Effective Social Media Strategies for Small Green Businesses
1. Effective Social Media Strategies
for Small Green Businesses
presented by Nayelli González
August 2010
2. AGENDA
• Green Business and Social Media
• Why is Social Media Important?
• How Your Business Can Use Social Media
• How To Measure Social Media Results
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Notas del editor
Hello and thank you for joining this GreenBusinessOwner e-Tool tutorial on "Effective Social Media Strategies for Small Green Businesses." My name is Nayelli Gonzalez; I'm a Marketing Associate here at Green Business Owner--and I'll share tips with you about how to use social media to enhance your marketing approach and build your business. This video tutorial is based on an e-Tool of the same name, which is available at the GBO store online.
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I'll begin by reviewing why social media is important for your green business. I'll explain why customers want to engage with you through social media and how it’s just good for business. Then, i'll describe the different types of social media sites that are out there and also discuss how and when your business should use each social media platform. Finally, I'll focus on how to measure the return on investment (ROI) of social media in order to get the results you want.
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An estimated 110 million Americans, or more than a third of the population, regularly use online social networks. For companies not involved in some kind of online social network, it is a blind spot that will increasingly be apparent to customers. Social media is an opportunity for your business to connect with customers in ways that are relevant to them, and engaging in Web 2.0 communication will help you build your company’s brand and business. As a green business, your customers want you to join the social media bandwagon. So go ahead, jump on in!
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Green Business is all about doing business in a new way that’s better for people, profit and the planet. Social media is all about a new way of communicating with customers. Both green businesses and social media uphold transparency, authenticity, and genuine dialogue. Hence, green businesses and social media are a perfect fit. You may be starting an environmentally friendly or socially responsible business, or may already have an established green business. At whichever state your business operates, social media can help your green business grow.
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So why is it important for YOUR green business to know about social media? Because it's the way business is being done these days, customers want it, and it's good for business.
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Before we entered a Web 2.0 world marketing was about “finding” potential customers and reaching out to them through telemarketing, trade shows, direct mail, and tradition media advertising. Today marketing is done differently. Businesses now put themselves out in the webosphere--ready to be “found” by, and engaged with, all customers. And through social media, search engine optimization (SEO), blogging, and more, businesses can reach new customers who fit their target demographic and drive them to their company website.
Most consumers spend countless hours online, and market research shows that web-savvy consumers want to connect with their favorite brands through social media.
Another reason to create an online presence for your business is that it’s just good business. Social media helps you build your company’s brand, increase customer loyalty and customer satisfaction, and raise long-term revenue.
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So which social media sites should your company be on? It depends on your company’s goals. There are different types of social media sites and each has unique attributes and can be used in distinct ways to help you reach customers
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To put it simply, there are 3 types of social media sites: publishing, sharing and networking sites.
PUBLISHING sites are Websites such as Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and Facebook allow your business to publish material (news feeds, photos, videos)--and also allow your customers to publish their own material & comments onto that site.
SHARING sites are sites, such as digg, StumbleUpon and del.icio.us, that allow you or your customers to promote other people’s work (such as articles, bloggs, news feeds). This is a a great way for your company to monitor what is being shared about your business and learn more about your customer’s wants.
Networking sites are places for your green business to meet like-minded individuals who will be receptive to your product or service. Anyone--from anywhere in the world--can connect to your business through these networking sites, such as Faceboo adn WiserEarth
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Measuring your social media activity is just as important as engaging in social media
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If we look at the traditional ROI model, investment expenditures are only justified if a tangible financial return is reaped. As the model on your screen suggests, we need to rethink the traditional ROI model and include other forms of return to fully understand the social and financial relevance of social media.
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Investments in social media, such as people, technology and time, WILL add value to your company’s brand in various non-financial and financial ways, such as
- Brand Equity
- Costumer Satisfaction and Loyalty
- Opportunity creation
- And long-term revenue
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Your business should follow this step-by-step method to obtain evidence to support your investment in social media activities and to understand the ROI of your investments
- First, establish a Baseline -- Set a date by which you will evaluate your social media growth. Have a clear demarcation of the “before” and “after” period of your social media investments; this will help you identify any changes and /or correlations related to social media activities. For example, you may want to track the number of Facebook fans, the number of retweets, or the number of comments on your blog post over a period of time.
- Then Create a Timeline & Execute -- Establish a course of action for social media activity. Creating a calendar of actions, such as posting on your Facebook wall or Tweeting, can help you track your progress. Also, use a mix of online and offline activities to build customers’ trust and loyalty. Customers want to engage online ,but real-life human interaction is still important.
- Analyze your Sales Revenue and -- Use sales data and compare it to social media activity through time. A correlation might exist between social media activity and number of transactions, sales revenue, and/or number of net new customers.
- Identify Patterns -- Look at page views, blog comments, website visitors, blog-to-website clickthroughs and other social media activity. Google Analytics is a great free tool that can help you track some of this data.
- And Adapt -- Once you’ve identified patters, adapt your strategy to what works best for your business. Do you get more traffic on your website when you blog instead of tweet? Do you see a rise in sales when you tweet about promotional discounts, instead of posting on your Facebook wall? See what works for your business and adapt accordingly. Also remember to constantly update your social media sites.
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So what you see on your screen is an example of a metrics analysis that shows how man pageviews / clicks / diggs / and more one company site received on a particular day...This information can help this company adapt it's online marketing strategy based on their business needs...
