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Social Media ToolkiT

IntroductIon ........................................................................................ 1about this guide What is social media?Benefits of social media Some stats

chapter one: Facebook .......................................................................5What is it?Why should you use it? Glossary Getting startedBest practice don’t

chapter two: twItter ............................................................................8What is it?Why should you use it? GlossaryGetting started Best practicedon’t

chapter three: LInkedIn ........................................................................12What is it?Why should you use it?GlossaryGetting started Best practicedon’t

chapter Four: the others .....................................................................15Google+YouTube Pictures: instagram, Tumblr, Flickr & PinterestWikipedia Blogging

chapter FIve: beFore and aFter .............................................................19StrategyTime-poor tipsanalytics after the plunge HR & employees Handling a crisis

concLusIon ..........................................................................................25

appendIx: LInks .......................................................................................26

index

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So what iS Social media?The problem with explaining what social media is to someone who has never used it (and there are those people, many of them) is that it isn’t just one thing. The term is often used as an umbrella, and encompasses the technology used (such as Facebook, or Twitter), the communication on it, the

media used in that communication (pictures, words, video) and the type of communication (open and informal). To make matters more confusing, “media” is often used interchangeably with “marketing,”and to say that it’s “social communication” is redundant.

Part of the barrier to business adopting social media is the very use of the word social. For years we have been trained to believe ‘social’ and ‘work’ don’t go together. We don’t mix business with pleasure. This is especially so for businesses in the, well, business, of selling services. Very few people get pleasure from doing their tax returns. even less regard a trip to the accountant as a social visit. However, as everyone can attest, those lines are blurring. People work outside the hours of 9-5, and more and more, staff expect to be able to personalise their work experience. More than simple work-life balance, what we are seeing is work-life integration. office and home are merging, social and business occurs concurrently.

This means people are expecting to find businesses online while they are in the process of being social. While on Twitter to chat to friends, they expect to be able to reference, question and get replies from businesses. on Facebook, while sending an update about family, they want to be able to receive status updates from their favourite store.

The ‘social’ in social media, therefore, is about more than just people interacting while ‘off-duty’ and more about people simply interacting, regardless of the time of day. Social media is, at its simplest, a way of describing a means by which people communicate with other people in an electronic medium.

Within this guide, the channels of social media will be explained, not as commerce tools or marketing tools, but as ways of communicating. Social media can of course be used as a tool for many things, but at its heart, the social indicates interaction, and above all, genuine interaction.

Use of social media as a tool for anything else, needs to be done with care. While people may not mind generic ads being splattered across a magazine page, social media is much more personal. advertising has to be personal too, and very specifically targeted. The benefits of such an approach are great – if you can connect with your customer on a personal level then you are much more likely to get a return on investment. as long as you invest wisely.

about thiS guideThe following social media toolkit is designed to guide members in practice through the dauntingly changeable world of social media. While this guide has been designed with accountants and small business in mind, it is not restrictive, and anyone who wants a better understanding of why they should pay attention to social media will find value within.

Social media is ever-changing; it is a fast-paced, increasingly complex, world. More than a tool with which one can do business, it brings with it a fundamental change in the way we think about our relationship with clients. Suddenly, it may seem, we do business in a world where clients have unprecedented access to our inner workings, and the ability to critique those workings publically.

it’s naturally all a bit frightening. While the impulse to stay offline to protect core processes is often strong, doing so means that your business misses out on opportunities previously unafforded to cash- strapped, time-poor, SMes.

on the one hand there are those that stay out of social media for security reasons, but on the other there are those that stay away because they believe it to be a fad; playing around on the internet with little return on investment as valuable work hours are lost.

The experts, if they’re worth their salt, will tell you that both those things can be true. They can be, but at the same time, spending all day on the telephone can waste just as much time, and hiding the way your company works for fear of exposure probably indicates there’s something happening that’s already an issue worth paying attention to.

in much the same way that a small business would never even consider the idea of turning off their phone, or turn a customer away at the door, so must social media be addressed. like it or loathe it, social media is really just communication, and no business, large or small, can afford not to do it.

The good news, for those of you wondering if you’ve stumbled into something a little too big to deal with, is that social media can be easy, time-managed and fun. once you know the buzz words, and what they mean, it really isn’t hard. Remember, you already know how to communicate! You just need to do it using a different medium.

This guide will teach you how to use these channels, explain which ones to use and which ones to leave alone, what you can expect, the best way to go about it, and why, above all, your business (or yourself) should be on the social media bandwagon. it is designed with a communications focus, as opposed to a direct marketing or advertising one, but the tips and tricks within will help your business to use social media to best effect, no matter what your end goal might be.

inTRodUcTion

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1 Margin Media, http://blog.marginmedia.com.au/our-blog/bid/95730/australian-internet-and-Social-Media-Statistics-July-2013, July 2013

2 Social Media news, http://www.socialmedianews.com.au/social-media-statistics-australia-april-2013/ May 2013

3 BRW, “4 million members and counting: linkedin australia finds connections get you places,” http://www.brw.com.au/p/business/million_members_places_counting_igi7nirJjn6nfV7kexTv0H 14 March 2013 linkedin, ‘linkedin announces 4 million members in australia,’ http://press.linkedin.com/news- Releases/294/linkedin-announces-4-million-members-in-australia, 13 March 2013

benefitSThere are many benefits to using social media for your business. Social media can be used to:

• connect with your consumers and other companies• promote your brand and increase its exposure• access a wider global audience• tap into the increasing importance of word-of-mouth

influence• reduce the amount of money spent on traditional

marketing• manage crisis situations• listen to what your customers want and fill those needs• let people know your personality – forge real connections• build your professional networks• connect with media and journalists• increase sales and leads• provide valuable customer service• offer rewards, special offers or discounts to potential

customers• cement loyalty by identifying your brand ambassadors

and rewarding them• monitor sentiment and comments being made about your

company

Some StatS...There are almost as many stats for social media as there are people using it, and nearly all of them are staggering in one way or another. even for a country such as australia, with a population of 22 million, the number of people using social media is quite amazing.

at the time of writing, 13 million australians have a Facebook account- that’s over 58% of the entire country1. over 11 million unique australian views visit YouTube each month2.Three million australians have linkedin accounts, and in australia, accounting is the fourth largest industry represented (financial services is the second largest, iT the first)3. over two million australians are on Twitter, two-and-a-half million use Tumblr, and over one million are on instagram1.

