“Has anybody figured out how to make money on here?” 

I’ve run across people asking this question on Facebook and Twitter quite often, and the topic even comes up frequently offline. 

Of course, this question isn’t coming from casual passers-by who’re just interested in reconnecting with their pals.  The question of social media monetization belongs to the business people, the entrepreneurs who’ve logged on with blatant or subdued hopes of cashing in.  And the question seems fair enough.  After all, we’re spending lots of our time and energy on these sites.  Will there be a pay-off...ever? 

My quick answer is “no and yes.” 

If the motive is the fast buck, good luck.  I’ll risk repeating myself to say that social media is not an outlet for ceaseless strings of 140-character classified ads.  If you deluge followers and friends with nothing but direct selling messages, you soon won’t have many followers or friends.  Granted, that tactic can work when playfully carried out by the occasional local pizzeria or bakery (hourly updates about what’s fresh out of the oven go over nicely with hungry Tweeters, I suppose) or retailers offering exclusive deals (i.e. - Dell’s successful Twitter sales pushes). 

Nonetheless, status is usually done for gratis. 

I liken the approach to social media to that of public relations.  In PR, we earn trust and presence with constituencies by bringing forth quality information and ideas on a consistent basis, offering pertinent and timely responses/input to current issues and substantively participating in communities.  PR is about building reputation, and try as we might to assign exact dollar signs to the value of a great reputation, it’s pretty much priceless.

Still, it’s fair to presume a business with a great reputation would have sales that reflect its positive market perception.  The dividends may not pay out in immediate, directly trackable and measurable ka-ching as would an advertising or direct marketing campaign, but the long term value is immense, impactful and important.

Social media lets companies be part of communities.  Social media extends business’ presence into customers’ lives.  It generates and facilitates conversation, connects friends old and new and adds dimension to what people know about a company. Ultimately, these things build attraction and affinity with a loyal audience that will take action (get a free white paper on this topic) by making purchases. 

There will be pay-off, yes.  But it will take time, patience and ongoing nurturing.

A recent Forbes.com article also delved into the idea of cashing in on social networking.  The article features an interview with Brett Hurt, founder of Bazaarvoice.  Bazaarvoice offers user-generated review platforms that can be incorporated directly into brand websites.  The business model contends that people go to brand websites to buy, thus it’s beneficial to incorporate social networking at the point of purchase.  Hurt likened participating in Facebook and Twitter to attending a cocktail party, with the punchline being that “nobody shops at a cocktail party.”

Very true.  When people are mixing and mingling in their favorite social network, they probably don’t have their credit cards in hand.  But they are trading ideas and information with friends and deepening relationships in real, though often subtle, ways.  And in the business world, there are some pros who have the knack for working cocktail parties to their great advantage.  A few biz cards collected at a networking event can lead to paying gigs down the road. 

My friend and colleague Paula Swift, owner of Prosper, Business Image Consulting, is a perfect example.  Just like Paula can work a cocktail party or networking event, she can work her presence on Facebook and LinkedIn.  When she makes a connection online, she’s savvy to take note of the person’s occupation, and if things align, she simply takes the effort to inquire further about what they do.  And now and again, that little extra effort pays off. 

Paula recently reconnected with a school friend on Facebook and noted he works in the promotional merchandise business.  She followed up by inquiring about ideas for promo items for one of her clients, just to keep in mind.  Months later, Paula knew who to contact when a specific opportunity arose, and the entire transaction occurred within Facebook.  Paula’s old friend from school landed an order, Paula was able to charge her agency commission, and thus, using Facebook really did pay off.

The great thing is, it happened organically.  There was no intense hounding, spamming or pelting sales messages.  Paula noted a professional synergy with a Facebook friend, the friend responded, and when the time was right, both benefitted from the connection.

