Storm Dawg Marketing

Ok people… this is HUGE!
( &  yes I still owe you all a review of the Twitter tools…it’s coming…until I get you mine…check out this great video review of Hootesuite and some other complementary Twitter tools done by G4

Very recently (a week ago) my father a restaurateur who is almost 70 asked me to help him set up a Twitter and Facebook for his business.  I was totally floored.  First and foremost because, well this is my dad we are talking about.  He doesn’t usually ask me for advice.  Like EVER.

He is one of my mentors when it comes to all things small business, including the marketing of small businesses.  I usually bounce ideas off of him to get his feedback.  Though most of his feedback finds me disagreeable (sorry Dad) …it’s really his experience that I am looking for and learning from.

He doesn’t really know what I do for work…I actually don’t even think that he knows that I write for a Blog.  For the expressed reason that he will tell all of my relatives and they will all leave comments on my posts like “Good job honey,” and “Can’t wait to see you at Sunday Dinner.”  It’s not Facebook… I don’t invite them here. Sheesh!

So for all of you who said “of course he would ask you about Twitter; you write about it and use it”.  You would be wrong.  He has no idea.  And with my dad I’ve learned not to offer suggestions.  It’s better to wait until my opinion is asked.  And boy was it ever!  So here is my chance to explain to my dad “this is how you can use Twitter for your business.”

So I asked him 3 Things:

1.  Why do you want to be on Twitter?

2.  What do you want to get from Twitter?  (New customers, return business, to connect with your clientele…what?)

3.  How are you going to measure the effectiveness this has on your business.  (Site traffic, foot traffic…what?)

I was surprised by what my dad said, though looking back I don’t know why….

His Answers:

1.  Well I know that by being on things like Twitter and Facebook I can improve my natural search rankings.  (How does my dad know this?)  I can reach my customers in their homes and on their phones with little cost besides “sweat equity” on my part.  (Jeez he is freaking amazing me here!)  Is this the cool new thing?  I thought I was ahead of the curve.  (That you are Dad…that you are…but not that far ahead, so we’ve got to move QUICK!)

2. I want new business.  (Totally saw that one coming!)

3.  Well measuring foot traffic is never really something I’ve done…  Site traffic is something I will for sure measure.  But my measurement will be in increased revenue.  (HMM…well ok….but how will you know what is driving this since I know you are doing other marketing?  Of course I didn’t ask him that!)

With his first answer surprising me…the other two are for the most part what I expect any other businessman to want from their social media efforts.  After all, business owners aren’t doing this for the “fun” of it.  They’re there to make money.

To Be Continued…..
For the suggestions I gave my dad please check out my next post.

Thanks
Christina Kudym

Yes, social media can be time consuming but it’s worth it. Like anything worth doing, it’s worth doing well. And to do it well, it may take you a little time.  Thinking of not investing the time?  Ask yourself this:  Can I afford not to invest the time?  I know, “Time is money”…trust me, I know!  Let me explain why I think you should invest your time.

Unless you are a huge brand like Coke that had a “fan” create their Facebook fan page for them - imagine that…their customers taking the time to do their social marketing for them…and people talking all day about how they love their product…whoa – you will need to devote some time to figuring out a social media strategy.

Maybe you’ll start with a Facebook ad or Fanpage…Maybe a Twitter account…maybe all three.  Whatever you do, have a “game plan.” Look around and see what other businesses like yours are doing. I’m not saying you should copy them, but you can certainly learn from them.  Play around with Tweetdeck,  Seesmic,  HootSuite and other free services that help you organize your online presence and engagements.  Find the one that suits your needs and makes sense for your business.

Think your customers aren’t talking about you online?

Think again! Not only are they talking about you, they’re also sharing their opinions with their friends, relatives and total strangers.  Can you afford not to listen to what they are saying? Wouldn’t you like to be able to thank the people saying nice things about you…and have an opportunity to turn an unhappy customer into a happy one?

