Seminar description:

This seminar will review the essential strategies and best practices a business or organization should understand in order tosuccessfully get started with social media marketing. We will talk about:

• What social media marketing really is and why it’s important;

• Various social media networks and tools: how they interact, ways to leverage their strengths, and how to evaluate them for best use for your business or organization;

• How other businesses are using these low-cost tools to gain visibility, develop relationships, and drive sales and engagement;

• How to incorporate it into your business life without losing productivity.

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In today’s seminar, we will learn:

• What is Social Marketing?

• Why Market Using Social Media?

• How to do it well: Best Practices for Social Media Marketing for Small Busineses

• Managing your activity and time

Note to RDDs: You can describe the agenda in three simple words: Manage, Monitor, and Measure. Major themes throughout are:

• SMM is about “reach, with endorsement”

• SMM is about “social word-of-mouth”

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Topic: What is Social Media Marketing and Why do it?

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Everyone markets for the same reason: they want more of something: more customers, more volunteers, more donors and members but most of all more time in the daymembers, but most of all, more time in the day.

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[Click] New tools have changed the way marketers find new customers. Social marketing tools create an opportunity to both find new customers but also keep nurturing your relationships with your current customers – those that generate repeatfind new customers, but also keep nurturing your relationships with your current customers those that generate repeat revenue and ultimately grow your bottom line.

[RDD Note: Introduce these statistics by asking: “How many people have ever looked at a website like TripAdvisor to see what people are saying about hotel or destination prior to planning a vacation?” Or, “How many people have read through customer testimonials on Amazon.com before buying an item?” ]

[Click] We have come to a point where only 14% of people trust ads, but 78% of people trust consumer recommendations (Nielson).

As you can see from this graph, 50% of small business owners are using Facebook. Likers of content on social media like Facebook and Twitter become your brand ambassadors, endorsing you and building long-lasting positive buzz. You canshape the dialogue by reaching and influencing your next purchaser or donor. Think of Facebook is the new website. p g y g g y pFacebook is the most relevant SMM channel to small businesses today, some studies have said it is 2‐3x more relevant than Twitter. Your Facebook fan page is evolving to have the same functionality as your website but with the added benefit of two‐way conversations with your customers. 

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There are 5 stages in a relationship, or 5 types of people:

1. (Click) Raving Fans: Customers with a high level of loyalty, trust, & engagement. They willingly refer others to you and your business.

2. (Click) Customers: Those buying from you already. These are people who have engaged as a customer at some point in the past. May be willing to try alternatives if encountered.

3. (Click) Prospects – those that have a connection to you via a person, product, or service, but may not know of you yet. A connection exists for you either directly or indirectly through a Raving Fan or a Prospect Is likely to need the servicesA connection exists for you either directly or indirectly through a Raving Fan or a Prospect. Is likely to need the services you provide in the future.

4. (Click) Suspects – These folks are inclined to do business with you someday, but no connection exists. No direct or indirect connections exist. Is likely to want or need the services you provide in the future.

5. (Click) Disinterested – those that have no interest and who will never buy a product or service from you. It’s better to build credibility here and direct them to what they’re interested in

It makes sense to use your marketing resources wisely… with the people who count!

Now you can resourcefully apply new tools to acquire, connect, engage, and grow new customer relationships. (Click) Social media marketing uses your Raving Fans to acquire and engage new customers, [Click] connect with prospects, and begin fostering deeper relationships

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Social Media Marketing is: building your social network fans, followers, and connections, using relevant and interesting content that allows you to reach and engage more people and drive more businesscontent that allows you to reach and engage more people and drive more business.

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If you have concerns, you’re not alone. Many small businesses think:

• (Click) Social Media Marketing looks interesting, but… I will never have a million customers or even 5,000….

• (Click) Using new, inbound marketing tools sound great, but… I will never write Thought Leadership articles….

• (Click) Paying close attention to what’s being said on social media sounds useful, but… I’ll never have a dedicated staff to do it right…

• (Click) I hear about new networks everyday, but… I just don’t have the time to stay current(Click) I hear about new networks everyday, but… I just don t have the time to stay current

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What you do have is powerful! You can successfully market your small business or association because you have…

• Loyal, happy customers

• An excellent customer experience

• Interesting and important things to say!

