Social Media is NOT as Daunting as it Seems!

I was speaking with a successful entrepreneur who, like most, felt the pinch of the Recession.  As we talked about some event ideas to create traffic, I asked her about her Social Media Marketing Program. Her response was one I have heard time and time again. She said, “Every time I think of it - I get exhausted”. 

Recently, I attended a Marketing and PR luncheon and most of the people there were in services.  As we went around the table and talked about ourselves, many people expressed the fact that their clients were demanding Social Media Services from them and many confessed that they were struggling to deliver it fast enough.

The entrepreneur I mentioned and the professionals at the lunch I attended are not alone. I often get a blank stare or an honest response like the ones above when I ask entrepreneurs, business and marketing professionals about their Social Media. Because I hear this so often and read so many blogs, posted questions, articles, etc. about how stumped a lot of people still are with this topic, I previously wrote a blog explaining why Social Media is one of the top areas to outsource now.  Here’s a link to that blog in case you missed it: http://justaskmary.blogspot.com/2010/12/one-of-top-5-things-you-should.html

The task of building and maintaining Social Media seems (and sometimes is) tedious. It also feels to most entrepreneurs like it is yet another thing they have to do every day and they can’t imagine where they would find the time.  Most entrepreneurs work more hours than two full time jobs already. The thought of learning how to perform Social Media is overwhelming.  In addition, they do not know the tricks of the trade to shorten the hours spent at it. The good news is:  the professional Social Media Marketers do!

Please don’t ignore Social Media Marketing. Please don’t think it will go away. Please don’t think it is a fad. Please don’t think it can wait – it can’t. Technology is changing at lightning speed in our time and changes are occurring daily in the Social Media Marketing area as well. Your business cannot afford to ignore Social Media marketing any longer.

The first thing your customers are doing before they contact you is checking you out on the web. Don’t you want them to find messaging that you have prepared? Don’t you want to communicate messages to those who care enough to follow you on Social Networks like Facebook, Twitter, Digg, etc.? I don’t think you want them to find that one posting on a random site by a cranky customer, do you? Imagine if that was all they found on you?

As a constant learner, builder and problem solver, I still believe the old statement that you don't throw the baby out with the bath water . For this reason, my services have always included  traditional strategies as well as new technology solutions to produce the best results. There are circumstances where one may work better than the other; or one may fit a business model better at a certain stage in its growth. But, in the area of Social Media, it is imperative that if you don’t have it in place already, that you get it in place as fast as you can with competent individuals. Social Media is NOT a DIY project.

After listening to so many business owners express their feelings of being under-equipped to take on Social Media – even though they realize its value, I decided to help. I have pulled together a talented group of Social Media Marketers who are well educated, extremely skilled specialists, amazingly quick and hard working.The program was developed to be intentionally affordable so that everyone can get going in the area of Social Media. Some marketing services even outsource to us so that they can provide this service to their customers in a turn-key fashion.  I don’t want any viable business to be left behind or to fail because they didn’t embrace Social Media soon enough. So, if I can help you in this area, contact me now .

Take the bull by the horns and as you’ve heard before, a good offense is always better than a good defense.

Mary

One of the Top 5 Things You Should Seriously Consider Outsourcing

The “Make” or “Buy” decision has always been a tough one. Regardless of whether you are in a small to medium sized business or are part of Corporate America, there are goods and services that are better to outsource than others. One of the Top 5 that I always recommend is Social Media .

There are many words coined to describe various online activities but for the purpose of this article, I am using Social Media to include all of your online publishing events.  For heaven’s sake, just learning the acronyms associated with online business is a feat in and of itself for most people - SEO, SEM SMM, EM, SMOR, EZINE, FB, PRT, UGC, SROI – just to name a few!

But, why should you outsource this area of your business? For the most part, unless this is your business, there is so much to learn. It is also an area that is constantly changing and therefore, it can be immensely time consuming for the novice who doesn’t know the tricks of the trade.

 It is best to leave this one to the professionals. Surprisingly, this is also an area that is usually pretty easy to source and is generally reasonably priced. It is also an ideal fit as an outsourced item for agencies because it is readily available and can expand your services to your clients and then billed with a good margin. For those of you who are not an agency, it is a good area to outsource because, like tradeshows, if your competitors are in the space, then you need to be there too!

There is a trick to securing the right company or person to outsource to and there is an even larger and more important step in getting off on the right foot with your provider.( I liken this relationship to choosing an attorney or great CPA.) You must interview the person(s) who will be providing content for your online presence. It is even worth your while to pay for a consultation so that you can indoctrinate and train your provider on what you do, what sets you apart from your competition, why your product or services are important and who your target customer is.

Without intimately knowing the basics and intricacies of your business, your online presence can be botched in a very fast period of time and you will waste money and you will spend a lot of money to repair it. This is due in part to the speed of the viral world and also to the fact that there is no “big eraser” in the online community. It is very important that you are certain that your provider gets it right the first time.

Take the time, up front, to get referrals and communicate with your potential provider on several occasions before making a decision. It helps to have someone who has worked in your industry before, but I have also had success with starting fresh with providers who knew nothing about an industry. It gave me a chance to be their first look into my field and they did not come with preconceived notions of what I wanted or what would work in my industry.

Once you have chosen an outsourced partner, spend the time and money on training them to understand your business so that they can represent you in a favorable and lasting way.

December 22, 2010

Just read this article on viral marketing: http://adage.com/digitalnext/post?article_id=147753 . I think you will find it thought provocing as you design and deliver your viral marketing tactics. In my mind, it is further support for why you don't "do" viral marketing yourself, or delegate it to a staffer. It is best to hire a professional in this area :) Hope you enjoy the article as well as I did.