Social Media

Your No-Nonsense, 7-Step Guide to Social Media and B2B Sales

February 2, 2012 By Todd Schnick Leave a Comment

OK CEO guy. I don’t want to hear “social media” doesn’t affect sales” in my industry anymore. It is bunk. You know it, and I know it.

Here are SEVEN reasons why I am right:

DISTRIBUTION
Yes, the social web is an important way to distribute your content and knowledge. People aren’t going to learn about what you can do if you don’t tell them. Sharing and promoting, or more importantly, having your social graph promote or share your content, is one way to get better known to an audience. But distribution, as evidenced by too many people, is NOT the sole purpose of the social web.

EDUCATION
What is marketing and sales, after all? To put it simply, it is educating your market. There are probably a BILLION (or more) people active on the social web around the world. If you don’t think your market is here (somewhere) than you are missing the boat. Likely, you aren’t looking hard enough, or unwilling to roll up your sleeves.

ENGAGEMENT/RELATIONSHIP BUILDING
Sorry, but social media isn’t an if you build it, they will come scenario. You have to participate. You have to connect. You have to engage. It is modern networking, but you have to actually talk to people. You won’t sell million-dollar pieces of business on Twitter, no. But you will meet people who might ultimately spend a lot of money with you, or who will connect you to someone else who will. The game is being played. Shame on you if you are sitting on the sidelines…

LIST BUILDING
The money is in the list, so everyone says. Yes. This is true. But you have to build the list. And the better approach is the slow, methodical, one-at-a-time approach…verses the spam the heck out of people and hope a few pay attention approach. But you get connected to people via the social web, and if you are engaged, many will follow and join for more.

LISTENING
Social media is a great way to observe the marketplace. Business people-watching, if you will. You can see what your potential customers are doing, saying, and thinking. You can see what the competition is doing. You can see what needs are being fulfilled, and what needs are left unmet. But you have to have your eyes open. If potential customers express pain publicly, and you aren’t listening, is that prospect really there?

CUSTOMER SERVICE
Consumers are becoming more and more vocal about their business experiences on the social web, and are publicly communicating their happiness or displeasure. You had better be listening to respond. Oftentimes, the bigger crime is NOT paying attention. The public will forgive a bad experience if they see you actively doing something about it. And more and more, customers are seeking “tech support” online, verses calling on the phone. You had better be listening…

POLLING/RESEARCH
Most organizations cannot afford to do complex industrial and market research. But yet, the social web offers all kinds of ways to do polling, and to get feedback from your social graph. Pose questions on Twitter or Facebook. Ask people to vote by giving a statement a +1 on Google+. Or drop surveys into LinkedIn group discussions. Easy. When I explain to clients that they need to better understand their market, their competition, or their customers, I am often asked, “Well, how in the heck do I do that?” The social web is a great way to study, research, and observe. And learn.

Notice that “SALES” wasn’t one of the seven. You want to know why? Because selling – at least in B2B world – still is a human conversation and transaction. But you have to connect with, educate, and engage with human beings.

And social media is an important tactical way to do that in the modern world. You had better jump on. Your competition is already on the bus…

###

[content marketing is an important element of your social media strategy. sign-up for our course here]

[drawing by hugh macleod]

Filed Under: E-Rep, Sales, Social Media

5 Critical Social Mindset Changes You Have To Make

January 19, 2012 By Todd Schnick 2 Comments

Move forward, even if you are the only one. You will win.

There are five statements Todd and I have heard, direct from the mouths of real people. Real honest-to-God business people.

It goes without saying, but you MUST change your mindset on each…FAST:

“I don’t want my people on LinkedIn. I don’t want competitors to steal them away.”
This is a defeatist attitude in the first place. This is playing “not to lose” instead of “playing to win.” Your people, if they choose, will be active on the social web anyway. And if they are unhappy, they will find new employment on their own. But if you are keeping them off one of the most respected business networking communities on the planet, you will ultimately lose the battle of profiting from digital networking and community.

“My prospects just aren’t on social media.”
Wrong. Maybe not all of them, but enough to matter. You just aren’t looking. You are taking the easy (aka lazy) way so as to not spend time there, and justify it to yourself. There is opportunity there. Go out and find it, and become the leader in that space. And consider this: those that are on the social web will be the early influencers in YOUR market. Might as well be connected and doing business with them.

