Understanding the value of social media as part of your business plan. Building relationships, converting leads to sales.
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eCoast AT-A-GlanceSocial Media Marketing for the Channel – Part 2
Lori RobinsonDirector of Marketing, eCoast
September 15, 2009
Network | Stand Out | Sell
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Welcome to Social Media Marketing for the Channel, Part 2
eCoast AT-A-GlanceSocial Media Marketing for the Channel – Part 2
Lori RobinsonDirector of Marketing, eCoast
September 15, 2009
Network | Stand Out | Sell
Presenter
Presentation Notes
After preparing this presentation for you I realized the title should be changed. In keeping more in line with your most important role, think of social media for what it really is – Networking! When you realize what a great networking evolution Social Media is, you quickly understand that it’s a businessperson’s dream!
About eCoast
Customer Profiles • Manufacturers & Distributors • National VARS• Regional & Local VARS
Core Businesses • Demand Generation• Pay-for-Performance Appointment Setting • Web Marketing/Social Media
Web Marketing Offerings• Exclusive to Channel Partners • Website Design, Microsites• SEO, Google AdWords • Email, Writing, Blogging, SMM
Specializing in scalable, result-based channel marketing services to the technology industry.
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For those of you who may not know who eCoast is, We specialize in Channel Demand Generation services working exclusively with technology companies all over the country….and their channel partners. In addition to outbound marketing we have an extensive Marketing Team which focuses on Website audits and design, Search Engine Optimization, Google AdWords, Inbound Marketing and Social Media
Agenda
• Understanding the Value of Social Media
• Social Media Strategy to Generate Leads
• How to Get Started
• Q & A
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4 Basic Ways to Increase Sales & Ensure Growth
1. Attract new customers
2. Increase the size of every sale
3. Get current customers to buy more often
4. Keep your customers for life
- expertsinsocialmedia.com
Social media can help with ALL of these IN ADDITION TO your other sales and marketing efforts.
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We all know the four basic ways to increase sales and the growth of your company… Attract new customers and grow your database Increase the size of every sale Get current customers to buy more often And definitely -> Keep your customers for life Social media can help you do all of these in addition to your other sales and marketing efforts… As I mentioned before, think of it as a networking channel. It should be added to your business plan to increase sales and grow your business.
Understanding the Value of Social Media
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Understanding the Value of Social Media
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For three years now Forrester Research has analyzed consumers’ participation in social technologies around the world using what they call the Social Technographics Profile. The profile puts online people into overlapping groups based on their participation (at least once a month) in the behaviors shown in the ladder. Consider your place on the ladder as I walk through this…and know that there is no particular order with social media, you can start just about anywhere! ----------------------------- The Spectators are people who are reading blogs, listening to podcasts and watching videos. They may be reading forums and looking at reviews especially when researching a purchase. ----------------------------- The Joiners are people who are starting to participate and have joined sites like LinkedIn and Facebook where they have an online profile. ----------------------------- The Collectors are those people who are subscribing to RSS feeds, voting for websites using applications like DIG, and bookmarking or tagging webpages into sites like delicious. ------------------------- The Critics are one of my favorite groups of people. They’re posting product ratings and reviews, commenting on blogs and contributing to forums and Wikis. They’re finding the best of the best solutions and because of them, this is where I get most of the information I’m seeking both in my business life as well as my personal life. They can be great for your business using social media or they can call you out if they find something not quite right about your social content relating to your business. That’s why its best to be as transparent as possible and know the subject your talking about. ----------------------------- Finally, at the top of the ladder are the Creators. People who are truly contributing content by publishing a blog or guest blogging on other sites, publishing a website, sharing videos, music and podcasts and posting articles in ezines. This is the content that will either go no-where, or get reposted or retweeted or if you’re lucky go viral. Your goal is to get people to talk about you so when you participate in this category, provide great content.
