Online Marketing 201: Local Search & Social Media

1. Online Marketing 201: Local Search & Social Media

2. Learning Objectives After this training you will: • Understand what local search is, and how to register in local search engines • Know what social media/Web 2.0 is, and why you need to be involved • Understand how to leverage social media to encourage volunteering • Be able to measure your success from local search and social media activities • Understand how blogs work, and know how to start a blog

3. The Web Has Changed Monologues are over, no more: I’ll publish and put it out there and you’ll consume and you better not complain!. It is now a dialog. - Avinash Kaushik, Occam’s Razor

4. What is Web 2.0? • Web 2.0/social media refers to a perceived second generation of web-based communities and hosted services — such as social-networking sites, wikis and folksonomies (also known as collaborative tagging , social classification, social indexing, social tagging ) . • These sites aim to facilitate collaboration and sharing between users.

5. What is Local Search? Why Local Search? • More online searchers are looking for local information “volunteer in Camden, NJ • Local search results are displayed FIRST in search engine results • Recommendation engines get more traffic than your site– Yelp.com has over 4 million visitors per month

6. Local Search:Building Links from your Friends • Start off by getting links from your friends • Convention & Visitors Bureaus • Traditional Media Sites - newspapers, radio, TV • Local city guides (search city name + “city guide”) • Local Business Associations - Rotary, Kiwanis, Chambers of Commerce, etc.

7. Local SearchGoogle’s Local Business Center Sign in, create a listing, Google will mail you code, input code, you’re done!

8. Local SearchYahoo! Local Sign in, create a listing, input the code, you’re done!

9. Local SearchTrueLocal.com

10. Local SearchLive Search Maps

11. Local SearchLive Search Maps • Go to the Local Listing Center • Click on “Help” in Bottom Right • Click on “Local Listing – Add a Listing” • They will send you a letter with a verification code • Input the code • You’re Done!

12. Local SearchInsider Pages • How: http://www.insiderpages.com/advertiser/sign_up.html Tell your story! Add photos, special offers & coupons, and a "message from the owner". Update hours, directions and contact info - it's ALL FREE, takes only a few minutes, and drives more customers to your non-profit.

13. Local SearchCraigslist.org • Over 30 million visitors/month • Volunteer section • Community events section • Confirm posting via email

14. Local SearchKudzu.com • 447,621 visitors/month • “List your business” on bottom of page

15. Local SearchZVents • 444,864 visitors/month • Event posting

16. Local SearchEventful • 564, 445 visitors/month • Can post events & groups

17. Local SearchYelp.com

18. Local SearchYelp • Do a search for your organization’s name and zip code to find out if you’re already in Yelp’s system. • On the bottom of the search result page, you’ll see a red button titled ADD BUSINESS which leads to a simple form where you can add your business. • Keep an eye on your reviews, but be restrained in firing back responses.

19. Local SearchMerchant Circle

20. Local SearchMerchant Circle • It offers a set of online marketing tools • These tools include: • web page/landing page with a blog • newsletter-sending capability • Coupons • Traffic reports, and more. • Simply click “join now” and you’re off and running!

21. Local SearchSuperpages.com • 8 million people/month • Listings provided to: • About.com • Lycos

22. Social MediaIdealist.org • 269,110 visitors/month • Post events, campaigns, volunteer opportunities, etc.

23. Social MediaFacebook • 34 million users • Create group profile, post events, join local networks

24. Social MediaFacebook Here’s how to get started with Facebook: • Create a personal Facebook account • Join your regional/city network, invite your friends, organizations & volunteers in your database • Create an event (on the left navigation). Make sure to pick which network to broadcast it to. • You can either use Facebook's guest list feature, or put the 1-800-Volunteer.org URL address for the volunteer opportunity in the "Description" field to track folks who have signed up. Very simple. You've just reached out to a portion of the 34 million users that use Facebook.

25. Social MediaGather.com

26. Social MediaGather.com • Register as an individual • Create your nonprofit as a group • Invite your friends, encourage writers you know to join, contribute & send their earnings to you • More detailed information here.

27. Social MediaMeetup.Com • 2.5 million users • Search in your area • Join existing groups, or start a group • Post your projects/events

28. Measuring Success • Increased number of visitors from social media • Number of comments on your posts/blog • Set up Google & Yahoo News Alert for your Brand name • Position of Brand Name & number of mentions in Search Engines • Number of Volunteer Referrals/Sign ups

29. Learn More • Search Marketing for Nonprofits: • http://SearchMarketingforNonProfits.wordpress.com • Exhaustive List of Social Bookmarking Sites • http://mashable.com/2007/08/08/social-bookmarking-2/ • Social Media Today • http://www.socialmediatoday.com • The Original Signal – Web 2.0 blog • http://www.originalsignal.com/ • More Local Search Sites • http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060831-090409

30. Joining the Blogging Community

31. So You Want to Start a Blog • Approximately 120,000 blogs are created every day • A blog is a website that needs to be promoted, or it won’t be found. • Technorati currently states it is tracking over 112.8 million blogs • What do I want to get out of maintaining this blog?

32. Pick your Tool • Blogspot.com • Easy to use interface, need to add Google Analytics • Wordpress.com • More advanced options • Can create “pages” as well as posts • Can host on your website • Comes with watered down analytics • LiveJournal.com

33. What are the Elements of a Good Blog? • Optimized for Search Engines • Has an About page will help convert more new visitors into loyal readers. • Has social media links under each post • Has an RSS feed using Feedburner • Displays a blog search tool

34. Promoting Your Blog • Your blog is a website – everything you learned about search marketing applies! • Post content using keywords & tags frequently • Submit to directories: • http://www.stuntdubl.com/2006/01/16/blog-promotion-tools/ • Build Links • Measure!

35. Keep the Conversation Alive • Create an editorial calendar for your posts • Start a dialogue with bloggers in your niche • Ask someone to guest-post on your blog • Thank your readers • Participate in the comments on your blog posts • Stumped for Ideas? Brainstorm list here.

36. Measuring Blog Success • New vs. returning visitors, length of stay • RSS Subscribers • Conversation Rate = Number of Visitor Comments / Number of Posts • Citations – people who link to your blog

37. Blogging is a lot of work! Don’t just blog for the sake of blogging.

38. Questions? Katherine Watier Watier Creative Nonprofit Search Marketing Consultant 301-793-6121 katherine@watier.org