What the *Tweet* is Social Media?

Be a Social Media Rockstar | August 12, 2009 | St. Norbert College, De Pere, WI

Archive for category Speaker Notes

Step in to Social Media, but do it right…

May 20

Posted by Kiar Olson in Panelist, Post-event Follow-up, Speaker Notes, What the Tweet | No Comments

For all of you who made the What the Tweet event yesterday, it was a great event with lots of good information. The speakers were good and really gave some in depth information on how social media helps drive a brand, grow a category and work PR magic.

But, I had quite a few people approach me after the seminar and tell me they were still pretty bewildered. They seemed unsure how to best get their company or organization into SM without a lot of money or people to drive it.

So here is a few tips to help get you started.

1. Start small. If you want to just promote your brand, try starting a Fan page in Facebook based on who your target audience is or a Twitter blog that gives the latest product or industry tips that make you unique.

2. Focus. Keep to your core competencies and don’t try to be everything to everyone. People would rather see less frequent posts or tweets than lots of posts with too much fluff. Unless it’s the pistachio green fluff made with jello. That stuff is good all the time.

3. Have fun. This shouldn’t be something forced and trite. Your customers and audience will read your posts or tweets more often if you add humor or inject some of your own personality into your writing. Seriously, if I want to read your press release, I’ll click on it. But if you are talking about how you sneezed and drank an entire cup of coffee through your nose while writing that release, I’m so there. BTW, don’t do that unless you want to singe all the hair out of your nose.

Well, I hope this helps with any questions people may have. Dana and I are working on putting together some small group classes that will help businesses get a hands-on start in social media. If this is something that interests you, give Dana or myself a quick email or call.

Dana VanDen Heuvel - dana@marketingsavant.com - marketingsavant.com - 920-569-6535

Kiar Olson - kiar@goelement.com - goelement.com - 920-983-9700

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Greg Linnemanstons of Weidert Group

May 19

Posted by Dana VanDen Heuvel in Speaker Notes | 1 Comment

Greg’s an interesting case to bring to the event. This time last year Weidert Group was a laggard in the social media space.

Greg started off by dispelling some of the ‘myths’ that social media has surrounding it. What’s really interesting, seeing this from the audience, is that so many of the myths, or objections that we saw last year, have all been debunked at this point. Maybe we can stop some of the fighting around social media and get down to business.

One of the little talked about facts with Twitter is that it has a very high attrition rate, where users sign up and then drop off.  However, as Twitter gains momentum we see those attriters (is that a word?) come back to Twitter, re-engage and stick around.

Greg’s own company, Weidert Group, has some outstanding results from transforming their own site into a social media site. Their visits shot up over 400%.

Greg shared another case study example of Hoffmaster doing some great Facebook, Youtube and Twitter work around a trade show.  All of this effort landed press, followers and a new platform for ongoing campaigns! Greg shows that the best way to get involved in social media is to get started, and let the

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Susan Finco of Leonard & Finco PR

May 19

Posted by Dana VanDen Heuvel in Speaker Notes | No Comments

Susan is the only “PR Only” public relations firm in the Green Bay area.  She’s got some very interesting results to share from a recent survey that they released recently.  [check out the results of the Leonard & Finco survey here]

56% of the business people that L&F surveyed use social media, and the rest, ou guessed it, they’re not. What’s really interesting is that the media, by and large, are using social media to conduct interviews, generate story ideas and keep up with the issues and organizations in the area.  So, what’s that mean? Well, if you’re seeking media attention for your organization, you’ll find the media hanging out in social media!

Networking (79%) seems to be the main area of social media success for northeast wisconsin business people.

An interesting tidbit from the survey that MarketingSavant did with the Chamber was the response from 31% that said that social media is “important but not critical”. 

Here’s the fascinating thing - nearly 90% of the survey members said that social media will be part of their future marketing plans!  Similarly, 87% believe that social media WILL impact the way that they business. At least most of us can agree on something.

100% (how often do you find that in stats) believe thst social media has a place in the business world. Whew. Glad we got that settled.

What does this all mean?

> Social media has been embraced by the media the cover you
> Younger, better educated folks have embraced social media, so you should too!
> Encourage your organization to learn all that it can about social media as soon as possible
> Sure, it’s still developing, but it’s developing rapidly.  The time to jump in is now.
> Put social media into your marketing plan, and make plans for social media

It’s imperative to understand that social media will be part of your brand. You react, respond converse and promote in traditional media and while there will be some transition, the right approach right now (and for the forseeable future) will be a blended/integrated approach.

