social media for business 101 and search engine optimization 101

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� Social Media � Search Engine Op4miza4on

Topics

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� Why Use it? � Social Media Plan � We’ll cover

•  Facebook •  TwiFer •  LinkedIn •  Pinterest •  Blogs •  YouTube

Social Media

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Why use it?

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It’s the new SEO � Social Media Op4miza4on (SMO) is the new SEO, or rather two halves of a whole.

� SMO is the distribu4on of social objects (videos, blog posts, tweets, Facebook updates) so that they’re op4mized to rise to the top of any related search query, where and when it is performed.

� We will cover op4miza4on – page 4tles, descrip4ons and tags.

� SEO + SMO = Amplified findability in the tradi4onal and social web.

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It’s Huge � Facebook: 1.15 billion ac4ve users � TwiFer: 500 million ac4ve users � LinkedIn: 238 million users � Pinterest: 70 million users � YouTube: 1 billion users (4 billion views per day!) � Blogs: 66 million blogs, 346 million people readers each day

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It’s Effec4ve

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It’s Growing � U.S. adults who use social media sites has risen from 8% to 72% since 2005. That’s an 800% increase. (Pew Research Center)

�  Social media adop4on among U.S. small businesses doubled in the past year from 12% to 24% �  61% of small business owners use social media to iden4fy and aFract new customers.

�  75% surveyed have a company page on a social networking site.

�  45% expect social media to be profitable in the next 12 months.

According to survey conducted by University of Maryland's Smith School of Business with Network SoluCons

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It’s Real-‐Time �  Reveal the human side of a company, give it personality �  Provide useful informa4on that people won’t get elsewhere (or at least not as quickly)

�  Respond to comments, complaints, requests real-‐4me � Have a plahorm for announcing news, promo4ons, events

� Generate new business leads

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Geing Started – Key Steps � Define the goals for social media

�  increasing sales, brand awareness / engagement or simply more people who “like” or “follow” your business

�  Create your plan – align with marke4ng calendar �  Iden4fy the most important keywords for your business. Use these consistently in all posts, tweets, updates.

�  Set-‐up your profiles and pages and start pos4ng �  Ensure you have a consistent design/branding across all plahorms

� Measure and adjust – traffic, comments, leads, etc.

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Social Media Plan �  Listen to what’s already out there:

�  Set-‐up Google Alerts for all your keywords, your compe4tors, your own company name, your personal name, etc.

�  Use Social Men4on to search social media for men4ons of your organiza4on / compe44on

�  Use Google Search and Google Blog Search to find bloggers and other content creators in your space

�  Use Muck Rack to find journalists

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Social Media Plan �  Create your Content Calendar For Pos4ng

�  Define 5-‐6 content categories �  Set-‐up a 3-‐month calendar �  Add your key offline events and any milestones, holidays, etc.,

�  Align with your marke4ng calendar �  Content should be a mix of original content/images, news updates and curated content/images

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Social Media Plan �  Set-‐up your profiles and pages and start pos4ng

�  Ensure you have a consistent design/branding across all plahorms

�  Set-‐up Google Analy4cs to monitor web traffic � Measure and adjust – traffic, comments, leads, etc. �  Set-‐up and use a dashboard (Hootsuite, etc.) to manage your social media updates

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Why Use Facebook �  Increase visibility �  Connect with customers �  Increase engagement �  Promote your brand �  Create a community �  Promote and manage events � Give back to loyal customers through special offers and discounts

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Engage and grow your following � Write interes4ng and relevant posts will encourage followers to engage with your posts �  Liking, commen4ng and sharing are important �  Facebook uses the level of engagement to determine how many people see your posts

�  Reveal the human side of a company, give it personality �  Provide useful informa4on that people won’t get elsewhere (or at least not as quickly)

�  Respond to comments, complaints, requests real-‐4me � Have a plahorm for announcing news, promo4ons, events

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Engage and grow your following �  Like complimentary businesses, clients, prospec4ve clients

� Hold contests/sweepstakes/giveaways/refer-‐a-‐friend � Upload and invite your email list �  Invite your friends �  Run Facebook Ads

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Engage and grow your following �  Build community and it will grow organically

�  Join relevant Facebook groups �  Contact the group owners and ask if they’ll cross promote �  Post on other relevant, related FB pages

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Facebook -‐ Geing Started

http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php

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Facebook -‐ Geing Started

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TwiFer � Microblogging site that enables users to send and read other users’ updates (known as tweets)

�  Text based posts �  160 characters total �  20 for username, 140 for message text

� Updates appear on the user’s profile page and are delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them (followers)

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TwiFer � An informa4onal tool – provides informa4on to others � A conversa4onal tool – respond to other people’s tweets and engage in dialogue

� Great way to network and communicate with new and old contacts

�  You choose the message, not the recipient

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TwiFer -‐ Defini4ons �  Tweet -‐ When you hit send on your 140 characters on twiFer it’s called a tweet or twee4ng �  Handle – your TwiFer name @GibbonsDigital – balance short with descrip4ve. �  Follow – this is simply the act of adding someone to your list of people you are following – this

makes their tweets show up on your homepage. �  Replies – this is what it is called when someone writes a tweet directly at your handle -‐

@GibbonsDigital cool post today blah blah – this is oten an invite to engage with a follower. �  Retweet – this is a tac4c of republishing someone else’s tweet – the original tweet along with

author stays in tact, but you are basically showing someone’s tweet to your followers – many people find this a great way to add content and acknowledge good stuff from the folks they follow

�  DM – this is a message that is sent directly to another user. They must be following you for you to DM them, but this is a very useful tool for private messages and generally a good choice when you start going back and forth with someone on something your en4re base of followers might not find interes4ng.