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Topic: Doing it Well – Best Practices for Social Media Marketing

Basically, it boils down into 3 “C”s –Connections, Content, and Conversations

1. Connections: Kick start your following, and use content that inspires engagement

2. Engaging Content: Creating a presence

3. Conversations: Practical monitoring and measurement

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Set reasonable goals and expectations.

As a small business owner, set reasonable goals that match expectations and investments of resources and time. The more time and resources you devote to Social Media Marketing, the greater your yield! Realistically, accept that Social Media Marketing is not instantaneous. You do need to invest some time and resources before you reap rewards, and not all of your customers will engage. However, you can:

Drive engagement (action/commentary/feedback/sharing) with your base of passionate customers

E t b iEncourage repeat business

Encourage referrals

Get online endorsements

Reach new customers through online, word-of-mouth marketing.

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Let’s look some examples:

(B2C) In a Pickle’s objective was to increase sales, get customer feedback, and build community.

• In A Pickle is a local favorite restaurant in Waltham, MA

• They are everywhere on the social web: Facebook, Yelp, Twitter, YouTube, etc.

• In A Pickle sends a weekly email newsletter to update customers of special deals, new menu items, and events

• They use social media to experiment, push on-the-fly specials, get feedback from customers & build community

• They credit email as the hub that brings everything together

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(B2C) Dingo Pet Supply, ran a promotion in order to build community and grow their contact lists.

• They collected the email address of all participants,

• They got everyone to like them on Facebook

• They didn’t have to give half the proceeds to a third party.

• They reached 6k+ Likes and more than 15k subscribers!

[Backstory: they had 330 fans on Facebook and wanted to get to 5,000. They offered a $20 certificate to everyone who Liked them on Facebook and submitted their email address through their Facebook Page using the CTCT JMML app. Customers would only be sent the $20 certificate if they helped Dingo get to 5,000 likes. Dingo promoted the campaign through Facebook, Twitter and Email and used social media to keep their followers up to date on the progress and to encourage them to share the campaign with their social media followers and even blog readers. It only took Dingo 3 days to go from 330 Likes to over 5,000 Likes. They are now running the same campaign with a target of 25,000 Likes.]

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(NPO) Currier Museum of Art

• The Currier Museum of Art uses social media marketing in conjunction with email marketing to keep in touch with members and relay any information in a professional, timely manner

• The museum encourages people to tweet from special events in order to share discoveries and information with other patrons/Followers

• Social Media Marketing engages people who are already involved in the museum, but also motivates new patrons to visit

Backstory: The Currier Museum of Art is located in Manchester, New Hampshire and is known for their European and American collections, they have a large collection of American art and furniture, small collection of European paintings, they have a Monet, Picasso, and in total the museum holds a collection of 13,000 objects. The museum started using Constant Contact in the spring of 2004 in conjunction with the museums 75th anniversary. The initially signed up for the EMM tool to keep in touch with members, tell members about recent acquisitions, share membership offers, highlight items related to the anniversary—basically any information that they needed to get out in a professional, timely manner. They previously relied on their Quarterly Members magazine to share information; but they needed a solution that was more frequent Today they send out e-newsletters at the beginning of every monthmore frequent. Today, they send out e newsletters at the beginning of every month.

The most recent communication that they have sent was for the “Secret Life of Art: Mysteries of the Museum Reveled”. It is a very unique exhibition that was born of museum patrons asking questions about how pieces of art come to be at the museum, how pieces are cared for, and what lies behind exhibit walls. In conjunction with the exhibition, the museum has put together a series of art talks and seminars for patrons to attend as well. When the exhibition was opened on Oct 2nd, Neva Cole, the Museum’s Marketing Director, sent out a campaign that encouraged people to Tweet from the event incorporating the special hashtag #curriersla. That way when patrons found out an answer to a question that they had posed they could share their excitement and tweet a message out to their follower base The hashtag was initially usedposed they could share their excitement and tweet a message out to their follower base. The hashtag was initially used at the Members Only Opening; which created some viral chatter with other museum patrons before the exhibit was open to the general public.

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Section Break: Connections

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Intro: “Raise your hands: how many people here already using Facebook? LinkedIn? Twitter? Etc.” (Effect should be: several using Facebook less using LinkedIn and Twitter )several using Facebook, less using LinkedIn and Twitter.)

