Integrate social media to get the most out of your communication

Social media is an amazing tool for marketing a new business. Tools like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn allow cash-strapped startups a way to generate buzz and engage their prospects and customers on a more personal level. But even with free tools, there’s always a cost: it takes time to connect with your fans, share ideas about your products, listen to what your customers are saying, or network with prospects and referral sources. Here’s the good news: There is a trick to consolidating your social media efforts, and when it’s done right, updating your social networking accounts can be done through a single tool: your website.

Just as it doesn’t make sense to force your customers to connect with you only one way – you probably wouldn’t limit customers to just connecting over the phone for example, or just through a contact form on your website – effective communication in today’s world requires you to be where people are. The companies who are best able to reach out and connect are the ones who are seeing real results.

Social media tools each serve a slightly different purpose – Twitter is great for keeping up with experts in any given field and marketing ideas. LinkedIn is the go-to spot to find talent and network with professionals. Facebook is where 250 million people go to connect with old friends. Couple the confusion of which network does what with the tools your company already uses – emails, your website, traditional advertising and even in-person networking or sales calls – and it’s easy to see why so many are overwhelmed by it all. However, a well-designed website using a tool like WordPress can do much of your social media connecting for you.

WordPress is an open-source content management system that allows users to logon to their own website from any browser and publish news articles (or posts), manage pages and add multimedia content with ease. Since it was originally created as a “blogging” platform, the community of developers that created it built in the capability to interact with visitors in a personal way. Articles you post to your website can automatically publish to each social site using simple plugins, and search engine optimization is handled seamlessly. With every post you’re getting the word out effectively, and engaging your prospects at every step.

Advantages of using a tool like WordPress to integrate your social media efforts include:

-        Automatically publish your news to LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook fan pages

-        Search Engine Optimization – more links to your site equal higher rankings

-        Your site’s visitors will be able to easily share your content with others

-        Multimedia integration – video and audio are a snap to setup and share

-        You own your own data (if LinkedIn or Facebook go down or decide to close your page, your data is gone)

-        Allow your visitors to comment on your articles (subject to your approval of course)

Another advantage of WordPress is that it puts you in the driver’s seat of your site. You don’t need to call your web developer to make changes: sign in from your browser and with a few clicks you can introduce your latest product or announce a new special. Customers, clients and prospects expect to be part of a conversation with businesses – posting a press release and calling it a day doesn’t cut it anymore. Your customers want to ask questions and provide feedback. They want be the first to know when something new is coming. And they want to do it on whatever network they prefer.

Spend the time to setup a system to communicate automatically to your social media networks, and you’ll slash the amount of time you spend cross-posting to each network individually. A professionally designed website that is built to leverage social media and integrate your efforts will make generating buzz a lot easier.

Dave Meyer is the president and owner of BizzyWeb, a company that creates WordPress-powered websites designed to integrate with social media. BizzyWeb also offers social media training webinars and consulting services to help its clients “Generate Buzz Without Getting Stung!” Meyer is a frequent speaker on social media topics, and is currently the president of the Minnesota chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators. You can find Dave at bizzyweb.com, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/dave1meyer.

Reprinted from the December 2009 edition of New Business Minnesota. Full article here, including three other experts’ take on “Exercising Your Social Media Muscle.”

Dave elsewhere: Measurement in the land of 140 characters or less

Just posted an article on social media measurement on IABC’s website that digs into what it takes to produce award-winning social media campaigns. Even if you’re not into awards, there’s some great tips from the judging process in this article that will help you start with the end in mind and create affective online communications.

http://www.iabc.com/awards/gq/judging/articles/meyer.htm

One Year… and Counting

As of today, it’s been one year since I struck out on my own to pursue BizzyWeb full time. It’s been a fantastic ride full of  new clients, networking, new business opportunities and countless new friends.

As I said the day I launched: “I’ve got entrepreneurism in my blood. I always wanted to have my own business, and growing up seeing my father work for himself certainly left an impression. When I got my MBA in 2003, it was in “venture management,” which is a fancy term for entrepreneurship.”

The tools I learned while working for my MBA at St. Thomas have been invaluable at helping me manage cash flow, run projections, market effectively and keep the big picture in mind. I also owe a huge debt to Tim Ferriss and his book “The Four Hour WorkWeek” for getting me off the fence and into the game. I’m not working four hours per week just yet (more like 60), but I’m definitely enjoying the benefits of answering to no-one but my customers.

At times it’s been tough, and I’ve worked far harder than I thought I’d need to in order to keep cash flowing in, but I don’t regret a single second of it. Knowing that every decision I make is going to directly affect the cash in my pocket has definitely sharpened my focus, but it’s also been incredible fun. This company is my baby, and its first steps — though rocky at times — have been forward.

