Social Networking Online

Last month, we at Sydcam Marketing Communications spoke to you about why we felt social media was a critical and viable marketing strategy for most small (and medium-sized) businesses in this country. Today we would like to talk to about what we believe are the key social media tools small businesses need to consider in executing on their social media program.

The key elements in your social media strategy

With the myriad of social media tools, resources and options available to small business, the question many owners ask us is which tools are best for our needs? While this is sometimes a difficult question, and one that may vary from one client to the next, the most common recommendations we make at Sydcam Marketing Communications are the following:

Blog: Your social media strategy needs to be centred on the creation of a blog (just like us!).  The ability for a blog to provide fresh, new content to your website on a regular basis is one important reason for its value, especially given the impact it has on your search engine rankings.

Twitter is another fabulous tool that enables businesses to send short, targeted messages of interest to their ‘followers’.

Facebook is great resource for promoting your business to clients – old and new – and most importantly for creating a community of people that ‘like’ your business for what you do, how you do it and what you stand for.

YouTube: No one can deny the power of video in capturing an idea or a moment and bringing it all to life. YouTube does this and so much more by creating a medium to house all your company videos in one neat area, and to then use the video content to put a whole different light on your business. Love that Google juice!

LinkedIn: The odd one in the bunch, LinkedIn, while perhaps not the most obvious social media tool for promoting your business, provides an incredible avenue for promoting yourself, your background, skills and credentials and enabling you to connect with colleagues and associates around the world. It helps to build that personal credibility that so many small businesses thrive on for their success.

So there you have it, a multi-pronged approach to social media that can have a noticeable impact on the success of your small business in the near term. And to be clear, it is not essential that you go an open an account tomorrow for each of the services mentioned above. Pick and choose those that you think can benefit you the most, or better still those that you feel most comfortable implementing yourself.

If you’re looking for help and advice on devising your social media strategy for your business, please contact us at Sydcam Marketing Communications. We’d love to hear from you and provide you with some insight, guidance and support to help you grow your business’ presence in this growing area.

Why achieving a consistent, branded communications strategy is critical in the digital era

I recently came across an interesting article in the Harvard Business Review* (HBR) that I wanted to share with my readers. The article talks about a unique aspect within social media: how it is impacting consumer behaviour (and attitudes), the impact it is having on a company’s brand, and how a consistent communications strategy can resolve consumer confusion and improve your bottom line.

At Sydcam Marketing Communications, we understand that social media is changing the sales and marketing landscape. We hope this article will enable you to better understand this new media and help you devise the necessary strategies to take advantage of this digital phenomenon.

The demise of traditional media

We all recognize that technology, the internet, and most recently social media have all adversely affected both traditional media (newspapers, TV, and radio) and traditional methods of marketing (TV and print advertising). However, many of us don’t realize the extent of the impact.

The online communities created by social media have provided a forum for discussing a company, its brands and products. These discussions often take place after a customer has purchased a product, either in the form of a product review or an online discussion.

Lesson #1: The growing importance of the post-purchase stage

In the article, the post-purchase phase of the buying process is referred to as the “Enjoy, advocate, bond” stage. Social media has facilitated consumer’s ability to advocate for (or against) a brand or product, to bond with it and to disseminate information to a wide audience very quickly. Marketers need to allocate more attention and resources to this critical stage of the buying process.

Lesson #2: Shifting the marketing spend

The research highlights that the conventional approach to using paid advertising in traditional media to influence customers before the purchase decision is not effective anymore. Instead, influencing clients post-purchase will have a much greater impact on their satisfaction with their purchase decision, will expedite their future repurchase decision, and will enable them to advocate for the brand through social media  – positively impacting the purchase decisions for many buyers.

Lesson #3: Keep your “branded” messaging consistent

Today’s plethora of marketing and communications channels creates other challenges for businesses – ensuring product and brand messaging is consistent across all channels of communication, from print to social media to product packaging and PR. One of the key concerns noted by consumers in the HBR paper was inconsistent product information and descriptions across different sources and different media, and how this made the purchase decision more difficult.

It is incumbent on companies that they view product and brand messaging from a strategic perspective, and coordinate it more effectively. Research has proven that centralizing this communications role with marketing results in a clearer and more consistent understanding of the brand by consumers; they are then better able to articulate its attributes.

 Implementing a “branded” communications strategy

If you’re looking for assistance in developing a social media plan to improve your marketing and communications efforts, or you’d like to comment on this blog, please contact us at Sydcam Marketing Communications; we’d love to hear from you.

Together we can work on devising a program that will create consistent messaging across your entire organization, strengthen and grow your brand and your customers’ loyalty to it, while helping you become more profitable.

