Social Media Time Management

Social Media is one of our favorite tools for our clients to use to start reaching the right prospects and turning them into customers and then into cheer leaders for their business.  Getting started with Social Media however can be over whelming to some because although most of the tools are free they do take time to implement, manage and build the community you are building.

Here are some tips that you can use to help effectively manage your time as you embark in using Social Media in your business.

Schedule time for your Social Media Activities

It is a good idea to block out daily time slots to focus on your social media efforts.  In these time blocks focus your time to take care of your Social Media activities.  Reply to any questions you have from followers on Facebook and Twitter.  Read through content of those you follow and take a few minutes to comment on relevant content and to share this with others in your network.  Now is also a good time to share a status update as to what you are up to – be personal.  Remember you should share about 80-90% of content and information and only 10-20% should be sales.

Use tools to Manager your Social Media Activities

There are several tools that you can use to manage your Social Media activities.  These will allow you to be able to monitor what is being said about you and your products or services and to listen for a need.  There are also tools that you can use to schedule your activities.

The following tools are some of our favorites:

Hootsuite: A dashboard tool you can use to manage your postings to multiple networks which include Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.  Hootsuite also lets you schedule your postings and to search for items with particular keywords.  It is a great tool!

Social Mention is a very valuable tool to be able to keep a real time pulse on mentions of your company, brand or any other key words you which to watch in the social scene.

If you do find Social Media overwhelming we are here to help you and can develop a custom package to work with your goals and budget.  If you are interested in learning more just complete the form below.

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How State Farm is Using Social Media – Interview from Social Media Examiner

The Social Media Examiner recently did an interview with Kelly Thul the Director of Communication Services at State Farm Insurance.  In this video interview you wil learn more about State Farm's Social Media Strategy:

source: Socaial Media Examiner

State Farm Insurance from Michael A. Stelzner on Vimeo.

 

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Why you should be on Twitter now even if your Customers aren’t

Here is a wonderful video by Laura Fitton known on Twitter as @pistachio .  She is a co author of the book Twitter for Dummies.  In this video Laura gives some great benefits of being on Twitter even if your customer isn't on Twitter – yet!

The video is only 4 minutes long and provides some great points.

 

 

If you are interested in getting started with Twitter and you don't know where to start just complete the form below and SourceOne Technologies can assist you.

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Business Marketing — Fewer businesses will continue with Yellow Pages

If you are a business owner that has used the Yellow Pages in your marketing mix you know that this can be very costly, and sometimes there is little return on this cost.  A huge cost with little return is something that most businesses can not afford to keep and remain profitable.

We have one client that was paying almost $1200 a month for their Yellow Pages listed and from what little tracking tools they had were only able to attribute about 2 customers a month from those ads.  We have now switched this client to other marketing channels which include Social Media, Blogging as well as Email Marketing.  The goal is that within three months of adding these services (at a MUCH lower cost) that we will be able to a substantial increase in traffic and revenue from these efforts.

Looking at other methods to market besides the Yellow Pages is becoming a trend with small businesses or what some call micro-business (micro-business = 10 employees or less).  Personally, I believe that there are better methods to market than the Yellow Pages where you can better track and measure the effectiveness of your marketing. 

Vistaprint conducted a survey in April of 2010 of 1,100 customers and in this survey found that  two-thirds surveyed have no interest in marketing in the Yellow Pages and only 11% plan to use it in the future.  Here is graph of the marketing channel trends of those surveyed:

In looking at this graph it is nice to see that many businesses are currently using Social Media, Online Direct Marketing and Physical Direct Marketing.  This is a trend that will continue and is one that will help small or micro-business cut cost and build focused prospect lists.

If you would like to read the full survey you can do so here at Vistaprint’s Small Business Blog.

If you are interested in learning more about how you can use social media in your business please contact us via the form below:

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Social Networking Can Produce Great Benefits for Your Business

If you're a business owner, large or small, now is the time to begin to capture the benefits of using Social Networking for your business. Many businesses in today's economy have tightened their belts and no longer have a large budget to use for marketing; so now is the time to explore another and possible better avenue; Social Networking and reap the benefits.

There are several benefits of using Social Networking for your business, however we are only going to touch on a few at this time; increasing your network, building relationships, building an online reputation or brand and zero cost marketing.

Increasing your network is a very important thing to do in order to bring more business to you. Social Networking can help you do this. When you begin to use Social Networking and start connecting with others you will find that they know others that are either a resource for you or someone that is interested in your product or service. Since you are currently networking or connected with the first layer of individuals this gives you the opportunity to connect with their contacts as well and increase your network or sphere of influence.

