Why Should Your Business Use Social Media?
A History of Social Media - Where did this all start? Social Media is not something new. In fact, it has been around since 1971, which is when the first email was sent from one computer to another. It was Ray Tomlinson, a BBN (Bolt, Berande, Newman) engineer who first sent an email on the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) net and, thus began the use of the @ sign in email addresses.1 In 1978 the BBS (Bulletin Board System) was born, and probably this can be the first real mass usage of social media. This was soon followed by the USENET (user’s network) which can be superficially regarded as a hybrid between email and web forums.2 These were followed by TheGlobe.com, AOL Instant Messenger, and Sixdegrees.com until in 2002 when Friendster, the first Social Media site as we know it today, was launched. Soon to follow was MySpace, a Friendster clone, which interestingly was coded in 10 days for its first version. Many other sites then started to proliferate the “net” including Tribe.net, Linkedin, Classmates.com, Jaiku and Netlog. Only a few have survived. Then in 2006 something interesting happened: Twitter was launched. As much as we like to think that twitter is THE social media site, it only has 200 million registered members3 versus Facebook’s 600 Million and Myspace with about 125 million users.4 But Twitter has remained a phenomenon nonetheless. At the end of the 2010 Japan vs Denmark World Cup Soccer game, nearly 3,300 tweets per second were sent.
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What is Social Networking? Think of that last Chamber of Commerce meeting you attended. There may have been 50 -100 people attending. Now what did you do? If you were good at networking, you went around the room and introduced yourself and asked people you just met some questions about their business and hoped to find a lead-in to ask about, or comment on something about them or their personal lives. Finding things about their personal lives helps you to Know them, one of the building blocks of a successful business relationship. The other two are Like and Trust. Finding out that a person’s child goes to the same school as yours creates a much better bond than finding out that s/he invented 2,000 uses for paper clips. However, as boring as the “business life” part may seem, it is nonetheless important to know. But don’t ramble on about what you do; rather tell them how you can help them. Let them know what’s in it for them. Successful networking is not built on how a person fits into your business, it’s about getting to Know, Like and Trust others and having them do the same with you. Social Networking on the Internet using various Social Media tools should be consistent with the actions and activities that most of us practice, or should be practicing, when we network in the real world. You may only get to talk to 2-3 people during the meet-and-greet portion of the meeting. If you were lucky, there were a few people gathered close by that overheard how you engaged in conversation with the people you just met. With any luck, someday you will get a call from one of those people for an appointment or referral. I would actually prefer that they call me to meet them for lunch or early dinner, that way I could get to know them a little better. This type of networking usually looks like the following graphic: You can produce a certain degree of success with this method if you use it persistently and methodically. However, Social Media offers a much better solution. At the end of the day, Social Media is about building relationships. It doesn’t matter what your eventual goal is, whether building back links or brand awareness, relationships are what makes these things possible. This is a P2P business (People to People) business, so don’t blast them with press releases and offers all the time. This only alienates people. They may not un-friend you, but they can put you on their ignore list. You will still show them as being on your list, but they will not see your messages, thus skewing your ROI (Return On Investment) measurements.
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Social Media is not a time waster as long as you create a plan (see the last section titled Creating a Social Media Strategy). Many books and eBooks extol the benefits of using social media and they often make broad statements that aren’t always appropriate. Some of the recommendations they tout include the items in the left-hand column, yet they are not appropriate for all social media applications (as described in the right-hand column): • Inform client about vacant time slots. • Drive traffic to your website. • Promote your practice all the time.
Do this only with Twitter. Do this mainly with Twitter. THE biggest mistake if done on Facebook or LinkedIn.
The one thing you should NEVER do on any Social Media platform is let your friends know about your current gripes. You can use all the Social Media platforms on the web and still not see any ROI if you don’t use itcorrectly. Using in a negative way is going to return a negative ROI.
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The Major Social Media Platforms There are many different Social Media Sites, but I’ll focus on the Big 4: Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and YouTube. I’ll also cover Blogs; although they are not traditionally considered a social networking site, they are an integral part of your business.
