Social Media Strategy for Small Business – Part 3
Posted on 08. Feb, 2010 by phizzmedia in Blog
Social Media Strategy for Small Business – Part 2 was a discussion about managing your 3 Paradigms and implementing a simple methodology of addressing those 3 Paradigms called 53 Steps to Growing Your Social Media Presence.
Plan your work... Work Your Plan
Previously Phizz discussed the 3 Paradigms and ways to communicate within those portions of your client/prospect base. Now Phizz will discuss the consistency you and your organization need to have with these interactions. It’s difficult sometimes for people to grasp the idea that Social Media has a heavy emphasis on the “Social” part. With this being said think of how many times you interact with people on a daily basis. It’s probably too many to count and for that reason you should treat your social networks and paradigms similarly. This doesn’t mean you need to constantly be checking your Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter accounts, but it does mean you need to be consistent and present.
So let’s look at it this way… If you know you need to be implementing your 5 Cubed approach then the next question is with what frequency, right?
Phizz believes you and your team need to decide upon a schedule, and then grow from there. Some businesses and their teams are ready to jump in and participate hourly, while others are ready to do so once or twice a week. The main idea is to develop a plan and stick to it, once you’ve mastered that schedule then move forward and increase your participation.
How about the analogy of the novice weight lifter versus Arnold Schwarzenegger. If you’re in great shape and lift everyday you may increase your resistance and reps at strenuous rates and with frequency, but if you’re just starting to work out it’s a good idea to work into a routine and then gradually increase until you’re body is ready for the next step. Eventually you’re in great shape and you dynamically change your workout as you see fit.
Here’s a very simple routine to start with…
The Single Most Important Tool for Efficiency Ever!
Posted on 05. Feb, 2010 by phizzmedia in Blog
Phizz recently started using Evernote to organize anything and everything that came up on a daily basis. Photos, handwritten notes, video, text…
Anything is notable with Evernote!
What a great program, thank you to the developers and all the rest of the Evernote team, you’ve made our notes Phizzy!
Social Media Strategy for Small Business – Part 2
Posted on 18. Jan, 2010 by phizzmedia in Blog
Social Media Strategy for Business – Part 1 introduced the “3 Portions of Your Social Media Paradigm”. As a business you’ve always had these portions to deal with and now it’s time to translate them in an online social environment. Traditionally you or your sales team sets goals or builds campaigns to manage follow up with past clients, prospects and to find new opportunities. The good news is… It’s no different in your 3 Social Media Paradigms!
Review of the 3 Paradigms
1. Recognizing the Past
2. Keeping Up With the Present
3. Moving Into the Future
Each portion represents a section of normal relationship management and is similar to how you always deal with the client cycle, right? Traditionally we stay in touch with our past clients to continue to earn their business or get referred to a new prospect; we stay up to date on our industry and consumer needs so we can provide value to past clients and clients we’re currently prospecting; and we work toward earning new relationships through cold calling, drip marketing, branding campaigns, etc. What’s so wonderful about Social Media and the inter-connectivity of the Paradigms within Social Media is much of this is accomplished very simply.
53 Steps to Growing Your Social Media Presence
Here’s how it works in words. You need to accomplish 5 Actions in each of the 3 Paradigms in All Your Social Media Arenas and do it Consistently.
Example 1: 5 Actions > 3 Paradigms In a Traditional Sense
Past – Write 5 thank you cards to existing or past clients
Present – Send out (via email, print or by phone) 5 advertisements to let past and potential clients know of your services
Future – Obtain 5 new prospects to build your pipeline
This results in 15 actions and covers the paradigms of your traditional sphere.
Example 2: 5 Actions > 3 Paradigms > 1 Social Media Arena (Facebook)
Past – Comment on 5 friends wall/photos/status updates
Present – Update your wall/add a photo/start or join a group in any combination that adds to 5
Future – Via your current relationships or by searching, invite 5 people to be your friend
Again this represents 15 actions, but the powerful part about these actions lay in the fact that not only did your brand get noticed by the intended client, it got noticed by many of the client’s friends and family. Basically, your company just automatically took care of the Future Paradigm by addressing the Past and Present Paradigms. Also, as this progresses your Future Paradigm will grow legs of its own by shear participation in the Past and Present Paradigm. You can imagine what would happen if you applied this to other communities like LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube or any of the others available online.
Stay tuned for Social Media Strategy for Business – Part 3 where Phizz will address consistency aspects of the 53 Steps to Growing Your Social Media Presence…
Social Media Strategy for Small Business – Part 1
Posted on 11. Jan, 2010 by phizzmedia in Blog
A key part to your Social Media Strategy is your Social Media Paradigm. This presence is gained by many things, but none more important than your ability to manage conversation. Let Phizz start with this…
Just the other day a client said, “Oh so you mean it’s back to good old, face to face interaction? Without the face to face?” With a sense of relief and a puzzled look on his face he made a break through about what needed to be done. What provoked him to come to this conclusion? What was this conclusion and what did it have to do with his social media presence? Through the conversation we discussed these concepts which helped him arrive at this epiphany…
3 Portions of Your Social Media Paradigm
1. Recognizing the Past
2. Keeping Up With the Present
3. Moving Into the Future
Let Phizz explain what this has to do with your paradigm. Search Engine Optimization is important, and in this ever changing world of the mysterious Google Algorithm you’re going to need fresh content, link to fresh content and be relevant. I know there’s plenty more to Google SEO (check out the SEO Starter Guide), but let’s not confuse the fact that Social Media Paradigm is about your online conversation with real people and their response to that interaction (and vice versa). Remember what the client above said, “Oh so you mean it’s back to good old, face to face interaction? Without the face to face?”