The company has expanded to include another employee (twice the size!), and there’s bandwidth for more. My biggest challenge now that the dust has settled is to find ways to round out my talent, hand off the things I’m not good at and do what I do best more often. That means more client visits, more strategy sessions, more networking and more speaking engagements for me, and more of the back-end stuff to my trusted partners.

There’s also room for improvement, and I’m getting better and smarter every day. Associating with fantastic people who push you all the time to do more, better, smarter will do that. And that’s why I’m so glad I took on the role of President at IABC Minnesota. Without the encouragement, advice and example of some fantastic IABC connections I’m certain I would never have made it this far in just a year — people like Kare Anderson, Steve Crescenzo, Mark Schumann, Barb Gibson, Mary Ann McCauley and Cindy Schmieg have either made a lasting impression, offered me incredibly helpful advice or nudged me in the right direction (and a few even became clients!).

I’d go into a long list of highlights of the year here, but (though it may seem corny) every single day is an achievement that I’m proud of. My favorites run from every new client site to being on the Blue Ribbon Panel for IABC’s International Gold Quill Awards to speaking to hundreds of people on social media topics. I’m standing on my own two feet, making a go of it, and I’ve never been happier, “Bizzy”-er, or more successful.

Thanks for a great year! Here’s to the rest of my career doing the same thing.

Blue-ribbon communication tracks toward results

Last month I had the honor of joining an elite panel of communicators from all over the world at the blue ribbon panel judging session for IABC’s Gold Quill awards. It was an incredible experience to decide the merits of the best-of-the-best communications programs in the world with a group of judges from 10 countries and 6 continents. Panel judges paid their own way to serve on this committee — and for many that meant thousands of dollars in travel from thousands of miles away — which is a great indicator of how seriously everyone viewed the responsibility and how much value each judge received in return.

I’ve been banging around thoughts on my blue ribbon panel experience, and I agree especially with fellow-judge (and electronic communications guru) Shel Holtz’ assertion that a number of the entries “applied tremendous creativity and innovation in support of very specific and measurable business goals.”

That, in particular, is what truly set the exceptional entries apart from the rest. Managing toward real, honest-to-goodness business outcomes is the true hallmark of successful PR, whether it be via traditional methods, blogging or even social media.

Communicating strategically toward measurable results was always “the name of the game,” but the new tools available to communicators will only amplify the signal-to-noise ratio unless everything is done towards a purpose. Page views, equivalency to ad dollars, or even press mentions don’t achieve much other than helping communicators appear busy. I had the honor of judging the first-ever entries in social media this year, and it was crystal clear in the judging process which submissions took the time to think about what the desired end results were before they began their campaigns.

In the new age where content (and moreso relevancy) is king, you need to know how to make sure what you’re communicating is moving audiences toward action. And something as simple as an opinion survey or an uptick in sales or referrals (tracked against a benchmark of course) says a ton more than how many times your content has been “dugg.”

If you want to ensure that your next communication campaign produces real results, visit the Gold Quill rules and build your campaign around it. Even if you never enter, your communication effectiveness will skyrocket.

To offer a shortcut at how to make sure your communications are effective, I’ll paraphrase the key items we screened for from the perspective of someone just putting together a communication plan (note that I’ve worded the items below in the present tense to use as criteria/tips… the actual language in the entry criteria is past-tense as they’re intended to judge completed programs. The real list is available from the link above):

1. Identify as clearly as possible the Need/opportunity. Be as clear as possible in concrete outcomes.
2. Identify your audiences. Demographics, state of mind, background, likely viewpoints.
3. Goals and objectives: Describe what your communication project is designed to accomplish. Goals should be aligned with your organization’s future needs. Objectives should be realistic and measurable, and should examine outcomes such as quantity, quality, time, cost, percentages or other criteria.
4. Outline your project’s solution and the logic that supports it.  Think about your thought process, and use imagination in your approach to problem solving. Discuss how you’ll involve stakeholders in developing the solution. Identify key messages, tactics and communication vehicles.
5. Implementation and challenges. Discern your project budget. Regardless of how much money you have to use, make sure you’re being as efficient as possible. Decide time frames. Outline any limitations or challenges that you’ll face when communicating and implementing your ideas.
6. Measurement/evaluation of outcomes. How will you measure your project’s results? Every result should be linked to one or more objectives. Results must be shown to be valuable, thorough and convincing. Measurement should demonstrate outcomes, not outputs.

As I mentioned, I judged in the brand-new category for Social Media this year. I can’t wait for the winners to be publicly announced so I can talk about a couple of them — there’s brilliant outcomes-based thinking packaged in some really cool technology in the winners.

Do businesses need to blog?

Join me at 7:30 a.m. this Thursday at the North Hennepin Area Chamber of Commerce’s Business Connections series (at Edinburgh USA) to talk about the business of blogging.