�  Hashtag – this is a way people categorize tweets so that others might use the same tag and effec4vely create a way for people to view related tweets – it will something like #marke4ng – more on this in search.

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Anatomy of a Tweet

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TwiFer -‐ Geing Started � www.twiFer.com �  Set-‐up profile � Add branding (logo, custom page) �  Search for relevant people, follow them �  Start twee4ng �  Tweet 8 4mes per day for maximum visibility

�  Retweet, tweet about products, tweet relevant news ar4cles

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Engage and grow your following �  Listen!

�  Set up simple searches that allow you to hear men4ons of your company

�  TwiFer is a real-‐4me opportunity to listen in on the conversa4ons of 200 million users

�  Serve as a resource �  Provide informa4on that helps your target audience in a quick, easy-‐to-‐use format

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Engage and grow your following � Use your own style when engaging with others

�  Provide guidelines for anyone twee4ng on behalf of the company but don’t underes4mate the value of having a “real person” online.

�  Share the human side of your company and stories about the people doing the twee4ng for the business

�  Seek opportuni4es to provide photos from events in the community where you or your employees are doing charitable work or even crea4ve promo4onal efforts that are fun or engaging

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� Ask relevant ques4ons on TwiFer and consumers are happy to share opinions

�  People like being asked to provide input on topics of interest

�  Thinking of offering a new product or service? Ask for input beforehand

�  Take advantage of the online community to gain feedback and generate new ideas that will result connect with the audience served by your business.

Engage and grow your following

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Engage and grow your following �  Follow people – they might follow you back � Add TwiFer link to your website homepage �  Include TwiFer icon on ALL materials that reach your target market

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LinkedIn �  The world’s largest professional network with over 175 million registered members and growing rapidly.

�  Connects you to your trusted contacts and helps you exchange knowledge, ideas, and opportuni4es with a broader network of professionals.

�  hFp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVlUwwgOfKw

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Engaging on LinkedIn – Status Updates

�  Share links to interes4ng ar4cles, websites or video you have found that some individuals in your network might appreciate. Try to use words that grab the readers and encourage them to click the link.

�  Pose a ques4on that could lead to solving a problem you have, like: "Anyone know about…?"

�  Conduct an informal poll rela4ng to a topic that is of interest to you, such as: "What interest rates are you seeing for lines of credit in the current environment?"

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Engaging on LinkedIn – Status Updates � Men4on a person or a situa4on that might be helpful to some of your connec4ons, like: "I just met with John Jones from ABC Company and found out ….”

�  Talk about an event you are aFending or have aFended to encourage involvement and/or ques4ons about what you learned there.

�  Use the "Like" feature when you see a helpful update from one of your connec4ons. Doing this shares that update with your en4re network. This is a great way to give the writer of the helpful update exposure to your network that he/she wouldn't normally have.

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Groups �  Quickly discover the most popular discussions in your professional groups.

�  Have an ac4ve part in determining the top discussions by liking and commen4ng.

�  Follow the most influen4al people in your groups by checking the Top Influencers board or clicking their profile image to see all their group ac4vity.

�  See both member-‐generated discussions and news in one seing. �  Easily browse previews of the last three comments in a discussion. �  Find interes4ng discussions by seeing who liked a discussion and how many people commented.

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Groups �  Click on Groups Directory, search for your industry or a career keyword,

and find a group that fits your interest. �  Once you’ve been accepted to the group you can share relevant content by

star4ng a discussion or pos4ng a link in the share box. �  Sharing consistently is a good way to quickly iden4fy yourself as an expert

in your field or industry. �  Click on your photo to see your updates as well as what’s changed in the

discussions you’ve started, joined or followed. �  Good way to keep track of discussions most important to you and your

career. �  Ater sharing, check out the newest discussions in the slide show below,

and cast your vote by liking or commen4ng. �  Under each discussion you’ll see the last 3 members who have

commented, click on the headline to see all comments.

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Company Pages �  Central hub where millions of LinkedIn members can go to keep in the loop on company news, products and services, business opportuni4es, and job openings.

�  Also perfect place to start conversa4on with your customers, prospec4ve clients, job seekers, post company updates.

�  Post industry ar4cles and fun facts. �  These updates appear on your company page and also the pages of your followers.

�  Have followers Like your post so it goes viral. �  Analy4cs pages to see ac4vity on the page.

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What is it? � Pinterest is a “virtual pinboard” that lets people share anything and any topic on the web that they find interes4ng and beau4ful – e.g., pictures, quotes, recipes, etc.

