Social Media- A video

Source: sandrikus.wordpress.com via Sandra on Pinterest

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Social Media can be Harmful.

Now every where you turn the accolades are poured out on the benefits of using social media for your brand however this isn't always true. There are downfalls.

Let's say you've decide to pursue a path in social media for your brand. You created all your accounts and come up with a plan you want to use. You have your blog up and running and you've been writing and posting on a regular schedule. You have been vigilante in your accounts in every possible way and are gaining friends and followers every day. Your message is being heard.

Then you stop.

You have other things to do.
You have less interest.
You aren't seeing a return for your time.
You can't think of anything more to write about on your blog.
The person that did your social media has left.


There could be many reasons but the result will be the same. All the efforts that you put forward will now be at a negative impact. Your friends and followers that watched and read your blog and tweets, have now grown tired of waiting to see where you are or what is happening, they have moved on.
They may even think less of your brand because you started something and then you abandoned it.
Their loss may even turn to a bit of anger and betrayal towards your brand.

So my advice to you is think it through carefully before you jump into Social media. The benefits can be tremendous but it can also have a negative effect on your brand. Think it all the way through first!

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Social media can be a Reputation Builder

I think it's important to realize what social media can do for your business and there are quite a few advantages. Social media is still in it's infancy but will grow rapidly over the next year is my prediction. However you should realize it has limitations.

One of the features that social media is great at is building reputations for brands. This of course assumes you have a great brand to begin with. If your brand is lousy, social media is not going to fix that. Fix your brand first then move into social media. Make any and all improvements to your brand, ask what consumers want and then come up with a plan to spread the word. Remember SoMe is the new word of mouth and you'd like the message to be positive and it can be if you've taken steps before hand.

Social media is one of the best ways to enhance and improve your customer service reputation but there is a clause here. If you fail to be prompt in your replies it will be a negative. The longer a customer is unhappy the worse their feeling towards your brand will be and the more people they will tell of their unhappy experience. Instead if your response to their concern is promptly dealt with and settled to their satisfaction, you have gained another person that will sing your praises. Now in case you missed this fine point:

Jane is unhappy and contacts you.
You promptly contact Jane and resolve the issue.
Jane is thrilled that the issue has been handled so quickly.
Jane has 500 friends on Twitter, 350 friends on Facebook and she sends out her happy news to all her friends everywhere of her quick and happy experience. Of course each of Jane's friends has let's say 500 friends. So I think it's fairly easy to see how many people just found out about how happy Jane is. I think you could also see the story if the opposite was the case and the response was slow or not at all.

The ability to enhance your reputation is the end result of both of the above cases so when you try to put an ROI on this, I will be keenly interested in seeing how you do it and what mathematical formula you come up with.

Reputation is worth a small fortune to any brand and everyone knows it, don't even try to attach a dollar amount to it's worth!

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Things I've heard....

I've lived a bit longer than some of my readers and over that time I've seen many changes in the way things work and where technology has moved. I've seen and believed in things for the benefits that they could provide and sometimes it was before the benefit was seen. I just feel things sometimes and go by what my instinct tells me even if it goes against common reason.

Here's some of the things I've experienced and heard:

• My first home phone was a party line- Do you even know what that is?

• No one is going to go out to eat burgers at a fast food place called McDonalds. Families eat dinner at home.

• My first computer was a Commodore 64 that I bought for my construction business. That's a waste of money and time was what I heard. 

• The internet is a passing phase it won't last.

• The internet has no real value.

• Facebook is for kids. Adults won't have anything to do with that nonsense.

• Twitter is a total fad and won't turn into anything. It has no value to anyone.

• You pay your bills with money or by a check.

• Debt cards?

• NFC= Near field communication to pay by credit or debit. Loved Square up since it was started by Jack Dorsey.

• My first cell phone was the size of a small toaster and had a bag for carrying. These are only going to be for salesmen was the conventional thinking. 

• Social media is useless and has no purpose or value to anyone. 

I'm sure if you stop and think about these items you'll see some issues in what was the thinking at that time. Now try to look forward into what will potentially be the new realities. Are you so sure social media is useless as far as business is concerned.

Most of the listed items I felt were going to move forward even though I had no way of knowing for sure.  I just felt it. Social media falls into my new thinking now among others. 

