How to Guide on Social Media

I didn't get it. Facebook for business? What brilliant 140 character message can I Tweet? I couldn't understand how social media works for business. However, according to the Fleishman-Hillard 2010 Digital Influence Index nearly 70% of Canadians have a Facebook account and 85% have heard of Twitter. I reckon it's time I learn.


Give me a ring if you're interested in brainstorming a mixed marketing plan for your business that includes social media. We've got 100,000 loyalty members that can help you jumpstart yours. 403-686-9715 or marc.binkley@calgaryradio.rogers.com

I saw Gary Vanerchuck at a conference. I've attached a link to his presentation notes here http://marcbinkleymarketing.blogspot.com/2010/06/crush-it-by-gary-vanerchuk-presentation.html. Gary made a compelling argument to all the marketers present, that wether we 'get it' or not, doesn't really matter. Social Media is the new marketing language and as such, anyone worth their salt had to learn to speak it. So I decided I should read his book, "why now is the time to CRUSH IT!".

Here are a couple of highlights from his book and below that, a few examples (local ones too) of businesses that are "CRUSHING IT"

• with social media the best marketing strategy ever: CARE, authenticity rules
• choose a medium that suits your DNA ie. video, word blogs, twitter, flickr
• get involved in the community that your passionate about

1. Figure out what your passionate about
2. Register at godaddy.com and Start a website to display your passion
3. start a blog (wordpress, tumblr, google blogs)
4. Get a web designer if you can afford it. The better your site is designed, the 'stickier' it is
5. If video is your communication vehicle, get a $200 flip cam. HD is best.
6. Create a Facebook Fan page (normal facebook accounts only host 5000 friends)
7. open a twitter account with your domain name
8. open a tubemogul (video) or Ping.FM (blogs) account
9. Pump out content
10. Deliver your content through Tubemogul or Ping.FM
11. Go to Search.twitter for conversations about your passion and reply to them publicly
12. go to Blogsearch.google.com for blogs on your passion and leave comments with your name linked back to your homepage
13. Search Facebook for content of your passion with "all results", "pages" and "groups". Join as many active groups as possible, but keep track of them
14. Repeat Steps 8 - 13 over and over
15. do it again
16. and again

Here are some great examples of social media

• The Camera Store - www.photorepublik.com (Calgary based international photography community)
• Stuff My Dad Says - http://thingsmydadsaid.com/ (apparently getting a movie deal...remember Julie & Julia?)
• Fishing on The Bow - http://www.bowriverblog.com/
• MEC video contest - http://www.bowriverblog.com/ (social media is about collaboration and creativity)
• Facebook advertising Fan Page - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Advertising/112259292124160?ref=ts
• Youtube Channel Subscriptions - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=222o-OJXq2A
• Lainey Gossip - http://www.laineygossip.com/ (i'm pretty sure she got a job as a TV host because of this blog)
• Skiing around Calgary - http://skihere.ca/

By the way, I am learning. http://twitter.com/marcbinkley and http://marcbinkleymarketing.blogspot.com/

Crush it by Gary Vanerchuk: presentation notes from The Art of Marketing

• Gary Started WineLibrary.com and wine library TV
• grew to over $60million dollar business.  He's 33.
• from '95-'03 he spent over $4.5 million in marketing (annually?)
• from '03 to now he spends about $25,000 (annually?)
• Liquor laws prohibited mass distribution so he started trying to build his own brand
• push marketing - pound the message with traditional media
• Pull Marketing - Social media.  it's about caring.  You cant buy friends & relationships in online communities.  Your content has to be relevant
• Content is King.  But Marketing is the Queen that steers the ship
• Big Box marketing approach is rapidly changing
• Those businesses that go back to "small town values" will win.  In the small towns as a business owner, you've got to hustle, care and understand that people appreciate the bakers dozen price point
• online relationships are just as real as in person ones
• he has 850,000 twitter followers
• the web is just a baby.  it's only been 15 years since we even had such a thing as email.  Youtube is only 5 years old
• Virtual Currency:  Facebook Credits ,  Foursquare
• brands will have to care because word of mouth is now on steroids
• the truth is undefeated.  doing the right thing is never wrong
• if you're trying to reach consumers, you need to have a facebook fan page
• look at other companies that didn't adapt.  Zagat is getting killed by Yelp.
• you need to understand this stuff, play with it, taste it.  get on twitter and facebook and experience these new platforms of communication
• respect the customer
• be socially engaged 24/7.  get committed to it. seek out and engage conversations.  give authenitc non-salesy answers.  You don't need to convince people this is important...find the ones who already believe it is.

Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel: presentation notes from The Art of Marketing

• After months of sailing Cortez & his crew finally arrived in the new world.  His crew asked "how long are we going to stay here for?".  Cortez waited for everything to be unloaded from the ships...then burned them
• How do we get forward moving today?
• CTRL, ALT, DEL - time to reboot
• -50% people who clicked on banners since 2007 (comscore)
• under 8% of online users click through.  There are over 2 billion online users
• this is not a talk about the future.  its about the present.  we are living in the future ie. snaptell, red laser, google goggles, yelp  
• video is king
• media is becoming untethered ie. iPAD
• the question is not when is the web going to take over traditional media, the question should be WHEN IS THE INTERNET GOING TO BE AS PERVASIVE AS ELECTRICITY?
• Apple sold 2,000,000 iPADS in 60 days
• we live in the most branded generation ever
• there are more grandparents on facebook than high school students (readwriteweb - July 7,2009)
• 88% of canadians are on facebook
• Eckhart Walther from Yahoo! says "it's about doing, sharing, socializing, collaborating & most of all, creating"
• Facebook is like your very own "channel" (Think in terms of CBC, NBC, CNN...it is scaleable)
• 81% of online holiday shoppers read online customer reviews (neilson online - Dec 2008)
• Bazaarvoice proves that if you let people open up, you will win.  They have 150 billion impression reviews.  The average review is 4.3/5.  A negative review converts to sale more effectively than a positive review
• with the internet, people are having real conversations between real people
• these conversations are important because they are distributable and scaleable
• the internet isn't about the number of people you can get your message to, but who sees it
• same with Facebook.  It's not the number of 'friends' you have but WHO your friends are that matters
• mass media helps but you need permission for entry.  online allows communication with no barrier to entry
• 1/2 of youtube.com's audience is over 34 (marketingvox)
• the average Canadian watches 15+ hours of youtube video per week.  The average TV commercial is 30 seconds.  The average youtube video is 4 minutes
• Top 3 search engines? 1. Google 2. Youtube 3. Twitter
• Every day on Google, 20% of the searches have never been done before.
• your marketing has to change because of how we connect with one another
• BUT, if your IT consultant says to cancel all your advertising and move everything online...fire him
• the biggest change in this new world is amplification.  Consumers have always had the ability to choose to buy or not and tell their friends if they liked a product or service or not.  The word of mouth is now amplified
• Your brand is no longer what you say it is.  It's what Google says it is.
• Bounce Rates are important metrics to measure your website 'stickyness'  if the bounce rate is really fast it's "i came, I puked, I left"
• identify the pages on your site that have the most traffic and evaluate how the user interface is
• the best value of a brand is in its community
• Digital Darwinism 'we were on facebook & twitter, but it doesn't work'.  The problem is because you're not engaging.  What are you doing to add value? 
• you need to build a community before you launch a product

how to manage in this new world?
1. accept it
2. it goes with.  not instead of traditional media
3. dont write cheques with digital media you cant cash.  it's about honesty
4. open up. let the community share, create
5. attitude, not age related
6. Ask Why? not what.  It's not what are we doing, it's why is this better alighned with our business objectives

• if you have the right message, and you tell the right people, your story will spread....check this free hugs video out,  over 59 million views and counting