Every Brand has a Story to tell

Who doesn't love a good story? Everyone that I know and your brand surely has a good one too.
So why tell your story? What's so interesting about what we do? Why is that going to be interesting to others?

Here's why:

People want to feel that they know you and what you do and where you came from. How did you start your business? They are looking for a connection and something that shows the human side to you and your brand. So let them in and tell the story of how you came to be in business. Maybe it was started by you or your father and you could tell of the early trials and tribulations that went into starting off in the early days.

Try to think of the camp fire days. Stories were told and everyone listened. We sat listening to friends talk about a multitude of topics and I would bet you still can remember some of those.

http://www.igawarta.com/images/tours_8j.jpg

Why?

These were friends and family. We had a common connection. Social media and telling your story creates similar bonds and connections with your friends and customers. So it's wonderful that your trade is plumbing, carpentry or selling appliances - but why do you do it and where did you start?

http://draltang.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/story-teller.jpg

Stories are very powerful and you may not think your story has any merit but I will assure you that people are looking to connect with you if you give them a chance. Many brands make bathtubs, or faucets or do carpentry and electrical but by telling your individual story, you become a personal brand that people can connect with. You are no longer just another brand with something to sell- it's personal now.

So start your story!

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Engagement

Are you engaged? No not in the matrimonial sense but in your social media campaign.

When you are using social media are you engaged and engaging others or is it a one sided affair of you constantly blasting out your own content?

Social media is about relationships and building on those and the one way to do that is too be engaged with what your friends/followers are doing and interested in. It's really quite easy if you think in terms of the virtual world being the real world. Just think of how you interact with your friends in your own world. Friends that you make through social media are no different. They have lives, businesses, family and problems just like everyone and the only way you will get to know others is by time. Every friendship takes time to develop and evolve and friends and followers are no different.

Have you met someone and hit it off so well that the next week you were hanging out together 7 days a week. Maybe but I doubt it. It started slowly, you both engaged each other in conversation, shared ideas and learned about the other person. There's no magic shortcut in  the real world and neither is there in the world of social media but the friendships are wonderful and just as real.

Part of the key to engaging people is in being the real you. It has to be, just as in the real world or you will be found out. If you pretend to be something you are not in the real world, how long does it take before your friends have abandoned you or ignored you? It's the same in the world of social media.

So to engage others takes time and effort but building honest relationships is what it's all about if you plan on participating in social media successfully.

Ingredients for engagement:

Listen
Engage
Learn
Share 
Grow
Time


Oh and enjoy!

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Socialnomics- A Video

You may have seen some of the information in this video before and maybe even this same one but I would urge you to take a few minutes and view it.

Wonderful information!

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A Slide Share post

Social media

View more presentations from toddvendituoli

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Klout

Klout.
Do you even know what it is? Do you have it and do you even care?

Here's the basics for Klout from them:

"Klout measures your online influence from your social networks." http://klout.com/#/understand

According to Klout everyone has some degree of influence but they are saying that they are measuring influence and assigning a number to that using a complex algorithm. So as an example lets say I have a klout score of 45 and you have a score of 54. According to that you are more influential than I am but is this true in the real world where business actually operates.

Now stepping back to the influential item. One of my concerns is how can any algorithm show how much I influence others. It can't read the conversation or the value that I added to another person's thinking. Not possible. All that I can see it can measure is what type of interactions I have with others such as how many posts or tweets I do and the number of responses to those. Purely a number game and again we're dealing with quantity over quality. It's the number of posts not the quality of those or the quality of the responses or the reactions by others to those posts and comments.

So I have been and am still continuing an internal debate about the validity of a Klout score. I realize that for brands and others who are just surface looking at you, it gives them something to see and base their initial judgement on. However if you are doing a great job using social media, your sales are wonderful and all is well but your Klout score is low, it may set the wrong first impression.

Part of my thinking is that its a first impression and I truly hope that brands and others will look deeper and that's the catch. What if that simple number is a deal killer. There has been a great deal written about Klout so I'm not going to be the one that changes your thinking.  However I do urge you to think about it.  As for me, I'm still weighing the value.

So let others know your thoughts on Klout by leaving a comment below. 

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Social Media is possible because of tools

A friend reminded me recently of a fact regarding social media that we all tend to overlook. Social media is possible because of the tools we now have at our disposal. Yes tools.


