Social Media Training Workshop for Small Business

Small Business Social Media Training Workshop

May 15, 2009 Steven Fisher and Shashi Bellamkonda

Welcome

Class Outline: •  8:00 - 8:30 Breakfast and

Networking •  8:30 - 9:15 Social Media 101:

The Basics •  9:15 - 9:45 Leveraging Social

Networks and Online Communities

•  10:15 -10:30 Break •  10:30 - 11:00 Getting Started

on Twitter •  11:00 - 11:45 Blogging Setup

and Basics •  11:45 - 12:00 Wrap up

What You Will Learn: •  Basics of Social

Networking •  Setting up Google Alerts •  Facebook Groups &

Pages •  LinkedIn Profiles and

Applications •  What Twitter is and How

to Use it •  Using Blogs for Business

I: Social Media 101: The Basics

Social Media 101: ROI of this Module

•  Learn the Basics of Social Media

•  Applying Social Media to Small Business

Photo by: Matt Hamm

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Social media describes the online tools that people use to share opinions, experiences, and perspectives with each other.

A few prominent examples of social media applications are:

•  Wikipedia (reference) •  Facebook (social networking) •  YouTube (video sharing) •  Digg (news sharing) •  Flickr (photo sharing)

These sites typically use technologies such as blogs, wikis, message boards, podcasts, and wikis to allow users to engage and interact with each other.

Social Media 101: Definition and Application

Photo by: Sean McColgan

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Small Business can utilize social media to level the playing field against bigger, stronger competitors.

Out of the Gate, Small Businesses can use social media to:

•  Create connections and build relationships •  Improve search engine rankings which generates website traffic,

inbound links and leads •  Establish you and your team as thought leaders and innovators •  Manage your brand and reputation online •  Grow smarter and faster than your competitors

In order to achieve this, you must stay relevant and engage in the conversation and contribute to the community.

Social Media for Small Business

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Social Media 101: Who will you reach?

Audience Segments •  Customers

•  Prospects

•  Mainstream Media (Print and Broadcast)

•  Social Media (blogs, forums and social networks)

•  Employees

•  Committee Members

•  Suppliers/vendors/affiliates

There are many you can reach as a business. Here are a few:

Key Questions •  Their goals and aspirations?

•  Their problems?

•  How do they get their answers?

•  How can you reach them?

•  What’s important to them?

•  What words and phrases do they use?

•  What sort of images and multimedia appeals to them?

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Social Media 101: Ways to Use Social Media

•  Listening - using social media as “real time” research and gaining insights from listening to customers

•  Talking - using conversations with customers to promote products or services

•  Energizing - building brand stewardship; and identifying enthusiastic customers and using them to persuade others

•  Supporting - making it possible for customers to help each other

•  Embracing - turning customers into a resource for innovation

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Social Media Tip #1 – Optimize Your Content to Go Everywhere

•  Optimizing content is not just about making changes to a site. You should have content that can be portable (such as PDFs, video, podcasts).

•  Submitting them to relevant sites will help your content travel further, and ultimately drive links back to your site

•  RSS – allow others to subscribe to your content

• The end goal is to achieve Omnipresence

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Social Media Tip #2 – Create Google Alerts to Monitor Your Brand

Google News Alerts Allows you to keep a pulse on your online brand with email alerts from Google

Create alerts on keywords: •  Company Name

•  Key Executives

•  Priority Keywords

•  Competitors

•  Events

•  Product/Service

Exercise #1: Google Alerts

II: Leveraging Social Networks and Online Communities

Social Networks: ROI of this Module

•  Explanation of social networking

•  Learn how social networks and online communities are used for business

•  Which Social Networks are best for small businesses

•  Social Networking for Business Tips

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Social Networks: Explained

Social Networks You Know: •  Chambers •  Network Groups •  Religious •  Charities •  Organization •  Industry Clubs

Social Networks leverage the concept of “Six Degrees of Separation” and use technology to connect people.

