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Posts Tagged ‘Media Spaces’

I’m excited to be interviewed on by the team at Conscious Social tomorrow with their webinar “5 Keys to Social Media Success”. On the webinar, I will be sharing tips and showing examples of how businesses are being successful using social media marketing.

Conscious Social is an online community that offers FREE Social Media Webinars hosted by Laura Rubinstein & Karriann Graf. You can find them in Twitter at @KarriannGraf and @CoachLaura. Visit ConsciousSocial.com to attend my webinar for free and keep coming back to them to hear other experts reveal their marketing tips every week. You’ll also have access to time leveraging tools, and learn insider social media tricks.

Learning to navigate the Social Media spaces is definitely something you need to be taught in order to use your time efficiently. I highly recommend Conscious Social webinars as a great online resource. And, if you are looking for one-on-one, in person, Social Media training in San Diego, I can help. Or, if you are a small to medium sized business that does not have the in-house resources to facilitate your own social media campaign, HowDoIMarketMyBiz.com provides monthly social media services, speaking as your company voice.

Here’s my last installment of notes from the Social Media Success Summit webinar. These are great social media marketing tips from two top bloggers. Blogging is so important to getting your keywords found online and having a social media marketing strategy in place BEFORE you begin your social media efforts in Facebook, Twitter and your blog will help you achieve your business goals.

“Making Your Blog a Social Media Destination”
There are 1.8 billion people online which equals 26% of the world population. You’ve got to be found online and dominate search results for your keywords. So, what can a blog do for you? Technorati’s “State of the Blogosphere” reports these numbers about blogging:
71% = Blogging provides greater visibility for your company
63% = It gets clients to purchase
56% = Helps you be regarded as a thought leader
40% = Makes you more visible so you are asked to speak at conferences on your product/service

If that’s not enough, here are more reasons why you should blog: Enhances reputation, Establishes your brand, Builds credibility, Helps you get traffic (SEO), Helps you build your list and most importantly, it Brings you more business! Be sure to create great content, use your keywords, and tap into what your readers want. Via @denisewakeman

“Easily Integrate Social Media Into Your Marketing Mix”

Some people are just broadcasting in social media spaces and not responsive to customer service and replying to people. Don’t create a social media account unless you have a strategy in place to support it. Social media is about the pre-sale and relationship building. Once they love you, they will refer. Find out what your audience is interested in and give it to them in the way they want it. Talk to people about their problems then direct them to your articles that solve that problem. Network with those people who influence your audience for a bigger reach. Via @chrisgarrett

Business Women's Mega Mixer

Thursday night I was honored and excited to have been one of the over 400 women to attend the Business Women’s Mega Mixer in Downtown San Diego, CA. It was a great in person networking event to celebrate Women’s History month. I was even more excited to see an old boss and colleague, who I admire and respect as a powerful San Diego Business Women and leader, Barbara Bry, as the keynote speaker.

It was a great opportunity for professional women’s organizations and female owned businesses to network and make important business connections. I was able to meet about 50 women while I was there, and everyone I talked to said their business either had a social media presence, were just starting one, or really knew they needed it and was so glad I mentioned it to them because they were finally going to get on board! (It was the latter told me they would tuck my business card in a special spot that evening so it wouldn’t get lost because they knew they needed to call me.)

Social media is not the wave of the future, it is here now. Social media marketing is a must for any business. In addition to having a strong web site filled with your keywords optimized for SEO and a way to collect leads, every business needs a blog, Twitter and Facebook site. People are searching for your business online daily, and you can be much more easily found and virally recommended if you are participating in the social media spaces. The percentage of people using the yellow pages to find something is slim to none. People will ask a friend or Google it! Either way, with social media, your business can win.

So, how did Social Media help me learn about this great event? I was making connections in LinkedIn one day when I came across the Ladies Who Launch group, which as a woman business owner, really resonated with me. I joined their email list and it was their email newsletter that advertised the Business Women’s Mega Mixer.

Making connections and networking online in Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn is powerful. Joining a actual in-person networking group is also a great way to reach out and make connections. Remember, every time someone sees your brand whether it’s through email, an online visit to read an article on your blog, direct mail, radio, TV or print, every “eyeball” helps to build your brand and keeps you top of mind. Social media is just one piece of your marketing strategy, but, a very important piece that in today’s world cannot be overlooked.

There are a lot of social media marketing companies popping up all over the internet these days. You are probably seeing a lot of their ads IN the social media spaces, like Twitter and Facebook. “Get thousands of Twitter followers….”, “Automate All Your Social Spaces!” But, the bottom line with these types of companies is this, You Get What You Pay For.

Social Media is all about networking, relationship building and connecting – one human to another. Too much automation will not give your business the “real time” and human presence you want. Now, I’m not saying some pre-scheduled tweets and Facebook posts aren’t helpful, since we can’t be online 24/7 and there are great free online tools such as SocialOomph and HootSuite for that. But, I would strongly caution against using those companies that are offering dirt cheap pricing for social media marketing assistance. You want the person (not a spambot) managing your social media spaces so that you can not only find, but connect with targeted, quality Facebook Fans and Twitter Followers. An automated service cannot provide the human element so critical for social media business success.

All businesses need a social media marketing presence in today’s world. Your customer is looking for it on your web site, catalog and email they receive from you. They want to be the first to know about your specials and coupons and are looking to you for your knowledge in the industry or just the right tidbit of information about the product or service you provide to get them to buy. Though social media is very important, it should be just one element of your marketing strategy. Traditional marketing is still necessary and the smart business owner would choose a social media marketing firm that is solidly rooted in traditional marketing basics, such as direct mail, email and press releases to ensure that a well unified campaign is executed.

Again, with social media, you get what you pay for and if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If you’re ready to launch your social media presence for your business and want to make sure the person who manages that effort also has over 15 years of experience in direct marketing, brand building, and designing targeted marketing plans, give me a call. I can help!