Big business in australia is not far behind.4 in 2011, 50% of big business had a social media presence, which grew substantially to almost 80% in 2012. Medium sized business went from 25% in 2011 to 34% in 2012.

Small business, however, has been lagging far behind in social media uptake. in 2011, only 14% of small business in australia had a social media presence. Tellingly, just a year later, this number had almost doubled, to 27%. While still a relatively small number compared to big business, the speed with which the number of small businesses getting online is increasing is indicative of the importance social media now holds when it comes to business.

of small businesses in australia, the majority have invested in Facebook as their social media channel of choice, at around 83%. This is similar to large business, where 82% have a Facebook page, and reflects the fact that with half of the australian population on Facebook, it’s an area where business cannot afford to be missing. The bigger difference between small and large business in australia comes when channels other than Facebook are examined. While 27% of small business use Twitter and 20% use linkedin, in big business a much larger 71% have a Twitter presence with 30% on linkedin. Facebook dominates social media use in australia, regardless of business size, unsurprising given its image capabilities suited to the showcasing of products. Twitter and linkedin, with a heavier reliance on text-based communication, tend to be used more for network building and customer service, but even their popularity for small business is on the rise.

increasingly, customers expect to see businesses online, and to be accessible, and when they don’t, they question why or find someone else who is. in much the same way that you would not trust a business that had their phone disconnected, or would find another place to shop if the door was locked, your business’ social media use will affect its trustworthiness and effectiveness.

However, unlike in medium to large companies, in 79% of small businesses it is the owner/manager that is responsible for social media – in medium and large business this is more often performed by dedicated marketing or communications departments. This places additional stress on the SMe owner, who in addition to running their business is often the sole marketer and networker.

SMes typically update their social media from once a day to once a week, whereas medium and large business update every day without fail. Such a large time investment for a small business or sole practitioner is a daunting prospect as its potential to impact on other parts of the business is large.

The benefits, however, are especially suited to SMes, too. Unlike big business, small business often doesn’t have the budget to spend on elaborate marketing campaigns, nor the manpower to increase visibility. Many small businesses are run from home, and around the juggling of other work and family commitments. in these ways, social media excels. not only is most of it free, the reach has a potentially much wider footprint than a shopfront or traditional face-to-face networks.

Recent studies have shown that small businesses with a high level of digital engagement (website, social media, email etc) are two times more likely to be growing revenue. in fact, small businesses with high engagement enjoy better business outcomes and increase their revenue by a whopping 20 per cent!5 not only that, but these businesses are likely to have better growth prosects, bigger customer bases, expanded services and more diversified sources of revenue.6

clearly, your business needs to be there too! in the next sections we will walk through the main social media platforms, how to use them and what not to do.

4 Sensis, “Yellow Social Media Report: What australian people and businesses are doing with socialmedia,” Jun 2012

5 deloitte acess economics, ‘connected Small Businesses: How australian small businesses are growing in the digital economy,’ http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_aU/au/insights/browse-by-content- type/media-releases/353dcb8dd760e310VgnVcM1000003256f70aRcRd.htm, 2013. MYoB, ‘2013 MYoB Business Monitor: cloud & Web-savvy SMes continue to enjoy better business,’http://myob.com.au/myob/news-1258090872838?articleid=1257830858409, 15 apr 2013.

6 deloitte acess economics, ‘connected Small Businesses’.

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gloSSaryapps: Smaller programs that run within Facebook. apps can be many things: games, ways of sharing information, contests and more.

cover photo: a cover photo is the large image at the top of a Facebook profile or page. This should be an image that represents your brand or what you business does. Generally speaking, this is more conceptual than your profile image.

Fan: Rather than being a ‘friend’ of a brand page, users who like an organisation’s page are referred to as fans.

Friend: a personal connection on Facebook is called a ‘friend’.

Groups: Based around shared interests, often philanthropic or humorous in nature. don’t use a

group for your brand page as you have much less control.

Likes: a feature that lets you (or your fans) publicly appreciate a post or page, linking it to your profile.

news Feed: like a mini blog, this is a list of chronological updates from your Facebook friends. not all updates, including your page’s, will appear on this list and preference is given to pictures and video.

page: official ‘profile’ or presence for brands, organisations, products, public personalities, actors etc.

profile: The personal presence of an individual on Facebook. Shouldn’t be used as a commercial page.

profile image: This is where a brand logo for a business page should go, or a photo of a person would go in a personal Facebook page. if you don’t have a logo, and are a sole practitioner it might be appropriate to use a photo of yourself here (make sure it’s professional).

wall: This is the main webpage of your profile or brand page and aggregate of your status updates, customer comments and actions.

getting Started1. Set up a personal Facebook profile at www.facebook.com

(if you don’t already have one). Set your privacy settings to what you’re comfortable with - your customers won’t see your personal profile so feel free to lock it down if you prefer.

2. Set up a Facebook ‘page’ for your company at https://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php.

3. Pages are automatically set to be public and will be where your customers interact with your brand. Pages are a better alternative to ‘groups’ for a business.

4. Personalise your business’ page. Use your company’s logo for the profile image (the small square one), and an image that represents your company for your cover photo (the large rectangular one). See below as to restrictions on cover photos. Generally this should be a picture that is unique and gives people an insight into your business, perhaps a picture of your shop front, or something a bit more imaginative!

5. Start posting! Facebook is a slower social media channel, so posting only once a day is perfectly fine. even if you post less than that, be consistent so your fans know what to expect. Try and post pictures and share articles/links to keep it interesting (and increase your chances of being seen).

what iS it?Facebook, launched in 2004, is currently the world’s largest social networking site, connecting over 1 billion people with friends, family, colleagues, alumni and people of shared interests. over 50 per cent of the australian population have a Facebook account, making it one of the largest pools of

current and potential customers for business. People of all age demographics use Facebook, sharing information, pictures and social news daily.

along with personal profiles, Facebook also has business ‘pages’ which have added functionality for brands, such as the ability to assign multiple administrators. You will need a personal account of your own in order to set up a business page, but your personal information will not be displayed on your business page.

creating a personal profile or business page is free (targeted promotional/advertising opportunities will cost extra if you desire them), and as such, it represents a great opportunity for businesses to connect with customers, build brand awareness and leverage word-of-mouth marketing in a cost- effective manner.

why you Should uSe facebook• connect with clients and potential customers• promote your business and products• create brand awareness – develop your brand’s voice• use Facebook’s analytics to discover who your customers

are• be found by people who search for your business• listen to what your customers are saying about you• customer service• lead generation

cHaPTeR one: FaceBook

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what iS it?Twitter is a micro-blogging platform that allows users to send and receive short messages of up to 140 characters. it’s a bit like communal text-messaging. Because of the short character limit and way in which Twitter can be used to relay up-to-the minute information very quickly, it has often gotten a bad rap as a business platform. However, Twitter is a very powerful tool that enables clients and customers to connect over a global network based on interest, location or events.

