2009 Annual Going Freelance! Seminarhttp://www.amerindywriters.org

Social Networking and Your Business

Shashi Bellamkonda

Online Tools Used by Small Business

•Network Solutions – University of Maryland Small Business Success index http://growsmartbusiness.com

64%

53%

39%

36%

35%

31%

30%

26%

25%

21%

20%

17%

16%

14%

69%

65%

48%

41%

37%

42%

40%

35%

38%

25%

30%

31%

21%

19%

Online customer service by email

Company website

Online advertising in industry/public directories

Shared network

Ability for employees to communicate with each other online

Ability to demonstrate products/services online

Ability for customers to order your products/services online

Search engine optimization plan

Online advertising that places ads on various sites

Security features on website

Ability for customers to pay for products/services online

Social media presence

Online customer service using chat capabilities

Area of website where customers can get info on transactions with your organization

Have now2 Year Potential*

Use of/Need for Various Internet Business Solutions (n=500)

% ChangeHave now

from Wave 1

+4

+3

+1

0

+2

+2

+4

+3

+2

+4

+3

+5

+4

0

Majority of Web users participate in Social Networks

This year, 59% of active Web users—those with access at least every other day—reported having a Social Networking profile

Source:http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007232

Social media is not going away, it’s becoming more prominent Social Networking has been the global consumer phenomenon of 2008.1

Two-thirds of the world’s Internet population visit a social network or blogging site and almost 10% of all internet time.1

Facebook added its 300 millionth user in 2009. If Facebook were a country, it would be the fourth-largest in the world after China, India, the US.

From January to March 2009, people ages 26 to 44 made up the fastest-growing segment of the US Facebook population 2

•1http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/nielsen_globalfaces_mar09.pdf

•2 http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007034

What Skeptics Say About Social Media ?

No way to measure? Is there any ROI?

All these will pass

They are not mainstream, nobody pays attention to them

We cannot not control the message, lack of consistency, danger of going haywire

Not effective and measureable

Photo Credit : http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonnygoldstein/2546693421/

Social Media for Small Business

Small Business can utilize social media to level the playing field against bigger, stronger competitors.

Connect with Customers and Community

Improve chances of being found online – more results

Manage your brand and reputation online

Get more referrals and customers

Have you Searched for yourself lately

Your audience is everywhere

Business use of Twitter

•http://venturebeat.com/2008/12/15/twitter-has-made-dell-1-million-in-revenue/

Even chips have their own page !

Network Solutions Swami’s - 3 Word Mantra

Photo: courtesy: http://flickr.com/photos/metrojp/92038203/

LISTEN

PARTICIPATE

Photo Courtesy: http://flickr.com/photos/redcarpet/50339009/

CONTRIBUTE

Photo Courtesy: http://flickr.com/photos/presta/129832836/

12

How Writers can use Social Networking ToolsGet ideas, trends, buzz

Find peers and network

Easy distribution of content

Greater reach

New Clients

13

Listening Tools : Who is talking about you and what are the trends?– Google Alerts

– Twitter– Friendfeed– Technorati– BackType– Buzzlogic– BuzzMonitor– SM2 by

Techrigy.com– Radian 6

Social Networks: Facebook Buzzwords

Friend: Connect with someone on Facebook

Wall message: Write, draw or post something on someone’s wall

Tag: Add names to photos or videos

Status update: What are you doing?

Public timeline: List of recent activity

14

Source: Ogilvy Twitter Webinar

Profile

Page

Social Networks: LinkedIn for connecting

15

50 Million Worldwide Users

Focused on Business Users

Connect to your connections’ connections

Taps the power of second and third degree of “six degrees of separation”

Eliminates cold calling

Applications bring in other web content

Social Networks: LinkedIn Buzzwords

Connections: needs approval to become a connection

Applications: Fun widgets / tools to interact and promote brand

Answers: Space to ask / answer questions and polls

Groups: Common Topics

Contact Settings: You can customize what messages you want to receive

16

Source: Ogilvy Twitter Webinar

Social Networking Tip #1 – Your Profile is a First Impression

Share content from your other online presence

Upload pics and videos related to you and your business

Don’t put anything up there you wouldn’t be comfortable with

Add your Web links

Be fun and interesting

Promote activities and events

17

Social Networking Tip #2 – Be a Connector

Connectors are the people that introduce you to others

Most powerful in a social network

Give without expecting to receive anything back

Don’t just promote you, promote others and they will promote you which is MUCH MORE powerful

18

Social Networking Tip #3 – Go Where Your Audience Is Already

Your audience is already online

Many are on niche focused networks as well

The minute a business gets a website they are global

19

Social Networking Tip #4 – Add Value

Do you have any materials like the following?:

Company information, brochures, web site, sales sheetsPut it here: LinkedIn, Plaxo, Facebook Group Page, Blog

Photos and videos related to sales, training and productsPut it here: YouTube, Viddler, Blip.TV, Facebook, Flickr, Blog

Articles, news and press releases, events, newslettersPut it here: Blog, Newsvine, Digg, Facebook, Fast PItch

Presentations for training, marketing, sales and servicePut it here: Slideshare, YouTube

20

III: Getting Started on Twitter

Using Twitter: What the Heck is Twitter?

Interesting Twitter Facts:

Twitter has 27M+ users (as of Aug 2009)

Twitter has 6 million UMVs, 27% of Twitter traffic are daily active visitors.

Usage is 40% in the United States and of the remaining 60%, 39% of that is in Japan

Twitter's largest age demographic is 35-to-44-year-olds who make up 25.9% of its users.

