I was speaking with a group of small business owners last week at the Greater Warrenton Chamber Business Seminar on social media.  Social media was the topic and “WHY” was the question.  Here are my top five reasons that every small business owner should consider jumping on the social bandwagon.

#1 Build Credibility

Social Media provides an opportunity for you to “publish” and establish your expertise.

Writing blogs that demonstrate you are an expert in your industry, pictures that show work you have completed and videos that teach or demonstrate are great ways to establish your expertise.  Make sure your posts provide value.  After all, it’s tough to establish expertise when your posts are all promotional.  And don’t forget to find other experts and knowledge seekers in the industry so that you can comment and share their content.  It will build great credibility with people who can promote you.

#2 Promote Your Network

The foundation of networking is that by knowing and promoting our network, they will more likely learn about and promote us.  Social Media is a sharing, referring, mentioning gold mine!

The biggest networking mistake I see every week is that we aren’t leveraging social media to really launch our networks.  If you are serious about a networking group, like everyone’s fan page, subscribe to their blogs, follow them on Twitter and connect and recommend them on Facebook.  Pay special attention to their posts and make an effort to share and comment on their posts.  It’s a great way to help out your network..  On the other side, make sure you are posting content that your network will want to share, stuff that will make them look good. 

#3 Communicate with Customers

Frequent contact and interaction with customers is a critical sales tool.  It builds trust and increases the chance that you will be top of mind when it’s time to buy.  Social Media provides the tools for “opt-in” frequent messaging.

Provide your customers with daily posts of value – reminders of features, hints for products, upgrades, anything that will keep them informed and loyal.  Another great approach is to post content that generates interaction.  Ask them about creative ways to use your product and answer their questions, anything to keep them involved.

#4 Promote Your Business

Yes, finally, you can promote your business.  The value of social media is that you can be more effective by mixing self promotion in with other information and discussion, subtly branding over time.

Be creative in how you mix in your promotional message.  One of my favorite sources for social media ideas is Social Media Examiner.  When possible promote yourself while promoting others.  You might want to talk about the work you are doing with a charity organization or write about one of your customer’s and your part in making them great.  Don’t forget about social media paid advertising.  You can ultra-target in many areas using the demographic and interest information social media sites collect.

#5 Generate Leads

Social Media provides tools to rapidly expand to and effectively manage a much larger network.

By posting great content and adding value for your fans, followers and connections, you will generate quality leads.  However, you can use tools like LinkedIn to proactively target companies and people within those companies to make bigger sales.  I mention LinkedIn specifically because it allows you to identify people within your target customer and then figure out how your network coincides with theirs.  As a business owner (pronounced “sales person”), you know the value of the warm introduction to a target customer.  Social media provides a way to better identify those opportunities.  Once you have made the initial contact, mix social media with your visits, calls and emails to build the relationship and move towards the sale.

Go Social!

I haven’t met a business owner yet who couldn’t benefit from social media in some manner.  Don’t get overwhelmed!  When I work with people who are getting started we begin with one or two tools and focus on doing those consistently well.  Then we add in additional tools, continuing to build the network and more importantly the value!

As part of my networking routine I join the email lists of new contacts.  Yes it tends to fill the inbox, but more importantly it gives me something that I can forward as a referral for the people that I network with – it’s just easier for me.  I’m not an email expert by any stretch, but I’ve seen, heard and read enough to identify some of the most common mistakes.  Feel free to join my mailing list and hold me accountable to my own advice! Join Sigma College Email List

