Social Media Advantage

An Essential Handbook for Small Business

By (author) Holly Berkley & Amanda Walter
Categories: Social media / social networking, Internet guides and online services, Digital Lifestyle and online world: consumer and user guides, Computing and Information Technology
Series: 101 for Small Business Series
Publisher: Self-Counsel Press
Show Edition Details

Paperback : 9781770401426, 152 pages, February 2013

Contact the Publisher

CONTENTS
vi The Social Media Advantage: An essential handbook for small business
Reaching Your Goals With Twitter 25
Who’s on Facebook? 26
Getting to Know Generation Y
(Your Future Employees/Clients/Vendors) 28
Why Blog? 28
Differentiate Your Social Strategies 31
3 Amplifying Your Communication Efforts 33
Practice Patience When Starting Your
Social Media Campaign 35
Participate Unselfishly 36
Make the Most of Your Offline Assets 42
How Often Should You Tweet, Post, Comment…? 45
Consider the Benefit Social Media Plays
Into Your Google Ranking 46
A Look At Amplification Strategies By Social Network 48
Facebook 48
LinkedIn 55
Twitter 57
YouTube 59
Blogging 60
Google+ 62
Yelp 63
4 Engaging Your Most Valuable Asset:
The Role Employees and Customers
Play in Your Social Media Strategy 65
Identifying Internal Social Media Collaborators 66
Strength in Numbers 70
Keep Marketing Goals in the Forefront 72
Employee Training 74
Choosing the Right Employees to Carry the Company Voice 76
Recommended Employee Guidelines 77
Contents vii
5 Expert Positioning 81
Investing in Multiple Thought Leadership Roles
Within Your Company 82
Become a Part of the Conversation 83
Building Your Fan Base 88
Using a Blog for Expert Positioning 89
Leverage Existing Thought Leaders’ Blogs,
to Promote Your Own Ideas 89
Get Conversations Going on Your Own Blog 90
Optimizing Your Blog for the Search Engines 91
Promoting Your Blog post on Other Social Networks 92
Self-promotion on Facebook and LinkedIn 93
Ideas for Saving Time on Content Creation 95
6 Building and Nurturing Communities 99
Key Benefits of Building an Online Community 101
Building Your Own Social Networking Site 101
Designating a Community Manager 103
Online Communities Need Loyal Members 107
7 Evaluation Strategies 117
Defining the Health of Your Online Community 118
Tracking Social Listening 119
Google Analytics 121
Measuring Search Engine Optimization 122
Tracking Through URL Shorteners 123
Facebook Insights 123
8 The Future of Social Media 125
Growth of Location-Based Social Networking 126
The Reputation Economy is Coming 128
The Critical Role of Influencers in Your
Social Media Strategy 129
viii The Social Media Advantage: An essential handbook for small business
How Social Media Will Impact Journalism 130
Further Customization of Social Networks and Tools 130
More Connected Buildings and Spaces in the Future 131
Glossary 133
About The Author 141

Description

So you've got a small business. But are you capitalizing on social media for the increased revenue possibilities, increased visibility, and good PR? In just a few short years, social media has become a worldwide phenomenon, where Facebook updates or tweets are mini press-releases read by thousands of people every day. What's the best way to handle your small business's social media presence? Your company can get in the game, using social media as a free public relations tool. 'The Social Media Advantage' gives you the knowledge, skills, and confidence to develop an effective social media strategy that will help make your business a success!