EXCELLENT IDEA, NOT SO GOOD EXECUTION

A local small business, a pub near my home, sent out a direct message (DM) on Twitter to come join them for a beer. I just so happen to like beer, especially Guinness, and was driving near them when I received the DM. I pulled into the parking lot and what did I find? A ‘closed’ sign in the window, no lights or cars in the parking lot.

Not exactly the greeting I expected after having just received a DM saying to come in and have a beer with them. When I got home minutes later, I tweeted about the experience and made sure to @ reply the pub so that they would get notified of what happened. I still haven’t gotten a response.

TWITTER FAIL

Good use is sending the DM that gets me to stop. Bad use is not being able to fulfill the promise of the tweet. Fail is never responding to a prospect or customer who has a poor experience with your company.

I made sure they had the ability to know what happened by including an @theirname reply in my tweets about my experience. A simple thing they could have done was apologize. They wouldn’t need to offer something special, but since it was a pub they could easily say get half off an appetizer and let us say sorry in person.

Not only would this turn one prospect into a customer, it would also endear the company to those following the Twitter conversation.

Marketing mistakes are great opportunities to show your market how awesome you really are.

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What can I say? As Roseann Higgins, of Entrepreneur’s Forum & Women’s Power Lunch, says, “Phoenix needs a rebel like you.”

Here’s my rebel yell…

There are basically 4 types of social media users:

• The Twitterati Seeker: builds attention & leverages it for some other monetization effort.
• The Expert Follower: Says whatever is the prevailing social media mantra or whatever will get her hired to train you on how to use Twitter.
• The I Digg It: People just enjoying the technology to stay connected to their niche of interest and chatting with friends and family.
• The Skeptic: Skeptics are interested in getting some real benefit from using social media. These tend to be business owners who have limited time or money to throw at new marketing tools. There are a few SM experts who fall into this category.

The Twitterati Seeker is someone seeking Internet fame through social media tools. This can work, but with all forms of celebrity only a few ever make it. Gary Vaynerchuk falls into this category. I respect him as a business genius, but where I think he falters is his touting of the “always on” approach to social media.

There are some high-profile social media gurus speaking at conferences and corporations and getting paid big dollars who spread this crap about being as connected as possible. Well, it worked for them, right?

The reason I think it’s crap is that if you are not trying to be Internet famous, you have little reason to be an always-on personality. They are preaching what worked for them to gain their guru status, but not the things that have seemed to work for regular businesses.  Real businesses actually need their leader leading and not twittering the day away.

Oh, and when they do mention real life examples of getting a return on investment it’s usually a regular business that they had nothing to do with. The poster child for this is the Korean BBQ truck that tweets out its location and people flock to it to get some grub.

Broadcasting, which is what this BBQ company does when tweeting, isn’t “having a conversation” or “engaging” with people. It is advertising its location. But the Twitterati Seeker will tell you that broadcasting/advertising to your followers doesn’t work. Well, they are right. It doesn’t work when you are trying to build a fan base to launch a book or speaking tour or get people to watch your video podcast.

The Expert Follower makes up about 99% of social media experts. I bet most have never run a real business before their debut as social media gurus, read more than 2 books on marketing or do any testing to see if what they are saying works in the real world.  Since they are trying to make a living from social media consulting, they are trying to make it sound harder than it really is.  Talking to people, even with 140 characters on Twitter, isn’t difficult.  Time consuming, but not intellectually challenging.  These people will cost you a lot of time and money and probably ruin you on social media, which would be a shame for your business.

The I Digg It isn’t that important to this discussion except that you may find quite a few customers in this group.

The Skeptic is what you should be with all of your business initiatives. You need to test. See if the idea actually translates into results out in the real world.

Tactics that seem to be working for more than just a few lucky gurus and attention whores is customer service, reputation management and highlighting promotions & business communications such as blog posts.

But the notion that businesses are building relationships is a dodgy one.  Most people are not that interested in having a relationship with the people they do business with.  Though I think if you can develop connections with some of your customers they can become huge brand evangelists.  There is some real promise in this.