Facebook The greatest benefit of using Facebook for business is to engage socially with people. This is where you get them to Know, Like and Trust you. Without those three you will most likely fail to receive much ROI. Don’t fall into the mistake that I too often see where Facebook users post nothing but specials, available appointments and other things related to “their” business. Not to be insensitive but, people don’t care about your business, they care about what you can do for them. They didn’t become your “friend” to hear about your business, they want to know about you. Besides, it is against Facebook’s Terms Of Service to use your personal Profile Page for business. You risk losing your account if you do. That’s not to say you can’t post interesting information about the work you do, as long as it is of interest and value to them. You should, however, limit that to around 10% of your postings. Remember, they have to get to Know you. On my website there is a picture of a woman just after she received a massage from me. She was my ex-fiancée at the time the picture was taken. I share that story with my customers and also the fact that she and I are still close, as are her children from a previous marriage, even though we are no longer together. That story has brought me closer to my clients and they now Know, Like and Trust me. Some have brought me a lot of business. I tell people that although I have a massage company, I am not in the massage business. I am in the business of personal relationships, professional but personal relationships. Facebook is about relationships. Connect the dots! People come to Facebook to engage you, or someone else, in conversation. They won’t leave Facebook to go to another site so don’t ask them to do so by posting links to your site. Give them a reason to stay on your Facebook page by creating a “Business” page, formerly called “Fan” pages, where you can post interesting articles and have discussions related to your business. Because of the way Facebook has designed its algorithms, you can exponentially explode your message to others on Facebook, but only if you understand the psychology behind consumer and social behavior. That behavior is: People want something for nothing and they want things that benefits them. When they get that, they tell others about you because it is in our nature to share. When you post something to your personal profile wall, it appears on the newsfeed of your friends’ walls. But only they can see it unless they decide to click on the like button, comment or share the 4
content. Then something wonderful starts to happen. Facebook realizes that there may be some connection between the two of you so it starts to track the interaction, (mathematically, of course). When others start to behave in a similar manner, Facebook sees a pattern and then allows your content to appear in the newsfeed of your friends’ friends. So what started out looking like this:
Is starting to look like this:
And with the posting of relevant material that inspires people to click the “like� button and share on their wall, it could look much greater than this:
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Because the algorithm works exponentially, with as little as 150 friends, your message could reach as much as 93,000 people! But don’t forget, the message has to be relevant and interesting. That is what is called “Going Viral.”
Pages and Groups There are three main accounts to consider: your Personal Profile Page, a Business Page, and Groups. Of the three, the first two are essential. Creating these two Facebook accounts is relatively easy. You have control over what kind of information is shown on your personal page. To create your Personal Profile and Business Page you can start with the Personal Page and “link” your business page to it, or you can create a Business Page on its own without having a Personal Page. The advantage of having a Business Page connected to your Personal Page is that you can easily network with people on your Personal Page, whereas on a Business Page, you can only engage with people who are already on it. And that is where the problem begins. You connect with people, for free, on a personal page, but a standalone business page will find it difficult to get “Likes” unless you directly contact people to “like” your Business Page or utilize paid Facebook ads. Keep in mind that Facebook is constantly changing these rules. Set up a Personal Page Before you start your Personal Page, you should have around 150 personal and business contacts with email addresses. You can still create a Personal Profile without many contacts, however you may not have much activity on it. To create the Personal Page all you have to do is go to www.FB.com and fill out the required name, email and birthday. Make sure you use your personal name and not a business name. If you use a business name, you will either be denied the account, or it will be taken from you farther down the line. Your birthday is mandatory and is used to make sure you are provided with age appropriate access. You can hide your birthday later in the process. You can only have one Facebook Personal Account per person. 1. Once you create the account, it asks you “Are your friends already on Facebook?” and gives you the option to access your email accounts and add each as a “Friend.” You do not have to complete these steps right now and can click on “Skip.” Then you begin to add your profile information. As with the email import, you can skip some or all of these steps. The next step is to add your picture. If you use this profile along with a Business page, then make sure your picture presents a neat, professional appearance. 