Mike’s Points

Questions are great. With questions — the right questions — you can communicate your opinion while also seeking input. Of course, if you’re conducting legit market research, you don’t want leading questions.

But, if you’re in an online or social media community manager-type role, questions are a great way to obtain community input and feedback while giving the individuals in your community the opportunity to be heard and make an impact.

I’ve said all along that, in social media, you need to buy into others’ ego and that inherent need we all have to feel important. If operated correctly, an online community allows just that — while still accomplishing marketing objectives.

While all social media is about community, there are, of course, more community-focused platforms than others: Twitter, Facebook, and discussion boards* to name a few. If you’re a business or association, your followers and fans usually have some connection to you, and have accepted the marketing side of your involvement on these platforms. So, a little promotion is expected — but don’t over do it.

Below are 10 questions a business or organization can ask to give individuals in your community a voice while obtaining valuable feedback — and spurring positive branding as well. These are general and should be customize to your particular business, product, service, offering or whatever you’re trying to sell. Please add any other types of questions or feedback you have in the comments.

1. Invite community members to submit a design using your product/service/logo/etc., and then periodically use a submission for your profile or account icon. It’s a great way to see how community members visualize your brand and what they associate it with.
2. What tips do you have to share with other community members — could be tied to Brand XYZ or in general? This type of question is good if you have a cleaning product, weight-managment product, or other item where people can share their expertise on a topic wrapped around your market focus.
3. What do like best about Brand XYZ?
4. What is your favorite flavor, type, variety, meal, etc.
5. When was your first experience with Brand XYZ? How or why did you first learn of us?
6. What are suggestions do you have for improving Brand XYZ, i.e., add or get new location, flavor, design, color, functionality, etc.?
7. What could we do to get you to visit or buy more of Brand XYZ? Of course, price is always a main consideration but other than price, what? If price is the only consideration, feel free to say so.
8. When do you use or visit Brand XYZ? Does your use tie in to a particular time of day, when you first awake or are working on something late at night, when you are celebrating something, etc.?
9. What memories do you have tied to Brand XYZ?
10. Is there anyone associated with Brand XYZ — an employee or even another community member — that you’d like to give a shout-out to, helped you, made an impact, etc.

Of course, these are general questions and, as I said above, should be customized to your product, service, organization or whatever you are trying to market.

For other online community resources, I encourage you check out and follow:

• Connie Bensen, well-known community strategist who current works at Alterian-Techrigy
• Amber Naslund, who is director of community for Radian6
• Mashable’s 10 Rules for Increasing Community Engagement
• Chris Brogan’s Essential Skills for a Community Manager

Thank you!

-Mike

*On many discussion boards, unless you started it, there are limitations to the level of promotion you have. Some boards have threads dedicated for company news and such. For most threads, you have to be more generic to engage the community, but it’s still possible.

Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/travelinlibrarian/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

The great thing about social media marketing is how encompassing it can be, and how many parts of business it can touch. With all of its potential and many opportunities, a part of me still likes things to be simple.

So, in this 1:37 video, I try to sum up what social media marketing is. In four simple words.

Please have a look. I very much welcome your comments and if you agree or not — especially if not.

-Mike

(The post headline is supposed to be said in the voice of a newspaper boy selling newspapers at a downtown corner. Sarcastically, of course.)

Last month, I tweeted:

Creating in social media is easy. It’s the maintaining that requires know-how, patience & time.

And, for the most part, that’s true. Social media technologies are cheap at worst; free at best. While there is value in the know-how in the creation of social media activities like a blog, a Twitter account, etc., the process often is not complicated.

So, during the past few days, I created a four-step process to create a Facebook Page. I have a few more thoughts on the social media creation v maintenance issue at my latest Toledo Social Media Examiner article.

If you want to see and download my “How to Create a Facebook Page for Your Business / Organization,” you can click on over to the Toledo Social Media Examiner article or see the file at my DocStoc account.

