20 Things To Know About Using Social Media For Your Business

These are the Twenty Things that everybody needs to know about Social Media and how they can use Social Media for their business. A lot of Hype has been created around this topic and we want own clients to understand what exactly it means to them.

(1) Don’t Believe the Hype

Our professional opinions are based on our expertise, experience and education. We are not here to repeat what others have to say. We are here to give you the facts not feed you fiction.

(2) It’s Not Cheap Advertising

It is wrong to believe that Social Media is nothing but a cheap channel to spam out a sales pitch. Social Networks are not a place for an infomercial or “Guerrilla Marketing”. Social Networks are not “the new” late night television, they are a new way to communicate with people.

(3) It’s Not Just Numbers

Social Media is not about building large numbers or friends, fans or followers that do not know who you are or do not care about what you have to say. Sending out information to large numbers of people that do not care what you have to say is spam. If you annoy them enough they may even look to see who is spamming them. This is not the way to build traffic to your website, because the only thing that they will remember is to buy elsewhere.

(4) It’s Not Just About You

If you make it just about you, only you are going to want to hear it. It’s easy to spot someone that doesn’t say anything with out posting a link to their website or starts every message with “My new Blog Post”. Words “I” or “Me” from your Social Media vocabulary or else you will create a personal brand that nobody will ever want to buy.

(5) You’re Not a Movie Star

How celebrities and major corporations are using Social Media has very little to do with what is going to work for you. Do not make the mistake of comparing yourself to a super model,  celebrity or professional athlete.  Social Media has nothing to do with who they are or why people are interested in them.

(6) Have Realistic Objectives

You need to know what your objectives are before you even think of starting a Social Media Marketing Campaign and if you are going to be able to realize those objectives for the type of business that you are in.

(7) Develop A Game Plan

An effective Game Plan will create the buzz for your business. Social Media gives you the ability to keep in touch with your loyal customers and to reach out to new ones around the world.

(8) Know Your Marketplace

You need to know your marketplace and why your customers buy from you. The Internet is a global marketplace and people can buy from you from all over the world.

(9) Give It Time

You need to remember that Social Media Marketing is a long term strategy, not a way to become an “Internet Millionaire” overnight.

(10) Treat People As Friends

Talk to people like they are your friends. Abrasive tone, SHOUTING, and pushy sales pitches are not what your friends want to hear. You are not writing copy for an infomercial.

(11) Build A Community

Use your Social Network to build a community around your business and reward your customers for their loyal patronage. Building a community online is how you bring people into your business, because they want to bring their business to you.

(12) Understand the “Vibe”

Every Social Network has a different Vibe and that vibe is created by the people that use the network, not the people that operate the network. For example automatically posting messages from another network is considered to be an acceptable practice on Twitter, but would be considered spamming somewhere else.

(13) Do Something Interesting

Always offer something that people are going to want or else they are not going to be part of your online business community. When you give people the opportunity to do something fun, they are going to bring your business into their circle of friends.

(14) You Must Participate

Internet Communities are about people and you are going to have to be there to carry on a two way conversation or people are just going to blow you off. One of the biggest mistakes people make is that they join as many networks as they can find and never become a part of the community. “Auto-blogging” services like Ping.fm can give people the idea that spamming out a sales pitch to as many social networks is going to build traffic to their website. What they don’t realize is that traffic is not converting to actual sales. because people are just looking at their site in contempt.

(15) Encourage Cooperation

People will remember that you helped them and they will come back when they need your services. When you let people ask questions and answer them promptly they will know that someone is listing to what they say. Community pages should always include postings from fans to encourage cooperation between the people in you community.

(16) Build Relationships

Social Networks allow you to meet people around the world and in time you will be able to make friends them. These friendships may also lead to trust based relationships in business with people that you would not have to opportunity to meet otherwise. People that are experienced in business networking understand how this works on the local level, when they join Chambers of Commerce and other networking organizations.

(17) Think Business

Don’t say things that are going to offend the people that paying you money or challenge their political views or religious beliefs. One of things that makes America great is that people have the right to have different views on everything. It’s not your business to try to change what people believe and the only thing you are going to make them believe is they need to do business else where.

