5 Social Media Tips for Small Business

Today’s guest post is by Beth Hrusch, Senior Editor at Interact Media, a business blog writing service that teaches writing tips and best practices.

A recent study by Employers indicates that over half of small businesses believe in social media as an important marketing tool.  Yet, only 16% of those polled use their social media accounts to communicate directly with customers.  So, what are they actually doing with social media?  The average small business uses it to promote, much in the same way they use ads, direct mail and other forms of traditional marketing.

Social media for business promotion is fine.  But, the real leverage comes through engagement with people who are interested in you.  Your fans and followers are the real catalyst for your success with social media, so keeping in touch with them is critical.

Why?  Social media, much like content marketing, is all about building customer relationships.  In fact, businesses can take their cue from the origins of social media as a primarily “social” tool.  Sites such as Twitter and Facebook were really designed to help people communicate with each other, share resources and stay in touch.  Businesses can do the exact same thing with their customers, using the same sites.

Using social media sites to engage with current and potential customers takes a commitment of time. However, the tools are already built in, so you can simply think of your company account as another way to connect with your target market, just as you would with friends, colleagues and relatives.  Here are 5 tips for building the relationships that lead to sales:

1. Listen- There are a lot of conversations going on out there.  Some of them may be about your company, your industry or other topics that affect you.  Take the time to listen to what is being said before deciding how to respond or add to it.  You’ll learn more about what is important to your target market when you put your ear to the ground.

2. Participate- By becoming part of these conversations, you show that you’re interested in what people have to say.  This is also your opportunity to show how much you know about your topic, which helps to establish your authority.  Don’t be afraid to ask questions, encourage debate and even stir up a little controversy now and then.  It gets people talking and gives you more information you can use to connect with them.

3. Add value- Your comments should always add something of value to the conversation.  If you’re too self-promoting or don’t add any useful information, both you and your company will lose credibility.  Think of your efforts as conversation rather than as a push for sales.

4. Evaluate your goals- At some point, preferably at the beginning but also along the way, you should think about your objectives.  What you trying to achieve with your social media efforts?  Some businesses want to increase brand awareness, others are more interested in what their competitors are up to.  Honing in on your primary goals will save you time and energy in the long run.

5. Look at the big picture- Think of social media as a community rather than a place to sell your products and services.   People on these sites, just like the Internet in general, are not necessarily looking to buy something.  Most of the time, they want information they can use, and they want to connect with the sources of that information.  Make sure your efforts keep this in mind.  Don’t lose sight of the fact that you’re here to talk to people, invite them to join you, offer them your expertise, etc.  Design each individual post to make an overall impression that, over time, reflects your business objectives.

So, if you’re thinking about using social media to promote your business, or already are, remember to put some time into customer engagement!  It’s the best way to get those friends and followers to convert into customers.

3 Things to Search for Before Using Twitter

When you first start to look at using Twitter as a communication and marketing platform it is important to verify that the tool is going to be worth your (precious) time. The first thing that should be done before implementing Twitter is to actually search and test the tool before adding it into your overall marketing strategy.

The listening and monitoring phase of social media is extremely important to your social media mix. By using tools like Twitter Search you can decipher whether or not to use this wonderful communication medium.

Three Things to Look for When Monitoring Twitter

1. Current and Potential Clients - When searching on Twitter it is important to figure out whether or not potential clients are using the tool. Search for keywords associated with the different companies you work for (or would like to have as clients).

Example: If you are a small business lawyer it is important to search for terms associated with your industry. An easy way to pinpoint keywords is to look at your search engine optimization strategy. It could be “forming an llc” or “collections” or “small business legal help.”

It is also important to find out whether or not your current clients are using the tool. If they are… there is a good chance other people are as well.

2. Competitors – This should be self explanatory… Twitter can be a great tool for market and competitive research. If your competitors are using Twitter effectively it is probably a tool you should be using in your marketing and communications strategy.

Search the company names of your competitors (as well as the location you are serving).

3. Content about your industry - If content is being shared about your industry it is important that you voice your opinion about certain matters.

Example : #AgChat is a great example of farmers and agriculture professionals using Twitter to voice their concerns over certain ag matters.

