admsp introduction to social media tutorial

THE POWER OF THE CONVERSATION!An Introduction to Social Media...

“No profession stands to influence social media more than public relations.”

Paul Gillin, The New Influencers, A Marketers Guide to the New Social Media

INTRODUCTION

Thursday, September 17, 2009

What is social media?

Social media is a conversation online.

Look who’s talking:

o your customers

o your donors

o your volunteers

o your employees

o your investors

o your critics

o your fans

o your competition....

o anyone who has internet access and an opinion.

SOCIAL MEDIA DEFINED


The social media conversation

The conversation is not:o controlled

o organized

o “on message”

The conversation is:o organic

o complex

o speaks in a human voice

Social media is not a strategy or a tactic – it’s simply a channel.



The conversation is powered by

o Social Networks

o News & Bookmarking

o Blogs

o Microblogging

o Video Sharing

o Photo Sharing

o Message boards

o Wikis

o Virtual Reality

o Social Gaming

o Related:o Podcasts

o Real Simple Syndication (RSS)



Social media is changing our world

The power to define and control a brand is shifting from corporations and institutionsto individuals and communities.



Small markets are the new mass market

“It is about putting the ‘public’ back in Public Relations and realizing that focusing on important markets and influencers will have a far greater impact than trying to reach the masses with any one message or tool.”

Brian Solis, The Social Media Manifesto



Word of Mouth is the Future of Marketing

Marketers can effectively use social media by

influencing the conversation.

One way to do this is by delivering



ZAPPOS – Customer service is centralo Zappos, an online shoe retailer,

makes customer service central with a focus on “making personal and emotional connections.”

o Divert marketing budget to customer service (they outsource marketing to their customers; they

don’t outsource their call centre)

o Use Twitter to promote their brando Website displays any public tweets

mentioning of their brand

o CEO has over 400,000 followers

o 430 employees on Twitter

o $1billion in sales last year and their expanding into new product categories

CASE STUDY


Social media influences people

o 91% say consumer reviews are the #1 aid to buying decisions - JC Williams Group

o 87% trust a friend’s recommendation over critic’s review - Marketing Sherpa

o 3 times more likely to trust peer opinions over advertising for purchasing decisions - Jupiter Research

o 1 word-of-mouth conversation has impact of 200 TV ads - BuzzAgent

* Slide courtesy of Digital Influence Group



People are using social media

Social media sites are the fastest-growing category on the web, doubling their traffic over the last year.

o 73% of active online users have read a blog

o 45% have started their own blog

o 57% have joined a social network

o 55% have uploaded photos

o 83% have watched video clips

Universal McCann’s Comparative Study on Social Media Trends, April 2008. 17,000 respondents from 29 countries, *using internet at least every other day



Top social networking sites



Social media marketing is



http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2009/04/forrester-social-media-growth.html

http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2009/04/forrester-social-media-growth.html

Leveraging social media

Social media can help you in all stages of marketing, self-promotion, public relations, and customer service:

o research

o strategic planning

o implementation

o evaluation



Social media is practical

o Learn what people are saying about you

o Create buzz for events & campaigns

o Increase brand exposure

o Identify and recruit influencers to spread your message

o Find new opportunities and customers

o Support your products and services

o Improve your search engine visibility

o Gain competitive intelligence

o Get your message out fast

o Retain clients by establishing a personal relationship

o Be an industry leader – not a follower



Social media is measurable

Reacho Website visits / views

o volume of reviews and comments

o Incoming links

Action & Insighto Sales inquiries

o New business

o Customer satisfaction and loyalty

o Marketing efficiency

Engagement & Influenceo Sentiment of reviews

and comments

o Brand affinity

o Commenter authority/influence

o Time spent

o Favourites / Friends / Fans

o Viral forwards

o Number of downloads


Source: The Digital Influence Group, Measuring the Influence of Social Media


Social Media is real work!