Rather than read through a website full of text, a press release or lengthy news article, Twitter enables people to get out quick, concise messages to a whole lot of people at once. Moreover, its chat-like and informal nature means that businesses have an opportunity to listen to what their customers are saying, get to know their customers and potential customers and

why you Should uSe twitter• listen to what people are saying about your business• network with other businesses• promote events and content or offer discounts• connect with clients and potential customers• promote your business, products and share news• listen to what other businesses are saying and what their

customers are saying in turn• interact with customers – ask questions, listen to feedback• show your brand’s personality• get real time news, updates and responses to your brand• show your business’ thought leadership, become the

voice for your sector

beSt Practice• post engaging content. Particularly, post photos and

videos as these will help your posts show up on your followers’ news feeds. Facebook is a social network, and people expect your content to be entertaining and current.

• be authentic. Facebook isn’t a marketing channel, it’s a social one, so you need to be more

• like a friend than a sales person. Tell the truth and be consistent in your messages.

• answer questions and respond to comments. Just like you wouldn’t let the telephone ring without picking it up, clients expect answers to questions they post.

• Post regularly. even if it’s only once or twice a week, keep it consistent. But, as you’ll see later, you can set these in advance.

• Integrate your page. draw awareness to your social media efforts by adding the Facebook icon to any print marketing you do.

• ‘Like’ other pages. link to others that your brand networks with or supports by liking their pages.

• show your personality. This is one of the greatest assets of social media, you can be much more ‘personal’ than in normal marketing.

• select the right vanity urL. Make sure your chosen URl makes sense, for example, use your business name. You can only change your URl once, even if it’s just because of a typo, so be careful and think ahead!

• Monitor what is said on your page. comments that are offensive or defamatory need to be removed as soon as possible as recent legislation means you can be held responsible for them. But make sure you see below about when not to delete first.

• house rules. Have ‘terms of conduct’ on your page that outline what is not acceptable behaviour on your page. This makes it easier to remove anything offensive later on.

• check the rules. as anyone with a personal Facebook profile knows, the rules and privacy options often change. Make sure you’re up to date.

• respond quickly. customers will expect answers to questions within minutes or hours, not days. The quicker you can answer the better. You can set up email alerts and phone notifications so you don’t need to monitor the page itself all day.

don’t...• run competitions on your main Facebook page.

Facebook has a lot of strict rules regarding posting competitions. it can be done, but it’s trickier than you think. don’t risk Facebook deleting your brand page - make sure you use an app to run any competitions. look up the rules first.

• respond to comments negatively. The old adage ‘the customer is always right’ has never applied more than in the digital age. one negative comment is all that’s needed to start a social media storm the likes of which you can only imagine.

• delete comments. okay, you should almost never delete comments. You can, should and (in some cases, must) delete comments that are offensive or discriminatory. However, if the comment is simply negative feedback, leave it be. if you can, respond with how you will attempt to fix the problem, apologise for the customer’s perceived experience or simply let them know you are taking the feedback on board. deleting a comment only because it portrays you in a bad light, or you don’t like it, is like a red flag to internet users and is very likely to blow everything out of proportion. nothing is ever really deleted online – it will come back to haunt you.

• treat Facebook as nothing more than a marketing tool. Users will not appreciate being spammed or finding nothing but ads on your page. Give your fans something they’ll be interested in, interaction they cannot get elsewhere or the first crack at a new product.

• dismiss Facebook cover image rules. it used to be the case that you could not put much of anything but a picture in your cover image – but recently, Facebook has changed this. as at april 2013, the only restriction on your cover image is that it can only be 20% text. keep an eye on the rules though, Facebook tends to change them without warning. a lot.

further informationhttp://mashable.com/guidebook/facebook/

https://www.facebook.com/business

cHaPTeR TWo: TWiTTeR

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beSt Practice• Listen. Twitter is a great tool for monitoring what other

people are saying about your business, or what your competitors are saying about theirs.

• respond to customers. Your customers are already on Twitter, or soon will be as customer bases encompass more and more of Generation digital. They’re already talking about you, so make sure you talk back. a negative tweet can easily become a positive brand opportunity. if you get a query, make sure you respond promptly.

• share. Give info about yourself and your business, share pictures from behind-the-scenes. direct people to your website with links to useful information.

• ask. Grown a following? Use them! ask questions of your customers, what would they like to see from you? What products do they want?

• be genuine. Twitter followers love drama – there’s a reason that a lot of social media disasters occur there. These are intelligent and switched-on people and they will pounce on ‘marketing speak’ or disingenuous talk before you can blink. Twitter expects genuine, truthful communication – and loves a bit of personality! Twitter is fast-paced and relatively informal and is a great chance for customers to get to know your brand’s ethos and values.

• reward customers. Many people follow brands on social media for giveaways. Special offers or discounts, a time-sensitive ‘reply in the next hour’ deal could work well.

• Make it easy. Use a third-party platform such as HootSuite or Tweetdeck. These programs let you view multiple streams at once (your tweets, competitor tweets, mentions, conversations with you, lists, searches as well as your other social media channels like Facebook or linkedin etc) and can dramatically cut down the time needed to monitor your channels. also great if you want more than one person to tweet on behalf of your business.

• use hashtags. Thinking of tweeting snippets of info from an event you’re holding? create a hashtag so that other people can follow the conversation. Think of a hashtag like a bookmark– search for the hashtag and you can see all the tweets bookmarked with it. in the same way, use some of the well known hashtags such as #finance or #auspol to get your tweets seen in bigger conversations, and by more than just your followers.

• retweet. Social media is social, so don’t make it all about you. Retweet things that other people post – it shows your loyalty to them, increases your network, and shows your leadership (as you know what is worth a retweet). Thank people who retweet your tweets as they’ve just let all their followers see your brand – for free!