2. After your account is created, you can edit your picture, update personal details and add friends. If you use this page to connect with people and get them to your Business page, then it is advisable to include as much information as you are comfortable with sharing. The more they Know you, the more they will Like and Trust you. 3. On the left side of your Profile is a list of the different options you can edit. There are a couple of “hot buttons” to note. One is the Philosophy section. It asks your religious and political views. It is advisable to leave this blank, unless your target market is of a particular religion or political persuasion. 6
One final warning: Anything and everything you put in your profile may become public information. If you don’t want it to be public, then leave it blank. Facebook provides detailed information on privacy and how you can protect yourself right on the first page where you edit your information. It’s listed as Step #4, yet it should be read first. Groups Groups are a subset of Personal Pages. To create one is very simple, just click on the “create Group” link on the left side of your Personal Profile Page or you can join one by typing in a keyword in the search bar and clicking on the bottom of the listings where it says “More Searches” and then select “Groups” from the list on the left. This will narrow your search to just groups. With a Group you can create a place for people with common interests to converse and get help or advice about their problems or issues. Creating your own Group, or joining others, and posting highly relevant and interesting content puts you in the position as an expert in your field. Create Business Pages A Business Page is what used to be called a Fan Page. Instead of people becoming your Fan, they now “Like” your page. They do not become members or friends. As with a Personal Profile Page, it is harder to get a significant number of people to “like” your Business Page unless you have around 1,500 friends on your Personal Page. Don’t freak out about the numbers. I didn’t say you couldn’t do it, it just that it will take longer for you to see an ROI on your efforts. Facebook has made some recent changes that make it a little bit easier to get “Likes” on your Business Page. You can now go to other Business Pages and leave comments as your Business Page avatar (profile image/logo) instead of your Personal Page avatar. That way if you leave a comment about your Professional Service, and someone clicks on your Business avatar, they will be taken to your Business Page where they will find relevant information about you instead of to your Personal Page where they will also find out what you had for dinner the other night. There are some limitations to having a Business Page and one of those is you can’t send an email message to all of your “likes” as you can with a Facebook Group. However, your “likes” will receive your updates that are posted on their news feed. To create a Business Page that is not linked to your Personal Page, make sure you are signed out of Facebook. Go to the Facebook home page, www.FB.com and click on the hyperlinked text that says “Create Page.” On the next page you can select the type of page you want. Select the one that most resembles your business. If your selection doesn’t work for you, then don’t worry, you can change it later (this is a new improvement). 1. After you fill in all the blanks, you will be directed to your Page. Start by uploading a picture of yourself or a logo of your business. It is not advisable to leave this blank. To do so violates one of the three principles of marketing, the Know part. People want to know you but they won’t if you don’t let them know what you look like, or in this case, the pictorial representation of your business. 7
2. The second step is to invite your “friends” from your Personal Profile Page. This is why you need to have a lot of “friends” on your Personal Profile Page before you start a Business page, or have a lot of people in your email contacts list. 3. This step is how you can invite them to “like” your Page. 4. Step 4 is where you can add your first status update, but you don’t have to this right now. 5. Create a “like” button to put on your website. This creates an HTML (HyperText Markup Language) code which you would copy and then paste into your site. It shows a preview of what it looks like and also gives you some options to change the appearance. But first, you have to change the URL (Uniform Resource Locater) that is currently set to the URL that Facebook automatically generates for your account. Look at the address bar in your browser and you will see a long URL. Copy that address and paste it into the URL box that says “Facebook Page URL.” Once you have 25 “likes” to your page, you can change the URL to a shorter one that has just your business name in it e.g., www.FB.com/MyBusiness instead of something like www.fb.com/fanpage/mybusiness/2328876816827ojry787/hr 6. This step allows you to get status updates from people posting on your Page wall, and to post via your cell phone. Another option is to use one of the many Apps for Facebook. I use the Hootsuite App for Blackberry for all of my Twitter and Facebook updates. You’re now all set to begin engaging in conversation with your new friends.
