Virtual Impax - Page 26 of 72 - Effective Strategic Digital Marketing

Effective Selling Using Social Media

April 13, 2009 by Kathy Hendershot-Hurd

Let’s face facts- the reason many business owners are interested in social media marketing and are Twitterpated by Twitter is not that they’re anxious to make a “connection” with potential customers but rather that they’re anxious to close sales.

For example, most business owners who are “hot” to learn more about Twitter, have heard the tales of how Dell uses Twitter to close millions of dollars in sales. As a result, most businesses are interested in using Twitter to boost their bottom line in a similar fashion.

The problem is, many businesses are so focused on making a sale today that they fail to recognize that closing sales in the new millennium requires establishing a significant amount of TRUST!!

Trust isn’t earned in a single “transaction”.

Social media is a GREAT tool to build trust – but in order to do so, you must first be trustworthy!!! In my post The REAL reasons why you should be using “social media” I state that:

The REAL reason you need to be using [insert social media application of choice] is to establish TRUST with other human beings.

Trust – trust is the foundation of making sales in the new millennium.

Social media is as viral as it is transparent. Just try being less than “authentic” in the realm of social media and you’ll quickly discover how brutal the new social media based web can be.

My favorite illustrations of this principle are still Cash4Gold Social Media Meltdown and the Belkin Social Media Payola Scandal which both CLEARLY illustrate that when it comes to Social Media Marketing – authenticity is essential because transparency is not optional.

However, when you’re authentic – when you’re really serious about providing a product or service that addresses a customer’s GDP (Goals, Desires and Problems – you’re either trying to help them Achieve a Goal, Satisfy a Desire or Solve a Problem – learn more in my book Beyond the Niche: Essential Tools You Need to Create Marketing Messages that Deliver Results) then the new web – the social media web – can truly be the best thing since sliced bread for your business.

See, if your business model is based on “people are idiots – and easily parted with their hard earned cash” then you’re going to HATE the new web. You’re going to HATE how people can share their experiences with your company. You’re going to HATE how transparent and viral the new web is.

However, if your business model is based on truly meeting the needs of your customers or clients – well, then be prepared to work a little harder up front in building trust – because there are a lot of “slimy SOB’s” (that’s straight out of an email from a new client this morning) out there claiming to do what you say you do. However, you can also be prepared to start getting new business falling into your lap thanks to the new web.

In her post “Selling isn’t Selling Anymore” Betsy Wuebker writes:

The masters of sales psychology […] have routinely stressed building rapport, listening skills, problem-solving, and other relationship-builders are a better path . The funny thing is, when you employ relationship-builders they – wait for this – build relationships. You become a colleague by virtue of the relationship you’ve cultivated. You don’t need to consciously ABC because you’re trusted. Trust will close the sale for you every time.

That’s part of the “magic” of social media. Social media tools such as blogs, Twitter and Facebook are great ways to build trust with potential customers or clients. Trust is the big kahuna – the big wave – the success maker.

Thanks to social media, I find I don’t spend very much time at all in “closing” new clients on my services. They’re “pre-closed” thanks to my social media presence. It’s a beautiful thing – but it didn’t happen by writing 2 or 3 blog posts and then sitting back and waiting for my email to fill with client requests!!!

If you read the last line and thought “Doh!” then please, feel free to contact me about working together. See, the 7th layer of hell in my business are the clients who expect to write two or three blog posts and then magically find those precious blog posts gaining top 10 SERPS on highly competitive keywords.

Social media doesn’t work like that. Building trust doesn’t work like that. If you can’t summon more than 2 or 3 blog posts on the topic which you claim “expert” status – perhaps you don’t deserve the “trust” of potential clients.

In the blog post Gain Readers by Selling Yourself, Barbara Swafford tells the tale of the days when she was employed to reach out and connect with customers – a.k.a. telemarketing. She ends the post with a poignant admonition:

Today’s Lesson

For our blog to succeed, we must sell it. And, in selling our blog, we are also selling ourselves.

Yes indeedy doody. Social media is ALL about selling ourselves. You might think you work with “corporations” but trust me, you don’t. You are an individual who works with other individuals employed by corporations. Jason Cohen writes about this subject in his post “How to get customers to love you even when you screw up” and he writes:

If you pretend to be something you’re not, they’ll see right through it. Then what have you done? You’ve lied to those who would have loved you for who you are; that’s not how you build a relationship.

