#1 Reason Why Small Biz Should Use Social Media

Catchy title huh?

There has been plenty of talk from social media and small business consultants about the importance of fusing traditional networking with online “social” networking. It is one of the more important things you can do as a business development head or owner of a small to mid-sized business.

Networking has always been at the core of sales for small business owners. Since starting my company two years ago… networking (both online and offline) have driven business to my firm…But do you know what released the flood gates?

Combining my offline networking with my online networking.

John Jantsch hit the nail on the head when he said in his recent post about becoming a social company:

“(social) firms are much easier to refer because they are more deeply connected and socially involved in every facet of their ecosystem”

We can talk for hours about selling online but the real value for business owners is becoming social company and working hard to network both in an online environment and offline environment.

The main thing to remember is that you have to BELIEVE in networking. You have the opportunity to becoming involved with hundreds of people in your immediate location.

So what are the steps to networking online and offline?

1. Join an offline networking group. (I personally use Rainmakers and Confluence here in Indianapolis)

2. Join a locally based online networking group (ie Smaller Indiana)

3. Join a national network and use search functions to locate users in your area. (Twitter and Twitter Search)

You will be pleasantly surprised and remember… it is a way of life and a tool for your business.

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Next Time. Punch Fear in the Face.

What is it about fear that immobilizes an individual or an organization? The fear of failure… The fear of not understanding how to use a specific tool.. The fear of being left behind.

The problem with fear is that it paralyzes and damages the great things your company or organization can do in the future. At Brandswag we come across many individuals, companies and organizations that are simply afraid of jumping into the world of “the social web.”

It could be the fear of open conversation. It could be the fear of not knowing what to do. What is driving your company? What is the driving factor for not changing? What is keeping you from not adapting to the changing world of communication?

The simple fact…

You cannot let fear rule the way you run your business. The world is changing. People are controlling conversations, brands, and causes. Your brand is built by people. Why not use the tool most associated with communication?

You may not want to change for a variety of reasons… but you don’t really have the choice. Remember the term Evolve or Die. It applies here.

Here is what I want you to do… Next time you are sitting down and reviewing methods and procedures for the marketing of your product or service and that fear starts to rise in the back of your mind… you have two choices…

Ignore it or Embrace it.

Which one do you think is going to revolutionize your company or organization in the years to come?

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What Roseta, PA Can Teach You About Social Media

I have been reading Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell and just to be clear… the book is awesome.

At the beginning of the book Malcolm talks about a researcher named Stewart Wolf who was fascinated with the long lives of a group of Italians living in Roseto, Pennsylvania. Wolf did extensive research to try and figure out when the citizens of Roseta had virtually no heart disease or any sickness related deaths of any kind. It was not the diet, exercise or location… what Wolf found was that it was the city itself (pg 9). The conversations and relationships that “Rosetians” experienced on a daily basis helped keep them healthy and jovial.

This post is not about the City of Roseta.. it is about the data that was presented to medical communities across the world. Wolf was being met with resistance because of lack of “long rows of data arrayed in complex charts (pg 10).” They had to convince the medial establishment to look PAST the data and look at the findings in an entirely new light.

The same is true for using social media. There is still resistance from the “establishment”  because of the lack of data and charts to show growth rates and return-on-investment. Have we started to discuss the negative ramifications of not being involved in the new medium of social media?

Roseta citizens remained healthy and content because of conversations and relationship driven communication.. can’t that be applied to your marketing? Can’t that be applied to your communication strategy

What is stopping you?

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Get 30,000 Followers on Twitter. What is it Worth?

I search constantly on the web for writers and thinkers who display a chip on their shoulder. They are brilliant thinkers but they have a sarcasm about them that keeps my days interesting. One of my favorite writer is Alexander van Elsas. There are times when I completely agree with Alexander and also times when I completely disagree… there really is not a middle ground.

He has a post talking about the real value of Twitter ‘s suggest user feature which was made a little more valuable after Jason Calacanis offered $500K. Congratulation Jason and Alexander, you have pushed me to a crossroad on the purpose of quality over quantity.

We talked about the purpose of quality over quantity all the time on the web.

“I would rather have 200 devout followers than 20,000 kind-of listeners.”

There is a reason we do this. We are the social-renegades of the marketing world. What? You think we should send out mass mailings? Buy an email list? AHH. I am dying from heart failure.

The truth of the matter is this… I haven’t come to any conclusions yet on the value of quality over quantity. Jason Calacanis shows the absolute value of driving traffic from Twitter to his start-up, Mahalo. He was willing to pony up $250,000 to drive two-million visits a month to his site. I would do it too.

And yet, Alexander talks about the quality of the followers being below zero. I also agree with him when he says:

“It makes the reach you have on Twitter as good as any spammer that hijacked millions of e-mail addresses. There is always a sucker that falls for it. The real-time effect is pretty much worthless when put into comparison to the nr of followers and the spam being produced. To me the only benefit, if you can call it a benefit, would be that the audience that follows you remains persistent.”

So what is the answer? You can always give the quality over quantity speech but does that drive revenue? In the world of business there is absolute value to use social media but what is the strategy? Quality over Quantity?

What are 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 Twitter followers worth to you?

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Small Businesses Can Compete without Borders

I was reading a post over at David Castor’s Business & Culture blog where he was discussing the Long Tail by Chris Anderson. Many of us (small business owners) understand the concept of the Long Tail. It has helped us grow in the early years of running a company. It is now easier than ever to enter into the LT strategy by using the Internet as a marketing medium.

