social media & small business : taking your first steps in social media
Post on 15-Sep-2014
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Calvert County Chamber W2W Networking Group: Presentation for women small business ownersTRANSCRIPT
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Calvert County Chamber Women to Women Networking Group
Social Media Tools in Small Business Marketing
March 10th
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Thank you all for coming today
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Domains• Find-a-domain
services− Certified Offer− Backorder− Premium Domains
• Domain Web Forwarding
• Private Registration
Domains• Find-a-domain
services− Certified Offer− Backorder− Premium Domains
• Domain Web Forwarding
• Private Registration
Communication• Business E-mail• Secure E-mail
Sell Online • E-commerce website
packages• E-commerce Tools
Merchant Account• Do It For Me E-
Commerce Website Design Service
Marketing • Search Engine
Optimization• Pay Per Click
Advertising• Optimized Press
Releases• Directory Services:
Monster Marketplace & ThinkLocal
• Enhanced Business Listings
• Link Building• Content Creation
Marketing • Search Engine
Optimization• Pay Per Click
Advertising• Optimized Press
Releases• Directory Services:
Monster Marketplace & ThinkLocal
• Enhanced Business Listings
• Link Building• Content Creation
Security• SSL Certificate• PC Security
Websites• Website Hosting• Statistics and Website
tools• Professional Website
Design Services• Professional Logo
Design Services• Mobile Websites
Network Solutions
PR Measurement SummitJune 20093
• We service over 3 million SMB customers and manage 7.5 million domain names.
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Social Media audience is growing
• Gartner : By 2014, social networking services will replace e-mail as the primary communications vehicle for 20 % of business users.
• With 400M users Facebook could be the 3rd largest country in population (China and India are larger for now)
• LinkedIn Now 60 Million Strong
• Nearly three quarters (73%) of online teens and (72%) of young adults use social network sites
• http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1293114 • http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Social-Media-and-Young-Adults.asp
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Traditional media usage is changing
•92%) use multiple platforms
•33% access news on their cell phones.
•28% of internet users have customized their home page
•37% of internet users have contributed to the creation of news http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Online-News.aspx
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Once you have a web presence your business is global
• Web searches for a local business• Searches on Maps• Get a website free to start today : http://www.networksolutions.com/free-website/index.jsp
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25% Small Business use social media presence – Doubled since last year
• Network Solutions – University of Maryland Small Business Success index http://growsmartbusiness.com
See the full study at http://www.GrowSmartBusiness.com
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Ready to jump on the Social Media Bandwagon ?
Graphic credit : http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthamm/2945559128/
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Reasons why
Free (requires time commitment)
Flexible options
Help Your Search Engine Rankings
Traffic to your website / business
Good Word of mouth
Leads
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Business Objectives
Connect with customers
Get ideas, trends, buzz
Find peers and network
Easy distribution of content
Greater reach
New Clients
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Become an expert yourself
• You have to learn the tools• Spend your own time• Find other enthusiasts/partners in crime• Invest time in attending offline events
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3 step process
Integrate Social media into your marketing campaign
Make your existing marketing collateral social
Engage with your existing customers
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Make your email social
Consolidate all your contact lists
Tweet news about your email offers
Make your email available online
Tip : Add your social media links to your email signatures
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Add your social media channels to your website
Encourage visitors to join your social media
properties
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Share your happy moments
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Use Google Alerts as a business intelligence tool
• Get alerted to conversations about your product
•Trends and competition
•Tip : Use Google alerts to get content ideas
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Build your profile in sites like Linkedin
Tip : Ask for recommendations to include you in Service provider directory
Links to your website and appear in searches
for LinkedIn users
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Websites and Blogs
Blog has a call to
action with a contest
Call to Action to visit the company website
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Blogging Basics: Reasons to Blog
Improve Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Gain Visibility as a Thought Leader
Generate Real Conversations
Display Brand Personality
Perform Market Research
Improve Customer Service
Share Company Announcements
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Blogging Basics: Getting Started
Take 15 minutes a day to write a blog post
Find a topic
Keep it around 400 words or less if possible
Write in short paragraphs. Not more than six lines of text.