 * “Branding in the Digital Age: You’re Spending Your Money in All the Wrong Places”, Alex MacLean, Harvard Business Review, December, 2010.

http://hbr.org/2010/12/branding-in-the-digital-age/ar/2

Collaborating with our clients probably isn’t that foreign to most of us – we’ve likely done it at some point in our careers. The real question is how often do we do it? Is it just something we do only when it’s convenient or when the client insists upon it? Or is this the approach we often engage in, one that forms a fundamental way to we meet our clients needs?

At Sydcam Marketing Communications, we develop collaborative marketing strategies, plans and communications by working closely with our clients. In this blog we’ll explain to you why we feel so adamant about it.

Collaboration delivers results

As we’ve seen with the explosion of Web 2.0, social networking is all about collaborating with clients to better understand their needs and to provide them with products and services they want. Bottom line, collaboration with clients has been proven to achieve better results and bigger successes. Why you may ask? Well, it can simply be the result of the old adage “two heads are better than one”.

It would be difficult to dispute that our clients possess considerable knowledge about their industries, markets and ultimately, their clients. We need to proactively tap into this wealth of knowledge to deliver superior results for our clients. Engaging them in the planning and decision making process can only benefit us in developing products and services that will truly “wow” them.

How can we make this work?

Many readers may think “this can’t work in my business”. Truthfully, collaboration can occur successfully in a variety of different ways, and with many different players. Employers and employees can collaborate as a team, and industry and academia can also collaborate together.

The most important element to successful collaboration is the willingness of both parties to work together, appreciate each others unique perspectives, be able to contribute and engage fully in the process, and finally be willing to compromise where necessary.

Collaborating with Consumers

In marketing, collaboration can be taken one step further by engaging consumers in the development of marketing strategies, plans and tactics. Through the use of surveys, feedback from social media and “old school” concepts such as focus groups, the consumer can become an integral part of the conversation, identifying what they feel would be the best way to satisfy their needs.

By working collaboratively with either clients or consumers, we’re able to create very practical and pragmatic solutions, and gain a fresh perspective on how best to apply marketing concepts and strategies for maximum affect. In our highly competitive and ever evolving marketplace, it seems inconceivable to ignore this input and information.

If you’re interested in working with a firm that wants to develop collaborative marketing programs with its clients, contact Sydcam Marketing Communications by email at info@sydcamcommunications.com. We want to hear from like-minded businesses that see the value in building stronger relationships as a means to creating better solutions. Let’s work together to build even better mousetraps!

Linkedin is one of the most important online networking sites for professionals, with 80 million members worldwide*. If you’re not a member yet, please check out my Linkedin profile and join today.

I’ve been actively using this networking site for just over two years now. Today I can safely say that my business would be significantly different without it, as I use Linkedin to generate about 20% of my business income. About half of that is comes from existing clients, and the other half represents new business coming from new clients.

Although Linkedin can be used for job search, or simply to join alumni networks and groups, I will share some of my tips and strategies on how to use Linkedin to boost your business, especially if you’re a self-employed service professional.

Part of my business here at the iBizAcademy is teaching and coaching and as many who have attended my live workshops and seminars testify, I teach social networking in plain English, so that even technophobes can apply the new skills immediately.

How To Use Linkedin Polls to Help You Make Better Business Decisions

There are many ways to use Linkedin to grow your client base, but today I will focus on one, lesser-known “application” called Linkedin Polls.

As I always do in my workshops, I will use a real-life example of how I used Linkedin Polls to leverage the collective wisdom and experience business professionals to help me make my own business decisions.

When I started hosting my live training seminars, I thought that weekdays would probably work best, and I picked the 10am-1pm time slot. I figured by 10am people can finish their morning chores, such as driving kids to school, and be ready for business. However, when I started promoting my seminars, occasionally I’d get a reply from someone who is interested in attending but the time didn’t work for them, so they asked if I did any evening classes.

Well, this got me thinking that perhaps my own preferences may not be the same as other peoples’. So how can you figure out what other people think? Ask them! I used the Linkedin Poll application and asked them one simple question: If you have 3 hours to invest in a training seminar to help you boost your business, WHEN would you be most likely to attend? I then sent the link to this poll to my connections and received 58 responses (20% of my connections responded). I was relieved to learn that 48% of respondents did in fact prefer the weekday 10am-1pm time!

So next time you need to make a business decision tap into the collective wisdom of Linkedin members.

To learn more about how to use Linkedin to get more clients subscribe to my blog, or join me at the next Linkedin to the Max! workshop.

*As of Oct. 2010

Boris Mahovac R.G.D.

