How do businesses generate sales? Answering that question helps to establish social media’s ROI. Rather than connecting social media directly to sales, try connecting social media to the factors that contribute to sales.

1.    Hire better sales people. If you want to generate revenue hire talented people who understand how to prospect, develop relationships with and service key accounts. Social media can help you identify these people. Use your own network of connections to promote sales jobs via LinkedIn. Use sites like Jobvite to create referral programs using social networks. Evaluate the social media presence of a prospect as a way to determine their relevant connections and experiences. Look for sales people who understand how to maintain relationships using social tools. Hiring better sales people = generating more revenue.

2.    Create compelling offers. Do you know how people are using your product? Or what they are looking for in a product? A listening program on social media can help. Notice what words are used to describe your product and your competitors. Use what you find to position the product, create compelling offers and identify keywords that spark attention. Better offers = higher conversion.

3.    Increase the trust in a company. Twitter has associated a human voice, and often a human face, with companies who use it well. I know if I have a problem with Comcast, I can @ComcastCares, or @ScottMonty if I have a question about Ford. I would argue that trust and connection with a brand facilitate purchasing behavior. Social media used poorly produces the opposite effect. As @RustyW states, “ Fake reviews web site http://consumerreviews.org/... was created by DirectBuy to showcase positive reviews. Just wrong.”  Trust –> Relationships –> Sales

4.    Increase the trust for a sales person. The best sales people I’ve worked with are resources to their clients. They provide effective solutions and immerse themselves in their client’s businesses. Social media provides an effective way to learn about your client’s businesses and to provide new solutions to constantly stay relevant. How? Use blogs and RSS to keep informed about trends in your clients’ business.  More relevance –> better ability to solve clients problems –> more sales

5.    Reach people at the moment of decision. Customers are asking their networks for advice directly impacting their purchasing decision. Try this test. Go to search.twitter.com and enter “Can you recommend?”. Companies who monitor social media and respond to opportunities pertaining to products and services they are selling have an opportunity to provide information to help consumers make decisions. Of course this should be done responsibly. Moment of decision = influence points

6.    Additional ways social media contributes to revenue: empowers evangelists to share their experiences; provides direct access to customers to collect feedback; enables direct sales like WOOT.

What’s a list without good evidence?

• Check out Peter Kim – the Dean of Social Design
• Chris Brogan on Social Media and the Sales Cycle
• Of course, we’ll add the Dell case study for good measure
• And some Fortune 500 stats cited on Cisco’s blog

Added bonus:

• The Godfather of Sales

Related posts:

1. Social Media Experts In a recen
2. Social Media Book Club Launch – Solis’ “The End of Business As Usual” On Novembe

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

It’s uninteresting to follow a company I care about and only read their replies to their customers. I’m going to generalize and say that we follow companies because we like their products and services, we want discounts, special access to promotions, to get closer to a world view we share as well as a response to our questions.

If the majority of a company’s responses are @ replies, it signifies a company is listening. However, listening alone is not compelling, especially if a company’s responses are not directed at you.

Check it out for yourself. Go to these Twitter accounts and see:

@Starbucks
@JetBlue
@Wholefoods

There is another side to this discussion. If we think of the brand as a person and Twitter its voice, the account consisting of a majority of @ replies is approachable. Customers feel that can ask a question and receive a response, evidenced by the account’s activity. It communicates something real about the brand.

I am in favor of a balanced approachability strategy that signifies you are listening, while also providing engaging content. We track the ratio of @ replies in our tweet stream for clients as a metric that helps us navigate this.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Join the conversation on our Page

I’m teaching a course at Emerson College called “Social Media and Marketing.” Unofficially, I’ve titled it “Why Social Media Matters.” I’ve asked 20 industry experts to share with me the most challenging questions they are asked on a regular basis about social media. Their answers shaped our curriculum. Each week the class explores one of the question. Five companies are involved with the class: Cisco, Doink, 8Minute Dating, Zappos and Nokia. Students are working on their real business challenges involving social media.

