As I am wrapping up my 2010 I am reminded of the different parts of my business to review, reflect, and consider changing. My personal and business Social Media strategy definitely makes it on the list. For me my personal and business strategy are very much in line with each other varying slightly. I recommend reviewing both even if you only use your personal Social Media profiles for staying in touch with family and friends.
Below are 5 areas to help you measure your Social Media success and consider making changes for 2011:
It’s time for the Social Media Halloween Martini! Yes I know you are thinking how can Halloween, social media, and martini’s possibly fit together? The answer is really quite simple. Social media is about engagement. Social media engagement is definitely a buzz word so the question I answer for many of our clients is what does engagement mean for my business? Social media engagement for your business is about building relationships, having great customer service, and attracting people to you through conversations and great content. Engagement leads to new likes on your Facebook business page, new views on your YouTube channel, new Twitter followers, new readers and subscribers to your blog, and of course what we all want, new customers.
Is social media a trick or a treat for your business? Many business owners are still unsure about how to approach social media for their business. Here are three steps to take before engaging in social media for your business:
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.
Ask us your social media marketing question … Free! Have you noticed the box to the right of this page? What is your social media question that you would like us to answer? Last week someone asked how to grow their Facebook friends?
10 easy ways to grow your Facebook friends:
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.
What? The Social Media Minute is a video series of short segments offering social media tips and answers to your questions about using social media for business.
Where? You’ll see Social Media Minute videos featured here on our blog, on our Facebook page and profiles and on our YouTube Channel.
When? Every other week
Why? The Why is the fun part. After all, we need a why for everything we do in business right? There are so many reasons why video is a must for business that this answer requires a list:
First let me say social media networks like Twitter and Facebook are a must use marketing tool for most businesses. What I mean by social media Kool-Aid is the common pattern for new social media users. I typically see two types of common patterns or Kool-Aid drinkers out of the business community when applying social media.
Social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin are a complete waste of time to business professionals! I remember hearing this statement a few months ago from a branding expert. I immediately looked around the room and felt sorry for all the businesses who might actually follow this advice. It’s shocking when you realize just how many supposed marketing and business experts still turn their head at the value of social media. Clearly they just do not understand or do not want to take the time to understand the benefits of social media for business.
Social media has created a competition of artificial relationships and in doing so created the impression that having more contacts, followers, or friends on a social media network means that person has more influence. Makes sense right? I once met a witty man with a shirt stating, “Facebook Friends: 500, Real Friends: 2.” Once you stop laughing, I should draw your attention to the fact that this actually matters for business. Watch this week’s Social Media Minute as Alan Underkofler explores this social media myth a bit further:
So dedicated followers of the Social Media Minute remember these two things:
I am sure you have heard of that little search engine called Google, but there’s another easy and powerful tool that so many people aren’t taking advantage of yet. Have you started using Google’s oh so powerful cousin the Google Alerts? If you haven’t, stop waiting!
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.
Did you see a twitter or Facebook logo at the bottom of the screen while watching CNN? Did you see a recent commercial or advertisement with just the Facebook business page listed for your favorite brand? No website… just the Facebook website.
Everybody else is doing it, right? All types of companies are turning to Social Media. Large fortune 100 companies, big local companies, all the way down to your favorite coffee shop down the street. Is everyone just jumping on the band wagon or is this social media stuff really working?
even if you only use your personal Social Media profiles for staying in touch with family and friends.