Let’s talk a little but about some best practices surrounding creating a presence using Social Media Marketing. First, decidewhere you should be. There are hundreds of social media tools and networks. Popular social media networks make it easy for small businesses and organizations get started in the social media marketing work in cost-efficient (often free!) and resourceful way. Today we will focus on the “big three” – Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

For the small business or organization just getting started, (click) it makes sense to start on Facebook. After that, the most important thing to do is ask your customers. We’ll speak to ways to do that later in the presentation…

Today’s seminar will mention several of these popular tools. To get more comprehensive information about specific tools or social media in general, I encourage you to visit the Social Media page/tab on Constant Contact’s website: http://search.constantcontact.com/social media

There, you can find everything from: blogs, guides, Hints & Tips, podcasts, Frequently Asked Questions, and webinars thatThere, you can find everything from: blogs, guides, Hints & Tips, podcasts, Frequently Asked Questions, and webinars that will answer all your tool-specific questions.

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There are easy ways to discover which social media channels are your customers’ preferred channels. (Click) Remember: your contacts customers and prospective customers want to keep in touch with you on their terms so dive in and learnyour contacts, customers, and prospective customers want to keep in touch with you on their terms, so dive in and learn the nuances of the more popular social media tools like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Your audience, marketing objectives, and available resources will dictate which social media is right for your business or organization.

Another easy idea? (Click) Add social media icons to your next email marketing campaign or website and measure the number of new fans, followers, comments, etc. You will quickly be able to assess which channels are the most popular using click-through information available within Email Marketing reports or website analytics .

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1. Announce your new presence in your newsletter with a clear Call-to-Action

2. Include standard links in every email campaign

3. Always include a share bar in every email. Make it effortless for your network to share your great content

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Make sure your presence looks good: make your profiles polished and professional-looking.

1. Complete your business profile with a: description, clear contact information, your website URL, and a Join-My-Mailing-List tab/information;

2. Include your website URL

3. Brand the presence: add your business logo, pictures, and a background

4. Add starter content! It’s important to populate your social media profiles with interesting, relevant content before you4. Add starter content! It s important to populate your social media profiles with interesting, relevant content before you begin inviting folks to fan, follow, friend, and link to you.

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Focus your social presence. Make your social presence a reflection of your business / organization. Don’t blur personal and professional useprofessional use.

Be transparent. New users should immediately identify what you do

“Stick to Your Knitting”. Deliberately choose your expertise and areas of engagement. Be firm and clear about who you are and what distinguished you before you dive into social media marketing.

Put the social in the media. Be more broad and informal… and have fun! Social media is a much less formal communication type than, for example, standard Email Marketing content.

RDD N t Oft t thi i t th ti iRDD Note: Often at this point the question arises:

Q: I made the mistake of blurring my personal profile with my business profile. What should I do?

A: The best course of action is to go ahead and create a Facebook Business Page, and begin to direct all business-related activity to this page, only. Unfortunately, there is no pushbutton solution for this, you will need to spend the time to create the page. One idea? Send an email to your contacts on Facebook, and ask those business contacts to offically“Like” your business page. Constant Contact actually offers specific email templates for this purpose: to get the word out about your newfound Business Page and/or social presences.

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Nancy Jeutten, Main Street Media Saavy. Example on next 5 slides.

Nancy Juetten is a publicity trainer and Extreme Bio Makeover expert who shows business owners how to get seen, heard, celebrated, and compensated in the media. She is committed to helping business owners quickly get up-to speed on the best ways to use do-it-yourself publicity to share their messages in traditional, online, and social media. Her business Page on Facebook is well-developed, with complete contact information about her business, and clearly branded with her “Extreme Bio Makeover” logo. On top of this, her feed is populated with repurposed content from her blog.

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NJ’s Blog.

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NJ’s You Tube page.

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NJ’s Twitter Page

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NJ’s LinkedIn Profile

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Section Break: Engaging Content

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Wondering what kind of starter content you can use to populate your profiles, today?

Information, tips, and practical advice

Questions asked by your customers

Or links to:

• Archived Email Marketing newsletters

• Polls and Surveys

• Event Homepages and registration pages

• Blogs (yours and others)

• Websites (yours, and others in your area of expertise)

• Product or service reviewsProduct or service reviews

• Thought-provoking discussions that inspires debate and dialogue

• Rich media: relevant videos, photos, podcasts

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Write great content once, then broadcast it. Create “sound byte” for shorter media.

• The best content inspires sharing: a word of advice or one sentence can go a long way!

