Happy New What?

New Year – new you, new business, new body, new mind, new adventures, new loves, new houses, new homes, new friends, new connections, new opportunities, new world.

These and many more ‘news’ are standing before us all now in the fresh, enthusiastic wonder that is 2012 – the question remains – what will you do with your new?

A New Year means more than a ticking clock or tearing off a calendar page. It means we can start over, again or anew. It means the chance for hope, compassion, and contribution. It means that even though we have no idea what is coming we will make inspirational plans for that unknown and goals that will help us get to it.

Today we can easily feel the possibility, the adventures looming, tomorrow those feeling will begin to fade. By next week they will be distant memories. Unless……unless we give them life and resolve to take action that keeps us ‘in possibility’.

Try this, take a package of brightly coloured sticky notes and write on them BE GREAT, POSSIBILITY, ACTION, PURPOSE, CONTRIBUTION, or any other inspirational words that stir your juices. Then post them all over your house, never mind if people see them, they make excellent conversation starters. When they start to curl around the edges take them down and start again with new words in different places. Never let the new get old.

If we remind ourselves on a daily basis what is possible, that we can create whatever we want, we will…..and then we can say Happy New Minute, Happy New Morning, Happy New Day instead of just celebrating possibility on a yearly basis. If we realized the potential in each and every second we are given, we would readily run out of fireworks. But then again, we wouldn’t need them, because we would celebrate each moment by living to our highest potential, wouldn’t that be incredible?

Happy New Year Everyone!
Now get out there and create something really cool!

Tweet Much?

No, seriously, tweet much?
Most of the clients or friends I ask answer that they don’t. They don’t because they think the mundane details of their lives are ridiculous and if they haven’t got something relevant to their business to say, they say nothing… (insert crickets here).

The problem with that is they think all the people on twitter are doing the same, waiting until the perfect inspirational, call-to-action tweet pops into their head and only then sharing it with the twitterverse – So. Not. True.

The reason Twitter works for business, and for pleasure, is because tweeters are people – and people want to connect with people.

If you only communicate on Twitter in business form, using business speak to discuss business issues, you’re missing the point and more likely, you’re boring your audience to tears.

The reason Twitter works is precisely because of the mundane details that connect us all – cheering on your sports team, watching your favorite TV show, hating on ridiculous drivers, talking about the weather and yes, sharing what you had for lunch, even immortalizing that salad in a picture.
Yes, we do business, but we also do life in general, and it’s that general part where most of us find some commonality.

If you’re resolving to get your tweet on in 2012, or you want to increase your impact on Twitter give this a try: take off your business suit, move away from your desk and tweet instead from the couch, in jeans – sweats even – and see if you don’t make a connection that just might someday lead to a little business.

Gathering Customer Information With Social Media

Have you cultivated a social media following? If yes, then you have an opportunity you may be missing – information gathering.
In most cases a loyal audience will tell you anything you want to know, within reason. And most of us want to know a lot about our customer right? So, start asking.

Ask them to comment on blog posts, ask them specific questions with specific answers in customer surveys — tip: keep surveys short, really short – 5 questions max. — or ask them one specific question at a time with Facebook questions. You can also insert mini surveys into your monthly newsletter or ask something on Twitter or in your status update on LinkedIn. You might also ask a question in a LinkedIn group, respondents are likely colleagues not customers but they may have keen insight into your customers wants and needs.

What to ask? Ask them about your products, the good the bad and the ugly. Ask them what they do with their spare time, ask them what technology they use, how they use it and how they think it can be improved. Ask them if they are married, do they have kids, what is important to them and where they would like to see themselves in the future. The more personal and intimate the questions, the better off you are keeping the survey private (off Facebook) and possibly anonymous.

The information you gather should be relevant to your product or service. It should be designed to help you move your company forward and most of all it should give you insight into your best customer. When you know your customer and what they want, you can set about the business of giving it to them, which after all, is the point of being in business in the first place.