There is a lot of hoopla about Twitter.  A lot of people trying to make money off of you by claiming their expertise and telling you it is really difficult and you need to invest time and money into it.  Keep the following in mind when planning your social media efforts:

• 69% of American adults (probably your market) don’t know what Twitter is.  That doesn’t mean 31% are using Twitter–they’re just aware of it.  Worldwide there are anywhere from 20 million to 50 million active Twitter users–Twitter doesn’t distinguish between spammers, people with multiple accounts and individuals.  50 million is a big number, but that is worldwide.  The odds are small that more than a few percent of your market is on Twitter.
  [edit] Just found an article from Mashable posted in September that estimated total US adult Twitter users by end of 2009 to be 18 million or about  7% of adults in the US.
• You can participate on Twitter by broadcasting useful & entertaining tweets and by ‘listening’ for conversations related to your business or areas of interest.  You can chime in with helpful suggestions and just to participate much like you would at a networking event.  If you straight out pitch people, they will be turned off by you–you’ll get the opposite of your desired result.  [listening is setting up Twitter search feeds so you can be alerted to these conversations]  By listening, you don’t have to be always on.
• Followers on Twitter are not the same as prospects and customers.  Many people who are following people are just hoping you follow them back.  We are still in the early spam stages of Twitter much like the early days of email marketing when huge lists were thought to be valuable.

You may think I’m down on Twitter, but I actually do like it and find it somewhat useful though not the panacea or even a game changing innovation.  You should make sure you test Twitter in your business with a sound strategy on how you intend to monetize your efforts, which could be to increase customer service, drive people to your store or website or generate brand awareness.

Here is an interesting article that may be a bit more balanced than my take on Twitter: Copyblogger.com

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Go check out more from http://www.notquitewrong.com/rosscottinc/

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The beauty of social networking is that all it really takes is time… the not so beautiful aspect is that small business owners don’t know what they’re doing. What this amounts to is a lot of wasted time, but it can also mean damaging your company’s reputation.

Since using social networking for marketing is constantly evolving there’s no definitive resource to turn to. Please give us your ideas on how you promote your business using social networking.

The Right Stuff

When you put a tweet out or post a message on LinkedIn or Facebook—what should you say? Should you send an offer a bout your business, or talk about how you hoisted a few too many with the guys last night? Neither—the first rule of social networking is to provide value to your readers.

1. Share information that your readers will find important. Whether it’s a link to a news article or an offer from a business that you have no financial interest in—these subjects will boost your credibility in the social networking world. Your readers will appreciate the information and you’ll strengthen your relationships with businesses that you are promoting.

2. Add a link to your postings and tweets that go back to your Web site. The link should go to an article that provides additional information about the subject of your message.

3. Don’t write just about you. Sure, your family and friends want to know what’s up with you on Facebook, but make adding value to your friends’ lives your first priority.

4. Don’t send spam or you’ll find a lot of people blocking you or unlinking their profiles from yours.

5. Don’t stop following or break your link to too many of your friends. Sometimes it’s appropriate, especially if you’re getting unmercifully spammed—but be cautious. Although social networking feels as if it is virtual, there is a real person getting the message that you no longer want to be linked. This can cost you goodwill and business.

Local Internet Marketing Tips

Now that you have the right techniques to market through social networks—what should you keep in mind on the marketing side? In addition to ensuring your site is using local search optimization techniques.

1. Link to businesses that you do business with—but only if you have a good relationship. If you provide testimonials for them, they’ll likely proved testimonials for you.

2. Link to businesses that are in the same business category—for instance a real estate agent should link to an interior designer. It’s likely that their target customers are also yours.

3. Make certain you have a blog or area of your Web site that allows you to offer information that’s useful to your clients. This will allow you to send your readers to the blog from tweets and posts so that they can read additional information.

4. Your Web site should have a “Follow Me on Twitter” message.

5. Figure out what’s relevant to your clients and make that the subject of your posts. This will help to bring your clients back to your Web site to read more.