The topic of the talk is “Does my company need to blog?” and we’ll discuss:

• The business case for blogging, or publishing a regularly updated set of articles, news or information about your company
• The most common blogging tools — WordPress, Blogger, TypePad, etc.
• Strategy first: How to decide what you want to get out of your time
• Social Media Integration: Make your blog work double- or triple-duty by cross-posting your content on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.

And much more!

If you have any specific questions you’d like answered and are planning to attend, chime in below. I’ll make sure to include plenty of time for Q&A.

About Business Connections:

	Location: Edinburgh USA, 8700 Edinbrook Crossing, Brooklyn Park, MN 55443
	Contact: BJ Hall, Business Connections Chair
	Email or Phone: bj@indigojourneys.com / 763-442-9562
	The program presents an opportunity for business owners to polish their presentation and marketing skills while expanding their contacts. It also offers personal and professional education and training that are instrumental in driving business success and building winning relationships within the membership community. The Business Connections group will be meeting the second and fourth Thursdays of each month. Business Connections is open to all members of the North Hennepin Area Chamber of Commerce. Non-members are welcome and may attend 2 Chamber events before joining the Chamber. Cost: $10 members/$15 non-members to RSVP: visit www.nhachamber.com/reg, call 763-424-6744, Ext. 4 or email RSVP@nhachamber.com

Notes and details from today’s “Social Media for the Real World” talk

I gave a talk at the Business Connections series for the North Hennepin Area Chamber of Commerce today. While it was tremendous fun, packing an overview of three of the biggest social media tools (Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter) into a half-hour presentation meant that I had to cut out an entire universe of tips, tricks and resources.

For those who are visiting my site for the first time as a result of the talk, welcome! You can connect with me on any of the networks we mentioned by following the links at my social media page.

I also promised a bunch of links and resources here, so here are a few:

The presentation can be viewed and downloaded here.

And here are a few other links:

• Twitter: How to Get Started Guide for Business People from CIO Magazine
• Overview of links on using Twitter for Business
• Social Media eBook from DuctTape
• Mr. Tweet: How to find great people to follow on Twitter
• 12 Ways to sell social media to your boss
• 9 reasons you need social media in 2009
• Starting out with LinkedIn (e-doc)
• 5 Reasons it’s great to be late to social media
• Ultimate How-To: Grow your social media network (follow the main links on this page, tons of fantastic roundups and links)
• Fox 9 News’ “Facebook: Addiction by Addition” segment from Tuesday, March 10

What other questions do you have, or what would you change about my presentation? What would you like to see for my blogging presentation on March 26? Reply in comments below.

Social Media: Speak our Language, Please | Small Business Trends

Here’s a shocker: Social media is on everyone’s minds nowadays. My clients are looking for more, better (and cheaper) ways to reach out to their customers and prospects, but the flurry of tools available and the learning curve behind each leaves them bewildered.

A dear friend dropped this article by Zane Safrit into my Facebook account yesterday that pretty well nails what I’m hearing:

Small business CEOs and CFOs are hungry, anxious, for the power of social media. Social media is the great leveler for small business competing against global brands with an ad budget greater than all the revenues of a small business. True, authentic, conversations with small business and our customers are a naturally occurring phenomena. Social media would easily, genuinely, accelerate the spread of those messages.

But where to begin? In the world of social media you can twitter away your time poking Facebook friends waiting for a deal to Pownce and finally get you LinkedIn, but as easy as these tools are to tinker with, executives don’t have a lot of time to tinker. It’s why so much new media is written off as “kids stuff” — kids have time to learn this stuff while adults are busy making sales.

Without a common language to gauge what’s worth investing in, it’s hard to get my clients excited about social media. Zane points to using the language that business owners and leaders do speak: the bottom line.

Social media consultants, for all that is good and right in your world…(ok, a bit dramatic) connect those conversations with cash-flow and customers, prospects and conversion rates, hiring costs and employee turnover. That’s the language the CEOs and CFOs of millions of small business speak every day.

But that’s tricky too. You can’t exactly say that X number of tweets translates into Y number of sales. The old ad-barometers of impressions, clickthroughs or even conversion rates don’t work either.

But, there is a spot where much of the value can be broken down: in building relationships. If done right, social media can engage customers at a new level, allowing them direct access to the products, services and companies they love. Ways to have conversations, hear what customers are really thinking, and really talk to the people using your products and services. It brings the power of a Mom n’ Pop store (easy interchange between Mom, Pop and customers) to a new scale. To bring it back to business-speak — call it building brand loyalty, or customer engagement.

The next question, of course, is where to start…. so here’s where I encourage my clients to begin: drop in on Twitter (or name your favorite service), search to see if there are any conversations already in progress on your company, and listen. If you don’t find anything, start making friends, introduce yourself around the neighborhood, and start asking questions. (Don’t start marketing or advertising — just start chatting).

Once you get a handle on the conversations, then let’s talk about how to meet some of those metrics you live by every day.

Social Media: Speak our Language, Please | Small Business Trends