Social Media For Iowa County Entrepreneurs

Social Media:
Opportunity for Business

Iowa County Entrepreneurs, March 24, 2010
Wendy Soucie
25 years + experience B2B - manufacturing / professional service firms.
Unique focus - technical products and engineering.
Based in the Midwest with national reach.

© Copyright 2009 Wendy Soucie Consulting LLC - All Rights Reserved

In this presentation…
3 common social media mistakes businesses are
making

Understand why business goals and a social
media strategy is important

Evaluate social media tools for the right tactical
reasons

Consider 6 ways social media improves “business
as usual”
© Copyright 2009 Wendy Soucie Consulting LLC - All Rights Reserved 2

What is social media?

social media:
conversation via the Internet
used to create shared value
for participating consumers and
businesses

It’s about connecting with people


Traditional Marketing

Source: HubSpot


The Internet changed the rules

Most of us go online to:
Check online groups
Read blogs
Collect feedback
Read product reviews
Educate ourselves

People are taking control

New Channel Approach

Source: HubSpot


3 common social media mistakes
Common business blunders:

Not answering the question of “why”

Using social media as free advertising

Asking the first available person to do
“something”

There’s a better way

Social media landscape

Social networking and blogging sites are now the
4th most popular activity on the Internet

67% of global online users visit social network
and/or blogging sites

Time spent online is growing at 3 times the rate
of overall Internet user growth

8

Social media landscape
228 Million in US
using
74.1% of US Pop.
130 M social
network users
Ave age of user is
32 yrs

9
9

A Process
Assess

Identify
Apply
Goals &
Model
Objectives

Measure Develop
& Track Strategy

Select Identify
Channels ways to
& Tools engage

SocialMedia-academy.com/methodologies/htm

The right way to get started

Assess the social ecosystem

Create a strategy and action plan

Engage the entire organization

Measure and track success

Know why and where before you start

Assessment Identifies Influencers
FaceBook
Blogs

Yahoo,
YouTube Delicious,
other niche
sites
Twitter
LinkedIn


Free Assessment Tools
Itunes search Google Alerts
Compete.com Google Reader
TweetDeck Search Google Analytics
Search.Twitter.com Technorati search
Trendrr
Addictomatic

List of 26 tools http://www.socialmediatoday.com/SMC/155299
http://www.dreamgrow.com/46-free-social-media-monitoring-tools/
13

What business owners need to do
Take a strategic approach

Business
Goals Clarify Brand Extend Marketing
Strategy Tactic

Tools:
Advertising
Public relations
Direct mail
Social media, etc.
14

Goal Strategy
Be realistic – What resources?
Get training – Do you know how to apply the tools?
Define success – Can you agree on measurement?

Business Clarify Brand Extend Marketing Tools

15

Where does social media go?

Marketing

Social
Media

Product
Sales
Dev.

Human Customer
Resources Service

Social Social Social
Media Media Media

16

The investment pays off in loyalty

Engage in conversation
Share knowledge
Build awareness
Grow network
Generate ideas
Create brand evangelists

Earn trust

Tool Hierarchy
Micro
Easier adoption
Blogging
for SMB
Social
Networks
Social
Bookmarking

Video /Photo Sharing

Travel/Review Sites

Social Directory Search

RSS Feeds
Blogging / Wikis/ Forums / Content
Generation
Website as your home base

Adapted from John Jantsch, Duct Tape Marketing, Microsoft Live Office
18

• Home for all information and place to send people
• Silos of content/ information
• Search optimized , site map submitted
What? • Makes it easy to do business

• Decide business goals
• Ease of use for audience first
• Design second
How? • Submit site map to Google/Yahoo

• Html, Open Source – PHP, content management
• Flash - NO
Where? • Integrated - Cloudprofile.com, Hubspot.com

• Web logs (sites) where entries or posts are listed in chronological order.
• Blogs allow for readers to engage with comments.
• Free and hosted sites
What? • Easy WISIWIG editors for adding text, photo, video

• Fast and inexpensive (can serve as website and blog)
• Search engine friendly.
• Interactive.
How? • USG

• Blogger.com (Google) (7) – networkmindshare.blogspot.com
• Wordpress.org (17) – wendysoucie.com, endresultmarketing.com
• Typepad – techpr.typepad.com

Where? • Posterous.com – madfiber.posterous.com
• Cloudprofile.com wisocialmedia.cloudprofile.com

Search Engines
• Web pages that list websites, images, video and other information
• Search based on user input - key words.
What? • The results are based on an algorithm – certain sites feed others.

• Search Optimize pages for key engines /target audience
• Local search campaign important
• Key data terms on every page
How? • Focus key content on different pages

• Google.com (1)
• Bing.com (9*)
• Yahoo.com (3)
Where? • MSN (live.com)

Social Networking
• On-line community that builds social relations among people, with shared interests
• Profile is required to see or participate
• Networks can be small/large, social/business or all of these
What? • Web-based interactions with text, presentation, video , or photos depending on site

• Connect with people
• Contribute content of value to your network
• Participate through comments, questions, answers
How?

• FaceBook.com
• LinkedIn.com
• Fastpitch.com
Where? • Ecademy.com

22

Measuring Social Media ROI
Traffic - # of unique visitors
Interaction - # of comments, sales, downloads
Sales – ecommerce on site conversion
Leads - # generated
Search Marketing - # of calls using trackable
phone #’s
Brand Metrics
PR – placement, mentions, stories, visibility
Customer Engagement – sharing, evangelism
Retention – of connections, clients, etc
Profits - $ generated
Source: Econsultancy – Chris Lake

The investment pays off in dollars

Improve customer support
Retain customers
Generate leads
Increase sales
Expand markets
Develop new products

Gain market share

6 ways social media can improve
“business as usual”

1) Expanding the conversation before and beyond
the sale

2) Developing relationships with online influencers

3) Discovering hidden knowledge to increase online
effectiveness


6 ways social media can improve
“business as usual” (cont.)

4) Sharing valued-added content in multiple ways
across multiple channels

5) Collecting timely feedback from current, potential,
past and lost customers

6) Understanding important issues relevant to your
target audience

Stay nimble

Example


Louis E. Page Fencing
• OBJECTIVE: Generate
awareness, drive traffic
to website

• STRATEGIES: Listen,
participate, entertain
and inform, add
knowledge


Louis E. Page - Tactics

Drive
Traffic &
Network
Value

• FUTURE: Youtube

Why Wendy Soucie Consulting?

We provide:
Social media assessments
Marketing best practices
Thought leadership strategies
Social media building blocks
Training resources
Implementation help and coaching

Network . Contribute . Participate

Contact Wendy Soucie
Enter the conversation.
Engage with your customers.
Wendy Soucie, Principal
Wendy Soucie Consulting, LLC

Applied Social Media for Business

608-225-1985
Social web links:
http://xeesm.com/wendysoucie

wsoucie@wendysoucie.com
31

My Relationships
• Wendy Soucie Consulting LLC
• Founder/Principal

• Social Media Academy
• Certified Social Media Consultant
• Founding Member
• Alumni 2009
• Black Diamond Consultant

• Integrated Alliances
• Regional Executive Director – WI

• End Result Marketing
• Social Media Strategist

32

Social Media For Iowa County Entrepreneurs

More Related Content

Viewers also liked

Similar to Social Media For Iowa County Entrepreneurs

More from Wendy Soucie

Recently uploaded

Social Media For Iowa County Entrepreneurs