In the first class, we discussed the meaning of social media, based on its application and various definitions. There is considerable debate on what social media is.
Prior to the class, I asked several prominent bloggers for their definition, many of whom referred me to the Wikipedia definition.
While that’s a good place to start, we shared many other insightful resources:

1. Video: Social Media Revolution
Statistics are persuasive; I wish the sources were cited more fully in this video.

2. Presentation: IAB social media metrics definitions
The Interactive Advertising Bureau offers many concentrated key performance indicators helpful in planning and measuring a social media campaign.

3. TED Talk video: Howard Rheingold
An early and important contribution to defining social media, before the phrase even existed.

4. TED Talk video: Seth Godin on Tribes
An essential framework for brands using social media.

5. Video: Chris Brogan “Don’t be that Guy”
An important reminder of how not to market in social networks.

6. Blog post: Jeremiah Owyang – 50 ways to use social media

7. Blog post: What is Social Media? 23 Definitions

How do you define social media? Why does it matter to you? Share your story on our Facebook Page.

Related posts:

1. Social Media Experts In a recen
2. Social Media Book Club Launch – Solis’ “The End of Business As Usual” On Novembe

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I just completed an integrated social media plan for a client. The plan will engage and activate their customers on social networks.

Customers that are engaged with the brand are more likely to buy products and services.

And they are more likely to refer.

This helps to establish the business case for social media.

A non-social media example underscoring this point is the way universities interact with their alumni. Check out your latest alumni magazine.

In mine I found 7 examples you can use right now to build a customer community:

1. User generated content. Alumni wrote 75% of the content in the magazine. In what ways can you incorporate customer content into your blog?

2. Icons. Images of new buildings, professors and innovations fill the pages of the magazine making me proud to associate with the community. What images are you sharing with customers in your coorespondence with them: clip art or photos that evoke a sense of identification with your company?

3. Context. On every page the alumni magazine reminds us of the history of the university, which is greater than any individual member. Reading through the magazine I feel a sense of being apart of something greater than me. What values does your company promote, which are bigger than it? Are you sharing those values with your customers?

4. Ceremony. Birth, death, marriage and accomplishments are ceremonies celebrated within the pages of the alumni magazine. What are the ceremonies you celebrate with your customers? (i.e., 1-800-Flowers is celebrating their customer’s birthdays on Facebook).

5. Featured members. The alumni magazine spotlights new alumni each month by honoring them with an interview. How do you honor your customers?

6. Togetherness. The alumni magazine invites fellow alumni to travel together. It encourages those who do to send pictures and features them in the magazine. This creates a sense of belonging that is real. How are you creating a sense of “togetherness” with your customers?

7. The Ask. A purpose of the alumni magazine is to raise money for the university. It does this in direct and indirect ways. Directly, it asks for contribution only once. Indirectly, the more you read the magazine, the more you identify with the community increasing the likeihood of donation. How are you asking customers for their business? And what value are you delivering before they do?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Join the conversation on our Fan Page

This semester I’m teaching a course at Emerson College in Boston entitled Social Media and Marketing. If this topic interests you, there are many ways you can participate. The easiest is joining our Facebook fan page, “Why Social Media Matters.” My goal is to contribute to meaningful discourse about the role of social media in our lives and our businesses. Feel free to drop on by and stay for a while. I’m going to blog quite frequently about it as well.

One of the things I love about social media is how simple it can be. Sure, you can make social media complex. You can measure metrics, use social marketing models and chart the growth of communities over time. However, you can also create one powerful idea. An idea that doesn’t require anything but others willing to play along.

Take the idea of Follow Friday for example. Hundreds of thousands participate weekly in nominating their friends to be followed on Twitter. The concept is simple, and the participation is contagious. To play, you just need a Twitter account. What if we applied the concept of Follow Friday to our lives? Maybe we’d call it “Have you met” Tuesdays. And we would share the great people we know with others we cared about.

