Quick overview on how to use social media effectively.

1. Social Media

2. Overview

3. Pros Direct customer contact: Increase customer services “Free” – no sign up costs Promotional: Alert consumers about news, events and sales Key point: Do this WITHOUT sounding like an infomercial

4. Cons “Free” – it is free to sign up but not free to maintain. Must have someone assigned to social media. Will have a negative impact if your social media page is not maintained. (ex: loss of followers) Better to NOT have a social media site rather than one that is not updated Must be engaging – constantly engage followers/fans Monitor Respond

5. Social Media Overview Engage followers Just having “likes” and “followers” isn’t always enough, encourage fans to start a conversation (ex: Another busy Saturday at the Mall! Who came out to shop today?) Continue the conversation Make sure to respond to customers and comment on their posts to continue the conversation Connect with your Audience: Local Connection Did your city’s hockey team just win the Stanley Cup? Make sure to note that on your social media page! Connect local news and events to your followers – this shows that your page has a local sensibility and isn’t too “corporate”.

6. Social Media Overview Social Media Coordinator The person assigned to updating needs to have a passion/understanding for social media Have a policy: guidelines on posting Update Your page should have, at the very least, one update per day. 80% informational, 20% promotional

7. Social Media for Simon Your demo is using social media Facebook’s Statistics: More than 400 Million Users 50% of users log on every day Average user has 130 friends SEO Having a social media presence will increase your SEO People want info about your mall If they choose to be a “fan” they have already taken the first step in wanting to know more about your mall

8. Connecting Facebook to Twitter You are given the option to connect Facebook to Twitter Pro Updating both simultaneously Con Not utilizing each site’s functions properly Recommendation: Connect pages but make sure to occasionally use each site individually

9. Tools for Monitoring Twitter: Applications available online such as Tweetdeck allow you to filter and organize your twitter feed, @ replies and DMs. Facebook: If you are the admin, facebook sends you a weekly report of your stats. You can also check your pages insights as an admin.

11. Twitter Hashtags: use # as a prefix to your topic (#RossParkMall) Using a hashtag is a way to increase your Tweet visibility Sites like #hashtag.org and Twemes.com are great sources to track popular topics

12. Login to your Twitter account.

13. This page shows all of your tweets and the tweets of the people you’re following. Using Ross Park Mall as an example I’m going to type Ross Park Mall into the search bar on the right and see what kind of hits I get.

14. Another customer friendly service Twitter has to offer is the ability to reply to specific tweets. For instance, if a person tweets “I dislike Ross Park Mall.” Ross Park Mall can click reply and ask why their experience with the Ross Park Mall was unpleasant. Anytime someone Tweets the phrase “Ross Park Mall” or @’s Ross Park Mall it is highlighted on this results page.

15. Who’s Doing it Well? Wet Seal Teen Girl Clothing Store Launched a campaign allowing their fans to design their own ensembles and published the designs to allow the community to review Engaged fans/asked for their opinion Provided social validation of fashion choices to enhance sales User generated merchandising

16. Questions?