I have written many articles about Twitter in the last few years that I have been writing this blog. There are many out there -that are still trying to figure it all out – along with many other social media sites such as Facebook and Linkedin. While you continue to ponder or assume that many of the people you are trying to connect with and target may not be there – guess again. On Twitter alone there are more than 100 million users and many small businesses have already begun to use it as a free resource to market their business. I tell our clients all the time that even if you are not ready to use social media – I can almost guarantee (I still go by the adage that their are no guarantees in life!) – that your current and potential customers already are and better yet they are talking about YOU. The question becomes are you reaching out and talking to them? Read the rest of this entry »

I had a personal experience this past week that I thought wonderfully demonstrates the power of social media. I hope that businesses will read this post and think twice about how they can easily repair circumstances just like the one I am about to SHARE. Read the rest of this entry »

I did a speaking engagement last week to a group of Sr. Executive women. When asked my advice on what is most important when looking to engage your business with social media -” I said you need to understand who your target market is and then aptly find ways to understand what their social computing behavior is and go from there.” Using the right data and traffic analysis tools – to find out who your most influential followers are and how they utilize social media tools – is the key to connecting with them and all the people that follow them and so on. So many people as I wrote in an early post a few weeks ago – get focused on building thousands of fans and or followers -rather than focusing on who that early adopter and or influencer is – for their community and the best way to communicate with them and their many followers who are part of your target market. Read the rest of this entry »

I came across an article in my morning reading that included an interview with Mitch Joel of Twist Media – on the topic of connecting and engagement. I have discussed this many times on this blog since I began posting, but felt that with so many companies finally realizing that they need to leverage social media – it is worth it – to SHARE some thoughts for 2010. Read the rest of this entry »

I got this link from Twitter via @thepowerofsmall author Lynda Thaler and CEO of  The Kaplan Thaler Group.

We are working on all sorts of digital projects these days—many of them are contests—with the plan to build a fan base, so they can begin to engage and connect with their clients one-on-one. As we continue to guide and educate our current clients with social media strategies and execution – we are always trying to sell new clients who have yet to really get engaged. As a women owned and run business – I always use the analogy that social media is a natural for women. It is focused on how we communicate. We like to tell stories and share our ideas. If we have a great experience we want the world to know and when we don’t we want the world to to know that too.
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The best way to show our readers that a serious, planned approach to social media as a key marketing channel can lead to success (when integrated with offline channels), is to provide case studies or corporate examples of triumph and prosperity.

Today’s post is going to do just that. In 2008, Starbucks (YES, I am one of their devotees ) found themselves in some serious hot water. Sales were down, there were major corporate management changes (which included Starbucks former CEO Howard Shultz returning and some management being let go), store closings, and some of the rapid rate expansion was slowed so that the company could go back to basics. The challenge? “How do they get back their relationship with their customer — the one they had when they first began?” Shultz claimed that, “Starbucks had lost its soul.”
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I think for many now jumping on the social media bandwagon, one area of measurement is based on the number of fans that one has. In some cases, it’s great to have hundreds of thousands of fans—IF you can lead them to click throughs on your site or directly track them to retweets of products and services or sharing via Facebook (from all of your friends to their friends and so on…). But many are, as in life, “fair-weather friends”: they come, look around, sign up…but don’t really engage or connect. Especially when you don’t have a strategy that is going to ensure that you connect with them for a direct call to action. Yes. You want a call to action. One that includes a mutual passion for the give and take that is going to be SHARED by your business and the friends/customers you are going to friend and follow.
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Much of the work we have been doing in our company, SHARE, has focused on social media and finding ways to leverage engagement for clients and their customers via Facebook and Twitter. Many want low cost ideas that will engage their potential friends and followers in ways that are meaningful to them. Of course, they want the ideas to be unique, out of the box and promise a gazillion friends. Many of these companies don’t plan for or strategize how they are going to keep those friends when the campaign or promotion is finished. How are YOU going to keep those friends—that collected their coupons for free offers of your products or services—from ending their relationship when your campaign ends?
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Not sure if you heard but Bill Gates joined Twitter and already has 300,000 followers. I have been on Twitter for a year and we have about 1170 followers which is pretty good, as I like to read most of my tweets throughout the day and that is a lot of info to go through and absorb.
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I was attending a new client meeting last Thursday. And as it happens, they have a leg up on many of our customers as they are already trying their hand at social media. Bravo to any business that is taking the leap to engage with their customers in new ways.
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