Using Social Media to Build Your Brand Susan Getgood 1
Myth: Social Media is for Kids 2
The Facts 3
The Facts Social Media has Grown Sharply Year Over Year +% Percentage of Growth (From March 2009 to March 2010) Source: comscore Media Metrix, US, March 2009 and March 2010 4
The Facts 5
The Facts US BLOG READERS & WRITERS BY GENERATION, MARCH 2010 Read Blogs N=629 17% 31% 23% 29% Millenials (18-25) Gen X/Y (26-42) Boomers (43-61) Seniors (62-76) Write Blogs N=249 13% 40% 19% 28% Millenials (18-25) Gen X/Y (26-42) Boomers (43-61) Seniors (62-76) Percent of respondents. Source BlogHer & ivillage 6
The Facts Women are Active Users of Social Media Three Quarters of Online Population are Active Social Media Users* Total U.S. Adult Online Population** = 163.8 million Women online 18-76 = 87.1 million Women using Social Media Weekly or more often = 67.5 Million 64% of Women Online Read Blogs Monthly or more* = 55.6 million BlogHer gets 25 million unique visitors per month to BlogHer.com and the 2,500 blogs in the BlogHer Publishing Network*** Source: *2010 Social Media Matters Study, BlogHer, Inc, Nielsen US Total Online Population sample, N = 1,752 ** Total online raw numbers source: Nielsen Online @Plan and NetView 7
My mom & her good friend Afke Mashatu, Botswana 8
How We Got There My mom started actively using a computer when she was 55, about 15 years ago (1995ish) The Browncoats (2005) Got really involved in the online promo and fan forums for Joss Whedon s film Serenity When the official sites were closed, started her own fan forum The Cortex Started watching a live stream feed from a watering hole in Botswana sponsored by National Geographic (2006-ish) Learned how to take and post her own screen shots from the stream to the discussion forum When the forum moved to Facebook, she did too In September 2009, we visited the game reserve she d been watching online 9
WE LEARN WHAT WE NEED TO ACCOMPLISH OUR OBJECTIVES. 10
Workshop Objectives Introduce social networks as a personal and professional tool Show how social media can help you in your personal and professional life Explain how a blog can help you monetize a hobby Introduce a social media toolset 11
BLOGS & SOCIAL NETWORKS -- HOW DO THEY IMPACT MY LIFE & CAREER? 12
What is Social Media? Blogs Audio/video - podcasts, video streaming Social Networks - LinkedIn, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube Microblogs -Twitter Search Engines & Aggregators - Google, Technorati, Digg, Kirtsy, StumbleUpon Curation tools like Delicious and Tumblr Location Based Tools like Foursquare 13
Blogs 14
Blogs Websites developed with a lightweight content management system Posts display in reverse chronological order Usually include: Public comments Outbound links RSS feed Often include photos, audio and video 15
Slight Detour: RSS RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication Subscribe to the blogs you want to read Read them in an application called a feed reader rather than directly on the site 16
Subscribing to an RSS Feed 17
Reading Blogs in an RSS Reader 18
What s a Blog Good At? Telling stories Building community Establishing expertise Cementing relationships Humanizing a company Viral messages -- faster than a speeding bullet 19
Why Do Women Write Blogs? It s Both Personal and Pragmatic It s About Her Opinion of Solutions, Her Desire to Share Source: 2010 Social Media Matters, BlogHer Inc, BlogHer Network Sample, N = 912 20
Expectations Authentic, transparent, honest Point of view More than just business A way to engage, not a commercial Comments 21
How Might You Communicate with a Blog? To share knowledge, experience and stories To advance career To build a business To explore creativity & expression To be an advocate for a cause 22
BLOGS OF OUR LIVES 23
Blogging & Social Media at the Beginning of your Career http://modite.com/blog/ and http://blog.penelopetrunk.com 24
Building Your Professional Reputation Marketing Roadmaps, http://getgood.com/roadmaps Co-founder, Blog With Integrity Author, Professional Blogging For Dummies 25
Building a Business http://www.blogher.com 26
Blogging to Reinvent Yourself or Your Career http://blogpaws.com 27
Blogging to Reinvent Yourself or Your Career http://ayearto50.blogspot.com/ and http://www.aboomerslifeafter50.blogspot.com/ 28
You re never too old http://mymomsblog.blogspot.com/ 29
SOCIAL NETWORKS 30
Connecting through Social Networks LinkedIn Facebook Friendfeed Flickr YouTube MySpace Branded 31
Social Network Adoption Social Networking Sites Used by US Social Network Users, by Generation, May 2009 Facebook MySpace Twitter LinkedIn Generation Z 61% 65% 9% 0% Generation Y 65% 75% 14% 9% Generation X 76% 57% 18% 13% Baby boomers 73% 40% 13% 13% WWII generation 90% 23% 17% 4% Percent of respondents in each group N=1000. Source Anderson Analytics. 32
Reasons to Join Social Networks Top Six Reasons US Social Network Users Joined a Social Network, by Generation, May 2009 Keeping in touch with friends Gen Z Gen Y Gen X Boomers WWII Total 93% 82% 71% 62% 57% 75% For fun 91% 61% 51% 38% 30% 55% Keeping in touch with family Was invited by someone I know Keeping in touch with classmates Keeping in touch with business network 27% 40% 40% 47% 51% 41% 22% 22% 30% 46% 60 % 30% 39% 40% 27% 12% 10% 30% - 3% 6% 12% 2% 5% Percent of respondents in each group. N=1000 Source: Anderson Analytics 33
