Turning Social Media Into Professional Networking

Jason HullPrincipal

OpenSource Connections

Building Your Personal Brand

Polly BlackSVP CMO

Bold Mouth, Inc.

What Is Social Media?

Social Media - [soh-shuhl mee-dee-uh] - Noun

People using decentralized, people-based networks to get the

things they need from one another rather than from traditional

institutions, like business or media

Most of Us Participate

10,000,000+ articles

5B views daily (average length 2.9 minutes)8 hours of video is uploaded every minute

10B photos 113,000,000 blogs

• 73% of active online users have read a blog• 39% subscribe to an RSS feed• 57% have joined a social network• 55% have uploaded photo

Social-networking sites are officially more popular than porn sitesTime Magazine

Show of HandsWho belongs to social networks?

– Linked In, FaceBook, Twitter

Who uses the internet to find out about products?– Search engines, blogs, reviews

Who subscribes to a site regularly?– RSS feeds for news, blogs

Who posts content?– Product reviews, blogs, videos, photos

Who has Googled their own name?

Building Your Personal Brand

Social Media is Changing our World

Social Media for Small Business

Relationship Building

with Your Consumer

Bryon Sabol

How are businesses using these platforms?

• Public Relations • Relationship building• Customer Service• Consumer Generated Media: Who’s

talking about you and why• Enhancing their brand presence on the

Internet

Blogging, Podcasts, Video• The most important PR tool for spreading good news

about your company.• Making it easy for people to find you and share your

information for you.• Brand yourself as the expert in your field.• Highlight topics of your success and expertise.• Increase your presence in markets you wouldn’t

consider otherwise.• If bad news arises, you have a collection of good

news to fall back on.

Successful Use of MediaDedeMed’s YouTube recipe videos receive over 2,500 views a day.

Facebook Fan Pages

• Communicate with everyone in your group.

• Invite people to be a part of your community.

• Create event pages.

Twitter & Customer Service• Comcast’s approach to Twitter.• Addressing issues online.

Consumer Generated Media

• We can’t prevent CGM, but we can guide positive feedback and make it more easily available.

• Create an environment for more positive feedback.

When CGM Turns Bad

• Companies need to know how to respond quickly and effectively.

• Set up Google Alerts.

• RSS Feeds of Twitter, Blog search results.

An Example of Limiting Bad Exposure

• An overzealous employee gets Room 214 accused of bullying teachers.

• The story gets commented on by Kevin Rose.

• Over 2,000 people see in an hour this story on Digg and Seesmic.

Room 214’s Quick Response

• The company responded immediately, apologizing on the sites where the bad exposure was occurring.

• Almost, immediately the statements spread and people on Digg and Seesmic began sticking up for the company.

• They turned bad PR into an opportunity that highlighted their company.

Benefits of Social Networks

• Social Networking allows the consumer to communicate with you in mediums they are comfortable using.

• Allows the consumer to reach out to you for relationship building.

• Link generation. Google and Yahoo recognizes “buzz” over the internet about websites and then rank them higher in search results.

• Allows consumers who are actively searching for a product to find you easier.

Social Networking at Work

Marijean Jaggers

Social Media Continuum of Tools

PublishConnect CollaborateDiscover

Connecting all of these tools and using them in the most effective, strategic ways possible extends your reach and helps build the community that supports your organization.

Social Media at Work

– Build business• Generate leads for your work

– Keep your network current– Review your connections to key people you want to

meet and with whom you’d like to do business– Ask for introductions (LinkedIn)– Read their Web sites or blogs, follow them on Twitter

and get to know them– Look at who is attending the same events, and reach

out to offer to save them a seat

– Let them get to know you and your business by integrating social media tools

– Create and find content of interest to their business and relevant to yours, and share it with them

– Be a connector and offer to introduce others that have synergy

– Create opportunities for IRL connections

Build Business with Social Media

Plug in and Be Valued

Use social media tools to:– Be smart about your industry, your community and

your business partners• Use a feed reader to stay on top of current news and

information that is relevant to your workplace• Share articles and blog posts using social bookmarking

tools such as Del.icio.us• Use Twitter to follow breaking news, thought leaders in

your industry and members of your community

Turning Social Media Into Professional Networking