www.MarketYourStartup.com

Social Media Marketing

By Market Your Startup

Agenda

• Why should your company use Social Media for Marketing?

• Social Media Strategy• Goals – CAPPSI• Social Media Tools• Blogging• Twitter• Social Networks• Engage customers and fans• Dos & Don’ts• Social Media Action Plan

Why should your company use Social Media Marketing?• Some Stats by Technorati (2008):– Blogs are now used by 24% of Internet users,

up from 13% in 2006– Social networks are now used by 26% of

Internet users, up from 17% in 2006• Some Stats by MediaMetrix (2008)– Blogs: 77.7 million unique visitors in the US– Facebook: 41.0 million– MySpace 75.1 million– Total internet audience 188.9 million

Social Media Strategy

• Identify goals• Define target market• Create a Social Media plan• Implement strategy• Review performance

Goals - CAPPSI

• Connection -> Use Social Media to connect to customers

• Awareness -> Create awareness through increased online presence

• Personality -> Show customers the personal side behind your business and become a Trust Agent

• Participation -> Create engaging activities• Sales -> Increase traffic to website • Information -> Share valuable and relevant content

Social Media Tools

• The most important Social Media Tools:– Company Blog– Twitter– Social Media Networks (Facebook, MySpace)– Others (DIGG, StumbleUpon, Forwardtrack,

Friendfeed, Technorati, MerchantCircle, Xing, Wikipedia, Travelwiki, Yahoo Answers, Meetups, Comments on Blogs, etc.)

Advantages of a Business Blog

• Creates awareness• Draws visitors to the website – SEO– Keywords

• Valuable content and information• Encourages communication and participation• Personalizes the company

Blog Topics

• Company news: special offers, new products/services, company/employee activities, employee of the month etc.

• Be green: green companies are popular -> start a green initiative that your employees and

customers care about and start saving the earth • Good causes: support of charities, fundraisers

etc.

Blog Topics

• Conferences/Fairs: information on upcoming conferences in the cities with locations, special rates for visitors, traffic advice, quickest route

• Feedback: answer to complaints, ask for ideas, communicate with customer

• Contests: offer contests to encourage participation and promote them, such as videos for Youtube, Writing contests, Twitter contests etc.

• Local news: input from different locations about local events

Advantages of Twitter

• Fast and timely• Free• Large audience• Respond to feedback• Communicative and informational• Run Twitter promotions• Promotion of other social media activities-> get traffic -> find supporters -> make sales

What to tweet

• Relevant content that is of interest for the target market, such as:– Promotions– New blog posts & other social media activities– Local events– Articles & blogs of interest– Responses to feedback, customer interaction– Ask customers what they want– Personality of your company

Advantages of Social Networks

• Free• Large audience• Creates awareness and visibility• Good customer participation• Offers a platform for customers to discuss

positive and negative aspects and gives your company a chance to respond

How to engage customers

• Contests: Let followers create some content and offer them freebies for it

• Applications: Create a useful or funny Facebook application

• Ask customers for their opinion: Make surveys, ask for feedback

• Listen to your customers• Offer your customers what they ask for• Be personal and social

Do’s and Don’ts in Social MediaWhat to do• Provide relevant

information• Be recognizable• Produce quality content• Be interesting• Segment and target your

audience• Be responsive• Accept feedback

What not to do• Pushy selling• Over promoting• Censoring• Go for scale not quality• Spamming• Be dishonest

Social Media Action Plan

• Create profiles• Create awareness and develop

a strong user base• Link building to drive traffic to website• Develop personalized and relevant content• Engage supporters

(contests, applications, promotions)• Update content regularly• Respond to questions and feedback• Promote other Social Media tools• Review Social Media plan and adapt

Do you want to learn more?

Contact Market Your Startup right now or check out our blog for further information!

www.MarketYourStartup.com