Social media: Connecting with your audience Presented by Red Shoes PR, Inc.

Presentation Overview

!   Social media overview

!  Consumer behavior in a digital world

!  The art & science of social media

!  Best practices

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Social media defined

!   Internet-based tools used for sharing and discussing information among people

!  Activities that integrate technology, social interaction and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio

!   Information depends on the varied perspectives and “building” of shared meaning among communities

- Wikipedia

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Social media platforms !   Social Networking

!   News & Bookmarking

!   Blogs

!   Microblogs

!   Video Sharing

!   Photo Sharing

!   Wikis

!   Geolocation tools

!   Virtual Reality

!   Social Gaming

Shift of power

The power to define and control a brand is shifting from corporations and institutions

to individuals and communities

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Social media is a conversation

Social media is a conversation online

!   Look who’s talking: !  your employees !  your customers !  your critics !  your fans !  your competition.... !  anyone who has Internet

access and an opinion.

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Social media is a channel

!  The conversation on Social Media is not: !  controlled !  organized !  “on message”

!  The conversation is: !  organic !  complex !  speaks in a human voice

!  Social media is not a strategy or a tactic – it’s simply a channel

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Why you should care about social media

!  87% trust a friend’s recommendation over a critic’s review - Marketing Sherpa

!  3 times more likely to trust peer opinions over advertising for purchasing decisions - Jupiter Research

!  1 word-of-mouth conversation has impact of 200 TV ads - BuzzAgent

* Slide courtesy of Digital Influence Group

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According to a recent New York Times article,

“Internet users from all age groups increased their use of social networking from December 2008 to May 2010, with use by people 18 to 33 rising to 83 percent, from 67 percent. But those in every generation 45 and older more than doubled their participation. Adults 74 and older who are online quadrupled their social networking presence, and that now stands at 16 percent.”

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How do people make purchasing decisions today?

Information gathering through …

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“Social networking sites also have special

appeal to older users because they let those

who have medical conditions find and talk

to others who have gone through the same

thing,”

said Lee Rainie, director of the Internet

and American Life Project at the Pew

Research Center.

“The Internet makes information available. Google makes information accessible.”

- Hal Varian, Chief Economist at Google

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How do consumers get their information in a digital world?

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When consumers face a challenge, they typically:

1.  Google their question

2.  Spend 20 minutes information gathering

3.  Connect with someone from their social network through Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.

The power of collective wisdom

!  The value of network effects or the harnessing collecting intelligence

!  “Groups are remarkably intelligent and are often smarter than the smartest people in them.” -James Suowiecki, The Wisdom of Crowds

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Think of today’s consumers as …

!  Prosumers … they are proactively seeking information

!  80% of health searchers seek information for themselves while 20% are caregivers –Bonnie Becker of Yahoo! Health

!  And prosumers are not just seeking one source of information… they are seeking an average of 5 information sites

!  They are looking to re-confirm information every step of the way on the Web.

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Be where the people are

!  People are looking for online engagement … they expect it

!  Organizations need to be where the people are being social

!   In the “olden” days people had cocktail parties

!  Today, people are socializing online

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Social media is communications

!  Communication basics includes:

!  Someone who wants to send a message

!  Someone who will receive a message

!   Information in some form

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!  Noise (anything that disrupts communication)

!  Feedback (verbal and non-verbal)

!  Replication (Replication is an approximate goal and philosophically not perfectly possible, though desired)

!  Understanding

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!  You need to have a communications strategy

!  Who is your target audience?

!  What is your objective or outcome based thinking?

!  What precisely do you want out of the process?

!   What does the other person want? If I don't know, what are they likely to want?

!  What is the least I will accept out of the process? What problems could come up in the process?

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Communications is a 2-way conversation

!  Not your organization speaking from a bullhorn

!   It’s being present online and responsive

!  Exactly like you would have in person with someone at a party

!   Introduce yourself

!  Do a lot of listening

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!  How will I deal with each one, and if possible, use the problem as a BENEFIT for the other person?

!   How will I bring the process to a conclusion?

!  “The ability to build and maintain rapport in communication is one of the key skills of a master communicator.” –KevinHogan.net

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Social media voice requires

!  A compassionate voice of the organization

!  A personality to go along with the voice

!  The voice should represent your organization

!  Understand the social media “rules of engagement”

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Rules of engagement

!  Share information freely

!  Give credit where credit is due

!  Respond and engage

!  Respect

!  Build relationships

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There is a method to the social media madness

Picture your website as the hub of all your online and real-life activities

How can you create pull to your website?

!  Through engagement

!  Through social media channels

!  Utilize your social media channels as a lead funnel for customers to find you online and … in person.

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Remember … 28

If the website is your hub

!  Social media channels are the spokes

!  Use these spokes to drive traffic back to your website

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Create leads to create action

!  Compel existing customers or new customers to take action

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!  Cross integrate information along the way

!  Capture viewers/readers information to connect and follow up

Seeding content

!  Seek all existing content on website and social media channels for SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

!  Consistency equals higher ranking on Google search engine

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!   Determine “key words” or search terms your customers are using to seek information

Credibility of search rankings

!  How often do you go beyond page 1 on Google pages for reference?

!  Typically, consumers think the higher the ranking the more credibility

!   It’s like an online recommendation

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The Golden Triangle

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