Taking a roll of the dice with social media for business

I have been off the scene for awhile as far as blogging goes, but that is a good thing for me, it means that I have been a busy bee. What I would like to do is share more life experiences with you as I have learned quite a bit about the corporate and private business regarding social media marketing. Have you ever wondered why a particular business isn’t on Facebook? How about Twitter? Well, over the last few months, I have been helping small businesses and a few large ones understand the value of social media and how it can improve their bottom line. The results have been very interesting to say the least.

Case Study #1

Small Business starting off. Wants to get brand recognition and thinks they can do it via email blasts in one of those “Free” services. (I know…this one drove me nuts).

When the president of this company asked me how I could help him with his email blasts, I asked him what he currently is doing. He had subscribed to a free service that allowed him to send email blasts, but only a few at a time. He wanted to know what I thought about paying a service to send his email blasts. First question I had for him was “What’s your website look like?” He had one, but it too was with one of the “Free Services” that offer template style websites. All of this is fine, but when you want to get the word out to the masses and appear to be a viable company, you have to decide what is important. Do you want to come across as a company operating out of the back of your truck? Or would you prefer to be known as the expert and a trusted company that people want to partner with?

My Solution:

I offered him a few options. One was to completely rehaul his website using one of my own designs. Along with that would come the ability to automatically send out blast emails using a “evite” similar to what he had been doing but on a larger scale and with the ability to upload his contacts one time. We also were able to put more information onto each contact based on their product interests which made targeting specific groups much more clear and concise.

The next solution offered a full content management system which would allow him to update his own website, integrate an electronic newsletter that could be sent weekly or monthly to his list of contacts based on demographics, and also a social media package that would help brand his product and allow for more of a broad approach.

So which do you think he picked?

Getting a new client to understand the benefits of social media is not an easy task. Even when you’ve got other clients who benefited people will still say “I don’t want to be part of that because it will cheapen my brand.” Actually, it allows for more people to understand who you are and reach millions of people quickly. It also helps your website to be promoted by others instead of you trying to get the traffic to your website the “old” way.

He chose the latter of the two after much discussion of his needs.

How did I get him to understand? Well, I did what I always do…I made the social media pages even though he said no. (I know – I must be crazy right?) Well, he saw the leads that came in and wanted to know where they came from. I showed him the Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and the blog I had created for him. He was stunned and instantly wanted to have ownership of these items. So, sometimes, giving people what they need even when they don’t understand is the best tool in the end and can create a rewarding return for you as a marketer.

With the social media package, we were able to create a buzz quickly about his products and with the new website he is able to add current content daily about his business.