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Home , Social media marketing

Introduction

Social media is more than a buzzword. It’s more than just a Benefits of passing trend or fad. By all indications, the use of social media for mar- Marketing: keting and customer engagement is a new factor in the marketing world, and it’s definitely here to stay. Engagement with customers through social media outlets has moved from the field of early adopters and into Generates expo- the general world of online marketing, with more than one in five small sure for my busi- business owners reporting that they interact with customers via at least ness: 88% one social networking channel or platform.

Increases traffic/ subscribers: 72%

Improved search engine rankings: 62%

In particular, owners recognize the benefits of engaging with their customers and prospective customers via various social media Improved search platforms. The benefits reported by small business owners and market- engine rankings: ers who use marketing include increased exposure and 62% awareness, increased traffic to their main and improved .

Despite the wider engagement Generated quali- of small businesses with social fied leads: 51% media marketing, many small business web site owners are hesitant to fully engage. By a large margin, the most preva- lent barriers to full adoption of Reduced overall social 2011 media marketing by marketing ex- owners are questions penses: 49% about integrating the social media engagement with their existing small business web site and current marketing strategy.

Thanks to the rapidly evolving technology that drives social sharing and social media marketing, even those most experienced in the arena Reduced overall find themselves constantly adapting and changing the way they use marketing ex- social networks as part of their . In just the past 12 to 18 penses: 49% months, new players have emerged in the social sharing field, add- ing more avenues of engagement. These new players include mobile marketing platforms and geo-specific social platforms, such as Four- - 2011 Social Media Marketing and Industry Report: How square and Groupon. A strategy that uses best practices in managing and Marketers Are Using Social Media to Grow Their Busi- integrating the social media presence with the current website can help nesses; Michael A. Stelzner; April 2011 website owners control their online presence, shape their brand image and reap the most benefit from all of their market- ing efforts.

One of the earliest lessons that any marketer learns is the value of crafting a carefully coordinated message and ensur- ing that every communication leaving the company conforms to that message. Coordinated messaging is the lynchpin of creating a brand, and it’s one of the most vital aspects of integrating social media marketing into your existing website and marketing strategy. These seven steps ensure that a company’s social media message is in sync with the rest of the organi- zation’s marketing and branding strategy. Best Practices: 7 Steps to Integrating Social Media with Your Current Website

1. Define goals and objectives for social media marketing. Many website owners jump into social media mar- keting feet first without any idea of what they hope to accomplish. Engaging without a goal is like head- ing off on vacation without knowing where you’re going. You may have fun along the way, but you’ll have no way of knowing when you’ve reached your destination, or even if you’re heading in the right di- rection. Before sending out a single tweet or updat- ing a single status, identify the company’s social media marketing goals and objectives.

2. Identify the most useful channels. Each of the major social media outlets has its own character and its own best use. Get to know the characteristics and best uses for each of them so that you can decide which are most useful in your marketing mix.

Facebook took over is the second LinkedIn is a pro- and other geo- as the number one most commonly used fessional network specific social net- social media chan- social media market- that allows business working tools are most nel for businesses of all sizes ing tool among most businesses, people to connect with one useful for putting brick-and- in 2011. Businesses can now and is the most commonly another. A LinkedIn profile mortar businesses on the map. connect with customers via used tool for small business helps your business connect It allows customers and users to Facebook Pages, which include web site owners. Tweets allow with other businesses and B2B post reviews and impressions of many connection tools that for instant sharing and quick salespeople. If your company the business so that others can are especially useful to small communication with followers provides services to other busi- access them. Emerging mobile and medium size businesses. of your business. The shelf life nesses, a LinkedIn profile is a technology is making these Facebook is best for connecting of a tweet is short – as little as worthwhile investment of social social networking tools increas- directly to customers, and is a a matter of minutes – and with media marketing resources. ingly useful for small busi- vital part of most B2C social the 140 character limit, tweets ness web sites with real-world media marketing plans. With a are best suited for sending out locations. If your business is in user base of more than 800 mil- quick updates, teasers and an- Westchester, NY, for example, lion, Facebook gives a company nouncements that point follow- and you want to attract local an enormous marketing reach. ers back to your website for business, reviews on Yelp can Facebook status updates stay on more information. help attract local Westchester the page until they’re updated, customers to your website and making the platform a good to your real world storefront. one for announcements with a This is becoming more and medium-term shelf-life. Face- more useful as mobile apps book also offers widgets and recognize geo-tagging and an- scripts to make it easier for your nounce your presence to those website visitors to connect and within the same geographic share content from your website location. with their friends. 3. Lock down your accounts. Once you’ve established which social media channels you want to use, lock down your accounts. To keep branding con- sistent across all of your marketing channels, register your business name or website name as the user name on all of the accounts you register. If your business is Westchester Coffee, register westchestercoffee.com as a domain name, @west- chestercoffee as a Twitter user and lock down your Facebook profile with a Westchester Coffee Page. If you post a , post it at your main domain, or register westchestercoffee.blogspot.com or westchestercoffee.wordpress.com.

