The Secret to Successful Social Media

Here are some notes from a handout I recently created when I was an expert speaker for Business Link on it’s Secrets of Online Marketing seminar tour across the South-East, I hope you find them useful:

What - is Social Media?
It is web based and mobile technologies that create an interactive dialogue and use ‘User generated content.’ It’s all about being ‘social’ which means discussion, sharing, and the imparting of information between organisations, communities and individuals.

Who – are the companies involved?
As a small or medium sized business the main social networks you need to consider are:

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Linked In
• Google Plus

Also, having your own blog can prove indispensible, this can be integrated into your website or you can use a low cost platform, such as, Wordpress.

Where – what is right for you?

• Who is your target audience and what do they use? 
• If don’t know  - ask them or have a look on Twitter or Facebook to see if any of your existing customers are there, whether they are businesses or individuals

Why – use it?
By using conversations and by being ‘social’ you can:

• Raise your profile
• Establish yourself as an expert
• Become the first people that people think of when they have a problem or need a product/service, inform
• Start discussions/debates
• Highlight new products/services
• Source contacts
• Carry out research or market testing
• Find out what others are up to: customers, competitors, industry associations
• Get opinions and so much more…

But most importantly, why do you want to do it? What are your needs and objectives?

When – do you do it?
Set aside regular time in your diary, how much/little is down to you, there is no right or wrong …Think about how important is Social Media to your business, how much time you have and do you need to delegate it to someone else?

The 3 How’s

How - do you know what to say?
Think about what do you want to talk about or promote and then set a brief plan for yourself. You may set aside an hour a week, so plan for the next month what you will talk about/ask for/do on those days. For example, you may have four things you want to highlight and you can discuss one of them in each of the weeks:

1. An event you’re holding 
2. A new product you are launching
3. Some information you would like to share 
4. Feedback on a new service

How - to get started
Try You Tube tutorials, buy a book or go on a course, source professional help, look among your own team to see if someone has a natural interest and knowledge you can use.

Then, once you have your accounts up and running you can:

• Search for existing customers to connect with and see who they are connected to
• Look for those clients you’d like to target and work with 
• Look at your competitors and who they are linked with
• Look for associations/groups you can join or belong to

How - do you know it’s working?

• Ensure new enquiries are recorded as to their source
• Look in your Google Analytics as to where web visitors are coming from
• Record how many followers/connections you have and review to see progress
• See how many people are talking about, mentioning you, joining your debates etc – this is all value for your business, it’s not just about direct, immediate sales.

Remember, Social Media is more about building long term relationships and raising your brand awareness combined with your website, advertising, networking - it’s a culmunitive effect! Use Google Alerts or Tweet Beep to keep an eye on what’s being said, these are free monitoring tools.

Other tips

• Links are good for the SEO (search engine positioning) of your website, link from your Social Media choices, such as, Twitter or Facebook to your blog stories on your website, or your news page or product pages
• Re-use content, for example, if you create a blog story, link to it from Twitter and Facebook, publish it on a Linked In group discussion board and submit it to article directories
• Don’t forget to be social! It’s not all you you you! Help others and join their discussions, helping to spread the word about their events or products/services, it will make people more likely to help you in return
• Have fun and show personality, but keep it professional, you don’t want to become too familiar and damage your brand in any way
• Make sure you integrate your Social Media activities into your overall marketing mix

Good luck, I hope you get great results!

By Natalie Page

Marketing for free!

Great marketing need not cost the earth, in fact there are lots of things you can do for free, they just require time, effort and organisation:

• Send out regular press releases to your local newspaper, or to a media that is right for your target audience
• Collect together some testimonials/case studies and display them on your website or in your literature
• Use the power of direct marketing to increase your sales: letters, emails or telephone calls (if you want results or if you’re tight on budget, direct is often best)
• Hold or run an event and get sponsors to cover the cost of food or drink
• Make a video for your website about your company or an aspect of what you do, perhaps giving free advice or tips. You can even start a You Tube Channel and link your website to it
• Social marketing (set up a blog, Twitter, Linked In, Facebook or Four Square account)
• Sign up to free online directories and list your website address, it’s great for your search engine ranking
• Get involved in your local community, let people get to know you and see that you care
• Offer existing customers a free meeting or special offer to further build and develop your relationship with them
• Build a referral network of people who can send you the right type of clients, there is a new website to help you get more referrals this way, see www.referralkey.com
• Organise a joint promotion with a company targeting a similar audience to you
• Be in the know: research your competitors activities, know your industry and what changes may be happening, improve your business skills

Pick one of the above and implement it to see if can help your business, but before you do, make sure you select the right one by considering:

1. Where is your business going?
2. Will this help you get there / is it right for your target audience?
3. What do you hope to achieve? What’s your goal?
4. Once you’ve made the right choice get going!

Do people like you?

Have you noticed how often you’ve chosen a supplier based on the fact that you like the owner or salesman? The bottom line is that from the smallest transactions through to the largest, people buy from people.

I see this all the time with my clients when they are looking to hire someone, we will have two people quote for a job and if they are both equally qualified or provide the same product or service, the client ends up choosing the ‘person’ they like the most, even though their price may be higher. Also, I’ve often spoken to customers about why they chose to work with me over other Marketing Consultants and they say it was not only my experience, but moreover my passion and sheer enthusiasm for what I do that they found both infectious and motivating.

Therefore, being ‘likable’ is important to growing your business; it allows others to connect with you. Here are some things you can do to help you to be more likable and create rapport:

• Look professional in your appearance
• Speak clearly during meetings and show how much you care about what they are telling you
• Be polite at all times and pay attention to the person you are talking to, even if you are at a busy networking event. Make sure you maintain eye contact at all times and don’t make them feel like you don’t want to be talking to them, even if there is someone across the room who you also need to talk to.
• Ask them about themselves, show interest in not only their business but also perhaps their family/hobbies
• Make sure you smile often
• Don’t check your email or answer your phone during a meeting, even if it’s ‘really important’. Short of your partner going into labour, a business call will simply make the person you are meeting with feel less important – give them your full, undivided attention
• Never interrupt when someone else is speaking
• Be careful using humour or sarcasm, there’s a fine line between being funny and being rude
• Watch your language
• Find ways to compliment the other person or their business
• Make sure you follow up on the meeting within two days
• Have a positive attitude about life, it will make people want to be around you
• Be able to make small talk, if you find it hard to do this, pre-prepare some topics in the news or that you think they might find of interest bearing in mind their industry

So start working on increasing your likability factor and you will connect with more people and increase your bottom line as a result.