Resources required for social media may include:

o Strategic consultation

o Training

o Creating content

o Integrating tools

o Distributing content

o Relationship management

o Measuring value



10 KEYSTO SOCIAL MEDIA

SUCCESS

KEYS TO SUCCESS


1. Experiment with social media

o Experiment “personally” not professionally

o Try a variety of social media tools

o Be yourself, make some friends, and share

KEYS TO SUCCESS


2. Make a plan

1. Discovery(people, competition, and search engines)

3. Skills(identify internal resources and gaps)

5. Maintenance(monitor and adapt)

2. Strategy(opportunities, objectives)

4. Execution(tools, integration, policies, and process)

KEYS TO SUCCESS

Source: 5 Phases of Social Media Marketinghttp://socialcomputingjournal.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=789


H & R Block – Multi-tier Social Media

CASE STUDY

o YouTube

o MySpace

o Facebook

o Twitter

o EHarmony

o “Digits” (their own online community)

o Virtual communities – Second Life

Source: http://www.podtech.net/home/5209/h-block-social-media-programs-success


H & R Block – Clear Goals

CASE STUDY

Leveraged core goals across all networks:

1.Reinforce their brand as tax experts

2.Deliver on advocacy positioning of the brand

3.Present the brand as being innovative

oThrough “unexpected and meaningful interactions with consumers”


CASE STUDY

o Be community appropriateand relevant (interacting on Second Life is different than YouTube)

o It’s not free - Human capital increased as media buys decreased – Ask yourself if this is successful how do you scale it?

H & R Block – Observations


H & R Block – Metrics

CASE STUDY

1. Brand Perceptiono Evaluated brand metrics

through a brand tracking study

2. Engagemento 600,000 YouTube views

o 1 million unique visits to their community site

3. Word of Moutho Increased online mentions

in blogs, forums, and other social media


3. Listen

o Find where your audience is participating and indentify the influencers

o Read industry blogs (including comments)

o Google your company name & your competition

o Find tools that can help you listen

KEYS TO SUCCESS


Crowd Sourcing – Submit, Discuss, Voteo Tap into the wisdom of the

crowd to access a wider talent pool and gain customer insight

o Companies that use crowd sourcing include:o Starbucks (MyStarbucks)

o Dell (Ideastorm)

o DuPont

o Netflix

o Wikipedia

o iStockphoto.com

o Threadless.com

o Mechanical Turk (Amazon)

KEYS TO SUCCESS


Crowd Sourcing – Help name our baby

Amelia

KEYS TO SUCCESS

Arlington


Wisdom of the Crowd says: Amelia

KEYS TO SUCCESS

56 unanimous responses in under 4 minutes from YouBeMom.com


Chevy – ChevyApprentice.com

CASE STUDY

o Chevy contest asks people to create a winning commercial for the Tahoe SUV

o Website gives people online tools to make their own commercials including the ability to customize text



CASE STUDY

oUsers subvert contest with ads slamming the Tahoe brand

oChevy eventually removes the website displaying videos critical of their product

oMany parodies still exist online (number one search result for “Chevy Tahoe” on Youtube)



CASE STUDY

Lessons learned:

oBe careful when you ask for …. user generated content can’t be controlled

o If you’re going to ask people their opinions be prepared to have a conversation


4. Be transparent & honest

o Avoid puffery (people will ignore it)

o Avoid evasion and lying(people won’t ignore it)

o Companies have watched their biggest screw-up's rise to the top 10 of a Google search

o Admit your mistakes right away

KEYS TO SUCCESS


Belkin – Fake Customer Reviews

CASE STUDY

o Belkin employee busted offering payment for fake positive product reviews

o Belkin president claims it’s an isolated incident

o Influential tech blogs expose a larger cover up and name more employees involved


5. Share your content

o Don’t be afraid to share. Corporations, like people, need to share information to get the value out of social media

o Make your content easy to share

o Incorporate tools that promote sharing:o Share This, RSS feeds,

Email a friend

KEYS TO SUCCESS


6. Be personal and act like a persono Don't shout. Don't

broadcast. Don’t brag.

o Speak like yourself – not a corporate marketing shill or press secretary

o Personify your brand – give people something they can relate to.

