Presented by

1. Presented by Selling with SOCIAL MEDIA Ralph J. Davila, APR@rjdavila

2. What We’ll Cover Today • What is Social Media? • What are the Main Social Networks in Use? • What’s your Social Media Sales Strategy? • How can I Sell with Social Media? • How do I Measure the Results?

3. Part I WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA?

4. Question… • How would you define social media in your own words?

5. A Definition of Social Media • According to Brian Solis, Social Media is: “The DEMOCRATIZATION OF INFORMATION, transforming people from content readers into PUBLISHERS. It is the shift from a broadcast mechanism, one-to-many, to a many-to-many model, rooted in CONVERSATIONS between authors, people, and peers"

6. Traditional Communication • In the past, you pushed your message to a specific audience (i.e. – Advertising, Direct Mail) Super Bowl Ad Introducing Macintosh - 1984 Super Bowl Ad Featuring E-Trade - 2010 Sources: Mac Ad. Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20254513_20009920,00.html E-Trade Ad. http://www.esquire.com/the-side/feature/new-etrade-commercials-2010

7. Traditional… • Not much room for two-way communication • Word-of-Mouth was sought out most (Water-cooler talk after a funny ad last night during Super Bowl) • Contact through phone (Customer service) or in-person (In line at the store) Brenda, did you see that hilarious ad last night? WOW! I’ve been telling everyone!

8. Traditional… • Transparency was tougher to identify • Example: Car dealerships always say they’re largest or have most sales… Source: http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2009/12/07/lost-locations-roundup-flying-a-service-station-king-midget-factory-custom-car-dealership/

9. Social Communication • The one-way model has morphed into a two-way model • The CompanyCustomer relationship has become a cyclical, web-like model Business Message Reaches Customer, trickles down to friends and friends of friends Source: http://www.vedainformatics.com/blogs/5-things-about-social-media-marketing/

10. The Social Media Revolution Courtesy of Socialnomics

11. Social Media is… • The digitized version of in-person, word-of-mouth communication • In real-time and immediate • A digital medium allowing your audience full access to support, critique and bash you to others • ALL about content! The phrase “Content is King” was never more important • Most importantly - TRANSPARENT

12. Part II WHAT ARE THE TOP SOCIAL NETWORKS IN USE?

13. Top 3 Social Networks

14. Facebook • There are 1.5 billion + “active” users • 163 million U.S. users as of 2013 • 819 million monthly users on mobile devices(an increase of 54% from 2012!) • 680 million daily active users on average – as of Dec. 2012 • 16 million local business pages have been created as of May 2013 (100% increase since June 2012) Source:: Facebook Company Info: http://newsroom.fb.com/content/default.aspx?NewsAreaId=22 Social Bakers: http://www.socialbakers.com/facebook-statistics/united-states

15. Facebook Example • Fan pages are perfect for building online communities, engagement and lead generation.

16. Twitter • More than 550 million total users • Is based on 140-character posts • 56% of customer tweets to companies are being ignored! • People connecting based on common interests in real-time (e.g. #Indians or #DWTS) Source: Twitter company info: business.twitter.com; Pew Report on Twitter demographics www.ragan.com/Main/Articles/44999.aspxhttp://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/twitter-stats_b32050

17. Twitter Example • Great tool for customer service dept., for lead generation, product/service support, etc.

18. Google+ • Has more than 340+ million users… now #2 • The network is rivaling Facebook • Result… FB is making drastic changes to keep up! • Is tied to Google search engine • 100+ major brands with 100+ million followers!

19. Google+ Example • Great for getting your site ranked higher in searches (SEO) Links inside posts help you get found

20. Don’t Forget LinkedIn! • More than 230+ million users • Executives from every Fortune 500 found on LinkedIn! Key data on types of positions, industry, revenue, etc.

21. Part III WHAT’S YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA SALES STRATEGY?

22. Is your Audience Online? • Facebook • 25-34 demographic accounts for about ß30% of the FB user-base • On average, fans spend an additional $70+ on products compared to non-fans • Twitter • 30% of users have annual household income of $100K+ • 31% of 18-49 year olds are Twitter users • Google+ • Nearly 55% of users male between $30,000-$100,00/yr • Majority of users are in the United States

23. Do you know? • Your audience uses these social networks everyday. So how are you reaching them? • You’re probably not… Let’s look at what you’re missing

24. Value of SM for Business Social Media ROI: Socialnomics video (4:15) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypmfs3z8esI

25. Be Strategic! • DON’T just create a social presence because everyone else is! • Just because you have a page doesn’t mean you’ll succeed • QUESTION: How many of you have stumbled across a Facebook Fan page that hasn’t been updated for months, if not longer? • Social Media is Strategic… and it shows

26. Building a Strategy • Keep it simple when developing strategy • Be realistic. Start small. Go after the lowest hanging fruit and build from there… • Three key questions that will drive strategy: • 1) What are you trying to achieve? • 2) Who are you trying to reach? • 3) How will social media tools help facilitate this?

