Social Media as a Marketing Tool?

. . . . No Way!
UHY Advisors, Inc.
27725 Stansbury ~ Farmington Hills ~ Michigan ~ 48223
www.uhy-us.com
A host of other social media channels:
Yelp

Social Media . . .Random Notes
Innovation Chart from 2009 . . . .
Your company could be 3 to 5 years
behind if you have not incorporated
Social Media as a communications /
marketing tool
What is Social Media?
Social Media refers to . . .the use of web-based and mobile
technologies to turn communication into an interactive
dialogue

Another definition . . ."a group of
internet-based applications that
build on the ideological and
technological foundations of the
web that facilitate the creation
and exchange of user-generated
content

What is Social Media?
In brief, Social Media is a Social Instrument of Communication

The core of Social Media is CONTENT . . . content created and shared
by individuals on the web using freely available websites . . Key words
are . . .Sharing, Collaboration and Engagement

Social Media is a methodology to initiate conversation(s) about your
business, products, services, etc.





Social Media is participating in online conversations that shape
perceptions about your brand.
Social Media is NOT simply a tool or avenue to sell your products or
services every time you engage in an online conversation. It is NOT
about the number of Followers or Fans . . its about engaging your base.
Social Media Examples
Social media takes on many different forms, including:
Collaborative Projects . . . . . Wikipedia
Blogs and Microblogs . . . . . WordPress / Twitter
Content Communities . . . . . YouTube
Social Networking . . . . . . . . Facebook
Virtual Game Worlds . . . . . . World of Warcraft
Virtual Social Worlds . . . . . . Second Life
Virtual property in the mass
multiplayer online game Entropia
Universe sold for $635,000 in real
dollars . . Made half million dollars
from the sale.
Forbes (November 2010)

Social Media . . .Value Proposition
Social media is commonly referred to as consumer-
generated media (CGM):
A blending of technology and social interaction to create value.

Social Media . . . 5 Key Points:
Reach - Social Media is capable of reaching a global audience and
is more decentralized and less hierarchical than traditional forms
of print media. Social Media is distinguished by multiple points or
methods by which a customer base can be touched.

Accessibility - Social Media tools are generally available to the
public at little or no cost.
Social Media . . .Value Proposition
Social Media:
Usability - Most social media production does not require
specialized skills and training, or requires only modest
reinterpretation of existing skills; in theory, anyone with access
can operate the means of social media production.

Immediacy - Social media is capable of virtually instantaneous
responses.

Permanence - Social media can be altered almost instantaneously
by comments or editing.
Social Business . . . This reflects that social media is not just a marketing
discipline, but that it has multiple touch-points in an organization such as
customer service, sales, human resource management and R&D.
Social Media . . .Value Proposition
What People See . . .
Just Some Facts . . .
Social networking now accounts for 22% of all time spent online in
the U.S.
Android is activating 300,000 smartphones . .Per Day
Twitter averages almost 40 million tweets . . Per Day
The number of social media users age 65 and older grew 100 percent
throughout 2010
As of June 2011 Facebook has 750 million users
If Facebook were a country it would be the world's 3rd largest
YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world
In four minutes and 26 seconds 100+ hours of video will be uploaded
to YouTube
3
rd
Quarter 2011 . . .Apple sold 9.25 million iPads and 20.3 million
iPhones

Leading Question . . .
How Do I Make $$$ with Social Media?
Its probably the wrong question to ask . . .Better question
might be . . .What is our business strategy regarding the
incorporation of social media as an element of our marketing
efforts?

Since social media has become a platform that is easily
accessible to anyone with internet access, it can rapidly
increase communications about an organization, foster brand
awareness and often, improve customer service.

Additionally, social media is a relatively inexpensive platform
for organizations to implement marketing campaigns.
Leading Question . . .
Does Social Media Fit Our Business?
Some of the
Leading
Media Tools
A Social Media Primer
QR Code
How Do We Get Started?
Getting Started . . .
Remember . . . Social Media allows individuals (or organizations) to
interact with one another and build relationships.

When products or companies utilize social media, people can
interact . . . . .with the product or company.

Social media can allow individual followers to retweet or repost
comments made by the product being promoted.
By repeating the message, all of the users connections are able to see
the message, therefore reaching more people.

