This document summarizes how social media can be used to grow a business. It defines social media and provides examples like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. It discusses getting started with a strategy that aligns with your audience and content. Challenges include not replacing fundamentals and difficulties with monetization. Tracking ROI can include metrics like traffic, engagement, and share of positioning. Tools mentioned include ways to monitor reputation and track social media conversations.

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2. What is Social Media and How Can It Grow Your Business Presented By: CEO/Founder of .Com Marketing, Hillary Bressler

3. 2008 Webster's Dictionary Word of The Year is… OVERSHARE

4. OVERSHARE (verb): to divulge excessive personal information, as in a blog or broadcast interview, prompting reactions ranging from alarmed discomfort to approval.

6. 4 New Rules for Marketing Listening to consumers is more important than talking at them. You can’t hide the corporation behind the brand anymore or even separate the two. PR is a primary concern for all marketers. If they are not together, break down that wall. Social Media is not a Strategy. Ad Age 2009

7. With 200 mm Facebook users today and 900% growth in Twitter , its dangerous to ignore the potential of social media for getting traffic, audience, and customers. Epsilon-Roper poll

8. What is Social Media Facebook YouTube Myspace Twitter Del.icio.us Digg Etc…

9. Social media is about the relationships . When there is a passion around an interest or an idea, social media can work well.

10. Getting Started… Don’t start a social media project just because you feel like you have to …Think of a strategy that makes sense for you and your content Know your audience and know yourself Find online spaces -- like YouTube, Facebook or Twitter -- where people passionate about similar content are already congregating Set realistic expectations, it takes time to do this well

11. Challenges It should not be done instead of proven fundamentals. It is not “free” It is difficult to monetize

12. Why You Should Care It’s not just for kids In 2008, 43% of the U.S. adult population used online social networking at least once a month. That figure will rise to 49% in 2011.

13. Beyond Facebook Communication Blogs- Blogger, Wordpress Internet Forums- vBulletin Micro-blogging- Twitter, Bebo, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace Social Network Aggregation: FriendFeed Events- Meetup, Upcoming, Eventful Discussion Groups- Yahoo! Groups

14. Collaboration Wikis- Wikipedia Social bookmarking- StumbleUpon Social News- Digg, Reddit, Mixx

15. Opinion sites Epinions, Yelp, Trip Advisor Multimedia Photo sharing- Flickr, SmugMug Video sharing- YouTube Art sharing- deviantART Livecasting - Skype Audio and Music Sharing- The Hype Machine, Last.fm

16. Reviews and Opinions Product Reviews : Epinions.com, Mouthshut.com Q&A : Yahoo! Answers, WikiAnswers Entertainment Virtual World- Second Life, The Sims Online gaming- World of Warcraft, EverQuest Browser Games- OGame, Hattrick Game sharing : Miniclip

17. Blogs

18. Bill Marriot and CEO Blogs Mr. Marriott doesn’t type his posts, but he records them and they are transcribed The blog has received over 500K visits since January 2007, generated nearly $4 million in hotel sales. ( NOTE: he was asked how he was able to track this and played the card, claiming he didn’t understand the technology )

19. And a couple of choice Mr. Marriott quotes: “ I would recommend blogging to any CEO. It’s worth it.” “ Whether we like it [social media] or not, we have to get on board.” “ Stories are the things that people remember.”

20. Facebook Facebook stats 200,000,000 - active users 100,000,000 - users who log on to Facebook at least 1x each day 170 - countries/territories that use Facebook 100 - friends the average user has

21. Business on Facebook Create a fan or group page: Promote your content and interact with over 20 million people who visit the site each month Send messages to “Fans” of your organization Tools such as links in news feeds promote viral growth Invite People to Join Post Interesting Content Market your Fan page everywhere

25. Twitter Twitter stats 3,000,000 - number of Tweets/day(March 2008) 165,414 – followers. Most popular Twitter user (@ BarackObama ) 86,078 – followers. Most active Twitter user (@kevinrose ) 63% - of Twitter users that are male http://thefuturebuzz.com/2009/01/12/social-media-web-20-internet-numbers-stats/

26. Twitter Real-time way to instant message groups of people who are following you Microblogging service, each “tweet” is only 140 characters There are over 2.5 million Twitter users Go to search.twitter.com to find people talking about what you’re talking about and reach out to them To find out who’s talking about you, go to tweetscan.com

33. Profile/Twitter Handle Once you sign up you will get a home page/profile page. http:// twitter.com/hillarybressler From your home/profile pages, you can find others Twitter streams to follow and post your own messages. Your Twitter handle is how others know you on Twitter. @hillarybressler @commarketing

34. Your Domain Space 1) Run an audit of where your brands are. 2) Prioritize the usernames. Sal's Ristorante but it's known as Sal's Pizza, so salspizza (which is also easier to spell and type) would be the preferred name. 3) Use a site such as usernamecheck.com or knowem.com to enter see if your usernames are taken across scores of sites. 4) Prioritize sites. If you're at a total loss, use Compete or Quantcast's free tools to see how much traffic the sites get, and pick a threshold. 5) Fill in the minimal information required, post a link back to your homepage or the hub of your social marketing program, and adjust the privacy settings (where possible) so that's they're visible to the smallest audience. 6) Check where competitors are. 7) Don’t find opportunities to undermine competitors throughout this process. Be one of the good guys. Try believing in karma. David Berkowitz