• Original, personalized content is important (but you don’t need too much). Reuse your great content. When you add one or more social media networks or a blog to your marketing mix, you do not necessarily have to come up with exclusive content for each network.

• Reuse articles from your newsletters to prime the social media pump. In turn, your blog or others’ blogs content can be used to feed your email newsletter and social network channelsused to feed your email newsletter and social network channels.

• Less is more! Short content is best, one idea at a time. You can always include a links to more in-depth information.

Examples: “Stay Cool this Summer at Jack’s Ice Cream (URL)!

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Speaking of starter content, one of the best ways to reuse content is by repurposing email marketing newsletter content. Most Email Service Providers such as Constant Contact provide a Share Bar at the top of emails which will allow bothMost Email Service Providers such as Constant Contact provide a Share Bar at the top of emails which will allow both you – and your recipients – to share your content across social networks. Whenever possible, add Social-sharing capabilities to your content to provide customers and prospects alike an effortless way to share it within their networks.

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This slide shows an example of Focus HR’s content reuse across multiple platforms: Website, Twitter, Facebook, and Email Marketing The key takeaway? A little content can go a long way! Create content “sound bytes” for easier content reuseMarketing. The key takeaway? A little content can go a long way! Create content sound bytes for easier content reuse.

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This slide shows an example of Krista Photography’s content reuse and application of social media marketing best practices across multiple platforms: Facebook her website and Email Marketing Krista utilizes the Constant Contact Join Myacross multiple platforms: Facebook, her website, and Email Marketing. Krista utilizes the Constant Contact Join My Mailing List application on Facebook, identifies her presence on social media throughout her website, and then sends along information of value to targeted customers using Email Marketing.

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Create a Business Page

Recruit fans

Fill with content that is relevant to them – comments, photos, videos

Make settings public so your customers and prospects can find you

Use as an alternate landing page for your email

Add “J i M M ili Li ” f i i l j i li Add a “Join My Mailing List” form to invite people to join your list

A few important things to know about Facebook’s functionality include:

• Like – let’s the Business Page administrator know that you are a fan of their business, association, or brand. Upon “Liking”, a user can engage with the business page.

• Post – text, pictures, videos, etc. – the action of putting up content to your page

• Comment – Leaving a written response for all to see, be it positive or negative

• Share – extending the reach of any content object within that user’s network. The content will reference it’s source. ‘Share’ also gives you the ability to send content as an inter-Facebook message to a unique user

• Groups – Administrated discussion groups within Facebook on varied topics

• (Click) Applications – Join My Mailing List! As with any marketing outpost you will always strive to collect the• (Click) Applications – Join My Mailing List! As with any marketing outpost, you will always strive to collect the contact information of a prospect in order to engage more deeply with them, in more targeted ways. Constant Contact provides you the ability to do this by adding it’s JMML Application to your Business Page on Facebook. As you learn more about applications, you can seartch for an add those that are right for your business.

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Let’s talk a little bit about the basic anatomy of a Business Page on Facebook.

1. Status: this is a place where you can post up-to-the minute information, content (photos, links, video), and other newsworthy items

2. Company Logo or Photo: brand your page with your company logo, color scheme, etc.

3. Information, Description, or Note: again, be sure to complete this with contact details, your mission statement, or other company-related information

4. Basic Information You List

5. Public List of Fans (Likers): People who “Like” your business page will be listed as you fans

6. Your newsfeed: this is a dynamic feed of all engagement that occurs on your business page. Depending on how you customize your page, this area will be available for your fans to ccomment on your content, share it, or Like it.

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RDDs: The next 6 slides are of Belleview Farmer’s Market.

The following two slides are a split-screen of the Belleview Farmer’s Market website. It’s a great example to point out the following:

BFM repurposes engaging content. Note the embedded YouTube video.

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2. BFM uses a Facebook application to display the BFM’s fans on their website

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3. The BFM Business Page on Facebook exemplifies all best practices: an easily-recognizable photo of the market as a logo; clear information including a website URL and contact information; and several posts keeping customers up-to-dateclear information, including a website URL and contact information; and several posts keeping customers up-to-date about current happenings and promotions within it’s feed. Notice that the tone of these posts are friendly! One states: “It’s2AM: do you know where your fruit is?” with a picture of fresh fruit arriving in crates at the market.