Another phenomenal example of organic, social networking business combustion:  Help A Reporter Out, the brainkid of Peter Shankman.  Shankman is an NYC PR guy.  He has many clients and knows tons of reporters, thus he launched a Facebook group to connect meida in need of information with sources who could supply.  All this is for FREE, mind you.  The group exploded past Facebook’s allowable numbers, so Shankman shifted the burgeoning entity to his own website.  In just a couple years, this group—still FREE for participants—is a profitable venture.  Shankman sends three emails a day, chock full of media leads (you really should sign up!), with an amusing, paid ad at the start of each email.  Shankman started by giving...and continues to give, but he’s certainly gained in the process. 

That’s great news for Swift and Shankman, but what about the question at hand...for YOU?  Is there any money to be made here?  No and yes...

No, social media is not your marketing microwave, your online cash machine for new biz.  You’ve got to invest for the long term and be willing to give to get.  Yes, social media can nurture reputations and create and enhance relationships that pay out dividends in the long term.  It’s not the be all, end all.  Small businesses are well advised to invest in comprehensive marketing, including SEO, advertising, direct communications, traditional PR and in person networking and sales. 

Growing a business offline or on, it’s still true that the harder you work, the more successful you’ll be.  That you can count on.

Thanks!

A Facebook fan page can be a great tool for your business, personality or endeavor.  It serves as a fun way to update interested parties about what’s new and what’s news and is especially effective since so many people are already turning to Facebook as a means of staying connected. 

Before you create a Fan Page, make sure this is the right option for you.  Sometimes people confuse Facebook fan pages and groups.  I’ve blogged about this topic before (click here to read that post); it’s my most read blog entry, as people search for this information every day.  Here’s a quick recap.

Create a Facebook fan/brand page if
    * you want to build buzz around a brand name or create interest/support of a product or service.
    * you want to convey information to a core group of people who show interest in your specific topic.
    * you want a place for comments and feedback, yet with less focus on interactions and discussions.
    * you prefer to guide the tone and content of the page as it represents the person, company, product or service being promoted.

Examples of pages:
    * Musical artists, celebrities or public personalities
    * Businesses or brand names
    * Products or services
    * Events – for purposes of promotion, not planning

If you’re certain you need a fan page, here’s how to start it and make it work for your business.

Once you’re logged into Facebook, go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php.  You’ve got to be authorized to create the page, and filling out the preliminary information is self-explanatory.  Just be sure you’re making proper selections from the get-go so you don’t have to fret with corrections after set up. 

Populate your page with useful, interesting information.  Post some photos.  Add a few wall postings.  Don’t treat this page as a static profile.  For a Facebook Fan Page to be effective, it needs to be consistently injected with fresh material, news, images and information. 

After the page is created and populated with good content, invite people to become fans.  Whether you tap into your existing Facebook friend base or invite people not aligned with you within this website, all Facebook fans will have to first be Facebook users.  However, considering the ever-growing numbers of Facebook users, this shouldn’t create too much of a hindrance. 

Obviously, by inviting people you already know to be “fans,”  you’re really tapping into your network of “friends.”  Eventually, you’ve got to grow from having friends to having true fans; heightened success with your page will take place when you see people you don’t even know participating. 

So just how can you attract people beyond your existing friend base to become your business’ fan?  Here a a few ideas.

• Ask your friends/fans to ask people in their networks to join.  Sometimes it’s really as simple as making the request, and friends will rally.
• If you have employees, encourage them to help spread the word and support the page as well.
  
• Run Facebook ads.  Facebook ads can be very affordable, easily managed and nicely targeted to reach interested parties.  The ad can offer a direct link to the fan page, to encourage quick, simple affiliation.
  
• Add links to your Facebook page to existing communications, i.e. - email signatures, other profiles, websites, etc.
  
• Offer an incentive to fans via a membership drive.  For example, I’ve seen musicians offer a free download for all fans once the page reached a milestone number of fans (“help me reach 500 fans by the end of this month, and everyone gets a free download of my latest song!”).
  

