Why make things more complicated when you start?

One hour a day. It doesn’t even have to be a continuous hour.
Ten minutes here, twenty minutes there – whenever you can find the time to spare, all you need to do is engage in social media marketing an hour a day. So, what can you do in that hour? Here are seven things you can do, all in under an hour.

1. Do a Twitter search on your company name to see what people are saying. Respond to a couple.
2. Add a picture or two of new products to your company Facebook page.
3. Film a quick 5 minute video about recent news relating to your industry or company.
4. Write a blog post about your top 5 best selling products or services.
5. Create a quick coupon and link to it from your Twitter account.
6. Do a quick Twitter search for your town and add ten new friends from the local area.
7. Spend a couple of minutes personally responding to blog comments and visiting the blogs of commenters.

Give it a try

Not only can each of those social media marketing techniques be done in under an hour, all seven tips can be accomplished in under an hour. Participating in social media marketing an hour a day may not seem like enough to be effective. However, pick one, two or even all of the tips listed above and try them out for a couple of weeks. Don’t spend more than an hour a day on social media marketing, and see what kind of connections and results you come up with. After your initial two weeks, take what you’ve learned about what works and what doesn’t and tailor the tips to your business’s needs. Don’t wait for the big budget and big staff of a big city business to start your social media marketing efforts. If you can spare an hour a day, your small business can have a legitimate presence on social media as well.

Your thoughts?

Can you spare one hour to focus on building relationships online, enhancing communiation, learning what your customers are really thinking? I would love to hear your thoughts.

BTW – the photo above is from one of my favorite local potters.  You can learn more at www.claycoyoteblog.com.

To take a look at CaringBridge and the example they are setting in the social networking arena, visit www.caringbridge.org.  They say that their service “helps ease the burden of keeping family and friends informed.” How can your business or organization help ease the burden of keeping your customers informed?

ONE ACTION ITEM: Make a brainstorm list of ways you could keep your customers/web visitors better informed. In what ways can you ease their burdens?

Steve’s 15 Minutes a Day LinkedIn Strategy

Who cannot find 15 minutes to dedicate to building and maintaining relationships?  It is a simple step.  Done for at least 90 days, it will become a habit.  It will take time before you see results, but not as much as you may think.  So let’s get started.

Step 1:  Preparation

Schedule 15 minutes a day on your calendar.  In order for you to be successful, schedule this on your calendar.  It is too easy to forget about it, or push it aside because something urgent (but maybe less important) came up.  Schedule it on your calendar for the next 90 days as a reoccurring event.

Step 2:  The Daily Habit

There are four things I believe you should do every day on LinkedIn:

1. Update your status.
2. Review your homepage for connection activities and respond as needed.
3. Respond promptly to any email you receive through LinkedIn.
4. Follow the daily tips below

Monday:  Make Connections

One great opportunity you have to provide value to your connections is to connect them.  Look at your personal connections or connections you have made through a LinkedIn group and join them.  It could be as simple as sending an email to both of them and how they could benefit each other.

You may not find a connection each week, and that is OK.  But keep up this discipline.  You will become more trusted and known as a resource to your network.

Tuesday:  Ask Questions

Ask a question in a group or to your network.  You will be surprised how many people will be there to support you.

I had met a social media intern about a year ago.  She was a master of this strategy.  She would ask questions to her personal connections and group connections about once a week.  Through out the week she would get some great responses.  The next week, she would send a thank you out to everyone with a summary of all of the answers that were given.  This provided her network with invaluable data in an area they cared about and encouraged her network to keep answering her questions.  I have complete trust in her today.

Wednesday:  Answer Questions

Review the groups that you are a part of and answer as many questions as you can in 15 minutes.  Answering questions is a great way to show you care and build up your creditability.

Thursday:  Gratitude

Send thank you’s to your connections for their assistance.  Thank you’s may be through email or even a personal note on a card.  Personal notes in your own handwriting are not as common as they use to be, but can create a lasting impression.

Friday:  Grow

This is the day to grow your connections and your contribution to your network.  First, look at all of the people you have met over the last week.  Should some of them be added to your network on LinkedIn?  Friday is also a great day to look at adding books you have read, blog posts, Twitter, or Slideshare presentations to your profile.

Make LinkedIn Rock

Are you ready to make LinkedIn rock? Try these recommendations for 90 days.  Let me know what kind of results you get.

Want ACCOUNTABILITY?  Post a comment letting me know you are trying this strategy.  We can connect on LinkedIn and hold each other accountable!

Go to their Twitter page, and you see this unique Bio: “This is not your average emergency department. That’s Progress. Check here for wait times and safety tips.”

You’ll also see frequently updated tweets on wait times, as well as when to seek medical advice, when to come into the ER, and other current information.

Intro

• 30 Days of Social Media
• Are you ready to engage in social media?
• Social Media Tool Box
  
• Putting a Face on Social Media – Gravatars

Facebook

• Face It: Why You Need To Know About Facebook
• Facebook-Business
• Facebook Advertising is for Everyone

Social Bookmarking

• What the Heck is Social Bookmarking
  

YouTube

• Good Marketing is About Telling Stories – YouTube Can Help
• How To Setup Your YouTube Account AND My Famous 5 Minute Video Creation Secrets Revealed

Google

• Google Wants to Alert Your Business to New Possibilities for Free

RSS

• What is RSS and Why Do I Care

LinkedIn

• LinkedIn 101 Getting the Most From This Often Mis-Understood Social Network
• What Everybody Ought to Know About Connections On LinkedIn
• Do You Make These Mistakes

Inspiration

• A Little Shift Goes a Long Way
• If the White House Can Embrace Social Media Can Your Business
• Social Marketing Results in Less than 60 Minutes: One Great Example
• Do You Make These Mistakes With Your Customers

Local Search

• If You Are Not In Local Search Engines Now, You Will Regret It Later
• Getting Started With Your Google Local/Google Maps Listing
• Are You Ready to Take Control of Your Online Reputation

Blogs

• Don’t Be Too Quick To Decide a Blog Isn’t Right For Your Business
• Give Me 15 Minutes and I Will Give You The Formula To Blogging Success

Auto Responder/E-commerce

• Do You Get Better Service From An Auto-Responder At An E-commerce Store Than You Do In Person

Photo Sharing

• Create a Vivid Image – Finding the Right Photo Just Got Easier

Twitter

• Is Twitter For You
• Twitter for Your Business

Authenticity

• Do You Have an Identity Crisis

Email

• Do you know what the single most important ingredient is in your business

Protecting Your Information

• The Lazy Mans Way to Hack Into Your Personal Information and Passwords
• There Is A Quick Way to Secure Your Identity On Social Websites

Summary

• How Much Time Should You Spend on Social Media Each Week

BrownBook.net is a directory that is set up in blog-type format. From the homepage you can see recently added businesses, latest edits, and business reviews. Chances are your business may already be included at a very basic level, as they’ve appeared to automatically added many businesses with an established web presence. Do a quick search of your business name and location. If you find your business, it is easy to make changes and heighten your listing. BrownBook.net adds a map along side your listing. It is free to add pictures or video too.

ONE ACTION ITEM: Do a search for you town and see who is already on www.BrownBook.net.  If there are some businesses you can write a review for, spend a couple minutes and publish a short review. The best way to get business reviews for your own business is to give them.

What About Your Name on Social Websites?

Do you know if your business name, brand name, or personal name is available on the plethora of social media websites?  Many large corporations that are just starting to get involved in social media are hit upside the head with a big surprise.  They have lost their brand name in the top social sites.

On Twitter the name “McDonalds” is not owned by the famous clown – Ronald McDonald (www.twitter.com/McDonalds).  Verizon and Microsoft are also not owned by their brand name owners (www.twitter.com/verizon and www.twitter.com/Microsoft.)  Sprint and Google on the other hand do own their names on Twitter.

Impersonation Policy

Sites like Twitter do have an Impersonation Policy that says you cannot impersonate another person or companies brand.  That may not make it clear that someone other than you is representing your brand.  I could use the Microsoft name as my username to disparage the brand, as long as I disclosed that I am not Microsoft.  If you suspect someone is impersonating you or your company, here are a few places you can go:

• Twitter Impersonation Policy:  http://help.twitter.com/forums/26257/entries/18366
• FaceBook Policy:  http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/terms.php?ref=pf
• LinkedIn User Agreement:  http://www.linkedin.com/static?key=user_agreement&trk=hb_ft_userag

Most social media sites will respond to your inquires quickly; but you need to take action.

Should You Secure Your Brand In the Major Social Networks?

I think so.  But that can be time consuming.  So lets make it easy.  KnowEm (http://knowem.com/) checks the availability of your brand name, user name or vanity URL on 120 popular Social Media websites. It is simple and will tell you if your brand is being used by someone else.  Give it a try.

Got a comment?  Let me hear them.  I do respond to ALL comments.

25 Random Things About Me

Remember the “25 Random Things About Me” that spread like a virus across Facebook?  Millions of people saw it and participated in it.  I actually learned a lot about my sister-in-law and several of my friends.  There are some things that you should never share in a social network.  Here are a few of those:

1. Your anniversary date
2. Name of your first pet
3. Mothers maiden name
4. Birth dates
5. City you were born in
6. Favorite teacher

Why Not Share This Information You May Ask!

In social networks such as these, it may seen innocent to share this information, but this is information that is commonly asked for to validate your identity online. Do remember filling out that form on an ecommerce site that asked for a security questions?  These sites tend to ask questions similar to the 6 questions above.  What about your password for your blog?  Is that password the answer to one of those questions?

If It Is Easy For You to Remember, Is It Easy For a Hacker to Figure Out?

It is not that hacker are smarter than the average person, it is that the average person doesn’t make it hard for a hacker to figure out their passwords.  A hacker typically will try all of the common passwords, and when they do not succeed, they move on.  In many cases, they are using automatic systems to try and hack into your personal information.  They can use these same automatic systems to ‘harvest’ your personal data out of social networks.  What are the odds that they will be successful in harvesting your personal data?  If you are using common information and sharing that information in your social networks – the odds are not in your favor.

What is Known About You?

My life is online.  Your life is also online.  Our businesses are online.  Be smart about what you share – but also be smart about how you choose your passwords. Here is a great site that contains a lot of information about you.  Take a look at what the “Internet” knows about you right now at http://www.pipl.com – then go and change your passwords.

Something happens when you get involved with social media.  You change.  You realize that the more you give – the better you feel – and the more you get back.  I am motivated to be even more active!

By the end of the week, I have created some terrific marketing materials that are customer focused.  I have also created a bunch of ineffective materials that will not work, but here’s the thing – my social community helps me determine what is good or bad based on the comments I receive, the number of times an article is retweeted, or the emails that I receive with questions on the articles or tweets.

So – 15 hours per week to develop marketing materials that educate and creating powerful relationships.  I think that is time well spend.  Would your marketing manager be more effective if he/she were to be active in social networks?

My Blog (1 hour a day)

• Write at least three blog posts per week based on research and conversations I have had on Twitter and on other blogs
• Respond to comments daily on my blog
• Write at least 1- 5 comment a day on other people’s blogs

Analytics  (1/2 hour a week)

• Review Google Analytics to identify trends and possible follow-up articles.
• Review click throughs with FeedBurner

Twitter  (1 – 2 hours through out the day)

• Daily- retweet at least one good idea or something enlightening
• Daily – write a response to at least one person I have not talked to ever before on Twitter
• Daily – scan twitter for relevant conversations
• Tweet my blog posts
• Recommend my most active followers on #followfriday
• TweetLater – schedule a #QOTD or #quote for each day
• Twice a Week – Review new followers and follow active Tweeters

Google Reader  (4 hours per week)

• Monitor Google Reader news articles for relevant blog content and Twitter posts
• Comment on relevant articles
• Bookmark with delicious articles for future blog posts and idea generation

Google Alerts  (15 minutes per week)

• Monitor Google alerts for relevant keywords and phrases

LinkedIn  (15 minutes per day)

• Daily- Update Status
• Daily – review friend (connections) status and comment on at least one
• Tuesday/Thursday – Scan group conversations and engage in topics when appropriate
• Wednesday – Ask one question in a group
• Friday – help connect two of my contacts together
• Friday – send one referral, ask for one referral

Slideshare

• Monthly – Upload a new presentation
• Weekly – Review comments on presentations

Facebook  (15 minutes per day)

• Daily – Update Status
• Daily – review friend status
• Daily – At least one non-business related comment to a friend
• Delete any messages that are spam-ish or any polls or applications sent to me
• Review photos of friends

YouTube

• Monthly – Review my videos
• Monthly – Review favorites
• As they happen – Add a new video to my blog

Delicious

• Daily – Book mark daily to share with clients, employees and twitter followers
• Weekly – review bookmarks to generate ideas for future blog posts or future projects

Email

• Check three times a day – morning, noon, and at the end of the day
• Respond to all emails – even if it just says “I will get back to you.”
• Clean up mail from last week and close any loose ends

Other Activities

• Weekly – engage in other social networks that I belong

There are a few other activities that my staff take care of through out the week that include:

• Managing two Facebook communities
• Managing two LinkedIn communities
• Publishing our e-newsletter
• Manage two additional blogs

What are your thoughts?  I would love to hear them!

It is like marriage

I have been married for 14 years now.  (sweet, glorious years!)  When I first met my wife, I didn’t say, “Hey let’s get married.”  We talked.  We got to know each other.  We spent hours learning about each other.  One date at a time.  When I knew she was the one – and we completed the transaction with marriage

Do you date your customers?

What?  Date your customers?  Do you put out an ad and expect your customers to flock to your door or create a great website and expect orders to start rolling in?  It doesn’t happen.  If it does, it doesn’t last.  Did you know there are more small businesses that fail each year than marriages?

It takes time, money, energy, and effort

It takes 5 – 10 communications to generate a sale from a prospective new customer.  (how many dates did you have before you found the right person?)   Here’s why:

• Either, you have a totally new product or service few people have heard of…then your challenge is education. What is it? Why is it useful? Why is it worth paying for?
• Or you have a product or service everyone knows about…then your challenge is differentiation. Why are you better, faster, cheaper, more convenient, and so on?

Know, Like and Trust

A single promotion that ‘educates’ your audience or ‘differentiates’ you still is unlikely to create enough profit to encourage enough people to buy from you.  What are the chances that after one promotion, a new customer is going to buy from you?  Marketing your business isn’t an event; it’s a series of related events. It’s a process. It’s a relationship.

The purpose of your marketing should be to find a customer, who has a need, to know you, like you, and trust you.  That is my favorite definition of marketing – and it lends itself well to the rest of this article….

Spend Money Wisely

If you spend all of your money trying to market to new customers, you are always marketing to people that do NOT know you – if they don’t know you, they may not like you – and they definitely don’t have enough trust built up to buy from you immediately. It is expensive to attract new client; as high as 6-7 times more to acquire a new customer than attract repeat business from your existing customers.

So why not spend your time focusing on your current client base, while lowering your cost to build the “know, like, trust’ with new customers?

Your Most Powerful Mode of Building Relationships

Emailed Newsletter.  Email is the perfect way to connect with your audience.  We are addicted to email.  How many time to you check your email?  Do you leave it on all day?  Do you get it delivered to your cell phone?  Do you check your email before you go to bed?

E-newsletters are easy to assemble, cost nothing (or very little) to send, have a higher open rate than regular direct mail, and gain loyal readers. PLUS, it is measurable!

• Want to know how many of your newsletters were opened?  You will know.
• Want to know which customers consistently read your newsletters? You can!
• Want to know what is the most popular article in your newsletter?  Yes, you will know that too.

My Favorite Tool

My favorite tool for managing e-newsletters is Constant Contact.  We have been using them for years, and I trust them with my email campaigns.  Their tools allow your customers to subscribe to your newsletter; but they also manage the process for your customers to un-subsribe.  This is important.

ONE ACTION ITEM: To try Constant Contact free for one month.  Sign up and give it a try.

Do you want even more tips?  Sign up for my companies’ newsletter to see how we use Constant Contact.  You can always unsubscribe – so what is stopping you from giving it a try?