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4. This is a great example of a simple-yet-engaging piece of content that is easy to post on a business page. The BFM noticed a quirky watermelon and snapped an imromptu picture the Likers and comments were plentiful This examplenoticed a quirky watermelon and snapped an imromptu picture… the Likers and comments were plentiful. This example proves that social media marketing need not be planned or formal; the beauty of social media is that pictures, video, and other media can be spontaneous and fun. The act of posting a photo like this shows that BFM is friendly and inviting = relating to their customer base in an approachable way, inviting engagement.

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BFM’s E-Commerce application – makes it easy for customers to order fresh produce right from their Facebook business pagepage.

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51% of active Twitter users follow companies, brands or products on social networks - Edison Research, February 2010

If you ask the folks at Twitter if they are a social media network, they will correct you and identify themselves as an “Information Sharing Tool”. In essence, Twitter allows you to listen to global conversations about anything and everything in real time, as they are happening. This is important to any Small Business Owner for many reasons, including:

1. It gives you an easy way to listen to what is being said: about you and your industry; and about your domain of expertise and your competitors;

2 Y b t f th “ ti ” i d ddi l t th t di l C lti ti2. You can become part of the “conversation”, engaging and adding value to the many-to-many dialogue. Cultivating an approachable online personality will increase your visibility and network-effect over time.

Using Twitter, you can:

• Share links to interesting content & ask for feedback

• Tweet a survey or poll

• Send Direct Messages (DMs)

• Retweet content from people you are following

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Let’s talk a little bit about the basic anatomy of a Twitter Feed. Twitter acts as a dynamic “feed” which update you in real-timetime.

1. Basic Info, Link, Description: again, be sure to write a clear, concise description of your business and expertise

2. Avatar – Logo or Photo: Brand your profile with your logo or personal photo

3. Handle: this is your Twitter “username”. As a best practice, make your handle short yet recognizable (since “tweets” are character-limited to 140 characters).

4. Feed: Most recent or past tweets by you;

5. Followers and Following: a listing of folks who’ve “subscribed” to read your tweets, and those who you have decided to “follow”

6. Who they are following : A cloud of avatars of those that the handle is following.

[Aside: For Halloween 2010, Gail Goodman, CEO of Constant Content[

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Let’s take a look at how to establish a profile on LinkedIn.

1. Your name, location, and basic statistics - simple contact information and geographical location

2. Your Photo or Your Logo – Like a Facebook or Twitter, include a professional photo or headshot

3. Work Experience, Now and Then – Think of this as your online resume and be as descriptive as possible.

4. Information you Share – This can be about your business, non-profit, or personal expertise. It is customizable to your business objectives

5 Communications Options – Using these functions you can connect with other users send an in-network email write or5. Communications Options Using these functions, you can connect with other users, send an in network email, write or request a professional recommendation, etc.

6. Network Information: This section displays the degree of connection to others, quick links to your recommendations, etc.

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You can build your social network in a variety of ways – both online and offline. In short: be creative and visible everywhere your customers are!your customers are!

1. Send an invitation to your Email List

2. Add interactive Social Icons to Your

• Website

• Email Campaigns (in a sidebar, in the footer)Email Campaigns (in a sidebar, in the footer)

• Outgoing Email Signature

• Business Card

• Printed Collateral: mailers, flyers, invoices, etc.

3. Put a sign in your storefront window

4. Add a message to your voicemail

5. Include a note on Point of Sale receipts and house coupons

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Social networks build over time in many ways. Watch how Boloco’s network grows in this short video.

For example:

1. You write content that gets shared; your followers’ followers notice and decide to follow you;

2. You follow people, and they follow you back;

3. You retweet or repost others’ content; their followers notice and follow you;

4. Your customers comment (this is powerful!). Their networks notice and connect with you;

5. You participate in discussion groups, social networks, blogs, etc., and other people join the conversation and join your network…

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Section break: Conversations.

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When getting started with social media marketing, be the expert!

1. Focus on the content - share knowledge so people care

• It’s not about you

• It’s about what you know

2. Trade useful information for attention

• Will they talk about it when out with friends?

• Will they look forward to your next communication?

• Will they be inspired to share/tweet/comment on this information?

3. Filter out the noise by narrowing focusing on creating a stream of relevant, interesting content

• Be an expert

• Clearly convey the mission. It’s OK to deviate at times, but stick to a 90/10 rule of thumb

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Once you are actively monitoring for social media channels, you will encounter both positive and negative comments. Positive comments are a perfect opportunity to interact and help spread your messages and other content SocialPositive comments are a perfect opportunity to interact and help spread your messages and other content. Social networks are a convenient way for people to share interest and excitement, but more importantly… relationships. So what should you do?

