eCoast offers several tips and tricks to get you started in Social Media Marketing including twitter, LinkedIn, Video and Blogging...eCoast also provides a Blog Management service and Social Media Roadmap designed specifically for the IT Channel.
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Social Media Marketing for the Channel
Lori RobinsonDirector of Marketing
Chris AllenDirector of Sales
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Presentation Notes
Welcome to our Webinar on Social Media Marketing for the Channel
Specializing in scalable, result-based channel demand generation services to the technology industry.
Customer Profiles-Manufacturers & Distributors -National VARS-Regional & Local VARS
Service Offerings-Demand Generation -Pay-for-Performance Appointment Setting -Closed-Loop ROI Tracking -Web Marketing
For those of you who may not know who eCoast is, We specialize in Channel Demand Generation services working exclusively with technology companies all over the country….and their channel partners. In addition to outbound marketing we have an extensive Marketing Team which focuses on Website audits and design, Search Engine Optimization, Google Adwords, Inbound Marketing and Social Media Marketing
Up until this point, many of you have been RELUCTANT to dive into social media! And the #1 Reason we hear is because it takes up too much of your time! Some of the other reasons may be Difficult to measure No ROI Maybe there are too many options out there and you don’t know what choose But there’s something inside you that says you need to do this! So we put together is presentation to help you get started.
Customers and prospects are using social media much like a Google search to get information about products, services, manufacturers, and even VARs. So although search engines like Google are still important, social media is just as important especially for getting information and answers more quickly. And VAR salespeople are following right behind!
To Improve Close Rates and Shorten the Sales cycle. You are more likely to find someone who is ready to purchase in communities such as twitter and LinkedIn So the cost of acquiring new customers (or staying in touch with old ones) is a lot lower than traditional ways like email marketing and direct mail for example
Social Media is great for Increasing Customer Satisfaction This is about understanding that the customer is in control of the purchase and you are there to help. And having a presence in these online communities, where you can engage with them gives you a huge competitive edge to build a relationship and convert them to customers. They will still feel in control during the process and probably end up being in a long term relationship with your company, not to mention becoming a good referral.
…and look for new hireswww.ecoastsales.comvarmarketing.ecoastsales.com twitter.com/LoriRobinson
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And VARs are using social media for hiring as well!
This is a little social media 101, most of you are already familiar with LinkedIn and FaceBook Facebook is great for community networking, but in the interest of time, we want to focus on LinkedIn And show you some really important features about LinkedIn that you may not already know about.
Here’s a screenshot of my profile on LinkedIn. Make sure your information is up to date and complete – people will be looking at your background education, places you have worked and where you are currently working. Create your personal account first, then your work on your company account
Here’s a tip that not many of you may be aware of…even if you are already on LinkedIn You’ll want to customize the Websites section and Public Profile section. For your Public Profle Link, LinkedIn assigns an alpha-numeric value at the end of your link URL. You can change this to be your real name which is recommended especially if you include your link on your business card or email signature. Click on the edit button that will appear beside it and type in your full name for instance. LinkedIn will suggest options if your name is already taken.
In the Websites section, simply click on each pull down menu and choose Other. Type in the name of your company website including your industry keywords and do the same for the additional two links that are available. I like to use the other two for my twitter account and our company blog. This will give more link credit to your site and help move you up on Google searches.
If you don’t already have your company listed on LinkedIn click on the Company tab at the top of the page and choose Add a Company. LinkedIn will walk you through the set up. Take the time to fill it in completely as this is the page that will come up in company searches. Look at what other VARs are doing. And be sure to include several of your keywords.
“Searching - Companies” is a powerful tool for businesses in LinkedIn. Let’s say I am an IT Professional or decision maker looking to purchase Cisco products. I can search on Cisco and then look at the Channel partners that are listed there. I would look at those in my geographic location. Make sure your company is on the list! You cannot come up in this search if you do not have a Company Profile. So let’s take a look at Coleman Technologies in Orlando Florida
Coleman has done a nice job with their company profile. They have a description of the company including their value proposition, what they specialize in, other locations and people to contact. Think of these company pages as neutral websites. They all look the same so each company needs to shine in how they talk about their products and services.