KEYS TO SUCCESS


NASA Mars Phoenix rover

CASE STUDY


7. Contribute in a meaningful way

o Think like a contributor, not a marketer

o Consider what is relevant to the community before contributing

o Don’t promote your product on every post

o Win friends by promoting other people’s content if it interests you

KEYS TO SUCCESS


8. See criticism as an opportunity

o Don’t try to delete or remove criticism (it will just make it worse)

o Listen to your detractors

o Admit your shortcomings

o Work openly towards an explanation and legitimate solution

KEYS TO SUCCESS


9. Be proactive

o Don’t wait until you have a campaign to launch - start planning and listening now

o Build relationships so they’re ready when you need them

KEYS TO SUCCESS


10. Accept you can’t do it all yourself, it’s a team e!ort

o Get your communications team together, discuss the options, then divide and conquer

KEYS TO SUCCESS


Summary 10 Keys to Success

1. Experiment with social media

2. Make a plan

3. Listen


5. Share your content

6. Be personal and act like a person

7. Contribute in a meaningful way

8. See criticism as an opportunity

9. Be proactive

10. Accept you can’t do it all yourself

KEYS TO SUCCESS


THE TOOLS

SOCIAL MEDIA

TOOLS


Social media tools

o Social Networks

o News & Bookmarking

o Blogs

o Microblogging

o Video Sharing

o Photo Sharing

o Message boards

o Wikis

o Virtual Reality

o Social Gaming

o Related:o Podcasts

o Real Simple Syndication (RSS)

o Social Media Press Release

THE TOOLS


Social networking sites

o People and organizations connect and interact with friends, colleagues and fans.

o Popular social networks include Facebook and MySpace, Linkedin, bebo, and Ning.

o There are niche social networks for just about everything.

THE TOOLS



o create online profiles

o share photos, video, and audio, links

o send private message and instant message

o learn more about people and organizations

o Follow brands, celebrities, and gain your own fans

THE TOOLS


Linked In – Professional Social Networko Contains profiles of Fortune

500 executives and leading entrepreneurs

o average individual salary on LinkedIn is $109,000

o On LinkedIn your can:

o Post a profile and resume

o Connect with colleagues

o Share professional recommendations

o Find jobs

o Forums to demonstrate expertise and find answers

THE TOOLS


Facebook

o Fastest growing social network in Canada and the world (200 million members)

o Powerful tools to engage and understand your audience:o Brand pages

o Custom applications

o Targeted advertising

o Audience insights/metrics

o Opinion polls

THE TOOLS


Facebook Pages

o Your brand’s homepage on Facebook.

o Allow you to post photos, videos, events and other messages.

o Users interact with you byo Becoming fans

o Commenting on your posts

o Participating in discussions

o Post photos to your page

o Fans see your page updates in their newsfeed

THE TOOLS


Facebook Advertising

o Facebook ads give you the ability to advertise directly to specific demographic groups

o This is unlike paid search, the most popular form of online advertising, which only lets you to bid on keywords the user is searching for right now

THE TOOLS


Facebook Advertising - Targeting

o Location

o Age

o Sex

o Keywords (appear in your users profile)

o Education

o Workplace

o Relationship status

o Relationship interests

o Languages

THE TOOLS


Facebook Advertising - Placement

THE TOOLS


Facebook Advertising – Design

What you need:

o Ad message (title and body)

o Image(make it compelling)

o Destination URL (where you want the ad to take people)

o Social actions (optional)

THE TOOLS


Facebook Advertising – Social Actionso Social actions show

related stories about a user’s friends alongside your ad.

o People can vote whether they like or dislike your ad.

