This week, I’ve been briefing our team on social media concepts. Social media provides a tremendous amount of value for small business owners, enabling them a fighting chance to dominate their market, no matter their industry.
I decided to share my presentation with you — our loyal blog readers. This information is applicable to anyone, especially small business owners.
Consider this presentation as an introduction to my world (social media). In it, I go over the terms and concepts which are often used in it as well as list out best practices. Here are some talking points I made during my training…
Listening. The biggest thing that we all can do — is to listen. All of us can acquire information from social media, elevate customer feedback and be ourselves. Listening to people on the Web is more important than necessarily interacting. A well-rounded mind will result in a well-rounded perspective when you do share what’s on your mind. (I recommend reading blogs 3x more than you interact with them.)
Motive. Some people tend to be motivated by numbers in social media (the followers, the leads, the sales, etc) — but those are not and should not be success metrics in social media. Instead, measure what your clients think of you, how quick you are able to share information and connect with customers, potential clients and industry peers. If you have something interesting to say — do you have an audience who will listen?
Investment. In many degrees, social media is about branding and reputation. To build a solid brand and reputation, you need to earn it by providing a killer product and deliver superior service. That takes work and patience. Investing time is the goal — don’t just spend it. Make it valuable by finding what you like to do in social media. You will never say a year from now, “Man, I wish I never got on Facebook or started following blogs.” It builds your awareness, brand and reputation.
Concepts, not Technology. Many people tend to get deep into the mechanics of social media like how to do use LinkedIn, how to use Twitter, etc. The technology is primarily the same — it enables people to communicate. How you use it is up to you; however, consumers enjoy using social media for reviews, help and personal opinion. Further, consumers don’t go to social media for advertisements. Keep this in mind in as you use it. The technology will always vary — for instance, MySpace was hot only a year ago. Now, Facebook is the hot network.
Not Childish. Several folks seem to believe social media’s business claims are inflated, usually with pejoratives with children using it. That’s nothing further from the truth — we all use social media in some degree or another. It’s just the medium changing and not the activity. While the younger generation may adopt it quicker albeit blindly, the mature folks on the Web can get just as much value from it.
Company Brand = Family of Personal Brands. When you interact with customers and prospects through social media, put a face, a personality and a character behind your company brand. By doing so, you are positioning yourself to become approachable with people. For instance, I run our company’s Twitter account, but my colleague, Tyler Garns and I often respond to people’s comments. It’s been a good dynamic so far, and people have a decent impression of us.
Passion leads to Success. Success marketing campaigns engage people and have true passion. Think about it this way — if you wouldn’t do what you do free, you probably don’t have passion in it. (But I’m not precluding that you’re not worth making a career out of it; rather, qualify your interest with this simple question.) Whatever you do in social media, follow your hobbies, your passion and follow what gets you up in the morning. (Yeah, it sounds cheesy, but it’s legit.)
###
I like to help people understand the value in social media both professionally and personally. I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on this. If you have any questions on social media, feel free to drop them in the comments here and I’ll help you out.
Social media is the future of marketing. In fact, who needs marketing when you have a community of raving fans?
Flywheel
http://jivesystems.com/
[...] KIVA donations to fund dozens of entrepreneurs in 3rd-world countries, cross-team lunches, social media initiatives, etc. The other big thing we’re doing is driving on individual accountability [...]