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Social Media andyour Small Business

Reap the Power of Social Media Marketing and Engagement

Social Media and Your Small Business

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Is social media right for your small business? Consider these points:

1. Facebook reports 1.15 billion monthly users, while Twitter reports 200 million active users.1 The takeaway: go where your audience is.

2. A social media presence will help you hire top talent -- a plus as the economy recovers and employee turnover increases.

3. Social media lets you connect with customers (and potential customers), respond to questions, amplify compliments, and diffuse complaints, all in real time.

4. Speaking of time -- social media needn’t be all-consuming.

5. Social media costs a fraction of traditional media.

OK, then - let’s get started!

ContentsFormulating a Social Media Strategy . . . . . . . . . . 2

• StepOne:DefineyourGoals..................2

• Step Two: Balance Marketing with Engagement . .2

• Step Three: Focus on the Audience Experience . . .3

• Step Four: Interact, Share and Respond . . . . . . . . 3

• Step Five: Cultivate Your Brand Advocates. . . . . . . 4

Pick your Platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

To Blog or Not to Blog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Social Media Tips for Busy Business Owners . . . . . . . 7

Social Media Metrics 101. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Social Media Use in the Workplace. . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Additional Social Media Resources. . . . . . . . . . . 10

1. Data from August, 2013.

Social Media and Your Small Business

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Formulating a Social Media StrategyTake the “overwhelming” out of social media with this five-step action plan. StepOne:DefineyourSocialMediaGoals

Identify how social media could help achieve your business goals. Focus on one key objective, such as:

• Increase customer loyalty

• Increase direct sales

• Generate brand awareness

• Become a thought leader and expert

Once you’ve determined your objective, stick with it!

Step Two: Balance Marketing with Engagement

The most successful businesses use Web 2.0 to drive ideas, not product or offers. Engage your audience and

invite them into a conversation, rather than talking at them.

And just like a good conversationalist would do, remember to change topics regularly. Offer some surprises

beyond a “business as usual” viewpoint.

Experts recommend using a 70/30 rule of engagement, i.e., talk about business-related topics 70 percent of

the time and use the remaining 30 percent to talk about:

• Your company’s mission and vision

• Social endeavors and projects that involve your company

• Your employees and customers

(be sure to get their permission first)

• “Behind-the-scenes” stories about your company’s culture

In your blog posts, company website and other social media forums, use a

storytelling lens that draws people in. Demonstrate your company’s mission

and values by describing actions and results.

Above all, create content that’s shareable. Before you send out a Tweet or

publish a blog post, ask, “Does this message reflect our company’s reputation?

Will it benefit our business?” If not, revise or delete it!

Social Media and Your Small Business

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TheGoldenRuleofSocialMedia:Generatepositiveconversation, engagement and participation.

Step Three: Focus on the Audience Experience

Rather than focus on audience size or the number of followers and fans, build a meaningful connection

with your audience and industry. Social media helps your target audience get to know your business

better – and encourages that audience to grow.

Cater to your core audience’s needs. Provide them with resources, advice and information on

a regular basis. Talk about industry trends of interest. Make every touch about their needs.

Be friendly and generous.

The more you use social media to engage your target audience, the more it will help cultivate business

in the long term.

Step Four: Interact, Share and Respond

Social media is about more than your own voice and viewpoint. Be sure to keep in mind these

guidelines as you respond and comment on other blogs, forums and discussions:

• Stay positive and respectful.

• Add something noteworthy to the conversation.

• Include a link to your own content if relevant to the topic.

• Link to other content that you find of interest on your own social media platforms.

• Respond promptly to social media comments left on your blog. (See To Blog or Not to Blog)

• Encourage engagement!

• Build relationships with your industry’s influencers.

• Reference individuals in your social media community with expertise and insights.

These simple actions will boost your online credibility and boost search engine ranking - - and

encourage others to share your content.

Social Media and Your Small Business

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Step Five: Cultivate your Brand Advocates

Recognizing that your employees (and these days, just about everyone else) are actively using social media

sites, why not make them your company’s brand advocates?

First, make sure they understand your company’s values and mission and how best to express it with

social media. Your company reputation depends on it.

