how to get the most out of facebook, twitter, and linked in for your business

Social Media Networking

Getting the most out of Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn

for your Business

Who is Using Social Media?• 79% of American adults use the Internet. • The average age of an adult social media user jumped from 33 years old in 2008 to 38 years old in 2010.• More female users than male (by 12%)• Nearly half of “over 55’s” are using social media.• More than half of all Americans use at least one social media site. (In 2008, only 26% of adults used social media.)• 28% of U.S. adults say they give advice about purchases on social networking sites.• The purchasing decisions of 38 million 13 to 80-year-olds in the U.S. are now influenced in various ways by social media – up 14% in just 6 months.• At least half of Twitter and Facebook users said they had become more likely to talk about, recommend or purchase a company's products after they began following the company on social media• 63% of companies using social media say it has increased their marketing effectiveness. Sources: Mashable, HubSpot, eMarketer

The Big Three For Business:

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn# of Users 750 million 200 million 120 millionAverage Age 38 33 40% of U.S. Adult Internet Users

93% 17% 18%

Dominant Gender

Female Female Male

% of Users Who Check In Daily

52% 18% 35%

Source: Pew Internet, Bloomberg, YouGov, Hubspot

About Facebook Business Pages

When you sign up on Facebook, you create a personal profile page. This page represents you as an individual person.

You can create a Facebook Page for your business and manage it through your personal account. Pages allow you to use additional features to showcase your business:

•Get listed in more relevant search results•Have unlimited followers/fans (personal profiles allow 5000

friends)•Anyone can become a fan of your Page without first going

through mutual acceptance. •Designate multiple administrators•Manage multiple Pages through your personal profile.•Manage your Page discreetly; your personal profile is not

public on your Page, unless you designate yourself as Featured Page Owner.

•Use third-party applications to build supplemental pages to feature your products, services, and special offers.

How To Get The Most Out of Your Facebook Page

Create posts that interest your fans. When fans interact with YOUR page, it shows on their personal news feed for all their friends to see, thereby creating more opportunities for new fans. This is call VIRAL marketing.

• Embed multimedia content, hyperlink, video, or photo(s)• Ask Questions• Respond to comments• Encourage Fan Posts• Ask Fans to “like” and “comment” on your post• Feature Others in Your Community (link to their Facebook

page or website)• Highlight Your Local Community

Tips for Easy Post Sharing

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Tips for Facebook Page PostingPosts that receive the highest interaction rates are on

weekends and off-peak hours from 2pm to 5am, when page admins are least likely to add a new post. Posts outside of business hours have 20% higher engagement rates.

When sharing stories, include the full link instead of a shortened URL — it is 300 percent more likely to get clicked on than any shortened address.

Most shareable words include “best,” “most,” and those that explain, such as “why,” and “how.”

Frequent posting increases interaction and fewer posts reduce the chances users will see them.

Unsubscribe rates go up after three posts per day. The secret is to find that balance between optimizing interaction and managing unsubscribes, which is going to be different for every business.

In the first hour of a Facebook status update, half of the users who will click on the post will have done so, with 90 percent of the clicks occurring within nine hours of the post going live.

Use Facebook “Insights” for your Page to review user activity, page content feedback, demographics, and media consumption.

Understand EdgeRankSource: Momentus Media, Buddy Media

What is Facebook’s EdgeRank?EdgeRank is an algorithm that decides which posts/updates in Facebook appear in the users’ “Top News” stream.

EdgeRank is made up of 3 components:Affinity is based on how often the user and the user’s friends interact with content from the Page. Weight refers to the type of content and how each user interacts with that content type. Time is based on the age of the post.

Tips to Improve Your Page’s EdgeRank•Post multimedia. By far, photos generate the highest interaction rate with status updates ranking # 2. Others include video, links, and music.•Ask Questions•Respond to comments•Link to other places within the Facebook environment•Know your fans and post content that naturally engages the audience (think exciting, unique, and exclusive). The more frequently a fan clicks on your posts in their newsfeed, the more likely they will see your content in their news feed in the future.•Encourage your audience to ‘like’ and “comment” on your content•Create short and appealing videos to engage your audience (look at Animoto.com for creating free slide show videos)•Do not post multiple instances of the same link •Invite fans to contribute their own content (e.g. uploading photos or videos etc). •Do not ‘over-post’, and DO maintain a steady stream of content

How to Promote Your Facebook Page

•Add a Facebook icon with hyperlink to your email signature

•Get a unique URL after acquiring 25 fans; use it everywhere in print. So instead of: https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/innsights/154846434528272,

Your URL will be: www.facebook.com/innsights

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/innsights/154846434528272

How to Promote Your Facebook PagePost Content on Other’s Pages (of trusted pages to avoid spam reporting)

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How to Promote Your Facebook PageUse a “Like Box” on Your Website or Blog


•Facebook Advertising• Targeted Demographics

• Can Now target by zip code: great for local business!• Age• Interests

• The Downside: The price of Facebook advertising has increased 70% during the first half of 2011.

•Contests • A great way to make your fan page more engaging• An incentive for potential fans to join• Contests that include giveaways can be excellent marketing

tools if they’re done properly.• Many third-party applications are available


Use all the pixels allowed in your profile picture:

200 px wide x 600 px tall.

