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Folderauer S. proximity a next generation connection

Proximity Research Report
 * The Synthesis of Small Business and Social Media **

//Advertising on Facebook and Twitter will Revolutionize How Businesses Connect with their Customers //

by Shannon Folderauer

 Spring 2010

Executive Summary 1
 * Table of Contents **

Introduction: Social Media is here to Stay 2

Social Media Success 2

The Power of Facebook: Networking Your Small Business 3

Wawa: An Investigative Case Study 4

Social Media Etiquette: The Do's and Don'ts 5

Reaching Gen Y 6

Recommendations 7

Attachment 1: Social Media Revolution 2 8

Attachment 2: A Sample Facebook Page 9

References 10

// Small Business and Social Media 1 //


 * Executive Summary

** Advertising has changed drastically over the past few years. The world has seen a significant shift away from print media, radio, and television advertisements to targeted advertisements on search engines, video streaming websites, and social media websites alike. Owners of small businesses have been turning to the latter, which offers a domain of free advertising. Using sites like Facebook and Twitter allows for free publicity when an advertising budget may hinder the ability for a small business to establish a presence. There is a right and a wrong way to make a name on these social media sites. Small businesses should take full advantage of advertising on social media and know the right way to maintain a presence on these sites.

// Small Business and Social Media 2 //
 * Introduction: Social Media is here to stay

** Social media can be a great resource to any business when used effectively. They boast the abilities to advertise, network, and stay in touch with current and future clients. Many think that websites like Facebook and Twitter are just passing trends, but the reality is that social networking isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">Facebook has more than 400 million active users- 50% of those users access Facebook everyday (Facebook.com)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">96% of Gen Y or “Millenials” have joined a social network
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">Facebook added over 200 million users in less than one year- the television took thirteen years to reach 50 million users.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">If Facebook was a country, it would be the third most populated in the world. (Qualman, Erik)

//<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Businesses with social media exposure net benefits… //
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Social Media Success **<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Source: Business.com 2009 Social Media Benchmarking Study
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Figure 1. Social Media Success Metrics <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;">what a social media presence can do for your small-business **

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> // Small Business and Social Media 3 // <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">**The Power of Facebook: Networking Your Small Business** <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Social Media has the ability to attract thousands, even millions of people, just ask Mark Zuckerberg. It doesn’t stop there. Businesses are utilizing the many tools that Facebook offers to reach out to customers, create awareness for new customers, and promote themselves through fan pages, groups, and targeted ads. ** <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Fan pages are relatively new to Facebook and they give business owners the ability to give their business a profile. The profile mirrors a personal profile, but instead of people “friending” a business they can choose to “like it.” Once a person likes a particular business, the business has a view of the limited profile of this fan. For the business, it has access to a marketing wealth of consumer demographics not only through limited profiles, but by Facebook's tool of offering visitor statistics. (Addicotweb) Businesses utilizing fan pages can directly market to their customers. They can use their status updates to run promotions and announce events. Most businesses take advantage of offering discounts and secret deals through their fan pages. Both businesses and individuals reap rewards from the utilization of fan pages.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Fan Pages

A page also gives the business owner applications to spruce up their profile. A restaurant may take advantage of an application entitled //<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Reservations // <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">that takes reservations for that business. With a fan page, the business owner has the opportunity to directly communicate with its customer. Like a personal profile, on a fan page the owner can choose to update his status which then can appear on any of its fans’ news feeds. Fans can write on the business’s wall to bring praise or voice a negative opinion. (Facebook) ** <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Facebook groups are another tool that can be utilized by a small business. Creating a group is similar to creating a fan page; however it has some slight differences. A group does not give the owner an option to view visitor statistics, nor does it give the option to update a status. They do allow for individuals to communicate on the group’s wall while the owner maintains a position of administrator. Groups are also less visible and better used to maintain a short term relationship with clients. (Search Engine Journal) ** <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Targeted ads are nothing new to the World Wide Web. Google first started using these ads over a year ago. The ads are based on a user’s search terms and preferences. Google then uses related advertisements that may appeal to the user based on these terms and preferences. (Schonfeld, Erick) Facebook is taking advantage of this phenomenon by offering targeting advertising through its banner ads. A business can opt in to using advertisements and filter their placement through demographic and psychographic filters and choose to target their audience based on: age, sex, location, relationship status/interest, and keywords on profiles among other options. Unlike groups and pages, Facebook charges for utilizing its advertising feature. Businesses that begin an advertising campaign on Facebook pay at least $1.00 for each day that the ad is run and if it would rather pay by views or clicks. (Facebook)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Groups
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Targeted Ads

