7 Business Benefits of Owners or CEOs Sharing via Social Media

7 Benefits of Being a Social Leader

Brandfog’s, “2012 Social Media CEO & Leadership Survey”  had thirteen insightful conclusions, I have summarized the seven which focused on the impact of the Social Leader.   In summary, Social Leaders’ engagement outcomes include more sales, more trust, effective crisis management, a competitive advantage, and a more desirable place to work.  NOT BAD!

1.       81% of respondents believe that CEOs who engage in social media are better equipped than their peers to lead companies in a web 2.0 world.
2.       78% cited Better Communication and 71% stated Improved Brand Image as the biggest positive benefits.
3.       82% of respondents were more likely or much more likely to trust a company whose CEO and leadership team engage with social media.
4.       77% of respondents were more likely or much more likely to buy from a company whose values and mission are defined through CEO and executive leadership participation on social media.
5.       93% of respondents believe that CEO engagement in social media helps communicate company values, shape a company’s reputation, and grow and evolve corporate leadership in times of crisis. 
6.       94% said that CEOs and an organization’s executive leadership team enhance the brand image by participating on social media.
7.       78% of respondents would prefer to work for a company whose leadership is active on social media.

“The survey results demonstrated that executive engagement in social media raises the brand profile and instills confidence in a company’s leadership team. It builds greater trust, brand loyalty and purchase intent. Respondents overwhelmingly confirmed their belief that C-Suite executives who engage in social media are better equipped to lead a company, communicate values and shape a company’s reputation in today’s changing world.  .. . 

The most effective leaders throughout history have been great communicators, yet the vast majority of modern day CEOs and C-Suite executives are conspicuously absent from social media channels.  As of January 2012, 61% of Fortune 500 brands were engaging with customers via Twitter, but less than 2.5% of Fortune 500 CEOs were actively participating on Twitter.” The BrandFog Survey 2012.
For the full survey results, see: http://www.brandfog.com/CEOSocialMediaSurvey/BRANDfog_2012_CEO_Survey.pdf

Brandfog’s concludes that the “next generation of business leaders will require new talents and a different set of skills to successfully grow their companies.  …in order to effectively lead a company, management competencies will have to be reinvented around a new set of Principles, including transparency, integrity, collaboration, and consistent communication with stakeholders about company vision, mission, and values through social media channels.”

www.SofieAndreou.com

3 Local Business, 3 Different Social Media Approaches

I had the honor of being asked to choose 3 local businesses for @TeresaKaszuba (to feature on) @CHEX5OCLOCK .  So, who did I believe applied superior use of Social Media.   Well, it was a tough choice as there are 100s here in Peterborough, so, we choose three in walking distance of each other, and hope to do this again in a months time with three different businesses in maybe a different area. 

So, the three businesses we chose included a women's fashion boutique, a bakery and a non-profit environmental organization store.   Here the full video coverage, watch the beginning, middle and end to catch all three Social Media spots! 

Our first stop, the clothing store www.TiaStar.com interesting enough started as an online clothing store and then evolved into her new physical retail location, carrying clothes as well as locally made jewellery and other accessories.  It`s defiantly one of the funkiest stores in Peterborough, very New York.   Tia`s style and personality comes through on her store, blog & Facebook   She says the biggest thing that differentiates her is her personal customer service. She is always sharing HOW TO do certain things, like wear a hair band, or such on her blog.  This store owner said she finds her website, Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TiaStarOnlineBoutique and her blog http://blog.tiastar.com/ very useful business tools.  Tia`s fashions were used recently in a Strutt 4 Kids fund raiser, Tia posted a photo as the girls were hanging around in her shop. The post of those girls received higher than normal engagement levels, showing her community loves that she supports them, and that people love seeing themselves and friends in posts.  All of her posts are very Photo driven, which also increases her visibility and reach.  More than not, her Facebook posts link back to her blog or website, increasing both her traffic and her website sales.

The second company we visited was http://www.blackhoneydesserts.com/.  Our Bakery and Coffee Shop owners, Lisa Dixon, has two locations, the coffee shop on a busy street and the bakery which is tucked behind the busy street. She first started her Twitter efforts to bring people into her shop. She says it works! She now sees her smart phone and the few seconds it takes to take a photo and upload it as her marketing budget and marketing effort! She loves it. People often come into her bakery,  take a photo of what they are about to purchase, and tweet it.  Lisa says this leads to people dropping in asking to purchase what that last person had tweeted, showing her the photo they just saw mentioning @blackhoneycake.  Of course, as a business owner, she`s thrilled.

Finally,  we visited  @ptbogreenup, these guys were selected because of their online supportive nature.  They are always LISTENING to & supporting their online community.  Matt Higgs from Peterborough GreenUp says they don't listen at 3am and no one expects them to be. They respect and support their online community, they are always retweeting and mentioning appropriate peeps.  They are an excellent example of Twitter excellence. 

