Notes from the stage -

Last night I had the privilege to speak at the VCPWN’s January meeting about social media. With an audience across the board in all levels of familiarity, experience and technical savvy, the time went so fast trying to be sure that basic concepts were covered in layman’s terms, so I wanted to publish my speaking topics for my blog readers and for the attendees of the event that would like a play-at-home version of the event complete with all the goodies we didn’t have time for.

Of course, a lot of it is all in my book (shameless plug) but here is a good condensed version that could be considered an event hand out

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The THREE golden rules I always start my presentations off with-

DON”T PUT ANYTHING ONLINE THAT YOU DON’T WANT THE WHOLE WORLD TO KNOW (no matter what your security settings, you have to LIVE by this rule)

ALWAYS USE THE FACEBOOK HELP MENU!! ( The format changes so fast so often, make the help menu your friend!)

SECURITY- You need to know where the security setting are for your facebook account- Not to say you have to go all paranoid, but at least FIND the settings and change anything listed as “public” to “friends only”. Security note- don’t chose an easily predictable password. And if you are prone to easily predictable passwords, don’t keep them all in the same place….. like your email.

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What if your business doesn’t allow you to have a facebook page or talk about your business online?

Many industries have compliance departments or privacy issues that don’t allow you to talk openly about your business… so how do you still utilize and benefit from facebook?

Actually, I would find this as a blessing- I hate talking about business all the time, and would much rather talk about anything else, especially when I am spending some “down time” checking in on facebook. But here are some things to consider if that isn’t you:

• My best clients have always come through knowing a person first, then finding out later they need my services.
• Connecting on a personal level always leads to a better understanding of the relationship and softens the transition from friendship to partnership dramatically.
• Teaching people about who you are as an individual creates a bond- what you like to cook, watch on tv, how you feel about celebrity relationships, other people you do business with that you can brag about… Highlighting other businesses is an amazing way to indirectly create promotion for yourself!

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So what typically happens when small businesses blend with social media?

They either rush through it and look spammy and desperate

-or-

They start something and leave it half-done and go around complaining that it just didn’t work for them, their industry, what they wanted, etc…..

 Are you the spammy desperate kind? Classic signs:

They write everything in caps, all the time…

They use tons of unneeded punctuation..(contrary to facebook popular belief, the ampersand, exclamation point, asterisk all have actual uses in our language, they don’t exist just to smash out a frame around a “BUY NOW” sales line.

They post the same exact mesg on all profiles, pages, or groups without addressing each one specifically to that audience

They leave out key elements that could really help their sale- like pictures, links to their web sites, directions to their show rooms….

You never see them interact, comment or contribute anywhere online other than to post something about themselves.

So they make you feel……

That if I walk in that showroom, I’ll be eaten alive

They don’t really want to know me or what I am about- they just want to sell themselves

If this is an example of how they conduct themselves on a personal level, I really don’t want to know them.

How do we cure the desperate spammer? We slow them down and really LOOK at the situations they are trying to communicate in. Once they understand the appropriate setting they will see things very different.

Visualizations to understand the different personas we use in different online settings

Visualize yourself at an intimate dinner party. You aren’t going to badger your close friends with sales pitches. You are talking about work as a piece of the puzzle that makes up YOUR existence. Your work is exciting and occupies a lot of your time; but at a dinner party, it might have only been discussed for the fraction of the time you spent talking about your latest vacation, your kids, the remodel, some crazy thing you saw on the news…. This is your Personal Profile Page.

Now, visualize your business fan page like a networking event. Give your elevator speech. Seek out potential customers, and involve them in dialog. Distribute pictures of your products and acknowledge other businesses that would make good partners. This is your Business Page.

Lastly, visualize yourself at a holiday party. This is a great balance of what you do AND who you are. You ask questions, you provide answers. You might ask someone in the room if they know a great bookkeeper. You might answer a question for an individual who is looking for someone in your field. This is your interaction measuring stick for Online Groups.

And now the “quitter” … classic signs:

The info on their business is only half filled in, they haven’t posted in months, their profile picture is some quirky shot they took on their cell phone that doesn’t do the business justice, misspellings on their initial few posts……

So how does this look?

Are they still in business?

Is their information still accurate?

Is the fan page mentioning a web site that is also outdated or worse “coming soon”?

Do I trust them with my money?

Curing the quitter- Some of the quitter’s biggest excuses…..

I don’t have time & I don’t know what to write-  Getting your thoughts down all at the same time is much easier than trying to come up with little one liners at random intervals! A great trick is writing down everything you can think of in one sitting and referring back to that word doc when you get stuck.

Here are some great excuse bashers for “I don’t have enough time”:

It’s called priorities! Did you find time to watch your show? Go out for coffee? If you found time to worry about why you don’t have as many customers as you wish you had, you had the time to do some proactive networking on facebook!!!

Set appointments on your calendar. Setting appointments (AND STICKING TO THEM) will let you track the time and date of your posts so you remember without having to scroll through pages of wall postings when you said what.

Make your default web browser page the social media program of your choice. That way, every time you click on your browser you are reminded to post and are confronted with every other business that found time to do it! Warning – this can be distracting!

Add your social media profile link to all of your business stationery and email signatures. Not only does this help advertise that you play nice with others, but once people start sending you messages and adding you to their social media contacts lists, you’ll find yourself spending more time in there answering questions, asking questions and getting more comfortable in general.

Take an hour or two of your off-time and look up old friends and relatives on social sites. Having a support group outside of your business acquaintances will inspire you to try new things, explore other aspects of the program, and get your digital feet wet faster than if you play it safe under just your business name.

Add the social media site apps to your phone and other mobile devices. Anytime I get stuck in a waiting room, long coffee line or jury duty, I feel like I can actually get something accomplished if I check in on my favorite groups while I have the time to connect and contribute. Forget the digital solitaire, and get logged in and active.

Update all your profile settings to send you an email when someone posts anything about you or comments on your posts. Getting those emails will perk your interest to follow the conversation and log back in.

Don’t put it away and forget about it. Put your social media site links in your bookmarks bar, or make them shortcuts on your desktop. From my own experience, if I don’t trip over it, I’ll forget it is there. If you have the same problem, this solution might help a lot!

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And the most important section of your cliff notes- Here is your cheat sheet of Do’s and Don’ts:

DO

• Include links to the shopping experience for fast access

• Be sure you customers can purchase or schedule with you via internet (not just through traditional phone / office hours)

• Include PRODUCT images or video that will give our audience a “shopping” experience

• Include testimonials, guarantee info, and brand comparisons

• Take advantage of interest groups and fan pages to poll interest or discover new clients

Don’t:

• Make your post longer than a few sentences. Anything more is a blog entry.

• Forget to make mention of what your business is. Posting in a group that you are offering a discount has no impact if you don’t say what product or service the discount is on.

• Forget to include a way for people to get more info- a link to your site or blog is appreciated.

• Limit yourself to “speaking” to potential customers. Power partners, investors and distributors might also be “listening”.

• Underestimate the power of spelling and grammar.

• Forget to respond to other people’s posts. This can attract more attention through friends- of friends visibility.

• Forget to Introduce yourself to new members of an online networking group or people you don’t recognize that like your business page.

• Limit yourself to only posting on your own profile page. Find other areas to make contributions.

www.JulianneBlack.com

Ideas for combining your social media efforts with the “real world”

Need help combining your online efforts with real life? Here are some ideas!

• Cross promote with the “Check In” feature of Facebook.

• Post videos of your physical space.

• Post videos of staff bios and greeting messages.

• Encourage “likes” by adding “Find us on Facebook” on your emails, store receipts, business cards, printed advertising, etc.

• Throw an open house that you only advertise online. It’s a great way to connect faces with their online icons. Reward your followers by giving out door prizes and special offers.

• Add a QR code to your business card or promotional items that leads directly to a contact page of your website where all your social media links are listed. This way, people don’t even have to search for you; they just click on the direct link to the social platform of your choice.

-another fabulous excerpt from Traversing the Jungles of Social Media: An Idea & Etiquette Field Guide for Small Businesses

Off to a slow start in Social Media?

( More from Traversing the Jungles of Social Media: An Idea & Etiquette Field Guide for Small Businesses )

You’ll never know it from business news and gossip, but social media is no magic pill.

Like exercise or flossing, you need to commit and stay consistent. You can schedule posts, you can designate a staff member to monitor your social media accounts or even hire a whole new social media team to handle the work for you, but the reality is that social media is as ongoing and tireless as the earning potential it can bring.

Once things get cracking, spammers will leave tasteless comments on your blog, a rogue employee will post something embarrassing to your brand or customer service efforts. A comment stream can get out of line. Or a customer might start flinging mud publicly. Your efforts need to be monitored constantly and your response time must be lightning fast.

Enjoy the slow moments checking in on the one or two comments received. Use downtime to add new images, check that your current images are watermarked and tagged, or even mess around in the online help forums to learn new tricks.

Technology improves and changes so quickly - take advantage of it! Here are some tasks to stay busy – you’ll thank yourself later, I promise!

• Add watermarks of your web address to your images (or have a graphic designer do it for you) so, when your images get forwarded around, people can still find you.

• Go back through your images and posts, remove old, outdated images and text, double check all your account profiles – is all information still current?

• Add or update your profile pictures of your logo to all accounts if you have not done so  already; it helps your branding stay consistent.

• Create a custom Twitter background.

• Spend time searching out LinkedIn and Facebook groups that could use your services.

• Research groups on LinkedIn and Facebook that can provide support and inspiration in your industry. Seek out other businesses that can serve as “power partners” to make connections.

• Be sure to search for any networking contacts you have made in the past, and send them friend requests. Spend time reading posts – what posts get the most response? Mimic them!

• Schedule a professional photo shoot - you’ll be thrilled how great your images look online compared to home videos and camera phone photos.

• Invest in some design work – create the very best profile image you can get for your Facebook fan page. Do some checking in on your competitors for examples.

• Trade groups, networking groups, local newspapers, and chambers of commerce all have online areas to subscribe to and to post information about events, positions, and services needed – watch them, and get involved.

•Write up your content, and organize it by topic in order to have text to pull from when things get busy.

Liked the excerpt? Get the Book!

Don’t Be a Social Media Spammer!

(More from Traversing the Jungles of Social Media: An Idea & Etiquette Field Guide for Small Businesses)

If you don’t enjoy getting spam why would you serve it up?

Many people are accidentally flinging spam internationally because they don’t understand the give-and-take needed to have successful social media relationships. That is what the rest of the book is about – relationships. However, here are some post-crafting examples that can help you understand the posting language itself. Following these basic guidelines are some fill-in-the-blank ideas with which you can practice.

Ideas for keeping yourself from being a spammer:

Avoid using CAPITAL LETTERS in your posts.

If you have never had experience in corporate America, you might not know this, but using capitalized letters in a text or instant message means you are upset, angry and are pretty much yelling your displeasure in a virtual format. So, naturally, a post from a screaming lunatic will be avoided or ignored. Yes, the caps do stand out and attract attention, but so do blue and red police lights coming up behind you, and those aren’t happy, either.

Avoid using too many !!!!!*——>>>><<<< in your posts.

Yes, amassing characters together on the same line is an attention-grabber too. But it also looks computer generated, lifelessly automated and cold. My first response to posts like that isn’t, “Oh, let me reply with my heart-felt opinions,” but,  ”Hmmm, I wonder what posting generator they are using?”

Avoid using the words or phrases Sale, Discount, Last Days, Specials, etc. too often.

Did you ever grow up with or live near a small, yappy dog? Eventually, you didn’t hear it anymore.

Rule of Three: post three informational items for every marketing item.

Unless you are using Facebook (or any other social media platform) to promote some really incredible sales that people would never be able to get elsewhere and are not advertised anywhere else on earth (we are talking $2.00 rates for 10 day cruises here, folks), there would be no rational reason someone would like your fan page just to subject their inbox to your spam. If you want people to sign on and stay with you, you need to provide content that has nothing to do with you, other than you being a helpful and concerned citizen in regards to the well-being of your clients and potential clients.

Attitude of Gratitude

Thank, thank, and thank your sponsors, clients, vendors, friends, staff and family, and don’t forget to tag them in your posts! Everyone likes to be mentioned. You could spend half your day thanking people for helping you get to where you are now. Embrace the inner fuzzy-wuzzies and get cracking.

Liked the excerpt? Buy the Book!

How often should my business post (and not be annoying)?

(More from Traversing the Jungles of Social Media: An Idea & Etiquette Field Guide for Small Businesses)

I get this question so often, and the answer needs to be tailored to the industry, the personality and the level of self-marketing-mojo the author has. You really have to use your best judgement here. If you are “sell, sell, sell, sell” and are always on, cheerleading for the same company, it will get old.

If you are mixing it up – adding pictures you have taken yourself, links to current affairs and news articles, you can maintain a presence for much longer without looking like a circling vulture. If all your posts are about products or services YOU want to sell, it will get old fast.

Think quality over quantity, and you won’t get branded a spammer. What would you want to see or think was interesting from another company? What would bother you?

Everyone has a different tolerance for repetition. Try twice a day, and see how it goes. If you are getting lots of comments and starting dialogs, it means people are reading the posts and you might want to increase to three times a day after a while. If no one seems to write back, your content isn’t as engaging as you think it is – scale back to once a day or every other day until you find some good topics that bring in some action.

Also try different times of day and different days of the week. Your market might be the sneaky web- surfers-that-are-supposed-to-be-working group. You would post 9-5 Monday through Friday. If you market to professionals with kids  you might want to concentrate on nights and weekends. This isn’t about you – it is about them!

Know your target audience, and respond accordingly.

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How to get into the habit of posting to your Social Media accounts?

(More from Traversing the Jungles of Social Media: An Idea & Etiquette Field Guide for Small Businesses)

Not all methods work for all people, but here is what seems to help:

• Set appointments on your calendar.

Setting appointments (AND STICKING TO THEM) will let you track the time and date of your posts so you remember without having to scroll through pages of wall postings when you said what.

• Make your default web browser page the social media program of your choice.

That way, every time you click on your browser you are reminded to post and are confronted with every other business that found time to do it! Warning – this can be distracting! I don’t know how many times I have opened Safari and found myself 10 minutes later nosing about in a friend’s photo album only to forget the real reason I was going online in the first place.

• Add your social media profile link to all of your business stationery and email signatures.

Not only does this help advertise that you play nice with others, but once people start sending you messages and adding you to their social media contacts lists, you’ll find yourself spending more time in there answering questions, asking questions and getting more comfortable in general.

• Take an hour or two of your off-time and look up old friends and relatives on social sites.

Having a support group outside of your business acquaintances will inspire you to try new things, explore other aspects of the program, and get your digital feet wet faster than if you play it safe under just your business name.

• Add the social media site apps to your phone and other mobile devices.

Anytime I get stuck in a waiting room, long coffee line or jury duty, I feel like I can actually get something accomplished if I check in on my favorite groups while I have the time to connect and contribute. Forget the digital solitaire, and get logged in and active.

• Update all your profile settings to send you an email when someone posts anything about you or comments on your posts.

Getting those emails will perk your interest to follow the conversation and log back in.

• Don’t put it away and forget about it.

Put your social media site links in your bookmarks bar, or make them shortcuts on your desktop. From my own experience, if I don’t trip over it, I’ll forget it is there. If you have the same problem, this solution might help a lot!

Like this excerpt? Get the book!

Mrs. Nowhere- The small business that is still afraid of posting in Social Media….. (Part 2)

(continued)

“I don’t want my clients or customers to know that much about my personal life.”

Why? Personal connections create loyal customers. Sharing dreams, life stories, banter about the weather… all of these things make a good sales person. Lighten up, and keep visualizing that you are having these conversations in person.

The last one is by far the most common and, yet, the simplest to overcome. We all have situations in which we feel overwhelmed. I get overwhelmed on Main Street in Disneyland, but it doesn’t mean I’ll start running for the exit. When we see even an overwhelming situation as positive, our brain starts to venture out and learn one thing at a time.

At first maybe all you can do is concentrate on not getting run over by a stroller. After that, you can avoid strollers AND curbs. After that, you can actually start to look into the shop windows….. it all just takes time. So in Social Media Land, pick one thing to understand. Maybe you log in and focus all your attention on adding a profile picture. After that, you work towards updating  your profile settings. After that, you might even decide to try to comment on someone’s funny post. I also suggest that you check out the help menu for answers. I know in Facebook the help menu is so extensive that you can ask anything from ”what is a post” to “how do I cook a turkey” and there will be an answer. Baby steps, folks, but baby steps forward!

Where are you now, Mrs. Nowhere? Probably half of you are inspired to get started, and the other half are coming up with more excuses. Maybe you are somewhere in between – a little closer, just shy of committing.

Let me leave Mrs. Nowhere with this – I’m pretty sure your competitors are already online, and if you spent half the time you’ve worried about it actually working towards getting started, you would be there by now.

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