Social media can be used effectively by businesses in several ways: 1. Having an engaging social media representative who is passionate about the company helps build followers and brand awareness. 2. Announcing who is operating a company's social media account at different times helps personalize the experience for customers. 3. Involving different departments within a company allows them to provide useful information to followers from varied perspectives.

2. Social Media
Beyond the Basics

3. Social Media???
WHAT do I
say?
WHAT is all
HOW do I
this social track it?
media stuff?
How to
WHO is
doing it
make it WHY should
I
right?
work for participate?
me?
WHERE
WHEN will I
can I find
have time to
inspiratio
manage it?
n?
WHO’s
listening to
me anyway?

4. You have a:
• Facebook Account
• Twitter Account
• Linkedin Account
• YouTube Account

5. Are you using Social
Media…..
• To drive traffic to your
website?
• Connect with your
customers?
• Use as an extension of your
overall promotional
campaign?

6. Benefits of Social Media
Law of Attraction (pull marketing)
Allows you to establish yourself as an expert
Organically increases SEO
Only investment is your time*
*some restrictions may apply

7. First of all…
You have to have a goal.
I like Facebook and everything, but I’m just spinning
my wheels if I don’t have a goal. Sure, I like
connecting with old and new friends, but am I
doing it to gain something for my business?

8. Social Media
IS NOT A
MAGIC
BULLET

9. You need to know what
you’re talking about.
• What is something you could talk forever about?
• What are you passionate about?
Gosh this guy
• What is your value to the world? is boring!

12. 500 Survey – Oct/Nov 2010
• 71% of the fast-growing companies on the Inc. 500 list
said they have Facebook pages (up 10% from last year)
• 59% use Twitter (up from 52% in 2009)
• 50% maintain a corporate blog (up from 45% in 2009)
• 33% use bulletin boards (up from 28% in 2009)
• 34% of the Inc. 500 said they have policies guiding
employee blogging
• 56% reported social media was “very important” to their
business/marketing strategy (up from 43% in 2009)
• 57% report using search engines and social networking
sites to recruit and evaluate potential employees

13. Survey
• 56% use Facebook in 2010
• 23% maintain a corporate blog (barely up from 22% in 2009)
• only 20% of the Fortune 500 have rules governing employee
blogging
• Twitter was a surprising exception: 60% of the Fortune 500
used Twitter in 2010, a significant increase from 35% in 2009
(however, MediaPost reports that this data only reflects ‘if
there was a Twitter account with one tweet in the last
month’)
• 35% of Fortune 500 companies keep their Twitter accounts
up-to-date with current news and information, consistently
responding with @replies or retweets within 72 hours

16. PR?
Corporate Communications?
Marketing?
IT?
Your Customers?
WHO?

17. It belongs to everyone.
It has to!

18. But are you
making it
work for
your
business?

20. Dig around to find
the application
right for your
business.

24. www

33. Ensure your entire
company is consistent
in your objective and
message.

40. Our Focus: The BIG

41. What’s in the
Box?
I’ve got my box of
features and
tools…now WHAT?

42. How do
I use
this?

44. Why should
I use this
for my
business?

46. Sandy Ratliff
Business Services Manager
Virginia Department of Business Assistance
Phone: 276-676-3768
Email: sandy.ratliff@vdba.virginia.gov
Twitter: http://twitter.com/sandyratliff
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sandy.ratliff
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/sandyratliff
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/vastartup

47. Why ?
• Target Your Audience
• Build Brand Awareness & Manage
Company Image
• Increase Customer Loyalty/Customer
Service
• Find Business Opportunities and Expand
Into New Markets
• Find New Suppliers
• Connect-Network

48. I have a profile – Now What?!
• Image of YOU
• Brands can be people too – the Social Web
• Optimize your Twitter profile
• Name, Twitter name, description
• Description is your meta description
• Add your location – not “Your computer”, “Planet Earth” etc.
• Add quality followers that care about your content
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthamm/3383916444/

49. Who to Follow?
1.Customers
2.You Brand/Products
3.Industry Leader
4.Event Attendees/Trade
Show Leads
5.Fans
6.Friends
7.Suppliers
8.Competitors

50. Building followers
• Twitter Search (search.twitter.com)
• Nearby Tweets
• Favorite blogger? Industry leader? Subscribe RSS? Then follow
too!
• #followfriday
• Comment on blogs – Use Twitter URL
• Events tradeshows
• Email footer
• Business Cards
• Search email address book – Yahoo, Gmail, AOL
• Import LinkedIn Connections - http://socialmediab2b.com/2010/03/b2b-linkedin-twitter/
• Focus on the relationships not the technology
• Content, content, content

51. Twitter Search
• http://search.twitter.com
• Google for tweets
• Real time
• Brand Reputation
• Search: hobbies, interests, company, products, customers
• Giant cocktail party but you can eavesdrop on any conversation
you want

53. Twellow.com
Local Twitter Users:
Abingdon – 156
Bristol, VA – 212
Marion - 44
Lebanon – 40
Wise - 65
Bristol, TN - 260
Johnson City - 782
Kingsport – 466
Jonesborough - 83

