Every single business professional knows that time is money. This is even more relevant than ever now thanks to social media and social networking. It is making my clients get back to business basics- building relationships with potential and current customers. Just like you pay an IT consultant to fix your computers (hourly billing) consider the time of a social media consultant at least double for the good ones.
If you are not good with time management, I suggest you get good with it real quick because when jumping into social media marketing, you can easily get caught up in the fun and excitement of connecting with great people all around the world.
How much is your time worth? I charge between 100$-350$/ hr. depending on whether I’m speaking, consulting, strategy building, designing, conducting competitive intelligence, training, coaching, teaching, researching, or even writing for clients. And when it relates to social networking and social media- even more time because there are so many components to having a successful and cohesive social media marketing campaign that the average business person just doesn’t get it. This is social media for business is very complex and time consuming stuff i assure you.
I have been asked since we started Social Networking San Diego, “How much time should i be spending on these social media and social networking sites Justin? I am not making money when i am networking online, writing my blog content, or filming a new video message to my clients.” My answer is simple- consider this time that you are investing in marketing yourself, your products or services, and you are investing sweat equity in your business. If you don’t have an hour a day to market your business, then you have a problem.
Many business professionals, small, medium, and large sized clients MUST understand this critical rule when dealing with social media and considering working with social media consultants and that is…………….stay tuned for tomorrows post when i will reveal the #1 Rule when dealing with a successful social media marketing campaign.
Please leave a comment, re-tweet this, and book-mark this post it would be much appreciated. Also, what are your thoughts on this post?
Thanks
Justin
Secrets Revealed on social media marketing- to be successful in todays business environment requires innovation, creativity, change, technology, and of course competitive edge. These secrets will help you out- I guarantee it!
This post may be short- but small is the new big right? This is SOOOO Powerful! I have helped hundred of business people and taught them some of these tips and tricks and it has grown there business exponentially compared to other marketing tactics.
1. Act as if you are going to a virtual party (Twitter, Facebook, Linked-In are the parties- you shake hands in these virtual online networking groups to get them back to your home/business/blog/website)
2. You build relationships (Help others, givers gain, and pay it forward. By helping others gain information on things they are looking for or by becoming a resource to others you will build your community. Think of this as building brand equity (as Gary Vee Says) or investing sweat equity in your business. You are providing customer service)
3. Invite others to help you out (or to visit your home- which again is your website or blog) Consider my technique i use on twitter and linked-in: 1: how can i help you? 2: You can help me by…… This is Networking!
4. Then after the relationship is established, people potentially do business together/ refer you
What do you think? I am interested in your feedback. Do you have any tips that have worked for you? Please share your thoughts on this (leave a comment)
Thanks, Happy Networking
JustinRFrench
CEO Social Networking San Diego
“Justin has done business and Internet consulting for us, and we have been pleased with his abilities and results. He reviewed our processes by interviewing each employee, then came up with recommendations for improvement. He was right on target. His technical background, research and studies have given him an insight into what it takes to succeed with an all-encompassing Internet Marketing campaign. He doesn’t waste time; he gets right to the point.
Harold Nevin Language Translation, Inc. San Diego” March 17, 2009
Top qualities: Personable, Expert, High Integrity
hired JustinRFrench as a Social Media Business Consultant in 2009
P.S. I have personal coaching sessions i am doing so if you’d like more 1 on 1 coaching or training on how to leverage social media marketing to help grow your business: Click Here To Email Me Personallyand put in the subject coaching inquiry. I will contact you personally with more details about scheduling
Social- meaning being “social” in a group among people. Socializing among others about professional life and maybe even personal life of course because business is not always about business. People are people and doing business is all about people.
Networking- connecting with other people in a social setting (on line or off-line) and collaborating about what people they know and vice versa. This is no longer just a local chamber event. There are thousands of niche social networking sites- just find which one is for you and participate. Also when networking with others, find out what challenges they are facing and how you might know of a person or a solution for them to look into. Networking in these tough economic times is critical. Help others. Givers gain, and the pay it forward approach to business works magic- especially on twitter. Networking takes work! Social Networking takes allot of work and time too, but consider this sweat equity. Just like social media marketing and leveraging social networking for business purposes will require a considerable amount of time and a large learning curve for some. But this is good because consumers are tired of being interrupted during their busy personal and professional lives with marketing messages that don’t interest us.