Also under the Company tab is a great link called Service Providers. Under the Consulting category click on IT Consultant. This is where IT professionals or buyers are going to Search by category for service providers in their area. This is a great way to generate new business.
Get recommended. Getting recommended is not just for people who are searching for a job. The only way to be listed on the Service Providers page is to be recommended. The more recommendations you have the more people will want to choose you. Ask a current customer to recommend you and then use that as a testimonial for your website.
Another place you’ll want to look into is LinkedIn Answers. Go to your category or categories and answer questions. Your answers will be posted for everyone to see. If your answer is picked by users as the “Best Answer” then your answer will appear at the very top of the page and in your profile for everyone to see. This helps you to be perceived as an expert in your industry. Keep your answers short and concise and include links to blogs, articles or supporting websites. It’s another great way to drive traffic to your site.
And lastly with LinkedIn it’s a good idea to join groups in your industry. This will enable you to see what the latest activities are and where you need to have a presence. After you join a group you will receive an email about once a week with a summary of activity for that group. You can also contribute to the group and take advantage of their high member count. This is like doing a free email! The member count for Cloud Computing for instance is over 17,000. You can also create your own group when you get comfortable with the LinkedIn community. Remember this community is comprised of highly professional people and its important you take the time to understand it and participate.
Ok, let’s talk about Twitter! Now is the best time to join Twitter… this is a chance for your company to gain that competitive edge. It doesn’t matter how big or small companies are in social media, the playing field is equal. And it’s FREE.
It’s a good idea to have both your company name by itself on twitter to represent the company as well as several personal accounts from key people in your company. That way your customers will have different perspectives on you as someone they want to do business with.
Some people from your company may stand out a little more than others like our Vice President Will Gibney and that’s great because it shows personality, making your company more approachable.
A few things to point out about your profile is to be sure to have an interesting bio with some industry keywords thrown in. One of the reasons this is important is because there are applications out there that allow you to search people’s bios in twitter, so you want to be clear about what you offer. Also include a link to your home page or your blog and your real name rather than a nick name.
Following people is the best way to get followers.. Follow people who follow you – that’s part of the conversation – you can always unfollow them if want to later One of the best places to start is at wefollow.com
Go to Wefollow.com Do a search on the technologies, products, solutions, and vendors that are in your industry Look for thought leaders and the people they follow. You will also want to add yourself to these groups so people (prospects) will begin to follow you. Another important reason to think carefully about your bio is that it will show up here as well when you join these groups. Be convincing. Add yourself to your state too – remember localization is another important key in building relationships
Another way to find people to follow or respond to in real time is to go to search.twitter.com. Search on topics that are relevant to your industry. Join the conversation, be helpful, add value. If you see a post you like, click on their name, read a little more about what they are posting and follow who they are following. Search on your company name to see what people are saying about you. You can search on your Vendors names as well. don’t know what to say? Retweet someone else’s tweet. This is prefaced by the initials RT.
After setup, and when you have begun to find interesting people in your industry, LISTEN ---- Listen MORE Build relationships by following them, responding to them and re-tweeting their posts Then it’s your turn! Share your Blog, video case studies, advise on twitter… LISTEN ---- Listen MORE Build relationships by following them, responding, retweeting ETC. Always remain positive and engaging. People will unfollow anyone who is constantly complaining or has a negative attitude.
Publish Helpful Content! Give them a reason to follow you Your goal is to build long term relationships, increased brand recognition, – loyalty & sales, not to mention a great traffic generator to your website! Here are a few examples of posts I found yesterday when searching on specific keywords. People are passing along helpful information Some are asking for help themselves. If you are there for them with a solution, they will more than likely retweet what you offered to their network.
Tweetdeck can be downloaded for free from the internet. This application was developed by Adobe. Tweetdeck will bring in all your twitter settings as well as your facebook feed if you are on facebook.
