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Creating More or Better Customerships

By on April 18, 2012 in Marketing, Social Media with 4 Comments

“The most pertinent reason to engage in social media marketing for your business is to get more business.” ~ Jay Ehret from Why Social Media Marketing

Customer TransactionsBusiness owners can be a funny group of people. Especially when they forget that they own a business.

As we begin to introduce the idea of using social media as part of their business, some of them straight out ask how it will benefit their bank account. They’re looking for the ROI, right? Fair enough.

And then it bites them. The “social” bug. They never get around to asking for the order. Or the lead. Or the appointment. Or the referral, share, testimonial, contact info . . .  Nothing.

Stories are great. Keep on telling and sharing them. Still, at some point, invite the prospect (the reader) into the business as a customer.

  • Sharing a story about an event? At the end of the post, point to the next event.
  • Explaining how your company crafts customized widgets? Point to a form or a phone number to set up a customized widget meeting.
  • Doing a series of posts? Turn them into an ebook or publish the series on a landing page.
  • Offering a coaching tip? Somewhere in the post, show how the reader can start getting your coaching for themselves.
  • Celebrating one of your customers and their story? Show others how their story can be told (or newly created).

If you’re not doing these types of things now, a good practice might be to list an inventory of the ways or things you can market on your blog or with a custom tab or button. If appropriate, write a post about it or create a landing page. Now you have something to point to, right?

If you’re having a tough time putting together such a list, A Discovery Meeting might be the next step.

Photo on Flickr by Alan Cleaver

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You Haven’t Missed the Boat in Social Media (yet)

By on April 17, 2012 in Blog Coach, Marketing, Social Media with 0 Comments

When it comes to getting on board with social media, you haven’t missed the boat.

Not yet.

Missing the Boat in Social Media?

This massive machine labeled as social media (or social business, or new media, or conversational currency, etc) is just so hard to miss anymore. And while you may not miss the boat – you may miss out on building up your business.

Start somewhere (I suggest blogging) though there is no immutable law for where to start or how to do things. Even the question of how often to blog has many possible answers.

Truth is, we’re still in early days of what will probably prove to be a business renaissance period.

So while the ship has set sail and continues to be a moving target, don’t worry so much about where you land – but whether you take off at all.

Photo on Flickr by Rennett Stowe

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Your Social Inventory: Display Merchandising

By on April 14, 2012 in Marketing, Social Media with 0 Comments

Every thing you post – every single item – gets its own specific internet address. It’s own URL.

While you (and those who follow you) may see it as part of a stream of information, it is an individual item placed into a stream.

Your blog, your Facebook updates, your tweets, even your pins. All your posts and updates become part of your Social Inventory.  Just like any other part of your business, it’s important to consider the relevancy and the display of your inventory.

When you post something, it will get indexed as an individual posting:

We really don’t think of it that way, because when we look at a stream – when your followers see your item appear in their stream with many other posts:

Your Post in Their Stream

Our instinct is to view our posts appearing to others in this manner – because this is how we often see it – our post streaming along with many others.

However, when others first look upon your stuff to “check you out,” they will see a stream of your posts together

Your InfoStream Display

As profile pages become more prominent – such as what Facebook’s Timeline promotes – your stream of information and how it’s displayed is something you should be very aware of at all times.

So three perspectives of every post or update you put out there:

  • Each post is an individual item that is searchable
  • Your followers see a stream of updates from everyone – yours among them
  • Your updates are streamed on your individual page of recent postings

It’s important to always have context in your content. Do you want a string of single-word replies or RTs in your stream?

A bit of display merchandising of your social inventory is always a good idea.

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Strategy or Tactic: Grocery Store Shopping

By on April 11, 2012 in Blog Coach, Marketing, Social Media with 1 Comment

Is Buying Food a Strategy or Tactic?You’ve probably heard the unending amount of advice from so-called experts and gurus:

   ”Never go to the grocery store when you’re hungry.”

    “Go to the freezer section last.”

    “No matter what, get in the line with the least number of people.”

Can you have a grocery store strategy? Or is it simply a tactic for eating?

Can it be both? Can buying food be a tactic for a larger eating blueprint and still have its own plan?

Like most things, your grocery shopping plan is unique to you. Sure, some elements for success are common among the most prolific of food buyers, but they might not have the same eating styles. Or the number of mouths to feed. Or maybe they have more time to cook.

Whether a strategy or tactic, going to the grocer without a plan may cost you time and money (and calories!)

It’s similar in that way to social media. While “social media” may be more tactic than strategy in the larger picture, it is wise to have a strategy for your social media activity. Have a plan.

Whether a strategy or tactic, engagement on social media without a plan may cost you time and money (and customers!)

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Social Media Strategy: Dive In or Seek Help?

By on April 9, 2012 in Blog Coach, Marketing, Social Media with 2 Comments

Both.

