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Keynote address from the Women Business Owner's conference, Oct. 21, 2009
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Using Social Media for Business Development
Tish GrierSocial Media Strategist & Consultant
413-265-1500
What is social media?
Social media are forms of communication designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques.
What does social media do? Social media supports the human need for
social interaction, using Internet-based technologies to transform broadcast media monologues (one to many) into social media dialogues (many to many).
The whole point of social media is… Social media supports the democratization of
knowledge and information, transforming people from content consumers into content producers. Businesses also refer to social media as user-generated content (UGC) or consumer-generated media (CGM).
“Blogs are little First Amendment machines”—Jay Rosen, NYU
Many Social Media Tools
Blogging Platforms
Microblogging
Photo Sharing
Social Bookmarking
“Crowdsourced” product reviews
Ning Networks & Communities
Social Networking sites& communities
Even more tools! MySpace YouTube, Vimeo, BlipTV Wikis Podcasts Open Source CMS: Drupal & Joomla Etc., etc., etc.
Conclusion: Social Media is ubiquitous and the tools are free….
This is a major boon to new business owners and entrepreneurs!
More tools + More opportunities =
More Confusion!
Perhaps it’s a lack of knowledge on what social media can do for a business….
A recent study conducted by Citibank Small Business division found the following:
86% have not used social networking sites for information nor business advice
42% using their websites for lead gen 28% using email marketing 25 % using online advertising
Social Media can help you do the following…. Establish a web presence: make a website using blog
software Easier to connect directly with customers through
Twitter Recruiting via social networking sites Conduct basic market research on Facebook &
Twitter Stimulate lead generation Increase employee collaboration via wikis, Google
Docs & Google Wave
How a really big business successfully uses social media
A Small Business Social Media Case Study
What does the Hair Factory need from social media?
More visibility in Google Increased product awareness New Customers! Online advertising—move away from
expensive print advertising Increased customer interaction with company
Suggested the following A blog to increase Google results Facebook & Twitter to connect with
customers, offer promotions, Facebook for ads and customer service Twitter for customer service, customer
awareness
IMPORTANT: Social Media is a long-term strategy—not a hit and run strategy!
“You have to be in it to win it”
Results so far… Facebook & Twitter are maintained daily Increase in Catalog requests Increase in newsletter signups Increased positions on First Page Google Results Referring pages from Facebook up in Sept to
18.3% from 7.9% in August Decided to forego a blog at this time.
If you are considering social media What do you need: a website? Customers?
Brand awareness? Create a social media strategy—consider
linking with a word-of-mouth mktg strategy Consider different tools and how to use them Execute Maintain Measure and compare
Results from Social Media takes time to cultivate
And it’s worth it!
Thank You!