Forget the hype Ways to actually use Social Media to benefit your business

Forget the hype Ways to actually use Social Media to benefit your business

What is Social Media? Engaging with other businesses/individuals online + Effective Communication + Real-time Customer Support + Powerful Branding

Why use social media? Social networking websites growing at a rate of 47% a year Social networking ranked as fourth most popular online activity (above personal emailing) 90% of consumers trust peer recommendations (Neilsen Global Online Survey) Consumers now expect brands to engage online Competitors will be using it

In the UK Over half UK population aged 16 and over use social media (Office of National Statistics) 91% of those in the 16-24 age group are active users of social media 18% of over-65s socialising online. 60% of women in UK use social media 54% of men in UK use social media

No more statistics! Ways to actually use Social Media to benefit your business

What to use Social Media for? Presence & Promotion - Build brand & business awareness online Outbound Marketing - Promote activities & services Inbound Marketing - Allow customers to find you Customer Service & HR - Real time engagement Research - Market / competitors (potentially move ahead) SEO - Improve search engine results In more detail

Presence & Promotion Getting your house in order Brand your channels - Builds brand recognition Monitor your brand / Reputation management Use consistent logo/s (Icons) and brand identity Consumers will know it is you on another platform Big Wave Facebook update Big Wave Twitter update

Presence & Promotion Getting your house in order Register your brand name everywhere Before anyone else does even if you don t plan to use it yet Set a short url on Facebook page Edit info / Information/ Create shortname e.g. www.facebook.com/bigwavemedia Setup Facebook landing page or additional page tabs Once people land on it, it pulls them in

Landing page Facebook.com/bigwavemedia

Outbound Marketing Promote, promote, promote Promote under capacity classes in real-time Push messages via Facebook & Twitter to fill spaces Promote referral offers Setup Fan-Gate pages on Facebook - only members/fans can see Promote membership campaigns to new audiences Target individuals on Twitter or post on location based Facebook pages Advertise on Facebook - Affordable, targeted and tracking

Facebook advert - Exeter / interests: Sport / Tennis = 4,320

Outbound Marketing Promote, promote, promote Use YouTube to demonstrate classes or facilities Doesn t have to be your content i.e. favourite videos on the Zumba Channel youtube.com/lovezumba

Inbound Marketing Become discoverable People will discover you Use # hashtags on Twitter or post on other Facebook pages Your messages can go viral Good content or news will always be shared (e.g. fitness advice) Social media increases your natural presence online Boost the chances of being found

Inbound Marketing Become discoverable Shorten channel URLs and list EVERYWHERE List URLS in literature, on site, in email footers, on web postings, in own updates www.facebook.com/bigwavemedia www.twitter.com/bigwavemedia www.flickr.com/bigwavemedia www.youtube.com/bwmweb Become listed - Join Twellow.com and/or bookmarking sites (Digg, Delici.ous, Stumbleupon)

Customer Service & HR Engage in real time Use Twitter as a direct channel for customer service Frees up on-the-ground staff Others may have the same questions saves time Forward enquiries to staff & relay responses Negative comments answered positively, looks good

Customer Service & HR Engage in real time Use Linkedin to source staff or push adverts via other social media channels Research applicants on social media sites

Research Monitor, Track and Win-over Follow competitors and check social media pages View competitor s followers and follow them These are it s members! Check it s current promotions and any issues

Research Monitor, Track and Win-over Use Google Alerts to track yourself and competitors

Research Monitor, Track and Win-over Research the industry and filter articles down to your members Use research to fill newsletters or as ideas for promos Big Wave Newsletters

SEO Jump the search results Build your web presence Become more discoverable Climb the search engine rankings

SEO Jump the search results Blog, blog, blog! Become trusted, inform with good content and it will your boost online presence www.blog.bigwavemedia.co.uk

SEO Jump the search results Build links back to your site Point Tweets and posts back to your website where possible Use keywords where possible - activities, venues, places etc Leisure Centre Fitness Exercise Tennis Town name Zumba Swimming Gym Cardio

Tools Save time and money Setup Google Alerts (research and updates) Hootsuite.com (scheduling software) Twellow.com (Yellow pages for Twitter) Socialoomph.com (tracking and alerts) Linkedin Apps (Twitter, Blogs and HR) Big Wave Media!

For help or advice with Social Media please contact: Simon Beer simonbeer@bigwavemedia.co.uk 0845 643 9615 Download our 10 tips pdf: www.bigwavemedia.co.uk/social-media