Engaging ContentFor Social Media

Presented by:

Adele McAlear@AdeleMcAlear

adele@mcalearmarketing.com

adelemcalear.com

DC Dental Society80th Annual Nation’s Capital Dental Meeting

March 29, 2012

About Me

• 20+ years marketing experience• Consultant for 4 years specializing in social media• Joined LinkedIn February 2004 • Joined Facebook (the 2nd time) in May 2007• Joined Twitter in April 2007• Named one of top 10 most influential women in

social media in Canada• Side project: digital legacy

Your Turn

All hands:• Who has a self-hosted web site?

– Who has changed the content on their site/blog in the last 30-days?

• Who’s got a business page on Facebook?– Have you posted there in the last week?

• Is your dental practice on LinkedIn as a company?– Personal LinkedIn profile?

• Who’s practice has a Twitter account?– Personal Twitter account?

What’s on the sched?

• My second year presenting here• I’m going to play mythbuster with some tough love• We’re going to take one BIG step back• Everything is social• Ideas for original content• Help you with an action plan• Answer lots of questions

Social MediaMythbuster

Reality CheckHave you tried to use Facebook, Twitter or Linked in

and were disappointed with the response?

Do you feel like you’re missing something here?

Don’t believe the hype!

You are less likely to “go viral”

than you are to win the lottery.

Often brands only go “viral” because

they pay agencies

tens/hundreds of thousands of dollars

to make it happen.

Who cares?• Why should someone Like your page on Facebook?

• Why should they follow you on Twitter?

• Why should they visit your web site?

• Why should they read your blog?

• Why should they watch your videos?

WHAT’S IN IT FOR THEM?

Broadcasting vs. Conversing

Why “join the conversation”

does NOT mean it’s all about you.

Old marketing values vs. new marketing values

Don’t be that guy.

Ooo! Shiny!They’re just tools.

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google +, YouTube, Flickr, blogs, podcasts, Foursquare, etc., etc.

New channels to speak to people.

There will always be new tools.

What you are saying and who you are saying it to

is most important.

Not which tool you are using to say it.

Social Media is a long-term commitment

It’s a slow burn.

A marathon.

The web is littered with abandoned accounts

from well-meaning people

who just didn’t think things through.

Why Bother?Because…

• The social web is happening whether you are participating or not.

• You are losing business to those doing a better job at it.

• You are likely over-spending on traditional advertising.

Big Step Backa.k.a.

Marketing 101

Strategy & Tactics

The 5 Ws are strategic

Who

What

When

Where

Why

How is tactical

(Guinea pig time!)

What?

• What are your objectives?– Get new clients?– Get more referrals?– Increase frequency of visits?– Increase the level of services? (upsell)– Raise your profile within your peer group?– Raise your profile outside of your local geography?

Who?

• Who do you want to reach for those objectives?– Non-clients in your geographic locale?– Existing clients?– Friends & family of existing clients?– Other dentists and/or specialists?– National organizations?– Media?

Why?

• Why are you different from your competition?– Staff?– Ambiance?– Awards?– Rare abilities?– Specialization?– Customer care?– Location and amenities?– Flexible booking schedule?

When?

• When should you market to reach your objectives?– Time of day?– Season?– Daily/Weekly/Monthly intervals?– New techniques/products?– New staff?– At time of visit?

Where?

• Where should you target your potential clients?– In your office?– In their homes?– At work?– In the car/on transit?– In the neighborhood?– On the internet?

(All of these places are social now.)

What About How?

• Once you know your strategy:– What your objective is– Who you want to reach– Why you are different– When you should reach them– Where you should reach them

• How is the LAST thing you should answer– Don’t make the mistake of starting with How.

How?

• Devise the tactics that you’ll use to reach your objectives

– Tactics are measureable– You will likely have several that work together– The 5Ws will drive everything you do.

Create A (educational info - why)

Targeted to B (parents - who)

Distributed via C (email - where)

Every D (month - when)

Call to action resulting in E (2 referrals/month – what)

Everything is Social

Physical Places

Physical Places

Physical Places

Print

• Billboards & print ads– QR codes– URLs

Any Web Page

• Any page on the web– Like / Tweet / +1 / Pin

Email

Any Web Page

Any Web Page• Bookmark

Reviews

Types of Media

Owned Media• Under your control• Website, blog, Twitter account, Facebook page, etc.• Build longer term relationships with existing and

potential customers • Benefit – control, cost efficient, niche markets• Challenges - company communication is not always

trusted & takes time to scale

Paid Media• Pay to leverage a channel• Display ads, paid search (AdWords), sponsorships• Catalyst to feed owned media and create earned

media• Benefit – immediacy, scale, control• Challenges - declining response rates, poor

credibility

Earned Media• Customers become the channel• WOM, buzz, viral• Listen and respond; often the result of well planned

and executed paid and owned media• Benefit – most credible, transparent, lives on• Challenges - no control, can be negative, scale

Your Social HubYour web site is your social hub.• Make sure you’ve given it a tune up• If you choose to have a blog, it should be on your

site’s domain.• Any online accounts should link back to your site• Drive traffic from your outposts to your web site.• Your site/blog will hold links to everything you’ve

published online.

