I’ve had a lot of people ask me how I use sites such as Facebook to network. Does it really work? The simple answer is, yes! If used effectively, these sites can help build customer relationships, which is essential in gaining customer loyalty (we all want repeat business, right?), they put you in more places (the more places you are, the easier it is for someone to find you) and let’s not forget, it’s free advertising. One thing to remember when marketing yourself is that people like to work with someone they know, or feel like they know. Why? Comfort and trust. You trust someone you know more than someone you don’t know. You feel more comfortable working with a familiar face, rather than a stranger. You are also more likely to be a loyal, returning customer to someone you have a relationship with, be it a personal relationship or a business one. Having a client on your Facebook page offers them the opportunity to feel like they know you or at least are familiar with you. It offers you the opportunity to be in front of them on a daily basis at no cost. You can post your message or any updates on your company every day if you choose and your clients will be notified as soon as you do it, FREE advertising. I have created special offers only for my Facebook clients and have made new connections that I may not have without it. As an example (names and occupations have been changed), I have a client named Jane who runs a home health care company. Each of her therapists and nurses are responsible for their own business cards, marketing materials and clientele and Jane provides them with the name recognition of her franchise. When Jane became a friend of mine on Facebook she referred several of her employees to me on the site, employees that I did not yet have as clients. A simple friend request message to Jane’s employees introducing myself and my connection to Jane and….VOILA! A new potential customer that I may not have reached otherwise is now seeing my name and receiving my updates on a daily basis. This new customer now has the opportunity to “get to know me” and what I offer. They also get to see all of their colleagues that are clients of mine and on my page as well. If it takes several months of offers and updates on my Facebook account to get that ONE new customer to make a purchase, it was worth it. Why? Because I did not spend one dime, so the rate of return is 100%. I have also had the opportunity to build relationships with current clients improving the likelihood of repeat business, so there is no loss.
Something that people struggle with is separating the personal from the professional. If you don’t want potential clients to know too much about your personal life, the answer is simple. Create a separate Facebook page. I have a few friends that have done this and it works well for them. Have one page that is your personal page where you can feel free to put your personal views and beliefs and share it with your close friends and family. Have your second Facebook page for networking only. On this page keep it strictly professional and have only your clients and networking contacts. It may seem like a lot to keep up with, but there are sites such as Ping.fm that lets you update all of your sites from one place. Another thing to consider is the 5 minutes it takes to post an update on your profile is worth it when you land that big client and receive that repeat business.
If used effectively, Facebook and other social networking sites can be an extremely beneficial and a completely free marketing tool. You may not land that huge client right away, but the more places they can find you, the greater your chances of gaining them as your client. Not to mention the customer loyalty you can build from these sites. It’s free, it can be fun and it’s effective, so why not?
Ah, behold the power of Twitter. I’ve preached about the business benefits of using Twitter and shared examples of other Tweeple who have had problems solved when the company with which they were having issues with saw their gripe-filled Tweets and contacted them to fix things. Well, now I am one of those stories.
Last Wednesday, I wrote a blog post called My Beef with Google’s Web Master Tools detailing my frustration with their recently introduced “Link From” feature that allows you to see which external URLs are linking to non-existent URLs on your domain. The only problem, most of the time the tool didn’t work. I would get an “Our servers are busy. Try again later.”
After a couple of weeks of getting this message, I was fed up and blogged about it. I’d actually posted a couple of Tweets about it, too, but never got a response. But, my blog automatically posts to my Twitter account and later that same day, I got a Tweet from Sagar Kamdar (@skamdar) that read:
@garycope we are looking at the issue with the “Linked From” functionality. will get back to you when it is resolved.
I was floored! I could only assume that Sagar worked for Google. The next day, I got an e-mail alerting me that someone left a comment on my blog post. It was Sagar. He wrote:
The issue has been resolved. (link)
I checked the Webmasters Tools again and all but one “Linked From” function was working. I wrote back:
@skamdar Thanks! All but one of the “Linked From” links are working now for me. The first one on my list still returns “server busy” msg.
