A few months ago my wife bought me some new underwear. Yes, my wife buys my underwear. Anyhow, at the time my whole family was on a diet. We had the family weekly weight loss chart we kept updated and we were all trying hard to shed some pounds for an upcoming trip to Florida. I pulled a pair of the new undies out of my drawer and put them on. They were a bit snug. Ok, more than a bit. I was a little disappointed with myself. Here I was trying to loose some weight and my new underwear was tight. “Well I’ll just have to suffer,” I thought. This is the price I pay for not dieting hard enough. As I continued to get dressed my wife came in the room. I told her about my tight underwear. She mentioned that she just bought new underwear for my teenage son and that they were the same brand as the one she bought me. “Maybe I put the wrong pair in your drawer,” she said. Sure enough, after a little investigating, I found out that I was wearing my son’s underwear.

So how does this relate to social media marketing? Like underwear, when it comes to social media marketing one size does not fit all. You have to develop a strategy that fits your company and its customers. You need to define what your social media goals are and make sure they’re trackable. You have to understand your target audience and find out what social media properties they use. Then you have to figure out the best way to engage them. If you don’t have a social media strategy you’re just going to be wondering around the social media landscape wasting a lot of your valuable time. Don’t just start doing social media because it’s the “in” thing without putting a plan together. The time spent developing your plan will be time well spent.

So the next time you put on your underwear and it’s a little tight don’t think, “I need to go on a diet,” think, “I need to have a good social media marketing plan”.

If you want to really suck at social media marketing please do the following:

1. Post things that only matter to you and talk only about yourself. We’ve all know that person that just can’t say enough about themselves. I don’t recall ever really liking that person very much. How can you ever have a relationship with a person like that? Social media is about building relationships.

2. Tweet once a month. If you never really participate in the conversation except once in a blue moon then the social media thing just isn’t going to work for you. It’s called social media marketing. So that means you have to be social. Do you only call your customers once a month? If so you’re never going to get my point.

3. Don’t listen to other social media conversations (because your to busy posting your own stuff). Hey, you see all those other tweets and posts and blogs out there? Try reading some and you might learn something about your potential customers.

4. Tell the world about your new blog but your only blog post says, “Blogs Coming Soon”. If you’re going to asked people to check out what you have to say please be ready. Blogs that have no meaningful blogs, Twitter pages without tweets, Fan pages without content - Epic Fail! Get your social media properties ready for visitors by populating them with content before you announce to the world that you’re on the social web.

5. Expect immediate results then quit. Success in social media doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time. The web is littered with blogs with 1 post and incomplete LinkedIn profiles because the users gave up. Put together a long term social media strategy and stick with it. The results will come. Need help with a strategy? Contact us.

Findability - If you want your target market to find you you have to be where they are - online.

Likability - You are interacting with people and the conversation goes two ways. Getting involved in Social Media gives your target audience a better chance to get to know and like you. So be funny (appropriately so) and share a personal moment (not to personal). It’ll make you more likable and approachable. Lets face it, people do business with people they like.

Visibility - You want to be visible to your target market so if you join groups they’re in, provide information that’s helpful, answer their questions and make insightful comments you increase your visibility to your target market.

Linkability - One of the major factors in your search engine ranking is external links back to your website. Social media gives you all kinds of opportunities to have external links back to your website. Social Media Marketing can help your search engine ranking.

Connectability- Connect with lots of people. Don’t just try to connect with people who you think could be a customer. You’d be amazed who you’ll get connected to through other people so connect!

Possibility - The possibilities of what your business can accomplish using Social Media Marketing are endless. New Business, New Relationships, Better Service…but if your not involved in social media you have no possibilities in the medium.

So you see, Social Media Marketing is all about “Bility”.

1. Twitter is not a place to blast your marketing message (i.e. Buy from us Today!!! - We’re great. Try us now!)

2. Ask yourself if your tweet is going to provide value to your followers (make sure it does)

3. Is your tweet going to help position you as an expert in your field & increase your reputation (it should)

If you consider these 3 things you’ll be on your way to successful tweeting. It’ll help your business and your brand. Happy tweeting!

If you want to find out more about how to use tools like Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube & Facebook to increase your business this class is for you.

Recently I asked a group of about 25 business professionals if they knew what social media marketing was? The room got very quite and I got a lot of blank stares. Finally, one brave business owner raised his hand and said, “Facebook?”. At least he scratched the surface with his answer (maybe nicked the surface would be more accurate). No one else in the room had a clue. So if you don’t know what “Social Media Marketing” is and what it can do for your business here’s a brief overview.

What is it?

“Social Media Marketing (SMM) is a form of Internet marketing that creates interaction between a company and individuals through various social media networks.” Remember the word “interaction”. It’s a two way street unlike a TV spot or a banner ad. You’re communicating with your target audience and they’re communicating with you. You’re building relationships and, hopefully, trust. It’s much different than traditional marketing.

