Social Media Resource Guide: A practical guide to learning about and using social media to promote your Shaklee business

Social Media Resource Guide: A practical guide to learning about and using social media to promote your Shaklee business Social Media Resource Guide ...
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Social Media Resource Guide: A practical guide to learning about and using social media to promote your Shaklee business

Social Media Resource Guide Issue 1.0 ©Shaklee Corporation. Every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this document is true and correct at the time of going to press. However, the systems, processes, specifications and content in general described in this document are subject to continuous development and Shaklee Corporation is entitled to change them at any time and to expand on them. All names and other data used in examples are fictitious. Any websites or companies referenced in this document are for reference only and should not be considered an endorsement.

Table of Contents Purpose of the Guide …..….………………………………………………….................................... 2 What is Social Media? ........................................................................................................................................ 3 Why You Should Care About Social Media ................................................................................................... 4 About Social Media Content ............................................................................................................................. 5 Things to Avoid When Creating Content ....................................................................................................... 6 Recommended Ways to Use Content to Engage Fans ................................................................................. 7 Blogging Bests Practices .................................................................................................................................... 8 Facebook Best Practices ................................................................................................................................... 9 Twitter Best Practices .......................................................................................................................................10 Managing Your Time Using Social Media ....................................................................................................11 Social Media Management Tools ..................................................................................................................12 Suggested Reading ...........................................................................................................................................13

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Purpose of the Guide The purpose of this guide is to provide an overview of social media and how it supports running a Shaklee business. The guide will cover the more popular social media tools, Facebook and Twitter, and include best practices for using both. In addition, the guide will provide suggestions for managing time using social media and a list of management tools that will help. What you can do with this guide: •

Acquire a better understanding of social media.



Get more involved with Facebook and Twitter, and understand how these tools can support your business.



Better manage your time using social media so it doesn’t interfere with your day-to-day business priorities.



Understand good content vs. bad content.



Develop or improve social media time management.

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What is Social Media? Social media is a collection of powerful online tools that allow individuals to connect with other individuals over a common interest, and to share content around that interest with each other. Interests can include anything from activities, such as running and cooking, to entertainment, such as music and books, to causes, such as eradicating hunger and fundraising for a cure. These platforms allow for people to collectively build shared understanding around a topic through the activities of posting and sharing new content, commenting on, liking and upvoting other people’s content. The following is a lists of some of today’s more popular social media tools: •













Facebook (www.facebook.com) – The largest social-networking platform in the world. Users create a personal profile and request connections with other users. Users can create business pages to connect with customers in a less intrusive way. Blogs - (www.wordpress.com, www.tumblr.com, www.blogspot.com): Also known as a web-log. Users create a public-facing website and record their thoughts, feelings, ideas, in text, photo, or video posts. The posts typically appear in chronological order from most recent posts at the top to oldest at the bottom. Viewers can subscribe to blog, comment on posts, and share posts with other people. Blogs provide an opportunity to tell your story through daily posts and provides an easy subscription process for readers Twitter (www.twitter.com) – A micro-blogging platform that allows you to share what’s on your mind with anyone in 140 characters or less. Because you can’t say too much in a tweet, the platform allows you to share your ideas, thoughts, or story in short sound bites that turn into a greater story with each additional tweet. It’s a real-time communication mechanism which requires frequent, daily use to stay relevant. YouTube (www.youtube.com) – A video-sharing platform where you can create your own, personal video channel. The channel will house your video content, and your content is searchable on YouTube and through general search engines, like Yahoo!, Google, and Bing. Video continues to be a favourite medium for learning about new things on the internet, and YouTube is the second most searched engine on the Web. Flickr (www.flickr.com) – A photo-sharing platform. Can be private or public. Photos are tagged and arrive in search engine results through topic searches. Flickr also allows for video uploading and sharing. The tool provides a great opportunity to share photos and videos related to your business. StumbleUpon (www.stumbleupon.com) – A discovery engine that helps you find things on the web that interest you. Users basically stumble upon websites and can rate the recommendation and share with others. If you have a Facebook account, you can log-in with those credentials and the engine will source your interests from your Facebook profile. Digg and Reddit (www.digg.com and www.reddit.com) – Social news sharing platforms. Users post links to web content on these sites. Other users comment in a forum-like environment and/or vote on the link (upvote = like and downvote = dislike). Users can also vote on other users’ comments about posts. Users can customize their Reddit page to only include the categories (or Sub-Reddits that interest them the most). The highest voted links appear at the top of the page, receiving the most visibility

