Social Media Marketing
Strategies for Engaging in Facebook, Twitter & Other Social Media
Que Biz-Tech Series

Profit Big from Social Media: Strategies and Solutions That Work!

Using new social media marketing techniques, you can deepen relationships with your most passionate, profitable customers--and create more of them than ever before! In this 100% practical book, world-renowned expert Li Evans shows exactly how to make the most of social media--in any company, in any industry. You?ll discover exactly how to customize your best social networking strategy?then staff it, organize it, manage its risks, and execute it successfully! Evans shows how to understand your audience, enter the conversation, build trust, protect your brand, integrate social media into existing marketing programs, measure your results?and profit big from today?s hottest new social media sites and platforms!

Topics include

? Make the most of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Flickr, and more

? Define goals and customize strategy to maximize Return on Conversation (ROC)

? Understand the whole conversation about you and all the communities you serve

? Manage legal, compliance, and ethical challenges

? Plan social media policies for your company?s employees

? Extend customer service into social media

? Maintain consistent branding and messaging

? Complement your SEO, PPC, offline marketing, and PR efforts

? Learn how to integrate traditional marketing tactics (TV, radio, print) with your social media marketing strategy

Introduction     1

Part I: The Basics of Social Media

1          It's Not Easy, Quick, or Cheap     7

2          Understanding Social Media Strategies     15

3          Goals Need to Be Defined     23

4          It's ROC (Return on Conversation) not ROI (Return on Investment)     33

5          Know Who Your Audience Is and What They are Doing     41

Part II: It's About Conversation

6          The Conversation Happens With or Without You     53

7          Bring in Legal Early     59

8          Don't Be Afraid of the Negative     67

9          Understanding Each Community     75

10        Come Bearing Gifts     83

11        Bloggers Have No Boundaries     91

12        Every Business is Different     99

13        Don't Fall In Love     105

14        Don't Be Afraid to Throw Out What Isn't Working     113

15        Be Open to Trying New Things (but Don't Fall Off the Bleeding Edge)     121

Part III: Social Media from the Inside Out

16        Everyone in Your Company Has a Stake in Your Social Media Strategy     129

17        Plan Social Media Policies for Company Employees     135

18        Personal Ethics Matter     143

19        Define Who Owns the Conversation     149

20        A Great Customer Service Program Is a Natural Extension into Social Media     159

21        Interns Make Coffee, Not Social Media Strategies     165

22        Branding and Messaging Need to Be Consistent     171

23        Be Transparent: Trust and Readership Must Be Earned     179

24        Audiences Trust Icons and Avatars     187

Part IV: It's Not About You

25        Give Up Control and Drop the Ego     195

26        You Need to Be All "Ears"     203

27        Your Customers Know Your Products Better Than You     211

28        It's All About the Idea     219

29        Your Content Must Have Value     225

30        Sharing with Others Is Key     231

31        For It to Work, You Need to Be Social     239

32        Ask the Audience     245

33        You Get What You Give     253

Part V: How Social Media Fits into the Online Marketing Picture

34        People Do Not Want To Be Marketed To     261

35        The Difference Between Buzz Monitoring and Audience Research     267

36        Complementing Both Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC)     273

37        Links and Search Engine Results Are Byproducts of Social Media     279

38        Align Offline Marketing Strategies with Social Media     285

39        Create a Social Media-Friendly "Pressroom" and Promote Events     291

40        YouTube is the Second-Largest Search Engine     297

41        Social Search Is All About the Now     303

42        It's Not Just a Web Browser Anymore     309

43        New Signals to Search Engines     315

44        Choosing a Social Media Consultant     321

45        Putting It All Together     327

Index     333

Since 1999, Liana "Li" Evans has been active full-time in the search marketing arena, becoming well-versed in all avenues of social media and search marketing. Li runs the Search Marketing Gurus blog and is the director of social media for Serengeti Communications, a Washington, DC-based online marketing firm that focuses on building social media strategies for companies and training companies to bring online marketing in-house.

Li has led the SEO strategy for an Internet Retailer 500 company, and was the SEO and social media architect for a Fortune 500 multi-million page entertainment Web site. As a database designer and programmer since 1992, Liana has developed technical expertise in dealing with large-scale retail sites and their dynamic natures.

She holds degrees in both public relations and information technology, which lend well to working with client strategies in social media and search marketing. Li speaks and trains social media and SEO at Search Engine Strategies and other industry conferences.

How marketers can capitalize on the explosion in social media by getting to know their customers more intimately than ever before!