1. Comment back. A simple sentence to show you are interested in what they have to say demonstrates that you are listening to your customers, and those prospects that are lurking. Whenever someone says something positive about your business, simply say ‘Thank you!’ online – publically – to reinforce continued engagement and show prospective customers that you are listening.

1. Answer questions. Clear and helpful answers to questions posed by your customers is a hallmark of excellent customer service. The benefit of answering them on your social media network is twofold: 1) odds are others have the same question and will be helped- or chime in for more information, and 2) you can then repurpose your answer (content!) by including it in your Email Marketing, Tweeting it, etc.

This graph shows Yelp’s aggregate rankings of businesses as of September 2009 Yelp is a ratings and review social siteThis graph shows Yelp s aggregate rankings of businesses as of September, 2009. Yelp is a ratings and review social site which allows consumers to share the experiences they've had with local businesses. This As you can see, the majority of online feedback is positive.

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You know what conversations to start – they’re the same conversations that you have when you speak with a new customer, member or prospective client Draw from your experience and expertise to facilitate conversations and exchangesmember or prospective client. Draw from your experience and expertise to facilitate conversations and exchanges amongst peers. Starting informal conversations will help you learn what is meaningful to your customers – what engages them!

A simple way to begin? We’ve said it before: just say “thank you” - online, publically - to anyone to says something nice about you.

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Make online conversations a part of your presence. You can invite direction and feedback from your customers, and really listen to what they have to saylisten to what they have to say.

In this example, Boloco jumped at the chance to correct a poor customer experience. On their Facebook business page, a customer expressed displeasure in recently eating a charcoal-flavored burrito. Boloco’s quick response? Agreement (what an unintended dining experience!), and an immediate effort to delight the customer by offering a free burrito on-the-house. Note: this was all done via a conversation initiated by someone else who commented on “the great food at the new location”.

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What NOT to include in your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn Updates:

• Don’t pitch

• Don’t overtly self-promote

• Don’t offer incentives to get reviews or sharing

• Don’t stray from your areas of business into:

• Don’t post personal information, politics, sports, religion etc.

Always provide value. Remember why your network is following you – be the expert.

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Negative comments are inevitable: social networks can be a convenient way for people to vent any frustrations. Remember that social media marketing is about creating positive relationships through many-to-many (not one-to-one or one-to-many)that social media marketing is about creating positive relationships through many-to-many (not one-to-one or one-to-many) engagements. Rather than fear negative comments and a tarnished reputation, look at every negative review as an opportunity to engage with the dissatisfied customer, resolve their problem, and further delight them with an excellent customer experience. Study after study shows that if you can resolve a problem, a customer will be more likely to buy again and recommend you than someone who had a pleasant experience the first time around. And since most content that is shared on social networks can be seen by others, your engagement with both positive and negative commentary will inspire credibility and trust with both old – and new customers.

[Note: see in-slide example Boloco asks a complaintive customer to Direct Message them his Boloco member card number[Note: see in-slide example. Boloco asks a complaintive customer to Direct Message them his Boloco member card number so that they can remedy a poor experience, a.k.a., give him a free burrito on-the-house. Notice that the interaction took place on Twitter, offline, in a Direct Message (DM), but Boloco publicly and graciously responded so that Boloco’s quick action to satisfy their customer is transparent to all Followers).

1. Always reach out to the customer, ideally offline!

• Pick up the phone if possible

• Use a private message, email, or DM

2. Let your network know that you are addressing the issue. [See Boloco example above]

Don’t be afraid of publically addressing a negative comment on social networks. Delight the customer to turn a negative experience into a positive one they’ll tell their friends about!

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Section Break: Managing your Time and activities

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Do you need to spend a lot of time doing social media? Good Advice from Gail Goodman, CEO of Constant Contact:

“Keep your time spent in-check; doing social media right does not mean doing it a lot.”

• It is important to stay active: 15 minutes a day, 3 times a week is more than most small business. Probably the biggest mistake those new to social media can make it to be inconsistent with engagement. Schedule and commit time to engage with customers and prospects.