…and many more

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Why You Should Care About Social Media? Information moves much more quickly in today’s world because of social media. More and more people continue to join social networks of all kinds to meet other people that share the same interests and to find the information that is important to them. Some people are content creators while others choose to be voyeurs and just watch what other people post or say. Here are some social media statistics that you should know: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.

Facebook now has 750 million users. If it were a country, Facebook would be the third largest in the world. 38% of online U.S. consumers “Like” a brand on Facebook. The average fan Likes nine different brands. LinkedIn has over 1 million users. Nearly twice as many men use LinkedIn (63 percent compared with 37 percent of women). All other social networking sites have significantly more female users than male users. 57 million people read and follow blogs. One word-of-mouth conversation is worth 200 TV ads. 90% of consumers trust peer recommendations, but only 14% trust advertisements. 87% of people trust a friend’s advice over a critics review. Facebook tops Google for weekly traffic in the U.S. Nielsen published stats showing that “three of the world’s most popular brands online are social-media related (Facebook, YouTube and Wikipedia) and the world now spends over 110 billion minutes on social networks and blog sites. This equates to 22 percent of all time online or one in every four and half minutes. According to BlogHer.com familiar bloggers are preferred over celebrities and over 50% of active blog readers in the United States have made a purchase based on a blog recommendation.

Social media cannot replace your core business activities, which are to sell, meet and recruit. If you neglect your money-making activity in favor of social media, you will fail. Social media will enhances your ability to conduct your core business activity by targeting your efforts and helping you to work more efficiently while meeting people you wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to meet. Here are a few ways that social media can help you with your business: • Connect you with new people. • Re-connect you with previous customers and re-establish a business relationship. • Provide you an easier mode for follow-up with customers. • Provide you with referrals from friends and fans. • Present your opportunity to the people who are looking for one. • Help you learn more about your customers and what they want. • Save you time in distributing news to your customers in a fun, more engaging way.

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About Social Media Content What kind of content can you share? •



Status updates - (letting people know what you’re currently doing, thinking, or feeling) with a short text message. You can opt to post links to videos or upload a photo instead of or in addition to a text post. o Facebook - What’s Happening box on your personal profile or business page Wall. o LinkedIn - Share an Update at the top of your profile page. o Twitter - Enter your 140 character content in the box below the What’s Happening? Headline. Photos – Most online social platforms will allow you to upload a photo as content. You can include a caption with the photo, add topic tags* to help search engines find your content in public locations, and tag people in places like Facebook. Note: Be thoughtful about photos that you tag people. Ask yourself – is this a photo you would want to be tagged in?

*What are tags? Tags are keywords that you associate with your content. On Facebook, for example, you can tag someone in a status update, a photo, a video, etc. On YouTube, you can add keyword tags to videos to help search engines find your video when a user searches that topic. Blog posts are often tagged to help the reader find the content that most interests them. Keyword examples: health, fitness, running, social media, nutrition, books, green, Shaklee. Lady Gaga, etc. •



Videos – Simple, short videos taken with a phone, a Flip camera, or a video camera can be uploaded to online locations, such as YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, and Flickr. Make sure to abide by size and file restrictions for each platform that you are working within. URL links – These are Web addresses leading people to content on the Web. Usually begins with www or http://

