Community isn’t something that happens once just to help build you up from zero to one hundred or five thousand followers. A real community is there for the long term. They are the people you can count on come thick or thin. They are the people who will build you up, tell you the truth even if it hurts and celebrate your successes because they helped you get there.
It’s easy to get caught up in the social buzz. We love real-time engagement and the simple fact we can get a tweet, reply or retweet within seconds when we’re having a gloomy day or simply need an ego boost. Klout, Peer Index & Kred influence scores, tweets, retweets, likes, comments, shares, pins, Diggs, Google [...]
How many hours have you spent adding buttons, gadgets and widgets to your new blog or website? You research the right tools, share buttons, share bars, analytic tracking tools and more. You install them with a hope and a prayer that someone somewhere is going to use them. However, unfortunately many business leaders find they don’t get used. The share buttons sit on their site with the lonely zero or default +1. Chances are your pocket book or wallet might be feeling a little lonely too.
Can you name three reasons why someone should like your Facebook business page? You are not required to answer it now. I want you to think about it, and come back and answer it within the next week. If you can not clearly articulate three reasons someone should like your page, then I can guarantee the chances of you seeing any real business benefit from Facebook short or long term is minimal.
Tonight I had great plans for a productive Sunday evening. We spent the first part of the evening at Crossing Church for a rockin’ worship and message, sweet treat at Baskin Robins and then headed home and put kids to bed. It was just me, the laptop and hubby with the remote.
As I settled in for a few minutes on #BlogChat, the big plans of a productive night on social media inclusive of a new blog post slipped away into never never, never tweet land.
One of the number one social media questions I hear from business leaders is “what should I tweet?”
It’s funny because most business owners start a business because they have a passion for something or at minimum have an interest in it enough they believe they can make some money providing such a service or product. However, when it comes to sending a 140 character tweet they struggle with it.
It’s easy to get side tracked by all the geekdom in social. From looks (impressions) to likes, follows, retweets, influence scores, views, demographics, insights, conversions and the list goes on.
Underneath all of the bits, bytes, and likes we can’t forget why we like social media in the first place. Social networks connect human beings. They provide a way for us to better communicate, share information, learn, grow, and help others do the same.
It is not news that Facebook just launched a big round of changes, yet again. One change is getting a lot of attention, which is the death of the Facebook default landing tab.
I have heard tons of complaints on the removal of the tab. I’ve heard online marketers say the death of the Facebook tab is the death of their online marketing strategy? What? Seriously folks?
Tweet this way. No actually tweet that way. Don’t talk to much. Talk or you are not engaging. Treat me like a human being. Don’t ignore me. Share your best stuff. Invite me to your Facebook page. Don’t spam me. Don’t tell me what you ate for lunch.
My oh my… no wonder the newbies get confused. As I read more and more blog posts recently it is becoming apparent how many conflicting words of advice are being given by everyone blogging, tweeting, Facebooking, and Google plussing. We could spend days just sorting thru what the actual truth is and what will help our business.
Think back five, four, three, two and even one year ago. How different was your business? How different did you communicate with your clients, partners, service providers, and employees? A year ago were you still saying social media was just a fad? Five years ago were you one of the folks stating the internet was [...]
There are some things in life and business that don’t need a long introduction or fancy brand story before cutting to the chase. This blog post is one of them. This week I received an email from a self proclaimed “social media expert.” I’ve been subscribed to her email list for quite some time. To [...]
Tweet this, retweet this, check out this blog post, click here, act now, subscribe for free updates, watch this, share this, like me, follow me, act now. Whoa! There sure isn’t a shortage of folks telling us what to do in the social world.
From bloggers, internet marketing experts, social media gurus, social rockstars, twitterati, to a-listers someone has something that is going to rock your world with a click, like, follow and tweet.
With all this tech evolution it is important we not lose sight of why you are spending time on social in the first place!
As I wasted my night away in social slacker land with all my fellow slacker geeks I was amazed at how many people are simply losing their mind. I guess I am so close to all of it that I forget how many business leaders, entrepreneurs and consumers are still learning.
I saw everything from spammy Facebook, Pinterest & LinkedIn pages to a landing page that guaranteed me a first page Google ranking.
It is human nature to want to connect, feel needed, be acknowledged, be understood, appreciated for what we accomplish and contribute to our small circles and ecosystem as a whole. It’s no wonder that social networks such as Facebook and Twitter have taken off as a force to be reckoned with.
What are the successful social networks doing better than other networks? Why do people gravitate to one social network over the other? What makes them stick around?
Anybody who blogs can remember your first post, second post and the empowerment you experienced. The empowerment I felt after leaving behind a career of fifteen years in the corporate world to pursue my dreams as an entrepreneur and being free to write about what I wanted to write about was beyond words. I remember getting those little butterflies as I hit send and would wait to see if anyone read those early posts. I still remember the first nice man who commented on my blog.
As we spend time with businesses large and small, there is one common theme. They all know they want the the social spaghetti. The advanced businesses know they need to use a fork versus the spoon. However, when it comes to the art of what to do when and how much they struggle.
What is a social business really? Can we point to even one business, any business and state “yes, that organization is the perfect example of a social business!”?
When was the last time a big national brand made you feel special via the social waves? Are we starting to lose the hope we once had in social media of humanizing brands? The hope of the brand coming out from behind the logo and showing they care and want to connect with real people? The possibility of them actually demonstrating their brand promise via social media versus just plaster the words on their Facebook page?
Are some brands falling prey to traditional mass marketing methods that are simply masked with a coat of new paint in red and marked with a K+ and called social media? Are some fooling themselves into thinking they are engaging by leveraging only automated tweets, retweets, and direct messages?
Many businesses feel like they are the last to get online. They decide they want to “do social” and all of a sudden it becomes an emergency.Often times the CEO or other executive attends a one off social media training event such as a class for LinkedIn or Facebook and next thing you know all corporate business priorities are put on hold. Within days there is now only one priority and that is “doing social.” Nobody really knows why other than that executive management said it’s the priority.
When building an online persona and brand usually we start with the most basic aspects including over arching brand, logo, colors, core messages etc. All of these are foundational to success. We develop our plan, develop our platform, create and launch our brand presence, integrate social with our business goals and start the social media engagement. However, after a few months goes by we realize nobody is buying from us. Nobody is opting in to our email lists. What has happened? Why don’t they want to further engage with our brand? Do they not trust us? Do they not think that we could bring them value?
We all know the story, the problems, the laughter, the tears, and even the drama of becoming a social business. Those that have attempted, are working toward or have succeeded know it’s about much more than a tweet or a Facebook page. We must get in the head of our communities, audience, partners, and more. We must learn how we can best connect the dots of technology and conversation. It’s both art and science. It’s both communication and function.
So we’re kicking off a fun experiment. This is the first in a series of an interactive social business video series where you get to be the director!
The interactive video series is titled “The Days of Our Social Biz!”
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