The presentation that accompanied my talk to portfolio startups of the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator. Some simple strategies, plus descriptions of basic uses for the most notable platforms in descending order of priority for a small company with limited time and money.

1. Telling your
Story
A Quick Guide For Busy Startups
Thursday, September 20, 12

2. The Three-Headed
Monster
• Paid.
• Advertising, marketing
• Earned. Today’s talk
• Public Relations, news coverage
• Owned.
• Website, blog, Facebook, Twitter
Thursday, September 20, 12

3. A Few Words about PR
(for small companies)
• Sometimes worth paying for
• Special events, product rollouts
• Monthly retainers harder to justify
• Hourly for specific projects
• DIY Tools:
• Help A Reporter Out (HARO)
• ProfNet (part of Vocus, maybe a joint
buy?)
Thursday, September 20, 12

4. “Using social media CORRECTLY is
like putting your Rolodex on steroids.”
- New York Times, Sept. 7, 2012
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5. IT’s Where People Are
Service Total Users Active
B Facebook 950M 800M
r
o Twitter 500M 140M
a LinkedIn 175M 48M
d
Google+ 400M 100M
V Smaller,
YouTube 490M 150M
i but vital
s Flickr 51M 25M for startups
u Instagram 80M 8M
a
l Pinterest 104M 18M
Thursday, September 20, 12

6. A Lot More Words About
Social Media
• Create reach and relationships
• Build a base of public and industry
awareness
• Modest but regular time investment
• Low to no cost
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7. Basic Mindset
• “Chinese Water Torture”approach
• Schedule 15 minutes a day
• Make it a routine while reading the day’s news.
• A little every day quickly adds up to a LOT
• Your Phone is Your Friend
• Opportunistic
• What do you do that ties to industry trends, breaking news?
• Have A Personality
Thursday, September 20, 12

8. Hootsuite
Browser
share tools
✴ HootSuite (Business Tool, freemium)
Tools ✴
✴
TweetDeck (bought by Twitter)
Seesmic Ping (Bought by HootSuite)
Automate, Simplify, Optimize ✴ Browser share tools
Thursday, September 20, 12

9. General Tips
• Follow promiscuously (as appropriate)
• Industry leaders, competitors, journalists, regulators, investors
• Repost notable stuff from others
• Respond to your followers
• Think before you “Send”
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10. Website/blog Additions
• WordPress
• Heavy-duty publishing platform. Lots of power, widgets, options.
• If no blog, use Tumblr
• Free. Huge installed base. Easy to use. Shares to Twitter, FB. Post
links, text, audio, video, photos. Good for SEO.
• Show your Twitter posts with on-site widget
• Twitter resources - widgets
• Social media share buttons
• AddThis; Also add to your email sig file, news releases
Thursday, September 20, 12

11. • Set up personal profile, ALWAYS.
• Then you can create a company page
• Ensure all employees have profiles & follow
company
• Post (here’s why):
• Events, news releases, product announcements
• News coverage, industry-related stories
• Join, post to LinkedIn industry, trade groups
Thursday, September 20, 12

12. Twitter
• Company & personal accounts, if you can
• Brief, painless. 3x/week; Easy on mobile
• Tweet about:
• Events, appearances, deals
• Company news, releases, photos, promo docs
• Stories of note about your industry & company
• Perspectives on industry news, trends; Have A Personality
Thursday, September 20, 12

13. • 950 million users. Need to be there.
• Create personal Profile (keep it to yourself)
• Then you can create company Page, post:
• Company releases, news coverage of company
• Events, photos, milestones
• Marketing videos
• Blog posts (if you have one elsewhere)
• Industry news of note, and your perspectives on it
• Surveys and questions
Thursday, September 20, 12

14. Facebook’s EdgeRank
• Algorithm decides what followers see
• Priorities are:
1. Video and photos
2. Questions, events, milestones
3. Plain ol’ text and links
• Only a small portion of followers see any post
• Photos/video boost your chance of being seen
• FB advertising probably not worth it
Thursday, September 20, 12

15. Google+
• Part of Google, GREAT for SEO
• Post same as FB: Links, text, photos, video, events, news
• Claim your personal profile through GMail
• Then you can create your company page
• Have your employees create accounts, put
company page in their circles
• Google offering custom URLS, verified
accounts. Get them when you get a chance.
Thursday, September 20, 12

16. Google+ Hangouts
• BIG opportunity
• Free videoconferences with
audiences
• Auto-recorded to YouTube.
• Great for marketing, how-to,
customer support and
engagement.
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17. • Part of Google; helps SEO
• Biggest video-sharing site
• Not core, but if you’re doing video, you
MUST use this
• Events
• Marketing material
• How-to and demos, podcasts
• User submissions
Thursday, September 20, 12

18. • Sharing for slide shows/presentations
• Post marketing, promo material
• Connect with LinkedIn widget
• Also:
• Learn better PPTs
• Research your industry, competitors
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19. • Biggest photo-sharing site, also handles
video
• Not core; freemium model
• Easy sharing through App Garden tools
• Add-ons for Website, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Tumblr, etc.
• Post photos/video of:
• Events, products, appearances, cool things tied to your business
Thursday, September 20, 12

20. • Not core, but biggest MOBILE photo-sharing
site.
• VERY easy sharing to many other platforms
• Facebook bought it; getting integrated
• Posts from your phone:
• Events, products, appearances
• Users and novel product uses
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21. • Not core. More C-to-C than B-to-B.
• Photo “boards” of things people love:
• Products and product uses
• Things/ideas/inspirational phrases that define your company, its
approach to business and life
• Female-dominated
• Aspirational
Thursday, September 20, 12

22. Thanks
David Bloom
Words & Deeds
davidbloom@earthlink.net
310-621-4284
Twitter: @DavidBloom
Tumbler: BloomsDay
Thursday, September 20, 12