The document provides guidance on building an online presence and community through social media. It discusses identifying your goals and audience, engaging influencers, developing content, and measuring success. Key aspects include listening to your audience, responding promptly to feedback, and focusing on providing value over self-promotion. While the ROI of social media is difficult to quantify, the emphasis should be on fostering genuine, two-way interactions that build relationships and trust over time.

1. The 5 W’s of building and growing your online presence Social Media FTW 22 September 2011 #FTW2011

2. Who is this guy anyway? Derek Rice derek@derekrice.com derekrice.com twitter.com/derekjrice linkedin.com/in/derekrice

3. What I am Copywriter Social media geek (Sporadic) blogger Journalist PR & marketing pro Communicator Storyteller

4. What I’m not Expert Guru Ninja Rock Star Lover of the latest “new” Facebook Jersey Shore fan

6. Worth noting Social media is just one part of your overall strategy. There are no experts. There is no right or wrong way to “do” social media.

7. “Guess what? We’re all doing it wrong … And just like pretty much all of life, we’ll get there somehow. – Chris Brogan

8. Who Your audience Influences your audience Your manager

9. What Your goals People are saying Your messaging

10. Where Your audience hangs out You have to hang out

11. When You should get started (NOW) You’re ready to launch Time of day Frequency Responding

12. Why Build an online community Have a manager It’s not about you Listen more, talk less Measure

13. What is an online community? An interconnected collection of online messaging channels Conversational Member-driven Interactive Customer service An opportunity to build one-to-one relationships Free research

14. The evolution of online communities In the beginning … Today…

15. An Online Community IS NOT Traditional marketing Advertising A billboard Formal Self-centered Sales-driven

16. Some platforms

17. A note about tools and platforms You can’t be all things to all people, and you can’t possibly be everywhere. Go where the food is.

19. What’s gonna work? Teamwork. When you use several different platforms to complement each other, you build deeper relationships with your audience.

20. Why do you need it? Build trust, which helps build brand recognition, loyalty and affinity Obtain a deeper understanding of your audience’s needs and wants Create one-to-one relationships with customers and prospects It’s what people want and expect

21. “The Participatory Web” Browse Interact Personalize Talk about and connect with what and who they’re browsing Share those interactions and experiences with others

22. Who influences us?

23. What makes us act?

24. Your opportunity Build relationships and trust with your target audience They can be your best allies, sharing your information with others who trust them Social media allows them to pass that along to hundreds more people

25. Potential project staller What’s the ROI of social media? (More about this later)

26. Begin at the beginning

27. What are your goals? What do you hope to achieve with your social media efforts? Think concrete, tangible and quantifiable. How will you measure results against your goals?

28. Examples Build awareness around your brand Attract new customers Cultivate word-of-mouth recommendations Promote your industry in general Generate discussion and interaction around topics that interest the target audience Become a resource or thought leader

29. Who manages your community? Embarrassingly outdated image courtesy of Bit Social Media

30. A community manager is: The party host An active and high-profile community member Accountable to everyone Company Community The “voice” of your brand Sets the tone for the community Becomes your brand’s online persona

31. Jeremiah Owyang’s “Four Tenets” Community advocate Brand evangelist Savvy communication skills, shapes editorial Gathers community input for future products or services

32. He or she should be: Friendly Smart Patient Creative Proactive Fun Articulate An excellent writer Knowledgeable about your brand

34. Who’s your audience?

35. Who’s talking? About your company About your competition About your industry About anything else that may impact your business

36. Where are they? Social media Blogs Forums Video Photos Review sites Find them. Follow them. Engage them.

37. What are they saying? What topics generate the most discussion? This is what interests your audience Use this information to shape your messaging strategy

38. Why pay attention? They may be interested in your company, product or industry (your target audience) Helps define and refine your target audience They may not be who you expected

39. Finding your audience Liquid Wrench 2011 Silver Bell Award winner, New or Social Media Campaign Read the case study here

40. Google Alerts Google.com/alerts

41. Twitter search

42. Advanced Twitter search

43. Advanced Twitter search results

44. Facebook search All search results for “Liquid Wrench”

45. Facebook search People search results for “home improvement”

46. A necessary (and creepy) evil

47. Socialmention

48. Socialmention results

49. Technorati

50. How should you compile results? A simple checklist or spreadsheet A more involved Word document where individual conversations are catalogued Anything in between Whatever works for you

51. Who are your influencers?

52. What is an influencer? Recognizable Greater than average reach or impact through word of mouth in a relevant marketplace Their opinions matter to others Engaged in conversations with hundreds or thousands of people

53. Why do you need influencers? When they talk, people listen They may talk about you More people will join your community

54. A word of warning The lesson? Diversify

55. Do they have to be celebrities? Industry bloggers Trade publications Local personalities

56. How do you identify influencers? Where do you find information that’s relevant to your industry or niche? These are some of your influencers They’re talking to your influencers. They’re talking about your influencers.

