webinar :social media for start ups
DESCRIPTION
Social Media for StartupTRANSCRIPT
Social Media for Start Ups
Webinar : 11th August 2011
Agenda :1. Fundamentals of Social Media2. Practical Approach to Social
Media3. Case Studies of successful Social
Media Strategies4. Challenges of Social Media5. Q&A sessions
@bexdeep
Lets not start with the history of Social Media or Internet.
History creates an illusion that there is a trend in what is happening and that future can be
predicted on basis of it. - Unknown
Neither should a startup try to emulate success stories of big brands.
Big brands put much more effort/money in their social media than that is visible.
Also, lets not discuss about the opportunity provided by Social Media.
The internet is already crowded with too many justification over Social Media’s Potential.
Instead, lets try to understand Social Media as it is, with out any reference.
What does Social Media Look Like?
People which is the core of Social Media.
Connection which makes a network between
people.
Context/Content which is the reason behind the
existence of the Network.
Dynamics which governs the flow
of content in
the network.Attributes of
Social Media
People
Demographics Gender Age Group
Profession Entrepreneurs, designers, engineers, marketers etc.
InterestArts, Business, Music,
Communication, relationships etc.
Connection (One Sided or Mutual Relationship)
Friends
Followers
Group members
Subscribers
Content and Context
• Blog post Microcontent (written content)• Infotainment (creative image, photography,
infographics, visualization)• Videos (animation, promotion, activisim,
youtubing)• Research papers (casestudy, whitepaper,
presentation)• Application (viral application)• Podcasting (online radio Jockey)
Dynamics
• This is the core of what makes your social media strategy successful.
• Every startup needs spent time understanding the dynamics of different networks and what works and what doesn’t.
Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Youtube, LinkedIn, Quora, Slideshare, Flickr etc
That is all you need to Know.
• People• Connection• Context/Content• Dynamics
Getting your Feet Wet.
Sketching out the Strategy.
• You need to choose your context/content.• You need to start building community around
your content.– Facebook Community– Twitter Community– Youtube Community– SlideShare Community– Your own Micro Forum– More importantly, you Emailer Subscribers.
That looks like a long list. How long will it take to build a good community.
Months or even years !!!
Social Media is not like planning wedding, its more of long term plan of sustainable Marriage.
- Gary Vaynerchuk
Choosing your content/context ?
How do you choose content?
Know your expertise.
Find the best way to demonstrate that expertise.
Research on usual trend in your industry and its pain
points.
Syndicate you content to all your social networks.
Building Community Strategy
• Listening to influencers in your network and engaging in conversation with them.
• Lead Generation Strategy to gain Emailer list from interested candidate.
Creating Good Twitter Followers
Listening to relevant
keywords
Responding to any related
content being shared
through reply or retweet
Following genuine
twitter users
Sharing interesting
news/ information
Promoting your twitter ID
in all the content and
channels.
Creating Good Facebook Fans
Creating a Good Landing Page
for you Facebook Page.
Promoting your fan page in your
websites.
Giving incentives for people to like the
page,
like free ebook or subscription to
service/product.
Future Purpose :
Faceboook Ads platform and
Contest
Building Community Strategy
• Listening to influencers in your network and engaging in conversation with them.
• Lead Generation Strategy to gain Emailer list from interested candidate.
Lead Generation Mechanism for
Start-ups.
• Email Campaign is still the core of distributing promotional Materials.
• Hence you need to build a strong emailer List
Lead Generation Mechanism
• You need to research well on what is required by your target client and build a useful content related to it.
• You need to distribute these content based on email registration process.– Good and Genuine Content will always attract targeted
audience.
Case Studies on HubSpot
Case Studies on 6wunderkinder
Case Studies on 37signals
Case Studies on socialbakers
Case Studies on simplify360
Case Studies on MailChimp
Case Studies on SmashingMagazine
Creating and Curating Content. (Blog! Blog! Blog!)
• Consistency is very important in Social Media.• Blog is the first step towards web presence and needs to be
planned out thoughtfully.
Blog regularly
about your industries
pain points and you genuine
interest in solving them. Spark
Conversation with
Blog Post.
Make your blog post sharable through integration of social plug-in.
Release weekly or biweekly newsletters sending popular blog
posts.
Engage in Twitter,
Quora and project
your thought
leadership.
Some Strategy :
Finally!!! What are communities worth?
More than you can imagine.
Attributes of Community
Audience : People who are interested on what you have
to say but not necessarily your customers. They will
help you leverage your content to right people.
Users : Who are your free product users or people who regularly
engage in conversation.
Customers : Your real customers who pay for your product or service
and needs special support.
Managing Communication Channels
• Regularly Update your channels and upgrade them.
• Engage with audience and spark discussion.
Keep your channels alive !!!
Challenges
Getting the initial traction in community
growth.
Maintaining good flow of conversation and interest among the community base.
Driving them to your website.
Overcoming Challenges
• Searching for some help from the network or other community forums to generate interest.
• Engaging with high quality comment on forums and discussion sites.
• Promotion through Ads:– Google Ad words– Facebook Ads
Beyond Social Media
• Search Engine Optimization• Offline Engagement and Promotion
Q&A
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