About

Demystify social media and learn to use it as part of your PR, Marketing and Communications campaigns. Learn how to connect directly to customers and stakeholders to generate truly useful two way conversations – and how to translate these directly into stronger brand, messages or additional sales.
 
This interactive seminar will have you learning through doing, breaking down of the barriers between you and social media success. You'll create blog posts, tweets, Facebook pages and YouTube videos, and - more importantly - learn more about the business value of these many channels to your company.  
 
Key Learning Objectives
• Connect social media opportunities to your business goals
• Understand the unwritten rules of online engagement
• Learn how to balance transparency and company policy
• Understand how social media connects with other online and offline marketing  
• Develop a productivity system to ensure your social media time is well spent
 
Who Should Attend?
• Marketing Managers
• Communications Managers
• PR Managers
• Stakeholder and Community Engagement Managers
 
Training Methodology
This intensive 2-day master class will combine tutorial sessions and case studies with interactive learning exercises. All exercises will be practical, using the social media tools described in the course material. All attendees will be provided with a workbook and a certificate of completion.
 
This highly interactive seminar will be offered in an online environment, it is recommended that you bring a laptop with WiFi enabled to gain the most from this training.

Outline

Marketing in the Age of Authenticity
• Why the Age of Authenticity is a genuine revolution
• How we got here - the roots of the revolution, and how they should shape your strategy
• How social media is transforming marketing, media and communications worldwide
• Overview of social media platforms and tools

Setting Goals, Objectives, Strategies and Tactics
Social media is almost infinitely measurable - but tying those measurements back to business metrics continues to puzzle the top minds in the industry.  
• What can social media achieve for your marketing?
• What are your organisations goals?

Email and Search Engine Optimisation
Just a few years ago, email marketing and search engine optimisation were cutting edge marketing practice. Now, they're old hat, but they're far from dead. This session shows you how email and search engine optimisation fit into your larger online marketing strategy.

Email
• Developing an email strategy
• Integrating email marketing with traditional marketing methods
• Understanding and complying with the Unsolicited Electronic Messages (Spam) Act 2007

Search Engine Optimisation
• Search Engine Overview/Basics: Google, Bing & Yahoo
• Natural Search, News Search, Blog Search and just plain search
• Search Engine Optimisation
• Creating a search friendly website
• Using keywords appropriately
• Understanding analytics and responding to trends
• Inbound links
• The relationship between blogging and search
• Exercise: What is your Google footprint?

Blogs, Blogging and Blogger Relations
Influential bloggers are often quoted in mainstream news media or the first to break a story.  Recently we have seen blogs both lead attacks on products and services, and build a demand for them.  This session will give you an understanding of how blogging works, how it impacts on your role, and how you can harness it to get the message out.
• Who are the online influencers relavent to your organisation?
• Creating a blog that people will actually want to read
• Why are comments important/
• Google friendly blogs, SEO and promotion
• Online etiquette
• RSS and feeds
• Integrating your blog with your marketing campaign
• Exercise: Setting up a blog using free software

Twitter & Microblogging  
Last year it was Facebook; this year twitter seems to be the thing on everyone’s minds.  This session will give an introduction to Microblogging and what it means for marketers.  
• Twitter: What can I say in 140 characters?
• Power tips for gaining a large, interested twitter following
• Building relationships to gain credibility – not just advertising spam
• Case study: Using Twitter as a Customer Service Tool in NZ
• Exercise: Setting up a twitter account
 
Social Networks – People
In the past social networks were the domain of teenagers, now almost everyone has heard of Facebook, Linked In, Myspace and their usefulness as part of a social marketing/consultation strategy. This session will give you a crash course in the common social networks, and how you can use them to engage your customers on a more personal level.
• An overview of common social networks & their relevance to your organisation
• Which network is appropriate for your customers & stakeholders
• Exercise: What is your personal brand online?
• Power social networking – using social networking clients
• Social networking etiquette – avoiding spam, and creating engagement
 
Social Networks – Content
As with any website, the thing that makes people return is content, this session will look out how you can keep your audience engaged and interested – with content that keeps people coming back.
• Social Media Optimisation
• Linkability
• Tagging and bookmarking
• Inbound links
• Mobility of content
• Encouraging mashups
• Syndication
• Social Bookmarking i.e. Digg/Reddit /Stumbleupon /Del.ico.us  etc
 
Video for Effective Marketing and Communication
When we forward a funny or shocking video to friends, we're often spreading someone's marketing campaign. This session looks at low budget, high return viral video, and how you can harness it for your messages.
• The business case for online video communications
• The who, the where, the what and they why of online video
• Cost effectively producing, editing, uploading and distributing videos simultaneously
• Going viral
• Newbie Mistakes and how to avoid them
• Exercise: Shoot, transfer, edit and upload video to YouTube
• Video Search Engine Optimisation
• Corporate policies, copyright and fair use issues
• Case Studies
   
Mobile and Location-Based Services
With more and more powerful smartphones coming out every year, the internet is now mobile. Location-aware applications offer marketers exciting and intriguing opportunities to reach customers on the go.  
• Mobile social media – trends
• Current Opportunities – txt
• Future opportunities – rich media

Keeping your finger on the pulse
Once your strategy is in place, you need to be able to ensure its return on investment.  This session will give you a productivity system to ensure you can keep your finger on the pulse - without spending all your time on social media. 21st century marketing is about listening and responding, and this system will enable you to listen, correct your strategy, and respond quickly.
• Google alerts
• Hashtags
• Tracking results – analytics and statistics
• User Generated Media Monitoring tools and techniques
• Responding to criticism and reputation management online
• Exercise: Setting up alerts to track your organisations online reputation
 
Putting it all together
By themselves, these tools are handy ways of communicating with your customers, but social media gains its true value when it is the sum of all its parts.  This session will teach you how to integrate all the tools and techniques you have learnt over the past two days, and combine them with your current traditional marketing strategy to communicate with, market to and engage your customers and stakeholders.
• Creating an online communications strategy
• The appropriateness of social media for your message
• Matching the appropriate media to your customer
• Challenges and Risks?
• Questions, Answers & Wrap Up

Facilitator

In-house Training