Here is an article summarizing the highlights of my hour Social Media Seminar for the Burlington Chamber of Commerce, written by Lisa Grace Marr of TheSpec.com.
Thank you Lisa for this wonderful summary. I truly enjoyed the privilege of presenting to your Burlington Chamber of Commerce members at your new Burlington Performance Center!
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| Presenting for the Burlington Chamber at the new Performance Center! |
"Business strategy: What to tweet, like and link
Virtually every business needs to have a virtual presence but for small business owners, trying to sort out what kind of tweet, like, links and chatter will result in growth is another matter.
Sofie Andreou, author and social media consultant, helped members of the Burlington Chamber of Commerce understand that better at a recent breakfast presentation.
“You may think, ‘Why do I do all of this?’ Forty-four per cent of direct mail is not opened, 86 per cent of viewers skip (TV) commercials and 84 per cent of some don’t like ads on websites. What you need to ask is what medium is your target market on and what social media do they use and how do you reach them?”
Andreou said the best way to start using social media is to first understand why you want to be online and how you want to have a virtual presence — a customer service tool, keeping your business top of mind, a communication tool, or maybe even product and service development.
Andreou said, in her case, posting her blog to LinkedIn is the most successful, with Twitter second, and Facebook running third place.
However, among her clients, sometimes Facebook is the best and maybe only social media that may be required.
"Sofie Interviewed the folks at Bruce County’s Explore the Bruce tourism department. They went from zero to 6,000 likes in a year — now they’re up to 13,000 likes. They figured out their main purpose was to tell people where they are and to download their visitors guides.
How did they grow? They found local influencers in the Grey Bruce community, got them to follow and share information.” After reviewing its online visitors, Bruce County found where their highest traffic came from, Andreou said. Then the tourism department called or enticed them to share something on their Facebook pages the next time they posted."
“Statistics have shown that 78 per cent of everybody who went on your Facebook and liked your page knew somebody who liked your page.
“When they like your page, it’s like word-of-mouth on steroids.”
Another client, a woman’s clothing boutique, tried Pinterest. The store posted photos of a new fall clothing line. The photos that were re-pinned helped the buyer determine what would sell that year.
However, Andreou said while any marketing strategy should involve social media, overuse can kill any positive impact it may have. She advises to post a maximum of two to three times a day and no less than twice a week.
“Don’t keep on trying to sell yourself: ‘Buy my book, buy my book.’ People will stop following you.”
Some social media and social media tools to consider:
Facebook: Extremely powerful, no limit on business pages; pick a logo and stay consistent to your message; consider using apps (contests, etc.); use Grade 2 language and short postings with photos for powerful impact
Twitter: Easy to use; good messaging tool
LinkedIn: Particularly helpful in business-to-business marketing; sales; consultants or experts in a field; attaches a resume to every inmail (email sent through LinkedIn to connections); “turns cold calls into warm calls”
Pinterest: Check out companies similar to yours to see if there’s a way to use this social media; if your product or service can be photographed, consider this tool
Constantcontact.com: An email marketing tool; can be used for eblasts, enewsletters and creating a database of customers; possible fees involved
Tweetdeck: (a Twitter or desktop app) A great way to categorize tweets and monitor tweets that reflect sentiments about businesses; used widely by airlines or travel companies, some of which send coupons to those who tweet negative comments about customer experiences
Sprout Social: Another measurement tool that surveys social media comments about businesses and then categorizes and analyzes them; fees involved
Klout: Offers insights as to who is influencing others about a range of things from ice cream to politics; businesses sometimes will offer perks through Klout to key influencers who may in turn promote those companies to their connections
Who’s got Klout around here?
According to the website, here are the Klout scores for some top influencers (Klout language) in Hamilton and Burlington:
• Chris Farias, creative director of kitestring branding studio: 74
• Julie Cole, co-president, Mabel’s Labels: 66
• Sam Merulla, Ward 4 councillor: 63
• Joe Accardi, chair of YEP (young entrepreneurs and professionals) division of the Hamilton Chamber: 63
• Roz Allen, digital director, Double Barrel Studios: 61
• Bob Bratina, mayor of Hamilton: 54"
Thank you Lisa, I love your summary! Here is a link to Lisa's original article.
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