Navigating Social MediaUsing Your Online Presence to Reach Out Inexpensively

by Lauren McSwain-StarrettFriday, March 19, 2010

Agenda• Are Vanity URLs Really Vain?• Ideas for Using Twitter at Work• Ideas for Using Facebook at Work• What Social Media Can Do Cheaply• Possible Costs & Benefits of Social Media• Where to Go From Here

Are Vanity URLs Really Vain?In a word, no! Why? SEO. (Search Engine Optimization.)

Search engines rank pages with relevant search terms in the URL higher.

• You’re more likely to get the traffic you want – and your searchers more likely to find the “real” you – if you reserve your vanity URL on every social media site.• Examples: facebook.com/you; twitter.com/you; slideshare.net/you; linkedin.com/you, etc.• Consistency across platforms helps.

Ideas for Using Twitter at Work

If email, phones, or the network are down,texts via Twitter can still get through.

• Inform about your organization’s news, press coverage, downtimes or closings, job openings, etc.

Twitter facilitates real-time conversations.• Facilitate group member discussions, customer service responses, etc.• Build a community during major events or conferences using agreed-upon hashtags (that way, all “tweets” on a topic can appear together)

Case Study: Twitter Use at UVaThe University of Virginia uses Twitter in many of these ways…

Ideas for Using Facebook at Work

• Communicate with employees/staff in Groups• Share news, press coverage, downtimes or closings, job openings, etc. in Status Updates• Offer another channel to dialogue/provide customer service with users on the Wall• Manage complete life cycle of events using Event Pages• Link related organizational Fan Pages together• Publicize services using targeted Ads

Case Study: Facebook Use at UVa

The University of Virginia uses Facebook in many of these ways…

EventsFan PagesAdvertising

Manage Life Cycle of EventsFrom sending out invitations, to managing RSVPs, to posting news before/during an event, to sharing stories and photos afterwards,you can do it all, from start to finish, using Events in Facebook! Here, UVa invited students to come to the Google Bus Tour.

Link Related Fan Pages TogetherHere, the University of Virginia’s main Fan Page uses “Favorite Pages” to link to other UVa-related Facebook pages that may be of interest to UVa “fans.”

Targeted Advertising on Facebook1) Make your ad using

Facebook’s simple Ads interface.

2) Use the super-targeting to reach exactly who you want. For example, here UVa tailors an ad to reach current students majoring in engineering. This Facebook ad will reach 200 UVa students.

3) Set up your pricing; it will be very inexpensive.

Targeted Advertising on Facebook,

cont.Facebook provides analytics info on how your ad performed so you can track what works and what doesn’t.

Here, in this ad (on the right), UVa got almost 13,000 impressions with 4 clickthroughs over just 4 days — all for just $3.00!

Advertising on Facebook is one of the least expensive ways your organization can reach out to your target audiences.

•Broaden your audience.▫Build awareness of your services▫Improve SEO (search engine optimization), ensuring

“the real you” is easily found▫Offer a place for a two-way dialogue with your users

•Extend your sphere of influence.▫Promote services, special events▫Maintain a recruiting channel to find needed talent▫Inform about industry news & trends, get advice

•Foster collaboration.▫Connect geographically separated people▫Share news, presentations, docs, images, resources

What Social Media Can Do (Cheaply)

Costs & Benefits of Social Media

• Benefits• Protect your brand• Be more easily findable

(Engaging with your users on the sites where they already are)• Conduct outreach a very low (or no) $ cost

• Possible Costs• Time, yes, but not money! Most tools are free and only

advertising costs; updating/monitoring do take time though.• Privacy, perhaps? Cautious use manages this.• Message control maybe? Negative comments and/or

misinformation can be carefully handled when they occur.

Where to Go From Here• If you’re prepared for the possible costs and ready to reap the many benefits, get your organization on social media, now!

• Use one or many platforms, alone or together, to reach out to your audiences very inexpensively. Just don’t fail to leverage a major communication tool.

• Reserve your vanity URL(s) if you haven’t already.