Twitter Twitter was created in 2006 by Evan Williams and Jack Dorsey as a way to communicate with each other via text messaging. According to Wikipedia: Twitter’s origins lie in a “daylong brainstorming session” that was held by board members of the podcasting company Odeo. While sitting in a park on a children’s slide and eating Mexican food, Dorsey introduced the idea of an individual using an SMS Short Message Service) tocommunicate with a small group.5 The original project code name for the service was twttr, inspired by Flickr and the five-character length of American SMS hort codes. The developers initially considered "10958" as a short code, but later changed it to "40404" for “ease of use and memorability.” 6
Work on the project started on March 21, 2006, when Dorsey published the first Twitter message at 9:50 PM (PST): “just setting up my twttr.”7 “[W]e came across the word ‘twitter’, and it was just perfect. The definition was ‘a short burst of inconsequential information,’ and ‘chirps from birds.’ And that’s exactly what the product was.” – Jack Dorsey8
The first Twitter prototype was used as an internal service for Odeo employees and the full version 8
was introduced publicly on July 15, 2006.[7] In October 2006 Biz Stone, Evan Williams, Dorsey, and other members of Odeo formed Obvious Corporation and acquired Odeo and all of its assets–including Odeo.com and Twitter.com–from the investors and shareholders. Twitter spun off as its own company in April 2007. Twitter is very good at driving traffic. This is where you can post openings in your appointment schedule, specials and other items that will drive traffic to your website. The most difficult part of using Twitter successfully for business is writing headlines of only 140 characters, and that includes spaces! The reason you only have 140 characters is because SMS texting on cell phones is limited to 160 characters, 140 for the text and 20 for your name or URL. Twitter is a very effective tool to use to engage in conversation. So if all you do is submit tweets that are made just to drive traffic to your site, they won’t work. Use the same ratio as you would in Facebook: 10% of business related to personal tweets. To have a conversation, you have to listen. A Twitter post should elicit some sort of emotion to get them to take action. An intriguing question to elicit responses and engage in conversation, fear of loss if they don’t get your discount now, getting more value for their money, an article that is of interest to your “list” are just a few things you can post. One type of post that gets retweeted (resubmitted by the recipient) more than any other type of post, are motivational quotes. Did I say “list”? Yes, on Twitter you can categorize your followers into lists of different interests. That makes it easier than trying to follow that long, fast stream of tweets that come in every minute. But first I’ll tell you how easy it is to set up an account on Twitter.
Set Up a Twitter Account Go to www.Twitter.com and click on the yellow “Sign UP” button on the right. Then enter your full name, username, password and email address and click the “Create My Account.” If you don’t want people to find you by your email address, you can unselect the “Let others find me by my email address,” button. But if you’re using this for business, this would be self defeating. If your username is already being used, then it will tell you. Just keep trying until you find one. The more unique it is, the less chance that someone else is using it. Please read the Terms Of Service, as there is important information there, e.g., Tip: What you say on Twitter may be viewed all around the world instantly. You are what you Tweet!” You are allowed to have more than one twitter account, so if you have several niches in your business, it would be better to create one account for each niche. However, each account must have a unique email address. Once you have created an account, you will be directed to the “Interests” page. Select from the options given or write in the niche you are in. Your results will show on another page and include 9
the person’s (or business’) Twitter name, real name and a Follow button to the right. Carefully choose who you follow. Before you click on anyone’s Follow button, click anywhere on the description and their profile will appear in the right column. Look to see how many people they follow and how many follow them. If they don’t follow a lot of people then don’t waste your time following them. They don’t engage in conversation and only put out tweets with little regard for the conversation around it. Keep doing this until you have enough people that express an interest in your niche, around 150 or so. Don’t worry about getting a gazillion followers, you can only engage with so many and you don’t need that many to be successful. Once you select some people to follow, you can select next to import the emails of your friends, or you can skip this function. Your next step will be to check your email and confirm your account. People who follow you on Twitter are doing so with the expectation of receiving information from you. If you want them to remain a follower, give them information. You can promote your business here a little more than on Facebook, but I wouldn’t be too aggressive about it.
LinkedIn LinkedIn originally started out in the living room of co-founder Reid Hoffman in 2002. Almost a year later the site was launched in May of 2003. By the end of the month it had 4,500 members in its network.