Sagar replied.
@garycope we’ll take a look.
@garycope we are unable to reproduce the issue internally. could you tell me the site and link that is ending in error.
This morning, I logged into Google’s Webmaster Tools and the link was working just fine. As a matter of fact, all of the links were working. I Tweeted back to @skamdar:
@skamdar The issue appears to be resolved. I logged into my Webmaster Tools today and did not receive any errors. Great job! Thanks!
I also told him via a comment on my blog that I would write a follow-up blog post (kinda like this one) singing the praises of Google’s development team. So, thanks Sagar and the rest of the Google Webmaster Tools team for using Twitter and actually taking the time to ready my blog and address the issue. It has been a tremendous help!
All Hail Google! OK, well, let’s not get carried away. Take care everyone!
Yes, I’m going to write, once again, about social networking. I am a convert. At the beginning, I would rather have gone to the dentist and had every single tooth pulled with no anesthesia. The thought of creating a MySpace or Facebook page or even … GASP, using Twitter was out of the question. I thought it would just be one more thing to keep up with and would be a waste of my time. Oh contraire! Because of Facebook, I have been introduced to and corresponded with new clients that otherwise, I may not have been able to meet. With Twitter and my other social networking pages, I have found another medium for updating clients and keeping our name in front of them as well as potential clients. Since using these sites, I have been more in touch with my clients than ever, strengthening my customer relations.
Using social networking the right way will not only strengthen your relationships, but also create new ones. Best part, it does it all for free! Even if it takes you 500 tweets before you get your first client, since it was free, the return on investment is 100%. CWI can help you set up your social networking sites and teach you how to use them, if you need any help using these free marketing tools, drop me an e-mail at: donna@cwimedia.com, or give me a call at 540-295-5139.
Are you social? Most people would probably answer “yes.” But, are you really? In today’s world to be social doesn’t just mean you say “hello” to people as you pass them on the street or go to every party to which you are invited. Today, being social means being social on the Internet, too, and it is almost as important as face-to-face. Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Plaxo are some of the most popular sites and can be used as great marketing tools.
Everyone knows how important word of mouth is to your business, social networking sites are a great way to increase your word of mouth. These sites basically make it easier to connect with people. Clients have a way to access you, read what you have to say and give you feedback. Most sites can be easily accessed from anywhere, your computer, cell phone, BlackBerry, etc. Someone can read your page, give you feedback and by giving you feedback, spread the word to everyone in their network…virtual word of mouth.
Social networking is a no-cost way to advertise. If you need help setting up all of your social networking accounts and synchronizing them so they are easy to manage, give us a call, 540-295-5139 or drop us an e-mail, info@cwimedia.com, we would be happy to help!
*This post is about Twitter, a microblogging tool. If you don’t know what Twitter is, click here for an explanation.
Twitter is no longer an exclusively techie/dork medium. Real estate agents, TV stations, newspapers, and even Britney Spears are using Twitter. Depending on your social media savyness, it can take anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks to really get the hang of Twitter. And from what I can tell, media outlets, at least locally, are a little slower to harness the power of the Twitterverse.
I’m not trying to be critical, because I applaud them for even using Twitter. We can only hope that the “how” to effectively use Twitter will come soon.
In Roanoke, Va., the 70th ranked TV market in the country, only three of the four major network affiliates have Twitter accounts. WSLS, the NBC affiliate, only recently created an account, but has done an admirable job of posting timely and regular news updates. WSET, the ABC affiliate has been posting for much longer, but I have a beef about how they use Twitter, but I’ll get to that a little later. WDBJ7, which is my preferred local news source even though I used to anchor and report for WSLS, has a Twitter account, but has only posted one update. Lastly (in almost ever sense of the word), the WFXR, the Fox affiliate, does not have Twitter, much less its own news department - they pay the NBC station to produce the Fox 10 p.m. newscast.
