Why Google+ Will Be the Next Big Thing for Your Business

Why the hubbub about Google+? The last thing entrepreneurs need is another social network to join, right? Weren't you just getting the hang of Twitter? Didn't you just start putting that Facebook business page together? social media marketing conference So why is Brogan back here telling you to get into Google+, and pronto?I've never made a prediction like this before. I'm not exactly Mr. Bleeding Edge. But what I've seen so far is that the new social network from Google has a lot of advantages that are worth thinking about, and entrepreneurial types should take a look-see.While the company tirelessly negotiated with the record labels to bring the same success to U.S. soil, Spotify had already started making inroads with Americans -- giving influencers and celebs like Ashton Kutcher and Miley Cyrus a test drive.Though the product speaks for itself, it didn't hurt that techies at Mashable, Techcrunch and CNET helped spread the word to early adopters. Last December, even the much-respected music critic Bob Lefsetz listed "Spotify In The States" as his number one Christmas wish. Besides the labels finally giving in, this word-of-mouth mentality helped the service gain traction and ultimately launch in the U.S. this past July.With Mark Zuckerberg being a big fan of Spotify since its early days (co-founder Sean Parker is an investor), Facebook is now reportedly planning to launch its own music service at the F8 Develop Conference in San Francisco on Thursday. If it does, it could help third-party music services like Spotify tap into an even bigger audience of 750 million users.A few days after our launch we ran a campaign on Twitter to hand out invites to Spotify. effective social media marketing We asked users to follow our new @SpotifyUSA account and tweet with the hashtag iwantSpotify as part of their message. We gave the first 1,000 people who did that an invitation. This helped us grow our new U.S. Twitter presence, get new users and create buzz on Twitter all at the same time.

What Makes It Different

First (and important) Facebook is not indexed by Google for search results, meaning that everything you do inside there stays inside there. Second, Facebook and LinkedIn both are set up for more of an "exclusive" model, social media as a marketing tool which means that you have to know someone to know something. That's why you see companies pushing so hard for "likes," and why you see people spam the LinkedIn Groups.Google+ is slowly rolling out their "for business" parts of the platform, but on the day I wrote this, I can tell you that even being on their system as an individual representing a company is a big opportunity. The traffic to ChrisBrogan.com has received a huge boost since linking the occasional post from Google+.Google+ is a social networking platform, but you can look at it a lot of different ways. You can say it's like Facebook, only cleaner. It's like Twitter, only more engaging. It has the potential to be a great collaboration and communication platform (you can isolate who sees information by sharing it with specific Circles, or groupings of people). In its earliest weeks of existence, it already was sending more traffic to my website than any other social networking platform.Also, realize that Google+ is indexed by the biggest search engine in the world, also known as Google. Other search engines like it, too. And it has a lot of integration points, such as Google Places (which shows you location information), and an incredible potential for integrating even more of Google's services over time.We promote pre-releases, unique content and competitions for premium users across social media to notify both existing paying users and non-paying users. social media marketing pricing This also helps to highlight the added benefits of Premium to our non-paying users. We've also built large followings on both Facebook (over 1.1 million likes) and Twitter (over 165,000 followers). We use them in similar fashions since they tend to reach different audiences. They both provide us with a platform to promote new artists and albums, talk about great new Spotify features and get valuable feedback to improve our product.

How It Will Help Your Business

Social networks are built to try and emulate real-world connectivity and information-sharing. On one hand, they're like a more interesting telephone. On the other hand, they're built to augment (not replace) cocktail parties, social media marketing blog chamber of commerce meetings and other places where people get to know each other (or at least used to). Google+ does this surprisingly well, for a few reasons.Picture displays on Google+ are prettier and getting more comments than Flickr.Google+ lets you share photos, videos, links and location data with everyone, or with your select Circles. Thus, when you find the good stuff that applies to your real estate friends, if you've grouped them into a Circle, you can send that information only to them. Other times, you can share with the general public to try and grow your audience.Simply put, it's important to take action on Google+ right now. I saw the benefits of this when I joined Twitter in October 2006. If you get in, get familiar, start growing connections and learn how to curate and share, you'll be ahead of the game. It's not usually my thing to make predictions, but I'm sticking with this one. Include social media in all your communications plans. It can often be just as powerful as a press release or official post and people appreciate the personal touch. And have fun with it.Be active, be honest and be true to your own tone of voice. Provide your fans with a steady stream of relevant information and content and make a personal connection that will keep them coming back for more. social media marketing experts TweetDeck allows users to add multiple accounts, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, foursquare and more. TweetDeck calls itself "the airport control" of Twitter. It integrates with link-shortening services and allows users to see multiple feeds and mentions at once. TweetDeck is free to use.

