Come to Business Social DFW Dean Linday plus 3 Panels on Marketing, Social Media and Sales Coaching
This will be a dream team of speakers with:
Jim Fortin MindAuthority.com, Speaking on NeuroPersuasion
Jennifer Bagley ComplimentInternational.com,Social Media and Website Design
Patty Farmer HotPinkMamas.com,Networking like a Pro
Denai Vaughn TheNetworkingQueen.net, Making a Difference with your relationships from Networking
Jeff Crilley JeffCrilley.com,Getting the Press to Notice you.
Craig Thompson GlobalWebHQ.com, Google TV and how to use video on your site
* Brint Driggs BrintDriggs.com, Developing a Message that Attracts clients
* Charlie Brown Huge on Twitter, Generating business off Twitter
* Ed Riefenstahl The Alternative Board, High level Mastermind group for Business owners called an Alternative Board
Judy Hoberman SellingInAskirt.com Just like the name implies… Selling in A Skirt.
Market Hall Dallas, October 30 2010 from 9am – 1pm ish…at
http://www.businesssocialdfw.com/
Patrick Dougher
www.SalesCoachingLive.com
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Marc Harty and Jennifer Bagley-Buckles like this.
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Kay Tinguely Pat this really is a dream team. Why does it have to be on my daughter’s Birthday? Drat!
Thank you for inviting me 🙂
Thursday at 9:11pm · LikeUnlike
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Patrick Dougher Sorry, I just was asked to help fill the room so I contacted the most connected people I knew and say send Friends…KLTY had is on their Calendar for the past year. It may turn into something more frequent…Keep you fingers crossed.. I should say Pray Hard..
Thursday at 11:29pm · LikeUnlike
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Facebook – Originally used as a social networking site for college students, Facebook has gained acceptance and influence for all ages. On Facebook, it is easy to post pictures, videos and personal information. Users connect by posting information on walls. You have to accept invitations from friends and choose what information to share. Facebook accounts are created by an individual, but you can make a company page linked to your personal account to promote your company. Use Facebook ads to promote your company by designing an ad and choosing the demographics that will view the ads. Ads can be pay-per-impression or pay-per-click. The fasting growing Facebook demographic is women over 55 years of age.
As the market determines how social media will ultimately impact businesses, you should be positioning your company to take advantage of this new wave of advertising. Depending upon your marketing strategy, you may decide to just test the waters or jump in with both feet. Either way, develop a marketing plan for your social media endeavors. Be sure that you have a policy for anyone (even the owner) that participates in online conversation. Remember, you want to promote a positive corporate image and attract high quality customers and employees.
At our seminars on social media, we present an overview of how to get started in social media. We concentrate on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Blogging as these are popular, fast-growth platforms that look like they are here to stay.
Social media takes time. Beginners spend approximately 2 hours a week. After a few months, the amount of time spent jumps to about 10 hours a week. Those who actively practice social media marketing, commit 20 hours a week or more to keeping up with their social media activities. As with any initiative before you start, make sure you can devote the time and energy needed to have a consistent presence. Starting small with steady growth is preferable to a big splash then fizzling out.
Many people are struggling with an effective social media strategy and evaluating the social media return-on-investment. There are some who claim you can make money with social media, but quantifying the revenue has been difficult. For most, social media is a model for positive promotion, reputation monitoring and networking. Remember, social media is an extension of the more traditional forms of networking. So approach your social media communications with the same integrity and etiquette that you would use in face-to-face exchanges.
LinkedIn – A business-oriented social media site used for networking. You can create your personal profile and make a company page. You approve people that want to link to you and send invitations to others to link. Once linked, you get notification on posts, groups, updates and other details about your connections. LinkedIn is powerful for connecting to business professionals, researching companies and participating in industry and topical groups. You can send your Facebook, Twitter, Blog and other posts directly to your LinkedIn page
Facebook – Originally used as a social networking site for college students, Facebook has gained acceptance and influence for all ages. On Facebook, it is easy to post pictures, videos and personal information. Users connect by posting information on walls. You have to accept invitations from friends and choose what information to share. Facebook accounts are created by an individual, but you can make a company page linked to your personal account to promote your company. Use Facebook ads to promote your company by designing an ad and choosing the demographics that will view the ads. Ads can be pay-per-impression or pay-per-click. The fasting growing Facebook demographic is women over 55 years of age.
