The document discusses the importance of integrating social media with traditional marketing for businesses to connect with customers, gain insights, and expand their reach. It highlights the growth of social networking platforms, encouraging businesses to utilize tools like blogging and listening tools for branding and customer service. Additionally, it emphasizes the need for effective relationship building and content creation to foster engagement and drive business success.

1. Social Media and Affiliate Marketing Affcon 2010 Social Media and Affiliate Marketing Affcon 2010

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

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

4. How Businesses use Social Networking Tools Connect with customers Get ideas, trends, buzz Find peers and network Easy distribution of content Greater reach New clients

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

6. 25% Small Business use social media presence – Doubled since last year Network Solutions – University of Maryland Small Business Success index http://growsmartbusiness.com

7. Brand presence in the Social Media Search Results Social Profiles Content Interaction

8. Listening Tools Google Alerts Search.Twitter.com Backtype.com comments Business Intelligence Paid tools like Radian6

9. Use Google Alerts as a business intelligence tool Get alerts ` Trends and competition

10. Thought leadership :LinkedIn Answers

11. Reviews :Wisdom of strangers

12. 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

13. Building your presence

14. 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

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

16. Share your happy moments

17. Integrate your marketing efforts Add your social media sites to your website Tell your followers on Twitter about your newsletter offers Add a sign-up section to your Facebook Page Add a link to your website from your blog

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

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

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

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

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

23. Resources

24. http://www.networksolutions.com/education

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

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

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

28. 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

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

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