Online Business Social Networks: -  Facebook -  MySpace (Artists and Musicians) -  Twitter -  Upcoming -  YouTube -  LinkedIn -  Digg -  Del.icio.us -  Flickr

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Social Networks: Why they work

•  They do all the same stuff that normal networks can

•  They are fast and inexpensive

•  They require no travel to connect with tons of people

•  They help you stay in contact and up to date with people

•  They generate leads and referrals at a very low cost

•  They enable easy creation of groups and communities

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Social Networks: Three Types for Business

Identity-focused Social Networks These social networks focus around your personal or business profile so you can manage your identity and reputation online Examples: LinkedIn, Facebook, Plaxo

Opportunity-focused Social Networks These social networks engage the individual or business create a profile in order to connect with each other or promote their skills to win new business Examples: LinkTogether, SalesGravy, FastPitch

Communication-focused Social Networks These social networks are based on their communication platforms and their ability to engage individuals in conversations Examples: Twitter, Xing, Reunion, YouTube, Slideshare

There are SO many social networks out there so where do you start? You should first know the three types of social networks out there.

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Social Networks: Facebook for Small Business

•  110 Million Active Users •  Largest Social Networking

site in the world •  Largest Growing

Demographic is >28 •  More women than men •  Users primarily in US,

Canada and UK •  Ability to interact with current

and potential customers •  Highly targeted advertising

and social interaction

Facebook? I thought that was for kids and college students?

Nope. Businesses and professionals are the biggest growth area

Photo by: pshab via Flickr

Social Networks: Facebook Buzzwords

•  Friend: Connect with someone on Facebook

•  Wall message: Write, draw or post something on someone’s wall

•  Tag: Add names to photos or videos

•  Status update: What are you doing?

•  Public timeline: List of recent activity

18 • Source: Ogilvy Twitter Webinar

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Social Networks: LinkedIn for Small Business

•  35 Million Worldwide Users •  Focused on Business Users •  Shows You which of your

own contacts can introduce you to their connections who know them

•  Easily tap the power of second and third degree of “six degrees of separation”

•  Eliminates cold calling •  Applications that add

dimensions to your personal or company profile

LinkedIn is a social network for professionals

Nope. Businesses and professionals are the biggest growth area

Social Networks: LinkedIn Buzzwords

•  Connections: Your Linkedin contacts (must approve)

•  Applications: Fun widgets / tools to interact and promote brand

•  Answers: Space to ask / answer questions and polls

•  Groups: Opt in Communities

•  Contact Settings: Set your terms


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Social Networking Tip #1 – Your Profile is a First Impression

•  Flesh out your profile

•  Be picky on who you connect with

•  Re-purpose other content

•  Upload pics and videos to tag and send

•  Don’t put anything up there you wouldn’t be comfortable with

•  Add ALL of your Social Media links

•  Be fun and interesting

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Social Networking Tip #2 – Be a Connector

•  Connectors are the people that introduce you to others

•  Most powerful in a social network

•  Give without expecting to receive anything back

•  Don’t just promote you, promote others and they will promote you which is MUCH MORE powerful

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Social Networking Tip #3 – Go Where Your Audience Is Already

•  Most of your audience is already online

•  Almost all are in big networks (e.g. Facebook)

•  Many are on niche focused networks as well

•  You would never send marketing materials untargeted

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Social Networking Tip #4 – Add Value

Do you have any materials like the following?: •  Company information, brochures, web site, sales sheets

  Put it here: LinkedIn, Plaxo, Facebook Group Page, Blog

•  Photos and videos related to sales, training and products   Put it here: YouTube, Viddler, Blip.TV, Facebook, Flickr, Blog

•  Articles, news and press releases, events, newsletters   Put it here: Blog, Newsvine, Digg, Facebook, Fast PItch

•  Presentations for training, marketing, sales and service   Put it here: Slideshare, YouTube

Exercise #2: Facebook Profiles and Pages

Exercise #3: LinkedIn Profiles and Applications

Let’s Take a Break!

