Using Social Media, Webinars, Blogs, and More to Boost Your Small Business on a Budget

Transcription

1 Using Social Media, Webinars, Blogs, and More to Boost Your Small Business on a Budget By Peter VanRysdam, CMO of 352 Media Group Foreword By Brian Goldfarb, Director, Developer Platform Marketing for Microsoft Corporation

2 NN6B2.0 TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword 13 Introduction: The Game has not Changed, Just the Venue 17 Chapter 1: Evolving Traditional Marketing for the Web 21 Start Slow with Web 2.0 and Social Media 21 Which Principles to Apply to Web 2.0 Marketing 22 Five P's of marketing '. 22 Marketing Myopia 31 Relationship Marketing 36 Chapter 2: The Difference Between Push and Pull Marketing 47 What is Push (Outbound) Marketing? 47 One-sided conversations 48 What is Pull (Inbound) Marketing? 51 The Only Way to Market on a Budget 53 Do not pay for exposure: Produce it. 56 Comparing the Costs of the Two Approaches 58

3 8 Marketing in a Web 2.0 World Chapter 3: Making Your Website Truly Interactive 61 Using Interactive Elements.T.:.;r. 62 Content management systems 63 Forums 67 Newsletters and promotions 68 Polls/surveys 73 Contact forms 75 Low-cost Ways to Implement and Maintain These Elements Targeted landing pages 77 Creating a compelling call to action 80 Chapter 4: Getting Search Engines to Notice Your Site 83 Pay Per Click Versus Organic 85 Long-term savings versus initial cost. 85 Determining Your Best Keywords 86 Where and how often to use keywords 89 Implementing OtherOrganic, Free Search Methods 91 Metadata and how to modify it..'. 91 Fresh content 93 Inbound Link Strategy 93 The Role of Website Features in Search Results 95 Dynamic, fresh text 95 When to Expect Results 99 The spidering process 100 Analytics to monitor goals 103 How to stay on top 106 Avoiding the Dreaded Google "Sandbox" 108

4 Table of Contents Chapter 5: The Benefits of a Business Blog 113 Determining the Goal of Your Business Blog 114 Build a community. ~.'.T. 115 Search engine optimization 116 Balancing the two 117 Setting up a Blog 117 SEO benefits of your blog on your domain 118 Pushingfreshcontent to your site., 119 What to Write for Your Blog 121 Keyword-rich titles 123 Have a personality 125 Links, images, and videos 126 Frequency of posts 127 Getting the Most Out of Your Blog 128 Blog roll. 128 RSSfeeds 130 Comment to build relationships 130 Promote your posts on other mediums 132 Chapter 6: Stop Talking, Start Listening Social Networks as Focus Groups 135 An Overview of Social Networks 135 How did they start?. 136 Where are they today? 137 People Want to Interact with Other People 143 Dipping Your Toes in the Water: Listening versus Talking 145 Choosing which networks to join 145 Locking in your name 146 Creating your personal profiles 148 Wading Through the Noise 156 The surveillance tools 160

5 10 Marketing in a Web 2.0 World Chapter 7: Joining Not Controlling The Conversation 165 Deciding on Your Approach...T..7.: What is your incentive? 166 The importance of transparency and the backlash of deceit 172 Populating and Propagating 176 Customizing your business' profiles 176 Leverage your existing content 177 Creating content relevant to the medium 179 Promoting the Positive 180 Dealing with the Negative 182 Set a schedule 184 Chapter 8: Building Your Network 189 Twitter: Interact With Customers, Prospects, and Peers 190 Software might not bring you the right followers 190 Reciprocate requests 193 Consider the cost to follow someone 194 Reach out to existing contacts 196 Search for people talking about your industry 197 Follow people attending events you are attending 199 Locate leaders in your industry 199 Keep your tweets relevant 200 Facebook: Focus on Customers and Prospects 201 Pages versus profiles, fans versus friends 202 Filtering out the noise 203 Take advantage of the events feature 205 "Like" and comment on company info 206 Facebook "connect" and custom apps 207 Join groups and get involved 211 Advertise your page through PPC ads 212

6 Table of Contents 11 Linkedln: Professional Networking at its Best 216 Join all relevant networks to be found 216 Import your contacts Join industry groups 217 Get involved in Q&A 217 The power of recommendations 218 Take advantage of the apps 218 Get Everyone Involved: Defining Roles Within Your Company 219 Chapter 9: Establish Yourself as an Expert Online 223 The Benefits of Expert Status 224 The Power of Video 225 You cannotforce viral 225 Selecting the right video tools 227 Webinars: Advertising in Disguise 230 Before the presentation 230 Practice makes perfect 233 Getting the most out of your time 234 Chapter 10: PR 2.0: Moving Past the Press Release 237 The Paradigm Shift 237 Press releases can still drive traffic 239 A HARO Subscription: The Best Free Tool for Marketers Today 241 Using HARO as a publisher 243 When to reply 244 Other ways to connect with reporters 245 The Role of Blogs in PR

7 12 Marketing in a Web 2.0 World Chapter 11: The New Metrics for Measuring Success 249 Metrics Everyone Should Follow 250 Basic social media metrics 252 Evaluating sentiment 254 Metrics to Follow to Get Promoted 256 Determining what constitutes a financial impact 258 Establishing a starting point 259 Conclusion 263 Appendix: Resources 265 Glossary 275 Bibliography 281 Biography 283 index 285