“I don’t want my people dilly dallying online all day. I want them doing their job.”
If your people are dilly dallying online all day, I have two thoughts: They aren’t just dilly dallying online, but over the water cooler and with the cute lady in sales too. Also, you are a lousy manager, and you should FIRE your employee who is wasting your customer’s time. But human interaction online is how the modern world spreads information, knowledge and ideas. Trust me, but you want to be a part of that conversation…

“You don’t sell on social media.”
Right. Selling is NOT a human thing. Selling does NOT occur between real people. Selling is done by osmosis and just happens naturally in the normal order of things. I am sure you walk into the office and new contracts just magically appear on your desk. Profits await… There is a reason it is known as “social” media. These are human interactions people. Knowledge transfer and sharing of ideas (about how you can help someone) just happens to take place digitally in this case… You might not directly sell a conveyor system on LinkedIn, but you sure as heck might meet the guy who does ultimately buy one…

“This SEO crap is just a bunch of bullshit hocus pocus.”
Well, actually, in this instance, this gentleman was correct. Too many “experts and gurus” are selling hocus pocus, and you should be wary when they promise amazing results in 30 days! But if you think there is nothing to be gained by putting out good content to impact inbound marketing, and implementing sincere keyword strategies to get found by the search engines, then you are missing a CRITICAL opportunity to expose your organization to a brave new world…

###

Filed Under: Sales, SEO, Social Media

“It Won’t Work For Us,” Said The Blind Man

January 11, 2012 By Todd Schnick Leave a Comment

“So, gentlemen, I want to thank you for your time. I appreciate, and have listened to, what you’ve had to say, and I just want to tell you, I’ve been around this business for thirty plus years,” proclaimed our host.

“And I just got to tell you, this social media nonsense won’t work for us,” he said, and promptly crossed his arms.

I looked down, glanced at my partner, who had just spent the better part of thirty minutes walking our prospect through a presentation about social media, and how integrating it into his marketing program was an important way to get the edge against his market space competition.

“Well, give this some time to percolate, and we’ll continue our dialog in short order,” said my parter.

“No no, my friend,” laughed the host. “I am just telling you, this dog won’t hunt.”

My partner slowly nodded his head, thought for a moment, and was about to respond when our host said “Wait, you guys have to see this video that someone emailed me from YouTube!”

He swiveled his squeaky old chair around to pull up his email on his desktop. Spent a few moments muttering to himself as he thumbed through a bunch of emails, and ultimately found what he was looking for, and said “There. I just emailed the link to you. I think you’ll love it. I really like what that company is doing with their new product! Really creative stuff.”

I coughed up the stale coffee I was politely trying to sip to be nice to the secretary who had delivered it to me. I tried to get my partner’s attention via eye contact, when all of a sudden…

“You know, both you fellows should sign up to their email mailing list. They are always sending out really great videos, podcasts, and other cool stuff. I think you’ll find it a great resource,” said our host, excitedly.

“Um,” I said, “Do you realize what you’re saying,” trying desperately not to come across as an asshole.

Our host looked at me confused, paused for a moment, and then said “But yeah, this social media stuff will never sell anything to old guys like me.”

###

[editor's note: this was a true story. the names are removed to protect the innocent.]

[drawing by hugh macleod]

Filed Under: E-Rep, Social Media

You Have Referral Partners – 5 Ways To Stay On Their Radar

December 15, 2011 By Todd Schnick Leave a Comment

Ok, so over the years, you have cultivated meaningful relationships with many people who are serving as referral partners to your business. They occasionally refer business to you. Some may even be incented to do so.

So, in these busy times, how in the heck do you stay top of mind, how do you complete for their mindshare, so that they are always thinking about you when opportunities present themselves?

Well, here are 5 strategies – using social media – to achieve just that:

1. Twitter — First of all, I’d recommend using a Twitter platform such as Tweetdeck or Hootsuite. With these apps, you can create a special column that you can lable “Referral Partners.” Next, I’d suggest placing all your referral partners, those with Twitter handles anyway, and add them all to this list. Once this is set-up, it becomes easy to keep an eye on what your partners are doing and say…providing you easy opportunities to connect and stay top of mind.