Twitter – A social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-bases posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author’s profile page and delivered to the author’s subscribers who are known as followers. Find followers that are interested in your industry, products or services. Follow those who tweet information of interest or value. Use tweets to drive followers to your blog or other social media sites. Send tweets on a variety of topics, but don’t just tweet advertisements or your followers will dwindle.
YouTube – A video-sharing website on which users can upload, share, and view videos. Most of the content on YouTube has been uploaded by individuals but some media corporations offer content. Users can watch the videos and registered users are permitted to upload an unlimited number of videos. Use YouTube to upload video blogs, interview, tutorials and presentation to name a few. YouTube content can be used on your website or blog to provide information through video. Some markets prefer video and recording demonstrations, instructions and interviews can be a powerful addition to the printed word. Photos can be uploaded to YouTube, set to music and made into a video with captions. On your YouTube account you can monitor how many views each video has received and allow viewers to leave comments.
Blogging – Blog comes from the term web log. A business blog is a website with regular entries of information, commentary, and events. Blogs can be maintained by a single individual or group. There are many group blogs on broad topics of interest Blogs are mainly text, but often add graphics, music or video for meaning and content. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. Most blogs allow readers to leave comments in an interactive format, but it is important that comments should be reviewed before being posted to your business blog. Blogs should be professional and well written. Your posts should be used to establish your expertise in an industry or on a topic. Use other social media sites to drive users to your blog where you can explore topics more deeply. Microblogging is another type of blogging, featuring very short posts.
Want to try social media, but don’t know where to start?
Try LinkedIn first. It’s easy to get started, find connections and add content.
Then try Facebook. It’s a bit more complicated, but worth the effort. Once you get your personal page and some friends, make a company page and suggest it to your friends.
Now you’re ready for Twitter. Set up your account and tweet once or twice a day. Remember to make your tweets interesting and minimize advertisement.
Now start blogging! Use the other sites to drive traffic to your blog. Create content that can also be used on your social media sites, web pages and newsletters.
Ms. Hester is the CEO of LAN Systems which provides IT solutions in the Greater Metro Atlanta Area. LAN Systems is dedicated to providing business technology that works for people. In 2004, Mary founded Intelligent System Solutions, Inc. (ISS) which provides high-tech consulting, sales and service to utility customers. Mary brings extensive experience managing a support and service group renowned for its “Best in the Industry” rating and standards. She is an expert in customer loyalty and retention. She has designed and delivered numerous training courses and workshops on a variety of topics.
Imagine a whole network of people orbiting around your business, getting included in the processes and feedback of your ideas, providing free advertising for you through the phenomenon of word-of-mouth, making your company into a familiar brand. Now, it won’t always work like this, but the opportunity is there. You can make a dent in your visibility and increase the stretch of your marketing campaign’s arms by reaching the largest amount of customers possible through the various platforms of social media – a reach that is incomparable to what you have been doing before.
Social Media Strategies – Why Should I Have One?
Well… it’s the next big thing, doncha know? It really is. Social media is currently unavoidable and is causing a storm in the marketing world. You can either stay in the dark ages or you can get with the times, and judging by the very real and impressive results some companies are getting, we would recommend the latter.
But there’s no point jumping on the bandwagon in a keeping up with the Jones’ kind of way. One of the reasons many strategies fail is because a company gets impatient, doesn’t take the time to think objectively about what they want to achieve and how they intend on doing it, then quickly lose focus when they don’t get the results they expect. Others become a little too obsessed with their Twitter interactions and forget about the actual work… As Buddha suggests, “Take the middle path.”
A good social media strategy requires a lot of thought and planning – you need to think about your goals, you need to include your entire company when embarking on this relatively new route to market, you need to prepare content and set aside time to put your aims into practice.
Because we all like a good list of top tips, let’s put it like this:
#1 – Social media is a MASSIVE opportunity for building your brand. Massive. MaHOOsive. Imagine a whole network of people orbiting around your business, getting included in the processes and feedback of your ideas, providing free advertising for you through the phenomenon of word-of-mouth, making your company into a familiar brand. Now, it won’t always work like this, but the opportunity is there. You can make a dent in your visibility and increase the stretch of your marketing campaign’s arms by reaching the largest amount of customers possible through the various platforms of social media – a reach that is incomparable to what you have been doing before.