The tools that make it possible:

The Internet 

Facebook

Twitter

Hootsuite

Email

Computers


Google Plus


Blogs


Tumblr


Stumble Upon


And many more.....


These are the tools. 
People engaging with others is what makes the tools work.
Connections, information and relationships are the results.

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Brands- Start your story

To get your brand started off in the right direction why not tell your story. It's not that hard. Just be real and tell it like it is. People want real and they do want to make honest connections with real brands.

Here's a bit of a story for those that need an an example.

In 1981 I graduated from college with a Degree in Business Management and if you'l remember there was a recession taking place but being young I wasn't too concerned as I had already received employment and was to start working as a salesman for Trifari  Jewelry. I was given the whole of New England as my territory, a company car, an expense account and was ready to take on the world. My starting salary was $12,000. From college to three pieces suits, a new world was opening up.

                                                                                     http://trifaricollection.com/pics/wolfsale/TrifariPearlChoker250.jpg



Now when I started New England was a territory that brought in $250,000/year and was told that I would get a nice raise. So in the first year I worked furiously to build the territory's sales up and was doing well. In that year I doubled the territory to the goal they had set which was $500,000 and expected  a nice raise. They gave me a raise to $16,000 and I was not thrilled but kept going working to their new goal of $750,000. The goal was meant and I worked 7 days a week to make it happen. My new salary was now $20,000. I was really not happy as I had tripled their business in 2 years and received all types of promises and it wasn't even close.

Now the third year was here and BIG promises were made if I brought the territory to $1,000,000 in sales and I pushed even harder. I was on the road 5-6 nights per week, spent months in New York but had decided that if they didn't deliver on their promise I would be done. I had enough.

Now in March of that year my wife and I were married and had bought a home- yes you could actually buy a home then on that little income.

By May of that year the territory was doing a Million dollars in sales and I went to them to have them fulfill their promise. Well that's great and wonderful and bla, bla, bla and we're going to give you a raise to $24,000. It's all we can afford even though we know that wasn't what we talked about.

I complained a bit and realized that this was done. I needed a new plan so I mulled along until June and then gave them my notice.

Married for a few months, now unemployed, home owner with a mortgage and thus I started my new career as a builder much to my wife and family's shock.



Next- How does a Business Degree make you a Builder?


That's how you get a story going. You surely have your own story to tell whether you are a major brand or a local builder so tell it!


Ps. This is my true story.

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Everyone loves numbers. SoMe stats.

Source: econsultancy.com via steveleigh on Pinterest

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Builder's using Social Media to Re-Build their Business

Well my guess is that many builders, remodelers and the construction industry as a whole has heard of social media. You may have even thought of trying it but have wondered why or what value it had for you. Maybe you are a local builder versus national. Maybe you are a brand that sells to some branch in the construction field- lets say you sell wood products such as plywood.

In reality it doesn't matter if you are a small local business or a major national brand, you need to be thinking of adding social media for your marketing plan. For this post I will go with a local small building construction business that is on the fence concerning the value of social media. We'll call it:

Newton Building and Remodeling from any town USA and they use social media to its fullest advantage.

Joel Newton is the owner. He has been in business for the last 8 years and doing great but then the you know what happened and business steadily decreased. He had some great clients that still made business work but the new leads had dried up so he decided to give social media a try. He came up with a plan of action, signed up for accounts, started a blog and his wife, Kate, agreed to take on the responsibility of posting, writing and being the company representative for social media. He would help with any technical knowledge she needed and she would handle the rest

Already having previous customers' email addresses, she sent them a notice and asked if they would like to see the companies Facebook page, blog and join them on Twitter. She also asked if they would share and pass on to their friends what NB&R was doing in social media and they did.
She blogged about what homeowners should ask when choosing a contractor, what the best materials were for building a deck, when a homeowner should consider replacement windows and many more topics. Now not once did she say anything directly about how NB&R should be their contractor. It was implied by nature and they became respected for their knowledge and information and for the real people they were.

It didn't happen overnight but their friends and followers grew and they also did some free community work and posted that on their blog so even people that weren't looking for a contractor saw their name out there. They also offered a free bird house building day for kids under 10 and posted that as well as having the local paper write an article.

