Social Media And Offline Business: A Potent Pairing

by AnitaF on February 8, 2010

How are you presently interacting with your customers? Are they online? I would take a stab at that question and answer yes! Your customers are online.

Do you know you can connect with them easily, improve the quality of service you provide, build better relationships and expand your network reach?

Lets take a detour from traditional offline marketing methods…

…Here are some basic ways you can connect with them…Here’s how social media and offline business create a potent pairing. Lets use customer satisfaction as an example;

With the readily available tools we are able to access as a business owner we have no excuse for not knowing what the level of customer satisfaction is with our products and services.

How can you interact with your customers, and measure their satisfaction with your products and services through social media? How much would it impact your business to speak to them directly? You can talk to them on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and Ning. Touching base with them using a survey as part of an email campaign is also a way to stay connected.

Here are some gauges I use;

Google Reader – In order to not “get distracted” online and have a place to gather all my pertinent information I have folders in my reader that help me find my market, see what they are saying and answer their concerns and questions.

Twitter- I ask. Simply put, I realize, but I interact with my customers and find potential customers in this space.

Facebook- a little more personal and room for expanded conversation and a space to share more information not limited to 140 characters.

Email- it’s a great place to connect if your relationship with your customers has moved past the Twitter/Facebook stage Leave an email on your website and get back to people when you can. This is a very powerful way to build relationships.

Blog Comments- create a home base, a place you can share and build customer trust. Getting feedback is essential to growing your online presence…what are your customers saying to you directly. Listen and learn form this. Blogs are a great tool.

There are many ways we can improve our products and customer service. These are just places to listen and respond. We could add re-bills for memberships, not opting out of your email list, return customers and referrals.

If your goal is to improve customer satisfaction in 2010, what is your strategy to do it? We continue to evolve and grow as a business owner; part of this process to help us expand, is to listen and learn from the folks we are here to serve.

Thoughts? I am sure there are lots of different gauges. What do you use?

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Is Branding With Social Media Really Free?

by AnitaF on February 8, 2010

I’m always up for debate on this topic, I however don’t see where branding with social media is free. I do see huge potential for business growth as we have never seen before.It is becoming increasingly more important to brand yourself, as social media places and spaces are getting noisier. Branding allows for your voice to be heard in your niche, and shows your community, what you have to offer, and how it will benefit them.

Although social media and social networking places are free to join, they can be time-consuming. Albeit, I personally feel, it’s worth your time.

Some of the benefits of branding with social media are, low cost of entry (free to join), easy to build relationships with your customers, focus on your target market, partnering with others in your niche and building a solid foundation for your business.

Let’s look at these….

Low cost of entry- when you’re first starting out in the online arena branding with social media, is a low cost alternative, to financing advertising. However, your time has to be a consideration as well. This is where, if you’re doing what you love, the time spent will pay you back tenfold.

Easier to build relationships with your customers – as business owners we have never been able until now, to reach out, and have unlimited potential for business growth, that social networking and social media sites affords us.

Focus on your target market- places like twitter search have allowed us the luxury to ask questions, and get answers. In real time. How can posting in a magazine or newspaper remotely compare to the power this gives the consumer, as well as, the service provider.

Partnering with others in your niche – there is only one of you, as well as, one of me. We now have better means to connect with other business owners and service providers, in a shared industry. Think about how effective a resource, or set of resources, we can provide for our customers, when we work together and not alone.

Building a solid foundation for your business- you can literally begin a business with a passion or an idea. We now have the means to connect to people looking for we have to offer, worldwide. You can start small, and as you grow, learn about your market, and their needs. Over time, you will have a long-lasting and impactful presence within your marketplace. This will be based on direct contact “human touch” marketing, that we are only just beginning to learn about.

How are you branding with social media? Do you think its free?

I would like to hear your thoughts on this.

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Part 1: Understanding Social Media Psychology

February 8, 2010

I would like to begin by stating that, I am not a psychologist. I have however, had previous experience, working in the human services field for 15 years. Over the years, I’ve studied psychology, to learn about, and better serve the people I worked with. I have utilized my knowledge and applied what I’ve learned, [...]

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4 steps: A Social Marketing Campaign

February 8, 2010

I’ve been frequenting social media and social networking spaces for a few years now. I spent a lot of time and money learning how to use these places, to be helpful and pay my business expenses too.
There’s a tonne of information out there, some good, some not so good. Here’s an outline that you can [...]

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What Does Value Marketing Really Mean?

February 8, 2010

Value marketing means that we, as marketers, give value first with the understanding, we will get paid later.. It does not mean that we don’t get paid for our services, products and time. It’s Key.
There’s a big misconception here, the line becomes a blur between where we stop giving, and where start charging for our [...]

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Goals First…Then Marketing Strategy

February 7, 2010

A Marketing Strategy in essence, is where your business and products are positioned, relative to your competitors (or the place where you compliment and already existing marketplace), which ever your take is on this. That’s the short version…
Let’s begin. What is the primary purpose of your business? This tells the story or vision if you [...]

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