GOING SOCIAL, GOING GLOBAL

Using Social Networking Techniques to Increase Your Global Influence

GOING SOCIAL, GOING GLOBAL

Your Website/ Blog

Your Website /Blog

On the site or off the site, what’s the difference?

There are several factors leading up to making this decision.

Blog - Factors

Branding requirements Intended use of the Blog Target Audience Focus of Blog Domain Name Selection Search Engine / SEO Requirements General Marketing Requirements

Branding Requirements If you are looking to reinforce your main brand, then keep all

the information supporting it together and include the blog as part of your website rather than dilute it by dividing the content onto two separate sites.

However, if you are considering a Product Blog to focus on and around a particular product or range, or you are looking at a sub-brand of some description, then these would benefit from having a separate domain and standalone image which would allow real focus and input from users and advocates.

Intended use of the Blog If you want to use the blog for something which

complements the rest of your website, such as an FAQ section or an online media center, then integrating it in the website is ideal, as it will reinforce and support all your company’s activities.

If, on the other hand, the blog needs to present you as an independent source of information and advice, then you would be better to distance it from your website, so that you can be seen as objective in this role rather than as part of the company which has interests in the area.

Target Audience If your blog and your website are designed to appeal to the

same audience then, all other things being equal, it makes sense to combine them in one location which gives extra value to your readers and adds to the appeal of the website.

However, if the blog deals with a specific area which is directed solely at a particular subset of your website’s target audience (or a different one altogether), then it would be better to maintain it on a separate domain rather than risk alienate customers not interested in that subject.

The alternative, and better solution, is to create a series of specialist blogs which offer additional value to each individual group.

Focus of Blog By adding your blog to your website, it will not be able to

stray too far from the general topics and direction that the website already has. As a result, you may be restricted in terms of what you can write about, as the blog will be closely connected with the information presented on the rest of the website.

A separate domain will give independence from the original site and hence allow you greater freedom in terms of your stance and commentary on issues.

Domain Name Selection Setting up your blog on a separate domain will allow you to

choose a new domain name which is specifically relevant to the blog’s aims and goals, and which adds to its SEO potential, for example by including your main keywords.

On your current website, you would not have this flexibility although you would still be able to choose something relevant either as the subdomain or the directory, according to the set-up you select.

Search Engine / SEO Requirements Putting the blog on your website will add both content and

value to it in the eyes of the main Search Engines and its development should increase its status and the number of incoming links to your website, as other blogs link to you.

With a separate domain, however, you can set up all aspects properly from the start although you may have to go through Google’s “sandpit” which can restrict rankings over the first few months.

The links that come into this separate domain can then be focused into your main site and will have additional value because they come from an external site with good quality and relevant content.

General Marketing Requirements You may not have the resources to fully market a totally

separate blog which would effectively require its own marketing and promotional activities push.

It would, however, create a whole new focus to the company’s activities which would potentially attract a new target audience.

If, on the other hand, it sits on your current website, then it can benefit from the current marketing efforts used to promote the website and link from there.

Whichever route you choose, you use, you should incorporate blog specific marketing as well as the more general online and offline elements as you promote your blog.

SUMMARYYour Website/ Blog

GOING SOCIAL, GOING GLOBAL

Twitter

Twitter

http://www.twitter.com

This is where we sign up. Click the green box

to get started.

Your business name

Your preferred username

A password you can remember

This is called a “Captcha”. You must

enter the text correctly in order to ensure you are not cyber criminal trying to spam all of Twitter’s members. Type the two

words correctly. Click here to continue

Your email address. Click the check box underneath to get email

updates

From here, we can choose one of the options to the left (should you have an

account with one) and find contacts who may already

be on Twitter

I chose Gmail. Enter in your Gmail username and password. (This is completely safe) Then

click Continue.

I selected my contacts. Hit Continue and you will be following these folks.

You can invite those who do not

have a Twitter account. We’re

going to skip this step.

It will then recommend

popular Peeps to follow. We’re

going to skip this too.

You are now finished, and Twitter takes you to your homepages. Let’s get it

personalized!

Type you Tweets here

Your tweets, @replies,

and tweets from those you follow will appear

here.

How many you follow

How many follow you

How many tweets you’ve

posted

The menu which

separates all functions

going on with your Twitter

network.

Setup Twitter on your mobile

devices

Let’s customize this thing.

Before we Tweet,

Click “Settings” in your menu bar.