And just why would you dare drive traffic to a Facebook fan page and not your existing website?  The reality is, you need to meet people where they are, and right now they are on Facebook.  This is about building relationships with your constituencies, not hard line, direct selling.  Think of this as great bonding time! 

Your fans are logging into Facebook to connect with friends, message each other and share information.  By capturing fans on Facebook, you then have the opportunity to message them (with good discretion, please!) about other news, links and products.  The fan page becomes a meet-them-where-they-are message board, and via that ‘board’ you can ultimately offer links to send them wherever they need to go to get the full scoop on your business, product or brand.

Long term. it’s up to you to keep breathing life into your fan page.  Personally, I’m a fan of many things of Facebook, but I rarely hear from the companies, artists or products I’ve chosen to acknowledge.  Never assume your fans will keep coming back to your page on their own.  Artfully remind them!  When you post something new to your fan page, send a quick, single topic message to all members; feel free to add a live link to your main website if you so choose (some people will click through). 

Even though we may now rely on click of mouse as much as word of mouth to share recommendations and information, we still value the input and perspectives of family and friends to find out about great things.  With the innate interconnectivity of Facebook, friends and family can help convert others into new fans.  And that’ll surely help small biz go big time!

Thanks!

A social media plan is not an à la carte menu, so if you’re using social media to help take your small biz big time, come hungry.  This stuff isn’t for snacking.  Maybe you can get away with some à la carte, pick-and-choose in a marketing plan (operative word:  “maybe”), but you simply must order the full course meal to get a social media plan’s impact.

For example, a solitary blog is like an island—hard to get to without a boat or a bridge.  A Twitter account unto itself will serve little purpose for many business people.  A Facebook fan page without the nurturing of fresh content or interconnectivity will wither and fade all too quickly.

Social media requires commitment to a process.  One link leads to another, like tributaries flowing into a river that’s flowing toward the sea.  Ignore one aspect, and the flow is affected.  Ignore many aspects, and the flow will ultimately cease completely. 

Have you been ordering à la carte when it comes to your social media?  Have you tried to sample things without investing time and effort to plan your work and work your plan?   That’s like connecting only select dots on the page and expecting to get a full picture.  There really aren’t any skippable steps here.  As I’ve recently blogged, social media is not a marketing microwave; steadiness and patience are required, but the potential rewards are great enough to merit the ongoing effort.

Of course, you can’t do everything “social” that’s out there.  But you can round out a plan that employs essential elements, to ensure connectivity and eliminate any missing links that might hinder your social media success.  Connect the main dots to reveal the big picture.  Then you’ll be able to fill in the details much more easily over time.

Here are the big picture, full-course basics you’ve must include from the get go.

- Fresh Content
If you’re going to be social, you need to contribute to the conversation.  Don’t build podiums without having something worthwhile to speak about.  Think about what you have to share, how you can add to what’s already being said and create content accordingly.  Your content may come in the form of a blog, a constantly freshened website, substantive tweets, pertinent comments on others’ sites/postings/discussions or all of the above. 

- Followers, Fans, Friends
Without making connections, you’ll just be talking to yourself.  You must incorporate relationship-building into your social media plan.  You could rally your existing contacts through direct messages, initiate followings on Twitter, join groups on LinkedIn or Ning to be part of targeted communities or invite ‘fans’ via a Facebook fan page.  Also, you’ve got to be a ‘friend’ to have a ‘friend’; start reaching out to others, and they will reach back. 

- Platforms for Posting
Once you create content and make friends, you need outlets and methods for staying connected, platforms for sharing what you’ve created.  This is where your Twitter account, your presence on LinkedIn, that Facebook fan page (or personal profile, for that matter), a FriendFeed, etc. comes in handy. 

- Mechanisms for Participating and Sharing
Not only do you need to share, you need to make it easy for your network to share alike!  Add “share” or “add this” buttons to your blog, your website.  Ask for retweets on Twitter.  Thank anyone you find who does forward your content on.  This is the essence of social media:  one link really does lead to another.

