My top 5 reasons to use social media

There are so many reasons to be using social media as part of your marketing. Here are my top 5:

1. Engage vs Push. Marketing used to simply 'push' messages at the consumer and you'd hope to make a connection if they liked what you had to offer. Times have changed and so has marketing. People want to feel more connected with products or companies they choose to do business with. Social media helps to 'engage' people.

2. Transparency. When done correctly, your prospective clients get to know you better. They see if you have some of the same beliefs as they do, allowing them to form connections with you. Don't just advertise sales to them. Give them a taste of who you are beyond the sale. What is your commitment to the community? Do you contribute to your industry as an expert? Why do you do what you do?

3. Handle the Haters. Within social media, you actually want a small percentage of your followers to raise issues. If it is all a love fest, it is boring, self serving and you'll actually lose credibility. People like a little controversy (think Rush Limbaugh). You may even find other fans coming to your defense when someone raises an issue, which is wonderful marketing. You should develop a response plan to handle the haters, because how you handle the issue will say something about who you are.

4. Google Footprint. The search engines give high value to social media channels. When you have a robust presence in the big 5 (Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, Flikr), you will see a better Google Footprint and this will also help your websites search engine optimization (SEO) with backlinks from all your social media channels.

Be sure and define which channels will work best for your target audience and then spend your time accordingly to build the best channels for your needs. Social media can become a black hole where you spend far too many hours and valuable resources. Set limits on your time or hire someone to help you keep your content current.

5. Need another reason? Your prospective clients are on social media right now!


CAUTION: Many businesses and law firms are jumping on the bandwagon to the exclusion of other marketing channels. Social media SHOULD be part of your marketing, but it should not be the only thing you do. Consult a professional to help you with your planning and budgeting so you have the right marketing mix.

Google Tips #2: Alerts

Among the tools that Google offers its users are Google Alerts. The Alerts feature allows you to set up one or more automated content "searches" for specific words or phrases. You choose the frequency (as it happens, daily or weekly) and emails will be generated when your alert is triggered. You can set up the search to just cover one type of update or all updates.

Why use Google Alerts? You can use it to monitor a specific news story or topic, your company or even yourself! The tool is designed to pick up changes/additions to website content, blogs, news stories, etc. Do note that this feature is still in beta at this time, so it's possible you'll see some unexpected results.

To set up an alert:

• Go to http://www.google.com/alerts.
• Enter the search terms following these rules:
  a. Use quotes for a specific phrase, for example, “jeanne frazer”
  b. Separate words or phrases with spaces
  c. Use plus and minus signs to include or exclude words, +vitalink –cable
• Choose the alert type and frequency
• Enter email address to receive the email. NOTE: the user does NOT need to have a Google account to create alerts. You DO have to have an account if you want to manage your alerts OR if you don’t want to have to verify each alert via email. If you DO have an account, you can set the alert up to go into an RSS feed instead of email.

It's that easy! Do note that if the keywords used are common, you may need to edit the alert and add more keywords (or negative keywords) later. As an example, I have several alerts and had to edit my vitalink alert a number of times when I found several other companies and products using this name.