I attended a meeting last week with a variety of business owners. We were all in the B2B realm, with everything from insurance and financial representatives, to IT and promotional products.

After I gave my 60 second commercial on creating an online marketing strategy, the social media conversation started. 

     “I just signed up for Twitter.”
     “I visit Facebook every day.”
     “I use LinkedIn all the time.”

So I asked the next question.

     “How are you using these tools to make money for your business?”

And of course I got exactly what I expected. A ton of blank stares.

If you ask people what it means to market or advertise, they usually come up with a response about promoting their businesses. But ask how any of the new social media applies to their marketing strategies, and you’ll be lucky to get any type of reply at all.

Just because the news is filled with stories on Twitter doesn’t mean you have to have a Twitter account. Just because they talk about Facebook on your favorite radio show doesn’t mean you have to create your own account.

Unless you have the desire to build it as an effective marketing tool, understand why you’re using it, and have an ultimate goal of how its going to bring in money for your business.

I have several accounts on Twitter. I use them all to promote who I am and what my company offers. I use it to grow relationships. And I have a lot of fun with them.

But I also have a strategy in mind. So for our Twitter Photoshoptips account,

• Build it to 100,000 followers by June 2010
• Create a strong following
• Share Photoshop tips to amateurs and professionals
• Build links back to VirtualPhotographyStudio.com
• Build traffic to a variety of Photoshop products
• Create revenue of $2500 per month by June 2010

The same applies to all my other social accounts. Strategies may be different, but I definitely have a strategy in place.

If you have social media accounts, what’s your strategy?

If you don’t know, maybe it’s time you did.

The hot topic in every training class I attended was social networking. “How many of you have a Twitter account?” was the first thing mentioned in every class.

In one class, the questions became even more controversial, and started a lot of discussion.

Should you run more than one Twitter account? And if so, should Twitter accounts be all about you, or can they also be designed as a promotion tool?

Ultimately the purpose of social media is to build relationships, and let people develop a comfort factor with you and your products/services before they become customers. When you use Twitter as your own personal name – @LoriOsterberg for instance – than you can talk about a variety of things, and let people see your personality through the multitude of posts you create.

While many people in the class felt social accounts, especially Twitter, should remain at the personal level, more and more I’m seeing businesses build great accounts up for the sole purpose of communicating with clients and building up more profits for their business.

What makes Twitter such a fantastic marketing tool is the ability to quickly set up an account, and turn it into anything you desire.

I’ve followed @ProBlogger for months now, and love the information he provides. Today he announced he is opening up @ProBloggerDeals which will be filled with promotional offers that bloggers may find interest in. It will be primarily for sales, and he’s upfront about the purpose of this account.

No matter which way you choose to use your social accounts, the best way to handle any form of marketing these days is to be transparent with your offers and the way you are managing your account.

1. Use your real name, or a real function of your business. If you are using a pseudo name, have a reason for using it and make sure your audience understands your reasoning.

2. Be honest and straight forward in the way you use your account. If you’re going to promote your products and services, let people know how frequently you will be posting, and the overall goals for your account.

3. Start with the end in mind. What is your goal for this site? What do you wish to accomplish? You can find a market for anything as long as you tell people what to expect and deliver exactly what you promise.

The key to social networking is to deliver on your promise. Build the relationship doing exactly what you state you’ll do, and you’ll easily find a flock of followers willing to hear your information.

So if you run a business, you have to be on Twitter, right?

And if you’re on Twitter, the best thing you can do is get a ton of followers, right?

So these promises of 5,000 Twitter followers in 5 hours for $50 is a great deal, right?

Think again.

If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

First, if anyone is promising a ton of followers for a low fee, your first question should be “How valuable would these followers be to my business?”

Just like everything, the best way to get followers is the good old fashioned way. Go out and find people who you have something in common with.

• If you are a mommy blogger, find moms.
• If you are an accountant for small businesses, find small business owners.
• If you are a realtor, find people who are interested in buying property within your area. (A Colorado realtor can find a ton of people to follow in Colorado very easily.)

So let’s say your goal is to add 50 new followers every day. That’s 350 a week. If you add 50 a day for three weeks, that’s more than 1,000 people you’re connecting with every time you Tweet.

