Treating social media as a marketing tool

I have to admit I am addicted to Twitter. I love following folks from around the world. I can talk hockey to a fan in Canada, get advice from an entrepreneur in London and live vicariously through a hilarious travel writer in Minneapolis. That's what makes it so much fun.

I also realize the power social media offers entrepreneurs and small business owners. Used strategically, methodically, consistently and proactively, social media tools like Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, YouTube, Digg, Reddit, Delicious and other sites can drastically improve your position as an expert in your field, connect with your ideal clients, educate you on current issues and even secure new projects.  That's if you are treating it like any other marketing tool.

That means setting goals, short-term objectives, key metrics and deadlines for the social media sites you plan to incorporate into your marketing plan.  Just as you would create a plan for your advertising, you should do the same for your key social media platforms.  And just as you measure your return on investment in advertising, the same holds true for social media, although instead of counting dollars you could measure awareness, comments, clicks or direct messages,... Just beware of relying on followers, fans or connections to determine how well your plan is succeeding. Not all followers are the same; some people just want to increase their numbers without any intent to provide quality content.

By being strategic about your social media activities, you can drastically reduce the amount of time wasted online and increase awareness for your business.

Building relationships through social media

For many, social media is anything but social. Sitting alone in a room in front of a computer doesn't scream community, but there are ways to build relationships online that could benefit your business.

1. Interact through direct message tweet, retweets, blog comments and Facebook posts. Communication is a two-way street, so take time to get to know your online friends.

2. Ask questions and solicit advice. Create opportunities for people to communicate with you and each other.

3. Reward your followers and fans. Offer discounts on products, preview of a new publication or a special report just for your followers.

4. Be authentic. Post the way you talk and make sure to stay true to who you are. Your ideal client will be attracted to you, so if you are not genuine online, they will not be happy when they work with you offline.

5. Have fun. Let your personality shine through by sharing some personal items with your online community. Find a healthy balance of personal and professional and enjoy building new relationships with your (hopefully) new clients.

Storytelling with social media

If you are treating social media as an afterthought or a never thought, then you are missing a huge opportunity to reach out to your ideal clients and share your message.

But how in the world do you tell your business story in 140 characters?

You don't. It's not about just one tweet or one Facebook post. It is about a strategic plan that integrates your business story into your marketing plan - a plan that incorporates social media - to reach your clients and achieve your goals.

Treat your social media tools as a vehicle to spread your story, showcase your clients and educate others on the solutions you offer.

The best way to do this is to plan your tweets, posts and comments and make sure you clearly express your key messages and talking points.

Just remember social media is a two-way street. Offer your followers and fans a chance to interact with you and provide precious feedback.

Most importantly, make sure you are telling your story, not selling your story. At least 80 percent of what you offer on social media sites should be content, with 20 percent or less sales and promotions. Nobody wants to follow an infomercial.

Add personality to your posts and value to your tweets and watch your story spread across the social universe.

Measuring social media efforts

If you think social networking sites are impossible to measure, then check out the following sites for tools to track your online efforts.

Google Alerts - Like other Google services, it's free and easy to set up.  You can receive emails daily or weekly with links to articles, blogs and other sites on keywords, like your name and/or your business name.

Google Analytics - Google Analytics can provide a really powerful baseline for a variety of different factors. You can track incoming links and then the activities of the users they send, which can be helpful.

TweetMeme Analytics - Use Tweetmeme retweet buttons on your sites to monitor the performance of the content on your website/blog, find out which user demographics were interested in your content and more.

PostRank Analytics - This suite of tools measures social engagement on other platforms and services. What's nice about PostRank is that instead of just a raw number, you can actually see the messages and comments from other sites that contribute to your stats.

HootSuite - HootSuite is a great Twitter manager but also offers impressive analytics. You can look at daily clicks, referral and regional stats and your most popular tweets from Twitter.

There is no longer the excuse that it's difficult or expensive to track and measure your activities on social media sites. 