More and more small businesses are running targeted ads on Facebook, developing fan pages and keeping customers happy on Twitter. Why? Because that is where their customers are!  So that is where you need to be.  Not should be…NEED to be.  Did you know that Comcast, Southwest Airlines, QWEST and Verizon all use Twitter for customer service?

Here is a great article that gives you seven cases of businesses using Twitter to service customers.

Engagement is key. As most of you know, when you make a connection with a customer, they’ll keep coming back to your store.  They come in because they like something about you or your store.  They will tell you by their reactions to your small talk or smile what level or type of engagement they want.

What people who use SMS (Social Media Sites) are telling us/you is they want to engage on these sites and expect to be engaged with before they make a purchase.  Here is another great article that will give you some insight into how small businesses are using social media to compete with large brands.

There is a new breed of consumer coming…really they are already here.  If you don’t understand where they are coming from, you aren’t going to know where to look for them,  and more importantly, how to sell to them.

So…do you have time for social media?

Next week I will give you my thoughts on a few of the free tools I mentioned today -  Tweetdeck, Hootsuite and Seesmic for starters.

If you have any questions on anything you see here, just leave a comment on this post…I will be glad to help you out.

Until next week,
Christina Kudym

Every small business knows that Facebook is the most popular social networking site on the planet. Every SMART small business knows that if they’re not on Facebook yet, they’re missing out on a huge opportunity to connect with customers and grow their business.

What small business owners may NOT know is that they need to get started RIGHT NOW.

Ireland’s LaCucina Limerick has a simple recipe for success that any small business can replicate to get their business on Facebook TODAY and start seeing results TOMORROW! The Simply Zesty blog featured them because they were able to use Facebook to:

• Connect with 2,000 people, the majority of which were local and their best prospective customers
• Ask questions, post pictures, and p interact with her customers and prospects (a simple status update of “Pineapple on pizza?” got more than 60 comments)
• Leverage the popularity of restaurant frequenters, such as the Munster rugby team, by posting stories and pictures and helping the team’s fans become their own
• And have fun with their products with a great give-away – “Tag the Pizza” (they post a picture of their pizza, ask fans to “tag” themselves in the photo for a chance at a freebie, spreading pictures of their food throughout their fans’ friends)
• (Click here to learn more about how they’re using Facebook.)

You cannot afford to wait any longer for success like this. If you don’t get your business on Facebook RIGHT NOW, then your customers won’t be talking about your business at all…or worse…they’ll be talking with your competitors.

Click here to get your business on Facebook RIGHT NOW. Then, leave us a comment below with your business’s name and a link to your page. (We want to become your fan, too! )

Does your business already have a page on Facebook? Leave us a link as a comment below and share your success!

We’ll follow up next week with some great tips on what to do with your page, and who knows…we might just feature YOUR BUSINESS!

Bryan D. Jennewein

If you haven’t heard the news, here it is:

Social media is the word of mouth advertising for the 21st century.

What was once talked about with friends over dinner or a drink is now being blogged about, posted online, updated on Facebook, or tweeted. And the audience has transformed from one or two to one or two hundred (thousand?).

Steve Strauss discusses social media as the new word of mouth advertising in great length at the AMEX Open Forum.  Check out the article here.

I’m curious… has anyone else out there had any experience with social media as word of mouth advertising?

Bryan D. Jennewein

How social are you and your business? Do you make it a point to get out there and make people aware of who you are and what your business is all about? Or, do you sit back and pray that someone does business with you today? Are you running out of ideas as to how to market your business? Take a moment and honestly answer these questions, then continue reading below about SOCIAL MEDIA.

This morning I read an article by Jeffrey Gitomer, What’s so social about social media? How social are you? As I read the article I realized that social media is the “new machine” that one can either embrace and capitalize on or continue to ignore and watch your competitors embrace the “machine” called social media and witness their exponential growth compared to your dwindling numbers. It’s up to you but for now I highly encourage you to click on the following link to read Jeffrey’s article. Afterwards I would love to hear back from you! Share your story…who knows your story may help another.

