The Power of Social Media

1. The Power of Social Media September 20, 2011 Maple Hill Farm

2. Today’s Presentation … • What is social media • Facebook • EdgeRank • Facebook advertising • Twitter • YouTube • LinkedIn • Management of Social Media • Questions

3. What is Social Media? • “Forms of electronic communication (as websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (videos).” • Word of mouth…magnified! • A powerful SEO tool. • Can you name the most visited website? • How about the #2 Search engine?

4. Why we’re all here… http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3SuNx0UrnEo

5. Facebook

6. 750 million Why Facebook? • How many people in the room use Facebook? • It’s just not good enough to have a website anymore. • Facebook is great for live interaction and engagement with your customers. • The near future and the blurred line between your website and Facebook. • Where should you send people? Website vs. Facebook. One way vs. two way.

7. Facebook Strategies You will “Like” Key strategies – • Participate (be active) • Use content to serve, then sell • Connect with influencers • Empower your customers

8. Profile with Top News

9. Most Recent News

10. The Impact of Facebook EdgeRank • 98% of users are greeted with “Top News” when signing on to Facebook • This is determined by Facebook’s EdgeRank algorithm:

11. 3 Factors that impact EdgeRank • Affinity: How often do you interact with the post creator? How many friends do you have in common with the post creator? • Weight: How many people have interacted with the post? What type of interactions? What kind of interactions? What kind of content is included in the posts (photo, link, video)? • Relevancy: How timely is the post? Does the post contain content targeted at your interests or activities?

12. How to use Facebook as PR and marketing tool • Ask questions • Post trivia • Interact with fan engagement • Incorporate relevant photos • Relate to current events • Incorporate video • Content for time-sensitive campaigns • Include links

13. Best Ways, Days, and Times to Post • Posts that contain less than 80 characters have a 27% higher rate of engagement. • Posts that contain the full-length URL have a 300% higher level of engagement. • The best times to post are: early morning, after work, and late at night. • The best days to post are: Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays.

14. The Don’ts when using Facebook Don’t: • Don’t be overly promotional. Respect the space. • Don’t jump into a promotion without first looking at the market objective and baseline. • Don’t ignore what the likers are saying and don’t ignore the types of content that they engage most with.

15. Facebook advertising

16. Facebook Advertising…why? • Biggest benefit: targeting. • You can target by location (Country, state, or city). • You can target by demographics. • Age, sex, relationship, languages. • You can target by Likes and Interests. • You can target by Education and Work. • Finally: you can target friends of friends (of friends). • Examples of targeting: Maine Office of Tourism

18. 200 million More about sharing and timeliness. Twitter is about “Peripheral Connections” that are in sync with you. Twitter is consists of many mobile users Twitter marketing is about Secondary Exposure. Twitter Marketing rests upon the platform of “First Effectual Impressions” Search feature called hash tags (#insurance)

19. Facts • Twitter is used by just 8% of Americans (compared to 51% for Facebook). • Brand Interactions Occur Predominately on Facebook • Among the 25% of respondents that have followed a company in social media, 80% have done so via Facebook. Just 6% have done so on Twitter. • 80/20 rule – 80% of content should be resourceful or helpful. 20% should be about your company.

20. 2 billion views per day Tips for • Share your knowledge • Customize your channel • Use keywords • Add your URL to the description • Plan your “Marketing Funnel” • Create playlists • It is social media (interact) • Use multiple calls to action • Promote your video

21. 100 million Are you ? • LinkedIn.com is a business-oriented social networking site. • Connect with previous co-workers, get recommendations, etc. • Great place to build your professional network. • Good place to start for beginners because it doesn’t need as much maintenance. • Highest level of professional content of all social media sites. • Post and update your resume.

22. PAGE VIEW 1 million users sign up per month since 2009.

23. Are you ? • PAGE VIEW

24. 32 Million Google Plus • Known as the “Facebook Killer”. • Allows users to “like” stories or content. • Easy to share content with circles of friends, co-workers, or targeted people. • Google Plus is not available for businesses (yet). • Hangouts let you video chat with friends or co-workers. • Launched in 2011. Google+ is invite only right now.

25. Start a Blog 152 Million Blogs • It’s Free. • Wordpress is the most popular blog site • Share your knowledge. • Discuss industry headlines and issues • Promote your business or personal interests. • Contribute daily, weekly or monthly. • A resource for customers other than your website.

26. Start a Blog • 152 Million Blogs (17.5 Million on Wordpress) • It’s Free. • Wordpress • Share your knowledge • Discuss industry headlines and issues • Promote your business or personal interests • Contribute daily, weekly or monthly • A resource for customers other than your website.

27. Social media management • Managing engagement requires a structured team approach. • Community Manager role is one of the fast growing roles in digital media. • Community Manager must: • Be authentic • Listen • Build relationships • Be an expert of your product/company • Engage both online and off

28. Social Media Policies in Place Social policy: • Bridge PR, customer service, and human relations. • Identify stakeholders, determine your objectives and benchmark best practices. • Moderate comments, post relevant messaging, and mix up posts with news, updates, awareness, recruiting volunteers and fun things. Employee guidelines: • Establish that employees are personally responsible for content, use disclaimer language and substantiate claims, respect laws and stick to their area of expertise. • Don’t be misleading, provide confidential info, reference clients without approval, pick fights or comment on legal matters.

29. What are others saying about you? • Google Alerts • Socialmention.com • NutShellMail.com • Twilerts • Don’t need a Twitter account. • Delivered to your Inbox. • Observation only. • TweetDeck • What are people saying about your community? • Opportunity for you to respond.

30. Responding to Social Media • Facebook posts receive 50 percent of their “likes” in the first 80 minutes. • 80 percent occur in the first 7 hours. • 95 percent within 22 hours. • New “Send” feature unveiled yesterday. In addition to clicking “like” many pages can create a “send” feature, making it easier to share content. Ex: Deals, promotions, gossip.

31. Measuring Social Media • Start with baselines. • Create goals. • Use Google Analytics to track Facebook referrals. • Resources: - Meltwater Buzz - Radian 6 - New widgets are coming out regularly - Facebook Insights - Socialmedia.org

32. Key Takeaways • Social media is not a trend. • Be strategic in posting, know your audience. • Find the right social media site for you. • Find the right staff for your social media. • Engagement, ask questions, get feedback.

33. Questions? NOW LATER Greg Glynn Account Executive Nancy Marshall Communications gglynn@marshallpr.com

34. Get connected… Find us on Facebook Nancy Marshall Communications Twitter: NMCMaine Our company e-newsletter! To sign up visit: marshallpr.com Today’s presentation and Nancy’s Blog: maineprmaven.com