How You Can Make Social Media Work For You–Part 2 Of 3

admin    Social Media     Media, Social, Work, YouPart

I\’ll bet that your to-do list is looking more like an entry in the Encyclopedia Britannica these days than a few bullet points on a Post-It note. Catching up after the holidays and a tough economic environment mean we\’re all probably working harder and longer. Here are the top five ways I think using Social Media can save you time and take tasks off your plate.

Networking. You already know that business networking is a marketing method by which business opportunities are created through networks of like-minded business people. When you participate in a business network, you\’re able to build new business relationships and generate business opportunities at the same time. Save time and expand your reach by networking online with twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, by writing and commenting on blogs, and by joining affiliate groups. Spend as little as 15 minutes a day updating your profiles with relevant posts or comments, and you are marketing yourself to a self-selecting group of like-minded people who will be more inclined to buy what you offer.

Collaborating. Tired of trying to do it all yourself? Then use your network of friends/followers/connections to brainstorm, get some new ideas or get much-needed feedback on your own ideas. Who in your network is doing something (workshop, sale, community service event, etc.) that you could be a part of? Wouldn\’t you both benefit by supporting each other? In the Social Media world, it is both acceptable and expected that you \”butt in\” to a discussion you find interesting and offer your advice or ask for support. How much faster could you accomplish one of your goals if you got some help from your huge Social Network? Learning. I used to Google something when I needed to know more. Now, I twitter. While Google gives me gazillions (my four-year-old\’s word) of websites that match my search criteria, I still have to sift through a bunch of them in hopes of finding an answer to my problem or question. With twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, I can ask a question like: \”What criteria should I consider when hiring a VA (Virtual Assistant)?\” In a few minutes (or even seconds), I get several replies from my networks that directly answer my question. The answers come to me, rather than my having to sniff them out. This saves me a ton of time! Finding new clients. We\’re all in business to make money, so we\’ve got to find new clients/customers who are willing to give us their money in return for our valuable products and services. If you have a new product, class, service or huge sale going on, why not invite a gazillion of your network buddies to come buy something from you? With a quick tweet like: \”Check out our holiday sale: 25% off and free shipping @ www.yourwebsite.com,\” you\’ve just given a bunch of new people the chance to become your adoring new customers. How fast can you type? Getting support. Like I mentioned above, I was stuck for a couple of weeks and couldn\’t make myself get this newsletter done. Well, I\’m almost finished with 45 minutes to spare before my self-imposed deadline of 2:30pm. I reached out to my network and asked for help, and I got it. Sometimes I need to vent, or I want to find out if anyone else has ever experienced a situation that I have, etc. I use my network to get the inspiration, encouragement, \”atta-girl\’s\” and \”me too\’s\” when I need them. Sometimes this is the exact thing I need to get back on track and do what must be done.

President Obama – How He Used Social Media To Win His Election

admin    Social Media     Election, Media, Obama, President, Social, Used

We all know how historic the 2008 US Elections have been, President Barack Obama has a lot of ‘first’ in history now, one of them being the 1st presidential candidate who owes a big portion of his ‘thanks for helping me win’ to the Internet!

Social Media Networking played a massive role in Obama’s campaign, he has MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, his website and even an SMS opt in. What are the factors that made all the difference for Obama’s campaign? It wasn’t anything new, they didn’t invent anything special, rather they combined different social networking applications that had a huge impact on people all over the net and they managed to raise money, organize locally for different states, they had more power in fighting smear campaigns and eventually gain the vote of the people.

Lets compare some numbers starting with blogs. Mc Cain had about 150 million mentions in blogs, President Obama had close to 500 million! That’s a huge difference. President Obama has close to a million friends and got 10,000 more around Election Day. McCain has a little over 200,000 friends and gained 964 more on Election Day. Obama is also leading in twitter with about 12,000 followers while McCain didn’t reach 5000. Then we have YouTube with 134,000 Obama followers and more than 3 million on Facebook!