Why does social media matter to you?

Related posts:

1. Reveal Marketing Check out

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

So much is made of Twitter as a platform for conversation, it’s powerful search qualities are often overlooked.

Twitter provides marketers with the ability to micro-target based on geography, keywords and phrases, subjects referenced, content and even sentiment shared.

The increased ability to search necessitates a deeper understanding of your target audience. It also enables marketers to create an ongoing focus group to obtain it.

Use search.twitter.com, wefollow.com and other tools to find your brand’s target consumers.

If you follow 100 people from your target audience, you’ll notice trends. You’ll see who your target audience really is, what they read, think and share.

Your ability to market to them will greatly improve, too. You’ll stop seeing them as just statistics and more as real people.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

If you work in midtown Manhattan, you’re likely to know the food cart I’m talking about. It’s the one on 53rd and 6th with 30 people waiting in line. They’re waiting to eat middle eastern food sold from a cart the size of a mini-copper. And they wait at all hours. When I passed by at 10 pm at least 50 people were in line. When I asked them if the food was “that good” to merit the line, they responded, “well, I saw the line, so it must be.”

I believe the same psychology of lines applies to Twitter. So often people use following / follower ratio to determine who they want to follow before actually “trying the food.”

There are many ways to cause lines to form, yet far fewer to cook a great meal.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Meet Biba Milioto. She’s the creative inspiration behind the social media fashion campaign that has women chasing hidden bags all over New
York City.

Here’s how it works:

Brooklyn handbag designer Rachel Nasvik is luring New Yorkers to her twitter account and blog offering clues as to where she will “loose”
her next bag. Each bag is stuffed with the essentials for a night on the town including a summer mix of music and a mysterious key. The bag
includes a note to the lucky finder which instructs them that the bag is theirs to keep. Finders are encouraged to log on to the blog and
post the story of how they found it under the corresponding picture of the bag’s location. The campaign has been very successful
in getting users excited and eager to participate in the hunt. It’s a great example of how to use social media creatively and effectively.

1. What was the creative inspiration for the campaign?

A few yards of neon pink leather and a desire to create something that was purely fun, and completely tailored to the target market—something that would delight them and engage them in the story of the Rachel Nasvik brand.

It’s actually two separate ideas that happily fused together, amazingly enough. Rachel and I conceived of the bag-hunt aspect separately from what we’re now calling ‘phase two’ which is launching this weekend.

Michael Hastings-Black of Desedo cooked up this fantastic idea of joining forces with street vendors in NYC and getting the bags to have some full-on street level face time- his inspiration was trying to further tease out the totally dedicated relationship that the Rachel Nasvik brand has with New York City, since the brand is so rooted here, where it was born. I love that it has brought the two separate ideas into one cohesive campaign. It’s been great, great fun.

2.  You mentioned there’s a second phase. What can fans expect to see?

Well- that’s where Mr. Hastings-Black comes in. He conceived of this great idea where we hook up with some street vendors (the guys that sell the knockoffs) and slip some of the Rachel Nasvik bags into the mix. It’s meant to be surprising, funny, and irreverent, and also meant to be a bit of a love letter to New York- so much of Rachel’s brand is inspired by the New York lifestyle. What’s neat about this second phase is that since we’re cutting out the middle man of the retailer, there will be maximum street-level presence. We expect to roll that out this weekend.

3. What results have you seen?

The reaction has been overwhelming- on the first day we picked up about 700 followers on Twitter thanks to some web press from DailyCandy.com- that number has grown to nearly 1,000.The blog we set up www.wherethenighttakesyou.blogspot.com has seen lots of commenting and clicks.  And the media loves the idea as much as the NYC audience does- we’ve had such great coverage, which has continued to spread the word. It seems to have offered everyone a reason to smile and pay attention. We’ve also witnessed girls running down the street to be the first to grab the bag!

