I frequently go to several businesses just like this and I think social media could make a BIG difference for them.  Some are choosing not to use social media because they feel it isn’t intimate enough for their businesses anymore.  This seems to be because there are so many businesses using social media ineffectively like a push marketing tool.  The important thing to remember about social media is that it can be whatever you need it to be for YOU and YOUR Business.  Because social media involves creating a community and relationships, you are in control.

Let’s focus on what makes one of these businesses a prime candidate for social media marketing success.  Here are a few of the signs:

• Passion.  The owner is passionate about what she does.
• Influence.  The owner is a leader and a teacher.  She has strong influence over her customers.
• Rock Solid Brand Message.  She is a great leader with a very solid brand message.
• Solid Business Plan.  She is clear on what she does, who her target customer is, her offering and her price point.
• Great Content Already Exists.  As part of her existing operations, the business develops daily, authentic brand messages that could be easily used as social media content.
• Established Tribe.   There is already an established loyal tribe that loves and trusts the business.
• Testimonials and Feedback.  Customers provide feedback routinely about their experience with the business.
• Requests for More.  Customers want more and can’t get enough from this business.

Our society is going through a fundamental shift that’s driving many to want more authentic heartfelt connections.  Social Media can help a business that’s connecting with a small group of people, grow that connection and their very important message to thousands or more who might really need it and their service or product.

Just like everything we do.  Social Media is the art that we create and the power comes from whatever we make happen.

Photo Credit Michaela Kobyakov, Austria.

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Below are 5 areas to help you measure your Social Media success and consider making changes for 2011:

Honest Benchmark – It starts with an honest review of where you are at in Social Media.  I am assuming if you are reading this post you are one of the many businesses which implemented Social Media this year.  If I was meeting with you in person I would ask if you followed through with your Social Media strategy and goals this year.  So many businesses jump into Social Media with great plans and a minimal strategy only to decide to abandon Social Media because they realize it takes more than just setting up a few profiles.  Even some of our clients at Square Martini Media after creating a detailed Social Media strategy discovered in the process that Social Media is a big of a commitment and had to reconsider moving forward.  Social Media takes someone within a company or a firm like ours actual hours, time, and money to make successful.

Review Analytics – Use Google Analytics or something similar to review your site traffic for the year.  If you are using Social Media as a marketing tool to bring traffic to your hub (website or blog) you should clearly see what areas within Social Media are working and which one are not.  This is a great way to discover opportunities while having some reality checks at the same time.  What worked and what can be improved on?  Are there areas within Social Media that you are spending a lot of time yet not getting the desired results?    Make the decision to change or abandoned what is not working and focus your resources on new strategies or expanding what is working.

Blogging and Facebook Business Pages – Are you creating new content?  Did you commit to a certain amount of posts this year and did you follow through?  Have you adjusted your posting calendar for both your blog and Facebook business page this year and have your reviewed the results?  Are there certain topics, themes, or discussions that seem to be more successful than others?  For many businesses their blog can be the majority of the traffic for their site.  Take some time and discover the posts that are still driving traffic to your website and how you might expand on them for 2011.

Social Media Profiles – When is the last time you updated your Linkedin Profile?  And speaking of profiles have you seen your Facebook profile lately?  Many business owners set up a profile and never look back.  Business goals and messages change, make sure your message is congruent with both your personal and business brands.  Block out time to review and make needed adjustments to your main Social Media profiles.

Show me the money! – Let’s talk about sales!  If you are using Social Media to create sales make sure to review your sales and see where they are coming from.  Is the time, effort, and money you are spending on Social Media bringing new sales to your business?  I have to make it clear that I am assuming you are tracking your sales.  Not kind of tracking or broadly tracking, but really making sure that you and every employee is making every possible effort to identify where each and every sale is coming from.  I have talked to many business owners this year who swear they are tracking their sales.  Typically when I dig deeper and ask more questions about their sales they realize they are not tracking as well as they thought.  This is one of the biggest mistakes made in business today.  You must have great sales tracking to know if Social Media or any marketing strategy is working.  If you cannot clearly identify sales from Social Media it is time to adjust your tracking methods.

This is just a starting point for your Social Media marketing review and I would welcome any additional suggestions via comments below.  Make a commitment right now to not close 2010 without insuring your Social Media success for 2011!

