“Social Media in Small Business is. Anything But Small” …Featuring Brian Solis.
It's Time To Go Social! Page 2. Mark Schmulen. General Manager of Social ...
It’s Time To Go Social! “Social Media in Small Business is Anything But Small” …Featuring Brian Solis
Welcome! Mark Schmulen General Manager of Social Media Constant Contact Email:
[email protected] Blog: http://blogs.constantcontact.com/
mschmulen @mschmulen markschmulen
Meet Brian Solis
@briansolis TheBrianSolis BrianSolisTV
We’re Making Social Simple www.constantcontact.com/socialmedia
Join The Twitter Chat
1. Don’t have a Twitter account? Go to www.twitter.com, and create a username and password 2. Once you have a Twitter account, go to www.tweetchat.com, and click on “Sign in” 3. Enter your Twitter username and password, and click “Allow” 4. In the box at the top of the TweetChat page, enter the “hashtag” for our Twitter Chat, #CTCTsocial, and click “Go” 5. To participate, type a short message in the box at the top of your screen, and click “Update”
The Rise of the Social Consumer
YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine Serves over 9B streams per month
More than 30 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each month
People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook
More than 100 million Tweets fly across Twitter every day
Social Feeds = Content Discovery
Customers are Checking-In
Consumers expect to be rewarded
Likes create a form of social currency
Facebook has increased traffic by 100%. The number of orders has jumped 30%.
Actions Become Social Objects…Broadcasting Every Step
Social Triggers Purchase Decisions and Shared Experiences
Members of social networks spend 1.5x more than the average Internet user
Small-business owners have dramatically upped their usage of social media for marketing in the past year
For business owners, social media ultimately should be a two-way street. It’s about business owners connecting with customers and customers connecting with businesses. Susan Sobbott, president
Spreading the Word
Small Business
Social vs. Traditional Marketing
63% of small businesses say word-of-mouth marketing is the most effective way to market their business and find new customers
Reach Out to Bloggers and Tastemakers • Find bloggers who write about your space or related experiences • Assess their “angle” • Create a story that’s special to them • Package an experience that inspires them to share with their audience • Create “social objects” that help them tell their story – Video – Pictures – Customer story
A 360 Approach to Social Media
Tom Bihn: A Look at a Complete Approach
• Seattle-based Tom Bihn is a small business that makes and sells travel bags – Competes against very big companies
• Uses social media and engagement to spur word of mouth • Uses profiles in multiple networks to connect with customers and prospects • “Anytime a company is given more ways to directly communicate with customers, it’s an opportunity for growth”
Tom Bihn: Blogs • Blog provides a centralized source for information • Features customer stories • Spotlights real world use • Solves problems and answers questions through posts • Demonstrates expertise
Tom Bihn: Flickr • Not just a catalog • Showcases products and uses – Packing techniques and tips
• Involves customers in feedback and design – Creates products based on insight
• Tagging, describing and titling pictures helps them show up in customer searches
Tom Bihn: Facebook • • • • • •
Invites people to join them on Facebook Interacts with the community Offers specials/deals Shares reviews Spotlights customers Hosts scheduled chats to answer questions
Tom Bihn: YouTube • Shares videos of products and demonstrates usefulness • Uses “story telling” to describe products
Tom Bihn: Twitter • Includes a nice mix of – – – – – –
Retweets Customer experiences Company mentions Thank you messages for customers Announcements of new products and updates Travel regulation notices from the Transportation Safety Administration – Links and photos from the company’s blog
Giantnerd: Reviews • Giantnerd is a social platform totally dependent on consumer presence, opinions, wants, needs • Consumers earn rewards for being social “We want the wisdom of the crowd to help consumers make more educated purchases.” Randall Weidberg, nerd in charge
Giantnerd: Twitter • @GiantnerdCEO – President uses Twitter to humanize the brand – Answer questions – Engage with consumers – Share experiences
• @Giantnerd – Celebrates the community
“We want the wisdom of the crowd to help consumers make more educated purchases.” Randall Weidberg, nerd in charge
Giantnerd: WikiNerdia • • • •
Involve the community Share knowledge Help less experienced adventurers Shape experiences
Giantnerd: Blog • Promotes pillars of social shopping • Reinforces the company’s Core Values
Your Keys to Social Media Success
Top 10 Ways to Excel in Social Media 10. Competitive intelligence 9. Insight and performance 8. Development of relationships through engagement 7. Lead generation 6. Customer service 5. Coupons/Discounts/Promotion 4. Becoming a resource 3. e-commerce + f-commerce 2. Increasing awareness and demand 1. Word of mouth
Humanize the Business •
•
•
Seattle’s Emerson Salon earns 75% of its business from Facebook, Twitter, and its blog Social presences are prominent on their website
– –
Corporate Stylists
Fuses online and real world communities
Build a Following •
In addition to Twitter and Facebook, Butter Lane Bakery follow the appetite of their consumers
– – – –
•
–
Yelp offers Yelp venue page Blog on Tumblr Power group buys on Groupon + LivingSocial Foursquare specials
Scales resources through Postling
Start Conversations •
Liberty Bay Books focuses on Scandinavian and nautical books
–
–
–
Owner Suzanne Droppert shares everything that inspires her from books to travel to food Uses Twitter and Facebook to keep community up to date on in-store events Blogs and creates videos to tell stories and share experiences
“People will mention they saw a post of mine on Facebook, and we’ll talk about it over coffee here in the store.”