2. Google+ — You can do virtually the same thing with Google+ circles. Google+ is a growing network, and the individuals and brands investing time and building a community there are going to be the early influencers on this network. So, it is worth it to compete for their attention here. But by placing your referral partners into a circle entitled “Referral Partners” — you can keep tabs on what they are doing and talking about, and maintain dialog.

3. LinkedIn — I’ve talked before about the power of feeding your LinkedIn connection’s status updates to your RSS feed. This is a great way to receive a digest of what all of your connects are doing, saying, and connecting to. You can have all your connections go to one place, where it becomes easy to quickly scan and look for opportunities to connect. I have landed business this way too.

4. Facebook — After all, aren’t these people your friends? And Facebook is great for keeping up with friends. But acknowledging birthdays, and admiring their recent family trip to Disney World will go a long way towards deepening the connection with your referral partners.

5. Email Autoresponder — Put your critical referral partner contacts into a separate email list, and just naturally feed them a weekly, or even a monthly, digest of helpful and meaningful content that serves them and their clients well. And don’t force them to join this autoresponder list. Let them opt-in. If they don’t want to be on this list, connect with them via the four ways above.

Finally, you don’t have to have a doctorate and send these folks Pulitzer-prize winning content every day to keep mindshare. Sometimes it is the simple things…noting a birthday, saying hello, recommending a good book, wishing their child well when she is battling a cold…

It is those kinds of little actions that mean a lot to people. Even business people (yes…we are humans too). The beauty of the social web is that the applications make it easy to keep in touch with people important to your business.

You don’t have to sell them every day. They already know who you are and what you can do. But you do have to keep yourself top of mind, and demonstrate that you are evolving with the times…

What do you think? And what are some other ways to do this?

###

[drawing by hugh macleod]

Filed Under: E-Rep, Social Media

On Facebook, Activity and Content Matters…

December 5, 2011 By Todd Schnick Leave a Comment

One of my Facebook pages... Click image to enlarge...

See if this sounds familiar…

“Well, Todd, I’ve done all I need to do with social media. We launched a Facebook page!”

Whoop. Dee. Doo.

Are you doing anything with it? Are you posting content there? Are you engaging with people there? Are you learning more about the people who invest time on YOUR page? Are you converting these people to extend their relationship with you?

Here is what most people say when I ask these questions about their company Facebook page:

“Huh?”

Right.

Look at the pic at the top of this post. Look at what happens around November 27th…

This page is one of my many (too many) projects. As you can obviously tell from the graph, the page was dormant for a while. The project has been on the back burner for a while, but I am making a big end-of-year push to move it along.

The project is actually the publishing of an e-book, called Kicking Fear’s Ass. It helps people combat fear.

The Facebook page is merely one means to help promote the book’s idea, and build a community around the movement and the concept.

On the page, I share videos, quotes, articles, and images — all meant to help you think about, and combat fear.

Why does this matter to you…the owner of a hapless, meaningless Facebook business page?

Because look what happens when I engage… When I go from posting NOTHING, to posting every day. To sharing. To engaging with people who engage themselves.

Page traffic and sharing picks up. Big time. I mean, really, you can’t argue with that graph. And it wasn’t rocket science. It was merely the act of posting content.

[and if the concept of posting content spooks you, you should probably take this FREE content marketing course...]

So, this is merely a plea to ask you to engage on your Facebook page. Don’t let it sit there dormant. Don’t just post YOUR blog posts there. You aren’t getting it. That isn’t enough.

You need to share the work of others, share interesting videos, share interesting photographs, ask people to sign-up for other things to extend the relationship. For instance, I have set up a means for people to sign-up to receive a FREE copy of the Fear e-book when it comes out.

Starting a Facebook page for your business isn’t enough. If all you will do is push your own stuff, you probably shouldn’t bother.

Instead, engage with real people on your page. You’ve seen, from the above image, what can happen…

###

Filed Under: E-Rep, Social Media Tagged With: Facebook

Still Not Convinced Of The Power of Google+?

October 25, 2011 By Todd Schnick Leave a Comment

Simple goal today — wanted to be sure you are giving due consideration to investing some energy towards engaging with prospects and your community on Google+.

The reason? I happened upon this blog post from Chris Brogan on the business applications of Google+.

But the key point that I want to be sure you see from this article? Is this:

First, realize that Google+ indexes any post you submit to the “Public” sharing option, meaning that the information in such a post is searchable in Google (the search engine, not the social network) within a few hours.