54. Plan Your Tweets
1. Choose Your Preferred Audience
2. Decide How Many Tweets You Want to
Send Daily
3. Decide How Long You Want to Make Your
Tweet Plan
4. Find the Keywords You Want to Use on
Twitter (Keyword Analysis / Research)
5. Choose Different Formats for Your
Scheduled Tweets
6. Write Your Timeless Tweets
7. Choose Your Times
8. Schedule Your Tweets

56. Beyond the basics
• Hash tags and trending
• URL shortening services
• Popularity and reach
• Controlling multiple accounts

57. • A hashtag # is symbol used to denote a feature of the
tweet, e.g #smallbiz
• Can be used to follow the topic/industry
• Can be used to follow a charity #redcross
• Or can be used to follow a brand #lowes

58. • www.twitterfall.com
Follow by #hashtag

59. Cool Twitter Tips
And Tricks
• Make a customized background
• Use Google to search Twitter
• Make a list
• Find a Twitter client that works for you
• Shrink URL’s when sending links
• Use the proper retweet function

60. Make a Cool
Background
Free
Twitter
Use to promote Designer
and include
contact info!
http://mashable.com/2010/10/06/new-twitter-background-customize/

61. Search Twitter
Using Google

62. Make a List

63. Tools TweetDeck

64. Tools
Manage Multiple Accounts: Twitter, Facebook (Personal and Business
Page) & Linkedin

65. Tools
Stat Summary of Tweets

66. Shrink URL’s
TinyURL

67. BlastFollow http://www.blastfollow.com/

68. Friend or Follow http://friendorfollow.com

69. Use the proper
retweet function

70. Find all corporate accounts

71. PR http://monitter.com/
Monitter
Or real time, with different clients
Many free tools are regularly developed in order to find out what is being said about your brand, for
example Monitter, a tool to monitor keywords. Tools like coTweet allow for finding out what is being said
about you, but also for managing different Twitter accounts simultaneously.
71

72. The Comcast Case

73. Why?
Unite an existing community
Make customers loyal
Find new clients (through targeted searches on keywords)
How?
Play on the immediateness of Twitter for fast sales
Play on the “pre-launch” effect for the community

74. Sales
The Dell case
Over 2 million dollars generated on Twitter
74

75. Sales
The Crème Brulee Man
Announce Cart
Location
Over 2 million dollars generated on Twitter
75

76. Twitpic.com

77. How can you access Twitter?
On your mobile phone

78. 1. People Like a Person,
Not Just a Logo — @Ford
•@ScottMonty - head of social media for Ford Motor Company and is
the face and personality of Ford on Twitter.
•Has more followers and a higher Klout Score than the @Ford official
account.
•Passionate about Company and products….it shows in his tweets.
•He is a face…not just a Avatar.
•Best for: Companies that have a strong social media lead who is
committed to the company and who fits well with the brand image

79. 2. Announce Who’s Tweeting —
@Zappos_Service
•Use multiple people to run its account.
•They tweet when they change shifts and announce who‟s helping.
•Want Twitter to be more “personalized” for customers.
•Offer 24/7 Twitter customer service.
•Best for: Companies that need to provide service 24/7.

80. 3. Get Many Departments Involved —
@JetBlue
•@JetBlue approximately 20 people behind JetBlue‟s corporate
account.
•All are established crewmember with expertise in different areas
within the company that their followers find useful.
•JetBlue maintains a Twitter list of on-duty reps so customers can find
out who‟s behind the voice at any given time.
•He is a face…not just a Avatar.
•Best for: Companies where customers are looking for information first
and need to be able to get in touch with different parts of the company.

81. 4. Carefully Craft the Brand Voice —
@VirginAmerica
•Virgin America does a remarkable job of being responsive on Twitter
despite the fact that there are only two people behind the handle.
•The „Virgin Voice‟ is casual, cheeky and irreverent, and so are
they….let their personalities show.
•Goal is to simply be true to Virgin‟s values in their social media posts
by going out of our way to create „wow‟ for their guests and having fun
along the way.
•Best for: A brand with a strong voice.

82. Don't
• Not participate
• Sell sell sell
• Give up right away
• Forget to have a plan
• Forget to think before you Tweet
• Relevant content...reason to follow

83. Recap
• No Magic Bullet
• Part of your business communication plan
• Have a plan
• Measurable Goals
• Optimize your profile
• Customize your background
• Build followers who care, listen and share
(patient)
• Use Twitter Search, Hashtags and Twitter
Lists
• Use Tools to Manage Account
• Lighten up

84. IT’S NOT HARD, IT JUST TAKES PRACTICE

85. Sandy Ratliff
Business Services Manager
Virginia Department of Business Assistance
Phone: 276-676-3768
Email: sandy.ratliff@vdba.virginia.gov
Twitter: http://twitter.com/sandyratliff
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sandy.ratliff
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/sandyratliff
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/vastartup