Secret Election Weapon: Social Media

President Barack Obama proved the power of social media as a secret weapon during his election campaign. Now everyone wants to follow his lead. Or, do they?

My office is located in Calgary Alberta where long serving Mayor Dave Bronconnier announced this week (February 23, 2010) he would not be running for Calgary's top job for a fourth term.


Photo courtesy CBC Calgary

At his state of the city address on Tuesday, Bronconnier said he wants to give all challengers enough time to mount a proper campaign for the October municipal election.

So let the fun and games begin. The gloves are off and the posturing will begin shortly as individuals begin to declare their candidacy for the Mayor's chair.

Who will be the winner in this race?
The candidate who shakes the most hands and does the most speeches?
The candidate who takes out a full page newspaper advertisement to display his/her resume of good deeds?
The candidate who complains about the short comings of his/her opponent?

NO

As a Media Coach and Consultant at Speak Media Consulting, the winner will be the candidate that displays the most creative and engaging dialogue with his/her candidates primarily through the use of an effective Social Media campaign.

Step One: Create a community of supporters.
Use online programs such as Constant Contact to collect the names and email addresses for everyone who visits your website.

Step Two: Create two way dialogue with your community.
Use your email data base (citizens in your region) to ask specific questions on how THEY would like to see the community grow. Send them information and ask for their response. If they are engaged with your messaging, they will invite other friends to your list and they will be more willing to offer financial support to grow your campaign.

Step Three: Get on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Blogs.
Use Social Media to distribute information to your fans, grow your fan base and most importantly - allow your followers the forum to criticize. Every speech, every event, every ribbon cutting, set up social media appointments in advance of each event, send updates just prior to event and post every picture and video of these events on social media after these events.

Step Four: Get a Website
Be sure your web developers and content providers are on top of their game and are able to update content professionally and quickly. Be sure every stitch of Social Media is linked back to your website and is always being updated.

Step Five: Use Traditional Media to promote Social Media
Make appointments to appear in as many Television, Radio and Newspaper stories and articles as you can. Each time, promote your website or Facebook. With traditional media, you will be given a short 15 to 20 second sound bite (quote). Find creative ways to promote your website or Facebook Fan page.

Step Six: Never Give Up.
From the day you launch your website or social media campaigns do not stop promoting them. They will start to grow as your profile continues to reverberate through the community. Besides, people want to see who you are and get to know that you are looking out for their needs...and not your own.

To the candidates - good luck in October.
With background content from CBC Calgary, CTV Calgary and 660News Calgary.

-Darren
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Social Media Has Not Killed eMail

For the last six months there have been many blogs, articles and ramblings about the 'death' of email due to the popularity of Social Media.

Speak Media Consulting found this study that indicates email usage is still very much alive and well with Social Media's strongest users.



This is great news for the small business owners and large company CEOs alike. As email marketing continues to grow, this indicates the majority of Social Media users are still using email for daily communication with other friends, co-workers and other business and marketing opportunities.

Read the full report from eMarketer.

Thanks for reading.

-Darren
Media Coach and Consultant
Speak Media Consulting, Calgary AB

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Blogs for Business

I recently participated in an exceptional Webinar hosted by Andrew Patricio of the Toronto company BizLaunch. His session: How to use Social Media to Market your Business.

While much of this content was not new to me, it served as a reminder to the power of Social Media and how some businesses are still missing the opportunity to increase their on-line profile and profits.

Simply put - Social Media will help:
-Grow Traffic to your website
-Increase lead generation
-Increase Sales
-Improve search engine rankings (Google)
-Improve Brand recognition

And what smart business owner does not want those things to happen?

Using a Blog, you can:
1) Share your expertise and communicate daily with your customers.
2) Build a 'buzz' around your business and the media may pick up your stories.
3) Easily update content.
4) Promote your Blog using Facebook, Twitter and regular marketing tools.
5) Get your Webmaster to put your Blog on your Website. Google loves Blogs.

Where do you start?
-Chose a Blog service that suits your needs (Blogger, Wordpress, Blogspot, just to name a few)
-Develop a great name for your Blog
-Develop a Blog strategy and Blog regularly (at least 3 times a week)
-When Blogging, use great headlines and include strong keywords
-Develop tags for your Blog posts
-Allow people to share your Blog posts

Other points of interest that were presented during the BizLaunch Webinar:
Rule of Three:
-Blog 3 times a week
-Stick to 300 words per Blog
-It will take up to 3 years for your Blog to really grow traction.

Are you ready to develop stronger relationships with your customers? Blogging is just one of many great Social Media tools that are available to you right now.

For more assistance setting up or managing your personal or company Blog, please contact me directly.

Additional content previously published by BizLaunch.ca

-Darren

E-mail Marketing for Small Business

Perhaps a better title for this post might have been "Build Customer Loyalty through E-Mail Messaging".

Either way, e-mail marketing (Newsletters) can be a very effective way to communicate to your clients and build stronger relationships with your customers. However, too many messages can often be deleted and not enough messages can be forgotten. So how do you find the happy medium? How do you know your messages are being delivered, are being read, and are creating a call to action?

There are many programs available that can handle e-mail marketing and database management. One I have had tremendous success with: Constant Contact.



Recently featured in an on-line article from MediaPost, Constant Contact has seen a nearly 50% revenue increase and has increased staff.

Constant Contact is much more than just E-mail Marketing for newsletters and communication with your clients. Their services also include On-line Surveys to track customer feedback, and Event Marketing that allows you to manage and promote any size event with online registration, payment capture and RSVP management.

