This document provides guidance on using social media for business purposes. It discusses why businesses should use social media, including that customers expect access to information and it allows networking on your own terms. It also outlines specific uses of social media like promotion, customer service, and recruitment. The document then gives tips for setting goals and choosing the right platforms based on your target audience. Finally, it discusses measuring success and integrating social media campaigns.

1. Using Social Media
for Business

2. Why social media?
• Your customers want and expect easy
access to information about you
• SM gives you the opportunity to network
on your terms at convenient times
• Done well and with a clear
strategy, social media can save you time
and money

3. What can I use it for?
• Promoting your personal brand
• Improving client relationships
• Setting your brand apart
• Business networking
• Customer service
• Market research
• Recruitment

4. Where do I start?
Setting realistic,
achievable goals

5. What are your business goals?
• Selling products through your website
• Increasing donations
• Increasing your network of clients
• Improving your customer services
• Streamlining your business processes
• Disseminating campaign messages

6. Which platform?
Where are your target
audience & are they open to
listening to you?

7. ?

8. Not even
mentioning…

9. Personal branding
• Think about how having an influential
personal profile online can have a
direct impact on your business
• Do an online audit, what is already out
there? What do people see when they
Google you?
• Having strong personalities which are
visible on social platforms can be
great for your business

10. Branding your business
• Become an information hub
not just a broadcaster
• Create reasons to share
• Why are you growing
followers? Have a game plan

11. Don’t forget:
Any online activity that can link back to
your web content (not just your website)
is important for SEO (Search Engine
Optimisation) and brand visibility. Social
sharing is increasingly important for
search rankings so make your content
easy to share!

12. 3 tips to maximise your
LinkedIn profile

13. 1. Design with visitors in mind
• Decide on your target audience
• Check Google Insights for relevant
search terms
• Use your profile as a showcase for the
position you’re in now.
• Customise web links
• Use SlideShare / Amazon apps to add
personality
• Link social profiles like twitter & filter
using #in

14. 2. Have a networking game plan
• Start with the end goal in mind
• Search potential client profiles for
appropriate groups
• Look at group statistics before joining
• Schedule group activity and build
credibility
• Make contact with moderators and offer
content
• Start your own group and include a link
on your email signature

15. 3. Grow your contacts strategically
• Numbers are not the end goal
• Use groups to gain credibility then invite
to connect
• Get introduced through existing
connections
• Regularly update your connections
with business cards from networking
events

16. Who does Facebook well?

21. Plan with a goal in mind
• Getting a user to “like” your page is just
the first step – only interaction ensures
future impact
• Use facebook Insights to inform future
posts. What has worked well before?
• Photo & Video tagging
• What is the optimum time for posting (to
your audience)?
• Use Questions & prompts

22. Where does twitter fit in?

28. Lead the conversation
• Keep an eye on trending topics and if
they are relevant to you, get involved
• Use a popular # strategically to get
more clicks on links
• Mention @ prominent figures within
your industry
• Don’t be a broadcaster, be a
conversationalist

29. What do I share?

33. Measuring success
• Be agile – act on the information you
gather to improve your offering and
outcomes
• Use tools like Bitly and Storify to collate
and evaluate a campaign’s success
• Use Google Analytics to set and track
specific goals (this could be time on
page, ecommerce or increased
visitors)

36. Running an integrated
campaign
Case study

37. • 25th May, 2011 - International Missing Children’s
Day
• Raise awareness and increase supporters
• Tweeted a different missing child appeal every 30
mins for 24 hours
• Scheduled tweets
• Team of tweeters
• 6 weeks of planning

38. • 5,500 new followers in one day
• 8,000 RTs and mentions
• 600% increase in website traffic
• Trended in UK
• Significant press coverage

41. Don’t forget…

43. Impact on SEO
• Google likes content that is widely
shared
• Off the page SEO is vitally important to
Google search rankings
• Integrating a blog onto your website is
a great way to update your content,
offer opportunities to network with
clients and get people talking about
you (all good for SEO)

44. Influence & Engagement
(what does it all mean?)

47. Integration
(making your life easier & more effective)

49. BufferApp

51. Hootsuite

53. Tweetdeck

54. SproutSocial

55. Troubleshooting
(when it all goes terribly wrong…)

56. 3 choices!
•Reply
•Delete
•Ignore

57. Social Media Guidelines
• Encourage staff to engage and talk
about your brand
• Be clear about your company caveats
• Keep your community rules simple &
share them with everyone
• Don’t be afraid to let your staff share
on their personal accounts. If they’re
passionate about what you do, it can
only help your brand

59. Useful websites
• Mashable.com
• TheNextWeb.com
• Techcrunch.com
• Technorati.com

60. Questions?