Interesting…

Internet marketing has radically changed the way we all do business. Social media is one component of that. It’s the newest and it too has the ability to change the way you do business.

And it’s not by joining Facebook or hanging around on Twitter. Just doing that wont give you value in terms of sales, more sales and, much though I hate the word, Branding!

You need to know what to do. What’s the point in having to make the mistakes that us early adopters did. Yes I’ve got over 6,000 followers on Twitter.

So what? It doesn’t matter a hoot if they don’t make money for your business.

So think about this…

Have you a strategy to include and integrate social media into what you’re doing? Because if you remember it was only a few years ago that people were saying you didn’t really need a website.

And now you’ve got people making a very decent living from a business that sells purely through a web site. I’ve several clients who do exactly that. Can I improve what they do.

You bet!

Often people just don’t know what they don’t know. They don’t know what others have successfully tried either.

Even if they’ve been on internet marketing courses, or “how to do SEO” courses!

I conducted a social media course this month and this company has Facebook, a blog and are on Twitter. They were amazed when I showed them one very common technique that changed the way they looked at some of the Internet marketing side of their company.

So if that training can cause such a change in outlook why is there no funding to help business do it?

And by the way this isn’t a particularly small company. They’ve got real passion behind their business and want to do it well. But it’s still a case of you don’t know what you don’t know.

Do you know what you don’t know?

Questions like:

• Q1 How can we prevent employees spilling the beans about what happens inside our company?
• Q2 What about if our customers leave negative comments?
• Q3 Isn’t it a gift to competitors spying on what we’re doing?
• Q4 Isn’t my use of Twitter and social media a complete waste of time?
• Q5 Will my employees spend all day using social media without doing the job they’re paid for?

And of course all these are perfectly valid questions. However, think about this.

Preventing Employees Spilling the Beans

If you have a social media policy in place employees understand their responsibilities in using social media and the consequences of its misuse.

Still the possibility remains that you could have a rogue employee who tarnishes your reputation. That is actually no different to the situation before social media came along. And with the advent of social media it can actually be easier to fix if an employee messes up.

Customers Leaving Negative Comments

Firstly, thank them for bringing your attention to the issue they raise. After all pre-social media you were unlikely to get much feedback as to why your best customer suddenly went to another supplier, or your products weren’t selling as you’d hoped. Then do something about it and demonstrate that you took note and acted.

Remember you can’t shout louder than your customers on the Internet at the moment. So negatives will be heard. It’s what you do about it that speaks to your customers and prospects louder than any advertising.

Competitors Spying On You

Firstly people who follow others are unlikely to be leaders.

So using social media to trumpet advances in your products and services ensures your prospects and suppliers see you as the leader in innovation in your sector.

Why then would they buy elsewhere – provided you backup your offerings with a great customer service of course.

Wasting Your Time With Social Media

It is very easy to allow social media to suck you into a black hole from which you emerge several hours later, possibly wiser but certainly under more pressure.

You need two things before diving into social media: your social media business goals and time control.

Knowing your business goals means you know what to respond to through your social media channels. You also know what you can generate that moves you towards your goals.

And it’s vital that you control your time on social media otherwise you can interact with people all day to the detriment of your business.

Remember that networking is a tried and trusted business activity it’s just that we don’t do it every hour of every day. You need to think along those lines for your interactions.

Employees Wasting Time On Social Media

Employees can be very creative in finding ways to while their time away. But that has always been the way and the web just made it easier and more fun. If you allowed it your employees could happily surf the web all day every day. The same applies to social media.

You need to ensure you have policies in place defining how social media is used in your company. One of which is the amount of time allocated to social media. Another the sites that your social marketing strategy has documented as the ones to concentrate on. And another that defines who will use social media and why.