It’s a New Year and Social Media is increasingly becoming an invaluable business tool. Whether you’re active in Social Media or not, people are talking about your brand. If it’s not your brand specifically, it’s your industry or your competitor. It’s time to take action to ensure you have a positive brand reputation on Social Media to attract customers and clients you want. Social Media Branding will focus on strategies to strengthen your brand across various social networks including review sites (Yelp, TripAdvisor), group buying sites (Groupon, BuyWithMe), location based sites (Foursquare, Gowalla), Facebook and Twitter.

1. Digital Media Dinners: SOCIAL MEDIA BRANDING Thursday Feb 24th, 2011 Jasmine Seafood Restaurant, San Diego, CA

3. Social Media Consultant, Speaker & Educator

4. Marketing Instructor

6. Online agency experience

10. Personal Profile

11. Business Page

12. Twitter

13. LinkedIn

14. Personal Profile

15. Business Page

16. Location Based Sites

17. Foursquare Specials

18. Collective Buying Sites

19. Review Sites If tweeting about the event My Twitter handle is: @MyMelodie Event Hashtag#DMDinner

20. Facebook

22. When logged on to your personal account, create a separate business page

23. DO NOT use your personal profile as your business page- Against Facebook policy to have more than 1 profile account.

25. Sort new friends as you add them

26. Customize who can view your wall posts

27. Account > Privacy Settings > Search

29. Utilize the Facebook tagging feature. To do this type “@” and then start typing the page, person’s or event name and it will show up on the drop down

30. The more content that’s shared, the more exposure your business page will have on all of your networks. Shared content will show up on friend’s streams

32. Photos of employees in office settings or facilities, employees and customers interacting.

33. Trade show and event photos

34. Community outreach projects

35. Company executives speaking, accepting awards, etc

36. Tag resellers and partners in posts

38. A larger picture offers more visibility. You can include a logo or promotional banner

41. Reply to people with insights/questions about with valuable information

42. ReTweetfrom others posting relevant information about your industry

43. Tactics

44. Use keywords in your replies so they come up in searches

45. Ask open ended questions that prompt replies

46. Create interactive promotions that encourage followers to ReTweet your posts.

47. How do you plan to measure success?

48. Twitter specific promotions

49. Analytics through URL shorteners

50. Understand that direct “measurement” is not as important as creating a community of people who see you as a resource

51. Create a tweet schedule

53. Set up bio so it’s keyword focused

54. Brand the background to include logo website, blog and social media information to cross promote your other networks/blogs/website

55. Create customized Twitter lists with Twitter accounts that are relevant for your followers to follow ie: Employee lists, partner list, resource list

57. LinkedIn

59. You'll automatically be included in the company directory.

60. Describe your company in a few short sentences, select your industry, add your website and company info

61. Ask colleagues to list your company in their LinkedIn profile and make sure your profile is linked to your company

63. When potential customers or clients do their research for your company they will search for you on LinkedIn. This will give them a more personal connection and understanding of who they’re working with.

64. Individuals can utilize LinkedIn to promote your company’s accomplishments, events, blogs and news

66. Showcase websites relevant to your business

67. Many use the default listings: “My website”, “My blog” etc. Instead of using these you want to customize the links

68. Opportunity to highlight your company website

69. SEO: Opportunity for keyword focused anchor text

70. Choose “Other” when listing websites and write in keyword to link directly to your site

72. Rather than just listing “tasks” of your job, list how you made an impact

73. Designed websites vs Designed interactive websites that lead to 20% increase in conversion rate from new visitors.

74. Specialties: Keyword focused. This is picked up by LinkedIn search resultshttp://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeoneil

76. Demonstrates your credibility through real life work experiences

77. Don’t be afraid to ask for recommendations

79. Wordpress: Live feed to enhance your blog community and get your posts across to a new audience

80. Tripit: Lets others know your travel plans so they get a sense of your upcoming conferences, networking events. This creates opportunities to set up in person meetings and shows that you’re actively attending events for professional development

82. Location Based Social Networks

84. Guides real-world experiences by allowing users to bookmark information about venues that they want to visit and finding suggestions about nearby venues.

86. Provide real time incentives to your customers that are valuable

90. Post Events on Review Websites- Many businesses create Facebook invites to promote their events but most don’t know you can list your event on Yelp.

91. Exposes your brand to new customers who are reviewers.

92. Highlight Positive Reviews- Positive reviews can be used as testimonials for your business. Include quotes in your newsletter, website or Facebook update. You can also tweet portions of reviews with a link back to original review.

93. Address Reviewer’s concerns- Great learning experience

96. Deal-of-the-day website, you’ll receivea major deal out everyday for everyone to participate in.

97. Consumers are rewarded with unbeatable prices from some of the most prominent brands all over the world.

99. Encourage consumers to share your business/deals with their networks for maximum exposure

100. Post the deal on your own network

101. Important to honor customers when they come to redeem a deal

102. Ensure your entire staff is educated and aware of your deal