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Step 1 – Define why you think social media will work for your business and what you are going to use social media for.  Are you trying to create sales, leads, brand awareness, or customer engagement?  You must know what you want before you begin.

Step 2 – Commit to the process.  Social media is a community.  Too many companies use it as a broadcasting tool and think they are using social media.  This is like placing a bowl of candy at your front door on Halloween with a note that says “please take one”.  Sure a few kids may take one and be perfectly happy but eventually someone will empty the entire bowl into their bag and the other kids are left with nothing but a note.  This result closely resembles many business Facebook pages and blogs- a great start yet no commitment to continue the process.

Step 3 – Seek out help from a credible social media firm to create your social media strategy.  Yes, you can do social media on your own by having an intern or someone with no business experience set up your Facebook page, Twitter profile, and LinkedIn account.  But this is not a social media strategy and in the end can create a PR and branding disaster that resembles the graveyard scene from your local haunted house.

Using social media in your business is no trick and the rewards for your business can bring you treats for years to come.  I encourage you to think about how you are approaching social media in your business and don’t be scared to contact us at Square Martini Media to help!

Square Martini Media is a San Diego based Social Media firm which specializes in working with both local and national small to midsized business who what to implement social media strategies to attract new customers to their business.

Photo Credit: Jeff Siarto

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10 easy ways to grow your Facebook friends:

1. Use the Facebook tools!  When you first log into Facebook scroll down and look for the Get Connected section on the right.  From here you can find your friends using Gmail, Skype, Yahoo, AOL, and more.  This is a fast and easy way to grow your friends on Facebook.
2. Add a Facebook link or button to your email signature
3. Make a habit to send follow up emails asking to connect on Facebook after meeting someone new.
4. Add a Facebook link to your business card
5. Review the friends of your current Facebook friends and see who you know and connect with them.
6. Add your Facebook link to your website, blog, and contact page
7. Do you use Twitter?  Tweet to your followers asking them to connect with you on Facebook.
8. Review the friends your current Facebook friends are suggesting to you.  Many times you will know these people and if not it’s a good opportunity to meet someone new.
9. Look at all those photos!  3 billion photos are uploaded to Facebook every month and many of your current Facebook friends upload photos.   Take a moment to review a few photos from your friends and if they are tagged you can easily send friend requests to those you may know.
10. Check out Xobni - Xobni is add on program for Outlook that gives you great email tools and shows you the social network links for each contact.

Are you using any of these methods now to grow your Facebook friends?  Do you have another suggestion to add to the list?  Don’t keep it a secret!  Make sure to take a moment, leave a comment, and share it with all of us!  Remember to also become a friend of Square Martini Media by liking us on Facebook!

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If you are a business owner, can you think along the same line with your social media strategy? “I’m a business owner, therefore I market…”  Can you sneak in times during the day to market your business?  I bet you do already.  If you don’t, I’m sure you could. You could even have a little fun with it if you wanted to turn it into a little challenge for yourself.  Or, even better, pick a social media marketing buddy and create a challenge with them.  Have your buddy text you everyday with the number of new business connections they’ve engaged via a social media channel (notice I didn’t say new friends they’ve added but actual engagements meaning someone they’ve actually had a conversation with because that’s when the magic starts happening).

Here’s my list of Ten Easy Tips for Finding Time for Social Media Marketing during your day to get you started:

1. During a Coffee Break
2. While Waiting for a Meeting to Start
3. Scheduling 15-30 Minutes at the End of Every Day
4. When You Can’t Sleep
5. When You’re Stuck on Solving Another Problem (Give Your Mind a Break and Market)
6. In a Taxi, on the Bus, in the Train or on an Airplane
7. Anytime You Are Following Up from an Event (A Conference, Association Meeting, Networking Event)
8. While Your Children are Doing Anything That Takes Too Long
9. While Stuck in Traffic
10. Waiting in Any Line

Let me know which ones you use or try out.  I’m also interested in hearing your other ideas or what you use to find time in your day.  After all, that’s what we all seem to have less and want more of these days.