Remember when you are searching on Twitter that it is important to search in a conversational tone… as well as using keywords. Twitter is a conversation based platform and individuals maybe using different words when speaking about your services.

If you run across any of the three forms of content listed above… it is important that you start looking at Twitter as a communication tool for your company.

Remember to check out Twitter Marketing for Dummies if you are needing help with Twitter!

The Beauty of Purpose Driven Marketing for Business

I have never been a huge fan of the book Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. For the readers who are fans… I apologize… I hope this does not ruin our “friendship.”

This post is not about hating on the famous book by Pastor Warren but is only the connection point between a thought I had this morning. I was scanning the book titles on my shelf at the office and happened over Purpose Driven Life. The thought of having a “purpose driven life” slapped me… straight in the mouth.

Of course… being fully surrounded by business and marketing on a daily basis… I connected it to marketing and corporate communications.

How can you lead a purpose driven marketing initiative? How do train your corporate culture to drive towards a goal with purpose?

Is it an awesome… kick butt mission statement? Not really.

Is it creating training and communication modules to help employees communicate with each other? 50/50

Purpose driven marketing is a two-fold process.

1. Your purpose should be defined (much like your mission statement) as the reason you are in business. What need are you fulfilling?)

2. Driving that purpose should be the stories told by the people being fulfilled by your purpose…. the clients.

Only when you have clients and positive contacts sharing your message will you understand the full extent of purpose driven marketing.

When Should You Engage As a Business in Social Media?

The marketing and technology world is on fire with this new form of communication: social media. And yes… I did mean to say new. Many in the corporate and small business world have yet to set foot into this new communication platform. This is hard for many social media advocates to grasp. How could the business world not be ENTIRELY tuned in to the growing social avalanche that is happening in their front yard?

In truth… social media is not really in their front yard at all… more like an alley down the street… waiting to be swept up by an avalanche of customer opinion and buying patterns. We are talking about a flood gate collecting a force that will… soon… explode.

We are still in the infancy of social media adoption across a wide spread of the globe.

This is in no way degrading the idea that the tools of social media will not be a main form of communication in the years to come… we are just not there yet.

We (the business world) are going to see a significant change in how consumers buy and communicate with brands in the years to come. We will see a wide-spread use of social media tools in both the Internet and mobile environments.

So what should the business world do when debating the use of social media for communication and lead generation?

Take it from the words of Jay Baer at Convince and Convert:

“Social media is about fundamentally changing the dynamic between brands and their customers. From master and servant, to peer to peer.”

Now is the time to educate on how to effectively use the tools. Do not listen to a social media expert when they tell you that you MUST be using the tools. You must be educating on how to best use the tools and how they are applicable to your growth as a company.  PERIOD.

Yes… there will come a time when the Internet will unleash the flood gates of 60 even 70 percent of the globe… one unified community of customers, products, services, and brands…

The question is… will you be ready when your front yard is flooded… or not?

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20 Ways to Build Trust and Leads in Social Media

In the new economy there is one major truth that stands above the rest. Trust equals revenue. If you are a small to mid-sized business it is the amount of trust you can build between clients that strengthens your brand.

With trust comes happy clients and with happy clients come referrals. Trust is a fundamental block of building business. Marketing is built under the assumption that stories can create an emotional bond between a consumer and a brand… a client and a service. Can you tell a story… create a service and en experience that builds trust?

Social media can help you build that trust.

1. Content

Content is the number one way you can build trust with potential clients. By creating meaningful and thought provoking content you are building a bridge to later sell that person on your services. Talk about what you do on a daily basis. When I  say you.. it means you are writing and communicating stories that happen to you on a daily basis.

2. Tell A Story

The stories surrounding your company are the only thing that creates differences between the competition. It is extremely important that you allow for your clients to tell your story for you. The people who love what you do… and the people you serve… are the best people to tell the story of your company. Forget about mission statement and vision statements… ASK your clients.

3. Transparency

This can also pertain to content or how you use a specific social network. Be human. The people who are interested in your thoughts and suggestions want to know about you as a person. They could care less about a sale you are having or the amount of money you can cut off their bottom line. They want to know how you helped LARRY the plumber or Susan the account.

4. Picture of Your Day

When you are using social networks make sure you put up pictures of your daily life. If you have a cell phone with a camera takes some pictures of your daily routine and share them with your connections. Just don’t over do it. We can only look at so many professional business or glamor shots in a day.