I had another thought while reading David’s post:

It is now more important than ever to realize that competition stretches beyond borders in the “new economy.”

Small businesses across the nation (and the globe) are slowly starting to compete on an International scale. Whether you like it or not, the Internet has created a global market that is becoming faster and stronger than ever. Marketing plans have change. SWOT analysis have grown longer and more intense.

Why is it important to learn how to use the Internet as a marketing tool? There are plenty of reasons. The global economy should be pushing YOU to use the tools to cross borders and gain clientele that you wouldn’t have dreamed of 5-10 years ago.

You can be a lawyer or a accountant and begin gaining clients from all over a specific geographic region (the mid-west). If it is part of your goal structure of your company it is even possible to go GLOBAL.

Think about it…the world is open.

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Grow Your Biz Using Social Media Class

For those of you in the Indianapolis area.

I have completed some Rain University Classes the past couple of months and I have another class coming up on the 19th of March.

This class is not for beginners. We will not be covering basics. It will help if you have been through at least one of the introductory classes or are already blogging and engaged in several social media sites.

Social networking is a great way to promote your business and build your brand. With that said, how do you use it productively? How do you spend 30-60 mins a day and get the most out of social media?

What you will learn:

We will also be offering this class with a live online video stream. To find out more information follow the link to the Information Page.

35 Lbs of Food to End Hunger

There is a great site that was just launched yesterday by Indianapolis creative firm Mediasauce. The site is called Pledge to End Hunger and it was created to help feed needy families and children across this great nation of ours.

I am a huge fan when companies take the initiative and try to make our world a better place. The site is extremely well designed and as of this morning they have a total of:

761 Pledges

266,351 lbs of food

106,540 meals

On the site there is a way for the user to either GIVE, VOLUNTEER, or SHARE. To be completely honest with you… I just get excited when people take it upon themselves to help others. This is a great way to get a ton of people onto a cause and the site is well designed too! I am looking forward to seeing what comes of this entire campaign.

Also, if you are looking for a good way to take your website from 1.0 to 2.0… Go check out the Pledge to End Hunger site.

Huntington: A Bank That Cares in Indianapolis

I have always been a fan of rewarding companies or individuals who really take the extra step to help an individual. I experienced that today with a local bank in Indianapolis.

My company was switching banks and were investigating a couple of local institutions in the area. While investigating I remembered meeting with an individual named Scott Long who works at Huntington Bank.

We decided to meet with Huntington to discuss our options. Needless to say it was a great meeting but the beautiful part comes next…

I had some personal issues arise and Scott helped me over the wall. We were able to secure a checking account through Huntington and move towards a more secure and organized financial future (as a company).

I have had bad experiences in the past with banks because of things that happened 5-8 years ago. Scott went overboard and helped me out of my problems and put me on the straight path.

Do you want to know who is going to succeed in this world? The people like Scott who take care of people… individuals… business owners… and employees. I will be with Huntington for a long time because of the support they gave me as an individual and for my company.

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They Don’t Read Your Blog. Do Something About It.

Okay. This blew me away.

According to Minds Eye Web Design: 95% of web users DO NOT read 80%. (via ux booth)

Now.. there isn’t any reporting backing up the numbers of 95 and 80 (from what I could find) but I would like to think Minds Eye was either being dramatic to generate emotion or they actually surveyed for the info. I don’t know about you but I get emotional when I hear that 95% is only reading 20% of my content.

So how do we change? How do we create content that is going to take the 80% to 60% and eventually to 30% and then to 20%? Good question.

There are plenty of links we could list that have to do with content creation, headers, subject matters, blogging strategy, and links (to name a few). I wanted to concentrate on one thing that my readers and small business owners could implement tomorrow.

Relationship Building.

You will find that after meeting a person off-line you will tend to read their content a little more frequently. Now, this does not guarantee a massive amount of traffic to your site but in all reality… don’t we want qualified readers instead?

I would rather have 400 daily readers than 4,000 “kind-of” readers.

Take your blog out into the world with you. Share your content in more ways than just online. Tell people about your blog or website when you meet them at a networking event!

Be proud of what you do, what you write, and what you live.

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You Have 500+ On LinkedIN? So What?

We have been through the friend train on Myspace. We have been through the obsessive adding of people trying to get the biggest friend list on the block. I have spoke with numerous people who feel their social capital is built around how many people exist within their network. They take some type of pride in the fact they have over 4000 friends on Myspace or Plaxo.

You know what I have failed to ask them?

So What?

I was reading a blog post by Beth Kanter called My First Grade Teacher Friended Me on Facebook. This post title really has nothing to do with what I am talking about but she makes a great point in the post:

Do you remember the line –  “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.”  It means roughly that to get things done you need to build up social capital, not just knowledge.

She goes on to say that the majority of social platforms are making it extremely easy to connect with people. There is so much beauty in the thought of connecting with hundreds of people and building your social capital. However this does not mean your social capital consists of 5000 people in which you have never spoken. The days of bulk networking, 500+ on LinkedIN, and massive friend lists are fast dissapearing.

Do you want to know why?

Because it is easy. Let it be know that there is nothing valuable in the social media world that is easy.

Another reason?

People are craving relationships. I was on your mailing list 3 years ago why would I want to be spammed on my social networks? They would rather not be a part of your mailing list.

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