In today's market things have changed and marketing is more about building a relationship than it was 10 or even 5 years ago. People are more selective in who they do business with and prefer to do business with someone they know. If you do it correctly Social Networking gives you the opportunity to learn about your prospects and understand better the needs they have and the challenges they face. Social Networking creates a relationship that will position you as a resource and possibly an expert so that when your network needs what you have to offer you will be the first person they think of.

Using Social Networking properly can allow you to build a reputation as someone that provides tremendous value. In the past companies may have invested thousands and even millions of dollars to create a reputation or brand with advertising, but now you have another method that is faster and less expensive. You can establish your brand and reputation using Social Networking by providing information and value to those that you network with.

A key benefit of using Social Networking in business is the ability to create a zero cost marketing stream. It is not advocated to blatantly promote your product or service, however as you build your Social Networking profile you can provide information on who you are and what your business is, even including the URL to your website or blog. Using this form of marketing is often more effective because it draws customers to you in a non threatening way and it is zero cost marketing.

Social Networking is truly a tool or medium that every business should be using. The benefits are great and in most cases can be seen quickly. You can increase your network, build strong relationships, create an online reputation or brand and create a zero cost marketing channel, using Social Networking. The benefits will improve your business, just be sure to focus on providing value and information to your prospects and building that relationship before you focus on making the sale.

About the author: Stefanie Blackburn is an Internet Consultant with SourceOne Technologies. SourceOne Technologies currently offers assistance to business owners in establishing a complete online presence by offering their services as an Online Marketing Consultant.

If you are interested in more information on how you can use Social Media in your business please contact us by using the form below.

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Do you know the value of your Facebook Page (Fan Page)

Have you ever wondered truly what your Facebook Fan Page is worth?  Or maybe what it could be worth?  Well there is a new “Cool Site” that will evaluate your Facebook Fan Page and let you know what it is currently worth and what it could be worth.  The site is Social Page Evaluater ( http://evaluator.vitrue.com/ ).

If you have a FaceBook Fan Page be sure to take a look and see the value – or you could even check the value of one of your competitors or favorite pages.

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Social Media and Social Networking leads to offline conections

We are working with several of our clients on incorportating Social Media into thier overall Internet Marketing plan due to the many benefits that it produces.

One benefit though that is often overlooked is the opportunity Social Media provides for you to network with others.  In several cases by using Social Media or Social Networking tools you are now able to connect with others that are great potential power partners, business partners or even customers, just because you started using Socail Media and sharing more information about yourself and what you do.

Often people over look this beneift of using Social Media and Social Networking but you shouldn’t.  The larger your network is, especially in a troubled economy the larger your base of contacts and potential customers are.

Users on Twitter, one of the most popular Socail Media tools right now have organized what are called Tweet-ups where you can go and in person meet the people you network with on Twitter.  This is an excellent example of how online Socail Media or Social Networking as extended to offline.

Here is a great article that goes into more depth on this topic, how networking is one of the benefits of using Social Media and Social Networking.

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Twitter is a tool your Business should be using

Is your business on Twitter yet?

If not you should probably put it in the plans to be completed.  Twitter is now main stream and is being used by many businesses to drive traffic and increase sales.  Twitter is viral and when businesses use it they are able to touch a lot of prospects quickly.  If you are posting interesting and helpful information on Twitter it will be shared by others and give you exposure to others.

The article below is from FYIndOut and it helps expand on the topic of businesses using Twitter.

Savvy Businesses Making the Most of Twitter

Companies are beginning to realize the importance of using Twitter to monitor their brand, create relationships and turn leads to sales. According to a recent survey by MarketingProfs, “more than eight in 10 Twitter users, most of whom represent small businesses, expect their company’s use of the popular micro blogging tool to increase in the next six months.”

In addition, 66% of the respondents consider Twitter either “somewhat important” or “extremely important” to their company’s business/marketing operations, compared with 29% who consider it “not very important.”

At FYIndOut, we’re always focused on helping businesses find and promote what they’re looking for and one of our main focuses is around using the power of social media to work for business.  Twitter is fast becoming one of the top platforms that companies not only participate in, but also get real value by doing so.  Unlike most other social media sites, Twitter has the ability and breadth to be a fun and efficient way to connect consumers in our personal lives as well as help businesses and employees in our professional lives.

We have definitely seen a positive difference in using Twitter for our company.  Through Twitter, we’ve been able to connect and learn from industry trendsetters, other entrepreneurs, investors, and key media people that cover our industry.  Not having any luck reaching out to people via email or their “Contact Us” form?   Try Twitter.  You’d be amazed at how fast you’re able to connect with others.

If you are just starting to use Twitter and have any questions about our experience or think that we might be able to help, please reach out to myself (@scottjmanley) or our Community Manager, Brett Kopf (@brettkopf) and we’ll do our best.

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• Twitter to Move into Business Mainstream (marketingvox.com)
• Paul Chaney: Is Twitter a Business Tool? Yes! (mpdailyfix.com)

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