Social Networking Sandy Ketcham The Word Pro (815) 556-8505 www.TheWordPro.com Sandy@TheWordPro.com Social Network Marketing What it is How it works Why should you care? Twitter Forces Strategy Switch --Chicago Tribune, August 16, 2009 There were 21.2 million visits to Twitter in July 2009 (and that is just in the United States) compared to 798,000 in July 2008 While only 26% of US companies currently use SNM 70% say they plan to start A fairly new idea...  Classmates.com – 40M members (1995)  Friendster.com – 90M members (2002)  MySpace.com – 100M members (2003)  FaceBook.com – 250M members (2004)   YouTube.com – 6 Billion videos viewed since Jan 2009 (2005) Twitter.com – 21.2 Million visitors in JULY (2006) What is Social Networking  An on-line community  People who share interests/activities  People who want to explore others' interests  Encourages new ways to communicate Traditional Marketing Vs Social Network Marketing Traditional Marketing “Outbound Marketing”   One-way conversation Advertiser is the hammer; customer the nail. Social Network Marketing “Inbound Marketing”    A two-way conversation Advertisers attract customers, who feel more connected to the company They tell their friends Social Network Marketing    Uses social media platforms and online communities Builds ways for people to promote a company or brand Grassroots marketing. (if it is too overt, it becomes “astroturfing”) “...it's about brands having conversations.” --Lloyd Simmons Choose your “on ramp”   Join the sites that make sense for you. Strategy: Join the large ones and join specialty sites that interest you  Where your customers are  Where your competitors are  Where your industry leaders are  Where your interests lie Social Networking Sites  If you have an interest, there is a site...  http://traffikd.com/social-media-websites/ gives over 400 Sites – By Subject  Examples of “specialty sites”  WAYN - a travel networking site  Quarterlife – for artists, musicians, filmmakers and creative people  Birdpost – Where birdwatchers find the birds DANGER – It's Addictive  Free to join, but what is your time worth?  Just one tool in your marketing toolbox   Some companies hire employees to do Social Media Marketing There are ways to streamline the process  Applications that post to all your sites from one place (Ping.fm, Fuser.com)  Applications that allow you to receive alerts when things of interest are posted (RSS Feeds, Stumble Upon) Your Profile  May be the first thing people see. It's all about you!  It's a marketing piece; write it that way  Decide how much you want to tell people.  The trick: give enough, but not too much  Use a photo or a logo – otherwise, you are a ghost! Security   You don't have to put in all information asked for There are privacy settings – use them but...  Don't get too paranoid – your information is already out there Don't believe me? Go to zabasearch.com and put your name in Examples of what not to do  John uses the password Fido for banking; then puts Fido's photo and name on Facebook.    A congressman flies over Baghdad's palace and tweets “I am flying over Baghdad's palace with other congressmen” A CEO sends a “private” Facebook post; his friend puts it on his public page A photo of an Olympic Gold Medalist is posted on Facebook. He is pictured with a bong! Ways to Connect The Blog Business Linking “Personal” Networking The Video Blog The Microblog The Blog (WordPress, Blogger)   A website or web page, updated often with articles, information, links to other sites May be used to...  Drive people to your company website  Post how-to's, product updates, etc.  Provide info on your industry, company, your interests or anything else.  Establish you as a thought leader  Allow comments from readers (moderated)  Improve Search Engine Rank for your website “Personal” Networking  Examples: FaceBook, MySpace, Friendster  Marketing uses...  Banner Ads  Company employees can join  Companies can have their own pages  Market Research  Customer Service  Find out what your customers are saying and respond... Business Linking  Examples: LinkedIn, Plaxo, Xing  Used to build a “trusted network” to  Find a job or an employee  Investigate business opportunities  Provide introductions  Network with high profile people  Publish news about personal or business accomplishments  See what your competitors are up to Video Blogging  Example: YouTube.com  Over 6 Billion videos viewed in 7 months!  Uses...  Tell your company's story  Provide a video how-to for your product  Keep up with the latest trends  What are people talking about, what do they need?  Complain! (Google “United Breaks Guitars.”) Microblogging  Example: Twitter  Each post can only be 140 characters.  Uses...  Monitor what is being said about your company, industry or brand (or anything)  Respond to positive and negative comments  Find customers when they tweet a problem  Send links to your blog, website or articles of interest  Keep up with what is happening – everywhere! Some Twitter Facts      Millions worth of overstock items sold through Dell's outlet twitter page Michael Jackson's death is reported on Twitter; news outlets pick it up from there. Skittles has a news feed that alerts the company whenever Skittles are mentioned. Best Buy advertises its Twitter help page (twitter/twelpforce) with a television ad. Twitter is the site of choice for celebrities, politicians and journalists - influencers Twitter “Apps” New applications are being written every day!   Tweetdeck – a browser page that publishes tweets from those you are following – in real time Monitter – Have tweets sent to you based on certain keywords (eg. Company, brand)  Hashtags – Tweets are grouped by keywords  Twitter Local – Conversations in your locale  Twitterfeed – Post your blog to twitter The New Paradigm Join Monitor Participate Social Networks...  Build an online community around a brand, company or store  Allow you to forge new relationships  Position you as a thought leader  Provide learning and/or teaching tools  Create new personal or business opportunities  Provide customer service and marketing opportunities Want to know more? The notes to this presentation are available to you at thewordpro.com/socialnetworking.html Social Networking Isn't it time YOU joined the conversation? Thank You Sandy Ketcham The Word Pro www.thewordpro.com sandy@thewordpro.com Find me on: facebook.com/sandy-ketcham Linkedin.com/sandy-ketcham Plaxo.com/sandy-ketcham twitter.com/thewordpro thewordpro.com/blog