You
Prospects/Customers
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The place for you to be is in the Creators and Critics category at the top of the ladder. You have a B2B website but to truly engage in a two-way conversation with people you need a blog. You need to get your services out to the Social Web and get other people talking about you. Then position yourself as an industry leader by commenting on the blogs, tweets and LinkedIn Groups that your Vendors are posting to. The Spectators are your prospects, doing research in the purchasing phase as well as your current customers who want to believe that the people they do business with are there, ready to engage at any time. If you are not there, they will most likely go to your competitor who is ready to engage with them. The Collectors and Joiners are coming up fast, also as potential customers.
You
Prospects/Customers
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in 2009, more than four out of five US Online Adults are active in either creating, participating in, or reading some form of social content at least once a month. In a bit more detail: Joiner activity exploded and Spectators became nearly universal. “Spectators -- those consuming social content -- reached all the way to 73% of online Americans, which should end any remaining skepticism about whether this social thing is real. Soon, with the level of social content being put out there, it will be virtually impossible for an online consumer not to be a Spectator. In a quote from Forrestor, “Marketers, if you're not doing social technology applications now, you're officially behind. We expect a wave of Web site reorgs and redesigns to include social activity.” And we are finding that also. We do quite a few website redesigns for the channel and they all include links to a blog and the company twitter account at the very least. Some also link to YouTube videos, Slideshare presentations and their LinkedIn profile.
In January, 2009 WhitePaperSource.com conducted a survey with 880 total participants. 70% were small business owners Followed by employees working at a company (26%).
"Social media and Web 2.0... technologies are the great levelers which put everybody on a more equal playing field."
Featured Guest:Mark Sochan, President & CEO, ConstructiveAugust 25, 2009
This quote was in a Gartner Voice interview with Mark Sochan, President and CEO of Constructive… "Social media and Web 2.0... technologies are the great levelers which put everybody on a more equal playing field." You can do all the same activities in Social Media as your vendors are and the only thing it costs is time invested. You don’t have to have a big website, billboard or TV ad. Everyone is equal in social media with really good content separating you from your competition. In fact your vendors such as Microsoft, Cisco, Dell, IBM, Vmware, Xerox have already adopted Social Media in so many venues like video, blogging, Twitter and LinkedIn. If their brand is a big part of your business, then it is easy for you to publish good content and grow your business over time by taking their lead.
• Network with existing customers and the companies they network with
• Invest (not spend) an hour a day
• Comment on industry leader posts
• Create a presence – be transparent
• Get people to talk about you
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Here are a few Social Media networking tips - Network with existing customers – take the top 10-15 customers to start with and find them on LinkedIn. Who are they networking with? Are there other local connections you can be introduced to? Invest an hour a day – social media networking is business. You are not spending, wasting or trying to find time for it but rather investing part of your day in it. Visit all your vendor’s blogs and comment on one a week. Links from these blogs are extremely valuable for website ranking as well as getting your name out. Also, follow your vendors, customers and competitors on Twitter. Create a presence and be transparent. Use your company name if posting from the company in Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Always use your own name with your company blog. Get people to talk about you. Once you are out there for a while, people will be reposting your posts and pointing to your blogs.
Turn Relationships into Visitors
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Relationships formed from Social Media Networking will undoubtedly become visitors to your website and blog. Turning Relationships into Visitors.
Get Found:
Search Engine Optimization
Blogging
Social Media
Convert:
Offers/CTAs
Landing Pages
Lead Tracking
Lead Management
Convert Visitors into Customers
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Then Convert the Visitors into Customers… The more targeted traffic you get to your website the more potential you have to capture leads and convert them to customers. But in order to get those prospects to your website you need to Get Found Good Search Engine Optimization will allow you to come up organically on the first page in Google. Most web developers are making an effort to optimize their site with the basics like keywords and meta data but without the right tools in place, those sites will most likely not make it organically. They then turn to pay per click advertising. Make sure your web developer or ISP is using a system that optimizes and measures all aspects of your website to convert traffic to customers. Having a blog is seen as highly relevant content by Google as well as people searching for opinions and recommendations during the purchase process. So Blogging is extremely important to your business to help bring your website up high organically. Promoting your content, engaging with people and letting them talk about your services, all at no cost to you but time invested, is the magic of Social Media. Next it’s important to have the right things in place to capture and convert your leads such as Offers and Calls to Action and Landing Pages with Lead Tracking built in and Lead management tools to nurture them along to the next stage.