(18) Protect Your Reputation

Reputation is the key component in Social Media, the way you deliver your message and the frequency that you deliver it is going to directly impact your reputation.

(19) Never SPAM Your Friends

Friends don’t what to read spam or care about the latest trends in Social Media. Computer programs that send messages over the Internet that nobody wants are spamming. There are places on Social Networks to advertise and build lists of people that want to know about your business. For example, when people join a page on FaceBook they know that they are going to receive messages from the people that run the page.

(20) You’re Not Fooling Anyone

Just be yourself and treat people like your friends and everyone is going to like you. Pretending to offer sage advice only to lure people into some get rich quick website is going to get you nowhere fast. An excellent example is the “Thank Your For Following Me” message on Twitter, that is always generated by a computer program. A tool that will only build traffic to your website from contemptible people or people with contempt for you.

Using Video To Promote Your Business Online

“What would it take to add video to my web site?”,  is a question I am often asked. This question is usually followed by, “…and what would it cost?”.

Whenever I am asked how much a video will cost I think back to my first job at a video production studio. Ah, back in the days of flat top fades and New Jack Swing. Back then I remember the boss drilling the sales reps with the same mantra over and over, “If they ask you how much it will cost, then they can’t afford it.” Then he would always follow with, “We’re not about saving them money, we’re about doing the job right and making them money.” This is something I try to impress on anyone who is serious about adding video to their marketing tools. Video really only has two options, the cheap way and the right way. If you think this blog is going to teach you how to get a professional video done on a tight budget then don’t waste your time reading any further. I’m going to cover PROFESSIONAL video marketing solutions. If want to do it on the “cheap” then hire your brother-in-law that fancies himself as a video expert because he shot a couple weddings and birthday parties. That way, if your intent on just pissing your money away, at the very least, you’ll be helping out a member of your family.

The issue is that most small business clients (now that I think about it, large ones too) don’t really have a clue as to what goes into video production, the cost involved or even how they would use a video for promotion in the first place. Most just think that it would be cool to have one because, well… there just cool. 5-7  years ago most small business owners wouldn’t even consider video because of the production costs as well as the type of financial commitment a TV campaign would run them. Well, software advancements and the Internet have brought video production into the realm of reality for many small businesses. Or they think it has.

Now video production has come down in price a whole bunch the last few years. The Internet has made video delivery extremely cost effective but the fact is, as a business owner, you need to be educated as to what is available and effective for your business and image. An awesome video is still no good if no one sees it or remembers what the video is promoting. Video is still one of the most, if not the most, effective forms of advertising available to any business today. And with viral marketing techniques you can get more millage out of posting a video online than you could just by running ads on local TV.

I’m not going to cover how much you should be paying for custom professional video production because prices vary depending on where you are. For the same quality of video, a company in New York, NY may charge $40,000 where as a company in Cocoa Beach, FL may charge $10,000 for the exact same thing. I will, however, give you this advice on how to save a little money. If you are in a large city sometimes it may be more cost effective to bring a video crew in from a smaller area. I’ve seen rates fluctuate from $350 per hour to $75 per hour for the exact same service with the exact same equipment run by a producer with the exact same experience. Do your homework, hire a consultant or hire an independent executive producer that’s not affiliated with any production house to handle bidding out the project on your behalf. The cost of bringing in an outside crew, consultant or producer can almost always be offset by how much they can save you in production cost. Remember, these people know a whole hell of a lot more than you do when it comes to producing a video and where money can be saved without ruining the quality.

What I am going to cover is some of the more popular uses of video for business. Some are more effective than others and some are very popular but not really as effective.

The Video Walk On

One of the more popular (at least from all the people I run into selling this service at networking events) uses of video is the Video Walk On. These can be produced for as little as $300 and involve a spokesperson (sometimes professional other times not so much) walking out onto your web site and greeting visitors. They sometimes mention your promotions or specials and usually ask for some type of call to action: Call now, Click this link for more info,  and so on. Many also have some sort of monthly fee for using the service that can run anywhere from $35 a month and up.

