social media & word of mouth marketing for startups (muhammad saleem, startonomics sf 2008)

Social Media & Word-of-Mouth Marketing for Startups

Digg, Delicious, Twitter. Word of mouth has never been sexier. Learn how to use

social media & social bookmarking to spread the word to your mother.

Where to find this presentation

• The presentation will be available online at:– slideshare.net– muhammadsaleem.com

• All the research, charts, figures, articles referenced, additional notes, and links to related resources will be available online.

• Any direct questions should be sent to: – msaleem@gmail.com

9 Industry Rules of Social Media Optimization

• 1. Understand your audience.• 2. Be original.• 3. Be link-worthy. • 4. Make tagging, bookmarking, and sharing

easy.• 5. Help your content travel through RSS, email

subscriptions and newsletters, embeds, mashups, e-books.

9 Industry Rules of Social Media Optimization

• 6. Reward and thank helpful and valuable users, linkers, and traffic sources.

• 7. Be real and genuine.• 8. Participate.• 9. Make SMO part of your process and best

practices, develop a strategy and use the tactics wisely.

Some Notes:

• Almost all social media campaigns are too generic and unfocused (don’t have a clear goal or don’t pay attention to specific communities and demographics).

• Most social media campaigns don’t last long enough to be valuable and expect too much in too little time.

Core Services to Monitor and Use

• Blogging/Microblogging.• Social News Sites.• Social Networks.• Online Media and Content Delivery.

Advantages to Social Media

• Low Cost, Low Barrier to Entry.• High Impact, High Return.• Compatible and Complementary to Other

Campaigns.

Why Blog?

• Content and Community.• Conversations and Feedback.• Engagement and Evangelism.• Relationships and Loyalty.

Why Microblog?

• Accessibility.• Personalization.• Intimacy.• Immediacy.

• Includes: Airlines, Retailers, Manufacturers, Services, Entertainment, Media, and more.

Social Media and Search

• The beautiful thing about social media optimization and marketing is that can sit right on top of your search engine optimization and marketing.

Increasing Search Rankings and Visibility

Increasing Search Rankings and Visibility

Increasing Search Rankings and Visibility

6 Examples

• 6 examples of well-executed strategy from different verticals.

• Note that the content is relevant to the blog, the root site, and is developed keeping the social media formula (as well as category and title keyword popularity) in mind.

ProTraveller (OTBeach)

Flixter Blog (Flixter)

Mint Blog (Mint)

Sloshspot Blog (Sloshspot)

Palaestra Training Blog (Palaestra)

Experience Blog (Experience Project)

How to Execute?

• Think Long-term.

Short-term Strategy

Long-term Strategy

How to Execute?

• Think long-term.• Consider audience preferences,

demographics, and verticals.

Audience Preferences

Audience Preferences

Audience Preferences

Audience Preferences

Audience Preferences

How to Execute?

• Think long-term.• Consider audience preferences,

demographics, and verticals.• Know when to execute.

Conversion rate

How to Execute?

• Think long-term.• Consider audience preferences,

demographics, and verticals.• Know when to execute.• Learn how to target.

Execution: Two Main Components

• Content– Copywriting.– Design.

• Community– Participation.– Presence.– Connections and Conversations.

Copywriting for Social Media

• Write for ‘diagonal readers’.

The “10 Second Rule”

• The average reader reads about 240 words per minute, where as a diagonal reader ‘reads’ (actually scans) closer to 15 words per second or about 900 words per minute. Optimize for diagonal readers:– 1. The title or headline of your post.– 2. The subtitles or subheadings within the post.– 3. Any bold, underlined, “quoted”, or otherwise

highlighted text.– 4. Pictures, graphs, charts, images, videos,

flash/interactive, rich media of any nature.– 5. A summary of the article.

Copywriting for Social Media

• Write for ‘diagonal readers’.• Optimize for all readers.

Writing for regular readers, search engines, and social media

• 1. Use All-in-one SEO to generate optimized titles and meta tags (description and keywords).

• 2. Prepopulate social media buttons for optimal submission.

• 3. Write on-page content for direct visitors and subscribers.

Copywriting for Social Media

• Write for ‘diagonal readers’.• Optimize for all readers.• Use high-impact layouts above the scroll.

Example: Don’t

Example: Do

Copywriting for Social Media

• Write for ‘diagonal readers’.• Optimize for all readers.• Use high-impact layouts above the scroll.• Write succinctly and with hooks.

The Social Media Title

Formula: The Social Media Title

• The viral content formula:– [Number] [Adjective/Superlative] [Key Phrase] [Media

Type]• Examples (shown before):• 10 Movies that teach you how to commit crimes.• 10 iPhone finance apps that count.• 16 Drinks named for authors and their books.• 25 Reasons it’s great to be an IT guy (or girl).• Morgan Freeman’s 5 most memorable movie

moments.

Example: The Social Media Title

Execution: Two Main Components

• Content– Copywriting.– Design.

• Community– Participation.– Presence.– Connections and Conversations.

Layout and Design for Social Media

• Your Site URL Structure and Hosting Service, Things to Avoid: – 1. Hyphens or numbers in your domain name.– 2. Keyword-stuffed domain name.– 3. Any non-dot-com domain name.– 4. Not self-hosted.

Layout and Design for Social Media

• The General Site Design– Take Down the Registration-Wall or Pay-Wall– Are You Overselling Advertisements (or Using All

The Wrong Ads)?– Stop the Widgetization of your Blog– Show Some Interest in Your Community– Recognition– Access (to popular content, etc.)

Two Main Components

• Content– Copywriting.– Design.

• Community– Participation.– Sharing.

The Social Media Community – Participation

• Start by learning about the site and its audience.• Know why you want to use the site (not just for

self-promotion).• Don’t be a troll, consider what the other

community members want.• Participate in moderation.• Use your fans don’t abuse your fans.• Give back to the community.

Two Main Components

• Content– Copywriting.– Design.

• Community– Participation.– Sharing.

The Social Media Community – Sharing

• Instant Messenger• Email• Using the ‘share’ feature (share, shouts, site-

mail, direct-messaging)• Micro-blogging/Lifestreaming• Google groups, Skype groups, etc.

The Social Media Community – Sharing

• If you’re going to share, be open to have others share with you.

• Share with those that share.• Share once.• Don’t share randomly.• Get personal, share eloquently. • Don’t just share, offer to help.

Why Super Users are Important

5 Essential Rules of Social Media Optimization

• Embrace technology, transparency, and community, rather than fight them.

• Know what you’re doing, your audience demographic, and ultimate goals.

• Focus your energy on specific niches and sites rather than hedging your bets.

• Create value rather than expecting value. • Encourage and reward interaction and

engagement.