THE TOOLS


Facebook Advertising – Pricing

o Very affordable and easy to control your budget

o You can specify a daily budget

o Schedule specific dates for your ad to run

o Pay for clicks (CPC) or impressions (CPM)

THE TOOLS


Facebook Advertising – Analytics

o Facebook Insights provides information about your ad campaign:o Track ad performance with

real-time reporting

o Gain demographic and psychographic insights about people that view or take action on your ad

o Use this information to identify how you can improve your campaign to maximize your results

THE TOOLS


Facebook Advertising – Recommendationso Identify clear goals for

your ad

o Know who you’re trying to reach

o Ensure ad headline, copy and image is relevant

o Experiment to get it right

o Monitor your campaign and adjust

o Know when to quit

THE TOOLS


Facebook Applications

o Applications are entertainment and productivity tools that run within facebooko Give users a unique ways

to interact with your brand by developing your own applications, or add existing applications, to your page

o When fans use your applications social stories are created that appear in their friends news feed and link back to your page

THE TOOLS


Facebook Applications

THE TOOLS


Facebook Connect

Add social capabilities to your website by integrating with Facebook:o Users log in to your website

with their facebook identity

o You can access their profile information to learn more about them and deliver targeted content

o Publish information back to their friends’ streams on Facebook to bring their friend to your website

THE TOOLS



Doo establish a presence on the

social networks your customers and colleagues use

o create a page to promote your brand

o point your fans to your company blog or contest

o encourage a discussion and participate frequently

o explore targeted advertising opportunities

Don’to create a page and fail to

maintain it

o try a hard sell approach

o censor comments

o spam your fans/friends with frequent private messages – you’ll drive them away

o post false information

THE TOOLS


Blogs

o A blog is a website with regular entries of commentary or news

o Blogs serve to establish your company as transparent, relevant, active, and expert.

THE TOOLS


Blogs

o engage in dialogue with your customers

o improve your search engine visibility

o promote product launches and events

o gain expert status by providing

useful tips

THE TOOLS


Blogs

Doo post on a regular schedule

o encourage conversation by asking questions

o respond to people that comment on your posts

o use a few bloggers from your company for more viewpoints

Don’to write press releases – be real

about why something is exciting

o let complaints go unanswered

o make users register to comment – they won’t bother

o delete fair but critical comments

THE TOOLS


Microblogging

o Microblogs are blogs limited to a sentence or two (about 140 characters)

o People use microblogging to promote themselves, share content and follow friends, celebrities and brands

o Companies use it for marketing, public relations and customer service by giving their brand a voice within the community

THE TOOLS


Twitter

Twitter can help you:

o share timely information

o promote useful content including resources, contests, deals, etc.(not just your own)

o personify your brand

o connect with your customers and develop leads

o build credibility and influence

o listen to consumer buzz

o research competitors

o network and learn from experts in your field

THE TOOLS


Twitter in Church

o Churches useTwitter to:

o Ask questions

o Share insights

o Highlight content

o Hype events

o Trinity Church uses Twitter to tell Passion of Christ

o Westwinds Church experiments with Twitter during services

o Distracting or Enriching?

CASE STUDY


Charity: Water – From Twitter to Africao September 08: Twitter founder

Biz Stone tweets about Charity: Water, which builds wells in Ethiopia.

o Charity: Water asks people with September birthdays to accept online donations in lieu of gifts and raised $4500, enough to build a well

o The "social media birthday" was born; asking for donations from online friends to celebrate your birthday

CASE STUDY


Charity: Water - $250,000 raised

o January 09: Tweets begin promoting the First Annual Twestival (a Twitter Festival) in support of Charity: Water:

o 202 real-life meetups across the globe, hosted by volunteers

o $250,000 USD raised at these events

o 55 wells are planned across Africa & India

CASE STUDY


Charity: Water – Breakthrough Exposureo April 09: The first "well that

Twitter built" is dug

o April 09: Actor Hugh "Wolverine" Jackman challenges Twitter to tell him, in 140 characters or less, what charity he should support

o Convinced by Twitter, Jackman announces his $50,000 gift to Charity: Water on Ryan Seacrest's radio show, providing huge exposure for the charity

CASE STUDY


Charity: Water – Phase 2

o Social media campaign expands:

o Staff post Twitter updates delivering the results of donations

o Website hosts videos of drilling progress made in Africa

o A driller tweets live from Central African Republic

o Hundreds of videos uploaded to YouTube by charity and supporters http://www.youtube.com/user/charitywater

o Facebook Causes page with over $61,000 donated

CASE STUDY


http://www.youtube.com/user/charitywater




Microblogging

Doo find and share useful content

o pose questions and reply to others

o keep it fun - put a friendly face on your brand

o promote sales, deals, news, updates, and build buzz for big releases or events

o know what people are saying about your brand

Don’to sound like a press release –

you’re in a social space

o spam with constant links to your company website, either in tweets or private messages

o post useless information – do people really care what you had for lunch?