The coolest part about tweetdeck is you can set up your own columns based on your industry keywords that people talk about in conversation. So for instance you can have a column for cloud computing, one on virtualization, one on network security, etc. Whenever someone tweets about these a notice will pop up. You can comment on their post or follow them. You will soon see the potential twitter has not only in making you smarter at what you do but also in how quickly you can grow your business.
TweetVolume is a simple application that will show you what keywords are being used the most in conversations. In this example I typed in five keyword phrases and it automatically generated a bar chart showing frequency over the last three months. Currently, Twitter retains data for no longer than 3 months.
District Manager Kevin Carpenterhttp://blogs.cisco.com/channels/comments/cisco_partner_shares_twitter_best_practices/
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And finally with Twitter, if you would like to hear Kevin Carpenter from NETARX talk about his experience with this application you can go to the link provided here. Kevin talks about how he approached twitter from a personal standpoint and he didn’t like it at all… so then he went back from a business perspective and really recognized the value of twitter.
Here’s an example of how popular video is in social media. eCoast sent out an email last week promoting our new list preview service. We included links to the list page as well as to a video explaining the service. We also included links to all our social media outlets, privacy policy and the webinar.
We tracked the clicks on the email and found that people were interested in viewing the video, a bit higher than going to the list page. They were also equally interested in the social media outlets.
“My job is to help you do yours”
www.force3.com
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Force 3 is a partner located in Maryland and they're also an eCoast client On their home page, Force 3 has several of their employees talking about various unique qualities they each possess - making the company seem more human. This is a great way to show a little personality and connect with prospects and customers in a more social manner. �
The best place to post your video is YouTube. It has the biggest audience and the best search capabilities Other places to post your videos include Metacafe Google Video Yahoo Video Daily Motion
Promote Your Videos!
• Tweet about it (a couple times is OK)• Use a URL shortener to track (bit.ly)
• Post a YouTube link in your status• Send it to your LinkedIn group
“A well-written company blog is the gateway drug to Social Media”
- Seth Simonds@sethsimonds
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In this last section, we’ll talk about Blogging. A well-written company blog is the gateway drug to social media. Your Blog positions you as a trusted advisor and brings quality traffic to your website. Google ranks blogs very high because of relevant content and keyword optimization. From a Sales perspective, the intent of your blog is to start a conversation
Before you try to sit down and write your first blog, Go to technorati.com, type in keywords in your industry and see how other bloggers are being successful. The results are ranked by authority, similar to google’s ranking by relevant content Enter the conversation and comment on several blogs. If you are using RSS feeds, you can be an early commenter which will be seen more and get people to link back to your website. Subscribe to a few of those blogs via RSS feed.
Lets take a look at Managed Technology Partners Blog. Now the most common pain I hear from partners is I have no time to create a blog and keep it going. What this particular partner has done is divied out the task with four people contributing articles for the blog. When your goal is to post a blog article about once a week, this means they really only have to write it once a month. Take the load off one person and your customers will enjoy the variety. And always allow for people to comment at the end of your blog. If you see something that’s inappropriate you can always delete it.
Another example of a great Blog is at CIO Solutions. They started blogging around May of this year. They have been publishing content related to their products and services consistently.
They also have a twitter account which helps them get the word out! Next steps for a great start like this would be to develop a roadmap to engage with all the right people, groups and media channels but that’s easier said than done. A social media roadmap is something your marketing team will need to provide based on the direction the Company owner wishes to take. Collaboration on this plan is vital. And once you have that in place, your social media marketing will take off!
• Never Sell – Share your knowledge, tips, offer advice, it’s all about helping them, not you
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Don’t write about your products and services – Don’t try to sell them. Provide tips about your industry, share helpful information. It’s all about them, not you and how you can be of service to them.
• Never Sell – Share your knowledge, tips, offer advice, it’s all about helping them, not you
• Your Time is Valuable - Don’t spend more than an hour on one article
• Use the 50/50 Rule – spend 50% of your time on the content and 50% on the title
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Use the 50/50 Rule – spend 50% of your time on the content and 50% on the title. Catchy titles are very important to hook people into reading your blog. And it’s Okay to be funny or controversial. Try to get a few keywords in there too. Google searches will find your blog title if someone is searching on Network Security for instance and you have that in your blog title.