Building Social Media MusclesSome say to just dive in and start using social media. Some say to have a “strategy” before you get started. And as with most things, the best answer is: It Depends.

It depends on you and:

  • What are your goals?
  • How comfortable are you with the Internet (and a computer)?
  • Who is your intended audience (and what’s important to them)?
  • When will you work on social media matters? How much time will you invest?
  • Why are you going to start using social media for your business?

The great thing is, you don’t “have to” answer these questions before getting started.  I’m all for diving in for two weeks or so. Shortly after that, you should develop a plan.

I once approached a golf coach for lessons.  I wanted to play golf better. I’d been out on a course a few times…but when I was a teen, not as an adult. Growing up in Pebble Beach, we would often sneak on for a few holes near dusk – but rarely a full 18 holes – and many times just a few irons at Peter Hay.

When the golf coach found that I hadn’t played a full course in a dozen years, he told me to go play a few rounds and then come back. Maybe then we could get started.

I didn’t end up getting the coaching, but not because I didn’t need it – I found that golf wasn’t my game (time, expense, a wicked slice – but mostly time). I went back to him to ask why he told me to “dive in” first.

It was a litmus test, wasn’t it? Yes. He said both of us needed to find out:

  • my motivation (the why),
  • my coachability (would I follow his instruction),
  • who I was doing it for (for me or my peers)

But he also said something that has stuck with me …

Developing bad muscle memory and making mistakes motivates learning good muscle memory and successful habits.

So when it comes to “diving in” with social media – I believe you can do it. And I encourage you to give it a go. If you have an idea of the Who, What, and Why – you’ll do fantastic. Build your Social Media muscles (good or bad).

Either way, eventually … you will want to develop a social media strategy or plan. Look, you don’t go on a trip without having a plan of where and when we’re going and how we’re going to get there.

If you get motivated by your experience of “diving in” to seek some tips – there are plenty of blogs and books and Twitter chats — and if its right for you, some great social media coaches out there.

Or you could work with me. Have you done your two weeks yet?

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A Discovery Meeting: Craft and Follow

By on April 8, 2012 in Blog Coach, Marketing with 1 Comment

There are three ways to have me start working with you on your project. Retainer, Discovery, and Live Sessions.  

Craft and Follow Discovery MeetingA Discovery Meeting: Craft and Follow

A strategy session, with questions, answers, and ideas to help design your social media strategy.

This idea session is often a two-hour face-to-face conversation (though some have been shorter, some longer).  Except for the ocassions when we can meet at a Panera,  the best way to do this is either via Google+ Hangouts or Skype because we can share screens and documents.

  • We sketch out where your business is, where you want it to go,
  • We discover in detail who your intended audience is: what they’re about, what they’re looking for, and where they commune online.
  • We consider how much time you’ll be able to invest in social business & content marketing, how you’ll track progress, and how you’ll measure success,
  •  We’ll find online examples of how others are doing things online.

And then, within 3-6 days after our initial session, you receive a detailed report with a suggested social plan, including editorial output, tools to put to use, and people or brands to connect with consistently.

The discovery meeting is crucial to the crafting of a social media strategy for your business. Because every industry, every business, every person – and even the goal – is different, there are no cookie-cutter solutions.

Call me (515.802.2273) or email me (mike@converstations.com) and we’ll find a tie to set up our discovery meeting.

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In the Heart or In the Hand – What Comes First in EPIC Stories?

By on April 2, 2012 in Blog Coach, Marketing, Social Media with 0 Comments

Frodo Baggins had his glowing sword and his healing elixir.

Harry Potter had his wand and his Invisibility Cloak.

Hiro Nakamura had a “power” of being the master of time and space.

Their stories paint them as heroes and while their stories are epic, isn’t it more what resides within them than the tools they held that made them heroic, that made their stories epic?

Pieces of EPIC social media storesThe social media  tools available to you can help you craft your own epic. Knowing your mission (strategy), and smart use of the tools and powers (tactics), your business can explore and expand, bringing new relationships and revenues.

Here’s one way to look at EPIC on your hero’s journey with social media:

Engagement: Social media isn’t about standing on a soapbox and preaching your own gospel. Engagement in social media is a give and receive. Engagement by its definition is participation.

Presence: Having a presence where your customers and prospects are engaging online is important. If you aren’t and they are (your customers, your competition), your story is going to end prematurely.

Inventory: Every post, tweet, status update, and pin becomes part of your online inventory – and maybe even part of a printed work at some point. Consistently posting valuable, relevant content keeps you on a hero’s path.

Commerce: Cutting to the quick, if you’re in business this piece is important. All your work in social media – building relationships, becoming more findable on the web, creating and curating content – all should lead to revenue generation.

Once you master each of these pieces of the social media puzzle, as it all comes together, it becomes a simultaneous action on your path. Just remember, as our friend Po in Kung Fu Panda learned on his journey – there is no secret ingredient.

