Simply Business Coaching

Increase your sales using the latest internet tools - even in this economy

Perhaps that should be especially in this economy, because those small businesses who are using the social media marketing tools correctly are definitely getting more clients and more sales as a result - I know I am.  One of the mistakes I see many newcomers make when they first start on Twitter and Facebook or set up a blog or email newsletter is that they try and go for the sale with every message, tweet and update.  That’s like thrusting an order form under the nose of every new contact you meet at a networking breakfast, and not the way to go about it at all. 

While it does depend on who your target customers are and which of the social networks they typically belong to, as a business owner you really need to belong to the big 3 - Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.  Just as in the past you would carefully craft your brochure and business card, now what you put in your online profile and what you tweet about have become a vital part of your marketing strategy - and your brand.  For example a friendly professional photograph will give a much better impression than if you were to use an out of focus snap taken at the Christmas party!  I see so many horrors where people don’t stop to think.

Publishing a regular email newsletter and keeping a blog are also a must these days as they're great ways to let your prospective clients get to know more about you, but again, these are often wrongly used by the inexperienced as another way to repeatedly send out a menu of products or services. 

In case you’re thinking that social media isn’t the way to reach YOUR customers, let me share a few statistics gleaned from several impeccable sources and put together in a great little video called Socialnomics:

# By 2010 Gen Y (those born between mid-70s and 2000) will outnumber Baby Boomers….and 96% of them have joined a social network
# Social Media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the Web
# 1 out of 8 couples married in the U.S. last year met via social media
# If Facebook were a country it would be the world’s largest at 500 million users - larger than the United States at a mere 327 million (I’ve updated this as the video figure was out of date)
# % of companies using LinkedIn as a primary tool to find employees….80%
# The fastest growing segment on Facebook is 55-65 year-old females

and most importantly for those of us in business:

# In the near future we will no longer search for  products and services they will find us via social media

I'll be talking about Social Networking on tomorrow's Savvy Marketers Teleseminar - it would be great if you could join us!  Get all the details by clicking here.

In case you haven't seen it before, here's the Socialnomics video - with even more reasons to use the internet for your business:

How has Social Networking impacted your business?

Facebook Now Allows You To “Download Your Information”

Whoah. Until now there hasn’t been a way to download info off of Facebook, but at today’s Facebook event in Palo Alto, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a feature that allows users to port their data from Facebook in a .zip file, “People own and have control over all info they put into Facebook and “Download Your Information” enables people to take stuff with them,” says Zuckerberg.

via techcrunch.com

I believe this will have a big impact, it's certainly a major step to giving Facebook users a feature they've been clamouring for.  Not only are people assured of their ownership rights to everything they share on Facebook, but anyone building a database of business contacts will now have easier access to them and be able to take the relationship offline.

 

Hey - I'm a Guru now!

I don't usually write much about social media on this blog (most posts are on Savvy Marketers blog) - but I couldn't resist sharing this great little video from 210Consulting.  It sums up beautifully how easy it can be to get carried away with social networking, and how easily you can ruin budding relationships.

Have you 'met' anyone like this online? What are your thoughts?

Blogging and Article Marketing – What Shall I Write About?

This is a question I’m often asked when I suggest to business owners that they should start publishing an email newsletter, a blog, and write articles as part of their online marketing strategy.  The reason it’s so important is you need to take every opportunity to show off your expertise to existing and potential clients. 

While you can easily do this in person by going to local networking events and taking a stand at exhibitions, there’s a limit to how many people you can physically get to meet.

To take advantage of the reach of the internet and demonstrate how great you are to people you haven’t met yet, writing articles, posting audio and video recordings are the next best thing to being with them in person. 

What we all tend to forget is just how much we know about what we do – that others don’t know, but would be interested in learning, especially if you tell them what’s in it for them!

Research shows that the top 4 major motivators which influence buying decisions are:

• How to make money
• How to save money
• How to save time
• How to avoid effort

So you need to write articles which include a relevant motivator and are based around your products or services.  Give your reader some of your top tips; highlight mistakes they need to avoid; discuss the latest developments in your field; describe a few how-tos and even a list of reasons why they should (fill in the blank).  Writing articles will showcase what you do and the type of problems you solve as well as build relationships, even with people you haven’t met yet.

I hope you now have some ideas to get started, please let me know how you get on!

Profile Photos to Do You Proud

OK, I'll admit the photo I use on this site - and just about everywhere else on the internet - is due for updating!  But at least people still recognise me from it when we meet in person for the first time.

With more people than ever joining online networking sites, choosing the right photo (also called an avatar) to use is a very important part of creating your profile.

You may want a less formal photo on your Facebook personal profile, especially if this is going to be just for family and friends, but I would caution against uploading any shots you may regret sharing in future.  I very recently created a Facebook business Page and am trying out a logo rather than photo of myself for the first time - to avoid confusion with my personal profile.  (Do let me know what you think!)

When it comes to your LinkedIn profile, as this is a professional network, remember the impression you want to give and choose an appropriately professional photo of yourself.

You should be smiling, look friendly and approachable, be close enough to identify, in focus and on your own.  If the only decent photo of you was taken in a less formal setting, then use your computer's picture editor to 'crop' and resize.

With Twitter, if your account is in your name, then use a photograph of you (I do like to see the person I'm tweeting with!).  For a company account, especially if you won't be the only person tweeting, then a logo is probably more appropriate.

Here are a couple of useful free online tools to help get your photo just right:

Easy Thumbnails: If the image file you want to upload is too big, download this handy little conversion tool:  (Windows only)

Create a 'Gravatar'  to use and be recognised whenever you comment on other people's blog posts.

(You may also be interested in this post I wrote about profile photos for Savvy Marketers)

What's your view about profile photos?  Do let me know by commenting below.  If you enjoyed this post, please retweet it!

Well, what do you expect?

Earlier this week I was invited to attend a Business Link event as a 'local expert' (their term, not mine!) in social media marketing. It was an interesting format, there were 6 large round tables, each with their own 'expert host' in a different marketing area (PR, Customer Relationship Marketing, Word of Mouth Marketing, Pricing for Profit, Online Marketing as well as Social Media Marketing). 

I remained (thankfully) seated at 'my' table and was joined by 8-10 business owners for 30 minutes, followed by a 10 minute break.  Then everyone moved around to the next table & topic of their choice - this took place 4 times in all.   I was gratified the seats at my table quickly filled up each time :)

Basically, I was there to provide tips and suggestions to the many small business owners who are unsure how to make all the social media goodies work for them - or so I thought.

Perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised when the Business Link Advisor who sat beside me the whole time to 'facilitate' the discussions, was only asking if they used Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.  From other local networking events I've attended lately, I know business owners who understand how to use the online networks for business are the exception rather than the rule (unless they're involved with the internet as part of their own business).

When I suggested that online networking was just one part of many social media marketing possibilities, most of the faces around the table unfortunately went from curious to blank, as I tried to describe the wonderfully numerous and diverse ways the internet can literally transform small businesses.

That was when I realised that there are those of us who have embraced the internet and are busy finding ways to integrate it into our marketing and using it to help design brand new business models - and then there are the many other business owners who haven't even considered that path yet.  I really didn't expect to find such a huge gap still existed between the two groups.

Overall, it was an enjoyable if quite tiring experience.  It was definitely thought-provoking and has taught me a valuable lesson about expectations!

Please share your experience of how many business owners you know 'get' or don't get, using the internet in the comments below.  And if you enjoyed reading this post, I'd appreciate a retweet too!