What is Social Media &

How LinkedIn Fits into the Landscape

What is…

• Social media: Websites based on user participation and user-generated content.

• User generated content: The beauty of social media is that the users define the content and you have to be prepared which means listening to your brand advocates/detractors. Picture consumer reports with millions of experts commenting and connecting with your product or services.

• Social networking: Groups of like-minded individuals joined together online to share content and experiences.

• Social media marketing: Walking the tight rope between being the best thing since sliced bread and your father’s Oldsmobile.

Social Media Rules of Engagement

• Invest your time: Entering the social media game takes commitment.

• Your mom said “just be yourself”: Be transparent. This has dual meaning. 1. let people know what you’re famous for, and don’t stretch truths; 2. don’t assume another persona to tell people how great you are. The fakes will be exposed.

• You can only manage your brand so far: Be prepared to let your brand grow for better and embrace the worse.

• Watch what you say: By saying the wrong thing you can be on the outside looking in real quick.

By-Products of Social Media

• Thought leadership

• Brand awareness

• Reputation management

• Search engine optimization

Brand Advocates

• Social Media sites are the 4th most used websites on the Internet.

• Global to Local: Facebook has 50 million members which would rank it as the 9th largest country in the world. By years end estimates show it could be the 3rd largest country behind India and China. However, targeting like-minded individuals helps you create smaller, qualified communities.

• Twitter has 10 million users and large companies are already holding on for the ride and are embracing the customer service implications while generating product and service buzz. See Coca-Cola and Starbucks.

• Linked in has 37 million members all categorized in a number of unique ways. Use them to help build awareness.

How does LinkedIn fit into the Social Media Landscape?

• All 500 of the Fortune 500 are represented on LinkedIn. In fact, 499 of them are represented by director-level and above employees

• Most members tend to be between 30 and 55 years old

• 37 million members; half of which are in the US

• 1 new members every second

What is LinkedIn?

A professional networking site enabling you to position your personal brand while raising awareness of your and corporate brand.

How do you use LinkedIn?

• Networking to the 3rd power: Meet and connect with your contacts, your contact’s contacts and your contact’s contact’s contacts.

• Support your corporate brand: Use service providers and business profiles

• Join groups: Helps you identify trends & prove thought leadership

• Use the Q&A feature: Ask for advice, create a “focus group”, prove your thought leadership

• Use LinkedIn applications: Slideshare, Wordpress, polls and more

LinkedIn rules of engagement

• Be truthful: LinkedIn is helping you create your personal brand. Every single person on the Internet can see you – clients, prospects, your board and your employees.

• Check the main dashboard regularly: monitor movement within your network; contacts may have taken another job or they may make a request you can help with.

• Build relationships not contacts: Don’t miss opportunities to help those in your network. Whomever you help today might help you tomorrow.

What can you gain from LinkedIn?

• Create a personal brand

• Use as a tool for your corporate brand

• Use jobs section to find qualifies candidates; review employment candidates

• Learn about your client’s people and your prospects

• Learn about your own employees

Contact Experior Marketing

Please shoot us an email if you would like to learn more about Social Media Marketing including LinkedIn, and how SMM fits into your marketing strategy.

Jeffrey Goldjgold@ExperiorMarketing.comwww.twitter.com/Jeffrey_Gold