• Follow back. it’s up to you whether you follow back everyone that follows you. Most businesses tend to either follow everyone or no one. Following back can show that you think of your followers as people worth talking with, not just as consumers. if you have too much noise on your stream you can set up lists to view tweets only from select people.

• abbreviate. it’s acceptable to abbreviate on Twitter – think SMS speak. When space is at a premium it’s necessary to abbreviate and edit down to the bare minimum. dnt tk it 2 fr tho.

gloSSary@/handle/username: Use of the @ symbol points towards a Twitter user’s username or handle. This is your name on Twitter. it can be changed whenever you like, but it’s best not to unless you have a good reason. For example, the iPa’s twitter name is @ipaaccountants. @usernames link back to the Twitter account in question.

@reply: When you start a tweet with an @username or ‘reply’ to a tweet, the tweet will be seen by your recipient in their messages (importantly, even though it is not seen by everyone in their stream, it is not private and can be seen by users who have both you and the person mentioned in common, or be searched for by anyone!).

Using an @username within a tweet (not at the start) will mean it is seen by everyone, the same as if you sent a normal tweet with no @username. (often you will see people put a full stop before an @reply when they want all people to see that reply, the full stop simply means that Twitter reads the tweet as a plain one, and not a reply.)

direct Message (dM): users can privately message each other using direct messaging. To do so either click “message” on a user’s profile, or tweet with “d @username” at the beginning of your tweet. only these two users can see these tweets’ contents.

home/Feed/stream: The aggregate of tweets for everyone you follow. This is what you ‘read,’ the equivalent of the Facebook wall.

Follow: The equivalent of a Facebook “friend”. if you follow someone you will see their tweets in your feed (on your home screen). You can do this by clicking ‘follow’ on a user’s profile page.

Followers: People who have followed you. These people will see your tweets in their feed.

Follow Friday (FF): Use of the #FF or #FollowFriday hashtag is a way to recommend other users to follow. only ever used on a Friday.

hashtag (#): a way to ‘bookmark’ or index certain posts. Users can search by hashtags to find what everyone is saying on a particular topic.

Lists: Users can create lists of twitter users that they want to have appear in a separate stream. This is useful if you follow lots of people but only want to read the tweets of some of them.

Modified tweet (Mt): not used by all, a prefix of “MT” before a twitter handle shows that you have retweeted someone else’s message, but modified it (often to make it fit the word length).

retweet (rt): When a tweet by someone is reposted, or passed on, it is often proceeded by “RT” and a twitter handle to show that it has come from someone else originally.

trending topics: The ten most popular topics (based on words and hashtags) are said to be ‘trending’. This can be broken down by country, and in some cases, by city.

tweet: Your ‘update’ or ‘tweet’ is your 140 character message.

getting Started1. sign up for a twitter account at www.twitter.com.

choose a username that will make sense to you and your customers (avoid numbers and underscores “_” if possible. Be creative but professional.) (Some businesses will have an official business/brand account and personal ones for the ceo, executives or owner. Small businesses often combine the two, which is fine, but make sure you know what your strategy is and what you want customers and potential clients to see.)

2. Fill out the bio information for your account and upload a user picture. if your account is purely for your business, it’s best to use your company logo (if your logo is too small to see, consider cropping it – it might be a bit more ‘arty’ but at least people will be able to recognise your account quickly and easily). Brand your page using the design tab to change colours and backgrounds.

3. set the account to public, not private or “protected tweets” if it will be your business account. You want everyone to see your tweets, even if they don’t follow you.

4. Follow other accounts. a good place to find followers is to look at who your competition is following, search for thought leaders in your industry or do a check of your email acquaintances.

5. Get tweeting. Tweets can only consist of a maximum 140 characters – you can see how many characters you have left by the count down on your message, negative numbers means you need to delete a few characters in order to post your tweet. Twitter is a fast social media channel, it’s perfectly acceptable to post multiple times a day, just make sure you spread it out so as not to ‘spam’.

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what iS it?linkedin is the world’s largest social network for professionals and currently has around 200 million users. in australia, linkedin has around 4 million users and 80 per cent of business professionals, and is continuing to gain members. Unlike Twitter and Facebook, linkedin is aimed at business professionals. linkedin is predominantly a networking channel, and works somewhat like a digital business card/resume for yourself that you can link to other people. despite the individual nature of linkedin, there are benefits for your business too, such as company pages and discussion groups.

why you Should uSe linkedin• personal branding• networking with potential customers, colleagues and

stakeholders• product research• business credibility• recruitment and job search• thought leadership

don’t...• use auto responders. Services that auto-thank people

for following may seem like a great time-saver, but come across as fake and uncaring.

• be negative. if you reply to criticism with negativity, you will incite more negativity.

• keep your tweets short and to the point. While you can continue a tweet into a subsequent one every now and again, don’t make it a habit. Twitter is for short, sharp points - not essays.

• overtly market. Have conversations, not sales pitches. That way when you do talk about a

• product people will be more willing to give it a look.• use long urLs. Services such as tinyurl.com or bitly.com will

shorten URls – saving valuable character space. Hootsuite and Tweetdeck use inbuilt shorteners to make it easy.

• use strange abbreviations. Many abbreviations on Twitter are easy to understand or fairly standard – if you make some up, make sure people will still understand you!

• hijack hashtags. if your content is relevant, use global hashtags to gain a wider audience, but if you’re misusing a tag to get publicity people will be annoyed that you aren’t on topic (eg using the #earthquake hashtag to promote your “earth-shaking sale”).

further informationhttp://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/

http://www.hubspot.com/twitter-for-business-a-beginners-guide/

https://business.twitter.com/

cHaPTeR THRee: linkedin

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beSt Practice• complete your profile. linkedin does a lot to encourage

you to complete your profile, and for good reason. The better your profile the more likely people are to find you and the better the networking gets. complete all the sections.

• connect. connect with people. current colleagues, past co-workers, people in your field, people you meet at business meetings. The more you connect the better the opportunities are for future collaboration. import your email contacts, use linkedin’s ‘find people you may know feature’ and look at that stack of business cards you’ve amassed over the years for potential contacts.

• add a summary. one thing people often don’t fill out is the summary in their profile, unlike

• adding past jobs and tasks, it involves a little bit more planning. it’s worth it because it means people get to know you in an otherwise very dry, fact-based medium.

• use a professional photo. like all social media, the more you can project yourself as a real person with personality, the more people will trust you and want to connect. Make sure the photo is not too casual, business/professional images work best. Make sure your face is clear and the image wasn’t taken from a hundred metres away!