Of course, any feedback on the how-to will definitely be appreciated. Anything left out? How can it be better?
-Mike

Yesterday, I offered some tips to use social media monitoring to help lay a solid foundation for blogger outreach. And, Tonja Deegan of Airfoil Public Relations offered additional valuable information in learning about bloggers you might reach out to.

Today, let’s look at how you can use Twitter for prospecting.

Say you’re a car dealership in a decent metro area. Use a service like Nearbytweets.com or search for your #city’s name on Twitter — like #Toledo, for example — to get a feel for the locals on Twitter. Assuming there’s a good size local community, set up Twitter searches for terms like:

• The names of the car brands you sell.
• The names of key competitive brands.
• Terms like “buy” with “car” or “truck” or “minivan” or other type of vehicle you sell.
• Terms like “car” with “repair” or “service”

When people in your sales and service area show up in results, see if you can contribute (another one of my Three Cs of social media) and add value. For example, you can reply with a tip/suggestion around automotive questions, provide links to information to help them research (third-party links; not your site), and other replies that demonstrate your value and service.

In doing so, you create top-of-mind awareness with potential customers — without trying to sell them a car.

You also start to develop a relationship with potential customers in your sales area, and build followers. The bigger and stronger community you develop, the more these prospects become solid prospects.

They begin to think positively of you — because you add value to their Twitter network.

And, when they need to purchase a vehicle, who do you think they’re going to strongly consider?

You — if you’ve done it right.

Tomorrow, let’s take a look at LinkedIn.

-Mike

While I definitely hope the above was helpful, it’s definitely not any earth-shattering Twitter secret. It’s simply smart social media. For other perspectives in using Twitter for business development see:

• Techrigy’s Connie Bensen’s case study
• Curve Detroit’s Charlie Wollborg’s talk at Social Media Breakfast-Toledo on Oct. 2. I’m one of the founding members of SMB-Toledo and was responsible for inviting and coordinating Charlie’s visit.

If you’re interested in learning more about how you can use social media to build business — either having me talk with your group or help your social media marketing efforts — contact me.

In the local Sunday paper, there was a Bloomberg News Service story about Facebook’s recent influx of cash from Russia-based Digital Sky Technologies, and what that means to Facebook’s total valuation. (I couldn’t find the exact story on line, but here’s a similar one with the below tidbit.)

In that story, there’s this tidbit:

“Facebook and MySpace may have a combined $820 million in combined sales this year, a fraction of the $45.7 billion online advertising market, according to New York research firm eMarketer Inc.”

In that same story, there’s this forecast:

“Facebook generates sales through advertising. The company expects revenue to climb 70 percent this year.”

While that sounds positive for Facebook and I would think advertising on social networks in general, I can’t see where advertising on social networks is the best bang for the marketing buck. CTRs stink on Facebook. And, overall, social network ads get little attention.

If you want to reach social network members, go ahead and advertise for awareness, but don’t spend a lot of money on it or expect a lot of returns. What should you do to market on social networks?

Be social.

Engage.

Connect.

Those are nice words, and let’s look at some ways they can be used:

• Start a page or group — and make it active.  Make sure someone in your business or at your agency is in charge of making that page active. Post information and value of interest to member and potential members — not just about your company or product.
• Engage members by starting discussions; seeking opinions; feedback on product ideas, industry tips, trends, etc.
• Drive membership while showing value to current members or fans with a contest. Consider regular, but small contests that’ll result in beneficial exposure, mentions, testimonials, etc., of your brand.
• Develop and promote a widget that provides value around your company, product or service.

Ultimately, do regular activity that gives value to those you want to reach.

Do not broadcast ads — that’s old-media, one-way communication on new media, interaction platforms. The two just don’t mix.

When in Rome, be like the Romans.

Be social on social networks.

What other ways can companies and associations engage with their audience on social networks?
-Mike