Leverage Social Media to Build Your Business. Allison Collinger March 18, 2011

Transcription

1 Leverage Social Media to Build Your Business Allison Collinger March 18, 2011

2 Social Media: What We ll Cover Today What is it? Why do I keep hearing the term? What do I need to know? What are some ways I might incorporate into my efforts in a strategic way?

3 Why Should You Care? New media contact with companies and brands fosters goodwill in a majority of users, with at least seven in 10 respondents reporting positive impressions, stronger connections and a greater willingness to engage with the company. (Cone Consumer New Media survey, 2009) There are a variety of tools to help you meet your objectives, look smarter and do your job more effectively and efficiently. A majority of employees are utilizing some form of social media. 3

4 Trends Recognition among a number of age segments that this is a growth area Women over 50 comprise fastest growing segment online (Pew) According to Nielson, Facebook users in 55 plus category increased by more than 500 percent in last 6 months It is not just for young people any more! The way people get information at every age is shifting.

5 What is Social Media? Social media is technology-based social interaction where the user(s) creates the content

6 Overview/Benefits of Social Media Elevates organization s thought leadership/expertise Increases organization s visibility online Efficient tool for sharing information - fast Makes collaboration easy Free to use, the only expense is time Fatigue among other common ways to reach people (e.g. s/enews not getting opened)

7 Businesses on Twitter

8 Case Histories Direct - thought leadership through blog, Twitter; looked for conversations to engage in; 1-2 good leads a day Butter Lane - customer service focus using Facebook, Twitter, Yelp; monitoring reviews, engaging with customers, solving problems; developed raving, high-value customers (Source: Robert Ball, CEO, OfficeArrow online article)

9 The Basics So what are all these services/sites? What are the basics I need to know? How can I use these tools?

10 Social Media Tools

11 Example: LinkedIn What is LinkedIn? Think of it as your electronic rolodex plus Key business source for biographical info on people; often the first cite in google search on person Can download resume for people

12 Example: Twitter What is Twitter? 140 character micro blog Interesting people are on Twitter: Sen. Claire McCaskill, Leisa Zeigman (KSDK), John McCain, Southwest Airlines

13 Example: What is Facebook? More than 500 million users regularly connect with friends, colleagues, businesses and organizations How do you or can you use it?

14 Implications Widespread personal use by employees Company reputation is at stake - monitoring by HR may become important Legal liability for employee postings Conflicting and emerging case law Communications is no longer the exclusive domain of PR and Marketing Less control of company messages Opportunity to incorporate into existing communications efforts 14 13

15 Actions to Consider Development of communications grid/plan Creation of Social Media Policy to guide employees who are using Work with communications and legal departments to implement guidelines Employment terms - HR handbook guidelines include in employee handbook Consider whether or not your employees can be leveraged as ambassadors, recruiters, etc. And if so, how? 15 14

16 Engaging Stakeholders Communications planning discussion Identify stakeholders - Review grid Analyze how you reach each What is working? Have you asked? Remember 4-5 touchpoints to change behavior What is right marketing mix? Integrated strategy is key! 16 15

17 Specific Opportunities Be top of mind to contacts, prospects through LinkedIn status updates Build thought leadership in your niche Promote business partners, other stakeholders Engage with media for story opportunities (e.g. Three60 Research new prospects and determine best approach - based on who they know, their schooling, etc. 17

18 Specific Opportunities Recruitment - LinkedIn Reputation management - Google alerts, Glassdoor.com Intelligence - Looking smart: LinkedIn groups/articles, Twitter; Google Reader Internal Communications - Ning.com, other closed sites Tracking search words, analyzing traffic, what employees are searching for: Google Analytics 18

19 Action Plan What is your overall goal for using social media? What do you want to accomplish? Strategies what specific services/tactics will you use? Due dates give due dates What do you need from others to execute? How will you sustain? How will you measure the effectiveness? (revenue, profits, leads, donations, etc.)

20 Q & A

21 Roundtables - Action Planning

22 Allison LinkedIn: Allison Hawk Collinger AHC C onsulting LLC 9200 Olive, S uite 200 S t. Louis, MO , E xt ulting.org