Nine Steps to Developing a Social Media Plan

Social media is not longer an option for entrepreneurs and small businesses. It is a must. Just as having a website establishes credibility and provides information to potential clients, social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn do the same thing, as well as show you are in touch with the latest technology and coolest tools.

How does an already overwhelmed business owner add social media to their normal marketing and networking responsibilities without spending hours on the computer, and away from serving clients?

By being very smart and strategic. Here are nine steps to developing a social media plan that enhances your marketing efforts and creates a buzz for your business, without wasting time and energy.

1. Know who you are trying to reach and go where they are. Chances are your potential clients are on Facebook, but how do they use the site? Do they only play Farmville or catch up with family and friends? Or do they use Facebook as a business networking tool? Knowing which sites they use and how they use it will help you customize your posts and online efforts.

2. Be strategic about your posts and tweets. Nothing get you "unliked" or blocked faster than hard selling. Be mindful of the type of posts you write. You want to offer quality content over self-serving comments. Think about articles or information that will benefit your followers while showing you as an expert or leader in your field.

3. Add variety to your communications. Mix your posts between services, products, testimonials, client spotlights, solutions to a problem, questions or market research, quotes, interesting articles and videos, reposts or retweets, blog posts, personal comments, general company information and fun stuff.

4. Set goals and measure results. This is a tough one and something most businesses are not doing with their social media efforts. It is important to know what you want to accomplish and how you will determine success. Will you track the number of followers and "likes"? How about the number of retweets, mentions, comments, interactions or page suggestions? How will you know if your hard work is paying off?

5. Think about interaction and influence, not followers and fans. Would you rather have 500 fans/likes that never interact with you or 50 very active fans that love what you do and engage in your conversation? It is not all about the numbers, but about the level of interaction and engagement.

6. Allow your personality to show through. People want to work with people they know, like and trust, and social networking sites provide a great avenue to show your personality and core values. Don't be afraid to get personal with your posts, just decide how much you want people to know, especially if you decide to talk politics or religion.

7. Integrate your key messages into your online presence. Just because you have 140 characters to get your point across does not mean you abandon your key messages and go off script. You must still speak in the same tone and with the same intent as you would in all of your offline marketing.

8. Be consistent and patient. Give yourself a few months before you decide to make changes. You may need to make a few tweaks before you see benefits. If you get frustrated, consider hiring a marketing or public relations expert to help you with your messaging and help integrate your marketing plan into your online presence.

9. Make the commitment to making social media a part of your workday. Create a schedule and stick to it. Ten minutes three times a day (morning, lunch, before leaving work) should be plenty of time to really make a huge impact online. Use third-party sites like Hootsuite and TweetDeck to help plan your posts in advance and keep personal time online to a minimum.

10. Bonus tip: HAVE FUN.

Taking a strategic approach to your social media will keep you from wasting time online while creating brand buzz and building strong relationships.

Five tips for building relationships through social media

If you are using social media as a marketing strategy to reach current and new clients, set yourself apart as an expert or research market needs, then you need to also be focused on building relationships online.

For many, social media is anything but social. Sitting alone in a room in front of a computer does not scream community, but there are ways to build relationships online that could benefit your business.

1. Interact through direct message tweets, retweets, blog comments and Facebook posts.Communication is a two-way street, so take time to get to know your online friends. This is such an important part of social media, but very few people actually take the time to interact with their friends and followers. Set aside a few minutes each day to network with people in your industry, especially those considered experts in the field. Never have these highly regarded leaders been so accessible. Respond to their blogs and tweets and watch your credibility increase and your net of followers expand.

2. Ask questions and solicit advice. Create opportunities for people to communicate with you and each other. What better way of creating a community than to find ways to bring people together in the name of a friendly debate or unifying to find a solution to a problem. Everyone wants to feel needed and valued, so soliciting comments is a fun way to get people active on your site and invested in your business.