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Things to Avoid When Creating Content: 1. SPAM. More than anything else, avoid spamming your audience. Spam content is unsolicited, non-targeted, self-promoting content that provides little to no value to the reader. Don’t send someone information about products or opportunity if they didn’t ask for it. Even more so, don’t post this kind of content on someone’s website or even your own. That includes a Facebook page Wall, blog, or any other place where you can post content for everyone to see. This is not the way to get people’s attention. Examples: “My product cures cancer and relieves back pain! Buy some!” “I can show you how to earn $100,000 this year!” “I’m having a SALE! Buy my products right now and you’ll save 50%. Shop now! Here’s my link…” “Want to earn extra cash and a trip to Bora Bora? Contact me now!” “Want to live a longer and healthier life? I’ve got just the thing for you.” 2. SPLOG. This is the same as spam but for blog posts. Don’t leave spam-like comments on blogs in an attempt to sell your Shaklee business or products. 3. Offensive or inappropriate content. Different people find different things offensive, so the more you know about your audience the better you will be able to appropriately communicate with them and provide valuable content. However, it goes without saying that the following should be avoided at all costs: a. Profanity. Never use profanity. There are other ways to communicate passion without using bad language. b. Strong negative opinions. While most of us have strong beliefs and opinions, it’s not always appropriate to share them on your Facebook page. Especially, your business page. You run the risk of offending and losing a customer. Instead, try to turn the negative into a positive message. 4. Broken Web links. If you share a link to an article or a Web page that you really like (including links to your personal websites), make sure the links work before you post them. Otherwise, viewers may not trust future links you share and, worse, they can’t re-share the links to their friend 5. Lengthy posts. Keep it short. People don’t have time to read lengthy missives. Break up your message into smaller posts that build off of each other. 6. Posting messages in ALL CAPS. If you want to make a point, emphasize one or two words only in all caps. Otherwise, it just “sounds” like you’re yelling at people.

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Recommended Ways to Use Content to Engage Fans: 1. Ask your friends or fans about themselves. Ever wonder what makes your fans or even your friends tick? For instance, what products are they currently using to clean their home, or what’s their favorite form of exercise? Asking questions using Facebook status updates or the questions application, or through a tweet on Twitter will help you better understand the people that you are trying to connect with. People love to talk about themselves. Don’t you? a. Exercise: Think of 5 things that you’d like to know about your customers and create questions that you could post on Facebook or Twitter. 2. Share content that is fun or entertaining. Statistics show that people who “Like” pages want fun and entertaining information. So, if you know a bit of trivia related to your business, or if you come across an online game that’s on-topic with your business focus, share it with your fans. They’ll thank you for it. Even better, if you’ve created videos and posted them online, share the link to that content on your Facebook page. 3. Be timely. No one likes old news, and that’s even more so true in social media locations. Users crave the latest and greatest content. If you get cutting-edge news either about a new product or health study; or, if you’re at an event and learn something new and relevant to your fans, share it! People who use social media love news and if you’re the one sharing it, they’re likely to view you as a credible information source and will visit you more often to stay in-the-know. 4. Post during the week AND on the weekends. 5. Ask for engagement. Don’t be afraid to ask fans to like your page or post a comment or to share your page with their friends. If you’re seeking answers, add a simple “where” or “when” or “would” question at the end of the post. 6. Have a unique voice. Find a voice and tone that is representative of your brand and your personality. 7. Posting regularly. Your fans, audience and community like consistency so decide what will work for you and post 1-2 times each day on Facebook or one new blog post each week. Whatever works for your schedule should be consistent.