Where is it (here is a brief list of some of the social media networks)?:

Twitter / LinkedIn / YouTube / Flickr / Virb / Del.icio.us

StumbleUpon / Facebook / Digg / Reddit / Tumblr

Blogs & Forums are other great mediums for social media marketing.

How can Social Media Marketing help my business?

Here are a few of the big things that Social Media Marketing (SMM) can do for you: Increase your web traffic, build a broader customer reach, increase your reputation and create brand awareness. You can certainly accomplish all of these with other media but SMM can be a cost effective way of doing these things and doing them on a deeper level. Remember you’re building relationships, you’re not just blathering on about what you do with your fingers in your ears. You’re listening as well. And don’t forget, just like any other marketing initiative, you need to have a defined marketing objective you want to accomplish using Social Media Marketing.

How do I use Social Media Marketing?

Contribute something of value. You’re having a conversation between yourself and potential customers or people that can connect you to customers. So provide them with information that they would find valuable or interesting. This will help you become known as a subject matter expert - the “go to” person in your area of expertise. This won’t happen overnight but it’s worth the effort. People want to work with experts and when you’ve established yourself as one that increases your opportunities for new business.

Don’t be afraid to have a personality. You are interacting with people and the conversation goes two ways. So it’s ok to be funny (appropriately so) and to share a personal moment (not to personal). It’ll make you more likeable and approachable. Lets face it, people do business with people they like.

Connect with lots of people. Don’t just try to connect with people who you think could be a customer. You’d be amazed who you’ll get connected to through other people so connect!

Look for conversations to join. There are lots of forums out there on just about every subject. What you do is being discussed on the web so be a part of the conversation. People use forums to look for answers so why not be the answer guy or gal. You could be paving your way to your next big client.

Is that all I need to know about SMM?

There is a lot more to know but you will have to wait until I post part 2 of “Social Media Marketing - What’s that?”. Or you can contact us and we’ll help you develop a “Social Media Marketing Strategy”. In the mean time join some of the social media networks I mentioned above and start contributing, connecting and conversing. And have fun with it!

A down economy offers some interesting opportunities that aren’t available in a thriving economy. Here are three: 1) People, companies and individuals, are taking a closer look at the products and services they use and are seeking better alternatives. This provides you an opportunity to be among the new brands they will consider. 2) Getting your message to break through all the other marketing noise your target audience is being hit with is a challenge for any company. In a down economy there is less noise to compete with making it easier for you message to be heard. 3) Ad rates for all types of media are lower because of weak ad sales allowing you to get more eyes and ears for less money.

So don’t put your ad budget on the shelf and hope for better days. Let the other guy sit on the sidelines and not be heard while you gain market share. Get your message out while the field is not crowded and people are looking for better options.

So why do I mention this short film project? Because it’s another tool your business can use to reach your target audience and stand out from the crowd. The reason we’re on our 4th film for our client, Oakland Christian School, is because it’s a tool that it working for them. It’s increasing enrollment and having parents of existing students respond to the school like never before. Increasing enrollment in a private school in this type of economy is no small feat.

So if you’re interested in another way to reach your clients in an unique and compelling way a short film my just be the answer. Call us and we’d be happy to discuss it with you.

Over the years we have found that many companies are overpaying on their media buys (TV, Radio, Billboards, Print Ads, Web Banners etc.).  Often we find that these companies are buying their media themselves or they’re working with someone who is buying their media but they don’t have the buying leverage or experience to get them the best deal. We love helping companies save money on their media buys. It’s often a large part of their ad budget so saving here can really ad up. Here’s 4 of the things we do to help companies save 15% or more on their media buys:

1. Free Media Audit

Give us 3 months of your media bills (during your peak media buying months) and we’ll audit them for free.  When we’re done we’ll show you what we would have paid for that same media schedule.  Our media team buys tens of millions of dollars of media each year so we have tremendous buying power. Because of our buying power we can buy media at lower rates than most business can, saving you a substantial amount of money on your media buys.

2. No Waste

In addition to doing a free audit on your media bills we’ll also show you how we eliminate waste in your media buy, making your media buy more efficient.  In other words we will show you how you can get more of the right people seeing your ads without having to spend any more money.

3. You Won’t Get Overcharged

Just because your media invoices say that the amount due is X doesn’t mean that is what you really owe. We manage your media budget making sure your spots aired when they were suppose to and got the ratings they were suppose to. We take credits when they don’t, make sure your “make goods” run and audit all your media bills each month for accuracy. This way you only pay what you are supposed to pay. Which many times is less than what your media invoice says.

4. Added Value (i.e. Free Stuff)

We negotiate “added value” into your media schedule.  What’s added value?  Things like extra spots at no charge, remotes (stations broadcasting their show from your location), billboards (short on-air mentions of about your company) and so on.  “Added Value” gets you more exposure without paying more.