Small Business Viral Marketing Tips, SES San Jose 2008

Jennifer Laycock and Andrew Goodman of Page Zero Media follow up their SES San Jose 2008 ""Igniting Viral Campaigns"" session with a discussion of the best tips on viral campaigns and social media marketing, especially for small business who want to make the most of their business online without spending too much money. The two talk about using social media sites like Linkedin and Twitter to communicate one's marketing message to a dedicated and enthusiastic audience.

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Closed Caption:

so this is Andrew Goodman
a page 0 media here at search engine
strategies
2008 we just might have a session
igniting viral campaigns
with Jennifer Lee Kok search engine guy
a
start with a story has nothing to do
with this there's this guy
is big Korean guy you works at this
barbecue restaurant Toronto
I call on the confiding die he takes my
order by coming around the counter and
then see how close we are so it'll be
like okay brothers are going to be a
a rice or potatoes and
it's like a big secret so and the big
secret a
internet marketing for small business is
that
obviously small businesses have limited
funds what do you think it's probably
the
the best idea you can think up to make
the most of those dollars
easily it's getting involved in social
media and viral marketing
anytime you're getting into social media
that small business that's relying on
sort of your personality
instead of just your brand name
recognition it's good to go the places
we can play that out
so you know Realtors go to you know City
city council chamber commerce meetings
in rotary club meetings
online that means we can go to Twitter
or Facebook or LinkedIn
for any of these places for people are
talking to each other and we can
certainly play up
who we are as people and not just the
brand or company and it gives us a
a chance to sorta leverage the type of
things that we couldn't do
until social came out on a global scale
so
what is it about social media sites that
make them that really such a good place
to build buzz and if
if you had to choose whether a couple
your most favorite social media
sites %uh whether you need for building
buzz because you can't have people who
are really
engage in really interested no you don't
put the time in to Twitter or Facebook
or some
these other sites unless you wanna know
what other people have to say you know
you're there for a reason just like you
go to the Rotary Club meeting
for a reason cell that kinda makes it
inherently viral inherently
conversational and in terms of my
favorite ones definitely a
I don't think I could do what I do
without LinkedIn and without Twitter
LinkedIn's ability to help you connect
with other people
by running a search for a company in
seeing how many degrees are you
separated
who do you know that can give you an
introduction that's huge especially in
the round small business because thats
again how we do business through
contacts twitter is just such a great
way to go and learn
what are people talking about yesterday
the short little snippets
what interests them and what sparked
this passion point it's a great way to
sort of get
you finger on the pulse your vertical
are were your community online
so just reaching out directly to people
so one more
question here on the people we really
want to reach create buzz
relevant bloggers those smart people who
are going to spread the word about you
and hopefully it will continue from
there
you had some interesting like almost the
checklist have
things to do before you out pitching
what are some in your two or three
favorite
a points from that list about what you
need to do
first before you go ahead and bother
people at my absolute biggest ones are
one
you need to read a blog before you pitch
it you know 45 post preferably not the
most recent ones
just to give you a feel for sort of the
personality of the writer because you
can kinda player picked up
another one is taking the time to make
everything
personal you're asking someone to get
something to:
to respect their time by addressing them
by name being personal in your message
you know and keeping it nice and short
and relevant
you don't send press releases a
blogger's you send interesting stories
an interesting opportunity
next to them there you have it thanks
very much Jennifer lake %uh
I'm andrew goodman search engine
strategies San Jose 2008