When Twitter and Facebook are Too Much: Niche Social Media Marketing Presented to the New Mexico Professional Chapter of the Association for Women in Communications January 9, 2013 Albuquerque, NM Jan Zimmerman, Author Web Marketing for Dummies Social Media Marketing All-in-One for Dummies Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing info@watermelonweb.com 505-344-4230 © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

What We’ll Discuss Today What are niche social media Why use them How to select the right social media for your business How to measure your success What to do when things aren’t working © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

Types of Niche Social Media Tools that extend your social reach Sites that reach specific target markets Sites that specialize in specific activities Your own social media channel © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

7 Goals For Social Media Marketing Casting a wide net to catch your target market Branding Building relationships Improving business processes Improving search engine ranking Selling when opportunity arises Saving money on advertising  Decide which goal(s) apply to you  Quantify objectives for each one  Go after niche markets one at a time © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

© 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing Social Tools To Extend Your Reach Bookmarking StumbleUpon, Delicious, Google.com/bookmarks Specialty Bookmarks, e.g. book recommendations Social Media Buttons Addthis.com, ShareThis.com News Digg, reddit, google.com/news © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

Choose Targeted Social Media Strategically Choose social networks that match your demographic target Try to choose social networks that enable you to syndicate content Fish where your fish are © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

Social Media Market Research Research social networks first. Check demographics, site usage, and reputation Read reviews with tips on how to use each site Site Name URL What it Does Alexa and Quantcast www.alexa.com www.quantcast.com Rank traffic and demographic data Mashable www.mashable.com Presents social media news and tips Practical eCommerce www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/2932-18-Social-Networks-for-Entrepreneurs Lists 18 social networks for entrepreneurs Social Media Today http://socialmediatoday.com/amzini/306252/social-networking-growth-stats-and-patterns Compiles statistical sources © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

Assess Audience Involvement Lurk Quality of dialog Quality of posts Quantity of posts compared to the number of registered users Assess Responses Ratio responses to posts (look for at least 2:1) Quality of responses: relevance, tone Quantity of viral sharing (e.g. retweets) © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

Valuing Stratified Social Communities Smaller than the big social networking sites If users fit the demographics of your clients – you will make a bigger impact Become a big fish in a small pond – you become the expert rather than getting lost on the bigger sites © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

Smaller Networking Sites Business networks are a growing segment of social networks These are good for soft selling and referrals Never underestimate the power of a referral © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

Searching For Options By Industry Sector B2B Choose industry- or interest specific social networks by searching online. The social network should: Be large enough to support your investment Attract new users Vertical industry sites, other than shopping, are particularly appealing for B2B marketers Use adroit maneuvering to intersect with sales cycle © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

Sample Business Networking Site http://www.linkedin.com/pub/ellen-cline/4/a94/a17 © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

© 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing Google + https://plus.google.com/116675178962448870958 © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

Example Of Science Technology Site http://sciencestage.com/arrayit © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

Social Networking for Retailers Social Shopping Reach consumers interested in buying Users enjoy latest product reviews, real-time deals, and product news Be careful with Daily Deal sites As a retailer you should: Track results Customize social profiles (i.e., a sporting goods store might promote camping gear on a social network for backpackers) © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

Example Of Social Shopping Site http://www.kaboodle.com/reviews/cupcake-laptop-sleeve-9 © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

Daily Deal Sites – Living Social http://www.groupon.com/deals/revolution-bakery-1 © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

Searching For Options By Demographics Use demographics to determine your niche markets Age Gender Location Income Education © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

© 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing Demographic Analysis © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

Example Of Generational Site http://www.makemesustainable.com Make Me Sustainable is an environmental community with Gen-Y appeal. (Gen-X = B. between 1961 – 1981. Gen-Y = B. between 1981 – 2000) © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

Example Of An Ethnic Site http://www.mybbwo.com © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

© 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing Example Of A Local Site http://santafenm.citysearch.com/profile/6961909/ santa_fe_nm/blue_corn_cafe_brewery.html © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

Selecting Social Media By Type Of Activity Use multiple sites, such as Pinterest and Flickr, that share the same activity type Users will generally focus on only one of these Multiple sites with the same activity type will increase search engine ranking Keep it simple! Use RSS to automatically update other services with the same content © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

Example Of An Image Sharing Site http://www.pinterest.com/weswendesign/ © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

Example of a Video-Sharing Site © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

Example Of Meet-Up Site http://www.meetup.com/nmtechscene/ © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

Geo-Marketing Site – Foursquare https://www.foursquare.com/pageonebooks © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

Your Own Social Network http://www.ramonafarmersmarket.ning.com Ramona Certified Farmers’ Market in Ramona, CA © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

How To Tell If Your Niche Marketing Is Working Google analytics Identify traffic arriving to your site from social media services through referral reports. Some social networks such as Ning, Meetup, and Google + offer easy Google Analytics integration Key performance indicators e.g. traffic, sales, conversions, downloads, etc. Tagging Links Use a URL shortening tool for statistics URL shorteners, such as Tiny.ly, offer real-time statistics to track traffic generated from specific links. © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

Integrating Social Media & Web Metrics https://www.google.com/analytics/web © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

What To Do When Things Aren’t Working - IF Your social presence can’t be found Inappropriate match between channel and audience Poor content Lack of audience engagement Remember the four P’s of marketing! Product Price Position Promotion © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

© Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing 2013 Summary Understand your social media goals Conduct Social Media Market Research by industry sector Assess Audience Involvement Choose minor social communities strategically targeting your market’s demographics Make business connections online Integrate social media & web metrics to track results © Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing 2013

© 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing For More Information Presentation & Handouts available at http://www.watermelonweb.com/marketingresources.htm Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing 505-344-4230 info@watermelonweb.com © 2013 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing