This document provides an overview of social media for businesses. It discusses what social media is, why it's important now, popular platforms, who is using social media, and how businesses can use it for marketing, customer service, collaboration and more. It also provides examples of how companies like Dell and Goldcorp have successfully used social media and outlines best practices for businesses to plan their social media approach.

1. Social Media for Business Social Media Taster Webinar August 2009

2. Aren Grimshaw Traditional marketing and media background Works with SMEs to get the most from their marketing Organiser of Cornwall Twestival and lead organiser of Cornwall Twestival Local Co-Founder of Cornwall Social Media Café Marketing Director at Tonick Media, publisher of Business Cornwall Working with a range of companies to help them get the most from their Social Media activities

3. Overview What is Social Media? Why now? The Technology Who’s using it? How are they using it? Social Media in Action: Examples Planning your approach The Challenges Getting Started Further Reading

4. “ Social Media is media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques.” Wikipedia What is Social Media? A Definition

5. What is Social Media? The Key Aspects Sociology + Technology Many to Many Conversational Shared Meaning Community Authentic Real-Time UGC / CGM

6. Why Now? Generation Y Computing Power Broadband Home Computers Mobile Power

7. The Technology Blogs Social Networks Live Casting Forums File / Doc Sharing Social Bookmarks Wiki Sites Virtual Worlds Podcasting Instant Messaging

8. The Technology What do you use? What Social Media platforms are you already using in your business? Add your answer to the chat window on the right of your screen. >>>

10. Who is using it? SMEs / SMBs The Media Politicians Not for Profits Corporations Governments Lobbyists Individuals

11. Who is using it? Some Statistics Facebook has more than 250m active users More than 120m FB users log on every day 8m+ FB users become fans of Pages every day 77% of active internet users read blogs 133m+ blogs indexed by Technorati Time spent on Twitter has soared 3,702% YoY LinkedIn gains 1 new user per second Executives from all Fortune 500 companies on LinkedIn 10 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute

12. Who is using it? Some Demographics Highest indexing age groups on Facebook are those 25-34 (27%) and 35-49 (23%) Fastest growing user group on Facebook is 35+ The average age of a Twitter user is 31 The average age of a MySpace user is 27 The average age of a LinkedIn user is 41 The average earnings of a LinkedIn user is $109k 46% of LinkedIn users are Decision Makers ABC1s are more likely to have a Facebook profile C2DEs are more likely to have MySpace profile

13. How are they using it? Research Marketing Customer Service Collaboration Engagement Sales SEO Public Relations

14. How are you using it? How are you using Social Media in your business? Add your answer to the chat window on the right of your screen. >>>

15. Social Media in Action: Goldcorp Inc. “ Goldcorp Challenge” launched March 2000 Prize of $575,000 on offer Published 400mb of information Over 1,000 people from more than 50 countries took part Identified 110 targets (50% previously unidentified) Over 80% of targets yielded substantial quantities of gold Took company from underperforming $100m to $9bn Source: Wikinomics

16. Social Media in Action: Dell Over 600,000 Twitter followers Used to message out coupons, clearance events and new arrival information to those looking for Dell technology at a discounted price Over $3m sales attributed to Twitter ($2m Dell outlet sales / over $1m in other Dell.com purchases.)

17. Social Media in Action: Business Cornwall Niche magazine and community website Aimed at businesses in Cornwall, UK 4,300+ printed magazine subscribers 7,000+ web visits Presence on key social networks Content shared on other platforms Easy to share content

18. Planning your approach 10 Steps Set up Alerts Research your community Define Clear Objectives Identify your Strategy Link to Technology Set Clear Guidelines Implement Monitor Review Adapt Accordingly

19. The Challenges Noise Lack of Control Time Over-Stretching Fragmentation Measurement Etiquette Flux

20. Getting Started Find your existing connections first Ensure alerts and analytics are working Listen to conversations first Engage in conversations / Engage with complaints Test, Monitor, Review and Tweak approaches ‘ Content is king’ Be ethical in your actions / respect etiquette Keep it relevant to your audience Be clear in your objectives Don’t overstretch

21. Thank you for listening www.tonickmedia.com