An All-in-One Mobile Marketing Tool

If you want a cutting-edge approach to product marketing in 2011, you have a lot of choices. You can utilize a mobile location-based service or check-in app. You can craft a Groupon-style daily deal. social media marketing degree Or you can sign on to Facebook, Twitter and foursquare and fish for fans, friends and return customers.Why not do all three? You can do that piecemeal, of course, but the WeReward marketing platform intersects with all the new models.WeReward, the 17-month-old offering of online and mobile marketing company Izea, allows consumers to earn points that are equal to cash for completing tasks like checking in at a store, taking a photo of a product and, ideally, actually buying the product featured through a WeReward sponsorship.Consumers can then share these actions with their social media networks by posting a photo of themselves with a product they have just purchased. (Advertisers get to approve the photos first--so keep it clean, people.)To earn rewards, smartphone users download the WeReward app and become "oinkers." Every time they oink, i.e., register a product-related action through social media, it's recorded--and sometimes broadcast at WeReward.com. For example, the site noted on June 22 that "reygaring just checked in to a Taco Bell in Walnut Creek, Calif." A short time later, "Trevor Schultz just earned 114 points at Vegas.com in Las Vegas." (Let's hope Trevor wasn't playing hooky that day.)In marketing, advertisers benefit from cost per sale," says Ted Murphy, CEO and founder of Izea. "Bringing engagement down to a cost per action helps advertisers realize how people are engaging with their products and who their customers are. social media marketing los angeles We're providing them with that information.Advertisers who sign up with WeReward can get that information sliced a number of ways. The platform offers general demographics--more than 72 percent of users are between the ages of 25 and 49--as well as specific user information, such as when "reygaring" last devoured a taco.

'Mobilize' familiar social interactions

Mobile devices have installed capabilities such as cameras, GPS, speakers and even gyroscopes that you use to interact with customers. Try these ideas for fun and engaging mobile-social marketing. social media marketing strategy template Post a quick-response (QR) code to your social-network news feed or photo album containing a link to a mobile coupon or a video that educates your customers or demonstrates your value. You can create free QR codes on sites such as qrstuff.com and XZing and then download them as images for posting to social feeds and photo albums.Use your social newsfeed to post offers that can be redeemed through or with a mobile device. Since people bring their mobile devices most everywhere, your news feed can be shown to a salesperson or customer representative for a discount or other special offer.When you interact with customers, ask them to use their mobile devices to interact with your business. For example, ask people to take pictures of your products so they can share them with other decision-makers or ask your happy customers to write a quick review on a social shopping site or business directory listing.Crosslink your Facebook page, Twitter page, blogs and other social sites to a mobile website. Make sure you also add share and follow links to your mobile website so people who visit on the mobile web can touch the link and start accessing your social updates instantly.For business owners, social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook and company blogs should be more than sharing marketing messages and industry news. They should be using these outlets to engage customers and drive business, social media marketing consultant Jason Falls stressed here at a panel discussion during Entrepreneur's Winning Strategies conference yesterday. social media marketing resume One way is to use social media to tell the "story" of the business -- how it came to be and what it aims to accomplish. "There's no such thing as boring people and boring businesses," said Spencer Antle, founder of Miami-based clothing supplier Island Company. "Just get on there and tell your story.

