Do you go to networking events just to collect business cards? If you never spend any time building relationships with people, but instead just collect contact information, what percentage of your contacts actually turn into sales? How many of those sales are willing to refer you to others? Building relationships is important and using that same tactic online will help generate quality leads.
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Aug
26
2010
Is Social Media a Waste of Time?
Ahh, social media. The golden ticket to increased profits and a life time of wealth. All you have to do is setup a Twitter and Facebook profile and start sending updates and magically people will start following and responding to you.
If you believe this, you’ve been lead down the wrong path. While social media may cost less than other marketing methods, it still requires planning, time and patience. If you just jump in without knowing what you’re doing and what you’re trying to accomplish, you may not get the results you expected, leading you to believe it’s all a huge waste of time.
Jul
14
2010
Social Media is Measurable
For whatever reason, there’s this perception that social media is not measurable – that you just do it because good things will happen. ”What’s the ROI of your phone?” is one thing I’ve heard in comparison to measuring social media. But, if you know what you are trying to accomplish ahead of time, there’s always something that’s measurable (even with a phone).
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Apr
13
2010
Is it Possible to Write Good Titles for People, Search Engines & Social Networks?
Titles are the first thing many readers see of your blog posts, videos or other content. They’re used for search engine optimization (SEO), show up in search results, and are the only thing visible on many social networks and content sharing sites. So how should you write your titles? For people? For search engines? Or for Social Networks? Is it possible to write a good title for all of them?
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Mar
24
2010
Small Businesses Using Social Media for Real Results
Many small businesses want to use social media, but they may be unsure of how to best use it. Most examples of businesses successfully using social media tend to be large companies with entire departments dedicated to campaigns. Seeing some examples of small businesses using social media may be helpful:
The most obvious benefits are increased customer loyalty and engagement. Less obvious but just as important: Your business will gain exposure not through your own advertisements, but through folks who’ve already been patrons. We’re more likely to trust a Facebook update or Yelp review from a friend than from the business itself. – How Small Businesses Are Using Social Media for Real Results (Mashable)
Dec
10
2009
Review: HootSuite vs. SocialOomph
Both HootSuite and SocialOomph provide features for managing Twitter and Facebook (and other accounts). The services are very similar, and I’ve been a fairly loyal user of SocialOomph for several months now. But, recently downtime at SocialOomph led me to re-explore HootSuite and I’ve been using it as my primary tool for the past week or so. There are still some things that I prefer about SocialOomph, but overall I’m fairly happy with HootSuite (at least for now). Let’s take a look at the details:
Dec
08
2009
LinkedIn Is Becoming More Social
LinkedIn may be great as a glorified resume, but it’s lagged behind other social networks in terms of socializing. Yes, they have groups and Questions & Answers, but those really are discussion boards, where conversations happen in the public, and it’s hard to keep track of specific connections. Recently, LinkedIn borrowed a page from Facebook and added the ability to follow people so you can keep track of what they’re saying across different groups. While still a far cry from the socialization available on Facebook, it’s a good step forward.
Nov
05
2009
Ask Sazbean – How do I make it easier for readers to share my blog posts?
Reader Sandi asked about how she can make it easier for readers to share posts on her blog (Thanks for the question, Sandi!) She noticed that I have a “Share this Article” link on all my posts and asked about how to add that to her own blog. The “Share this Article” link is added via a plugin for WordPress.
Nov
03
2009
Video Book Review of Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk #crushitbook
I just finished reading Gary Vaynerchuk’s new book, Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion
(amazon link), and I wanted to share my thoughts with you via video:
I think this is a great book to read if you own a business and are wondering how to use social media.
Have you read this book? What do you think?
If you’re interested in reading the book, here’s the link:
- Buy the book: Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion
(Amazon link)
About Gary, from his blog, http://garyvaynerchuk.com:
Gary Vaynerchuk has captured attention with his pioneering, multi-faceted approach to personal branding and business. After primarily utilizing traditional advertising techniques to build his family’s local wine business into a national industry leader, Gary rapidly leveraged social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook to promote Wine Library TV, his video blog about wine. As his viewership swelled to over 80,000 a day, doors opened to a book deal, several national TV appearances, and a flurry of speaking engagements around the world. Gary’s dual identity as both business guru and wine guy has made him the “Social Media Sommelier.”
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Oct
13
2009
News Flash: Selling Still Means Building Relationships
I had the honor of listening to Chris Brogan yesterday at the Detroit Chamber’s Marketing Mavericks event at the Detroit Zoo. I really like listening to people talk about social media, because it helps me come up with new ways to explain it to clients. One of the things Chris said was that selling is still about building relationships, social media is just a way to do that online.
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