How Twitter Can Change your Business and Who Can Help

Photo by Leah Prater

I was inspired to blog about this topic based on the article (for small businesses) How Twitter Changed My Life  found on the New York Times.

Twitter has changed my life, especially since I’m new to my area. It’s open doors to connections which have led to potential clients. I really want businesses to embrace Twitter for it’s potential benefits (as mentioned in the article above)

Sometimes I’ve been asked: “what if I can pay a “kid” to do social media for my company”?

Automatically, what’s wrong in this sentence? “Kid” & “My company” are in the same sentence. Would you allow a “kid” to run your company? No, right? But what do you think you’re doing by providing this “kid” access to direct conversations with customers? (Yes, social media is a direct form of conversation with customers).

Automatically, “kids” are the solution because they have grown up with a computer and are quick to learn about using these platforms. But in the end, it’s all about sales. How well do you know your product? How long did it take you to learn how to close a deal? What are your customers really wanting? I’m pretty sure you didn’t learn everything that your company has to offer on the first day of the job and right out of college? Knowing your product/company is as important as knowing how to do social media correctly. 

Next time think about it: Does this “kid” really know how to handle objections effectively (in person & online)? Do you really trust someone who has practically no experience to speak with your customers (on a daily basis)?

If you’re working with a limited budget and can only afford a “kid, teach your intern (or “kid”) how to handle objections, the “ins” & “outs” of your product/service, and the culture of your company before providing passwords to your social media accounts.

Questions? Tweet me

ROI Return on Influence My Book Review

Valentina with author Mark Schaefer

I had the pleasure of meeting author Mark Schaefer at Social Slam in April. I was blown away by his presentation of the value of influence in social media platforms and the power of a high Klout score (i.e. hotel room upgrades)

Instead of telling you how much I enjoyed the book, I will share some of the various items I highlighted throughout the book:

• “Social Media is like a Darwinian hyper catalyst. Business better adapt, adopt, and become the fittest because the societal pressures through self-publishing and reviews like this are unprecedented”

• “…increasing proportions of corporate marketing budgets are now dedicated to creating content and encouraging interactions that may capture a share of that conversation”

• “There is content strategy and network strategy. Content strategy is the stuff you create that is valuable to other people, and network strategy is what you have that let’s you share it”

• “Content is the currency of the social web, and today, creating it is as easy as typing text, uploading videos, and hitting the “publish” button”

Women on Boards Lead to a Higher ROI

Valentina handing her Biz Card, Photo by Leah Prater

Two great reads if you’re currently trying to decide on adding a new Board member, perhaps a female? What about increasing your ROI?

Companies with women on their boards have been proven to lead to a higher ROI.

“women are the power users of many products and it’s just smart business to have an understanding of key customers around the table. Could you imagine a game company without any gamers on the leadership team or board?” Read more:
Why Your Next Board Member Should Be A Woman

Finally, Forbes does a great job tying in the previous article and focusing on the ROI of having a woman on the Board, read this: Facebook Is Ignoring Its Most Lucrative Users

Guess How Many Top 25 Business Schools Do not Teach Social Media/Business

This is from Forbes:

“According to ComScore, social media now reaches over 82% of the worlds online population.  Nearly 1 out of every  5 minutes spent online is used to engage on Facebook, tweet on Twitter, connect on LinkedIn – along with other social media activities. Approximately 33% of US mobile users access social media on mobile devices. And a century of video is uploaded to YouTube every 10 days.

Yet 36% of the top 25 business schools do not have a single social media or social business focused class.”

My question is: how do you expect the next business leaders (those replacing the retiring Baby Boomer in less than 10 years) to communicate with customers in the future present without the right education? 

SoSlam My Recap with Images too

SoSlam (SocialSlam) is hosted by the Social Media Club of Knoxville, event occurred on April 27, 2012. Here are my takeaways with images.

Content: Influence and Power

Keynote by Gini Dietrich: Waking up to a World of Integrated Communications -Map your resources. Where can your build? Then measure results. i.e. email, Social Media (SM), speaking engagements. Nonprofits: grants, fund raising, etc.

Travel | Young woman gives social-media voice to Travelocity’s gnome | Seattle Times Newspaper

Travel | Young woman gives social-media voice to Travelocity’s gnome | Seattle Times Newspaper.

How to Tap Into Mom-Centric Mobile Marketing

Mommy Bloggers via Entrepreneur

If you hang around any Mother of a Teenager or Young Adult you’ll be shocked the amount of time they “invest” visiting their own and their daughter’s Facebook, blogging, and figuring how to manage their time between cooking and spending their evenings dedicated to “pinning” on Pinterest, that’s why reading How to Tap Into Mom-Centric Mobile Marketing might be worth your while if you are trying to launch a product or service that might be catered to these group of women! Via Entrepreneur this quote ” ‘I already had high expectations for our launch,” Crawford says, “but the mom bloggers tripled them.’ ”

If you don’t do Pinterest or know what it is, you need guidance! contact me

 

Super Bowl XLVI Gets a Social Media Command Center

Image from Mashable 2012

On the subject of Football and Marketing, the Super Bowl is fast approaching us and there’ll be no doubt on the big effect social media will have this year.

Check out the article from Mashable about the Super Bowl’s Social Media Command Center.

An excerpt from the article: “a fan won’t need to tweet, “where can I find parking?” to get help; Raidious operatives will be able to pick up on a general phrase such as “parking sucks” to offer assistance.” <–WOW!

10 Easy Customer Engagement Ideas for Small Business

 

10 Easy Customer Engagement Ideas for Small Business.

^^^ As I have always said, Marketing is Sales in Disguise. I completely agree with #5 about Calling Customers. As a salesperson at heart , how can you not afford to spend 10 mins of your time getting to know about your customers, their likes, their NEEDS, and most importantly addressing those objections you’ll most likely find out when you get to know them???

from Mashable

 

Social media sites help small shops spur sales

Social media sites help small shops spur sales – USATODAY.com

I have a passion for helping business grow their presence online through Social Media, I have a soft spot for Women owned businesses, I’m a believer that using Twitter can help grow sales and increase clientele through innovative marketing campaigns. For example (on the above link) it shows how a upscale boutique spurred sales through Twitter, here is an excerpt:

“We sold out thousands of pairs in a few days,” Cheryl Daskas said. “Blasting it on Twitter really drove it home. It was a lot of fun.”