Below is an action plan with the first steps that an SME can undertake to implement marketing 2.0. This plan is proposed to do activities for thirty days, although it is susceptible to modifications according to the needs of the company.
Day 1: Establish the objectives of the company and the profile of the target customers
Normally the objectives include increasing the visibility of the company, improving its brand on the Internet, as well as increasing the number of customers and increasing the loyalty of current customers. The objectives have to be communicated to all those who are part of the company, so that all employees of the company are involved from the beginning.
The company must begin to define its target audience on the Internet, with which it wants to establish a communication on social networks, with video marketing and with the blog. The most important thing is to define what your tastes and interests are, and to determine which keywords are written on Google when they search for information about a product or service. The company must have an exact description in written format about the characters and the profile of the target customer.
Day 2: Plan the use of social media and marketing 2.0 within the company
You have to decide who will be responsible for managing the accounts of different social networks and video pages. It is recommended to estimate and plan how much time that person will dedicate daily to these activities. It is important that these people have received some type of basic training on social networks and marketing 2.0 since this knowledge will save the company many frustrations and losses of time.
Day 3: Create an email account in Gmail and start listening to the market using Google News and Google Alerts
The email address of Gmail (www.gmail.com) is useful for managing accounts on social networking pages. To register in each of these networks you need an email and you can use the gmail address (which will be created for this purpose) for all accounts. To register in Gmail you must go to http://mail.google. com / mail? hl = en and click on “Create an account” and then follow the steps indicated. As a username in gmail it is advisable to reserve the company name, for example: itcadet@gmail.com. One of the benefits of using Gmail is that it can be accessed from any computer and for that reason it is possible to use it even during business trips.
Google news and Google alerts help you listen to the market and find new news about any market sector. To use Google News you have to go to http://news.google.es and write some of the main keywords that describe the sector where the company is included. Google News brings together headlines from more than 700 news sources from around the world written in Spanish.
Example of how to create a Google Alert with the words “kitchen furniture”
Google Alerts (http://www.google.com/alerts?hl=en) on any topic we are interested in are sent by email. The company can create alerts with different keywords, such as articles containing the name of the same company, names of its competitors, names of its products or any keyword that is related to the company’s sector.
Day 4: Start reading the blogs and relevant web pages of the sector related to the company
The simplest thing is to write the keywords that define the activity of the company in Google and then analyze the pages that appear between the first results. To locate the relevant blogs you can go to www.google.com and write «company sector + blogs» and thus the results of the most relevant blogs are shown. It is also convenient to observe about the topics that are discussed in the page and analyze their ranking in Alexa (see the first chapter of the book).
Additionally it is possible to subscribe to the main blogs using Google Reader. To do this you must go to: www.google.com/reader where you can see the new content of the favorite sites.
The Google Reader tool
Day 5: Identify opinion leaders in the sector
The company has to identify the most influential people in its sector and follow its activities. As a general rule, the most influential people in a sector are usually the owners of the most read blogs, or those who have more followers or influence on Twitter or Facebook.
Day 6: Create the accounts of the company in different social networks and popular sites
If possible, it is recommended that the company register with the same username on Twitter and YouTube.
Additionally you can create accounts on all video pages where videos will be uploaded using the TubeMogul service (more information in the video marketing chapter) and also register the username in WordPress.com
It is also recommended to create an account on the photo page called Flickr (www.flickr.com). On this page you can upload all the images related to the company or its activity. Later it will be easy to use these images in blog articles or in other social mediapages .
Photo page Flickr.
Day 7: Design a background image for social networks
You have to create an image that can be inserted as a background image on YouTube and Twitter. You can use the same image for both Twitter and the YouTube channel. It is convenient to commission this work to an experienced designer in order to obtain a professional image that perfectly identifies with the corporate image of the company.
Day 8: Select the right keywords
You have to do research on the keywords and find the most appropriate ones as indicated in chapter six. It is advisable to create a long list of the keywords of two or more words addressed to niche markets and then use them in the video marketing campaigns and in the company’s blog.
Day 9: Become familiar with SEO natural positioning and optimize the website
It is convenient to study the positioning chapter in Google in detail and to be well trained on the natural positioning in Google and to make changes in the source code of the website as indicated in the positioning chapter in Google.
Day 10: Start generating links to the company’s website
You have to start implementing different ways to generate links to the website of the company and also investigate how competitors have generated links to your website. It is recommended to create a link creation calendar and do it periodically.
Day 11: Familiarize yourself with Google Adwords
To use Google Adwords effectively, you should learn about the complete functioning of Google Adwords and familiarize yourself with the different concepts such as keywords, Adwords ads and landing pages.
Day 12: Start the first campaign in Google Adwords
This step includes selecting the right keywords, creating the first ad, and customizing the landing page as indicated in the positioning chapter in Google. Also, you must create the first campaign in Google Adwords and become familiar with its use as indicated in the video tutorial in the resources section of the book’s website.
Day 13: Create a video marketing plan
To start with the video marketing plan, first you must plan the topics on which the first 5 or 10 videos of the company will be developed, for this, you must determine the following aspects: what will be communicated with the videos, which is the main theme, who will speak in them, how long each of them will have, etc. Each video should contain a brief and clear description in written format about its content as a script, as this helps to make the video successful. It is convenient to study in detail the chapter dedicated to video marketing and especially the section where the different types of videos that companies can make are presented.
In the same way, the dates for the creation of the videos and their publication on YouTube must be planned in a calendar.
