“Are “How to” videos part of your social marketing?”
Read the whole article here.
9 Skills To Become a Successful Social Media Marketer
“Looking to improve your social media marketing efforts?
Social media marketing is a multi-skilled professional, which is now far more than “scrolling through Facebook all day.”
Yes, we’ve all heard the clichés and criticisms, but the fact is that social media marketers need high-level writing skills, analytics capacity, design abilities, video composition, and more.”
Getting Your Small Business Started on Social Media
“Social media is an important marketing tool for many small businesses. It can help you engage your customers, generate business leads, drive sales, and spread brand awareness, all in just a few minutes a day. If your small business isn’t already making use of social media, you’re missing out on an invaluable tool. Below, we’ll help you get started with social media by outlining some simple steps you can take and providing tips for how to get the most out of your new accounts.”
The Power of Words
Tips to Make Writing a Blog Post a Bit Easier
Writing good posts for your blog is a critical job. It is the least expensive, most effective way to make search engines rank your site in search results. This is called organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO). I like to re-use the content on social media posts and possibly in an eNewsletter to your clients who may not be bloggers. Three uses for one piece of content / effort!
Read this practical article from Lisa Marie Dias, a social media expert.
Call me at 480-433-9995 if you have any questions about the article or would like some help with blogging!
How to Build a Content Timebomb
Well written article about writing blog posts. His basic premise is that you write timeless articles using keywords that people can find when doing searches. For example, instead of an interior designer only writing about new products (short time frame since they’re only “new” for a short time), the designer would also write articles about how to choose the right colors for a living room remodel (a post that is relevant today, in six months or in six years).
An additional advantage to writing the timeless articles is that they can be submitted to blog sites such as Digg, ezine, etc. to promote the writer as well as the blog. The article could also be used in a monthly newsletter!
Writing Your Elevator Speech
The American Family Business Accelerator program had an excellent presentation on writing your elevator speech. Even if you have an elevator speech I suggest working through this tool to see if it spotlights any fine-tuning you need to do.
In a nutshell:
F – Find their pain point
A – Answer their problem
R – Reasons why you’re different
M – Make them want more
In theory, it’s easy to tell someone what you do. You’re asked that question all the time. But in reality, it’s hard! And it is so important! You want to wordsmith your answer so that it can be stated in 30 seconds. The words have to be clear and concise to give a total stranger the picture of what you do. It’s that pivotal “first impression.”
Beyond answering “What do you do?” your elevator speech plays a major part in your entire marketing plan. It is the first step, the foundation of the whole plan.
- When you create a company brochure, you would start with the elevator speech and expand to share examples and details to support the speech.
- When you are writing content for your web site, each page should support and expand upon that basic elevator speech.
- If you participate in any review sites such as Angie’s List, Yelp or Kudzu, your elevator speech would be the content you fill in for their format.
- The elevator speech would be the starting point for your Summary section on your LinkedIn profile.
Take the time to write a good elevator speech. Use this excellent tool. Call Your Computer Lady for help if you need it. We’ll brainstorm with you and help edit the speech until it’s just what you need!
Forwarding is the New Networking
OK. The title is a teaser and a mis-statement. Forwarding has been going since the first printing press. But social media is changing the way we forward information and the types of information we share. Read this article for some clarification about networking by sharing info and some tips.
Full article from Harvard Business Review by Tom Davenport
Forwarding (sharing) pamphlets is credited with being a strong influence in the American Revolution. Printing presses were more common and therefore the cost to print was lower. Benjamin Franklin and many others published pamphlets explaining why the 13 colonies needed to be independent. The pamphlets were passed hand to hand to reach more people. Their writing educated and motivated people to take a stand.
How To Sell Ad Space on Your Web Site
When you build up the traffic on your web site, it’s time to consider selling ads to related companies. Here’s a good article explaining the basics.
Social Media – It’s Only Networking
Micro View
If I attend a professional association dinner, I’m going to introduce myself as Your Computer Lady but I’m going to talk sports, make a joke about the rubber chicken, ask about Ron’s daughters or listen to the horror story about the building project in Tucson that one of my architect friends is working on. If someone asks me a computer question, I’ll give them an answer. Hopefully the person sitting beside them will listen in and think, “Oh, that’s a good answer. Pamela’s knows a thing or two about computers.” Down the road when either of those people have a computer project, they’ll think of me and give me a call.
Macro View
I set up a LinkedIn account. I introduce myself as Your Computer Lady but I’m going to talk about sports, make a joke about the rubber chicken, ask about Ron’s daughters, … …
Clear away the hype and fear of doing something new and social media is just plain old networking. You’re doing it on a grander scale (8 people at the dinner table vs 58 LinkedIn direct connections or 252,600+ with 3 levels of connection) but it is still networking.
Just like networking at an organization, networking online takes a little time. Joining a new organization means you’re seeing more new faces. You’re taking time to build the relationships. You’re gathering business cards and inputting them into your contact management system. But after those basics are done, maintaining the relationships is relatively easy and doesn’t require a lot of time. But you have to be consistent. If you only show up every six months, you’re always at square one. Once you’ve set up your online account and filled out your profile, started connecting with friends, you can switch to maintenance mode too. Show up once a week and respond to invitations, send some messages, add some info.
You want to use social media for the same reasons you network at a meeting. Get your name out there! Be viewed as an expert! We live in a big, high technology, information-explosion world. We want to – need to – connect with people. Social media gives your company the ability to do that. You can humanize your company. You can reach out person-to-person.
As Jennifer Maggiore of Maggiore Consulting pointed out, “There’s no penalty for being early to the game. But there is a big penalty for being late!” eMarketer reports that there was an 11% increase in the use of social media in 2008. 41% of all Internet users visited a social media site at least monthly. They predict that 79 million people (40% of all Internet users) will put content at least once a month on a social media site in 2009.
Your firm can start small. Encourage your employees to participate. All of the Fortune 500 firms have social media activities. 499 of them have vice president level and above participants. But any employee can assist the cause. Whole Foods has tweeters from several stores in addition to their central page. Build your presence. There are firms like Maggiore’s that specialize in social media. If you need to get to more in depth, locate your target audience or increase your presence quickly – you want to contact a specialist. This is an emerging technology. A guide can get you to the destination faster.
If you’re early to the game though, you can take your time.
1. Choose one, maybe 2, networks to join and build.
2. Get that network to the maintenance stage before you take on another one.
3. Tie your networks together. A post on my blog shows up on my LinkedIn page. A Twitter message shows on my Facebook wall.
4. Measure your activity and success. There are tools like TwitterGrader that help you measure what you’re accomplishing.
My recommendation is to start with LinkedIn. It’s a pure business site that is simple to use. You can make good connections. Then add Twitter. Those little 140 character messages have potential. Check out twitter.com/JetBlue, /Whole Foods or /ScottsdalePD to see some business results. Yes, you can follow John McCain now too. Then expand into Facebook, Yelp or some of the other sites.
The Arizona Small Business Association is doing a series of social media classes in April and May. Check their web site for details.
Connect with me:
www.LinkedIn.com/in/YourComputerLady
@PamelaBir at Twitter
Pamela Bir on Facebook
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