Susan mentioned that ‘not every social media app is right for you’ but that doesn’t mean that you can ignore it. If you don’t blog, fine, but that won’t stop bloggers from talking about you.  You need to be aware engaged, even if you’re just observing.

Susan doesn’t advocate a hard core ’social media policy’, but as Pat said earlier, you need to have some training and some media understanding amongst your team members.

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Pat Hopkins of Imaginasium

May 19

Posted by Dana VanDen Heuvel in Speaker Notes | No Comments

Pat’s the CEO of Imaginasium, a full service agency in Green Bay.  Pat’s discussion of brand and social media is spot on.  The brand that used to be local can now be global with a single tweet or a single blog post.

The traditional messaging control silos and departments are changing ‘bjavascript:;ig-time’ as Pat explains - it’s about the consumers taking more and more control of our brands online.  We still have some ‘control’…but it’s not like it was in the old days.

It’s much more about real people and real conversation - flaws and all.  Social media in all its flaws is about reality - negative, and positive.

A big question - what’s next in social networks - where to we migrate to when our parents are on Facebook?

Pat shared some great examples of brands, such as Target, which have had an about face on the policies because of social media influence. Pat referenced the 6 dangerous fallacies of social media from Jason Baer.  Keep an eye on these.

1. Social media is inexpensive (it’s not)
2. Social media is fast (it’s slow, like any good relationship)
3. Social media is “viral marketing” (it may go viral, but that’s another story)
4. Social media can’t be measured (you’re not trying to then - sure it can)
5. Social media is optional (you need to be part of the conversation)
6. Social media is hard (it’s not hard, it’s complicated)

The watchword of the day is becoming “commitment”. Doing well in social media is predicated on committing to it.  Period.

In order to get started with social media, you have to get comfortable with it!
> Make sure you’re ready for each step
> Listen first
> Break down the silos

What are you going to listen to?  There are a few top one here:
1. Complaint
2. Questions
3. Clarifications
4. Compliments
5. Crisis
6. Competitors
7. Influencers
8. Points of need
9. Active campaigns

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Kaitlin McCabe of Sway

May 19

Posted by Dana VanDen Heuvel in Speaker Notes | No Comments

Sway is one of Wisconsin’s premier social media agencies with an impressive client list of social media clients on their roster.  In true social media fashion, Caitlin put out a quick blog post on her upcoming speaking opportunity and got back over a dozen emails with helpful advice on how to handle a speaking engagement. That’s what social media is all about - it’s about helping others.

Caitlin shared some stats from the MarketingSherpa social media guide stating that social media is one of the top items that marketers are putting funding into.  This is interesting, as it dispels two myths - 1) marketers are still spending in the economy and 2) social media is not “free” as some would like to believe.

One of the social networking communities that Caitlin brought up is Gimme 20.  I’ve not yet heard of them, but it sounds like a great fitness community.

Seasoned skewers is a Sway client that faced an interesting ’search’ problem and instead of taking on the major kitchen supply folks, they went straight to the grilling communities and started the conversation with them.  Talk about a great targeted social media approach.

Sway has some great recommendations for video:

1. Free - YouTube
2. Sharing - Metacafe
3. Blogs
4. Paid placement

Caitlin covered some common mistakes:

1. Don’t just setup a facebook page, do more than just
2. She doesn’t recommend seeding blogs
3. It’s about content- no content = no social media

Don’t worry about the technology. That’s interesting - think about it, everyone’s working on the technology. It’s all about the content - people are comfortable with beta or ‘bad’ content if it has the information they need.

Caitlin references IKEA a lot in her presentation. They’re not covered often in the social media space, but they’ve been doing some great stuff and getting great results.  They have one of the better YouTube channels as well.

More on YouTube - here’s a post on a few of the best brands in YouTube from social media influence.

How do we handle negative reviews? Start at Yacktrack.com.

5 Things to do today in social media:

1. Comment on blogs
2. Check in brands “link in”
3. Monitor buzz on YackTrack
4. Open a twitter account and follow the industry
5. Collect your assets to see what you can use online in social media

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