3. Reward your followers and fans by offering discounts on products, a preview of a new publication or an exclusive report just for your followers. Who doesn't want to feel special? Find unique ways of offering benefits to those who are loyal to your business and be ready for a great return on your investment.

4. Be authentic. Post the way you talk and make sure to stay true to who you are. Your ideal client will be attracted to you, so if you are not genuine online, they will not be happy when they work with you offline.

5. Have fun. Let your personality shine through by sharing some personal items with your online community. Find a healthy balance of personal and professional and enjoy building new relationships with your (hopefully) new clients.

While it does take some time and a little bit of effort to build relationships through social media, it is vital to the success of your online marketing plan and overall marketing strategy.

Foursquare still rules (for now)

Facebook Places is just a few weeks old, so the big debate over whether it will cause the slow death of Foursquare is yet to be seen. While both are location-based check-in services, they currently serve very different purposes.

Foursquare is much more business-friendly than Facebook Places (for now). As a business owner, you can offer discounts to anyone who checks into your store or office, reward the mayor of your business and encourage groups to meet at your place in hopes of creating a swarm. Foursquare is more like a game than anything else. The more times you check into a location, the more points you get and the higher rank you receive. You can even see who else has checked into the same location, which leads to the awkward look around the room to see if you can spot the other cool kids playing the same game. Privacy is more secure on Foursquare- only your Foursquare friends know where you are, unless you allow your check-ins to be posted to Twitter and Facebook.

For now, Facebook Places is a novelty being used by a brave few souls. And just like folks tweeting what they ate for lunch when Twitter first rolled out, Facebook Places is just as annoying. Eventually, Facebook Places will be tied into Facebook Business Pages, which opens a whole new level of opportunity for business owners. Until Facebook deals with their trust/privacy issues, Facebook Places will not be embraced by the masses. Who knows if that will ever be settled.

Until then, consider adding Foursquare to your marketing arsenal. It is a fun way to reward customers and is still new enough to be hip and cool. 

Would your business benefit from GroupOn?

I was taking part of a TwitChat on Tuesday with brilliant public relations professionals around the world. It is a fast-past discussion about the hottest topics in the industry. The first question had to do with the benefits, or potential image damage, of using coupon sites like GroupOn.com to promote your business.

The site just had a successful run promoting coupons for a $50 gift certificate to the Gap at a cost of $25 to the GroupOn member. Comments from the PR pros ranged from how to capture names, gain repeat business, provide quality customer service, managing ROI and maintaining brand reputation.

One of the most interesting questions asked was about brand reputation. Does offering such a deep discount hurt the Gap's image? Does the coupon speak to their ideal customers? Can it create customer loyalty? Can this promotional buzz hurt their image and business in the long run? 

Some thought the promotion made them look desperate. Others thought it was a great tool to attract attention and be seen as leaders in the emerging social media field.

I can see both sides. You have to know your ideal clients, what messages work best to motivate them to use your service/product, what gains their trust and loyalty and what turns them off. 

You have to be clear enough with your brand identity or you could really do damage to your reputation, and your bottom line.

For example, the Tennessee Smokies minor league baseball team offered a great discount on GroupOn. For just $20, you received 4 playoff game tickets, 4 hot dogs, 4 small drinks and 4 game programs- a $64 value. 

The brilliant part of the offer is it is only valid for two playoff games, both in the middle of the week; game days that historically would have low attendance. By offering this discount to a limited number of fans on GroupOn, even at a steep discount, they increase the number of people in the crowd. People who have to pay for parking. People who will probably visit the concession stand for more to eat or drink. People who may become new Smokies fans. And people who tell other people about the game and their experience.

So, is it fun to jump on the newest, hottest social media tool. Yes. Is it always the best idea. No. Knowing who you are trying to reach and what you need to say is still the best way of marketing your business. It's just not as sexy.

Building a Buzz on Twitter

I'm often asked by small business owners and entrepreneurs if they should be using Twitter for their business. They seldom like my answer, mainly because I respond with a series of questions.