Remember, its all about who you know, and especially now the growing trend in social networking and twitter, distance and borders no longer separate that. We are all connected globally thanks to the internet and the web 2.0 technologies that exist. Its not the tools that matter, its how you use these powerful tools. And this is only the beginning you watch- this movement is growing and is changing the way we do business. So get involved and net-WORK
Two passions of mine are golf and business. These two are very similar, especially when it comes to the on-line world. As we become a more digitally connected society, it is important to build business relationships online in the virtual world as well as the golf course. Major business deals believe it or not are done on golf courses around the world. I have come up with some unique ways golf relates to social networking for business. I am interested in your feedback so please let me know if these are sufficient points.
1. Your business takes time to grow, just like your golf game
No one can go out and shoot 72 their first time, not even Tiger Woods did that. Just like in business, no one becomes a success overnight. It takes years of building up. Some newbie golfers go to golf camp to learn the basics or maybe a golf boot camp for the fast track approach. Just like our company in San Diego called Social Networking San Diego which gives the fast track (Bootcamp) to social media and social networking for business purposes. The same applies when doing business online. If you think its easy think again. The point is You MUST get educated on how to do business online if you are to play the business game online. Is your website generating leads for you? how is your pay per click campaign doing? Is your SEO up to par? What social video sites are you on? Are your leads converting?
2. Golfing is usually done with friends, business partners, or colleagues
I cant tell you how many times i have been golfing with people i enjoy spending time with. I have been golfing with clients, partners, and of course family and friends. The thing to understand is golf is relationship building just like social networking. It takes time and those who are in it for the short run or are looking at twitter negatively just don’t get it. Twitter is just a communication tool to build relationships online. Both personal relationships and business. Think of twitter simply as a virtual networking group on demand.
Please help vote for a Fellow San Diego Business EasyTurf as San Diego’s Best Green Product Installer by clicking here: http://budurl.com/easyturf
What are your thoughts on this post?
Cheers
Justin
After speaking at many workshops, tweet-up groups, client presentations, webinars, and talk radio shows, I am always asked. “Justin, what would you say your biggest key to success for business people is during these turbulent times” My answer is always this:
These times have taught us a lot about ourselves, our government, and that doing business as usual does not cut it anymore. The game is changing so the biggest tip I have for business people is to understand that in the online world there is going to be a HUGE learning curve for you. You can get educated, dive into the on-line world open minded, or lose your market to competitors. You MUST learn to network as you do off-line at local chamber events on-line using twitter and linked-in. These are my top 2 social networking tools for relationship building.
The reason these tools are so powerful for business professionals, entrepreneurs, and other passionate people, is because this virtual ability to connect with other like minded people with similar passions and form strategic alliances, new business relationships, and opening up doors of opportunity if you can see the angle and execute. It comes down to building relationships and as business people, building relationships leads to new business. This is not an overnight process. It requires sweat equity, knowledge, good communication, business sense online, psychology, and some technical aptitude. Large media outlets do not have the power any longer because of new viral communication tools like twitter. If you are a business professional and need training, coaching, or consulting on how to leverage these tools, sign up for one of my webinars here: Twitter 101 for business webinar
I look forward to your success in the digital age, and please follow me on twitter so we can learn from each other. Every person has a story to tell about their life, and I look forward to learning your.
Justin
We as CEO’s know the game is changing. It’s not doing business as usual any longer. Old styles of marketing such as direct mail, telemarketing and even email marketing are producing diminishing results. The companies that will be in business in the future MUST take advantage and diversify into an on-line marketing approach that embraces social media and social networking (especially twitter) and formulate a strategy around their products and services.
Believe it or not, the numbers are showing these on-line marketing tactics cheaper than traditional methods (Better ROI) and with shrinking budgets and a need for new ideas, what better solution than social marketing? Now this is easier said then done. I have been in IT and Business for over 10 years and for marketing, lead generation, and sales, departments MUST understand how to use these tools for those purposes. Its not what tools are out these, but how your departments are trained to use them. I conduct workshops for various corporations and have given companies the fast-track approach to social media and help structure the workshops in layman’s terms so everyone understands their role and how it fits with the company culture. Strategy is the most important, and not too many people in corporations have the business and technical sense because of the dis-connect among departments that exists.
Typically, no one in the company even understands all these various on-line mediums, which is why CEO’s will need to bring in outside help to re-shape the company culture around these new paradigms.
Here is a helpful video i put together that gives the following talking points:
1. Old Style of Marketing VS. New Style of Marketing
2. Two Buck Chuck Example (blue ocean strategy)
3. Whole Foods Example (blue Ocean Strategy- Online & Off-line)
4. How you will need outside consultants to help re-shape corporate culture
I would appreciate some of your thoughts / insight on this discussion post.
What challenges is your firm facing with formulating a social media strategy?
