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Attracting Clients Through Social Media
1. Why Businesses are Scrambling to add Social Networking to their Marketing Strategy
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Editor's Notes
Let’s take a quick survey. Add up how many you have used. What is the number? Do you have a website? Do you have your own blog?
Good definition: Common interest like Pickle Ice Cream! Do you know your target market?
Blog example: Yarn Harlot (have you ever been to a book signing? How many people are there?) Her influence is wide reaching because her blog is so entertaining, filled with pictures. Huge book sales. Knitting Olympics. Recent sock summit – 30,000 simultaneous hits. She is just a funny knitter, living a very modest life. You Tube: Search New Moon Twilight; show Statistics and Data, show share, comments, etc. This is free! vs paid . Online articles: ezine articles, click on Benefits, search “Shreveport”
Facebook – 200 Million Twitter – 8 Million. Growing by 40% per month You Tube – 13 Billion views per month Blogs – 112 Million LinkedIn – 36 Million Flickr – 54 Million visitors per month
It’s not just for kids anymore. People age 30-39 most likely to use SM. People using SM using more than one network. Half access at least every other day. It is so huge that your target customers are definitely there. Corporate America (Coke, CNN, BMW, Dunkin Donuts) Politicians and Entertainers (Obama, Jindal, Ashton Kutcher, Oprah) News media (seen anything from Iran lately?) Small local businesses – to stay in touch with customers and prospects. Offer discounts and online deals. MoreheadPools Entrepreneurs – internet marketers Market Researchers – Website owners – drive traffic to your website Publishing arena – with a new book or product. Ex: Donna Kozik and “Write a Book in a Weekend” Coaches and speakers – reach clients daily Job hunters – LinkedIn use of testimonials, recommendations
1. Competition is there: You can compete on an even playing field with your competition, even if you are the “little guy.” That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Just make your presence known. Promote your competition. Friend your competition. Build a network there for resources. Find out which site your competition is using. Are they doing it effectively? Can you do it better? Are they where they need to be? To truly achieve your social media objectives, you’ll have to do some social networking too. Forget the word “competitor”. Other publishers or webmasters in your niche are your best friends in the social media landscape! One of your goals should be to locate every competitor on your level (or within reasonable range) and create an “inner circle” of friends or business peers. These are people you can interview or be interviewed by, exchange links, joint venture with, etc. Stop looking at them as competition, and start looking at how you can leverage each others position in the marketplace! Tip: Don’t ask for favors. And don’t flaunt the favors you do. Simply follow, comment on, link to, or otherwise become “known” to select competitors in your niche and I promise that they will notice… and generally begin to reciprocate. Given a little time the relationship will form naturally and be mutually beneficial. 2. Your customers are there. Location, location, location http://www.flyte.biz/resources/newsletters/07/11-social-media.php If you had a retail outlet you wouldn't set up shop where there's no foot traffic, would you? Well, your customers and clients are already at social media Web sites. They're on MySpace, they're LinkedIn, and they have Facebook pages. They share photos at Flickr and upload family movies to YouTube. You need to go to where your customers are. While mapping out your objective, consider what your customer - or your ideal website visitor - wants to see from you. Get an image of that ideal person clearly in your mind, and consider what they see on their end with everything that you do. They are the person you ultimately want to attract into your funnel, so you want to make a great impression no matter where they find you on the web. Once people start spreading your message, even if your business is more “local”, if you have a website, there’s a place for them to get to know your business and what you have to offer. Even if your audience doesn’t reside in your city, there’s a great chance, given the number of people networking and communicating, that they know at least one person who does. Not to mention the mobility of our communities and how often people travel or relocate. You’ve now entered into a relationship and should they ever be near you, your company is already established as a resource. http://michaelfruchter.com/blog/2008/12/five-reasons-why-businesses-should-use-social-media-marketing/ 3. Know what others are saying about you: People are connecting. They are sharing information. You want them to share information from you and about you. Many companies are hiring people to handle their reputation: Online Reputation Manager : kryptonite lock example . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8XxcOj3Seo Good news travels fast online. Bad news travels at the speed of light. Check google alerts, consumer review and complaint sites.
While these are the biggest, they may not be the whole solution for you. You will probably need to add articles, blogs and possibly a targeted niche social network.
You don’t hang out in linked in like the other social networks. Not as much “fun stuff” to do. Use it to develop JV partnerships, potential new clients, recruiting. This is typically thought of as the business network. A lot of the people have responded to a request to join from a friend and don’t utilize it. (Lewis) Work on building connections and a targeted network in order to build your business. Join groups, comment, ask and answer questions, start your own group. All of this will position you as an authority. My story: Scott Frangos – in group together. Saw me, went to my website. Contacted me about job. Get more recommendations.
Quality of friends, not quantity of friends is what is important. You need a strategy for friending, a strategy to posting, a strategy for how often you will do what. Distraction: show AARP article Many use for reconnecting with past friends, school alumni 5 th most trafficked website in the world Largest photo sharing platform Leader: Mari Smith – Pied Piper of Facebook 30 M photos are uploaded per day. Growing by 250K per day! Per DAY! FB users have more degrees, they’re more mature, and their median income is above average. Rigorous TOS. Use your own photo for your avatar. It’s called “face”book for a reason! Use for business, so limit your younger family members and their friends, unless they are your target market. Don’t friend goofy or obscene friends. You have to both agree to be friends before you see their status updates. Login, show basic parts: status (timeline), profile, photos, groups (Allison Babb-discussions, Q&A), inbox Biz Page – Spruce Grove . Mari Smith, Allison Babb Tweets post here, videos, emails My story: Allison Babb Your updates show up on the news feed for all your friends – premium exposure on their pages. If you include a relevant link to one of your blogs, that is seen at the top of your friend’s newsfeed immediately. If they then comment on your post, (interacts with me, rsvp’s an event, becomes a fan of my page) that will be spread throughout their friend network. Super Viral!
Show common craft video - You Tube: Twitter in Plain English Fastest growing soc network. Grew by 640% in 2008! Politicians, brands, big companies and celebrities embrace twitter. It’s the cocktail party! Micro blog Use your name vs your brand Search for prospective followers – Shreveport, Business Etiquette Show: zezura; scottgiorgini; writeoncreative; willblogforfood; marcelleturner, patricerutledge; @Comcastcares “ When you focus on people, and on serving them with encouragement, valuable information, authentic interest, and introducing them to others, YOU become magnetic, drawing others to you. People want to be in YOUR space b/c you are all about THEM, not YOU. Come to the table with “What can I do for YOU? Instead of “Guess what you can do for ME.”… “when your audience knows you, like you, and trusts you, they will want to know MORE about who you are, who you know, and what you have to offer.” http://digitallabz.com/blogs/10-reasons-you-should-use-twitter.html Authenticity: people, pets and travel are good personal things to share; hobbies. Don’t share anything that you don’t want to show up on you tube. (personal vs private) My story: won logo; twitterback; Suzanne Evans, Amirah, Hueina, TiffanyPR How restaurants use it: shakeshack; kogibbq Fox News Weatherman Show church article
Build relationships – participate; thus the social; Let them get to know you. Know, Like and Trust factor. People are there for the social. When marketers move in, the members move out. Be authentic; attract, not attack. Show the personal side. LinkedIn – give and get recommendations, join and participate in groups Facebook – have a business page, join/create group and participate, host events Twitter – share information, RT, recommend, ask and answer questions Remember that what you say lasts forever!
Generate exposure to your business Increased traffic and subscribers/optins New business partnerships Rise in search engine rankings Generate qualified leads Reduced marketing expenses Help close business
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