Social Media For Small Businesses - Spring 2015

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� Why Use it? � We’ll cover

•  Facebook •  Twi9er •  LinkedIn •  Pinterest •  Google+ •  Blogs

Social Media

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Why use it?

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It’s the new SEO � Social Media OpJmizaJon (SMO) is the new SEO, or rather two halves of a whole.

� SMO is the distribuJon of social objects (videos, blog posts, tweets, Facebook updates) so that they’re opJmized to rise to the top of any related search query, where and when it is performed.

� Social media is included in Google’s algorithm for search engine results: Google+ key

� SEO + SMO = Amplified findability in the tradiJonal and social web.

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It’s Huge � Facebook: 1.15 billion acJve users � Twi9er: 500 million acJve users � LinkedIn: 238 million users � YouTube: 1 billion users (4 billion views per day!) � Pinterest: 70 million users � Google+: 300 million monthly users � Blogs: 66 million blogs, 346 million people readers each day

6 www.marketingtechblog.com




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It’s Growing � As of January 2014, 74% of all online adults use social networking sites.

�  For adults ages 18-‐29, 89% of them use social networking sites.

�  For adults ages 30-‐49, 82% of them do. �  For adults ages 50-‐64, 65% of them do �  For adults ages 65+, 49% of them use social networking sites.

(Pew Research Center)

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It’s Real-‐Time �  Reveal the human side of a company, give it personality �  Provide useful informaJon that people won’t get elsewhere (or at least not as quickly)

�  Respond to comments, complaints, requests real-‐Jme � Have a plaeorm for announcing news, promoJons, events

� Generate new business leads

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Gefng Started � Map out your strategy � Define your business goals and objecJves for social media

�  Increase sales, brand awareness, engagement, drive traffic to your website, create a community on your page

�  IdenJfy your compeJJon and what disJnguishes you from your compeJJon

� Define target audiences and key messages � Define categories/topics for social media updates

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Gefng Started �  Create your plan – align with off-‐line markeJng calendar �  IdenJfy the most important keywords for your business. Use these consistently in all posts, tweets, updates.

�  Set-‐up your profiles and pages and start posJng �  Ensure you have a consistent design/branding across all plaeorms

� Measure and adjust – traffic, comments, leads, etc.

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Social Media Plan �  Listen to what’s already out there:

�  Set-‐up Google Alerts for all your keywords, your compeJtors, your own company name, your personal name, etc.

�  Use Social MenJon to search social media for menJons of your organizaJon / compeJJon

�  Use Google Search and Google Blog Search to find bloggers and other content creators in your space

�  Use Muck Rack to find journalists

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Social Media Plan �  Create your Content Calendar For PosJng

�  Define 5-‐6 content categories �  Set-‐up a 3-‐month calendar �  Add your key offline events and any milestones, holidays, etc.,

�  Align with your markeJng calendar �  Content should be a mix of original content/images, news updates and curated content/images

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Social Media Plan �  Set-‐up Google AnalyJcs to monitor web traffic � Measure and adjust – traffic, comments, leads, etc. �  Set-‐up and use a dashboard (Hootsuite, etc.) to manage your social media updates

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Why Use Facebook �  Increase visibility �  Connect with customers �  Increase engagement �  Promote your brand �  Create a community �  Promote and manage events � Give back to loyal customers through special offers and discounts

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Engage and grow your following � Write interesJng and relevant posts will encourage followers to engage with your posts �  Liking, commenJng and sharing are important �  Facebook uses the level of engagement to determine how many people see your posts

�  Reveal the human side of your organizaJon, give it personality

�  Provide useful informaJon that people won’t get elsewhere (or at least not as quickly)

�  Respond to comments, complaints, requests real-‐Jme � Have a plaeorm for announcing news, promoJons, events

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Engage and grow your following � Hold contests/sweepstakes/giveaways/refer-‐a-‐friend � Upload and invite your email list �  Invite your friends �  Run Facebook Ads

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Engage and grow your following �  Build community and it will grow organically

�  Join relevant Facebook groups �  Contact the group owners and ask if they’ll cross promote �  Post on other relevant, related FB pages

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Facebook -‐ Gefng Started

http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php

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Facebook -‐ Gefng Started

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Twi9er � Microblogging site that enables users to send and read other users’ updates (known as tweets)

�  Text based posts �  160 characters total �  20 for username, 140 for message text

� Updates appear on the user’s profile page and are delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them (followers)

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Twi9er � An informaJonal tool – provides informaJon to others � A conversaJonal tool – respond to other people’s tweets and engage in dialogue

