social media marketing

Right now, I’m running events for two local not-for-profits – FCI Art Show and Capital K9′s Dog Paddle.  We’ve just started launching our social media programs to build awareness and generate traffic for both events.  (Go become fans!!!)

• The first event, the FCI Art Show and Auction is a silent auction sponsored by Food Concepts and other civic-minded local businesss.  It’s free to attend and raises money for our local community non-profit, Middleton Outreach Ministry, (known as MOM.) 
• The second event, Dog Paddle, lets dogs go swimming at the local pool (after it closes for the season), and costs $10 per dog.  The event raises money for the Capital K9s, an organization that funds the K9 unit of the Madison Police Department.

When setting up the FCI Art Show, I re-fell in love with EventBrite (not an affiliate link)  - and now I’m super bummed that I can’t use the service for the Capital K9s Dog Paddle event.  I forgot how much I love EventBrite.  It’s a fabulous service for free events, and for higher-ticket events.  Not only does it take your registrations, but it encourages your event attendees to tweet and status update their friends about the event.  I love how easily the social media tools are integrated with the registration.  

Unfortunately, Dog Paddle is in that uncomfortable middle — not free, but not expensive enough to make the automation worth it.  Even showing our non-profit status, we’d have to pay 2% + 99 cents per ticket, PLUS the2.9% plus 30 cent transaction fee through Paypal.  That would end up costing us $2 for every $10 .  So for now, we’ll have to take Dog Paddle registrations the old fashioned pen and paper way. (You know how much I hate that.)  The good news is that the event is so popular that we sell out anyway.  We usually have over 1000 dogs come-and-go throughout the course of the day.  (WOW!)

If you’re in the Madison / Middleton area, I encourage you to come out for these two great — but very different —  events that are raising money for two great causes. 

Do you ever go back and read your Facebook Status updates or your Twitter stream? 

If you don’t, go do it right now….I’ll wait…..

Did you do it?  What did you see? 

Reviewing of your status updates is like looking yourself in the mirror.  Without self-reflection, you don’t have insight as to how others are perceiving you.  Even if you are mostly using social media for personal reasons, your status updates can leak over and affect your business reputation.  Marketing is all about perception.

An interesting, visually appealing way to see your status updates is to use wordle.  Click on the picture at right to see my Twitter Wordle.  I created this by first bringing my Twitter stream into http://www.tweetstats.com, and then converting it to this visual using http://www.wordle.net.  (Thanks to @unmarketing for the idea, which I got from his blog)

There are times when I don’t like what I see in my social media profiles, and I simply adjust.  But there are some people that I’d bet never look back at their own updates.  If they did, they’d probably change what they post.  Many of these “culprits” are friends and family members who I adore, and I don’t think are “bad” — but I wonder if others who know them less well are getting the wrong impression.  These are the 5 potentially damaging pattens that I see.  Please let me know if you have any to add.

5 Patterns to Watch Out For

1. Too Much Drinking:  If you sign off every night with… “COCKTAIL HOUR, PAR-TAY TIME, or It’s WINE-THIRTY!” Some people might think (rightly or wrongly) that you are boozing it up every night, which might affect your ability to get hired.
2. Too Much Play: If you are constantly posting quizzes you’ve taken, playing Farmville or other games, and you are trying to build a professional reputation, people might not get the impression that you’re serious…especially if you are playing during business hours.
3. Too Much Work: People have differing styles as to how much is too much, but if you are constantly in SELL, SELL, SELL, PUSH, PUSH, PUSH mode, you are probably working at it way too hard, and I’d bet your profile is being hidden by lots of people.
4. Too Much Whining:  We all need a shoulder to cry on from time to time, but some people might as well have, I’M A VICTIM plastered on their profile.  Life can’t be all bad, can it?  The extremists in this category leave you to guess what’s wrong.  Their status updates are vague, “Why me?!” pleas for sympathy. 
5. Too Offensive:  Religion. Politics. Sex. Drugs. Swearing. Inappropriate Pictures. Do I really need to remind you that your social media posts are going down on your permanent record?  Some people will be offended…especially if you are attacking others.  You might not care.  It’s your choice, but just go into it with eyes wide open knowing that choices have consequences.

What about you?  What patterns do you see that others might not notice?

I spent New Year’s Eve with my parents this year.  My dad is recovering from open heart surgery and had a tough year overall.  Our New Years’ toast went something like,

“To hell with 2009.  May we never see your like again.  To a bright new future in 2010.”

We weren’t alone in that sentiment.  2009 was a tough year!  But it wasn’t all bad.   And sometimes the good gets forgotten.  We set our New Year’s Resolutions on what we want to improve, but we forget to pat ourselves on the back for the goals we did accomplish.   

Personally, I achieved two huge goals in 2010. 

1. I moved my family across the country to a location where I wanted to live.
2. I launched a second business, The Art of Online Marketing, focused on one-to-many marketing training. 

What did you do that WORKED this year?  What went right?   Is there a way that you can continue to capitalize on what you did?  By focusing on the positive and reinforcing your ability to create what you want, you just might be inspired with the confidence you need to make other changes.   In marketing.  In life!

By the way, if one of your goals is to figure out this “social media stuff,” we have an intro training session coming up on January 20^th at 10:00 a.m. PST.  Find out more at http://www.theartofonlinemarketing.com

Do you podcast?  Should you? 

 For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, Wikipedia’s podcast definition is this:

A podcast is a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and downloaded through web syndication.  (Read rest of podcast definition.)