• customise your urL. like Facebook, linkedin allows you to set a custom URl, such as your name, rather than the impersonal string of numbers.

• be visible. linkedin is about networking, and to do that you need to be able to be found. Set your profile to public, have your image public and put all your email addresses in your profile (they don’t have to be viewable, just searchable).

• Give recommendations. Want people to give you recommendations or endorse your skills? Give and endorse first and you’ll soon find people do the same for you in return.

• keep your profile current. Your chances of making a meaningful connection on linkedin are only as good as your profile, so remember to update it whenever you have new info.

• share. like all social networks, you need to contribute, so share news, press coverage, photos, polls, links etc.

• create a company page for your brand. Follow the same guidelines for a company page as for your personal one – complete all the information, make it searchable, post updates and link to your other web presences.

• Join groups or create one for your company or field. like Facebook groups, linkedin groups allow you to find people interested in similar topics.

• customise. linkedin is highly customisable when it comes to the amount and type of emails you receive from them, if you’re getting too many, look at the options in your settings to turn some off.

don’t...• add everyone who sends you an invitation. You can be

selective as to who you choose to add into your network, for example, it is your choice if you add your customers or strangers. Be wary of people with zero linkedin connections as they can often be spam accounts.

• only add people you want a favour from. networking is about long-lasting connections, not the instant gratification (or annoyance) of asking a favour.

• hide. The point of linkedin is to connect with other professionals, so don’t make it hard for people by setting your profile to private.

• be too casual. linkedin is the most professional of the social networks, as such, make sure you behave appropriately – don’t over-share personal information – people don’t want to see pictures from your awesome weekend. Use proper sentences and grammar.

• Market all the time. The same as any other social media network, users do not expect to get a barrage of spam from you about your latest products.

• Limit your profile. Remember, the more information you have about your past, the more people you will find to connect with, and the more people will find you. The better your network, the more use it will be to you.

• Lie. Think you can beef up your resume? Remember your ex-classmates and past colleagues/employers can see your profile – would they agree with your past too?

further informationhttp://www.hubspot.com/linkedin-for-business-marketing-hub/

http://mashable.com/2012/05/23/linkedin-beginners/

gloSSary1st degree connection: Someone you’re connected to because you know them directly.

2nd degree connection: connections you have gained through your 1st degree connections.

3rd degree connection: connections through your 2nd degree connections.

company page: a profile for your company, users can ‘follow’ a company and a company can send

status updates to them. companies can also showcase products on their company page.

Group: Message board style areas professionals can join to share information and expertise.

InMail: linkedin’s version of direct messaging/emailing. The recipient’s email address and information is not shared with the sender.

Introduction: With connections who are not yet part of your network an introductory message can be sent through a mutual connection to introduce you.

Invitation: a request to connect with another user (or to a non-user) to join each other’s networks.

network: The collective group of people that you are connected with through the various degrees.

profile: Your personal information including photo, resume and details. a digital business card of sorts.

recommendation: Testimonials about you from connections, for example your colleagues. People can see these on your profile page.

status message: in the same way you can update your status in Facebook or send a tweet in

Twitter, on linkedin you can share information, links etc through your status messages.

getting Started on linkedin1. Set up a linkedin profile for yourself at www.linkedin.com.

2. To set up a company page, click on the “companies” link on the top menu of the linkedin site and then on “add a company”. complete all the information asked for in the process – your company Page will go live at the end.

3. Build your professional and business networks. encourage your staff to get on linkedin (as they will be listed on your company page if they have a corporate email address). add people after you meet them at business meetings. Search for groups that you might be interested in and start participating to meet new people.

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youtubenow more than ever, it is easy and inexpensive to use video content to connect with customers and to market your business. With the popularity of YouTube, the expectation for high quality video has

been lowered, and as long as your video is interesting, filmed moderately well and provides the viewer with something of use, most will forgive the fact that you aren’t Steven Spielberg (and don’t have his budget). YouTube has over a billion unique users, 11 million of them australian. With those kinds of numbers it’s difficult to justify not being involved!

things to note• Videos don’t have to be movie-quality. as long as you

make sure the lighting is good (no shadows on faces!), the audio clear and the information relevant, viewers will appreciate that you went to the trouble.

• if you want to buy professional video equipment, these days it is relatively cheap – but you don’t have to, many inexpensive cameras have a video function these days.

• Make your content relevant. What do your clients want to know?

• Think about the types of videos you could offer. Will they be informational, creative, how-to guides? content is key here, don’t use your videos to produce ads only.

• create an official YouTube channel for your company. it’s free and will make your videos

• easier to find.• embed your videos on your Facebook page and

your website. Make sure you have concise, accurate information in the descriptions of your videos. Use tags to ensure that they come up when people search for relevant topics.

• Short trumps long. don’t make a 10 minute video if you can make a two minute one. Viewers appreciate short and sharp.

• Be sincere, it will go a long way to excuse any filming inadequacies.

• include a call to action – encourage viewers to visit your website or Facebook page –

• somewhere they can get more information about your company.

google+Google+ is Google’s version of a social media platform, similar to Facebook. cleaner and with clearer privacy policies than Facebook, Google+ should be competition to the Facebook monopoly –

however, it just doesn’t have the numbers yet, particularly in australia. The reason you shouldn’t dismiss it out of hand is that Google+ is not just another social network in the same way Google is not just a search engine. What you need to know about Google+ is that it will likely be integrated more and more with Google search engine algorithm’s, so if you want to come up prominently in people’s searches, make sure you’re on Google+. integration with Google’s search algorithms and other Google apps will mean that it becomes more important than ever to have a presence on the channel. even if you don’t do all that much there at the moment, reserve your brand anyway and link it to your company website.

things to note• Google+ company pages have started coming up on the

right hand side of Google searches. direct connect will allow users to enter a “+” sign in front of your name into google searches to go directly to your Google+ page. link your website to increase your chances of being direct connected by Google (Google is being selective at the moment).

• +1 buttons have been integrated across the web to share information on people’s Google+ profiles. +1s have the potential to increase the amount of traffic to your website or page.

• Google.com is the most visited website on the web and is by far the most popular search engine in use today – with Google+ and Google companies (such as YouTube) being integrated further and further into their search results, why would you not want to be included?