Active social networkers spend more money

Active adult social networkers when measured side-by-side with the average Internet user -- are 75 percent more likely to be big spenders on music and 47 percent more likely to spend bundles on clothing, shoes and accessories. social media marketing campaigns There’s a lot more here, and you can request your own copy of the report yourself on Nielsen’s Reports and Downloads site. If for no other reason, you can get a handle on how different consumer segments use and share content online.It's also important to interact with customers in a way that enhances your brand and its "social personality," Falls said. He cited an example of an exchange over Twitter between popular sandwich shop Quiznos and a woman who tweeted: “To eat the Quiznos sub or not to eat it…that is the question." In response, Quiznos tweeted back simply: "Eat me."Quiznos' naughty response was more than just humorous, it "empowered the customer to have his or her own story about the brand," said Erika Napoletano, a digital strategist and Entrepreneur columnist. "Your stories are important, but [your customers'] stories are arguably even more important.Another goal should be to create a social personality, or voice, that stands out from the competition, Antle said. "People want to get away, to have different types of social interactions," he said. "Why should they go to one business over another? They prefer the story that's most compelling.Making those social connections can require a lot of trial and error, Falls said. But the most important thing for business owners is to at least try.If you're doing something wrong [on social media], your followers will let you know," Falls said. "After two, three, four months, social media marketing service if all you hear are crickets chirping from your followers, take a couple steps back, refocus and start again.While catching up with a friend in the U.K. a year and a half ago, I discovered the peer-to-peer digital music service Spotify. At the time, the much-hyped London-based outfit had around 7 million users in Europe, with a library of over 10 million songs.

How to 'Mobilize' Your Social Media Marketing

More than 200 million Facebook users access Facebook from mobile devices every month, according to Facebook. If your business wants its share of those mobile eyeballs, it’s time to combine your social media marketing with mobile marketing. social media marketing books Some consumers have embraced mobile-social interactions without much interference from marketers, mostly because the major social networks seem to have been relatively slow in developing opportunities to market to mobile-social users. That doesn’t mean you have to be as slow moving.Here are three ways you can drive more social-mobile interactions with your business while you wait for more abundant social-mobile marketing opportunities to emerge.Advertisers may establish more formal relationships with particularly loyal customers by making them brand ambassadors or giving them greater discounts and rewards."Some of our users see this as a way to save money, others see it as a way to make money," Murphy says. "If a user has a decent social network, as a business you will want to take care of them."Hey, we sell $2.25 tacos. That's not unique," Saxton says. "What's unique is the audience we've built. We have well over 10,000 eyeballs on us between Facebook and Twitter. That means we have 10,000 supervisors and managers waiting to tell us when we do something great--or when we don't.When Dr. Enrique Borrego opened his veterinary practice in 1990, location and word-of-mouth were all a vet needed to bring in clients and their furry friends. Borrego opened his current location in 2000 to better serve his neighbors in the quiet Florida town. But in 2004, Port St. Lucie became one of the fastest-growing communities in Florida, social media in marketing and soon there were multiple vet practices within walking distance of his office. It was clear he had to find a way to differentiate Animal General Hospital.He tried local magazines and the Yellow Pages, but over 18 months netted no new clients. At a loss, Borrego turned to Rich Urban, a former vet tech with a savvy set of marketing tools that could reshape the local vet practice.

Offer check-in deals

When people "check in" to a physical location using a mobile device via Foursquare or another app, they do it to share their location and activities with friends. Marketers call this "proof of presence." small business social media marketing If your customers frequent your physical location and tell lots of people about you through a social network, that behavior should be rewarded.You can reward these customers by offering discounts and special privileges on social networks that provide check-in rewards features. Foursquare for Business and Facebook Check-in Deals both provide ways to reward people for checking in.I did a quick check for local deals available near my hotel room while writing this article and found that I could check-in to a nearby Chili’s restaurant for free chips and salsa and get some free color printing done by checking in to a local printer's shop. I also found that I could enter to win a year of free haircuts from a Great Clips hair salon. I decided to skip the hotel spa’s free laser hair-removal check-in offer.Foursquare allows you to create deals for multiple check-ins based on frequency, and Facebook has a variety of deal option s including individual deals, group deals for up to eight people and even charity deals in which check-ins result in donations. As of this writing, both Foursquare and Facebook allow businesses to create check-in rewards for free. That may change, so take advantage while you can.I love animals. I wanted to be a doctor, not a vaccination clinic," Borrego says. "I knew there had to be a better way to market my practice, and Rich held that key.Urban built a client-care strategy that spanned from the moment of first interaction to long after clients had gone home from their latest appointment. social media marketing plan sample Using YouTube, Facebook and e-mail marketing, the strategy has produced some astounding results. Borrego estimates he spent $27,000 over 18 months for Yellow Pages ads. In a single 18-month online campaign combining Google advertising with Facebook ads, $3,600 in spending brought in a remarkable 250 new clients and $75,000 in revenue.