The lower cost ones usually involve a template where your business name, contact info and call to action are plugged into a pre-written script. Now these scripts are usually very generic so that they can be used over and over for multiple businesses.  That’s how the production companies keep the cost down. You will usually not have very much say in the format but some companies will customize the video for you at additional cost. The thing to look out for is that the additional cost may be a whole lot more than the advertised price which made you consider this option in the first place.

The more expensive ones usually use scripts that are custom written for your business. They will normally have someone work with you to come up with an effective message. They also usually have more professional spokespeople as well as a larger selection of them. The cost for the higher end Video Walk Ons usually run $1500 and up give or take depending on the part of the country you’re in.

Are Video Walk Ons actually effective? Will they increase sales or leads? Will they increase traffic to your site? Will your search engine ranking go up? I’ll start by answering the last two questions first. No and no. If a sales rep tells you anything other, then they have no clue as to how the Internet works. From a technical standpoint, adding a Video Walk On to your web site will not increase search engine ranking or traffic. Most video nowadays is delivered online using Flash and Flash is not recognized by the algorithms that the search engines use. No matter how cool it looks. Now you may be wondering why in the hell then can you search for a video online and find it or how do YouTube, Google Video, Yahoo Video, AOL Video, Vimeo and all the videos from those types of sites come up in search results. It’s simple, they are using a totally different kind of video delivery system than a Video Walk On does. Will they at least increase sales or leads? The answer is a resounding maybe. It really depends on the type of business you have as well as the product or service you are offering. Why do it then you may ask yourself? It’s all about image baby. If you want to add something to your web site that “pops” then a Video Walk On may be for you. If you want to differentiate yourself from the competition then this might a tool that can help you do so.  Don’t kid yourself thinking that adding this type of thing will drastically increase sales or your bottom line, it’s more for image. But, sometimes, a memorable image may be just what you need to separate yourself from all the other glut on the Internet.

The Template Video

Another low cost marketing tool is the Template Video. This is similar to the Video Walk On in that the script is a template where your companies unique info is plugged into an existing video shell. The difference is that these usually involve a voice over person as opposed to a spokesperson that appears on camera. These type of videos typically use stock video footage and have sections where your logo and message can be easily entered in by the production company. These retail anywhere from $250 and up to produce and usually have a monthly fee attached. The major issue with these types of videos is the fact that they are a template. Your message may not get across exactly as you intend it to but that’s why they are inexpensive. You’re not paying for a solid marketing piece, your paying for a cheap video. The benefit to having this kind of video made is that it’s cheap and at least you’ll have something  to post on YouTube and all the other video distribution sites as well as on your own web site. You can also post it to your blog and if it’s fits into the size constraints your Facebook page as well. You can get a lot of mileage out of one of these as long as your agreement with the production company allows you  to do so. Be careful though! When getting one of these Template Videos you need to make sure that you have complete control over where it can be posted. Some companies will charge you a “distribution fee” if you post it anywhere other than your web site.

Viral Video Campaigns

Viral Videos could also be called Stupid S#!t That People Post Online That Other People Get a Kick Out Of For Some Unknown Reason.

Star Wars Kid, Numa Numa, Dick in a Box and the celebrity filled I’m F*@ing Ben Afflek are just a few examples of successful Viral Videos. These are videos that became extremely popular by people sharing them with each other. Many companies hear of the success of these types of videos and try to replicate that success for themselves. They figure that if some dork with a web cam can get a million views acting like a retard then with all their marketing might they can to. The challenge is producing a video that is not only entertaining enough to stand out from all the dumb crap and make people want to share it but to also produce one that actually promotes your company or brand effectively. Oh, and does it within your companies image guidelines. That’s where most corporate image types show their ignorance regarding the Internet and what kind of videos people actually LIKE to watch and share.

Viral Videos for business need to be entertaining. Your video will competing for face time with dorks, losers, sluts, farting, testicle shots, monkeys, sociopaths and a few individuals with a little talent who all probably know more about what people want to watch and share online than you and your marketing co-horts combined. If you want to keep your video professional, corporate and bland then advertise on TV or on the video sign at your local mall. If you want people to share it with the world, talk about it and have it seen by a large audience then make it funny, sexy or extremely weird.  Check out some examples of successful corporate Viral Videos. Here’s one for Guinness Beer and one for the launch of the PS3. Note – the PS3 spot debuted on TV with an extremely limited run but gained a following online when people started searching  for “the weird Play Station baby commercial”. Consumers actually went out of their way looking for the ad. That’s marketing.

