Learn How To Utilize Social Networking Tools (Facebook and LinkedIn) For Business

©2009 Jennifer Lindsay. All rights reserved.
Social Media Means Business
Jennifer Lindsay
August 4, 2009

©2009 Jennifer Lindsay. All rights reserved. 2
Why You Should
Care About Your
Online Presence
The Basics and
Best Practices
2
3
1
4
Selling to C-Levels
Which Online
Presence?

Why You Should Care About Your
Online Presence
1
The new marketplace

It’s All About Being ‘Found’
 “People don’t go to web
sites anymore. Web sites
come to them. This is,
perhaps, the best way to
explain the impact of
search on the online
experience.”
– William Flaiz, Search
Engine Watch
The Power of Search

Which Online Presence?
2
Personal vs. Professional

Personal vs. Professional
 Each social network has its own unspoken ‘rules’ about personal
versus private.
– Facebook: Spans the most age groups, so learn to use and
love their privacy settings.
– LinkedIn: It’s all open here. If you don’t want connections to
see your updates, don’t connect. That includes groups and
apps.
– Twitter: If you want to vet your audience, lock your feed. You
will have to grant permission to allow others to follow you.
 Note: After a certain point, the personal and private become harder
and harder to separate. Make sure you remember why you signed
up in the first place.

Selling To C-Levels
3
Why your boss should care and back you

Selling To C-Levels
 Data, data, data: Every decision you make should be
rooted in a success you can point to or data that makes
the play compelling.
 Targeted audiences are there – representing all ages
and demographics.
 It’s cheaper and green.
 ROI vs. ROP: Participants have a financial value, too.
The rules of social capital.
 Why not?

The Basics & Best Practices
4
The “right” way to engage

Corporate Blogging
 Benefits:
– SEO: Search, at its most basic level, is dependent on
content.
– Company Web sites are not conducive to continual
content updates; blogging is.
– Corporate blogging during a recession isn’t a social
proposition; it’s an economic one.
 Recommended Tools:
– A solid corporate blogging strategy.
– Knowledge of your market and competition.
– Company Internet Postings Policy.

Corporate Blogging Best Practices
 Keep it simple. Recommended post length is 150-175
words.
 Anyone can do it. The best blogs use ‘subject matter
experts.’
 Because anyone can do it, there must be rules.
 Rich media is a winner. Users are more likely to click on
your content if there’s video or images.
 SEO is key. Consumer spending might be slowing, but
Internet search is alive and well.

Corporate Blogging Best Practices
Further Considerations
 Transparency Is Essential:
– Be Authentic
– Admit Mistakes
 Take The Good With The Bad
 Be Consistent & Post Frequently:
– Make It Easy To Use
– Be Committed
 Have a Strategy & Specific Goals
– Build Community
 Put a Policy in Place Before You Start

Commenting Program
 Benefits:
– Allows you to add to the existing dialogue.
– Increases your online presence.
– Broadcast your message on posts of targeted interest.
– Increase the number of trackbacks your blog and site.
 Recommendations:
– Look for appropriate places to comment at least 1x weekly.
– Provide detailed company and/or product information.
– Have comment replies emailed to you – return to the post to
clarify or acknowledge any company-related comments.
– Target industries and publications to comment on – be sure
there is supporting content on your site.

Commenting Program Best Practices
 Comment only when you have something relevant to
add to the discourse.
 Always identify who you are: Include your full name,
title, company, link back to your (or site) blog and email
address.
 Reference company keywords and detailed product
information whenever possible, but authentically.
 Keep track of responses and weigh in again when it
makes sense.
 Never ‘go negative.’ If you have nothing to add, you
shouldn’t post a comment. Period.
 Don’t have others post on your behalf.

Micro-Blogging
 Benefits:
– Twitter is important because of its influence. Think: 10
key influencers x 100 = 1,000.
– Builds brand awareness.
– Allows you to engage with customers.
– Can assist in lead generation.
– Great way to stay in front of your ECOsystem.
– Set up a company Twitter account.
– Find and follow key influencers.
– Post the title and link to all your blog entries.
Twitter & Beyond

Micro-Blogging Best Practices
Twitter & Beyond
 “Tweet” at least once daily. This can be automated.
 Promptly reply to “Replies” or “Direct Messages.”
Using a micro-blogging desktop application can help
you manage.
 Use a Twitter “badge” on your site.
 Learn to use Twitter search to track who is talking
about your brand or market.
 Engage with key customers and prospects.
 Be transparent about who you are and your company.

Social Networks
Facebook
 Benefits:
– Facebook has more than 120 million daily active users.
– Initiate community building.
– Nurture community by delivering interesting content
regularly.
– Engage community to build loyalty and grow.
– Create, build and publish Facebook page (not group).
– Enable email signups for your newsletters.
– Become a ‘fan’ and ask customers and employees to do
the same.

 Automate repurposing your content, including blog
posts, video, audio, webinars, PDFs and photos.
 Enable two-way features such as the wall, discussions
and user reviews.
 Create contests and story sharing about product use.
 Check the page at least once daily and respond to
comments, as appropriate, on your wall, discussion
board and reviews areas.
Social Networks Best Practices
Facebook

Social Networks
 Benefits:
– LinkedIn connects you with 21 million experienced
professionals, representing 150 industries.
– Promoting your company’s expertise and talent.
– Emphasizing your company’s focus on accessibility and
customer satisfaction.
– Increase brand awareness and goodwill among
purchasing decision-makers, potential partners and
recruits.
– Leverage the platform, reputation and audience of
LinkedIn Answers and LinkedIn Groups to emphasize
your company’s credibility as an expert industry
resource.
LinkedIn

Social Networks Best Practices
LinkedIn
 Represent your company as its subject matter expert.
 Search for Q&A specifically around your company and
its competitors to make yourself accessible and correct
misperceptions.
 Create an “official” LinkedIn Group.
 Customize the text description on your company profile.
 Make sure all of your interactions are authentic and
genuine; showcase your expertise and authority.

A couple others to consider…

Business Sharing
 Benefits:
– If you can access the Internet, you can access your
presentations.
– Doing a group presentation? Everyone can access the
file.
– Save paper.Instead of printing the presentation, give
your audience the URL to it.
 Best Practices:
– Decide if you want the slideshow to be public, or restrict
viewing to a “private” list. Be careful.
– Embed your shared slideshows into your own blog and
Web site and post it to social networking sites.
SlideShare & Scribd

User-Generated Content
 Benefits:
– You can add links to related business topics currently totaling
more than 200 subjects.
– Content is available to the entire Business Week online
audience currently totaling over 9 million viewers per month.
– When a reader clicks on a post they are taken to the original
blog and related post (could be your site!).
– Business Week intends on continuously adding and improving
the “exchange” functions, features and offerings to
accommodate both readers and contributors.
 Best Practices:
– Connect with other contributors and top users.
– Save information posted there for future reference.
– Add information from your site to the exchange and the related
post traffic will be tagged by search engines.
BusinessWeek Exchange

Jennifer Lindsay
Media Strategist. Speaker. Educator. New Media Guru.
me@jenniferlindsay.com | jenniferlindsay.com
@jennifered | Podcast | LinkedIn | Facebook
Available for consulting projects.
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