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So with that, it's time to wrap up this video tutorial. As I mentioned earlier, this tutorial is a just a snapshot of what you can find online. For more specific information and a more detailed step-by-step guide on Podcasting for Your Small Green Business, please visit the GBO Store e-Tool page at greenbusinessowner.com
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THANK YOU for your time and good luck podcasting your green message!
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If you have any questions, feel free to send us an email. And if you haven't done so already, we also invite you to join our online community for FREE at Green BusinessOwner.com
--as well as become our friend on Facebook at facebook.com/greenbusinessowner
--and follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/greenbizowner
--and joining our LinkedIn Group at LinkedIn.com/greenbusinessowner
Thank you and have a great rest of the day!
Ok, lets move on an review today’s Agenda. We’ll start off by reviewing why every entrepreneur and small business owner needs an elevator pitch. We’ll review Sample pitches--both Good and Not-so-Good, and also discuss some elements of a Great Elevator Pitch. We’ll end by go over a GBO--greenbusinessowner--technique that you can use to create Your Elevator Pitch!
Ok, lets move on an review today’s Agenda. We’ll start off by reviewing why every entrepreneur and small business owner needs an elevator pitch. We’ll review Sample pitches--both Good and Not-so-Good, and also discuss some elements of a Great Elevator Pitch. We’ll end by go over a GBO--greenbusinessowner--technique that you can use to create Your Elevator Pitch!
Ok, lets move on an review today’s Agenda. We’ll start off by reviewing why every entrepreneur and small business owner needs an elevator pitch. We’ll review Sample pitches--both Good and Not-so-Good, and also discuss some elements of a Great Elevator Pitch. We’ll end by go over a GBO--greenbusinessowner--technique that you can use to create Your Elevator Pitch!
Ok, lets move on an review today’s Agenda. We’ll start off by reviewing why every entrepreneur and small business owner needs an elevator pitch. We’ll review Sample pitches--both Good and Not-so-Good, and also discuss some elements of a Great Elevator Pitch. We’ll end by go over a GBO--greenbusinessowner--technique that you can use to create Your Elevator Pitch!
Ok, lets move on an review today’s Agenda. We’ll start off by reviewing why every entrepreneur and small business owner needs an elevator pitch. We’ll review Sample pitches--both Good and Not-so-Good, and also discuss some elements of a Great Elevator Pitch. We’ll end by go over a GBO--greenbusinessowner--technique that you can use to create Your Elevator Pitch!
Ok, lets move on an review today’s Agenda. We’ll start off by reviewing why every entrepreneur and small business owner needs an elevator pitch. We’ll review Sample pitches--both Good and Not-so-Good, and also discuss some elements of a Great Elevator Pitch. We’ll end by go over a GBO--greenbusinessowner--technique that you can use to create Your Elevator Pitch!
Ok, lets move on an review today’s Agenda. We’ll start off by reviewing why every entrepreneur and small business owner needs an elevator pitch. We’ll review Sample pitches--both Good and Not-so-Good, and also discuss some elements of a Great Elevator Pitch. We’ll end by go over a GBO--greenbusinessowner--technique that you can use to create Your Elevator Pitch!
Ok, lets move on an review today’s Agenda. We’ll start off by reviewing why every entrepreneur and small business owner needs an elevator pitch. We’ll review Sample pitches--both Good and Not-so-Good, and also discuss some elements of a Great Elevator Pitch. We’ll end by go over a GBO--greenbusinessowner--technique that you can use to create Your Elevator Pitch!
Ok, lets move on an review today’s Agenda. We’ll start off by reviewing why every entrepreneur and small business owner needs an elevator pitch. We’ll review Sample pitches--both Good and Not-so-Good, and also discuss some elements of a Great Elevator Pitch. We’ll end by go over a GBO--greenbusinessowner--technique that you can use to create Your Elevator Pitch!
Ok, lets move on an review today’s Agenda. We’ll start off by reviewing why every entrepreneur and small business owner needs an elevator pitch. We’ll review Sample pitches--both Good and Not-so-Good, and also discuss some elements of a Great Elevator Pitch. We’ll end by go over a GBO--greenbusinessowner--technique that you can use to create Your Elevator Pitch!
Ok, lets move on an review today’s Agenda. We’ll start off by reviewing why every entrepreneur and small business owner needs an elevator pitch. We’ll review Sample pitches--both Good and Not-so-Good, and also discuss some elements of a Great Elevator Pitch. We’ll end by go over a GBO--greenbusinessowner--technique that you can use to create Your Elevator Pitch!
Ok, lets move on an review today’s Agenda. We’ll start off by reviewing why every entrepreneur and small business owner needs an elevator pitch. We’ll review Sample pitches--both Good and Not-so-Good, and also discuss some elements of a Great Elevator Pitch. We’ll end by go over a GBO--greenbusinessowner--technique that you can use to create Your Elevator Pitch!
Ok, lets move on an review today’s Agenda. We’ll start off by reviewing why every entrepreneur and small business owner needs an elevator pitch. We’ll review Sample pitches--both Good and Not-so-Good, and also discuss some elements of a Great Elevator Pitch. We’ll end by go over a GBO--greenbusinessowner--technique that you can use to create Your Elevator Pitch!