Social Media Strategy for Small Business – Part 2

Posted on 18. Jan, 2010 by 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 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…