Staying on top of the news in your industry is CRITICAL to business intelligence, competitive intelligence, identifying new trends in the market, and of course helping your company stay competitive.

If you are a business professional or executive, you already know the importance to staying on top of the news. I happen to be a little TOO attached to staying on top of news. Thats why i have developed a proprietary workflow for executives that helps resolve the issue of information overload. All the tools i implement for my clients are 100% FREE and the information workflow i have developed is a system that executives cannot be with out.

Here is a part of our system (see video below) because if you are like me, you know the importance of staying on top of cutting edge news and technology that IMPROVES information gathering and our clients see huge value in working with us to stay on the cutting edge of business, technology, strategy, and of course, communication and workflow improvement.

ready to get your information workflow set up? This eliminates:
-information overload
-innefficienes
-time wasting
-feeling overwhelmed
-not being informed

email me at snsdjf@gmail.com to get your information workflow system set-up and stay ahead of your competitors!

-Justin R French

Everyone especially business professionals (rightfully so) keep talking about how to monetize social media and social networking. As of now, you should know how out-of the box my thinking is when it comes to business. I assure you that during these times, I am not the only business professional trying to think outside the box for innovative strategies. For better or worse, I am really going out on a limb on this one. Let me know if i am going over-board on this.

I will predict what the future holds (and how we can all make some money from not only social media consulting services for firms that “get it”) but possibly off things we are “Passionate” about. Besides, who wouldn’t want to make some extra money right now right?

Now hypothetically, lets say you drive a Prius. And you love it, you tell your friends how much you love it on facebook, twitter, linked-in, etc. So in a sense, you are now a brand ambassador for the Toyota prius. Now because you are so much in love with your prius and you happen to be marketing it for them “online” whether you know it or not, why couldn’t you reach out to Toyota, state your case, and charge them a small fee to write something about your experience (like or dis-like) about your Toyota prius fully disclosed of course? Believe it or not, that is what Ted Murphy @Izea has done and it is not a bad idea. I give him credit for coming up with this concept and starting to put bloggers in touch with corporations to write fully disclosed reviews. Brilliant!!

I would even take it a step further and really start reaching out to companies and demonstrating the power of these “word of mouth” brand ambassadors by providing case studies. This is already going on. Maybe even get a sales team doing B2B. This is writing on the wall for more business models that will monetize social media because at the end of the day, we don’t want all this hype to implode like the 2001 dot com bust right? If businesses don’t get educated on social media soon, they may not be around next year when things start to pick up again.

As for facebook, here is what i would tell Mark to do. Start charging a small fee for businesses to use facebook (just like twitter should do) because this demonstrates to business people the value of social media and social networking tools for corporate use. Those business leaders who STILL DO NOT see the value, will continue to be lost in translation. Or maybe schedule some twitter training from one of our internet marketing strategists by going here for our twitter for marketing training: Just one mans opinion. What are your thoughts on this post?

As extremely busy executives, we know the following:

-budget allowances are gone
-competitive forces are growing
-layoffs and cuts have been made, and hopefully not a second round
-sales are down

As the VP of marketing goes into the CEO’s office Monday morning and says “I just spoke to a company on Linked-in who is doing social media and social networking consulting for business development and lead generation and I think we should consider it. This could be our chance to get ahead of our competitors and shift some of our off-line marketing budget into on-line marketing and advertising. The CEO says “That on-line marketing crap has never worked before, what makes you think it will work now? We don’t even understand how the hell it works! Do they even have case studies? What was the ROI?” VP Says “I spoke to a company who seems very credible from their recommendations, has case studies, video testimonials, and has developed a proven system and strategy that really seems to make a lot of sense. I think it leverages social networking and social media sites for business development and lead generation purposes. It really gets back to the old way of doing business by developing relationships with customers first, earning their trust, and then it’s just a matter of time before they do business with us. Plus, the viral ability with online marketing makes word of mouth referrals spread much quicker when they see how great our products are they tell their friends, family, and colleagues. What do you think? CEO says “Well, maybe this couldn’t have come at a better time because sales, marketing, and IT have never seemed to be on the same page, what we are currently doing isn’t working, and this may be a chance for us to gain a competitive advantage. How do we move forward? Well, they offered to do a FREE Webinar for us on the growing trend in social marketing to see if we may be a good fit for the program. I think we should do it. The CEO says “let’s check it out”. 3 months later……Progress has been made, ROI is up 15%, and employees at the various departments are shifting gears and getting re-educated/ re-trained on how to use these social tools and how to sell in a digital age.

“When is your VP of marketing going to take a NEW innovative direction for your firm? Give the CEO some hope so he can sleep”

What is your feedback on this story? How many think this ACTUALLY happened? Please respond below. Leave your comments. I look forward to your guesses-
JustinRFrench CEO & Chief Internet Marketing Strategist
Social Networking San Diego
http://www.socialnetworkingsandiego.com

graphic credited to www.sciencebuddies.org

Here is a reminder of the scientific method with the spin for a social marketing strategy:

Steps of the scientific method:

1.    Ask a Question -what goals are you trying to achieve with your on-line marketing efforts? On-line branding, customer service, online PR, increase traffic, increased visibility, increase website ranking, better conversion, marketing a new product or service….

2.    Do Background Research -we research your competition, identify what keywords are best to use, and formulate an online marketing strategy/ plan tailored around your particular business model (this can NOT be a one size fits all approach to on line marketing!)

3.    Construct a Hypothesis -based on our research/ assessment- we hope to achieve these types of results with this on-line marketing campaign…

4.    Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment -we will assign the right team, implement the strategy, and market test and confirm our on-line marketing campaign (either 100% outsourced or a joint effort (best results are achieved with a joint effort- we do training, coaching, and educational instruction on who does what in the on-line marketing strategy)

5.    Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion -quarterly reports using analytics, benchmarks, deliverables, goals met, and other ROI measurements compared to alternative marketing efforts

6.    Communicate Your Results -we will report to the executive team what results were achieved, areas we suggest for improvement, and best approaches moving forward.

We work in these 4 capacities:
Hourly Consulting
Monthly Retainer
Per Project Basis
Monthly Subscription

See if your corporation qualifies for starting a social marketing campaign by clicking here: http://www.socialnetworkingsandiego.com/free-website-evaluation/

Want to see some actual Case Studies for existing clients?  Click Here for Case Studies

CEO JustinRFrench

P.S. Here are 4 tips on how to choose the right social media marketing consultant

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