Now producing a successful Viral Video campaign can be a little more challenging than you may think and obviously I won’t be covering ever aspect in this article. Most business owners I have spoken with seem to think that throwing something together and posting it on YouTube is all they need to do and it’s a little more involved than that. For starters, you need to plan the campaign out. If you have the budget, produce more than one spot. The reason why is that if you put all your eggs into one basket and it doesn’t catch on then your money could be wasted. Produce a series of spots and post them over a period of time.You also want to submit your video to more than just YouTube. Believe it or not, YouTube isn’t the be all and end all of sharing video on the Internet. There are also Google Video, Yahoo Video, AOL Video, Vimeo and a whole slew of others. Sign up with as many as you can handle and submit to all of them or pay someone to do it for you. Post your video on your blog, web site and social networking sites. Your goal is to get it seen by as many people as possible so that, hopefully, it will catch on and be shared with the world. Like I stated before, the challenge for a business owner is the fact that your video will be competing for attention with lightsaber guys, strange pets, dudes getting hit in the nuts, half naked women, weird looking babies, MILFs, Club Penguin videos, Justin Timberlake, SNL shorts, drunk people, monkeys being monkeys and other viral marketing campaigns with serious scratch and talent behind them. You need to understand the world your delving into when it comes to Viral Video Marketing. It’s not the same as advertising on TV. Not by a long shot.

Video Podcasting

Video Podcasting is similar to Blogging  in that it’s something you’ll need to do on a regular basis in order for it to be effective. What is it? Basically, it’s producing a series of short videos in which you enlighten the world with your knowledge or observations on whatever subject floats your boat (preferably, expertise in your profession). Now this honestly doesn’t translate well to every single business out there, but for the ones it does, Video Podcasting can be a powerful promotional tool. People get to see you, hear you and become comfortable with you without ever having met you. You can show off the expertise in your field and start branding yourself as an expert whether you really are or not. You tell people your an expert enough times they’ll start buying it.

Now, don’t worry. If you decide to  give Video Podcasting a try but are worried about scheduling time every week to tape and edit your segments I’ll give you an industry hint. Film them all in one day, get them all edited and then release them on a regular basis. I usually suggest filming 13 at a time. That way you have enough for one a week for a quarter of the year. 6-7 weeks into your campaign tape your next 13 and so on. Consistency is key to gaining viewers.

You can then upload your Video Pod Casts to all the previously mentioned video sites, social networks and your blogs but you’ll also want to submit it to Podcasting sites like iTunes, videopodcasts.tv, video.podcast.com, podcastalley.com and tons of others. The more places you post it, the better chance of people seeing it and subscribing.

What About a Normal Old Fashioned Marketing Video?

Let me start out by saying that putting a normal, old fashioned marketing video only on your web site  is a horrendous waste of the Internet’s capability. But if you’re too lazy to post it everywhere or too cheap to pay someone to do it for you here’s what you should do to get the most out of it. At the very least, add a social networking widget like Add This to the page the video is on so that the 6 people who actually see it can share it with others. I’d also make sure that you include video taped testimonials. Video testimonials are powerful marketing tools that really should be included in any video campaign. And don’t just rehash the information that already on your web site. It’s video for goodness sake. Take advantage of it’s capabilities. Video is one of most powerful marketing tools around so use it to it’s fullest extent.

Like I stated before, video has come down a ton in cost the last  few years but it is still a higher end marketing solution. Make sure to plan properly and give the production company enough time, and enough of a budget, to come with something that shows your company in the best light possible. Video can make your company look bigger and better than it is but it can also make you look like a cheap douche bag.  The end product will be a result of your choices so choose wisely.

Jayme Ward is the owner of Digi Donkey, an Internet Consulting Firm located in Historic Cocoa Village, Florida.