35. Who to follow With Twitter, who you follow is everything First figure out who is important to you: People talking about your brand or industry Prospects Customers Influencers Experts Resources exist to help you find them

36. Finding people to follow Summize.com, Tweetscan.com – search Tweets for company/industry keywords Twellow.com, Socialbrandindex.com – Twitter business directories Dossy.org/twitter/karma – see who’s following you so you can follow back

38. Following the right way Don’t start following 1,000 people right away Follow those who follow you Follow others in proportion to who is following you

41. Hotels/Resorts Fairmont Hotels & Resorts twitter.com/fairmonthotels Heavenly Ski Resort (South Lake Tahoe) twitter.com/skiheavenly Marriott International twitter.com/marriottpr MGM MIRAGE twitter.com/VegasConcierge

42. Case Study: Alaska Airlines Alaska Airlines has a team dedicated to their social media policy. Their company Twitter goal is to listen and help customers with their questions or issues. They can reach out to distressed customers. “ we’re making ourselves available to help and make travel easier. I love that I’m only a tweet away from customers while they travel. You don’t get more accessible than that.” In terms of measuring success, Alaska measure follower growth and interactions with customers as well as clicks via Bit.ly (short webinks).

43. Southwest Airlines The social media team includes a team of 3 people. For example, when a traveler complained recently about Southwest's check-in process, he received a quick, public response from an airline employee saying, "So sorry to hear it! What don't you like about the check-in process? Did your flight get off okay?“ "We monitor those channels because we know these conversations are taking place there , and we can either watch the conversations or take part in them," said Southwest spokeswoman Christi Day.

44. Hawaii Big Island Babymoon: A Twitter travel planning case study How did Twitter play a role in Travel Planning?

45. Booked trip through Orbitz. Went to Twitter to get travel recommendations. @fairmonthotels Mike Taylor, who manages the @ fairmonthotels Twitter account, contacted me after I shared that I had booked at the Fairmont Orchid on the Kohala Coast of the Island of Hawaii.

46. @nathankam I also got some excellent advice from Nathan Kam aka @ nathankam , who works for, the PR firm serving Hawaii Visitor and Convention Bureau.

47. @govisithawaii I also connected with Sheila Beal aka @ govisithawaii of GoVisitHawaii.com , who is passionate about Hawaii and had incredible and detailed advice about creating a great romantic experience.

48. @nerdseyeview I also spoke to Pam Mandel aka @nerdseyeview at Nerd’s Eye View . She made a number of suggestions, but her best advice was where NOT to go: the Volcanoes.

49. How Do I Brand & Promote My Business? Grab branded Twitter name NOW Even if not ready to use it, scoop it up Generate website or blog traffic Showcase your website link in profile Tweet to promote new blog posts (yours and others of interest) Feature “specials” for Twitter followers Don’t over-promote, but do share links and information related to your business

50. Answer questions, offer advice Provide tips and info related to your brand, company or industry Showcase your expertise and gain credibility Be a good Twitizen – respond to queries about more than just your subject area Add value to gain and keep followers Be a human voice for your brand

51. Best Practices Attempt to leverage an existing social networks. Examples: Facebook: Target, RedBullU, PINK, NBA Avoid creating your own network surrounding your brand: Examples: mycoke.com, Experiment with creating networks catering to specific audiences or special interests, not brands Listen and study the community before you enter the discussion Be prepared to relinquish control of the brand Be honest and transparent about your involvement Experiment!

52. Tracking the ROI For External blogs and other Consumer Generated Media (CGM) Share of positioning Share of preferred types of conversations Share of desirable vs. undesirable Share of visibility Share of quotes Optimal content score For your controlled social media program Traffic Repeat visits Engagement

53. Tools you’ll need A way to monitor your reputation: Google News/Google blogs Technorati, Sphere NewsTrak, Cyberalert, CustomScoop, e-Watch RSS feeds http://search.twitter.com

54. Trends 12seconds.tv is like Twitter, but it’s for video status updates. Like Twitter, you’re limited in the amount of information you can convey. The idea is to keep it short and sweet, so you get 12seconds. Dopplr is actually an itinerary service that helps you stay organized while you travel, but it’s social in that you can see where your contacts will be as they travel as well .

55. Ping.fm allows you to do is send out updates and messages to a variety of social media sites from one central location.

56. Try Social Media! It is a tactic, not a strategy. Experiment! Don’t forget about the proven online tactics.

57. How To Reach Me bressler@commarketing.com ( email) 407.774.4606 ext 203 ( office) 321.356.4769 (cell) @hillarybressler ( Twitter) Hillary Bressler ( LinkedIn) Hillary Bressler ( Facebook) 400 N. Wymore Road, Winter Park (mail) 407.774.9959 ( fax) In person ( lunch ;-))