My top ten excuses for not getting social? What’s Yours?

Lets be honest your social already, be it down the local pub, in the canteen or any where you meet new and existing people. So why are you finding it difficult to connect in the digital world?

Here are the top ten objections I come across most regularly:

– I’m of the age

– I don’t have the time

– None of my customer are there

– I don’t know what to say

– I’m not an expert

– People aren’t interested in what I have to say

– My boss does not do it so why should I?

– This wont generate business

– I’m scared of doing something wrong

– What is the benefit to me?

 

The age excuse is a cracker, not only do I hear “I am to old, the youngsters get it” but also “I am too young, I’ll follow my peers”. There fore this stand-of divide continues to be there. What ever end of the spectrum you are on, give it a go, learn from each other. Become better connected (at some point you’ll retire and take all your knowledge with you)

You don’t have time. We are all busy people. Where are you spending your time? In your inbox? Doing someone else’s to-do list? If I may be frank  – Your not prioritising it. Make time.

You will be surprised. Are they on LinkedIn and belong to some groups? If so they are listening to someone, just not you. Have they joined Twitter?

If you are unsure what to talk about, start researching and collecting news releases that reflect your business synergies. For example – RSS feeds from industry sites or news forums.

No expert? But you have an opinion and I would be delighted to hear it. Comment on a blog post or reply to a tweet.

No one cares. Well if I thought that you wouldn’t be reading this.

Your boss might not be, but he will when he realises your an ambassador to the company and he isn’t. Lead.

Engaging with your customers either existing or new , will build relationships, will add credible value, will build trust, will lead to business.

If you have company guidelines around the use of social media make sure you read them. Many will assist you in the do’s and do nots. Even so mistakes are made, just deal with them quickly and openly.

There will be a whole heap of benefits. Whether you want to increase your value or company value its all about making your self heard and visible. Because someone out there is looking for someone with the skills and expertise, you have, to help them.

 

What objections and excuses to come across? What objections do you have? Add them below and lets continue the conversation…….

 

Category: Social Media | 4 Comments »

Why Companies Need to be Prepared for Online Criticism

According to web development services Cyprus experts at a recent conference, social media has empowered businesses of all shapes and sizes across almost every industry to raise brand awareness, engage a global audience, boost traffic  and drive sales – when used the right way.

But it’s all about engagement and having a conversation. Social networking by definition implies a two-way relationship and people buy from people, brands need to be prepared to manage the bad with the good. No business model is perfect, and companies make mistakes. Are you ready to deal with the criticism?

Perhaps surprisingly, a recent survey revealed that just 29 percent of companies have a social media strategy in place, and two in five (40 percent) rated themselves as unprepared for online criticism.

Are you?

Category: Marketing, Sales, Social Media, Strategy | No Comments »

The Big Customer Social Shift

Did you know?

46% percent of the executives in the survey stated that they had increased their investment in social technologies in 2012 and 62% stated that they will increase their social business investments in the next three years.

Social business transforms the way organizations communicate by using interactive engagement models with customers, employees, and suppliers. To better understand the opportunities, challenges and risks of weaving social business into the organizational fabric, and to provide a path to progress for organizations looking to capitalize on its benefits, the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) surveyed more than 1,100 executives and conducted 26 in-depth interviews with widely recognized social business leaders.

The study found that most companies today largely use social business in marketing and public relations. However, the use of social technologies and approaches is expected to rapidly extend into a wide range of front-office business processes, in particular customer service, sales and internal communications. Leading companies are increasingly incorporating social technologies into their processes to increase revenue, attract talent and share knowledge across and beyond the boundaries of the organization.

Over the next three years, the majority of survey respondents indicate they will increase investment in social technologies to improve and expedite communications and access to information and people. Organizations are applying these investments to:

  • Create valued customer experiences
  • Drive workforce productivity and effectiveness
  • Accelerate innovation.