THE TOOLS


Video sharing

THE TOOLS

o Video sharing sites let you upload videos and share them with people.

o They’re a perfect repository for video blogs, taped seminars, witty Power Points, commercials, how-to’s and a behind-the-scene look at your organization.


Video sharing

THE TOOLS

o helps you gain exposure and direct traffic back to your website

o sparks interest without a hard-sell

o videos can be low-fi and cheap to produce - immediacy and content is more important than quality.

o videos can be a place to showcase your leadership in a field, and spread customer testimonials


Blendtec – Will it Blend?

CASE STUDY

o Blendtec was a faceless B2B/B2C blender manufacturer that couldn’t afford a traditional marketing campaign

o Published low-cost videos of CEO blending everything from iPhones, hockey pucks to the financial bailout

o Launched the website WillitBlend.com and a YouTube channel

http://www.youtube.com/blendtec




Blendtec – ROI

CASE STUDY

o Videos went viral generating “millions of dollars in brand recognition”

o Channel Views: 3,469,098

o Subscribers: 183,949

o Online Blendtec blender sales increased 500%

o The videos have made over $50,000 in ad revenue turning the marketing department into a profit centre


Blendtec – Will it Blend?

CASE STUDY

Lessons learned:

o Be entertaining and keep it relevant to your brand (the videos promote the durability of their blenders without an overt sales pitch)

o Experiment – the idea might not have worked, but what could they lose?


Video sharing

THE TOOLS

Doo be informative, useful, or

entertaining

o create a summary and detailed description

o post video replies to others

o allow commenting and participate in the conversation

o save bandwidth costs on your website by hosting videos on YouTube

Don’to just upload infomercials

o be afraid to experiment until you find a formula that works.

o pull down other people’s videos showcasing your product for copyright infringement

o make your video longer than it needs to be – keep it concise and entertaining


Social news & bookmarking

o Social bookmarking sites allow users to save, share, organize, comment on and search webpage bookmarks.

o Community votes on your submissions so they either rise to the top or drop to the bottom.

THE TOOLS


Social news & bookmarking

Doo link to relevant articles about

news in your field(not just your own content)

o make friends with other bookmarkers in a legitimate way.

o respect the terms of serviceo (reddit allows self-promotion,

digg does not)

Don’to spam by consistently

bookmarking your own material

o cheat by tagging your bookmarks with irrelevant popular keywords

o open multiple accounts and vote for yourself – you’ll be exposed

THE TOOLS


Photo sharing

THE TOOLS

o Photo sharing sites give you a place to upload and organize your photos

o You can invite friends to check out your photos and people can find your photos by searching for the keywords (tags) you apply to your photos.


Photo sharing

THE TOOLS

o detail the launch of a new product, from initial sketches to the launch party

o promote special events, charitable campaigns, and awards ceremonies

o provide an inside look at your organization, making it appear glamorous, busy, fun, or innovative


Photo sharing

THE TOOLS

Doo tag your photos with relevant

keywords

o use your web site address or brand name as your Flickr screen name

o upload quality photos of your products/services, and things related to your business

o link prominently from your web site to your Flickr photostream

Don’to stuff linked keywords into

your photo descriptions or comments

o plaster your URL all over the photos you upload

o discourage people from using your photos (as long as they provide attribution such as a link back to your website)


Message Boards / Internet Forumso An Internet forum, or

message board, is a bulletin board system in the form of a discussion site

o conversation takes place between registered members who post topics (threads) and make public comments (posts) on those threads

THE TOOLS


Message Boards / Internet ForumsDo o keep the message board active

by regularly participating in the conversation

o collect minimal information during registration

o keep focus and attract users by clearly identifying your community purpose and target audience

o promote popular discussions throughout your website

Don’to build it and expect people to

start participating without encouragement and seeding

o forget to moderate - spammers and trolls will drive users away

o censor or allow militant moderators to take too much control over the conversation. You want to encourage open discussion, not stifle it.

