Introduction to Internet and Social Media Tools

Introduction

• What is Introduction to Internet and Social Media Tools?

A seminar class for basic knowledge of what internet and social media tools are and how they can be used for the benefit of your business.

• Who is this guy that is telling us this stuff?

Goals of the Seminar

• Basic understanding of the terminology of the internet and social media.

• Building a foundation to make good decisions about website development and social media.

• Begin preparation to set up a basic website.

Who are you?Please introduce yourself, your business (if you

have one), and what you would like to get out of our time together.

Support Materials

• Course Website: http://sbdcinternetmarketingintro.weebly.com/

• Handouts

• Worksheets

Main Topics

• Marketing Strategy

• Branding/Identity

• Know your tools

• Websites

• Social Media

• Direct Marketing

• Online Strategy

Marketing Strategy

Marketing Strategy

• Creating an Identity/Brand

• Know your internet based tools

• Choosing your tools

• Online Strategy

Identity

• What do you do or sell?

• What makes you different from the competition?o Look at the best practices of competition.o What are they not doing?

• Key words describe your company

• Tag Line

• Logo

Definition: Brand

• Any brand is a set of perceptions and images that represent a company, product or service.

• While many people refer to a brand as a logo, tagline or audio jingle, a brand is actually much larger.

• A brand is the essence or promise of what will be delivered or experienced.

Branding

• At the end of the day, all branding is founded upon telling customers who you are, what you do and how you do it.

• The ways in which you do it can be different than the way other companies do it, but the goals are always the same.

• Resource - Marketing 101

Brand Visuals

• Logo

• Colors

• Fonts

• Pictures

Tools Overview• Basic Online Presence

o Directories, Yellow Pages, Google Places

• Websiteso Basic, Informational, eCommerce, Communications

• Social Mediao Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Linkedin, Pinterest

• Advertisingo Banner ads, Google AdWords

• Direct Marketingo Email Marketing, Newsletters

Online Tools

Basic Web Presence

• Google Places

• Local Directories

• Internet Yellow Pages

Google Places

• Free online business listings by Google

• http://www.google.com/places/

• Examples

• Google AdWords Express

• Business Photos

• SmartPhone Apps

Local Directories

• Local Directories are online business listings

• http://flagstaff.findlinks.com/

• http://flagstaff.areaconnect.com/

• http://flagstaffcentral.com/

Yellow Pages

• Internet Yellow Pages have a wider scope

• www.yellow.com/

• www.localpages.com/yellowpages/

• www.yellowpages.com/

• www.superpages.com/

• www.internetyellowpages.com

eCommerce Sites

• Amazon Stores

• eBay Stores

• Etsy

• Artfire

Websites

Definition: WebsiteA website, also written as Web site, web site, or

simply site, is a set of related web pages containing content (media) such as text, images, video, audio, etc.

Abbreviation of Uniform Resource Locator (URL) it is the global address of documents and other resources on the World Wide Web.

• ftp://www.pcwebopedia.com/stuff.exe

• http://www.pcwebopedia.com/index.html

Definition:URL

• An identifier for a computer or device on a TCP/IP network. Just like a street address for computers and network devices.

• Networks route messages based on the IP address of the destination.

o 192.168.1.22 - internal network address

o 24.121.185.13 - intenet address

Definition: IP Address

• Domain names are used to identify one or more IP addresses. For example, the domain name microsoft.com represents about a dozen IP addresses.

• Domain names are used in URLs to identify particular Web pages.

• Domain names also can identify connected email addresses

Definition: Domain Name

• Web servers are computers that deliver (serves up) Web pages.

• Every Web server has an IP address and possibly a domain name.

Definition: Web Servers

• Short for HyperText Markup Language, the authoring language used to create documents on the World Wide Web.

• HTML defines the structure and layout of a Web document by using a variety of tags and attributes.

Definition: HTML

A Web host is in the business of providing server space, web services and file maintenance for web sites controlled by individuals or companies that do not have their own Web servers.