Social networking sites act as word of mouth . . . as the information
about the product is repeated, more traffic can be directed toward the
product/company.


Social Media . . .Getting Started
Gain an understanding of Social Media Channels . . .

http://www.socialquickstarter.com/

Develop a Social Media Strategy:
Social media cannot be efficiently used unless a strategy is
aligned with your business intent because strategy drives
tactics, initiatives and ultimately results.

Cultural Strategy
Relationship Strategy
Content strategy
Distribution Strategy
Actions


Social Media . . .Getting Started
No social media site is a Silver Bullet . . . You need an
integrated strategy:
Social Media . . .Getting Started
Develop and implement a Tactical Social Media Plan:
http://falkowinc.com/pdf/Social_%20Media_Strategy_Module_Whitep
aper_12_steps.pdf

Most companies are expected to have a presence on at least
Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter. An additional
value-added presence can be gained by a Blog

Social media channel or tool categories:
News Feeds . . .RSS . . (Really Simple Syndication)
Share This buttons, tagging, and bookmark applications
Blogs and Microblogging (Twitter)
Podcasts and Video
Social Networks such as LinkenIn and Facebook
Social Media News Sites . . .Newsvine, StumbleUpon, Digg
Social Media . . .Getting Started
Tactical Social Media Plan:
z
With over 800 million active members, Facebook is the most
widely used social network worldwide

As a business . . .how do you get on Facebook?
http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php

Create a Brand Page:
Keep your Brand Page public and
allow people to comment. Why?
Customers like being able to
interact with you on Facebook.

Facebook Brand Page will allow you
to incorporate video, photos, and
detailed descriptions.
LinkedIn reports more than 120 million registered users in
more than 200 countries and territories. . . .44 million in U.S.

LinkedIn is a social networking service that is focused on
building and reflecting social relations among people who,
for example, share interests and/or activities.

LinkedIn lets you connect with people you dont know through
the people you do know.
You can see your personal network, but also the networks of your
friends and colleagues.

You can discover connections, request introductions, and learn
about anyones professional career.

Start by creating a LinkedIn Profile:

https://www.linkedin.com/reg/join

Your profile serves as your online business card:
It tells people why they should connect with you and what types
of content you might be sharing.

It makes it easy for friends, colleagues, and potential customers
or donors to find you online because your public profile is
searchable.

Join a Group (there are over 850,000!) and/or create a group that
demonstrates you're a leader in your industry.
YouTube is a video-sharing website on which users can upload,
share and view videos . . .it is currently the 2nd largest search engine
in the world after Google.

Unregistered users may watch videos . . . registered users may
upload an unlimited number of videos.

Video is currently the fastest growing website feature for small
businesses.

The most popular videos are simple, straightforward, and shot by
amateurs. . . they are short - less than 3 minutes.

Videos uploaded to YouTube by standard account holders are limited
to 15 minutes in duration.
A key feature of YouTube is the ability of users to view its videos on
web pages outside the site.
Each YouTube video is accompanied by a piece of Hypertext
Language (HTML) which is embedded on a page outside the
YouTube website.

This functionality is often used to embed YouTube videos in
social networking pages and blogs. Embedding, as well as
ranking and commenting, can be disabled by the video owner.

Other video choices:
Vimeo is ideal for high-end videos like documentaries,
short features, and full-length movies. You can post
videos longer than 15 minutes. Vimeo also accepts
High Quality HD video


Twitter is an online social networking
and microblogging service that enables
its users to send and read text-based
posts of up to 140 characters,
informally known as "tweets".

Twitter has 200 million users as of
2011,

generating over 200 million
tweets and handling over 1.6 billion
search queries per day.

Getting started . . . Go to http://twitter.com
and set up your profile.

Twitter Search . . . http://twitter.com/#!/search-home/

With Twitter Search you can:
Monitor what people are saying about your business and industry.
Keep track of things that are interesting to you and find new and
interesting people to follow.
Research and monitor your competition.

Find and follow interesting people based on your search criteria.

Interact with people already talking about your search topic by
sending them an @ message.

Use the info as market research to find out what others are saying
about a particular topic including your competitors.


A blog gives your company a way to showcase its personality and
culture in a sort of online headquarters.

There are a lot of software platforms
available for blogging, including Blogger,
Posterous, Tumblr, Movable Type, and
TypePad.