• circles, the equivalent of your list of friends or fans, are more useful than you might think. The ability to classify people into groups – for example, business associates, customers, loyal customers – means that you can post content specifically to those groups.

cHaPTeR FoUR: THe oTHeRS

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wikiPediaWhile having a page on Wikipedia might seem like a great way to boost your company’s name in search engine rankings, unfortunately, most small businesses won’t qualify. Wikipedia will only allow your company to have a page if there’s something notable about it, for example, a large amount of information out there about your business from a source that isn’t you. See Wikipedia for further guidelines. if you are eligible, go for it, but remember – it can be a double edged sword. anyone can edit your page, not just you.

bloggingif you have the time, it’s well worth spending some time blogging. not just for angry rants and dear diary posts, a blog can be a great way to establish your business as thought leaders in the industry. With the amount of information online, and a number of businesses looking for clients there, blogging is a great way to stand out from the rest of the pack. For professional services, a blog makes a lot of sense, as one thing you have in abundance is expertise in your specific area. Sharing advice will allow you to connect with a larger network of peers as well as give you a platform to attract new clients and create brand loyalty in existing ones. Just be aware of any restrictions your industry has on giving advice (eg financial).

things to note• Blogging can be time intensive, and to be successful,

you will need to post at least once per week, preferably more.

• Blog regularly, whether it is once a week or a few times a week, try to be consistent.

• Share your insights, stories, advice, expertise, perspectives, tips, case studies.

• Free blogging platforms are available online. For example, Wordpress, Blogger, Typepad.

• Blogging has great Seo (search engine optimisation) benefits. if your blog is within your website, and you’re updating regularly, you will be increasing traffic to your website and pushing it up in the search engines. a must to maintain that competitiveness!

• add multimedia content to make it engaging.• Tell stories, but remember to be business savvy and

respect client confidentiality.

the Picture PlayerS: PintereSt, inStagram & tumblr There has been a trend towards image-based social media in the last year, and it hasn’t yet showed signs of going away. For companies selling physical products, this is clearly a boon, as pins act like a shop window. Service-based businesses who want to participate in these image-based channels will need to think outside the box and use them not so much as a place to sell, but one to teach, or create brand awareness. These mediums are particularly important if your target demographic is a younger tech-savvy generation. Remember, a bit of work now building loyal fans will pay dividends when they come to need financial service advice later on. These channels are probably not the best place to spend all your social media time if it’s limited, but if you’re looking for a way to bring a bit of creativity to the daily grind, or can see the merit of building your reputation as more than your everyday accounting practice, by all means do.

instagram, in particular, is one of the fastest growing networks in existence. in September 2013, less than three years after its launch, the mobile application has surpassed 150 million monthly active users and garnered over one billion photograph uploads. The reason why instagram has gained so much popularity is due to the nature of the application. instagram serves as a photo sharing, video sharing and a social networking site, and users can easily share their photographs on their Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr pages. an apple and android app, users can take or upload photographs and filter them in the style of old polaroids or vintage style photographs. like Twitter, users can hashtag photographs to make them easier to find. instagram is predominately a lifestyle-based site and thus works great for small businesses in the retail and hospitality sector...not so much for accountants though.

another lifestyle-based photograph sharing website is Pinterest. The site works like an electronic cork board, where users pin pictures they find interesting for others to see. These applications would be great to suggest to potential clients, especially those in the SMe sector.

Tumblr is at it’s simplest a blog built around image posts, with a communal element thrown in – you can see the content of those you follow and vice versa. Memes and gifs (animated images) are big on Tumblr.

things to note• Showcase your company as a brand – what are your

values, interests.• Share content of interest to your clients, for example,

infographics on finance, tax or superannuation.• do you have a blog with pictures? Pin the pictures on

Pinterest – and therefore, the link to the blog articles. ditto for website pages.

• above all, be creative and think outside the square. Would a flickr account of your business’ history be of interest to your clients? What about behind the scenes pictures of how your company runs? does your company do cSR, can you showcase that?

• Use hashtags – this allows other users to find your content. Running a competition can be done with a specific hashtag that you come up with (make sure you check the rules first of course).

• Follow other people to expand your networks.

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time-Poor tiPSThere are ways to manage your social media use in time-effective ways! Below are a few things that will help you get the most out of social media.

• choose carefully. do you need to be on all social media platforms? or will one in particular suit you best?

• dedicate time. Try having a small amount of time once or even twice a day solely for checking/interacting on social media. While people online expect answers quickly, most will be comfortable with a few hours wait, especially if they know you aren’t a big business. if you can respond quicker, do, but if it’s eating up all your time to do other things, it won’t be a sound investment.

• plan ahead. Spend an hour each week setting up messages/tweets to go out automatically during the week. Many social networks, including Facebook and Twitter, have this feature.

• be alert(ed). Set up email and phone alerts, or use social media apps that send phone notifications, rather than having to monitor your Facebook page or Twitter account at all hours of the day. if someone sends you a message you’ll know right away.

• spy on your competition. See what worked for your competitors, and what didn’t. don’t repeat their mistakes, emulate their successes.

• customise, customise, customise. Use Twitter and Facebook lists to segregate your followers into the ones you should spend most time listening to. That way you can find the most important conversations to enter into or share as quickly as possible. a lot of time can be wasted online by reading everything that comes across your screen.

• be social – don’t take it all on by yourself. Social media is about interaction. You don’t have to post only new content. Retweet, link, and share other people’s content if it’s relevant to your business or customers. Join in ongoing conversations instead of starting them all.

• strategise. Have a clear strategy for what you want out of each social media channel. Stick to it. You don’t need to do everything on every network. For example, on Facebook you might market your products, on linkedin your focus might be on building connections with other businesses.

• don’t cross post. Unless you have very different audiences on your various social media channels, don’t cross-post content too much. This is just annoying for people who follow you on all the platforms (many will and what’s more, you want them to!).

Strategyit may sound tedious, but having a strategy when you approach social media for your business will save you a lot of time and effort in the long run. Your strategy doesn’t have to be elaborate, but there are a few questions you should ask yourself before you jump in. if you can answer the following, you’ll be in a good position to take advantage of social media, and have realistic expectations as to what it will bring you.

• what are your goals or objectives?• are you online to sell, to strengthen your brand,

promote yourself, find clients, allow clients to find you, stand out from the crowd, stay informed or get feedback?

• each of these things will change how you approach your social media use and how you measure it as being successful – an important thing to keep in mind as feeling like your time is being wasted is the quickest way to get fed up with social media.