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A little more than a year later it reached a million members, and now, on average, a new member joins every second of every day, or approximately one million every 12 days. As of this writing, (Mar 2011), LinkedIn has over 200 million members worldwide with half of those living in the United States. If you classify your practice in a more clinical way or one of your target markets is professionals in the CEO category, then this is the platform to use. It does not have as many users as Facebook (600 million) but it does reach out those 200 million people who are the movers and shakers of the business world. This is where you get to showcase your talents. Posts and articles that are professionally written carry more weight here with the reader than Facebook and Twitter, where the format is more personal and informal. However, don’t make the mistake of thinking that some people, because of their status, position or the type of networking platform they use, are more or less influential than others. When I first started my Chair Massage business in San Antonio Texas, there was a grocery stocker that used to come in and get massages for his sore shoulders. Fast forward ten years and relocating to Miami, Florida, I met him one day at a Whole Foods Market where I had a chair massage contract. I asked what he was doing here and he said he worked at this store. When I asked what department he was in, he laughed, and told me he was the Store Manager. Treat everyone with the same respect that you would the owner or CEO of a company and you won’t go wrong. LinkedIn has the highest quality of users and interaction of all the social networks along with the highest average income per user. All Fortune 500 CEOs are represented and 49% of users have the power to make major buying decisions on behalf of their company. It also has the most usable applications available for professional networking. What it doesn’t have is games. This is one serious networking tool! LinkedIn has introduced several new features recently that make it easier and more productive to use. One such feature is their new Search Function which allows you to create a search for companies not only by attributes such as location, industry, and size but also by how you are connected. You can filter your results to include only those companies where you have a direct connection or expand your search to include companies in your extended network. Another is their new applications section which includes the ability to add your skills. For those in an educational career or one that requires specific physical skill sets, this is a boon that enables you to target your skills to those you want to notice.
Set up a LinkedIn Account To set up an account, go to www.LinkedIn.com and click the “Join Today” link. Before you start to fill out any fields, make sure you read their Terms Of Service. Once you have read the TOS, go 11
back to the “Sign Up” page and enter your name, email address and create a password. As with all of your Social Media accounts, your password should be difficult to guess so that your information remains secure. The one way to make it easy for someone to hack into your account and start posting as you is to use an easily remembered, which means easy to guess, password. 1. You will then be taken to a “Create Profile” page where you can start with your basic profile. Remember that the more information you provide, the more effective your networking. If you are uncomfortable telling the world about yourself, LinkedIn does have an extensive set of privacy tools to help you feel more secure. 2. Step 2 asks to connect to your email accounts. You can skip this function and complete it at a later time, or you can add your contacts one-by-one. 3. LinkedIn provides the following warning if you choose to utilize the Add Contacts function: “If you choose to share your information, www.linkedin.com will have access to it even when you are not signed in (emphasis mine) with your Windows Live ID. To access your data, a unique ID that has been assigned to you will be shared with www.linkedin.com and any other services to whom you grant permissions.” If you choose to skip this step, just click Skip. You will be brought to a page that asks to confirm the email account you entered in the first step. Don’t select this option if you want to maintain a higher level of privacy. Instead, click on the “Send a confirmation email instead” link. Once you receive your confirmation email and you click on the link provided, your account will be activated. If you don’t see the confirmation email, check your Spam folder. 4. In step 4 you are asked, “Do You Know These People?” This is where you can select someone if you actually know them. If not, just skip and go on to step # 5. 5. This is where you add your friends to your network instead of allowing LinkedIn access to your email account. After you finish this your account will be set up. The only thing left to do is select the Plan that you wish to use. There are 2 plans, free and paid. The paid plan is $24.99 per month. I suggest you use the free plan for now until you are comfortable with using this service and then upgrade at a later date if you find the need to do so. Now that you have finished the basic profile, it’s time to fill in all the blanks and really start networking. First, go to your “edit profile” page and start creating an in-depth profile that illustrates your achievements. To be found for you particular niche, make sure that the keywords that you use to define your niche are present in all the major section in your profile. Be creative, but don’t make it look like keyword spam. LinkedIn has some very good tools to use to get more connections, but it takes a little more work to fill out your network. Work diligently on it and you’ll be rewarded with a network that may mean success for you in the future.