Oh, and my favorite local news anchor (sorry Jay!) Natasha Ryan has a Twitter account. From what I can tell, only her and WSET reporter and weekend anchor Margaret Clevenstine are the only local on-air personalities with active Twitter accounts. Both are relatively new to Twitter. Natasha just started hers and Maggie has been on since July, but hasn’t posted a new update since Sept. 7. Booo!
Look, there’s not one right way to use Twitter and I suppose that certain Twitter patterns appeal to different people. But, the way I see it - Twitter is a “what’s happening now” service. And in that regard, WSET fails in my opinion. See the picture below which is a screen shot of what appears on my Twitter home page, which displays all of the Tweets from the Tweeple I follow. This is not what I want to see.
Clearly it appears that they have some automated system, probably something akin to TwitterFeed (or some poor intern) that blasts all of their news stories at one time. Uh, no. If I want all of your news at once at a predicable time, I would WATCH your news. I’m looking for you to post news AS it happens. That is the point of using Twitter.
Now, I worked in TV for a number of years and for the most part, there are still a lot of zealots running the show, so the transition and adoption of new means of communcations are slow to make their way to the newsroom. Which, is really mind boggling considering that these tools such as blog and microblogs are completely free and can be used with Mobile devices. If you can send and receive text messages, you can post and receive Tweets. It just takes some time to educate your staff and management - something I would be HAPPY to do for WSET and any other company that wants to learn more about Twitter.
Yes, I know, I can sign up for text alerts from virtually any news outlet and that’s cool, but I only get those after the stories have been filed and someone has posted them to the Web site which then triggers the alert to come to my phone. But imagine if a reporter is on the scene of major event, but is waiting for the live truck and the news director can’t be reached to authorize a break-in-programming live event? How cool would it be to read a reporter’s accounts of the news event as it happens?
For example: Let’s say we have a standoff (which I have covered as a photo journalist), but the reporter is just standing there while the photog (videographer) is rolling endless minutes of tape waiting for something to happen.
@tv-reporter: Camera is rolling and the SWAT team is getting into position, but police won’t say if or when they will go in.
@tv-reporter: Gunman is yelling out of his window. Wants the police to back off. Threatening to shoot anyone that comes in.
@tv-reporter: Lots of activity. Feels like something is about to happen - stay tuned!
@tv-reporter: They’re going in! Camera is still rolling! Loud explosion from the flash-bang grenade. No shots - suspect in custody!
Now, this brings up a whole other issue, but one that the media has dealt with before: what if the bad guys are Twittering, too? Highly doubtful, at least now it is. Who knows in 5-10 years?
The bottom line is, this is a free tool that media outlets should be taking advantage of. Every reporter should have a Twitter account and giving viewers and readers behind the scenes information about the news they are covering, especially TV because we only get :30 to :90 worth of news per story and that’s not enough to tell the whole story.
The age of media convergeance is upon us. Newspapers like the Roanoke Times send reporters out in the field with video cameras to post video and interviews on the Web site. TV stations are having their anchors write print-style news for the station’s Web site, though they should really be using blogs at this point - especially Twitter.
Note: I write for TheButterRoom.com and the following column is from my latest contribution to TBR…
If you follow the Social Media and Technology industries, by now you have likely heard of BusinessWeek columnist Sarah Lacy. Even if you have not heard of her before, you may have seen or read something about her on the news in the last couple of days. On Friday, March 7, she interviewed Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg at South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) and the keynote address has been described by many as a “train wreck,” a “disaster” and an “out-and-out bomb,” among other, less critical adjectives.
Now, as with all things, there are two sides to this story and Lacy certainly has her supporters and you can read their side of the story here and here. Both links are to bloggers who readily support Lacy, but I think the point they are both missing is that whether it is right, wrong or indifferent, perception is reality and in today’s social media world, the perception among the target audience at this conference seems to be that Lacy did a poor job both interviewing Zuckerberg and handling the criticism.
The interview was lengthy, but you can get a feel for how quickly it went downhill by watching the first few minutes. For a more detailed recap of the hostile exchanges between Lacy and the audience, read CNET.com’s article by Daniel Terdiman. It makes me uncomfortable just reading about the confrontational nature of the interview.