Tag Archives: social media marketing
5 Great Social Media Tools for Small Business Owners

Use the 3 C’s of Social Media: Content, Community, Commerce

by on August 8, 2011 in Branding & Marketing, Social Media, Technology

5 Great Social Media Tools for Small Business OwnersIf you are running a small business today you better be using social media marketing.   Social media has taken over the internet over the past few years.  The great thing for small businesses is it’s all about the one-on-one connection, larger companies no longer have the upper hand. You must listen, engage and then inform. While social has given people a way to stay connected to friends it has also given small business owners the opportunity and power to network strategically. Once you have identified your niche target customer, it is crucial to utilize the three C’s of social media: content, community, and commerce.

Content

The first C to implement in your social media marketing efforts is content. The currency in social media is value, and that value is created by producing and sharing valuable content. There are lots of ways to create content: You can write blog posts or ebooks, produce audio interviews or podcasts, or offer webinars or short videos, to name a few.

There is no point in using social media to drive traffic to your company’s website if you have nothing new to offer when they get there. Producing fresh content on a regular basis will keep people coming back for more.

Blogging can be a great way to maintain a regular flow of fresh content. If you’re just starting out, here are some useful tips when it comes to launching a blog.

  • Set up an editorial calendar for your blog to help manage your schedule.
  • Get into the habit of writing a few posts per week at least three months before your blog goes live. This will result in an archive of blog content you can use to start off with a bang.
  • Launch your blog with at least 10 articles already posted rather than one lonely post. This will give your readers a taste of your blog’s flavor and what it’s all about.

Community

The next C of social media is community. Social media only thrives because of the people involved. One major benefit of participating in social media is the opportunity to position yourself as key influencer, and a great way to do that is by engaging your audience and building a community.

Put aside the marketing mindset, and be real with people. Your followers and fans want to know and engage with who is behind the content you share in social media. You can’t afford to be one of those people on Twitter or Facebook who is constantly blasting out links to your blog without offering any human interaction. It’s important to instead create a two-way dialogue with your followers and fans and foster social experiences.

For example, I use Twitter to convene small business owners weekly. I host a tweetchat each Wednesday from 8 to 9 PM ET called #Smallbizchat, during which I provide a guest expert and my audience comes to learn and interact with each other. It works because I’m offering valuable content as well as discussion and engagement.

If you want to succeed in social media, you have to get out there and build a network. The more social and interactive you are, the better your chances at building a powerful social media brand will be. Social media is a great way to build relationships on and offline. The biggest form of flattery online is when others share your content. Therefore, I use a 4:1 ratio of sharing others’ content over my own.

Some other ideas for building community with others include:

  • Posting on forums, commenting on blogs, or connecting with new prospects across your social media footprint.
  • Connecting with contacts you have on LinkedIn on other social networks like Facebook and Twitter, too.
  • Guest blogging for other blogs or offering opportunities for others to guest blog for you.

The world is yours to interact with and build community.

Commerce

The final C of the puzzle is commerce, which is a bit trickier than you may think. In a nutshell, people do business with people they like, know, and trust. In person, it takes three interactions before you can make a strong enough impact that will allow you to cultivate a sale. On the internet, it takes seven interactions to build a relationship that will result in commerce.

Obviously, the ultimate goal of social media marketing is to generate web traffic, qualified leads, and sales. But what makes social media so appealing is the fact that it is laid back and “social.”

Be careful about not being too promotional; no one wants to be sold to. In order to succeed as your own boss, first you need to warm up the prospect by attracting them with high quality content. Then you need to engage them through direct interaction.

Ask and answer questions. As soon as you’ve gained their trust and respect, you can approach them about business, but you should only talk about business in terms of the solutions you provide and the results clients have had from working with your business.

Do you have any other tips on social media marketing?

For more tips on how start or grow your small business subscribe to Melinda Emerson’s blog http://www.succeedasyourownboss.com.

Melinda F. Emerson, known to many as SmallBizLady is one of America’s leading small business experts. As a seasoned entrepreneur, professional speaker, and small business coach, she develops audio, video and written content to fulfill her mission to end small business failure. As CEO of MFE Consulting LLC, Melinda educates entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 companies on subjects including small business start-up, business development and social media marketing. Forbes Magazine recently named her one of the Top 20 women for entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter. She hosts #SmallBizChat Wednesdays on Twitter 8-9pm ET for emerging entrepreneurs. She also publishes a resource blog www.succeedasyourownboss.com Melinda is also the author of the national bestseller Become Your Own Boss in 12 months; A Month-by-Month Guide to a Business That Works. (Adams Media 2010)

This was originally posted on www.hubspot.com

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Where will Social Media Lead You in 2011?

by on January 18, 2011 in Guest Articles, Social Media

Where will Social Media Lead You in 2011?  By Barbara Pender

Mobile marketing will be among the hottest trends.  Are you ready?  Here is a checklist of the basic items you need to have and to hold as you begin to marry into this next rampant stage of Social Media.  I promise to leave you with processes and go-to links for further bookmarking.