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"> **<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;"> // Small Business and Social Media 4 // Wawa: // An Investigative Case Study //** <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">

Wawa is a privately owned and operated convenience store and self-service gasoline chain that boasts over 800 stores throughout the mid-Atlantic. Most stores are open 24 hours daily, serving customers with a "one-stop shopping experience." Wawa offers everything from made to order hoagies, coffee, milkshakes, fresh fruit, and baked goods. (Wawa)

Recently, Wawa jumped on the social networking bandwagon and created a Facebook page of its own. As of May 2010, their page was just shy of 400,000 fans. The page on Facebook is free for Wawa. It gives them free publicity and advertising and a wealth of marketing research at their fingertips. It fully utilizes the status update feature to inform customers of current promotions, community involvement and events, and to advertise its latest products and services. Wawa takes into account customer feedback, but like many businesses on Facebook uses the option to only show Wawa's feed unless one were to manually click <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"> // Wawa+Others. // <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> This is effective because it shows the prospective customer what Wawa is about, without seeing the unnecessary spam that clogs up some of the other business's feeds. (Wawa's Facebook Page)

Like many things, social networking does have its drawbacks for the corporate sector. More specifically, many groups have been created about Wawa and many other businesses that could possibly discredit or damage their reputations. Some of the more popular groups about Wawa are <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"> // Drunk Wawa Runs // <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> and <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">// Who's Sober Enough to Drive to Wawa? // <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> As of May 2010, the latter had ten thousand members. (Facebook) The groups create publicity for the company whether it is judged in a poor light or not. "The viral activity of the group is spawning amongst their core market of the future" and maybe that's a good thing. (MNET Blog) <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"> Social Media Etiquette: The Do's and Don'ts **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;"> // Small Business and Social Media 5 //

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The first step in any project is doing your research. When it comes to creating a social media presence, whether it's on Facebook or Twitter, the key to success is one's knowledge and experience of social media. There is a right way and a wrong way to maintain a small business's networking account. Here are some general guidelines that should be followed to maintain a professional presence the right way:

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">** 1. Do Have Personality. ** <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Having a personality on Facebook or Twitter does not mean you have to sacrifice professionalism. A dull status or tweet may be playing it safe, but it may also be too robotic. Don't be afraid to spice it up and stick with what gets the best feedback. Don't get carried away- remember that what you post is in public domain.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">** 2. Don't Constantly Update Your Feed or Tweet. ** <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Chances are your 'fans' are not fans of spam, and a constant update on their feed from your business probably will not drive brand loyalty so much as brand annoyance.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">** 3. Do Utilize Picture, Link, and Video Sharing. ** <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Connect with your customers by showing them your business. It's free publicity- use it! (Frommer, Dan)

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">** 4. Do Evolve. ** <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Social Media is new and ever-changing. Learn to adapt to the demands of social media.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">** 5. Don't Leave Your Page Under the Guidance of One Person. ** <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">No two people are alike, so no one person should be in charge of your page to convey your business. Use a team to collaborate the image of your business. (Woods, Dan) <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right;">//Small Business and Social Media 6// <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;"> According to MillenialMarketing.com, most banner advertisements on Facebook are likely to be ignored by Gen Y users. Most of the time the ad is not acknowledged because the user simply does not see it, and when the user does see it, he ignores it because it is annoying. This seems to be the resounding opinion for most Gen Y users, so how can a business effectively reach out and market to Gen Y consumers?
 * Reaching Gen Y

Fanning individual pages of businesses and products on Facebook is one option. In fact, by fanning these pages, users share these pages through a live feed. The live feed almost acts as a peer-to-peer advertising mechanism that projects word of mouth through updates instantaneously to each one of the user's friends. The advertising created by Facebook's live feed gives companies an added bonus to having a page by introducing new customers and reaching present customers. Word of mouth has been proven as one of the most dynamic means of persuading people about products and services for as long as they have been bought and traded. (MillenialMarketing) ** <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;">From Proximity's focus group sessions conducted on Social Networking, a majority of Gen Y Facebook users said they access Facebook by a mobile device. (Proximity) It's estimated that out of Facebook's 400 million members, 100 million use Facebook mobile. However, it has not been announced if Facebook will implement mobile advertising. (Fbadz) Mobile advertising could prove to be effective if it is contextually relevant to the user. For example, Facebook mobile advertising could place ads based on a user's relative GPS location for restaurants. GPS based advertising on-the-go has the potential to greatly influence Gen Y users.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 19px; font-weight: normal;">**<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Figure 2. Facebook Mobile <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;"> 100 million members access Facebook via Facebook mobile **  <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"> //<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal;">Source: Facebook Mobile Advertising Plans //