III: Getting Started on Twitter

Using Twitter: ROI of this Module

•  What the Heck is Twitter? •  Interesting Uses of Twitter…

so far •  Why and How Businesses

Use Twitter •  Businesses Using Twitter •  Twitter Do's and Don'ts

Interesting Twitter Facts: •  Twitter receives over 6 million

UMVs, doubled from Sept 08 with an average daily growth of approximately 10% from September to January 2009. An average of over 50% of Twitter traffic are repeat visitors.

•  According to Time Magazine, males make up over 60% of the Twitter demographic.

•  Usage is 40% in the United States and of the remaining 60%, 39% of that is in Japan

•  Twitter's largest age demographic is 35-to-44-year-olds who make up 25.9% of its users. Source: (This is up from a Jan 2009 Compete report)

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Using Twitter: What the Heck is Twitter?

Twitter is a microblogging platform composed entirely of 140 character answers to 1 simple question: “What are you doing?” or rather , “What are you interested in right now?”

Using Twitter: Effective Business Uses

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•  Tweet company news in short, manageable pieces – an effective strategy for reaching multi-tasking customers with ever shortening attention spans.

•  Tweet special offers or discounts for your Twitter “followers” to drive sales. •  Tweet from company and industry events to provide real time updates. •  Tweet questions or ideas about your business to get immediate feedback

from customers following you. •  Seek out customers tweeting about good and bad experiences with your

company. Thank your happy customers and try to resolve negative issues. •  Tweet about things that interest you, and have fun with it! Your customers

might appreciate getting to know you as a real person, not just a brand.

Share Your Experiences…

And Make a Sale…

Using Twitter: Effective Business Uses

Other Ways: •  Customer

Relations •  Crisis

Management •  Corporate

Reputation Management

•  Event Activation •  Issue Advocacy •  Product

Promotion and Sales

•  Internal Communication

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Using Twitter: Brand/Customer Monitoring

•  Customer Service

•  Customer Feedback

•  Customer Outreach

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@netsolcares

Shashi Bellamkonda at Network Solutions started @netsolcares in Sept 2008 to provide a new customer service channel

Using Twitter: Buzzwords

•  Follow: To friend someone (or follow their updates)

•  Direct Message (DM): Pseudo-email someone following you

•  “At” reply: Speak to someone directly in the public stream (@stevenfisher)

•  Re-tweet (RT): Repost content with credit

•  Block: Restrict access to updates •  # (hashtags): a kind of tag or

description – great for search


Twitter Tip #1: Engage the Audience

You can engage people on Twitter by doing the following things: •  SEE what other businesses are doing on Twitter •  USE Twitter search engines for keyword searches around

brands, products and topic of interest. •  FOLLOW Twitterers with similar interests to establish a brand

presence within conversation •  START a conversation •  DEDICATE time to Twitter. Having more than one employee

on Twitter will ensure an ongoing company presence. •  ASK questions and get feedback from your followers


Twitter Tip #2: Getting Followers the Right Way

•  Retweet content •  Talk directly to

people •  Link to outside

content •  Live tweet from

events •  Use hashtags •  Avoid using ALL

CAPS

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Followers are the people that click the “Follow” button on your page

Exercise #4: Set up Twitter

Exercise #4: Setting Up Your Own Twitter Profile

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IV: Blogging Basics

Blogging Basics: ROI of this Module

•  Learn what a blog is •  What business and

corporate blogging is •  Who and why people

are doing this •  What to write about •  Tips to Great Blogging

Blogging Basics: Definitions, just in case

•  A Journal, usually updated frequently, sometimes categorized

•  Usually links to other sites

•  Can support comments and some stateless interaction

•  Provides an XML feed, usually RSS (Really Simple Syndication)

Blogging Basics: Reasons to Blog

•  Improve Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

•  Gain Visibility as a Thought Leader

•  Generate Real Conversations

•  Display Brand Personality

•  Perform Market Research

•  Improve Customer Service

•  Share Company Announcements

Blogging Basics: What to Publish

•  Commentary on mainstream media articles, other blogs, news, events and relevant trends