"What is your goal for using social media?"
"Who are you trying to reach?"
"How much time are you willing to spend each day on social media?"
"Do you want to use Twitter, or feel like you 'should' use Twitter?"
"Are you willing to get out of your comfort zone and make a commitment?"

There is no doubt Twitter is a great tool for some businesses. A recent study by Chadwick Martin Bailey and Imoderate Technologies found 67 percent of Twitter followers are more likely to buy at least one brand since becoming a follower and 79 percent of followers are more likely to recommend at least one brand since becoming a follower.

The study also found Twitter followers want to be "Brand Insiders." They have shown their loyalty and willingness to spread the word about your business, so it makes sense they want to be rewarded for their support.

Here are some tips for using Twitter to create a buzz for your business.

1. Offer inside scoops, special, discounts, coupons and other incentives exclusively to you followers
2. Ask for help or ideas
3. Solicit ideas
4. Publish solutions, useful tips and fun facts
5. Comment and retweet to recognize and acknowledge followers
6. Answer tweets, but resist the urge to sell
7. Participate in conversations
8. Thank people for following
9. Join Twitter chats to be seen as a leader in your field and learn from other experts

Incorporating just a few of these tips will greatly increase the amount of buzz generated about your business. Just remember to be consistent and have patience. Most of all, be yourself and have fun.

Six tips to reaching out to bloggers

If you have never considered bloggers as a group you need to reach out to, then you are missing a huge opportunity to increase brand awareness, promote your products and/or services, connect with people seeking information on your niche (and maybe potential clients), announce upcoming events, expand your reach and even be seen as a leader in your field.

It is not an easy process, but adding blogger outreach to your social media plan will pay huge dividends. Here are some tips to get you started.

1.  Build a targeted list. Research your market and look for bloggers that cover that topic. Do not just go after blogs with the largest readers. Instead, use Google Blog Search, Technorati, PostRank and Alltop to find blogs on specific topics. Look for bloggers that reach the same audience you want to reach. Don't forget to check our local blogs as well. Select 10 to 20 blogs to follow and research further.

2. Get to know the bloggers. You should check out each blog, read several blog posts and look at the "About Us" page to learn more about the person who writes the blog. You need to understand the purpose of the blog and get an idea of their writing style, content and history. While you are there, make sure to reach through the comments to get a sense of how they interact with their followers.

Here is a cool tip: you can figure out whether they blog about your topic by going to Google and typing in "site:http://theirsite.com yourtopic" where http://theirsite.com is their website address and yourtopic is, well, your subject, all that without the quotation marks.

3. Become a regular follower and commenter. Comment when it is appropriate and when you have valuable content to add. Never push your products or services when commenting on blogs. Do add your website to your post so those interested can learn more about you.

4. If you do have something you want to promote to the blogger, send an email or fill out the online form, make sure to personalize the pitch and be brief. It is not a good idea to send a generic press release or a general form letter. Let them know you read their blog and are familiar with its content. Best of all, make sure they know you have something their readers will be interested in. They don't care about making money for your business, they care about things that benefit their followers.

5. Follow your top bloggers on Facebook and Twitter. This is an extra way to gain familiarity for yourself while learning more about what they like to cover.

6. Lastly, be respectful. A lot of bloggers cover what they love and their blogs are very personal to them. It is not their job to promote you or your business. Be respectful.

Taking the time to build relationships with top bloggers in your niche is a great way to expand your reach and build your community.

What's all the chatter?

One of my favorite things about Twitter are the chat groups. On any given night, you can join dozens, or even hundreds, of other Twitterers in a lively discussion about a specific topic. Not only can you learn from others in the field, but you can establish yourself as a leader and expert while gaining new followers.

How does a Twitter chat work? The moderator of the group will post questions for everyone to tweet about during specific time. Everyone who participates in the chat tags their posts with the hashtag name of the group (i.e. #socialmedia). You can search for the group name and read all of the posts associated with the chat. You can even go back and read the transcripts of the chats if you miss it.

