Bullet points from Social Media Talk

Posted by Rhino

Using Social Media for Small Business

  • You are all experts in your field: social media allows you to show your expertise to your client base.
  • The internet has allowed businesses to connect directly with customers without having to pay someone to be the intermediary (print, radio, tv, etc)
  • This makes marketing more frequent, w/o the pressure on ROI for spending hard earned dollars
  • Also allows for messages to be more informative, without a specific call to action or promotion
  • Social media is the ultimate “opt-in” marketing: Your fans and followers already love you, and want to know more about you. There are the ones spreading the gospel of your business.
  • Blogs are critical for social media use!


A few Social Media rules:

  • listen and learn the medium before you jump in a big way
  • no hard sell advertising messages: no one wants to be spammed on their social network. Think “would I say this to someone this message at a cocktail party?”
  • keep it informal, no press releases. Scoop type info about your business is great- “you heard it here first” means that you are valuing their friendship with new info.
  • Keep up the flow: an abandoned blog, FB page, or Twitter acct is *worse* than not having an account at all... so MAKE the time to do it. Put it on your calendar for the same time each week, and always do it.
  • Number of followers isn't as important as quality... auto follow not necessary or userful, random fans don't care....
  • Keep the flow of information connected between media... promote each site on the others... to sync with fans in whatever method they prefer.


And now some examples.....

Facebook

  • Businesses want to set up Pages (not groups or profiles)
  • if you hit 100+ fans, you can create a custom URL,which makes it easy to refer people to your FB page.
  • Could be good enough to be your whole website for some businesses.
  • The Twitter → FB update apps *don't work* with pages (they will update your profile instead) – you need to manually update both for now...
  • Setting up sync between your website and FB can be done with RSS
  • You may need a programmer to set up RSS for your site, and can only be done on certain types of pages
  • Get the Facebook app Social RSS to integrate
  • Examples:
    • For oneRhino, we used RSS to automatically show blog entries from onerhino.com onto our Facebook Page. It then shows up on fan's Walls, and became our #2 source of traffic on our main site
    • For Fat Rabbit, we are using RSS to feed design gallery entries automatically onto the FR page
    • There are only so many hours in a day, so these integrations save time for busy owners to keep social media fresh.
    • Install the Static FBML app to create stylish web pages within FB. Nice example here
    • Have non-fans default to a landing page built with Static FBML that sells you and your business. Why you are good at what you do, and what benefit there is for becoming a fan.
    • Do this by going into your Page's Admin->Wall Settings->Default page for non-fans


LinkedIn

  • Geared specifically towards business users
  • Does away with chat, photos, etc
  • Use a picture of yourself though, not a logo or icon = real person
  • Put your “resume” on the site, so people know a rough idea of your career and accomplishments
  • Ideal for B2B situations, lead generation, etc.
  • Again, connections are judged on quality, not quantity
  • Use connections for introductions to people you want to meet
  • Be helpful:
    • “Answers” section allows you to share your expertise
    • Join relevant groups – it extends your reach and you will learn a lot
    • Add a blog app to get your blog entries added automatically (again!)
    • When adding a connection, send 'em a little note that says “met you at X the other day, good to connect on Linkedin!”


Twitter

  • No one knows what Twitter will be in 3-5 years, is changing rapidly
  • Use Tweetdeck or other app to manage your twitter, fb, and industry searches in one spot
  • Follow people that have something to say about your locality or industry
  • Example: RetailRelay.com, an online grocery service in Charlottesville
    • Use Twitter for quick announcements, news, postings of information, thoughts on food
    • Twitter is RR's #3 source of revenue (not traffic, revenue)
    • Hits clients in small, bite sized pieces of information
  • Use links to your site (blog!) whenever possible (use TinyURL or similar)
  • Again be helpful! RT good information, answer q's if necessary
  • Another fun example: Capellino's Cup Cakes, on the downtown mall... posts cupcake flavor of the day