Make Your Page Eye-Appealing

Try OpenOffice.org for free open-source software for graphics (word processing and spreadsheets too)

Create a landing page graphic using third-party software

About Twitter

Twitter is driven largely by so-called power users, and only 21% of registered users are actually active on the site. 22% of users are responsible for 90% of all tweets.48% of Twitter users share deals and coupons online61% Write at least one product review a month23% of Twitter users follow businesses to find special deals, promotions, or sales. (ComScore)

The Concise Oxford English Dictionary has recently added “retweet” to its dictionary. Retweet means “the act of resharing a message on Twitter.”

Twitter allows you to post updates (called Tweets) as often as you want (and limited to 140 characters).

When you follow other people on Twitter, you see their tweets. When they follow you, they see your tweets.

Twitter Essentials for Business

Begin by following the people, news feeds, and brands you know. Use advanced search to find people to follow: twitter.com/search-advanced You don’t have to tweet to benefit from Twitter. You can contribute, or just listen and retrieve “up to the second” information. Some people never tweet, they simply use Twitter as a way to get the latest news, or information on their interests. Ask questions of your followers to gain insight and show that you are listening. Respond to compliments and feedback in real time Reward. Tweet updates about special offers, discounts and time-sensitive deals. Demonstrate wider leadership and know-how. Reference articles and links about the bigger picture as it relates to your business. Retweet and reply publicly to great tweets posted by your followers and customers. Monitor your comments and replies, or manage multiple Twitter accounts through:

TweetDeckHootSuite

About LinkedIn

Primarily used for professional networkingHelps to connect to individuals in your industry as possible clientsMore professional than FacebookAllows hiring of people you may not regularly meetDrives the most referrals to B2B sites

LinkedIn Essentials for BusinessIn order to optimize your presence on LinkedIn and in search engines, follow these simple guidelines:

• Fill out your profile completely.• Search for connections – Linked In provides suggestions of “people you may know”• Ask your connections for recommendations• Write honest recommendations for your connections• Answer questions – to share your knowledge with your network

• Browse “questions” to find categories familiar to you (linkedin.com/questions)

• Either provide your own answer or recommend connections who can help

• By providing the best answers to questions, you earn expertise and are featured on the Answers home page.

• Join a group• Create a group for your product, brand, or business• Share articles of interest to customers and prospects• Add your company profile

• Add products and services to your company profile, which enable you to upload photos, video, and hyperlinks to your specific specialties.

Social Media Challenge: Time CommitmentYou can set up a fan page, Twitter account, and LinkedIn profile without paying a dime. However, social media is far from free. It requires time, energy, and effort to create interesting content, listen to conversations, and respond.

Solutions:• Instead of rushing to join any and every social media community out there, I prefer the slow and steady approach. Pick one or two that are important in your market. • Determine who will be responsible for keeping activity going. • My favorite shortcut is to originate all posts on Facebook, and link them to Twitter, and link Twitter to LinkedIn. Here’s how:

• Link Facebook posts to Twitter: www.facebook.com/twitter• Link Twitter Posts to Linked In:

1. On your LinkedIn Profile Page, click “more” at the top navigation bar.2. Click on “Get More Applications”3. Select “Tweets” by LinkedIn4. Click “go to application”5. Click on “settings”, then “display all tweets” (assumes you’ve already

entered your twitter account on your profile)6. Click “save settings”

http://www.facebook.com/twitter

Other Social Media Challenges

Measuring Success By # of Followers:

It’s tempting to pay a service to deliver thousands of followers literally overnight. However, in the long run it’s more important to have a devoted, enthusiastic community. Be patient. It’s organic growth that matters. Things don’t (and won’t) happen overnight.

Social Media Doesn’t Equal Self-Promotion

If you spend all your time posting and tweeting about your company, your news, or services, the process will became incredibly frustrating and you will little results for your efforts. Realize two key posting concepts:

Show the person/people behind the companyFocus on your customers, and not your companyPromote others in your community

Promote ALL Your Social Media Accounts

•Your email signature•Monthly newsletter•On loyalty cards•On your website •On your blog•On your business cards

Resources – Social Media News

Mashable.com

Blog.HubSpot.com

WhosBloggingWhat.com

AllFacebook.com

Who's Blogging What Spotting things you'll want to see today.

Who's Blogging What

Spotting things you'll want to see today.

Resources – Blogs & Website Builders

You need a place online—a website or a blog that your Facebook and Twitter accounts can send people to.

•Blogs•Blogger.com•WordPress.com•Tumblr.com

•Local Experts•Lee Cloer, SiteDart.net (web hosting, free site-builder)•James Pader, WinterSunWebsites.com

•Low Cost/User Friendly (Drag and Drop) Website Builders• SnapPages.com• SquareSpace.com• Weebly.com• Jigsy.com• Yola.com

Resources – Facebook Third-Party Applications

For promotions, fan-building contests, landing pages, supplemental pages, etc:

• WildfireApp.com• NorthSocial.com• PageModo.com (free custom Facebook page!)• IFrameEngine.com• ShortStack.com

Resources – Local Check-In/Local Listings

•Google Places•Foursquare•Yahoo Local •Yelp•Facebook•Merchant Circle

1. Use keyword rich text2. Make sure all your contact information

matches from one site to the next.

For a copy of this slide show, connect with me on LinkedIn:

linkedin.com/in/MaryAnneBaker

Or send an email to:

[email protected]

how to get the most out of facebook, twitter, and linked in for your business

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