You don’t have to be an SEO expert to understand the significance of this statement.

One of the intentional purposes of content marketing is to get content indexed on the search engines that your prospects can find, which leads them direct to you, in the form of inbound marketing.

Obviously, the more content, with the right keywords, on the search engines, the more likely a prospect will find you. Similar to the more fishing lines, with the right bait, that you have in the water, the more likely a fish will nibble.

So, to recap: engage with your community on Google+. Share knowledge that will be helpful to them. And actually engage in meaningful, helpful conversations.

This is more bait in the water, and as Chris points out in the article above, this can be a very powerful tactic for nurturing relationships with critical prospects and/or referral sources.

I always suspected Google+ was going to do this, and that this would be a powerful inducement to invest time there, but this article confirms it for me.

And don’t give me any song and dance that “my prospects aren’t spending time on Google+.” I don’t want to hear it. There are 40 MILLION people on Google+, as of this writing. It is the fastest growing social network. Ever.

And remember this: if there are only a few “prospects” spending time here now, those people are the early adopters in your market space. Thus, they will be the influencers.

Might as well have them on your team…

###

Filed Under: E-Rep, Social Media Tagged With: Chris Brogan, content marketing, Content Strategy, Google+, Lead Nurturing, Prospecting, seo

How To Use LinkedIn To Eavesdrop, And Other Life Changing Strategies

September 29, 2011 By Todd Schnick 5 Comments

My LinkedIn feed in my Google Reader

Ok. So if I had a dollar for every time someone said “I only use LinkedIn for business, Facebook for family and friends, blah, blah, and blah…”

So prove it.

What exactly are you doing to use LinkedIn for business?

Come on, tell me. In the comments below. I am curious (seriously) how you are using LinkedIn for business. Because I want to learn how to better leverage the platform myself.

1. Oh sure, you can engage with other LinkedIn users on various LinkedIn groups, connect with people who need the help you can provide, identify people who can help you or your clients, etc.

2. And sure, you can seek to connect with someone you don’t know by asking someone you do know to help make a connection.

[and this only works if your connection actually knows that person, which as time passes, this is becoming less and less likely, because people connect with people they don't really know far too often...thus negating what was once the TRUE POWER of LinkedIn...just so people could say they had a boatload of connections and look all influential and such...]

[and just because you have an account, and you have a few recs, and you've joined six groups, and a total of 117 connections, don't -- DO NOT -- tell me you "use LinkedIn for business...]

So let me share with you a new strategy to employ here. And trust me, it isn’t rocket science. It isn’t hard. And I’ve talked about it before. But it works. How do I know?

Because I sold a piece of business on Tuesday as a result of this strategy…

It requires two things:

1. An understanding of RSS and using an RSS reader.

2. Devoting a few minutes a day to monitoring the output.

Actually, three things:

3. Doing something with your new intelligence gathering capabilities.

So, first, a quick course on RSS. [if you are in business, and you are not using an RSS reader, you are losing out] Read here for a quick tutorial on RSS via Wikipedia. Here is an article that talks about using RSS to help generate sales.

I use Google Reader, which is a great tool, and syncs nicely with all my other Google Apps, and will only get better when it syncs better with Google+. But that’s another conversation.

I use my RSS reader to monitor several hundred blogs, news sites, Google Alerts results for all my clients and prospects, and Twitter Search results for all my clients and prospects and Facebook Fan page postings.

So, again. #3. Lastly, I monitor my LinkedIn connections activity on my RSS reader.

Several times a day, I review the RSS feed of ALL my LinkedIn connections. I see all kinds of stuff. New connections, new projects, new content, and important announcements.

I promise…if you spend JUST a few minutes reviewing this content, you will identify someone you should connect with. And simply reach out to, perhaps invite to coffee.

You never know where those conversations will lead, and they might lead to business…

In my case, an old friend of mine announced on LinkedIn that he had moved to a new job. I reached out an offered congratulations. He said thanks. We agreed to meet for coffee and catch up.

Once at coffee, he learned about what we do here at Dreamland. He expressed interest in doing some work with us. Fast forward a few weeks, we closed the deal.

Yes, all because I happened to catch on LinkedIn, via my RSS feed, that he got a new gig.

Don’t tell me social media doesn’t impact sales. And don’t tell me it takes hours and hours and hours…..

