Download - Social Media Workbook for Niche Media Brands
A SOCIAL MEDIA WORKBOOK FOR NICHE MEDIA BRANDS Dan McCarthy, CEO Network Communications, Inc.
Personal Proof of Concept: Dan McCarthy’s ViralHousingFix
• Launched December 2008 • Hosted on third-party
host. • Built on WordPress • Thesis theme • All-in-One SEO plug-in • Twitter integration • Facebook Connect integration
The purpose of the blog is to provide an outlet for structured thinking and analysis about business issues that I facing in my professional life.
The blog doesn’t address confidential information, such as the company financials, or management and organizational issues. It is primarily a strategy and business information workspace.
VHF & Google Juice: A Sample
VHF’s Digital Footprint
Channel Participation Comment
VHF.com 3K – 5K UV/mo Approx 1 post per day
VHF FB page 580 fans Auto feed of VHF posts
DRM profile 650+ friends Redistribute most posts, share broader range of content
@danielrmccarthy 1230 followers 2,360 tweets; 7-10 per day
@viralhousingfix 65 followers Tweets of VHF articles, interesting content
Other platforms approx 1,000 FriendFeed, Posterous, Delicious, etc.
Definition of Social Media
Examples of social media tools
The reasons why social media tools matter
Scale Low-cost, high-impact way to connect
and interact Flexible content distribution/creation
model
What do you already do on the social web?
What are your personal activities?
What new things should you do on the social web?
Connect your company with each other
Connect your company with its market Connect your brands with its users.
How to build out a Community of Interest
The first step to experiencing the power of social media tools is identifying and connecting with your Community of Interest Personal Professional Brand-centric
The tools Facebook Linked-In Twitter
The Community of Interest
How to invite your company onto the Social Web
Project: Massive Network Challenged company to create 1000
connections in 90 days. Invited every one in the company to
connect with CEO Offered web training through an
outside consultant Very basic how-to get started on
Facebook, Linked-In & Twitter
Issued progress updates every week Result: 2400+ connections in 45 days
from 800 person organization
Some things to think about
Top-down leadership by example key to this project
Question: Why are we doing this? Policy: The less rules the better
Define your business goals
Internal goals Communication Collaboration Efficiency
External goals Increase awareness & contact with
advertisers Increase diversity of content Increase contact with readers Increase print audience Increase online audience Increase magazine ad sales Increase online/supplemental sales
The Niche Media Brand Social Media Toolkit
A blog for frequent publishing Integrated into or supplemental to your
primary web site Technology architecture issue
A network of social media identities in order to drive your digital footprint Facebook & Twitter are the primary
complementary distribution platforms
A workflow that changes the content distribution process Sharing vs. Creating
A Sharing model
The influence of networks in driving content usage
How the brand footprint works
Magazine circulation: 30,000
Web visits: 10,536
Facebook Fans:
4,410 E-mail subs:
7,500
Twitter followers: 460
Staff friends: 3,500
Total Network: 56,406
(47% digital)
At Home in Arkansas – January 2010
A brand tracking model
From Dan Blank of www.danblank.com
Frequent content sharing on the AHIA blog
Distribution & community on Facebook fan page
Distribution on Twitter
Monthly tracking shared with content team
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Dashboard December 1, 2009 - December 31, 2009
Site Usage
7,295 Total Visits 0:06:57 Avg Time on Site
16,855 Total Pageviews 70.08% % New Visits
2.31 Avg Pages/Visit
Visitors Overview Traffic Sources Overview
6,179 Total Visitors 16,855 Total Pageviews
Content ChannelsSTYLE & SHOPPING HOMES & GARDENS
1,360 Total Pageviews 3,846 Total Pageviews
790 Total Visits 1,602 Total Visits
1.7 Avg Pages/Visit 2.4 Avg Pages/Visit
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At Home in Arkansas Online Dashboard
Focus on key content areas
At Home in Arkansas - Page 2 December 1, 2009 - December 31, 2009
MY NEIGHBORHOOD BLOG
85 Total Pageviews 4,548 Total Pageviews
49 Total Visits 2,966 Total Visits
1.7 Avg Pages/Visit 1.5 Avg Pages/Visit
TRAVEL & ENTERTAINING FASHION & BEAUTY
694 Total Pageviews 594 Total Pageviews
491 Total Visits 362 Total Visits
1.4 Avg Pages/Visit 1.6 Avg Pages/Visit
Featured Video Plays
1,458 Total Pageviews
783 Total Visits 12 Featured Video Plays
1.9 Avg Pages/Visit
FIND A PROFESSIONAL / FIND SHOPS AND SHOWROOMS
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AHIA: Google Juice
AHIA: Multiple web traffic sources
Jan 2010 Jun 2009 % CH
Unique visitors 7,173 4,019 78%
Visits 10,536 4,419 138%
