Social Media Advisors – Page 61 – We are Social Media Advisors, a Social Media Speaker, & Custom WordPress Site design.

You Don’t Order Steak at a Seafood Restaurant, So Why Buy a Website From Postcard Companies?

Custom WordPress Sites, Online Consulting, SEO, Social Media Advisors

One of the things that we at 210 Consulting love doing is helping new businesses get their online marketing started in the right direction. Unfortunately unless you are always working in the web development, SEO, and online marketing industry, it can be overwhelming to a new company. Also, since you are just starting your new business, money is usually very tight. So, when you go to purchase business cards, accounting software, or a domain name and they offer to get your site up in running in less than 10 minutes for under $100, you are ecstatic to do so because you can now say you are on the internet.

Usually within 10 minutes of a conversation with a new prospective client I can tell if they have one of these types of sites. Why because they have only 5 pages of content, on a standard layout with zero ability of customization, and the adding of plugins or a blog is impossible! When I ask them why they chose this as their website company, the response every time has been this: “Well, I didn’t have a bunch of money to go buy a fancy site and didn’t want to put that much money into something. Once this site makes me some money I will upgrade. Besides my new site looks pretty and will be fine for my online marketing strategy.”

This is when I finally ask the client, Would you order a steak if you were eating at a superior seafood restaurant? No! Because they aren’t known for their great steaks. They are known for serving some of the best fish on the planet. This same principle holds true when you purchase a website from an online postcard company or an accounting software company.

These types of websites are designed to be simple, easy to set up, quick to activate and are inexpensive. But the limitations they possess are huge. My sister-in-law set up a website the other day for her new business and was very excited when she emailed me a link to look at the site. I pulled it up and called her within 2 minutes to tell her to stop wasting her time and that we needed to do something different. We then made a call to one of my connections that was able to create a WordPress Blogsite for her in just under a weeks time, she hired me to do some graphic design work and for under $1,000 we had her an awesome and amazing new site up and running.

So what made her new site that much better & worth the expense? Here are just some of the big differences:

Unlimited Pages of Content versus only 5- The original page had a total of 5 pages of content available. She had maximized that in her first 10 minutes of setup. She could add more, but there was a fee each time she went to add more pages. On her new WordPress.org blogsite, she can now add unlimited number of pages with pictures, videos, links and more. The reason the number of pages is so important is that it is a big factor in how search engines rank your content. More pages make you look more like an authority on a subject and thus the page goes up in the searches.
Power of Plugins- Plugins and widgets are awesome additions to any site. Unfortunately her template 5 page site did not offer any of this. She could not add simple things like a Facebook share button, or a ReTweet button. With a blogsite like WordPress she has the ability to do all these things and much more that not only make it easier for people to share her site with others, but some that also help her with her Search Engine Optimization.
Online Ordering- The template 5 page site also prohibited the addition of any types of online shopping carts or purchase online buttons. Which as her business continues to grow she wants to start offering these features to her clients so that they can purchase her items online and ship them around the world.
True Ownership of Her Content Forever- Unlike the other company, the information is now on her own site. She owns it and nobody else. She does not need to worry about if they decide to raise the price up. Or if they go out of business, or if they move servers and crash things for weeks at a time. The other nice thing is that she has a home base to direct customers to that only her content & products. The customers will not be finding her competition there. While online forums are great sources of online business, you do run the risk of your customer that found you there clicking a link to your competitor that is on the same platform and losing the business to someone else. The same holds true for those those that “have their website on their company site” which is nothing more than just a profile there that drives traffic to your organization and not you. All it takes is one accidental click on a company site and once again your co-worker is getting the sale instead of you.

These are just four of the many reasons why I said she needed to change her site before even really starting. Luckily, she listened to me & took my advice. We worked together with a web developer and built her an awesome looking & highly search engine optimized blogsite. She then did a few training sessions with me to develop her targeted audience and keywords to write about. Since then she has written a few blog posts, added some great content to her site & seen an explosion of traffic. Without this, she would not have known the first thing about what to write about or what types of things people are searching for. Remember, she wants to bake cakes, not become a online marketing expert.

So what are the results?

Well, take a look for yourself. This was an email conversation I had with her today:

Hey Jeremy,

Just got 3 cake orders today for a word of mouth referral! So far since the website has been up I have actually collected about 450.00! Its quite a bit for cakes and chocolate covered yummies….

My response:

Awesome! So how many cakes have you sold in the first 2 weeks now? 5? 6?

Her Response:

8 actually

a gift basket

and 50 chocolate covered pretzels!

As you can see, she is well on her way to regaining the money she spent on building her website and the beauty is that she will continue to profit from the site for a long time thereafter too! So before you sign up for a website through one of these other companies, stop and ask yourself, Would you order steak at a seafood restaurant? Then why am I buying a website through a postcard company?

If your small business needs assistance getting started with your online marketing plan and would like to see this type of results, feel free to contact me to develop your online marketing gameplan. Also, if the picture above has you interested in some delicious chocolate covered pretzels, make sure you visit Vie Bakery. Lastly, if you are wondering what we suggest for a website, we believe you should go with a custom WordPress Site.

