Week 3: Microblogs and Personal Branding

Social Media: What’s In It For Me? New Clients Your potential customer base is using social media - why not meet them there? Easy Referrals Make it easy for your current clients to send you business Continued Engagement with Current Clients A way to be in contact with them daily/weekly - stay top of mind New Revenue Opportunities Current/new clients can learn about what else you offer - you don’t have to “sell” them or “create” a need Customer Service Find out about/quickly resolve issues Name Recognition/Credibility as an Expert Let everyone see that you know what you’re talking about! Creation/Expansion of a Digital Footprint An online archive of your organization’s work/contributions SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Help new clients find you through Google - not your competitor

Making an Educated Decision About Social Media Social Media Requires a Strategy - BEFORE you start What content/areas of specialty? Who will manage? What is the tone of the dialogue with your audience? How to promote your social media presence? Are you going to encourage consumers to engage w/ your profiles? What is your digital footprint going to look like? Which social media sites make the most sense? When will you launch them? How often will you update? Are you aware of the challenges? Give up some control - allow consumers to say what they want on your page? Mistakes made can be bad - there are no do-overs Do you have the time to invest in maintaining healthy profiles for the long-term

The Social Media Toolbox Blogs Social Networks: Facebook MicroBlogs: Twitter Wikipedia Video-Sharing: YouTube Your Own Website

Social Media Ecosystem (Oversimplified)

For discussion How do you use technology such as email, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or another digital tool?

The Social Media Toolbox: Blogs Content Updates Frequent updates needed Can offer more info about products & services than a static website Build a loyal readership Become a trusted voice Two-Way Interaction Reader comments create a conversation Comments can be moderated Conversational Tone The ‘voice’ of the company Syndication Technology RSS allows information to move quickly across blogs, like a a wire service Readers can subscribe to the “feed” to get real-time updates delivered to their desktop

Social networking community with 100+ million active users Social networking community with 100+ million active users. Attractive demo: 17 million users age 18-25. The 30+ segment is the fastest growing on Facebook Usage and engagement is phenomenally high; Brands eager to capitalize on that audience Tends to be an “Opt In” community; compare this with MySpace, which tends more towards “Opt Out” Opened platform to developers last year; this provides new ways for Brands to interact with customers in more meaningful ways than simply “more banner ads” Simple and powerful mobile photo upload

The Social Media Toolbox: Social Networks Facebook - a peer-to-peer social network Allows customers to engage with your organization on a “personal” level Gives your company a ‘human’ voice Allows ‘fans’ to easily share your information with others Allows you to educate your consumers where they spend time online LinkedIn - A business social network Serves as your online resume; demonstrates your company’s expertise and body of work Allows contacts to ‘recommend’ you Offers Q&A area for you to demonstrate your knowledge & expertise

The Social Media Toolbox: MicroBlogs Twitter - a ‘microblog’ limited to 140 characters per post Allows for two-way; real-time conversation; the exchange of news & information (URLs); Q&As; updates of content on other social media profiles

The Social Media Toolbox: Wikipedia A free online collaborative encyclopedia One of top 10 sites on Internet; often returns in top three Google results Frequently the next place consumers look for information after a Google search and visiting the company website

The Social Media Toolbox: Video-Sharing YouTube is the #1 online video site Allows you to broadcast relevant, useful information to those who learn best visually How-tos; Workshops; Presentations; Speaking Engagements Makes your other profiles more interactive and entertaining

The Social Media Toolbox: Your Website Your website is a crucial element of a social media strategy Offer links from your website to your social media pages Connect your blog, YouTube page, Twitterstream or Facebook Fan page to your website Your website should promote your social media profiles - announcing new blog posts, asking for visitors to follow you on Twitter, marking milestones “We’ve reached our 1,000 fan on Facebook - Are you a Fan Yet?” “Did you miss our Webcast today? You can watch it here:” “Follow our tweetchat today at 7pm on Tax Benefits for First-time Homebuyers” “Did you see our blog interview with Mr. So-So From the IRS?”

Your Strategy: Is It Working? Blog Blog traffic - Google Analytics Blog Comments Subscribers Facebook Number of Fans Numbers of Interactions Comments, Likes, Shares Use Facebook Insights Twitter Number of Followers (Twitterless - @tless) Number of Retweets of your info Use bit.ly to track all of your URLs YouTube Number of views, comments

For discussion What are the benefits for such communications? What are the risks? Are there any negative consequences?

For discussion How do you use these tools for professional communication?

Social Media - Who Is Using It?

Social Media Campaigns - Who Is Using It? Vanguard has a strategic social media campaign

Social Media Campaigns - Who Is Using It? AICPA has a well-planned social media strategy for Financial Education

Additional Questions How should companies be thinking about Social Media? How should you as an individual be thinking about Social Media? Unit 4 Project: Targeting an Audience Demographic: Select one microblogging site (Twitter, FriendFeed, etc.) based on your research and discussion from Unit 2. In a 200 – 250 word essay, compare the various sites available for both social networking (Twitter, FriendFeed, etc.). Start a NEW microblogging account. Make your first microblog post. Subscribe to the instructor’s microblog and those of at least four other students. Attach a screenshot of your microblog to this project.