1. Make the Subject a Headline – I’m constantly reminded by my friend Scot Small at RevBuilders – “Unless you are Coke, your logo means nothing – you need a good, prominent headline”.  The point is that people don’t notice our names and logos (yet), they notice and open good headlines.  Search WordPress blogs for articles on writing subject lines for a ton of great articles.
2. Be Consistent and Patient – It may take months for people to start consistently opening your emails and discovering the value that lies within.  For about 4 months after I started email marketing I heard nothing and open rates were sporadic.  Eventually, after consistently emailing over a period of months, people began recognizing me by my brand and thanking me for sending out my class schedules and other information.  Open rates steadied and I was able to start some A-B testing to refine.  So, don’t give up!
3. Content that Adds Value – Keep the content relevant and to the point.  My weekly email is simply a list of upcoming classes.  You may have articles to publish or events to announce, but my recommendation is that you include a headline and excerpt, or the basic facts and then use a “read more” link to your web site (you may prefer a “call this number” action).  This does two things – gets them to your web site (or calling) which is likely the reason you send an email, and puts more content on your web site for better search engine optimization.  Most importantly, after time, your readers will know they can sift through the headlines and pick what they want to read very quickly, rather than paging through an 800 word email to find that nugget.
4. Create an Opt-in Email List – It took me some time to grasp the value of an opt-in email list.  This is a list that you build through people joining online or giving you specific permission to add their name.  Collecting business cards and adding everyone results in lower open rates, high “unsubscribes” and even some spam reports.  Now sometimes there are reasons to do mass campaigns using purchased opt-in lists, but most small, local businesses should stick to a list that will help you build relationships and not alienate people.

Email marketing is a great marketing tool, especially when combined with other things.  But, a campaign that is done poorly and forced on an unwilling audience can actually hurt your business.  Make sure you continue to review, test and improve your email strategy!

A couple weeks ago, I finally purchased my new Droid phone.  This led to an increased frequency in my Foursquare posts – the posts you see on Facebook and Twitter stating that someone has just “checked-in”.  Now that my friends and followers are seeing these posts I’m getting more questions about Foursquare, so I decided to shed some light for those that are in the dark on this unique social media application.

It’s Good for Businesses

Quite frankly, if it didn’t show some value for my small business customers, I wouldn’t be so enthusiastic about Foursquare.  It’s good for business because it has the potential to send out your brand from a trusted source to hundreds of people every time a customer enters with a cell phone!

Here’s How it Works

Let’s say I am sitting at the Sigma College of Small Business offices in Haymarket, VA and decide that I need a cup of coffee and something sweet.  I walk across the parking lot to Cupcake Heaven.  While I wait for my tall decaf coffee and afternoon treat, I turn on my Droid, open the Foursquare app, select Cupcake Heaven from the list of nearby venues, add a note about how great the service is and “check-in”.  This automatically sends a post to my Facebook and Twitter accounts and all my friends and followers see my comment and that I am at Cupcake Heaven.

So, do the math.  If 5 customers like me walk into the store and each of us has 200 friends and followers, the name of that store is promoted to 1,000 people that day.  Cost and effort to the store – ZERO!

Why Would a Customer Check In?

Just read your Facebook posts.  I get posts from people when they wake-up, go to bed, eat, stub their toe, etc… So people will check-in just to be social.  However, Foursquare offers tools for businesses to encourage customers to check-in.  As the manager of Sigma College of Small Business I “claimed” my venue and can now offer specific promotions to people who check-in.  Promotions can be based on number of check-ins or given to those who check-in the most – The Mayor.  That’s right, if you are the person who has checked in to an establishment the most, you are given the title of Mayor, which is announced to all your friends and followers.  People will definitely check-in for free stuff and a title!

There’s More!

As the registered owner of your venue, you have the capability to see who is checking in at your place and how often they are checking in – a great way to keep tabs on some of your most loyal and vocal customers.  If you are a retailer or restaurant and not using this free tool, you need to put it on your list of things to check out.  I’m still researching all the benefits, but this one seems to be a no-brainer, just set it up and let your customers promote your business!  Did I mention FREE?

I’ll certainly be adding a few slides on Foursquare to my “Leveraging the Online Social Network” class this coming Tuesday!

This weekend I traded emails with Becky O’Brien of Optimal Wellness about my Subscribe! blog posts that described the importance and steps to subscribing to a blog.  As part of the discussion I went to her blog, checked out the subscription setup and left a comment – nothing serious.

