This document outlines the benefits of using social media for businesses. It discusses key social networks like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn and how to build connections and leverage user contributions on each platform. The document also covers blogging, online reputation management, and integrating social media features into a company website.

1. SOCIAL MEDIA & INBOUND MARKETING Neil Reeve-Newson Social Media Strategist neil@linxsmart.com 416-800-1225 x20 www.linxsmart.com

9. Benefits of Social Media Social Media Defined Building Connections Key Contributors The Big Four Social Networks Blogging Online Reputation Socializing your Website Presentation Outline

10. Benefits Exposure and awareness Website traffic Customer satisfaction Relationship building Reputation Leads Sales To ensure the success of your Social Media Strategy, keep your target market in mind throughout its development. tip *

11. What is Social Media? Social Media : user-created content that is published and shared in a social environment Social Network : any online medium that facilitates and makes possible the sharing of this content and social interaction. Why consumers use it : Communicate with friends, family, and co-workers Why businesses use it : Reach consumers * tip Have a plan! “ The biggest problems business have in social media is the lack of strategy.” Social Media Examiner – 2010 Report

12. Building Connections Build long lasting relationships Steps: Discover, Connect, Engage, Nurture, Receive Start with people you know (employees, friends, family, customers) Branding connections Use specific tactics on each social network for maximum benefit * tip Don’t worry if your connection is not in your industry. It’s sharing the same values that’s important.

13. Key Contributors Customers > Reviews, testimonials, questions, comments Office Manager > Engaging with customers > facilitate communication Manager > technical answers, helpful tips Owner > New marketing efforts, industry knowledge Connections > branding, cross-promotions * tip There is always a way to encourage and entice people to contribute to your social media efforts!

14. The Big Four Facebook Twitter YouTube Linkedin

15. Facebook Approx. 203M users in North America 50% of user login any given day Fastest demographic 55-65yr old females Average user has 130 friends Viral machine Sources: http://www.socialbakers.com/ , http://www.facebook.com/

16. Facebook What’s the difference? Facebook Profiles (for personal use) Facebook Pages (for commercial use) * tip The power to use your personal Facebook profile to benefit your business is there, but ensure you know your privacy setting and don’t spam! Pages versus profiles

17. Facebook News Feed is predominate feature See posts from other Pages/friends Two sorting options: Top Posts & Most Recent Top Post selected by default * tip To gain more exposure on news feeds use Edge Rank. Edge rank uses criteria such as timeliness, media type, and interaction to rank post, exposing them to more of your following. Home page

18. Facebook Home page

20. Facebook Branding elements: Profile Picture > Use maximum allotted space, attractive icon, slogan, company info Pages you Like Box > Branding, strategic alliances * tip Use the top portion of your profile pic for the icon. This area will appear beside posts and comments you make. The bottom portion could display your slogan, services, and phone number. Branding

22. Facebook Displaying Pages you “Like”

24. Twitter Over 105M registered users 300,000 new users per day Median age on Twitter is 31 37 percent use their phone to tweet Micro-blogging platform 140 Character limit Ability to tweet photos recently added!

25. Twitter Follow them Post good tweets right before following someone else Customize your branding elements: Background, design, profile pic, bio * tip First impressions matter. Investing the initial time to create outstanding branding elements will substantially increase followers. Getting people to follow You

26. YouTube 2 nd most popular search engine 100+ million views a day Broad demographic Average user spends 15- 25mins per day Source: http://www.youtube.com/t/press_statistics , http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/SocialMediaMarketingReport2011.pdf * tip When used as part of the sales funnel, the viewer is more likely to convert into a customer than seeing a static advertisement.

27. YouTube Engagement People watch Videos Conversion Variability Traffic Awareness * tip Social Media Report says: The majority of online marketers are planning to increase their video marketing efforts this year over all other marketing initiatives. Reasons for video marketing

28. YouTube Special Event > maximize exposure for current efforts Educational > covey expertise, trust, awareness, and decrease buyer anxiety Promotional > receive traffic from prospective customers through search engines * tip You don’t need a professional videographer. Amature video has an increased sense of realness which is important. However, the quality can’t be horrible. What type of video to produce?

29. YouTube Title: descriptive and attention grabbing Description: link and attention grabbing headline in the first line Keywords: words will people use to find this video Thumbnail: automatically selected Location : Great for SEO SEO example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqGqSkTs4ow * tip Get a great thumbnail by showing the subject matter and content of your video as much as possible. Don’t talk about collision repair in front of your shop! Upload & optimize

30. LinkedIn Social network for professionals Over 100M users Approx. 48M users in North America Online professional profile Company Pages Source: http://www.slideshare.net/amover/linked-in-demographics-and-statistics-2011 * tip Due to LinkedIn’s high search rank, it’s great to allow people to find your professional profile by searching your name.

31. LinkedIn Company Pages: Info Product and Service pages Recommendations, video Personal Profile: Resume Groups Recommendations * tip Adding your blog and Twitter feed takes less than 2 minutes and provides long-lasting benefits. Add this to both personal and company profiles. Personal versus company

32. Google+ Newest social network Group Sharing makes content more relevant +1 Button increases traffic and page rank * tip Add this button to your blog and website ASAP. Web developers and search marketers world wide are racing to implement this button.

33. The Big Four Facebook: sharing capabilities, engagement ops, building relationships Twitter: instant satisfy followers, share valuable news YouTube: most engaging medium, attract and drive traffic, generate leads LinkedIn: great for B2B marketing,, get recommendations, stay current with industry

34. Blogging A journal or news feed that is available on the web Typical blog post combines text, images, video, and links Ability for readers to leave comments is main function of blogs Blogs are best example of how SEO and social media overlap Home-base to social networks * tip To receive the higher search rank and traffic, create a blog on your own site versus other 3 rd party blog platforms like Blogger and Wordpress.com

35. Blogging What purpose does it serve? How will it benefit your company? Establish yourself as an expert Help people, be fun and creative Post elements: Engaging title, easy to consume content, multimedia, links, Call-to-action Reasons to Blog * tip To increase page rank and make site navigation easier for visitors, link 1-3 keywords in the body of the blog post to other pages in your site.

36. Online Reputation Management (ORM) Extremely important Dealing with irrational customers Damage caused by bad word-of-mouth New online environment must be monitored Online reviews: Yelp, Google Places * tip Use Google’s ORM tool “Me on the Web/Google Alerts”. Setup automatic scans to find mentions of your company name on social networking sites and other websites.

37. Socializing your Website Critical part of a social media strategy Plugins and tools : Facebook Page Like Box Facebook Like/Send Button Social Blog Commenting Google +1 Button * tip A quick, easy, and long lasting solution to increase your exposure and traffic is to socialize your website. Once your social plugins are implemented, you don’t need to re-add them.

38. WIN 1-HOUR OF CONSULTATION Write a recommendation for our online marketing service on LinkedIn for your chance to win one of three 1-hour consultations. Say a few thing about this seminar, what you thought, and be honest! Here’s the link: http://www.linkedin.com/company/linxsmart/products The winners will be chosen at random on Thursday November 20 th .

39. www.linxsmart.com www.facebook.com/LinxSmartInc www.twitter.com/linxsmartinc www.linkedin.com/company/linxsmart / www.youtube.com/user/LinxSmartInc Neil Reeve-Newson Social Media Strategist 416-800-1225 x20 [email_address] http://www.facebook.com/neil.reevenewson http://ca.linkedin.com/in/neilreevenewson