4. How have you used Twitter to promote the brand and the campaign?

The Twitter account is the lifeline of the campaign- we use it to drop clues, to ask questions, to post pictures. It’s the bridge that is directly connecting us to our rapt audience.

5.  What is the most surprising aspect of the campaign?

How constantly evolving it is- and how because it’s small and tightly managed, it can change every day to up the ante. If Michael has an
idea, or Rachel wants to try something different, we can just go for it and see what happens. It’s exhilarating, and really gratifying. The flexibility of the web and the immediacy of the Twitter feed has totally changed the game in terms of interactivity.

6. What did you do to make sure this campaign truly represented the Rachel Nasvik brand?

I had worked with Rachel previously when I was the Marketing Director at Ravinstyle.com. So I had a very precise idea of where the brand was positioned, and since I live in New York, where there are lots of RN fans, I usually spot at least one bag on the subway each day (full disclosure- I have a closet full of them myself!). So I know there’s a street style, an edginess, and a spirit that is very specific to her customer. She’s the kind of girl who knows where the get the best cocktail in the city, who peruses the smartest bookstores, and eats at the coolest new restaurant- you know, the one that doesn’t have it’s liquor license yet? She’s also not flashy or showy and appreciates subtlety in design.

So- I knew we had to be fresh and smart and that dreaded word: cool. And cool here in New York has an atmosphere & an address- we figured if we showed up where that girl was, with a gorgeous bag and a neat strategy, we’d embody the essence of the brand perfectly.

7.  You called this an “experiment.” What were you testing?

We were testing the waters of interactivity and looking to see how far people would follow us into the game. Will they trek all the way across town for a bag? Will they use a password and ask for what they want? We were experimenting with removing most of the boundaries that usually exist between a brand an it’s audience—we are directly interacting with them in a way that usually doesn’t happen. I’m happy to say it worked!

8.  Can you provide my readers with any advanced clues to where the next bag may be dropped?

That would ruin the fun of the anticipation! Follow the Twitter feed!

**Recognition: Special thanks to @JennMorales for recognizing the campaign and support all aspects of this posts.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Executives can use social networks as professional development resources. Follow subject matter experts on Twitter to benefit from articles and opinions even before they are written in trade publications. Pay attention to status updates in Facebook and LinkedIn to gain perspective into what colleagues are thinking.  Participating in social networks provides even greater opportunities. These include generating new business, speaking engagements, interviews with reporters and personal branding as a subject matter expert.

Of all the compelling reasons to be on social networks, I believe the most compelling is enhancement. Executives make mistakes assuming
social networking is an end, rather than a means to end. Here’s what I mean. If you are an executive whose sales strategy involves learning
about a new industry, a social network will provide unique insights. If you are a seasoned executive looking for speaking engagements, there are many ways to use social networks to achieve this end. My advice to you is to articulate the goals you wish to achieve for yourself and your business first and then determine which social
networks and what strategies and tactics will enable you to realize them.

Here are 5 articles I’ve found useful in demonstrating the power of social networks and social media:

•    Forbes: Yes, CEOs Should Facebook and Twitter. The importance of CEO’s and companies participating in business, new media requires a different way to do business.

•    WSJ.com: The Art of Making Online ‘Friends.’ Builds a strong case for building up your social networks, including your “weak ties.”

•    BusinessWeek: Social Networking 101 For Businesses. Businesses need to embrace social networking as a part of doing business.

•    NYTimes: I’m So Totally, Digitally Close to You. Article centers around the relationships people form through social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. It centers around the concept of “ambient awareness” which helps explain the appeal of constant updates from these social networks.

•    BusinessWeek: Are Social Networking Sites Useful for Business? To get the most out of social networking sites, small companies should set concrete business goals, then start experimenting.