Relationships and trust are the KEY elements in social media marketing.

If there is any “magic” in social media it is brought to the table – BY YOU!

Social Media Marketing can’t be “pre-packaged” and “canned”. That’s not how social media works.

Years ago, when businesses started pre-packaging and mass delivering canned email marketing messages without any attempt to engage the end user or build trust – well, it quickly got dubbed as “spam”.

There are tons of tools being promoted to help you pre-package your social media messages. Trust me, none of them will work nearly as well as sharing your true and authentic self. That’s how you build relationships and trust that are essential to creating an effective sales tool.

Social Media and Communication: How your mindset shapes the mesage.

April 9, 2009 by Kathy Hendershot-Hurd

Social media marketing is all about communication.

Communication is a funny thing in that such a small part of communication is the words we say, write or read.

The whole “context” issue is a huge one in communication.

I got a clear lesson in this today.

How I ended up with a brown paper bag filled with 10 multi-colored condoms instead of moist towelettes.

This morning, I had to take my oldest son to the health department to get a vaccine he’ll need to live in a dorm in college next year. As we signed in, I was acutely aware that we were entering a place filled with “ill patients”.

I guess the recent conversations I’ve been having about a horrible flu virus that is going around must have been triggered as I was signing in. One of our friends was actually hospitalized recently because of this “super bug” and a client of mine was complaining that one of her trainers was sick with it yesterday. I share this to properly frame what happened next.

As I’m signing in, I see a basket on the counter with a sign that says,

“Take one and protect yourself.”

The basket is filled with brown paper bags, neatly folded and taped shut.

Remember, the overwhelming thought in my mind at the moment is, “Oh please, I really don’t want to get sick with that flu.”

So I grab one of the packages, confident the “protection” it provides will be against the myriad of diseases being incubated in the life sized petri dish called a waiting room. I pick up the brown paper bag along with the number assigned to us and I head to the crowded waiting room.

My son asks, “Hey! What’s in the bag?”

I reply, “The sign says it’s “protection”. Maybe it’s a shank!”

I’m not joking as much as I’d like to be. A couple of the people in the waiting room were kind of scary looking and a shank might come in handy.

My son snickers at my comment. I continue, “No, seriously it’s hand sanitizer.”

With that statement still hanging in the air, I open the bag and reach in. I was expecting to extract those little packets with the moist towelette inside. Instead, I pull out a brightly colored condom.

It wasn’t exactly the kind of “protection” I was expecting.

I guess my utterance of surprise was very audible. My mistake was on display for all, much the distress/ amusement of everyone in the waiting room.

I spent the rest of the visit enduring relentless razzing from my 18 year old son. I made sure to let him know that the proper use of one of those 18 years earlier would have meant I would have had this morning free to do what I wanted instead of dragging him to the health department.

I still defend my misconception… er, misunderstanding of the sign!

I mean, my greatest concern wasn’t catching an STD or preventing pregnancy – my most pressing concern was making sure I didn’t contract one of the multitude of diseases being incubated in that waiting room!

By the way, I did eventually find an antibacterial goo dispenser when we entered the 2nd “inner” waiting room and I doused myself liberally.

The moral of the story and how this applies to social media marketing…

When people arrive at your blog, website or other advertising material, they already have a conversation going on inside their head. If the conversation on your blog – on your website or in your advertising materials isn’t clear – you might be surprised at how “distorted” you message can get.

Had I seen that basket at the check-in counter of a strip joint, I probably wouldn’t have been confused as to what they meant by “protection”. However, as I looked at the sea of coughing and visibly ill people – I wasn’t thinking sexy thoughts – I was trying to figure out how to escape without catching what they had!

I just wonder how many children have grabbed one of those bags and been treated to an impromptu sexual education lesson in the lobby of the county health department. I’m just happy I wasn’t having to explain to a six year old why he couldn’t play with the brightly colored, individually wrapped balloons.

Context plays a HUGE role in communication…. both on and off the web!

Removing the Cat Turds from the Social Media Sandbox

April 2, 2009 by Kathy Hendershot-Hurd

Did you have a sandbox as a kid? I did and it was place where I could play and be as creative and constructive as my heart desired.