Thomas Jefferson used newspapers to help him earn his seat, John F. Kennedy used TV, and Howard Dean used the web for raising money, President Obama on the other hand took the web and used it to lower the cost of building a political brand and with it get closer to more people. This is a day and age where people’s identities are hooked online and that’s simply a fact. How many people can you count that you know who doesn’t have a PC, a laptop, a blueberry or a cellular phone? People want to be informed now and President Obama can get to them.

So all this Social Media networking was more on campaigning and viral marketing, what’s going to happen now that he’s president? For starters, it will now cost the white house close to $0 to get in touch with millions of Americans via all the different means they have used during the campaign. Now, President Obama has millions of names and email addresses of supporters all over the country and it doesn’t stop here, hello supporters do you smell the 2012 elections?

The Social Media Craze – What’S Working, What’S Lost Luster And What Is Flying Under The Radar

admin    Social Media     Craze, Flying, Lost, Luster, Media, Radar, Social, Under, What's, Working

Social Media, Networking, Blogging and Uploading Videos, what won’t people do today to get more clients? Even the President of the United States of America is on these sites and they are doing him a lot of good! But what really works? What’s doing better than others? Lets go over some of the sites.

Facebook and Myspace. In the beginning they seemed to be more of the friendly young crowd sites you use to meet someone and make friend with. But now it’s become a great place to meet like-minded people and that can be for business or pleasure. The only thing about these kinds of sites is that they were not made for the purpose of social networking in from a business point of view. Facebook for example has about 1% of the world’s population on it but you and I can’t see that since a members list is not available. So you only get to add people to know by name or who are friends of friends.

With blogging sites, you need the time to put up posts on a regular basis. In twitter, it’s great for sort of getting a fan base for your self and for meeting other people like yourself doing what you’re trying to do. There are many different Blog sites so depending on where you’re from and what you do it’s best you pick a site that can benefit you the most, or join many sites and keep them running as long as they are working out for you.

Video Posting is another great social media gig that, yes, President Obama does so well. No need to say you have to be able to act or project in the video! If you’re selling something you don’t want people think you’re a lunatic, so this gig is not meant for everyone. For those of you, who can do it, by all means get your face in you tube and get people watching you and listening to what you have to say. Reading something on someone’s blog is far different from watching a video of him or her whether it’s a good or a bad thing is up toy you.

Other sites such as Linkedin or Ecademy are also great sites but are more standard in other countries. So many sites are in, some are flying under the radar, but what matters to you would depend on what you do and what you sell. It’s not a bad idea to try out a few of your top picks and see, which grows for you more, and stick to it. But don’t expect a sudden rush of adds or views because on the web, half of the world is competing with you.

Social Media – Business Gets Social

admin    Social Media     business, gets, Media, Social

Here is your crash course in small business marketing in 2008 – Web 2.0 for business.

Lets start with a few society trends to give the REALLY big picture.

Society trend number 1: People buy differently now than they did 10 years ago

Remember 10 years ago, when having a website was a “BIG THING”. Now having a website is considered as essential as having a telephone. People’s shopping style has changed. Most people go to the net to research new purchases or potential companies to work with.

I can’t stress this enough. People buy differently now that they used to!

Unless you have a solid web presence, you are sending out a message that you are “old fashioned” and you are missing out on customers.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with that if that’s what you are comfortable with. I know a hairdresser in our local community who doesn’t own a fax or email and she still does OK for trade.

In my book a website is number 1 priority for small business – it ranks right up there with business cards in terms of importance.

When I am talking with businesses I usually categories websites into about 4 different levels of websites:

1. Intro level – Simple graphics, basic text, possibly a contact form

2. Getting your feet wet – More fancy layout and design, autoresponders, basic e-commerce

3. Getting funky – This is where you add interactivity to your site – blogs, forums, online chat, fancy e-commerce

4. Serious business – You have your website as a portal to membership areas, private areas, serious information management systems behind your site

Most small businesses start with a level 1 or 2 website and then after a short time they upgrade their site.