They are growing their presence, their reputation and their business. They are using social media!


That's how it works in a nutshell and it works for large or small businesses, locally and nationally.


Have questions: I would be glad to help.

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Numbers

Last week I decided to have a look at how the posts from my blogs were doing. In that regard, I wanted to see some numbers and be able to show others Some many not be all that thrilled if this was their results but I was as http://www.thebuildingblox.com is barely six months old and http://www.socialmedia4builders.com is not yet two months old so here some numbers.

First here's the definitions:

• REACH= How many unique people saw a tweet about your search term

• Exposure - Total overall impressions generated about this term

• An impression is counted each time a Web page is shown to a visitor.

So this week (1/8-1/14)  the reach of the two blogs was- 171,188

The exposure was-254,783

Again I am thrilled and take it as a prime example of the width of social media. I think it's on the right track and thank all of you for your wonderful support and helping me spread the word or in this case- blogs.

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Social media for the construction industry

Social media is not just for builders but anyone that has a business that is connected to the construction industry. If you are honest, reputable and have a product or service to offer, you should be using social media. So here's a short list of who could enhance and build their presence through the use of social media.

• Builders
• Remodelers
• Plumbers
• Electricians
• Concrete companies
• Flooring companies
• Tile stores
• Manufacturers of faucets
• Lumber companies
• Window and door suppliers
• Wood Siding suppliers
• Roof shingle manufacturers and suppliers
• Metal roofing companies
• Metal roofing suppliers
• Tool manufacturers
• Plumbing suppliers
• Electrical suppliers
• Roofing companies
• Cabinet suppliers
• Lightning suppliers
• Heating and cooling dealers
• Heating and cooling installers
• Counter manufacterers
• Tile Manufacturers
• Appliance suppliers and manufacturers

I have no doubt I have left out many and please let me know- I'll add them in. However I think you get the idea. There are many facets to the construction industry and each one could see beneficial results for their business by spreading the word. Social Media = Word of Mouth in a new way.

New times call for new thinking and new techniques. Don't keep your knowledge and presence to your self- spread the word.

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Social Media Helpers

I try to be in as many possible places at once as I can. It's hard though to keep track of everything. Now unless you only use a very few platforms, its great to have every notification possible to alert you to posts, comments and more so here's a few I use. It is also advisable to use the best tools for the job as any good builder will tell you.

• Twitter:

I have it set up to notify me when

Email me when

• I'm sent a direct message
• I'm sent a reply or mentioned

Activity

Email me when

• I'm followed by someone new
• My Tweets are marked as favorites
• My Tweets are retweeted

I have also set up lists with twitter and that makes it easier for me to see where people are.

• Now I also prefer to tweet from Hootsuite as I can assign my lists to columns to see what different groups are saying or chatting about. I do on certain occasions use Tweetdeck but you can experiment with what works best for you.

• Another tool I use is Google Alerts. It's very easy and you can set up to alert you about many individual items.  http://www.google.com/alerts It's like a personal always on search assistant.

• Blogging:  I use Google's Blogger so I can only speak on that platform but I have added http://disqus.com/join/ to my blogs so that I am notified when someone posts a comment and I can comment back quickly.

• Google +: For this account go to your settings and pick the pick of notifications you wish to receive and how. There are many choices so make sure you look through them all.
• Facebook: Here is another one that you need to spend some time going over and it's a personal matter as to what you want to be notified about. Just go to Account settings and then Notifications.

There are probably many others to help you out and if you know and use some other great products I'd love to hear about them and your experience using them.

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The Social Media ROI Conversation- Video

I came across this video via a friend Terry Babij and just thought it was funny and appropriate even though it has been out for a bit.

Have you experienced something similar? Or has the corner been turned?

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Acting and Reacting

I believe that 2012 will be a year that we will see social media go mainstream. Some brands are already heavily using social media to enhance their reputations and develop strong relationships. These brands are the early adopters and have a major step ahead of many who are still weighing their options. They have acted on what they know to be a relevant addition to their marketing program.
 These early adopters also have the advantage in that they have been learning and tweeking their programs in the early stages of growth and yes the ones that step in later will have less of that to do. The guidelines and methods will be better explained and easier for the latter entrants but social media is about being social and making relationships. There are no short cuts to this part- it takes time and effort and this is where the early adopters are light years ahead. They have been already cultivating their
relationships and growing them. These are the ones that Act.

The latter group that has waited is now in a frantic mode to implement a plan, find someone that is capable of implementing their program on all the different platforms or maybe they are going to try to hand off the responsibility to someone in the office that they feel has the free time. I can see the frustration and recklessness that will ensue. They have waited and now they have to react before its too late and in reality, it may be. Their competition may be heads and tails ahead of them leaving no way for them to play catch up no matter how hard they try. Here we have those that will try to
React.


So where are you planning on fitting in?

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Friends/Followers. Quality not Quantity

I'm sure you have all heard that you need to have as many friends and followers as possible connected to your social media accounts but I would argue that this isn't totally true. Sure if you have 50,000 followers on Twitter you probably have something that people want to hear. I will assume that you didn't buy them which is possible by the way- Don't even think about that!

However my view is that your brand is better off having 500 or 1,000 or 2,000 loyal and engaged followers that will be advocates of what your brand stands for and is willing to help spread your good word.So this should be an easy example and we'll go with the simple version of 1,000 friends and followers

Your brand has 1,000 loyal friends and followers. Now let's say each of those people has 150 friends/followers so when they send out your message it reaches 150,000 potential ears that may read it. Now some of those 150,000 will also like what they are hearing and will pass it along to their friends and on and on it goes. I realize that this is the perfect and optimal scenario but even if you reach 10%, that is a great deal of people that are now freely promoting your brand.

So if you indeed have 50,000 friends/followers but only 50 are actually engaged with you and what your brand has to offer, you'd be better off with just the 50.

It's another example of quality in your relationships versus quantity. Strive for quality in all aspects. It will go much further.

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Phone calls, E-mail and Customer Service

This is a short post and should be easy to see with a few questions where it's headed.

When a customer calls you on the phone for either an inquiry or they are not satisfied for some reason, what do you do?

A. Answer the call and hopefully satisfy what they called about.

B. Ignore the phone and hope they stop calling.

A is the correct answer of course if you plan on being and staying in business.


When a customer sends you an email for a product inquiry or they are not satisfied for some reason, what do you do?


A. Send back a prompt email in response to theirs and address their inquiry or concern.

B.  Mark it as spam and hit delete.


A is again the correct answer for the same reasons listed above.

So you've had no trouble with the phone and e-mail questions I assume and are probably saying something like " Well duh. That's a no brainer. Who wouldn't answer and do A?"




Now for a final question:

When a customer tries to reach you via social media for a product inquiry or they are not satisfied and you don't have a social media program, platform or such. You should?


A. Ah don't worry about it. It's just a passing fade and it will be gone soon.

B. Hope they will call or email you.

C. Don't concern yourself. You'll probably never even know they tried to contact you.

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Brands- It's Time.

Well the New Year is here and it's time for a new approach. Time to put it out there to brands and see who needs some help in their social media programs. Maybe you or your brand needs help starting their social media program. Or..

• Maybe you have a product that you would like me to write about on my other blog- thebuildingblox?

• How about working on helping you or someone on your staff learn more about social media and develop a campaign?

• Maybe you'd like to sponsor me to go to a home/trade show, conference and write about that for your brand?

• Do you need someone to come to you and have a talk about the benefits of using social media?

• How about a setting up a training program for the person that will be doing the social media for your brand? That could either remotely or in person (traveling to you is not a problem).

• Maybe you know someone that is using social media but needs help and/or more information.

• Whatever you may have in mind regarding social media, we're here to help.

There it's been said!


So to all the brands out there, large and small:


Use Me. Really!


toddvendituoli@gmail.com

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Content is KING!

I believe you have heard this before but "Content is King".
If you have a blog that you write, creating content is a continual process so here are some things to remember:

1. Publish on a regular basis and be consistent. If you post once a week on Wednesday, make sure its there every week. If it's twice week, make sure it's twice a week every week.
2. Make sure the content that you write about is interesting and informative to your audience.
3. Have you included any links to enhance your post?
4. Are you adding pictures to highlight your brand or project?
5. Are you creating information that will attract attention from all over the globe? It's the internet age.

Having great content on your site is not an option, its a necessity if you want to grow your community, expand your brand and build your business. Content that is engaging and relevant makes people come back for more because they are interested in what you have to say. You have created a level of authority and your content re-enforces that so start writing and make it good.