6. Establish a solid plan to market via your social network. Find resources that will provide you with information and ideas; identify the vendors and business owners that you’d like to promote.

To read more about online marketing for small businesses, check out one of our past blogs,“11 Reasons to Use WordPress for Your Business Site.”

Good luck and happy tweeting!

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Using the data they collected, they then scanned the profiles of 947 men who did not identify their sexuality. Of the 947 men, the software developers knew that ten of the men were gay, and the program accurately identified them as homosexuals.

Based on this software program’s test, the next generation of data programs will be even more sophisticated. They may be developed to profile other behaviors, including popular demographic indicators, such as income.

Will users want their social media data mined?

How will Facebook users feel about the possibility that their personal information will be analyzed and used to predict behaviors? Most Facebook subscribers joined to enjoy this social network to keep in touch with friends and family.

Recently another purpose came to light. Internet marketing experts and social media consultants suggest using Facebook and Twitter to boost their professional profile and attract more business.

Social media sites are now considered local online advertising venues; and are helping Web site owners increase local search engine optimization and visitors to their sites.

Because the boundaries of social and business are blurring, is it okay to mine data from sites to use for marketing, sales or other business purposes?

People have the right to say, “No”

In my opinion, it’s very different to promote yourself on social media than mining data and using the information to market to others. In the first instance, free choice is involved. If a friend or family member gets tired of your posts about upcoming speaking engagements, then they can turn you off.

In the latter instance, the subscriber has no choice in the matter. The program mines the data, gives information to a business or small business owner and they have an opportunity to use it however they like. It is not the same and it is not the right thing to do. I’d like to see the social networks ban the mining of data.

What do you think? If you are a small business who conducts local marketing, what do you think of mining data from social networks? And on the personal side, how do you feel about the possibility of your information being used as part of a marketing database? Give us your opinion.

To read more about the software program and Facebook data mining, click here:
Social Network Profiling

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Twitter is testing a service that would allow subscribers to have voice communication with other subscribers, while keeping their phone numbers private. This will ease customers’ fears of having their phone numbers captured and being telemarketed.

Twitter is trying a two minute call, which they feel is the voice call equivalent to a tweet. The call time may change, based upon testers’ feedback.

Facebook has also announced a similar service, allowing voice communications among users. Both social networks will be using a third-party program to perform this additional function.

It’s clear that social networks are interested in taking the communication between subscribers beyond text. This blurring of the communications lines gives local business owners and entrepreneurs the ability to expand their online advertising and marketing to help increase revenue, while boosting their ability to bond with local customers.

Local marketing voice contact advantages

In the virtual world it’s challenging to individualizing online contacts. The voice contact allows local business owners to get deeper into their customers’ worlds, which helps to create a stronger bond.

Voice communication also provides an additional benefit—the opportunity to customize a marketing message when a customer calls in response to a tweet. This is an invaluable tool to attract new or encourage returning customers to your local business.

Creating an online marketing strategy

As social media continues to invade every area of communications, it’s clear that it must be considered in all local business owners’ marketing plans. Plan for regular tweeting and Facebook sessions to promote your business or service. If you don’t want to include a plan for voice communications now, then you’ll have to adjust your plan in a few months.

If you don’t know where to start, join Twitter and Facebook and observe how others promote themselves. If you’d like additional expertise, contact a local SEO expert to help build your social network marketing plan.

As social networking continues to grow and innovate, local business owners must keep abreast of the changes. These innovations allow you to improve your reach into your target market, making it easier to attract new customers and grow your business, regardless of whether you own a startup or long established business.

To read more about the changes that are coming to Twitter, click here: Twitter voice to text system

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Plum Ventures is a social networking site. Subscribers can join Plum Groups and share private messages and conduct conversations with a small group of trusted friends and families. Messages designed for a larger audience can be shared with larger groups.

Experts speculate that Nokia will use Plum’s social group platform to build a mass-market social networking service.