It was GREAT fun to play in my sandbox until the fateful day when I realized that my play area had become a port-a-pot for the neighborhood cats.

I remember trying to clean up my sandbox so I could enjoy it again, but once the neighborhood cats found my little patch of sand in the backyard

-there was no going back.

Years later, when I had children of my own, imagine my delight to discover that some other entrepreneurial soul had come up with a solution – a sandbox WITH A COVER! I bought the first one I saw for my kids.

The catch?

Once the kids were done playing, they had to put the cover back on the sandbox before they came inside. Being kids – my kids specifically – the practice of placing the cover over the top of the sandbox stopped after – oh, say the third day. It wasn’t long before I heard the wails as my children discovered – the hard way – the consequences of not covering their beloved sandbox.

The Social Media Sandbox

A blog is a tool in the social media sandbox… just like the pink pail in the image above. Fill the pail with dry sand and when you turn the bucket over – the sand will pour out into a shapeless pile.

There’s not much fun in that.

However, when you add a little H2O to the sand- suddenly the sand retains it shape! The addition of a little water creates a literally endless array of possibilities for creativity and construction!

When we first moved to Florida, I purchased an book on building sand sculptures. It was fascinating, but I realized that I really didn’t want to work that hard when I went to the beach. However, I learned that scooping wet sand into a bucket and overturning it isn’t the ONLY way to build a sand castle.

If you’ve wondered why your blog hasn’t been delivering the results you wanted to see from it – it’s because:

You haven’t been adding water to the sand.
You haven’t been adding the right amount of water to the sand.
You not using your bucket correctly.

If you’ve ever gone to the beach and begun an ambitious sand castle project, you’ll notice that the further along you get in the construction of your sand castle – the more “interest” you’ll get from passers by.

Sit on the beach and dump dry sand out of your bucket for hours on end, and all you’ll get is a few pitying glances.

On the other hand, when you begin an ambitious sand castle building project – well, at first you won’t get much attention either.

However, as you build it and it become apparent that you’re building something big – people will start to notice. People will start to gather – curious to watch the process. You may find you actually get volunteers who want to help become a part of what you’re building.

Social Media Marketing is just like Building Sandcastles

You have to start with the end in mind. If you don’t have a strategy in place when you begin using social media, you can’t expect social media to yield results.
At first, no one will notice – or care what you’re doing. Most people can’t “see” it with their mind before they see it with their eyes. It’s not until your sand castle starts to take shape that people begin to notice.
Even when there are lots of people on the beach – very few of them are building sand castles. Most people at the beach are lying in the sun. More people are reading books than building sand castles.

Sandcastles and sandboxes are a great analogy for social media.

If you don’t have the right “strategy” (knowing what to do – a.k.a. adding water and knowing the end result – a.k.a. “a plan”) you’ll just find yourself scooping sand and pouring dry sand. Playing like that in the sandbox loses its appeal quickly and when the cats arrive, well – it makes it easy to abandon the sandbox for good.

The key to creating a work of art sandcastle includes knowing WHAT you want to build. Once you know what you want to build, then the techniques for achieving the desired results are actually quite simple. The same it true for blogging – and every other tool in the social media marketing toolbox.

Social media can be a GREAT sandbox – one with unlimited opportunities for creativity and construction – the rub is you need to make certain you have a social media strategy in place so you can create beautiful sandcastles. Even if you’re miles away from the closest beach – you can still add water and have fun creating your own sandcastles in your backyard – even if you’re miles from the closest beach.

April Fool and Liar – Liar – Pants on Fire

April 1, 2009 by Kathy Hendershot-Hurd

social media transparency I have a confession – I’ve never gotten the appeal of “April Fool’s” jokes.

Prankster: “Ha! Ha! You believed me! I lied and you believed me. YOU ARE SUCH AN IDIOT!”

One upon whom the joke was perpetrated: “Yep! You got me. You’re right. I WAS an idiot to believe what you said. Fool me once – shame on you. Fool me twice – shame on me. Don’t worry – I won’t trust you again.”

