I presented a webinar on Social Media Networking for Small Business last month. You can watch it here. Here are the highlights…

For Part 1 – Goals, click here.
For Part 2 – Target Your Audience, click here.

FIND YOUR PROMOTERS

Social Media networking is all about engaging your customers, not selling to them. Nothing will turn off someone faster than selling a company, product or service where people like to relax and be entertained. However, people are less likely to be turned off if someone they know, like and trust is doing the recommending.

Who do you know who will do this for you? Your promoters!

When I was working on customer loyalty with Bloomingdale’s, we switched over from the traditional customer satisfaction survey to the “Net Promoter Score.” Based on Fred Reichheld’s book, “The Ultimate Question,” (how likely is it you would recommend this company to a friend or colleague?) it broke down customers in to three categories:

Promoters – Loyal enthusiasts who keep buying from a company and urge their friends to do the same

Passives – Satisfied but unenthusiastic customers who can be easily wooed by the competition

Detractors – Your classic unhappy customers. In the past, it was universally believed every unhappy customer told ten friends. Now, in the digital age, unhappy customers can tell 10,000 “friends.”

The author goes on to say, two conditions must be satisfied before customers make a personal referral: Continue reading →

Building a Social Media presence takes time and effort. Who has time and effort to waste? That is why you need to make sure you are speaking the same language in the same country. Do you know where is your target audience?

I presented a webinar on Social Media Networking for Small Business last month. You can watch it here. Here are the highlights…

For Part 1 – Goals, click here.

In this blog, we’ll cover Part 2 – Target Your Audience 

Where is your audience? What medium do they use? How do you find them?

There are more than 200 social media sites. The big challenge is to narrow this list to social media sites where you know many of your customers participate. To do that, you need to gather some basic information about your customers:

• Sex
• Age
• Income
• Education
• Marital Status
• Children
• Occupation

If you know this information, you can better target where your audience will be.

Online MBA has provided an interesting graphic which breaks down the demographics of the top social networking sites. The info is a little dated, but is still very valuable for our purposes. Compare the information you know about your audience, and you should be able to determine which sites allow you to best reach your audience with your message.

Keep in mind, this information is merely to help you get started. Once you start participating in each of the social sites, you will judge how effective each one is for creating a dialogue and engaging your target audience. If you aren’t getting the return you were expecting, you can always tweak or try something new. However, having an idea of where your target audience is will give you the best chance at success.

Check back soon for Part 3 – Find Your Promoters.

If you own a small business and don’t feel your social media presence is paying off… don’t give up!

Social Media is an incredibly valuable way of connecting with your target audience. You just need a strategy to start seeing ROI (return on your investment – mostly time).

I presented a webinar on Social Media Networking for Small Business. You can watch it here. However, if you don’t have time to sit through the hour presentation, here are the highlights…

Is Social Media Really Marketing?

I sometimes get asked, “Is social media networking really marketing?” To put it simply, “yes.” However, I might classify it more as guerrilla marketing. Jay Conrad Levison, the famous author and businessman who coined the phrase “Guerrilla Marketing,” once described it as “Achieving conventional goals, such as profits and joy,
 with unconventional methods, 
such as investing energy instead of money.”

And, one thing social media can take is energy. Or, perhaps better put, time. In fact, many small business owners and managers tell me they would do more if they just had the time.

Another hang up to social media is, if you aren’t familiar with it or keep up on it, you can find it very intimidating. You may have seen this graphic floating around recently. While it isn’t entirely accurate, the point is, a lot of businesses don’t know where to begin. In this and the next series of blog posts, I will try to give you some pointers on what social media platforms may work for you. Continue reading →

Last week, I was asked to present a webinar on Social Media Networking for Small Business by the Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership (IFEL).

During the 60 minute presentation, I suggested seven keys to an effective social media strategy for small businesses. Click below link to watch the presentation:

Social Media Networking for Small Business

(Note: There is silence for the first 10-15 seconds)

Please post your comments below if you found this helpful or have further suggestions to lend!