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YouTube Short (2-10 minute) videos take over the world! YouTube is now the number one search engine, overtaking even Google. Now does that tell you a little about where you should be? YouTube was founded in February 2005 by former PayPal employees Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and was purchased by Google, in November 2006, for 1.65 billion dollars. You can upload and share video clips on YouTube.com and also on Facebook, LinkedIn, websites, mobile devices, blogs, and email. Videos not only help with SEO (search engine optimization) but also can be a closing tool for clients not sure that what you do is what they want. Do notice I said want and not “need.” Everyone may need your service, but the ones who get them are those that “want” it. A short video showing the work you do or how you solve a particular problem in your type of business is a very, very powerful sales tool. Imagine how many videos you could produce! Putting a YouTube video on your LinkedIn account is a great way to showcase your talents to future employers and customers alike. Not only is YouTube a great way to promote your sites, but you can also monetize your videos with “InVideo Ads,” a set of flash overlays displayed on the lower portion of videos. Advertisers are charged per impression, and the resulting revenue is shared with the clip creator. Google also has a program with its Adsense program where owners using AdSense can select videos from certain content providers, and ads will be served contextually as they relate to either the site or the video. The revenue is split between content providers, site owners and Google. If you can do humor, then by all means inject a few videos with a little humor in it. But be careful! What many find funny (e.g., Proper Opossum Massage), others may find offensive.
Create a YouTube Account Creating an account is relatively easy, just point your browser to YouTube and click on the blue “Create Account” button. As with the other social media venues, be sure to read the Terms of Service. Then fill out the requested information. All fields are required and you must put in your birthday as this allows you to access age appropriate material., or not. The next page is where you create your password and actually create the account. Make sure your password is strong enough, and in case it isn’t YouTube tells you with their password strength meter. Now all you have to do is check your email for the account verification link. Don’t forget to look in your Spam folder if it’s not in your inbox. You’re now ready to start uploading videos to your account. But first, you may want to customize your settings by clicking on the “Customize your channel page” link. Here you can add a bulletin or change the theme of your page. Then click on the “Upload and share your video” link and you’re ready to upload videos from a wide variety of formats up to 2 GB in size, which is about 15 minutes in length.
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Blogs Of all the blogging platform out there, the one I wholeheartedly recommend is Wordpress. This is the easiest to set up, usually with just one click, and has as many, if not more, plugins than the other platforms. There are two different types of Wordpress blogs, one that you host on your paid hosting account and one that is hosted on the Wordpress.com website. I advise people to use their own hosting account for their primary blog because when you post to the other free hosted blogs the content is no longer yours. The service can be terminated at anytime, for any reason and you have no recourse to getting your content back. Having said that, the free hosted blogs like Wordpress.com, Blogger, Posterous and any number of other ones can be used for the purpose of back linking to your main site. Since the three mentioned are listed very high in Google, having a back link from them helps your SEO (search engine optimization) efforts
Set up a Wordpress Account To setup your Wordpress blog, login to your admin section of your hosting account. Each hosting provider has their own setup, but in general you would look for a link or page that says Web Content or Applications. If you can’t find it, ask your hosting company if they offer one click installs of Wordpress blogs. If not then you will have to either change hosting companies (recommended) or utilize an FTP software to upload it to the server, which may have to be done by a webmaster.
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Creating a Social Media Strategy Or Stop Pushing and Praying, Start Pulling and Staying In traditional media you would advertise your service or product to the masses. This is called “Push and Pray” marketing. You push your message out to everyone and pray that someone notices it and responds. Traditional sources for this type of advertising are telephone directories, magazine, newspapers, radio and television. The main problem with these types of media is that you don’t know who is seeing your ad. The ad salesperson may tell you that 200,000 people read their newspaper or magazine, but they can’t tell you how many people actually read your ad. In the new Social Media, “Pull and Stay” (or more commonly called “permission marketing”) allows you to know exactly how many people see your ad so you have a better idea of the closing ratio you have. You “Pull” people to your message, or Social Media account by attracting them with engaging content and conversation, not gimmicks. They “Stay” with you because you have given them a reason for them to Know, Like and Trust you. But why would you even want to use Social Media in your business? Doesn’t it just eat up a large chunk of your time and in general produces nothing? This could happen if you do not have a Social Media Marketing Strategy in place. It’s not something you just put together overnight and start posting the next day. You need to create a schedule for your online activities, and stick to it! One effective way of getting into the habit is to schedule 20 minutes a day where you do absolutely nothing except respond to others and post to your Facebook and Twitter accounts. Creating a social media schedule helps you stay committed and on task, and also improves your campaign’s efficiency. You’ll no longer be wasting time going to your accounts throughout the day and making up your strategy as you go. Giving up is one method I can guarantee leads to failure. Social Media is a marathon, not a sprint. It will bring you success in the future, but only if you apply yourself. Remember, this is about relationships, not one-night stands. Did you get married the next day after your first date? Of course not! Develop your relationships in all aspects of your life and you will be rewarded.
