Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Using LinkedIn to Grow Your Business


LinkedIn can be a powerful social media tool to promote your business. A recent study revealed that LinkedIn is 277% more effective at generating leads than Twitter and Facebook. B2B companies in particular benefit from using LinkedIn. A recent survey revealed that 77% of B2B companies sampled acquired a customer through LinkedIn.

Here are some helpful tips in using LinkedIn to promote your business.

1. Quality over quantity: When acquiring contacts and building your network over LinkedIn, consider quality over quantity. Simply piling up contacts is not a sufficient strategy. Connect with relevant people and companies that can serve as potential strategic partners and prospective clients. LinkedIn allows access to the premiere professionals of their respective fields. Take advantage of this and connect/ follow people from whom you can learn or that may serve as mentors.

2. Post updates: LinkedIn gives you the ability to share information through status updates. This is a great way to keep your connections informed about your business or share useful information. You can also post projects that you have developed or are currently working on. This gives you the opportunity to showcase your skills and unique aptitudes. 

3. Recommend and endorse others: This feature is important to use. Endorsing and recommending others who you have worked with often encourages them to do the same for you. You are not only helping them gain more credibility and clout, but developing your own as well. 

4. Create a company page: Not only can you post as yourself but similarly to Facebook, you can create a company page through LinkedIn. You can post updates and share information as your company and recruit followers to your company page. There are nearly 3 million unique company pages on LinkedIn. To stand out and increase your exposure, consider using sponsored updates. Typically, only followers can see your company updates. However, with a sponsored update, people outside your company's following can also see your update. LinkedIn allows you to create targeted campaigns within a specified budget. It is a great way to extend the reach of your posts.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Our Article on Social Media Today

We are pleased that our article, The Tao of Social Media, was featured on Social Media Today. It is a terrific website and information resource. The link is below!

The Tao of Social Media


Monday, August 5, 2013

Using Facebook to Market Your Business

Offer Your Fans Discounts and Rewards 
Encourage fans to like your page by offering them something in return. Deals and reward offerings can include free content such as ebooks and video downloads as well as discount codes and coupons. For instance, you can generate a discount code that your fans can use through your website for their purchases. There is a "deals" tab available on your page. Simply go to the "edit page" section in the top right corner and select "deals."

Create Contests 
Contests are a great way to create buzz about your company or brand. They also help create engagement/ participation with your fans and can inspire increased loyalty from those fans. Examples of contests may include asking fans to submit artwork, provide feedback about current product/ service offerings, answer trivia questions, etc. You can offer discounts and unique prizes to contest winners. Do not be afraid to use your imagination; prizes relevant to your business such as merchandise, free trials of your product/ service are always sound choices. You can be even more adventurous and offer event tickets, trip giveaways, consumer electronics, etc. Be original! 

Hosting Events
If you are looking to have a launch party for a new product, host a press conference, schedule a seminar or promote any sort of event for your business or brand, be sure to use the Facebook "events" feature. You can create open or private events. Open events are available to the public. Only those who are invited can RSVP closed events. You can increase your likes through closed events by allowing invitees to invite their friends. When creating events, be sure to enable the event wall so that fans can post information or ask questions about the event. 

The Tao of Social Media

There once lived a young, curious fish. He was inclined to ask his older and wiser friend many questions.
"I always hear of this thing called the ocean," the young fish said. "What is it?"
"Why, the ocean is that which surrounds you on all sides," replied the older and wiser fish.
"That cannot be," protested the young fish. "If it truly surrounded me on all sides, I would be able to see it!"
"You cannot see it because the ocean is both within you and outside of you."
"But how can I tell if it exists if I cannot see it," asked the bemused young fish.
"You cannot see it, but you can feel it," replied the older fish.

This ancient Chinese parable was written to describe the ineffable force that connects all things, the implicate order of reality- the Tao. Simply put, Tao is essence.

Now that I've got your attention, let's discuss the Tao of social media. And getting to the essence (or Tao) of social media is about understanding connection and engagement.  The purpose of using social media for your business is to connect with and engage your audience, create word-of-mouth activity for your business, generate leads and convert those leads into sales. 

Social media has revolutionized the way we connect and share information. As social media has evolved, it has become increasingly recognized as a fixture rather than a trend. It is embedded in many dimensions of our day-to-day life and has profoundly affected the business sphere. 

Consider the following stats regarding social media:
- 77% of B2C marketers say they have acquired a customer through Facebook
- 34% of marketers have generated leads through Twitter
- 77% of B2B marketers have acquired customers through LinkedIn
- LinkedIn is 277% more effective at generating leads than Facebook or Twitter
- 84% of B2B companies are using some form of social media marketing 
- Social media produces double the marketing leads of trade shows, telemarketing, direct mail or PPC.
- Social media lead conversion rates are 13% higher than average lead conversion rates

Understanding that social media is here to stay, consider some of the benefits of incorporating social media into your marketing strategy:
1. Increased leads 
2. Increased lead conversion
3. Sales growth
4. Increased exposure, word-of-mouth
5. Increased traffic, improved search engine rankings 
6. Expand strategic alliances/ partnerships 

From the emergent perspective, no longer are traditional marketing efforts sufficient. In fact, people are more impervious to advertising and being sold then ever before. In making their purchase decisions, people are reading blogs, checking out review sites and reading what their friends are posting on Facebook and Twitter. 

Social media and digitization has in part empowered consumer behavior. Rather than relying primarily on the seduction of advertising, companies find they are competing in a testimony-driven community where products and services are openly shared, proselytized and in some cases persecuted. People share information about the products and services they like and use and in some cases those they do not favor. This word-of-mouth activity rewards companies that create value and arguably begets more integrity in markets. Of course this form of social exchange has always been basic to human life and business; but never has it been so empowered, expedient and ubiquitous in real time. 

Though crafting a social media strategy may be daunting to those who have yet to adopt it as part of their marketing strategy, a good place to start is creating a Facebook page for your business as well as a Twitter account. If you operate a B2B business, LinkedIn can be even more effective in creating strategic alliances and attracting clients. 

Again, remember the function of social media marketing is to create connection and engagement that ultimately contributes to word-of-mouth activity for your business, attracts leads and converts those leads into sales. So what are some of the ways to achieve this?
1. Create contests and reward offerings through Facebook. Using landing pages can also be helpful along with distinct calls to action. An example of a call to action is subscribing by email to receive a free ebook or white paper. 
2. Post interesting and engaging content that will compel your followers/ fans to share the information and participate on your page
3. Offer useful content that informs rather than sells. Especially if you are a B2B, creating and sharing content through blogs, video, ebooks, white papers can be helpful. 
4. Use mixed media such as photo and video. Infographics can also be useful in condensing information into concise, palatable imagery that is more engaging. Consider posting videos through Instagram, YouTube. You may even consider a video podcast. 
5. Let your followers and customers participate. Examples include allowing followers/ fans to vote on new products, services, etc. Listen to them- social media is not only a platform to dispense but to receive. You can gain valuable insight from your fans/ followers. 
6. Form key relationships with potential strategic partners that offer complementary products/ services. Such partnerships can create more leads. LinkedIn is particularly effective in achieving this. 

Through your social media efforts, be authentic. Do not attempt to project a false image, don't be afraid to show your or your business's unique personality.