� Great way to network and communicate with new and old contacts

�  You choose the message, not the recipient

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Twi9er -‐ DefiniJons �  Tweet -‐ When you hit send on your 140 characters on twi9er it’s called a tweet or tweeJng �  Handle – your Twi9er name @GibbonsDigital – balance short with descripJve. �  Follow – this is simply the act of adding someone to your list of people you are following – this

makes their tweets show up on your homepage. �  Replies – this is what it is called when someone writes a tweet directly at your handle -‐

@GibbonsDigital cool post today blah blah – this is open an invite to engage with a follower. �  Retweet – this is a tacJc of republishing someone else’s tweet – the original tweet along with

author stays in tact, but you are basically showing someone’s tweet to your followers – many people find this a great way to add content and acknowledge good stuff from the folks they follow

�  DM – this is a message that is sent directly to another user. They must be following you for you to DM them, but this is a very useful tool for private messages and generally a good choice when you start going back and forth with someone on something your enJre base of followers might not find interesJng.

�  Hashtag – this is a way people categorize tweets so that others might use the same tag and effecJvely create a way for people to view related tweets – it will something like #markeJng – more on this in search.

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Anatomy of a Tweet

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Twi9er -‐ Gefng Started � www.twi9er.com �  Set-‐up profile � Add branding (logo, custom page) �  Search for relevant people, follow them �  Start tweeJng �  Retweet, tweet about products, tweet relevant news arJcles

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� Ask relevant quesJons on Twi9er and consumers are happy to share opinions

�  People like being asked to provide input on topics of interest

�  Thinking of offering a new product or service? Ask for input beforehand

�  Take advantage of the online community to gain feedback and generate new ideas that will result connect with the audience served by your business.

Engage and grow your following

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Engage and grow your following �  Follow people – they might follow you back � Add Twi9er link to your website homepage �  Include Twi9er icon on ALL materials that reach your target market

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LinkedIn �  The world’s largest professional network with over 175 million registered members and growing rapidly.

�  Connects you to your trusted contacts and helps you exchange knowledge, ideas, and opportuniJes with a broader network of professionals.

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Engaging on LinkedIn – Status Updates

�  Share links to interesJng arJcles, websites or video you have found that some individuals in your network might appreciate. Try to use words that grab the readers and encourage them to click the link.

�  Pose a quesJon that could lead to solving a problem you have, like: "Anyone know about…?”

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Engaging on LinkedIn – Status Updates � MenJon a person or a situaJon that might be helpful to some of your connecJons, like: "I just met with John Jones from ABC Company and found out ….”

�  Talk about an event you are a9ending or have a9ended to encourage involvement and/or quesJons about what you learned there.

�  Use the "Like" feature when you see a helpful update from one of your connecJons. Doing this shares that update with your enJre network. This is a great way to give the writer of the helpful update exposure to your network that he/she wouldn't normally have.

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Groups �  Quickly discover the most popular discussions in your professional groups.

�  Have an acJve part in determining the top discussions by liking and commenJng.

�  Follow the most influenJal people in your groups by checking the Top Influencers board or clicking their profile image to see all their group acJvity.

�  See both member-‐generated discussions and news in one sefng. �  Easily browse previews of the last three comments in a discussion. �  Find interesJng discussions by seeing who liked a discussion and how many people commented.

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Groups �  Click on Groups Directory, search for your industry or a career keyword,

and find a group that fits your interest. �  Once you’ve been accepted to the group you can share relevant content by

starJng a discussion or posJng a link in the share box. �  Sharing consistently is a good way to quickly idenJfy yourself as an expert

in your field or industry. �  Click on your photo to see your updates as well as what’s changed in the

discussions you’ve started, joined or followed. �  Good way to keep track of discussions most important to you and your

career. �  Aper sharing, check out the newest discussions in the slide show below,

and cast your vote by liking or commenJng. �  Under each discussion you’ll see the last 3 members who have

commented, click on the headline to see all comments.

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Company Pages �  Central hub where millions of LinkedIn members can go to keep in the loop on company news, products and services, business opportuniJes, and job openings.

�  Also perfect place to start conversaJon with your customers, prospecJve clients, job seekers, post company updates.

�  Post industry arJcles and fun facts. �  These updates appear on your company page and also the pages of your followers.

�  Have followers Like your post so it goes viral. �  AnalyJcs pages to see acJvity on the page.

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What is it? � Pinterest is a “virtual pinboard” that lets people share anything and any topic on the web that they find interesJng and beauJful – e.g., pictures, quotes, recipes, etc.

� Centered around the social discovery of objects (as opposed to friends and family)

� Content is organized in “Boards” and organized in categories.

� Each piece of content is called a “Pin”

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Examples of Pins

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Pinterest is one of the largest social media networks on the web. The network saw +4377% growth between May 2011 and May 2012.