When you are getting a website done, it pays to shop around. Not all web designers can do what you need them to do. Most can do good intro level sites, but as you go up the ladder there are less and less web designers who can honestly do what is needed.

Some key tips for level 1 & 2 Websites:

* Kill flash. If you want to be found by search engines generally stay away from flash intros. Google can’t index flash so you can kiss being found on anything closer than page 456 goodbye. Like everything there is a work around for this problem – but most web designers of intro level sites don’t have the skill to do this.

* Words are king. The search engines look at the words on your page to work out what the page is about. You need to have your keywords (the words people type into Google when looking for someone like you), scattered throughout your copy. I usually recommend the most important words within the first 90 characters on the page, highlighted in the first para as well as in the last paragraph. By clever use of keywords you can have your site found on page 1 of Google – not buried in the depths.

* Get help writing your copy. Many people make some really simple mistakes with their words. They talk about themselves and how wonderful they are (customers only want to know how you can help them), they don’t give proof they are as good as they are, there is no call to action, they don’t define their keywords.

Having someone help them write their copy increases customers and conversions.

Society Trend Number 2: The rise of the expert

Once you have a basic website you are ready to embrace society trend number 2. Everyone is an expert in something. The trend is we now value experts more than generalists. Think about the last time you went into an electrical store to buy a new computer. Did you want the junior casual or the experienced salesperson?

Not only do we want experts, we want to get to know our experts as people.

In the past we would read the dust cover of a book with a short author bio and that would be enough. Now we want to get to know who they are, what they think and do. We want to get a sense of their personality. Think of people like Joe Vitale, Deepak Chopra, Kevin Rudd (what a weird juxtaposition of names!) Each of those people we know as people and not just as a short bio.

This is one area small business has it all over the big guys. By our very nature we can be experts and people can get to know us as people. But how do you do this over the net?

Tips for getting expert

* Play to different communication preferences – there are visual, auditory and kinesthetic people in the world (a few other smaller groups but these are the main three). Getting expert you need to engage the three different groups of people.

* This is where article writing, Hub Pages, Squidoo pages, blogs and a host of others come into play. You write an article sharing information about your expertise. People looking for some information find your article, read the content and recognize your expertise. Make sure you talk from your heart and give people a sense of who you are as a person in your writing.

* Set up a You Tube video about your niche. You don’t even have to be seen on film – PowerPoint’s with voiceover works just as well. One of my colleagues just used photos and music with the last slide pointing to his website (and got massive traffic).

* Podcast or teleseminar – technology has made sharing your information via sound much more accessible. This works well for auditory people.

* Do one thing at a time to completion. My kids have that embedded in their brains (and I am sure I will have some expensive therapy in years to come over this one). Pick one thing on this list and get it right, before moving onto the next thing. That way you will avoid the overwhelm that this sort of thing can cause many people. Of course you could do what I do – leap into the deep end and swim like heck!

Society Trend Number 3: The rise of the community & shared expertise

In the past 5 years we have seen a change in society towards people wanting to belong to groups and communities. This is happening off line with people sea-changing to country towns, the rise and rise of networking groups and stronger parochial ties to towns, cities and countries.

This is also happening online. Wikipedia – the encyclopedia built by everyone is a great example of people wanting to share their knowledge. What has also happened is people are forming communities online. They want to be part of something bigger with similar interests.

There has been a massive rise in special interest forums and blog communities around niche topics. Find a niche and you will find a forum (support group) to help you deal with, learn or share information.

Why do people go there – they feel understood. They feel accepted. They feel part of the group.

Enter sites like My Space and Facebook. They are places where people can go to catch up with friends, hang out together, play games, share information. They are virtual country towns.

Sometimes online moves offline. I am part of a Brisbane Small Business Facebook group that meets for lunch and networking once a month.

