Social Media 105: How to Build a Community of Brand Advocates

Michelle Hummel CEO of…

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The Future of the Internet is Social

Google+“Google+ invites were being

sold on eBay for up to $27 each!”

Players may change but you MUST learn how to adjust

Start now or you will be behind by your competitors

Why Social Media?

How do you keep up with social media trends?

2nd most visited website750,000,000 users

worldwide57% female 47% maleFastest growing

demographic 35+

The Big Players – Facebook

Do you have a Personal Facebook Profile? Credits: Amodiovaleria Verde

30 billion pieces of content shared each week: web links, new stories, blogs posts, notes, photo albums etc.

3.5 million events created each month

1.5 million local businesses have Facebook fan pages

Facebook Content Review

Do you have a Facebook Fan Page?

3rd most visited website35 hours of video footage is

uploaded to the site ever minute

Demographic is 18-54 Millions of clips are marked

as “favorite” Millions of people subscribe

to channels every day

The Big Players – YouTube

Do you have a YouTube Channel? Credits: Amodiovaleria Verde

9th most visited website 80% of Twitter usage is

outside of Twitter…people update anywhere, anytime…imagine what that means for bad customer experience

The average number of tweets per hour is around 1.3m

The Big Players - Twitter

Source: Socialnomics author Erik Qualman

Do you have a Personal and/or Business Twitter?

13th most visited website 101 Million Members

Worldwide41.1% female and 58.9%

maleFastest growing

demographic 35+80% of companies are using

LinkedIn to find employees

The Big Players - LinkedIn

Credits: Amodiovaleria Verde

How do use LinkedIn to benefit your company?

Officially launched on May 2003

Operates in over 200 countriesOver 52% of LinkedIn

members are located outside of the US

Used by 69 of the Fortune 100 companies

More than 1 Million companies have LinkedIn Company Pages

LinkedIn Facts

Credits: Amodiovaleria Verde

Blog should be part of your website

Drive traffic with original content

Content is critical even more now with Google+

WordPress is one of the best blogging platforms

Do You Have a Social Media Hub?

Do you have a Blog? Does it live on your website?

Fresh Content, you must be writing and posting new blogs for SEO

Social Content, you must be providing interesting content others will enjoy and share

Easy to share, do you provide your visitors easy ways to share, like, download and/or retweet your content?

Is your site “Social Media Friendly”?

Is your content easily shareable?

The most popular CMS in use today

Powering nearly 8.5% of all websites

10,000+ plugins available100+ million total plugins

downloaded13+ million total downloads of

WordPress at a rate of approx. 2 per second

WordPress Fun Facts

*Data compiled by Chase Granberry of Authority Labs Search rank Monitoring http://www.authoritylabs.com

Famous Brands Like: Playstation MTVLexuseBayCNN NASA FordSony People

Who is using WordPress?

How do I build a Community with Social Media?

Questions To Ask Yourself

Have you created a LinkedIn group for your business?

Have you created a Facebook group?

Does your Facebook business page create relationships?

Social media has great potential to create a sense of community around your business

Have you created a community platform?

Community Needs A Leader

A great community needs a strong leader

Clearly define the purpose of your community

Individuals want to connect with other like-minded members

A good community will attract customers, influence and opportunities

Entreprenuer’s Advice Club

Do you think of yourself as a leader?

Listen, Communicate & Respond

Respond quickly to commentsEngage by asking questions, and

posing topics for discussionCustomers want to know that

they are helping to shape the products you provide

They want to know that you’re thinking about them

Online ResourceSendSocialMedia.com

Invite Members to Connect

Select members to join special groups and send them a personal invite – make them feel special

Introduce them to other community members

A strong community is a powerful tool of influence for building your business & helping others

Online ResourceLinkedIn Invitations

Community Building Ideas

Invite them to join and participate in your special community events, groups, programs and broadcasts

Ning Social Network LinkedIn Group Facebook GroupMembership WebsiteUstream live chatBlogTalk RadioFan of the Month Club

How Can I Turn My Community Members Into Brand Advocates?

Identify Influential Brand Advocates

Connectors - act as human bridges making connections and help to inspire business ideas

Mavens - seen as experts, help other people make informed decisions, the "go to" people

Salespeople - persuasive in selling, influential to peers

Do any of your customers fit these descriptions?

Brand Advocate Facts83% more likely to share

information about a product than typical web users

75% more likely to share a great product experience

3x’s more likely to share product opinions with someone they don’t know

2.5 times more likely to use social media to expand their social circle

Could you use a few more Brand Advocates?

Why are they important?

These are the people you want as customers! 

They will help you make connections and give you referrals

You need to actively identify, inform, nurture and reward them

Ultimately you want to create vocal "brand fans" who will spread authentic, positive word-of-mouth

A Few Of My Brand Advocates

Jim Terenski, promoted to admin of WMU LinkedIn group he promotes and recruits new members every day!

Terea Jennings, promoted to admin of the “Facebook Pioneers” group and she is recruiting more members every day!

Paul Chaney, Author of “The Digital Handshake” major social media influencer

Know your Brand Advocates

Get to know their businessCan you send them referrals?How can you help them?Don't assume if someone is a

Brand Advocate that they will stay one

You have to keep earning their respect and referrals

How can you help your Brand Advocates?

Thank Your Brand Advocates

Send them a handwritten note, invite them to lunch, and contact them within a few days, not several weeks later

If you want Brand Advocates to make more positive posts on social media – be sure to thank them for the ones they've already made

People do more of what they are rewarded and recognized for!

Are you thanking your Brand Advocates?

Ask for Referrals

Ask them to post a review on Google Places, Yelp, TripAdvisor, LinkedIn and any other sites for your industry

Give them your business cards so they can share with people they know 

Do you ask your brand advocates for referrals?

Employees Inspire Brand Advocates

Fastest way to create Brand Advocates is to create employees that love the company they work for

Employees naturally share positive word of mouth and deliver exceptional customer experiences 

They share every idea they have to help the company and it's products/services to thrive! 

Are your employees Brand Advocates? 

Bring Your Brand Advocates Together

Create a customer advisory group Host events to get your Brand

Advocates togetherInvite the media so they can hear

why they love your brand!Build relations with your Brand

Advocates + build employee morale + generate customer testimonials for marketing 

How can you get your Brand Advocates together?

Brand Advocates Love Promo Items

Brand Advocates love to promote your company logo

Make it a reward for themOffer your promo items for sale

on your websiteEasily identify your true Brand

Advocates when they buy your promo items

Thank them for supporting your brand!

Do you offer promotional items for your brand?

Special Customer Contact

Brand Advocates should feel important and special

You want them to know about new services, important changes, events and positive media first

Send personal email communications

Do you make your Brand Advocates feel special?

Takeaways

How can you build a community with social media?

How can you acquire more Brand Advocates?

What can you do to continue inspiring and rewarding your current Brand Advocates?

Continuing Education

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Social Media Toolkits Directory Social Media Case Studies Library Social Media Book Reviews Social Media 40 Chapter Book 8 Modules of Social Media Video Training Social Media National Events Calendar Access to all my recorded Webinars Ability to get Social Media Certification

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Questions and Answers

What questions can I help answer?

Thank you for participating!

Michelle Hummel

Web Media University

http://www.WebMediaUniversity.com

Phone: 513-204-9324

michelle@webmediauniversity.com