And if you’re adding new followers at that rate, and contributing by writing a few times every day, you won’t just grow at 50 per day. Eventually it takes on a life of its own because you’re active and communicating. It works.

So in one month, you can easily have over 1,000 people in your network.

It may not be the 5,000 in 5 day guarantee. But wouldn’t you rather chat with 1,000 people that you have a strong potential of building a relationship with?

image source penywise

But is it really the way of the future?

The key to making it an integral part of our society is to have people embrace the technology.

According to the Participatory Marketing Network and reported on Marketing Charts, even though 99% of Gen Y consumers (18-24 year olds) report being active on at least one social site, only 22% of this group said they were currently on Twitter.

So it’s not the younger generation who is using it.

It seems if you’re using social to follow friends, Twitter isn’t a choice. Yet.

Where Twitter does well is for those of us already established in our careers, and out there looking for a new way to market our business, connect with people, and build relationships that will ultimately lead to new business, careers, or even friendships.

Once people are on Twitter, they tend to use it in several ways.

1. Conversation
What’s your passion? What do you love doing every single week? I know for my husband, it’s all about sailing. But in our family, there aren’t a whole lot of sailors he can talk to. He heads out to the pond every week, and sails with his buddies. But outside of that, the rest of us can’t carry on a long conversation about sailing. Thanks to social, he can find a ton of people – from anywhere in the world – that share his passion for sailing. He can share ideas, find out new places to visit, keep up to date on races, and find some cool products and services all based around his love of sailing. It doesn’t’ matter if they are 5 minutes or 5,000 miles away – it’s easy to start a conversation and find others willing to join in.

2. Expertise builder
Want to spread the word about your expertise? Twitter is the place. Tweet daily about things in your field, tips to use, and strategies you’ve found helpful. Provide statistics and helpful links. And along the way connect up with people with common interests, and can provide you with exposure based on your qualifications. It can happen quickly in the Twitter world, with only time as your hurdle. No costs. No big leaders to stand in your way. Just you and the world as your audience.

3. Relationship builder
Showcasing what you do and your knowledge base is important in today’s world. But equally important is building up relationships with the people in your circle of influence. Your clients. Your prospects. Your vendors. Your friends. The people in the same industry. Twitter makes it easy to reach out to all these and more, and share not only resources with them, but personal items that show a whole different side to you. It’s the newest way of asking, “How’s your family?” that occurs in all face to face sales calls around the world. It’s a way of finding commonality with people you may have never known up until now, and would probably never meet under normal circumstances.

Twitter is changing the way we do business, and the way we market ourselves, our products and services. Will Twitter be around years from now? Only time will tell. But one thing is for sure: we’re learning a whole new way of communicating, and that will never stop. By learning these skills now, you’re miles ahead of your competition, and will be that much more prepared when the next generation moves in.

Look out world here we come.

Bull Horn Approach
Imagine standing on a street corner screaming out your message at 4am on a Sunday morning. Will a few people hear it? Maybe. But you’re missing a huge opportunity. Don’t head out to Twitter once a month and Tweet out six messages in a row. Spend 5 minutes per day adding one or two quality Tweets, and spend some time re-tweeting and making conversation.

A Glamorous RSS Feed
Twitter is more than a resource for you blog posts and RSS feeds. Simply feeding in your RSS is a surefire way of getting your followers to quickly unfollow. Twitter is all about relationships first, content second.

I’m Off To The Store
I’m off to the store. Taking the kids to the park. About to eat a snack. The occasional personal Tweet helps show your human side. But everything needs to be done in moderation. Unless you’re tweeting solely with personal friends and family, keep the personal stuff at a minimum.

Lurking, Not Speaking
I played this game on Twitter my first few weeks. I didn’t know what to Tweet, so I lurked and read what other people were writing. It took awhile, but eventually I developed my own knack. You can’t grow your Twitter account if you remain a lurker. You have to jump in, give it a try, and use it on a regular basis.

Try Something New
If you’re on Twitter and haven’t tried out some of the amazing sites and tools connected with Twitter, you’re really missing out. Head over to Twitter Links to find a list of sites that will help you use Twitter together. Some of my new favorites are MuckRack, StrawPoll and TweetValue.