Here is a list of some of my favorite chat groups, along with the time they "meet."

#4change: monthly discussion of using social media for social change (second Thursday of each month from 5-7 p.m. EST)

#blogchat: bettering your blog (every Sunday from 9-10 p.m. EST)

#brandchat: discussion between experts, strategists and those interested in learning more about personal branding and managing their personal brand (every Wednesday from 11 a.m.-12 p.m. EST)

#engage365: open to association and meeting industry members- focused on social media for events (every Friday from 1-2 p.m. EST)

#entprchat: weekly conversation on entertainment, fashion, public relations and management issues (every Tuesday from 8-9 p.m. EST)

#journchat: conversation between journalists, bloggers and public relations folks (every Monday from 8-11 p.m. EST)

#mrktchat: discussion regarding travel and tourism marketing (every Thursday from 5-6 p.m. EST)

#pr20chat: discussion of where public relations is heading (every Tuesday from 8-10 p.m. EST)

#sbbuzz: weekly chat about small business for small business owners, techies, social media mavens and folks who love them (every Tuesday from 8-10 p.m. EST)

#smallbizchat: helpful tips and advice geared toward small business startups and those who have been in business for less than five years (every Wednesday from 8-9 p.m. EST)

#smbiz: open chat session where small businesses of every kind can meet, network and ask all kinds of questions in any area (every Tuesday from 8-9 p.m. EST)

#smchat: exploring and driving the new media paradigm (every Wednesday from 1-2:30 p.m. EST)

#socialmedia: advancing the business of social media (every Tuesday from 12-1 p.m. EST)

#solopr: open discussion designed for independent public relations professionals (every Wednesday from 1-2 p.m. EST).

Find a list of chats and search for transcripts of previous chats at what the hashtag.

Should you foursquare?

I have to admit I've been slow to jump on the foursquare bandwagon. Maybe it's the gypsy in me, but I don't want everyone to know where I am every second of the day.

It seems I may be the only one left not on board the foursquare ship. So, I thought I would do some research and see what the buzz is all about.

From foursquare.com:

Foursquare aims to encourage people to explore their neighborhoods and then reward people for doing so. We do this by combining our friend-finder and social city guide elements with game mechanics — our users earn points, win Mayorships and unlock badges for trying new places and revisiting old favorites.

As a business owner, you can use foursquare to engage your increasingly mobile customers with foursquare "Specials," which are discounts and prizes you can offer your loyal customers when they check in on foursquare at your venue. Don't forget to show extra love to your venue's Mayor! Additionally, if you offer foursquare Specials to your customers, you will be able to track how your venue is performing over time thanks to our robust set of venue analytics — for free!

Okay, I'm intrigued. I can see tons of opportunities and possibilities for brick-and-mortar businesses and even festivals and special events, pretty much any place that welcomes visitors. 

I'm going to play around with foursquare and do some more research and report back. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, does your business foursquare? Any advice or tips you want to share?

Growth of Social Media

Here is part of an article posted on Social Media Examiner. Click here to read the entire article. It is full of great information on the growth of social media.

A recent study, “The State of Small Business Report,” sponsored by Network Solutions, LLC and the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, points to economic struggles as the catalyst for social media’s rapid popularity.

The study results show that social media usage by small business owners increased from 12 percent to 24 percent in just the last year, and almost 1 out of 5 actively uses social media as part of his or her marketing strategy.

Here’s a breakdown of what the small businesses reported as the main uses of social media marketing:

• 75% have a company page on a social networking site
• 69% post status updates or articles of interest on social media sites
• 57% build a network through a site such as LinkedIn
• 54% monitor feedback about the business
• 39% maintain a blog
• 26% tweet about areas of expertise
• 16% use Twitter as a service channel

According to the study, different industries are adopting social media marketing at different rates, and while many industries have started using social media marketing in their efforts to reach more customers, many still have not positioned it as their top priority.

