Taylor David - The business of being social: a practical guide to harnessing the power of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube for all businesses

The Business of Being Social

A practical guide to harnessing the power of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube for all businesses

Michelle Carvill and David Taylor

For my parents David Taylor

The Business of Being Social

This first edition published in Great Britain in 2013 by Crimson Publishing Ltd, Westminster House,
Kew Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 2ND

Epub edition 2013 ISBN: 9781780591711

Michelle Carvill and David Taylor, 2013

The right of Michelle Carvill and David Taylor to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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Publishers note

Every possible effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this book is accurate at the time of going to press, and the publishers and authors cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, however caused. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have kindly granted permission for the use of their logos on the cover, but these organisations would like to clearly state that use of such logos does not constitute an endorsement of the book or its contents.

O ver the past two years, as trainers for Business Training Made Simple, we have helped well over 1,500 professionals from a wide range of industries, both here in the UK and overseas, understand how they can get the most out of social media.

During this time, we have also observed how the social networks have morphed from simple devices used by individuals for pleasure into highly sophisticated marketing and communication tools.

This means that people have all sorts of preconceptions about what social media is, what it can and cannot do, what it can be used for, how they can measure its effectiveness, and what the big thing is.

In our courses, weve seen three groups of delegates who reflect this:

1. The complete sceptics who believe that social networks are simply a waste of effort. (Usually theyve been pushed to attend a social media training course by a senior executive.) Or it may be that theyve had their fingers burned by leaping on the social bandwagon without fully appreciating the necessity to take a strategic approach.
2. The curious ones who know that social media is heralding a seismic change in the way that we communicate but dont understand how to leverage this in their own organisations and are also apprehensive about the implications of opening the doors to becoming a conversational organisation.
3. The early adopters on social networks who are keen to leverage the potentially far-reaching and powerful social media channels.

This book is aimed at all three audiences.

We start with basic business, marketing and communications principles, move on to strategy and planning, and then explore in detail the key social media sites.

Taking this approach means that The Business of Being Social will be of value to a wide range of people because it covers the many different subject areas affected by social networks, including sales, marketing, human resources, recruitment, media and public relations, customer relations and internal communications.

So whether you simply want to understand how to get the most use out of leveraging hashtags (#), want to explore how to use Facebook pay-per-click advertising or need ideas about creating a social media culture in your organisation, you will find plenty of practical tips and tactics within this book.

At the same time, we aim to debunk the five key myths about social media marketing or social for short.

1. It is free. The platforms are, but managing them and feeding them is certainly not.
2. You have to do it all. You dont, just as with any other form of marketing or communications.
3. Its only for kids. Thirty-, forty-, fifty-, sixty- and seventy-somethings are adapting to social in much the same way they did to email, the internet and Google.
4. Set up accounts and magic will happen. You wish! The evidence from the huge number of companies who start, then give up when it doesnt deliver instant results, says that this simply isnt the case.
5. You can share absolutely anything. We live in an age where content is still king, particularly on social. Therefore its got to be good! After all, you are what you share and your brand and company reputation is at stake.

As with our training courses, at the end of every chapter in this book we include a Social Media Marketing Action Plan with some simple tips on what you should think about doing. We also include a glossary at the end of the book with explanations of many of the most commonly used terms in social media.

For many readers, this should be seen as the start of the journey into making the best possible use of social media. The trick now is to keep learning, to put into practice the information in this book and, most importantly, to stay abreast of new developments. (Because, believe us, the platforms are constantly changing.)

Weve created a blog to run alongside the book (www.thebusinessofbeingsocial.co.uk), as well as a Twitter account (@BOBSthebook). That way we can keep you informed about what is happening in social media, and we can make sure that you can get information thats bang up to date important in a world where a week can be a long time!

Enjoy the book, and be sure to share your feedback and questions with us. After all this book is the start of many a conversation.

Best wishes
Michelle Carvill and David Taylor

What you will learn from this chapter:

Background to the social networks

How social media has become part of our daily lives

Statistics showing that social media is a truly global phenomenon

Importance of using social media to deliver on your business objectives

How to integrate social media into your overall marketing plans

Blending traditional and social media

Instigating continuous conversations rather than start-stop campaigns

H istory can be seen as a series of events that, taken together, make the world what it is today. Technological innovation has played a major role in history, from the invention of the telephone in 1876, radio in 1896, television in 1925, the first computer in 1926 and the World Wide Web in 1990.

Here are four more dates that we could add to this list:

5 May 2003 LinkedIn

4 February 2004 Facebook