Page views 21,610 12,500 73%
Traffic sources
Other web sites 4,105 1,458 182%
Search 3813 2908 31%
Direct 2618 932 181%
Top sections
Home page 2675 1807 48%
Blog 4107 351 1170%
Homes & gardens 6038 3572 69%
Sample work plan
Week Social distribution
Network building
Link building
#1 Room of week 5 - 10 sharing elements Three magazine features Resource directory
Invitation to new e-mail subscribers 1 hour of Twitter following 1 hour of FB friend prospecting
2 reciprocal link offers 1 blog feature
#2 Room of the week 5 - 10 sharing elements 2 features
1 hour of Twitter following 1 hour FB friend prospecting
Blog prospecting Link offers
#3 Room of the week 5 - 10 sharing elements E-mail link to social network
Invitation to new e-mail subscribers
1 Blog feature
#4 Room of the week 5 – 10 sharing elements
Twitter following FB prospecting
Review new links & traffic Blog prospecting
Sample tracking & measuring
Social distribution
Network building
Link building
Weekly Total referrals in week Most active sharing elements
FB friends Twitter followers E-mail subscribers
# of blogs linked Blog referral traffic Most active blogs
Monthly Unique visits Page views Popular pages/sections Traffic sources
Totals Friends Total followers Total e-mail subscribers
Blog referral traffic as a % of UV’s Google PageRank
Using social media tools to build & maintain Audience
Share content regularly Create multiple social identities to share
content into Supplement with regular subscription
newsletters Create brand blog Use polls, discussions to engage
audience Promote print features in advance
using Sharing Model Web is not only for news
Feature print features multiple times across digital footprint
Using social media to amplify and improve marketing
Have sales team connect with marketplace using social identities Facebook a strong tool
Give sales team access to Brand fan page
Create marketing content on brand blog
Promote relationships, events in your marketplace
Photos, photos, photos As team gains expertise, organize
social media webinars, learning sessions
Strategies for increasing Web traffic and sales
Implement sharing model Build Digital Footprint Build volume of shared content and
links Create content relationships with other
leading bloggers in your market Outcome is more inventory and more
business activity for your advertisers Design web presence to drive one or
two key actions Search professional directory Access contextually relevant advertising
Strategies for building interactive Community
Share Invite perspective and interaction Profile Community submissions on blog
and in printed product
Strategies for creating new Revenue sources
Basic directory listings Basic web sponsorships & display
advertsing Online promotion packages that take
advantage of digital footprint Facebook & Twitter promotion Blog promotion Time-sensitive announcements
Understanding skill and resource requirements to implement social media tools
New technology resources Open-source content management system
Wordpress Drupal
Hosting environment Cloud resources allow for minimal capital
investment Amazon
HTML/PHP programming experience Social media experience
New processes & skills Social-media enabled organization Content & marketing teams trained on
using web publishing & content sharing tools
Openness Willingness to experiment New inteactive product packaging
Thinking about Cost & Approach
Low-cost, rapid development Focus on getting the content tools into the
market as quickly as possible Reduce focus on design, functionality Characteristics of social media tools allow for
quick changes of design & functionality Adapt and change as you gain experience
in the market Time-Neutral Method
Sharing process should not create more work
Determine how much time to create an edit page
Identify content sourced through Sharing Process & incorporate it into print feature Use the content-sharing process to create print-
ready content
Communicating organizational & personal benefits
Connection with the market Broaden personal portfolio of skills Personal brand
Summary & Recommended Sources
Social media can increase the connectedness and relevance of your organization and brand.
Social media will drive your brand’s digital footprint.
Social media will expand your digital revenue opportunities.
Your existing business processes and technology investments can be adapted to leverage social media tools at little additional expense.
Some Sources:
Dan McCarthy’s ViralHousingFix (www.viralhousingfix.com) DigitalSherpa (www.digital-sherpa.com) Dan Blank (www.danblank.com) Greg Satell (www.digitaltonto,.com) Eric Brown (www.apartmentveteran.com) Olivier Blanchard (www.thebrandbuilder.com) Mack Collier (www.mackcollier.com) eMedia Vitals (www.emediavitals.com) Folio (www.foliomag.com)
A SOCIAL MEDIA WORKBOOK FOR NICHE MEDIA BRANDS Dan McCarthy, CEO Network Communications, Inc.