Introduction to Online Business Networking and Social Media

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Introduction to Online Business Networking and
Social Media
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• Sara Nelson
• VP of Marketing

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Our Framework

• Introduce you to social media
• Provide guidelines to consider
• Share thoughts on best practices
• Acknowledge its not for everyone

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What is Social Media?

• Primarily Internet- and mobile-based tools for
  sharing and discussing information among human
  beings
• Main reason people use it to keep up to date
• A driving force of the ever-shrinking wall
  between advertising and editorial

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Just to name a few

• Online Communities
• Social Messaging
• Weblogs / Blogs
• Wikis
• Webcasts Podcasts

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Lets get these out of the way

• Isnt this a fad for kids?
• NO!
• Theyre just better at it then us
• My clients are older and hardly use email
• Sure, but the next generation has iphones,
  LinkedIn accounts, and a blog
• Get ready

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Top Companies Doing the Best Job

• Zappos
• Comcast ("Comcast Cares")
• JetBlue
• Dell
• Burger King

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First, the Golden Rule

• You get what you give
• What this means is
• Its about what you can contribute
• Not about what you can get

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Set Realistic Goals

• Could, Might, Possibly, Maybe
• increase your visibility
• build your credibility
• cultivate relationships
• Desired end results
• More satisfied clients
• More client referrals
• New self-selected clients

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A Good Reason to Consider

• Your audience is more weary of being sold bad
  investment advise than ever
• Because of this there is now, more than ever
  synergy between social media and what you need to
  do win new clients
• Honest and open communication

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A Great Analogy

• Think coffee shop teeming with people and no
  limitation on physical space
• Everyday people come to this coffee shop to do
  their thing
• They DONT come to listen to sales pitches
• They ARE opening to learning new things and
  making new friends
• So if you came to this coffee shop everyday and
  left each day saying the coffee shop doesnt get
  me business, what are you really saying?

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How to Approach S.M.?

• Ask, is this for me?
• Do I have something to say?
• What would I be comfortable doing?
• If yes, define your goals
• Learn by observing others
• Pick a strategy (what)
• Set your time investment (when how much)
• Put a plan in place (who how)
• Execute enjoy
• Adjust as needed

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Top 10 from S.M. Marketers

• Brand thyself
• Personal vs. professional
• Don't be superficial
• Be valuable
• Follow-up 
• Follow-up (its THAT important)
• Plan
• Be an expert
• Educate yourself
• Embrace it Its here to stay

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Best Practices
Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Weblog, Podcast
other online communities
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• Fun facts
• 150 million active users, expected to hit 300
  million by the end of 2009
• Facebook is made up of many networks some
  public, some private
• Investment
• Time to join and set up your profile
• Time to check out groups, invite friends, keep
  news in your feed
• Key things to remember
• Facebook is primary for personal, not business
  use
• You can be easily de-friended
• Facebook is NOT email do not spam, do not
  advertise
• Set your preferences
• Determine your use, set the appropriate security
  levels
• New Facebook can generate a lot of notice emails

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How to use Facebook

• Fill in your profile, include your blog or
  website URL
• Invite your business colleagues and clients to
  become your friends
• Make relevant postings which will appear in your
  friends newsfeeds
• Join or start a group
• Track our client friends activities, comment
  appropriately be real, be approachable
• Use your status or a post to promote an event you
  are running or attending or new version of your
  newsletters
• Create the event and then invite all your
  contacts to join.

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Post a professional photo a my friend, this is
what I do description
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Status update used to indirectly promote upcoming
event
Ah, photos of the kids, grandkids my trust level
just went up 10 points!
Ah, she did it again Even better.
Using links to promote things on the Lofts
website thought leadership
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• Karyn Davenport
• Director of Marketing

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How to use LinkedIn

• Fun fact
• All 500 of the Fortune 500 are represented in
  LinkedIn. In fact, 499 of them are represented by
  director-level and above employees.
• Investment
• Time to join and set up your profile
• Time to invite and accept links, check out and
  join groups, read and contribute to threads
• Increase your visibility
• More connections more people to see your
  profile
• People like to work with people who their friends
  know and trust
• Improve your connectability
• Fill out your profile like its an executive bio,
  so include past companies, education,
  affiliations, and activities
• Include a link to your profile as part of an
  email signature
• Improve your Google Page Rank
• Make your profile information available for
  search engines to index
• Enhance your search engine results
• Promote your blog or website to search engines
  like Google and Yahoo!