5. Picture of You

Use your real picture. I don’t know how many times I have said this. Don’t use your logo. There is only one exception to this rule. If you are using Twitter for your business and personal (see my company @Brandswag for an example). Also, do not use a glamor shot from the 1908s. We ALL know you are lying… the only person you are trying to fool… is yourself.

6. Saying Thank You

If somebody helps you share information or decideds to retweet a post.. make sure you thank that person. They are helping you spread the word… they are your online evangelists.. If you miss a thank you.. don’t let it kill you.. but try to make the most of the people that help you out.

7. Do Not Auto-DM on Twitter

See my post… I hate Twitter Auto-DM

8. No Hard Selling

I don’t care about your enewsletter or the new lotion you are selling. Also, just because I reply to a tweet or a message does not mean you can message me back and sell your wares. Social media is a long sell process. You are developing content in order to gain an order of trust with people in your area of influence. We are now experiencing a relationship driven economy… get on the train.

9. Time is Important

Remember that you are building relationships.. do not trust the people that tell you to add 1023920 friends and make $10,000 a month. It is a load of crap. Build your following slowly… create relationships in an online environment that can be transferred offline.

10. Criticism is Important

You will be criticized. It is a truth of open communication. Take it with stride and respond. If you are debated… make sure you debate back. Stand up for what you believe and you will gain trust with the people who are listening…. and watching.

11. Have fun

Good Lord… is it that hard? You have the ability to connect with thousands… and thousands… and thousands of people from every nationality… and life experience. Just imagine your ability to expand your knowledge base and learn?!

One thought: If you are not enjoying and having fun with what you do… quit… go find something else.

12. Send a Handwritten Note

People are thanked and communicated with on a daily basis through social media. If I need someone to thank… I usually send them a message or an email. It is very rare that I will get a thank you card in the mail from someone on social media. Talk about building trust and setting yourself apart!

13. Guest Post on Another Blog

There are times when you can write different posts for other blogs in order to reach a new audience.  It can help you build trust and brand awareness if your content is shared on other sites other than your own blog. This shows other people believe in your content.

14. Send Out Random Surveys to Your Clients and Readers

There are plenty of sites that have services for survey design and distribution. It is important that you ask your readers and clients to contribute to the business planning process through social media. It is important that you know what they are thinking… you also want them to understand you care.

15. Be Aware of Your Search Engine Rankings

If a client or potential client is researching social media and your name is ranked for the search terms… you are building trust. Check out Slingshot SEO if you are wanting some help in the world of search engine marketing.

16. Comment on Other Blogs

Comments on blogs and websites allow for your name and ideas to be spread at a faster pace. This is old news in terms of marketing on the Internet… it is known around the world that if you post comments… you will receive more traffic. Post 1-2 a week on your favorite blog.

17. Get Involved in Your Community and Share on Social

Community development and participation is key when building a business. It is the community whether online or offline that drives business for every small business owner. Get involved in your community and share your involvement on social media. This could mean that you share a picture of attending a fundraising event on Twitter or Facebook. You can also get involved with Causes via Facebook.

18. Be Responsive in Your Social Media Use

From the Science of Building Trust in Social Media post from Mashable:

Olson finds that when only text is available, participants judge trustworthiness based on how quickly others respond. So, for instance, it is better to respond to a long Facebook message “acknowledging” that you received the message, rather than to wait until there’s time to send a more thorough first message. Wait too long and you are likely to be labeled “unhelpful,” along with a host of other expletive-filled attributions the mind will happily construct.

It is important to remember that being responsive is huge. When a problem is happening on social media… it is happening.. NOW.

19. Do Not Over-share Your Content

We want to know what you are doing but we REALLY don’t what to know what you are doing…. does that make sense? There is only so much content you can share on a daily basis. Unfortunately there are no true laws (or rules) that apply to each social networking site. In my book Twitter Marketing for Dummies, I write about the 4-1-1 rule… for every six pieces of content you share (4 should be from other people, 1 should be your content, 1 should be content from your industry).