Getting Started with a
Blog
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Let’s talk about getting starting in social media with a Blog
One mention in a popular blog can be all it takes to focus the world's attention on your business.
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The potential of Social Media is amazing
97% More Inbound Links for Companies That Blog
Blogging Means More Inbound Links
434% More Indexed Pages for Companies That Blog
Blogging Means More Indexed Pages
33% More Visitors for Companies That Blog
Blogging Means More Visitors
More Inbound Links, Indexed Pages and Visitors = Google Love
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…you will rank higher organically in Google!
Best PracticesBlog
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Here are a couple of best practices to follow when writing your blog:
Best Practices
• Never Sell – Share your knowledge, tips, offer advice, it’s all about helping them, not you
Blog
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Don’t write about your products and services – Don’t try to sell them. Provide tips about your industry, share helpful information. It’s all about them, not you and how you can be of service to them.
Best Practices
• Never Sell – Share your knowledge, tips, offer advice, it’s all about helping them, not you
• Your Time is Valuable - Don’t invest more than an hour on one article
Blog
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Your Time is Valuable - Don’t invest more than an hour on one article. If you are it may come off as too technical and dry so Keep it simple.
Best Practices
• Never Sell – Share your knowledge, tips, offer advice, it’s all about helping them, not you
• Your Time is Valuable - Don’t invest more than an hour on one article
• Use the 50/50 Rule – invest 50% of your time on the content and 50% on the title
Blog
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Use the 50/50 Rule – invest 50% of your time on the content and 50% on the title. Catchy titles are very important to hook people into reading your blog. And it’s Okay to be funny or controversial. Try to get a few keywords in there too. Google searches will find your blog title if someone is searching on Network Security for instance and you have that in your blog title.
Best Practices
• Never Sell – Share your knowledge, tips, offer advice, it’s all about helping them, not you
• Your Time is Valuable - Don’t invest more than an hour on one article
• Use the 50/50 Rule – invest 50% of your time on the content and 50% on the title
• Be Transparent – Use real names, offer real advise and don’t promise anything you can’t deliver
Blog
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Be Transparent!
See How Others Do ItBlog
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Before you try to sit down and write your first blog, Go to technorati.com, type in keywords in your industry and see how other bloggers are being successful. The results are ranked by authority, similar to google’s ranking by relevant content Enter the conversation and comment on several blogs. If you are using RSS feeds, you can be an early commenter which will be seen more and get people to link back to your website. Subscribe to a few of those blogs via RSS feed.
Email existing customers & friends, invite them to
comment!
Send it to your vendors and the thought leaders in your industry.
Blog
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And finally, in addition to a PR announcement about your new blog, send out an email to your existing customers and friends to invite them to comment. It’s also a good idea to send it to your vendors and the thought leaders in your industry. They will most likely blog about you and bring you new customers.
Share Your Knowledge
Blog
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Share what you blog about on LinkedIn Groups, Twitter, your Facebook Fan page and YouTube if you post videos.. There are tools out there that will automatically announce your new blog post on these accounts and many more, saving you a lot of time.
We Can Help!
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If you need help setting up your blog and social media sties, eCoast can assist you!
Boost Traffic, Ranking and Leadership
eCoast Blog Management
Blog management from eCoast includes the following services to get your new blog started:1. Blog name registration.
2. Installation of blog software, add-ons, and plug-ins.
3. Custom blog design reflecting your company’s brand.
4. Development of an editorial calendar & content plan.
5. Training on blogging techniques and best practices.
6. Monitoring & measuring of your blog’s success.
Blog
Blog Management
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our Blog Management Service includes… At eCoast we know and understand the technology industry exclusively and enjoy crafting the right message for your services. We also offer optional Ghost writing for those that are crunched for time and need help.
