Social media provides opportunities for businesses to engage with customers and communities. Effective social media programs involve developing a strategy, integrating social media into business functions, managing engagement, and measuring results. Key elements include defining goals, appointing leadership, establishing policies, identifying communities, developing content and measuring metrics like engagement, mentions and conversions. Tools like Twitter, Facebook, forums and alerts can help monitor conversations and spread content.

1. Social Media for BusinessPractical considerations, Tools and StrategiesPresented byRichard Colback

2. Why Social Media?Millions of Conversations Taking PlaceInfluencersComplaintsComplimentsCrisesCompetitorsCrowd OpinionCustomer needsGoal: Engage with your community to leverage their resources and provide them with valuable access, content and insights5% of the people reach 95% of the Social media population

3. Why Social Media?3 out of 4 Americans use social media (Forrester, 2008)

4. 2 out of 3 of global internet population use social media (Neilsen, 2009)

5. 93% of social media users believe that a company should have a social media presence (Cone, Sept 2008)

6. 85% believe that a company should interact (Cone, Sept 2008)

7. 100,000,000YouTube videos viewed every day

8. > 13,000,000 Wikipedia articles

9. 3,600,000,000photos on Flickr (1 for every 2 people on the planet)

10. 1382% growth in Twitter Jan 2008 to Feb 2009Challenges with Social Media

11. Social Media 2009

12. Social Media in 2010Move from experimentation to methodologyDivergence of CRM and Acquisition implementation

13. Integration of Social Media into other campaigns

14. Social Media in the budget: Agency vs. In-house

15. SM (Marketing) dept at center of business

16. Rules of Engagement or Regulations

17. Focused skills for focused results

18. Social goes Mobile: IPhone, Google phones, tablets Social Media FrameworkEffective, sustainable, scalable social media programs all have, at their simplest, four major building blocks and operational elements:1. Social Media program developmentAstrategy- heavy function that starts with identifying business goals, then devising ways to leverage social media to accomplish those goals. 2. Social Media program integrationAlmost exclusively an ops piece: How to “plug” social media into every business function, from customer service and marketing to HR, IT and Legal.

19. Social Media Program Framework3. Social Media program management The execution of the program itself. Some examples of management functions are community management, online reputation management, keyword and conversation monitoring, content management, campaign management, etc.4. Social Media program measurementA function of marketing in 2010 that includes not only the actual measurement, but also calculation and analysis (the latter being very unique functions within measurement).

20. Social Media StrategyDefining a clear strategy can help reach social media goals, including:- Sales- Registrations- Referrals- Links- Votes- Reduction in costs - Decrease in customer issues- Lead generation- Conversion- Reduced sale cycles- Inbound activity

21. Social StrategyManagementDefine the initial objectivesFind a championOutline employee policiesCreate a social business dashboard MarketingIdentify existing communitiesCreate a marketing plan Develop individual channel strategies

22. Social StrategyContent and communityIdentify existing communitiesDevelop community strategies and programs TechnologyDevelop community strategies and programs Develop your platform strategy CommunicationPublish an action plan

23. Strategic FrameworkPhase 1: Establish presence and policies Define business objectives

24. Secure key brand names and online identity

25. Develop a social media policy

26. Appoint internal champion/evangelist

27. Establish a listening post

28. Monitor and respond to direct mentions

29. Use internal resources whenever possible

30. Consider using external resources for certain aspectsStrategic FrameworkPhase 2: Community focused engagementDevelop marketing plan

31. Identify and engage in relevant existing communities