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How to use LinkedIn

• Make your first client meeting go smoother
• Find the people that youre meeting. Knowing that
  you went to the same school, play hockey, or
  share acquaintances is a lot better than an
  awkward silence after, Im doing fine, thank
  you.
• Gauge the health of a company
• A search for a company name can enable you to
  scrutinize the rate of turnover and whether key
  people are abandoning ship.
• Former employees give more candid opinions about
  a companys prospects than someone whos still on
  board.
• Gauge the health of an industry
• If youre thinking of investing or working in a
  sector, find people who worked for competitorsor
  even better, companies who failed.
• Track startups
• You can see people in your network who are
  initiating new startups by doing an advanced
  search for a range of keywords such as stealth
  or new startup.
• Ask for advice Get Questions Answered
• Broadcast your business-related questions to both
  your network and the greater LinkedIn network.
• Request names of contractors for business
  projects or even, home improvement.
• Answer Questions- become a subject expert.

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Become a Top Expert
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How to use LinkedIn

• 10. And if you are looking to hire, or getting
  hired
• Perform blind, reverse, and company reference
  checks.
• When hiring, use the reference check tool to
  input a company name and the years the person
  worked at the company to search for references to
  get a view from a non-preped reference.
• If youre interviewing, check references on your
  potential manager or ask past employees about
  their experience at the company.
• Increase the relevancy of your job search.
• Find people with educational and work experience
  like yours to see where they work.
• Important Rules for linking
• Make sure you know them and you can speak
  honestly about them.
• Theres a good possibly you may be asked to
  introduce them to someone else in your network,
  or even more sticky, give a reference for them.
• You need to pay for the full-version, really only
  necessary if you are looking for a job.

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Tweets, peeps, and Twitter

• Keep track of specific company layoffs that may
  not be mentioned in the news.
• Find out what the person you are following is
  doing.
• Set up alerts to track competitors updates.
• Communicate key ideas and events through creative
  posts to followers - IE Drucker pre-T3.
• Less is MORE keep it relevant interesting.
• You get what you give

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• Stuart DePina
• CEO

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Proactive Social Networking

• Casting
• Blogging
• Online Communities

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Benefits of a Proactive Strategy

• Leverage YOU
• Consistent and Complete messaging
• Timely messaging
• Reference tool
• Ability to track who is listening who isnt
  listening

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Consider the following in a Proactive Strategy

• Time commitment
• Resist the temptation to sell
• One size/message doesnt fit all
• Dont assume this will replace your need to
  communicate one-on-one

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What is a Podcast

• A Podcast is a series of audio or video digital
  media files which are distributed over the
  Internet by syndicated download, through Web
  feeds to portable media players and personal
  computers.

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Podcast
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What is a Webcast

• A webcast is a media file distributed over the
  Internet using streaming media technology. A
  webcast may either be distributed live or on
  demand. Essentially, webcasting is broadcasting
  over the Internet.
• Dont confuse a Webcast with an online conference.

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Webcast
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5 Steps to Producing a Pod or Webcast

• You can make them yourself, for the cost of a
  good microphone
• Download Audacity at or TalkPoint or any other
  net casting tool.
• Get a good microphone.
• Write the script (so you dont sound improvised
  and amateurish).
• Record it in a noise-free environment.
• Apply the noise-reduction filter in your audio
  editing software and save the file.

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Blog

• Have a website? Add a blog.
• Whats the difference?
• You website is a brochure
• Your blog is a dialog with your readers
• Keep in contact with your clients
• Make it easier for clients to share you with
  other (think referrals)
• What do you write about?
• Could replace or augment a newsletter or email
  blast program
• What would you talk about if a client called you
  today?
• But I use email?
• Posting a new blog entry is as easy as sending an
  email
• Clients and other interested parties can
  subscribe to your feed
• And you can still email the blog entry (with
  link), a summary of the entry with a link, or
  just a link
• Big advantage once they click through all your
  past entries are there to reference
• Link to your blog in your email signature give a
  prospect the chance to really get to know you and
  the service you provide arent you worth
  knowing?

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Blog
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Online Community

• Have an business owner who oversees the budget
  and sets direction
• Have a manager who conducts day-to-day
  decision-making. Keep the information fresh.
• Have a moderator who sets the tone, enforces
  rules and helps users
• Create a set of comprehensive guidelines
• Define actions that will take place when issues
  occur
• Make the community visible to potential users
• Manage super-users differently from other users

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Online Community
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QA