Note: Best web practices suggest that you should register accounts and domain names even if you have no current plans to use them. That allows you to lock them away and prevent others from using them against you or capitalizing on your search engine marketing efforts.

4. Define a publishing workflow. A publishing calendar and matrix helps ensure that all of your messaging is consistent, and allows you to make links be- tween them so that each item you publish on any platform drives traffic to your primary online real estate – your website. Your company website is the one piece of the web that you completely control, so you want to drive traffic back to it for the full story. The simplest publishing matrix is a spreadsheet that holds information on each of your social media ac- counts, including user name, password, person responsible for it and items published to it.

5. Create links between all of your channels. This is where the integration begins. Whether you’re implementing a social media marketing strategy to use with your existing website or creating a new website as part of an overall marketing plan, it’s vital that all of the pieces link to each other and hang together as a whole.

The for each social media site should link back to your main website.The email address for each user profile should go to a company email address – [email protected], [email protected], and so on. In addi- tion, wherever possible, include links to your other social media profiles to connect them all to each other.

6. Create links from your website to all of your social media channels. Remember, though, that social media is about enhancing communication, and communication is two-way. Every page on your website should also link back to all of your social media profiles in a clearly identifiable way. The best way to do this is to place a block in your website template that includes buttons to allow website visitors to follow you on Twitter, Friend and Like you on Facebook and link with you on LinkedIn. If you post videos to YouTube, link to your YouTube channel. If you blog, use blog widgets that allow your users to easily share your content with their own followers and friends.

Some ways to build connections between social media and your website include:

• Share This widgets for various social media sites on your content allow website visitors to tell

share your content with their friends and followers

• Activity-based publishing tools allow visitors to publish their comments, reviews and other website activities to Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets

• Email This links allow your website visitors to mail links to your website to their friends via their own address books on Gmail or other mail sites 7. Make it easy for website visitors to sign up and sign in. Increase customer accounts and signups by allowing your visitors to create an account through one of their existing social media profiles. Janrain, a company that provides social engagement platforms for business websites, found that 75% of all website visitors do not like being asked to create a separate account for a new website and up to 40% of website visi- tors will leave the website or avoid it in the future. One way to avoid this is by providing a way for your website visitors to create accounts, sign in and comment on your website through an already existing social media user profile.Websites that allow visitors to sign in through Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Twitter and other social media accounts are viewed more favorably by 66% of the users surveyed by Janrain.

Outsourcing Social Media Integration for Your Website Setting up your social media channels and creating the basic framework for integration into your website is often a daunt- ing task for many small business owners. Don’t let the technical tasks deter you from moving forward with creating your social media profiles. The effort to get up and running will pay off once you start using these powerful tools.

Many companies choose to outsource website design to a professional web design company with the expertise to make social media integration easier. Web design companies that specialize in cross-platform social media integration can create back-end social media management and monitoring tools as well as creating templates and designs that integrate links to all of your social media accounts in the most natural and effective positions on your website.

Once your channels are up and running, you may find that the time needed to create effective content is more than you can afford. Companies like Hudson Fusion offer services that help small businesses define their unique social media goals and messages, help develop your editorial publication calendar and even do the posting of this content on your behalf.

While you should assume that you will need to spend the time to engage with your prospects and customers on your social media channels, it’s often helpful to hire a company like Hudson Fusion to get you off and running until you’re comfort- able with the tasks or able to delegate to internal staff.

For more information about Hudson Fusion, please visit HudsonFusion.com or call us at 914.762.0900 ABOUT HUDSON FUSION Hudson Fusion is a New York based agency, established in 1996.

Hudson Fusion is in business for one reason: to help our clients get the most out of their marketing and promotional strategies. Although our core services are website design and digital marketing, we’re never limited to just these tools.

Whether we’re engaged in digital creation, content development, print strategy or marketing planning, Hudson Fusion remains focused on designing ways for your business to grow in this ever-expanding marketplace

WHAT MAKES US UNIQUE? Many things, but primarily this: we offer businesses and organizations of all sizes a refreshing alternative to the average “paint-by-the-numbers” approach found so often in the marketing services world. We have created a knowledge base and an implementation strategy that is exactly suited to companies wishing to access all that the digital world has to offer.

We compare our capabilities this way: Compared with monolithic, multi-departmental ad agencies: we have the time and space to get to know you and undestand who you are and what you want to bring to your market.

Compared with print designers turned electric: we have a solid, long-term grasp of what digital marketing is and how to succeed with it. The online world has been our world from the start.

Compared with “run-of-the-mill” web designers: we know that your success depends on a lot more than flash and html. We take design to a strategic-thinking level that serves you on every marketing front.

Compared with the average marketing firm:we can think marketing, and we can think strategy, but we’re also experienced design professionals who exist on the immediate edge of the newest digital technologies. We know how to turn our ideas into applications that work.

From strategic development to final execution, a single Hudson Fusion team works with each client to create outstanding marketing tools consistent with the client’s objectives. Core services are handled in-house. For services that cannot be fulfilled in-house, we have long-term relationships with trusted partners who are experts in specific marketing and design disciplines.

For more information about Hudson Fusion, please visit HudsonFusion.com or call us at 914.762.0900