Examples

• http://www.godaddy.com/

• http://www.1and1.com/

• http://webhostinggeeks.com/

Definition: Hosting

• Brainstorm 5 Top Keywords

• Make the Domain Unique

• Only Choose Dot-Com Available Domains

• Make it Easy to Type

• Make it Easy to Remember

• Keep the Name as Short as Possible

Choosing a Domain Name - Do's

• Avoid Copyright Infringement

• Reject Hyphens and Numbers

• Don't Follow the Latest Trends

• Don't make it too long

• Don't get too cute

Choosing a Domain Name - Don'ts

• Brainstorming

• Use a Domain Selection Tool

• http://sixrevisions.com/resources/12-excellent-tools-for-picking-a-domain-name/

Choosing a Domain Name - Tools

• Home Page

• About Us

• Contact Us

• Products/Services

• Blog/News

• Site Map

• Sign up for email list

Basic Website Structure

Worst Practices

• Huge, unbroken paragraphs of text

• Too many links/sections

• No clear function

• No call to action

• Pages which are half-done or half-thought

• No Pictures

• http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/

Best Practices

• Text

• Visuals

• Structure

• Navigation

• Examples o http://www.designshard.com/inspiration/25-examples-of-clean-and-well-designed-web-sites/

o http://inspiredm.com/10-inspiring-small-business-websites-that-set-new-webdesign-standards/

o http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/galleries/ecommerce-websites/

• Clear, concise writing

• Clear fonts - basics - Sans Serif, Times,

• Large enough to see

• White space

• Break up into smaller paragraphs

• Not everyone is a writer

Best Practices:Text

• File Formats - .JPG or .GIF and .PNG

• Resolution

• File Size - keep it small as possible

• Tag Pictures

Best Practices:Pictures

• Clear and Simple

• Not too many clicks

• Site Map

• Worst Practices

Best Practices:Navigation

• Professional vs DIY

• Templates

• SiteBuilders

Website Development

DIY Advantages

• Ownership of domain name

• Control

• No fees for updating

• Bring more of your own "feel" to it

Advantages

• Professional

• Can help with pictures and text

Disadvantages

• Costly

• Less Control

• Updating

Professional Web Developers

Key Point: Domain Control

• Make sure you own your domain name not the web developer

• Site Builders

• Word Press

• Dreamweaver or Alternatives

DIY Web Design Tools

• Template oriented sites

• Easy to use (usually)

• Great place to start and learn with

• Prepares you if you ever end up working with a

professional

• Example

o Weebly

Site Builders

• Blogging platform that is also used for building

websites.

• Template based

• Flexible platform with many extensions

• Always changing

• Can be "broken"

• Not "easy"

Word Press

• Installed software

• Costs to buy

• Need to have hosting

• Not for the beginner

• Alternatives

Dreamweaver

• Formatted for small screens

• Simple Navigation

• Fewer Pictures

• Can be separate sites

Mobile Websites

• A word used by a search engine in its search for relevant Web pages.

• Every time you do a google search, you are using key words.

Definition:Key Words

Definition: Search Engine

• Search engines are programs that search documents for specified keywords and returns a list of the documents where the keywords were found.

• The term is often used to specifically describe systems like Google, Bing and Yahoo! Search that enable users to search for documents on the World Wide Web.

• Short for search engine optimization, SEO is the process of increasing the amount of visitors to a website by obtaining a high-ranking placement in the search results page of a search engine (SERP).

• The higher a website ranks in the results of a search, the greater the chance that that site will be visited by a user.

Definition: SEO

Web analytics is a generic term meaning the study of the impact of a website on its users.

• How much traffic?

• How did the user get there?

• How long did they stay?

• What did they look at?

Web Analytics

Google Analytics

• Google Analytics lets you measure sales and conversions.

• It also gives insights into how visitors use your site, how they arrived on your site, and how you can keep them coming back.

• http://www.google.com/analytics/

Web Design I

• Using Weebly

• Templated

• Hands on

• Will leave with a basic website

Social Media

Definition: Social MediaSocial media is the buzzword that is used to

describe a variety of Web-based platforms, applications and technologies that enable people to socially interact with one another via the Web.

Definition: UGCUser Generated Content - posts, responses,

blogs, twitter, reviews, and so on...

Social Media Platforms

• Blogging

• Facebook

• Twitter

• Linkedin

• YouTube

• Google +

• Pinterest

• Other Online communities

• (n.) Short for Web log, a blog is a Web page that serves as a publicly accessible personal journal for an individual. Typically updated daily, blogs often reflect the personality of the author.

