Many Hands Make Social Marketing A Time Saver

Business owners are time poor. That's just how it mostly seems to be.

Well, they may not need be, but that's a different issue. On the face of it there is just too much to do and no time it seems to do anything quite the way they might want to do them. As well as they might want to do them.

That is doubly so for making good use of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Linkedin and blogging to get their business found online and stake their claim to good position on Google Search.

Why is getting found online given little priority? Perhaps because they are also too busy to spend the time and money to get good training in using technology and new media to market their business.

Social Media Fake "Gurus" Poisoning The Well For Business Owners

It is not really a wonder. For many who are not familiar with the online world, it can be confusing and changeable and frankly can be overwhelming.  The online world is also awash with people who have no experience themselves online suddenly promoting their services to others on how to use social media. They are following 5 people on Twitter, or have paid for "10,000" Likes or Follows, and have no tweets to speak of.  These are pretenders. Training sessions are generic and not specific and out of date in the information they are "teaching" small business.

Not only that but now whole franchises can spring up to take money off the unsuspecting with dollars to spend who think this is an opportunity and fall for it when told they can use their lack of knowledge of social media to pay up thousands of dollars to buy in to a franchise, so they can 'build a business' to take money off other business people - who don't know any better and have no way to know they are being hoodwinked.

Here's a tip: If your social media trainer has no content of theirs online, easy to find ... they are scamming you. And don't be fooled by the poor quality blogs and articles they buy from some third world sweatshop to pretend is their work! Social media needs authentic people working to genuinely represent their products and values. You can't fake that and expect to have any credibility.

No wonder business owners are reluctant to believe there is any way they can use inbound marketing and social media to get any kind of return to the business, or make it worth the time spent.

But it's not all bad with social media for business

Local businesses have a lot to gain by good use of social media platforms.  These should be secondary to the business's website, and finding ways to do more with less time spent, but with good oversight, then it can be very productive.

Networking is an area that is promoted heavily offline but is often not returning good value to the business. Many networking events are just another social gathering with the same old people and really just take up time.

This can be changed if your social marketing begins with a good strategy.

Your business network is a valuable resource, if it is used correctly. Richard Branson talks about 'not doing it alone', and yet finding good people who will work with you is not always easy.  It could be that there is a reason for this lack of good collaboration... Nobody is driving the process. Too busy, you know?

A productive business network

If you have a business network, it is possible to find the key to making this work for you online - and work for your network partners too. More people putting a small amount of energy into something produces more momentum than just one person alone trying to push that rock up a hill.

There are many things you can do once you have assembled a good core of business friends to leverage the time that each of you spend on social media to open the door to new business and a wider audience for your updates.

Training for this group together can help you to bond and can with the right direction, become your mastermind group to help each of you to more success in your business, both online and offline. Your business network core group could be colleagues from BNI or the business chamber, or even invited from your client base.

Social and inbound marketing training also opens the door for offline activities for example workshops - where each can bring along another person who could benefit by learning the topic, and introduce more people to the group, which in turn, opens the potential for a wider audience online.

This too, is a facet of a well-considered online and business development strategy.

And that's something worth finding some time to make happen.

Related:

It's your business on Google and it is free! Claim your listing before someone else does! 
Here's how to save time and get good content for your business online
Inbound marketing the new old fashioned way to do business
Financial planners: Social Marketing the key to keeping business on the books
Business writing not just on the social media wall
What every business should know about social media

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Showcase Your Building Company With Social Marketing

Many businesses struggle to identify ways that they can make good quality content to post online to promote their industry and company specialties.

These videos are a fantastic way to showcase a building company or general construction company. They are good ways to promote the skills of the photographer or video producer too. And while they show what those in the industry may be accustomed to seeing, these can be a real mystery to customers and those not associated with the ins and outs of that industry and how work is done.

This video showing construction of a retirement village is a splendid example of the work that goes into developing a site from an idea to a new home and community for the residents and those who will work there.  That's a fantastic memento of the project and the diligence that goes into a large development - a good thing for those contemplating a development in the future to be able to see. 

This video showcases the build for a substantial family home. My guess is this would be a great memento for anyone who builds a new home. You can bet the house on the fact that the owners would be showing this video off to everyone in their social circle, and that's promotion for the company you just can't buy - but you can use to promote your business. By sharing with the new owners, and with you own social networks. This kind of content is evergreen and can be reposted from time to time.

Content To Showcase Your Business

Every business needs to develop ways to make their products interesting to potential customers. This is one example of how technology can help to showcase your business. This could be used in many different ways to promote your business over a long period, but there are many others. 

It's no longer enough to just do good work, you need to be able to demonstrate your good work - to customers and for new business opportunities.  

Related posts:
Many hands make lighter work of social media for local businesses
Here's how to save time and get good content for your business online
Inbound marketing the new old fashioned way to do business
Financial planners: Social Marketing the key to keeping business on the books
Business writing not just on the social media wall
What every business should know about social media


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Technology, Internet And Social Media - Productivity Tools

Disturbing it is that business people who are smart and clever in their business yet are still not quite getting the point about the new technologies and marketing potential of the online environment. 

