Why social media

Why Social Media Can it really make a difference to your business?

First a History Lesson on the Web Web 1.0 – These sites were read-only content and static HTML websites, there was no reason for a user to return Web 1.0 – These sites are not interactive, visitors cannot add or change or comment When the Internet was first made available this was more than adequate as consumers we were used to just 'push' marketing where the TV or Radio just 'broadcasted' information (hoping it would find the right audience!)

A Web 2.0 is Collaborative , it is easy to share information with other users A This is about user-generated content and the read-write web. The line dividing a consumer and content publisher is increasingly getting blurred in the Web 2.0 era.. Then came Web 2.0 This formed the introduction of Blogs, Wikis and Social networking sites and other platforms which enable you to easily share information(YouTube, Flickr)

The Future ....... Web 3.0 Web 3.0 or the Semantic Web will find not only the keywords in your search, but also interpret the context of your request Personalised Search, Intelligent Search Behavioural Advertising The 'whats happening now' web!

The Future ....... Web 3.0 twitter, business networks gps triggered driving directions Fast mobile Internet access iPhone apps such as Around Me ( directions to your business ) gps triggered multimedia content IM, sms advertising, and more Online storage Video calling google search results differ

To Sum it Up... ....and we are moving rapidly to Web 3.0

What are the Search Engines doing – you’ve got a website surely that’s good enough Google has launched ‘Social Search’ It will add search results from people that you know online and integrate them into Google's main search results Google works out everything it knows about you Identifies your social network, (via Twitter / YouTube etc) So your search and my search will return different results and different websites All based on who you know So if you’re not connected online through the social media channels how are you going to get your message and content seen by your prospects?

What is Social Media? The term most refers to activities that integrate technology, telecommunications, social communication and the construction of words, pictures, video and Audio Source : Wikipedia.com

… ..or in other words people having interaction and conversations online in real time What a great experience I’d recommend this business 2 everyone Anyone know of a great restaurant in town – perhaps an Italian? Hey look at this great article – some fascinating facts here! What poor service, I had to wait for over an hour! But instead of ' word of mouth ' it becomes ' world of mouth ' because everyone can read it and contribute to it

Why is this significant? People pass judgments Listened to by peers Only 14% of consumers trust advertising 24 out of 25 newspapers are experiencing record decline So this shows that consumers are not looking in the traditional places to find you – where are they looking then? No presence = invisible, Are they your customers?

Statistics show they’re turning social… 1 out of 8 couples married in the U.S. last year met via social media Years to Reach 50 millions Users: Radio (38 Years), TV (13 Years), Internet (4 Years), iPod (3 Years)…Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months…iPhone applications hit 1 billion in 9 months. If Facebook were a country it would be the world’s 4th largest between the United States and Indonesia (note that Facebook is now creeping up – recently announced 300 million users) 50% are on EVERY DAY 10% of companies are using LinkedIn as a primary tool to find employees The fastest growing segment on Facebook is 55-65 year-old females What happens in Vegas stays on YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook… There are over 200,000,000 Blogs 25% of search results for the World’s Top 20 largest brands are links to user-generated content 34% of bloggers post opinions about products & brands By 2010 Gen Y will outnumber Baby Boomers….96% of them have joined a social network People care more about how their social graph ranks products and services than how Google ranks them More than 1.5 million pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) are shared on Facebook…daily.

How do you get onboard? Social Media Marketing is Using Social networking and user generated content (UCG) platforms to promote a product, service or content by dialogue with the target Audience rather than advertising to them Source : eCRM

But the most important thing is..... In traditional marketing theory consumers are driven in the big end through awareness activities (advertising), they proceed through to buying, marketers have little influence over the middle stages – this is where Social Media has the heaviest influence eyeballs Awareness – Consideration – Preference – Action - Loyalty Buyers Return on Engagement is now the Marketing Challenge

You Must put together your Strategy : We use the POST methodology People : You need to know how your customers are Interacting online, you need to understand the Social Technographics profile Objective : What is your objective, listening, talking, supporting? - chose just one Strategy : How are you going to change the relationship with your customers, you need to think about an engagement strategy and a content strategy Technology : Once you know the above what technology Can you use to help you? POST was first introduced by Forrester Research (www.forrester.com)

People First : different users do different things Inactives Spectators Joiners Collectors Critics Creators Creators publish blogs /update websites..upload video / photos Critics respond to others content, posting reviews commenting on blogs Collectors organise content for themselves, using RSS Feeds or Bookmarks Joiners maintain and visit Social Network Sites Collectors organise content for themselves, using RSS Feeds or Bookmarks Spectators consume the content, blogs, videos Inactives, do none of the above Which Strategy will reach your clients and Prospects? courtesy forrester.com

Your Objective – What is it? This is what it is all about but just pick one objective Listening Talking Energising Supporting Embracing

Your Strategy, for engagement and content Ask yourself how will you engage with your customers and prospects in 3 years time... and how will you get there? You must have a 'homebase' for interactions, your end goal to move people to (this could be your website / blog / e-newsletter You must have further outposts that always lead back to your home base and your goal You must select the appropriate technology for your content, what can you produce? Marketing is now all about Return on Engagement .....Engagement is the key to unlock your business

Finally Technology - Your Key Social Platforms are : Remember Social Media is two things Social – so you need places where you can engage (Listen and talk!) Media – You need places to put your user generated content

Our Recommendations are : Distributes info to your Social media group Form a Relationship Host your Content become an expert Listen to whats being said Reputation Management & Ideas

Businesses are seeing the value 71% of companies plan to increase investment in social media by at least 40% Its low cost marketing Its not going to go away All our competitors are doing it All our customers are doing it All our prospects are doing it Business that are using social media are growing We HAVE to take part or we will be left behind……

You want to join in – where do you start? You need to identify ‘content’ items you can easily create and distribute Actually a lot of the content doesn’t have to be yours! Then you need to identify where you can ‘post’ this data There are literally 100’s of networking sites out there some will be better that others You need to formulate a plan and stick to it Remember it’s a marathon not a sprint What do we recommend as a good start point?

Intelligent businesses…use Social Media Attract Visitors in your Target Market Convert Visitors into Paying Clients Up-sell, Cross Sell Build and Retain Solicit for Referrals Number of Leads Generated Number of Leads Converted Monetary Value of 1 st Transaction Average Gross Profit Margin Number of Transactions per Year Number of Referrals Per Year / client Number of Years as a Client Write and give away great content Professional Ongoing Communications Great content that goes viral Search for your target audience using the Social Networks An Effective SM Strategy Website and communications strategy They will find you An Effective Communications Strategy Get your profile on the Social Scene get your pitch right Follow them and engage in Conversation Be known as the expert Answer their Questions Run a Competition / discount / event Get their Opinions Let them contribute Great content More events etc Great content that goes viral

Social Media, what do we mean? Social Networking Sites Allow Users to add a profile page and then to share information, pictures, images and videos with their friends and families and other business ‘followers ’ Linkedin and Facebook Social Bookmarking Sites allow users to publicly ‘tag’ a website as a favourite therefore voting for it. This information is then easily shared with other Internet Users Sumbleupon – Delicious – Digg -Reddit – Technorati Microblogging Sites Quick messages that get indexed by Google quicker than blogs and websites Twitter

These websites are a great starting point for your Social Platform You will find that you can publish one piece of content in multiple ways

Get Onboard before its too late!

Why social media

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