Here's a couple more for you to ponder:

Remember when we had paper money? Ummh- http://www.wired.com/culture/culturereviews/magazine/17-06/st_essay

Remember laptops and mice for the pointers? Take a look- http://youtu.be/6Cf7IL_eZ38

Computer screens that you can roll up, stretch

Oh that's already started ( http://inhabitat.com/hp-and-asu-announce-flexible-computer-screens/)

Social Media, of that I have little doubt.

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Social Media and ROI- Some Interesting Numbers

Source: digitalbuzzblog.com via Dirk on Pinterest

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Have question?

I was sitting here thinking about the next post and all of a sudden it occurred to me that maybe you have a question or questions concerning social media?

Such as:

• How do I get followers on Twitter?
• What is the best platform- Hootesuite or Tweedeck or...?
• Is Google + useful?  How do I use it best?
• What about Pinterest? I hear a lot of people talking about that?
• When I write on my blog is it good to add links and pictures?
• People say that you should use Facebook the same as Twitter. What do they mean?
• I don't have time to do everything. Can someone in our office do some of our social media?
• How important is it to write a blog?

Really there are so many questions that you may have if you are just starting out in social media and I also realize you may not want to publicly ask those questions. You will hopefully grow out of that with time but I know the feeling. So what about this:

Send me your questions via email and I'll do a post about them. I won't mention your name, your business or anything you don't want me too other than the question. Those options are up to you.

So how does that sound to you?

My email address is  toddvendituoli@socialmedia4builders.com

So let the questions begin. We're here to help.

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Social media and the business of numbers

Numbers and business go hand in hand. If you're in business you are always looking at the numbers. What my sales like? How much money is in accounts receivable? Numbers and business are almost inseparable.

Yet there is something that I don't believe can be quantified when using social media for your business. How can you put a value on the relationships that you have formed? There are experts that tell you that they can calculate the value but really? How?

Take a look at yesterday's post:
http://www.socialmedia4builders.com/2011/12/why-some-works-toddvendituolisocialmedi_16.html

This all true!

• How do I quantify the relationship that I have with Nick from Alabama? 

• How about the relationship with the women in RI that I have known for years and kept in touch with on Facebook?

• What about the people she will contact that she knows that may be interested in our son's work?

My thinking is that social media is the modern equivalent of the old country store where stories were swapped and tales told. There was a crowd that gathered for coffee and chatted. They told the town's stories and passed on the good deeds and bad. It was the method of communication at the time and still is. Now the method of its delivery has changed.

The method is social media and the mode of transportation is the internet. Then to top it off it's no longer limited to your little town but to the entire world. In the old days the word of mouth traveled to the far reaches of your community with it the good news and bad. It's gossip and opinions were right there too. Everyone knew and everyone listened to it all. So how would you quantify the value of the town crier or the group that spread the town news from the general store after morning coffee?

You couldn't and you can't!

Social media is the new word of mouth and is based on relationships with others.

So given the parameters involved I'm ready:

Send me the numbers or formula I need to calculate it's value to my business.

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Why/How Social Media Works- Real Life

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I recently had an experience that was a clear example of how well social media works. It wasn’t something that was planned. There was no marketing efforts involved. It just happened.

So here’s the story:

Our son is an artist and produces all types of art works and lighting that is rather unique and I post his work at various times to do what I can.

One day I mentioned that he did unique lighting on Twitter and a friend of mine from Alabama asked to know more as he was interested in doing a blog post about our son and his work.

I forwarded the information and some pictures that our son had sent me to him and he contacted Tyler, our son.

An interview was set up and the blog post was done. I believe it was well received by many as there were many comments made by many others.

A few days later I took the post and added it to Facebook and again it was very well received.

Then a friend of mine commented that she loved his work and would be connecting him with builders and designers that she knew would love his works.

Voila!

So here’s the chain  ME- Bahamas------- Friend in Alabama-----son and his work/ VT-----blog post/interview/ everywhere------Friend in RI----potential sales and business for our son.

Friends, trust, great product and all through social media with no sales pitch involved. Sales based on trust and relationships. What a concept!

I really don’t think I need to go on here. It works!

