Rachel Stone Director of Operations Microsoft Office Specialist Master Instructor COMMONWEALTH COMPUTER TRAINING

About Us Commonwealth Computer Training is locally owned and operated by Patricia W. Haynes, C.P.C., as a division of Commonwealth Personnel Consultants, Inc. Webpage: Facebook: Computer-Training/ Computer-Training/ Twitter: Blog:

What is Social Media? A collection of FREE ONLINE TOOLS and PLATFORMS that people use to PUBLISH, CONVERSE and SHARE ONLINE.

What is Social Media?

Why Market on Social Media? Traditional marketing, like newspapers, magazines, TV, has you sending your message to a heterogeneous mass of people who may or may not be interested in what you have to say. Social Media provides a two-way street for building relationships and for reaching target markets.

Why Market on Social Media? Make yourself visible to people who are already interested in what you have to say. Target and tap into communities of interest, engage them with useful content, and build a relationship with them.

SEO Search Engine Optimization If a link is referenced frequently on a social networking site, Google uses it in its organic and news rankings. SEARCH RESULTS

SEO Search Engine Optimization The more people who visit your site, the more chances it will be shared. This increases the ranking of that link. The further up in rank your link goes, the more frequently it will appear in a search.

Be Authentic! Don’t be afraid to use your personal voice. People online are looking for people & businesses they can trust. Focus on building customer relationships rather than a marketing campaign.

Don’t Have the Time or the Technical Know-How? Don’t get intimidated. There are lots of online resources and tutorials. Write your blogs/posts a few months in advance, then roll-out as needed. Use online service to deliver content for you, like Hire a Social Media Consultant.

Social Media Not Just for Kids Fastest growing demographic in all social networks is people over the age of 35. This is where your customers are, and where you need to be.

Today’s Focus Blog Facebook Twitter

BUILD A BLOG: HOW TO BUILD TRUST, REPUTATION, AND SHARES

What is a Blog? WEB-LOG A kind of online journal, with posts, or articles. Provide useful information and connect with your community.

Types of Blogs Personal Blogs. Microblog. Corporate and Organizational Blogs. Genre Blogs. PhotoBlog. Vlog - Video Blog.

Why Blogging Works for Business Build trust, people get to know you Increase search engine visibility. Position yourself as an authority in your field. Reach a wider market. Learn from your friends/followers. Create networking opportunities.

Setting Up Your Blog Use blogging site such as Blogger.com or WordPress.com Internal – page within your website External – stand alone blog Widgets and Plugins are additional bits of software that add extra functionality to your blog.

Write Your First Post Add title that includes useful keywords. Include links to your other social media platforms.

FIND FANS ON FACEBOOK: JOIN THE WORLD’S LARGEST NETWORK

What is Facebook? Originally started by Mark Zuckerberg of Harvard University as college network. Over 1 BILLION users worldwide. Individual users can create profiles with photos, lists of personal interests, and contact information. Users can communicate with friends and other users through private or public messages. They can also create and join interest groups and "like” pages. One of the most widely used online marketing tools for business.

Interesting Facebook Stats Fastest growing age group is over the age of 35. Facebook population is 3x the size of the US population. 78% of the United States is on Facebook. Facebook is the #1 Social Networking Site in the US, Canada, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and Singapore. More than 35 million users update their status each day.

Why Facebook Works for Business Facebook offers pages, groups, events, applications, and ads. Completely free to create a page or group specifically for your business. Your customers are on Facebook, so you need to be.

Create a Page Go to and create a profile. Create a page at The small box beneath your profile image should contain your “elevator pitch” Do a search for your topic area and join a few groups and become a fan of (or “Like”) a few pages.

Use Social Ads Pay per click or pay per view. Highly targeted by your choice of broad or very specific demographics. When to use them? When first launching a page. To promote a new product. Raise awareness within your target audience. Provide useful interesting content on your page and you may not need social ads Visit

Measure Your Results Pages provide you with data and metrics about your fans. Go to and click View Insights next to the page that you want to see the data for.

TAP INTO TWITTER: HOW TO USE THE POWER OF THE WORLD’S LARGEST MICROBLOG

What Is Twitter? Tell the world anything you like in 140 characters or less. Who you follow shows in your timeline, a ticker tape of the tweets by those you follow. Those who follow you see your tweets in their timeline. Real time “breaking news” where and when you want it.

Interesting Twitter Stats There are over a BILLION Twitter users. 135,000 new Twitter users sign-up every day. Average number of tweets per day: 58 million. 10 tweets per second mention Starbucks. The most a tweet has been re-tweeted exceeds 800,000 re-tweets.

Get Started with Twitter Get to know Twitter! Check it out at Register for an account at twitter.com/signup Upload a profile picture or logo. Add a short biography about you and/or your business. Include your web address. Customize your background.

Send a Tweet Tweet valuable content to build a community of interest. Include a relevant link to something useful or interesting. Tweet link to your blog post, news item, press release, YouTube video, photo, almost anything. Retweet posts from others that will interest your target community, including posts from your competition, local events, charity fundraisers, etc. Save space in your tweets by shortening your links, use tinyurl.com or bit.ly Use Hashtags.

What is a Hashtag? A hashtag is a keyword preceded by the hash symbol (#) and linked to a dynamic feed. If you tweet a quote by Einstein, you would tag #Einstein in order to include your tweet in the Einstein feed. Hashtags are ultimately the way you help organize billions of tweets and help people find the content they desire.

Build Your Followers About half of the people you follow will follow you back. Who to follow: Follow key people in your community of interest. Follow others who are following your competition. Follow your clients. Follow other local area businesses and non-profits. If your tweets are interesting, others will re-tweet your tweets to their followers. Include a link to your Twitter page on your website, on Facebook, on your blog, etc.

Rachel Stone Director of Operations Microsoft Office Specialist Master Instructor COMMONWEALTH COMPUTER TRAINING