Day 14: Decide what type of camera and editing program will be used
At this point the company must select the type of camera that will be used to record the videos, for this purpose you can select different video cameras and perform tests with each of them. Here we refer to the video marketing chapter, where we dedicate a section to the information about the different camera options. Subsequently, the company has to decide which video editing program it will use. If you are going to use any of the free options or buy a more advanced program.
Day 15: Creation of the first video
This part consists of recording the first video and editing it by adding the company’s web address at the bottom of the video. When the video is ready, send it to people who can give their opinion about it and offer ideas on how it could be improved. These people can be employees of the company or trusted customers who see the content from another point of view than the employees of the company.
Day 16: Upload the video to YouTube and other video pages
Upload the first video on YouTube and write the related information, that is, the title, description and tags of the video, as indicated in the video marketing chapter. Later when the company has a Twitter account or Facebook page you can share the video in these sites. The company has to be well educated on the operation of YouTube that is described in the video marketing chapter in order to have a global understanding about the use of this video page.
Once the video is already on YouTube, the company can upload it to multiple video pages using tools like TubeMogul or Heyspread.
Day 17: Become familiar with the use of social networks and participate in any related to the business sector
Before starting to use social networks, the company has to learn very well about its benefits and above all, how to use and act on social networks, since they work differently from direct advertising. The company can perform searches to find social networks and then the person in charge can register in a social network related to the niche of the company to observe how it works and how it is used.
Day 18: Optimize Facebook profile and stay active on Facebook
All employees of the company who are in contact with customers should be active on Facebook using their personal profile and not creating a company profile, as it is forbidden to do so on Facebook. You have to study in detail the difference between a personal profile and a company page, as well as understand the full functioning of Facebook pages.
Employees can optimize and modify their professional Facebook profile so that it contains complete information about their work life and information about their abilities and interests. It is also convenient to modify the privacy settings. Another interesting fact is that on Facebook it is common to search and add as friends other people who work in the same sector and search and participate in Facebook pages or groups relevant to the business sector (see the chapter dedicated to social networks).
Day 19: Create a Facebook page for the company and customize it
One of the employees of the company would have to create the Facebook page as indicated in the video tutorial on the book’s resource page. Later the Facebook page can have several administrators. In addition, you must learn how to manage the Facebook page correctly ( see the last chapter) and in the video tutorials in the resource area of the book.
Once the Facebook page is created you have to customize it by inserting an image and the top menu of the page.
Likewise, it is recommended to plan in a calendar the dates of publication of contents for the Facebook page and create a list of the topics that could most interest the target audience of the company.
Day 20: Become familiar with the use of LinkedIn
The company must become familiar with the use of LinkedIn and encourage its employees to register in this social network aimed at professionals and business people, and ensure that each of them have sufficient training to use LinkedIn. It is convenient to search and participate in the most relevant groups for the activity of the company and start to become familiar with the answers section of LinkedIn.
Day 21: Become familiar with the use of Twitter and customize the Twitter account
Before creating a Twitter account, it is convenient to observe how other companies and people use this tool. The last chapter of the book lists the steps to find and analyze the use that other companies give to Twitter.
Once the company has created the Twitter account it is time to customize it. The most important parts are writing an attractive biography and inserting the Twitter background.
Day 22: Send the first messages on Twitter and start following interesting people and companies
Once the Twitter account is personalized you can send the first messages and prepare different types of messages that the company can send on Twitter. Likewise, it is convenient to find influential users of the sector to which the company belongs and specifically locate those that are located in the local area of the company; later you can see how they use Twitter and what kind of messages they send.
Day 23: Create a calendar about the use of Twitter
The person in charge of using Twitter has to know very well how to use this network correctly. It is recommended to create a planning calendar for its use indicating the activities that will be put into practice, such as when you are going to send information about an offer or discount or make a contest on Twitter, in addition to planning the messages that are sent.
Day 24: Start implementing the steps to increase the company’s followers on Twitter
In the last chapter of the book there is a complete list of how to increase followers on Twitter and it is recommended to start implementing these steps by inserting the company’s address on Twitter on the website and in the promotional material that the company has offline . Likewise, the concept of retweet must be understood and assimilated in order to increase followers.
Day 25: Become familiar with the different Twitter tools
It is highly recommended to train in the use of Twitter through the mobile phone or through third-party tools.
Day 26: Search the relevant blogs and analyze them in detail
In the final part of the last chapter we expose how to research and analyze the most interesting blogs in any sector. In addition to this research is recommended to participate in blogs leaving interesting comments.
Day 27: Decide on how you will be the domain and create the blog of enterprise
The company has to decide if it is going to install the blog in its own domain, for example www.beautycareathome.com/ or if it is going to use the free hosting in WordPress. If the company is going to install the blog in its own domain, it is convenient to contact a computer consultant. Then you have to customize the blog and write the content for the pages «about us» and «contact».
Day 28: Write a complete list of ideas for possible articles on the blog
One of the most important parts of running a blog successfully is posting interesting articles on a constant basis. You must create a list of possible articles and their date of publication on the blog as advised in the last chapter.
Day 29: Create the plan to start generating traffic to the blog
There are several ways to increase traffic to the blog and it is advisable to create a plan for implementing different parts such as inviting other bloggers to write articles or create contests on the blog.
Day 30: Analyze the results
You have to familiarize yourself with the routine of measuring in detail the results of activities on YouTube, Adwords, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and the company’s blog. Later that information can be used to make adjustments and improvements in the campaigns.