social media for small business
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SOCIAL MEDIA FOR
SMALL BUSINESS
YMCA Business Centre, Markham, ON
October 19, 2010
WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA ANYWAY?
• Part of your marketing mix
• A tool for communication
• A two-way street that gives you the ability to engage with your audience
WHY SOCIAL MEDIA
Facebook: 500 M users worldwide
45 M pieces of contents shared per month
5.3 M fans for 1.5 M local businesses
145% Growth in the last year
The 35+ demographic now represents more than 30% of the entire user base.
Largest growth in the 55+ demographic
At least 50% of active users log into the site each day
Twitter now has 156 M users sending out 5.4 B tweets per month
More than 70% of small & medium businesses actively use SM sites like Twitter, Facebook to promote themselves.
SOCIAL MEDIA IS A MASSIVE NETWORKING PARTY
Be prepared
Know your message
Remember you are an ambassador of your brand
Join the conversation
Listen, help, support
Take initiative, engage
Give before you take
Be a connector
Don’t spam!
Think beyond ROI
BENEFITS OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Brand awareness & exposure
Public Relations
Building your list
Selling products & services
Driving traffic to your website
Inexpensive way of marketing your business
AND THERE’S MORE…
Ongoing communication with your customers
Even playing field: Reach
Market research
Showcasing your expertise
Educating your customers
Competitive intelligence
Building & nurturing customer relations
Addressing customer concerns & questions instantly
Niche marketing
Understanding your customer as a whole
Viral & word of mouth marketing
Find new customers through your friends
Increase your search engine rankings
Connect with vendors, suppliers, partners
Attract media, sponsorship, joint ventures
OH BUT WAIT!Some Challenges to Deal with…
Time consuming
Overwhelming
Creating good content
Providing consistent communication
Privacy concerns
Transparency
Balance between relationship building & selling
Confidence in your message
Know your social media funnel
FOUNDATIONS OF SOCIAL MEDIA SUCCESS
Creating good content
Sharing & Participating
Engagement
Consistency & Focus
FACEBOOK 101
Your personal profile is where it all starts
Have a professional photo
Include your bio & website on your profile
People want to know who you are; let them in
Remember that every post, picture, comment is part of your brand
Check privacy settings
Join groups, fan pages where your customers are
Participate in the conversation
Make friends!
Share (good) content
Invite them to your fan page
Get out to network in real life, connect with them on FB
YOUR FAN PAGE
What’s in a name?
Provide a description, add photos, video, links
Customized landing tab
Get a vanity url
Create content that is relevant, frequent & consistent: Status updates, links, photos, video
Encourage engagement, ask questions
Educate your fans
Make it relevant, interesting & fun
Create events, promotions
Remember the 80 -20 rule: engagement vs. selling
Ask questions - people love to talk
Respond to questions & inquiries promptly
Clean up wall spam promptly
Drive traffic to you page via your website, email signature, business card
TWITTER 101
Have your real name, good bio, professional photo
Include your website
Be consistent
Join the conversation
Balance between 3 types of tweets: Original content Responses/comments Re-tweets (sharing)
Remember the 80-20 rule
Be generous, kind, polite
Learn the rules & etiquette
Every tweet, every DM represents your company and more specifically you as a person.
Don’t be afraid to let your personality shine
Follow some experts closely to see how they do it
Don’t worry about (un)followers
Tweet like you talk, no jargon
Listen & ask questions
Use Twitter tools
Be patient – don’t get discouraged
Have fun!
“How can you squander even one more day not taking advantage of the greatest shifts of our generation? How dare you settle for less when the world has made it so easy for you to be remarkable?” – Seth Godin
“Realize that social media success equation is big moves on the chess board, it’s little moves made everyday that eventually add up to major shift.” Jay Baer
You will make mistakes. If you are sincere about helping the community, the authenticity will show and your mistakes will be forgiven.” – Zia Yusuf, executive vice president for SAP’s global ecosystem and partner group
Don’t say anything online that you wouldn’t want plastered on a billboard with your face on it.” – Erin Bury, Sprouter community manager
Katia Millar
www.positivefabulouswomen.com