1. Avoiding The Pitfalls
of Social Media
Natalie Alvanez
Director of Marketing & Partnership
Tri-Valley, California Convention & Visitors Bureau
Monday, February 8, 2010

2. Monday, February 8, 2010

3. What is social media?
• Any online site that allows individuals to
interact and share information with brands,
businesses or each other.
• Blogs & Microblogs (Wordpress, Blogger,
Myspace, Twitter, Facebok)
• Video Sharing (youtube)
• Podcasts & Vodcasts
• Review Sites (Yelp, Tripadvisor, Amazon)
Monday, February 8, 2010

4. Why use Social Media?
• Overall, the benefits of social media
outweigh the negatives.
• Increase participation in your chamber
• Promote your member businesses
• Communicate to members and potential
members
• Educate Members/Visitors
Monday, February 8, 2010

5. Common Mistakes in
Social Media
• Social Media Overload
• Fear of Negative Reviews, Comments
• Being a Bad Community Member
• Saying the wrong thing
• Not Tracking Your Progress
• Not Promoting Your Social Media Sites
Monday, February 8, 2010

6. SMO: Social Media
Overload
• Common excuse: “I don’t have time for Social
Media”
• Evaluate what works for you.
• Determine what you want to accomplish from
SM. (ex. increase members, promote events, help
visitors, etc.)
• Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are great places
to start. Use them to direct traffic to your
website or blog.
Monday, February 8, 2010

7. How often do I post?
• Conversational: RT’s, Comments and
interactions with fans/friends
(1 - 3 per week)
• Informational: Articles, Information about
area etc. (1 - 3 per week)
• Questions: Polls, Contests (1 per week)
• Promotional: Events, specials, coupons
(1 per week)
Monday, February 8, 2010

8. Who’s afraid of the
Big Bad Web?
• Don’t be Afraid of Negative Customer Reviews
• TripAdvisor, Yelp, Amazon, Zappos all allow customers reviews
• Learn from negative comments and don’t take them personally
• Don’t censor comments unless they violate terms of service
(profanity, threats etc).Your community will help!
• Educate your members about negative comments.
• Do learn how to respond
• Respond to the comment quickly and professionally.
• Use the right method to respond (DM or Private Message).
• Try to make it right!
Monday, February 8, 2010

9. Be a Part of the Gang
• Remember:You are joining a online community -
act like it.
• Don’t oversell! Posting occasional
promotional offers is fine but don’t overdo it.
80% information, 20% promotional is best.
• Don’t friend/follow everyone that follows you
• Do listen and respond to other members
• Do RT or Comment
• Do complete your profile
Monday, February 8, 2010

10. Did I Say That?
• Be careful about what
you post!
• If you wouldn’t say it
to a reporter/mother/
priest/boss don’t post
it.
• Limit controversy
(ie.no religion, sex,
politics)
Monday, February 8, 2010

11. Don’t forget to track
your success
• Use Twitter Search or set
up a search in TweetDeck
• Set up Google Alerts
• http://bit.ly OR
www.twitpwr.com to
shorten, share and track
links
• Use Facebook Insights to
track fan interactions
Monday, February 8, 2010

12. Monday, February 8, 2010

13. Always Promote Your
Social Media Pages
• Post links/badges on all online & print
marketing materials (E-newsletter, E-mail
signatures, business cards & website)
• Post compelling content and promote
your events, photos, videos, giveaways,
promotions, polls on all SM sites.
• Make use of badges and add custom
fbml, html, flash boxes on website
• Encourage participation and interaction
of fans/followers
Monday, February 8, 2010

14. Monday, February 8, 2010

15. Nice
Customized
Background!
Monday, February 8, 2010

16. Nice
Customized
Background!
No update since
September?
Monday, February 8, 2010

17. Nice
Customized
Background!
No update since
September?
No Retweets
Monday, February 8, 2010

18. Monday, February 8, 2010

19. No Information
in Profile?
Monday, February 8, 2010

20. No Information
in Profile?
Infrequent posts
Monday, February 8, 2010

21. Monday, February 8, 2010

22. Good Profile &
Customized
background
Monday, February 8, 2010

23. Good Profile &
Customized
background
Nice industry
info tweets
Monday, February 8, 2010

24. Good Profile &
Customized
background
Nice industry
info tweets
No RT’s, No
replies?
Monday, February 8, 2010

25. Basic Twitter Terms
Follow – Following someone simply means that their posts/tweets show up on
your homepage
Replies – when someone writes a tweet directly at your handle - @xxxxx cool
post today blah blah – this is often an invite to engage with a follower
Hashtag – Used to categorize tweets so that others might use the same tag and
effectively create a way for people to view related tweets – it will look something
like #WACE10
Retweet (RT)– republishing someone else’s tweet – the original tweet along
with author stays intact, but you are basically showing someone’s tweet to your
followers. Great great way to add content and acknowledge good stuff from the
people they follow
DM – this is a message that is sent directly to another user. They MUST be
following you for you to DM them, but this is a very useful tool for private
messages and generally a good choice when you start going back and forth with
someone on something your entire base of followers might not find interesting
12
Monday, February 8, 2010