Set Goals Set goals that you can measure to make sure you are on the right track. How you measure these goal depends on the nature of your goals. Are you trying to increase brand awareness? If yes, then you need to monitor your reputation on the Internet via Google Alerts or other custom paid software. Reputation Management lets you know what is being said about you, and just as important, where it is being said. Join in the conversation! By taking the guesswork out of your social media monitoring, you can see exactly how your campaign is performing. One important point to remember is that it takes people to have a successful Social Media 15
Campaign. How many people do you currently have on your Facebook Profile page, email list or mailing list? If you have very few, then creating a whole bunch of social media accounts is a big time waster and will produce little, if no, results in terms of sales. You first have to have a following.
Ask People to Participate Start any campaign by asking people to participate. This is the tricky part, but depending on your market, it could also be the easiest. You must first determine who your target market is and where they congregate. Select a target market group based on your familiarity or experiences with those people or issues, so you’ll have something in common. If you have given birth, then those who are about to would be a good choice. Having a disability that you overcame, or can do certain tasks in spite of it, would be another one. Having a certification that benefits a certain group of people is also a good place to start. You have to somehow get these people interested in what you have to offer. Shoving a brochure at them, whether it’s on paper or on the web is not going to get them to Like you. Networking with them and offering your knowledge is a great way to break the ice and get them to Know you. This can be in the form of a physical networking group, or through an online forum. Create a community! When you have something interesting to show or tell them, they will want to know more about you. This is where you would give them your contact information, a business card, or leave a link with your website URL, Facebook, or Twitter name. One of the worst things you could do at this point is to tell them about you, you, you. Yet almost everyone makes this mistake. Their business card says nothing except who you are, your contact information and what certifications you have. When I receive these things, if all I see is you, you, you, I throw the card away or leave the website. I want to know what you can do for ME and what I will get out of it. Tell me and I’m yours!
Capturing Contact Information OK, now you’ve received their attention and they have either gone to your Facebook Page or website/blog. Now you have to get their contact information. This is where your Wordpress blog with an Email Capture plugin or PopUpDominator comes into play. If you utilize an email capture plugin, make sure that you position it prominently in the “upper Fold” of your site. This is the section that they first see when they come to your site and before they scroll down. If they go to your Facebook Business Page, use an application called “reveal tab” which is a pop up window where the person has to fill out their name and email address before they are allowed access to the content underneath, usually your Facebook blog, which is just a repost of your WordPress 16
blog. It helps to offer something for free if they give you the requested information such as a discount on your service, white paper or ebook on a related topic. At this point you should have your Facebook Business Page address on every piece of advertising you put out. There are also many kinds of Social Media Icon plugins that you can use to place on your Wordpress blog and your website.
Keeping Interest Once you have their email addresses, you can start sending them relevant and interesting content that is of value to them in the form of a weekly or bi-monthly newsletter. Value is the key word here. Don’t send junk, or they will delete your emails, unsubscribe from your list, or worse, report you as spam. To optimize your time and efforts you should set up an autoresponder series to first time subscribers which will send an email at a predetermined time. That way you can write out a series of short and valuable emails that get sent to each new subscriber. Every client should be asked for their email address. You can add incentives like discounts and gifts for those who sign up. Also plan on sending a newsletter at least on a monthly basis with relevant and valuable information that your target niche would find interesting. You could also send a “Stop Start Continue” campaign. Send all current customers an email with a link to an online survey. Let them answer anonymously. Ask your customers: • What should we stop doing? • What should we start doing? • What should we continue doing to meet or exceed your expectations? Most people would be thrilled to know that a company cares so much about them. This could also be used as the first email in an autoresponder series. Whichever Social Media sites you decide to utilize, don’t make the mistake of posting off-color jokes or gripes about other people on them. Definitely leave out the itinerary of your daily life (unless you are on a book-signing or seminar tour). And especially don’t post videos of that really great party where everyone got completely blitzed. Your sites should reflect a professional image at all times. Inappropriate content, no matter how amusing, reflects very badly about you and is reason for someone not to like you. If they don’t Like you then they will never reach the Trust stage and you have lost a customer! Always keep it personal but professional. However, stories about your grandkids or your dog/cat make for good human interest stories, so feel free to post those on your Facebook Personal Profile page. When I was sixteen and taking driving lessons, my instructor told me to use the horn judiciously and never get angry at the other driver. You never know if that person is going to be your next boss, or 17
the father of your next girl/boyfriend! Social Media is the same, you never know the customers you lost before you even got a chance to talk to them.