Does this give you something to chew on?  If you need specific ideas on how to get started, ask me!  I’ll gladly dig into specifics to help you go big time!

Thanks!

It seems many marketers still find “search” to be the engine for successful advertising and branding campaigns. 

In a recent survey of senior-level marketing and media execs conducted by Forbes, 75% of respondents ranked SEO and email/e-newsletters as their top digital marketing tools.  Likewise, SEO and email also ranked high in terms of effectiveness in generating conversions (48% for SEO and 46% for email/email newsletters).  Pay-per-click also ranked high in terms of use and success for participants of this survey.

Use of ad networks, attempted by 40% of total respondents, proved to be the lagger among digital marketing components according to this survey, with 44% of those who tried them indicating results did not meet expectations.

Mind you, this survey was definitely of the big biz - big budget variety; approximately 44% of respondents have $1MM+ digital marketing budgets.  Big bucks in the budget let companies try a variety of tactics, while most of us must pick and choose with more scrutiny.  Nonetheless, the information and insights are translatable for any of us.

This survey is a good reminder that SEO is still numero uno for many CMOs.  While social media (aka “viral marketing” for purposes of this survey) is the media and marketing darling of 2009, companies aren’t—and shouldn’t—disregard the value of investing in optimization for search engines.  And ditto that fact for email/e-newsletters; though these aren’t the newest, shiniest tools in the shed, they’re still helping collect the harvest for many marketers.

For many small businesses constrained by lack of staff, budget and time, it’s smart to make SEO point A on their marketing maps.  Truth is, social media tactics require plenty of hands-on nurturing in order to be effective, and that can be challenging for small businesses and sole proprietorships.  Worthwhile and effective as they may be, social media tactics may need to shuffle down in terms of priority to ensure room for the traction-building of a good SEO effort. 

The big biz respondents of this survey measure success of any digital marketing tactics primarily in terms of “conversions or sales.”  70% stated that a bolstered bottom line (“conversions or sales”) was the best assessment for success, with 52% ranking registrations/subscriptions to their sites as the second important measure.  For businesses big or small, the pay-up and the sign-up offer the best pay-off. 

What are the take-aways of this survey for small biz? 
- Digital marketing should sell ‘em or sign ‘em up—now! 
- Make sure customers can find you through SEO.  Let them come to you!
- Make sure you can find your customers through viral marketing/social networks and other tactics.  Find ways to go to them!
- Let your bottom line be the bottom line; measure ROI to ensure time, effort and budgets are spent well.

Searching for more details, ideas or solutions?  Let me know what you need to know to take your small biz big time.  Meanwhile here’s a link to a helpful article with some practical ideas.

5 Essential Steps to Make Your Site Search & Social Media Friendly

Thanks!

I have seats on both sides of the aisle as a member of the media and a PR person.    What a fascinating view, seeing firsthand how it works from either direction!  And now that view is bathed in the light of the social web, it’s as if the glow of a computer monitor is spotlighting the many aspects of PR in this evolving age. 

From either angle and in this light, I see clearly that the more things change, the more they stay the same.  The basic truths for earning coverage have really not altered that much, though the modes of communication and the face (and faces!) of journalism have.

Does “Spray & Pray” Pay?
The ol’ “spray and pray” PR approach hasn’t gone anywhere.  Ten years ago, the ‘spray’ of mass press releases came in the form of unsolicited junk mail.  Today, it comes as email spam.  Either way the ‘spray’ typically does not pay.  It’s rare thing to earn notable coverage from a faceless, graceless mass message.  (Thankfully, deleting emails doesn’t add to landfills, so at least PR2.0 is more environmentally friendly.)

Mind you, this tactic can work a bit like a big direct mail/email campaign; when you send to thousands, even a 1% response rate seems passable.  And if you’re pitching a general interest topic to a media list encompassing journalists of like beat and like audiences, this is not a wholly unacceptable approach. 