I would Appreciate your any feedback
Thanks
JustinRFrench CEO Social Networking San Diego
Email me at “snsdjf@gmail.com “> with any questions you may have and i would be happy to offer some advice
4. Trust is very important. We have gained the trust of many clients by always doing what we say and communicating with them regularly and measuring the success of our social marketing strategy. We may even have to make adjustments with the keywords or messaging. It is definitely a process and takes months to lay the proper foundation. Consider it sweat equity or “building brand equity” as Gary Vee says; you are investing in the long run for big payoffs months down the road. I assure you there is no quick fix or get rich quick scheme that can help your business achieve long term growth and success online. Right now we are solving on-line marketing challenges companies are having and leveraging social networking and social media tools as means of meeting and achieving business goals. Social networking used to be just for personal use, but now we have identified how to leverage these mediums to help corporations become more competitive, more visible, and more profitable. As business consultants who happen to be very technical, this has given us an advantage to be able to leverage cutting edge technology for our clients that gives them a competitive edge. That is exactly why clients continue to see the value in working with a highly technical team who is first and foremost business minded and continues to produces on-line social marketing results.
3. My executive team and I have been consulting with the SMB market for many years. Because we have worked in MANY different industries and capacities such as financial, healthcare, manufacturing, and service, we have been diversified and can provide the proper solution to various online marketing challenges no matter what business they are in. The processes and systems we use are very similar. For me, it’s just like starting a business. Once you start one business, you can start another, it’s just maybe a different target market, product, service, or business model, but the foundations to conducting business are very similar.
We have developed a systematic process of identifying core business problems and challenges with marketing, establishing a framework, agreeing on deliverables, and implementing the proper solution for our clients. The workflow we have created is proprietary and clients have been blown away at the efficiency and results it creates for their company. We make our clients aware that things may not always go according to plan, but they are rest assured knowing we have the right problem solving capabilities, the team in place, and the same concepts we have employed for years that has been largely successful for several other clients. Not to mention a lot of this is due to the trust factor we have gained over the years. At the end of the day, that is what companies pay us to do- solve their online marketing problems. Whether its strategy, planning, training, consulting, implementation, etc. Companies need to go above and beyond for their clients these days and I am seeing this everyday thanks to social networking sites like twitter. Doing business online is a HUGE complexity and sadly many companies have been burned. Just like when I was in the IT field, we had to establish trust first before our clients accepted us. We achieved this by selling ourselves, not just our products or services. Think of doing business on the internet like a science- a science we reveal to our signed clients just how everything ties together for great business success on the internet.
2. Our country is built on small and mid-sized businesses and because of the Internet, companies are now able to compete on-line with large fortune 500 companies with an even smaller budget. It’s all about having the right strategy. It levels the playing field and enables a communication channel that would have never been possible in traditional marketing or media. We have now seen that a small business with a great product or service and the right strategy can achieve huge economies of scale on-line. Look at what has happened with twitter. Our current business model leverages twitter to be used as a business tool for our clients to achieve some of these business objectives: PR, customer service, branding, marketing, and of course developing lasting business relationships. Twitter has enabled corporations to get back to the foundations of doing business in a digital age which is much needed right now. Being more transparent, not always selling things, and building an on-line community culture around community. Remember- people want to do business with people. Think of this new way of doing business on line as social marketing. If someone from company A does something good for me, say help me out or point me in the right direction, or does a good job on a project, I am going to tell 10 of my friends and just like word of mouth referrals, the same happens now online in a virtual setting.
Social Marketing is a new buzz word going around. Social marketing basically means word of mouth marketing using online tools such as social media, social networking, and other online PR tactics. You know how powerful word of mouth can be, just imagine what it can do for your products and services! Social Networking San Diego has been able to achieve great success for our clients, and the way business is conducted today is very different from the 20th century. Consider our 21st century marketing methods which you can see here:
1. Even though businesses are going through some tough times due to economic conditions, this does not make it ok for management and executives to do nothing. Good leadership in all companies is needed to find innovative ways to be resilient during these times and figure out ways to cut costs where necessary (not employees) streamline operations, upgrade technology, and invest in an online marketing strategy. Why? Because online marketing strategies can mean a more cost effective advertising and marketing approach than traditional marketing efforts and can even reach a more targeted market in a shorter amount of time. Having your company set up on twitter, linked-in, or face book is one thing, but how are you using these tools? This is where you need an online marketing strategist to develop the right creative campaign that can then track results, measure progress, and show good ROI. The economies of scale are much greater with an on-line marketing approach as opposed to off-line. Consider this: an inbound marketing campaign, or inbound marketing system in which we help formulate and execute around your business model. We do the back-end work for our clients on social media and social networking and train them on how to leverage these tools for business development purposes and how to build business relationships online. We function as the out-sourced virtual marketing department and partner with our clients for long term contracts for long term business strategy success.
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