• are you listening?• Before jumping in, go online and listen to what’s

going on.• Where are your clients, target audience?• What are they saying?• What issues are most important to them?• Who are the main influencers? (The ones that

everyone listens to – they may have large followings on Twitter, or post the most relevant posts on linkedin for example).

• What channels are your clients using? are they on linkedin, Twitter, Facebook or somewhere else? keep your goals in mind when you do this – if they’re on instagram but not engaging in the issues you want to push, it might not be the right place to engage with them.

• How can you add value? What do people want the most?

• how are you going to do it?• Realistically evaluate how much time you can devote

to social media – and again, keep those objectives in mind.

• do you have staff that can help you out or will you need to adopt a more strategic approach ( view the next section on time poor tips – there are ways to minimise time and maximise benefit!)

• What channels will suit you and your goals best?• Will you need to plan ahead, or can you afford a

few minutes each day to update content? Which type of channels can you see yourself being better at/engaging more in/being comfortable with?

• are you willing to provide timely answers to questions that get asked of you on your channels?

answering these questions will put you in a better position than the majority of businesses who jump in online unprepared. Your strategy doesn’t have to be a formal document, but you should be able toanswer the above.

importantly, you also need to evaluate your social media use. if you’re finding that one channel is taking up all your time and not getting you any closer to the goals you set? Re-evaluate. could you be doing something differently? is the content wrong for the medium? is there a better channel you could be using? Without this evaluation, you run the risk of getting fed up and losing out on the benefits social media can bring you.

cHaPTeR FiVe: BeFoRe and aFTeR

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after the Plungeit’s tempting to think that once you’ve created your accounts online that you’ve done the hard part. But if you’re sitting back and waiting for masses of devoted followers to jump onboard, then you’ll be waiting a long time.

Building a client base takes time – just like it did for your practice. it won’t happen overnight...you know the rest! To maximise your visibility online there are a few things you can do to kick start the follower count.

Firstly, you aren’t alone – you already have clients! do they know that you’re now online? Make sure that you add social media icons – with links! – to your email footer. add linked icons to your website (you’d be surprised how many don’t...). if you’re planning on printing collateral for your business, make sure to include icons there too. cross-promotion is important.

if you’re on more than one social media channel, cross-promote your channels across them (especially if you have different content on each, which is ideal). and don’t forget good old word-of- mouth. let your clients know you’re now available to chat online. Put up a sign in reception, and if you have a newsletter/e-newsletter, include a couple of sentences on where you are online and what clients will find there.

The other thing to keep in mind is that the online world works on reciprocation. To get something back, you need to put something out, create content and conversations. There’s nothing worse than an empty social media channel. do some pre-populating before you invite your clients by putting up the kind of content you are going to continue to share with them. Give them a taste, a reason, to hit that like or follow button. and keep updating!

Social media, unlike traditional marketing, is not a one-way street. Being proactive – talking to other people on Twitter, posting on other linkedin, sharing other people’s content on Facebook, will bring better results. in this way, social media is like a more traditional networking event. if you turn up and don’t speak to anyone, no one will speak to you. contribute to others’ channels the way that you would like them to contribute to yours.

Remember that social media is social. it is not a place to do all your advertising. obviously, you have a business, and you wouldn’t be putting in all this effort for no reward, but to ‘market’ on social media you need to be sneakier. Just as you wouldn’t want someone coming up to you at the weekend barbecue with pamphlets demanding you buy their products, neither do your followers. However, if in a conversation with someone at that barbecue someone mentions their product relevant to a conversation already happening? You’d be much more likely to listen – they just sold you a solution, not a product.

That doesn’t mean you can’t do any overt marketing on social media, you can. Just don’t do too much. Generally speaking, experts recommend the “80/20 rule” when it comes to direct marketing online. 80 per cent of your posts should be content, 20 per cent marketing.

You will likely find that gaining an audience is often via a snowball effect. once you get one, it’s

easier to get another, and eventually, if you keep posting, you will find you gain a steady amount each month. With many channels, there is also a magical and elusive minimum density. Just by the law of averages, once you reach a certain number of people on your page or in your group, you will have enough people to keep a particular level of conversation going without it always having to be one person (usually you!) starting the topics.

analyticSdepending on the size of your practice, or the depth within social media you wish to delve, there are analytical tools available that can help you get some more concrete Roi data. Many of them are free, too. Here’s just a couple.

• Google alerts – (www.google.com.au/alerts) Google alerts allow you to set up email alerts for when certain keywords (such as your business name) are mentioned on the web. Make sureto use the ‘everything’ option so that Google searches discussions, blogs, videos and more.You can set the alerts to email you instantly or at specific intervals.

• Google analytics – (www.google.com.au/analytics/ ) if you have a website then you really should have google analytics installed. Free, simple to set up and super powerful, it will allow you to see who your visitors are and where they’re coming from – a great way to find out if your social media is working at pushing customers to you.

• Facebook Insights – inbuilt into your Facebook page, managers can view a range of insights

• into their visitors including likes, reach, age demographics, location and more.

• hootsuite – (www.hootsuite.com) Hootsuite, discussed above in the time-poor tips section, also has a range of inbuilt analytics allowing you to see which tweets are being clicked on, how many people following you and so on. With a paid account you can also create your own custom reports.

• LinkedIn groups – Group managers on linkedin have access to simple but effective analytical insights into the group’s make up including where they’re from, what level they work at and in what industry.

if you’re willing (and in a position to be able) to spend some money on your analytics there are a variety of companies that do social media monitoring and reporting for your company in greater depth and with a lot less work for yourself. companies like Buzz numbers also offer packages depending on your size/the number of mentions you are likely to get, making it more economical for the SMe sector.

in the end, what matters most is not the number of likes or followers you amass, but whether or not you are reaching the goals you set before getting onto social media. if you are creating meaningful relationships, long-term customers and a name for yourself as someone who knows what they’re talking about, then don’t worry too much if the numbers aren’t where you’d like them to be yet. if your goal was to gain 1000 followers in a month whether or not they are useful to you, it might be time to revise why you’re on social media in the first place! Quality, not quantity, is what counts.

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hr & emPloyeeSif you have staff using social media then it’s wise to have in place a policy or guidelines of use to follow. Rather than being restrictive, this should aim to protect your staff from an HR point of view, and your company, from a risk management one. not only this, but it will help to empower your staff so that they feel comfortable to be out there, representing your brand.