THE TOOLS


Wikis / Reference

THE TOOLS

o A wiki is a website that allows visitors to easily add, remove, and edit content – this makes them great collaboration tools

o Wikipedia, for example, is an encyclopedia is written collaboratively by volunteers from all around the world; anyone can edit it


Wikis / Reference

THE TOOLS

Do o find references to your

organization and have inaccuracies updated

o read the terms of use to ensure you are allowed to edit an entry about you

o research competition

o use wikis to collaborate with your team

Don’to rely on social reference

websites to be accurate

o spam or overtly advertising – it could get you banned

o use it for Search Engine Optimization (Wikipedia prevents search engines from following links)

o Don’t sabotage competitor’s entries about competitors (You could get caught)


Virtual reality

o Internet-based 3D virtual worlds like Second Life reimagine our world with all its potential for commerce and branding

o people interact through characters called avatars

o residents explore, meet other residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, and create and trade items and services with one another

THE TOOLS


Virtual reality

o hold media conferences in Second Life to generate buzz (World Bank reports in world)

o create and sell branded products accompanied by coupons and advertising for real-world stores

o purchase land, build stores, and open for business

o publish streams of audio or video on people’s properties

THE TOOLS


Virtual reality

Do o Use it to generate publicity

publicity for real world activities

o find experts to imagine and manage your brand presence in this virtual world, or do thorough research – it’s complicated!

o be inventive – for example, when someone drinks your product, you may create a script that makes people dance, turn into a cute animal, or speak only in song for 30 seconds.

THE TOOLS

Don’t o just try to recreate your real-

world brand experience – leverage the possibilities of the virtual world since fantasy is what brought people are there.

o be afraid to site this one out. If your audience isn’t there and you don’t have a vision to create a meaningful experience don’t bother.


Podcasts (Personal On-Demand Broadcast)

THE TOOLS

o A podcast is a series of audio or video files which is distributed by syndicated download to your computer, for use on an MP3 player or computer.

o Podcasts can be simple recordings of conversations, presentations, or interviews

o They’re a chance to provide build an audience around your brand or message.


Podcasts (Personal On-Demand Broadcast)

THE TOOLS

Do’s

o come up with a format (form, topic, and duration)

o prepare don’t script (or you’ll sound stiff)

o use a good microphone (but no need to over produce)

o promote your podcast on your website and podcast directories

Dont’s

o worry about length

o invest in a lot of equipment – simple tools and software are all you need to get going

o leave too much time between podcasts – it could prevent you from building an audience


Really Simple Syndication (RSS)

THE TOOLS

o RSS is a way for content publishers to make blog entries, news headlines, events, podcasts and other content available to subscribers.

o an effective way to distribute your content and lead users back to your website



THE TOOLS



THE TOOLS

Don’t o offer RSS feeds for your

website’s blog, news, events, and podcasts

o subscribe to RSS feeds relevant to your industry or interests

o include a title and description only so subscribers need to visit your site for the full story

o track your subscribers

Don’t o spam your subscribers by

including excessive advertising in your RSS feed

o go overboard – limit RSS feeds to content frequently updated

o freak out when a splogger hijacks your content – this could actually help your search engine rank


Social media press release

THE TOOLS


3 TAKE AWAY

MESSAGES

5 TAKE AWAY MESSAGES


4 take away messages

1. Word of Mouth peer-to-peer discussions are more influential than the mass media

2. Participate by enabling and feeding the conversation(follow the 10 keys to success)

3. Engage by listening and replying to conversation


4 TAKE AWAY MESSAGES


admsp introduction to social media tutorial

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