This document discusses how to effectively use social media for business. It recommends using LinkedIn for business discussions, Twitter for conversations, and Facebook as a notice board. It advises engaging on these platforms to drive traffic to your website, online videos, email list, and blog posts. The document provides tips on social media strategy, tools for participation, measuring success, and getting started on key platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

1. GETTING THE MOST OUT OF SOCIAL MEDIA
JOINING IN THE CONVERSATION
ANDREW ARMITAGE

2. DOCTOR, DOCTOR, I’M ADDICTED TO TWITTER…
SORRY, I DON’T FOLLOW YOU.

3. ANDREW ARMITAGE
• Armitage Online Limited
• Digital consultancy
• Web design, online marketing and social media
• Based in Kendal

4. WHO USES SOCIAL MEDIA?
• How many people have a Facebook profile?
• Who has a Twitter profile?
• Perhaps Linked In?
• Who’s using these for business?

5. WHAT ARE SOCIAL NETWORKS?
• Forums
• Blogs
• Multi-media sharing
• Feeds
• Bookmarking
• Comment platforms

6. ANY PLACE THAT REAL PEOPLE
ARE ENGAGING ONLINE

9. THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA
• Fundamental shift in online communication
• All major sites now have a social influence
• Social networks and blogs now account for 20 per
cent of the total time spent online.

10. SEARCH IS BECOMING SOCIAL
• Google launches Google +
• Twitter ‘shares’ feature in search results
• Facebook searches are provided by Bing
• Google Places use 3rd party reviews

16. IS IT ALL GOOD NEWS?
• Roughly 1% of users are responsible for 34% of all
visits on Linked In
• 41% of users haven’t tweeted since signing up
• Only 20% of Twitter users have tweeted 10 times
or more
• 24% of twitter users have no followers

17. “COMPANIES CAN NOW COMMUNICATE
WITH THEIR MARKETS DIRECTLY. IF THEY
BLOW IT, IT COULD BE THEIR LAST
CHANCE”

18. “CONSUMERS CAN NOW INFLUENCE THE
MARKET DIRECTLY. IF COMPANIES BLOW
IT, THEY MAY NEVER GET THEIR CHANCE”

19. “WE DON’T HAVE A CHOICE
WHETHER WE DO SOCIAL MEDIA,
THE QUESTION IS HOW WELL WE DO IT”
Erik Qualman
socialnomics.net

20. TWITTER
• Micro-blog
• 140 characters to share your message (tweet)
• People follow each other
• Use ‘#hashtags’ tags to categorise your posts or
emotion
• Re-tweet (RT) to share posts you like and support
your peers
• The “conversation”

21. FACEBOOK
• Join networks organised by city/workplace/school
• Engage with interest groups
• Set up a business page or pay per click advertising
• The “noticeboard”

22. LINKED IN
• Business oriented
• Join groups and engage in discussion with peers
• Link to your blog and twitter feed
• Add presentations about your company
• My CV

23. SLIDESHARE
• Upload presentations
• Add to your linked in profile
• Easy to upload and share content in word,
powerpoint, pdf and more
• Add pre-recorded audio – slide casting

24. RULES OF PARTICIPATION
• Participate in conversation
• Make new connections
• Help people
• Listen to your audience
• Don’t block the competition!
• Gently ‘feed’ your other online spaces

25. WHAT SHOULD I SAY?
• Reference interesting statistics
• Share your followers posts
• Link to your other online profiles
• Occasional special offers
• Add value to your followers
• Don’t bore people
• Develop a content strategy

26. WHAT ABOUT THE IMPACT OF MOBILE?
• 50% of the mobile Internet traffic in the UK is for
Facebook
• Social apps
• Location based services with GPS positioning
• The ability to quickly upload photos and links
• The ability to share anything instantly

27. WHAT SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT!
• A sales pitch
• PR
• Search engine optimisation
…but it does support the above

28. WHAT GOES ONLINE STAYS ONLINE!
• Messages should be consistent
• Be transparent
• The professional/personal divide
• Dissatisfied customers now have a very public
voice
• It’s now more expensive to remove content than
create it

29. SETTING YOUR STRATEGY
• Driving traffic alone is not effective lead generation
• Define a success metric
- visits
- followers
- number of conversations about you
- new leads
• Go where your audience is
• Use tools that are relevant for that audience

30. AN IDEAL DIGITAL STRATEGY?

31. TOOLS OF THE TRADE
• Make use of a social media ‘client’
– Tweetdeck
– Hootsuite
• Add all your profiles
• Update from a single place
• Check and update regularly
• Monitor
– Google Analytics
– Raven Tools
– Sprout Social

32. MEASURING YOUR SUCCESS
• Google analytics
• Number of ‘likes’, ‘views’ and ‘followers’
• Social media ‘sentiment’ tracking
• Direct campaign analysis

33. “DON’T FORGET ABOUT YOUR WEBSITE”

34. YOUR OWN WEBSITE
• Make sure the content is up to date
• Use landing pages
• Do the links work?
• Does it support your digital strategy?
• Is your website optimised for the search engines
• Your website will be the ultimate authority on your
business

35. GETTING STARTED
• http://twitter.com
• http://facebook.com
• http://linkedin.com
• http://slideshare.net
• http://wordpress.com
and for those looking for more information…
• http://socialnomics.com
• http://mashable.com

36. SUMMARY
• Linked In for business discussion
• Twitter for conversation
• Facebook is the notice board
Use these to feed other channels such as
• Your website
• Online video
• Email signups
• Blog posts

37. “DON’T MISS OUT ON THE CONVERSATION…
…EVEN IF YOU JUST MOSTLY LISTEN IN”

38. WHERE TO FOLLOW ME…
http://uk.linkedin.com/in/andrewarmitage
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewarmitage
http://www.slideshare.net/aarmita
@aarmitage and @armitageonline on twitter
www.armitageonline.co.uk
andrew@armitageonline.co.uk
015395 61956

39. SOURCES AND REFERENCES
• Socialnomics.net
• http://mashable.com/2010/03/10/twitter-follow-stats
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/jan/25/tripadvisor-duncan-bannatyne/
• http://www.globalrecruitingroundtable.com/2010/05/05/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-linkedin-statistics-and-
trends-2010/
• http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/facebook-statistics-facts-figures-for-2010/
• http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/4402-20+-more-mind-blowing-social-media-statistics
• http://www.jeffbullas.com/2010/06/21/15-essential-social-media-facts-and-figures-for-b2b-marketing/
• http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/infographic-twitter-statistics-facts-figures/