There are any number of things you can have in your guidelines, and a quick google search will bring up a plethora of examples you can tailor to your own needs. at a minimum, include items such as:

• be transparent. always identify who you are if posting about your company.

• use common sense. if you aren’t sure if you should share something, you probably shouldn’t. don’t.

• don’t share confidential information. ever.• respect copyright. This includes images.• use your manners. don’t be rude or disrespect others

(especially competitors).• take responsibility. You’re responsible for what you write.• official spokespeople. Unless you’re an official

spokesperson for your company, don’t speak as if you are the company.

• personal vs official accounts. are you allowed to post under the official account?

• protection. Protect yourself as well as your company, don’t give out private info you shouldn’t.

• have fun and connect with people. after all, it is social!even if your company isn’t on social media, there’s a good chance your staff will be. let them know in your policy what is and isn’t appropriate in regards to your HR policies. While you don’t want to restrict their freedom on personal accounts, it’s important that they are aware that talking about work or co-workers on Facebook could leave them in hot water from an HR stance and you in a potential court case. Many social media platforms are not considered ‘private’ in law just because they are personal in nature.

handling a criSiSBecause social media is public, it provides a great platform for disgruntled customers (or the competition) to air their grievances, often before you’ve been given a chance to reply. it is very important that you handle negative comments, or, in the worst cases, an actual stuff up by your company, carefully.

despite this, there’s no need to be scared. even though the papers these days are filled with social media failures that spiral out of control, the chances of it happening to you is low, providing you know how to react to a ‘crisis’ situation.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

• don’t remove negative comments. This will all but guarantee you get more comments, and worse ones, because now you look like you’re censoring. also, with even a whiff of scandal someone users will take ‘screencaps’ – images of the computer screen – to prove if any censoring occurs. (and while on this, don’t delete your account or ban commenting in these situations either – it might solve the immediate problem, but what will it say about your brand?). acknowledge the problem. if a client is upset, then apologise for their experience and let them know you’ll look into it. The old retail adage comes into play here, ‘the customer is always right’ – even when you think they’re not. of course, there are exceptions to this, but generally speaking, the negative press of telling someone they’re wrong online is never worth it.

• respond quickly. don’t leave the commenter waiting for a response. Just as you wouldn’t leave someone hanging on the phone for more than a minute, don’t leave them ‘hanging on the internet’. The longer you leave it the guiltier you look, the angrier they get.

• don’t rise to the bait. always be nice, even in the face of negativity.

• remove abusive comments. comments that are racist, sexist, homophobic, libellous or against the law in any form should be removed. it is often good to post a reminder when you do it as to why and what kinds of comments will be deleted so that people know you aren’t trying to censor negative feedback. You can be held accountable for these comments, even though you didn’t make them, just by allowing them to be on your page.

• don’t feed the trolls. Trolls are people deliberately trying to create problems, (make sure they aren’t people with a genuine complaint!) they feed on attention, so if you ignore them, they don’t get what they want.

• protect yourself. Have guidelines on your website or facebook that clearly spell out the ‘house rules’ of your page. This will protect you in the event that you need to ban someone or remove abusive comments.

• be human. often a genuine voice or a bit of humour – depending on the situation – can help to diffuse a tense situation and turn a brand critic into a brand advocate.

• Make sure your staff are aware of what to do in these situations. it takes half a second to blow a small problem into a bigger one for lack of knowledge.

• Get advocates on board. The more people that like you online, the more they’ll stick up for you in these situations. The best case scenario is when your own followers defend you against unfair comments, building strong links with your customers will encourage this.

• never ‘sock puppet’ or ‘astro turf’. don’t pretend to be another customer to fight any negative comments, or pretend to be a customer to plant positive feedback. You will be found out.

• turn a negative into a positive. every bit of negative feedback is a chance to show others how well you respond – other viewers will appreciate seeing your answer, so let them. don’t let negative feedback stand alone, always answer so others can see you’re trying to help.

By acknowledging flaws and being genuine, and human, in your response you will more than likely not have to deal with anything more than a client having a bad day.

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concluSionat this point you will hopefully have a good general understanding of the basics when it comes to social media. The next step is not a hard one; get out there and give social media a go! The key to getting value from using social media is to find out what works for you. With lots of different options – and different ways in which you can use them – social media channels are perfect for tailoring.

What’s been included here is just a small sample of the current most popular platforms, but social media changes all the time. next year there will be a new platform, and even now, there are hundreds of smaller social media channels out there that could be exactly what your practice needs.

With the information in this guide you should be able to get online now and make social media work for you, but if you want further details on any of the platforms mentioned, or want to use them for more specific purposes, then have a surf through the links listed in the appendix of this guide.

Remember, it need not be a chore, another thing that you need to do on top of your already busy schedule. Be realistic about what you are trying to achieve, try everything at least once and adapt things to your needs and availability.

at the end of the day, social media is not about a newfangled technology that you need to master, nor buzz words to be in the know on, it is about connecting with other people - with clients, potential customers and stakeholders that can help you in your business. You already do those things in other parts of your business, by using the skills you already have and taking them digital you might just find

a more cost-effective, accessible, and dare we say it, enjoyable way to get things done.

aPPendix: further linkS

platformsFacebook – www.facebook.com

Google+ - plus.google.com

linkedin – www.linkedin.com

Pinterest – www.pinterest.com

Tumblr – www.tumblr.com

Twitter – www.twitter.com

YouTube – www.youtube.com

blog sitesWordPress – www.wordpress.com

Blogger – www.blogger.com

apps (available on iTunes and Google Play)instagram

FourSquare

social Media dashboardsHootsuite – www.hootsuite.com

Tweetdeck – www.tweetdeck.com

online guidesdell’s Social Media Toolkit – Great comprehensive guide for SMe’s with case studies - http://en.community.dell.com/dell-groups/small-business/p/socialmediatoolkit.aspx

HubSpot’s eBook guides and whitepapers - all platforms, simple and business oriented, free - http://www.hubspot.com/internet-marketing-whitepapers/

Mashable’s Twitter guidebook - http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/

Mashable’s Facebook guidebook - http://mashable.com/guidebook/facebook/

Getting Started with Social Media: a Resource Guide – lots of links to helpful articles - http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/getting-started/

news, trends, enewslettersSocial Media examiner – Great site to keep up to date with the ever changing world of social media – www.socialmediaexaminer.com

Hubspot – marketing focus, industry leader – www.hubspot.com

Mashable – technology and social media trends and stories – www.mashable.com

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