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Blogging Best Practices Blogs are like websites but with content management systems. A blog often has an RSS feed, a place for readers to comment, features new content on a regular basis, is in a reverse chronological order (most recent posts at the top of the page followed by older posts) and has links to other sites for references. Readers of blogs expect transparency, a chance to converse and engage with the author of the blog, and to not be sold to. A blog is a chance to build an audience, a community, and relationships with your readers to gain their trust. Recommendations and Tips: 1. Disclosure. Have a full disclosure page that discloses your relationship with Shaklee and other interests and make it easily visible to your readers. You may also add a code of ethics or statement of practices. It is best to have the disclosure page at the top of your blog for the best visibility. 2. Consistency. Blog on a regular and consistent basis. Readers that subscribe or bookmark your blog like to read what you write and begin to expect your content on a regular basis, even if this is once per month. 3. Commenting. Comment on other blogs and do this often but no splogging! Blogs that you like to read or blogs that have similar content are good blogs to leave thoughtful comments on. Remember do not pitch your business and the products but have a well thought out comment that others will respect you for. 4. Follow Up and Follow Through. Provide a chance for readers to subscribe to your RSS feed or email newsletter. This is the opportunity to provide your interested audience with additional content and make it easy for them to access the content when it’s posted. Your blog loyal readership will increase. 5. Inbound and Outbound Links. Link to other blogs and do this often. Linking to other Web and blog content refers your readers to others on the Web and demonstrates your blog as a resource. Similarly, when other blogs link to your blog it shows that you are a resource. An increase of inbound links also increases a blog’s Google ranking. The higher a blog’s Google ranking, the easier it is for readers to find the blog. 6. Respect. Thank your readers when they comment on your blog. When a reader takes the time to comment on your blog content, be sure to thank them and respond back to them with a comment. This is a great opportunity to engage in a thoughtful, polite conversation with a reader and gain their trust. Other readers see this and will be more likely to comment in the future. 7. Content Creation. Create quality blog content that is search engine friendly. Content is king when it comes to blogging! Create content that is genuine and well written. If your blog post is about dog training look at the key words when searching “dog training” in Google. Use these key words in writing your blog post to increase the likelihood that other online readers will you’re your written content. Readers will continue coming back to read a blog if there is high quality content. 8. Domain Name Management. Have your own domain name and register it for at least five years. Google likes to see a blog domain name that has been registered for more than five years. It will potentially increase your odds of having a better Google ranking. Owning your own domain name and having your own hosting is similar to owning a house or renting a house. You will have more control over your business in the online world with a domain name. You can use services such as GoDaddy.com or Hostgator.com to find and register a domain name. 9. Google Rules the World. Once you have your domain name, register your URL with Google. Google spiders, or crawls, the Web for content ever day, all day! Let Google know you exist by submitting your blog URL here: http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl 10. Three Click Rule. Have a well-designed blog to appeal to the eye. Readers are visual. A well designed blog not only looks good but it makes navigation for the reader easy. The golden rule is that readers should be able to find what they need in three clicks or less. A well-designed blog has function, looks nice and represents your brand or business. Think of a blog design as your online business card – it can say a great deal if done right!

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11. Legal Obligations. Understand the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) and their ruling on full disclosure: http://blog.disclosurepolicy.org/ The FTC has rules and regulations on what bloggers should disclose. It is best to become familiar with these rules to protect yourself and your business.