Update your followers via mobile

Your customers aren’t the only ones connecting through mobile devices. Your business should be able to share photos, videos, deals and other information from anywhere so your social updates are timely and efficient. marketing on social media There are two basic ways to update fans from your mobile device. You can use an app or website such as ping.fm or Seesmic to update fans on multiple networks including your Facebook business pages. And, you can update fans on a single network using a variety of methods. For example, Facebook allows fan page updates via text message, mobile email, mobile website and mobile app (currently for iPhone only).The bottom line for this vet? Interaction. "Yellow Pages ads are static. Facebook and Google--those are interactive. People in this day and age demand interaction, so we've built ourselves to be an online resource for our clients," Borrego says. "Great information coupled with great care--that's why people keep coming back. That's the social part of social marketing." You can find Animal General Hospital on Facebook and YouTube, and stop in for some paws-atively great care when you're in Port St. Lucie.Have a question? The folks on Quora likely have an answer. The online Q&A platform gets user queries answered by experts for free. But it's become more than an info-seeking site for entrepreneurs, marketers and even investors.I use Quora to do research on what hot-topic issues are percolating and to follow tech journalists to keep up on the kinds of stories they're writing. It helps me answer reporters' questions and get my clients in front of them in a different way. social media marketing campaign My firm invests in early stage software companies. We mentor first-time CEOs/founders, including through Quora. I primarily spend my time on Quora in startup-related sections. Wherever I think I have a strong point of view, I answer, giving information and insights that showcase our expertise. It helps us attract better prospects for investment.

Tips for Successful Holiday Marketing Campaigns

It's no longer a question of either-or. Savvy entrepreneurs know that both email and social media are important parts of a successful marketing strategy. Using the right tools to get the right message to the right facebook social media marketing audience is critical over the holidays, when businesses and organizations are pulling out all the stops to capture consumers’ attention and dollars.So how can you engage customers when competition is so fierce? Here’s some good news for small businesses on a budget: Social media extends the life and reach of your email marketing campaigns. It empowers marketers to better engage their audiences, and gives customers the means to share content and offers with their networks. If email gets your message heard, then social media spreads the message even farther.Here's how to extend your email marketing reach and add some social spice to your holiday campaigns. Before you start spreading the cheer, keep these seven tips in mind.And brands that combined social media mentions with billboard advertising increased sales by one and a half times.What are the implications of this study? First, it suggests that those who employ social content should increase customer and prospect exposure in order to impact sales and brand perception. Even more important, the report shows that integrating other media channels into your content results in the biggest impact on consumers.Use surveys, loyalty program tracking and coupons when evaluating the sales impact of your social content. Don’t depend solely on direct clicks. By monitoring your social media closely, disadvantages of social media marketing you can also discover and remedy any negative press about your brand, product or service, because these certainly affect brand perception. In fact, Taco Bell had a 220 percent lower shift in consumer perception of the chain providing a “great dining experience,” a direct result of a socially charged news cycle involving ingredients used in Taco Bell’s meat products around the time of the study.