Channel Your Inner Artist •
• • •
Based in Eureka Springs, AK Feather Your Nest creates homemade gifts Owner Gina Drennon created presences on Facebook, Twitter, Etsy Blogs Engages with bloggers
“I’ve seen our web stats increase, followers increase, interactions increase, and most importantly, sales increase. I’ve made many meaningful connections with bloggers and magazine editors that have featured our products and our store. I can positively say that at least half of the national press we’ve received is due to contacts we’ve made over social media.”
Special Offers •
California Tortilla (@caltort), a chain of 39 Mexican restaurants based in Rockville, MD, sends coupon passwords via Twitter
–
•
Customers must say at checkout to redeem the offer
Chris Manna’s Woodhouse Day Spa tweets special discounts and offers for massages and manicures everyday
–
Twitter is a popular source of new customers
Sales •
Coffee Groundz (@coffeegroundz) uses the direct message channel on Twitter to receive and prepare orders
•
Reports 20 to 30% increased sales and market share
•
Company loses its primary social champion and is also losing its social cred as a result
Customer Service • MightyLeaf Tea uses Facebook and GetSatisfaction to answer customer questions
• United Linen in Bartlesville, Okla. manages expectations via Twitter – When a major snowstorm hit the area, UL used Twitter to let customers know deliveries would be delayed
Direct Sales • Brian Simpson (@BSIMI) helped The Roger Smith in New York monitor dialogue related to NY hotel stays and travel • Offers specials to attract new guests • Uses Twitter search to identify prospects and offer them a 10 percent discount on the lowestrate rooms • Twitter and other forms of social media have netted between $15,000 to $20,000 in additional revenue
Mobile and Geo Location Marketing • Local businesses use social tools to identify customers within the area • Kogi (LA) and The Crème Brulee Cart (SF) broadcast mobile locations and offers – Each stop is greeted by lines of customers
• Kogi is now considered the world’s first “viral eatery” and has over 76,000 followers • @cremebruleecart has over 14,000 followers
Advice, Help, Direction • @homedepot seeks individuals who are tackling home projects to offer tips and instructions • BestBuy’s @Twelpforce helps consumers with decisions related to consumer electronics • H&R Block helps people seeking tax and finance advice • @NAKEDPizza offers advice, answers questions, related and unrelated to pizza – Twitter made “the cash register ring”
• The Wydler Brothers Realty Team offers insights in the Washington, D.C. market
Events • Coffee Groundz hosts "tweetups” – Attracts hundreds of customers
• RedWire, an online collaboration provider, uses Twitter to spread the word about Wired Wednesdays – A weekly gathering of entrepreneurs looking to share ideas
• Milwaukee burger joint AJ Bombers hosts Tweetups and FourSquare events to get customers Tweeting and Checking-in
Rewards • Berry Chill (@YogiJones) uses “Sweet Tweets” to reward its followers with free yogurts • Monique’s Chocolates in Palo Alto acquired 50 new customers and over 100 redemptions for a special “buy one get one” for truffles via FourSquare – Redemptions converted into 25% repeat business – Compared to an ad in a local paper, it earned 1 new customer for the cost of $300
Bringing the Experience to Life • Umi Restaurant in San Francisco tweets about the fresh fish of the night with colorful hunger-inducing descriptions – Gets five new customers a night from Twitter
• Scott Seaman’s Bed and Breakfast operates in a town of 1,500 residents – Uses TweetDeck to talk to people who tweet with keywords related to this business – Shares experiences to lure new customers
Become the people we want to reach…
@briansolis www.briansolis.com www.future-works.com http://bit.ly/engageme http://bit.ly/prbook www.nowisgone.com
We’re Making Social Simple Get your free NutshellMail account today! www.nutshellmail.com
www.constantcontact.com/socialmedia
Continue the Conversation Now
To join our Twitter Chat: 1. Don’t have a Twitter account? Go to www.twitter.com, and create a username and password 2. Once you have a Twitter account, go to www.tweetchat.com, and click on “Sign in” 3. Enter your Twitter username and password, and click “Allow” 4. In the box at the top of the TweetChat page, enter the “hashtag” for our Twitter Chat, #CTCTsocial, and click “Go” 5. To participate, type a short message in the box at the top of your screen, and click “Update”