Here’s where it gets interesting…

I walked into Sigma College of Small Business yesterday afternoon and there on the desk was a little pink box with a great thank-you note from Becky.  The little pink box contained a Southern Red Velvet cupcake from one of my business neighbors in Haymarket, VA, Cupcake Heaven.  Now, 5 years ago I would have e-mailed or called Becky to thank her and probably told my wife and a few others what she had done and how wonderful the cupcake tasted.  In the end maybe 5 or 10 people would have known how thoughtful Becky had been, what a wonderful cupcake they have over at Cupcake Heaven and the fact that I took some time to help Becky out with her blog.

The Difference with Social Media

Instead of just e-mailing or calling, I posted my thank you on Becky’s Fan page and on my personal profile in Facebook, tagging her fan page.  I also mentioned Cupcake Heaven and the quality of their product.  The difference with social media is that the same message that went to 5 or 10 people a few years ago can now reach hundreds of people between my friends, my fans and Becky’s fans.  And it took no more effort on my part than if I had just sent an email.  If I could have quickly found the Cupcake Heaven Fan Page, (I have since found them on FB) the message would have been received by all their fans as well!  So the advantage is that in the simplest of transactions and communication, all three of us are promoted from trusted sources (people choose to fan, follow and like those that they trust) to a few hundred people.

And By the Way…

You may be asking the question “Why would Becky choose Cupcake Heaven, with its pink box and swirly frosting for a male business associate?”  Well, it is right next door and I look like I enjoy a good cupcake, but that’s not the case.  The fact is that I have been posting my visits to Cupcake Heaven for coffee through Foursquare, and commenting on how tempting the cupcakes (and ice cream) look, for several weeks!  In fact I’m the Mayor!  So Becky knew going in that this would the perfect thank-you gift, and it absolutely was!  I was wiping frosting off my face as I walked into my next meeting.

A Lot of Hype

There is certainly a lot of hype around social media.  And there are some who can fit the technology so well with their business and personality that it becomes a huge business driver.  But like any other marketing tool it takes time and consistency to build success.  Don’t get scared by the hype because even a simple presence and effort can become beneficial.  In fact, in many cases, like the one I described above, you just need to set up the presence and let your customers and network do the work for you through their social media channels!

Subscribe! Part 1 covered the importance of getting interesting blog content brought to you in a convenient, efficient manner.  Part 2 is a bit more hand’s on in showing you how to actually subscribe.

Decide where you want to see blog content

A great thing about RSS is that there are multiple ways to manage content.  You can set it up in your web browser, through email or even feed it to your personal or business home page.  I actually have some feeds that come up in my iGoogle home page, some that feed to a tab in Internet Explorer and some that go to an email folder in Outlook.

To determine which tool to use for feeding content you should ask yourself, “Do I want to see this post immediately, or have as a reference for later”  The posts I want to see immediately, the timely information I want to comment on, are fed to my iGoogle personal page through Google Reader.  Those I use for reference to search later feed to my browser or an email folder, and some feed to multiple places.

Don’t forget that following and commenting on other people’s blogs is an important part of social networking.  It is how you listen and interact in the discussion, building trust and credibility with each thought and comment.

For step-by-step on three basic RSS feed techniques, click the links below.  If you have any questions, suggestions or run into problems, drop me a comment.  Although the directions are specific to an application, most similar apps have the same functionality.

Using Google Reader and following blogs on your iGoogle home page

Tracking RSS Feeds as Internet Explorer Favorites

RSS Feeds in Microsoft Outlook

Google Reader is a great little tool that helps aggregate the blogs you are tracking to your Google account.  The reason I like it is that I have an iGoogle “portal” page (a page that I can personalize with info I want to see) and there is a “Gadget” that puts my feeds right onto my personal home page, the one that I see first every time I open Internet Explorer.  This is what I use for those blogs I want to see and review quickly and then comment, especially on blogs related to educating small business owners.

