I gave the following presentation to the Tennessee Association for Home Care fall conference on November 8, 2011 in Gatlinburg, TN. I wanted to share the content of this presentation to show the ease of publishing content to Posterous.

The six No’s

1. Cost of social media.

2. The time that social media takes.

3. I don’t want to entrust my brand to a teenager.

4. My customers don’t use social media.

5. I work in a regulated industry.

6. Legal Concerns

The Six Yes’s

1. Customer Service. – Comcast, through the help of Frank Eliason, has used social media to overcome its PR fumble created by this YouTube video.

1. Sales

2. Awareness.

1. Unification

2. Motrin

3. Egypt

4. Unify movement

5. Education

6. Creating community Many seniors feel a sense of isolation, and social networking is an easy solution to find companions with shared likes and interests through groups, discussion boards, polls and relevant articles. http://homecaretwincities.com/from-lydia/social-networking-offers-many-benefi...

You must have alignment

Inside

• Evangelism
• Social Media Policy
• Process
• Training
• Staff

Outside

• Strategy
• Engagement
• IRL Networking
• Tools
• Platforms

The How

Listening tools

Google Alerts Twitter *Reader

I need a website where do I start?

Having a web presence for your business in the modern world is a necessity, not an option. Businesses spend anywhere between $500 to $500,000 for their web site, so each business must decide the success factors before determining the budget.

1. Find a Host. If you are going to go it alone, you are a brave soul, congratulations. But, most importantly you should find a partner that speaks your language and that you can trust. Web hosts have taken much of the heavy lifting from creating and managing websites. Look at the following web hosts that make the process much easier: Slamdot, DreamHost, Media Temple, 1and1, weebly, Host Gator, GoDaddy, Rackspace.

2. Decide on a domain name. While improved search engine algorithms have made short, catchy domain names largely unnecessary, it is still important to pick a domain name that is unique and accurately speaks about your business. Names that include your industry may be

3. Plan the content. In the business, we call this a site map. Take adequate time to plan how the content will interact on your site. If you only had 20 seconds to tell someone about your business, what are the critical points that you want someone to know? The answer to that question should be your home page. From there you need to give them enough information to drill down into the content.

4. Write remarkable content. When it comes time to write your content, make it exceptional. Write excellent content that people will find informative and enjoyable. Likewise this is the information that the search engines will use to categorize you, so be thoughtful to the terms that you want people to find you.

5. Publish. If you wait until everything is perfect, you may be waiting until 2050 to publish your site. Set a date and adhere to it. Make sure that it is proofed by a reasonably competent person and publish it! Websites are like gardens, there are always things to tweak, so no need to wait to ship.

6. Final considerations. First of all, your website gives you ample resources to track visits and visitors to your site—make sure that you can collect this information by setting up Google Analytics. Secondly, setup a contact form to allow visitors to easily request information or contact you. Finally, include links to any social media platforms in which you engage.

You will definitely want to mark your calendar and review your site from time to time. What’s working? What’s not? And make the necessary changes.

Blogging Keys by my friend Mark W. Schaefer. http://www.businessesgrow.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/10.12_MLT_EBook_Comp...

Create a Facebook Fan Page

Create a Presence on Twitter

Use Foursquare

To help you manage your Social Media, you might try using Tweetdeck, Hootsuite, or Seesmic.