Social Media Apartments and Accommodation Claremont Guest House - Apartments of South Yarra – The Hotel Charsfield – Easy Stay Group

Social Media Why? What? How?

Social Media Social: – Interaction, Conversation, Connection, Relationships. Media: – Tools you use to connect. Video, Pictures, Text, Audio. Examples of popular SM platforms – Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Blog (wordpress), Flickr, Youtube, Foursquare.

Stats – April 22nd 2010 1. 70% of Australian companies are active on social media sites 2. More than a quarter have Facebook presence 3. More than half of the organisations had switched money away from traditional media to fund social media 4. Most of this money (47%) was shifted away from print media 5. About 30 %of businesses had not measured the effectiveness of their on-line marketing The Age April 22  Business Day  (research carried out by Nielson )  

This is a way we have always done business – however now it’s QUICKER and on a LARGER SCALE. WORD OF MOUTH. NETWORKING.TRUST.

Video-Is this the biggest shift since the industrial revolution?

How does it work Word of mouth that start on social networks It’s not who you know anymore…it’s WHO KNOWS YOU! Connections Relationships Sharing TRUST

Mates are now the hottest marketing channel We don’t care about your ad. We care about what our mates think! Facebook – Twitter – Foursquare – conversation, opinions, sharing.

Some Benefits of Social Media Generate exposure for your business Increase in quality traffic/opt in/subscribe New business partnerships Help you rise in the search engine rankings Generate quality leads Helps sell service/product and close business Reduce overall marketing expenses

Social Media Qualities Authentic Trustworthy Shares quality information Engaging Build relationships Shows to remember Cares Creative Enthusiastic with substance

Social Media Etiquette The purpose of these sites is to network, not to promote in a one-way fashion. Participating in these social networks needs to be about adding benefit to the community, not always about the promotion of yourself and your services. Be Balanced in your messages

Personal Branding "A brand isn’t a brand to you until it develops an emotional connection with you." Daryl Travis – Emotional Branding "A brand isn’t a brand to you until it develops an emotional connection with you." Daryl Travis

Twitter

Why Twitter? Marketing and Communication. Great place to bring quality traffic to your site/blog – Once you have worked the platform well. Great place to connect-build up fans/supporter/community Exposure/Interaction/Connection/Relationships Business networking Word of mouth Joint Ventures – Partnerships Ideas – creativity Instant Google helper ;-) Breaking news Story telling

What is Twitter Micro blogging 140 characters or less Real time conversation Networking hub Word of mouth on speed! Sharing and discovery site

Blogging

Why Blog? Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXjXI

What is the no.1 reason people buy?

YouTube 2nd biggest search engine in the world Video testimonials Interviews Speaking gigs How to’s Video blogging Explaining competition details Brand yourself

EMBRACE VIDEO Great for emotional buy in and builds trust! Person feels like they know you – leading to warm leads and referrals.

Serviced Apartments Case Study Goals – Build up brand awareness – Build up a supportive community that will eventually do the marketing for them – Increase traffic to the website – Increase sales. Social Media strategy/Tools strategy and Campaign creative/design and development. 3 month initial campaign. 2 weeks pre buzz – 8 weeks competition roll out – 2 weeks community nurturing.

Serviced Apartments Case Study Tools utilised: Blog – info on comp/interaction/embedding of youtube/community building/link sharing/bloggers Twitter- lead gen/awareness/sharing/interaction/link sharing Youtube – promotion and pre buzz/roll out Facebook – run campaign/interact/engage/integrate other SM sites

Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkkWB4MT0xY

Facebook – 106 votes just on this picture! EXPOSURE!

Success/Results Caroline Serviced Apartments – 3 months Increase in traffic 68% Increase in facebook fans 242 Increase in twitter followers 345 Sales from twitter - 5 Sales from facebook- 3 Increase in blog subscribers – 43 Bloggers writing about this – 13 EXPOSURE

A few observations: The average social network user is 37 years old. LinkedIn, with its business focus, has a predictably high average user age; 44. The average Twitter user is 39 years old. The average Facebook user is 38 years old. The average MySpace user is 31 years old. Bebo has by far the youngest users, as witnessed earlier, with an average age of 28. Source: Google Ad Planner US data sited March 2010

Social media marketing is a key driver in brand awareness, sales & lead generation but you must... HAVE A STRATEGY

Indentify a Social Media Plan Objective Your unique value proposition Target Audience Action Plan Measure & Monitor

Objective – Business Goals Before you get started, think about your business goals. Common ones are: Brand Awareness? Sales? Engagement? Connect with current & potential customers? Create a community around your business? Promote other content you create (e.g. Webinars, blog articles, etc)?

What is your unique value proposition?  The thing that makes you unique. Just simply copying what your competitors is doing leads to nowhere.

Target Audience Target Audience: Average age, gender, demographic, lifestyle etc

The Nitty Gritty - Action Plan What are the everyday, every week & every month activities you need to do to reach these goals?

Sample Action Plan Per Month Meet Two New People on Twitter In my Target Marketing - (15 Mins Per Day- Max) Listen – Set Up Google Alerts Update Facebook FanPage – Every 3-5 Days with best article, latest blog post, question to audience Run a campaign to encourage newsletter sign ups or new friends on Facebook with a Giveaway 4 Blog Posts Per Month 1 Podcasts – Free Download - Own Radio Channel 1 Video Testimonial – You Tube – Third Party Advocates Rock! 1 The “How-To” Article or List 1 The Definition Article Present a Theory or Argument

Every other month Create a Resource like a free report, whitepaper or e-course White Paper Cheat Sheets/Quick Guides Organise an Event Be Consistent!

Measure & Analysis Metrics to try: Reach- Followers/Likes Engagement: RT, Comments, Likes, interactions, comments, etc. Sales Enquires: Visitors – To blog/site Top Refers-Which sites are they coming from Impact on Sales Funnel: Visitors to your blog/website – leads + spend.

Monitoring

Review Review Review

Advertising Real Life Magazine Advertising Real Life Magazine $2,800.00 + 0 Leads

Where from here? If you are keen to adopt a social media presence for your business then possible next steps: Outline a basic strategy Set up a blog Utilise video platforms Twitter – Facebook – Linkedin – Most popular Flickr – all photos Run competitions/campaigns Benchmark – monitor and measure success

Connect with us! www.thinktankmedia.com.au/blog

Sam Mutimer and Natalie Giddings Senior Social Media Strategists Twitter: @sammutimer @nataliegiddings Facebook: www.facebook.com/thinktankmedia.au Mail: info@thinktankmedia.com.au Tel: Thinktank Media on 1300 660 651 Google us – Sam Mutimer/Natalie Giddings