By the way, the writer I mention in the beginning is our friend Chris Brogan.  His post also talks about how being a writer requires confidence, discipline, a fall-forward mentality and other great things that also apply to being a business owner.  It’s a great read if you are looking for inspiration in your business.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.  Contact us if we can help.

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Take the time to review your Linkedin profile right now.  Look at your Current and Past positions, Summary, Interests, and Groups for opportunities to implement the Linkedin profile strategy discussed in the video.

I hope you enjoyed the Social Media Minute and I look forward to your thoughts and comments. Please subscribe to the Square Martini Media YouTube channel and if you have a question you would like covered on the Social Media Minute, let us know by giving us your Social Media Minute Question.

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The Social Media Kool-Aid Guzzler: For many businesses after taking their first step (sip of the Kool-Aid) in social media they tend to immediately jump all in or start guzzling.  Businesses try to drink the entire pitcher of Kool-Aid in one sitting.  They set up profiles on every possible social media network barely stopping to take a breath and not even considering how they will keep up with all these profiles.  Social media strategy is out the door but they are sure all these profiles will bring them business.  Eventually these businesses decide the Kool-Aid doesn’t taste all that great.  It could be within a few weeks or a few months but all the social media activity stops and these businesses will now tell you “I tried that social media thing and it does not work”.

The Social Media Kool-Aid Big Gulpers:  Have you seen these before?  The 44 oz, 64oz, wait that’s not big enough the 1 gallon jug people carry around with a big straw hanging out?  Picture this jug full of Social Media Kool-Aid.  These Kool-Aid Gulpers are social media super users.  They are similar to the Guzzlers typically not having a social media strategy but don’t seem to quit.  They are constantly drinking, updating too many profiles and are the types of users you always see iPhone or Droid phone in hand.  In the middle of a meeting, party, or conversation these users are trying to update Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.  They may be taking pictures and uploading to Flickr or even shooting video and trying to get it up on YouTube on the spot.

If you are one of these two users how can you possibly be losing business?  You are doing everything right… right?

For the Guzzlers they lose business by spending so much time learning and applying social media as fast as they can and then just let it all go.   A lot of businesses think they need to do social media and think they can do it themselves.  Business owners and executives step away from their primary roles and try to become social media experts.  By doing this their business actually goes down and then a few months later they stop using social media anyway.  All that time and effort goes to waste.

For the Gulpers they don’t realize they are alienating the people around them.  These could be prospects or customers who don’t understand why you have your phone out and in hand.  The perception is you don’t care about the meeting or conversation which creates a feeling of indifference.  This indifference can grow to the point of losing long standing customers or prospects that are ready to buy.

The moral of the social media Kool-Aid story is to be aware of what you can become.  You truly do not want to be a Guzzler or a Gulper in social media.  If you are a business wanting to get started in social media ask for help.  Seek out social media marketing firms within your network and find out how they work.  Create a social media strategy and implement it over time.  Social media works for all types of business but you must have a strategy and plan.

If you want to learn how you can work with Square Martini Media on your social media strategy please visit or contact us page and use the form, email, or call us today.

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One of the most important benefits in creating social media profiles for your personal brand or business is the ability to control what potential clients learn about you when searching online.  The reality is with very little effort you can control the top 5 to 10 Google or Yahoo search results for your personal brand or business.

Here are the top 5 social media profiles you should consider keeping up to date:

1. LinkedIn - Known as the business social network yet many have no idea how to use LinkedIn to generate business.  The most common mistake I see with LinkedIn profiles is they are not complete or up to date.  Many times your LinkedIn profile is the number one search result for your name.
2. Twitter - A confusing social media tool for many but rest assured it’s really quite simple.  You can learn more about using Twitter for business from out past posts.  Twitter is the number two Bing search result for my name.
3. Facebook - Almost everyone has a Facebook profile!  But you must know that your Facebook profile is an extension of your personal brand and business.  What is shared and said on Facebook does not just stay on Facebook and many people are using Facebook as a reference tool.  My personal Facebook profile is the third result for my name on a Yahoo! search.
4. Plaxo - An online address book that is widely used by business professionals and also has a social network component called Plaxo Pulse.  My public Plaxo profile is the sixth listing in a Google Search.
5. Google Profile – Creating a Google Profile will allow you to control how you will appear in Google.  Your Google Profile will typically be the last result on the first page of Google.

