Rich Brooksflyte new mediahttp://www.flyte.bizhttp://www.flyteblog.comhttp://twitter.com/therichbrooks

FLYTE SCHOOL

How to Use Social Media to Build Your Organization or Certification Network

WARM UP QUESTIONS

• Who here is comfortable that they are currently reaching 100% of their prospective certificants?

WARM UP QUESTIONS

• My attitude on social media is...

• a) it’s essential to our future success

• b) it’s important, but there are better ways to market ourselves

• c) this too, will pass

WARM UP QUESTIONS

• On measuring social media...

• a) if you can’t measure it, it’s not working

• b) it’s difficult, because it’s so new

• c) Facebook gives me a warm feeling inside...

WARM UP QUESTIONS

• How many people here...

• are on LinkedIn?

• are on Facebook?

• are on Twitter?

• have a blog?

• use AOL as their primary business email?

TODAY’S GOALS

• To understand social media and...

• why it’s important

• how to integrate it into your process

• how to measure your ROI

• look at some real world examples

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

• Twitter has 10+ million users

• LinkedIn has 50+ million users

• Facebook has 350+ million users

• US has 304 million people

• YouTube shows 1.2 billion videos/day

• All these stats are out of date!

HOLISTIC WEB MARKETING

• Attraction

• Retention

• Conversion

• Measurement

http://www.flickr.com/photos/myklroventine/

SOCIAL MEDIA

• The Business Case for Social Media

• Conversations

• Customers

• Competitors

• Cost

EFFECTIVE SOCIAL MEDIA

• Requires a 5 step process:

• What are your goals for 2010?

• What strategies will get you there?

• What tactics will you need to use?

• How are you going to execute?

• How are you going to measure?

SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY

“You cannot have a social media strategy without a content strategy.”

--Susan CatoCompTIA

WHAT IS A CONTENT STRATEGY?

• Must be outcome driven

• Must have goals

• Must address prospects’ pain points

WHAT IS A CONTENT STRATEGY?

• Develop content (podcasts, blog, video, etc)

• Repurpose what you already have

• Reach out to members, bloggers, influencers

• Inspire the audience to connect w/you

SOCIAL MEDIA SERVICES

WHERE DO YOU START?

• Your Blog

• Most established tool

• Your social media hub

WHY BLOG?

• The Business Case for Blogs

• SEO

• Establish your expertise

• Lead generation

• Home for your Intellectual Property

• Broader Reach

THREE FACES OF BLOGS

SOCIAL MEDIA “BIG THREE”

• Twitter

• Facebook

• LinkedIn

THE IMPORTANCE OF VIDEO

TIME MANAGEMENT

• Ping.fm

• TubeMogul

• TweetDeck

• RSS

HOW TO BUILD AN AUDIENCE

• Complete your profile

• Upload your contacts

• Build organically

• Provide value

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sharif/

SEARCH.TWITTER.COM

• What can we measure?

SOCIAL MEDIA ROI

ROI: REFERRERS

ROI: REGISTRATIONS

CASE STUDY: FLYTE NEW MEDIA

• Goals:

• Increase business

• Build personal brand

FLYTE NEW MEDIA

• Strategies

• Uncover pain points

• Create compelling, keyword-rich content

• Increase online visibility

• Drive more traffic to site

FLYTE NEW MEDIA

• Tactics

• Create content at blog, YouTube

• Participate at LI, FB

• Engage through Twitter

FLYTE NEW MEDIA

• ROI

• Web site traffic up 23%

• Conversions up 27%

• Gross profits down (but...)

CASE STUDY: GOODWILL NNE

GOODWILL NNE

• Goals

• Store Awareness

• Donor Acknowledgement

• eBay Traffic

• more...

GOODWILL NNE

• Strategies & Tactics

• Drive traffic to FB fan pages through geo-targeted ads

GOODWILL NNE

• Outcomes

• Ellsworth opening biggest ever; thousands attended

• South Burlington had over 300; had no support staff there to promote it

GOODWILL NNE

• Other Activities & Monitoring

• Use Twitter search for “goodwill”

• Track links w/bit.ly

• Review Facebook Insights

GOODWILL NNE

CASE STUDY: COMPTIA

COMPTIA ED. FOUNDATION

• Background:

• Offers IT certification exams

• Demographics: across the board, returning military, recently unemployed

• Raise money through donations

COMPTIA ED. FOUNDATION

• Strategies:

• Engage prospects

• Retain certified clients (alumni giving)

• Increase donations to foundation

COMPTIA ED. FOUNDATION

• Tactics:

• Where are prospects already active?

• Listen and participate

• Strengthen CompTIA’s presence

• Started w/LI and FB, then added “messaging” with Tw

• Launching blog/podcast

COMPTIA ED. FOUNDATION

• ROI:

• Mostly anecdotal

• Donations and online applications spike after posts to FB, LI, Tw

• LI is great for lead gen, then comparing to previous lists

• FB fan page activity is up

COMPTIA ED. FOUNDATION

• Lessons Learned:

• Go where your audience is

• Don’t reinvent the wheel

• People are self-organizing

• Must be integrated into general communications

COMPTIA ED. FOUNDATION

• Next Steps

• Adding a blog/podcast

• Listening and providing service

• Measure basic referrals through Google Analytics, later conversions

• Creating dashboards for mentions of brand, employees, keywords, sentiment

SOCIAL MEDIA TAKE AWAY

• Social Media:

• Must be part of a bigger strategy

• Must be purposeful

• Must provide value

• Must be measured

FINAL QUESTIONS

• What resonated with you today?

• What will keep you from using social media moving forward?

• How do we keep the conversation going within CNG on social media?

SPECIAL THANKS

• Calvin Gilbert of Goodwill NNE (@goodwillnne, @calvingilbert)

• CompTIA (@CompTIAEF, @comptia, @scato)

• Mike Lewis (@bostonmike)

THANK YOU

Rich Brooksflyte new media136 Commercial St., Ste 201Portland, ME 04101

http://www.flyte.bizhttp://www.flyteblog.comhttp://twitter.com/therichbrooks