• (v.) To author a Web log.

• Other forms: Blogger (a person who blogs).

Definition: Blogging

• Blogger

• WordPress

• Tumblr

• 10 Top Blogging Platforms

Blogging Platforms

• Connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them.

• People use Facebook to keep in touch with friends, post photos, share links and exchange other information.

• Businesses use Facebook to connect with customers.o http://www.facebook.com/KickStandKafeo http://www.facebook.com/Fizz.Bath.Shop

FaceBook

• A free social messaging tool that lets people stay connected through brief text message updates up to 140 characters in length.

• Twitter is based on you answering the question "What are you doing?"

• 575,600,000 Accounts

• Actual users??

• Twitter.com

Twitter

• LinkedIn is a professional, business-oriented social networking site. Users can create a profile that is akin to a resume.

• Companies also can have profile information and ties to their employees.

• Professional groups are a big part of Linkedin.

Linkedin

• Video Channels

• Can be creative outlet

• Informational

• Event Footage

• YouTube.com

YouTube

• Social media platform similar to FaceBook

• Not been a huge success

• Still new and may grow extensively

• https://plus.google.com

Google+

Pinterest

• Pinterest uses a system of "boards" which is a collection of photos on any topic you choose to pin about.

• On the Pinterest website the word pin is used to mean any image added to Pinterest, while the word board means a set of pins.

• Del.icio.us

• Digg

• Wikipedia

• Yelp

Other Online Communities

Direct Marketing

• Email Marketing

o Direct Marketing

o Newsletters

• Online Advertising

Direct Marketing

• A type of direct digital marketing that uses electronic mail as the marketing communication delivery method.

• Email marketing is used for brand and customer loyalty building, acquiring or converting customers, company advertisements, or for communicating promotional offers and more.

Email Marketing

• Electronic junk mail or junk newsgroup postings. Some people define spam even more generally as any unsolicited e-mail.

• Real spam is generally e-mail advertising for some product sent to a mailing list or newsgroup.

Definition: Spam

• A term that refers to promotional e-mails that have been requested by the individual receiving them.

• Unlike spam, opt-in e-mails are only sent to people who specifically request them.

Definition: opt-in emails

• Constant Contact

• Mail Chimp

• Vertical Response

Email Marketing Platforms

• Do not spam!

• Do not buy lists.

• Build your lists but allow to opt out.

Email Marketing Tips

• Google Words

• Banner Ads

• FaceBook Ads

Online Advertising

Google AdWords

• AdWords (Google AdWords) is an advertising service by Google for businesses wanting to display ads on Google and its advertising network.

• The AdWords program enables businesses to set a budget for advertising and only pay when people click the ads.

• Direct ads placed on specific websites

• Can work if you know other sites that your

clients might go to

Banner Ads

• Direct ads placed within Facebook

• Can be targeted by geographics and

demographics

• Not sure how effective they are

FaceBook Ads

Online StrategyPulling it all together

Digital TraditionalMarketing

Mix

SEO, Ads, Blogs, Social Media, Mobile,

Feeder Sites

Traffic to Master Website or

Facebook Page

ACTION

INTEREST

AWARENESS

Print/Ads, TV/Radio, Events/Expos, Telesales.

other

MANY

SOME

FEW

REPEAT CLIENTS/CUSTOMERS

Posting, responding to posts, polling, specials, reviews

Online Strategy

Engagement

Building an online strategy 1• Define your outcome. Exactly what business

purposes and online objectives do you want to achieve?

• Identify your traffic sources. Who do you want to visit your site, and how will they find your business online?

• Create focused content. What kind of content will best serve your purposes – and where will it come from?

Building an online strategy 2

• Plan your Web presence. Which online properties – website, blog, newsletter, social network – will you use to create relationships with your targeted audience?

• Track and test your results. How will you track and test your online efforts to get better business results?

Choosing your "tools"What are the tools that your company will use?

The main tools of the trade are:

• Website

• Social Media

• Direct Marketing

The mix of tools and use of each is a part of your strategy.

Wrap up and what's next

• Website 1

• Bring your stuff - Checklist

• Follow up