Related posts:

1. Social Media Experts In a recen
2. Social Media Book Club Launch – Solis’ “The End of Business As Usual” On Novembe

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

A few weeks ago I presented to a room full of litigators at a local law firm. The topic of the presentation was how they can use both social media and interactive marketing to effectively communicate with existing and new customers and grow their business. Around that time, I started following Kara Smith on Twitter. Daily, she posts informative links on social media PR for the legal community.

Prior to starting Karasma Media, she worked in Human Resources at Goldman Sachs and with their Equity Derivative attorneys. She received her MA in Media Studies while working as a marketing manager at TIAA-CREF. Her company, Karasma Media, works with legal marketers to create a more clearly defined focus and distinctive business strategy that will provide them with a competitive advantage for new business, higher reputation recognition, and enhance their ability to attract, win, and retain the clients they really want.

We spoke with her recently about her perspective on social media for the legal community.

1.   Does a law firm have to have an open culture for social media to work?

If by “open culture” you mean, “have a willingness to be transparent”, then yes. In today’s business paradigm, we as consumers are not longer tolerating hidden or miscellaneous fees, and the anonymity of those managing the organizations we spend money with. Communication is key.  While the legal industry may have considered themselves immune from the expectations of corporate business in the past, clearly this is no longer the case. So, now more than ever before, open communications and transparency is necessary for firms to gain and retain their clients.

2.   What are some common objectives you receive from members of the legal profession regarding using social media?

Quite simply, like everyone else, they want to know how they can use social media to increase their bottom line.

3.   What do you wish more lawyers knew about social media?

1) They had a clearer comprehension of how incredibly important it is for them to be actively using social media to communicate with their current clients, and attract new ones. Using social media, prospective clients who call them will be the ones that they want, and be ready to do business. There’s no better ROI than that.

2) I wish attorneys had a greater comprehension of how social media works. The more they understand how it works, its cost effectiveness and the time saving techniques available to them, the more satisfaction they’ll have on multiple levels. Mastering how to utilize it and being able to attract the kind of clients they want took me years of study and ongoing personal communication. And what I do for myself, I do for my clients.

4.   What makes social media for law firms different from social media for other professional groups?

The most prominent differences are due to the history of the legal industry and the nature of their business. For one thing, lawyers have been marketing their services for the last 100+ years the same way, and until very recently, have been doing so very successfully. Secondly, the legal industry is extremely comfortable using online platforms like FindLaw.com, LegalOnRamp, JD Supra, and Plaxo that are “closed to outsiders” and cater specifically to their industry.  Once they step outside of that comfort zone, social media moves away from being simply a networking tool to being a public relations outlet.

It’s understandable that because their business is law, many attorneys are cautious about making themselves available on a platform that they perceive to be “open to public scruitiny”.  The truth of the matter is, if you are not at the forefront of your online conversation someone else is going to be. Holland and Knight learned that the hard way to be sure.

5.   What is the least intuitive aspect of social media for the legal profession?

It’s important that their target audience be narrowed down as much as possible, and this is a difficult concept for many firms to grasp. Today’s consumer is savvy, very aware of his options, and extremely customer service conscious.  In order to stand out from their competition, it’s mandatory for firms to satisfy information needs, and address concerns directly.

Once the audience is identified, a blog should be created that’s specific to that audience. The blog’s content should be made up of useful information and resources; build relationships and trust, along with positioning the firm’s principals as experts among your target group.

They’ll continue expand their firm’s online footprint using other new media tools such as eNewsletters, online surveys/polls, traditional and new-media public relations, presentations, downloadable whitepapers, YouTube, and article marketing.

In order to be successful, they need to understand that motive matters, these tools need to be used correctly. Also they wont be effective unless they are used consistently.

When other firms are cutting back, there is no better opportunity to pick up new clients, increase your agency’s profile and market share. You can do more online with a fraction of the cost of any other advertising of PR campaign.

Related posts:

1. Social Media Book Club Launch – Solis’ “The End of Business As Usual” On Novembe
2. Social Media Experts In a recen

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.