Q: Why might a company switch to cloud computing for their accounting? 

A: To be in possession of real time data on their numbers in the business and streamline processes to manage that information so that you as manager can run your business more effectively.

Q:Why should a company use social media? 

A: I don't really know... Oh to look trendy... 

No. 

That's not why you would use the online world for your business. You use the online environment and tools to be more productive and sell more.

You use these tools all to become more productive - and do more with less.

That's the long and the short of it.

Your Website, Social Media And Making It Work For You

How do I tell if someone has a cohesive strategy for making technology, the internet and social media a centre for productivity in their business? I listen to see if they are talking about the website as something separate and apart from their online presence. I listen to see if they believe they can learn all they need to know in a week or two and think that's all they need to know to master this part of their business.

Since I have spent so many years studying this stuff and monitoring the changes that have happened over that time, I know how naive and unrealistic that is.

If you are going to "do something with social media after... you do X with your website" then you have not understood that the website and the social media marketing elements need to work together.

You might even not understand that the person doing your website changes may know nothing about how to make you website productive. That's typically, in their mind,  not what they are there to do.  That's not my opinion, that's verbatim what I have been told by people who work in this industry.

Now this is an important thing to understand.

If your web person is design focused then by and large, they are there to make it look good on the screen.

Not for Google.

If they are coders then they want the code to be clean, or maybe they will settle for the template working without obvious glitches.

Not for Google.

If your website has not been updated in the past 3 years you can be certain that it is not doing all it could be.  No question about it.

Which does not mean that is is doing all it could be if it is newly revised - many new websites don't work at all in the ways that let them add to productivity.

Oh and you should know - paying a lot of money for your website work is no indicator of capacity to work. Let me say that again. Paying a lot of money does not mean it will work better or even at all.

Now this is a complex and changing environment and some things that make the website work have nothing to do with the web person. Some things are a factor of the information that must come from the owner of the business.

These are issues not of a technical nature but of a company narrative and focus. Of vision and ability to communicate the story of the business, and the understanding the business has of it's worth and what their customers value. Many businesses don't even know what that is, so will struggle to communicate that in their marketing.

So too, when it comes to your company being visible online on both the website and social media platforms such as Twitter or Facebook, or your blog, or Linkedin or all of these, and more besides.

We are stuck with this not uncommon problem that is always there to catch us out. That is - Not knowing what we don't know.  Not knowing what a problem is - is not the same as there being no problem, though to that business it can LOOK THE SAME.

Action

Learning what you need to know to be able to identify problems that are not readily apparent is part of our job as managers of our business.

The other invisible aspect of this, is the cost you are paying for not knowing.  The cost you are incurring in sales not made, inefficiency, wasted man-hours and lack of good system and data by which to streamline and make the business more efficient and staff more effective.




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Social Media For Business. Now Open

 Another week and another slew of nonsense has flashed past my eyes.

"I can't use Skype because it changes  my website."

No it doesn't. 

 "I have a local business so I don't need to have a webpage."

Yes you do.

" I am going to this expensive seminar to be a Social Media Superstar! so then I will know what to do online."

No you are going to this expensive seminar because that is a money maker for whoever is running it and it doesn't follow that you will have any idea what to do online when you get back to your business.

"I have a marketing plan ... it's in my head!"

That's not a marketing plan.

"I can't afford a decent website."
 What you pay is no indicator of what is useful when it comes to websites.
 
"My graphic designer does all my SEO"
 Abandon all hope.

 "I'll get my teenage daughter to do a Facebook page for me."
Great idea if you have no interest in your business.

"I don't know why I'd need a blog."
That's a good start.

"I'm a professional so social media is beneath me, *sniff*"
Hold on to your hat. Not all social media is cat photos on Facebook.

If you do want to know how to find your way around online then a seminar isn't going to cut it.  Seminars can be one way to learn about the landscape. It is a dismal way to learn how to expertly present your business online. 

The online world is not hard to learn about but it does take time. It requires a certain level of understanding of how things work online and how your business can fit within that space for best results. And it is a moveable feast. What worked last month may not work next week.   It requires you to know the difference between issues that affect results and issues that are bunkum. Believe me, I have the hours logged to know.

If you would like to learn how to do this stuff in your local business without 'paying the tuition' in hours and hard graft contact me. Here are some details on how you can get on top of this stuff and start having some fun and making it work for your business. Social Media Training For Local Business.

You won't be a Social Media Superstar... but you will know why that phrase and others like it,  should sound a warning bell.



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Pinterest - Are You There Yet?

 Just when I thought there I was reaching saturation point with social platforms along came word of Pinterest. To be fair I'd heard about it and ignored it for quite some time but for some reason I opened an account.

Why did I do that? Hmm. Well actually I thought I was a member and responded to someone who was looking for an invitation. As it turned out I registered and received an account within a few days.

 For now Pinterest is serving as a super fast way to scan things that might be of interest and I can see that with time the access to sites and special interest articles will increase and get better from a match point of view.

Fortunately, right now the marketers are largely staying away but that will change. Hopefully they will keep themselves nice and pot selectively.

Are you using Pinterest yet? Drop by and say Hi.

What do you like about it most?



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