Facebook Best Practices 1. Create a strategy. Answer these questions to get started: a. What are your goals with using social media? What do you want to get out of this? b. Who do you want to connect with and where are they (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube?) c. When you do you have time? d. What can you measure? (Fans, followers, re-tweets, etc.?) 2. Know the different ways to interact on Facebook. a. Personal Profile - This is linked to all of your activity on Facebook. This is all about you, your interests, and the people you’re connected to. b. Business Page – A page about your business that connects you to Fans or people that “Like” your page. All business pages must be sent up by a person with a personal account with Facebook. c. Groups – A way to target interaction with friends around a common interest. This is attached to your personal profile not your business page. 3. Respect Facebook’s Terms of Service. Facebook provides a Statement of Rights and Responsibilities that explains the appropriate ways for operating within its platform. If you haven’t already, read them here: www.facebook.com/terms. Also, bookmark the page so you can refer to it often. Facebook has been known to update its terms, so check back often and re-read it just so you remain in-the-know. 4. Invite people you meet in real life to ‘friend’ you. Send a friend request with a personal messaging reminding them of how you met. Use Facebook to share updates and information about you, so they can get to know you, like you, and trust you. 5. Identify Yourself as a Shaklee Independent Distributor. When creating a business page, use your business name. If your business name is your name, be sure to attach Shaklee Independent Distributor with your name. Example: Jane Doe (Shaklee Independent Distributor). This makes it easier for Facebook users to find you by the name you use for your business. You will also be compliant with the Shaklee P&Rs by not using the Shaklee name inappropriately on Facebook. Also, be sure to use the Info tab to list yourself as a Shaklee Independent Distributor and to provide a link to your PWS or links to any of your 6. Provide value to fans. Make the most of your connection with your fans. Share content that’s more about you and less about Shaklee. People connect with people and that’s how true engagement on social networking sites begin. So, when you have a chance to talk about the things you’re doing (like trying to lose weight or taking your kids to a ball game) do it. That’s the kind of real content that your fans will identify with. As they get to know you as a person, they will come to trust you more. 7. Interact with friends and fans. A two-way dialog spurs interaction, trust, and the spread of information. If someone posts a question on your business page wall, answer it. You never know how many other fans have the same question. They’ll be happy you answered it. And, the person who posted it will appreciate your personal response. 8. Know that Facebook is more than a store. Yes, you can build your customer-base here and use the platform as a location to talk about the Shaklee products and opportunity. But, don’t forget that Facebook is really about people. If you want to win using Facebook or any social networking tool, remember to be a human being and that the people you interact with thirst for genuine engagement. When you see someone

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face-to-face, you don’t just start talking about products, do you? No, you ask how the person is and get acquainted on a personal level. Do the same on Facebook. 9. Give back by commenting. So, people are interacting on your page. They’re asking you questions and talking to each other. People are learning about you, your business, and connecting with others that are fans of your page. Why not take it a step further and go to other pages and post comments in conversation that are happening. Do not just post a link to your page. Instead, find a conversation thread that interests you and post a response. Help answer a question. You can do this as your profile or as your business page.* The benefit of posting as you page is then people can just click the link to your page to learn more about you rather than going to your personal page first. *Commenting as your page. To do this, select the “Account” button at the top right-hand corner of your Facebook page. Select “Use Facebook as Your Page” in the drop down. Click on the “Switch” button. Now, you are ready to operate on Facebook as your business page. Remember: every comment you leave on anyone’s personal or business page will now be associated with your business page. When you want to return to operating as you, go back to the “Account” button and switch back.

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Twitter Best Practices 1. Know the Twitter rules for following other users. Yes, Twitter has rules around how many people you can follow at any given time. Be sure to read about it here: http://support.twitter.com/entries/68916following-rules-and-best-practices 2. Tweet in a casual and personable tone. You’re a human being, so talk like one. It’s okay to use familiar language here. 3. Tweet often. Twitter is a constantly churning out new information. If you don’t tweet often, your followers may forget about you, or worse, stop following you. If you can, share something twice a day. Also, the more you tweet, the easier it is for people to find you. 4. Promote your other websites. Tweet links to your other websites, such as your Facebook page, your PWS, your blog, or your YouTube channel. Let people know where else they can connect with or learn more about you. Include a message that is inviting and personal without sounding “salesy.” 5. Find and join conversations. Do topic searches on Twitter to see if anyone is talking about what you’re interested in, and not just Shaklee. What key topics define your business? Health, weight-loss, being green? Whatever it is, see if people are talking about it and add to the conversation by tweeting about it too. 6. Ask people to review your sites with their own tweets. Link to your other websites and ask people to tweet what they think about your Facebook page, your PWS, or other websites. 7. Monitor your mentions* and responses to your tweets. When you log into twitter, there is a tab on your home page beneath the “What’s happening” box called “@Mentions.” This shows you who has mentioned you or used your Twitter handle, or name, in one of their tweets. It’s good to monitor what people are saying about you. They may have asked you a question, so check this tab often to make sure you’re answering in a timely manner. 8. Create a bio that tells people who you are and what you do. You have less than 160 characters to say who you are, so be concise. Think of keywords that are most closely associated with you. 9. Use Hashtags (#). Add the # sign to tweets to link them to conversations on Twitter. Hashtags are often used around a topic or an event. First, search to see if there is already a hashtag created for the subject you are interested in talking about. If not, create it. For example: #SFmarathon, #fitness, #eatingwell. Remember that these take up space in your tweet, so keep them short. You can also see what hashtags are popular when you log into your Twitter account and look in Trends on the right-hand side of your page. 10. Retweet other people’s tweets. See a tweet that is interesting? Re-tweet it to your friends. Those users will see you’ve re-tweeted them and will likely return the favor and spread the word about you to their followers. Be careful, however, to not do too many re-tweets or Twitter will lock up your account. 11. Share links to pictures and videos. Whenever possible, share pictures and video. People love this kind of content. And, with a smartphone, it’s so easy to take a photo and instantly share. That’s valuable real time content.