For example, I’ve done PR for home products for years, and it’s often worked very well to send new product announcements en masse to New Product Editors at shelter publications and home-related media outlets.  I send just what those editors need in these instances when the warm-fuzzies of a targeted pitch is simply not necessary.  They get a new product for one of their new product round-up stories, I get coverage for my client and all is well.

If you must go “mass” with a PR message, consider using a wire service.  Though there’s added costs involved, the mechanism of a wire offers vast distribution without you or your company being invasive. 

How to Reach Your Feature Goals
However, if you want to earn feature coverage, you should never rely on a mass message.  With my ‘both-sides-of-aisle’ view, I know this to be true.  As a PR person, I understand how daunting (and time-consuming) it is to try to get into the minds of specific journalists, producers, reporters, bloggers.  Yet pay-off comes only when I’ve taken time to get to know the person to whom I’m pitching.  Now that I’m also a columnist and blogger myself, I can tell you even a little effort to indicate genuine connectivity can make all the difference.  “Delete” is a common response I give to emails I didn’t ask for, from people who don’t know me and vice versa.

New Challenges Reaching the Media to Connect with Readers
These days it’s hard to find the right person to target.  In the past, I worked with journalists within a segment so consistently and for such a long time that I established very valuable relationships, as well as real friendships.  Even if a contact switched jobs, I knew their whereabouts and altered my communications accordingly.  Now many of those contacts have been laid off from their corporate media houses and have started their own blogs or taken on freelance assignments.  What was once a narrow and deep river of media has become a sprinkling of lakes and ponds.

Likewise readership has divested as well, and you’ve got to know where to find the loyal, responsive followers.  These days, PR efforts may be better spent with the top  three bloggers in a category, because those bloggers have devoted readers, rather than on one traditional media outlet. As I write for my blog and column, it’s inspiring to know that my message is being received and read, even if my numbers aren’t near the circulation of traditional media outlets. 

It’s Still a Matter of Good News
The quality and newsworthiness of the story conveyed is still the crux of PR success.  As a PR person, I never want to wear out my hard-earned welcome with a media contact with a story I feel is not worth the time or effort.  PR is not a cloak for an advertising message.  And now that I’m receiving pitches from others, it’s interesting to discern what’s really worth pursuing and what’s simply corporate jargon in disguise.  If there is notable, important news to be covered, reporters probably won’t fret too much about how personalized the pitch was; a good story is a good story.  Period.

New Measure of Success
Anyone still measuring PR success solely on total circulation figures or advertising equivalencies is missing the boat.  Big circulation numbers may not translate into responses like the smaller (and often indeterminate) numbers of a topic-specific blog potentially could, and advertising is such a moving target that it’s just too arbitrary to find comfort in assigning PR coverage a specific dollar-value (but that’s always been true!).


For anyone who’s wondered if PR was still viable and necessary in our Web 2.0 market, I assure you it is.  There is still an art to crafting a newsworthy message and conveying that message to the world.  Pitching is still required to earn coverage, and not just anybody can do that.  The skill of defraying impact of negative news and communicating in times of crisis is still essential.  Integration of PR into the core of any marketing communications effort bolsters the strategy and thinking and helps organizations get into the minds and hearts of its constituencies. 

For small businesses, PR can be an effective and cost-effective means of getting third-party endorsement, raising awareness and carving a presence with key audiences.  Tried and true, here and now—PR can help small biz go big time!

Thanks!

I’ve spent my career explaining—and explaining again—the difference between advertising and PR.  I’ve got the short answers down pat.

“We pay for advertising.  We create and control the message and place ads where we want them.  Advertising increases our visibility.”

“We do not pay for editorial coverage; we earn it through our PR efforts.  PR helps us gain credibility.”