V.I.T.A.L. Conent Ideas

V.I.T.A.L. ContentVideo

Images

Text

Audio

Links

Where Can I Put Content?

Examples to create cross-linking• Blog - home to all content + outposts + sharing

• YouTube channel - video content

• Facebook page – text*, photo*, video* + updates

• Twitter - updates & links

• Pinterest - share what represents you

• Flickr - photo & light video content + sharing

• Email newsletter - text content + sharing

• Podcast - audio or video content

* Beware Facebook’s right to use your content

I Don’t Have Time forAll of That!

• Make realistic expectations for how much you can produce and maintain

• Many of these ideas can be sliced & diced to multipurpose content across channels.

• Email marketing can repurpose blog content• Links roundups can cross post to Pinterest• If you are in clinic, have Dentists take turns creating

content.• Think about partnering with a complementary

service provider.

Content Guidelines

• Blog posts: minimum 200 words, illustrate with an image, embed video from YouTube, photos from Flickr.

• Video: ideal = 60 seconds, max = 3 mins.• Audio podcasts: Shorter is better. 5, 10, 20 minutes

are more likely people will listen to whole thing.• Make sure it fulfills your 5 Ws strategy.• Be aware of your tone/voice.

• Don’t be evil – no spam, no broadcasting• Provide value and interest

Content Ideas• Demystify the Dentist: tools, jobs, who does what, dental

specialties, why certain things are done (dental dams etc.), UV light, how to talk to your kids about visiting the dentist

• Care and Maintenance: partials, braces, elder care, infants (milk), flossing for kids, the truth about baby teeth

• Health: X-ray facts, amalgam facts, Wisdom teeth facts, causes of bad breath, healthy mouth/healthy taste buds, top foods to damage teeth, cold sores & teeth, cankors – what are they?

• Procedures: Extraction, fillings, cleaning, fluoride, cosmetic procedures, how do braces get put on

Content Ideas• Emergency Care: what do do if…/on weekend, tooth

knocked out, lost filling, lost crown, cracked/chipped tooth, dry socket

• Consumer Products Review: truth about toothbrushes, toothpaste, home whitening, floss

• Community Help: non-profit/low-cost dental options for low income, students etc.; dental-related charity (smile train, etc.)

• Pop Culture: dental humor, celebrity makeover smiles (who’s had what done?), who are the dentists to the stars, top movies featuring dentists

Content Ideas• Industry Buzz: what’s new in the industry, what are other

dentists talking about, hottest trends

• Ask the Experts: ask a question to another complimentary dentist or health practitioner, community health worker, member of your staff

• Research: give your perspective on current research, deliver your own research or commentary on third-party research

• Inspiration: scour bookmarking sites and your own social networks for interesting news of the week

Content Aggregation• Collect the best of the web for your niche in a link

roundup. Make sure that it supports the 5 Ws.

• Once a week make a links post to the highlights from the web / news etc.

• Use Delicious to share your bookmarks to your blog. • Use Pinterest and embed interesting finds• Use Google Reader and share the feed here.• Use your Twitter account (in part) to post links to

interesting stories (in addition to your own original content)

• Use Storify or Scoop.it for more depth

Content Aggregation• Use Storify or Scoop.it for more depth

Staying on TrackCreate a spreadsheet with the following:• Editorial calendar, by week• Measureable objectives with time frame• Who’s responsible for which editorial piece• Where editorial is distributed.• Each week record # of Facebook Likes, Twitter

followers, YouTube subscribers, # of Foursquare checkins, # of reviews left on each of the sites etc. to track changes over time and spikes in performance.

• If you are using incentives like couponing or refer a friend loyalty via Facebook or other, track conversion.

• Track web traffic/visitors from Google Analytics on your site.

• Track Google Page Rank.

Paid & Earned Media

• Facebook Ads & Google AdSense are highly targetable to location.

• If you have a special story to tell, reach out to bloggers to see if they’ll write about you (mom bloggers, dental bloggers, health bloggers.)

• Offer to guest post on other blogs.• Don’t forget to reach out to your traditional local

media as well.

Last Words• Don’t bite off more than you can sustain over the

long-haul.• Start small and grow incrementally.• Make sure your sharing tools are everywhere!• Explore what other dentists are doing and get

inspired for ideas.• Don’t forget to talk to your fans/followers directly. Be

human. Show humor and tact. Show an interest in them, ask them what they want to see/know about. Be helpful. Be a good member of the community.

More Sessions• Today – Planting Seeds Online, Participation Clinic

• Mark Goren • 1:30 – 4:15

• Friday – A Website for the Practice, Capsule Clinic• Rachel Malishchak• 2:30 – 4:30

• Saturday – Word of Mouth Social Media, Reg. Clinic• David Norton• 8:30 – 11:15 (Level 1)• 1:30 – 4:15 (Level 2)

Resources• Content Rules by Ann Handley and CC Chapman• SocialFresh.com (social media education)• Hubspot.com (inbound marketing tools, gradrs and info)• SocialMediaExaminer.com (how to, videos etc.)• Animoto.com (make video with music from photos)• AudioBoo.com (simple audio podcasting)• NorthSocial (suite of Facebook apps)

Thank you!

@AdeleMcAlear

Blog: adelemcalear.com

adele@mcalearmarketing.com

514.277.5623

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Q&A