He too uses his smart phone as his online marketing weapon!

In summary, all three of our outstanding businesses see that their efforts are noticed and grow when:

1) they use PHOTOs in their posts vs just text.

2) their current followers shares or mentions them.

3) they share photos of their community involvement.

4) they mention or share others`relevant online tweets or articles.

5) they link back to a visual page on their own Blog or Website.

I would like to thank Kevin & Teressa from the @CHEX5OCLOCK show, this was a BLAST.   It was interested to see how shy our cameraman, Kevin, is! KEVIN, good luck in your Iron-Man November 25th!
@TeresaKaszuba I hope we do this again next month and a few times next year, each with three other outstanding companies. You are a BLAST to work with, everyone in this community LOVEs you!

Highlights of my latest 1 hour Social Media Seminar

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! 

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. 

http://www.thespec.com/news/business/article/823427--business-strategy-what-to-tweet-like-and-link

5 Reasons Resorts/Hospitality Industry use Pinterest

This is a piece by Jennifer Craig, Sales & Marketing Manager of the Irwin Inn in Ontario.  It's one of the case studies featured in my newest book, Your Social Strategy.

"With so many social media market avenues available, it is hard to distinguish what ones to engage in.  Should you do them all? Or should you invest your time into just the ones, which make the best sense for your business.  

The Resort industry, markets a fairly emotive product a picturesque lake, a comfy cozy bed, sunsets, natural settings. All of which are hard to get across to the buying public with simple words.  Our target market is women ages 30 - 55, the primary decision makers when it comes to travel.  Our goal with social media was to try to find the best avenue to reach these individuals, and stay in their conversations and forefront of their minds when they were making their decisions.

For the Inn, one of the suggestions was Pinterest being fairly new to the social media scene, this vehicle peaked our interest level and we just started it for several reasons:

1. Its fastest growing demographic is our target audience, women ages 30 to 55 years!  They love pinning their dreams and wishes it’s like having a viral Bucket List!

2. It allows us to display our products & services in an emotive state, nothing expresses emotion more than a beautiful sunset over the stunning lake with 2 chairs in the foreground with a caption that says we’ve reserved you a seat!

3. It allows our guests to connect, they now can share images from our board with their followers of their visits to the Inn, favorite activity etc.

4. It is traceable back to our website, by inputting descriptions with direct links back to our website, viewers are able to travel from our Pinterest board directly to our website, and it’s searchable!

5. And most of all, it's fun to work with!

When we initially set up our boards, we realized the importance of not only promoting the Inn itself but also creating an atmosphere of excitement about our area.  

We initially set up 4 boards:

·         Activities you can enjoy at the Inn – highlighting the many different  experiences you can enjoy while staying at the Inn

·         "Resorting, a way of life" – a Fun board to express what Resorting Life is all about, many images here are captured from other boards

·         Explore the Kawarthas! – This was very important as it allows us to post supplement services and interest items in the area, in addition allow searches based on area not just the Inn.

·         Favorite Places & Spaces – this is a standard title of most pin boards, so we utilize this to showcase the variety of accommodations at the Inn.

·         We’ve since grown the board to include JUST for Fun – things on Pinterest that we just find interesting

·         Weddings – Showcasing the Inn’s location, and services when it comes to the most important day in a couple’s life

·         Executive Retreats – building up a relationship promoting team building, showcasing images of the difference a retreat at a resort can make.

·         Stoney Lake Memories – a board that highlights the beautiful scenery of our lake and special moments that have been shared. And we will soon be adding a Dining Board with full recipes of our favorite dishes, and our Spontaneous Board, for those interested in last minute events, specials and promotions going on at the Inn.

So far our experience has been very positive our followers are slowly growing, and the back links to our website have had a great increase.  We’ve definitely learned a lot along the way, including the importance of descriptions with on Pins, and links back to our website whenever possible.

We get excited when we see other’s repining our images, some for general interest, and others who have stayed here before and want to share the images of the Inn.

Happy Pinning!

Jennifer Craig , Sales & Marketing Manager

Irwin Inn, Stoney Lake

http://Pinterest.com/IrwinInn/ "

Thank you for sharing your experience with Pinterest Jennifer Craig! Happy Pinning!

Video of a real estate professional using QR codes!

Here is an excellent example of a real estate agent using Auto Responders and QR-Codes! Enjoy!

My Interview & video highligts from the Timmin's Seminar!

"I hope you enjoy this video & the article, it's full of quotes from the interview!

Thank you, Kate McLaren, The Daily Press, Timmins for writing this article and posting this video!  I hope you all enjoy it" Sofie

http://www.timminspress.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3115715

Live Interview!

"Online social graces.

BUSINESS: Social media sites ideal for promoting biz

By Kate McLaren, The Daily Press

Updated May 2011

In a world where tweeting, Facebooking, and YouTubing are part of the everyday vernacular, social media expert Sofie Andreou is making sure businesses are not missing out on the action.

