Using Social Media for Business Development

Tish GrierSocial Media Strategist & Consultant

413-265-1500

What is social media?

Social media are forms of communication designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques.

What does social media do? Social media supports the human need for

social interaction, using Internet-based technologies to transform broadcast media monologues (one to many) into social media dialogues (many to many).

The whole point of social media is… Social media supports the democratization of

knowledge and information, transforming people from content consumers into content producers. Businesses also refer to social media as user-generated content (UGC) or consumer-generated media (CGM).

“Blogs are little First Amendment machines”—Jay Rosen, NYU

Many Social Media Tools

Blogging Platforms

Microblogging

Photo Sharing

Social Bookmarking

“Crowdsourced” product reviews

Ning Networks & Communities

Social Networking sites& communities

Even more tools! MySpace YouTube, Vimeo, BlipTV Wikis Podcasts Open Source CMS: Drupal & Joomla Etc., etc., etc.

Conclusion: Social Media is ubiquitous and the tools are free….

This is a major boon to new business owners and entrepreneurs!

More tools + More opportunities =

More Confusion!

Perhaps it’s a lack of knowledge on what social media can do for a business….

A recent study conducted by Citibank Small Business division found the following:

86% have not used social networking sites for information nor business advice

42% using their websites for lead gen 28% using email marketing 25 % using online advertising

Social Media can help you do the following…. Establish a web presence: make a website using blog

software Easier to connect directly with customers through

Twitter Recruiting via social networking sites Conduct basic market research on Facebook &

Twitter Stimulate lead generation Increase employee collaboration via wikis, Google

Docs & Google Wave

How a really big business successfully uses social media

A Small Business Social Media Case Study

What does the Hair Factory need from social media?

More visibility in Google Increased product awareness New Customers! Online advertising—move away from

expensive print advertising Increased customer interaction with company

Suggested the following A blog to increase Google results Facebook & Twitter to connect with

customers, offer promotions, Facebook for ads and customer service Twitter for customer service, customer

awareness

IMPORTANT: Social Media is a long-term strategy—not a hit and run strategy!

“You have to be in it to win it”

Results so far… Facebook & Twitter are maintained daily Increase in Catalog requests Increase in newsletter signups Increased positions on First Page Google Results Referring pages from Facebook up in Sept to

18.3% from 7.9% in August Decided to forego a blog at this time.

If you are considering social media What do you need: a website? Customers?

Brand awareness? Create a social media strategy—consider

linking with a word-of-mouth mktg strategy Consider different tools and how to use them Execute Maintain Measure and compare

Results from Social Media takes time to cultivate

And it’s worth it!

Thank You!