27. What are you trying to achieve? • Types of goals and objectives: • Increase sales • Build awareness • Reach new audiences, new geographic areas • Gain feedback on a product or service • Use it to see what your competitors are doing • Provide better customer service • And on and on… Make sure goals and objectives are tied to business objectives and sales goals

28. Up a river without a… Set your goals and make them your guiding light! If not, you’ll end up like this guy!

29. Who are you trying to reach? • Once you know your target audience, social media allows you to build a community • This community allows the online conversation to become offline (real world) • Gain some basic insight into your audiences’ habits, likes and dislikes • Can help target better

30. What’s Your Message? • What is the essence of our business or organization? • Capture that essence with key words and phrases • Develop a tone, a context to your posts and responses… what’s your business’s PERSONALITY? • DO NOT post sales pitches. Create a conversation that engages them to talk about your business.

31. Include and Share • Make your entire team part of the messaging discussion • Give them ownership, claim to this “voice” you’re creating for your business • Ensure the person/s who are the “content creators” keep continuity in that voice • Give access to your SM accounts sparingly, to those you trust most – they will be the digital voice of your business!

32. Create a Simple Policy • Create a social media policy guide, including: • How to respond to positive and negative posts or comments • Who should be responsible for posting and responding • Rules for use for employees with their own personal accounts

33. Part IV HOW CAN I SELL WITH SOCIAL MEDIA?

34. Getting Started • Start slow and simple… use one social network and then go from there. It’s a time commitment. • Top line information • Logo and tagline if you have one • Business background (Facts and stats) • Location and hours of operation • Contact information (Website, email, phone, etc.) • Add your other social networks links (if applicable)

35. Sales & Message Alignment • Identify realistic business objectives • This means: • Market and respond in a timely manner – SM is real time! • Create content that creates interest, encourages sharing • Industry information • Featured products and what they do for the customer • Customer stories and testimonials • Connect your products and services to awareness days (i.e. World Environment Day if you sell recyclable products) • Interact on a regular basis with your fans

36. Sales & Messaging Example Integrate your Facebook, social messaging to generate quality sales leads. Remember: Talk to your audience! Don’t market. Facebook Links to Microsite Product Page

37. Develop a Timeline App (Tab) • Direct current and prospective customers to this area • Utilize this page to intrigue the customer with compelling content and call-to-action (i.e. visit a targeted microsite, call, email, Tweet, etc.)

38. Twitter • Your voice/message needs to be shorter, more concise. • Listen more at the beginning, retweet other industry leaders, then get in on the conversation! • Use hashtags (#FollowFriday) to view topical conversations and get heard • Use a “branded” profile (your company name), not a personal page. • Be personable, real and honest, don’t hard sell!

39. Twitter Example • Ford Motor Company using its association with@AmericanIdol to promote Fiesta

40. Selling on Google+ • The main cover image is very large and prominent. Make sure the image is a reflection of your business! • Add your business to local business directory • Use product/service images to entice possible followers/customers

41. Don’t Just Start with the tools… • Fail to Plan… Plan to Fail

42. What have you done so far? • Done your research • Set goals and business objectives • Choose the social network/s you will participate in • Aligned your sales and message • Set up your pages with key content • Strategized how you will utilize these networks to interact and market your customers • What do I do next?

43. Become a Content Creator • Share content between social networks • Always try and tie your links back to your website to increase your ranking in search results • Use hashtags, targeted keywords, links from other social networks to enhance your social search results Good SEO makes me like you!

44. Start Small with Targeted Ads… • On Facebook, you can target your customers by their interests (sports, politics, cars, etc.), geography, demographics and psychographics (buying behavior)! • On Twitter, you can use the “Promoted Tweets” and “Promoted Trends” on Cost per Engagement basis.

45. Promote & Advertise - Facebook • Send a message to your friends to check out your new business page and “Like” it • A great way to get a small base of fans • Friends are more prone to share with their friends • Run a ad, contest or giveaway to compel people to “Like” page • Create an incentive when advertising (Coupons)

46. Part V HOW DO I MEASURE THE RESULTS?

47. Common Measurement Questions But you want more than this… Slide via @ChuckHemann, Digital Analytics at WCG

48. Monitor & Measure • There are unlimited ways to measure social media… but how do I measure ROI? • Benchmark your sales data up front • Set goals based on that data (i.e. I want to increase sales leads from 10 per month to 15 within six months) • The extra 5 leads could = $X dollars. These are quantifiable numbers! • Monitor your social networks, seeing what posts your customers like, if they share or comment, etc. • Tied your customers interactions on your social networks to the “actions” you want them to take.

49. Reminder! • Now that you have a page or pages, you are in charge of the content • Keep a calendar of when and what to post • Your personal account is now connected to the fan page as an administrator • DON’T accidentally post something thinking your fan page was your personal page

50. Where’s everyone at? • Just because you created it, doesn’t mean your customers will flock to your page • It takes a little leg work… some manual labor • Do research. Find where your audience hangs out. What they like. • Again, look at your competitors pages, or similarly aligned fan pages Courtesy of: http://blog.sironaconsulting.com/sironasays/2011/02/the-use-of-social-media-in-the-last-12-18-months-has-become-a-widespread-tool-in-the-business-toolbox-although-frustrating.html