Have a Tweet Holiday

Presented By:Poppy Thorpe, Social Media Manager

& Jill Bastian, Training & Education Manager#VRWebinar

Agenda

Why Use Social Media? Which Platforms to Use Quick and Easy Social Media TipsSocial Media and Email – A Quick OverviewTools for Success

Why Use Social Media? Expand the life & reach of your emails Connect with customers Reach prospects Promote events and news at your business Identify brand advocates Be an industry resource for your followers Get an edge on the competition Search Engine Optimization Drive traffic to your website

Social Media & The Holidays! Reach customers and prospects on social media Promote sales and special events around the clock Monitor your brand and listen to what people are saying Use social media as a customer support tool to answer quick questions about your business or products Be relevant & stay ahead of the game Promote sales & deals online and offline Offer a deal online that is redeemable in store (Groupon or Foursquare) Stretch your dollar!

Twitter: Why use Twitter?190 Million users- reach them! Connect with new and prospective customers Increase your presence on the webSocial Share on Twitter to grow your list & expand the life & reach of your emails What to Tweet: Your email messages Photos & videos Specials, free shipping options & seasonal deals Gift guides Informative articles, news, press releases & moreStore information or holiday hours

Tips For Getting Followers: Have “Twitter only” deals Follow peopleTweet resources & news that pertains to your industry Retweet & mention others Use Hashtags (#) Respond to questions about your business Send an email letting your customers know you are on Twitter Remember: It’s better to have a smaller list of engaged followers than a huge amount of followers that don’t interact (like an email list)

Facebook: Why Facebook? More than 30 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) shared each month Over 25% of Small Businesses use FB as a marketing tool A Facebook Page can drive signups, traffic to your website & brand awareness Grow your email marketing list with an opt-in form on your page!It’s easy to maintain & free to join

Facebook, Now What? What to Post:

Hosted versions of your email campaigns Sales, events, news & more Link Twitter account to automatically update Blog posts Photos & company events Informative videos, product guides Business hours & links to your websiteHoliday coupon codes, sales & specials

LinkedIn Why Use LinkedIn? Make connections in a professional setting Interact with customers, prospects & potential business connections Add information to your profile: job history, honors, awards & groups Sync blog and Twitter updates to your profile Create a profile for your business Provide information about your company: products, services & job opportunities Increase search ranking & make it easier for people to find accurate information about your business!

LinkedIn & Your Business Join groups that pertain to your interests or industry Start a group for your business Include updates, links to blog posts, recent newsletters & more! Post all of your holiday emails, special sales & events to your group Reach out to customers & group members & be a useful resource Post links to your group on your social profiles & in emails Send an email & invite customers

Quick Social Media Tips Maintain a presence on a couple of social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Foursquare, etc.), you don’t need to be everywhere! Repurpose content to save time & post content from your emails on your social profiles Post hosted versions of email campaigns with the VR Social Sharing Feature Answer customer questions publically. Others might need the answer too & it could save time in customer support efforts Retweet, post or update your social profiles with good content from other users, customers & industry leaders ( just site your source!)

Getting Social With Your Emails! Always include links to your social profiles in your emails Offer people an incentive via email to engage with you on Social Media Have social only offersPre-sale or Sneak PeekDiscount, free shipping etc. social share your emails to close the loop Include opt-in forms on your social profiles whenever possible!

Tools For Success: Hootsuite Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn updates from one dashboard, schedule updates and search for “keywords” associated with your business Tweetdeck monitor several different Twitter accounts & keywords Trendistic to find trending & relevant hashtags Google Alerts Bit.ly Shorten links for Facebook & Twitter and track clicks in real-time VerticalResponse Social Media Guides VerticalResponse Twitter Chat #VRTweets Wednesdays in November from 1-2 PM PDT

Q&A