<span style="display: inline; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal; text-align: right;">// Small Business and Social Media 7 //

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">Recommendations <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;">It is important for Proximity clients to know that there is a right way and a wrong way to create a social media presence on social networking sites. There are also many ways in which a business can choose to advertise using social media.
 * Using a Facebook Group
 * Using Facebook Targeted Ads
 * Using a Facebook Page
 * Using Twitter

Each of these choices may benefit a business in different ways, so it's important to keep in mind what social media tool would work best for one's business. However, the Facebook Page receives the most positive feedback from our small business clients who do not have a large advertising budget and want fast results. A Facebook Page gives your business:


 * **Free Publicity.** As of May 2010, there is no cost of owning and operating a Facebook page (only if you wish to further advertising using banner ads)
 * **Status Updates.** With status updates, a business can easily inform clients of promotions and ongoing events.
 * **Free Marketing Research.** Access a fan's limited profile and demographics.
 * **Direct Interaction with Customer.** Receive feedback from customers.

The Facebook Page, if used effectively, has the power to revolutionize any small business.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">// Small Business and Social Media 8 // <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">A must-watch video recapping the '//Social Media Revolution...'// media type="youtube" key="lFZ0z5Fm-Ng" height="385" width="640" <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Source: [|Youtube (2010)]
 * Attachment 1: Social Media Revolution 2**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right;"> //Small Business and Social Media 9//

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">**Attachment 2: A Sample Facebook Page

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;">Here is Wawa's Facebook Page: **

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Source: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">[|Wawa' Fan Page]

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right;"> //Small Business and Social Media 10// <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">References <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Addicott Web (2009, January 23). //Marketing Your Business on Facebook: Group or Page.// Retrieved from [] on May 5, 2010. <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"> Business.com (2009). //2009 Social Media Benchmarking Study.// Retrieved from [] on May 2, 2010. <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: normal;">Facebook. (2010). <span style="font-family: 'times new roman',times,serif; font-size: 10px; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: normal;">//<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Statistics // <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: normal;">. //Pages.// Retrieved from http://facebook.com/#!/press/info.php?statistics and <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">[] on May 2, 2010.

Fbadz. (2010, March 24) //Facebook Mobile Advertising Plans.// Retrieved from [] on May 17, 2010.

Frommer, Dan. (2010, March 29). //6 Do's and Don'ts for Your Company's Twitter Account.// Retrieved from [] on May 3, 2010.

Millenial Marketing. (2010). //Can Facebook Ads Be Effective?// Retrieved from [] on May 17, 2010.

MNET Blog. (2010, March 9). //Wawa: Case for Compelling Facebook Marketing.// Retrieved from [] on May 2, 2010.

Proximity. (2010). //Social Networking Focus Group Findings.// Retrieved from http://engl317s10.wikispaces.com/MWF+1+social+networking+focus+group on May 17, 2010.

Qualman, Erik. (2010, May 5). <span style="font-family: 'times new roman',times,serif; font-size: 10px; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: normal;">//<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Social revolution 2 // <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: normal;">. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/user/Socialnomics0 on May 5, 2010.

Schonfeld, Erick. (2009, March 11). //Google Now Let's You Target Ads At Yourself.// Retrieved from [] on May 10, 2010.

Search Engine Journal. (2009). //Facebook Group vs Facebook// //Fan Page: What's Better?.// Retrieved from [] on May 10, 2010.

Wawa. (2010). //About Wawa.// Retrieved from [] on May 12, 2010.

Wawa. (2010). //Wawa.// Retrieved from [|http://www.facebook.com/#!/wawa?ref=ts] on May 12, 2010.

Woods, Dan. (2009, October, 13). //Social Media Do's and Don'ts.// Retrieved from [] on May 15, 2010.

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