This short guide to small business social media marketing will help you understand what social media is and how it can be used to help you grow you business. I focus on Facebook because it is the #1 social media marketing tool. Get more information inside the show.

1. Small Business Social Media Marketing! By Brian Maroevich LocalMarketingChannel.com

2. What Social Media Is: Social media is media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. - wikipedia.org

3. Small Business Social Media Is: An ongoing conversation that’s happening RIGHT NOW A promotional channel for content distribution A long-term return on investment (and short term in many cases). A steady stream of information for: Research Feedback Building Relationships with customers, clients, contacts

4. Why Use Social Media For Small Business Marketing: Over 80% of people in the US have at least 1 social media account Social media makes up over 17% of all online usage Overtaken email as #1 activity on the web As of February, 2011, there were 156 million public blogs Posting almost 1,000,000 blog posts daily 93% of Americans believe companies should have a social media presence 85% believe those companies should be interacting with customers

5. Facebook - Social Media Statistics 750 Million active users worldwide 200 Million on mobile devices Mobile users are twice as active as non-mobile users Average user has 130 friends Over 900 million objects people interact with Pages Events Groups Average user creates 90 pieces of content/month Fastest growing segment is 35-45 years old

6. Twitter - Social Media Statistics 150 Million registered users Signing up 460,000 users daily 75% of traffic comes from outside twitter.com Third party applications 140 Million tweets daily Mobile users increased 182% in past year 600 Million search queries on twitter search daily Peak days to tweet are Tuesday & Wednesday

7. YouTube - Social Media Statistics More videos uploaded in 60 days than 3 largest networks create in 60 years combined 35 hours of video uploaded every minute That’s about 200,000 Hollywood movies each week 2nd largest search engine on the web 3rd largest website on the web Exceeds 2 Billion views daily Double the prime-time audience of all 3 major US networks combined

8. Facebook Marketing Tips & Tools: Fan Page – a business page which is similar to your personal Facebook page but where you post business related information, tips, and promotions. Better Fan Page Average Fan Page

9. FacebookMarketing Tips & Tools: Advertising – Buy clicks or impressions and get targeted traffic from Facebook to your Fan Page or Website. You can directly target people with interests related to your business. Plus there are other targeting and demographic features as well (Contact me for information on this). Enter Conversations – join in on conversions as your ‘fan page business page’ and not your personal page. This way you get free traffic to your fan page business page and not your personal profile page. For example: If you are commenting as ‘Sally Smith’ people might click on your link, and if they do they will be directed to your personal page. But if you comment as ‘Luxury Day Spa’ (or whatever your ‘fan page’ is) they are more likely to click on your link and if they do they will go straight to your ‘fan page business page.

10. FacebookMarketing Tips & Tools: Comment – Comment on business pages if they are prospects for your business or are connected with businesses or prospects that you want to target. Comment as your ‘fan page business page’ for the same reasons as described in ‘Join Conversations’. Fan Page Welcome Page: Create a welcome page landing page which is a lead generation mechanism. When prospects go your page they will be greeted by your welcome page which either ask them to ‘Like’ your page and request their contact information in return for something of value that you offer.

11. How Else is Social Media Used In Small Business? Customer Service Product/Service Feedback Networking and Job Searching Promotions News Internal communication

12. Promotion Ideas: Contests: One way to generate buzz is to create a contest and get your customers and prospects to participate. For example: have your prospects vote on their favorite t-shirt design (for your business). Or, have them come up a slogan. Testimonial contest or refer a friend contest. Summer have your clients and prospects take pictures of themselves on vacation and post it on your fan page. Reward each and every one for doing so. Maybe have them wear your branded t-shirt or holding a product.

13. Promotion Ideas: Holidays: Have your clients and prospects post their favorite Holiday meal or desert and the one with the most ‘Likes’ gets something special (this can used in many other ways as well). Next Slide

14. Why Bother With Social Media Promotions (and contests)? The main idea is to get as much interaction with your clients and prospects as possible because every time they participate and ‘like’ something you are accessing their network of friendsand who what they are commenting and participating on = More traffic, prospects, leads, and sales. The more fun and rewarding your contests are the better!

15. What To Do Next: Go to LocalMarketingChannel.com for details on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and other effective (and proven) online and offline marketing ideas that will grow your business. Other Ways To Contact Me: Twitter.com/brianmaroevich LocalMarketingChannel.com

16. Additional Resources Blogs Socialmediaexplorer.com Socialmediatoday.com BrianSolis.com Mashable.com Tools Tweetdeck.com Ping.fm Hootsuite.com Trackur.com Socialmention.com