There are business versions. If you have a small business you should be on LinkedIn. Business people from around the world freely share knowledge, referrals and resources. Where else could you put up a note “anyone know how to write a marketing plan?” and within a few days have highly skilled people helping you out with information and advice.

Tips for communities

* Before you run out to these places and ask questions – remember back to school. What did people say if a new kid muscled into the game and tried to take over the rules or only talk about themselves. Communities work on the same rules – share, give and take. Get this wrong and you are ostracized.

* Watch before leaping in – get a feel for how the place runs.

* Giving freely of your advice builds your credibility as an expert in your industry (and that is what leads to more business).

Society Trend Number 4: I’ll have what she’s having or everyone’s a critic

The next trend is people now prefer to buy from recommendations from their friends, peers (or community). If they are going to buy a car they will ask their mate “I’m thinking about a go-go mobile – what have you heard about it?”

People can now spot sales pages at a thousand miles. Lots of social media help people to share their recommendations. If you have ever bought a book from Amazon you read other people’s reviews and it helps to make a decision on what you will buy.

There is a huge range of social bookmarking sites where people get to give thumbs up or thumbs down to articles, websites or content. Their friends read their reviews and it helps them to make a decision on whether or not to bother with reading the content or visiting the website.

Sites like Digg, Technorati, Stumble, Propeller, Mr Wong and a host of other sites are examples of social bookmarking. They are communities also – so the same rules for community apply here.

So – once you have your website, started to build your expert status and joined in a community then it is time to move into social bookmarking. Why? It boosts your Google rank and your community can find you.

There are lots of variations within each of these levels and they are not exactly linear – but I promised you a quick and dirty lesson.

I haven’t even touched on things such as pay per click ads, joint ventures etc as this article is purely focused on the social media.

So in answer to the original question are websites dead? No – they are just the foundation for the rest of your online marketing strategy.

Social Media Networking- Why Should I?

admin    Social Media     Media, Networking, Should, Social

One of the objections I often hear from people is “I don’t have time to network online!” but do you have time to

* Professionally Network

* Find a new friend

* Share your ideas

* Build your business

* Market yourself

* De-stress?

What about:

* Elevate yourself as an industry expert

* Establish connections in other industries

* Increase the efficiency of your networking

* Offer introductions to your niche-experience on a daily basis?

While online networking is not the “end all, be all” of making personal connections, it has one valuable strengths that very few real world venues have- economy of scale.

If you have the time to introduce yourself to one new person a day, wouldn’t it make sense from a business perspective to take that same amount of time and be introduced to fifty?

When I write this article or post to a forum, my thoughts are communicated to dozens of potential contacts, perhaps even thousands. If I went into a coffee shop with the expectation that I would have to say the same phrase over and over again to a hundred different people as I look for a good connection, it would take me days of effort. I would spend the entire time trying to expand my network with little result. In my best real world opportunity, I would attend a networking event where I may have the chance to meet people in groups and who are willing to listen to my message.

Considering how much time I wasted in the real world trying to connect with a hundred people as I restated my statements and repeatedly asked for permission, the basis of networking online is that readers have given me permission to talk to them and they assemble in groups for me. If I am sharing thoughts of interest, they are actively engaged with what I am saying. I don’t have to approach them and get a cold shoulder, its more like I am talking to a group of people at a cocktail party and they come into the conversation by their own choice.

The beauty is, this cocktail party is happening 24/7, 365 days a year.

That has amazing relevancy. Readers choose to join the conversation. I don’t bend their arm to listen. If they find value, they start talking. If they don’t, they move on. For decades marketing has tried to force the idea of “opt-in mailing lists” for physical and electronic mail, as well as frustrating us with the need of “do not call” lists to maintain our sanity on our personal phones.

Case in point- Right now, I have no control over whether you are reading.

As an industry expert, imagine the power of sharing your ideas and thoughts. People who are interested find little bits and pieces of inspiration and insight, and they either join the conversation or move on. Blogging attracts people as it is one of the only true “opt in” medias. If you don’t like what I’m saying, go Google someone else!