General Settings for your Account

Password SettingsMobile Device

SettingsHow Twitter notifies

youYou photo

The design of you Twitter page (background)

Your name

Username

Contact Email Address

Local Time Zone of your business

Your Website

A 160 character bio.

The City, State in which you reside

Your language

Followers must be approved before they can view your Tweets. Stay PUBLIC. Do not check this box, and you will get better exposure.

Click SAVE to save changes.

Click this checkbox to get a reminder if

you haven’t Tweeted in 24 hours.

Click Browse

Locate, and double-click your photo to choose.

Click SAVE

Clicking the designs will give you a live preview of the design. Select

one, click SAVE CHANGES, and your

design is saved.

Click HOME to go to you

home page.

Now that we’ve personalized, let’s

send our first Tweet.

Type your Tweet, and click UPDATE.

And that’s that! We’ve become Twitter users!

TWITTER CLIENTSThe next step

Twhirl

http://www.twhirl.org/ Still the most popular Twitter client Consolidates Tweets, and delivers them

to your desktop.

After installed, just type your Tweets in this box, and hit

ENTER. Simple as that.

TweetDeck

http://www.tweetdeck.com/beta/ Similarities to Twhirl, but has search

capability.

Very intuitive. I use the search “web design” to see if business have

posted a need for a web designer.

Don’t worry

At the end of this presentation, we’ll show you how to set these social networks up to be updated all from one place. Well, most of them anyway.

Don’t be frustrated

It takes time to get started. But getting started is the key to success.

HOW IS TWITTER BENEFICIAL TO MY

BUSINESS?

And so…

Twitter is the new big thing… Everybody is using it! So how can you use it

wisely and leverage?

Her are some tips to be successful on Twitter and using it to market Above All, Keep It Personal Learn from others Get A Good Desktop Client Use Twitter On The Road Tracking The Results Follow And Be Followed Integrate Whenever Possible Don’t Over-Think It

THE END…of Twitter. Now let’s move on

FACEBOOKThe fasting growing social network on the planet

Why Facebook?

Many are finding that their customers, prospects, and employees are already on Facebook

With the tools provided, there is a great opportunity to build business

Let’s get started!

Let’s start with PAGES.

Click CREATE A

PAGE

Choose this box if you operate in a specific local or regional area.

Choose this box if you serve a

national or global customer base, and/or want to

solicit a specific product.

Choose this box if you are an artist, band, or public

figure.

Fill in your info and click CREATE PAGE

If you already have a personal Facebook account, click the radio button that

coincides with this option. Facebook will use your previously entered information

to populate your new page account info. If you do not have a Facebook page,

choose accordingly.

Since we similarly did this with Twitter, we’ll just go on and enter

the information accordingly.

Click SIGN UP NOW!

Check your email and click the link enclosed to confirm.

This is the link.

You are now at your profile page.

Click SETTINGS

You will see the same sort of settings as you did with Twitter.

Clicking CREATE YOUR PROFILE will setup a personal profile if you do not have one.

Click FACEBOOK

Click PAGES

Click EDIT PAGE

Click the pencil to the right of each item and click EDIT to adjust settings.

Choose your age restriction if you want, and make your page

PUBLIC with the dropdown box. Click SAVE CHANGES.

The rest of the options are very straight forward, and can be done

at a separate time.

FACEBOOKLet’s talk about how to use it

Uses your Facebook!

Facebook has 5 options for business to get connected with others.AdsConnectPagesLexiconShareWe’ll talk about the rest in a minute!

Power

Fastest growing social network in the world

Facebook recognizes that engaging in business is part of everyday life

There are several marketer friendly functions to enhance your experience

Pages and the Platform

Every Facebook Page is a unique presence where users can become more deeply connected with your business or brand.

Facebook’s platform provides you with tools to quickly create custom experiences for users

Other Uses

Ads Connect Lexicon Share

Ads Connect with Real People

Reach over 175,000,000 active Facebook users. Attach social actions to your ads to increase relevance. Create demand for your product with relevant ads.

Create Your Facebook Ad Quickly create image and text-based ads. Precisely target by age, gender, location, and more. Choose to pay per click (CPC) or impression (CPM).

Optimize Your Ads Track your progress with real-time reporting. Gain insight about who’s clicking on your ad. Make modifications to maximize your results.

Ads cont. Take a few minutes to gather some items you'll need

to create your Facebook Ad: Link

○ Decide whether you want to advertise your own web page or something on Facebook like a Page, Application, Group or Event.

Ad message○ Write clear, targeted ads with concise text that speaks directly

to the audience you will reach. The title can have up to 25 characters, and the body can have up to 135 characters.