While preparing for this article, a friend of mine reminded me that knowledge goes beyond learning; it is action that completes its cycle.  So I’m passing that on to you - read and react; because mobile marketing will leave you behind wondering “why wasn’t I part of that movement?”

What is Mobile Marketing, (MM)?  It was once referenced or defined as “horizontal telecommunication convergence”….uh yeah.  That’s how the geeks start out when honing a new feature or tool; give it an acronym or multi syllable name to scare everyone while we figure out what it is.  Now that we know, we can simplify it and let everyone in, so are you ready?  Great!  Mobile Marketing is marketing with a mobile device, yes – like your cell phone.  Here is a link to increase your knowledge via definitions in the MM industry, http://bit.ly/getyoursocialacttogether.

Now that we’ve covered the basics let’s move on to why mobile marketing is the trend.  Ask yourself; do you know anyone who does not have a mobile phone?  The industry has made it easy to get and the features quite easy to use – hence the phrase “there’s an app for that”.   I’m going to focus on one of the definition terms from the link above and that is LBS. 

Location based services is what a cell phone network offers, this vehicle is used to send custom advertising to you, the cell phone subscriber; and it is all GPS based.  Meaning that you’re not going to receive an ad from a small business in Ohio if you live in Iowa.  How does this happen?  There is a GPS chip built into your existing phone.

Foursquare, YELP, Facebook Places, just to name a few, utilize LBS technology.  How should you use them to leverage your business?  There are so many ways to explore and it can be overwhelming to decide which ones to use; yes more than one.  The reason is that your clientele will not all be using Foursquare, so it is important to know about more than one and decide which one or ones you will utilize when you put together your mobile marketing strategy.  Their concept is to connect with your friends at brick and mortar locations; where you will earn passports, rewards, points, badges and status labels.

As a business owner, you can embrace those titles and accolades by offering a discount to those who are the Duchess of your establishments (Yelp), or the Mayor of the town in your area (Foursquare).  The LBS is doing all of the work for you, it will be displayed on your social media tool and you should be running your marketing on that same platform. 

Remember that mobile marketing will allow you to send out exclusive and targeted promos, rewarding those who patronize your business and make others wonder why they are not and therefore will envy the deals.  Get on board with the mobile marketing trend!! 

  • Start with locating a good Social Media Strategist
  • Know your customer base
  • Know your audience
  • Arm your business with the right mobile marketing tools

Take a deeper look at the benefits of using some of these tools, expanding the search to practices that will actually benefit your small business.  Sharing location updates, geo-tagging, commenting with customers; becoming part of their mobile address book, online social networks, communities and blogs. 

Barbara Pender is a Social Media coach, providing training and speaking opportunities covering this fast paced industry.  Connect with her on Facebook — and follow her on Twitter.

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How To Get Started Using Social Media To Promote Your Small Business

by on July 8, 2010 in Q & A Interview, SmallBizChat, Social Media, Your Small Business

Every week as @SmallBizLady, I conduct interviews with experts on my Twitter talk show #SmallBizChat. The show takes place every Wednesday on Twitter from 8-9pm ET. This is excerpted from my recent interview with Liana “Li” Evans @StorySpinner who is known as the online marketing geek girl who loves all things social media! ­She has been an accomplished online marketer since 1995. She is also the author of Social Media Marketing: Engaging Strategies for Facebook, Twitter & Other Social Media.

SmallBizLady:  Can Any Small Business Use Social Media?

Li Evans: I believe that any small business can use some aspects of social media, there are many different types, it’s a matter of what’s the right fit for the business & where their potential audience is.

SmallBizLady:  What’s the biggest mistake a small business can make in social media?

Li Evans: Not setting goals and measuring what they are doing to meet those goals.  Without setting goals and measuring what you are doing, how will you know if your efforts are successful, need to be tweaked or a complete waste of your time & resources?

SmallBizLady:  Where should a small business start in social media?

Li Evans: Understanding your target demographic thoroughly because you’ll need to research where they are active online in social media to engage with them.

SmallBizLady:  Can my social media activities also help give my business leverage in search marketing?