 1.  Sign into your Google Account.  If you don’t have a Google account:

1. Go to www.Google.com
2. Click “Sign In” at upper right
3. Click “Create an Account Now” under the Sign in box
4. Follow instructions for setting up an account

Click on Settings in the upper right to add new Google apps

2.  In the upper right of your Google page click on the “Settings” drop-down and select “Google Account Settings”.  You can do a lot here to personalize your page and account.

3.  If “Reader” isn’t listed under “My Products”, go to the “Try Something New” section and click on “More”

4.  Under the “Communicate, show & share” section, click on “Reader”.  This will place Reader into the “My Products” section where you can open and start using.

Open Google Reader by clicking the link

5.  Open Reader by clicking on the link and you should see your Google Reader Page

Go to www.SigmaBizBlog.com or another blog you want to feed

Click on the "Add Subscription" Button

Click on the Subscription to see the latest posts from that source.

Add the Google Reader Gadget to Your iGoogle Home Page

Click on "iGoogle" at the top right to open your iGoogle page

1.  Go to www.Google.com and sign in if you aren’t already.  This should open your iGoogle page (if it doesn’t, click on the “iGoogle” link in the upper right) and you should see something like this.  Each of the little blocks is called a gadget and you can customize which gadgets you want on you page.

Click on the "Add Stuff" link in the upper right to get new gadgets!

2.  In the upper right click on the link for “Add stuff”.  In the search area type in “reader” and search.  This will show you the Google Reader gadget and clicking “Add It Now” will put it on your iGoogle home page.

Search for "Reader" to find the Reader Gadget and "Add it Now"

3.  Now, when you go to Google.com, your subscriptions will show up for a quick review.  If you click on the title a preview window pops up so you can take a quick look without even leaving the page.

Although I walked through the Google method for putting subscriptions on your home page, most other portal sites that let you customize a home page will have similar functionality.

See Related Blog Posts on RSS Feeds:

Subscribe! Part 1

Subscribe! Part 2

Tracking RSS Feeds as Internet Explorer Favorites

RSS Feeds in Microsoft Outlook

In Subscribe! Part 1 I talked about the importance of tracking and commenting on relevant blogs and news feeds to building your online presence.  Internet Explorer and other browsers have the capability to help you manage your RSS feeds and this post will walk through how to send news and current blog posts to the “Feeds” tab in Internet Explorer 8.  Other browsers should have similar functionality.

If you are someone who routinely uses the “favorites” functionality in IE to manage the web sites you visit frequently, then this may be the best place to track important RSS Feeds that you want to comment on immediately.  I don’t routinely use the favorites part of IE so I use this method for sites that don’t update often, or for sites that I want to track for reference when I’m developing business curriculum.  Remember, in social networking it is important to follow and comment, so keep your “high interest” content where you will see it often through your normal work routine.

1.  Go to SigmaBizBlog.com or another blog or news site that you want to subscribe to.

Click on the RSS Icon in the upper right of the IE window

2.  In the upper right of the window, in the menu area is the little orange RSS icon.  If the icon isn’t orange, either you are already subscribed or the site doesn’t have RSS capability.  Click on the RSS button and a “feed” page will load.

3.  Click on “Subscribe to this feed” and then “Subscribe” in the window that pops up.  The subscription will be placed in the “Feed” Tab in Favorites.

Access your saved RSS feed through the Favorite window on the Feeds Tab

4.  To see your feeds, click the “Favorites” button in the upper left of the window and then the “Feeds” Tab.

5.  Click on the subscription to see the latest post!

Remember that a big part of building credible online relationships is to listen and comment on the thoughts of others.  Subscribing to interesting blogs with RSS, reading them and consistently commenting is a great way to be part of the discussion! 