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Subscribe by email

One of the things that I find useful is to subscribe by email to someone's blog post. The reason for this is that I have many blogs that I enjoy reading. Some are business related, some are friends' blogs, some are about design, some are about architecture, some are...  however to continually keep track of them and when they post is hard. So I love when they have a button like the one below. When they post, it goes right to my email. No hunting. No remembering. Just right there for me to read, comment on and send out for others to read.

FOLLOW BY EMAIL

So for me it's a bit of a pet peeve but it makes my life so much easier and it let's me keep track of what other's post. You could and I do subscribe by RSS but then I have to go to my reader and look at what I've seen and what is new. It's so much easier to just get an email that you've made a new post and boom... there it is.

So when you set up your blog please make sure you include a way to subscribe by email. It really helps.

Oh and of course if you like a blog - sign up to receive it by email so you never miss a post.

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Try, Test, See, Evaluate. Repeat as Needed

There is so much in the way of information out there today regarding how to actually approach social media. Who's advice do you follow?

So here's some things I've found:

• I'm very leery of what "experts" tell me to do. Who decided they were experts? Do they have the same views and goals as I do?

• I use many platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+, paper.li newpapers, and many others.

• I post differently on most of them.

• I try to engage people in conversations and remember their lives, work and situations. Real people make real conversations. That's the "social" of social media.

• My other blog is about construction and anything home but there's more to me than that so I post other things that are more personal from time to time. Again, from my view, it gives others a glimpse into ME.

• When I post it is always changing. I examine the results all the time.

• What articles I write and about what topics are always being evaluated.

• Should I put this post on Twitter or Facebook or all of them?

For me, it is a matter of trying something such as posts on Twitter and then asking myself- is this good for Facebook too?

How well was the article I wrote for the blog received?

And then looking at the results- Were they good? Were they bad? What should I do about that?

The whole process is a constant self evaluation of  everything that relates to social media and what you do. It is a process that no other person can tell you exactly how to do. There is no social media a,b,c,d step by step plan book and I am certainly not going to tell you there is.

T,T,S,E- repeat and Be You.

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Small Business and Social Media

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Social Media and Conventional Advertising

It occurs to me that there needs to be a bit of clarification on the relationship between social media and conventional advertising. If you plan on using social media, do you give up on conventional means of marketing?

Absolutely not.

Conventional advertising and marketing should be used in conjunction with SoMe. It's not a one or the other but a mixture of the two and more. A combined effort using different channels and mediums to get your brands' message out there.

SoMe should be used as a relationship builder and gaining others trust because of what you have to offer. You are honest, knowledgeable, care about others and develop real sincere relationships that could be as concrete in the virtual world as in the real world.

Conventional advertising and market is used for the actual sale of your brands product or service. This is what we have to offer, where etc. We are all familiar with this so I won't get any deeper here.

So how do the two mesh together?


Through the use of SoMe you have gained others trust in what you say and what you stand for. You are a real person who has displayed a keen knowledge in your field. Basicly you are trusted and respected for your views, knowledge and opinions.

And here comes the tie in- You have something to sell through your conventional advertising/ marketing channels (see earlier post on businesses need to make money) and you are trusted.

Pretty slick idea and probably makes sense to you now. Well I hope it does.



NB: Don't try to fake or scam the trust, knowledge etc . You will be found out and it won't be good.

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Social Media on Automatic

If you are new to Social Media I would guess that title got your attention. Ah so there is a way to participate in Social Media and have it be automatically done. The answer is absolutely Yes there is a way to be part of SoMe without all the work and effort.

Here's some of the things that you can do:

You can set up an account so that when you get a new follower on Twitter an automatic message (DM- direct message) is sent to them. Maybe you can thank them for following you and ask them to check out all your other pages and blog.

You can auto post all of your Tweets and schedule them to post at various times of the day. That way it looks like you are actually doing it but really you're doing something else.

You can also set up your accounts so that they all post to each other. For example when your auto post goes out on twitter, it will also auto post to Facebook and Google + all while you are doing something else.

Now here's the best one. If you schedule all your tweets for say every ten minutes and those auto post to your other platforms at the same rate, you will effectively be everywhere and all over everything. Plus you can do this in the evenings for the following day.

So as you can see there are many ways to automate your social media program AND IT'S REALLY NOT THAT HARD.