An author and Trent University professor, Andreou was in Timmins Monday to deliver a workshop presented by the Timmins Chamber of Commerce.

She explained although social media tools like Facebook and Twitter are extremely popular for personal use, only 20% of businesses are currently utilizing them.

"A lot of businesses are still using traditional media, and they see social media as a waste of time.

"But there have been changes to social media, making it a lot more viable to use."

Tools like Hootsuite and Tweetdeck are useful to help time management when using social media, she said.

"These are websites that will allow you to plan out your posts and tweets and will then post them for you at a later time."

"It's a great way to create synergy and energy for events and products, and will allow a company's social media policy to spread through its employees."

Andreou also gave business owners specific tips, pointing out that when using social media, less is more.

"The top reason people stop following businesses or even individuals is that they post too many times"

"Whether you're a brand or a company, the rule of thumb is twice a day. Also, if you do six posts a week, five of those posts should be knowledge-based, providing information to people, and only one of those posts should be promotional."

She added when using social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google, or LinkedIn, it's important for businesses to pinpoint their specialties and play them up.

"Promotional videos and photos are a huge thing. People want to experience the services that a businesses clients have experienced, so videos are a great way to do that."

Linking posts to a company website is also an effective way to build awareness, she said.

"The No. 1 thing I tell people is to set up your space properly so your brand sticks out. If people don't know what you're about in two second, you've lost them.

"So many people are already connected online, so if these businesses don't get connected as well, their competitors are going to start creating a community and a trust online."

"When clients start thinking about products and services they want, they're going to think immediately of the person they've already seen online and start trusting them as the knowledge expert."

While Andreou is an advocate for business online, she explained the social media world may not be for everyone.

"This is actually an important point, and it's something I always put on my exams for my students.

"The kids think that everyone should be on every single social media medium, but that's just not the case.

"It's extremely important to get to know your target market, and that's one of the tools that I show.

"If your target market isn't a big social media user, then maybe you should rethink it."

Social media expert Sofie Andreou was in Timmins Monday, May 9, 2011 for a Timmins Chamber of Commerce workshop, giving local businesses the skinny on social media. She discussed tools."

I hope you enjoyed that article! :)
Sof

Watch your Administrative Access!! Don't get stuck without Access to your Business Facebook PAGE!

Up until recently, whoever created your Business Facebook Page (Facebook Business Pages are also known as FAN Pages, and  Like Pages) was always tied to your Page as the main Administrator, there was NO a way to remove the original Administrator.  This no longer is the case, now; any of your Facebook Business Page Administrators can remove each other.

In our Social Media Training Workshops we have come across entrepreneurs & organizational leaders, who currently own or run their organizations, however, they are thinking of their succession planning.  They’ll need to transfer their Facebook Business Pages & Fans to the new organizational team leader.  In the past, they would not have been able cut themselves away from the Facebook Business Page if they were the original administrator.  Now, they can.  They would simply add the new team’s appointed staff as an Administrator, and that new team can remove the old Administrators whenever everyone is ready. It’s that simple.  

However, we are also seeing organizations who are hiring external or staff to create their Facebook Business Pages, and only have that one human as the Administrator.  The issue becomes if that person for one reason or an other is no longer available, then the company losses all access to their Business Facebook Page. SO! YOU MUST ALWAYS HAVE TWO ADMINISTRATORS FOR YOUR PAGE!

In summary,  we suggest each organization always have two Administrators listed for their Business Facebook Account, one who does the actual Posting, and one who is in their Human Resource department. This simple two Administrator Policy will resolve two issues we have seen many times.

Issue ONE:  The person who created your Business Faebook Business Page is the only person who has Administrative access.  The issue in this case becomes, once that person is no longer employed by the organization the remaining staff could not get access to the Facebook Business Page.   

Issue TWO: We have heard of cases where terminated employees actually deleted the organization's Facebook Business Page.  So, we suggest a two step Social Media Policy be in place, first to make sure there are always at least TWO Facebook Administrators for each Business Facebook Page, and second that if one of one of the two administrators is being terminated, then their administration access needs to be removed immediately. First, please make sure that when your organization's Facebook Business Page is created, have a second “stable” staff member, preferably the Human Resource department or a business leader, immediately added as an additional Administrator to the Facebook Business Page.  

We suggest a the two Admin rule be added into the Social Media Policy for each organization using Facebook Business Pages as a Marketing tool.  It should state that there must be at least two people listed as the organization’s Business Facebook Administrators.  Furthermore, the steps to remove a persons' Administrators' access be removed before they are told that their services are longer required with the company.  When I was at larger organizations, we had a Human Resource check-list of what needed to happen if someone was being let go, ie their voice mail, building, and email access would be removed, this is needs to be added to that list. 

I hope that helps!
Sofie