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: Faceb, LinkedIn, RSS, social media

10 Questions Your Marketing + Sales VPs Better Have Answers For

August 31, 2011 By Todd Schnick Leave a Comment

Never a bad time to reassess, and ascertain whether or not your online presence is set up to drive real benefit to both your sales and marketing programs. Here, please find ten simple questions that should be asked of your sales and marketing leaders:

[recommend that you cut + paste this list on the water cooler bulletin board...honest discussion of these issues should be a priority...]

1. Are you reviewing your data results from Google Analytics? And making strategic decisions based on those numbers?

2. Do you know if visitors to your website are finding what they are looking for? Or the call-to-actions you want them to take are easy-to-find?

2.5. Do you even have call-to-actions on your website?

3. What are you doing strategically with the email database you have built? Are you moving people through a buying process with your email campaign?

4. Is your website performing well with your keywords and key phrases? [disclaimer: this assumes you answered correctly on the first question...]

5. Are you encouraging all teammates (read: employees) to be reaching out and be communicative with their social graph, and help promote the company brand and mission?

5.5. You are allowing your people to communicate with the rest of the world…right?

6. Are you blogging? Do you understand the Search Engine Optimization strength of blogging?

6.5. Has it been two months since something was published on the company blog?

7. Have you generated a content marketing strategy? If not, here is our best content marketing recommendation on what to do to get started… [in case you have no idea what I am talking about, content marketing strategy helps educate your target market and prospects]

8. You aren’t spamming people with your email marketing newsletter, right?

8.5. RIGHT?

9. Does your website have an info@companydomain.com email address? Have you checked it since last Tuesday? [Man, if I had a dollar for every email I sent to an "info" email address that was never acknowledged...]

10. If you do have company profiles on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, are you actually keeping up and seeing if anyone is contacting you there? Or did you just set it up because some article in a magazine suggested you do so?

###

[comment on google+ too...]

[cartoon by hugh macleod]

Filed Under: Content Marketing, Social Media Tagged With: Blogging, e-rep, social media

What Does It Take for Your Website to get Discovered?

August 29, 2011 By Mark Howe Leave a Comment

Three quarters of activity on the internet begins at a search engine. What steps are you taking to make sure your website is found? This brings up the phrase “Search Engine Optimization” better known as SEO. Your blog is being used to drive traffic and new business. That means it needs to be properly set up from the start.

What are the two main areas of focus that search engines use to determine what your site is about and how to prioritize it?

Content on your website: The search engine spider scans your indexed pages for content, code, descriptions and meta tags. Its purpose is to know what your website or blog contains.
Links to your blog: At the same time, it is searching for inbound links. The more quality inbound links tell the spider that you have more influence and authority. Think of the inbound link as a vote of confidence.

Lets first look at what needs to be done when we are creating content. This is known as “On-Page SEO”. On-Page SEO is a part of what the search engine spider looks for when indexing your pages. Here is a list of 6 sections that will need to be optimized.

The Content of the Blog Post and/or Page: Make sure the content has value. Ask yourself a two questions, What is in it for the reader? Why do they want to read what you write? Valuable content creates influence and authority (think about the search engine spider).
URL Structure: Make sure the url contains the title of your post.
Pictures: Pictures are a great way to emphasize your point and to break up all the text. Pictures are also useful in getting found. Add “Alt tags” to all images. Think of it as a keyword for the image.
Title Tags and Meta Tags: The Title tag and the meta description are what you see on the search engine result page. It will be the visitors first impression. Keywords need to be in all the above.
Headline Tags (H1, H2, etc): Most commonly used in titles and to break up sections of the blog post. Their value expands beyond helping the reader. Search engines use them as clues to help determine what your content is about. It is important to make sure they contain keywords as well.
Internal Linking: Insert links within the post that direct to other content on your website. This is something else that the search engines see.

Follow the list above and you will be on the right path to the first page of the search engine results.

WordPress Plugin to help with SEO:

All in One SEO

Next time we will discuss the value of long-tailed keywords. Before next week, think about what keywords you want to target. I am going to discuss the value of long-tailed keywords and the tools to analyze keywords.

Filed Under: E-Rep, SEO, Social Media

What are the two main areas of focus that search engines use to determine what your site is about and how to prioritize it?

Previous Posts