If you are interested, join my conversation.

Take Biznik as an example of “economy of scale”. There are 10,000 members browsing through the site and pondering different ways to connect. If I had to assemble 10,000 people in real life, my first challenge would be to actually listen to all 10,000 people.

30 seconds per introduction X 10k members = 80+ hours of introductions.

When I think about that time, I realize that my elevator pitch needs to be refined to an exact art and that I need to remember to pack a few bottles of water.

Now compare that to writing on the community forum or blogging this article. It took me thirty minutes to write this. Over the next few weeks several hundred people will read it.

Every single person who actually strikes up a conversation with me after reading it is pre-screened and wants to have a more in-depth discussion. On top of that- they can look at my existing social media testimonials to discover even more about me, and when they do contact me they have taken the burden of responsibility to find out who I am, rather than me taking the responsibility to tell them.

By taking the time to put myself out there in the online world, every real life interaction coming from this conversation is pre-qualified and interested in what I do. As time goes on, every introduction I have online becomes a growing archive that adds to who I am. Unlike a conversation I had over dinner last night, this very article will attract interest from readers six months later. Even when I am sleeping peacefully, someone may be introducing themselves to who I am.

Whether or not you find me personally or professionally interesting, I have no control over. Yet I will never know until the introduction has occurred.

My question to you-

Will you take the time to give me the information I need to find an introduction to you?

The Good the Bad and the Ugly: How Social Media Sites Can Influence Your Product’s Publicity

admin    Social Media     Good, Influence, Media, Product’s, publicity, Sites, Social, Ugly

Social media websites have taken over the World Wide Web. Anyone spending time on the internet is signed into one of these sites at least, and more likely signed into several.

To name but a selective few of these social media and social bookmarking sites, there are: Facebook, Myspace, Furl, Del.icio.us, Digg, Reddit, Twitter, Stumbleupon, Rojo, Meetup, Linkedin, Technorati, Slashdot, and more.

With literally millions of users situated all over the world on these social media websites, companies can now use these websites as advertising mediums, targeting millions of people 24/7. This kind of advertising is extremely effective in targeting your specific market as there are such a large number of people to expose your brand to. The best thing about exposing your brand in this medium is that if people like it, your brand’s popularity can spread faster than the flu bug: think of it as viral marketing on red bull. In fact, you can be the talk of the web in just one day: thanks to extremely powerful advertising.

The reason for this quick spread via web circulation is that the online community is user driven of course, but because of this user driven force behind your brand, it can also get the boot from the online community and can have the complete opposite effect on a brand, not exactly what a company needs, and bad publicity can spread even faster than the flu, which is never a good thing.

The best way for companies to keep track of their brand’s reputation is through Online Reputation Management (ORM). Online Reputation Management combines marketing and public relations with search engine marketing.

There are three basic steps involved in implementing Online Reputation Management, which will be discussed hereafter. These steps are: Monitor, Analyze and Influence.

Monitor: You need to know what is being said about your brand. You might think that perceptions are impossible to track and monitor as news travels at such an incredible speed over the internet, thanks to blogs, forums and podcast – but there are internet monitoring services that you can use to solve this problem. An example of such a monitoring system is to set up Google Alerts to observe what is being said about your brand in the news on the web. You can also use sites such as Feedster and Technorati to monitor what is being said about your brand in blogs. You can also keep track of your direct competitors in this way.

Analyse: now that you’ve monitored the required information, you need to analyze it. To keep track of your search engine environment, you need to know your competition in depth. For example, make a list of the sites that have information concerning your brand. Split this list into positive and negative feedback, as it is good to know where the bad and good publicity is coming from. Also check their page rank, number of links, and any other aspects you can find.