Have you used social media to gather customer information? Which tools have you used and how has it worked for you?

2 Steps to more Followers

Sifting through the local paper this morning I noticed a lot of small businesses advertising their wares. Yoga/Pilates studios, restaurants, clothing stores, massage therapy clinics, and many many more. One thing conspicuously absent from almost every single ad were their social media links. Not a little blue ‘f’ to be seen for miles.
Now, maybe it’s because social media is my work, or maybe it’s because everyone I know spends a fair bit of time either facebooking or tweeting or tumbling, that I find it astonishing that companies who go through the time, trouble, and sometimes money to put up a presence on a social media site will not consider that presence important enough to include in their print advertising.

One of the most asked questions in my business is “how can I get more followers?” Well, you can start by telling your fans and potential customers that you are there. It’s really very easy, take Facebook for instance – Step One: Claim your user name on Facebook so a cinch to find you when people start looking, (http://facebook.com/username) and Step Two: put the little blue ‘f’ everywhere you can. On your letter head, at the bottom of every email, on your newsletters, print ads and even include it in your conversations. Just like you told everyone who came within earshot that you had an ad in the paper when you first put one there, start spreading the good news about your social media presence and see what happens.
Yes, If you built it they will come, but only if you tell them where to find you.

 

It’s NOT All About the Numbers.

Too often clients ask me, “ how can I get more fans on my page?” They think, as most do, that Facebook fan page success is all about the numbers. Not so. Facebook, and social media in general, is all about engagement, not numbers. If you have thousands of fans who don’t care about your products and services you might as well be putting your money and time into newspaper ads. But, if you have a small handful of loyal customers who interact with your content regularly and spread good news about your business across social media channels, then you have success; the kind that translates into a positive bottom line.
So, don’t ask your social media consultant how to increase the numbers, ask how to increase engagement because when you get that working for you, the numbers take care of themselves.
2 Quick and Easy Ways to Increase Engagement:
1) Know your audience. On Facebook the ‘Page Insights’ will show you your page demographic; make sure your posts are relevant to them.
2) Ask questions. Design your posts to be inquiries. Ask your audience what they like, what they do, how they handle different situations, etc. Answers, in the form of comments and likes, are engagement.

More engagement strategies to come…..

2 Very Important (and often overlooked) Social Media Essentials

1. A Social Media Strategy.

If you are using social media without one, you are definitely spending more time than you need to, and you are probably not getting the full return on your investment.
Having a strategy that outlines the steps to take, and the ones to avoid, is as sensible as using plans to build a house instead of ‘winging it’. A well-researched Social Media Strategy will focus on achieving your company’s goals, using time efficiently and economically. It will help you avoid common pitfalls, like posting at the wrong times, or on sites that don’t appeal to your target audience. More and more companies are realizing that throwing up a Facebook page and linking it to a Twitter account is not enough to create the buzz they were hoping for. Social Media is a powerful tool for driving leads to your door, for building customer loyalty, for educating and building trust, but it can also be a huge time waster, costing your company thousands. A comprehensive Social Media Strategy will ensure your efforts pay you, not the other way around.

 
2. A Company Social Media Policy (CSMP).

If you have employees, even one, you need a CSMP. Otherwise, your company reputation might be on the line. Most people use some form of Social Media both at work and at home and there are key points that need to be made very clear. For instance, who is manning your sites on the weekend? Do they have the authority to deal with a crisis? Who responds to comments? How soon are they answered? What happens when that person goes on vacation? Need more? What are employees allowed to post about your company? Is it OK for employees to post videos on Facebook that have been taken on your business premises? During the company Christmas party? To their personal profile? Without your knowledge?
See where this is going? If you are not outlining in detail the dos and don’ts in your CSMP the answers to these and many more questions go unanswered, until they demand to be.
Don’t be caught with your pants down, take care of these points today, before they end up costing you valuable resources, like your money or your reputation.
Need help creating a Strategy or a Company Policy? Get in touch, we can help.

