Social Networking for Business Syllabus for The Lifelong Learning Center with The Computer Gal

Social Networking for Business Syllabus

Overview
This purpose of this co urse is to help you decide whether you want to use social networking as part of your marketing plan and how much of your resources you would like to put into social networking. Besides covering specific material, this course will be heavily discussion based. You are encouraged to share your social networking experiences.

Text
There is no "required text" for this course. The information changes much too quickly; so, I have added Web References for each day with the latest information, I have acquired through my research. I plan to update these links as new information comes along.

However, I do recommend Inbound Marketing by Joel Dharmesh Shah and SocialCorp: Social Media Goes Corporate by Joel Postman. If your company is large enough to have marketing personnel, I would suggest SocialCorp.

Pre-requisite Computer Skills
For this class, we assume that you are very familiar with opening programs on a computer and using a web browser. You are welcome to bring your laptop to class, but the instructor is not allowed to touch your computer or provide help that is specific to your system.

Suggested preparation for this course: read the first two chapters of Inbound Marketing

Lesson	Class Description	Web References
1	What is Social Networking? and Setting up some Measurement Tools General discussion and introduction TOOL 1: Adding Google Analytics to your website Does Social Networking affect your site results? - a look at Nora's stats TOOL 2: Tracking your Business Name Online So many offers to help you with your Social Media! Does YouTube work? Social Media can hurt you too TOOL 3: What is RSS TOOL 4: Website Grader, recommended in Inbound Marketing pg. 17	The most important social media strategy for making money What is Technorati? State of the "Blogosphere" by Technorati 6 Tips for Creating “Sticky” Social Relationships What To Do When Social Media Turns Ugly
2	Blog Software What is a Blog? Hosted WordPress Download WordPress How would I go about converting this site to WordPress? Another option: Drupal	WordPress online version An Example Download WordPress An Example A Customized Example Blogger
3	Building a Newsletter Multiple use of your online content Having a well-behaved newsletter What should be in your newsletter? Compose your newsletter - bring a topic to class, related to your organization - write a rough draft Programs to send your newsletter Preparing your newsletter for a mailing system Creating and Submitting Articles What is EzineArticles? - View current results for Nora's article submissions - Do a Google search for "Wrong and Right Ways to Gather Photos For Your Website" What ranking would you give this article: Twitter Marketing Tips - 7 Unorthodox Strategies to Use Twitter For Business - Why do you think it has as many views as it does? - Notice the word count Titles for articles found with searches are different from titles for newsletter articles - The importance of titles Being an EzineArticle.com author - Example - Rules Sign up for an EzineArticles account Submit an article Rejected articles Don't lose Google credit for your article - Do a Google search for "Don’t Expect Profits from a Neglected Website" What to do when your articles are stolen - Examples of content misuse - Response from HostGator Other article submission sites - Article Dashboard - Article City	Interview with an EzineArticle author
4	Facebook Introduction to Facebook Sign up for Facebook and use Facebook How to really annoy people with Facebook Are Facebook ads worth your while? Create a Facebook "page" for your business What you can do, as a web developer Inviting your website viewers to "Like" your Facebook Page Twitter Report on your Facebook results Discuss plans to improve your Facebook results Sign up for a Twitter account Use a Twitter account Is every Twitter member worth your time? - The spam tweeter - The coffee/wine/beer drinking tweeters - The lame marketing tweeters - The advertising tweeters - The helpful information tweeters Twitter widgets - Tweetmeme Case Study : Ellensburg, WA LinkedIn Report on your Facebook and Twitter results Discuss plans to improve your Facebook and Twitter results Sign up for LinkedIn Use a LinkedIn account Writing Comments as Part of your Plan Participate in relevant forums Amazon Wall Street Journal Viewpoints negative comments Viewpoints positive comments Are these for real? - Does that article really say anything?	An Explosion Prompts Rethinking of Twitter and Facebook Setting-Up a Facebook Business Page: What to Know - from a new Facebook member Configuring your Facebook widget A good reason to keep your website and not just depend on Facebook Pages and online WordPress 5 Twitter Tools to Help You Manage Unfollowers Twitter Doesn't Yet Measure Up For Advisers How Businesses are Using Twitter How to Make a "Tiny URL" Another URL site Twitter's Value Is Set at $1 Billion Tweeting as a full time job? Tweeter? Freedom To Say What You Want Via Your Blog? Maybe Not! Yelp

What To Do When Social Media Turns Ugly