Social Media for Business

James Cope

Featuring Angie Beeston!

james_cope jamesccope

• A shift is happening

• People interact online – 67% engaged in Social Media

• Blogs, networking sites, link sites, youtube etc.

• Big growth in mobile sites

What is Social Media?

Why Bother?

Popular Networks

What is Social Media?

Why Bother?

• Reach out to new audiences and markets

• Reach out to existing markets

• Better understanding of your customers

and related markets

• Relative low cost of entry

• Possible high return ??? – ROI Please

What is Social Media?

Why Bother?

What is Social Media?

Today looking at...

Grow a Business

or

Find a Job?

- consider your objectives

Social Media - Great for

Growing a Business

• Too Much Noise

• Spam Filters

• Mail Preference

• Ad Blocking

• Ffwd TV Ad‟s

• Different approach??

Social Media – Useful for

Finding A Job

• Promote Yourself

• Build Your Brand

• Research The Company

• Get In Before The Ad

• Avoid The Job Centre!

• Different approach??

Perspective

Facebook – 128 Million + visitors, 30% growth

LinkedIn – 14 Million visitors, 10% growth

Myspace – 64 Million visitors, 18% decline

LinkedIn Users

• Average age 43

• Average household income £65,600

• 41% are business decision makers or influencers

• 75+ million members worldwide (in 200 countries)

• Over 4 Million UK users

• Including Recruiters

• Remember your objectives – quality v quantity

• Business Networking Approach

• We Can Help Each Other Better and Spend Less Doing It

Let me at them!

• Help You To Grow Your Reputation

• Get Help - Get Answers To Almost Any Question

• Recruit Better People

• Promote Yourself

• Stay In Touch With People Who Are Important To You

• Stay At Front Of Mind Of Your Contacts

• Find & Research People & Companies

• Advertise To Very Defined Business Audiences

What Can LinkedIn Help

With?

- not just a list of contacts

• Get Introduced To New Potential Customers

• Find Business Partners & Suppliers

• Enable You To Introduce People To Each Other

• Great For Job Seekers Too

• Organise events

• Find and even attend events

• Market Research

• Prepare for networking events

What Can LinkedIn Help With?

The Basics

• Build a Network of Hundreds of Thousands

• You CAN do it

• It‟s free

•Objective – quality or quantity?

What is it?

Guess the network size

- Includes specialist groups

490

?

?

• 2.5 Million Trusted??!

1. Decide why you are doing

this!

• Clear objectives – begin with the end in mind

• Build a big network

• Build a quality network

2. Setup an Account

• Log in / create an account

3. Create a profile

• Remember include skills

• Search terms – you want to

be found!

4. Connect to contacts

• Searching & browsing

• Add via e-mail addresses / address book

• Former colleagues & classmates

• People you may know feature

5. Think Homepage

• Your information centre

• Your inbox

• Update your status

• Keep your finger on the pulse of your network

6. Explore & Join Groups

• Join groups of people with the same business interests

• Join discussions, “meet” experts and build relationships

• Demonstrate expertise

7. Ask Questions &

Give Answers

• Find help

• Provide help

• Make new contacts

• Demonstrate expertise in your niche

8. Add a Company Record

• Companies have records too

• Individual people profiles linked to companies

• Upload logo and create description and specialties

• It will show up in the search engine results!

• Links to your web site

• Is shown to non members

9. Make & Request

Recommendations• How do you feel when people recommend you?

• How do you feel about the person that recommended you?

• Why you should recommend others

• Users with recommendations are 3 times more likely to get

enquiries through searches

Very important therefore for job searching!

10. Attend & Organise Events

• Create an event

• Share it with up to 50 of your contacts

• If they attend or flag it as interesting they pass it on

• Online and offline events

11. Applications• Reading lists

• Events

• Polls

• Blog link

• Slideshow

• File sharing & collaboration

• Travel tools

• Company buzz

12. Promote your profile

• On your email footer

• On your Web site

• On your blog

• On your business cards / brochures

• Via Twitter

13. Ongoing updates

• To your status

• Adding connections

• Save your searches

• Request introductions

• Ask & answer questions

• Join group discussions & contribute

13. Ongoing updates• Upload presentations to share

• Make recommendations

• Organise & publicise events

• Update your reading list

• Add polls

• Read blog updates and update your blog

14. Advertising on online

networking sites

• Targeting

• CPC Vs CPM

• Search advertising Vs social network advertising

Convinced yet?

LinkedIn By function…

If You Are Looking For A Job• Make sure your skills are included - mirroryour CV

• Search The Single Largest Network

of Recruiters Available

• Contact Former Colleagues- Where Do They Work Now?

- Check Out They Present Themselves Online

- See Who They Know

• Research employers

Be Aware – Recruiters:

• Check CVs Against LinkedIn

• Can Do Recommendation Checks

For Hire

Tips from a RecruiterMartin Pardey of HAYS says:

• Consider your profile as a CV

• Reliant on traditional Keyword Searches so

Career History needs as much detail as possible

• Be well connected – but quality not quantitydon't add random connections

• Search technique is on relationship thenrelevance

If You Need To Create A

Reputation

• Watch the Questions and Monitor

Your Subject(s)

• Provide Answers – People Will

Check Out Your Profile

• Great Answers Turn You Into a

Visible Expert

• You May Create Customers

Around the Globe

If You Want To Grow Contacts• Join LinkedIn Groups/ Read Questions/ Answers & Get Involved!

