Small businesses often object to social media due to lack of time, resources, or understanding of how it can help. However, social media provides opportunities for customer communication, brand exposure, traffic, SEO, and talent acquisition. Key networks include Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Content like blogging is important for establishing thought leadership. An effective strategy starts small, such as choosing top networks, and creates customized content addressing customer needs and objectives.

1. June 21, 2011
CSC Small Business Workshop: Social Media
for SMBs
Lisa Throckmorton
SpeakerBox Communications

2. Introduction
 SpeakerBox Communications is a
Local Boutique PR firm
(Less than 20 people; Not just competing
with other PR firms for visibility, but with
subwoofers and the Bud Light
Speaker Box tailgate toy).

4. Social Media: Why Now?
WIIFM? (What’s in it for Me)

5. Just a Few of the Objections Around Social
Media for Small Business
 “My customer isn’t on Facebook or Twitter.”
 “I don’t have enough time or the resources
to go down the social media path.”
 “I have a limited marketing budget and need
to focus on lead gen.”
 “ I have no idea what I would even tweet
about.”
 “There are so many social networking
options, where do I even start?”

6. The Data
 Facebook.com Average user is connected to
80 community pages, groups and events; FB
generates a staggering 770 billion page
views per month.
 Twitter: the number of 30-49 year olds who
use the service has doubled since late 2010
- from 7% of such users in November to
14% in May 2011.
 YouTube - more video content is uploaded
to YT in a 60 day period than then three
major U.S. television networks creates in 60
years.

7. With so many options; Which do I
choose and why?

8. First, “Which Ones?”
 The ones you probably know:
– Facebook
– Twitter
– YouTube
– LinkedIn
business professionals

9. And the less familiar…
 Flickr - An image-and video- hosting Web site
where community members can share and
comment on media.
 Digg - A social-news site where users can
discover and share content.
 StumbleUpon - A social-news community where
members discover and share Web pages.
 Reddit - A social-news community where users
post links to the site’s home page.
 Tumblr - A social-networking site where users
can ask and answer questions.

10. Reason #1: Customer Communication
 Facebook: the hub through which to drive
social interaction. Companies can use FB to
get their messages out/receive customer
feedback.
 Twitter: the ultimate outbound messaging
tool. Inbound communications are quick and
to the point, allowing for simple monitoring
and management of conversations.
 YouTube: video is a powerful channel for
customer/prospect education.

11. Reason #2: Brand Exposure
 Facebook: Using pages as a persona allows
 Twitter: It’s not what you say, but what you
can others to say about you that has a real
impact!
 LinkedIn: Shows the professional prowess of
your company. Encourage employees to
build profiles: Show off your solid team!
 YouTube: Great platform to share messages
that align with how you want to be
perceived.

12. Reason #3: Traffic to your site
 Digg: the most consistent viral-traffic
generation site that can send tens of
thousands of visitors to individual posts.
 StumbleUpon: the social media equivalent of
a traffic Grand Slam—it doesn't happen
often, but when it does, it's huge. Keep
discoveries diverse, it has the potential to
deliver thousands of visitors.

13. Reason #4: SEO
 Flickr: Strong indexing in search engines and
passes links and page rank.
 YouTube: Good for building links back to
your site because the videos rank very well.
 Digg: Indexes your stories quickly (popular
or not). Populars ones attract bloggers.
 StumbleUpon: Large user base; many
people can find stories and link to them.
 Tumblr: high potential from a link-building
perspective. Sites rank well in the search
engines.

14. Reason #5: Talent Acquisition
 Facebook: great for community building and
showing off a great company culture.
Encourage your employees to share great
company news/job opportunities on their
walls.
 Twitter: tweet your job postings; showcase
your companies expertise.
 LinkedIn: Share job openings with “the
professional web.”

15. The Path to Adoption: Don’t Try to Boil the
Ocean

16. B2G Communications Evolution
YESTERDAY TODAY
Core set of print publications FedScoop, GovLoop, GovTwit, GovConWire,
OhMyGov, NextGov
Website optional SEO or No-Go
Golden reporter rolodex Followers with authority
Product focused Specialization and Solution-centric
Printed “clip” books Google analytics
Press releases Corporate or thought leader blog
THE GOOD NEWS: YOU ARE MORE IN CONTROL THAN EVER!

17. “The Government Isn’t On Twitter…”
http://www.nextgov.com/thefeed/
@NASA
@U.S. Army
@U.S. Coast Guard
@The White House
@USA.gov
@NASA Goddard
@US Dept. of Labor
@FEMA
@ExportGov
@US Dept of Education

18. “The Government Isn’t on
Facebook”
 White House - Fans: 327,592
 Marine Corps - Fans: 83,144
 Army - Fans: 49,416
 CDC - Fans: 21,257
 State Department - Fans: 16,386
 NASA - Fans: 7,768
 NASA JPL - Fans: 6,536
 Library of Congress - Fans: 6,520

19. B2G Content for SMBs = THOUGHT
LEADERSHIP
Listen Create Engage
Create content for Write once, use 5X!
What does your
your expertise vis-à- Work to make it two-
customer read?
vis customer needs way for high impact
Address customer Build plan/create
What does your
objections with strong channels for reaching
customer need?
messaging your target
What is the one thing White papers, articles, Engage customers,
you provide that they speeches, videos, partners to speak on
want the most? blogs, releases your behalf

20. What Does Thought Leadership Really Look Like?
 Google searches for your solution produce your name.
 3-5 pieces of content exist on your specialized skill or solution.
 Awards honor you around your best practices internally.
 Conferences seek you out for speaking engagements.
 You have written a book that relates to your specialty.
 You have bylined articles in influential publications.
 Social media engagement: your ecosystem follows your lead.
 You are seen as an expert, and thus, business comes your way.

21. Step-by-Step Communications Strategy
1. Create your top 2-3 agency targets
2. Understand their mandate/agency objective
3. Understand the channels they use to learn about you
4. Know what they read, where they “live”
5. Reconcile your specialty with their needs
6. Build your content plan from there
7. Become a thought leader in their eyes!
When your prospect is ready to buy, make sure you
are everywhere they look!

22. If You Can Only Do One Thing…BLOG!!!
 Highlight your SME and almost 100% of the
time the customer or partner will:
– know you can solve their problem more
completely that they can;
– know they don’t have time to apply the
solution themselves;
– try NOT to use you, fail miserably, and then
become even more desperate to retain you!
 Your blog posts can be syndicated to
Facebook and Twitter automatically and help
with SEO.

23. Example: USIS (www.usis.com) - #62 on
Washington Technology’s Top Contractor’s
List
 They Keep it Simple: Facebook, Twitter and
Podcasts

24. HELP!!!
 Shoutlet – Social media marketing
communications platform.
 Sprout Social – Social media dashboard,
monitoring, workflow, influencer and contact
management.
 Sendible – Social media marketing platform.
 HootSuite - Social media dashboard for
managing social content and engagement on
multiple networks with team workflow.
 Seesmic – Manage social marketing activity on
Twitter, Facebook, FourSquare, Google Buzz
and Linkedin.

25. Twitter Sidebar…

27. QUESTIONS?
Content sources: SocialMediaToday,
Pew Research, CMO.com, Mashable,
NextGov, GCN.com and Daniel Odio

28. Lisa Throckmorton
SpeakerBox Communications
703-287-7803
lthrockmorton@speakerboxpr.com
Twitter: speakerbox