•  Company News •  Case Studies

Ideal Blog Topics: •  Photos, Videos and Podcasts •  Conference notes •  Business Philosophy •  Tools, resources, tips, ideas, lists •  Awards, honors, PR, new employee,

new vendor, new system

Blogging Basics: Blog Buzzwords

•  Comment: Respond to blog post •  Link Love: Link to other blogs/sites (online

currency) •  Tagging: Adding words to describe blog

content •  Troll: Mean commenters (IGNORE THEM!) •  Blogroll: Links to favorite blogs •  Embed: Copy/paste media

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Blogging Basics: Getting Started

Take 15 minutes a day to write a blog post

  Find a topic   Keep it around 400 words or less

if possible   Write in short paragraphs. Not

more than six lines of text.   Write and embed any content

(pictures, videos)   Check copyrights and licensing

and give attributions   Preview Your Post   Publish or Schedule It

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Blogging Tip #1 – Increase Linkability

1.  Blogging 2.  White papers 3.  Thought pieces 4.  Flash demos 5.  2-way dialogue

Remember, the key is to have content that “engages” others and makes them want to link to your site.

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Blogging Tip #2 – Reward Inbound Links

1.  Who is linking to you and what are they saying?

2.  Track your inbound links 3.  Allow display of trackbacks 4.  Highlight people who write

about you 5.  Engage in conversations on

blogs that link to you

Blogging Tip #3 – Engage Your Readers

  Write in an authentic, human voice   Use meaningful titles   Publish on a regular basis. Target once a

week at minimum.   Enable and monitor your comments   Link to other sites   Be Passionate   Give credit where it’s due (pictures, text

quotes)   Syndicate and re-use text

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Blogging Tip #4 –Tag and Bookmark

  Adding quick buttons to "add to del.icio.us“   Making sure pages include a list of relevant tags   Adding tags to pages first on popular social sites

• A “tag” is just a word(s) that describe content.

• Tags that describe the content

• Easy to bookmark and add • to Social Media Sites

Blogging Tip #5 – Put Policies in Place

Put together some policies and guidelines like the following examples:   Topics in which The Company is involved in litigation or could in the future:

(i.e. policy, customer disputes, etc.)   Non-public information of any kind about The Company, including, but not

limited to, policies and strategy   Illegal or banned substances and narcotics   Pornography or other offensive illegal materials   Defamatory, libelous, offensive or demeaning material   Private/Personal matters of yourself or others   Disparaging/threatening comments about or related to anyone   Personal, sensitive or confidential information of any kind

Understand that when you or someone is talking about your company, not only does this reflect on you but if there are not clear guidelines, you could be at risk.

Great Post on Policies and Guidelines from Raj Malik http://blog.networksolutions.com/2009/sxsw-follow-up-corporate-social-media-guidelines/

Exercise #5: Write and Publish a Blog Post Using Wordpress

Wrapping Up

Final Thoughts

•  Listen first •  Conversation, not

publishing or broadcasting •  Be a useful

conversationalist •  Build relationships - one at

a time •  Take a Leap of Faith and

Jump In!

Four Things You Should Definitely DO

-  Create at Google Alert -  Pick a social network and sign and commit 30 minutes a

day to it – AND HAVE PATIENCE… -  Get two Twitter accounts – claim your own name and

your company name (also your company name sucks) -  Create your own blog or at the very least find three blogs

that you like and vists/subcribe to them and comment Reach Out to Us if You Have Questions Shashi Bellamkonda – The Social Media Swami [email protected] Twitter: shashib Steven Fisher – Small Business Evangelist [email protected] Twitter: stevenfisher

Resources

Books: The New Rules of Marketing & PR by David Meerman Scott Now is Gone by Geoff Livingston and Brian Solis Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff The Corporate Blogging Book by Debbie Weil Wikinomics by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams Meatball Sundae by Seth Godin

Web Sites: Google Alerts - http://www.google.com/alerts/ FaceBook – http://www.facebook.com LinkedIn – http://www.linkedin.com Yelp – http://www.yelp.com Twitter – http://www.twitter.com Wordpress – http://www.wordpress.org

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Questions? • http://www.flickr.com/photos/calavera/65098350/

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/vernhart/1574355646/