Photo○ Put an attractive and relevant image in your ad that is

appropriate for the product or service being advertised. Image will be resized to fit in a 110px wide by 80px high box.

Connect

Facebook users can connect to their Facebook account from your website

This allows you to leverage Facebook's network to drive traffic to your site

Lexicon

Research terms used across Facebook on all indexed pages.

Allows you to specify terms that draw in large amounts of traffic.

Share

Drive New TrafficLet your visitors share your site with their

friends on Facebook, bringing new users to it. Sites using Facebook Share include GamePro, Photobucket, and The New York Times.

By allowing users to share your website on their Facebook, you can use their profile to leverage even more traffic.

Facebook Best Practices BEST PRACTICES • Assign an employee to create and manage your

company’s Facebook Page. • Respond to messages and questions left on your

Page’s discussion board and “Wall” within 24 hours. • Build a creative application using Facebook Platform to

drive traffic to your Page. • Don’t fall victim to the mentality: “If I build it, they will

come.” • Promote your Facebook Page outside of Facebook to

attract more fans. • Don’t think of Facebook as a marketing channel to push

company messages alone.

Tying Twitter to Facebook Want to link your Twitter account to Facebook

so that your status updates sync? Easy, here’s how:

Step 1: Search for “Twitter” in Facebook’s search field.

Step 2: The first result should be the one you are looking for. It is the application “Twitter.” Click “view application”

Step 3: Add the Twitter Facebook Application. Step 4: Choose your settings and add the Twitter

Facebook Application to your profile.

Tying Twitter to Facebook

Step 5: Enter your Twitter login information.

Step 6: Choose to have Twitter update your Facebook status.

Step 7: Allow and Authorize Access for Twitter to Facebook.

Step 8: That’s it! Now every time you update your Twitter, your Facebook status will update automatically.

Let’s EatLunch Time

Let’s Summarize and Get to the Rest Twitter Facebook Tying them together Lunch Discussion

NINGA little about other networks

Ning

Ning is a social network on which you can build your own social network.

Why is this a benefit?You choose your demographicYou choose who can participateYou set the tempoYou are in control

LINKEDINA little about other networks

Why LinkedIn? Increase your visibility. Improve your connectability. Improve your Google PageRank. Enhance your search engine results. Perform blind, “reverse,” and company reference

checks. Increase the relevancy of your job search. Make your interview go smoother. Gauge the health of a company. Gauge the health of an industry. Track startups.

A List of Other Networks

Networking and Connecting (LinkedIn, Naymz, Plaxo, Merchant Circle, Facebook, etc.)

Blogging (Blogger, Wordpress, etc.) Micro-Blogging (Twitter, Tumblr., Jaiku,

identi.ca, Flickr, etc.) Resource Sharing (Del.icio.us, SlideShare,

FriendFeed, StumbleUpon, Etc) Others (Technorati ,

So, let’s wrap it up and go over some other info.Have a stretch and a sip. We’ll get back to work in a minute.

Get a pen and paper out, you’ll want to take some notes.

Who uses social networks for business? Professional networking sites function as

online meeting places for business and industry professionals

65% of business professionals use some form of personal or professional social network

47% use social networks to connect with potential clients and market their skills

55% use social networks to share best practices with colleagues

ROI for investing in collaboration and social networking

Improved Growth Through Innovation Faster Task Execution Improved Efficiency Increased Empowerment of Key

Resources

Improved Growth Through Innovation Faster response to customer issues Improved effectiveness of internal and

external company communications

Faster Task Execution

Locate the right person to do job Quicker access to best practices Ability to distribute and share

information in resolving issues

Improved Efficiency

Quickly identifying expertise already available in the company

Reduced rework on overlapping projects Improve regulatory compliance

Increased Empowerment of Key Resources

Greater leverage of key talent Improved retention of younger

employees

More than just connecting….get to the people you need Get To The People You Need

Start collaborating with team members and across company boundaries Get Them the Right Information

Share data in different formats with minimal effort Have contacts only access the latest versions of files and presentations

Get To Work! Improve the speed of decision-making through real-time collaboration on

documents and presentations Find common connections

A business network of companies and people who can connect and work together instantly

Track the work you do together See the files you’ve shared with a company See the contacts that you have in that company

Going Global: Accessing New Markets Expand beyond your current market Get the contacts you need Grow your revenue and reduce your

operating costs Building electronic linkages with

employees, suppliers and partners

So this is it…Not really. This is only Session 1 of a 4 part series. Please pre-register for the next session.