Create valuable content to share

Your email subscribers and social followers won't share content just for the sake of sharing. But they will share content that interests and entertains them, shows them you're listening, solves their problems, and improves their lives. hotel social media marketing And around the holidays, everyone is looking for a great offer, whether it's a clever gift idea, an awesome deal, or a money-saving coupon.You should also plan your social content in a manner that best emphasizes the qualities with which you want the public to be aware. The goal is to reinforce your brand’s uniqueness, and that means promoting broad discussion on your brand in order to keep your social content fresh and up-to-date.The building at 4565 N. Elston Ave. on Chicago's Northwest Side has a black-painted brick facade and opaque windows. There is no sign, so you would never guess that the business inside is one of Chicago's busiest up-and-coming craft breweries--Finch's Beer Co.The lack of a sign might also make you think the guy who runs Finch's doesn't know the first thing about branding and marketing, but there you'd be wrong about Ben Finch. Before getting into the business of hops and barley, Finch co-founded The Killswitch Collective, the cutting-edge Chicago creative agency that has done design work for the likes of MTV.The absence of signage hasn't hurt Finch's Beer. It garnered much local buzz and had a long list of bars awaiting tap handles even before it filled its first keg last spring, thanks to an early, aggressive marketing strategy heavily reliant on social media." atlanta social media marketing From day one I decided that a lot of the marketing effort would be focused on social media," Finch says. "When you look at how beer brands are marketed, the big ones may do a lot through other media, but that is not an option for a craft brewery. It wasn't an economic decision--it was just the best way for us to build a hard-core following."

Include a social call to action

When you start a conversation, request feedback, or make a promotional offer via email, the next step is to drive your audience to social destinations and engage them. Make it clear to your email readers what you want them to do next. how to do social media marketing It may be to "Like" you on Facebook to get a coupon, follow you and retweet an offer on Twitter to be eligible for a prize, or continue a hot-topic holiday discussion elsewhere.The social media effort began many months before the brewing, as the company used Facebook and Twitter to build brand buzz, share photos of the brewery's construction phases and give local bars shout-outs through a "Daily Social Love" post, which no doubt endeared Finch's to many would-be partners.To manage its social media activity, the company uses Sprout Social, a platform Finch learned of when Killswitch became one of Sprout's early test groups. Finch digs in to Sprout reports to gauge the company's traction and following, but otherwise keeps the strategy simple.Social to me is as DIY as marketing gets," he says. "You don't have to have a ton of experience and practice to use it. There's no 'right' recipe. As a small business, you just need to start interacting with your customers.For Finch, social media is just one facet of an old-fashioned marketing philosophy. "We don't have people finding us through social," he says. "They find us through word-of-mouth. If I go to a bar where we're on tap and talk to someone, they become a fan and tell 10 of their friends about us. I'm still a big believer in word-of-mouth.Not having a name on the door is Finch's way of proving that personal interaction with customers is still an important notion. social media marketing trends After all, plenty of people have managed to find the brewery--the neighborhood folks who showed up for an informal Memorial Day barbecue Finch announced through Twitter, the throngs who have signed up for brewery tours advertised through Facebook and the beer enthusiasts who have taken a home-brewing class Finch's hosted via community learning marketplace Dabble.

Social Marketing Is Best Served on a Combo Plate

If you’re accountable for the dollars your company spends on social media-related marketing and you’re looking for evidence that socially engineered content and engagement marketing lifts sales, social media marketing agencies here’s some good news.A just-released study shows that consumers -- patrons of five fast-food franchises in this case -- are much more likely to pull out their wallets and purses after being exposed to social content on sites like Facebook and Twitter than those who aren’t. Moreover, when exposed to socially engineered content and other types of media (e.g., television ads, billboard campaigns and public relations efforts resulting in earned media placements) the likelihood for a bigger spend, consumption or brand perception is increased by a whopping two to seven times.These findings — from the latest Social Media Sales Impact Study (published by Ogilvy & Mather and ChatThreads) — reinforce the importance of having an integrated multichannel marketing campaign that includes creating and leveraging conversational and user-generated content.The study also shows that you shouldn’t put all your eggs into one basket. Exposure to several fast-food brands via social media reached only 24 percent of the consumers involved in the exercise. That’s low when compared to 69 percent of survey participants who reported having taken note of a TV ad for one of the restaurant brands during a weeklong test period. Billboards for one or more of the five chains (KFC, McDonalds, Subway, Taco Bell and Wendy's) caught the eye of only 37 percent of consumers.But the study shows that exposure to multiple channels — a combo plate involving social media along with television exposure, search and social media marketing billboards, public relations or other advertising avenues — positively impacts sales. For instance, consumers exposed to social media combined with public relations showed a 17 percent increase over purchases without such dual exposure. Those who experienced social media exposure along with a TV ad were two times more likely to purchase more that they did the week before.

