BUSINESS FORUM I At Length

Social Media 101

How to get started on Facebook and Twitter — and why.
By Meredith Schwartz
id you ever play a game called telephone? click on "Create A Page for My Busi-

D
ness" at the bottom of the left hand
You tell one person your message, and with column, right above "Share."
each person they tell, the words get a little • Choose "local business" if you
have one store, or a few stores all
more confused until the meaning is lost, or
in more or less the same area. Then
sometimes even reversed? The game called select "Store" from the drop down
Social Media is different. menu.
• Choose "brand, product, or
You tell lots of people, all at once. Here are step-by-step instructions to organization" if you are a manufac-
And if they choose to pass it on, get you up and running. turer or a national or international
they'll pass along exactly what you retailer. Then select either "consum-
said in the first place — plus maybe er product" or "online store" from
a comment of their own. It may not the drop-down menu.
sound like a fun party game, but it's Getting Started
one of tbe most effective ways that on Facebook WHO CAN DO WHAT
ever existed to get word-of-mouth • Click on "Edit Page," below the
advertising. It's completely free. And • Point your web browser at www. picture space. In "Settings" you can
while technically it's done by com- facebook.com. pick country restrictions, age restric-
puter, it's anything but technical. • Scroll down and

30 GIFTS a DECORATIVE ACCESSORIES • JULV 2010 • WWW GIFTSANDDEC COW

tlons and who can view your page.
Ifyou don't sell adult-only products
like alcohol, you probably want to
niiike your page visible to as many
people as possible. However if you
sell online and don't want to ship
overseas, you might restrict your
page to your own country.
• In "Wall Settings," you can
choose what people will see (only
your posts or yours and everyone
else's) and where they first land.
If you expect mostly visitors who
already know the basics of what
you're about, choose "Wall." Ifyou
expect mostly visitors who need an
explanation of the basics of who you
are, choose "Info."
• You can also choose what kinds
of content people who "like" your
page, formerly called fans, can
post to your wall. Unless you think
you're likely to have a problem with
people posting inappropriate con-
tent, you might as well leave them
all checked. Facebook followers like
to feel involved and interactive, and
it offers your readers fresh content
without you having to take the time
to create it.
• You can skip the mobile section
unless you plan on updating your
Facebook from your phone a lot
(such as from trade shows or buying
trips).
ADDING CONTENT
• Upload some pictures. On your
main page, hover your mouse over
the big question mark and the
option "change picture" will appear,
('lick on it to upload, edit, or remove
pictures. (You can even use it to
take a picture if your computer has
a webcam.)
Start with your logo, the front of
your store as seen from the street
and a professional looking photo of
you that you don't hate. Later you
can upload lots more photos and
create albums. Good album topics
would include your coolest di.splays,
hot new products and party pictures
from your promotional events.
• In the "Discussion Board" sec-
tion under "Edit Page," click "Edit"
It may not sound like a fun party game,
but [Social Media's] one of the most effective
ways to get word-of-mouth advertising that
ever existed — and it's completely free.
and then "Start a New Topic"; then
post a question for the people who
like your page to get them to interact
with. Questions that ask people to
share personal experiences or opin-
ions tend to get the most response.
• Also under "Edit Page," click
on "Edit" under "Events." Here
is where you add the upcoming
events you have scheduled. These
can, of course, be parties, fundrais-
ers, signings, etc., but they can also
be online-only events, such as a live
chat or a Facebook sale.
Once you've entered the informa-
tion about each event, click "Select
Guests" to invite people.
Frequency of Activities on Social Media Sites
% of Respondents
Social Activity
(Once a week or more)
Visit company or product pages
Share an opinion about a company
Click on an ad on Facebook
Make a recommendation
Ask for a product or service
Source: ROI Research. June 2010
WWW.GIFTSANDDEC.COM • JULY 3010 • GIFTS & DECORATIVE ACCESSORIES
• Now go back to view your main
page. Click where it says "write
something about lyour store name]"
and add a brief description. This is
also a good place to put your store's
URL.
• Click on the "Info" tab and
choose "Edit Information"; then
fill out the basic who, what, when,
where and why about your business.
Don't forget to include your address,
phone, email, store hours and web-
site address.
INVITING VISITORS