20. Be Findable

It is important that your social profiles and your accounts are findable whe

Qualifying and Quantifying Your Social Media Strategy

Corvida has an awesome post on Chris Brogan’s blog called Decreasing Our Connections While Increasing Our Networks. The basic rundown of the post (which you should go read) is her exasperation over the amount of “friends” she has over various networks and the lack of a deeper and real connection between the two.

From the post:

Maybe growth on some of these networks isn’t the best thing in the world. Should there be self-imposed limits on how many people you befriend? No because in the end, while your network growth may increase, your connection with your network still increases. However, the rate at which the connection can increase actually decreases. Did that make sense? Unless your friends are constantly questioning you or keeping tabs on you, it’s going to take a lot longer to make deeper connections the more your network grows.

We have been talking a lot about creating deeper relationships through social media. When you are adding hundreds of people on networks like Twitter, Facebook, and other networks it is hard to make the same connection as before! Iwrote recently about turning friends, followers, and subscribers into a deeper connection. After all the purpose of sharing in a community driven environment should be relationship building whether for business or personal use.

The question has been presented: How do you take the massive amount of users on social networks and par them down to create meaningful relationships online? Quantify and Qualify.

Quantifying Your Social Media Experience

There are some networks where a huge following is necessary to gain the full experience of the site. FriendFeed is where I quantify my FriendFeeders for the ultimate experience. Quantifying in a social media world basically means I gain an increased quality of experience based on the quantity of the people I am following.

Qualifying Your Social Media Experience

I qualify my niche networks in social media. I have found that I have an increase in quality without necessary having a huge quantity of followers on my geographically direct communities. Smaller Indiana and LinkedIN have been my niche quality sites for my social media experience. Smaller Indiana is a geographically located social network for people in Indiana. And for LinkedIN? I only tend to add people I have met in an offline environment on LinkedIN. My niche networks tend to be the place where there is a direct form of quality conversations.

How do you manage your networks? Do you find you get more or less quality based on the quantity of your friends or subscribers?

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25 Ways to Engage Contacts in Social Media

What is it? What is it good for? Engagement.

One of the primary selling points of social media is the concept of engaging a potential customer or partner in your product or service. So how do you accomplish engagement on a personal level?

25 Ways to Engage a Potential Customer Using Social Media

1. Start a blog. This seems like an obvious one. This should be one of the first things you think about doing when contemplating using social media as a marketing tool. There should always be a hub where your contacts can interact. The so called “hub.” WordPress is a great tool to start blogging. Get on it!

2. Join Foursquare and Use it during the business day. Foursquare is a service that allows you to update your location to the people following you on a regular basis. I do not recommend using this tool after business hours (could turn a little creepy) but it can help your contacts get an idea of what you do on a daily basis. Even if you are just sitting in your office for most of the day.

3. Join LinkedIN and recommend your partners. Most of us are already using LinkedIN (if you are not click thislink for great information on LinkedIN). When you start to recommend the people you love working with it will help spread the goodwill that your business partners deserve. What happens you spread goodwill? Ever heard of pay-it-forward?

4 and 5. Start an RSS Reader and Find 5 Blogs to Follow. It is important that you use an RSS Reader to help with the organization of the blogs you read. For more information on starting and maintaining an RSS Feed check out this link. By using a Technorati or Google BlogSearch you can find 5 blogs that are industry “blog leaders” in your dedicated profession. By following and commenting on the blogs you will start to engage other readers.

6. Place a Poll on Your Blog or Website. There are plenty of tools available for polling on your website or blog. Wp-polls is a great resource if you are connected with wordpress. Ask a question to your audience. How can I make my content better? What are you wanting to read or learn about? This will help in engaging your more loyal readers and followers. Formstack also gives you the ability to create forms and polls for easy content access and building.

7. Ask a Loyal Reader  to Guest Post. There is value in having your loyal readers do a guest post for your blog. They will feed your link to their subscribers and it also gives them a pride in ownership of your blog. This allows for the strengthening of a relationship in the long run.

8. Identify Your Strategy. This should have been number one because it is the more important thing you could be doing before online marketing. If you do not have a strategy in place to lead the charge into social media you will be at a lost when it becomes overwhelming. A strategy allows you to measure success points in your social media journey. This only helps when it comes to YOU engaging THEM.