According to the survey, “Professional services firms, real estate businesses and entertainment/food/ lodging businesses rely more on email marketing than other types of small businesses.  Firms in the education/health/social services sector rely more on social media marketing and direct mail.  Not surprisingly, retailers depend more on print and broadcast advertising.”

The report also measured small businesses’ expectations of social media. While 58 percent feel that social media “met expectations,” 12 percent feel it has “exceeded expectations,” while 25 percent feel social media has “fallen short of expectations.”

Some of the reasons given for social media’s shortfalls were:

• 50% feel it has used up more time than expected
• 19% believe social media has lost them money
• 17% feel social media has allowed people to criticize their business

So, how has social media worked for your business? What is the most exciting part? What is the most frustrating part? How many hours a week are you spending on social media sites? How much success have you had integrating social media into your traditional marketing strategy? How do you determine success in social media?

Absolutely Free (and Cool) Social Media Tools

The best thing about social media is it's free, except for the time spent online trying to figure it all out.

Here are some of the best free tools you should be utilizing to manage your time and efforts in the ever expanding social media realm.

1. Social Oomph: Schedule tweets, track keywords, set auto replies and auto follow/unfollows, send DMs to new followers, vet new followers, view @mentions and retweets, and much more.

2. Hootsuite: Hootsuite is one of my favorite tools. You can manage multiple Twitter profiles, along with  your Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and Foursquare accounts, pre-schedule tweets and measure activities.

3. Tweetmeme: Tweetmeme finds the hottest stories for you to retweet. You can also add a tweetmeme app to your blog posts, making it easier for readers to promote your blog.

4. Alltop: Alltop is like an online magazine rack. They collect headlines of the latestest stories from tbe best sites and blogs that cover a topic. I use the site for links to articles that might be interesting for my Twitter followers. I've also discovered some great blog topics from the headlines.

5. Social Mention: Social Mention is a social media search engine that searches user-generated content such as blogs, comments, bookmarks, events, news, videos and more.

6. BoardTracker: BoardTracker is the leading search engine for message boards and forums and provides innovative search, analysis and social networking technology to bring people closer to the boards

7. Digg: Digg is a social news website that can help you share blog posts and web pages. It is a great tool for promoting your own web pages, blog posts and online articles.

8. Delicious: Delicious is a social bookmarking web service for storing, sharing, and discovering web bookmarks. It is another way to promote your favorite sites.

9. Google Buzz: Google Buzz is a social networking and messaging tool from Google. Users can share links, photos, videos, status messages and comments organized in "conversations" and visible in the user's inbox.

Just remember, you don't have to utilize all of these tools at once. Try one tool a week and see what works best for you. Some of these sites may just be the key to your social media success.

Have anything you want to share? Please do.

Treating social media as a marketing tool

I have to admit I am addicted to Twitter. I love following folks from around the world. I can talk hockey to a fan in Canada, get advice from an entrepreneur in London and live vicariously through a hilarious travel writer in Minneapolis. That's what makes it so much fun.

I also realize the power social media offers entrepreneurs and small business owners. Used strategically, methodically, consistently and proactively, social media tools like Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, YouTube, Digg, Reddit, Delicious and other sites can drastically improve your position as an expert in your field, connect with your ideal clients, educate you on current issues and even secure new projects.  That's if you are treating it like any other marketing tool.

That means setting goals, short-term objectives, key metrics and deadlines for the social media sites you plan to incorporate into your marketing plan.  Just as you would create a plan for your advertising, you should do the same for your key social media platforms.  And just as you measure your return on investment in advertising, the same holds true for social media, although instead of counting dollars you could measure awareness, comments, clicks or direct messages,... Just beware of relying on followers, fans or connections to determine how well your plan is succeeding. Not all followers are the same; some people just want to increase their numbers without any intent to provide quality content.

By being strategic about your social media activities, you can drastically reduce the amount of time wasted online and increase awareness for your business.