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Managing Your Time Using Social Media Using social media tools can take a lot of time out of your day. Not only do you have to post content regularly to keep fans engaged, but you also have to monitor feedback, answer questions that may arrive from readers, fans and followers. Monitoring the Web for new content can be a time-stealer as well. Before you know it, you’re spending hours a day managing your social media locations and not doing the other things you need to do to run your business. The more tools you’re using to communicate, the more time you need to invest in managing. With that in mind, be selective about which tools you want to start using. Ask yourself: will this help my business? If so, how? Plan your day and include a few hours to social media, but no more than that. Otherwise, you could get distracted playing online games or with other time-wasters that provide no benefit to your business. Here is a recommended time schedule if you are just getting started: Morning (1 hour) • Start your day seeing what’s new in MyShaklee or in the news. (20 minutes). • Draft Facebook messages, tweets, or prepare any other content from the day before for uploading. (15 minutes). • Schedule content to post throughout the day. (10 minutes). • Check your locations for feedback. See if anyone has posted any questions or comments that need answering. (10 minutes). • Prepare and post responses (10). • Post at least one tweet and Facebook message. Lunchtime (30 minutes) • At lunchtime, spend 30 minutes checking for news, drafting new content, and posting, following the steps above. • Post at least one tweet. End of Day (1 hour) • Check your locations for feedback. (20 minutes) • Draft responses and post, or prepare to post the following morning. (20 minutes) • See if there is any new Shaklee news or other news that you can write about now or in the morning. • Post at least one tweet. Start with the schedule above, see how it works for you, and adjust as needed. Time management will vary for each person. The important thing is to limit how much time you spend using these tools during regular business hours if it is interfering with your regular work. As you get more comfortable using these tools, you may find you can spend more time using the tools and still keep up with your other tasks. It’s important to have fun but not lose sight of your business goals.