What’s My Purpose?
What are you trying to accomplish on Twitter? What’s the end goal? If you don’t plan from the beginning, you’ll quickly see yourself wasting hours of time. Stop and write down your expectations, and the Tweet accordingly.

• You did something crazy with your friends, and it became a memory you talk about at high school reunions.
• You did something embarrassing, it circulated at school for a few days, and it disappeared forever.

Ah, the good ol’ days.

Thanks to blogging and social media, your business is everyone else’s business forever. If you do something crazy, it will circulate online forever. If you do something embarrassing, the photos will be around forever to prove it.

A recent report by the National Association for College Admission Counseling says that one fourth of colleges surveyed indicated they use web searches or social networking technology to dive deeper into prospective students backgrounds.

More than half monitor the online social buzz for their school.

And one third maintain a blog for their college.

In short, they know how to use social media and they aren’t afraid to use it.

And it’s not just colleges. Employers are taking the same action. Want to find a date? Find a wealth of information on a person before you ever meet face to face.

I’ve been speaking to a lot of PTCO groups at local schools, and have been amazed at the questions and concerns.

Is it important to protect our kids? Definitely. But more important is to teach them to use these new tools the right way.

What you say CAN have an impact on you for the rest of your life.

The best way to do that is to take an active voice and learn the technology yourself.

You’re not a Twitter expert if you just signed up and have 20 followers. But using Twitter and finding out how to grow your business with it is a step in the right direction.

You’re not a blogging expert by having a few posts on a blog. But building your own blog, posting regularly, and finding out how it can change your business is the action you need.

We’ll never take a step backwards. The tools we have today will only be modified and improved in the future.

Take action now, and be ready for what the future brings. 

image source woodsy

Head to a networking group and chances are someone will mention Twitter. Twitter “experts” are popping up all over with new business services (can you really be a Twitter expert with 100 followers?)

It seems to be the only way to do business these days.

Even just a few months, in order to have access to the press, you had to type up a press release, send it, and hope for the best. If you had a personal relationship with someone, you could contact him or her directly.

But now with Twitter, you can connect with a variety of different news and media sources.

MediaOnTwitter is a database filled with journalists, media sources, bloggers and reporters. You can browse through the sources, sort by columns, and easily follow someone through the Twitter follow link.

The key to gaining attention is to stay active. If someone has 100 followers who aren’t very active, your posts could get noticed. But if someone is following thousands, and you only post once a day, you’ll be lost in the content.

• Stay active. Set aside a timeframe every day to post. Create several posts every day, and change out the content.
• Provide quality content. Showcase your blog posts. Provide quality links. Add resources that benefit your readers.
• Respond to people you are following. Conversation helps you build your list, and prove your expertise.
• Respond to media sources. They may not answer at first, but they will notice. Keep content flowing, and quality Tweets, and you will be noticed over time.

Remember Twitter, like any other social site, takes long-term commitment. The more you stick with it, the more results you will see.

Twitter is taking the Internet by storm. 

It seems everything in the media is about social networking, and how you can use it either in your personal or professional life. Just this past weekend I found stories about Twitter in 3 mainstream magazines, and “What The Tweet Are We Doing?” was a full page article in Sunday’s The Denver Post.

So with the sudden rage that’s exploding all around us, its natural for everyone to wonder what Facebook and Twitter are, and how they can use them.

But does it REALLY matter how to use Facebook and Twitter? Or is the more important question, “How is this technology going to impact me in the future?”

I have been speaking throughout Denver to PTCO groups on security issues for teens. And at the middle school level, a large amount of parents have no concept of Facebook, social networking, or what any of today’s top technology tools do.

Yet technology will have a huge impact on our children’s lives. And without the support of parents, many children today will become lost in the possibilities. Or worse, lost in the “wild west” and getting into all kinds of trouble.

Right now, the amount of new technical information is doubling every two years. So for students starting out today in a four year technical degree, by the time they hit their junior year, half of the information they’ve learned will be out of date and no longer apply.

It’s not important the specifics of what you’re learning today, so much as it’s important to learn why the technology exists and how to utilize it.

When we started out online in the early 90’s with a website, it wasn’t the website that was important. It was the ability to learn how to use the website as a marketing tool.