9. Focus. Really Focus on Your About Page. What is the second most read page on a blog? The about page. People want to know who they are communicating with. The last thing you need to do (and I am also guilty of this on my personal blog KyleLacy.com) is to create a boring about page. Spice it up. Add some details that will create the best about page you could possibly want! Also.. enable comments on your about page. Allow people to comment on yours likes and dislikes.

10. Use Twitter on a Daily Basis. Now this might be a little overwhelming to the young at heart in social media but Twitter is fast becoming the ideal means of online communication. For a detailed explaination of Twitter check outDiTii.com’s video.

11. Add Your Social Media Information to Your Business Card. I have written a ton about this in previous posts. If you want to truly engage with the people you meet offline… add your social media sites to your business card. I have my LinkedIN, Twitter, and Blog URLs on my business card.

12. Be open to collaboration. You may have run your small-to-mid sized business for years by yourself but social media is built on the art of collaboration. People will be giving their opinions on a daily basis and it is in your best interest to take those opinions with stride. Collaborate and join in on discussions surrounding ideas related to your industry and your life. Collaborate. Learn. Listen.

13. Start a Facebook Page and Add in Your Family Life. Facebook is an extremely personal tool that can be used to connect with individuals on an emotional basis using pictures. You have to be open in sharing some of your family life with the outside world. There is a reason why PR companies have used the idea of “family man” to save many tarnished CEOs. Add pictures of your family, your dog, your vacation. People will connect. (New to Facebook. Check out this link on getting started as a company).

14. Pick 4 Social Sites and Maximize. You will become anti-social if you become overwhelmed with the multitude of different social media sites in which you are a member. We teach a 4-touchpoint theory of choosing four social media sites to spend your time. With a limited amount of time you will find that 4 sites benefits you in two main ways:

1. You will have more brain “bandwidth” to communicate on a deeper level.

2. The same people will pretty much be on all the sites you choose. (I say this loosely)

15. When someone comments on your blog email them a thank you. I learned this from the famous Gary Vaynerchuk. If someone is joining into the conversation on your blog and adding content make sure you thank them for your support. The people who show a vested interest are key to growing your readership. Don’t be alarmed if you don’t have time to email people the moment they comment. It sometimes takes me weeks before I send a follow up email.

16. Write About Personal Experience. We talk a lot about this. Write about the way you see life. Write about the way you experience your business on a daily basis. TAlk about how you are helping people. Talk about how you are solving the problems on a daily basis. Use Twitter. Use Facebook. Tell stories on your blog. People engage in stories. They connect with stories.

17. Try to Keep Yourself Within 450 Words or Less on Your Blog. It is important to keep blog posts concise and to the point. If you have trouble writing this will help you in the long run. As you can tell by the post you are currently reading, it is not essential that you keep it to 450 words. If you have advice and knowledge to send out to the masses.. . please do so. If you keep blog posts short it helps to keep readers and that is the goal.

18. Remember Quality vs Quantity. Quality is always better than Quantity. I have always said that 100 extremely engage readers are infinitely better than 4000 quasi engaged readers. Quality allows you to truly form relationships with the people you are dealing with on a daily basis. You can build your base anyway you like but make sure you always come back to quality over quantity.

19. Monitor the Conversation around Your Brand both Personal and Professional. For more on this read:25 Tools and Tips to Following Your Brand Online. Why is it important to follow your brand online? You need to be involved in all the conversations surrounding your product, service, or YOU.

20. DO NOT HARD SELL! I am going to repeat this again: Do Not Hard Sell. This means you are not sharing about sales and detail after detail about your company. It means you are concentrating on listening to the people who are investing in your writing and social media prescence. Nobody cares about your 50% sale. They care about who will be greeting them at the door of your store or place of business. Personality rules and if you want to act like a used-car sales man… go work at one.

21. Handwritten Notes Go Places. If you have an individual refer you business through the online environment.. we encourage people to use the old method and handwrite a note to that person. You would be surprised how far a handwritten note will get you!

22. Setup Columns in Tweetdeck or Hootsuite for Use in Twitter. In order to follow the conversation surrounding your industry, clients, competitors, and your business… the tools provided through Tweetdeck and Hootsuite allow you to manage and organize tweets based on keywords or search functionality. Follow up to 3 columns and get involved in the conversation!