• If you tweet too much; people might not think you are serious about your business

Note to RDDs: the statistics on the right contradicts the best practice we mention – explain this by mentioning that we at Constant Contact are anxious to dispel this myth that social media marketing done right means spending more and more time. Doing it right means NOT spending a lot of time doing it. For larger companies, the former may be true, aggregating various departmental objectives and efforts. However, for small businesses and nonprofits, we believe it can be done in significantly less time, especially when using time-saving tools like NutShellMail.

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What should you monitor? Monitor the activity of all your social presences, including:

1. Your Brand. Think about all it’s possible spellings / configurations. For example: Far And Away Bicycles, Far & Away, Bicycles, Bikes, etc.

2. Your competitors. Spot successful tactics being used by others in your industry (and the not-so-successful!) For example:

• Does the pizzeria down the street tweet daily?

• Do the other consultants in your area of expertise have LinkedIn profiles? What do they look like?

3. Categories, topics, and keywords of your business. For example:

• Pets, Dog Day Care, Cat, Dog, Pet sitting, Animals, Rescue etc.

• Take a few minutes to make a list of the main topics you’re monitoring, and then make a list of three or four subtopics If you think about it when you’re focused on your reader and your expertise most of what you’re goingsubtopics. If you think about it, when you re focused on your reader and your expertise, most of what you re going to be monitoring falls under five to seven main topics. Set these topics up in Google Alerts or Twitter to begin to get a pulse on the conversations happening and content being distributed.

4. The experts and influencers in your business. Watch not only what they’re saying, but what they’re sharing, which events they’re choosing to promote, who they’re following, etc.

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When you’re just getting started monitoring and listening to what is being said about you, there are several easy and free tools at your avail:tools at your avail:

1. Google Alerts: Google Alerts allows you to “save” keywords. Google Alerts will then send you an email anytime your keyword matches with new content found on the web.

2. HootSuite: a social media dashboard for teams used to gather intelligence, search, etc.

3. TweetDeck: a real-time browser, connecting you with your contacts across multiple social platforms such as: Twitter, Facebook MySpace LinkedIn Foursquare Google Buzz etcFacebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Google Buzz, etc.

4. RSS: Real Simple Syndicate. Use a web reader (such as Google Reader) to “pull” new content to you in real time. You can apply an RSS feed from newspapers, blogs, and most content distribution channels.

5. Last but note least: NutshellMail: (more in the next slides)

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NutShellMail offers you an efficient way to monitor all social media marketing activity: in a daily email digest, sent at the time and frequency you choose based on your schedule This means that you don’t need to go to each separate social mediaand frequency you choose based on your schedule. This means that you don t need to go to each separate social media site to manage your activities. NutshellMail allows you to see your mentions, new followers, comments, and your newest connections in your summary. You can then share, comment, tweet, reply, retweet, and message without leaving your inbox! And, since you control the frequency and timing of your NutShellMail, all of this engagement occurs on your time, according to your busy schedule.

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NutshellMail from Constant Contact is an easy, free way to monitor all your social media activity in minutes a day.

NutshellMail is a free monitoring tool that brings a summary of your social network updates to your inbox in a single email on your schedule.

NutshellMail allows you to easily monitor and track your page insights (how many new friends, fans, followers, comments, Likes, etc.) You can get all your Facebook Birthdays, Photos, Friend Requests, Wall Posts, News Feed, Event & Group Invites and Messages all in one interactive email This means that you don’t need to go to each separate social mediaInvites, and Messages all in one interactive email. This means that you don t need to go to each separate social media site to manage your activities: it allows you to see everything in one summary. You can then engage without leaving your inbox!

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Section Break: Measuring Success

Defining Social Media Marketing Success for Small Businesses

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It can be tricky to add up the value of relationships. As you begin to establish your measure the impact of your efforts, look at:at:

• What is being said about you?

• Are you seen as an expert?

• How well are you engaging with existing experts?

• Are you reaching new customers en masse?

• How are you reaching specific customers?

Depending on your business or organization’s unique objectives, you can also look at specific growth measurements such as:

1. Overall growth in your network, i.e. # of new fans, friends, connections, followers

2. Email List growth, i.e., # of new subscribers

3. Email Campaign click-through, open rates

4 # of mentions4. # of mentions

5. # of retweets

6. # of reviews (positive and negative)

7. # of customers who’ve utilized social promotions

8. # of questions answered by your network

9. # of #mentions on Twitter

10. Aggregate ratings scores10. Aggregate ratings scores

11. SEO rankings…

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Social media marketing goals will often involve different overall strategies and social media channels. It is possible to marketwith the aim of achieving all the following benefits; they do complement each other and some results naturally arise whenwith the aim of achieving all the following benefits; they do complement each other and some results naturally arise when other goals are achieved (e.g. better brand awareness eventually brings links).

