Exploring how social media can directly benefit financial service professionals and breaking down the myths around social media.

1. Social Media Isn’t Just MySpace for Tweens:How Real Business is Being Done OnlinePresented for the Eastern Ontario Women in Finance Charity Conference Erin Blaskie - www.erinblaskie.com @ErinBlaskie (Twitter)

2. 5 Things I Know About Being Dyslexic That my math teacher wasn’t kidding when she said, “This 50% grade is a gift Erin... A gift.” Phone numbers dialed by me often reach the incorrect person. That the company who hired me as an accounting clerk should have made me do a numbers test first. That my bills will always be under paid or overpaid by an eerily similar amount each month. No matter how slow you read out a credit card number to me... You’ll have to read it even slower.

3. What We’re Going to Cover Three Myths About Social Media How You, as a Financial Services Professional, Can Directly Benefit From Social Media Four Must-Use Services Five Ways to Find Your “Tribe” Three Ways to Enhance Your Experience on Each Site

4. Myths About Social Media: The MySpace Phenomenon

5. Myths About Social Media Myth #1: Social Media is Tweens Chatting with Friends on MySpace Myth #2: Social Media is Time Consuming Myth #3: Social Media is a Waste of Time – People Want to Be Sold To!

6. Myths About Social Media Myth #1: Social Media is Tweens Chatting with Friends on MySpace Yes, MySpace is popular for that target market but there are professional social media sites Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are just three of the sites that target professionals Real networking and business development opportunities exist on the sites targeted to your industry / target market

7. Myths About Social Media Myth #2: Social Media is Time Consuming You get back whatever you put into it Can be controlled in your time management plan You can outsource some of the activities associated with social media (not the engagement and relationship building however) You can choose which sites get your attention – fewer sites, more engagement equals success

8. Myths About Social Media Myth #3: Social Media is a Waste of Time – People Want to Be Sold To! People want to buy from people and social media shortens the know, like and trust timeline You don’t want to waste your efforts on consistently expanding into new markets – focus on a targeted group Social media is less about selling and more about relationship building and engagement

10. Benefits to the FinancialServices Professional

11. Benefits to the Financial Services Professional Reach a highly targeted audience Search tools allow you to find the people on social media you need to connect with Consistently update your target market You can broadcast out tips, advice, statistics, opportunities and whatever else is going to make them look at you as the expert Example: Mortgage rates just dropped by ½ a percent! If you’re looking to buy or invest in real estate, now’s the time!

12. Benefits to the Financial Services Professional Financial services relies heavily on building relationships Social media allows you to connect and communicate with your target market without jumping to the sale Find partners to collaborate with Diversify your portfolio / offerings

13. Four Must-Use Social Media Sites

14. Four Must-Use Social Media Sites Twitter http://www.twitter.com LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com Facebook http://www.facebook.com ActiveRain http://www.activerain.com

15. Three Ways to Enhance YourExperience on Each Site

16. Three Ways to Enhance Your Experience on Each Site Twitter Setup your account making sure to make use of the profile area, website address area and photo Begin / continue following people in your industry, people using keywords of your industry and people you’d just like to know Be sure to follow people back, engage with them through @ replies and direct messages and start conversations

17. Twitter Tools Tweetdeck Allows you to track your Twitter accounts using a downloadable, desktop application Hootsuite Allows you to setup pre-programmed Tweets Bit.ly Shortens long URLs / web links for use on Twitter Twitter Lingo Explained Blog Post (Free) http://www.erinblaskie.com

18. Three Ways to Enhance Your Experience on Each Site LinkedIn Setup your account and ensure the entire profile is filled out, invite your friends and hook up with people you know through the friend finder Participate actively in the LinkedIn Answers area – post questions for your target market and answer questions for free to gain visibility Join Groups on LinkedIn that might contain fellow industry professionals or possible clients

19. LinkedIn Tools Ping.fm Allows you to update LinkedIn and many other social media sites all at once Outlook Toolbar / Browser Toolbar Download the toolbar to make the most out of LinkedIn while inside of other programs

20. Three Ways to Enhance Your Experience on Each Site Facebook Setup your account, fill out your profile in full detail and setup a Fan Page for your business Find Groups on Facebook that contain relevant individuals or potential clients using your keywords to search them out Utilize the tools that are available including: events, photos, blog feed import, etc. to really enhance your profile’s automation

21. Facebook Tools Ping.fm Allows you to update LinkedIn and many other social media sites all at once Facebook Notes Bring in your blog’s RSS feed via the Facebook notes to keep people up-to-date HTML Box Add the HTML application box to your profile to collect names/e-mail addresses on your profile

22. Three Ways to Enhance Your Experience on Each Site ActiveRain Setup your profile in its entirety – the ActiveRain profile process is extensive on purpose Post new content to ActiveRain often – this is how the majority of connections are made Check out the event listings from other members for networking opportunities

23. ActiveRain Tools Advertising on ActiveRain Opportunities for paid advertising exist on the site ActiveRain Referral Exchange Setup alerts once you are on the site

24. Where to Find Your “Tribe”

25. Ways to Find Your “Tribe” Twitter http://search.twitter.com/advanced http://www.wefollow.com http://www.twitterel.com/http://nearbytweets.com/ Twitter Lists Checking for Twitter Icons on People’s Websites Include Your Twitter Info Wherever You Give Contact Information Regularly

26. Ways to Find Your “Tribe” LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/groupsDirectory http://www.linkedin.com/companies http://events.linkedin.com/user/hub Pull in Your Contacts Regularly Through Connection with Your Address Book

27. Ways to Find Your “Tribe” Facebook http://www.facebook.com/find-friends/?ref=pf http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/groups.php?ref=sb http://www.facebook.com/events.php?ref=sb http://www.facebook.com/advertising/

28. If you are not moving closer to what you want in sales (or in life), you probably aren't doing enough asking. -- Jack Canfield

29. Engage With Me So That I May Engage With You @ErinBlaskie on Twitter www.erinblaskie.com and www.bsetc.com erin@erinblaskie.com Please e-mail me if you’d like (free): 5 Ways to Get More Love for Your Blog Posts Social Media Automation Webinar Recordings