6 Steps to Social Media Marketing SUCCESS! Keeping SBDCs Ahead of the Social Media Learning Curve By Herb Lawrence, ASU Small Business and Technology Development Center Director

OR: Eating Your Own Dog food…And LOVING IT!

The SBDC Challenge TRAINING HELPING THE SMALL BUSINESS CONSULTING MARKETING OUR SBDC STAYING CURRENT

What is Social Media? Social media is media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. - wikipedia.org

What is Social Media? An ongoing conversation that’s happening RIGHT NOW A promotional channel for content distribution A long-term return on efforts A steady stream of information

Marketing Fundamentals Haven’t changed Effective Marketing Segmenting your Market Developing Target Groups Information Channels Target Needs/Wants Craft Compelling Message Analyze Results Time Management

Our On-line Marketing Elephant Website Blog Local Listing Social Media Mobile SEO

Because at the End of the Day! If it doesn’t make: It doesn’t make:

Where they Get News/Information

Current Statistics 3 out of 4 use Social networks regularly Social media overtaken as #1 activity on the web ◦ 17% of all web usage 200 million blogs ◦ 900,000 blog posts daily ◦ 34% of opinions about companies, brands and products 93% of social media users believe companies should have presence on social media

Our Challenge with Small Businesses Just over 10% have CLAIMED their businesses on Google Places Only 10-20% Have Websites Optimized for Mobile Search 66% Are NOT Involved in Social Media

Customer Involvement Changed Customer NOW Find You (Maybe) New Consumers Begin Search on-Line Includes B2B Review Websites Read Blogs on Subject Read Comments Poll Friends on-line Conduct Local Search ALL BEFORE YOU EVEN KNOW THEY ARE THERE!

THE CHALLENGE

Social Media Platforms Of 700+ million users, 20 million join fan pages daily 5 Billion links, photos, videos shared on FB daily Fastest growing segment 35 and older FB added 100 million users in 6

Social Media Platforms Over 99 Million users 80% of Twitter usage happens off of twitter.com Over 10 million updates a day 140 character micro-blog

Social Media Platforms 2 nd largest search engine 4 th largest site on web 13 hours video uploaded every minute 250,000 videos uploaded daily 250,000,000 viewed daily

Social Media Platforms Network for Business Professionals 55 Million Worldwide Dominate Group & 50+ Develop Business Connections Industry Data

How is Social Media Used? Customer Service Product/service feedback Industry networking Promotions/Contests News, company updates Internal Collaboration

Creating a Social Media Plan STEPS ◦ Pre-planning ◦ Listen to the conversations ◦ Create TARGET profile ◦ Set Specific Goals ◦ Join Conversation ◦ Measure Return

Step 1 PREPLANNING ASK YOURSELF: ◦ Information Flow in Your Industry ◦ Where do People Get Information? ◦ How do Consumers interact with Industry? ◦ Do they Use networks? ◦ What INFLUENCES your Customers?

Step 1 Preplanning What are your CURRENT Channels? ? Websites Direct Mail Newsletter s

Step 1 Preplanning Asking Questions reminds you WHO YOU ARE and WHO YOU WANT TO BE It also indicates how SOCIAL MEDIA can be used to compliment your business goals.

Preplanning Action Items ◦ Make a List of Questions

Step 2 Listen to the Conversation Secure your brand on social platforms ◦ Blogs, twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn ◦ Usernames unique ◦ Try to be consistent Set up monitoring platforms ◦ Google Alerts ◦ SocialMention.com ◦ Technorati ◦ Twitter Search

Step 2 Listen to the Conversation KEYWORD categories to identify: ◦ Key industry influencers ◦ Competitors ◦ Industry news sources ◦ Blog Comments

Listen to the Conversation Action Items: ◦ Secure your BRAND ◦ Set up Monitoring Channels

Step 3 Create Target Profile Target Audience is males ◦ 350 billion spending power ◦ hours online each week ◦ 96% joined social networks 78% trust peer recommendations ◦ Only 14% trust advertisements Belong to: Quantcast ◦ Twitter: 31 ◦ Facebook: 33 ◦ LinkedIn 39

