We had an amazing turn out for my Social Media 101 seminar at last week’s show at AmericasMart Atlanta. As promised, here is the slide deck and some useful links from the presentation.

For those of you that weren’t able to attend, here are a few key points and some notes to keep in mind when deciding if social media is the right thing for your business:

• The content you put out there is much more important than the platform (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.) that you put it on
• Even though brands and big companies are involved in social media, you’re really dealing with people — speak accordingly
• Ask yourself the important questions before jumping in headfirst:1. Are my customers using social media? If so, how?
  2. What are they talking about and what’s important to them?
  3. Is social media an important marketing channel for my business?
  4. What are my marketing and sales goals?

Know Your F-words:

Friends — People you’re connected to on Facebook

Followers – People and companies who track your Twitter updates

Following – People and companies who’s Twitter updates are tracked by you

Fans – People on Facebook who become a fan of your brand’s page

Tips for Measuring Social Media

1. Use tracking codes and promotional coupons specific to the platform
2. Tag your links with tracking that can be picked up by your analytics tool
3. Test different content around your offers
4. Monitor how many mentions you have and how engaged people are with your brand
5. Track your fans and followers to understand your audience

Know Your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

1. Cost per Lead (CPL) = Campaign Cost / # new leads   

   This gives us a single number that tells us how much each new sales lead cost based on the total cost of your campaign

2. Cost per Sale (CPS) = Campaign Cost / # salesBased on the campaign, this tells you how much each sale cost. This number should always be greater than or equal to your CPL.
3. Estimated Revenue per Site Visit (ERSV) = Avg. Sale Volume / # visits   

   This KPI is important to know when you’re determining how much to invest in your online channel. If it decreases, you may have an issue with your sales values dropping or too many visits not producing enough sales. If it increases without an increase in Sales Value, watch out… you may be losing visitors!

Links and Resources

Major Platforms:Facebook – www.facebook.com

 Twitter – http://twitter.com

Cross-platform Twitter Applications:

Tweetdeck – www.tweetdeck.com

Seesmic – www.seesmic.com

Twitter Resources:

Basic Twitter Backgrounds – www.twitterbacks.com

WeFollow Twitter Directory – www.wefollow.com

Web Analytics Packages:

Google Analytics – www.google.com/analytics

CrazyEgg – www.crazyegg.com

Mint Analytics – www.haveamint.com

Yahoo! Web Analytics – http://web.analytics.yahoo.com

Omniture – www.omniture.com

WebTrends – www.webtrends.com

Social Media Monitoring:

HowSociable – www.howsociable.com

SocialMention – www.socialmention.com

Twitter Search – http://search.twitter.com

Google Trends – www.google.com/trends

URL Shortening:

http://bit.ly

http://is.gd

http://tinyurl.com

http://twitpic.com