The December 2, 2011 installment of Denver’s Social Media for Business – Join the Conversation meetup was a milestone.
On December 1, 2011, the group acquired its 1,000th member. Denver’s premier social media for business group is now, according to Meetup.com, the ninth-largest Business and Social Networking meetup in the world and seventh-largest in the nation. It is also the fifth-largest Business Strategy and Networking Meetup in Colorado.
“This group is all about action, communication, involvement, leadership, and ROI,” said John Brackney, CEO of the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce, who sponsors and hosts the event. “The way this group has been created and executed is amazing. This has become an extremely important component of the Denver business community. Webolutions’ leadership of this group is exemplary.”
In addition to the delicious breakfast treats from My Favorite Muffin and Peet’s Coffee SouthGlenn provided at every meeting, which is open to the entire business community at no cost, the December 2 event featured gifts pulled from beneath a Christmas tree for a giveaway drawing. These included wine from Webolutions; a framed print from Dale Honning Videography; gift cards from the Fox & Hound, the Dry Cleaning Station in Highlands Ranch and Frame de Art; and books from Roper Insurance and Conversation Starters. The grand prize was a party and fitness package from Stan Shields of ATA Centennial Family Martial Arts, whose name was drawn to receive a burrito office party from Monkey Business Burritos.
A video chronology of the December 2 event is available on Webolutions’ Facebook Page. The topic of discussion was Planning Your Social Media Marketing for 2012. Group founder and Webolutions CEO John Vachalek presented a ten point plan:
#1 Define Your Specific Target Audience & How You Add Value
If you cannot clearly state the value (cost vs. benefit) you provide, over and above that of our competitors, how can your clients and prospects stay with you and refer additional business to you?
#2 Determine and Improve Your N.U.D.E Score
The average business receives 0.15 referrals for every client. If your N.U.D.E score exceeds 315 (each of the following 4 factors is rated on a scale of 1 to 100, and then added together) you should receive 1 referral for every client.
N – Novelty
U – Utility
D – Dependability (is 100 or 0)
E – Economy
#3 Continue Your Mobile Plan
In 2012 more information will be consumed by mobile devices than any other medium. All businesses should begin developing a mobile plan. Some of the elements of this plan might include:
- Mobile Website Optimization (phones, tablets)
- Mobile Apps
#4 Geo-Targeting of Social Media Marketing – Location Based Marketing (LBM)
- Geo tools – Google “Places”, Yelp, foursquare
- Check your listings. Be aware of these tools.
#5 Active Social Media Listening & Participation
- HootSuite – www.hootsuite.com
- Google Alerts – www.google.com/alerts
- news, blogs, updates, video, discussion
- Email or Feed
- Control Frequency
- Social Mention – www.socialmention.com
- Blogs, microblogs, networks, comments, events, images, news, video, audio, questions
- Strength, Sentiment, Passion, Reach, Top Keywords, Hashtags
- Nielsen BuzzMetrics – http://www.nielsen-online.com/products_buzz.jsp?section=pro_buzz
- blogs, social networks, groups, boards, etc..
- Understand customers, brand management, new product development, campaign tracking and measurement
- Radian 6 – http://www.radian6.com
- Blogs, videos, news, comments, forums, images, etc..
- Key influencers, where your industry is talking, link in with analytics and sales tools
#6 Create a Written Social Media Marketing Plan
- Elements of a Successful Social Media Marketing Plan
- Define Specific Audience
- Define Specific Goals & How You Will Measure Success
- Define Specific Value You Will Provide
- Define Specific Content
- Define Specific Schedule
- Track and Adjust Your Activities
#7 The Year of Visual Information!! – Intentional Social Media Content Creation
- Begin the active creation of Social Media. Do this with intention and with the consistency of your brand. Be sure that your content is optimized for search! In 2012, you have to know how to generate this content. Start with the two main tools (Facebook & Twitter).
- Make sure you get your company names secured on these mediums: www.facebook.com/yourbusinessname, www.twitter.com/yourbusinessname
#8 Video Creation
Going forward video will be the medium of choice to consume some types of content. Make sure you know how to create a video, post it on Facebook and YouTube and embed this video at your Website.
#9 Have a Blog at Your Website
A Blog embedded at your Website provides a multitude of benefits.
- Increased site saturation for higher search positions
- More pages of optimized content for higher search positions
- RSS consumable information for easier consumption
- Fresh Website content for more frequent visits by search spiders
- A more dynamic, thought leadership, perception by visitors
- Social sharing to allow your Website to go viral
#10 Make Sure Your Website Grade is 80+
Check your Website score at www.websitegrader.com
The next meeting, on Friday, January 20, 2012, focuses on Sharing Across Social Media Channels. “Different networks have different cultures,” says Vachalek. “This influences what you say, how often, who might be tuning in and other factors. ‘Should I post the same thing on Facebook as I do on LinkedIn?’ is one of the more common questions we receive.
