3 reasons your small business is clueless about social media

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Clueless aboutSocial Media

3 Reasons Your Small Business is

Session Framework

•Find your audience, voice and what to say.

•#1 question to ask prior to posting.

•Close with five action points to start on today.

•Cole Directory published in 1947.•Crisscross directory of addresses & phone numbers.•Invaluable information for a number of industries:

•Telemarketing•Debt collection •Law enforcement

•Today, web-based lead generation for businesses.

Background

Jack Cole

www.colecommunity.com

Social Media Stats

Social Media Stats

•79% U.S. adults use social media:•900 M active Facebook users.•200 M active Twitter users.•10.4 M registered Pinterest users.•More than 324 M view more than 2.5 B pages/month.

1. Don’t know the “voice of your brand.”

2. You don’t know your audience.

3. You don’t know how to articulate the value of your service/industry.

Three Clues

Flickr.com via aussiegall

Is all About Engagement:•Listen•Respond•Communicate

Don’t:•Overly Self-Promote•Hard Sell•badger

Social Media

Give Thanks

“When I first started tweeting, I had no brand recognition; no one knew who I was. To build my brand I started creating conversations about what I cared passionately about: wine.” ~Gary Vaynerchuk

Search.Twitter

Find Your Voice

•What’s interesting about my product/service?•Why did I start my business? Inspiration?•What challenge/problem am I trying to solve?•“Aha” moment? Result?

Tap Brand Evangelists

•Rethink the customer testimonial.•Ask for permission.•Promote on website.

Who’s Your Audience?

•Current customer base:•Age

•Gender

•Estimated income & home value level

•Is that consistent with your ideal target market?

•Survey/poll base to see what social media spaces they spend time at.

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Pictures:•Representative of your brand•Creative•Updated frequentlyVideos:•1-3 minutes in length•How-tos, testimonials, promotions Questions, blog articles:•Relate to your service/industry •Relevant•Interesting

Post Quality Content

Is this content relevant to my audience or business?

# 1 Question to Ask

Is this content relevant to my audience or business?

Tag People

Always Respond, never delete:

•Be courteous, ask to talk offline

•Offer a customer service number

•Be representative of your brand

•Watch what employees are saying/posting

•Consider a social media policy

Timely Response

Highlight Posts

•Pins are located in the upper right hand corner•Stays at the top of your Timeline for up to 7 days

•Share

•Like

•Respond to your

friend’s content

Share the love

Consider:•Schedule Facebook posts

•Ideally once/twice a day•Create conversations/build relationships/hold contests.•Give stuff away!•Schedule other social media updates with free tools

•Hootsuite•Keep tabs on the competition•See how your favorite stores, brands & companies are engaging with their friends

More Tips

Don’t Be Everywhere.

•Focus on your strengths.

•What social media spaces best represent that.

•Cross-promote•Email signature

•Direct mail

•eNewsletters

•Social media spaces.

•Automate sparingly.

•Be consistent.

Articulate Your Value

•Being local is a huge asset! •You live and work in the community.

•You understand the needs of your neighbors.

•Harness your power.

•Customers’ needs come first!

What is foursquare:•Location based marketing using a cell phone

Why it’s important:• Both foursquare use, and smart-phone use are on the rise• More buzz = More traffic = More sales• Foster customer loyaltyHow:• foursquare.com/add_venue• Choose appropriate “badge”• Implement loyalty rewards program

Drive traffic using location-based applications

TMLocation! Location! Location!

Reward customers who “check in”

•Offer a Discount for rate user experience.•Make sure you can track the response.

Drive Online Reviews Via DM

Reward Reviews

Customer R

eviews

Five Action Points

• Find your voice.

• Figure out where your prospects/customers hang

out online. Be there.

• Determine relevance prior to posting.

• Add local to your posts and be responsive.

• Track to see what’s working and do more of that.

Resources

facebook.com/FacebookPages

www.socialmediaexaminer.com

www.Hubspot.com

www.hootsuite.com

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