Social media in small business

What?

• Survey of 1,000 professionals making > $100,000

• 66% could not define “social media”• 99.1% knew it would have a “significant

effect on their business”

The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success By Lon Safko

Major questions for SBs

• How do I use social media in my business?• How can I incorporate this in my business

plan?• How do I make money using social media?• What kind of ROI can I expect?• How will this change the way I do business?

The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success By Lon Safko

So why social media?

• A two-way conversation!• Consumers want information from people

they know, have a relationship with, and share a bond with through trust

• Consumers want to share experiences• “The new way to sell is not to sell at all”

The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success By Lon Safko

Multiplier effect

• An angry customer will tell up to 20 people about a bad experience – a satisfied customer shares with 9 to 12 – it costs 5x as much to get a new customer as it does to keep one

• With blogs, Facebook, and Twitter, 20 can quickly become 20,000 or even 200,000!

The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success By Lon Safko

Case study: Dave Carroll of Sons of Maxwell

> 11 million views on YouTube

My Starbucks Idea

My Starbucks Idea

• Share: Where community members post their Starbucks Idea. Anyone can post an idea.

• Vote: see what other people have suggested and vote on the ideas you agree with. The community decides what's important and what is not.

• Discuss: community members discuss ideas with other customers and about 40 Starbucks Idea Partners

• See: The "Ideas in Action" tab is the proof – announces what actions have been taken and have further discussion around top ideas.

My Starbucks Idea• Traffic – nearly 75,000 ideas submitted in less than six

months, with many ideas receiving thousands of votes and hundreds of comments.

• Top all-time idea is around having "Great Conversations" at Starbucks. Site has helped SBUX prioritize initiatives.

• From big ideas, like healthier morning and food options and bold coffee discussions, to smaller initiatives such as a "reusable cold cup", in just a few short months My Starbucks Idea has become a major force in helping direct the future of the company.

My Starbucks Idea

Click image for site

SBUX 5-year share price

Challenges

• Forbes on “data envy” of brick-and-mortar businesses (Nov 28, 2011) – “physical data” collection push-back

• Where are the data scientists? (Nov 27, 2011; Forbes.com)