#2 – Social media has a place for everyone. Where do you belong? Well try out Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Reddit, Del.icio.us, Scribd or a gazillion more of the social media platforms out there. Have a good browse, there are many subject specific niche sites which may focus your results more effectively, such as Hugg (ahhh) for environmental issues, Kirsty for fashion and design, Sphinn for search and interactive marketers, Tweako for guides and tutorials and Autospies for, you guessed it, everything automotive. And there is a ton more if you just look – some are not very well publicised, some are not very active, but hey, it’s up to you to find the best forum for your content.
#3 – Social media is a cheaper alternative to traditional advertising. It takes narry a penny to set up accounts for email, a blog, or any of the sites listed in #2. It takes man power and man hours to manage, but very little, if anything, to maintain. There are tools to help things work more smoothly and integrate all your different areas of networking which charge for services, but it is possible to run a social media campaign for next to nothing. You are reaching your targeted demographic (and beyond) for the price of your broadband…
#4 – Social media allows you to see what your clients are saying about you. It’s no secret that posting certain opinions on social media sites has got people into trouble with bosses, spouses, friends and the law, but a bit of honesty is extremely healthy for marketing. People hang up the minute they realise there’s a market researcher calling, yet they’ll freely publicise their opinions on products and services online. In fact, most people jump at the chance to give their two pennies’ worth. As long as you respond to bad feedback in a productive and professional way, you can use this information to increase your offerings based on cold hard facts, and end up giving your customers exactly what they want.
#5 – Social media makes us all equal. Social media has a great levelling power. If you’re a little local business, trying to branch out into the big bad world of the web – great, you can achieve much wider popularity than just advertising in your home town, doing what you do best, providing great personalised services. If you’re a fat cat company, struggling with a public face like a blank wall – great, you can interact with your customers on a personal level, make yourselves accessible and friendly and show the world you’re not just a corporate suit. The fact that everyone from your little niece to your doddery granny is getting online and getting involved with social media means that everyone has a voice, and everyone has an opportunity to be friends. Ah, isn’t that nice? Now go sell yourself.
Ikroh is a Search Engine Optimisation company that is 100% ethical and hugely passionate about our clients and their success online. We work as a close knit team on a one to one level with all of our clients – an uncommon strength in the web marketing field.
We offer a complete range of internet marketing services, including SEO, Pay Per Click advertising, Web Audits and Social Media.
“Finding important and relevant information is not easy when you are unfamiliar with how to perform certain modifications,” said a Hyundai spokesperson. “Having a forum and website where answers to important questions are laid out for you, would help with modifying your Hyundai to its highest potential.”
Building Better Cars and Better Customer Relations.
Hyundai has been getting a lot of attention these days as a company that cares about its customers and part of this success can be credited to social media marketing. By integrating a customer relationship management (CRM) strategy with social media along with their traditional marketing, Hyundai has branded itself as an altruistic company that really does care about its’ customers. In fact – Hyundai has jumped ahead of every other car manufacturer in the critical customer satisfaction index (CSI) category. Here are a few examples how Hyundai is applying their social media marketing strategy in key parts of their business and how it is paying off.
Promotion
Hyundai’s Assurance Program began in early 2009 when the economy was at its worst and unemployment was rising rapidly. The Hyundai Assurance Program promised that if you got laid off from your job, you could return your car and not even have to worry about honoring the rest of the note payable. The promotion was innovative but coming from a major car corporation was it believable? The attention the campaign received from the press and from many blogs and websites was skeptical.
Hyundai began promoting the idea on Facebook and Twitter. They asked everyone to buzz and tweet about it and people responded with enthusiasm. The idea of social networking for business exposure is not new but the strategy was extraordinary because it laid the groundwork for the campaign and gave it credibility. It was a brilliant way to market a promotion that really did work. Sharing this information on Facebook and Twitter turned out to be a big plus for the car company’s marketing campaign.
Hyundai sales are up 6.2 percent through November 2009. This marks the eleventh consecutive month of year-over-year gains in retail market share by Hyundai. The Hyundai Assurance Program is without doubt one of the reasons their sales have increased this year while other car manufacturers have floundered.