Social Media Roadmap
• Setup/Optimize LinkedIn & Facebook
• Setup and Optimize Twitter
• Add 500 Targeted Followers
• Follow 150-300 Relevant Contacts
• Includes distribution of information to different media types, platform types and people, especially key thought leaders in the industry
• Recommendations moving forward
Custom Playbook
Designed to Get Your Blog, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook Working For You
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eCoast Social Media Roadmap Service For those who already have a blog or one in progress and need help with a Social Media plan… If you are interested in more detail about implementing your own social media roadmap please contact me and I would be happy to set up a consultation. Lori Robinson 603-516-7516 [email protected]
Social Media Marketing: An Hour A Day – by Dave Evans, Paperback
Secrets of Social Media Marketing: How to Use Online Conversations and
Customer Communities to Turbo-Charge Your Business! – by Paul Gillin
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Even though we’ve tried to simplify it here all this can still be overwhelming but you don’t need to do it all at once. Try an hour a day – There’s a great book listed here called Social Media Marketing: An Hour A Day – by Dave Evans
How can I best position my company on social networking sites to get the most eyes on our products? Choose the right groups to be a part of, in LinkedIn and Twitter, and provide great content. Great content attracts buyers and people who will talk about you, building a nice reputation and following. By groups I mean IT networking groups as well as the verticals you cater to like healthcare and higher education. Often these groups contain thousands of members. Many are local too. It’s a matter of taking a few minutes to find the best ones and joining. There’s no fee. Once you are in the group you can post a topic and it will be sent to all the members. Are customers actually buying based on contacts generated from Social Media Marketing? Other than the huge success stories we’ve heard about from Zappos and Dell using Twitter, I would definitely say yes, because social media is now considered as important as Google in the purchasing process. The advantage social media has is that you can get real time recommendations. People are more than happy to share their point of view and add links to support it. How do you balance between the right number of outlets…and spreading your message too thin across too many mediums? I would experiment with different targeted groups you find on LinkedIn and Wefollow. Wefollow.com is a place where you can follow people in your industry and the industries you serve in Twitter. Once you have them in place start posting your blog articles and see what kind of response you get. If the response is low, continue to add more places to post like slideshare.net, YouTube and Technorati. The more you spread your message, the more inbound links and traffic you’ll get. It’s all good. What is the best way to use Facebook & Twitter for Marketing to new Prospects? Twitter is incredibly powerful. Facebook, not so much. If you’re not on twitter, please sign up. Once you set up your twitter page, which should only take a few minutes, I recommend downloading TweetDeck. In tweetdeck you can set up search columns and see what people are talking about. You can set up a column on VOIP, managed services, UC, or on your vendors to see what they are saying like Cisco, HP, Vmware, Motorola. I also set up a search on my company name so anytime someone tweets about eCoast a notification pops up and I can read and respond. My experience with Twitter is much like many people I’ve talked to. I tried it, didn’t see what the big deal was and walked away from it for a few weeks. Came back and tried it again only got a little smarter about my searches and the people I follow and I had that ah ha moment! I don’t spend too much time on facebook except to meet with friends and family. In the true meaning of blogging, should blogging allow commentary? I hear this question a lot. When companies first start to blog their only apprehension is wondering if someone is going to post a negative comment. To keep it a two-way conversation, allow comments. If the comments are negative you can always delete it. You have the right to screen the comments. But by allowing comments you are telling prospects that you are willing to listen and engage with them. With so many Vendor Partners out there, how would they recognize us as being an asset in social media? I assume, how would your Vendors recognize you as an asset? That’s a great question. There are many ways. They are probably monitoring sites like twitter and Linkedin with search threads and Google alerts. You can do the same with them and your competitors. Another thing I would do is make sure you find them and follow them. They will follow you back and support your efforts. The major manufacturers are extremely progressive in social media. I would not be surprised if they are planning programs to help fund social media campaigns soon to help you sell their solutions. Keep in mind that your role is to be helpful and informative so stick to the manufacturers to serve and try not to create any conflict between them. Can social media networking work without a blog? What are your competitors doing? Can you network having a 2-way conversation, drive people to your site and capture leads? If so, then yes. It’s something you can try. But if your competitors have a blog, I would guess that they will be known more as the thought leader. Often when we visit a website now we look for a blog. It’s the voice of the company and tells us that they are not afraid to have an open conversation. I would trust a company more to do business with, if they had a blog.
