The Social Media Marketing Conference On-Site Training

This on-site training class is also available as Public Schedule Seminar.

If it seems like nearly every business on the planet is connecting with fans on Facebook®, Tweeting, uploading videos on YouTube™ and getting LinkedIn® – except you – you’re not alone.

Course Description/Agenda

You’ll learn …

How to make social media “connect” for your business
New tools and new ways to grow your business you may not have thought of
How to define your strategy and create your plan before taking the plunge into social media
The most common mistakes being made—spot them on the horizon and take a detour
And much more!

If it seems like nearly every business on the planet is connecting with fans on Facebook®, Tweeting, uploading videos on YouTube™ and getting LinkedIn®—except you—you’re not alone. Many organizations who haven’t gone “social” yet are feeling the same way, scratching their heads and wondering: Are businesses really making money using social media? Can my business still get in on the action—and the profits?

The businesses that are making money set goals and objectives, follow a plan, choose and use the best tools, carefully monitor their results and faithfully measure their ROI. In other words, there are a lot of things you’ll need to get up to speed on to get started with social media and be successful.

Our conference is set up in a convenient two-track format with 10 exciting sessions to choose from. Attend one track from start to finish, or mix and match the sessions to customize the conference to your own particular needs.

Program hours: 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

TRACK 1: You’ve decided to jump into the world of social media—now what?

Show me the money: How social media actually pays off

The truth about who’s using social media networks and tools to market—and why
Proven ways even companies with tiny budgets and few employees can profit
How to reframe your thinking about social media and shape it into what you need for your business
Why it’s a mistake to think social media is just for business-to-consumer companies
What social marketing can do for you that traditional marketing can’t

The key to social media success: Getting off to a good start

Know what you hope to achieve before you begin
A handy tool kit for launching a winning social media campaign
How to accurately predict how much time you’ll need to invest
Why the best social marketers know their target market inside and out
The importance of a well-thought-out strategy to get you where you want to be
Getting buy-in from higher-ups—especially those who think it’s all nonsense

Facebook, YouTube, Twitter: Choosing the right platform for your business

The specific goals you can’t afford to lose sight of when choosing a platform
The most popular business platforms and what really makes them work
Other not so obvious platforms you may not know about, but should
The first questions to ask when choosing a platform
Want to gain traction and build momentum? How to choose and use multiple platforms

Measuring what’s really important—your return on investment

The most important social media metric of all
What can—and should—you measure? The number of fans, page views, Tweets, social bookmarks?
How not to get caught off guard by these measurement roadblocks
Using analytics to better understand your ROI and make better decisions
A look at monitoring tools and how they can simplify the job

Success stories: What the best social marketers do better than the rest

A close-up look at some successful social media campaigns … and why they worked
“They don’t use social media in my industry”—why you can’t use this as an excuse anymore
A proven Fortune 500 social media model—and how to set up your own campaign based on it
Small businesses getting big results: What you can learn from them
Business best practices that can define the success of your initiatives

TRACK 2: Step up your social media presence: Network, promote, share … and profit!

Cool tools and how to use them to grow your business

From blogs to wikis: What you can do with social media tools (and why you’d want to)
The best business uses for Facebook and LinkedIn
A key business benefit of using Twitter that makes it almost impossible to resist
Beyond silly videos of babies and pets—creative ways to use YouTube for business
Could blogging be your front door to social media?
Social bookmarking: Everyone’s talking about it … here’s why

Mistakes rookies make … but you don’t have to

Critical mistakes social media pros NEVER make
Top reasons why campaigns fail
Believing social media is all about Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube—are you guilty?
What failing to turn prospects into customers can cost your company
Avoiding poor decisions that translate into poor ROI

The art of writing for a social audience

How the social audience is different—and what this means to your writing
Foolproof tips for writing compelling posts, Tweets and blogs
Out with the fluff! There’s no room for it in this new social world
Reusing content: A good practice—or not?
How to sound like a genuine, caring human being—not a corporate robot
Responses can be automated—but should they be?

Managing your on-line reputation

The dangers to companies who are oblivious to what customers are saying
Do’s and don’ts for responding to harsh criticism and negative comments
Getting your timing, target and tone just right
How to view criticism as an opportunity—not a threat
The first and most important thing to do when a criticism surfaces

Monitoring what people are saying about you on-line—in 15 minutes a day

How to skillfully listen to what customers are saying—you won’t believe what you’ll learn
Strategies for monitoring the on-line chatter about your brand
Key steps to successful social media monitoring
Using Google Alerts™ to monitor your brand
Gathering data and what to do with it

More Seminar Information