Heels & Deals June 2012 socialmedia presentation

Editor's Notes

• #4: Social media has little to do with you; it’s all about your audience, customers, or whomever you’re trying to reach. Marketing 101 says to think like your customer thinks. And the same holds true in social media. In my particular business, we realized the clients are on twitter and that’s where we put the most effort.Not sure where your customers are on the social web or what they are saying about you? – there are some tools that can help you get started.
• #6: Small businesses are faced with having to prioritize their resources toward the activities that deliver the most impact. With social media, it’s easy to feel like you need to have a presence on every social media channel. It’s also easy to get lost in managing too many networks.I recommend that small businesses first find which network has the highest concentration of their…..
• #7: audience using tools like Follower Wonk, Facebook’s free advertising platform and LinkedIn’s search features.Once you’ve found which social media network actually has a concentration of your target audience, develop a strategy to engage them. If you’re successful, you’ll have a much easier time justifying the additional investment to replicate your success on another social media network.
• #8: Use your offline content online. Every business has a story to tell. Those stories are content! And guess what? People love to hear these stories and share them, so get them off of your walls and utilize them as content for your company to share in online communities where your audience is.These are the types of stories that occasionally make the newspapers as fluff pieces if pitched by a great PR person. In today's world, a savvy small business person can "pitch" these types of stories themselves to their customers and even the media by turning them into online content that audiences can share easily through pictures, blog content, videos, PDFs, or slideshow presentations.
• #11: One necessary component of a thriving business is a strong list of qualified leads. Some business experts say that without a list, you don’t really have a business!There are many ways to grow your list and one of the smartest marketing moves is to create an opt-in strategy on your Facebook page. To keep it simple, use iFrames to create a custom welcome tab.
• #12: On this tab you can create a 2-step process called a “reveal tab.”Step #1: Include a call to action to encourage non-fans to click Like and become a fan.Step #2: Once you get the Like, offer a valuable giveaway in exchange for name and email.With this model, you are increasing your fan base and growing your lead list at the same time. It’s a double whammy for your business.
• #22: Social media is attractive to small businesses because of its perceived price. You can set up a new blog, fan page, video site, and Twitter account without paying a dime. There’s no expensive software, or costly media buys. However, even though there’s a low price tag to enter the game, social media is far from free. It requires time, energy, and effort. It’s a never-ending commitment to create interesting content, listen to conversations, and respond.
• #29: In other words, start developing content about those industry secrets or how-to tips that no other competitor of yours would dare touch. This can be your competitive advantage. By creating the kind of content that really solves your customers’ problems, you’ll be linked to and shared. Your content will rise in the search rankings and be actively shared on Twitter and Facebook.How do you get started? Write down all of the most interesting and hard-to-answer customer questions and create online content from each question.Do this every day for six months and you’ll see a significant difference in your business.
• #33: Starbucks has more than 1.3 million followers on Twitter. You probably don’t, and that’s OK. As a small business, you shouldn’t get caught up in the numbers game or try to keep up with the big brands. Growing your community is important, but you should be focused on who’s engaging with you and at what levels. I know it’s tempting to pay a service to deliver thousands of followers literally overnight. However, in the long run it’s more important to have a devoted, enthusiastic community. Be patient. It’s organic growth that matters. Things don’t (and won’t) happen overnight.
• #34: Pinterest is so new that a lot of major brands still don’t know what to make of it. However, there are a few outliers who have found creative ways to exploit the potential of the new social media destination.One marketer made a puzzle out of Pinterest’s picture-heavy design. Another noted what people were pinning on Pinterest and sent them real-life gifts based on those pins.
• #35: Honda has launched a Pinterest-focused campaign -They’ve identified top “pinners” and offered each one $500 to take a “Pintermission” (a 24-hour break from Pinterest) to get out and visit some of the places they’ve been pinning about or buy some of the products they’ve pinned.British Midland International recently ran a contest called “Pinterest Lottery” that randomly rewarded fans with trips.Here’s how it worked. The airline posted logo-clad photos from five destinations: Beirut, Dublin, Marrakech, Moscow and Nice. Users are asked to repin up to six images. At the end of each week, the company will choose a number at random; the users who had repinned the image with that number will be qualified for a chance to win a pair of free return flights to any BMI destination.
• #38: Don’t just broadcastShare with the community, let them know who you areTake it offlineCommitNew trends are an opportunity for innovationIntimate social customer service is the best protection against price sensitivity and commodisationYou’re not going to find out by reading about it. You need to just do it.To create a compelling story, you need people who are directly affected by the story you’re reporting on. Use social media to find those real people. They’re out there tweeting. The beauty of these social media [sites] is they’re searchable.