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I’m writing this post from a veranda with a great view of the north-west Adriatic coast of Croatia, where I’m currently on vacation. This trip is different from our previous vacations in that we’re staying a full 5 weeks, so I needed to bring my laptop to stay in touch with my clients (after I finish this post I need to send an email newsletter for a UK-based client).

Although I did a pretty good job of making sure I have all my passwords with me, I was given a shock by Facebook when I tried logging in for the first time after we landed here. Although I entered my user ID and password Facebook recognised I was trying to log in from a different geographical location and, as a security measure, forced me to confirm my account. At first I thought, great, I like this, but then the trouble started: Facebook used a very unusual method of confirming my account – it asked me to give the names of seven of my Facebook friends! Although I only have a few hundred FB friends, I certainly can’t remember all of their names!

Facebook showed me pictures of no fewer than seven of my friends – but not their default profile photos, but random images from their photo albums, where my friends were sometimes pictured from the side, with other people, or in poor image conditions.

Somehow I managed to confirm my account after two tries, so now I am OK. The moral of this story for you: know thy Facebook friends if you’re planning on traveling abroad.

Please follow this link to book an appointment with me if you’d like to explore ways how to use Facebook to promote your business

Boris Mahovac R.G.D.

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In this video Eric Laffoley of Creative Discovery, shares a testimonial:

I came to this seminar with very little information on social networking — I thought it was something very confusing, and I’ve really have been avoiding it!

After completing the seminar, I understand the concept, I understand the value, and we’ll definitely move in this direction as far as expanding my business, expanding my client base, and ultimately, expanding the level of business I am going to do this year.

Learn more about what you can learn about generating leads and closing more sales! And remember, as a member of my networking circle you can save 15% off tuition — just use the discount code “net15″ in the shopping cart.

Boris Mahovac R.G.D.

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As if you needed any more reasons to attend one of my highly acclaimed business training seminars, I am adding another one: attend any Contacts2Clients business seminar in April, May or June, and you will be entered into a draw for a chance to win an Apple iPod Nano with video, a value of $190 (with tax included).

My 3-hour seminar will give you tools and knowledge to use the internet to generate leads, build relationships and close more deals using simple online marketing strategies: business blogging, social media networking and opt-in email marketing.

Click here to learn more about the seminar, see testimonials and to register

Contest rules are simple: attend one of my paid training seminars and each time you attend you will be entered to win the grand prize. The grand prize is one Apple iPod Nano in orange. Only one grand prize will be awarded at the final seminar in June when all attendees’ names will be entered into the draw. Your chances of winning the grand prize will depend on: how many times you attend a Contacts2Clients seminar, and on the total number of attendees. The prize will be drawn by computer at Random.org

Boris Mahovac R.G.D.

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In this video Cheryl Scoffield of Executive Sales Support, shares a testimonial:

I’m here today at Boris Mahovac’s Contacts 2 Clients, how to use social networking and blogging — awesome! Every time I come to Boris’s event I always learn something I can apply right away in my business to help me drive traffic to my web site. So, it’s awesome, and I’d recommend that you come.

Learn more about what you can learn about generating leads and closing more sales! And remember, as a member of my networking circle you can save 20% off tuition — ask me how.

Boris Mahovac R.G.D.

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Google is planning on updating their indexing algorithms in 2010 to add more emphasis on social bookmarking. In other words, Google will now not only look at how many quality back-links lead to your pages, but will also take into account the number of Twitter mentions, Facebook updates and Linkedin status updates which link to your pages (so, please, retweet this using the link in the upper right corner of this post).

One thing you need to add to your site (blog, preferably) are simple ways visitors can “share and bookmark” your pages (blog posts) to places such as Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter, also Digg, Stumbleupon and others. This is easy if your site is a blog, there are a number of ways to add this functionality by adding a plugin to your WordPress-powered blog. Other blogging platforms also have similar solutions you can readily use.

If you have questions about blogging and social networking, you can start by reading this low-cost introduction. I’ve arranged a special $10 OFF for you as my networking buddies! For only $17 you will find easy-to-read information about basics of business blogging and online marketing.

Boris Mahovac R.G.D.

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Networking in person is a good way to stay in touch with business developments on a local level. If your business allows it, you should also be networking online for greater exposure to both partners and potential clients.

Are you looking to grow your business? Business networking site Linkedin.com has over 36 million users world-wide. Join Linkedin and start building you virtual business team and start generating leads.

• Manage the information that’s publicly available about you as professional
• Find and be introduced to potential clients, service providers, and subject experts who come recommended
• You can use it to build your reputation by asking your clients to endorse you.
• Be found for business opportunities and find potential partners
• Discover inside connections that can help you land jobs and close deals

Check out my latest blog post on how I use Linkedin to grow my list of qualified prospects!