Telling your Story
A Quick Guide For Busy Startups
Thursday, September 20, 12
The Three-Headed Monster
• Paid.• Advertising, marketing
• Earned.• Public Relations, news coverage
• Owned.• Website, blog, Facebook, Twitter
Today’s talk
Thursday, September 20, 12
A Few Words about PR(for small companies)
• Sometimes worth paying for • Special events, product rollouts
• Monthly retainers harder to justify
• Hourly for specific projects
• DIY Tools:• Help A Reporter Out (HARO)
• ProfNet (part of Vocus, maybe a joint buy?)
Thursday, September 20, 12
“Using social media CORRECTLY is like putting your Rolodex on steroids.”
- New York Times, Sept. 7, 2012
Thursday, September 20, 12
IT’s Where People Are
Service Total Users ActiveFacebook 950M 800M
Twitter 500M 140M
LinkedIn 175M 48MGoogle+ 400M 100M
YouTube 490M 150MFlickr 51M 25M
Instagram 80M 8M
Pinterest 104M 18M
Visual
Broad
Smaller, but vital
for startups
Thursday, September 20, 12
A Lot More Words AboutSocial Media
• Create reach and relationships• Build a base of public and industry
awareness• Modest but regular time investment• Low to no cost
Thursday, September 20, 12
Basic Mindset
• “Chinese Water Torture”approach• Schedule 15 minutes a day
• Make it a routine while reading the day’s news.
• A little every day quickly adds up to a LOT
• Your Phone is Your Friend • Opportunistic
• What do you do that ties to industry trends, breaking news?
• Have A Personality
Thursday, September 20, 12
Tools Automate, Simplify, Optimize
✴ HootSuite (Business Tool, freemium) ✴ TweetDeck (bought by Twitter)✴ Seesmic Ping (Bought by HootSuite)✴ Browser share tools
Hootsuite
Browser share tools
Thursday, September 20, 12
General Tips
• Follow promiscuously (as appropriate)• Industry leaders, competitors, journalists, regulators, investors
• Repost notable stuff from others• Respond to your followers• Think before you “Send”
Thursday, September 20, 12
Website/blog Additions
• WordPress • Heavy-duty publishing platform. Lots of power, widgets, options.
• If no blog, use Tumblr • Free. Huge installed base. Easy to use. Shares to Twitter, FB. Post
links, text, audio, video, photos. Good for SEO.
• Show your Twitter posts with on-site widget• Twitter resources - widgets
• Social media share buttons• AddThis; Also add to your email sig file, news releases
Thursday, September 20, 12
• Set up personal profile, ALWAYS.
• Then you can create a company page
• Ensure all employees have profiles & follow company
• Post (here’s why):• Events, news releases, product announcements
• News coverage, industry-related stories
• Join, post to LinkedIn industry, trade groups
Thursday, September 20, 12
• Company & personal accounts, if you can
• Brief, painless. 3x/week; Easy on mobile
• Tweet about:• Events, appearances, deals
• Company news, releases, photos, promo docs
• Stories of note about your industry & company
• Perspectives on industry news, trends; Have A Personality
Thursday, September 20, 12
• 950 million users. Need to be there.
• Create personal Profile (keep it to yourself)
• Then you can create company Page, post:• Company releases, news coverage of company
• Events, photos, milestones
• Marketing videos
• Blog posts (if you have one elsewhere)
• Industry news of note, and your perspectives on it
• Surveys and questions
Thursday, September 20, 12
Facebook’s EdgeRank
• Algorithm decides what followers see
• Priorities are:1. Video and photos
2. Questions, events, milestones
3. Plain ol’ text and links
• Only a small portion of followers see any post
• Photos/video boost your chance of being seen
• FB advertising probably not worth it
Thursday, September 20, 12
Google+
• Part of Google, GREAT for SEO• Post same as FB: Links, text, photos, video, events, news
• Claim your personal profile through GMail
• Then you can create your company page
• Have your employees create accounts, put company page in their circles
• Google offering custom URLS, verified accounts. Get them when you get a chance.
Thursday, September 20, 12
Google+ Hangouts
• BIG opportunity• Free videoconferences with
audiences
• Auto-recorded to YouTube.
• Great for marketing, how-to, customer support and engagement.
Thursday, September 20, 12
• Part of Google; helps SEO• Biggest video-sharing site• Not core, but if you’re doing video, you
MUST use this• Events
• Marketing material
• How-to and demos, podcasts
• User submissions
Thursday, September 20, 12
• Sharing for slide shows/presentations• Post marketing, promo material• Connect with LinkedIn widget• Also:
• Learn better PPTs
• Research your industry, competitors
Thursday, September 20, 12
• Biggest photo-sharing site, also handles video
• Not core; freemium model• Easy sharing through App Garden tools
• Add-ons for Website, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Tumblr, etc.
• Post photos/video of: • Events, products, appearances, cool things tied to your business
Thursday, September 20, 12
• Not core, but biggest MOBILE photo-sharing site.
• VERY easy sharing to many other platforms
• Facebook bought it; getting integrated
• Posts from your phone:• Events, products, appearances
• Users and novel product uses
Thursday, September 20, 12
• Not core. More C-to-C than B-to-B.
• Photo “boards” of things people love:• Products and product uses
• Things/ideas/inspirational phrases that define your company, its approach to business and life
• Female-dominated
• Aspirational
Thursday, September 20, 12
Thanks
David BloomWords & Deeds
310-621-4284
Twitter: @DavidBloom
Tumbler: BloomsDay
Thursday, September 20, 12
