Social media and web 2.0 have been creating a buzz online. Many of you may be aware of this but do not know how to utilize these outlets to build relationships and loyalty with customers. The goal is to leverage the transparency and interactivity created through social media to your advantage. You can let customers know what’s new with your company and you can also in turn learn what your customers like and don’t like and how to better serve them.

1. Enhancing Your Business with
Social Media
Presenter:
Alex Kehayias
Product Manager

2. Agenda
In this webinar we will cover:
The recent growth in social media
Reasons you want to use social media
Platforms to implement
Our experience with social media
How to take action
Some downfalls
A free tool from Comodo

3. Why Use Social Media?

4. Social Media is Growing
Social Media Highlights:
There are 87 percent more online social media users now than in
2003, with 883 percent more time devoted to those sites.
In the last year alone, time spent on social networking sites has
surged 73 percent.
In February, social network usage exceeded Web-based e-mail
usage for the first time.
* Nielsen April 2009, “Report: Social Media And Video Site Engagement Reshapes The Web”

5. What is in Social Media for me?
Why should I hop on the Social Media bandwagon?
Three main reasons:
– Marketing: Keep your ears to the street
– Operations: Use feedback to improve
– Sales: Generate leads

6. Social Media Platforms

7. What should I use to get into Social Media?
Popular Social Media Platforms:
Twitter: Microblogging platform based on 140 character messages
FaceBook: Social Networking site, can add friends, send messages and update profile
LinkedIn: Networking site geared towards professionals
Forums: Industry related discussion, or product based
VideoBlogs
– Youtube
– Example: Gary Vaynerchuk created a video blog which helped turn his small family wine
store into a multimillion dollar a year company http://tv.winelibrary.com/
Blogs
– Wordpress
– Blogger
– LiveJournal

8. The Power of Twitter
Some Twitter Highlights:
47 million daily visitors
The U.S. State Department asked Twitter to forgo routine maintenance so
protesters in Iran would be able to communicate.
When reports of Michael Jackson’s death broke out people flocked to
Twitter for updates causing Twitter Search to run about twenty minutes
behind real time
Even NATO tweets http://twitter.com/nato_news
Companies successfully utilizing Twitter include; @DellOutlet, @Zappos,
@HomeDepot, @JetBlue, @IBMEvents, @DunkinDonuts
Dell claims to have made over $3 million through its efforts in Twitter

9. A Twopportunity Lost
“62% of marketer neglect to join the conversation either by not monitoring
social media or not responding to negative commentary. These companies
are missing an important opportunity to learn what prospects, customers
and influencers are saying about them, and to nip in the bud any issues that
may negatively affect their brands.”
-MarketingSherpa 2009 Social Media & PR Benchmark Guide

10. Video Blogging
Video Blogging Statistics:
The number of American users frequenting online video destinations has
climbed 339 percent since 2003.
Time spent on video sites has shot up almost 2,000 percent over the same
period.
In the last year alone, unique viewers of online video grew 10 percent, the
number of streams grew 41 percent, the streams per user grew 27 percent
and the total minutes engaged with online
video grew 71 percent.
* Nielsen April 2009, “Report: Social Media And Video Site Engagement Reshapes The Web”

11. Our Video Blog: ComodoVision

12. Implement User Generated Content
Reviews and Testimonials:
Amazon and Ebay use reviews to further customer confidence
Nearly 9 out of 10 U.S. online buyers read customer reviews at some point
before making a purchase.
86.9% of respondents said they would trust a friend's recommendation over
a review by a critic, while 83.8% said they would trust user reviews over a
critic. (Marketing Sherpa, July 2007)
Having testimonials on your site
keeps customers from leaving to
find them elsewhere.

13. Step 1: Monitor

14. Tools for Monitoring and Engaging
Tools:
Twitter allows for third parties to develop software
– twittervision, twitterfeed, twhirl, tweetscan, twistori, twitter-search,
tweetdeck ,twitpic, hellotxt, twitterific
At Comodo, we use TweetDeck
– Manages all functions of twitter in one interface
– We use it to monitor all conversations about our brand and products
through key word searches
NetVibes
Google Alerts

15. Step 2: Take Action

16. How to Take Action
Twitter:
Twitter: Establish guidelines for content, engaging and responding to
feedback
Assign an employee to represent your company
General feedback (ex: “This company sucks, I hate them!”) should be
avoided, but specific negative feedback, which you can turn around can be
very beneficial to engage (ex: “I don’t understand ‘x’ feature, I keep trying
but it just doesn’t work. Very frustrated.”)
FaceBook:
Create a company page
Fans can write on your wall, check for updates and upload photos

17. How to Take Action
Video Blogging:
Record videos of tutorials, how-to’s and helpful tips and start a channel on
YouTube.
Next step is creating an in-house outlet for video
Blogging:
Enlist and employee, executive or hire a content writer to write daily blog
posts (recommended one a day)
Gives customers more insight into your company and they can leave
productive comments

18. How to Take Action
LinkedIn:
Get your company listed
Start a group
Answers section allows you to establish yourself as an expert, and show
that you give back to your community
In General:
Important to engage and give back to the communities you’re part of, not
only take and push promotions.
Use feedback gained to improve operations

19. How to Take Action
Reviews and Testimonials: UserTrust
Comodo’s UserTrust is a completely
free testimonial engine.
www.usertrust.com
UserTrust allows you to have
testimonials right on your site instead
of forcing your customers to leave your
site and find reviews elsewhere. The
more time spent on your site the better.
This is something you can do today

20. Step 3: Tracking

21. Tracking
Tips for tracking:
Important to find which efforts are fruitful
Set up a Google Analytics account
Tracking codes
Use tools like Salesforce to record and track leads

22. Social Media Downfalls

23. Social Media Drawbacks
Some Downfalls:
Steep learning curve
– Very hard to find the medium between useful information and pushy
promotions
– Spam companies
Extra management
– Must monitor employees talking about your company
– Handling negative feedback
Can be difficult to track
Large time commitment
– Blogging, tweeting, answering questions, updating profiles, recording
videos

24. Summation: Your Checklist

25. Summation
Check List:
Are you monitoring your brand?
Are you engaging your customers?
Are you using Social Media tools?
Are you implementing feedback?
Are you using reviews?

26. Thank You!
Stay Tuned For Future Comodo Webinars
Follow us on Twitter:
@comodoecommerce
Email us at: e-commerce@comodo.com