Corporate Responsibility
Zafar Brooks, Director of Government Relations and Diversity Outreach at Hyundai, has a refreshing perspective on the value of social media when combined with corporate outreach programs. The Hyundai “Hope on Wheels” program fights pediatric cancer by funding cancer research programs across the country. Brooks understands the importance of authenticity and relevance in social media outreach, particularly on behalf of corporate charitable programs.
He said: “Consumers are more sophisticated now — corporate social responsibility programs are no longer something that is ‘nice’ to do, but it’s expected of the company,” noted Brooks. “Simultaneously, consumers will smell-out what is not authentic — Hope on Wheels isn’t advertised, but is part of the news we share with our brand loyalists,” he said. “It is a part of our story because it is a part of who we are and what we are about. Social media should be authentic and organic.”
Mr. Brooks added, “Brand leaders must align themselves with a cause that is consistent with corporate values so they can illustrate their relevancy. Leadership has to establish the priorities around which we stand and make it part of our messaging point.”
Brooks concluded: “All social media should link together with a common objective to develop a program based on who we want to talk to about what we want to accomplish. Social media outreach must be part of a cohesive approach. Consumers will smell-out what is not authentic!”
Aftermarket
Hyundai Aftermarket recently announced the launch of a new social media campaign. The goal was to give Hyundai owners a new way of finding content on the internet about modifying their vehicles. The interactive social media campaign involves additional features being built into the Hyundai forum that owners can use effectively to get the word out about what they are doing to make their cars stand out from the rest. Twitter accounts and Facebook “Fan Pages” have been built so that owners can follow live updated news feeds about Hyundai Aftermarket as well.
“Finding important and relevant information is not easy when you are unfamiliar with how to perform certain modifications,” said a Hyundai spokesperson. “Having a forum and website where answers to important questions are laid out for you, would help with modifying your Hyundai to its highest potential.”
While the site has been branded as the “web’s most premier Hyundai forum” and currently is the oldest Hyundai forum on the internet, it has been designed for both the amateur and professional car enthusiast in mind. The site is built on the principle of being very easy going and helpful to anyone who may or may not know a lot about Hyundai’s. Users register for free and can partake in discussions about Hyundai Accents, Tiburons, Elantra’s, Sonata’s, Santa Fe’s and the all new Hyundai Genesis.
In addition to providing great technical content, hyundaiaftermarket provides great off topic discussions ranging in everything from technology to music & movies to even food and health/nutrition.
Sofia Sapojnikova
Vesta Digital
IntelBuilder Social Media Platform
http://www.vestadigital.com
Start a tweet circle. What’s a tweet circle you ask? This is when you take 3 to 5 followers, and get to know them well. Start RT’ing [RT is for retweet in Twitter language] them on a regular basis.
If you are into Twitter as the new web 2.0 thing, or for making any kind of money online, or for other types of internet marketing, than here is something that worked for me…
Start a tweet circle. What’s a tweet circle you ask? This is when you take 3 to 5 followers, and get to know them well. Start RT’ing [RT is for retweet in Twitter language] them on a regular basis. Compliment them on their content regularly and then ask them to RT your content. This intern will make your tweets viral as each person has their own different list of followers. Thus, your tweet is broadcasted to a larger audience. Know that the shelf life of your tweet isn’t very long, so this can become a very powerful tool to make money online.
If your a grass green newbie, you shouldn’t advertise your front end opportunity all the time like you see some of these people out there. You should rarely tweet about your op and instead lead them to your blog or some other page where you will get that chance. But, when you do tweet about your op, run 5-6 tweets of content, and then in a subtle manor, tweet your op LAST. Why last? Because when someone checks your profile, that is the tweet that will be posted largely at the top of your profile page. Believe me, it will stick out and is the first thing seen.
Twitter is on to network marketing. Having been slapped myself, I can tell you that they are cracking down on Internet marketing and making money online off of their site. Just because you see someone else do it doesn’t make it right. Don’t worry, they will get slapped too. So be cool, be social, have fun with your tweets. Instead of tweeting, “Make A Trillion Dollars Online.”, Say something like, “Don’t Miss Your Child’s First Steps While Your At Work, Learn How…” in a subtle manor. That should keep you under the radar. And besides it’s more palatable.
For further information and to become a member of Thomas’ elite group of marketers, please email at agentoffortune1@gmail.com, or call directly at 440-458-8631 in the United States.