Step 3 Create Target Profile Find KEY attributes by Listening Chart out their presence in social media Market Segmentation ◦ Demographic ◦ Geographic ◦ Psychographic ◦ Behavioristic Continue to gather customer information along the way

Create your Target Profile ACTION ITEMS: ◦ Establish Target Profiles ◦ Give them names, photos, or anything else to help you relate to them  BUYER PERSONAS

Step 4 Set Specific Goals Brand Awareness/Advocacy Increase Traffic/Opt-Ins Business Partnerships Search Engine Results Generate Leads Reduce CRM Costs Increase Revenues

Step 5 Join the Conversation Phases of Social Equity 1. Awareness 1.Value and Fun 2.Qualify Fans/followers 2. Engagement 1.Increase long-term communication 3. Social Commerce 1.Product reviews, exclusive pricing, product previews, registration

Step 5 – Join the Conversation Establish an Editorial Calendar Choose schedule for days you will post Keeps on Track & Organize Content Consistency Helps when you need Content Ideas

Step 5 – Join the Conversation BE TRANSPARENT & AUTHENTIC Don’t be Evasive Offer your name, title, organization, experience Admit your interest in the topic Define your Credibility Be consistent across all SM profiles & Platforms

Step 5 – Join the Conversation BE the Expert in Your Industry Write about what you know, Offer insights Offer LINKS to resources When consumers TRUST your content, they will TRUST YOUR PRODUCTS/SERVICES

Step 5 – Join the Conversation HAVE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT! Handle NEGATIVE comments Who will RESPOND Admit mistakes Respond KINDLY Handling negative comments correctly will turn BRAND DETRACTORS into ADVOCATES

Join the Conversation ACTION ITEMS: 1. Create an EDITORIAL CALENDAR 2. Create RULES OF ENGAGEMENT 3. Share your Expectations with all involved

Step 6 – Measure ROI WHAT IS ROI? Non-Financial: ◦ Visitors ◦ WOM ◦ Page Views ◦ Fans & Followers FINANCIAL ◦ Sales ◦ Revenue ◦ Transactions ◦ Coupons

Step 6 – Measure ROI QUALITATIVEQUANTITATIVE Involved in Industry Conversations How Customers Perceive us versus competition Did we build KEY relationships Moving from MONOLOGUE to DIALOGUE? Website Analytics Social Mentions SEO Ranking Link Clicks Newsletter/ Subscribers added

Step 6 – Measure ROI KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS Transactions New Customers Sales Revenues Average Order Size BE SPECIFIC Frequency, Reach, Yield How often, How Many, How Much

Measure ROI ACTION ITEMS: Track Key Social Media Activities over Time Set up Analytic Tools ◦ Such as Google Analytics Make necessary Adjustments to increase Qualitative first ◦ Quantitative numbers will follow Qualitative Efforts Compare Metrics to Goals

BUDGETING SOCIAL MEDIA PLAN WAIT!!!!! ISN’T FACEBOOK FREE?

Budgeting for Social Media TIME DESIGN & BRANDING ANALYTIC TOOLS SOCIAL MONITORING AUTOMATION APPLICATIONS SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING OUTSOURCING/CONSULTING

Levels of Social Media Engagement LEVEL I ◦ Place holding  Usernames  Setting up Fan Pages LEVEL II ◦ Short-term Promotion  Answering questions  Finding Key Influencers in industry LEVEL III ◦ Dedicated Strategic Engagement  Active Profiles on Several Platforms  Promotions, Contests, Active Content Distribution Determine your level of engagement and budget for time accordingly

Bringing it Together Ok…BUT…Where Do I start?

Tips to get started Platforms you can ACTIVELY Maintain What outsourcing is needed? ◦ Design, Development, content ◦ Brand Monitoring, Plan your Content FLOW Find Tools to AUTOMATE ◦ Ping.fm ◦ HooutSuite ◦ Tweetdeck

FIND SYNERGY

ARE YOU READY TO DIGG IN?

Thank You! Oh or call me: Let’s Connect On-Line ASU Small Biz Blog Facebook Page: Facebook Profile: Twitter: LinkedIn: