The repetitive question refers to providing the same information and links across multiple social media platforms. When I tell a client, we need to list all your websites, post your pictures, and provide all your social media links, I inevitably get “Well, it all seems so repetitive. This information is already provided on our website.”

Yes, this information is readily available if I were to look for it. However, the key to social marketing is reaching people where they already are; not making them go elsewhere or jump through hoops for what they want.

Your pictures are already posted in your beautiful portfolio section of your website? Well, sorry, but you need to include them again in your blog posts, on Facebook, and have we discussed Flickr yet?

Maybe you’ve done a great job of creating a Twitter page and are using it daily. However, if you have wasted space in your design, then why not include some of your information like email address, physical address, Facebook page, etc.

With each area we focus on, it’s important to include the “same” information, even if it seems repetitive.

Remember this: While it may seem repetitive to you, it doesn’t necessarily seem repetitive to your audience. The same pictures or events you’ve had posted on your website for a few days are NEW and INTERESTING to the right people who are seeing them for the first time somewhere else.

photo credit: webtreats

Creative Commons License photo credit: alexliivet

The best social media marketing tips help establish lasting relationships between your business and your targeted market. There are two ways to use social media marketing to increase customer loyalty and ensure your business a customer for life: engagement and appreciation.

Making a habit of engaging with your customers and targeted market on sites such as Twitter or Facebook personalizes your business and gives your company a more relatable feel. When a current or potential customer knows they can reach out to you and receive a human response, a feeling of investment in the relationship is created. Rather than stewing about problems they may have had, a customer you interact with through social media is likely to comment on your company blog or direct message you on Twitter to make you aware of the issue, giving you an opportunity to really shine in offering a solution.

Once you have made a habit of engaging with your customers and clients, take advantage of the easy connection offered by social media marketing to offer targeted sales, products and special deals to your social media communities. You can select five random followers a month to receive a special coupon code, or offer “secret” sales just for Twitter followers. A customer who is invested in their relationship with your company, as well as one with a feeling that their business is truly appreciated, is likely to be a customer for life, no matter what competition moves into the neighborhood.

How I am using it

HootSuite allows me to monitor a lot of information in one browser window:

1. Both of my Twitter accounts
2. My Facebook page
3. My Facebook fan page
4. My LinkedIn network
5. Personalized Twitter searches so I can see when certain words are Tweeted
6. Twitter lists so I can monitor conversations of specific ‘Tweeters”

More than just monitoring

1. Save Time:  With HootSuite I can type one message and have it appear on all on my social networks
2. Keep it short:  Twitters 140 character limit is hard to stay within when you copy long website urls.  HootSuite will shrink those urls with a click on the mouse.
3. Timely:  Do you have information that needs to be provided on a particular day?  at a particular time?  Use the scheduling feature to schedule when you posts will be made on your various social networks.
4. Statistics:  HootSuite provides you with statistics on how many time your links were clicked on.  I have used bit.ly before to do this ( I still love bit.ly!)  But it is so convenient to have the tracking within HootSuite.
5. There is a lot more HootSuite can do, but those are the highlights that I am using right now.

Choice

There are other tools like this available, but HootSuite is quickly become my tool of choice.  Here are a few other tools to consider that I am using:

1. www.TweetDeck.com
2. www.Seesmic.com

What are you using?

What tools to you using to build stronger relationships, monitor your brand, or increase the effectiveness of your communications?

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?

What does it mean to ‘unfriend’ someone?  Are we no longer friends?  Why were we friends in the first place.

The definition is obviously familiar to those who use Facebook, where the phrase originated: “To remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site such as Facebook,” the authors said. No word if the Twitter equivalent, “unfollow,” was included or referred to.  (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2355963,00.asp)

Kindergarten

We learned everything we needed to know in kindergarten, right? We learned to be polite, be honest, considerate, follow the rules, and especially make friends.  However, there was no lesson plan on “unfriending.”  The word wasn’t even in existence back then.

It’s now a universal term in the social networking community.  Like Google users quickly coined the term “Just Google It,” social marketing people know exactly what it means “to be unfriended.”  If you are using social networking for business purposes, you had better know what this term is, as well as be aware of the causes and repercussions of being “unfriended.”

Who did you unfriend this year?

How many people did you ‘unfriend’ this year?   Was 2009 the year when we are a little more selective in who we invite as a friend on Facebook or other social networks?

Will you please be my friend

Food for Thought

I have two reasons I would unfriend someone:

1. Once we became friends, you harvested ALL of my contacts by spamming them with friend requests.  (Yes it did happen.)
2. You are constantly trying to sell me something through social media rather than building a relationship.  (Yes it still happens.)