• Now your page is ready to share.
Ifyou have a personal account, first
"Like" your store page yourself, then
choose "Suggest to Friends" under
the photo on the left sidebar. Next,
then choose friends from your list to
send the link.
• If you don't have a personal
To pdge 32
—
Facebook Tvritt«
Respondents Respondents
(A I least once a week)
25%
22%
22%
20%
"'"'"'^•^
31
 BUSINESS FORUM I At Length
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 31
Encourage your in-5tore customers to "Like'
your page. Offer a small incentive such as
5 or 10 percent oft early access to
new products
account on Facebook, you'll have to
go about finding friends to suggest
it to. You can find your customers
on Facebook by uploading your con-
tacts and searching for their email
addresses; you can also invite those
who are not already on Facebook to
join.
• Encourage your in-store custom-
ers to "Like" your page, perhaps with
a small incentive such as 5 or 10 per-
cent off, early access to new products
or other perks.
• Add your Facebook page to your
business cards, your email signature,
your letterhead, etc.
Getting Started
on Twitter
• Point your browser
to www.twitter.com. Click on the
big yellow "Get Started Now" button
in the top right corner.
• Enter your name, username,
password and email address. Make
sure your username reflects your
bu.siness. If your first choice name is
taken (Twitter will check instantly)
think about adding "shop," your
location or "indie" to create a unique
name. Your name may not include
the word "Twitter." Also, make sure
you use your business and not your
personal email account, since people
will search for you using this email
address.
FINDING FOLLOWERS, FOLLOWEES
• Find people to follow. This is
important both because they will
be a source of interesting content
32 GirTS & DECORATIVE ACCESSORIES • JULV 2010 • WWW.GIFTSANDDECCOM
to "ReTweet" and because some of
them will follow you back. First,
pick topics of interest and let Twit-
ter suggest feeds to follow: art and
design and business are probably the
two most useful categories for a gift
retailer.
• Next, import your contacts from
Gmail, Yahoo, AOL and/or Linke- oniy specials, and links to any press
din to find them on Twitter. Finally, coverage you receive or interesting
search for a username, first name, blog posts. If your links are taking
last name, or business name to add up too many characters, use a link
anyone you've missed. shortening service such as bit.Iy.
• If people are using terms you
ADDING CONTENT don't understand, visit the help sec-
• Click on "Profile" in the upper tion and check out The Twitter Glos-
right hand corner. Click on the Photo sary, which will explain things like
+ icon. First, add a photo —• either "retweet" (to pass along someone
of yourself, your logo or your store. else's content to your own follow-
Then fill in your location, your web- ers) and "hashtag" (a keyword with
site, and a brief bio in 160 characters a # sign in front of it included in the
or less. Click "Save." tweet, to make it easier for others to
• Click "Design" on the bar at the search for that topic).
top of the page. Choose a design that
is appropriate to your businesses'
image and choose "Save Changes."
To further customize your Twitter
look (say to coordinate with your
store's website, giftwrap, logo, etc.),
visit webl.colourlovers.com/theme-
leon/twitter. Average Online Spending
• Click on "Account Settings" to by Time Spent on Facebook
set your time zone and add your
& Twitter
location to your Tweets. You can
(SinQl20W}
also make your Tweets only vis-
ibie to followers here, though that is Type of Facebook Twitter
User Spenders Spenders
probably detrimental to promoting
your business. Heavy S67 S43
Medium
• Now you're ready to Tweet! Go
back to the Twitter home page and
Non-visitor
type something in the box ( 140 char-
acters or less). Good choices include Source: ComScore, May 2010 (User: Heavy, top
20% of visitors by time spent on site; Medium,
anything time sensitive, Twitter- next 30%, Light, iowest 50%)
 • While the basic Twitter interface
is super-simple, a lot of third-party
developers have come up with cool
gizmos you can use on Twitter as
you get more advanced. One of the
most common is Twitpic (twitpic.
com), which enables you to share a
picture on Twitter.
PROMOTING YOUR TWITTER
As with Hacebook, put your Twit-
ter in your email signature, on your
letterhead, business cards, etc. In
addition, you can invite your friends
to read your Twitter hy visiting
/twitter.com/invitations/invite_by_
email. You can download buttons at
twitter.com/goodies/buttons to link
to your Twitter account from your
website, etc.
PAY TO PLAY
Basic social media accounts are
free. But that doesn't mean you
shouldn't consider spending a little
Sharing Buttons Really Work
GETRESPONSE'S EMAIL MARKETING