Source: (This is from a March 2009 Nielsen report)

22

Twitter is a microblogging platform to exchange short messages with your followers and the world

Using Twitter: Effective Business Uses

23

• Company news in short, manageable pieces.• Special offers or discounts for your Twitter “followers” to drive

sales. • Events to provide real time updates. • Questions or ideas about your business & get immediate feedback • Seek out customers tweeting about good and bad experiences with

your company. • Thank your happy customers.• Your customers might appreciate getting to know you as a real

person, not just a brand.

Share Your Experiences…

And Make a Sale…

Using Twitter: Effective Business Uses

Other Ways:

Customer Relations

Crisis Management

Corporate Reputation Management

Event Activation

Issue Advocacy

Product Promotion and Sales

Internal Communication

24

Using Twitter: Brand/Customer Monitoring

Customer Service

Customer Feedback

Customer Outreach

25

@netsolcares

Network Solutions started @netsolcares in Sept 2008 to provide a new customer service channel

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 (@shashib)

Re-tweet (RT): Repost content with credit

Block: Restrict access to updates

# (hashtags): a kind of tag or description – great for search

26

Source: Ogilvy Twitter Webinar

Twitter Tip #1: Engage the Audience

You can engage people on Twitter by doing the following things:

SEE what other businesses are doing on Twitter

USE Twitter search engines for keyword searches around brands, products and topic of interest.

FOLLOW folks with similar interests to establish a brand presence within conversation

START a conversation

DEDICATE time to Twitter. Having more than one employee on Twitter will ensure an ongoing company presence.

ASK questions and get feedback from your followers

27

Source: Ogilvy Twitter Webinar

Twitter Tip #2: Getting Followers the Right Way

Retweet content

Talk directly to people

Link to outside content

Live tweet from events

Use hashtags

Avoid using ALL CAPS

28

Followers are the people that click the “Follow” button on your page

IV: Blogging Basics

Blogging Basics: ROI of this Module

Learn what a blog is

What business and corporate blogging is

Who and why people are doing this

What to write about

Tips to Great Blogging

Blogging Basics: Definitions, just in case

A Journal, usually updated frequently, sometimes categorized

Usually links to other sites

Can support comments and some interaction

Provides ability to subscribe to site so reader gets updates without having to visit page.

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

Blogging Basics: What to Publish

Commentary on mainstream media articles, other blogs, news, events and relevant trends

Company News

Case Studies

Ideal Blog Topics:

Photos, Videos and PodcastsConference notesBusiness PhilosophyTools, resources, tips, ideas, listsAwards, honors, PR, new employee,

new vendor, new system

Blogging Basics: Blog Buzzwords

Comment: Respond to blog post

Link Love: Link to other blogs/sites (online currency)

Tagging: Adding words to describe blog content

Troll: Mean commenters (IGNORE THEM!)

Blogroll: Links to favorite blogs

Embed: Copy/paste media

34

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

Blogging Tip #1 – Increase Linkability

1. Blogging2. White papers3. Thought pieces4. Flash demos5. 2-way dialogue

36

Remember, the key is to have content that “engages” others and makes them want to link to your site.

Blogging Tip #2 – Reward Inbound Links

1. Who is linking to you and what are they saying?

2. Track your inbound links

3. Allow display of trackbacks

4. Highlight people who write about you

5. Engage in conversations on blogs that link to you

37April 7, 2023

Blogging Tip #3 – Engage Your Readers

Write in an authentic, human voice

Use meaningful titles

Publish on a regular basis. Target once a week at minimum.

Enable and monitor your comments

Link to other sites

Be Passionate

Give credit where it’s due (pictures, text quotes)

Syndicate and re-use text

Blogging Tip #4 –Tag and Bookmark

39

A “tag” is just a word(s) that describe content.

Tags that describe the content

Easy to bookmark and add to Social Media Sites

Adding quick buttons to "add to del.icio.us“

Making sure pages include a list of relevant tags

Adding tags to pages first on popular social sites

Blogging Tip #5 – Put Policies in Place

Put together some policies and guidelines like the following examples:

– Topics in which The Company is involved in litigation or could in the future: (i.e. policy, customer disputes, etc.)

– Non-public information of any kind about The Company, including, but not limited to, policies and strategy

– Illegal or banned substances and narcotics

– Pornography or other offensive illegal materials

– Defamatory, libelous, offensive or demeaning material

– Private/Personal matters of yourself or others

– Disparaging/threatening comments about or related to anyone

– Personal, sensitive or confidential information of any kind

Understand that when you or someone is talking about your company, not only does this reflect on you but if there are not clear guidelines, you could be at risk.

Great Post on Policies and Guidelines from Raj Malikhttp://blog.networksolutions.com/2009/sxsw-follow-up-corporate-social-media-guidelines/

Final Thoughts

Listen first

Conversation, not publishing or broadcasting

Be a useful conversationalist

Build relationships - one at a time

Take a Leap of Faith and Jump In!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fwp-dawson/2821182851/

Photo Courtesy Fred Dawson on Flickr freds-take-on-the-world.blogspot.com/

Your Social Media PlanSetup 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

How many times were you mentioned

How many people read your posts

Inbounds links

Are your customers evangelizing

Attend one local event a month|Ask for help from the community if you need it

Built online relationships offline

Your Social Media PlanSetup 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

How many times were you mentioned

How many people read your posts

Inbounds links

Are your customers evangelizing

Attend one local event a month|Ask for help from the community if you need it

Thank you

Shashi Bellamkonda shashib@networksolutions.com

Twitter: @shashib

Small Business Success Index : http://www.GrowSmartBusiness.com

Network Solutions Blog : http://blog.networksolutions.com

Women Entrepreneurs : http://www.WomenGrowBusiness.com

Personal Blogs:

Technology & Social Media: http://www.shashi.name

Digital Thoughts: http://readythoughts.blogspot.com

Restaurant Reviews: http://www.carryoncurry.com