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Don't be antisocial.By Brad London, October 7, 2009
This week I was a panelist for a discussion on how to leverage social media in business. Since this was one of the larger networking events that I have attended since moving back to the Buffalo area, I was not sure what to expect for a turn out.
To my surprise, the room was already starting to fill when I arrived. For those of you who don't know me that well, I am never late and usually extremely early. So the outlook for the morning seemed to be shaping up pretty well.
By the time the event had started, there were not many open seats. The moderators introduced the event and started the whole thing off with a video.
This video has been updated for the past few years and shared quite a bit. These networks are reaching global audiences in a short period of time. After going through some introductory questions the focus shifted to Q&A. We spent around 45 minutes going through questions from the audience.
One of the key things that I took away from the session was that it seemed there was a general “fear of the unknown” when it comes to online social networking. Companies and individuals are trying to understand what these networks are and how they might help them in their career or business.
Learning to swim.
Taking your first steps with social media can be pretty intimidating. Here are a few simple, basic tips to hopefully help you get started in your online networking.
- Research - With any marketing activity you need to make sure you understand where your market is and what the message should be. Nothing new here, get back to the basics. Discover what your customers, colleagues or business partners are using and see if there is a right fit for you. In most industries there will be niche sites that will provide some type of forum or discussion outlet.
- Claim your brand - We have all heard the horror stories of domain names being held for ransom by domain squatters. This concept also applies with your brand on these social sites. Names are being picked up immediately as soon as a new service is launched and being auctioned off to the highest bidder. Make sure that you own all those relevant to you and your brand.
- Monitor your brand - Find out what people are saying about you or your brand. You can perform searches using popular search engines or using brand monitoring services. Understanding where your products are being talked about is a great way to engage and interact with your customers. It also provides a great way to market to customers that follow you on these networks.
Some brand monitoring tools:
Google Alerts - Google Alerts is a great way to keep track of where your products or services are mentioned on the web. You can quickly create an alert and Google will e-mail you the results whenever it notices your brand online.
SocialMention.com - Social Mention pulls together the major social outlets and organizes all of the information into one view. These can be really helpful if you are monitoring several products and want to create several views for each item you are monitoring.
- Start Networking - Get out there and start networking. Reconnect with past colleagues, employers, friends or prospective clients. One of the greatest things about social networks is reconnecting with old acquaintances. Getting back on the radar of someone you worked with in the past is a great way to possibly generate new leads for your business today.
Taking the plunge.
Here are a few places that you should start out with. Using these three networks will help you quickly establish a presence online and allow you to start building.
Twitter - Twitter is a “micro blogging” service which allows you to “tweet” information that interests you or about what you are doing. You are limited to “140” characters and spaces within a “tweet”.
LinkedIn - LinkedIn is a great place for connecting with business acquaintances. You can update your profile with all of your past employers and reconnect with people. There are also groups that you can join and exchange information about a subject.
Facebook - Facebook is the place where most people let their hair down. This is a great place to connect with old friends or classmates. There are a lot of games and other social applications that people seem to lose time with.
One of the questions that came up during the discussion was: What site should I use for personal or business? I think the general consensus was that LinkedIn is for business and Facebook is personal. While there are a lot of companies using Facebook to market to users, the general trend has been more focused on consumer related companies.
One of the things to keep in mind with social media is that once it is out there... it’s out there. Make sure that if you are posting something online it is not something that you wouldn't want to come back and haunt you down the line. Be smart and consider what you are sharing and where.
It was truly a great forum and a chance to share ideas and experiences. Hopefully the information that was provided was helpful and some new social networkers have joined the party.
“Sale” ahead.
One of the things that you need to consider online is to not oversell or “spam” your products and service offerings. While all of these outlets are great methods of promoting, you need to be careful not to look like you are “pushing” your products all the time. Most of these networks are used for sharing ideas and experiences. A good balance of give and take is usually a great approach. Having said that, here is my sales pitch:
If you need help with deciding on how to market your business or services online, we can help. We will work with you to create the right online message and strategy for your business. Visit our additional services page to read more information on Rescuedsites.com http://www.rescuedsites.com/additional-services/social-media/
We answer the phone.
By Jen Fricano, October 5, 2009
We recently got a call from a company that had hired a web development/maintenance partner who, after building their website, kind of … well, abandoned them.
This “partner” did the up front work and then, when the client called looking for updates they kept getting an answering machine and few callbacks. Updates to the site were not completed for weeks or months, if at all.
That’s a client screaming for a rescue and getting no help. In the ocean, there’s the Coast Guard. On the Internet, there’s Rescuedsites.com.
So what do you need in a web partner? Probably a company that:
- Answers phone calls and e-mails (and every other way you communicate)
- Is always thinking about your business
- Understands the latest technologies and trends and knows how to use them to your advantage
- Has complete focus
- Guarantees quick turnaround
- Practices web ethics
We not only answer the phone, we come to the rescue. Try it: 716-433-7688. Or drop us a line at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
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Contact Information
J. Fitzgerald Group
12 West Main Street
Lockport, New York 14094
Phone: 716-433-7688
Fax: 716-433-6772
e-mail: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
