Why Your Business Needs Social Media Geeks As Customers

There is a generally accepted statistic in the online world that points to an average of about 1% of any population will be active content creators, 9% will be participants and the other 90% will simply "consume" that content online. If you believe those numbers, then the easy conclusion is to say that 1% is so insignificant that to focus on reaching individuals who fit into this category would just be foolish. In fact, your small business should ask just the opposite question ... how many of this 1% can you make into your customers?

Why does this matter so much? Because these individuals are the ones who are actively creating the content that others online will be reading. If you are a contractor, this 1% are the group that will post a review about your services on Angie's List. If you have a retail destination, this 1% will announce they are at your store on Foursquare, blog about it afterwards and post reviews and photos online.

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Ten social media problems that drive marketers nuts

“Use social media marketing to build your business.” Sure, these are captivating buzzwords, but few understand how difficult marketing through social sites can be until they try it!  I’m learning this from experience.  The truth is that social media marketing is difficult work.  To help minimize the impact of this frustration on the beginning marketer, here are my Top 10 annoyances as I try to market through the social web and a few comments on how I’m dealing with them:

1. Marketing for producing votes – Users of sites like Digg and Reddit rate links, allowing some to soar and others to languish in obscurity. When I found myself trying to write to secure votes and work the system, I decided to re-focus on simply creating quality content in spite of the kind ratings I get.

2. Converting followers – I have hundreds, perhaps thousands of followers: Now what? Followers are not the same as sales leads are they?   I’ve learned to think differently about expectations and conversion rates. Over time, buyers will come, but you need to be patient and accept a low conversion rate as you focus on building relationships, not quick sales. 

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9 Top - Strategists you will need in Defining your e Marketing strategy

Here is a  short list of the types of specialists you will need in designing your eMArketing strategy. Here it is:

New Media Strategist - This differs from a Social Media strategist in that this strategist strategizes about “new” media, not just Social Media. Foursquare is still relatively new, for example. Facebook, not so much. Having a New Media Strategist onboard will give you an edge on your competitors (who still think that having a Social Media Strategist is the bomb) because you will have strategies based on new (not just sort of new) media.

Content Strategist - Ignore my diatribe about this the other day. That was the old Olivier. The critical olivier with all the hangups about strategy vs tactics, and nomenclature. Pffft. That’s all over with. The new Olivier totally gets the need for content strategists, especially now that you had to let go your editors, copywriters, content planners and content managers when the economy tanked last year. Having a content strategist will help you ensure that your content doesn’t accidentally end up making no sense at all, for example. (This takes a lot of planning and strategy mapping.) You wouldn’t want pictures of Kermit the frog showing up on your 4″ ball bearings product page, for example, right? That’s what Content Strategists do: They strategize content.

Digital Conversation Strategists (you may need more than one) -That’s right: If you are going to be having conversations with customers on the interwebs, you are going to need a solid conversation strategy plan.

Social Engagement Strategist - This role works hand in hand with the conversation strategist. That said, you will need to make sure that the conversation strategist focuses on conversations and the engagement strategist on engagement. If you allow any overlap, you invite a turf war you do not want. Trust me on this. So make sure that your engagement strategist focuses on engaging, not conversing. Different strategies altogether.