You can create profiles on many more social networking sites but at a minimum take the time to create these five and keep them up to date with your current business and contact information.  Taking the time to do this will insure people will find you or your business when they are ready to buy!

And remember, I didn’t say you have to be actively participating on each of these networks to be found on search engines.  Of course, you’ll always get back what you put into each one.  But to ensure you’re solidly anchoring your personal brand, taking the minimal step of setting up a profile is an investment worth making.

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What is a Google Alert?  According to our friends at Wikipedia Google Alerts is a content monitoring service or what we call in social media, a listening tool.  Google Alerts will automatically notify you of new content published online as news, in a website, blog, or video based on your key word or phrase.

Google Alerts makes a users life easy by sending the results directly to their email account or rss feed. It may seem strange to get the results sent to email when the user could in theory receive similar results from a Google search, but this tool allows you to catch up on important information as its appears online in real time. This can really be convenient for two reasons.

The first reason is competition. Most worthy business competitors are going to have online advertisements, homepages, newsletters, Facebook Pages and Twitter accounts, and many more kinds of online activity. Google Alerts delivers the news of your rival businesses in real time, in one place so you don’t have to search for hours trying to find new information. It’s like a daily newsletter that tells you exactly what you want to know without all the extra and repetitive results that a normal search would provide for a user.

The second reason your company should use Google Alerts is to listen.  You want to know what is being said about you, your business, and your brand as it happens online.  This could be a news story about your company that you were not aware of or it could be a raving fan talking up your brand.  Positive or negative you must know what is being discussed online about your business.

Lastly, it’s easy to remove a Google Alert if you don’t want them anymore- just click the delete button from within the Google Alerts email you receive and you will no longer receive them. This means you have nothing to lose!

Take a moment and think of a few keywords or phrases about your business and add them to Google Alerts today!  This is a free tool that can easily be a powerful resource for any business.

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Twitter Names: @jeffrago,  @AngieSwartz

Twitter Talk Radio, hosted by Angie Swartz, is recorded live in the WSRadio studios in sunny San Diego! You can listen to the podcast by clicking on the links below and sign up for our RSS feed at the bottom of the page.

Each week on Twitter Talk Radio, we spend an hour broken up into four segments when we cover:

• Guests Offering Great Case Studies and Examples of How People and Businesses are Using Twitter and Social Media for Business
• Useful Tips for Listeners on Twitter for Business
• Twitter and Social Media Happenings in the News

Get “In Bed With” Jeff Rago

Host Angie Swartz interviews, Jeff Rago, Hollywood Entertainment Reporter and Producer about his career and new web TV series.   Jeff co-hosts “In Bed With” with Melissa Rowley. Learn more about Jeff’s amazing journey in the entertainment industry (including Extra! Host and Red Carpet Secret seeker) and how social media has helped mold and contribute to a more meaningful path of success.

Social Media Gives Your Business a Slow-Build POP with Jeff Rago

Host Angie Swartz and Jeff Rago talk in-depth about his show “In Bed With.” Listen to Jeff’s take on making the show a more intimate approach to the topics audiences love. Also, hear how he uses Twitter and other social media tools helped him build meaningful business relationships and his experiences with learning about social media strategy.

Business Owners Working in their Pajamas

Host Angie Swartz and guest Jeff Rago discuss upcoming “In Bed With” shows. Tune in to find out who his next guest is. (Hint: Ladies, you will love it!)  Jeff has big plans for a new show location and exciting sponsors (Hint: Victoria’s Secret and The W .  Angie and Jeff talk about the possibility of filming on site at a Cirque du Soleil location! This segment offers listeners a great sneak-peek of this comfy, cozy series.

Can Social Media Get “In Bed With” On the Air?

In this final segment host Angie Swartz and guest Jeff Rago discuss the hopeful future of “In Bed With” and how fans can help make the show succeed.  Angie also asked Jeff his biggest dreams for the show. The show has welcomed popular celebrities including Lukas Rossi and Mark Gantt and received great response. Listen in to hear about Jeff’s aspirations for the TV airing of his new series.

Comment below and tell us what you think about Jeff’s new show and how he can use social media to get it on the air! Who do you want to see Jeff interview?

Subscribe to Twitter Talk Radio:

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