Slight Detour: Persona Your persona is who you are online How much or little you share Real name or pseudonym? It s not an exact match for your IRL but the closer your persona is to your personality, the more successful you will be 34
Common Characteristics of Social Networks Community features Friend lists In system messaging Offer consistent interface for all user interests 35
LinkedIn Started as sales prospecting tool Professional network B2B Job search Groups have an organizational flavor 36
Facebook: the Gateway Drug of Social Media Consumer, social Live chat Four types of pages Personal Profile Brand Page Groups Community 37
Facebook Personal Profile 38
Facebook Page 39
Facebook Group 40
Facebook News Feed (Home) 41
Microblogs Group Instant Messaging 140 character limit Real-time 1-to-many Already being used by companies Externally for customer service Internally for rapid communications 42
Twitter 1 in 5 Internet users are on Twitter or another status updating service (Pew 10/09) 43
US Adult Twitter Users 18.1 million 44
Photos, Video & Where Are You Online? YouTube, Vimeo video sharing services Flickr, Photobucket for photo sharing Social Curation tools like Tumblr, Posterous for brief stories Location-based online tools: Foursquare, Gowalla Facebook Places & Twitter Location options 45
USING SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS 46
Your Plan Define your objectives How you use social media tools will depend on your goals Don t forget to consider your preferences and, if applicable, your company culture If you don t like to write, you won t magically love it because you start a blog 47
One from Column A, One from Column B A Content Creation Tools Communicate idea or story - Blogs - Video, Photos - Social Curation Tools B Community Tools Connect with others - Facebook - LinkedIn - Twitter - Foursquare, Gowalla 48
Your Plan You can t do everything, nor should you. Pick the places that matter for you Set your boundaries what and how much do you share Prioritize Consistency matters: Define your brand Carry it through all platforms Take advantage of social media services available on your mobile device to stay connected to what s happening RIGHT NOW to build your influence and reputation 49
Building a Blog 50
Considerations A blog makes sense if it supports your plan you are comfortable engaging publicly you have deep content to share Remember: a blog is a conversation 51
If you blog Be authentic (real) and credible Establish your knowledge to build reputation Honesty Disclose your interests Code of Ethics or Statement of Practices 52
The steps 1. Identify objectives 2. Find your niche 3. Create your editorial mission 4. Design & develop the blog 5. Identify and train your bloggers 6. Build and maintain your blogroll 7. Create your blog policies 8. Write the blog 9. Promote the blog 53
1. Objectives What constitutes success? How will you measure it? Who is the principal audience? You can t be all things to all people 54
2. Find Your Niche Competitors SWOT Where s your opportunity? 55
3. Mission Statement What s the mission of THIS blog? Content that is useful & relevant to the audience is key. Who writes it? Who owns it? How frequently will you post? Comments off or on? Your blog charter or editorial mission is the most important, most critical element. 56
4. Design & Development Choose platform & format Branding considerations Multimedia? Advertising? Create your editorial calendar 57
5. Train your Bloggers Teach them how to write to engage the reader With passion and personality Web-style in chunks, short paragraphs Develop guidelines Be honest with your readers and with yourself. 58
6. Build a Blogroll A list of other sites that your readers might enjoy Establishes your blog as part of a community Can help promote your blog 59
7. Create your Blog Policies Code of Ethics Disclosure Comment Policy Privacy Policy 60
Dealing with Comments No comments NOT recommended Moderated comments Unmoderated comments 61
8. Start Writing Post for at least one month before promoting the blog Credit, link and thank the resources and people that support your posts Make it easy to read you publish an RSS feed 62
9. Promoting the Blog If you build it, they will come NOT You need a: Blog marketing strategy Blogger outreach strategy 63
Blog Marketing Promote blog URL in existing marketing activities - Website, newsletter, collateral, ads, direct mail, email sig line etc. Optimize for search and register with search engines and tracking services Send an email to customers specifically about the blog Integrate a Facebook Fan Page 64
Promoting the blog to other bloggers Read lots of blogs and leave comments Link to other blogs, a lot Thank everybody Participate on social networks like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook Write a good blog 65
Thank You! Susan Getgood Vice President, Sales Marketing, BlogHer & author, Professional Blogging For Dummies Email: susan@blogher.com Twitter: @sgetgood Marketing Roadmaps blog: http://getgood.com/roadmaps 66