1.
Social Media & Its Role in Business
Presented by
Stephanie Powers,
Hagerstown Community College
For
MD Society of Professional Engineers
October 12, 2011

2. What is Marketing?
“Marketing is everything you do to promote your business, from the moment you conceive of it
to the point at which customers buy your product or service and begin to patronize your
business on a regular basis.
The key words to remember are EVERYTHING and REGULAR BASIS.”
-Jay Conrad Levinson
Author of the Guerrilla Marketing series
A New Economy
Organized by products Organized by customer segments
Focused on transaction value Focused on the lifetime customer value
Shareholder Stakeholder
Marketing by marketing dept. Marketing by EVERYONE
Customer acquisition Customer retention
Overpromise, under-deliver Under-promise, Over-deliver
Old Marketing Process
Product Promotion People
21st Century Market Process
People Product Promotion
Why the change from product to people driven markets?
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Stephanie Powers, 240‐500‐2490 Social Media & Its Role in Business
sapowers@hagerstowncc.edu October 12, 2011

3. What does this have to do with social media?
Definition of Social Media:
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Why is this important for my business?
 Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
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 Customer Service
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 Qualified Leads
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 Public Relations
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 Targeted Marketing
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Stephanie Powers, 240‐500‐2490 Social Media & Its Role in Business
sapowers@hagerstowncc.edu October 12, 2011

4. W
What shou I “do” with socia media to help my b
uld w al o business?
?
U
Understanding Your Current Social Media Strategy: A Quiz
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A company’s so ocial media strat
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can minant
entify your dom
a
approach (the category with the highest total). Then consider whether you’re using the strate that best su your resourc and
c e egy uits ces
goals, or perhap diffusing your efforts over multiple approach when you w
g ps hes would be better sserved by focus
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Source: Ha
arvard Business Review, July 2
s 2011 “What’s Yo Social Medi Strategy”
Your ia
Stephanie
e Powers, 301‐79
90‐2800, Ext. 249
90 Social Me
edia & Its Role in Business
sapowerss@hagerstowncc c.edu Septembeer 13, 2011

8. Determine a Realistic Level of Use
Based on your company’s…
 Level of expertise & experience  Expected outcomes
 Available time & resources
Level 1: Monitor the web for mentions of your company
 Set up a Google alert for news, blog posts and online discussions that mention your
company
o Google will email weekly, daily or real-time updates of search term mentions
o Monitoring your mentions and media coverage allows you to calculate the value
of your social media and public relations campaigns – i.e. What would equivalent
advertising cost your company?
 Set up a custom Twitter feed for industry/company related search terms – examples:
company name, product names, industry trends, etc. (recommend using HootSuite for
this function)
 Facebook
o IF you have a Facebook business page, be sure to monitor it daily
 Claim your business on foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp, Google Places, etc.
Level 2: Create accounts and start promoting your business
 Determine which social networks are right for your business – Go to your customers
o Google Ad Planner can help you research the demographics of various sites –
use networks who’s user demographics match your customer and/or target
audience demographics
 Identify goals for each account and campaign – What do you want to accomplish?
o Customer service o Leads
o Promotion o Web traffic
o Awareness
 Set up tracking tools to evaluate success – Use tools like…
o HootSuite analytics o Klout score
o Website referral numbers o TwitSprout
Level 3: Establish yourself as an industry expert
 Get involved in industry-related conversations
o Track Twitter for questions relevant to your industry – respond with expert
information NOT product promotion
o Get involved in applicable LinkedIn Groups
o Monitor and respond to LinkedIn Answers
o Comment on blog posts
 Publish informational content
Stephanie Powers, 240‐500‐2490 Social Media & Its Role in Business
sapowers@hagerstowncc.edu September 13, 2011

9. Strategies and Best Practices
Social Media Strategies to Boost Your Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
 Inbound links – link back to your website often
 Sharable web content – make sure people can share and interact with all of your web
content
Facebook-Specific SEO Strategies
 Choose your Facebook page name carefully – think about how people will find you in
Facebook’s search function
 Create a custom URL – pages with at least 100 fans may create a unique URL –
example: www.facebook.com/nike
 “About” section gets the most bang for your keyword buck – Make sure you use quality
keywords in the “about” section of your profile
 Other “info.” Items of importance
o Address – important for location-specific companies
o Company Overview, Mission, Products – use product/service-specific keywords
 Use related keywords in photo descriptions and events
Engage Your Audience
 Post frequently
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 Start & participate in conversations
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 Promote partners
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 Respond in a timely manner
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Stephanie Powers, 240‐500‐2490 Social Media & Its Role in Business
sapowers@hagerstowncc.edu September 13, 2011

10. Strategies and Best Practices (Cont’d)
Increase Followers
 Offer special promotions to your followers, brand champions, and/or best customers
o Facebook – contests, landing page offer
o Twitter – use hashtags (#) for contests (photo, trivia, etc.)
o YouTube – Video contests/promotions
o Foursquare – foursquare specials
 Generate frequent & relevant content
o Blog posts
o Webinars
o Quora
o LinkedIn Answers and Groups
o Sharable Email News & Web Content
Censorship, Integrity & Crisis Management
 Be careful not to delete negative comments just because they’re negative
 Set guidelines for deleting posts and reference them when you do so – example:
profanity, slander, etc.
 Have a plan for dealing with a crisis
Tools to Monitor Networks and Schedule Posts
 www.hootsuite.com  www.ping.fm
 www.tweetdeck.com
Resources for More Information
 Mashable – www.mashable.com
 Hub Spot – www.hubspot.com
 Facebook Pages Resources Tab – www.facebook.com/facebookpages
 Recommended LinkedIn Groups
o Social Media Today o eMarketing Association
o Fans of Mashable Network
 Recommended YouTube Channels
o SocialMedia Today o Social Media Examiner
 Industry experts to follow
o Mack Collier o Scott Stratten
www.mackcollier.com www.unmarketing.com
o Chris Brogan
www.chrisbrogan.com
Stephanie Powers, 240‐500‐2490 Social Media & Its Role in Business
sapowers@hagerstowncc.edu October 12, 2011

11. Want to learn more?
Join us on October 20, 2011, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. for Social Media Marketing.
Designed for small to medium-sized businesses and nonprofits, this course shows you how to leverage
platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, foursquare and YouTube to engage your audience and
generate leads.
Course Number: PRD 443 D
Fee: $30
Date: Thursday, October 20, 2011
Time: 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Location: Hagerstown Community College, Career Programs Building 214
Other upcoming classes:
Extraordinary Customer Service Email Marketing
Course Number: PRD 445 D Course Number: PRD 444 D
Fee: $70 Fee: $30
Date: Thursday, October 13, 2011 Date: Thursday, October 27, 2011
Time: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Time: 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Location: Valley Mall Training Center Location: HCC, CPB 214
“Grant Writing-Show Me the Money” © Leadership Skills for Managers
Course Number: PRD 459 D Course Number: PRD 675 E
Fee: $265 Fee: $200
Date: Tuesday-Thursday, October 18-20, 2011 Date: Thursday, November 11, 2011
Time: 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Time: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Location: HCC, CPB 211 Location: Valley Mall Training Center
Communication Skills for Managers
Course Number: PRD 429 D
Fee: $200
Date: Thursday, October 20, 2011
Time: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Location: Valley Mall Training Center
Register online at www.hagerstowncc.edu/coned/register,
or call 240-500-2236.
Stephanie Powers, 240‐500‐2490 Social Media & Its Role in Business
sapowers@hagerstowncc.edu September 13, 2011