Influence: One simple and effective method with which to influence your brand in a positive way is to participate by getting involved in the conversation. The old saying goes, if you can’t beat them, join them. So do exactly that: become a regular contributor to blogs and forums where you found most activity involving your brand. The golden rule when doing this is to stay honest about your brand. If for example, someone in the blogosphere said an inaccurate statement about your brand, you are able to clarify it by giving them evidence that supports your case and in so doing removing the error concerning your brand.

So, start implementing your ORM guns to counter attack your brand’s reputation. In this way you’ll prevent an ugly showdown from dragging down your brand.

The Power of Social Media Marketing

admin    Social Media     Marketing, Media, Power, Social

The internet has changed the way we do business-indeed, our whole society–in ways unthinkable even ten short years ago. The sheer connectedness of the World Wide Web is what wowed people then, and still does today. But the “web” is no longer just a collection of servers talking to each other, with all the content controlled by a handful of people who understand how to create HTML pages. Now everybody can connect to the entire world all by themselves, using any number of social networking sites that have the power to create overnight sensations.

Social media marketing capitalizes on the popularity and reach of sites like FaceBook, MySpace, Twitter, Blogger, Flickr, and dozens of others to build communities of common interest. Blogs, chat forums, collaborative sites like Wikipedia, opinion or review sites like ZDnet, educational or tutorial sites like WebMonkey, or gaming and other entertainment sites have the capacity to draw huge audiences all wanting specific things. Companies who create sub-communities within existing communities such as MySpace, or create a new “destination” offering useful information, can lift their brand awareness without overtly marketing their products.

Daily or weekly blogs offer useful information and provide a reason for visitors to come back often. Many times, a product’s users, like Harley Davidson enthusiasts or skiers who like a particular manufacturer’s skis, like to come together to discuss the pros and cons, the ways they have customized their products, or new ways to use them. These communities are self-sustaining; the manufacturer merely needs to provide the forum and keep order, while providing new content as needed.

Targeted advertising on established sites can return high value for the marketing dollar with little to no additional effort by a company to establish the forum in the first place. However, taking a proactive role in creating a community gives a company more control over its look and feel and content, reducing the chances of illegal uses of the company’s logo or product images degrading the brand.

If you thought that MySpace was just for chatty teenagers, think again. Smart companies once embraced the web itself as progressive; now they must continue to think outside the box to capitalize on the full power of social media marketing, or miss out on some golden opportunities.

Benefits of Social Media Optimization for Websites

admin    Social Media     Benefits, Media, Optimization, Social, Websites

Although it has been around for sometime in our society, social media optimization (SMO) is a new concept in the field of website marketing. Men are social creatures and have a craving to stay with like-minded people. These like-minded people form a group and eventually lead to a society. Similar concepts are followed in the online world.

Previous Techniques

Previously, online marketing techniques were different. Webmasters used different SEO techniques for getting top ranks in search engines. High rank made it a possibility for their website to come in the visibility of their desired audience. Eventually, it could lead to monetary benefits. However with social media optimization, you can reach every corner of the globe both as an individual and a company.

Single Platform For Dissimilar Business Minds

Facebook.com, del.icio.us, Furl, technorati, digg, bloglines.com and similar other online social forums provide us with an excellent opportunity for promoting businesses in a methodical manner. The cliché behind the success of these types of websites is their ability to accommodate different types of business minds on a single platform.

Platform For Harnessing Your Business Skill

These domains allow intermingling of two different people having similar interests and business needs. Business owners can earn valuable tips from different posts, which are put up by experts of their field, for improving their business strategies and eventually making the desired profits. Simultaneously, they can post their own problems for getting solution from these experts.

Affordable Method Of Globalizing Your Business

Apart from finding out tips, SMO helps business owners in making their products affordable and the company name visible to the global market. In return, they get clients in large number from the same forum and through the reference of the former. Henceforth, you are making friends and extracting cash from similar location at the same time.

Social media have changed the entire networking field from top to bottom and have brought the whole world to just the click of a button. If you have the desire to promote your business with minimum or sometimes no investment, SMO is the perfect ingredient for your recipe.