It’s helpful to blend advertising and PR into a communications plan, to utilize paid messages to get attention and earn editorial coverage to build reputation.  Of course, the ability to do both (and do them well) often becomes a matter of budgeting, creative amperage and people power.  I’ve seen so many potentially powerful campaigns wither because the money was tight, corporate was antsy about allowing a message to be shared, and the staff was already strained under normal workloads.

That’s why social media is such a compelling component in today’s message-making.  Social media merges the abilities to be visible and credible.  It can offer great frequency and reach of message like advertising, yet it can also allow messaging to integrate into the daily lives of audiences, like an extension of a quality PR campaign.  However, because social media is so, well, social, it enables companies, personalities and brands to mix and mingle in deeper ways, to not just speak for themselves but to speak with the audience.  One connection really does lead to another in social networking.  Reach a few and you could ultimately reach thousands, all through the art of conversation.

Mind you, social media’s not a panacea for the aforementioned impediments.  It still requires investment of time, energy and money.  Social media is not a marketing microwave oven, a better, faster, cheaper means of telling and selling.  It is a slow bake, but its potential reward and long term results make it well worth while.  And over time, you can see the benefits of being both visible and credible swell into opportunity. 

How can you be visible and credible in social media?  Here are some ideas that’ll help your oven reach temperature.
Be a listener online.  Join groups on LinkedIn, get a Twitter account and starting following others, and peg some blogs you can benefit from reading regularly. 
Evolve from listening to contributing.  Respond when people ask questions,  Acknowledge things you like, and let your presence be known.
Create your own forums.  If you see a need, create a group on LinkedIn or Facebook,or start lobbing questions to folks on Twitter.  Engage others, not to pound them with your message but to hear and learn from them.
Create quality content.  When generating original material, think like your audience and offer information and ideas of substance.  You will be proud to draw attention—and be visible—when you know what you’re offering up is truly worthwhile and credible.
Be the stalwart.  Imagine all the companies and brands cranking up their social media ovens right now.  Imagine where they’ll be 6 months, a year from now.  These things take time, and you’ll be incredible visible and credible when you’re still present, reliable and viable down the road.  As others fade, you’ll be the one worth coming back to again and again. 

Thanks!

What’s the real scoop on the usage and effectiveness of social media for small business?  Between information from a couple of recent research reports and real life scenarios, it seems small biz is using social media primarily for telling—not selling.

A new white paper based on a survey of 151 small businesses using social media (sponsored by Sage and conducted by AMI-Partners) states that 64% of respondents spend most of their time in social media sites answering customer questions.  57% ranked networking activities as their most prevalent, while 44% indicated “reference/education” as their most dominant activity.

Only a few businesses indicated they were using social media sites for direct sales.

These stats hold true for Lars Hundley, gardenpreneur of Clean Air Gardening, an online retailer of eco-friendly lawn and garden supplies.  (Hundley, pictured jumping like nobody's watching above, was not part of the AMI survey.)  Because his is a web-based company, Hundley has long incorporated digital social media tools into his marketing and promotions and utilizes them daily.

“We’re not generating any measurable sales from Facebook or Twitter,” explains Hundley.

Instead, Hundley and his team have found social media to be most useful for customer engagement and product education.  The company’s Youtube channel is a simple medium for providing tips and how-to videos, and its various topic-specific microsites are hubs for customer Q & A.  The latter has proven to be an “awesome technique” for facilitating interaction.

While social media is second nature for a web-savvy business owner like Hundley, many other small biz people have been slower to dip toes into the water.  The April Discover Financial Services Small Business Index (a national, random survey of 750 small biz owners) revealed that 38% of respondents now report being part of at least one online social site, up from 22% in October 2007.  However, less than half of the 38% have used social sites for business purposes.

Likewise, it’s taken longer for them to feel comfortable using the tools.  The AMI study found that 65%  of respondents had grown more at ease with social media in the last year and that those who’d been engaged longer (over 3 years) were more open to social media use for the future. Obviously, usage over time fosters familiarity and increased skill.