Your army of brand advocates will share your company’s message and brand online with potential customers

and employees. Thus be sure that you establish some simple ground rules:

Keep Things Transparent: Employees should always identify

themselves in their social media. This will encourage full

transparency and accountability.

Follow the Rules: Employee online behavior should adhere to

your company’s existing employee policies. (see Social Media

Use in the Workplace.)

Keep Communication Open-Ended: As an employer,

you should be able to comment on an employee’s online

statements and postings, if needed.

Encourage Feedback: Employees who are active on social media can serve as your eyes and ears in tracking

industry trends and commentary about your company.

Consider this: If 100 of your employees or recruits posted something positive about your company right now,

their message could potentially reach 13,000 social media users. That is significant leverage!

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Pick your Platform

Utilize a variety of social media platforms to create your strategy.

Your Company Website: Allow employees to contribute content to your company website or blog. Doing

so will give them a sense of ownership and pride in their company. It also humanizes your company,

your culture and brand.

Facebook for Engagement: A company Facebook page can be a meet up for your workforce, a place to

engage customers – but most of all it can demonstrate your company brand. Highlight company events and

gatherings, employee initiatives and achievements.

A dynamic company Facebook page also demonstrates your company culture to potential job candidates.

Pinterest Adds Interest: As a visual platform, Pinterest uses images to engage your audience. It can

support your business objectives by linking users back to your company website or blog. Use it to create

a company storyboard.

Twitter: The popular micro-blogging site limits users to messages of 140 characters

or less. Many companies use the platform to further their online presence and as a

cross-functional pipeline.

Strive to generate original Tweets that reflect your company’s expertise and values.

Make Use of Media: Have a professional photographer take photos of employees

in action (be sure everyone signs a release first) for use on your company website

and other social media platforms. Encourage employees to share this content via

their own social networks.

Besides building your brand, visual content gives job candidates a sense of your company culture. Videos of

management and team members let job seekers see if they’d be a good fit for your company. Publish your

media across multiple social media platforms.

Social Media and Your Small Business

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To Blog or Not to Blog A company blog can help differentiate your business, its services and brand, while building your

company’s reputation as an expert and resource. Consider these tips as you create your blog strategy.

Care and Feeding of your Blog

• Be realistic about your available time and resources

• Consistency is more important than frequency

• Line up internal support to maintain your blog

• Engage a responsible employee who is

experienced in social media

Creating Content

• Invite others to contribute to your blog, including:

• Employees

• Industry experts

• Satisfied customers

• Establish a publishing schedule and guidelines for blog contributors

• Allot time to review and revise content as needed prior to publish

Creating Community

• Regularly monitor comments and discussions

• Maintain freedom of expression

• Edit or delete negative comments directed at individuals

What to Write About

• Make your blog a source of industry news and information

• Include links to related resources in your posts

• Share brief stories that exemplify your company’s unique culture, brand and ethics

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Tips for Busy Business OwnersAre you too busy for social media? The key is to keep it simple:

Create a Schedule: Set aside a portion of time each day to post to your blog and other social media platforms.

Give yourself a regular amount of time to complete the task. Choose a time of day that will give you the peace

and quiet needed to think and write clearly.

Stay Connected: Check in briefly with key social media sources throughout the

day to help inspire content ideas for your own blog and Twitter feed.

Be Consistent: While you don’t have to post new content every day, strive to

publish content on a regular basis – at minimum a few times a week.

Keep It Short and Sweet: It’s always difficult to find the time to create online

content. The good news: your audience’s time is limited too!

Keep your blog posts brief and conversational. Take more time to

edit your writing. Brevity and clarity are always greatly appreciated.

Follow as Much as You Lead: While your point of view is valuable, also look for ways to solicit responses and

feedback from the audience in your blog posts, tweets and other communications.

Be a Servant: Be of service to your audience. Keep their needs in mind as you write. This point of view will

inherently drive engagement and participation (and potentially conversion).

GetFeedbackfromTrustedSources:If you’re concerned about your level of writing, ask a trusted

source to review and edit your content. Choose someone with solid writing skills and business acumen.

Incorporate this process into your publishing routine to maintain the quality of your posts and content.

Be Frank, Polite and Civil: Keep your opinions and knee-jerk reactions in check, especially with irate

customers or others whose opinion differs from your own. Remember – you are your company’s brand

ambassador.

