Don’t think we don’t hear you because we do. It might frighten you to know that social media folks listen even more than they talk. The next guy that says your company needs to be on Twitter? Be nice to him, don’t kick him repeatedly in the neck because he means well.
The hype is out there in full force, and it is natural for people to push back. That is alright because I can take it. I will sit and listen to all the reasons you think social media is a fad. I will smile patiently while you talk about all the train wreck scenarios that could come about from the freedom you are giving to the people in the trenches representing your company.
After you have had a chance to lay out your justifiable concerns I will ask you about the goals of your company. Then I will try and understand your current marketing practices. Here is one of the tough things for me in this situation; I am not the smartest guy in the room. I will never be as knowledgeable about your business as you are, that is why I am working so hard to understand your current practices.
After I compile all the information you had enough trust in me to give I am going to get with my business partner Chris and we are going to map out a strategy. Maybe I should apologize right now because the way some people are talking up social media you may think this strategy will be made of gold or comes with a serving of cracked lobster with drawn butter. The strategy is actually a list of actionable items that we create to work with your business. The plan will be simple and effective, taking as much time as you are comfortable with spending per day and per week. You will also get a guide of “best practices” to be sure everyone involved is consistant and empowerwed to act within the best interests of the company. The whole deal is custom tailored to the goals you already have as an organization.
Going forward you are set. I think you will be a little better equipped to cut through the noise of all the “experts” that just talk about social media. “Get a blog” or “get on Twitter” is not the answer to every question. You are about showing your expertise and creating trust. You are about relationship selling. We really appreciate you allowing us to listen in on the inner workings of your company. If there is anything I can do to be of assistance going forward my contact information is below.
Zachary Cobb
816.876.1870
zach@zcphotography.com
P.S. Maybe we can follow up with a BBQ lunch in a few weeks?
Entertainment in Kansas City is jumping on Twitter to connect with their customers and get the word out on their events and happenings. Here is a quick guide to some entertainment options in our city and their Twitter profiles. Did we miss one? Drop us a line on Twitter or leave a comment!
Update: 12:40 - Big thanks to local Twitter user @TheDLC for some great additions to our list. Don’t know how Record Bar missed the first cut we are both big fans.
Californos
KC Rep Theater
The Phoenix
Kansas City Wizards
Unicorn Theater
Midland Theater
Lyric Opera of KC
Kansas City Roller Warriors
Cafe Sabastienne
Paddy O’Quigley’s
Kemper Museum
Grinders
Burritos Bros.
Silver Spoon Cafe
Record Bar
Facebook has well over 200 million users. That is an impressive number in and of itself but the fact that as recently as August 2008 they had 100 million members shows you the kind of run this service is on.
This isn’t your former college roommate’s Facebook. According to recent research people over 30 represent the largest growing demographic on the site and the past six months have witnessed a 550-percent explosion in membership among women over 55.
Facebook has revamped the way a business can represent themselves on the service. Allowing you to connect with customers, show content, and build a community revolving around your brand. You can see an example at the Ideas and Angles Facebook page. Even though it has only been around a few weeks it has a community of people that are tuned into blog posts, news, content, and the overall happenings of i+a. You can send message blasts to anyone who signs up to be a “fan” of your companies FB page.
Facebook boxes have made it very easy to make the page “yours”.
When you first create the page it is a good idea to import your blog’s RSS feed if it has one. Right off the bat your own page is filled with the recent activity of your company.
The magic bullet to making a creative Facebook page is an application called “Static FBML”. When you add it to your page it allows you to add custom boxes of code in your “boxes” page. This works very similar to the way widgets are organized and shown in WordPress. You can use these boxes to add custom text, and images using normal HTML. One of the tricky things is adding rich media. For that you use FBML (Facebook Markup Language) which is very similar. If you are interested in learning more about customizing your Facebook page with FMBL check out this great resource.
This is a great opportunity to set up shop in the place where your customers are having conversations. If you need any help getting some ideas on how you can add value to your business on Facebook or want assistance in setting it up don’t hesitate to contact us. We love the chance to empower businesses in the social media space.
Nice to see exposure of the hard work friends of i+a like Zena, Derek, and Justin. On a related note we had 50 or so people at this mornings SMCKC event. Wow, love seeing all the new faces.
“Businesses learn lessons in Twitter technology” (via KCStar.com)
By DIANE STAFFORD
When the Enterprise Center of Johnson County announced a “Twitter Bootcamp,” the seminar room capacity of two dozen was reached immediately.
The waiting list filled a second seminar set for later this month. And that waiting list precipitated a third seminar for May.
Representatives from large and small area businesses, eager to figure out how the social networking phenomenon can help their businesses, got an intro-to-tweeting lesson Thursday in the first of the three bootcamps.
Derek Gathright, Steven Chau and Darby Frey, three Web developers and software engineers, explained the Twittersphere, in which users are sending concise messages to each other’s cell phones, PDAs and desktops.
Twitter.com started out three years ago with some techies and other “early adopters” sending quick updates to one another — in answer to the signature question “What are you doing?”
Now, it has morphed into an advertising, marketing and public relations tool with perhaps 8 million users (though precise numbers aren’t known).
Southwest Airlines and JetBlue use Twitter. “It’s especially good at quieting angry customers,” Frey said. And Gathright described how Twitter helped him connect with lost luggage in Las Vegas.
Zicam, maker of a cold remedy, uses Twitter. Let someone send a message to a friend that says, “I’m sick,” and she may get a tweet in response that says, “Have you heard of Zicam?” along with an offer to download a coupon.
The seminar presenters said a couple of Kansas City companies have skilled Twitter users. They singled out Justin Gardner at AMC Theatres and Zena Weist at Embarq. They are among a relatively new class of worker known as the social media manager or interactive brand strategy manager.
Sprint Nextel also uses Twitter to scout out and help squash consumer complaints, the presenters said.
As a still-young medium for business, Twitter is being shaped by the preferences of its early adopters. For example, Chau said, the chief executive of Zappos, an online shoe vendor, tweets to share his views of the world, a technique that humanizes the company and builds a fan base.
Dell, the computer company, has a variety of Twitter accounts to reach users and prospective buyers. Gathright said the company had sales of more than $1 million in 2007-2008 generated through sale alerts sent on Twitter.
The three presenters said one of the clearest values of Twitter — as opposed to Facebook.com — is that a sender doesn’t have to be invited in or approved as a “friend” to receive a message.
That broader access has allowed CNN, for example, to account for comparatively high-volume Twitter traffic in news bulletin tweets.
But using Twitter isn’t a no-brainer, they said. They cited an effort by Skittles, the candy, to do a Twitter marketing push. Tweet traffic, presumably among young users, quickly became dotted with profanity and other less desirable stuff.
“With Twitter, you get instant feedback from users,” Gathright said, noting that can be good or bad. “You reach a much broader, random audience than using the more private e-mail, instant messaging, chat rooms or blogging.”