And with Facebook and Twitter at their heights, it’s not important to learn and become an expert at Facebook and Twitter. It’s important to learn how to use them as tools to get what you want. Whether it’s keeping in touch with friends, marketing a business, or finding a new restaurant for Saturday night.

When Facebook and Twitter have come and gone (or morphed into something else) what will be important is the reasoning why they grew so fast:

1. instantly communicating with multiple people at once
2. joining with like minded people
3. sharing ideas and opinions
4. using technology in many formats

And when the new rage surfaces, you can bet it will take these concepts, and put them on steroids. You’ll take everything you learned from these tools, and use them quicker, faster, and more effectively then ever before.

1. Build your Twitter account with quality people that you truly want to follow. Many people say they follow everyone that follows them. After following several people that filled up my conversation with information that didn’t apply to me, I took a different stance. I watch my conversations, and follow people that I have something in common with, or that I want to try  and build relationships with. In many ways it is a two way street – I follow them and they follow me. I just use discretion when choosing who to follow.

2. Don’t build too quickly. You don’t want to go from 0 to 2,000 following’s in a one week period. Likewise, you don’t want to be following 500 people and only have 10 following you. Build slowly at first to learn more about Twitter and start developing relationships. Show people you provide quality content, and give them a reason to follow you.

3. Create a theme with your Twitter posts. I like to add links to quality content I’m reading in the blogosphere every day. I’ll purposely head out to find quality links I can share with my followers. A lot of social networking is about having a system and following it every day.

4. Make each post mean something to all of your followers. Remember, they might not be following the people you are communicating with, and can’t see the entire conversation. Give them a reason to find out more about the conversation, and maybe give them a new resource to follow. Posts like “LOL!” aren’t good for developing relationships. Posts like “LOL – I loved your blog post on building relationships” build up curiosity.

5. Don’t over-tweet. Make a commitment to adding quality posts every day. But don’t flood the homepages of your followers. This can often cause deletes if you’re overstepping the communication line, especially if you’re forgoing quality for quantity.

6. Find a few new people to follow every week. Head over to search.twitter.com and type in your niche, or a keyword related to your niche. Check out the profiles that show up, and find some new people to follow.

7. Use a service like Tweetdeck or Twhirl. These programs are designed to make monitoring your Tweets easier, and in the case of Tweetdeck, allows you to categorize and organize your Tweets by type and other features.

8. Sign up with Mr Tweet to gain follower recommendations and get recommended to others.

9. List your Twitter ID in Twitter directories such as Just Tweet It or Twello.

10. Learn all you can about Twitter. One of my favorite ways to keep up on Twitter is through TwiTip – a site dedicated to providing tips on using Twitter.

Yes, sometimes it is a full time job just keeping up with everything that is available. I create systems and conquer. Choose how you want to participate, and do a little every day. A little will turn into a lot over time.

As of this morning, they’ve done an about face.

Due to the backlash that swept through the blogosphere, they had two choices: retreat back to the old terms, or rewrite them again. As of now they have chosen to revert back to the old.

Facebook still wants to change the terms and put them in a language that better suits the reality of being online. But they will be will be doing it with the help of the 175 million people that currently use Facebook (if you want to take part, join the Facebook Bill of Rights and Responsibilities group).

So what does all this mean? Here are a few thoughts.

• Facebook is a free service. And its on the Internet. By putting any information onto a source like Facebook, you’re giving them certain rights to the information. If you put it online, you lose certain control. Period.
• With the Internet, people have control (as opposed to the big corporations). Look what a few bloggers can do! The Facebook change was announced Sunday and in a matter of hours, it swept through a ton of blogs and through every industry. Because of the fast action, Facebook was forced to make a change – fast. That’s really the power of the people.
• It’s all about give and take. If you want to have 100 percent control, you cannot play online. If you want the exposure and the ability to market your business to the masses, you have to be willing to play in the sandbox with other players. And that means losing some of your control.
• Facebook is not alone. I guarantee if you read the terms of use of any other type of social or information sharing site, you’ll find similar phrases. As a company, they have to have some rights over the material you place on their sites. And with the viral atmosphere of being online, things take on a life of their own.

So, what’s your opinion? How will this change the way you play in the online world?