Tag Archives: marketers

What is Your Goal for Social Media Marketing?

We each enter social media marketing with a goal. The goals may be different in nature or in definition, but they all share the same points, why? We are all marketers and we all share the same point of view. In a post in 1 Good Reason – Social Marketing entitled “The Goal of Social Marketing” :

The Goal of all social marketing is simple:

To identify advocates in social media, engage and build relationships with them, and enable them to spread your message virally.

This principle is in my mind immutable for any social marketing effort. It’s the reason we are involved in social media for business. And it doesn’t matter if your business is personal branding, small business branding or corporate messaging for the largest companies in the world. All of us who are marketing in social media have this same simple goal.

All too often we forget about engaging and building relationships and we get caught up in the finding new people to follow race. As many pointed out two weeks ago when I wrote 9 Point Social Social Media Expert, it’s not about the numbers. It’s about whether we have real relationships with people. Do they find our content, our information, and our connections with them valuable? Or do we simply feed them uninteresting, lines that are all about me, me, me?

So just for today, why don’t you concentrate on building the relationships you have in your network. Strengthen them, by reaching out to people who you’ve not connected with recently and reconnect. Find some people in your network who you aren’t familiar with and strive to learn more about them. Go read their blogs, or Facebook pages and learn more about what they do and what they are interested in. This will lead you to a stronger network which will be much more valuable for you.

I do agree that it is not important how many millions see your advertisements, but what matters is how many of those people pay attention to you and follow you. It is how many people will value you and your product because you have a connection and a relationship with them.

What is Your Goal for Social Media Marketing?

Too Many Experts and Not Enough Expertise

I have been selling SEO and online reputation management services since 2003 and I have been using SEO strategies since 1997. I have been doing “social media” on The Meta Network and ArtsWire since 1993, when it was called “virtual community” and only nerds did it. Actually, before then. In 1982 I was all about the ANSI BBS dial ups in Honolulu! Well, anyway…

Well, this afternoon, DomBrady said, on Twitter, “I had no idea there were so many Social Media marketers and SEO folks until twitter picked up last year,” and I replied, “@DomBrady There are a lot of SEO ‘experts’ out there. Not that many gurus, though. Lots of hustlers out there. Look for references.”

Well, this seems to be something that is in the minds of many people on Twitter and online. I tell my clients, “those folks who sold cell phones, then got Microsoft Certified, then became Mortgage Brokers, are now reinventing themselves as SEO and SEM experts. Be sure to check references.

Well, Kat French has it right when she wrote this over at 5 Social Media Topics I Could Do Without:

Fake, sleazy, bad or just under-qualified, social media “experts.” Yes, I know they’re out there. Yes, it’s irritating. Yes, it makes it even harder for experienced practitioners to get credibility. Stop whining already. Life coaches, massage therapists, yoga instructors, SEOs, real estate agents and a dozen other career fields have been dealing with the same issue for way longer. All of them (except maybe SEOs) have realized ignoring them and doing great work is the best policy. Let’s follow suit.

Too Many Experts and Not Enough Expertise

Online Conversation Marketing Podcast Interview with Chris Abraham

A few weeks ago, Ray Welling reached out to me to see if I would like to be interviewed in a podcast on the topic of online conversation marketing. Well, it came to pass and it is really quite amusing and Mr. Welling did a brilliant job of making me sound good and authoritative. Ray, thank you very much for your interest. Please hurry off and visit the HotHouse Blog!

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HotHouse content director Ray Welling talks to Chris Abraham, president and COO of online consultants Abraham Harrison, based in Washington and Berlin. Chris is a leading expert in online public relations with a focus on blogger outreach, blogger engagement, and Internet reputation management. An international pioneer in online social networks and publishing, he works as an Internet analyst, web strategy consultant and advisor to firms across the globe. He specializes in web 2.0 technologies, such as online collaboration, blogging, and consumer generated media.

Chris talks about the ins and outs of social media marketing, which he calls “online conversation marketing”, and why good gardeners make good social media marketers. Listen to the podcast below.

Online Conversation Marketing Podcast Interview with Chris Abraham

Chris Abraham Interview on Online Conversation Marketing

: Image via Wikipedia

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

HotHouse content director Ray Welling talks to Chris Abraham, president and COO of online consultants Abraham Harrison, based in Washington and Berlin. Chris is a leading expert in online public relations with a focus on blogger outreach, blogger engagement, and Internet reputation management. An international pioneer in online social networks and publishing, he works as an Internet analyst, web strategy consultant and advisor to firms across the globe. He specializes in web 2.0 technologies, such as online collaboration, blogging, and consumer generated media.

Chris talks about the ins and outs of social media marketing, which he calls “online conversation marketing”, and why good gardeners make good social media marketers. Listen to the podcast below.

Chris Abraham Interview on Online Conversation Marketing

Social Media Promotes Your Business

: Image by luc legay via Flickr

You are not too late to enjoy the benefits of social media — you will never be too late — because the spoils in social media marketing go to the company that can maintain its social media participation over the long haul over the long term. Start now, start later, and I guarantee that if you’re a lion-hearted social media marathoner, you’ll probably best your competition. Anyway, Joseph Ratliff did a brilliant job getting you motivated in How The Social Media Promotes Your Business:

The great thing about social media marketing is it offers a place to talk about your business in a new setting that is a lot less threatening than many other types of advertising. Social media is not about the hard sell. Instead, it focuses on creating relationships with people. Social media allows business people to share some of their personal lives with others. This helps to overcome any fear or reservations connected to buying from people online.
If you’ve started a blog for your business, you already have your foot in the water. The next logical step is to begin commenting on other blogs related to your business. Spend some time searching for a few blogs that you enjoy and subscribe to them via an RSS feeder to manage your time. This will allow you to follow several blogs without having to go to each one every day. When you find a post you can contribute a useful comment to, go to the site and offer your thoughts. Leave a link, if you can, so the audience can link to your own blog. Make this a part of routine at least three times a week.
Next, choose one or two social media communities to join. There are dozens and dozens out there, so do not try to become visible everywhere. Two of the most popular social media communities for business networking are Twitter and Facebook. Both of these are effective sites to increase your relationship building skills with prospects. Combine some personal tidbits with some business information until you discover the perfect mix of both. Do not just focus on building big numbers of friends or followers. It isn’t all about the numbers. Instead, build a little slower and spend your time interacting with the people you meet.