

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Brand presence in the Social Media <ul><li>Search Results </li></ul><ul><li>Social Profiles </li></ul><ul><li>Content </li></ul><ul><li>Interaction </li></ul>

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Listening Tools <ul><li>Google Alerts </li></ul><ul><li>Search.Twitter.com </li></ul><ul><li>Backtype.com comments </li></ul><ul><li>Business Intelligence </li></ul><ul><li>Paid tools like Radian6 </li></ul>

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Use Google Alerts as a business intelligence tool <ul><li>Get alerts ` </li></ul><ul><li>Trends and competition </li></ul>

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Thought leadership :LinkedIn Answers

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Reviews :Wisdom of strangers

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If chips can have their own page so can you! Tip : A Facebook page is different from your personal profile. You can create multiple Facebook pages

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Building your presence

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Build your profile in sites like Linkedin Tip : Ask for recommendations to include you in Service provider directory Links to your website and appear in searches for LinkedIn users

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Blogging Basics: Reasons to Blog <ul><li>Improve Search Engine Optimization (SEO) </li></ul><ul><li>Gain Visibility as a Thought Leader </li></ul><ul><li>Generate Real Conversations </li></ul><ul><li>Display Brand Personality </li></ul><ul><li>Perform Market Research </li></ul><ul><li>Improve Customer Service </li></ul><ul><li>Share Company Announcements </li></ul>

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Share your happy moments

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Integrate your marketing efforts <ul><li>Add your social media sites to your website </li></ul><ul><li>Tell your followers on Twitter about your newsletter offers </li></ul><ul><li>Add a sign-up section to your Facebook Page </li></ul><ul><li>Add a link to your website from your blog </li></ul>

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<ul><li>Setup Google alerts </li></ul><ul><li>Join and test out Twitter </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Setup a separate account for your affiliate feeds to test </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Set-up Facebook Page </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Keep your perosnal page as private as needed </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Make your business page as public as possible </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Choose 3 blogs in your industry to follow and comment on </li></ul><ul><li>Check your top results and complete any social profiles found there </li></ul><ul><li>Create content with story telling </li></ul><ul><li>Link to all your web properties together </li></ul>Your plan

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Final Thoughts <ul><li>Listen first </li></ul><ul><li>Conversation, not publishing or broadcasting </li></ul><ul><li>Be a useful conversationalist </li></ul><ul><li>Build relationships - one at a time </li></ul><ul><li>Take a Leap of Faith and Jump In! </li></ul>http://www.flickr.com/photos/fwp-dawson/2821182851/ Photo Courtesy Fred Dawson on Flickr freds-take-on-the-world.blogspot.com /

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Network Solutions <ul><li>Network Solutions helps small businesses solve the biggest problems the face - finding new customers and growing their businesses. </li></ul><ul><li>Our product line also includes a range of online solutions for building web and ecommerce sites, web hosting and related web services. </li></ul><ul><li>More than 3M small businesses use NS products everyday to run their businesses. </li></ul>

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Special Offer for Affcon <ul><li>Get a domain name for $9.99 from Network Solutions.Coupon code WOWDOMAINS at checkout.T & Cs apply </li></ul><ul><li>Join the Network Solutions affiliate program http:// www.networksolutionsaffiliates.com / </li></ul>

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Questions ? <ul><li>Shashi Bellamkonda [email_address] </li></ul><ul><li>Twitter: @shashib </li></ul><ul><li>Small Business Success Index : http://www.GrowSmartBusiness.com </li></ul><ul><li>Network Solutions Blog : http://blog.networksolutions.com </li></ul><ul><li>Unintentional Entrepreneurs : http:// www.UnintentionalEntrepreneur.com </li></ul><ul><li>Gen Y Blog : http:// www.WhatsNextGenY.com </li></ul><ul><li>Women Entrepreneurs : http://www.WomenGrowBusiness.com </li></ul><ul><li>Personal Blogs: </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Technology & Social Media: http://www.shashi.name </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Digital Thoughts: http://readythoughts.blogspot.com </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Restaurant Reviews: http://www.carryoncurry.com </li></ul></ul>

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Resources

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http://www.networksolutions.com/education

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Using Twitter: Buzzwords <ul><li>Follow: To friend someone (or follow their updates) </li></ul><ul><li>Direct Message (DM): Pseudo-email someone following you </li></ul><ul><li>“ At” reply: Speak to someone directly in the public stream (@shashib) </li></ul><ul><li>Re-tweet (RT): Repost content with credit </li></ul><ul><li>Block: Restrict access to updates </li></ul><ul><li># (hashtags): a kind of tag or description – great for search </li></ul>Source: Ogilvy Twitter Webinar

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Document sharing Sites <ul><li>Docstoc – http://www.docstoc.com </li></ul><ul><li>Slide Share – http://www.Slideshare.net </li></ul><ul><li>Scribd - http://www.Scribd.com </li></ul>Tip : Add a custom offer for each channel and monitor traffic from these sites

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Videos : Tell your Story Tip : Create a How to video, talk about your community Kodak Zi8 HD Pocket Video Camera

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Podcasts & Your Own Radio Shows Flickr photo by Mark J Hunter http://www.flickr.com/photos/tartanpodcast/283456030/ Tip : Interview your users, promote their business

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Story telling with photos - Flickr Tip : Make your story interesting with pictures . Flickr cannot be used for commerce

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Review Sites Tips : Claim your profile , thank reviewers and answer any negative comments with grace