how social media can help your small business succeed

How Social Media Can Help Your Small Business SucceedSeptember 16th, 2014

SMB Business DevelopmentHootsuite Media, Inc.

@donjbaron

Don Baron

• What is Social Media and why is it important?

• Social Media Networks and Demographics

• Social Media Marketing Strategies & Tactics

• Social Media Sales/Support Strategies & Tactics

• Example Execution Plans

• References / Case Studies

Talk Overview

@donjbaron

The What’s and Why’s of Social Media

Social Media: Personal vs. Business

@donjbaron

Social Media: Personal vs. Business

@donjbaro

n

Social Media: Easy to start

Why Social Media?

Why Social Media?

Barrier to Entry

SPEND

AU

DIE

NC

E S

IZE

• Affordable and Effective Targeting

• Actionable

• Built in Advocate Amplification

• Casual

• Ubiquitous and Active

Social Media Engagement Characteristics

@donjbaron

Social Media Networks

http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/social-media-stats-2014_b54243

http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/social-media-stats-2014_b54243

Social Media Networks

Marketing Effort B2B vs B2C

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/SocialMediaMarketingIndustryReport2014.pdf

B2C B2B

Some more numbers

of online users rely on social media before making purchase decisions.http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/newswire/2012/how-connectivity-…

of consumers say they will change their shopping behavior in response to social media content.

of consumers rely on social media to influence their purchasing decision (ODM Group)

of consumers cite social networks as a way they discover new brands, products or services: http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Social-Media-Weaves-Its-Way…

46% 85% 74%

33%

Strategies:Marketing, Sales & Support

@donjbaron

Strategies – Marketing

VS

@donjbaron

Strategies – Choose Networks and Demographics

Strategies – Create a following

Strategies – Amplify your Success

Strategies – Drive traffic to your website

Strategies – Paid Marketing

Strategies – Be realistic about your spend

Strategies – Pick your best content

Strategies – Clear plan to conversion

Marketing Tactics

Marketing Tactics

@donjbaron

Marketing Tactics – Create an online presence

• Start with your webpage – this is still the cornerstone

• Find your voice and use it

• Let people engage you on your site

• Highlight your successes

Marketing Tactics – Create an online presence

@donjbaron

Marketing Tactics – Rich Content

• Use content that catches your audience’s attention

• Content doesn’t need to be you selling stuff – anything that makes the readers’ lives better, more productive, or just gives them a good laugh

• Encourage your customers to develop content / Contests

• Use #hashtags to attach to trends (#IceBucketChallenge, e.g)

Marketing Tactics – Create Rich Content

Marketing Tactics – Schedule and Streamline

• Spend an hour a week planning a social media calendar for that week

• Schedule content so you don’t have to be there when it posts!

• Use tools that allow you to post to more than one network at a time

• Use shortened links to track success (bit.ly, ow.ly , etc)

Marketing Tactics – Schedule and Streamline

@donjbaron

Marketing Tactics – Target Influencers

• Influencers have a bigger reach than you

• Get their attention / engage

• Use twitter lists to keep up with important people in your industry

• Look at the content that resonates with their followers – emulate

Marketing Tactics – Target Influencers

@donjbaron

Marketing Tactics – Listen Smartly

• Use tools that allow you to stream several social networks into one place

• If your business is local, use Twitter geo-searching

• Use lists to target specific users

• Create notifications on your mobile device to respond more quickly

Marketing Tactics – Listen Smartly

@donjbaron

Marketing Tactics – Paid Media

• Get specific about your target demographic. You know your customers, target them ! FB is especially excellent at targeting.

• Re-use content that’s worked for your organic reach, use analytics to help you optimize performance

• Consider retargeting technologies

• Read up on some best practices: http://blog.hootsuite.com/facebook-ads-twitter-ads-best-practices/

Marketing Tactics – Paid Media

Sales and Support – Two sides of the same coin

• Create a brand page on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, etc.

• Listen for twitter Keywords that indicate buying decisions or support questions , set up notifications on your phone.

• Listen locally / Listen topically

• Connect to your systems of record

• Commit !

Sales and Support

@donjbaron

Example Execution Plans

@donjbaron

• Upfront Effort

• Research (3-6 Hrs.)

• Startup (5-10 Hrs.)

• Recurring Options

• Light: 1-5 Hrs. / Week

• Involved: 5+ Hrs. / Week

A few models and commitment levels

@donjbaron

• Map your customers to knowledge of network demographics

• Find businesses like yours that are successful. Learn.

• Determine mix of Marketing/Selling/Support business goals

• Talk to an expert

• Be realistic

Research (3-6 Hrs)

@donjbaron

• Create a rich social rich profile on targeted social networks

• Create a landing page to collect email addresses

• Sign up for a productivity tool , mobile too.

• Follow/like 3 influencers, 3 customers, 3 competitors

• Fill your first content calendar

One Time Startup Effort (5 – 10 Hrs)

@donjbaron

• Research what’s new this week (new products/trends?)

• Fill your content calendar for the week , including 3 original pieces of content (could be just a tweet)

• Engage with 3 customers, 3 influencers each week

• Spend 10-15 minutes a day scanning

Ongoing work (1-5 hrs / week)

@donjbaron

• Decide whether to outsource or go in house

• Content!

• Develop a paid advertising strategy

• Run a monthly contest to build lists

• Spend 1 hr a day engaging (split AM/PM)

• Measure success

Ongoing work (5+ Hrs/Week)

@donjbaron

Reference

@donjbaron

Reference

Which networks are right for you / Getting started?http://blog.hootsuite.com/what-social-networks-should-you-be-on-twitter/http://blog.hootsuite.com/guide-to-getting-started-on-facebook-twitter-google/

Small Business Strategy and Successhttp://blog.hootsuite.com/save-time-and-resources-with-social-media-3-tips-for-small-businesses/http://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-for-business/http://blog.hootsuite.com/linkedin-for-small-business/http://www.slideshare.net/hootsuite/10-social-media-marketing-tips-for-small-businesseshttp://www.slideshare.net/hootsuite/smss-lookbookhttp://blog.hootsuite.com/facebook-ads-twitter-ads-best-practices/

Advanced Strategy: http://blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-create-a-social-media-strategy/http://www.slideshare.net/hootsuite/hootsuiteanalyticsbestpractice

@donjbaron

Thank You!

Don Baron@DonJBaron

www.hootsuite.com