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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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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Twitter Names:   @VPG_Printing, @AngieSwartz, @AlanUnderkofler.

Twitter Talk Radio 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 and cover:

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

Vertical Printing & Graphics Changes their Business Model with Social Media

Angie Swartz and guest host Alan Underkofler interview Laura Beulke of Vertical Printing & Graphics about how she used social media to refocus her business model when the real estate market slowed. Listen in to learn more about establishing an online presence for your small business.

Vertical Printing & Graphics on Success in Advertising a Small Business Via Twitter

Angie Swartz and guest host Alan Underkofler talk with Laura Beulke about expanding her business via her successful Twitter strategy.  Learn more in this segment about generating customer engagement and turning social media exposure into sales.

Vertical Printing & Graphics Attributes 18% of Sales to Twitter

Angie Swartz and guest host Alan Underkofler talk with Laura Beulke about her experiences with social media sites and her initial reservations about the effectiveness. She shares about her hardships as a small-business owner and how she capitalized on free social networking to re-strategize her marketing campaign.  Laura discusses how 15-18% of her total revenue last year came from Twitter.

Vertical Printing & Graphics on Yelp & Foursquare

Angie Swartz and guest host Alan Underkofler finish up the show by discussing Laura Beulke’s feedback and what she’s learned from experiences with customer review sites like Yelp.com.   They also discuss future plans with sites like Foursquare and what might be in store for the Mayor.

Leave a comment on Laura Beulke’s social media strategies for small businesses and share your own success stories!

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1. Networking – Clearly the more active you are on LinkedIn the more exposure you have.  This brings you more clients and referrals
2. LinkedIn Search People – Who are you looking for?  You are only one, possibly two, LinkedIn connections away from your next large customer.
3. LinkedIn Answers – With LinkedIn, you have the ability to ask questions and get answers from the entire LinkedIn Network.
4. LinkedIn Profile – Your profile is a great way for people to remember who you are as well as what you look like.  Having your picture and information current is an excellent way for people to identify with you at a future event.  Viewing someone’s profile while following up via phone gives you a great advantage since you can instantly identify ways to engage them in the conversation.
5. LinkedIn Recommendations – With LinkedIn, you can receive ongoing testimonials. When your clients and vendors give you recommendations, you gain instant credibility.
6. Google Search – We are now in a time where most people will do a Google search for your name and company before deciding on a purchase.  Your LinkedIn profile along with the recommendations from your clients and vendors will be near the top of any search on your name clearly adding to your credibility.
7. LinkedIn Groups – LinkedIn gives you the ability to create and join groups.  The ability to join groups with likeminded people or your target market gives you a great advantage as well as increases your exposure to potential clients and referrals.

So can you really make money by using LinkedIn?  Check out this great article on LinkedIn’s Blog “I’ve made millions of dollars through LinkedIn”.  You can’t afford not to be in this network!

If this 7 Top Reasons LinkedIn is a Must Have for Your Business still hasn’t convinced you that participating in LinkedIn is worth your time post a comment because we would love to hear your reasoning.  If you have a great success story with LinkedIn please share it by leaving a comment!

Although an essential element Square Martini Media considers LinkedIn just one factor in your overall social media business strategy.

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