I would love to read your comments.  What would make you unfriend someone?

PRESENTER’S DIRECTIONS

Amount of time needed:  20 – 30 minutes

Divide participants into 3-5 small groups.

Give each small group a scenario page and a pack of “tool/activity” cards. Each card has an amount of points labeled at the bottom; this signifies how much needs to be invested (time, money, etc.) in the tool/activity (the maximum amount of points they can use is 10).

Each small group should complete the scenario page and be prepared to report back to the large group. Give them 5 minutes to discuss, fill out the scenario page and prepare to report back.

Have each group report back.   Set a 2-minute time limit for each group.

Once all the groups have reported back ask a number of the following discussion questions to the entire group – as time permits.

1. How did your small group discussions go?
2. How hard or easy was it to decide on which tools/activities to use? Why?
3. What did you think of the choices or rational of any of the groups?
4. What did you learn from this activity?

Various Scenarios

• Raising Awareness
• Fundraising
• Event Promotion
• Advocacy
• Thought Leadership

Social Media Card Deck

• Social Media Card Deck

Additional material from the Convening can be found on the Resilient Organizations Fund website.

• Home Page:  http://www.resilientnonprofits.org/
• Materials:  http://www.resilientnonprofits.org/materials/
• About the Convening:  http://www.resilientnonprofits.org/convenings/

Have you have every wondered:  “why bother with social media?”  Great stats  – some very surprising.   Welcome to the revolution.

Twitter is free and open to everyone. Therefore once you have an open account, everyone is free to follow you. Yet, the more people who follow you, the more beneficial it is to you. Depending on your goals for Twitter, having a large following is critical. Write a creative Bio, start following people in your target market, get involved in conversations, be helpful, and watch your followers grow. Don’t let this “lack of control” over who your followers are worry you. Yet, this is the #1 worry I get when talking to people.

Some people feel the content of what people are tweeting can adversely affect their product image or business. The answer is yes, it can. BUT people are going to tweet about their opinions, successes, and frustrations whether you are active on Twitter or not. Therefore, using Twitter to listen to customers, monitor conversations about competitor products or offer insightful comments can be very helpful to damage control and gaining a healthy grasp on what people need and want in products and services. There is ample opportunity to be active on Twitter to develop relationships with key people interested in what you have to say and sell.

There is a wonderful, yet complete lack of control over what and who gets Retweeted (RT) on Twitter. You can ask to be RT’d, but you can’t make anyone. Therefore, you are responsible for writing tweets that peek interest and stimulate emotions that will end up going viral through followers who feel compelled to RT what you have to say. It’s a wonderful way to reach new people and get the word out about something for which you are passionate. You’ll be surprised what grabs people’s attention and gets retweeted.

And of course, you have no control over what Google decides to grab from Twitter and display in its search results. Yet, Google seems to really like social networking content. Therefore, use this new found method of reaching people via Google to communicate, market, and meet new people. Whether someone walks in your front door, tweets with you on Twitter, or finds you via a Google search, your relationship with him/her is priceless. Don’t be afraid of your lack of control using Twitter. Embrace the possibilities.

Is Anyone Listening?

76% of customers don’t believe companies tell the truth in advertising.  (Keller Fay Group)

54% of people say they would avoid buying products that overwhelm them with advertising and marketing.

69% said they are interesting in products and services that would help them SKIP or BLOCK advertising.

Mind share is a different mind set.

Increasing mind share is the process of increasing desire and demand.  It is engaging the customer in an experience they find compelling. This process is characterized by cooperation, openness and collaboration.

78% of customers rate the credibility of word of mouth as 7 or higher on a 10  point scale.  (Keller Fay Group)

Is it a Sprint or a Long Distance Race

If all of your sales and marketing initiatives revolve around increasing your market share, someone is going to lose.  Maybe not right now, but in the long run, the future belongs to those that are investing in mind share.

Investing in mind share is investing in the long run.  It is getting your customers and partners involved in your business.  It is being open and honest.  Creating a ‘circle of trust.’

Trust

Trust requires knowing each other.  With no trust, it takes more time and money for both the consumer and the company.

Over 80% of people stop buying products from companies when their trustworthiness comes into question.  Over 33% who lose trust in a company openly campaign against that company on the Internet.  (Edelman Trust Barometer)

Consumers  in the US and Europe are 86% less trusting of companies than they were five years ago (Bain and Co)

Opportunities are All Around You

Stop trying to sell.  Stop pushing your messages at your clients when they don’t want to listen.  Engage in a solid social media strategy to become a partner with your client and help them buy.  People still love to buy.  How can you help your clients buy?

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