Carla Pendergraft Associates Web Design

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SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING Using Facebook, Twitter,
and Blogs to Promote Your Community

• Carla Pendergraft Associates Web Design
• www.carlapendergraft.com

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What Well Cover

• Why communities and businesses use Facebook and
  Twitter.
• How a blog can be used to initiate conversations
  with your market.
• Characteristics of Social Media statistics
• How to Listen setting up alerts
• Intro to Facebook
• Intro to Twitter

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Social Media Characteristics

• Its about conversations and communities
• It requires a new way of thinking.
• Push vs. Pull Telling vs. Asking
• Allows your audience to connect with you and with
  each other.

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U.S. Social Media Communities

• Facebook 200 million users, top 10 website
• MySpace 110 million users
• LinkedIn about 30 million users
• Twitter 54 million visits per month
• YouTube 70 million videos
• Flickr hosts over 2 billion images
• Blogs over 200 million
• And new social communities are added every day.

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Reasons to Use Social Media

• Promote your communitys events
• Make announcements, broadcast news
• Recruit new employees
• Ask for opinions before you do something
• Drive traffic to your main website
• And other reasons you havent even thought of
  yet, but you willonce you start using it.
• Youll see some great examples of effective use
  of social media in action this afternoon!

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You Cant Do it All

• Just choose a couple of tools to begin with
• Dont let it take over your life
• Share the duties with others

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My Recommendations

• Start by listening well show you how
• Create a personal Facebook page
• Build your business Facebook page
• Start a Twitter feed
• As time permits, work with YouTube, Flickr and
  the rest
• Dont neglect your core website

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Blogs

• Use a blog if you need to explain things in
  greater detail.
• Who will commit to post on the blog?
• CVB or Chamber a team of people marketing,
  sales, Director
• Municipality Public information officer, ED,
  marketing
• Museum/Attraction Marketing, Director
• Businesses Marketing, sales
• Google loves blogs
• wordpress.com - 5 minute setup

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Blogs
Some customers prefer to post a question on a
blog rather than call or email.
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Facebook Profiles, Groups and Pages

• Profiles refer to personal profiles
• Facebook Groups are for groups of people with
  some interest in common biking, Star Trek, etc.
• Facebook Pages are for businesses, including
  non-profits.
• Pages are visible to everyone, even those who are
  not a member of Facebook
• Pages allow you to view statistics on page usage
  (Insights)

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Facebook City of Georgetown
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Creating a Facebook Page
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Creating a Facebook Page

• Go to facebook.com/pages/create.php
• If you are part of a municipality
• Brand, Product or Organization
• Subcategory - Government
• If you are a non profit
• Brand, Product or Organization
• Subcategory - Non-profit
• If you are a museum/attraction
• Local
• Subcategory Museum/Attraction

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Creating a Facebook Page

• If you are a business
• Local or Brand, Product or Organization
• Subcategory choose the appropriate business
• On Facebook, use the actual name of your entity
• City of Hutto, Texas
• Athens Chamber of Commerce
• Fredericksburg Convention Visitors Bureau

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Facebook

• Upload your logo approx. 200 x 200
• Fill in your business details on the Info tab
• Look at what others in your industry are posting,
  and follow their style and lead.
• CVBs talk about attractions, events, exhibits,
  new restaurants and hotels, specials
• Cities give mini-updates, often daily
• Museums/Attractions talk about exhibits and
  events
• Chambers talk about new businesses, events

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Facebook's Main Tabs

• Wall mini press releases, announcements
• Info static information about your business.
  Overview, mission, etc.
• Photos multiple photo albums
• Many other possible tabs start with these 3 and
  build.
• You can even add custom tabs!

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Facebook

• When you have as much information loaded in as
  possible, you will publish the page.
• To go to your Page, the easiest way is to search
  for it by its name, using the Facebook search
  box.
• To edit your Page, click on edit page
  underneath your logo.
• In the administrative interface, you can add
  other admins, change settings, add special tabs,
  and so on.

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Promoting Your Facebook Page

• Put a Facebook icon on your websites home page.
• For the link, go to your new Page, and copy it
  from the address bar.
• Promote your Facebook page in your communications
  such as newsletters.
• Encourage your fans to share the Page with their
  friends when you send out Updates.

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Facebook Insights

• Facebook wants your fans to interact with your
  Page
• Wall posts
• Likes
• Comments
• Ask questions of your fans
• Use humor where appropriate
• Post items that provoke comments

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Twitter
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Why listen to Twitter?
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Tweetdeck.com manage Twitter
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Twellow.com find people on Twitter
Good way to search for a Twitter name you can use!
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Typical Twitter Names

• Municipal Govs
• Killeenweb
• CarrolltonTX
• HuttoTX
• CVBs
• BeaumontCVB
• PadreDude
• Chambers
• SAChamber (San Ant.)
• AthensCoC
• LufkinChamber

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Twitter Tips

• Decide what your voice and theme will be before
  you start. Dont tweet about your breakfast!
• Dialog with other Twitterers. You address another
  person on Twitter by using their username and the
  _at_ sign. Example _at_carlawaco.
• Post interesting articles you find.

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Twitter Tips (Continued)

• Its not a competition to get the highest number
  of followers.
• Follow people who criticize you.
• Retweet interesting posts from others use RT
  and the other posters Twitter ID. Example
• RT _at_carlawaco original post goes here

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Twitter Tips

• Hashtags () are used to group posts into topics
  (example festival). Go to hashtags.org or
  wefollow.com to see the most popular hashtags.
• Use Tinyurl.com to shorten the URLs that you
  post.
• Download a Tweetdeck (www.tweetdeck.com) to
  manage Twitter.

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Other Social Media Tools

• YouTube upload some videos and display them on
  your website and/or Facebook page.
• Flickr Create a photo gallery of pictures from
  the various events you conduct. Put a link to the
  gallery from your website or FB page.
• LinkedIn Use this to create your personal
  brand.
• Blogs Create one at Wordpress.com and put a
  link to it on your website.
• MySpace in decline except for music/bands

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Questions?Let's get started creating our
Facebook Page, Twitter feed, and Blog!
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Facebook

• Login to your personal Facebook account.
• If you do not yet have one, go to facebook.com
  and follow the steps.
• Let me know when you are ready!
• My Facebook logo is 200x150

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Twitter

• Choose a name.
• Create your account if you have not already done
  so.
• Start downloading a Tweetdeck (www.tweetdeck.com)
• My Twitter logo is 185x185
• Or go here for downloadable templates
  http//tinyurl.com/5sk5mm

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A WordPress Blog

• Wordpress.com the gold standard of blogging
• Blog is free
• Various upgrades are available
• Custom domain names
• No ads (very occasional anyway)
• My custom masthead is 760x200