Recognizing the Past
The “past” portion of your Social Media Paradigm relates to established relationships and maintaining past clients. No matter what medium you use (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.) you want to make sure and acknowledge your past associations. Acknowledgment can come in many different forms, it basically means treat past relationships with an attitude of gratitude. For example, you could comment on someone’s wall in response to one of their photos or status updates, maybe it’s posting a photo or video of that client and sharing it with them, on the other hand you might want to write them a wonderful recommendation or reTweet one of their Tweets. You’ll start to think of more as you implement this as you practice. People and clients love it when you recognize them and take interest in what “they are doing”, in turn they’ll recognize what “you’re doing”.
Keeping Up With the Present
The “present” portion of your Social Media Paradigm relates to establishing your brand’s personality. This is derived from your current endeavors and keeping up with current events as they relate to your industry and services. This should be an easy task once you put your content goggles on. In your daily routine you and your company are generating content all day long; as an expert in your company’s field you’re already doing research to stay competitive, provide better service and a myriad of other things. Guess what? Your client cares about these things, especially if they’re going to make a decision to buy. You want to share this content with your audience regularly within a schedule so your audience comes to expect it from you. People and clients love it when they can watch “what you’re doing” as it relates to a product or service they require.
Moving Into the Future
The “future” portion of your Social Media Paradigm relates to building your online network. This is no different than building your social sphere in real life. Many businesses operate on the ever important “referral” and it’s widely recognized that referrals can be an extremely cost effective way to generate new business. You’ve heard the saying, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” More than that, “It’s who you know and what they’re telling their friends about your brand/company.” The same goes for you social media presence. The future of your Social Media Paradigm ties to actively adding people to your network via the associations you already have. Social media can do this for you in a very automatic way when you heed to the system of keeping consistent with the “past and present” portions of your paradigm. (Nancy Baym, Professor at University of Kansas, does a good job of explaining the general idea in this write up)
Stay tuned for Social Media Strategy for Business – Part 2…
Happy Thanksgiving…
Posted on 26. Nov, 2009 by phizzmedia in Blog
Have a great Turkey Day!
What are we doing with Social Media?
Posted on 25. Nov, 2009 by phizzmedia in Blog
Plenty right? We’re Blogging, we’re Tweeting, we’re Facebooking, we’re Bizniking, we’re LinkedIn, etc., etc.
The question is this then, what is our strategy? Phizz uses the word “our” loosely because it’s not your problem or Phizz’s problem, it extends to all of us who know there’s something going on online. There are a vast amount of people present within online communities and that means consumers (you know the stats: Google “Social Media Stats”). Interesting enough, many of these communities are established based on similar interests or real life relationships, something that isn’t new to the web. The new twist on things is based on the premise that a business advertises by participating. It’s not about Tweeting a “Sale” or writing “Get your acme anvils half off” on someone’s Facebook Wall.
Social Media is like Television, Radio or Print in that it reaches out and grabs people’s attention, right? The difference is people can reach right back and grab you, or your brand. This is why it’s fundamentally different. So many companies perform surveys of their client’s experience and attempt to determine their client’s satisfaction level with their product. This is great, we all know we can’t improve unless we know what’s wrong. In addition, consumers come to expect quicker more accurate responses to their questions, concerns and inquiries about a product. Chris Brogan President of New Marketing Labs Tweeted a question the other day…
@chrisbrogan How does velocity of information & communication change business?
Phizz responded…
@phizzmedia As Velocity of Info and Communication Increase Client Expectation of Service and Response Time Increases
This roughly translates to participation. We need to participate in our consumer’s conversation, companies can no longer be able to hide behind a survey or a telemarketer who asks canned questions. An email to the “help desk” that disappears into oblivion will no longer be acceptable.
You can’t be everything to everyone, but when it comes to your online strategy you had better be…
Present, Participating & Pertinent.
Phizz is learning a ton about this from:
Chris Brogan
Jason Falls
Dosh Dosh
Darren Rowse
Phizz also subscribes to plenty of RSS Feeds here’s one:
http://www.google.com/reader/shared/phizzmedia
Pheel the Phizz on Twitter @phizzmedia
The Gift of Giving…
Posted on 08. Nov, 2009 by phizzmedia in Blog
Interestingly enough Team Phizz had a chance to meet with Laurie of Stepping Stones to Learning Preschool. It was interesting to meet with her and understand the desires of her organization. One of the most interesting things was learning that “communication” was an important part of what she believed to be a prime function of the school’s website. When Team Phizz introduced the ideas of Social Media and the propensity it has to strengthen communication between her past and present parent base it interested her. It was actually exciting to see Luarie’s understanding increase when we applied Social Media concepts to the schools needs. The concepts of Yelp, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter among other online communities were viable solutions to generating clients, earning referrals and informing current clients of upcoming events.
One last thing both Team Phizz found interesting was a concept of giving introduced in the form of WeeGift. Check it out and feel free to comment here. It’s basically a way to give, get and re-give that encourages unselfish, charity to perfect strangers. Really a great idea!
Social Media Whitepaper… Oh my!
Posted on 05. Nov, 2009 by phizzmedia in Blog
http://www.whitepapersource.com/socialmediamarketing/report/
Phizz would like to take a second and comment on the link above. As we’re working our way into this field and as we’re developing philosophies about what Phizz Media is, who it serves and how it serves them we’ve asked ourselves about what the industry is as a whole. Some of the assumptions we’ve made about Social Media and it’s viability are more than reiterated in this report, but it also revealed more gold nuggets for us.
Phizz Media would like to say thank you to Michael Stelzner and his team for developing this report.
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