Make your campaigns easy to share

Your aim is to capture your customers' attention and then inspire them to comment on and share your content or offer with their friends or network. That way, a whole new audience hears about your business,social media marketing applications with the implied endorsement of your customers. What a powerful way to get your message across. Add social share icons to the top of your email newsletter, so readers can easily share your content with just one click.Keep your tweets short and sweet so that others can retweet within Twitter's 140-character limit.Post sign-up links across your social media accounts.Add a "Join My Mailing List" box to your website and Facebook pages.Invite your audience to join your mailing list by texting you (if your email marketing service provider offers this feature).Pay attention to customer conversations and feedback when you post on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. If a discussion catches fire, jump in yourself and fan the flames to keep it going. Engage customers in social conversations, and use their input to develop ideas for future email content that they'll also want to share.See how many people shared your holiday campaigns outside the email environment. Take note of what works and what doesn't, so you may take those valuable lessons learned into the new year.Social media gives email more reach and power, connecting all of your communications in an integrated engagement marketing plan. Combining email and social media marketing enables you to better engage your customers, and inspire them to share your content -- and do some of the holiday marketing for you. Here's to a social and successful holiday season. marketing using social media It's tough to go anywhere these days without finding a sign that begs us to "like" a business on Facebook or to follow it on Twitter. Yelp stickers in front windows are more prevalent than those from the Better Business Bureau. And all we have to do to learn about a business we're thinking of patronizing is drop its name into a web search box and wait for the results.

Customize your message for each network

Tools make it easy to share your email content across social media channels. But don't overly automate your marketing message ("set it and forget it") at risk of losing your personal touch. los angeles social media marketing Get to know your audience segments and their preferred social turf. Then, create a customized message for each network of followers. Post those links to your email newsletter on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn wherever your audience spends social time online.But exactly how are businesses using the plethora of social tools to convert possibility into revenue? I came across two examples in vastly different industries. If you have a brick-and-mortar location, here are two businesses that offer tools for turning virtual relationships into concrete revenue.Who said you couldn't cash tacos at the bank? Founded in early 2009, Marination Mobile is the brainchild of partners Kamala Saxton and Roz Edison. Coupling the vast success of the Los Angeles food-truck business with a wine-drenched evening, they hatched the idea for a truck-based dining experience that's gone gangbusters.So where does social come into play? Their business plan has never been without it. "We knew that if this was ever going to be a success, we had to include the people we wanted to serve in our business plan," Saxton says. In business-planning vernacular, that means they included social web strategies in their marketing efforts four months prior to when their food truck served its first taco.What's the secret sauce? They discovered Emily Resling, who not only had a knack for social marketing, but also understood their brand--she drives Marination's online personality in ways they could have only dreamed about. social media marketing university review She has even developed a style guide for the brand.Today, Marination Mobile isn't just mobile. Contrary to the traditional practice of brick-and-mortar restaurants launching food trucks, they've gone back-assward and now have opened a storefront location. In two years, they've gone from concept to two business locations, and the owners thank their audience for making that happen.

How to Find Time to Market Your Company Using Social Media

Some social networkers are there for purely egotistical reasons. They don't want to engage in the conversation. They simply collect followers and friends in order to have bragging rights every time they collect another thousand. social media marketing blog But connecting, following or befriending just anyone dilutes your influence and standing among those in your audience. Others join because they feel they must. They spend a few days setting up their profiles and then abandon them when other tasks call.The real motivation for any business social networker is connection: You should want to connect with like-minded people who can help your business and whose businesses you can assist. You want to add to the conversation, and not come across as desperate, spammy or a waste of time. If you develop a bad reputation in these communities, it will be hard to shake off.But making such strong, real connections takes time, effort and thoughtfulness. If you never return to your profiles, you and your business will be forgotten (best case) or seen as unconnected, clueless or lazy (worst case). If you post too much, people might consider you a pest and stop following you.Some social networkers are the worst of both worlds: They don’t post to their blog or text their friends or colleagues for weeks at a time. They don’t reply to messages sent to them, and the company site looks like it has gone out of business. Then, without any warning, they’re back . . . alive . . . and conversing. Was the organization’s social networking person out of the country? Did they suffer a grave illness? social media marketing experts Nope. They were just distracted, disorganized, sidetracked or overworked. There’s no method to the company’s madness in being a social networking participant. Not committed. No strategy. Its influence will never be felt. The competition will soon fill the void.Whether your company is a one-person business or a large organization, your commitment to social networking should be consistent, compelling and informative.