Now just in case you have any questions....


DON'T DO IT, DON'T DO IT, DON'T DO IT............................................DON'T DO IT!!!!


Social media is about being social and using all of the above tools is about as anti social as you can get. Make your connections real and personal.


Ps. There are times that scheduling your tweets and posts is acceptable but just not on a regular basis.

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What's the plan?

I know that I have said it before but when you decide to enter Social media for your company, YOU NEED A PLAN.

So here are 10 questions for you to think about:


1. What platforms are you planning on using? Facebook, Twitter, a Blog...

2. Are you personally going to be posting or is someone going to have that responsibility?

3. If that is someone else, are they intimately knowledgeable about your brand and goals?

4. What do you hope to accomplish?

5. How will you start out? Facebook first then getting the hang of using it and then participating on Twitter and then a blog or...?

6. Have you really thought about how much time and effort participating in social media will require?

7. Are you fully understanding that using social media is NOT about blasting out content totally about your brand?

8. Have you spent any time researching what others do, how they post, what they post and when?

9. Are you open minded enough to accept that social media is still an infant and you will have to try many routes and re-adapt your plans as you go?

10. Will you be willing to ask for help when you get to a point where you aren't sure?


These are all very serious things that you will have to deal with and they have to be answered by you. I cannot give you these answers but if you decide to pursue Social media for your business and don't have a plan of action- you may want to step back and re examine your plan.

You need a plan!
What's your goal?

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The Big Four of Social Media

From mediabistro.com

Source: mediabistro.com via Annie on Pinterest

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SoMe and Marketing-I'm just going to say it.

Lately I have been having discussions with people and the common questions are how does social media equate to marketing and sales?

Don't we have to market our products and services?
We're in business to make money but we're not supposed to be "selling" through our platforms?
I can't find any info on how to combine SoMe and and my business and marketing?

Well it seems that even in all my reading, no one or very few, want to put out that Social Media and marketing are symbiotic siblings. It's like people are afraid to say it but it's true. Social Media and marketing are hand holding  first cousins. There I said it and let the comments begin.

Business's have to market their goods and services. Period. That hasn't changed. It's how you do your marketing that has changed.

We are now in an age of information and at a point where business' aren't trusted for what they say on face value. People now trust the opinions and reviews of other people more. Just look at any product on Amazon.com .  I'll bet you look at the reviews of what others have to say before making that purchase. So if your product is as good as you say and others agree- bingo sale!

If Not then all the marketing in the world isn't going to help. Your product has to be changed and made into something that has real value to others. 

Start by creating real relationships with others, form honest communication ie don't try to control the flow, be real, be informative, helpful AND have a great product or service. That takes time and effort but  you'll find that Social Media and Marketing will almost automatically start to merge.

• Show others that you are knowledgeable within your field.
• Build relationships with other builders, remodelers, designers, suppliers and more.
• Use your blog to write information that portrays your knowledge.
• Share information that others post and comment on them via Twitter and Facebook or other platforms.
• Follow other blogs and share their information and comment on their posts through your platforms.
• Post your content but remember to post other content 70% and yours 30% or you may come off as spamming and no one likes that.
• Read, learn and don't be afraid to ask questions. Be social!

           Social Media and Marketing go hand in hand. The dance is a little bit different and the steps take time to learn but the audience will be sure to love it. 

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Social Media = Be You!

I know that a great many people that start using social media feel they have to tote the company line and to an extent that is true. However there has to be a YOU component. It has to be done with your voice, your personality and your feelings. You may not believe it but even on networks that only feature words, or pictures and such, a sense of who  you are comes through. If that person isn't you in the real world it won't work. You will fail.

I know it may be hard to grasp because you are now using Twitter and Facebook ....and you feel you can post just about anything you like. Who can tell? They can't see me or they don't really know me. I can pretend to be whatever I think they want me to be. I can be the world's biggest and best builder of multi million dollar homes, post pictures from the internet and.... And the point of this would be why?

Social media is about building honest real relationships. A community of friends. Now let me tell you that when I started I had that internal debate myself but I decided to put out the real Todd. Real present picture, real me talking and chatting and every aspect of me and my life.

