Using Social Media To Build A Business and Your Brand

Alex Lawrence: Vice Provost – Weber State University

Twitter: @_AlexLawrence (underscore before my name)

LinkedIn: /AlexOnLinkedIn

Facebook: /AlexLawrence

Blog: StartupFlavor.com

http://www.slideshare.net/alexanderlaw/kane-county

Street Cred

Founder/Partner -- 9 companies (Sold 8) including #34 (USA) and #1 (Utah) on the Inc. 500

Raised $20m+ from banks, angels and VC’s

51,000+ Twitter Followers (#7 in Utah)

5,000+ Facebook Friends (public account)

50,000+ Blog Readers/Subscribers (active again in 2011)

3,000+ LinkedIn Connections

1,000+ mobile apps downloaded

Average 1,300+ clicks per link and 100K+ views per post

Which Networks and Profiles?LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube & FourSquare

50M Users Put In Perspective

Facebook

iPod

Internet

Radio

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

Years

Twitter Stats

500M registered users

Adding 500,000 new accounts per day

300 million unique visitors per month

200 million tweets per day

1.2 billion tweets per week

Largest VC raise in history = $800M

Facebook Stats

850+ million active users (log on once a month)

50% of all users log on once per day (est. 500m+)

Average user =130 friends

350 million active mobile users per month

1 billion people logged in at same time

30 billion pieces of content/mo. (links, news, photos)

70% of Facebook users are outside of the United States

Instagram Stats

Photos only – social network

15 million users & 400 million photos uploaded in first 18 months

80% of all users applied filters

Took Flickr 2 years to get to 100 million photos

Was only on iOS! Just recently Android

Just now up to 14 employees

Sold last week to Facebook for $1 Billion (with a ‘B’)

Mobile Market Stats

Average teen sends 1500 texts per month

76% of all phone subscribers use texting

8 trillion texts sent in 2011

USA -- 18% smartphone market In 2009, 44% in 2011

Over 500,000 iPhone apps, 37% are free

5 years (or less), mobile internet access > desktop access

23% of Time Online (US) = Social

Twitter and Facebook Users:

27% check status and post updates 10+ times per day

40% post updates while driving

30% use while on dates

64% post updates at work

Advertising $ Follow Eyeballs

1999 2009

Global Internet Ad Revenue

$55MM $106B

Ad Revenue Per User $9 $86

Global Internet Users

6MM 2.2B

How Do I Use Social For Business?

Be yourself

Don’t do or say something you wouldn’t mind sharing with an employer, partner or investor

Customers talk to each other online – a lot

It’s not a commercial

Real photos, custom backgrounds, detailed info

Be yourself

Control Your Brand Or Someone Else Will

Due diligence on you via social – billboard worthy?

Can you connect with customers?

Talk to people you wouldn’t normally have access to Mark Suster (iActionable intro) Hank Haney (golf tips from Tiger Woods coach) Robert Scoble (introduction to potential partner) Chad OchoCinco (cell phone number) CBR Venture Capitalist ($20M raise) Scott Anderson (Zion’s Bank CEO)

Convinced? Ok, At Least Try…

LinkedIn is a MUST 100% profile complete Use current photo Make sure everything is accurate Get recommendations Actively seek out connections in areas related to interests Investors, employers and partners will check you out here Paid account shows you who looks at your profile Keep it up to date IT IS YOUR RESUME

Activity Equals Influence

Either in or out

Insincerity is obvious

Listen to and talk about/with others

Time – no quick fix, no quick results

Social Signals SEO value Rankings Clicks Customers

Suggestions and Tools

Send out using a scheduling tool like Bufferapp.com

**Connect other networks (Twitter to LinkedIn, etc.)

Be sure to reply to people where they replied to you

Use a mobile application to share “live” updates

Setup keyword searches and join conversations

It’s not all about you

Suggestions and Tools

Tweetdeck (multi-network)

NutshellMail (daily email summary)

Google+ (many leaving to focus solely on this network)

Twentyfeet.com (analytics)

Crowdbooster (analytics/suggestions)

Tweetlogix and Tweetbot for mobile

Where and What?

Which networks don’t you like, know of or understand? FourSquare Facebook Twitter Youtube Instagram Tumblr Google+ Klout Others?

Takeaways

Social media is not a toy for kids

It is not a fad

If you aren’t actively engaged now, you are behind

Partners, investors, employees & customers are there

The great equalizer – influencers can be you

You will need to use it for most businesses

Thank You!

@_AlexLawrence on Twitter

Email: alexanderlawrence @ weber.edu

Facebook.com/AlexLawrence

Linkedin.com/in/AlexOnLinkedIn

Blog: StartupFlavor.com