One of the most popular blog platform choices is WordPress.

According to a study by Hubspot, the average company that blogs
has 55% more website visitors, 97% more inbound links, and 434%
more indexed pages than those that don't.


Getting started . . . http://www.wordpress.com/

The Benefits of Blogging:
Demonstrate Thought Leadership

Improve SEO: Or Search Engine Optimization

Build Brand Awareness

Build Relationships

Provide Customer Support

Build Community

Communicate News
A QR Code (abbreviated from Quick Response code) is a type of
matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code).

QR Codes were first designed for the automotive industry . . . More
recently, they have become popular outside of the industry due to its
fast readability and comparatively large storage capacity.

A QR Code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern
on a white background. The information encoded can be made up of
any kind of data (e.g., binary, alphanumeric, or Kanji symbols)

The use of QR codes is free of any license. The QR
code is clearly defined and published as an ISO
standard. Denso Wave owns the patent rights on
QR codes, but has chosen not to exercise them.
QR Code
QR Code Usage Ideas:
In-Store: If you have a physical location, you can post signage
with a QR Code for a website where people can learn more about
a featured product, get a special offer, or sign up for your mailing
list.

On Your Business Card: Your business card can only say so
much about you, but a direct link to special content can help
potential customers get to know you and your business better,
right away.

At Events: With QR codes on printed materials, customers can
access additional content or promotions during or after the event.

In print ads: QR Codes provide an instant call-to-action that can
tell your story beyond what can be included in a small ad, and
offer special rewards to those who scan it.
QR Code
Since the entire experience of scanning a QR code and visiting a
website is done with a person's mobile device, youll want to make
sure the content is mobile friendly.

By mobile friendly, we just mean that the content will look good
and be easy to access on a phone.

Getting Started . . .
Pick a code generator website. . . .Most QR Code generators are
free to use and fast to set up.

Here are three popular free sites:
http://www.qrstuff.com/
http://qrcode.kaywa.com/
http://goqr.me/

QR Code
With a QR Code, you can decide what type of content you want to
share . . .you can set the code generator to show text, place a phone
call, send a text message, or send your customers to a specific URL.

Using http://goqr.me/ . . .This QR Code took less than
one minute to create, download and include in this slide!

QR Readers:
Apple iPhone . . . i-nigma, nabfly, Fell Free, Block5, TapMedia,
Android . . . . . . . QR Droid, SimpleAct Inc, Excelsior Studios
Back Berry . . . . . The Jared Company, Code Muncher

Other types of QR Codes . . . Microsoft Tag:
High Capability Color Barcode

QR Code
A host of other social media channels:
Yelp is one of the top ratings and review sites with
more than 50 million unique visitors a month . . .

Location-Based Services use the geolocation
functionality of a mobile phone or smart phone
to provide people with information to Check-in

An INC 500 company survey:
91% are using at least one social media tool
80% have a company page on a social networking site
79% post status updates or articles of interest on social media sites
57% build a network through a site such as LinkedIn
54% monitor feedback about the business
65% maintain a blog
52% are active on Twitter

Social Media . . .Random Notes
Social media offers you the opportunity of doing in-depth research at
little cost . . . .it is possible to get an ROI if you know where you are
going and what you want to achieve.

LISTEN . . . to conversations . . . establish Listening Posts:
iGoogle
Social Mention
NetVibes

The public is already becoming desensitized from the multitude of
social media . . . Your content must be creative, unique , inspiring
and involving.

Remember . . . At this time Social Media is NOT about the Hard Sell.
Social e-Commerce is different and is coming.
Social Media . . .Random Notes
Social Media DOWN SIDE:
Privacy:
Public postings on a public site . . . .not private
Court case . . . no reasonable expectation of privacy

Intellectual Property:
Original author owns the copyright to their posts
Trade secrets can easily be leaked . . .once leaked, its fair game.

Communications Decency Act (CDA):
Social media networking site are typically immune from liability

Evidence and Social Media:
Postings online is discoverable and can lead to liability

http://www.slideshare.net/DaliahSaper/legal-implications-of-social-
media
Social Media . . .Random Notes

For Additional Information
Alan Lund
UHY Advisors, Inc.
Farmington Hills ~ Michigan
(248) 355-1040

Alund@uhy-us.com