Mike Shults

Agents & brokers alike are jumping on the social media train.  It is abundantly clear that in this economy it is important to get more exposure in social networks if you are a small business.   Realtors have figured this out and are learning quickly the advantages.  A survey conducted by the NAR found that 84% of it’s agents use SMS (Social Media Sites) for business purposes.  I’m sure that you may have seen this at one time or another and not realized it…  Your friend telling you on Facebook that their home is for sale…and inserting a link to their realtor’s site.   It’s Social Media at it’s best.  Word of mouth Social.  So not only are realtors doing it…their clients are as well.  Imagine how much faster you can sell a house when you put it on your facebook wall….your clients puts it on theirs and between the two of you, you have 300 friends.  Those friends then share it with their friends…and so on.  Well now you’ve just gone viral with your listing and it didn’t cost you a thing.  Please see the attached research from our friends at ORC Guideline.  There are some great stats that you should see.

If you have any questions or stories about using Social Media Sites to get word out about your business please write in and share them!  I’d love to see what you are doing.

Have a great week!
Christina

Hey all,

I was doing some reading over the weekend, and I came across a couple of surveys that are pretty interesting.

The first one says “76 percent of small-business owners polled were not using social media or finding it helpful in generating business leads during the last year, and 86 percent said they did not use such sites to get advice or information.” http://pacific.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2009/10/05/daily62.html

The second one leads with, “One in 10 small businesses are using social networking sites to connect with customers, according to a customer survey by software firm Sage.” http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2250764/facebook-remains-social-network

I have said this before and I will continue to say it, “Don’t get overwhelmed by information overload.” These stories are really saying the same thing but from a different point of view. About 1 in 10 small businesses are using social networking. Many people and pundits lament the business model of these social networks: Will YouTube turn a profit? Are Facebook and Twitter viable business models? Time will tell, but I think they are missing the point about social media.

It is the way people are communicating with one another. Remember the old saying about gossips: “If you want to get the word out about something, there is telephone, telegraph and tell a whoever.” Social networks are infinitely more efficient at getting the word out. If you engage your friends, family and customers and ask them to tell their friends and business contacts about your business, you can really amp up the most creditable form of advertising – word of mouth.

Social networking can also help optimize your website for marketing purposes using SEO, or search engine optimization. It turns out small business are really interested in having their websites found by people looking for their goods and services.

So it all comes down to this: Social networking is a new way of doing things for a small business, and I believe it is here to stay. Invest a little of your valuable time and think about what you can do to really amp the word of mouth that you built your business on.

Don’t work too hard!

StormDawg

Internet access in the workplace has some negative effects; however, there is great potential to increase productivity if used properly.

I recently read an article in The New York Times, “The Count – An Online Outlet for Creating and Socializing,” which discusses the role it has in “…releasing people’s creative and social energies…”  What I found to be the most interesting are the numbers: 50% of adults visit social networking sites, 23% contribute to forums and discussion groups, 19% review products or services, 16% listen to podcasts, 12% publish, maintain or update a blog, 9% use RSS feeds, and 5% contribute to or edit articles in a wiki.

Click here to read the article: The Count – An Online Outlet for Creating and Socializing

Mike Shults – StormDawg S.W.A.T.

Good morning StormDawg fans,

StormDawg is on vacation and has asked me to post his latest video blog: a Two-Minute Teaching on Small Business Marketing, courtesy of his work with The Liminal Group.  What stands out to me most from StormDawg’s Two-Minute Teaching is the word “buzz.”  He talks about how he created buzz with his blog and social media and how this buzz is a cost-effective form of marketing.

Folks, it’s network marketing… it’s word-of-mouth marketing… only super-charged with technology that creates and connects communities across any distance.

Enjoy this Two-Minute Teaching from The Liminal Group and StormDawg, and heed his advice at the end.

As StormDawg would say, “Don’t work too hard!”

Bryan D Jennewein – StormDawg S.W.A.T.

Hey all,

Here’s some interesting research from ORC Guideline about social networking and small businesses. The thing is, it is pretty easy. All you have to do is jump in and get started. It works.

Don’t work too hard!

StormDawg