While I don’t get the whole “I’ve lied to you. I’ve abused your trust- now laugh and forget about it,” behind the traditional April Fool’s pranks, I especially don’t get WHY anyone would try to pull an “April Fool’s” joke on their blog. If there’s one message everyone with a blog, Facebook or Twitter account needs to hear it’s this:

WHAT YOU WRITE ONLINE TODAY MAY LIVE ON THE INTERNET FOREVER!

In past generations, newspaper editors could “play” April Fool’s pranks because of the ephemeral nature of the media. However, the rules have changed since the days when the daily newspaper was the standard for mass communication – much to the chagrin of traditional media moguls.

The Internet has take Transparency from Transient to Permanent in less than a decade!

I understand why people are having trouble making the transition from a world where transparency was an option to be exercised into a world where transparency is no longer transitory and now permanent.

For thousands of years, mankind has sought to create an element of permanency in written communication. Instead of scrawling images in the dirt or sand, cave men put pictures on the walls of the cave because they lasted longer. Years later, men carved words in stone in order to preserve them for eternity. It was labor intensive – but when the message was important – it was worth the effort.

The point is – that in order to create a lasting message – one that could withstand the elements and the ravages of time, man had to take extra ordinary precautions to preserve early forms of communication.

The very nature of the Internet has removed the elements of “time, effort, care and caution” from the preservation of the electronic communications.

People are learning the lessons of the “new world” the HARD way every day. The tales are rampant of how Facebook can get you fired. Heck, there’s even a term for getting fired because of your blog – it’s called getting “Dooced.” Daniel Terdiman wisely asked himself the question, Is there such as thing as being fired for Twittering? He writes:

Well, today I was thinking about Twittering something and I began to wonder if maybe doing so might get me in trouble at work. And that got me to thinking about whether there’d been any cases yet of someone getting Dooced for Twittering. Call it being “Twooced.”

The answer of course is a resounding “Yes!” – Twitter can get you fired – as evidenced by the now infamous Cisco Fatty. What I find AMAZING is that Connor Riley is working on a masters degree in information technology yet she writes on her blog,

Unfortunately, a Cisco employee (actually, I’m not sure if he’s an employee or enthusiast or what) happened to be browsing public mentions of the company on Twitter and immediately called me out on what seemed like a hugely callous and rude thing to say

Um – sweetie – that was not an unfortunate oopsie – that is what is called REPUTATION MANAGEMENT! While Cisco may be cutting edge in employing this – it will soon become the NORM and not the EXCEPTION.

The reason reputation management is becoming big business is simple….

The Internet is NOT ephemeral. Your blog is NOT ephemeral. Even Twitter is not ephemeral.

Barbara Ling has left comments on this blog sharing her own “Golden Rule” of business communication:

“I live by the creed, my kids will find EVERYTHING I write online…”

Whether it’s your kids, your potential employer or your potential customers – communicating like everything you write online will live forever is an EXCELLENT mind set to adopt.

Which brings me back to my original bashing of April Fool’s posts on this day. What happens when your April Fool’s post enters the Web Archive? Will it be immediately evident that it is truly an April Fool’s prank post?

With that thought in mind, the biggest April Fools story is the Conflicker Internet Worm story . This “prank” is one I can actually endorse because in the end, it got the media talking about internet security. If those stories get people to install antivirus software and keep it updated – well, now THAT is a prank with the greater good in mind!

A Love/Hate relationship with Social Media Marketing

March 27, 2009 by Kathy Hendershot-Hurd

It seems like EVERYONE is in LOVE with social media marketing and I thoroughly understand the appeal. After all, most of the tools of the social media marketing trade are notoriously easy on the checkbook.

Anyone with a little web savvy, a sense of adventure and the willingness to put in the time and effort to learn the rules of the social media sandbox can make a lasting online impression with a minimal outlay of cash.

If you’re a bootstrapping entrepreneur who has more time than money, social media marketing might seem like answered prayer.

Chris Brogan likens using social media marketing to a popular non-prescription mother’s little helper ( a.k.a. Hamburger Helper) in his blog post Pirate Moves.

[Social Media Marketing is like Hamburger Helper because it’s] less expensive and it stretches everything out more. Nothing listed above costs more than a single advertisement placed in a mainstream magazine or large market newspaper.