The great thing about E-Mail marketing; you can and should use e-mail marketing in conjunction with your current social media marketing;
-Blog
-Facebook
-Linked In
-You Tube
-Twitter

The same principals of social media marketing apply when using E-Mail Marketing.
-build a community
-share expertise
-discuss business issues
-build your brand
-establish yourself as an expert
-and build a database

How much is TOO much and how much is too little?
I recommend to my clients to send out an e-mail newsletter at least once a week. If time and content is an issue, look at communicating with your clients every two weeks or once a month, but do not let more than 4 weeks lapse between each newsletter or you will lose the engagement with your clients.

Feel free to sign up to receive my free e-mail newsletter.

If you would like to know more about creating a successful E-Mail Marketing strategy for your Business, contact me at: darren@speakmediaconsulting.com

Thanks for reading.
-Darren

Social Media - The Effect on your Employer

It is a simple rule to remember; what you broadcast on your social media sites is a reflection of your employer.

What? How can that be? Surely you are free to broadcast whatever you want on your personal social media sites without permission from your boss. Right? Yes and No.

With the global reach of the Internet, the content you broadcast, the pictures you upload and the tone of what you broadcast becomes a reflection of your boss and the company you are employed.

Still not convinced? Here are two fictitious scenarios:

1) John is an employee of a National Automobile company and is well known for his Sales records over the last 6 months. However, one night John got into an on-line discussion and released private information about the company that he is working for and mentioned in his conversation "do not buy a vehicle from us".

2) Jennifer is employed at a community coffee shop where she knows all of the local patrons by their first name. Jennifer likes to go out with her friends, have a few too many drinks and post pictures of herself and her friends in various states of intoxication.

If you were John or Jennifer's boss, what would you do when one of your best customers brought this to your attention and showed you the on-line postings?

In John's case, he would most likely be looking for a new line of work or would be removed from his current role as top sales person to janitor.
Jennifer, on the other hand, would most likely be in a better position to keep her job.

Just as this blog is a representation of my Company, what I broadcast 'after hours' is a reflection of who I am and my company.

Are your employees aware of this? Perhaps they should be reminded.
At the present, there is no legal precedent for social media and employee privacy in Canada. However many companies are adopting a social media code of conduct and require all employees to adhere to these guidelines.


Have a great day.
-Darren

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Networking - How do you get others to notice

When asked if I could give a presentation on Networking I immediately accepted.
In Calgary Alberta through SAIT's School of Business, they are holding a Business Development Workshop with Junior Achievement where 84 high school students will learn about Business. This is a great opportunity to showcase the SAIT School of Business students while allowing them to play a critical role in the success of the Junior Achievement participants.

My presentation: Networking
It is not about who you know now, but who you want to know tomorrow.

The most successful Business people in the world are always networking. Like most, they started with a small group of friends and supporters who helped get them to where they are today. How? By networking. Your 'network' of associates are connected to other successful associates, and so on.

Start with the people you know now; friends, family, business associates, competitors, interesting people you met at a training seminar, etc. From that list, create a second list with the names of the smartest, those with strong personalities and the most successful people you know. Once you have created your initial 'network', start contacting the people on your list. After you get through catching up on old stories be sure to let each person know what you are currently working on and where you see this project advancing in the future. Remember, you are not asking them for a job. You are simply updating your network with details of your new venture. Ask them to review the product and offer a second opinion. There is a good chance some people in your initial network might seem disinterested in your project but that is their opinion. They are still your friends. But from your initial network you will find those who will take your product and idea to their 'network' and pretty soon you will be introduced to others who share similar interests.

One of the key things about successful networking is keeping in touch. Once your network starts talking about you and the services or product you offer you can not afford to keep them in the dark. You have to keep in contact with them on a consistent basis. Either through telephone conversations or email updates, you need to keep your network up to date. The more engaging your network is, the more likely other people will hear about you and your product and want to join your network.

Do you have a website? Keep the content on your website fresh and offer opportunities to demonstrate your services and your product.
Do you have a blog? One of the easiest ways to drive people back to your website and introduce them to your network is through a Blog. It can be updated daily or weekly. Again, your content has to engage the reader to want to become a part of your network.
Do you send out regular email newsletters? Some might consider this to be spam marketing however the most successful email newsletters will be so engaging that it brings more new people to your network. There are several on-line companies that manage email data bases. I recommend Constant Contact.
Do you use Social Networking? Sites like Facebook, Linked In and Twitter are valuable resources to build your network. I use all three. Provide engaging content that others will find intriguing...the more intrigued they are, the more likely they will want to join your network.

What do you do with business cards you collect at social functions? When someone hands you a business card at a function it is an invitation to join his/her network. If you see this person a benefit to grow your network, add them. Get them on your email mailing list, make sure they see your website and read your blog to really get them excited about your network.

You're fired! Several times in your career you will invite people into your network who, after time, are not benefiting you or your business. Donald Trump has made a career out of firing people. At first, the notion of removing someone from your network seems harsh but it must be done in order to grow your network. At least every year, take stock of those in your network that have fallen silent and fire them. At the end of the day, you can still be friends with them if you want, but they have already demonstrated they are not interested in the growth of your company. Therefore it should not come as a surprise that you are removing them from your email list or special offers letter.

Who is on your network? Take the time to review your lists. You will be surprised at the outcome.

-Darren