go social with your business

Go Social with Your Business

TBDC Business Incubator ProgramJune 12, 2013

Marilyn KayCEO and Founder

Twitter: #smTBDC

Agenda

In other words....

• Why social media is essential

• Steps to determine what social media to use

• The big 7 social media platforms

• Tips for incorporating social media into your marketing

• Ways to measure your results

Why Social Media Is ESSENTIAL

CONNECTED Consumers

CONVERSATION not Broadcast

COMMUNITY not Campaigns

Social SHARING on THEIR TERMSImage: courtesy of photostock/FreeDigitalPhotos.net Image: Courtesy of Ambro/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Step 1: Ask, Listen and Learn

Ways to LISTEN

KNOW Your MARKET

KNOW What they THINK

Image: Courtesy photostock/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Images: Courtesy Ambro/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image: Courtesy Hartswood Films, BBC One. Image: Courtesy imagerymajestic/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

FRESH Content

customer SUPPORT

DEALS/Contests

EDuTainment

HOW Tos

What Do They NEED?

WHERE do they HANG out?

Where are your ideal customers?

Step 2: Decide Your SocialMedia Goals

•Get more profile?

• Expand your network?

•Get more leads?

•Get more ideas?

•Reinvent yourself?

WHAT Do YOU Want?

What are Your Goals?

Goals Identified by Businesses

Step 3: Decide Your Tool/s

Be WHERE your customers need you, WHEN they WANT you.

• Blog

• Twitter

• Facebook

• LinkedIn

• Pinterest

• YouTube

• Google+

Blog

Blogging PROS• 97% more Sales Conversions

• Share Tips, How Tos and Photos

• Improve SEO

•Build a List

• Show Who You are, Your Abilities/Services

•Need Regular Content

•Need Resources to find/create images and other content

•Need to Promote Readership

•Need to Encourage Engagement

Blogging CONS

Image: Courtesy of David Castillo Dominici/ FreeDigit alPhot os.net

Tumblr

Tumblr• FREE

• Very easy to use

• Free and Premium themes

• Emphasis on images

• Fastest growing blog platform

• Popular with millennials

Blogger• Free, secure platform• Easy to use

• Easier to add text

• Integrates with other social media

• Can monetize with AdWords

visit: http://www.accessprofilesblog.com/

WordPress.com - Free, but w/Limitations

WordPress.com

• FREE, secure platform

• Fairly easy to use

•Website + Blog

• Free and Premium Themes

•More social integration

•No monetization

WordPress - Host on Your Domain

Self-Hosted WordPress Site

• Fairly easy to moderately difficult to use

• Security and update responsibilities

•Website + Blog

•Unlimited functionality

•More social integration

•Can easily monetize

How could content marketing fit into your marketing mix?

Twitter - Pros• Quick sound bites

• Find out what people want

• Get ideas for development

• Develop relationships and conversation

• Promote your products

• Find new customers

• Fast customer support

Twitter - Cons

•Needs lots of care and feeding

•Needs timely responses

•Needs lots of work to get followers

•Quick sound bites

• Friends already on it

•Great for local businesses

• Engage with your fans

•Customer support

• Promote your business

•Cheap, Targeted Ads

•Contests

Facebook - Pros

https://www.facebook.com/funkywomandesigns

Facebook - Cons

• Friends aren’t guaranteed fans

• High maintenance: time and resources

• You must advertise or risk only 16% or less of fans seeing your posts

• Constantly changing

LinkedIn - Personal

•Network with Decision Makers

•Be an Expert

•Get Known in Search

•Get Referrals

• Promote Your Services/Products Image: Courtesy Ambro/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

LinkedIn - Company

• Promote your company

•Recruit employees

•Advertise products/ services

•Gain followers

LinkedIn - Cons

• Requires Completed Profile to be effective

• Requires Status Updates, active Group Participation, Replies, Offering and Seeking Recommendations

• Better for B2B than B2C

• Ads targeted, but more expensive than Facebook

Pinterest - Pros

• Easy to use

• Drives more traffic than Facebook or Twitter

• Easier contests than Facebook

• Growing quickly

• Ideal for visual products and services

• Can add prices to images

•Need to produce lots of great images and videos

•Need to really engage with fellow Pinners

•Need to verify your website for credibility and analytics

•Only one profile allowed

Pinterest - Cons

YouTube•More captivating

content

• Possibility to go viral

•Doesn’t take a lot of equipment

• Even the camera shy can create videos

YouTube - Cons•Need to learn video basics

•Need to have video camera (can be an iPhone) and mike, but a webcam and mike can also work

•Need to learn simple video editing

•Can require a lot of time to produce

•Must optimize and engage with commenters for best results on YouTube

Google + Pros•Google love and Google+

Local

• Share conversations

• Promote your authorship

• Promote your blog

•Hangouts connected to YouTube

•Collaborative features

Google+ Cons

• Linking Gmail accounts and YouTube can be tricky

•Reputation for Geeks

•Can be confusing to use

•Google+ Local can be problematic

Step 4: Plan and Schedule

Allocate Your RESOURCES

49% of Small Businesses have increased their time spent on

social media in 2013

Manta's Q1 SMB Wellness Index, April 2013

Create a Content Calendar

•Weekly

•Monthly

•Holidays

• Special Events

Set Up a Daily Routine

Schedule and Manage Content

Crisis Plan

Social Media Policy

Step 5: Measure and Tweak

MEASURE More Than “Likes”

MEASURE More than Likes

Analytics Tools

Look at your goals. Decide what you will measure. Then measure.

Questions?

Free Guides

http://triskeleconsulting.com/get-your-free-social-media-strategy-template/

http://triskeleconsulting.com/get-free-linkedin-profile-guide/

http://triskeleconsulting.com/get-your-free-web-presence-assessment-guide/

Marilyn Kay

CEO and Founder

marilyn@triskeleconsulting.com

http://triskeleconsulting.com

Twitter: @triskeleweb

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/triskeleconsulting