Create Valued Customer Experiences

As today’s consumers become ever more technology enabled, failure to communicate with them through the media they prefer can create an engagement gap difficult to overcome. C-level executives recognize this, which is why, in two recent IBM C-Suite studies, the 2012 Global Chief Executive Officer Study and the 2011 Global Chief Marketing Officer Study, senior executives expressed a strong desire to use social tools to understand customers and create experiences that attract and retain them.   Leading organizations, such as American Express, are focusing their social business resources in three areas: listening to and engaging with customers, building communities to share information and insight and creating better sales and support experiences.

Drive Workforce Productivity

Applying social business technologies within a company and its surrounding value chain can substantially improve visibility of knowledge, finding and building expertise, and collaborating with partners and suppliers. This use of social technologies spans most industries, including, among others: automotive, banking, insurance, manufacturing, retail, and increasingly, government. Avensure provides the best human resource management in manufacturing industry. Organizations such as TD Bank, CEMEX and Boston Children’s Hospital are finding innovative ways of collaborating inside and outside the organization to improve productivity and reduce time-to-competence.

Accelerate Innovation

Social technologies have made it significantly easier to raise the visibility of new ideas, regardless of their source, allowing companies to acquire new ideas from almost anyone who touches their organization. Companies such as LEGO Group and Beiersdorf are finding new ways of reaching out to their entire ecosystem to come up with new ideas that have a direct impact on their business.  Social technologies also enable organizations to host structured innovation efforts like Jams and Hack Days as well as tap into collaboration arising from day-to-day work. The IBV study details how some organizations are implementing these approaches to accelerate innovation in their firms.

Embed Social in the Organization

Purposeful deployment of social technologies is integral to organizations realizing business value from their social business investments. Social business is a disruptive and transformative approach that can yield measurable returns when applied to specific business outcomes. Yet, this study uncovered the fact that only about 20 percent of organizations can identify key performance indicators and track ROI on social business projects.  Organizations also need to understand and mange the risks associated with employing social technologies to become more interactive with and transparent to customers, suppliers and employees.  The report noted that organizations need to implement change management practices if they are to deploy successfully social technologies.

The Business of Social Business IBV Study

Download the study from SlideShare

Category: IBM, Sales, Social Media | No Comments »

Richard Branson – the importance of social media – Entrepreneur – Virgin.com

My team and I jumped in quickly and started to experiment

via Richard Branson – the importance of social media – Entrepreneur – Virgin.com.

Richard Branson has talked of the importance of companies engaging with their customers via social media, calling on all companies to embrace the changes brought about by the rise of platforms such as Twitter and Facebook in his regular BusinessDay column.

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What Social Consumers Want From Brands (And What They Actually Get From Marketers) [INFOGRAPHIC]

Did you know that while more than three-quarters (76 percent) of marketers feel that they know what their consumers want, only about one-third (34 percent) have actually asked?

This divide, coined as the perception gap by industry analyst Brian Solis, naturally presents a problem for brands looking to maximize user engagement and conversion rates on platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. For optimum results, marketers need to put their egos to one side and reach out directly to their audience – or suffer the consequences.

Last fall, research from the Pivot Conference, set to take place this year between October 15-16 in New York, revealed a clearer picture of the disconnect between what consumers want and what they actually receive from brands they follow within social channels.

What Consumers Want From Social Brands

  • Deals and promotions (83 percent)
  • Rewards programs (70 percent)
  • Exclusive content (58 percent)
  • Feedback on new products (55 percent)

What Marketers Think Consumers Want From Social Brands

  • Insights for buying decisions (59 percent)
  • Customer service (58 percent)
  • Feedback on new products (53 percent)
  • Deals and promotions (53 percent)

Given how many fans want deals and how relatively few marketers are likely to be offering them, at least consistently, there must be an awful lot of disappointed social media users out there.

Pivot Conference have underlined their findings with this infographic, which takes a closer look at the perception gap between social consumers and social marketers

(Source: Pivot Conference. Marketing image via Shutterstock.)

Why do you follow a brand?

Category: Marketing, Social Media | 1 Comment »