From the category archives:

Connecting On Social Media For Small Businesses

Get Specific. You Don’t Get Pigeonholed.

by cj on August 6, 2009

Whose advice would you more value: a world class heart surgeon that talked about diet, or a family practice doctor who talked about diet.

I’ll betcha you’re going to say the World Class Heart Surgeon.

People want to deal with experts, not dabblers.

So, let’s keep moving with this: most small businesses are loathe to branch out, they are unwilling to be about anything because they want to not get ‘pigeon holed.’   That’s one of the easiest mistakes to get into.   We’ve all encountered the Insurance guy who sells Real Estate, MLM and personal training “on the side”.   The man might be affable, but the truth is this: people would rather do business with someone that presents himself as a world class expert in one area than a guy that does a little of everything.

Mercedes is a better brand than Ford.  You know that a Mercedes is luxury.  A Ford–as Al Reis famously said–is a Cheap, Expensive, Fast, Economical, Large, Small, Car Truck or Van.   Get specific.

Then, once you’ve demonstrated–one on one–how good you are, you’ll have credibility.  You might be the area Real Estate Expert in one area.  You might also be fearful that you need to branch out.   But, as the area expert, you will have more impact when you tell someone that they could live in an adjacent or nearby community.  You can sell that house to them and they will believe you much more than someone that ‘generally covers the area.’   If you take the time to acquire and present expertise in one area…you’re believable.

So become something.  Be the world class community expert.  Take the time to make it work.     You’ll be rewarded–and compensated–like the expert you become.

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ROI From Social Media?

by cj on August 4, 2009

Business owners–understandably–want to be sure about ROI.  Business owners want to not throw money into an empty pit.

Consultants, invariably want no accountability for ROI.  They want to say that you’re not doing enough, and that the solution to the problem is more money shoved at them.

The truth is ROI is hard to measure.  Clicks back to your site is not what social media marketing is about.  That’s broadcasting, and Adsense does a better, more efficient job at getting raw eyeballs to look at a page than anything else does.   AdSense/PPC by Yahoo both do a fine fine job at delivering traffic, and trying to force Social Media to do that is dumb.

See, social media is about real warm human relationships.  Same deal with blogging.  The goal is to build an army of like minded people, to create a place in someone’s mindshare, to have a small audience that will run through walls for you, that will carry the banner of your business.

ROI is this: the relationships you make from being online.  It can happen in bursts.  But, it only happens if you are authentic, if you put yourself into it.  What’s the value of a contact, a friend?  What’s the value of someone that trusts you enough to buy all of your stuff?

That’s what you’re getting.  You’re getting friends and fans.  Not mere consumers, not “leads” and not warm bodies.  What you do with all of this stuff is entirely up to you.  You will make mistakes.  But if you make mistakes with a good heart, and a desire to connect, and a desire to put other people first, and help them, the world will forgive you.

What’s the value of a friend?  That’s what you’re here to do.  To connect with people, to help.  To lend your expertise.  And yes, the money will happen if you do the rest of this stuff.

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Getting Started With Social Media? It’s About People, Not Techniques

by cj on August 3, 2009

Social media is not about techniques.  It’s not about “broadcasting.”  It’s about helping people.

Get that in your head and the technical stuff gets easier.

Social media success isn’t about you, either.  It’s about how you can help.  Get that in your head, too, and life gets easier.  It’s marketing with a human face and a personal touch.  It’s marketing with the other person’s best interests at the forefront of your imagination.

Again, get that in your mind and life is better.  Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN are simply this: another place and another way to network.  Nothing more, nothing less.  Everyone makes the newbie mistake of trying to broadcast, trying to reach out and grab a wider audience.  Join this, be that.

Yes, you should manage your reputation online.  Yes you should be sure to complete your build out and have your radio station done.  But, what do you want to be more: someone that’s entertaining and amusing…or someone that helps?  Perosnal Branding’s limit is this: it makes things about you.  About how awesome you are.  The bigger question is this: how much do you help other people?  How much do you give?

That’s the point of being on these tools.  When you view things that way, when you want to figure out what people want and find a way to give them that, the pressure for figuring out TweetDeck, for figuring out LinkedIN dissipates.  You realize that it’s a channel.  When you’re nice, kind and good, the world aligns itself to help you out, and to make sure that you’re getting somewhere.  Don’t be afraid to dive in: when people learn you’re here to help, to give and not just another taker, they’ll make life easier on you and they’ll make things happen for you.

EDIT: Running spell check helps when typing fast.

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Reputation Management Case Study: How Not To Be Westerville Dentist Susan Stalnaker

July 28, 2009

So I talked a little about personal branding yesterday.  It’s a different concept than Reputation Management.  I want to make that utterly clear.  Personal branding is representing who you are.  Reputation Management is engaging the conversation about yourself, it’s about putting your best foot forward, on purpose, so people see the side of you that [...]

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How Do You Follow Up With Your Social Media Contacts?

July 21, 2009

What is your follow up plan? When you meet someone on the net, when you connect, do you already know what to do next?  Do you pester them (drip) until they regret having clicked yes? Do you blurt out offers randomly, or do you know what’s going to happen in advance? Do you make a [...]

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Social Media Mass Account Creation: Best Practices

July 9, 2009

OK, so you’re blogging.  You’re doing some social media account creation.  You want to get customers. One of the biggest mistakes people make is this: they don’t put enough of themselves out there.  You might be trying to be part of some community. But without really engaging, without COMPLETING the profiles, without putitng ALL of [...]

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Twitter Followers? What GOOD Are They If You Don’t Know Them.

July 8, 2009

Everyone wants to be Darren or Brian Clark or Gary Vee.   Twitter does that to you.   A lot of my clients want to be a big time social media coach.  They want to be problogger.  They want to be rich.  They want to earn a living just musing and riffing on the internet. They don’t [...]

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