Using social media to sell web hosting
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This document provides an overview of using social media to sell web hosting. It discusses why social media should be part of a company's marketing mix, highlighting statistics about social media usage and its impact on traffic and sales. It covers the pros and cons of using social media for business. It also outlines the key social networks to use, the 4Ps of social media marketing, how to integrate social media into an overall marketing strategy, how to set social media goals and measure performance. The document provides tips on getting people to interact on social platforms and turning followers into sales leads and customers.
Using social media to sell web hosting
- 1. Reseller webinarsUsing Social Media To Sell Web Hostingwww.heartinternet.co.uk
- 2. OverviewWhy use social media in your marketing mix?Pros & cons of using social media as a business4Ps of social media marketing & integrated social mediaGetting people to interact with youTurning followers into sales & monitoring performanceQ&Awww.heartinternet.co.uk
- 3. Why should social media be part of your marketing mix?“Social sharing now produces an estimated 10% of all web traffic and 31% of referral traffic to sites from search engines and social networks.” Source: StarcomMediaVestGroup and RubinsonPartners“88% of Brits use social networking sites” Source: eMarketer“40% of respondents clicked the 'like' button for, or 'liked', a company, brand or association on Facebook to receive discounts and promotions.” Source: ExactTarget“61% of small business owners use social media to identify and attract new customers” Source: Small Business Success Index“More than half of UK consumers would be glad and feel as though they were being 'listened to' if a company responded to issues that they posted on microblogs.” Source: Fleishman-Hillardand Harris interactiveTop 20 most visited website categories as a % of the UK’s total trafficSource: Hitwisewww.heartinternet.co.uk
- 4. What do you want to use social media for?Building a community around my brandA new customer support channelDriving sales and referralsBuilding closer relationships with customers & brand advocateswww.heartinternet.co.uk
- 5. What are the Pros & Cons?Pros One on one relationship with customers Position yourself as an expert Distribute offers & deals instantly Increased sharing & word of mouth potential Very little direct financial investmentConsNot a “fire & forget” option Requires time to be dedicated to it each day Public airing of any issues (service & technical) Can lose control of the conversationwww.heartinternet.co.uk
- 6. Which social networks to use?Share of visitors going to websites within the social networking category (UK)Source: Hitwisewww.heartinternet.co.uk
- 7. The 4Ps of social media marketingAdapted from http://net-savvy.com/executive/social-media/4-ps-for-social-media.htmlwww.heartinternet.co.uk
- 8. Integrated social media marketingContent creationSharing & discussionCentral website screenshot is a theme by http://www.premiumpixels.com/freebies/business-website-template-design/www.heartinternet.co.uk
- 9. Social media action plan11. SMART goalsWhat you want to achieve?2. Market dataWhat are the trends to react to & competitors to follow?3. The tools to useWhich tools will help you achieve your goals?4. Integrated marketing & measurementHow do they fit in with your current marketing goals, and how will you measure success?234Adapted from http://www.slideshare.net/shannonlatta/social-media-action-plan-templatewww.heartinternet.co.uk
- 10. Heart Internet’s positioning one sheetWhat we want:Our aim is to create a community based around the Heart Internet brand though a single, cohesive and integrated strategy across all channels. We will provide a personality behind the business, positioning ourselves as web hosting experts, by actively engaging in conversations with our customers and prospective customers, as well as communicating new features, promotions and prizes. What we don’t want:We must not use social media to open up new support channels nor seek out customers complaining about their current web host to sell our services.All conversations should be positive and remain on topic and avoid getting in to tit for tat conversations. At no times must we use the mediums purely for a hard sell.TwitterInstigate discussion and conversations surrounding topics associated with our target audience Share useful links/resources from 3rd party websitesAnnounce new blog posts, features, promotions and prizesRun exclusive campaigns and promotionsFacebookPersonalise Heart Internet with pictures, updates and personal contactIncrease engagement with the brand Integrate other media (e.g. YouTube, blog etc.)Offer exclusive promotions and resources www.heartinternet.co.uk
- 11. What makes people want to follow a brand?Source: http://blog.getsatisfaction.comwww.heartinternet.co.uk
- 12. Getting people to interact with youhttp://bit.ly/pEGIYAwww.heartinternet.co.uk
- 13. Turning followers into salesSimpleRetweet positive comments
- 14. New product/ feature announcements
- 15. Reply to all sales enquiries quickly
- 16. Link to case studies & testimonials
- 17. Ask for feedback on what new features & offers they wantIntermediateExclusive discount codes & short term offers
- 19. Contact people asking for hosting & domain name recommendations
- 20. Offer an exclusive version of your hostingAdvancedIntegrate with an affiliate program
- 21. Register domains directly through Twitter (use Twitter & Heart Internet APIs)
- 22. Integrate a shopping cart in to Facebook (e.g.www.payvment.com) www.heartinternet.co.uk
- 23. Monitoring performanceThe toolsThe metricshootsuite.com tweetdeck.com twittercounter.com google.com/analytics bit.ly Postrank.com Source: www.socialmediaexaminer.comwww.heartinternet.co.uk
- 24. Questions & AnswersNote: The presentation slides & webinar will be made available via our blog in the coming days.ww.heartinternet.co.uk/blogwww.heartinternet.co.uk
Editor's Notes
- #4: The 3 broken out segments are facebook, Youtube and twitter. Together they attract over 10% of ALL visits to websites in the UK. That’s more than Google
- #5: Clearly define what you want to social media for. If you want to use it for multiple purposes, create distinct accounts for each e.g. create @yourcompany and @yourcompany_supportIt is tough to be all things to all people
- #7: The big two to focus on are Facebook and Twitter. If you can produce video content, by all means use YouTube to add another dimension to your marketing. If you are targeting businesses or business people, LinkedIn. For the purposes of this webinar, we will focus on Twitter and Facebook, and to a lesser extent YouTube. Its also worth pointing out, most people who use Twitter don’t actually go to Twitter’s website itself.
- #8: [Note – the text below is a copy & paste from another website, adapt the text do not use it verbatim]PerceivePay attention to what's happening online and understand what it means to your business. Learn your way around and know where people are talking about you—and your competitors—and listen to what they're saying .ProtectBe prepared to react to events in social media. If they point out product problems or areas for improvement, get that information to your product group. When critics gripe or point out your flaws, be prepared to respond.ParticipateJoin in relevant online discussions. Comment on blogs, join online communities. Don't try to subvert the medium (by, for example, using a fake identity). Be appropriate, and you can be a constructive part of the conversation.ProjectBlogs, media sharing and social networking sites can be useful for promoting your business (just avoid the activities that lead to active opposition). Social media are also good for projecting your personal brand. As you speak, just remember to keep listening. This is a world of two-way communication, and listening will tell you how your speaking is going over.
- #9: Don’t operate each network as a silo, use them to drive each other and cross pollenate across all of them.Aim to drive traffic/ awareness towards website
- #12: This shows the biggest potential comes from your existing customers,running special offers and generating useful content
- #13: Don’t just chase a number, for the sake of having a large number of followers. Focus on quality over quantity e.g. it is better to have 100 active followers who have an interest in your product than 1,000 who pay you no attention and have no interest in web hosting. The key is to getting started is to be active and not dip in and out once a week or less. It is a daily commitment, especially at the start.
- #14: Crowd source deals, e.g. If 20 people ‘like’ a deal it becomes active
- #15: Tag all shortened links with your analytics software’s tracking data (e.g. Google analytics) to track visit and ecommerce data