Are you flying blind?

Many of the companies that I see on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc., appear to be there ‘on the fly’. I will notice a post from them occasionally or they are constantly trying to sell something, I mean every post. Of the constant sellers I have no idea what most of them are up to now because they have long ago been hidden from my newsfeed. Perhaps when I am finished writing I will add them back and give them another chance, maybe by now they have figured it out…or maybe not.

If you don’t have a strategy to guide your social media efforts you are quite probably wasting a lot of valuable time and money trying to make social media work for you company.

What I would like to know is, those of you who don’t have a strategy, why don’t you? Were you not aware that a strategy was a good idea? Were you thinking you could make it all work without one? Or have you trusted your social media to someone else who is assuring you that everything is fine? If either of these is the case it may be time to have a look at your stats and see how many people are actually getting your message.  I can almost guarantee that your bottom line will reflect your lack of strategy.

On a daily basis I see companies and individuals who are attempting to market themselves on social media and only about one tenth are getting it right. Most of the others are flailing around in the muddy waters about to go under because they see no positive results from their efforts. If that is you, please take advantage of any number of services, training, seminars, etc. that are available and get yourself on the track to engaging and converting customers because honestly, there are millions of dollars being made every single day through excellent social media campaigns, you deserve to be grabbing a piece of that pie.

fear not…

When many of us first wade into the social media jungle we notice a few things.  First of all, this stuff takes a fair bit of time  and second there is a lot more to an effective social media strategy than simply posting to a twitter account occasionally.

The biggest surprise for me was to see how many people were scared of the social media environment.  Fearing their lives be laid out for all to, not only see, but comment on freely, an awful lot of people have decided to avoid social media altogether.  The problem there lies in the fact that as a business not maintaining a social media presence is becoming a liability.

One of the best things you can do if you fall into the category mentioned above is to educate yourself.  Understanding and using the privacy settings on Facebook will make it a lot easier to enjoy the experience and once you are playing in the environment it is not so hard to make the move to a business presence.

Each social media tool should be taken on one at a time and you can find more information about each one and their privacy controls than you will ever have time to read, with a simple Google search.

So, take a baby step, get comfortable and keep moving forward……because love it,  hate it,  fear it or embrace it,  social media is here to stay.

5 Point Plan to Get You Up and Running with Social Media

Your social media strategy needn’t take a month to define.  Follow these simple steps and you can be producing relevant, engaging content in just days. 

Your strategy should reflect your company’s needs and it doesn’t have to be like anyone else’s. Testing and tweaking are big parts of the process so don’t expect to accomplish your goals without them.  Finally, if you don’t have time to do social media effectively, hire someone to train you, or to manage it for you or don’t do it at all because what you don’t say with your social media says just as much about your company as what you do.

1. Decide what you want to accomplish with social media
2. Research to determine which social media tools will do the job – Google is your friend
3. Implement one at a time, becoming used to each one before adding another
4. Determine the best way to measure your results depending on the tools you are using – see #2
5. Tweak and test until the results you achieve are in line with your goals.

Time Management?

The most frequent complaint I hear from people when I ask them why they haven’t kept up on their social media is that they ‘don’t have time.’

Now, as a business person and a single mom I get that – time is a very valuable commodity.  But then again, so is your business and if your business depends on word of mouth, then so is your social media presence.

If you are one of the time challenged many try looking at it from a different perspective.  Time, as it turns out, cannot be managed  it’s coming and going whether you get your stuff together or not, but commitments can be managed and looking at yours with a critical eye for results might shine a light on pockets of available time you may have overlooked.

When it comes to your social media commitments make sure that where you are spending your time is where it will pay off and whittle back your commitment until it is manageable. Posting regularly to one medium is much better than not posting at all to five.