26. Basic Facebook Terms
• Profile: Facebook site intended for and created by an individual. A profile
displays a user's personal information and their interactions with friends.
Each registered user may have only one profile. It is not a page, it may look
like one, but it's not.
• Friend: person who has joined a profile, usually by invitation.
• Page: Facebook site intended for and created by businesses, brands and
similar entities (not individuals). Only the official representative of business
can create and make changes to a page. It can have more than one admin.
• Fan: person who has joined a page because they like what that page
represents.
• Group: Facebook site created by companies and other organizations to
promote their activities. Is not a page or profile.
• Member: person who has joined and participates with a group.
Monday, February 8, 2010

27. Basic Facebook Terms
• Ads: Used market products or promote a page or event.
• Insights: Facebook's answer to web page analysis. For each Facebook
page Insights tracks the number of page views, unique views, total
interactions, wall posts, discussion topics, fans, new fans, removed fans,
reviews, photo views, audio plays, and video plays.
• Like: A feature that appears as a link next to something you see on
Facebook that allows users to let others know they appreciate that
something, whether it be a video, a comment or something else.
• Status: A micro-blogging feature called which allows users to inform their
friends of their current whereabouts, actions, or thoughts.
• Wall: It's a space on every profile and page that allows friends, fans and
users themselves to post messages for all to see.
Monday, February 8, 2010

28. Facebook Tools
• Facebook Notes - Pulls in the RSS feed from your blog or other content
source and it will automatically bring everything into Facebook, as well as
show all of your friends that you’ve posted a new note http://
www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2347471856
• Twitter App – Automatically pull your tweets into your Facebook status. It
will put a Twitter themed box on your profile http://www.facebook.com/
apps/application.php?id=2231777543
• Static FBML – Add FBML and HTML applications to include more stylized
elements to a Page like clickable images, anchor text and interactive
content: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?
sid=59c8a2bba844922b5153efc9b9eba237&id=4949752878&ref=s
• Extended Info - Use HTML to customize any kind of content and create
numerous fields beyond the standard Information categories; you can also
name the box anything you want so it matches your page http://
www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2374336051&b
• Posted Items Pro - You can embed multiple YouTube,Yahoo, and Google
Videos, files, and more onto your profile: http://www.facebook.com/apps/
application.php?id=2761091815&ref=pr
Monday, February 8, 2010

29. Free Twitter Tools
http://tweetstats.com - Graph your Twitter stats including Tweets per hour, Tweets
per month, Tweet timeline and Reply statistics
www.twittercounter.com - Graph your Twitter stats
www.atebits.com/tweetie-iphone/ – This is a mobile app for iPhone users
www.orangatame.com/products/openbeak/ – This is a mobile app for Blackberry
users
www.tweetdeck.com - You can post tweets from it, respond to replies from others
and, this is what I really like, set up various searches and get updates in real time
when someone tweets on a subject of phrase you are following
www.hootsuite.com - Manage multiple Twitter profiles, preschedule
tweets, and measure your success
www.splitweet.com - Allows you to compose a list of accounts and
distribute tweets.You can also follow your contacts tweets from all
of your managed accounts and monitor your brand
Monday, February 8, 2010

30. Free Twitter Tools
http://wefollow.com - This the most famous twitter directory having more than
254,839 unique visitors to this community
http://justtweetit.com - This is another one of the best twitter directories. Select
the appropriate category and add your twitter under that category by clicking “Add
your name to the Tweeters
http://tweetbeep.com - Keep track of conversations that mention you, your hotel or
destination
www.twitpwr.com - Is a Short URL service with analytics
http://bit.ly/ - Allows users to shorten, share, and track links
http://twitr.org/ - This is also one of the best twitter directories. Here you need to
get authorization from your Twitter for listing
Monday, February 8, 2010

31. Other helpful sites.
• http://www.colourlovers.com/themeleon/
twitter : Custom themes for your twitter
page
• http://tiny.cc/0K9mQ : Free Social media
icons for use on your website
Monday, February 8, 2010

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37. Final thoughts
• Update Frequently
• Be Personal • Promote Special
Offers occasionally
• Ask Questions
• Remember to Keep it
• Encourage Simple
Interaction
• Engage Your
• Track Monthly Customers and Get
Them Generating the
• Share Information Content
Monday, February 8, 2010

38. Questions?
Natalie@trivalleycvb.com
www.trivalleycvb.com
facebook.com/visittrivalley
twitter.com/VisitTriValley
flickr.com/groups/showusyourroots/
youtube.com/trivalleycvb
trivalleycamembershipblog.wordpress.com
trivalleycawineblog.wordpress.com
trivalleycahistoryblog.wordpress.com
golftrivalley.wordpress.com
Monday, February 8, 2010