Chris’ argument is flawless – yet it overlooks an important element – one skillfully addressed by Jason Cohen in his blog post, “Please stop saying social media marketing is free.” Jason writes:

Social media is expensive. In fact, it’s more expensive than traditional media. It just comes in the form of spending time instead of spending money.

Jason points out that for those who aren’t already up to speed on the basics of SEO and other realities of the web, that hiring the TALENT needed to make social media marketing work can be a VERY cash intensive expense.

In the beginning, when many solo entrepreneurs have more time than money as they’re building their business, many are willing to trade time for money.

Social media marketing may be the BEST investment you can make in the future of your business – but you have to make sure you do it RIGHT! There is definitely a “dark side” to social media marketing!

Social Media Reality Check

It’s important to remember that the blog posts and comments you create today will live forever because the internet never forgets.

Brian Friedlander tells a compelling tale from the “Dark Ages” of social media of a marketing manager who left a blog comment on a blog post reviewing her company’s product. The blog post not only became a platform for discussion in the moment- it continues to get GREAT SERPS for the term [product + review] five years later. Brian writes in The Power of One Knowledgeable, Dedicated Social Media Marketer:

Katie followed the basic tenets of corporate social media:

find where the conversation is happening

listen

get involved

be transparent

be helpful

These are GREAT rules for anyone who wants to participate in social media marketing to take to heart. If you follow them, you’ll find that blogging and other means of social media marketing will be the best thing since – well since Hamburger Helper for building your budding business.

However, it’s not always rainbows and buttercups when it comes to social media marketing.

In Social Media Marketing – What you don’t know CAN hurt you

For a lesson in what NOT to do when it comes to social media marketing – let’s take a look at a situation over at Sugarrae SEO Consulting.

A while ago, Rae Hoffman paid to have a WordPress plugin created and in the spirit of social media – offered the plug in for free to others who needed the functionality the plugin provided.

It’s said no good deed goes unpunished, and such is the case here.

Remember, Rae has a business to run and she’s providing this plug in FOR FREE. Despite preparing an EXCEPTIONAL FAQ for the plugin, she still gets email from people who expect her to hold their hand and walk them through the process of getting the plugin to work exactly as they want it to on their blog.

To quote the movie Mystery Men, “The mooch factor is high with this crowd.”

Remember when I said you needed a “sense of adventure” to succeed in social media? Well, there’s nothing more “adventurous” than crashing your blog and then rebuilding it! Does it suck? Of course it does! However, you’ll learn more in that experience than any 5 credit hour course can teach! (If you have to PAY someone else to fix your crashed blog – well, then writing that check will be equally instructional in nature as well.)

Well, James Cook of Kawink didn’t want to get burned and asked for free help from Rae. When he didn’t find it forthcoming, he got angry. So despite the fact that Rae proudly declares in her header, “Never mess with a woman who can pull rank” James decided to throw down with Rae.

As a result, the preeminent conversation about James Cook of Kawink lies in the hands of a woman at whom he has hurled email insults and threats.

A Google search of [James Cook of Kawink] shows Rae’s blog post at #1 and #2 – above any content he carefully crafted in order to promote his start up business.

At the moment – I’m pretty sure James Cook is HATING watching the “laws” of social media marketing at work. He’s about to discover the new and exciting world of online reputation management.

I hope for his sake, the saying is true, “There’s no such thing as bad press” but I kind of doubt it. I can’t imagine anything WORSE for a top Google Serp on my name plus business than that particular blog post.

Cath Lawson says, You’re Nobody until You Get Hate Messages. If you’re tempted to send such a message, take a lesson from my Pest Control company, Truly Nolen. When you’re dealing with a blogger who can definitely pull rank (page rank that is) take the conversation OFF LINE.

Most blog owners just can not resist posting a nice, juicy bit of hate email – especially one riddled with grammatical and spelling errors. However, if at all possible, try to avoid sending such a hate message to someone who spends 10 hours a day eating/drinking/breathing SEO.

When you have a beef with someone who has a blog – it’s best to heed the wise words of Betsy Wuebker left in a comment on my post The shit fight is beginning- should you join in?

The big questions anyone has to answer when these situations arise are: what’s the hunt about and for; do I have a dog in it; if I do, how big is my dog; and finally, does my dog really and honestly hunt – to the best of its ability?