Is Your Social Media A Boost Or A Bust

Social Media is fun. Going out there doing all this marketing stuff. Getting your name out there. Collecting all sorts of friends and fans. Oh how we get all excited when we pick up someone new on our followers. So how many paying customers do you have or have gotten though your SM efforts?


Larson Social Media Score Card
Merchants Circle (1066 followers) – 3 customers gained
Linked-in (516 connections) – 2 customers gained

Facebook (129 fans) – 0 customers gained

Twitter (3012 followers) – 1 customers gained

All others – 0


So you’re wondering if Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or any other sites are where you should invest your precious time?


I have started focusing more time on Facebook, but still my main focus is MerchantCircle and LinkedIn. For me right now Facebook and Twitter are filler sites. But with the mass power of those two I cannot afford to avoid them.


So as always when I do one of these little social media pieces the main question is always how should you approach it? Now don’t think I know what I am doing because I am totally blind, as all experts are. Sorry all you experts but we all have ideas and approaches and anyone who wants to be called an expert is a bit too egotistical for me. I have had too many experts telling me how to do what I am doing and wanting to pick my pocket. Sure they all have good ideas. Ideas and action items you could be doing for yourself if you want to and have the time. If you don’t, maybe you need to hire and expert. We here at Larson write blogs for 2 other companies that don’t have the time to do it themselves. We also monitor social media sites for 3 companies to keep them in constant touch with their fans and friends.


So what could you be doing? I can only tell you what I do then do what you need to do for yourself and your company.


I start with a posting to get my day started. I get it placed on Facebook, twitter and LinkedIn. Then I sit down and write my blog, usually daily but sometimes it goes to every other day or so due to time. My bong is the bedrock of my Social Media attack. Each blog take an hour or so of actual writing, but that does not count the research and development of the piece which might be another hour. I usually have about 4 or 5 ideas going through my mind at any given time.


After posting my blog on a few sites. 8 right now, I usually scan though some of the LinkIn Groups I am in to see if there are any pertant discussions I would get involved in. Most are just meaningless chest puffing and I stay out of those. If I am being mean cruel and harsh so be it, but most online chatter is just that, with 95% meaningless to my or any businesses real grown or personal development. If I offending anyone, I am sorry, but this is after all how I see things as I sit on the ebony thrown up in the ivory tower.


Though out the day I will put out some of the successes that I or my team has had in securing appointment or leads for our clients on twitter which feeds into my LinkedIn account.


I will go back and post another Facebook thought about noon. Right now the theme is phone skills.


The most important thing you can do is to just get involved. The key is as in all marketing, be consistent with your time and your message. When you post something pertant to you and your company, 1st it appears (with Facebook) on their front page and if they just happen to “like it” all their friends can then see what you have said as it then appears on their walls and they might become a fan of your company. (The power of social media Word of Mouth). That is about as automatic as you can get in sharing your message as you can get right now.


One brief note on e-blastings your friends on any Social Media site. Make it good if not your just another spammer and you will have just gone down 10 pints in my book. What is important to you might not be important to me. Your caucuses are not important to me Keep that in mind next time you want to send out a blast.


Larson Notes & Satire: If you want me to help you. Sure I will, for a fee. I am about as expert as you are going to find out here in Web World. I don’t know all the fancy programming. But I know people who do. The key is and if I lose a customer so be it. You can do all this social media stuff yourself. It takes time to bring it all together and make it work and keeping it working but if you are consistent it can and does bring results.


Now remember I am a B2B company not a B2C company so where I am and what I do is geared for that kind of customer and sale. If you are B2C you are going to need to do things a little different. Either way the key is constancy


Remember our 3 new programs for 2011.
1st is our Virtual Sales Manager Program.
2nd our Sales Function Outsourcing Program
3d our Virtual Business Consulting Program


Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition

Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates


https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate


P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.


P.P.S. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge . Email us your company name and web address to get listed. Make this year your best ever!