Assert clarity in your policy or reasons

Sometimes people are upset about a return policy or some rule you follow that can't be changed. It's perfectly fine to assert yourself to someone who is being negative about your brand, but do it politely,social media marketing articles with compassion and by supplying the reasons your policy exists. Don't make the reasons about the detractors -- make it about the betterment of every customer's experience.Some people run effective social media programs by listening instead of actually saying anything. But no matter if you converse with customers or not, you must have a purpose before you can engage. They want tangible value and through research, you'll learn what a desirable engagement program actually looks like. Don't get caught up in only replying to brand mentions. Your real opportunity is to also engage and convert those people not already talking about you.Companies believe that uploading a video to Youtube is the key to anything going viral. What they don't know is, 48 Hours of video is uploaded every minute to Youtube. The chance of your video going viral naturally is basically nil. However, with the Old Spice and Evian Rollerbaby examples, they identified all of the potential influencers in their space and reached out to them in advance of and during the video release. They sought help to make sure that the video was shared. Remember though, going viral only counts if it impacts your brand. If it creates lift, leaves an imprint or if it drives action or outcomes, that's when you're going viral. One in 11 people on the planet is on Facebook. Most everyone you know has an e-mail account, and likely, an account with at least one social network. That means your customers, social media marketing dallas your prospects and other contacts you hope to reach and nurture are using these tools to communicate, consume, acquire news and learn--and you have the tools to produce something of value to them.If you want to reach people, get them where they are. E-mail (though some worry it's dead) is still the No. 1 method of reaching people digitally. Don't translate that to mean "let's lob a crappy newsletter full of promotions" at people.

Assess what will help them feel better

Comcast's Frank Eliason answered upset customers on Twitter in 2007 by asking the question, "How can I help?" What those four simple words do is turn the power of the conversation over to the customer and let him or her, learn social media marketing if just for a moment, dictate the terms of what would help.When customers feel listened to and empowered, the company often earns credibility in their mind. Without delivering value, conveying a meaningful mission and vision, or establishing a connect-worthy presence, authenticity and transparency have nothing to reinforce. Instead, write simple, 500-word e-mails that read personably and offer more than your "thing of the week."Set up a blog, and post weekly articles. Use a video blog to really get people's attention. Keep videos to four minutes or less for anything except in-depth interviews. And if you want another big move, offer audio downloads to go with your videos. I've seen a huge uptick in people wanting audio files to take with them after they've seen the video.Because e-mail is still tops, work hard to get your buyers and prospects to sign up for your free e-mail newsletter. Utilize Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ (yes, it's in its early days, but I swear it's the next big thing).If your buyers are very mobile, consider an SMS service to send out brief updates to them via text (get people to opt in or they'll hate you for this). Construction workers, transportation pros and the like work much more from text and voice than e-mail and the web. Keep that in mind.You don't just want to beat people over the head with your own products or services. Find interesting information that applies to their tastes and share that, too. If you're a fledgling winery, importance of social media marketing for example, offer pairing recipes or link to relevant videos you've found on YouTube. Do whatever you can to share more than your own stories.You've got the chance to earn people's attention, to convert them from an audience into a community--and, ultimately, into loyal buyers. That's a process, one that takes little money, but requires attention and care. You can't just fire away and hope.

