Web 2.0 for Businesses

How You Can Use Social Media to Bring in Money & Promote Your

Brand

Kimberly L. SanbergDirector of Online Strategy, Ignitus

presentation for

Social Media Is Not

• A magic bullet for increasing sales

• Just a way to push out information

• Something to dive into without a strategy

• Just for teens and 20 somethings

• A fad that will go away

Social Media Is

A way to

• Talk to customers & get feedback

• Engage in conversation

• Try out product ideas

• Promote events

• Share resources

• Increase customer loyalty

Popular Tools At-A-Glance

• Flickr: photo sharing

• YouTube: video sharing

• Blogs: website content, engaging customers, casual conversation

• MySpace & Facebook: social networking, video sharing, photo sharing, events

• LinkedIn: professional networking

• Twitter: short messages, rapid networking

OMG! No way. She said

that?

OMG! No way. She said

that?

Check out our new product! What do you

think?

Check out our new product! What do you

think?

Social Media: How It Works

What Your Customers Expect Online: It’s Changed

• To have a voice

• To have their questions answered

• Transparency

• Honesty

• Ability to give feedback

• To engage in a conversation

What Your Customers Expect Online: How It Helps You

• Test product and marketing ideas

• Engaged customers are more loyal

• Your product and brand can spread virally via social media

Increased salesGreater brand recognition

Twitter: What Is It?

• A microblogging site

• Combination of AOL Instant Messenger, text messaging, & a blog

• 140 characters per tweet

twitter.com/Ignitus

Twitter: Who’s Using It

• Largest age demographic is 35-to-44-year-olds, who make up 25.9% of its users1

• Every day, 5-10 thousand Twitter accounts are created2

• It’s still growing

1 Time Magazine, August 2008 2 ComScore, December 2008

4.5 million unique visitors in December 2008

Compete 2009 siteanalytics.compete.com

Twitter: What It’s Good For

• Rapid networking

• Building relationships with customers

• Finding new customers

• Engaging in conversations about news items

• Staying on top of trends

• Getting feedback on products or ideas

Measuring Success on Twitter: Metrics to Monitor

• Number of followers

• Direct messages

• @ replies

• Retweets

• Tools to measure influence, eg TwitterFriends

Facebook: What Is It?

• A social networking site

• Where your customers are connecting with family, friends, and organizations

• Join groups, become come fans of businesses, donate money, send event invitations, share photos

Facebook: Who’s Using It

• 150 million active users

• Over half of Facebook users are outside of college

• Fastest growing age group is 30+

• 35-54 year old demographic is fastest: 276.4% growth rate in 6 months

• 55+ not far behind: 194.3% growth rate

Source: http://www.facebook.com/press

Facebook: What It’s Good For

• Creating an online community around your business

• Promoting events & products

• Engaging customers & getting feedback

• Promoting online contests

• Sharing videos & photos

• Building customer loyalty

Measuring Success on Facebook: Metrics to

Monitor

• Number of fans

• Number of wall posts

• Number of photos and videos added by fans

• “Likes”

• What fans are saying

LinkedIn: What is it?

• Social networking site for professionals

• Join networking groups

• Ask and answer peers’ questions

LinkedIn: Who’s Using It

• 60% of LinkedIn users have high incomes and hold executive-level or consultant positions

• 6% of adults use LinkedIn, 72% use other social networks (MySpace and Facebook)

• Average age: 41

• 64% male

http://www.web-strategist.com/

LinkedIn: What It’s Good For

• Answering questions

• Professional networking

• Joining and starting groups

• Recommending colleagues

• Publicizing events

• Posting job opportunities

Measuring Success with LinkedIn: Metrics to Monitor

• Connections

• Number and quality of recommendations

• Best answers

• Event RSVPs

• Number of people in your group

• Job applications

In Conclusion

Decide Which Social Media is Right for You

Think About…• Your marketing and sales

strategies

• Long-term plan and goals

• Time available to commit

• Staff involvement needed

• Your audience: Where are they? What do they want? Ask them.

Remember…• Engaged consumers are loyal customers

• A stellar presence doesn’t happen overnight

• Social media is about conversation: give and take

• Be prepared for criticism

• Everyone is new to social media

• It’s not going anywhere but up

Kimberly L. SanbergIgnitus, Inc.

Kimberly@ignitusinc.comhttp://ignitusinc.com

www.twitter.com/ignitus612.353.4358

View this presentation:

http://ignitusinc.com/presentations