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Social Media Monitoring Tools To help you stay on top of the latest news and trends, the following tools and activities are recommended: Topic and conversation monitoring • Twitter Search (http://search.twitter.com/ ) –See what topics are trending or find out what people are saying about a particular topic. For example, type in Shaklee, Cinch, health, or nutrition and see what people are saying in real time. • Facebook Search (www.Facebook.com) – Log into Facebook and look in your news feed to see what content your friends are sharing or talking about. Also, conduct a search for topics of interest to you to find other pages or groups to connect with. Tools that monitor Facebook and Twitter (both tools have SmartPhone applications) • HootSuite (www.hootsuite.com) – A great tool for monitoring and managing Twitter and Facebook. You can manage multiple Facebook and Twitter accounts and schedule messages in advance. HootSuite also tracks tweets and links that you share so you can see how many people you’re reaching. • TweetDeck (www.tweetdeck.com) – Also helps monitor and manage multiple accounts on Facebook and Twitter. Schedule messages and track responses through the platform. As a desktop application, you can have it running in the background so that you are notified through little pop-up boxes when new tweets arrive and can continue working in other locations on your computer. Tools that monitor social networks and blogs • Social Mention (www.socialmention.com) – Provides real-time results on topic searches across social media channels. Also includes basic sentiment analysis of topics so you can gauge whether people are feeling positively or negatively about a topic. You can sign up for daily email alerts on topics that interest you. • Google Reader (www.reader.google.com) – Allows you to add online news subscriptions and keep track of all of them in one place. • BlogPulse (www.blogpulse.com) – A blog search engine which allows you to search blogs by topic and see what topics are currently hot on blogs. Tool that monitors what’s trending on the Web • BuzzFeed (www.buzzfeed.com) – See what Web content is going viral (what people are talking about and sharing the most), comment and share through your online social locations. Tools that monitor with alerts • Google Alerts (www.alerts.google.com) – Another great Google tool that lets you sign up for as many keyword alerts as you want. Google will email you the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.). Results can be delivered as-it-happens, daily, or weekly. • Backtype Alerts (www.backtype.com) – A tool that tracks what people are saying in real-time about topics across the Web. The tool searches across different websites, blogs, and other Web content. Tool that monitors trending topics across the Web • Google Trends (www.trends.google.com) – See what topics are hot for the day and click on news articles related to the topic to learn more. These are just a handful of tools that can help you monitor your brand, or topics you care about, in real-time, so that you are getting the latest content when you want it. Some of these tools can also help manage your messaging so that you are communicating frequently and consistently. We’ll post a longer list of recommended tools on Member Center, so check back later for more social media monitoring tools.

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Suggested Reading Blogs and Website Links: 1. Chris Brogan (www.chrisbrogan.com): Primarily a business blog focusing on social media tools, marketing and tips. A few helpful links: www.chrisbrogan.com/50-ideas-on-using-twitter-for-business/ www.chrisbrogan.com/40-ways-to-deliver-killer-blog-content/ www.chrisbrogan.com/creating-honest-content-marketing/ 2. Jen Fong Speaks (www.jenfongspeaks.com): A blog about direct sales and social media written by Jennifer Fong, a corporate consultant and speaker, who teaches direct selling companies and individual direct sellers how to use social media effectively as a business building tool. A few helpful links: www.jenfongspeaks.com/writing-posts-on-your-facebook-page-for-recruiting/ www.jenfongspeaks.com/10-things-i-wish-people-knew-on-facebook/ www.jenfongspeaks.com/are-you-trying-to-do-too-much-online/ www.jenfongspeaks.com/how-to-create-a-facebook-page-for-direct-sales-recruiting/ www.jenfongspeaks.com/10-ways-to-get-traffic-to-your-facebook-page/ 3. ProBlogger: Offers tips to help create excellent blog content, understand search engine optimization, social medial tools and more. http://www.problogger.net/ 4. Other helpful links: www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/ www.conversationmarketing.com/ www.conversationagent.com/ www.pr-squared.com/ www.bloggingtips.com/ www.socialmediaexplorer.com/ www.theblogsquadrecommends.com/ www.thesocialmediaguide.com/ Helpful Books: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Blogging All-in-One For Dummies, by Susan Gunelius Publish and Prosper: Blogging for Your Business, by DL Bryon and Steve Broback Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day, by Dave Evans and Susan Bratton The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success, by Lon Safko Blogging for Business: Everything You Need to Know and Why You Should Care, by Shel Holtz and Ted Demopoulous 6. Blog Marketing: The Revolutionary New Way to Increase Sales, Build Your Brand, and Get Exceptional Results, by Jeremy Wright 7. Social Boom, by Jeffrey Gitomer

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©2011 Shaklee Corporation. Distributed by Shaklee Corporation, Pleasanton, CA 94588. 11-545 (New 7/11)

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