6 Effective Ways To Use Social Media for Business

BNSW – Exeter

By Chris Wood

• Online Marketing &

Social Media Specialist

• Provides training to businesses on how to use social media & other online marketing activities

• Showing how to engage & promote online to customer base

Intro to Chris Wood

@qChrisWood

Intro – Seminar Goals

To show how Social Media can be used as an effective Marketing &

Engagement tool for your business

To Answer Your Queries

Current use? Tw / FB / Ld – Experiences – working / not working / not sure

Local Success Story - #Exeter #Indiexmas

• 28 independent Exeter based retailers collaborating

• Each using their Twitter account to promote #Exeter #Indiexmas

• Followers of these profiles picked up on this and it spread virally online

• Benefits: • Free local press exposure • New customers • Buzz about independent shops • FSB & City Council involvement

• New Exeter Trails 2013!!

• Launching 4th July – Independents Day! (7pm Phoenix)

• Using Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest to promote independent local businesses on Exeter Trails:

• Food Glorious Food • Café Culture • Arts & Crafts • Vintage & Boutiques • Activities & Hobbies

• Using #Tags in particular to build following to themes and to locally go viral online

@ExeterTrails - #ExeterTrails / Facebook – search Exeter trails

#ExeterTrails

Examples of Big Brands using Social Media

• Facebook – 34m UK members – 50% of population

• Twitter – approx. 10m UK members

• LinkedIn – over 5m UK members

• Blogging – a great way to build trust & draw in

customer base (Content Marketing)

Intro to Social Media Platforms

• 52 million people online

• 74% go online monthly

• The majority of UK adults in all age groups use internet, less so over 75 or more

• Search Engines 3rd & Social Media 2nd biggest category after Entertainment websites

Stats via Internet World Stats, eMarketer, Hitwise,

Why Market Online?

Digital Marketing Costs Less

Infographics by Votier Digital

1. Strategy & Action Plan

2. Mix Up Content

3. Building Following & Online Relationships

4. Complement other marketing activities

5. Inhouse vs Outsourcing

6. Tracking Impact

So …. How to Make Social Media Work for You?

• Social Media will fail without purpose • Not Quick Win – Free To Do But Takes Effort

• Key to Success – Strategy & Action Plan

• Matching to Business Objectives

– Increase Website Traffic – Raise Online Presence – Further Build Relationships with Existing Clients, Prospects, Suppliers – Gain (or re-gain) Google Presence (Google highly values social media traffic) – Increase Internet Leads / Online Sales

• Implement for medium to long benefit

Strategy & Action Plan

Many Ways To Use Social Media

• Requires good mix of content • Informative Messages / Website Sub-pages /

Articles / Blogs / Photos / Videos etc

• Apply inbound marketing techniques to draw your customer base(s) in • Internet enables people to research easily before

buying – be part of their research process!

• Know your Keywords – will help you be found

Mix Up Content

What to Say?

Be informative (& interesting) rather than trying to hard sell:

– The products or services you offer (Special Promotions)

– The sort of tasks you are working on

– Latest news / Articles of Interest / Top Tips / Key Features

– Bookings, availability, i.e. info useful to customer base

– Types of events hosting or attending

– Training received

Promote Others

Mentioning Sub-Pages & Keywords

By driving traffic to sub pages and using

keywords you’re helping Google to improve your

online presence

Google is looking for social signals

i.e. hits from social media platforms

to your website

#Tags

Reach Out To Wider Audience Online

Now work on Facebook

Know Your Audiences & What Platforms They’re Using

• Identify and follow customers, suppliers, business partners, prospects etc

o Could you upsell or cross-sell to existing customers?

(via a soft touch approach)

o Acts as a Customer Service channel – handling queries

• Social media not just about marketing, it’s your online resource tool for business

o How Else Could Social Media Benefit Your Business?

o Research / keeping up to date / new suppliers / business partners / recruitment / getting help …..

Building Following & Online Relationships

• Twitter – identify key industry/local profiles to follow

• Follow who is following them and or who they’re following

• Twellow – find profiles by location

• Use of #tags will help naturally pick up new followers

• Use of informative messages, blogs, articles, photos, videos – will

lead to retweets and new followers

• Facebook – Ad Campaign to build likes

• Only shows to set criteria

• Helps build reach within Facebook (once 100 likes – Boost Posts)

• Mention in offline marketing – flyers, leaflets, ads etc

Gaining Followers

• LinkedIn – suggests contacts to you

What other activities could social media complement?

• Networking - LinkedIn / Twitter #BNSW

• Tradeshows/Conferences – connect online with

people met offline (& vice versa)

• Email Marketing – syncs with social media

• Traditional Marketing – mention on social media

– gain retention (Big Brands do this with TV ads)

Complement other marketing activities

Inhouse – undertaking it yourself

Inhouse vs Outsourcing

Pros

• You Know Your Business Best

• What’s going on day to

day

• Industry Knowledge

• Can Potentially Respond

Better/Faster

vs Cons

• Time

• Requires Some Technical Know

How

• Although perhaps less

technical than you think, more

about content & engaging

online

Outsourcing – managed by social media experts

Inhouse vs Outsourcing

Pros

• Freeing up your time to do what

you do best

• You know it’s being handled

• Better than not at all

• They have Technical Know How to

make it work

Cons

• Cost

• Lack of Industry Knowledge to your

business

• Lack of communicaton between 2 of

you

• Processes can be put in place to

minimise this

vs

Time Issue

• Hootsuite – saves times – Post to many platforms

– Schedule Messages

– Keyword Searches

– Lists

• Smartphones / Tablet Devices – Use Social Media on the go – particularly for Tweeting

Tracking Impact – Google Analytics

• Social Referral visits often correlate to Overall Visits – triggers impact on Google & Direct visits

Gain Competitive Advantage – only 20% of ecommerce

businesses using Analytics correctly – likely to be same for non-ecommerce!

Tracking Website Visitor Traffic in Analytics

Track Keywords in Analytics

• Hidden Impact – at first glance hits from social media may look lower than expected

• Track Keywords – Brand Name for Business/Organisation

+ – Industry keywords (with location)

• Over Mid - Long Term Potential Increase – People will over time get to know the business – Search in Google & or save website in favourites (Direct Hits)

• Difficult to Quantify – like most other marketing activities

• Are ways to try like virtual call numbers

• Best To Identify & Track Key Performance Indicators to your business objectives

ROI

• Socialnomics believe:

• They research impact of social media in business

• Case studies on website: http://www.socialnomics.net/

• Want to Know More? Read their book available on Amazon

ROI

1. Strategy & Action Plan – key to success

2. Mix Up Content – be informative & interesting

3. Engage Following & Build Online Relationships

4. Complement other marketing activities – networking,

email marketing, flyers, leaflets, ads etc

5. Inhouse vs Outsourcing – weigh up pros & cons

6. Tracking Impact – is it working over medium to long

term basis – check stats for indirect impact

To Summarise

Q&A

Q&A

We Can Help with Implementation

• Onsite Social Media Training

– How to Make Twitter, Facebook & or LinkedIn Work For Your Business & Industry

– Options to upgrade to Strategy Package – we write your strategy and action plan to implement social media

• Outsource Activities

– We Manage Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn Activities on your behalf

20% Discount book by end of July – contact for quote

Follow Us On:

@qChrisWood

@qSocialMedia

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www.linkedin.com/company/q-social-media

www.youtube.com/user/qsocialmedia