I was having a conversation with John Jantsch, the author of Duct Tape Marketing, at our coaches conference a couple of weeks back.  He and several of my Duct Tape Marketing colleagues were raving about the effectiveness of small business podcasts.  I haven’t added this tool to my marketing mix (yet), but I am considering it. 

I like the freedom that a podcast brings.  Your listener isn’t chained to their desk.  They can be walking the dog, driving in their car, at the gym, and filling otherwise unproductive moments with your business wisdom.  They are getting to know, like and trust you in a deeper way, because hearing your voice is more powerful than just reading your words. 

So I guess my question is this.  Do you subscribe to podcasts?  Why or why not? 

If you’re just not sure where to find podcasts, here are a few “top 15″ lists to get started.

• 15 Podcasts That Will Make You Richer by Business Pundit
• 15 Podcasts That Will Make You Smarter by College Crunch
• 15 Podcasts Every Geek Should Listen To by Make Use Of

Being a smart, rich geek.  I’d be OK with that!

This video is proof that B2B company videos don’t have to be boring!  Companies can create something that people want to share — and they can get their core message across at the same time.

By the way, thanks to Robert Lesser for sharing his Direct Impact Now blog on LinkedIn, which linked to the Bnet Sales Machine blog that posted this YouTube video.  I bet Kadient gets more mileage and more customers from this video than from 1000 hours of telemarketing.

But social media marketing doesn’t work for B2B companies, does it?  Oh, it does?  Huh. 

Are you part of the Orange County Duct Tape Marketing Group yet?  Our March topic is Blogging for Business!

If you’re not blogging about your business, you are missing out on one of the most effective and affordable ways to promote your business online! Blogging is the foundation of social media marketing, providing fresh conversations. In this meeting, you will learn why blogging is should be a foundational part of your marketing mix. We’ll also discuss:

• Why blogging is an extremely effective marketing strategy for small businesses right now.
• Finding keywords that will bring the most traffic from search results.
• How to develop persuasive, compelling content in just minutes.
• Leveraging your blog to influence friends in online social networks.
• How to develop persuasive, compelling content in just minutes.
• Etiquette, tips and tricks that make you look like a pro!

Why should you attend?

Blogging is an easy and fun way to promote your business – BUT if you don’t have your blog set up right, you won’t be getting the full business benefits.

Register to learn about Blogging for Business

MEETING AGENDA:

5:30 Welcome and Networking – Appetizers Served
6:00-7:30 Marketing Meeting
7:30-8:00 Wrap Up

Come mingle with other small business owners, marketing and sales professionals as you learn how to apply Duct Tape Marketing’s principles to your business. Veteran marketing professional, Adrianne Machina of Tornado Marketing, an Authorized Duct Tape Marketing Coach, will facilitate a discussion on the practical steps you can take to market your business affordably and effectively.

No.  Well, sort of.  But not really.

If you just read my Tornado Marketing blog, you’d probably think I devoted 24/7 to social media consulting – but that’s not true.  I actually don’t consider myself a social media consultant.  I consider myself a marketing consultant. 

Social media is just ONE tool in the metaphoric marketing toolbelt – one that my customers, readers and friends are trying to make sense of right now. So even though I write a lot about social media, it’s  because social media new and it’s changing the marketing game. Smart businesses need to start paying attention to social media marketing – but not at the expense of everything else.  

I don’t want my customers or my readers to forget about the basic blocking and tackling of marketing, like:

• Do you know who your ideal customer is?
• Do you have a way to communicate with them?
• Are you able to articulate your differentiation?
• Are you marketing consistently?
• Is your material educational, persuasive and smart? 
• Do you make it easy for people to do business with you?
• Do you provide good products and services?

Marketing has never been about doing “one thing” right.  I hate to tell you this, but there is no magic bullet that will transform your business overnight.  Marketing is about doing lots of things right, learning from everything you do, and marketing your business consistently and professionally. 

Yes, you should have social media as part of your mix. Yes, you can call on me for social media consultation if you need help.  But I just don’t want you thinking that social media is the end-all be-all of marketing.  When you call, I’ll ask you to take a holistic look at your business and your marketing practices – and then we can talk about how social media marketing can work for you.  Fair enough? 

While marketers remain firmly convinced of the value of social media marketing, executives in the C-Suite may not yet be convinced.  So how do you speak their language, and help your CFO, CTO or CEO understand how social media marketing can help you grow your business?

Well, shoot, I couldn’t say it any better than this:   http://www.interactiveinsightsgroup.com/blog1/how-to-sell-social-media-to-cynics-skeptics-luddites-tips-resources-advice/  Robin and John have compiled a list from social media experts who explain:

• 8 Tips for Selling Social Media to CFOs
• Selling Social Media “Up” to Management
• How to Champion Social Media at Work
• 12 Ways to Sell Social Media to Your Boss
• 10 Common Objections to Social Media Adoption
• And so many more great articles about Social Media Marketing!

The benefit of social media marketing isn’t always immediately obvious.  It can look like too much fun to be “real work” – and I’ll be the first to admit it can be a collossal waste of time if you aren’t doing it right.  

Like any marketing strategy, you need to decide whether social media is an appropriate tactic for you, and if it is – how will you execute?  How, who, when and where will you engage with social media marketing?  How will you justify the time spent to your CFO?  How will you measure your ROI? 

Thanks Robin and John for that great list of How to Sell Social Media to Your Boss!  Keep up the great work!