Li Evans: Absolutely!  Although you shouldn’t just do social media for search rankings, the content you produce for your audience and customers in social media can definitely be leveraged in your efforts search marketing such as SEO.

SmallBizLady:  What issues do you hear as a stumbling block for small businesses not getting into social media?

Li Evans: Mostly that these smaller companies are afraid of what’s being said about them in the social media environments.  Since they are smaller, they tend to “hear” more one on one from customers and they are afraid that this can get amplified in social media communities.  Instead of looking at these situations as opportunities, many small businesses make the mistake of either ignoring them, or dismissing them arbitrarily.

SmallBizLady:  Can a company actually sell “things” through social media?

Li Evans: That’s a pretty tricky question, it really depends on what it is you are trying to sell.  Is it your brand, is it your reputation, or is it physical things?  It’s a lot harder to track back “sales” of a product or service to interactions in social media than it is to track back brand lift, buzz, and even sentiment.

SmallBizLady:  Can other parts of my marketing plan work with my social media marketing initiatives?

Li Evans: Certainly!  In fact I often say the “social media cannot operate in a vacuum”.  You actually need to integrate all aspects of your marketing efforts with your social media efforts.  Everything for paid advertising, affiliate marketing, email and even your offline marketing efforts should be integrated with what you are doing in social media.

SmallBizLady:  If my competition is out in social media, tweeting, on Facebook, and Myspace, should I be there too?

Li Evans: Not necessarily.  You should have those profiles secured in the prominent social media sites, but actively engaging there because your competition is there is the wrong reason to be there.  Even though they are your competition, you still might have a different audience.  On top of that, how do you know the competition is finding their engagement in the social sites beneficial?  It’s better to do the research on your own audience than worrying about your competition in social media.

SmallBizLady:  What are some of the biggest misconceptions of social media?

Li Evans: That it’s easy, quick and cheap!  The media plays up social media as this easy to implement marketing godsend that practically happens overnight, when that’s far from the reality.  What they fail to outline is that relationships take time to build, trust doesn’t come easy ad that just because it’s free to have a Twitter or Facebook account, that doesn’t mean your time is free to run the accounts.

SmallBizLady:  Is there some sort of guidelines small businesses should follow for setting up a successful social media strategy?

Li Evans: I call it the “Four Pillars of Social Media Marketing”.  The first pillar is research, without doing it you won’t know where to even start or how you should be engaging.  The second pillar is strategy, without a strategy how are you going to know what you are doing, who’s going to do it and how are they going to do it?  The third pillar is engagement.  Without engaging your strategy will be dead in the water, you can’t just lurk in social media, for your strategy to be successful in social media, you actually have to be social!  The fourth and final pillar is measurement, without measuring what you are doing, how are you going to know if what you are doing is helping you attain your success goals?

My other “guidelines” are outlined in Social Media Marketing:  Strategies for Engaging in Facebook, Twitter & Other Social Media – there’s 45 chapters chock full of good advice and guidelines any business can follow.

SmallBizLady:  Should I let my employees engage in social media?

Li Evans: How can you stop them?  That would be my question to any business owner.  When your employees leave your four walls, what they do in their own time is of course their own.  Undoubtedly they are on some kind of social network, whether its YouTube, Flickr or Facebook.  They are sharing and engaging with their friends and family. 

The question is should you let your employees engage in social media for you?  That’s a question you need to research and understand how your employees communicate currently with your customers.  It’s also about placing guidelines for your employees to understand how they should represent you in social media.  If everyone is on the same page with your message and understanding where you want to be at the end of the day, utilizing your employees in social media can actually be mutually benefiting.

SmallBizLady:  What if I don’t have a lot of time, can I still do something in social media to market my small business?

Li Evans: Sure!  Pick the most valuable channel you can and dedicate the time you have to mastering it and engaging with your audience there.  Make yourself a valuable asset to the community and pour your heart into it.  Let the community know you are real and there to help.  Spreading yourself too thin by trying to be everyone with very little time only hurts your efforts.

If you found this interview helpful, join us on Wednesdays 8-9pm ET follow @SmallBizChat on Twitter. 

How to participate in #SmallBizChat: http://bit.ly/S797e

Melinda F. Emerson, also known as SmallBizLady is a seasoned entrepreneur, professional speaker, and small business coach. Her firm MFE Consulting LLC, specializes in small business start-up, business development and social media marketing. She hosts #SmallBizChat weekly on Twitter for emerging entrepreneurs.  She also publishes a resource blog www.succeedasyourownboss.com. Her first book Become Your Own Boss in 12 months; A Month-by-Month Guide to a Business That Works was released in March 2010 by Adams Media. For more information: www.becomeyourownbossbook.com

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