Payoff- Big time. Wonderful helpful relationships and friendships with people from all walks of life and from all over the planet. People I have never met but hopefully will, offering advice, humor and friendship. You won't get that being a fake in social media or the real world. Be the real you and you will be amazed.



Ok if you are naturally a grumpy, ornery sort then maybe SoMe isn't the place for you any way and you surely won't be able to fake it for long.

Source: girlsgonewise.com via GraceAnna on Pinterest

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You need a Blog!

I have heard many people ask if they needed a blog to really be part of Social Media and my answer is YES.

These are some of my reasons:

• A blog adds your voice to your business.
• Writing a blog helps create a stand of authority for you and your business. You have valuable knowledge to share.
• Blogs encourage others to ask, learn and be part of what you do.
• When you post pertinent information about your field and industry, others will want to come back for more.
• It creates another view of what you and your company and gains you wider exposure.

Here's a good article you may want to look over: http://www.zoomfactoronline.com/2011/10/20/are-you-ready-to-be-a-social-business-10-tips-for-a-zoom-start/# 

Now for some pointers:

• I cannot tell you what platform such as Blogger, Wordpress,  Posterous, Tumblr etc to start your blog. They all have benefits and downfalls. I use Blogger and overall I am very happy with it. A lot of your decision should be based on your technical expertise and comfort level. This of course applies if you are personally doing every aspect of your blog. If you just do the writing and have someone else do the technical aspect it becomes a different story. Explore your options and ask others their opinions.
• Write as YOU not who you think people want you to be. Use your own voice and it will pay off.
• Write with authority. You are offering your experience and knowledge.
• Before you start in on your blog- write 20-30 posts ahead of time. Yes that's quite a few but it will help you develop your own style and be more comfortable writing.  It will also give you a reserve so that if you have a dry spell you can still continue posting.
• DO NOT write about the benefits of YOUR business and all the great things you do. Your blog is not about that and neither is social media.
• Set up a schedule to post. It doesn't matter if it's every Monday or every other day. The important thing is to be consistent and people will look for your posts. This is now part of your new routine. How would you like it if your favorite television show aired on random various days. Be Consistent in your posting times!
• Don't be afraid to ask for help from other bloggers. Everyone is more than happy to help out and  you may learn from their successes and failures. It's your business but you are now part of a larger community. 
• Ask others in your field to write guest posts for your blog. It adds another dimension and personality for others to see. I write for others all the time and am honored to be asked.
• A referral from satisfied clients is wonderful but having hundreds of posts showing your depth, knowledge and experience will go even farther. 

So that's a start and should give you some things to contemplate. If anyone else has items that they feel should be included for this starting point, don't be shy and post them in the comment section for all to see.

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Setting up a Twitter account

Ah Twitter- You've heard about it. You've looked at it and what the devil is it? Do I really need to do this? Really?

Yes you really need to do this if you truly want to do social media for your business. Now I'm not going to get into the whole why and how to here.. that will be another post but you need to sign up for an account. So to get started click the link below.

https://twitter.com/

Fill in the blanks and the other sections shown below and you're ready to tweet. Now again please make sure that your username is either your our own or business and short and sweet. Names that are too long or complicated aren't really the best. Also make sure that you fill out the bio section and add a photo. This is your intro to anyone looking at you.

Put in the same photo that you have decided to use on all your platforms and make your bio clear and concise. Please don't leave the photo blank as it shows up as an egg on Twitter and eggs are generally frowned upon.

Now for designing your page-Pick a theme or you can look through the web for services that allow you to make your own backgrounds. You can always go back and change things but now your Twitter account is up and running.

This is my page with my own background theme but yours will be about the same.

Now before you go crazy trying to get followers-- STOP. This is not a quantity type thing. 50,000 followers that have no relevance to you is totally worthless. Having 500 followers that have similar likes and businesses are worth far more. Don't believe all the hype of more is better.

THIS IS ABOUT BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS AND LINES OF COMMUNICATION.

So what do you do? Builder, plumber, electrician, supply store, manufacturer...

Look for similar people to follow by typing your field into the search box, look over people and when you find someone that you'd like to follow do so. That's how you start. No magic formula. No real tricks. Patience, perseverance, be the real you not someone you think others want you to be and you're off to a great start.

Next post- Do I need a blog?

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