Using Facebook, Twitter and other social media for your business All materials in this PowerPoint are copyrighted work product of Alexander and Associates and may not be used or reproduced without permission.

Social media are replacing newspapers, radio and television as the main way people get information about everything. Social media have even become more popular than as a way for people to communicate. But what are social media?

Three characteristics of social media: Users create the content. A traditional Web site is a business brochure. Social media are a public scrapbook, consisting comments, photos, videos and stories from you and your customers. Businesses can and should facilitate the conversations and participate. Many lines of communication. In traditional media, you send a message or ad and customers receive it. In traditional word-of- mouth, customers talk among themselves. In social media, you talk to customers, customers talk to you, customers talk to each other about and with you, groups of customers talk to other groups or individuals about and with you. All of this is done openly and permanently saved. People are their own gatekeepers. Mass media no longer control whats available for the public to consider newsworthy. Each person may do that for themselves.

The main social media networks businesses should consider: Facebook: About 400 million worldwide and 150,000 in the Boise area. Twitter: About 20 million worldwide and 3,000 in Boise area. Businesses should also consider MySpace, YouTube and LinkedIn. This discussion will focus on Facebook and Twitter.

The Facebook fan Page The Fan Page is the heart of the business Facebook effort, where you converse with your customers and they discuss your business among themselves. You and your fans will post photos and videos related to your business and you should give discounts and incentives to your fans.

More on the fan page You should post photos, updates, contests, awards, rates, offers and promotions. It is much like a Web site, only less expensive and people can interact with it directly. You can use this to reach and reward your most devoted fans and the people who love your brand.

How do fans hear about me? Every person on Facebook has a timeline – the collected comments of all their friends, updated instantly. Whenever you update your page with a photo or post, it shows up in the timelines of your fans. Most people use Facebook to keep up with friends and family, but a surprising amount of business networking goes on. Stick your face in your fan page at least once a day and respond to everyone who writes on your wall.

Twitter is like a condensed version of Facebook. People send 140- character messages, or Tweets. Their followers see these messages. Metro Express Car Wash has nearly 1,000 followers. For every commercial Tweet you send, you should have at least two non- commercial ones. Twitter

More on Twitter Metro Express follows nearly 1,000 people and it is easy to see what people are saying about Metro Express: Thank-yous and appreciation show people love the brand. Dont just churn out sales pitches; engage people and reply to them.

Dont just sit there! Use Facebook and Twitter to find charities, non- profits and local clubs that need prizes for drawings. They will thank you on your page, tell their friends and build goodwill for your brand. You may be doing these things already; social media just allow more people to know and talk about it.

I once heard someone say, I went onto Twitter once and there was just a guy talking about the burrito he had for lunch. Who needs to know that? (Ive heard similar comments about Facebook.) Believe it or not, someones business really does depend on knowing that sort of thing.

These businesses need to know what people in their town are saying about burritos. Everything is relevant to someone!

How to find whats relevant How to find whats relevant Use a program like Tweetdeck to pop the lid off Twitter. The search function opens a gold mine, allowing you to hear what people are saying about your industry, product, or your own business. You can reach out to those people, send them promotions, thank them, invite them over - even Shanghai them away from competitors.

Search Facebook, too This is the Facebook page of a burrito business. Below are local people and what they recently had to say about burritos in their status updates. Get a username so people can find your fan page, like Facebook.com/burrito

Advertising on Facebook Ads are only shown on the right-hand column and are non- interruptive. You only pay when someone clicks on your ad and the more youre willing to pay per click (say, 50 cents), the higher your ad is placed. You set a budget of how much youre willing to spend per day and the ads stop running when you reach it. You select keywords, ages and cities for the ad. True story: I once wrote on a friends wall about a welding repair job I did for her. The next day, I started seeing ads for welding supply companies. Ads are also placed based on your stated political views, your gender, marital status, age, pages you visit and favorite books, movies, foods, etc. When a man turns 40, for example, he will start seeing many ads for Viagra and golf.

What can I expect social media to do for my business? As with traditional advertising in newspapers, radio and TV, it is about connecting with your customers, keeping them loyal and getting them to leave your competitors. Your customers are already talking about you, or may want to talk about you in the right place. Do you have that place ready for them? Social media are especially useful for customer service and assessing new products and services. If your competition is doing it and you arent, you are at a disadvantage. Increased sales and market share are possible. Cause-and- effect sales may be difficult to pinpoint, similar to traditional advertisement – except social media cost much less to use.

How do I do this for my own business? Many businesses do their own social media – some do it well and some not so well. It is not particularly difficult to learn, but it does take a consistent commitment of time and effort. If you want to outsource it, there are various public relations companies that will do it for you, or train you to do it correctly. Here is what you should look for: Is the PR firm interested in your company and do they ask questions about it? Do they consider your other PR assets: Signage, history, visual appeal, vehicles, Web site, etc.? How often will they update your Facebook page and Twitter feed? At least a few Tweets a day and a Facebook update a day are good. Are they suggesting new approaches and things for you to try? Are they linked in to the community, so they can think of partnerships and other ways of increasing your profile? Do they get you in traditional newspapers and television, and leverage that in social media?

VERY IMPORTANT POINTS! Social media cannot change anything about your business. They can only amplify what is already there and what people think about you already. If you offer a good product or service, do good deeds and treat your customers well, social media will reflect that. If you offer a product or service no one wants and you mistreat people, you should not be in business. You should work for the IRS. Using social media is a reflection of the faith you have in your brand.

If your marketing people are not getting you into social media, they are behind the curve