The document discusses the significance of social media for businesses, emphasizing its role in engagement and lead generation. It highlights that social media transforms traditional communication by enabling interactions and provides strategies for businesses to effectively participate. The author, Steve Thomas, outlines the importance of authenticity, listening to consumers, and the need for a structured approach to social marketing.

1. Social MediaWhich to? How to? Why to?Steve ThomasPresident The Net Impactwww.thenetimpact.comFeb 25th 2011

2. Introductions

3. Facts and Examples

4. Discuss opportunities and hazard

5. How do I know I need (want) it in my business?

6. Getting started

7. Q/A on any and all of the above3Who is The Net Impact?Twenty years Market ExperienceExceptional Technical StaffStrong Application Design SkillsDesign ExpertiseInternet Marketing ExpertiseSocial Media ExpertiseEfforts strongly based upon analytics

8. Social MediaSocial mediaFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaSocial media is online content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies. At its most basic sense, social media is a shift in how people discover, read and share news, information and content. It's a fusion of sociology and technology, transforming monologues (one to many) into dialogues (many to many) and is the democratization of information, transforming people from content readers into publishers. Social media has become extremely popular because it allows people to connect in the online world to form relationships for personal, political and business use. Businesses also refer to social media as user-generated content (UGC) or consumer-generated media (CGM).

9. Social Media creates instant “stars”

10. Who isSteve Thomas?President, The Net Impact

11. VP Social Media, AMA-STL

12. VP Missouri Venture Forum

13. Curriculum Advisory Board Ranken Technical

14. Where in the World is Steve Thomas?Joining and starting conversations across the globe.

15. Social Media = Earned MediaAuthenticity reigns. Conversations cannot be bought. Conversation cannot be controlled, they can only be joined.Marketers have to be willing to listen and learn from the consumers they engage through social media.Start by listening! Don’t’ ignore the buzz, good or bad!

16. “Covering your ears is not a viable strategy.” Sarah Hofstetter, social marketer

17. How do I know if I need Social Media?Do you want to spread your content and expertise to new audiences?• Do you want to network with like-minded individuals and companies?• Do you want to build a community of evangelists?• Do you want to involve your customers and prospects in co-creation? (UGC)• Do you want to automate the process of repurposing content?• Do you want to reach new audiences in the exact way they choose to communicate?• Do you want to be seen as a thought leader in your industry?• Do you want ways to aggregate and filter content so you and your people can digest it?• Do you want to easily hear literally everything that’s being said online about your brand, products, or industry in real time?• Do you want to be seen as a trusted source of information?The primary motivating factor for engaging in Social Media is lead generation. MS Office Study 2010

20. The University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business, 2010“While we expect more small businesses to use Twitter as a customer service channel in the year ahead, as it stands, Facebook and LinkedIn have become the predominant platforms for small business owners.”

23. Marketing is always changing!“If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.”General Eric Shinseki, Chief of Staff, U. S. Army

24. Marketing is always changing!Brands are becoming our friends on social networks like Facebook, Twitter and all of social media

25. Where visitors come from today

26. Where visitors come from todayThe most recent count of blogs being indexed by Technorati currently stands at 133 million.

27. The same report also revealed that, on average, 900,000 blog posts are created within a single 24-hour period.

28. The online photo sharing site Flickr now hosts more than 3.6 billion user images.• The online bookmarking service Delicious has more than 5 million users and more than 150 million unique bookmarked URLs.Consumer-generated media represents almost 20% of time spent but less than 3% of advertising dollarsWhere visitors come from today

29. Where visitors come from today

30. Social Media Drives Real Traffic

31. Blended Search - Mixed Media

32. Blended Search - Mixed Media

33. Blended Search – Local & Social

35. Where visitors come from todayRegular question we get: “Which social networks are best?”Answer: “The ones that help you get more leads and broaden brand awareness.

37. Individually personal

38. Point of view expected

39. Conversations not content

40. There is spam, abuse and misuse

41. Layers of participation and participants

42. Essential part of your brandingBasics of Social Media“the time it takes to use social media sites is more demanding than I expected”

43. Twice daily minimum• Check Twitter via TweetDeck—preset searches for @tniman, @auctori, @thenetimpact, @unidev—respond as needed, follow some @replies that seem appropriate.Check Facebook comments and write new updates• Scan Blog and press release data.• Respond to comments on our blogs.Daily minimum• Write a blog post—RSS , tools sends to Twitter, Linked In, Facebook ,• Scan Twitter followers for relevant conversations to join• Scan Google Reader subscriptions to read and stimulate ideas• Stumble any blog pages desired Reverberate through Facebook and Twitter accounts• Scan Google Alerts for my name, brand, and products—in Google Reader as RSS feed—respond as appropriate• Add comments to blogs as appropriateCheck Google Alerts for new trending information to write about

44. Check reviews on Google Place pageWeeklyPlanned press releases

45. Find new authors to engage

46. Post news on websiteMonthlyPut out newsletters (4)

47. Email campaigns (4)And oh yeah…Craigslist• Judy’s Book• Insider Pages• Smalltown.comYelp

48. Google Places/Bing MapsHow do I get started?Avoid: Coolest, latest, sexiest “thing” out there

49. How do I get started?Forrester Research describes six levels of participation or Social Technographics®: 1. Creators 2. Critics 3. Collectors 4. Joiners 5. Spectators 6. InactivesFind Your All-starsNetworkListen

51. How do I plan?Construct your social marketing architecture

53. How do I find my voice?Invite your customers, prospects and contacts into your community.

54. Connect with them over your products, your services and their input.

55. Engage in real-time conversations with key influencers.

56. Reverberate their enthusiasm.• Gain immediate feedback; as a real-time focus group• Define your brand as an industry resource for bloggers and the media• Create a human voice for the brand• Proactively manage your reputation, respond to consumer questions and problems.Use it as a CRM tool.How do I find my voice?BrandDevelop a plan for monitoring and responding to consumer discussions

57. Social Media Final ThoughtsSocial Media is like a cocktail party. The question is, “Who is the host?”Social Media is “earned traffic”. Earned by level of interest and value to the visitor.Your level of “interesting” gets you found.How can this be employed? Measured? “We become who we hang out with!”

58. We become who we hang out with!So let’s hang out!Thank You!Email /Tweet us for a copy of this presentation!Steve Thomas @TNIMAN @TheNetImpactSteve.Thomas@thenetimpact.com#TNISTLEC