With Facebook recently announcing that they’ve hit 65 million subscribers, the demand for social networking access on mobile phones must be reaching a peak.

Nokia’s acquisition and with LG and Motorola recently unveiling their respective android phones with social networking capabilities means that mobile social networking can not be far behind.

Great opportunity for local internet marketing

What does this mean for local business owners who are interested in doing more local online advertising? It means more opportunities to promote your local business!

Imagine sending out alerts that reach many of your customers in real time. This allows local businesses to plan a local marketing program designed to get more traffic to their retail or Web site. Or, local business owners can test daily specials to see which offer gets the best response.

And, the mobile social network alerts can help you stay connected to your customers, all day, every day.

Refine your local internet marketing message

Get ready, business owners—there’s an incredible opportunity to promote your business just around the corner as more mobile phone owners choose the social networking options. The greater the access to customers and potential customers—the greater flexibility business owners must have.

Be prepared for this new trend by polishing your Twittering, Google alerts and Facebook posts. Make certain that your Web site is up-to-date and in sync with your alerts. Update your keywords and your online image so that you can capture business.

Local business owners are approaching a very exciting time in online marketing—be prepared and get ahead of the trend.

To read more about Nokia’s acquisition, click here: www.pcworld.com/article/171928/nokia_deal_with_plum_heats_up_mobile_social_networking.html

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How about getting the story straight from the horse’s mouth bird’s beak?

Twitter.com has come out with Twitter 101 for Business: A Special Guide

Twitter 101 for Business: A Special Guide

Inside Twitter’s guide, you’ll learn:

1. what Twitter is,
2. how to get started,
3. Twitter best practices,
4. learn from case studies
5. and get more resources.

Before you shell out any cash on the latest social media guru du jour, peruse Twitter 101 For Business.

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Photo by CC Chapman, Flickr, People I Follow On Twitter

I recently read an article about Twitter.  Of course, everywhere you look there is an article about Twitter, which is why I can’t remember in which one I saw the following quote from a local area business owner.

“In the next 90 days, I want to add 5000 Twitter followers.  That’s 5000 postcards I don’t have to mail.”

That quote is more profound than it’s literal meaning, which is important enough.

Let’s say you send out some cheap postcards to 5000 prospects this month.  That will probably run you about $2500.  What if you sent 5000 out each business day for a month?  $50,000 spent.  Done correctly this could be profitable.

But what if you had 5000 local Twitter followers?  How much would it cost you to send out just one promotional tweet per day?  It would cost about 1 minute to tweet plus the time to craft a promotion.  I won’t go into the other uses of Twitter here such as customer service and community building.

So, what should you spend to get 5000 followers?  If you got 5000 targeted followers, I would recommend spending about $1 each to get them.  Depending on your business, it could still be profitable to spend $10, $20 or even $50 for each one.  Sound crazy?  How much is a customer worth to you?

You’ll have to test to find out how many people you can get to respond to your promotion and how many of those actually purchase.  Also, you will want to track the lifetime value per follower to see how profitable they are compared to your email and mailing lists.

I’m not ALL aflutter over Twitter.  We have no idea what Twitter will be like in 6 months let alone 3 years from now.  Postcards—direct mail in general, are predictable with a long history of predictability.

What I recommend is a combination of Twitter, Facebook, email and direct mail.  The “followers” on Twitter behave differently than the “friends” on Facebook, the “subscribers” on your email list and your mailing list.  They all have different behaviors from each other, but they all, in combination, allow you to connect deeply with your prospects and customers.  Much more than one or two used as individual tools.

As a general guideline you could send a printed item once per month, an email once a week and make Twitter and Facebook posts daily.  Finding the right combination of promotional, branding and connecting messages will take trial-and-error.  The reward  is that the more you communicate with your customers—if you actually like them—the more connected and loyal they will be to you and your business.

Think about building a 5000 person list for Twitter, Facebook, email and mail addresses as a beginners goal.  Then keep building and keep communicating.

Tim Conley

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