Social Media Best Practice training course

1. Social Marketing Best Practice
June 2010

3. The role it plays
• Online video has two attractive qualities that make it a necessity for
any business trying to market itself online; reach and cost-
effectiveness
• As media consumption transitions from passive to active, Internet
video combines the storytelling capacity of traditional television with
the interactive participation of online social media
• An enormous part of YouTube’s success is the ability to embed clips
anywhere, from blogs, to social networking profiles, to the front page
of popular websites …
• … and this content can ‘go viral’

4. Best practice
• From a consumer perspective, online video is the fastest-growing
medium in history; video attracts the attention of millions
• Create ads that work as content: Create fun or arresting videos
that tell a story and seamlessly integrate your brand
• It's all about the dialogue: Be aware of and harness the social
exchange process on YouTube, including comments, ratings, and
the cycle of video responses, remixes, and mashups
• Ideas come from everywhere: Crowdsourcing is a legitimate and
effective tool, and some successful campaigns were created through
crowdsourcing
• Find the talent and use it: YouTube has a well-established
pantheon of video stars, with built-in audiences. Partner where
appropriate and secure exposure for your video

5. Brand examples
Create fun, engaging content
But remember, it’s a
conversation…

6. Brand examples
Crowdsouce content
Collaborate with YouTube
influencers

8. The role it plays
• 140 characters can go a long way…
• Give your brand a voice: Discover your fans, get to know them,
engage in conversations… Attention spans only continues to thin
and therefore requires planning to ensure relevance and appeal
• Generate traffic… by sending users to your web pages
• Monitor your brand real-time: Problems on Twitter can materialise
at any moment with little warning unearth potential PR problems
• Crisis management: With Twitter, you can easily contact Twitter
users tweeting negatively about the brand

9. Best practice
• Instead of approaching Twitter as a place to broadcast information
about your company, think of it as a place to build relationships
• Include in your Bio and/or custom background the names (or
@usernames) of the people twittering from your company account
• Listen regularly for comments about your company, brand and
products, and be prepared to address concerns, offer customer
service or thank people for praise
• Use a casual, friendly tone in your messages, respond to questions
or comments
• Post links to articles and sites you think folks would find interesting,
even if they’re not your sites or about your company
• Make sure your tweets provide some real value to your followers

10. Brand examples
• Over 39,000 people are following
Aleksandr Orlov’s every tweet on
Twitter
• He has currently published over
3,400 updates which shows that
Twitter is not just a tool the
company thought they had to be
signed up for, but a service that
they take seriously
• The campaign has used the
account to add an amusing
personal touch to the brand whilst
helping to provide an additional
level of customer support online

12. The role it plays
• With 70 million active users, Facebook is the 6th most-trafficked website in
the world (ComScore)
• Over 55,000 regional, work-related, collegiate, and high school
networks
• A platform that allows 3rd parties to develop widgets and other
applications
• Facebook Fan Pages can be described as your consumer-facing ‘micro-site’
and can be used to:
• Bring your brand to life: Seed exclusive content onto your fans, and have
an open conversation about your products and services
• Create a Facebook application around the brand: Facebook applications
are not guaranteed to earn an audience simply because they’re created, but
if well-designed can help increase engagement with your brand
• Drive traffic to corporate materials through status updates

13. Best practice
• Keep your fan page exciting with fresh and exciting content
• Write notes and share them with your audience
• Post photos and videos of your events
• Add applications that enhance your Page experience
• Create discussion boards to solicit user feedback and generate
brainstorms
• Create groups to help people with similar interests connect with one
another
• Set up events and have your fans RSVP

14. Brand examples
Fresh, exclusive content
Link redirecting to online store

16. The role it plays
• Blogs pioneered social media and came way before social
networking exploded with MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter
• Blogs offer an alternative way of discovering and sharing news,
information and content
• The production of content is an alternative to traditional media that
benefits from interlinked conversation and comments
• In addition, blogs can help with a site’s Search Engine Optimization

17. Best practice
• Create blogging policies: Blogging has a tendency to become personal. A
company should have a list of policies regarding blogging to ensure that
trade secrets are kept secret and personal lives do not become public.
• Avoid the marketing blog: Making your blog into a blatant marketing
campaign is a bad idea. Customers are looking for real answers and honest
opinions. Use the blog for what it's for, transparency; this is an opportunity to
make a real connection with your customers
• Keep it fresh: To keep your readers coming back, make your content
relevant and timely. Don't forget, content can include anything from product
releases to job openings, recent news to thoughts from the CEO.
• Reinforce the company’s core values. Use your blog to reflect your
company's inner soul: its mission, goals and direction. Your blog is another
part of the brand experience. It should be consistent with the impression the
company wants to make
• SEO optimize your blog: choose catchy titles, tag your posts and photos,
be clever with your hyperlinks

18. Brand examples
The Topshop blogs offers a
combinations of articles ranging
from events, videos music as well
as the latest Topshop
Collections

20. The role it plays
• A photo-sharing site popular with amateur photographers and the
creative community
• Flickr is a collaborative tool where you can tap into people’s
creativity
• People often show products in there natural environment
• Providing an opportunity to connect with customers/people who are
already fans of your brand

21. Best practice
• Search for relevant images and invite users to join a brand group
• Maintain your group is fresh and vibrant by creating new discussions,
photo challenges etc
• Photography rights/Creative Commons can be easily managed
• Flickr can also help with your SEO:
• Tag your photos: this will make your photos findable to users when they are
searching, and lend keyword weight to the photo’s page
• Create a descriptive title for the image: This adds yet more keyword weight to
the photo’s page within Flickr
• Add notes directly onto the photo, enter a description under the photo, or write
something about the picture
• If the photo is location specific, go into Flickr’s tools and geotag the picture
• Create thematic sets/collections for your photos, and add each picture to the
set/collection appropriate for it
• Link each of your Flickr photo pages to your website, or to related pages on
your website
• Have your photos publicly viewable

22. Brand examples

23. Brand examples

25. The role it plays
• One of the most widely used websites on the Internet, Wikipedia
offers more than 3 millions articles written in English
• The online encyclopedia that can be edited by anyone has an
astonishing 13 million articles total in more than 250 languages
• Wikipedia is routinely the best place to find information for breaking
news as it happens and is a growing store of knowledge for
reference material, even though not everything in Wikipedia is
"expert" material

26. Best practice
• Do check what is being said about your brand
• Push negative content below the fold: Content always wins when it
comes to search engine optimization, the same goes for Wikipedia. Add
content to the top of your Wikipedia page to push down negative copy far
below the fold.
• Fill the entire page with content… but use normal everyday language to
describe the company, products, history, etc.
Include the company history, top clients and anything else of interest. The
Starbucks page is a good example of how you can expand the company
Wikipedia page—they talk about the sizes you can order, the logo, various
locations and more. Don’t forget that what you add must be unique content.
• Include official pictures
• Add further reading and references links at the end of the article
• Add a link to your corporate website

27. Brand examples