INTRO

Social media provides unprecedented access to your audience, potential clients and recruiters – changed how we communicate and now how we do business

Putting an ad in the yellow pages or in the newspaper and hoping to hear from prospects is in the past

NOW: imagine finding everyone in Calgary area interested in fitness, personal training, yoga, everyone who has mentioned it TODAY, experts in each field and connecting with them – build a community around a shared interest or passion

Social media can give this access and immediate direct communication with ‘right’ people

But now that you are in front of the right people how do you stand apart from other ‘experts’ in your field? BRANDING

Fish where the fish are – you can’t market yourself to Calgary, use your own brand to distinguish from the rest

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Need to think of all 4 of these working together – just having one or two won’t work

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Just because everyone else is doing it is not a good reason to start using social media for your business - from the social media account administrator on the front lines to the Execs/leadership/CEO or owner everyone needs to be on the same page about the GOALS for business social media Recruitment, brand awareness, customer service, event attendance, new product promotion, communication, community building, feedback/input, sponsorship, sales Write down ALL the reasons you want social media and what you want to achieve PRIORITIZE to top 3 Identify measureable objectives for each goal

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People resources To do it well using social media takes RESOURCES – staff, time, money. Remember, social media for your business is your front line REPUTATION take it seriously and ensure whoever is on the front lines feels empowered to do so. Guidelines and Training to empower those doing your social media Marketing and Communications Audit What are you already doing? Newsletters, ads, brochures, events? How will sm fit in? What will you give up to use sm? i.e. you don’t need a newsletter AND a blog

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It’s great if you want to show off your new product with a Vine video – but what if NONE of your audience use Vine? How good is that to you? WHO is your audience? What do they use, what type of people are they? Find out where they are, do your RESEARCH – ask in person/email/customers, use listening methods to find out STATS where Canadians are online right now

27.4 million Canadians are online (that is 80% of the population!)

· 17.2 hours are spent on the internet a week

· 93% go online for product information Fish where the fish are – ensure you are aligning your social media choices with where your target audiences already are

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Brand is NOT a logo, a product, or a corporate identity package It is what is said about you when you aren’t in the room, it is a perception/reputation about you In a situation of many choices in one market people use EMOTION to make decisions – what they have ‘heard’ about you, or experiences of friends

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Brand (personal or business) exercise 5 minute brainstorm all positive aspects about yourself (professional, personal) as many as possible, WHAT IS YOUR PERSONALITY? Adjectives said about you by others, what you are ‘known’, words/traits you WANT people to describe you as when you aren’t in the room CHOOSE top 3 – 5 that describe you the MOST and circle these Unique Selling Proposition (USP) – go through your top 3 – 5 list as carefully and thoughtfully as you can and ask yourself for each one, is this truly UNIQUE to you – could your competition in your market also claim this to be true? Try to identify the ONE thing that not only reflects who you are and/or what you are known for, but that is UNIQUE. If you can identify your USP highlight this.

1. Write your top words or phrases and your USP down and keep them posted near

you.

2. Ensure the social media channels you choose are a ‘fit’ with these words, phrases.

3. Then, ensure every post, comment, ‘like’, tweet, photo, video, article suggestion

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and share reflects your top words and your USP.

4. Over time, this will help to distinguish you from your competition in your market

place

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There are SO many social media tools (and more coming every month) you can’t possibly be on all of them so you need to be STRATEGIC – which make the most sense? • Which will meet your goals? • Which are where your audience is? • Which aligns with your brand and usp? • Which do you have the resources to do well?

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