(Of course, social media tools are moot points for businesses that don’t even have websites.  In the April Discover Financial Services index, 62% of respondents stated they don’t have websites for their companies.  Really?!)

On the flip side, there are some fun, inspiring stories floating around the blogosphere about businesses owners who’ve proven to be real social media mavens, integrating techniques into their companies’ inner workings or successfully instituting promotions that bring in the bling.  In particular, there’s the much-buzzed story about the Naked Pizza Twitter promo.  This New Orleans pizza purveyor did some sniper shot microblogs just to see what would happen, resulting in 15% of a day’s receipts came straight from tweets.  Not too shabby...

Overachievers aside, it’s clear that social media use for small biz is on the rise across the board.  As for the effectiveness of that use?  Only time will tell...or sell.

Thanks!

Games don’t go from being favorite pastimes to big business by having ambiguous rules and indeterminate winners.  Nobody’d show up for the World Series if there wasn’t a vested interest in a specific outcome:  one of the teams playing is gonna win. 

And so it is with social media.  I mean, let’s be honest.  Most of us aren’t motivated to be here—online, using these tools—simply for the challenge of articulating thoughts in 140 characters or less.

So why do you do this social media thing each day?  Why do you devote any portion of your day to tweet, blog, post, update, add, forward, link, bookmark, connect or click?  What’s the “win” for you?

Surely, or hopefully, you and I are here for specific reasons, for clearly defined gains.  Why suit up for the game if you’re never going to look at the scoreboard?  I contend that if we haven’t named our “win” in all this, we may as well spare the effort and go get a new pastime.

A few weeks ago, I blogged about having “one question” to help guide business decisions.  The whole idea is to identify the one thing you’re aiming for, and let everything else fall in line with that singular focus.  I learned this approach years ago from a client, and now I find myself using it with new accounts, especially as we’re incorporating social media into overall marketing plans.  Without focus and defined purpose, social media can easily be nothing more than a time zap (just like any other tactic in a marketing program). 

Can you state how social media tools are helping you answer the “one question” for your business? 

For any plan or proposal I create for a client, I begin by stating goals and objectives.  That way, it’s always clear that the details to follow flow from the goals, and we can be assured that everything we do—including social media—is done in context to achieve the stated objectives. 
 
When it comes to social media, we need to be in it to win it.  I don’t mean that in a ‘high-fiving,’ competition-crushing kind of way.  I just mean you’ve got to know why in the world it’s worth it.  Of course the “win” for your business may be something very different from the “win” for mine.  The main point is that we’ve all got to know when the scoreboard is reading in our favor, lest social media become just another pastime.

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When it comes to social media, do you ever feel like you’re blowing a kazoo in the middle of a marching band brass section?  Or do you feel like your occasional trumpet calls get quick salutes but no lasting results?

As with any marketing effort, social media takes strategic, sustained creativity to get attention, draw attraction, spark affinity and build an audience that will ultimately take action.  We call it “earning all A’s,” and it’s what it takes to make the grade.

                              
I know firsthand that the “A’s” can be moving targets.  What might work during one season (or, heck, one day!) may become passé the next.  Just when you think you’ve got ‘em in your court, somebody else, with just as inviting a court, may come along.  If it’s not one thing, it will be another, and as the ever-evolving world of social media ebbs, flows and grows, those of us charged with the task of leading communications are in constant target practice.

However, it helps to keep our eyes on the A’s—to stay focused so that we go in order and  stay within the borders to effectively connect.

If you need to begin at, well, the beginning, I’m happy to give you five: “Five Elements of Social Media,” the white paper written by Jay Deragon and David Bullock...with a little help from moi...for Social Media Connection.

Download here:  Five Elements

This handy guide helps you conquer feelings of information overload by whittling down the process into bite-size pieces.  And you can refer to it anytime you feel like you’re drifting from all A’s down to the B-team.

So put down the kazoo, and get your A’s in order.  It’s time to take small biz big time!

THANKS!!