23. Use Rapportive to Connect with Your Email Database. Rapportive is a service that gives you the ability to connect with different contacts in your Gmail Inbox. A profile picture will appear to the side of the email and give you different information facts about the sender of the email. For more information on Rapportive read the LifeHacker post on the tool.

24. Try to Answer All Comments on Your Blog. It can be a daunting task. I felt guilty typing out this step because I am extremely bad at replying to comments. In all reality, the people you care about most…. should be the people who comment on your blog.

25. Use Rapleaf to Produce Segmentation Reporting for Your Email Database. Rapleaf is a reporting company who helps you better understand who your customers are and their social personalities. This service can give you some SWEET data on user engagement and cross platform marketing.

Checklist of 25 Reasons Not to Hire a Social Media Consultant

I have been discovering many people starting to enter the world of social media marketing. It can be anything from an advertising firm to a small business coach. It is probably pretty confusing for business owners trying to learn about the amazing new tools available on the web. I wanted to help you out with your first steps in choosing a social media educator or consultant.

1. They need to use the tools they are teaching.

It is extremely important that the teacher is using the tools. Before you decide to use a social media consultant… investigate! Make sure they are using tools like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIN, and Plaxo. If they do not use the tools on a regular basis, they are just riding a wave.

2. They communicate with their audience.

The last person you want to hire for your social media strategy is someone who throws our content and doesn’t allow for two way communication. The best way to test this? Go to their Twitter account and make sure they are actually sending “RT” and replies to people. Multi-directional communication is key to a social strategy.

3. Do they call themselves a Social Media Expert? Ask about experience.

The person that calls themselves a “social media expert” is someone who usually makes $500 a month setting up Twitter accounts. There are only a few people in the world of social media who can be considered an expert. A few are as follows > David Armano, Jay Baer, Jason Falls, and Chris Brogan. They have business experience of over a decade. They know what to do in business, marketing, and media… not only social.

4. What is their definition of social media?

If they give you a list of tools. Fail them.

5. They will “grow your following” and “run your Twitter account”T

It is not impossible to ghost a Twitter account but you need to have an opinion in what content is used. Do not sign over your Twitter account to a random consultant. Also, growing a following works sometimes but MOST OF THE TIME you want quality over quantity.

6. Their blog is less than six months old with no comments. (thanks Beth)

7. Ask them about the future of social search. Do they know what it is?

8. Have they taught a class before on social media? Even a webinar?

It is important that your consultant or educator has experience in teaching or presenting on social media. The last thing you want to do is spend money for something that is going to be a DRAG. You want to know that you are not wasting your money.

9. Are they a Just-add-water expert?

10. They actually have a personality and GET people.

It is important that your social media consultant have a personality. What do I mean by personality? They are not stuck in an office all day pecking away at Twitter and have no sense of humor. ALSO, they are not overly bubbly and excited about everything under the sun. Sanity is key.

11. They blog at least once a week or more

It is important that the investigation goes deeper into the blogging world. Your social media consultant should be learning on a daily basis and expounding upon what they are learning by blogging. This does not have to be catered specifically to a BLOG (WordPress or blogger). You can always check Twitter on how they are communicating and learning.

12. They are linking and being linked.

Complete a Google link search and make sure your social media consultant actually has people and blogs linking back to their site. It is extremely important

13. Ask their opinion on viral marketing.

It is extremely important that your social media consultant and educator understand the concepts behind word-or-mouth marketing and viral marketing. Social media marketing is a relationship driven model. The evangelists and lovers of your product or service need to have the means to shout to the world… WE LOVE YOU!

14. Check out their website.

The first step to any Internet or social media strategy is the website. Do they have a communication driven website or is it a web 1.0 brochure driven site? Are they interacting with people? Are they talking about social media? Are they talking to YOU and not about their services.

15. What do other people think about them?

Mentors are one of the greatest asset to any small business owner. Who would they choose? Maybe they think social media is a waste of time. You need to take that into account. Maybe they were burned in the past? It is extremely important to get another perspective when entering into a relationship with any type of consultant or marketing professional.

16. They advise you to start a Facebook page as the first step.

It isn’t about starting in one spot. If you are new to the world of social media it may be smart to start USING Facebook other than trying to manage all 5 but the last thing you need to do is just start a Facebook fan page. SM strategy should be surrounding an integrated marketing approach. Period.