Steps for Dealing With Social Media Detractors

It's the thing a lot of social media naysayers fear most: "What do we do when someone says something negative about us?" It's what keeps most businesspeople off social media in the first place, social media marketing campaigns failing to realize that people are already saying negative things about them right now. Believing people aren't talking about you when you're not on social media is like believing people aren't gossiping about you when you're not around.And if they can get past their initial hesitation, what usually hangs them up is what they should do if it ever happens. Do they put out a press release? Do they delete the comment? Do they send a cease-and-desist letter to the complainer?You don't need a policy, you need a commitment. Whether it's a complaint about the product quality, the pricing, or a corporate practice, you need to commit to responding to any and all complaints that people have. It doesn't have to be a full-blown response, complete with strategy meetings and position statements. It just needs to be one response from one person in the company and a promise either to make things right or to investigate and make sure it doesn't happen again.Because dealing with detractors, even those who have every right to be talking negatively about your company, is intimidating and stressful, you can handle them with grace, humor and honesty. Here are six steps for how your company should handle incidents when people talk bad about your organization online.Being a social media maniac isn’t the right persona either. You know who we’re talking about. These people can answer emails on their laptops with one hand while texting friends or colleagues on their iPhones with the other. social media marketing service They can’t be looked in the eye when talking because their heads are always looking down at some screen. This behavior may be seen as good technology gone bad.The key is to strike a balance somewhere in the middle. Avoid becoming a social media ignorer or a social media maniac. Develop a social networking schedule that does not run your life but does keep you accountable.

Acknowledge their right to complain

Free speech may not be a founding principle of every country, but it certainly presides in communications online. If a customer has a run-in with your brand at any point and isn't satisfied, he or she can, and often should, social media marketing conference tell someone with the company, or even just a friend.The goal should be consistency. Choose a schedule and stay the course for at least six months. As you find success, you can slowly grow your social networking persona.The sample social networking agenda below can be used as a springboard for designing one that suits your schedule and the community channels you’ve joined.Check LinkedIn. Reply to emails and comments when appropriate.Scan Twitter followers for relevant conversations to join.Check your business's Facebook Page for questions and respond when necessary.Scan Google Alerts for brand and company mentions. Respond as appropriate.Build Twitter Lists to better organize ongoing discussions and special interest groups. Set up saved searches in Hootsuite to find out if people are talking about you or your company.Scan LinkedIn questions from network connections and respond when appropriate.Catch up on LinkedIn discussions. Add to discussion when appropriate.Send LinkedIn invitations to connect with clients when beginning a new assignment.Ask for LinkedIn recommendation after successfully completing a project or engagement.Add new content to Facebook like videos or photos.Think of ways to repurpose this content and energy to reach a larger audience with the social networking gospel.Keep an eye open for new social networking venues, tools, and functionality that will make the social networking experience more enjoyable and easier to traverse. effective social media marketing Identify new social networking influencers and build relationships where appropriate.While his first book, Engage, covered how brands and businesses can use social media to build communities and support in the online ecosytem, his latest The End of Business As Usual covers the consumer revolution and what industries need to do to "rewire" their business models.

Apologize for their situation or your mistake, if warranted

The two most powerful words in diffusing a tense situation are, "I'm sorry." But you don't have to claim responsibility for the situation by doing so, especially if you don't have all the information to make that determination. social media as a marketing tool Apologize for the detractors' trouble, the situation, or their experience and ask for more information on how you can help them or make the situation better.Mondays: Schedule tweets through HootSuite to go out three times per day at regular intervals.Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays: Join one hot trend conversation on Twitter, if appropriate, and add new content to Facebook (new items you are selling, photos, discounts and other promotions).Tuesdays and Thursdays: Respond to blog comments.Fridays: Check traffic at your blog or website.Obviously, your daily social networking to-do list will be much different, given your available time and commitments. Just be sure to make the schedule livable. If it’s not working, change it. Keep making modifications until it works for you.Digital disruption seems to be hitting every business right now, but it's also causing many to thrive.Customers and prospects are busy, connected and interacting with everybody but you today. While creating a presence is a start, it is how you engage with people that attracts them to you. This requires an engagement program -- that is, a plan for using social media to meet goals -- that extends beyond the typical marketing of "follow us on Twitter" or "Like us on Facebook.Many entrepreneurs are excited about technology and they overextend themselves because they want to be part of the latest trend. The key is to only be where your customers, social media marketing pricing prospects and those who influence them engage.The two magical ingredients to a successful social media effort are: authenticity and transparency. The only problem is that they don't really equate to a strategy. Rather, these two traits contribute more to a "digital way" or "guiding light" than they do as a form of effective engagement.