and Social Media Integration Report
found that email messages that included
a social sharing option generated 30
percent higher click-through-rates than
emails without one. Emails with a Twit-
ter sharing option returned over 40
percent higher click-through-rates than
>>Social media sharing buttons on www.giftsanddec.com
money to boost your profile, espe-
cially when you're launching a new
presence.
• To advertise on Facebook, click
on "Promote with an Ad," just
above "Suggest to Friends." You
can type up to 135 characters and
add an optional photo. Then click
continue.
• To target just your local audi-
ence, enter your city and then select
how many miles around you want
to include. You can also target your
ad to a particular age range, gender.
Consider spending a little money
to boost your profile, especially
when you're launching a new presence.
listed likes or interests, education
or work. You can even choose to
target people specifically on their
birthdays!
A box on the right side will tell you
how many people will be reached by
your targeted ad. For example, an ad
aimed at women in New York City
reaches almost 2 million people.
Adding that they are interested in
gifts takes it down to about 2,000.
Consider whether you want to reach
as many people as possible or only
those most likely to answer, and
keep in mind that this will affect
the cost.
messages without any social media
links. Messages with three or more shar-
ing options generated 55 percent higher
click-through-rates. If you're not already
doing this, ask your marketing email
company and/or your blog host how to
add these to the bottom of every email
you send and blog post your write.
WWW.GIFTSANDDEC COM • JULY 2010 • GIFTS & DECORATIVE ACCESSORIES
• Then enter your budget (how
much you want to spend per day),
pick your dates and you're ready
to go.
• Advertising on Twitter is so new
that it's still being tested by only a
handful of large brands. However
the company is hoping to open it
up to others soon. Called Promoted
Tweets, they will be called out at
the top of some Twitter.com search
results pages and labeled as promot-
ed. Twitter plans to measure which
Tweets "resonate with users" and
stop showing the ones that don't.
The company is starting with
impression-based pricing, but is
measuring a whole lot of others
things, including retweets, @replies,
re-use of hashtags, avatar clicks,
hashtag clicks, Ín-Tweet link clicks,
views after Retweet and more,
and is working on a pricing model
which will take the whole set into
consideration.
CROSSING OVER
To get two sets oí eyes tor the price
of one, you can automatically pub-
To page 34
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BUSINESS FORUM I At Length
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 33
lish your Facebook content to Twit-
ter — or your Twitter content to
Facebook ot website.
• To link a Facebook page to
Twitter, click on the announce-
ment box at the top of your
Edit Page asking if you want to do
this. Click "Link a Page to Twitter,"
enter your Twitter username and
password, and choose what content
you want to forward: Status Updates,
Photos, Links, Notes and/or Events.
• To export Twitter content to Face-
book or your website, use a widget
(a stand-alone application that can
be embedded into any page where
you have rights of authorship.) Visit
twitter.com/goodies/widgets, click
on "My Website" followed by "Pro-
file Widget," or "Facebook," then
"Facebook Application," then click
"Install Twitter in Facebook." •
How Much is a Fan Worth?
ONE COMPANY, Syn- family and friends, versus
capse, conducted a 28 percent of non-fans.
research study to mea- • Brand affinity:
sure the total value of a 81 percent of fans feel a
Facebook fan (these days connection to the brand
known as someone who (versus only 39 percent
"Likes" the page). They of non-fans).
included: Adding it all up, the
fans (at $5
* Product spending: company comes up with per CPM) for a value
Facebook fans spend, on an an average value of metric. IM impressions x
average, S71.84more S136perfan. 2 posts X 30 days = 60M
than non-fans over a two- Another company, impressions 60M impres-
year period. Vitrue, takes a more nar- sions/1000 x $5 CPM =
* Loyalty: Facebook rowly defined approach, $300,000. $300,000x12
fans are 28 percent more associating fan value months = $3.6MS3.6M/
likely to continue using a with the value of impres- IM fans = $3.60 per fan.
brand than non-fans. sions generated in the To measure the value
* Propensity to rec- Facebook news feed. It of yourovwn Facebook
ommend: 68 percent of then applies display ban- page, visit the Vitrue tool
fans are "very likely" to ner advertising pricing to athttp://evaluator.
recommend a product to the number of Facebook vitrue.com.
the Dates
imtic Finds 1
Circle #65
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