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Lucrative Altruism: Local Customers Seek Local Business

By on March 30, 2012 in Marketing, Mobile & Local with 0 Comments

Mike’s Note: I’m exited to implement and share with clients the powerful resource that is nSphere‘s local search widget. I’ve started using it on my site (see below each post) and have begun coaching others the widget can benefit their customers and bring in new customers.

Guest Post by Navah Fuchs of nSphere

If one could only teach the English how to talk, and the Irish how to listen, society here would be quite civilized. ~Oscar Wilde

Local Cats Search for Local BusinessMr. Wilde, sardonic wit that he is, touched upon a communication opportunity that rings true to this day. We are a culture of communicators and consumers, but there is often a disconnect between the messenger, message, and the intended recipient. This is particularly true in the world of local businesses and their intended audiences.

In the past, a business would pay an arm and a leg to be listed in yellow pages, the newspaper, or some other wide reaching small return medium. Sure there were some results, but because targeting was in its infancy, businesses large and small would spend big bucks on CPM (cost per mille) advertising, a full page in a local newspaper, or throw money at penny ads on parked domains. After all, so long as you put your message out there and have an advertising budget to clobber the competition with you’ll win the largest market share….

 WRONG.

Turns out, most folks don’t care how cool your new product is, because they’re not in a transactional mindset. There are two types of users in the internet consumer market: education seekers and local search users. There’s many more educational users out there (think people looking up cute pictures of kittens rather than someone looking for a vet to help them with their emergency at 11 PM), but every educational user has a corresponding local need. As a local business, it’s vital to get in front of the local search user, but as a publisher of educational content, you cease being relevant to the user once they’ve switched into the transactional mindset (often due to your awesome advice).

 How do you take care of your users without diluting message/budget? 

There’s a couple solutions out there for local businesses to get in front of local audiences. One such solution is the nSphere local platform, which uses a unique algorithm to map local businesses along with corresponding pieces of local information and contextual content in one spot so your new client can have everything at their fingertips to make an informed decision to contact you. You may also want to join an association or distribution network that focuses specifically on your industry.

For the publishers, partnering with a solution like nSphere’s local search widget will allow you keep users who would otherwise bounce to Google, while connecting your business to publications like Kiplinger.com, HealthCommunities.com, and CarandDriver.com.

With solutions like this, maybe we can finally start communicating effectively.

Photo found on MyFunnyPics.org

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Does Your Company? (includes Self-Assessment Quiz)

By on March 19, 2012 in Blog Coach, Marketing, Social Media with 1 Comment

As spring begins, so do my travels through small towns and small business districts connecting with business owners about their web presence and use of Social Media.

While I used to offer a “shingle” for those that had no web presence, I’m finding more engaging conversation with a few simple questions:

  • Does your company have its own website?
  • Do you use social media as part of a marketing plan or strategy?
  • How are you measuring success on the web?
  • Are you a member of your local chamber?

Along with a card and call sheet, I also share access to the “Does Your Company …?” e-paper (which includes a Self-Assessment quiz)

Does Your Company … ?

 

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Writer’s Hour: Stop Banging Your Head on Your Keyboard

By on March 12, 2012 in Blog Coach, Education, Marketing with 2 Comments

Michael Drew: The Creation MethodMichael Drew is a revolutionary in the publishing industry. In just 14 years, he’s put 72 books on National Bestseller lists, including books with Lisa Nichols, Marshall Goldsmith, and John Assaraf.

Michael’s secret? He’s invented a specific step-by-step process not just for quickly overcoming writer’s block – but for creating content so powerful, it makes an immediate impact when released.

He calls this process The Creation Method. It’s been silently circulating for years among top shelf writers, expert coaches, change agents and trailblazing companies.

And now, it’s a 60-minute workshop available to us on March 13th at 6PM PST

The Writer’s Hour is a once in a life event where you will get the opportunity to listen the best practices and secret tricks from expert Michael Drew. Michael became the #1 Best Seller Book Publisher and is the man responsible for getting 72  authors in The National Best Seller lists, The New York Times, USA Today, just to name a few.

This workshop will be a great resource for:

- Writers (fiction or non-fiction)
- Bloggers
- Speakers or Presenters
- Teachers
- Copywriters
- Advertising or PR Pros
- Anyone that creates content (and isn’t that all of us now?)

Thanks to Mindvalley, I’ve received permission to offer two folks to this workshop free, here’s how:

  • Choose your writing platform: A comment below, a tweet, a Google+ post,  a Facebook message, a blog post of your own, an Instagram, whatever … (mention my name or link back to this post so I can find it).
  • Tell me about your content creation headaches: Is it time, words, too many thoughts, you don’t have a process (yet)…

To find out more about The Writer’s Hour, click the ticket:

The Writer's Hour Ticket

 

 

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