SOCIAL MEDIA 101 By Heidi Miller heidim@heidimillerpresents.com www.heidimillerpresents.com Colorado Direct Marketing Association May 24, 2006 Introduction What is conversational/social media? Josh Halletts (www.hyku.com) definition: Social media encompasses everything that is written, spoken and shown about your organization that you have no control over Heidis definition: Social media provide an easy, interactive way to communicate and collaborate with authors and others online What is blogging? Why should you care? 1) Advantages of a blog vs. a static website a) Easy to update content on a regular basis b) Easy content delivery thanks to RSS (really simple syndication) 2) Nature of the space/conversation that this technology/access creates a) Market is a conversation b) Access to everyone i) high-level CEOs, mid-level such as Steve Rubel at www.micropersuasion.com ii) customers iii) naysayers and critics of your products iv) brand ambassadors c) Result: give up control of your message d) Establish/build a personal/business brand 3) Why is blogging so easy now? a) Low barriers to entry b) Hosted services include www.blogger.com, www.typepad.com, www.livejournal.com, www.sixapart.com/moveabletype c) Dead easy to postits just typing, no html required! d) Sample blog post and conversation from Garr Reynolds www.presentationzen.com 4) Why you should care: Benefits of blogging a) Blog entries are cross-referenced over time b) To clarify thoughts c) To establish credibility and familiarity in an age of skepticism towards sources d) To engage in conversation with customers i) For input in product development
p. 2 ii) For customer service iii) For WOM marketing and to create brand ambassadors e) To create an online network and establish as center of influence Heidis Quick Blogging Tips Subscribe to others blogs (find areas of interest by searching www.technorati.com, which tracks over 38 million blogs) and join in their conversations Get a feedreader (a place for your content to hang out until you get the chance to read it) from www.newsgator.com, www.bloglines.com, www.google.com/reader When you blog, write what you are passionate about in your own voice and encourage participation, even from critics What is podcasting and why should you care? Same benefits as blogging Thanks to www.itunes.com , and RSS, customers globally can find and subscribe to your niche content with a keyword search Advantages of podcasting Create niche market worldwide for next to nothing Not limited by constraints of radio Barriers to entry are low Four basic things to create a successful podcast 1) Something to say and strategized reason to say it: content a) Clear stategized marketing goal i) Customer service ii) Brand building iii) Sales lead generation iv) Product development b) invite participation 2) Microphone a) services such as www.audioblog.com let you podcast directly from a cell phone b) content is king, but audio quality must be tolerable c) inexpensive starter microphones include: i) $30 USB mike from www.logitech.com (or at Best Buy) ii) iRiver IFP890 from www.iriver.com (for portable recording), about $79 iii) Blues Snowball mic, www.bluemic.com about $149 3) Software to edit audio files a) www.garageband.com for Mac only for recording and editing audio
2006 by Heidi Miller. All rights reserved. No reproduction without express permission.
p. 3 b) www.rogueameoba.com Audio HiJackPro ($32) for capturing audio from a variety of sources c) www.skype.com Skype: free dual-platform VOIP service for making phone interviews worldwide (free calls in US; 2 cents/minute elsewhere) d) www.gizmoproject.com Gizmo: free VOIP service for making and recording phone interviews worldwide (1 cent/minute worldwide) e) http://audacity.sourceforge.net Audacity free shareware for recording and editing audio f) http://music.podshow.com Podsafe Music Network for access to royaltyfree music for intro/outros and musical bumpers 4) Place to store big, honkin audio files a) Hosted services such as www.libsyn.com and www.odeo.com, among others b) Use their servers and their softwares Conclusion New media doesnt replace old media Strategize what best fits the medium and use traditional media to promote