Branding There is one question left unanswered: Who are you? What is your brand, what you are known as, or for? What is your One Thing? Think of your brand in a different way than just what you do, think of it as what you equal (=). Disney = Magic, Nissan = Zoom Zoom, You = ? The “one thing” isn’t always obvious. Instead, it’s an unusual aspect of your operations that often requires some anthropological thinking to uncover. Your message cannot be about your company but rather what your company is about in the eyes of the consumer. It’s about getting your prospects to see you as the best solution to their problem. Be authentic! In the virtual world where nothing is real, people crave authenticity. If you make a mistake, admit it, apologize, move on. Keep moving and don’t stop. Stop = Fail! Try to be unique without being bland. Don’t follow what everyone else is doing or you’ll be viewed as just like everyone else. Do you remember the Marlboro Man? He was the iconic figure for Marlboro cigarettes: strong, masculine, outdoorsy type. Not many people know this, but Marlboros were originally marketed as a woman’s cigarette! When they didn’t succeed, they changed the branding. Don’t get hung up on what you think your brand represents. If it doesn’t resonate with your customers, change it. However, it is of extreme importance that you follow the expected behavior for your professional group. Incongruence will create a huge disconnect with your customers and followers.
Summary Typically, your creation process would look like the followg steps. Don’t worry if you already have some of this done in a different order. This order was selected to make it easier and progressive in creating a sound business. Work on the areas where you are weak and build them up. 1. 2. 3. 4.
Create a professional blog and capture email addresses. Post high value, relevant content. Create a mailing list of 150 people. Create a Facebook Profile Page and start a conversation. Get 1,500 “friends” by looking up current clients, friends and family who also have a large list of friends. 5. Post high value, relevant content on your Facebook Profile and engage people in conversation. “like” and “share” content from other profiles. 18
6. Create a Twitter account and start posting from your Blog and Facebook pages. Retweet other posts and engage in conversations 7. Create a Facebook Business Page and ask all of your friends from your Profile to “like” your page. 8. Join Facebook groups and post as your Business Page. Start your own “group.” 9. Create a YouTube account and start creating channels with videos you have recorded. 10. Create a LinkedIn account and start posting from your Twitter account and join groups (just like Facebook Groups). Engage in conversation.
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Footnotes 1) Tomlinson, Ray 2) USENET 3) Jay Yarow, Twitter Finally Reveals All Its Secret Stats, Apr 14, 2010, Business Insider 4) MySpace by CrunchBase 5) Miller, Claire Cain (October 30, 2010). Why Twitter’s C.E.O. Demoted Himself. The New York Times. Retrieved October 31, 2010. (registration required) 6) Sagolla, Dom (January 30, 2009). How Twitter Was Born. 140 Characters: A Style Guide for the Short Form. Retrieved February 4, 2011. 7) Dorsey, Jack (March 21, 2006). “just setting up my twttr”). Twitter. Retrieved February 4, 2011. 8) Sano, David (February 18, 2009). Twitter Creator Jack Dorsey Illuminate the Site’s Founding Document. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 18, 2009.
About the Author Rich Haslam is a Social Media Manager who helps others to more efficiently engage their selected niche by freeing them to do what they do best and leaving the day-to-day details of creating a meaningful Social media presence online, to him. He can be found at www.RichHaslam.com Rich also founded My Massage Company Inc, a chair massage business that contracts with a major national health food chain to provide Massage Therapists to eight of its locations in Florida.
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