62 62 Mashable, 2013

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Pinners don’t just shop, they spend �  The average social shopper (that is, a shopper who discovers an item on the plaeorm and clicks off site to buy it) spends an average of $60 to $80 when coming from Facebook

�  The average social shopper spends more like $140 to $180 when coming from Pinterest

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Engaging on Pinterest �  Build your brand out, share interesJng and relevant content, create engagement

� Add products with prices to drive awareness �  Service businesses can create posJngs with infographics that contains useful informaJon or a graphic with a quote

�  Post videos (hosted on YouTube) � Add links to your pins’ descripJons giving your business the benefit of your links carrying over with your pins when users re-‐pin them

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Engaging with Pinterest �  Run compeJJons where the winner is the user who pins the best pictures or has the Pinterest board with the best collecJon of pins.

�  Run offers -‐ Pin images of offers, giveaways, discounts from your website and detail your offer in the descripJon, or you can create images exclusively for Pinterest where everything about the offer is wri9en on the image.

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Engaging with Pinterest �  So make sure you add at least one or more shareable image to every page of your website so your readers get to choose their favorite image to pin.

�  Find the most shared images on Pinterest and get to know who’s sharing them. You need to do this regularly to improve your own Pinterest markeJng strategy.

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Gefng Started

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What is it? � Google+ is a social networking that is owned and operated by Google Inc.

�  Like Facebook – personal profiles and business pages

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Why use it? � No one loves Google more than Google. And, let’s be honest, you want Google to love your business and the content you produce too. If that’s not reason enough, I don’t know what is.

�  Increase your visibility and reach by offering great content on Google Plus that people will like and want to share

�  This will help with search engine opJmizaJon (SEO)

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Google+ Terms �  Profile: This is the landing page that shows your profile picture, informaJon you’ve provided, and the content you’ve posted to Google Plus

�  Page: Google Plus Page is created by a business or a brand. �  +1 bu6on – FuncJoning like a Facebook “Like” bu9on, the +1 bu9on allows users to indicate they appreciated your content

�  Circles: When gefng started, you can organize those you’re connected to in different circles. This allows you to tailor your company’s posts to specific people who are interested in that topic.

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Engaging with Google+ �  Share lots of photos

�  Think about your business – what images, charts, slides can you share to ignite conversaJons

�  Share fresh content, interact with fans, etc. �  Promote your Google+ page on your blog and website � When you post a message, photo or link, ask your subscribes to share the content with their Circles

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Google+ Page – Gefng started �  h9ps://plus.google.com/pages to create your page �  Customize your Page �  Promote your page -‐ share some updates � Make connecJons, grow your circles

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Blogs �  Blog = ‘web log’ � An online diary or journal � Anybody can be a content generator and an expert in their field

�  Can be setup within minutes online using WordPress

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Blog Content � Answer industry quesJons �  Comment on industry news �  Provide how-‐to based content �  Encourage readers to comment �  Post consistently – 3 to 5 Jmes per week

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Engaging Customers with a Blog � Answer industry quesJons �  Comment on industry news �  Provide how-‐to based content �  Encourage readers to comment �  Post consistently – 3 to 5 Jmes per week

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Engage and grow with a Blog �  Pose Engaging QuesJons -‐ At the end of a post, pose a brain-‐sJmulaJng quesJon.

�  Get readers to offer Jps -‐ It could be a problem that you’re facing, or something your customer is facing. Make it a contest; publicly credit the reader with the best Jps on your blog so that everyone can see.

�  Start With An Engaging Opener – Your opening should engage the reader from the word go, something that’ll ignite their curiosity, moJvate their thought process and get them engaged. Make your opener funny, insigheul, wi9y and outrageous if need be.

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Engage and grow with a Blog � Make The Content Graphically Vivid -‐ Paint a picture with your words, and draw people into the scene you’re painJng.

� Write in your speaking voice, as though you’re chafng with friends.

�  Provide A Conclusion – sum up the essence of your arJcle in a short conclusion. Your conclusion should ideally Je up your points together and provide a short glimpse of what the arJcle is all about.

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Blogs – Gefng Started �  Install WordPress � Design – use Theme or designer for custom look �  Configure content categories � Develop library of content �  Post on a scheduled basis – 3 to 5 Jmes per week

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Demographics -‐ Facebook �  86% of Facebook users are age 25 and older �  81% have some college educaJon or bachelors/graduate degree

�  58% earn $50,000 or more

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Demographics -‐ Twi9er �  81% of people on Twi9er are age 25 and older �  83% have some college educaJon or bachelors/graduate degree

�  47% earn $50,000 or more

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Demographics -‐ LinkedIn �  96% of people on LinkedIn are age 25 and older �  87% have some college educaJon or bachelors/graduate degree

�  71% earn $50,000 or more

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Thank You! Bridget Gibbons

[email protected] Gibbonsdigital.com @gibbonsdigital

�.com/gibbonsdigital

Social Media For Small Businesses - Spring 2015

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