17. The instant success test.

It takes time and knowledge to be successful at using social media as a small business strategy. If they promise instant results.. You should probably find another consultant. We usually promise success in up to 6 months depending on strategy and implementation.

18. What do they think about traditional marketing and advertising?

Ask them. If they come back to you and say that the traditional approach to marketing is dead. They are just riding the wave of no return. They will never understand the concepts of combining traditional and new media into an overall strategy. You will slowly drown them.

19. Ask them about Radian6 and CoTweet.

Radian6 and CoTweet are some of the better brand monitoring tools out there. Radian6 is a robust system that measures brand awareness and interaction and CoTweet is an awesome corporate Twitter tool.

If they have no idea about Radian6 or Cotweet. FAIL.

20. How long have they been using Twitter?

I have come across plenty of consultant who have been using Twitter for a matter of months. It is important for the consultant to know more than YOU… the client. Check up on their usage of the different tools on the web.

21. They believe in actually listening to your problems instead of convincing you about the world of social media.

There are plenty of ways to use social media to gain a successful advantage over competition or increase sales. If they have a one shot approach to using social media without listening to your pain and need… Fail them.

22. If they are still using an @aol.com, @aim.com, @comcast.net, or @att.net email. Fail them.

23. Listen for new approaches to strategy.

Everyone is offering to be a “social” consultant. Do they talk and think differently than anyone else you have listened to? If they do… You have a gem on your hands. Creative thinkers are the best social media consultants.

24. Are they a used car salesman? Do they seem genuine?

For the sake of argument I am going to list this. Do not work with someone you do not trust. Period.

25.Do they have any success stories?

Ask them about their history in using social media. The space is extremely new but there are people who are succeeding in using the tool. If they do not have case studies. Ask. If they cannot present you with a valuable case study… find someone else.

There are plenty more but this is just the beginning. Add to the list if you would like!

It is Impossible to Control Your Message

There is talk going around about how blogging, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites can help control your marketing message.   I completely agree with the assertion that you can help sway a particular message to the public but.. the world has a tendency to misunderstand where the CONTROL takes place.

It’s impossible to control HOW people interpret your message, but it IS possible to control WHERE the conversation takes place.

People will interpret your message in a way that is congruent with their beliefs and values.  You can’t change that.  When you start broadcasting your message through the social media sphere you will most certainly be misread, misinterpreted, misquoted, and you will be wrong… from time to time.  That’s fine.. it is all part of the game.  Don’t let that bother you.  Focus on the things you can control.

Where you have more control is the conversation.  If an unhappy customer is spouting bad news about your company on Twitter, you have the power to take the conversation offline… if you respond quickly.  If you’re using social media for lead generation, you have the power to lead prospects to your blog where you have the chance to convert them to customers.

Bad news can only hurt you if it stays on the social web.  Interested prospects are no good to you if you don’t lead them to your doorstep.  Your message will be warped by social media.  Spend your time thinking about where you want people to go and how to get them there.

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Are You Going to the YouToo Social Media Conference?

I wanted to let you all know about the YouToo Conference in Akron, Ohio on April 16th. I am going to be opening for Phil Gomes of Edelman Digital (Chicago).  theI can’t wait for this because it is going to be a fun time and AWESOME!

Check out the information and be sure to check out the YouToo Social Conference website.

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It’s not just Web sites and e-mail anymore. The use of social media in marketing and business communications exploded during 2009. In 2010, social media are being used in all phases of operations for companies and non-profits.

Business and non-profit communicators and students can learn how to tap into this vital network at the Third Annual You Too Social Media Conference to be held Friday, April 16, at Kent State University’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication in Franklin Hall, itself a national model for communications education.

The all-day conference, co-sponsored by the Akron Area Public Relations Society of America Chapter and the PRSSA Kent State Chapter, will include hands-on sessions with expert presenters in such branding tools as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. There will also a dessert reception for professionals and students to network.

Who: Akron Area PRSA and PRSSA Kent

What: Third Annual YouToo Social Media Conference

When: Friday, April 16, 2010 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Where: School of Journalism and Mass Communication
Franklin Hall
Kent State University
Kent, OH 44242
(Directions)

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