See Related Blog Posts on RSS Feeds:

Subscribe! Part 1

Subscribe! Part 2

Using Google Reader and following blogs on your iGoogle home page

Tracking RSS Feeds as Internet Explorer Favorites

RSS Feeds in Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Outlook allows you to use RSS technology to subscribe to blogs and news feeds and have updates come directly to your inbox.  This can be useful if your main communication technique is email and there is a feed that you don’t want to miss an update.  Or, you may use it to store feeds from an online resource for future reference.  I use the RSS functionality in MS Outlook for my Inc. Magazine RSS feeds.  There are a lot and it’s tough to keep up, but there is some great information that I can use when I am putting together my business management classes for small business owners.  Once again, if you don’t use Outlook, your email software probably has a similar function.

1.  Go to www.SigmaBizBlog.com or the blog that you want to subscribe to and click on the orange RSS button, either on the page or in your browser.  This will bring up the “Subscription” page for that site.

2.  Select and copy the web address or url from the subscription page.  For Outlook you must have the url from the subscription page, not the main blog page.

3.  In Outlook, go to the File menu and Folder>>Add a new RSS feed…

Open the "New RSS Feed" Box

4.  Paste the URL from the subscription page into the New RSS Feed box and click the “Add” Button.

5.  Your RSS feed is now ready to review in Outlook.

Remember that a big part of building credible online relationships is to listen and comment on the thoughts of others.  Subscribing to interesting blogs with RSS, reading them and consistently commenting is a great way to be part of the discussion!

See Related Blog Posts on RSS Feeds:

Subscribe! Part 1

Subscribe! Part 2

Using Google Reader and following blogs on your iGoogle home page

Tracking RSS Feeds as Internet Explorer Favorites

In our Network@Noon at the Western Office of PWC-GM Chamber discussion this week the topic was “RSS”.  For those who don’t know, RSS or “Really Simple Syndication” is an easy way for anyone to syndicate their online content.  Just like syndicating a radio show, syndicating a blog or other online content means that many others can subscribe to the content.  So it really is just a method for distributing, receiving and managing online content.

Visit Subscribe! Part 2 for a step-by-step guide to subscribing.

Here’s how RSS works, well close enough

When a web page is designed there is code that allows the page to be syndicated so that others can subscribe to the page or site.  As a subscriber they can now receive updates in a number of ways – email, browser, social media and through special “reader” apps.  There is nothing else required really, any time the site is updated it automatically “feeds” to you so you can read it, and then comment.  There is of course a few technical details I’m leaving out, but you probably don’t really care about them.

Here’s why RSS is important

Let’s say I’m interested in 5 different news sites and 10 blogs for my industry.  The news sites post daily and the blogs post new content twice a week on average.  Without a subscription service I would have to go to all 15 sites independently to see the latest posts, and most of the blog visits will be a waste of time because they only post twice a week.  Now, let’s say I subscribe to all 15 sites and have them feed new content to my web browser.  Each time there is an update to one of these sites it will show up in the “RSS Feeds” area of my browser.  Instead of going to 15 sites, most of which have no updates, I can now see and read all the updates in one place without actually visiting the independent sites.  More importantly, you’re audience can subscribe and be notified every time you update!

But, how are you using it in business?

A great question raised by Jim Aram of Advantage Physical Therapy.

Every expert in social media will tell you that it is important to interact with your online network.  One critical part of this is to comment on the blogs of those people in your network.  Using a subscription service let’s you track a large number of blogs and easily monitor topics that you want to comment on.  In fact, even if you just have a web site and haven’t done anything else with social media, commenting on blogs is an easy entry point.  Pick a few blogs in your industry, among your friends, vendors that you use, and even your personal interests.  Subscribe to these blogs and then set aside a little time each week to monitor and comment.  The “bloggers” will be encouraged and you will start to build trust and credibility with your online network, before you even get into your own blogging, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn efforts.

In Subscribe! Part 2….

We’ll walk through how to actually subscribe to a blog and the options available for managing your feeds.