Don't wait for it to just happen- Make it happen and you'll see the results!

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ROI, ROI, ROI...

Maybe it's just me but all I have been reading lately in regards to Social Media is ROI. It's ROI this and ROI that and ROI... ROI= Return on investment. I've also been seeing others such as ROI= Return on influence and other terms but they are all trying to do one thing- Quantify social engagement.

Take a look at Klout ( http://klout.com ) or PeerIndex ( http://www.peerindex.com/ ) or Twittercounter (http://twittercounter.com) or numerous others to gauge how you rate compared with others and get your number.

If you look at Twitter you see the number of followers you have and how many follow you. You also see the number of tweets that you have sent out. Presently I have over 18,200 tweets.

If you are on Facebook, you see the number of friends that you have there. The same applies to Google+.

So what's it mean? It means that we are all in some form or another attracted to numbers. We like to quantify what we do and we are programmed this way from the start. When you were in school you received a grade. When you work you get a pay based on your perceived worth for what you are doing or what you are willing to work for. We buy homes, cars and really everything based on numbers.

We expect to have a number for everything but show me a way to measure an ROI for social media. Please! I would love it. You can't yet. Social media is a new game and until it matures there isn't enough data to make an accurate algorithm that puts it's effects into a number. How can you measure the influence that I have on Joe who then influences Sally who then influences....?

So far now this is my approach:

Social Media works and I know it even if it is only by instinct and feel. Maybe what you'd call intuition but it has a true value that I can see. No I can't put a value on it. No I can't get an ROI for the posts I do here and on BuildingBlox or elsewhere. No I can't give you an ROI for the time and  people that I interact with daily. No I can't give you an ROI in a dollar value for what I do.

What I can do is this:
At present Social Media is like a leap of faith. There is no absolute proof or numbers to go by. It's a baby after all. It needs to be nurtured, developed, experienced and as it matures the proof will surely be there.

Ps. This baby is growing fast!

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14%

I've been doing some reading lately about social media and this keeps coming up:


  "Only 14% of consumers trust advertising"




So where are they getting their information about brands and potential purchases?


That's all I have to say today!

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Social Media 2012 Prediction

Well the New Year is upon us and I strongly feel that 2012 will be the year that Social Media really takes off and goes into the mainstream. There will still be many obstacles to overcome, as it is still a new area, but it will start to solidify its place as one of the components of marketing. It will not replace all other marketing and sales but will be incorporated into a marketing plan to enhance a brands presence in the market. It will be another valuable tool.

Brands will start to see the value in using social media and even if they can't yet gain a full ROI they will come to recognize the ROR (return on relationships) and the value there. People are more than ever distrustful of claims made by brands and look for further validation, this is an area where social media excels. The connections and word of mouth have a value that cannot be monetarily measured. This is a hard business concept to overcome and will still be a struggle for many but as more brands come around others will also see the value.

ROR = Social Media’s ROI

View more presentations from Rory Murray

I see 2012 as the year many jump into social media. Some of these will be misguided and will lack planing and direction, sadly they will probably not be happy with their results and will abandon their efforts. Others will approach social media with a purpose and direction, ask for help, blog or enlist bloggers and give it the same attention and resources that they put forward in the rest of their marketing efforts. They will see the rewards.
http://socialmediatoday.com/bradfriedman/394348/6-tips-your-social-media-plan



This year we will see brands recognizing that the average consumer's age is lower. I think they already see it but have blinders on. They will then start to see that the way this group accesses information is via the internet, blogs and their peers. They look for relevant content and information on an almost constant basis so brands need to make sure their message is prominently out there to be viewed. This will not be optional any longer.

Now even this is old - last year- it's still relevant and the numbers are surely even higher today. So why do you need to be using social media in 2012? Make sure you watch.




What do you think social media will do in 2012?

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A Social Media- Two Great Videos

Happy New Year! 

Well we are into the New Year- 2012 but just barely so I thought I'd make it an easy day and post two videos.  I would strongly suggest that you take the time to see them both. It will be a well worth few minutes and you'll be able to see why I believe so strongly in the potential of SoMe.  So sit back and enjoy and I'd love to hear your thoughts so leave a comment.

Now here's the second one:





 

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