Social Media and Your Small Business

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Social Media Metrics 101Determining what social media metrics matter most to your small business can be challenging.

These basics will help get you started:

GoWhereyourTargetAudienceGoes: Experts recommend tracking the number of

visits, leads and customers that each of your social media platforms generate. Focus

your efforts on the platforms that your target audience frequents the most and adjust

your social media strategy accordingly.

UsingGoogleAnalytics: A statistical treasure trove for small business, Google

Analytics, including Google conversions, is used by half of the 10,000 most-visited

websites. Additionally, Google’s Adwords Keyword Planner will help you plan your pay-

per-click campaigns more effectively.

Tracking Engagement: Follow the 70/30 rule of engagement (see Step Two: Balance Marketing with

Engagement) and focus first on building customer relationships. Once you’ve done so, move on to…

Tracking Conversions: By adding a tracking code to links that are posted on your social networks, you can

measure the purchase of goods or services, customer leads or other statistics that are meaningful to your

business goals.

Virality: The Internet equivalent of word of mouth, virality is a holy grail of social

marketing. It can generate a huge return on investment for the rare campaign that

spreads like wildfire.

Given the variety of available social media platforms, going viral often means that a

campaign jumps from customers to prospects, from one social platform to another,

and so on. The end result often makes it difficult to measure virality and may require

substantial investment.

Customer Sourcing: When it comes to conversion, don’t forget to ask in-store customers what brought

them into the store. Keep track of their responses. This will help you better allocate your social media

marketing budget.

If your business is online, include a “Where did you hear about us?” field in your “Contact Us” form.

Social Media and Your Small Business

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Social Media Use in the Workplace As social media use grows, more people access it throughout the day. Rather than prohibit its use, many

experts recommend taking a more proactive approach.

Create a Social Media Policy

A social media policy will promote a better balance between work and online activities and circumvent social

media mishaps. Use it to supplement your company’s other legal documents, such as your Internet use policy,

code of conduct and ethics policy and privacy and non-harassment policies. A social media policy will help

clarify:

• Infringements on confidential company information and intellectual property rights and other

proprietary information.

• Slanderous or libelous statements that are detrimental to business and unsubstantiated

that are prohibited.

• Comments made by the employee are their own and should not be made on behalf of the company.

• Those channels that are safe and appropriate for various types of communications.

Consult your own legal counsel to create a social media policy that best suits your

place of business.

As you assemble your policy, consider these recommendations:

Keep It Simple: Keep the policy easy to read and understand to prevent employees

from ignoring it altogether. Make it easily accessible online.

Train Employees: Train all employees about your social media policy and corporate

messaging. This will enable them to confidently and appropriately promote your company. Include this training

as part of your new hire orientation.

Involve your Staff: Encourage employees to talk openly to managers about their blogs and online profiles

as questions arise.

Separate Work and Personal Data: Be aware of data privacy issues on portable devices that combine work

and personal data. If the device is lost, it may require wiping the device’s storage to maintain corporate

security, thus destroying the employee’s personal data, and potentially creating a liability issue.

Social Media and Your Small Business

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Additional Social Media ResourcesUse these additional social media resources to stay current.

Blogs and social media websites:• Web Ink Now: David Meerman Scott’s blog -- he wrote the book on social media. (see below)

• Mashable: News about the latest social media trend mash ups.

• Social Media Today: New thinking about social media.

• TechCrunch: Technology trends and developments.

Books:• The New Rules of Marketing & PR by David Meerman Scott (Fourth edition, Wiley, 2013)

• Built-in Social: Essential Social Marketing Practices for Every Small Business

by Jeff Korhan (Wiley, 2013)

• Highly Recommended: Harnessing the Power of Word of Mouth and Social Media to Build Your

Brand and Your Business by Paul M. Rand (McGraw-Hill, 2013)

More from the Resource CenterSocial Media Strategy: Your Social Media Marketing PlanSocial media marketing demystified.

Energize your Business Strategy with Social Media Grow your business as you save money.

Your Company’s Social Media Policy 2.0 Evolve your social media policy.

Company Branding and Employee Social Networks: A Social Media Win-Win Learn how to build a brand army.

Visit the Monster Resource Center