Social Media is not a Side Dish. This presentation for HTCE is specifically aimed at addressing the hurdles that established organisations face when incorporating social media into their marketing mix.

1. No Longer a Side Dish - Incorporating Social Media into The Marketing Mix HTCE Mhairi Petrovic October 3rd

2. Menu Introductions What is Social Media? Case Studies – Metroland and Allan Financial 7 Vital Tips for Social Media Strategy Pilot Educate Tools Measure Policy Content Recap and Questions

4. Internet pioneer

5. Experience founded in traditional sales and marketing

6. Passionate about social media and its potential for growing businesses

7. Focus on simplifying the Internet for businessEducator, blogger, entrepreneur

8. About Out-SmartsOut-Smarts is a Vancouver B.C. based Internet marketing company specializing in social media. Internet Strategy Social Network Marketing Blogging For Business Email Marketing Search Engine Marketing and Internet Advertising

9. What is social media?

11. Internet networking hubs.

12. Social media tools include wikis, blogs, podcasts as well as social networks like Facebook and You Tube.

13. Tools and not the panacea.

15. 100 m on Twitter and on LinkedIn

16. 7 billion+ photos on Flickr

17. 24 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute

18. 180m+ blogs

19. 77% of active Internet users use blogs

20. No longer the domain of the youth or techies

21. Over 35 demographic is the fastest growing

22. More women than men

24. Build community and loyalty with existing connections

25. Grow your network – make new connections

26. Develop relationships

27. Maintain contact with existing networks

28. Connect and learn from industry specialists online and peers

29. To establish your company’s expertise and build brand awareness

30. Attract attention

31. To promote your product or service (tastefully and subtly)

32. Great sales tool that can negate the need to cold call

33. Improve and enhance customer service

35. Social Media is not a side dish…

36. …but it’s not the full meal either.

37. Social Media is an Ingredient A component that complements your overall strategy A tool that you can use to reach your target audience A new way to communicate, build awareness and grow community Another tool to add to your marketing or communications arsenal It is an ingredient that enhances the flavour of the overall dish

38. Social Media Can be threatening for established business because it necessitates change.

39. A New Way to Communicate Old Closed Controlled One Way (Push) Company Focused Formal Slow New Open/Transparent Organic Interactive (Pull) Customer Focused Casual Fast

40. Like the Grand Bazaar

41. Some Things Don’t Change. Marketing 101 Customer Company Cost Communication

42. Case Study – Allan Financial Life Insurance Highly targeted geographically to Bowen and North Shore Very traditional industry Trailblazers in their industry Lots of social media naysayers Social media neophytes

43. Case Study – Metroland Media Group Ontario’s largest community newspaper group Torstar subsidiary Large traditional media organisation Used to traditional advertising and marketing model and old methods Declining readership Using content as a way to increase online advertising revenues

44. 7 Social Media Tips for Established Organisations

45. 1. Social Media Must Complement Corporate Strategy Your goals, mission, values remain the same You already know your audience – apply that knowledge to your online efforts Use Social Media to augment your marketing efforts Reflect your branding, messaging and differentiation Treat social media activity the same as any other marketing activity – measure and manage Some of the best social media campaigns are those that complement existing traditional campaigns

46. Take a Holistic Approach to Internet Marketing Strategy

47. 2. Start Small and Grow Identify one area of business and run a pilot For one product, service or target segment of your audience Makes it more manageable and less risky See if your community is indeed using social media Allows you to adapt and evolve Tests the waters in a manageable way Prove effectiveness

48. North York Twitter Pilot

49. 3. Educate Educate staff and decision makers as to what social media is from a business perspective Conduct a series of introductory sessions introducing social media tools and concepts from a business perspective Relate social media to your business or others in your industry Education puts social media in perspective

50. An Introduction To Social Media Mhairi Petrovic www.out-smarts.com October 4 2010

52. The business benefits of social media.

53. Before you start – what you need to know

54. Social Media Tour - Tools and tips

55. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogs

56. Safe and Effective Social Media Participation

58. Which Social Media Tools

59. Allan Financial Market Segments Alignment Social Media efforts align very closely with target audience: Spender, ‘David’ Saver, ‘Linda and John Xin’ Retiree, ‘Rose & Alex’ Legacy Planner, ‘Jennifer’ Entrepreneur, ‘Sarah & Avi’ Different social media tools to build community with each.

60. 5. Make it Measureable First ask - where are you at right now in terms of your goals? This is your yardstick. Website metrics Social mentions Connections – number of followers Content sharing - buzz Comments / Contributions Subscribers Determine goals that are quantifiable and achievable.

61. How Metroland Measures Success In advertising terms that relate to their business (i.e. click through’s, conversion rates etc) Paying close attention to web traffic analysis Measured by number of followers (community) Social Media referrals (RT’s, comments and mentions etc)

62. Measuring Followers

63. Measuring Referrals and Interactions Twitter Stats Facebook Insights

64. 6. Social Media Policy Employees need to know boundaries Policies should outline appropriate social media behavious Spell out communication policies for each network or tool Address copyright , link attachment and proprietary information Build best practises for the tools you use so that everyone is aligned

65. Best Practises

66. 7. Content is Key This is about your audience not you Should always add value, be interesting Be consistent in posting content Never overtly sell Stay on topic (related to your business, community and industry) Should convey your brand and message

67. Allan Financial Content reflects the “enjoy life” message Uses the target community as a source of content Post and reply to comments regularly

68. Metroland Now All communities use Facebook, Twitter as applicable Social media referrals increasing 20% year on year Social Media is an integral part of their strategy to get more traffic and build ad revenues Next: working to launch iPhone app

69. Allan Financial Now Integral approach to Social Media Early days – rolling out social media gradually Educating staff and creating policies Tapping into the Bowen and West Van Community Added 56 followers in first few weeks on Facebook Already driving traffic to the website

70. Social Media for Established Organisations - Recap Must be in line with overall strategy Start small and build Educate Choose Tools Wisely Make it Measurable Policies Content is Key Questions?

71. Contact Information “Mhairi Petrovic” on LinkedIn www.out-smarts.com/blog www.twitter.com/outsmarts www.facebook.com/outsmarts mhairi@out-smarts.com 604 290 4099