57. What should you be saying?

58. Build your messaging toolbox Key words Key messages Protocol Engaging Responding Escalating

59. Why is content important? Content = return visits = word of mouth = new members = more content (community-generated) Quality content drives participation and growth

60. What is good content? Speaks to audience’s interests Is community driven Fills a need Sparks discussion Establishes you as an expert in your field Positions you as a valuable resource Tells a story

61. What’s a good content strategy? Focus on the goals of your audience and your company Find a unique angle Don’t try to be everything to everyone Drive traffic to other pages and channels Mix it up Less about you, more about your audience

62. How do you get started? Focus on a handful of topics that reflect your audience’s shared interests. The evolution of your content strategy – and voice – will be community-driven.

63. What do people want? Useful information on a topic they find interesting or attractive Engagement in experiences to improve their personal or professional life Examples: How to improve job performance or be a better parent

64. What they don’t want Information on how to buy more of your product Constant calls to action Sales pitches Communication that’s mostly brand-specific

65. No shouting allowed!

66. Ask yourself: What value am I bringing to my community? Why would my community members care? What kind of conversation could this generate?

67. Listen to learn, learn to listen

68. Where can you find good content? Google Alerts (set up during Listening) Blogs News outlets The web Community members Influencers From within Become the best source of information interesting, relevant and valuable your audience

69. Getting it right Find the balance between self-interest and providing value in your messaging 100words.kodak.com

70. Short and sweet Whatever you share, make it bite-sized. It’ll be a quick read that can easily be passed on to others.

71. Seed initial content Who really wants to go first? Why would anyone join a barren or inactive community (which isn’t a community at all)? We all want to be part of something bigger than ourselves

72. Launch time “Officially” activate your channels (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) Reach out to and interact with your target audience and influencers Invite them to join your community

73. Remember: A polite, effective invitation doesn’t include a sales pitch

74. Why does engagement matter? Promote community and attract new members Attract people with shared interests Foster honest conversation

75. Wallflowers need not apply Ask open-ended, thought-provoking questions Conduct polls Offer incentives Contests * Coupons Reward good content and/or participation Join in others’ conversations Provide thoughtful, expert answers to questions Become a trusted friend

76. Engaging influencers Re-tweet something they’ve said on Twitter (add an interesting comment) Post on their Facebook wall or tag in one of your wall posts Comment on their blog post, YouTube video, etc. Mention them in a blog post Link to their website or blog Put your brand’s spin on anything you share

77. Be memorable!

78. Did I mention interaction? Regular and reliable Constant and consistent Across multiple platforms You don’t always have to start conversation Let others be heard Respond to questions, comments, mentions, etc.

79. Why respond? Communication is a two-way street People want to know they matter Immediacy is key: respond quickly to complaints, endorsements or any kind of mentions. A response, especially a fast response, will build or strengthen trust

80. Map out your response protocol

81. When should you respond? Work day: respond within 1 hour Overnight/weekends: respond within 12 hours Respond within 24 hours at most Do your best

82. A different perspective Don’t jump in and automatically answer questions or help out. Benefits: Foster peer-to-peer interaction Alleviate pressure and stress of off-hour and weekend availability Greater credibility in a sales situation when a satisfied customer can help a potential customer 2011 State of Community Management Report

83. When responding… Be positive Be transparent Be honest Be timely Be helpful When in doubt, revert to IRL

84. What about negative feedback? Balance between moderating (reactive) and managing (proactive) Often the best course of action is no action Know when (if ever) to delete a post ALWAYS save a screenshot before deleting a post Never get defensive

85. The hardest words to say If you make a mistake, own up to it Swallow your pride Be helpful Make it right

86. Turn this

87. Into this

88. Is this thing on?

89. How do you know what’s working? Use your listening tools and tactics as you continue to monitor and participate in the conversation Use aggregation/collaboration tools like TweetDeck, HootSuite, RSS feeds, SMS and email alerts for instant notification of updates to your community

90. Example: TweetDeck Easy to use Free Allows you to monitor: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Others Updates regularly, automatically

91. Facebook Insights

92. How do you measure success? More than by the numbers! Influencer interactions Stories Whatever helps you measure against your goals

93. Trial and error Who your audience is What content resonates with your audience When and how often to share and interact Where your audience hangs out Response time Escalation (as necessary)

94. Change happens Tools, services and networks are constantly evolving, which means your community will evolve too Expect and be prepared for change, especially community-driven change If something isn’t working, don’t be afraid to ask the community what they’d like to see

95. If you remember nothing else … Be respectful Be genuine Be helpful Step outside your comfort zone Don’t fear funny Take risks (within reason) Give up control Be human

96. Be careful out there

97. So what’s the ROI of social media? Real Open Interactive

98. Thank you! Derek Rice derek@derekrice.com derekrice.com twitter.com/derekjrice linkedin.com/in/derekrice