1. How Entrepreneurs Utilize Social Media to Develop Business A Facebook & Twitter Analysis By: John Sibo, Matthew Cheng, Dominique Black Background & Objective Methods Resources Participants This research was supported by http://mypage.iu.edu/~jsibo/i399 Future Direction Conclusion Analysis Refer to webpage: http://mypage.iu.edu/~jsibo/i399/resources.html Scholarly Article Reviews Each group member was assigned to read 2-3 articles about how businesses utilize social media. Interviews We interviewed 5 current entrepreneurs whom are utilizing social media (Facebook and/or Twitter) at this current time. These social media users ranged from: a personal friend, persons with established businesses, and/or those developing their current business. Social Media Observations Except for a Chinese entrepreneur (Crystal Cai), we observed all the entrepreneur’s whom we interviewed to see how they interacted on their social media page and what type of information each posted to their fan base. Most entrepreneurs would dedicate their social media page to continuously market their products to their followers/fan base. Hypothesis Our group was assigned to see how entrepreneurs utilize social media to develop their business. With unanimous agreement, we decided that, because of Facebook and Twitter’s forefront in social media, we would focus our attention on how entrepreneurs utilize these two social media pages. Stephen (on behalf of Tony Hsieh: Zappos CEO) Twitter: @Zappos Facebook Page: Zappos.com Forrest : IT/retail entrepreneur Twitter; @Tweet4ESTtweet Facebook: Forrest Fowler Becky: Small Business Owner & Co- Founder of Tourism Currents Twitter: @BeckyMcCray Crystal: Online store owner from Shanghai, China Tim: Founder & Chairman of Palo Alto Software; Bplans.com; Co-Founder of Borland International; Author. Twitter: @Timberry Zean: Online cosmetic products store representative from Hunan, China Bin: Coffee shop owner from Shenzhen, China Youlong: Raw material manufacturer representative from Shanghai, China Upon analysis, from both interviews and observations, we learned that our hypothesis was completely wrong. Continuously marketing a product is what entrepreneurs did not want to do via their social media pages. Instead of pushing a product/service to others - it seems as though the most effective way of gaining followers and developing a business on social media is by being relevant, interactive, and putting out interesting material - be it a personal story, an esteemed article, etc. However, marketing a product/service every now and then seemed to be a trait most of these entrepreneurs shared. When analyzing our interviews, we saw that this seemed to be a commonality with the entrepreneurs. In the future, we intend to compare and expand our findings from how entrepreneurs utilize Facebook & Twitter social media pages, to other social networking sites, such as: LinkedIN, Instagram, etc. All entrepreneurs noted to never to be pushy with your product. Rather, as Stephen Allan says, let the fan base come to you by letting your social media page "'speak' to the product's accomplishments and go from there" and as Becky McCray noted, always remember to "listen before you start sharing" - meaning to: know your fans and their interests. "Do not try to use social networks as "just another marketing tool" - Becky McCray. Analysis pt. 2 Tony (Zappos owner) knows most of his followers have already been dedicated fans to the company, and believes in being “authentic” – “we don't think of Twitter as a direct marketing channel. Twitter allows us to be more personal with our customers and build relationships with them over time.” Forrest (IT entrepreneur) uses his Twitter feed for “meaningful content about current events.” He notes that he deleted his Facebook as Facebook’s “model of serving you ads on top of what you want to see is dying.” Becky tends to be very personal and interactive when tweeting – from advice to entrepreneurs, to what she recently added to her iPod playlist, etc. She believes in “listen[ing] first before you start sharing” & to not use social networks “as just another marketing tool. Analysis pt. 2 Tim tends to tweet about personal life, articles, and runs an esteemed blog that he tweets about when his blog is updated with new posts. He believes in using social media to “engage and communicate and share.” He has even been written up for his Twitter persona in Business Insider, NY Times, & Business Week.