Using Social Media For Your Physician Practice

admin    Social Media     Media, Physician, Practice, Social, Using

No one likes going to see the doctor, but when the doctor in question is my friend Thomas, you almost want to make an exception. Thomas and I have been friends for ages, and you couldn’t meet a nicer guy. We happened to be at an early barbecue not so very long ago when we ended up, as we often do, on the top of self-promotion, what you can do for yourself, what you shouldn’t, and how the internet has changed everything.

”You’re lucky,” I said, not without a bit of envy. “I mean, people are always going to need you and when they’re sick, they’ll come right to your door. It’s not like you have to worry about getting every patient, right?”

Thomas laughed at me in that way that people have who need to laugh because otherwise they might want to strangle you. Over the course of the next half hour, as we waited for the grill to heat up and for the sausages to be roasted to perfection, he gave me a serious talk on what physicians like him need to do in order to survive. Thomas has a small private practice, so he doesn’t have the benefit of working with a large hospital; he gives a high level of personal care to his patients and he really does care about making you feel better, but as I ended up learning, this isn’t necessarily enough.

”You really have to think about using social media for your physician practice these days,” said Thomas. “There’s really no other way around it. When you take into account the fact that more and more people are just turning to the internet to tell them where to go and what to do when they get sick, you’ll find that you need to make sure that they can find you.”

So was a webpage enough? I had hooked Thomas up with a friend of mine who does website design, and I wanted to make sure she was worth the money he’d spent.

”A website is essential,” he admitted, “but it’s far from enough. When people start looking for what to do when they get sick, you’ll find that they might not even go to Google first. When you use social media like Facebook or Myspace, you are putting yourself out there in a way that is familiar to them. They know what they are looking for when they look at your page, and they know how to get the information they need.

”Furthermore,” he said, taking a sip of his drink, “they can do searches based on location, and if they learn that I’m right up the road or just a five minute drive away, there’s a much better chance that they will be interested in letting me keep them healthy.”

This was all very enlightening to me, and I’ll admit that using social media for your physician practice wasn’t something I had thought of at all. It seems that it’s never to early or late to do some work in this respect, so make sure that you take some time devote some energy to it!

Return on Investment (roi) for Search Engine Optimization & Social Media Marketing

admin    Social Media     Engine, Investment, Marketing, Media, Optimization, Return, Search, Social

ROI for networking – a perspective

If you’ve ever placed an ad in any magazine or newspaper, what do the magazine or newspapers promise? Do they promise “x” leads and “y” calls leading to “z” number of clients? Or do they talk about “a 2 million circulation” which means that the ad will be viewed by many but there are no guarantees of new business?

Also, when you answer the phone, respond to emails, make cold calls, and attend networking events, how do you measure your ROI?

Or how many events have you attended where you’ve passed out 50 business cards, come back to the office with 100 business cards, sent out 10 follow-up emails and heard back from ZERO?

So you spent $25 to attend the event, $5 in gas money, 3 hours of your time that is worth say $150, and in the end what did you get? A bunch of business cards and a few people writing or calling to sell their services to you! So did you sit down and measure the ROI for that? I think not.

And how many events can you attend in a given day? What reach can you have, meaning how many people can you reach out to at any given event? And how do you build a relationship with someone in brief encounters where everyone is hurrying to meet one more person before the event is over?

The SMM ROI

By participating in Social Media Marketing (SMM), what we are doing is leveraging conversations and discussions to begin building relationships. Building relationships and networking online takes time and therefore it requires time and investment. Since you have a business to run, you can do this by retaining professionals like us (had to get a plug in).

And so to summarize, I leave you with this thought.

The evolution of online marketing and especially social media marketing requires a paradigm shift in how businesses view ROI. Social Media Marketing allows us to form relationships. These relationships may eventually lead to business.

But ROI for Social Media Marketing doesn’t apply nor does it make sense because how can we measuring ROI of human interactions?