Write and embed any content (pictures, videos)
Check copyrights and licensing and give attributions
Preview Your Post
Publish or Schedule It
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Engage with blog visitors
Talk to your audience whoread your content
Comments
Reviews
Newsletters
Tip : Look for other blogs where you can be a guest poster and get links to your
blog/business
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Business Info here – Your conversations will lead
your connections to your page
Tip : Consider having a separate account for your products and tweet a special offers and blog feeds
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Southern Maryland Twitter
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Using Twitter: Buzzwords
Follow: To friend someone (or follow their updates)
Direct Message (DM): Pseudo-email someone following you
“At” reply: Speak to someone directly in the public stream (@stevenfisher)
Re-tweet (RT): Repost content with credit
Block: Restrict access to updates
# (hashtags): a kind of tag or description – great for search
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Source: Ogilvy Twitter Webinar
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If chips can have their own page so can you!
Tip : A Facebook page is different from your personal profile. You can create
multiple Facebook pages
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•Add a newsletter sign up widget•Give special Facebook offers•Ask for feedback•Ask website visitors to become your Facebook fan• Encourage customers to join the Facebook page
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Your Social Media Plan
•Setup Alerts •Join and setup profiles in 3 social networks •15-20 minutes a day tracing the alerts and responding •Choose 3 blogs on your field to read and comment•Converse, don’t sell•Answer questions and become an expert in your niche on LinkedIn•2 hours a week - Learn and write about the products you promote•Measure your efforts
o How many times were you mentionedo How many people read your postso Inbounds linkso Are your customers evangelizing
•Attend one local event a month•Ask for help from the community if you need it
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Blogs to Follow
Small Business Trends http://www.smallbiztrends.com
Get Elastic http://www.getelastic.com/
SMART Ecommerce Blog ( Network Solutions ) http://www.smartecommerceblog.com
GrowSmartBusiness http://www.growsmartbusiness.com
This presentation will be on http://blog.networksolutions.com tomorrow
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Follow us on Twitter
@netsolcares
@nsoffers ( Coupons and Offers )
@WgBiz
@GrowSmartBiz
Special Offers for the Calvert County Chamber: Register your domain name for only $9.99 by using coupon code WOWDOMAINS http://www.networksolutions.com/domain-name-registration/index.j
sp
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Questions ?
• Shashi Bellamkonda [email protected]• Twitter: @shashib• Small Business Success Index : http://www.GrowSmartBusiness.com• Network Solutions Blog : http://blog.networksolutions.com• Web Community Network : http://www.LinkTogether.com• Small Business Network : http://www.MySolutionSpot.com• Women Entrepreneurs : http://www.WomenGrowBusiness.com
•Other Media:o Technology & Social Media: http://www.shashi.nameo Digital Thoughts: http://readythoughts.blogspot.como Restaurant Reviews: http://www.carryoncurry.como Examiner Column : http://bit.ly/dcexaminer
Tech Cocktail Column: http://bit.ly/shashitechcocktailWhat I am reading: http://shashib.amplify.com
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Resources
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http://www.networksolutions.com/education
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Document sharing Sites
Tip : Add a custom offer for each channel
and monitor traffic from these sites
Docstoc – http://www.docstoc.com
Slide Share – http://www.Slideshare.net
Scribd - http://www.Scribd.com
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Videos : Tell your Story
Kodak Zi8 HD Pocket Video Camera
Tip : Create a How to video, talk about your community
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Podcasts & Your Own Radio Shows
Flickr photo by Mark J Hunter http://www.flickr.com/photos/tartanpodcast/283456030/
Tip : Interview your users, promote their business
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Story telling with photos - Flickr
Tip : Make your story interesting with pictures . Flickr cannot be used for commerce
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Review Sites
Tips : Claim your profile , thank reviewers and answer any negative comments with grace