The document provides an overview of popular social media platforms and tips for using them for business purposes. It discusses statistics and demographics for platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr. Key advice includes engaging customers, adding value through posts, and using social media to build relationships rather than directly sell products. Regular posting and participation in conversations is encouraged over simply creating accounts.

5. What is Micro-blogging? Micro-blogging is a form of blogging that limits the size of each post; for instance, Twitter updates can contain only 140 characters. Bet you can’t guess what is the most popular micro-blogging site...

7. Basic Twitter Terms Followers People who follow your updates. # sign a community driven practice of tagging an individual tweet by using a hash (#) in front of the tag. Putting #realestate means that the topic is about real estate. Hashtags help the community to find and follow specific topics. @ reply The @ sign is used to indicate that you are replying to a specific username. For example, if JillWebb tweets a question, you will reply with @JillWebb with your answer. Remember that when you use @reply it is visible to everyone – for private communications use a direct message. Direct Message or DM The Twitter equivalent to e-mail. You may only send direct messages to those following you. To do so, click on “Direct Message” on their profile and type out your message, again only up to 140 characters. RT/Retweeting The process whereby you repost someone else’s Twitter post on your feed. The proper form for this is: RT so if you like something that you want to RT all you have to do is copy and paste the Tweet you like then in front of it put RT@username (the username of the person you are RTing)

8. Twitter Tips Give Your Followers Value Answer questions that your followers have if you know the answer. Share helpful tips for your industry that don’t have to do with your followers buying your product. Tell a joke. Always give your followers something that they can take away from the conversation and use. They will recommend you to your friends and you will generate tweets that will encourage new people to follow you. Tweet in Peak Times Peak times are basically during the day throughout the work week. I prefer anytime between 10am -4pm Tuesday through Friday. The best times are 1pm to 4pm. Tweet Regularly Tweet often, but only if you have something of value to say. You should aim for a few tweets a day to keep yourself top of mind to your followers. However avoid overload tweeting which can be annoying and can upset your followers. Also remember the 80/20 rule when tweeting: 80% value added and conversational 20% about your company or product. Use TweetDeck TweetDeck is a program that you download to your desktop that makes tweeting so much easier not to mention more organized. You track multiple Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace accounts not to mention post simultaneously to all accounts or just some of them at your choosing. For a tutorial on how to use Tweetdeck please go to my blog at www.thecoloradogirlblog.com

11. Facebook Facebook now has over 350 million active users giving any business a huge opportunity to create a larger product following and increased brand awareness. Facebook offers many advertising tools that help businesses to target their demographic to help build a presence. Basic strategy would be to create a fan page and promote the page through eblast communications, website link through, and Facebook targeted advertisements.

13. Facebook for Campbell Homes Profile: The profile is private and people must request to be “friends” or be invited. I keep this mostly for industry professionals. Current number of “Friends”: 353 and growing Fan Page: The fan page is public and can be found at www.facebook.com/campbellhomesco . The purpose of the fan page is to add value content for consumers, homeshoppers, realtors and anyone else who is a “fan”. The fan page is the main focus of any social media activities we do on Facebook. Current number of “Fans”: 257 and growing

15. YouTube Founded in 2005 YouTube is not only the worlds most popular online video community is is also now the most popular searching site. (Which is why Google acquired YouTube in 2008)

18. Flickr Photo Sharing Hosts over 4 billion images Owned by Yahoo! Upload limits for a free account is 100MB

19. If there is one thing I want you to take away from this... ...its that social media whether it be through Facebook, twitter or any other outlet you prefer, is not about SELLING and TELLING. Social media is about engaging people in conversation, building trust, building relationships, being HUMAN. Yes it's OK to post stuff about your company but also try to post things that are of value. Social media is not a tool to create profits it's a tool to create followers, loyal ones at that, who will tell your story to their followers and sooner or later your followers might even become customers. Join the conversation and build relationships that you might not have been able to have if it were not for Social Media.

20. Presentation by: Kelly Noble Questions? [email_address]