Tuesday, September 21, 2010

The power of Google Tools blows me away! Sitting here in my Gmail account
chatting with people across North America at no cost. Now this is a really
cool tool! I love skype as well, there's lots of branding features,
however, free calling exists only between skype users.

Looking forward to sharing this information tomorrow at our Cool Tools
Social Media workshop.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Avoid Being A Chatty Cathy With Pointless Tweets, Peeps and Updates

Since 2007 I have been teaching small business owners how to use Social Media for business.  One of the most common misconceptions I have come across is people thinking that Social Media Marketing is as simple as 'Just Talking' on online networks.  This is a very limiting view of how to use social media for business.  In fact, restricting your use of social media to 'just talking' can wind up as you being perceived as a Chatty Cathy ... and pointless chatter will annoy and bore  most of your followers and friends when you use it as just another 'water cooler'.

Learning to harness the power of the internet takes time.  Having a Twitter profile and a Facebook page are good places to start, but once you get your feet wet and feel comfortable with using these platforms, you need to take a more strategic approach to using social media for business.


Like any other marketing medium, Social Media is a platform for you to get your message out.  For this reason, you need to look at building content rich, education based information that educates your market place about the goods and services you have to offer, and the value you bring to the market place.

The foundation to your social media marketing program is your ideal customer.  It is critical for you to understand how your ideal customer uses the internet and social media to seek out goods and services so you can be found when they conduct searches.

Social media provides the opportunity for your ideal customer to experience the personality of your brand while setting the expectations of what it is like to do business with you.  With this in mind, you need to consider your online persona, the information you want to share,  and the type of conversations you want to have online with prospective buyers, existing customers, strategic partners, and business colleagues.  You also you need to ensure your online persona matches that of your offline personality.  There needs to be complete integration of your online and offline strategies so they are seamless.

Being strategic also means having clear goals and objectives as to why you are using social media for business.  There are a number of good reasons to use social media for business.  You could use it for customer service, promotions, recruitment, brand management, online sales, and so much more.

It's a matter of learning where your ideal client hangs out online, how they are searching for your goods and services, populating the social media platforms with content rich education based information, developing a marketing funnel so you stand out from your competition, having list building strategies that includes lead capture at different customer touch points, targeting your efforts towards your ideal client, creating positive (and talkable) online experiences, and integrating your social media program into your overall business marketing strategy.

Remember - in marketing, the number one rule is Strategy Before Tactics - Always!  and that includes your use of Social Media and Social Networks.  To be successful at Social Media for business, it takes a lot more than 'just talking'.  It takes building a strategic social media marketing plan and then executing on that plan.
 
If you are interested in learning how to use social media for business, I invite you to attend an upcoming workshop I am hosting with Maureen Kerr of Kerr Consulting called  Cool Tools Social Media Workshop.  To learn more about this workshop and to enroll please visit:  http://tinyurl.com/CoolTools-PEI



Video Resources:
  1. Social Media for Business Success:  http://tinyurl.com/Be-Strategic
  2. Social Media Revolution: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFZ0z5Fm-Ng

Blogroll
     1. Seer Interactive - http://tinyurl.com/GroupieChattyStrategist