30-MINUTE SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING Step-by-Step Techniques to Spread the Word About Your Business FAST AND FREE Susan Gunelius New York Chicago San Francisco Lisbon London Madrid Mexico City Milan New Delhi San Juan Seoul Singapore Sydney Toronto To Scott, for supporting every new opportunity I pursue on and off the social Web and for sending me blog post ideas when I’m too busy to think straight. And to my family and friends for remembering me and welcoming me with open arms when I eventually emerge from behind my computer. Copyright © 2011 by Susan Gunelius. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. 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Contents Foreword by Dan Schawbel . v Preface . vii Acknowledgments . .ix PART I Get Started: The Who, What, and Why of Social Media Marketing Chapter 1 What Is Social Media Marketing? . 3 Chapter 2 Why Are Businesses Using Social Media Marketing? . 13 Chapter 3 Who Is Doing It Right and Wrong? . 23 Chapter 4 Warning: One Size Does Not Fit All . 37 Chapter 5 Before You Begin: Perceptions, Honesty, and Giving Up Control . 47 PART II Test the Water: The Where of Social Media Marketing Chapter 6 Analyzing Social Media Marketing Tools . 57 Chapter 7 Blogging . 65 Chapter 8 Microblogging . 81 Chapter 9 Social Networking . 99 Chapter 10 Social Bookmarking and Content Sharing . 121 Chapter 11 Audio and Video . 131 Chapter 12 E-Books, Reviews, Webinars, and Other Social Media Marketing Opportunities . 139 iii iv Contents PART III Dive In for 30 Minutes a Day: The How of Social Media Marketing Chapter 13 Indirect Marketing . 153 Chapter 14 Brand Building . 161 Chapter 15 Building Relationships and Communities . 169 Chapter 16 Word-of-Mouth Marketing . 177 Chapter 17 Expanding Reach and Establishing Position . 183 Chapter 18 Direct Marketing and Promotions . 191 PART IV Maintaining Social Media Marketing Momentum over the Long Term Chapter 19 Integrating with Traditional Marketing . 201 Chapter 20 Following the Rules of Social Media Marketing . 209 Chapter 21 Measuring Results, Testing, Tweaking, and Trying Again . 219 Chapter 22 Bringing It All Together . 229 Appendix A Twitter Cofounder Biz Stone Refl ects on Twitter in 2009 . 241 Appendix B Resources and Help . 243 Appendix C Social Media Marketing Plan Worksheet . 249 Glossary . 250 References . 254 Index . 255 Foreword Right now, your competitors are using social media tools to advance their personal and corporate brands, generate revenue, increase cus- tomer loyalty, and recruit top talent in order to gain leverage in your industry. Do you want to be shut out and close your operations? A few years ago, social media tools could give you a clear advantage in the marketplace, but now they are mandatory for reaching customers, building relationships, and becoming a recognized name. In 2008, cause-related marketing fi rm Cone (www.coneinc.com) released a study stating that 93 percent of Americans believe companies should have a social media presence, and 85 percent believe companies should also interact and engage with their audience. It is 2010 now! These numbers must be nearing 100 percent, which means that just having profi les on Twitter and Facebook isn’t enough. You actually have to know how to use them and understand the best practices and the best ways to implement them in your com- pany. Technology is changing rapidly, and if you aren’t keeping up-to- date with the latest trends, it’s going to really hurt your business. No one had even heard of Twitter in 2006, but today it has about 106 million users, and it receives more media attention than Kim Kar- dashian, Britney Spears, and Brad Pitt combined. Most marketers have embraced Twitter at the expense of other tools that might be just as, if not more, powerful and rewarding. Just because there are a lot of online tools now, that doesn’t mean traditional marketing tactics have lost their value. For instance, marketers are investing more than they ever have in direct marketing through targeted e-mail campaigns. Social media is revolutionary and has changed our culture because it has leveled the media playing fi eld and demolished corporate hier- archies. Now you can interact with executives without going through v vi Foreword public relations, and sell products directly to your audience without begging the New York Times to write about you. It cuts through geog- raphy, race, gender, and age. It actually allows you to measure your own success immediately, in contrast to other media, which only let you estimate conversion. As incredible as social media is, it requires substantial time, patience, creativity, and commitment. I believe com- mitment is the key word for successfully using social media to market your brand because it takes into account the passion, energy, hard work, and long-term plan you’ll need to achieve business results. It’s easy to tell a company to make time for updating social net- works with fresh content and insights every single day, yet most fi nd the effort overwhelming at the beginning. This is especially true since companies are bombarded with so many different social tech- nologies, including blogging, microblogging, social networking, social bookmarking, video and audio podcasting, e-books, and more. Susan Gunelius has taken this common frustration and developed an easy, thoughtful, and strategic manual for your social media marketing suc- cess plan. Avoid reading this social media marketing guide at your own peril! —Dan Schawbel #1 international bestselling author of Me 2.0, BusinessWeek columnist, and managing partner of Millennial Branding, LLC Preface Congratulations! By reading this book, you’ve taken the fi rst step toward joining the social Web community and building your busi- ness in ways people only could have dreamed about a decade ago.