Almost 74% of marketers who have been using social media for years report that it has helped them close business (Social Media Marketing Industry Report 2010).

The most common results include:The most common results include:

• Increased Brand Awareness:

• Reputation Management

• Improved Search Engine Rankings

• Increased Relevant Visitor Traffic

• Increased Sales for a Product or Service

So, test to learn what works for you:

1. Set up specific engagement campaigns to track social media programs that drive to your website (You can use Google analytics to track this data.)

2. Track how many people have read your blog (page views)?

3. Track how many people are clicking on the social media icons in your emails (click-through data).

4. Track how many people are joining your contact list via social media sites.

5. Monitor twitter for the amount of “mentions” and retweets. Reward those influencers if possible!

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Permission to use, as of 10/2010 per S. Barone

In this example engagement campaign, Toesox offers a tiered promotion using Email Marketing: 15% off your order through 10/31/2010, BUT if you also ‘Like’ them on Facebook, you will receive an additional discount (20% off). The objective of this campaign is to increase both sales and channel awareness.

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Let’s look at a case study of how one small business measures the overall effectiveness of their social media efforts. The Swinery a specialty butcher shop in Seattle measures effectiveness by “Reach” They:Swinery, a specialty butcher shop in Seattle, measures effectiveness by Reach . They:

• Sent an email newsletter to 3,765 subscribers

• Received 816 opens (22%)

• BUT it was viewed an additional 485 times, and Liked by 181 readers, representing a 60% increase in reach compared to normal email marketing efforts. This was due to the inclusion of a share bar in the header of their email campaign.

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The following is a true story, and a great example of applying technology in a very low tech way in order to monitor what social media channels are most popular withy your customers while also creating an excellent customer experience insocial media channels are most popular withy your customers, while also creating an excellent customer experience in the process:

“In an Austin, TX nail salon, the gentleman doing my nails told me that he had just bought the salon from his sister, and that he was hoping to grow the failing business. He asked what I do for a living, so I told him about Constant Contact.

Flash forward to the recent past I was getting my nails done again This day at the salon every station was full he had hiredFlash forward to the recent past, I was getting my nails done again. This day at the salon, every station was full, he had hiredto staff to manage the load, the waiting area was buzzing with people, and each time someone walked in, they were walking over to him and exclaiming "I Love Nails!" or "I Love Dominic" or some other catchphrase. Each time a customer made a remark, the gentleman would make a little mark on a pad of paper he had at his desk. The paper had three columns: T, FB and CC: Twitter, Facebook, and Constant Contact (Email Marketing). He had sent out a special offer across multiple social media channels and people were told to come in and say a “key phrase” to get the discount. Depending on the remark each customer said, he was able to quantify the number of customers engaging with each social media channel.

The business owner knew everyone's name as soon as they entered the salon. If he didn't, he started talking to them and getting to know them (engaging them!). This all ties back to the fact that relationships remain the key element of a positive customer experience. Furthermore, the tools we use in order to market using social media can help nurture those relationships, but no matter what, it will always come back to an excellent customer experience.

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Section Break: Next Steps

What should I do now?

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Everyone is on a different place in the learning curve when it comes to social media marketing. Now that you have a handle on the basics, you’re poised to take the next step.a handle on the basics, you’re poised to take the next step.

We’ll keep you up-to-date! Attendees of this seminar will automatically be included in our Hints and Tips newsletter all about Social Media Marketing. Please remember to leave us your business card.

1. Ready to take a deeper dive into Social Media? Attend Constant Contact’s free webinar: “The Power of Social Media, SEO, and Email.” Browse to the Constant Contact Learning Center at: constantcontact.com/learning-center to register.

2. If you’re not already doing Email Marketing, sign up for a free, 60-day trial to begin communicating with your existing customers. Call us toll-free: 866-876-8464 – our coaches will help you get started.

For those of you who’ve already established a presence, sign up for NutshellMail in order to efficiently monitor and manage your social media efforts in minutes a day, right from your inbox. Browse to: NutshellMail.com/registerto sign up. Remember: it’s free!