Category: Social Media
September 1st, 2010 | No Comments
The question, of course, is, “How can you develop more people in your rolodex?”.
Social Media is an outstanding tool to develop your rolodex, and more importantly, how to develop the people that you already know into legitimate referral sources.
Capitalizing Upon the People That You Already Know
How many times has your mother, father, sister or brother referred you business? Usually the answer is fairly low, and oftentimes none. The same can be true for your friends. This is not because they don’t love and respect you, but rather because they don’t think to do so. Heck, oftentimes, these people whom you are closest with have no idea what you actually do for a living! Sure, they may know a job title, or a business industry, but they don’t *really* know what you do. Short of sitting with everyone and explaining what it is you do and teaching them how to sell (a technique I encourage, actually), you have very few ways of getting them to sell for you.
Enter Facebook. Facebook is usually used for exclusively social reasons, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be used for promoting your business. With over 500 million users and over 50% of those users checking on a daily basis, Facebook affords small businesses a unique way of connecting to users.
This doesn’t mean that everyone should immediately create a Facebook “like” or “fan” page for their business. In fact, this technique is usually worthless and unnecessary (although sometimes very effective). What it does mean is that in addition to letting people know what random fun activities you are doing, you can also help educate your friends about what you do for work.
This can be done directly by letting people know about new products or promotions, or by way of happy customer stories or excitement over a finished project. By letting your friends and family know what you are doing everyday for work, they can be more informed when it is time to potentially recommend you.
Increase Your Audience
While Facebook allows you to inform people who you already know, it does very little for increasing your audience. Corporate Blogging and Twitter are exceptional ways for expanding your audience.
As the fastest growing platform in the history of the Internet, Twitter allows you to connect and reach entirely new audiences than you ever had. By developing “Followers” that are either prospective customers or referral sources, you create an entirely new group of people that are learning about your business. It increases the size of your Rolodex.
Corporate Blogging is simply a platform that allows you to write about your business. Much like the article you are reading right now, it is a way to share your knowledge with the world. While the topics can be sales driven, I usually recommend they be informative. Allow your audience to be aware that you are an expert in your field. If you accomplish that, when it is time to refer someone, or hire them yourself, it is more likely you will do so with the person who has proven their worth.
The coolest part is that you can use Twitter and Facebook to point to your Blog, further increasing the exposure that it gets.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Website Integration
An added benefit of using these tools, is doing so in conjunction with your website. By integrating your Blog and Twitter feeds, you create a more dynamic website that has more user retention for repeat viewings. Further, search engines like Google and Bing love the relevant and refreshed content that Blogs and Twitter feeds provide. Better Search Engine Optimization (SEO) means more hits. More hits usually means more money.
In Conclusion
This was intended as food for thought on how Social Media can be used effectively to promote your small business. There are, of course, many other ways that these tools can be used for business that I will address in future articles, but for now I encourage you to think of how these tools can improve your rolodex.
October 9th, 2009 | No Comments
I recently met with a prospective client who was interested in Social Media.
They have always used more traditional advertising methods such as CraigsList and other yellow pages based methods, and wanted Social Media to accomplish the same thing. They wanted us to create a series of social networking pages (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc.) that would just attract business.
Unfortunately, it was not going work the way they wanted.
Social Media is a dynamic exchange of information with the rest of the online world that increases your visibility and network of available resources. Social Media is NOT a passive form of advertising.
The success of Social Media is directly tied with the activity of the user. If you want Social Media to not require work, then it won’t work for you or your business.
September 30th, 2009 | No Comments
This article is based on a document that we give to our clients that we help with blogging. It is a compilation of ideas and thoughts collected on the internet on how to be successful using Twitter.
Introduction
Twitter is the single fastest growing social media outlet on the Internet. From April ‘08 to April ‘09, Twitter has gone from 1.22 million users to 17.1 million users (Time magazine).
More importantly, Twitter is a fantastic tool to increase your network. Unlike other social media tools such as Facebook or LinkedIn where the primary network is people you already know, Twitter goes far beyond that network putting you in touch with a world beyond the one you already have access to.
General Tips
- Coordination with Blogs
- Don’t be a afraid
- Search is your friend
- Pre-write your tweets
- Pre-date your tweets
- Use Twitter software
- Find Your Voice
- Re-Tweet With Confidence
- Consistency
September 29th, 2009 | No Comments
This is part three of a three part posting on Corporate Blogging. It is based on a document that we give to our clients that we help with blogging. It is a compilation of ideas and thoughts collected on the internet on how to be successful with a blog.
Ancillary Benefits of Blogging
- Blogging makes you a better thinker
- Blogging makes you a better listener
- Blogging makes you a better writer
- Blogging makes you a better salesperson
- Blogging keeps you focused on learning
- Blogging makes you a better networker
Blogging makes you a better thinker
In an effort to create content for a blog that is succinct, it can reveal new ways to look at common things, or apply simple solutions to seemingly complex problems.
Blogging makes you a better listener
By listening with a writer’s ear, you will find yourself coming up with blog ideas simply by listening to others discuss unrelated subjects.
September 23rd, 2009 | No Comments
This is part two of a three part posting on Corporate Blogging. It is based on a document that we give to our clients that we help with blogging. It is a compilation of ideas and thoughts collected on the internet on how to be successful with a blog.
How to be successful with your Blog
- Make it personal
- Share your knowledge
- Don’t over analyze your posts for more than errors and readability
- Consistency
- Read and Comment on great blogs
- Longevity in posting
- Be controversial, but not rude
- Be relevent
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