University of Nebraska Extension Educators explain how entrepreneurs can put social media to work.

1. Putting Social Media to Work for You
By
Connie Hancock, Jay Jenkins, & Jenny Nixon
UNL Extension Educators

2. Things to Accept
• Your web presence is one of the MOST important
marketing tools.
• Your audience is active online.
• Customers are connected.
• Technology can make your life easier!

3. How many of you have…….
• A Website
• A Facebook account
• A Flickr account
• A Twitter account
• A LinkedIn account
• Created a Blog
• Uploaded a Youtube video
• Created Podcast

4. It’s not a game of hide and seek

5. Steps to Managing the Game
Start with the Warren Buffett Approach:
• Get a personal understanding of the major
social networks
o Test drive with personal accounts
o Discover who is participating
o Listen to conversation about your brand or product
o
o Learn the language and join in

6. Twitter
• Microblogging
o 140 characters
• Anatomy of a Tweet
o # = hashtag - used before a word
 #birding
o @ = direct message - used before a name
 @cccowman
o Shorten URL
 http://bit.ly
 http://www.tiny.cc

7. Nebraska Tourism - Twitter
http://twitter.com/nebraskatourism

8. Twitter Hashtag #birding

9. Twitter - texbirds

10. Blogs
• Almost essential for small or niche business
• Provides constant updates to customers
• Drives traffic to your site
• Creates “enthusiasts”
• Easy to manage and setup
http://nebraskabirding.blogspot.com/

11. Blogs
• Easy to Create
o http://wordpress.com
o http://blogger.com
o http://typepad.com

12. Import Blogs = Increase Effectiveness

13. YouTube
• YouTube
 Create a Profile
 Upload Videos
• Embed in website
http://www.youtube.com/user/NebraskaTourism

14. Get Started with Bird Watching
youtube
Extreme Bird Watching - Youtube

15. Flickr
• Upload Photos
o Utilize tags and descriptions
o Join Groups
• Embed photography into website
• Nebraska/Loess Hills Birds
o http://www.flickr.com/groups/nebraska_birds/

16. Flickr - groups

17. Flickr - groups

18. Flickr - groups

19. RSS
• Real Simple Syndication
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rss
o Blogs
o Podcasts
o News Stories
o Subscription based

20. RSS
• Readers
o Google Reader - http://www.google.com/reader
 Google Reader Help -
http://www.google.com/support/reader/
o Bloglines - http://www.bloglines.com/
o Newsgator - http://www.newsgator.com/

21. RSS

22. RSS

23. RSS subscribe

24. RSS Feed Reader

25. Create a Marketing Plan
• Create or expand a marketing plan to include
social media
o Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How
 Which social media?
 What personality, content and conversation?
 Who will manage and coordinate?
 When and How often?
 Use analytics to determine Why and How

26. Marketing Strategy
• Need a Social Networking/Media Strategy
o Research customer
o Determine time commitment
• Building relationships and reputations
• Adding value to conversations relevant to your
business.
• Analyze
o What marketing worked well?
o What marketing didn't work well or not at all?
o Are there any standout reasons?

27. Build Your Brand
• Learn your current on-line reputation
Even if you think you don't have one................

29. Build Your Brand
• Claim and manage your "Google" presence
o Test your brand in the biggest search engines
o Manage your brand
 Give correct info
 Work to delete bad info
 Link to more info
 Join in the conversation

30. Build Your Brand
• Manage your placed web presence
o Engage customers in conversation
o Allow customers to communicate with each
other
o Give customers a call to action

31. Unify Your Brand
• Unify your brand sites with common username
o http://Nextgenweb.org
o http://www.facebook.com/nextgenweb
o http://www.flickr.com/photos/nextgenweb
o http://www.youtube.com/nextgenweb
o http://twitter.com/nextgenweb
o http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/next-gen-
web/id321242420
o http://digg.com/users/nextgenweb
o http://www.reddit.com/user/nextgenweb/

32. Unify Your Brand
• Link your web presences
http://nextgenweb.org/
o Consider all your media
 Social networks
 Traditional web
 Traditional print
o Allow people to join the conversation where
and how they wish
http://www.facebook.com/unl.edu

33. Making a Professional Facebook
Business Page
• Practice with a personal account first
• Create a business page from your personal user account
• Maintain administrative rights to your business page

34. Making a Professional Facebook
Business Page
• Update info
• Create a landing page
http://www.facebook.com/latech
http://www.facebook.com/skisontherun
http://www.facebook.com/KearneyNebraska
• Create your own page tabs
http://www.facebook.com/NEGameandParks

35. Use Keywords
• Keywords are words / phrases people use to
search
• Base for getting found
o Use in sites
 URL  Page title
 Page keywords  Page description
 Picture alt tags  Content
 Marketing

36. ANALYZE This!
• Apply analytics to your sites
o Many social networking sites have their own
metrics --- Facebook offers
 Polling application
 Direct target marketing
o Google Analytics can be applied to many sites
 Websites
 Facebook
 Twitter

37. Before you get started
• What do I need?
• What am I using the site for?
• Who’s attention am I trying to get?
• What’s your profile?
http://inc.com

38. Things to Do
1.Comment on other’s posts
2.Ask questions in your posts
3.Post links and threads
4.Post relevant events

39. Promoting on Social Networks
DO
1. Make it compelling/benefit-based
2. Talk about new or unusual features
3. Include discounts or savings
DON’T
1. Don’t continually sell
2. Don’t fall short of the expectation that you’ve set
http://inc.com

40. One Piece – Many Deliverables
Write content for blog
• Blog has RSS feed which goes to feed reader
• Announce the blog update on twitter which
automatically goes to Facebook
Create a video
• Post a link on website
• Upload to youtube
• Upload same episode to your ITunes podcast
Talk about different things - not just about yourself! Make
it 'interesting'!

41. Content is the number one reason
people come to our Web sites

42. Connie’s Contact Information
chancock1@unl.edu
http://eship.unl.edu
http://huskerpreneur.com
http://delicious.com/drsadie
http://twitter.com/connieh
http://facebook.com/UNLeship
Jay’s Contact Information
jjenkins2@unl.edu
http://delicious.com/cccowman
http://twitter.com/cccowman

43. Jenny’s Contact Information
jnixon@unl.edu
http://pinterest.com/unexted/
https://twitter.com/unexted
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