• Never Sell – Share your knowledge, tips, offer advice, it’s all about helping them, not you
• Your Time is Valuable - Don’t spend more than an hour on one article
• Use the 50/50 Rule – spend 50% of your time on the content and 50% on the title
• Don’t Date It – If you’re just starting out make it easy on yourself by leaving the article undated until you get up to speed
Blog
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Tip – You don’t have to put the date on your article! When you’re getting started then pick up momentum as you get more comfortable. You will soon find out that there are so many things you and your colleagues can blog about. Set up a schedule but be flexible with it. You may need to blog on a suddenly popular topic of the day. THE IMPORTANT THING IS TO GET STARTED.
Make sure your website is Plugged-In to your Blog! So many companies miss this very important step. If you’re looking at 3rd party blog applications like Type Pad or Word Press, most of them do not connect your blog to your website. You are losing qualified traffic to your website if you don’t. So if you have a blog now, check with your web developer and see if they are connected.
Allows you to automatically update your twitter stream with content you’ve published elsewhere
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Sign up on Technorati technorati.com Once you have an account there, your blogs will automatically be posted on technorati via RSS feed. When people read your blogs on technorati they will link back to your website and hopefully, subscribe to your blog.
Email existing customers & friends, invite them to
comment!
Send it to your vendors and the thought leaders in your industry.
And finally, in addition to a PR announcement about your new blog, send out an email to your existing customers and friends to invite them to comment. It’s also a good idea to send it to your vendors and the thought leaders in your industry. They will most likely blog about you and bring you new customers.
…lets take a look at the home page of the website I mentioned earlier…
www.managedtech.com
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Back to Managed Technology Partners, located in Boston. This is their home page – very customer friendly, not technical.
Blog
Blog
www.managedtech.com
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You’ll notice not only do they have a blog build right in to their navigation but they also highlight the latest blog post.
Video
Video
www.managedtech.com
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In the spotlight they have a customer video testimonial as well as a video section where they share videos from Vendors like Cisco and some they have made themselves about their services.
Webinars
www.managedtech.com
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And I also wanted to point out that they are using webinars as a resource which is another great form of social media.
@managedtech
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I also found their company on twitter where they are tweeting about their blog. It looks like from the low following numbers they are just starting out but at least they’re there and they are using their company name the same as their website URL.
“A well-written company blog is the gateway drug to Social Media”
- Seth Simonds@sethsimonds
Presenter
Presentation Notes
A well-written company blog is the gateway drug to social media.
Blog Management Overview
No more playing phone tag with your prospects…Best way to get started in Social Media MarketingeCoast Blog Management
Blog management from eCoast includes the following services to get your new blog started:1. Blog domain name registration.
2. Installation of blog software, add-ons, and plug-ins.
3. Custom blog design reflecting your company’s brand.
4. Development of an editorial calendar & content plan.
5. Training on blogging techniques and best practices.
6. Monitoring & measuring of your blog’s success with Google Analytics software.
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Introduceing our Blog Management Services… (optional Ghost writing) for those that are crunched for time and need help.
Blog Management Deliverables
No more playing phone tag with your prospects…
Social Media Roadmap
Social Media Roadmap• Designed to get your
Blog/Twitter/LinkedIn Networking
• 3 month plan to get you started with recommendations moving forward
• Includes distribution of information to different media types, platform types and people, especially key mavens in the industry
Custom Playbook
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eCoast Social Media Roadmap Service For those who already have a blog or one in progress and need help with everything else Designed to get your Blog/Twitter/LinkedIn Networking 3 month plan to get you started with recommendations moving forward Includes distribution of information to different media types, platform types and people, especially key mavens in the industry
Even though we’ve tried to simplify it here all this can still be overwhelming but you don’t need to do it all at once. Try an hour a day – There’s a great book listed here called Social Media Marketing: An Hour A Day – by Dave Evans