• Outright Selling Is Obvious And Worthless

• Add Relevant Content & News

– People Notice

• Start Discussions & Debate - Ask The Burning Questions

• Follow Conversations & Get Auto Updates

• Start A Group On A Niche Topic

• Get Introduced Using LinkedIn Introductions

• Maybe get a Premium Account

If You Cold Call

• Search For The Company

– Find Contact Details

• Research Your New Potential Contact

• Look For Common Ground

• Open Your Conversation With, “Hello Sue– We Are LinkedIn Connections…”

• How Much Better Would Your Chances Be?

• Preparing for meetings

If You Need To Advertise

• Define Your Target Market in Terms of

Geography, Company Size, Seniority,

Sex, Age and Industry

• Choose a Payment Model

• Choose Your Budget Level

• Create Compelling Ads

– Each Targeted at Variations of the Above

• See new microsite http://advertising.linkedin.com/solutions

If You Sell A Product/Service

• Search For Your Target Market

• Find Potential Users of Your Product/ Buyers and Decision Makers

• Find Your Customers‟ Customers

• Find Influential Consultants

• Get Introduced or Point to Your Recommendations

• Join Groups, Listen, Advise & Build Relationship

If You Are Looking For

Information

• Check Out LinkedIn Answers

• Ask Questions And Forward

The Question By Email To

Relevant Contacts

• Rate The Answers You Receive

• Search For Experts

• Experts Will Contact You To Sell

Their Services

If You Need Business

Partners

• Find Local And International Suppliers

And Resellers/Partners

• Find Joint Venture Opportunities

• Check Their Experience and

Background – You May Get More

Than You Would Have Asked For In

Person

• Find Contacts to Verify Their Claims of Capability

If You Organise Events

• Create your event

• Share Your Event With Your Contacts

(Ask Them To Respond “Attending” Or “Interested”

And Forward/Recommend To Contacts)

• Mark Yourself As Attending/Presenting

• Publicise Your Events (Depends On Account Level)

Premium Accounts

http://www.linkedin.com/static?key=about_profile_organizer&trk=mrk8_csp

Tips -

Using Your LinkedIn Account• Put Time Aside At Least Once A Week

• Go Through All Those Business Cards You‟ve Collected!

• Or get in touch with ex-colleagues

• New! Link to Outlook – see YouTube•but not on a SERCO machine!

• Use RSS

Recap• Remember your objective - LinkedIn Can Help

• LinkedIn Is Actually Fun – Trust Me I‟m An Adviser!!!

• It’s Not a Silver Bullet However…

• http://econsultancy.com/blog/6276-ten-ways-to-get-ahead-on-linkedin

• Getting Started Guides - http://learn.linkedin.com/

+ Job Seekers

+ Business Development

+ Consultants

& more

Waste of time?

Profiles are exploding

Info on Special Offers

Boosting Search Ranking

& New Customers

Waste of time?

-No, but careful not a drain on time!

- Business v Individual

• Business Presence – „like page‟

• Target your niche

• Increase visibility

• Free marketing

• Build relationships

• Get quick top Google placement

• Drive e-commerce sales – eBay Plugin

• Facebook „like box‟

Business Page –

„like‟ Top Tips

Confessions of a facebooker!

•Be careful who you link with...

•Avoid including too much personal information

•Keep some things private, have a separate

facebook page for personal comments/photos

•It‟s for business so use intelligent, thoughtful,

incisive comments, not B.S.!

•Use separate pages for newsletter items –

encourage prospective clients/contacts to follow

you and “Become a fan”

Confessions of a facebooker!

- for Business its a powerful medium

but remember individuals.....

•Include all your information and updates on all your social

media sites – Linkedin, Twitter, YouTube, etc.

•Use your pages to acquire feedback, comments,

referrals, recommendations, research

•Build online relationships and keep in regular contact with

your „friends‟ and „fans‟

•Celebrate your successes – use it for good PR!

And finally, the most important aspect of all.....

“Don’t forget the virtual world of facebook will

never replace the personal touch!

So utilise facebook along with the phone, face

to face and meetings.”

Confessions of a facebooker!

Fastest growing

•Over 11.5 million users

•Since June of 2008, has grown by

1,460 %

•Reaches 10.7 percent of all active

Internet users

•5% of users account for 75% of all

activity

What is Twitter?

• Tweets are like SMS (text)

messaging

• Messages are 140 characters or

less, generally visible by anyone

• You follow others, they follow you

• Communicate openly or directly to

other “Twitterers”

63

Why use Twitter?

• Easy to use

• Easy way to keep in touch

• A way to reach potentially large

market

• Short sharp communication tool

• Ideal for :-• searching

• listening

• conversing

• additional customer service channel64

Locals using Twitter

65

•Look - Analyse your market, audience, and

demographics

• Choose targets – who are you going for

• decision makers

• consumers

• Listen - Research relevant network – listen &

judge tone

• Think - Create a buzz about your company /

service / product

• Measure results

• Only real cost here is your TIME!

– set aside an hour a week

Social Media Recap

• LinkedIn & Facebook only part of the picture

• Successful social media includes others

• Youtube

• Blogging

• Email marketing

• Can look at those during follow up workshops

• Dates – 21st & 23rd Sept / 7th & 11th Oct

• subject to change

Out of Time –

but there‟s more!

With Thanks

Linkedin presentation adapted with permission from LinkedIn Guru, and all round nice guy Paul Tansey – MD of Intergage

Find Paul on LinkedIn or at http://www.intergage.co.uk

Thanks to Martin Pardey – HAYS Recruitment for recruiter view point, find Martin on Linkedin.

Angie Beeston – Facebook Tips

David Lakins – Keymultimedia – Local examples

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www.ebusinessblog.co.uk

James Copejames.cope@businesslinksoutheast.co.uk

james.c.cope@gmail.com

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