� Conceptually similar to social bookmarking sites. � Content is organized in “Boards” and organized in categories.

� Each piece of content is called a “Pin”

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Examples of Pins

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Pinterest is one of the largest social media networks on the web. The network saw +4377% growth between May 2011 and May 2012.

61 61 61 Mashable, 2012

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Engaging on Pinterest �  Build your brand out, share interes4ng and relevant content, create engagement

� Add products with prices to drive awareness �  Service businesses can create pos4ngs with infographics that contains useful informa4on or a graphic with a quote

�  Post videos (hosted on YouTube) � Add links to your pins’ descrip4ons giving your business the benefit of your links carrying over with your pins when users re-‐pin them

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Engaging with Pinterest �  Run compe44ons where the winner is the user who pins the best pictures or has the Pinterest board with the best collec4on of pins.

�  Run offers -‐ Pin images of offers, giveaways, discounts from your website and detail your offer in the descrip4on, or you can create images exclusively for Pinterest where everything about the offer is wriFen on the image.

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Engaging with Pinterest �  So make sure you add at least one or more shareable image to every page of your website so your readers get to choose their favorite image to pin.

�  Find the most shared images on Pinterest and get to know who’s sharing them. You need to do this regularly to improve your own Pinterest marke4ng strategy.

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Geing Started

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Add Pinterest Icon to your website

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hFp://about.pinterest.com/goodies/

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Blogs �  Blog = ‘web log’ � An online diary or journal � Anybody can be a content generator and an expert in their field

�  Can be setup within minutes online using WordPress

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Blog Content � Answer industry ques4ons �  Comment on industry news �  Provide how-‐to based content �  Encourage readers to comment �  Post consistently – 3 to 5 4mes per week

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Engage and grow with a Blog �  Pose Engaging Ques4ons -‐ At the end of a post, pose a brain-‐s4mula4ng ques4on.

�  Get readers to offer 4ps -‐ It could be a problem that you’re facing, or something your customer is facing. Make it a contest; publicly credit the reader with the best 4ps on your blog so that everyone can see.

�  Start With An Engaging Opener – Your opening should engage the reader from the word go, something that’ll ignite their curiosity, mo4vate their thought process and get them engaged. Make your opener funny, insighhul, wiFy and outrageous if need be.

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Engage and grow with a Blog � Make The Content Graphically Vivid -‐ Paint a picture with your words, and draw people into the scene you’re pain4ng.

� Write in your speaking voice, as though you’re chaing with friends.

�  Provide A Conclusion – sum up the essence of your ar4cle in a short conclusion. Your conclusion should ideally 4e up your points together and provide a short glimpse of what the ar4cle is all about.

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Blogs – Geing Started �  Install WordPress � Design – use Theme or designer for custom look �  Configure content categories � Develop library of content �  Post on a scheduled basis – 3 to 5 4mes per week

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YouTube �  YouTube is a video sharing website on which users can upload and share videos

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Engaging with YouTube �  Powerful, on-‐demand communica4on channel � Market your business to millions of people at virtually no cost

�  Build more personal rela4onships with your current client base

�  Inform, Educate, Entertain � Good content, plan ahead, don’t blatantly market, keep it short

�  Curate exis4ng videos if you don’t have your own

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Engaging with YouTube �  Setup a branded channel using your colors and logo

�  Allows users to subscribe to your content and the op4on to search just your uploaded content

�  Engage With the YouTube Community �  Check out other videos, favorite appropriate videos and make suitable YouTube “friends.”

� Use tags and categories to iden4fy your videos �  Promote your videos elsewhere (blog, FB, etc.) �  Run contests, giveaways, have calls to ac4on �  Keep your channel current

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YouTube -‐ Geing Started � www.youtube.com �  Set-‐up account, link to Google account �  Customize your channel (logo, colors, etc.) �  Post your own videos – short, 1-‐2 minutes only �  Subscribe to other channels �  Share videos

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http://youtu.be/7zCYG-rHcxc

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Hootsuite Dashboard

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Demographics -‐ Facebook �  86% of Facebook users are age 25 and older �  81% have some college educa4on or bachelors/graduate degree

�  58% earn $50,000 or more

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Demographics -‐ TwiFer �  81% of people on TwiFer are age 25 and older �  83% have some college educa4on or bachelors/graduate degree

�  47% earn $50,000 or more

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Demographics -‐ LinkedIn �  96% of people on LinkedIn are age 25 and older �  87% have some college educa4on or bachelors/graduate degree

�  71% earn $50,000 or more

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Search Engine Op4miza4on

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Geing Started � Understand your keywords �  Claim/set-‐up your Google business lis4ng � Op4mize your website � Measure and adjust

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Google’s Keyword tool hDps://adwords.google.com/o/KeywordTool

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Step 2: Google Business Lis4ng www.google.com/local/add/

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Step 3: Op4mize Your Website �  Title Tag �  Body Content

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Title Tags

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Body Content

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Step 4: Measure

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Thank You! Bridget Gibbons

[email protected] Gibbonsdigital.com @gibbonsdigital

�.com/gibbonsdigital