Real Estate Barcamp Charlotte 2010- A great day of learning #REBCCLT

Conferences, Social Media Advisors

Yesterday I attended Real Estate Barcamp Charlotte aka #REBCCLT. This year the event was held in Ballantyne Village which was a great venue. If you want to see what it is like just check out this quick video of #REBCCLT as people were checking in. There were four classrooms available for some wonderful times of learning. People from inside the real estate industry as well as several from outside gathered for this amazing event.

The highlights of #REBCCLT:

Here are just some of the things from REbarcamp Charlotte that I really enjoyed. First, I liked the fact that they had some great snacks of muffins etc for us to snack on for breakfast. They also had beverages there for us to grab throughout the day. Sometimes these events are so rush rush in the morning that there isn’t any type of food. When this happens you get to around 10:30 and everyone is no longer thinking of learning, but instead thinking of what they can get for lunch. In fact, I have seen a few sneak out of sessions early just because they cannot make it any longer which is sad because they miss out on so much good content that they could learn for free.

I also liked the way that REbarcamp Charlotte gave the group the ability to pitch ideas to cover for the day to the entire group. The reason this was so cool is that you were then able to find out exactly what those in attendance wanted to learn about. Several didn’t want to lead sessions but really wanted to learn, “How to do this, or what is…” so they were able to pitch the ideas & then the event found someone to lead the discussion. After all the ideas were pitched, then everyone there was able to go & vote and the classes with most demand were what was covered throughout the conference. This is what I would defintely call empowering the attendees with the way the conference runs. The one thing that I wish would have happened with the pitching aspect is that we could have done it a little bit faster. It seemed like we spent a lot of time on people voting that we could have almost added another round of sessions instead. Maybe next time just pitch the ideas & then do a show of hands type voting to speed things up.

The venue had 4 separate classrooms which were held on two different levels. The Superior School of Real Estate which was the main sponsor of the event opened their doors and allowed the use of their awesome space for two of the sessions. As usual though, the best part of a REbarcamp isn’t so much the great sessions, but the small impromptu breakouts that happened all over the facility. In a true unconference style, I even did a small class on the fly for a few that were begging me to help them blog better. So, the 5 of us found a few comfy chairs, brought our laptops and we did the session right there. Throughout the day I saw many small groups scattered all over learning on a specific thing to help their business succeed online.

So, try & make it out to a Barcamp if there is one in your area. They can be loads of fun as extremely informative. Every time I leave I leave learning several new things that will help take my business to the next level. My ultimate suggestion though is this: come with an open mind ready to learn, participate, and make new friends. If you do, you will definitely leave the event a changed person with tons of ideas on how to use different types of technology to increase your business. The best part of all is that these events are totally free to attend!

Lastly, I loved that the people attending #REBCCLT were definitely tweeting heavily. When I finally stopped tracking the number of tweets, there were over 350 tweets made by 77 people in about a 12 hour period! In case you were wondering who all these people were, I put them all into a list so that you can follow everyone instantly. To follow all that tweeted with the hashtag click here for the list of people who tweeted about #rebcclt. All you will need to do is enter your twitter id & it will connect you with everyone else.

Finally, I will leave you with a few photos from the event. Check it out & enjoy!

A giant thank you to Lori, Sandy, Debe, Todd, Chad, Susan, and everyone else who helped make this an awesome event!

The wordle above is courtesy of Jeff Turner, aka @respres

How to Use Twitter – Tip #1 – Start or Join a Conversation

Social Media Advisors

When I started using Twitter back in the fall of 2008 (I had joined many months earlier, but barely used it up to that point), I was a little stumped by all of the lingo and the fast pace of the platform:

What is a “retweet”? Why do I have to use an “@” symbol in front of everyone’s name to talk to them? Is anyone really listening?

Over time, I became much more comfortable with the platform, and it has been invaluable to me as a business tool. I connected with my radio co-host there. I recruited some people to work for our company. I had real-world dollars in my pocket because of the things that I learned there and the people I met, some of whom I got to know in person as well.

In an effort to share some of the things that have worked for me, I am starting a series of posts about Twitter and its usage. If you’re looking to learn how to use Twitter as a legitimate tool to grow your business and your base of connections, you will probably want to follow along.

Today’s tip (as you probably noticed in the title above) is this:

START OR JOIN A CONVERSATION

One analogy that I’ve heard and used to describe Twitter is that it’s much like a big party. If you are hanging out at a party, you will probably be part of many conversations throughout the event. Sometimes the conversations get a little more in-depth, and sometimes they even get private. Other times, you’re just kidding around with friends and having a good time. Most things that you can do with regard to networking in person can be done on Twitter as well, although I am not suggesting that Twitter or any other social media tool should replace face-to-face meetings.

HOW TO START A CONVERSATION

I know that this seems really rudimentary, but we’ve had so many clients ask this that I thought it would be pertinent to include here. Think of how you start a conversation in person. Do you mention a blog post you just wrote? Well, maybe, but only if you describe it somehow and then chat about it afterward. The same applies with Twitter. Simply broadcasting your posts to the tweetstream with no commentary is valueless, in my humble opinion. You can include them, to be sure, but only as part of a larger plan.

Try these ideas:

Mention a cool article or video you have seen
Take a poll
Ask a question of any kind (“what is your favorite TV show/movie/80’s song?”)
Say something funny – anything truly funny will usually get a good response
Promote others by retweeting stuff you find interesting or wise

HOW TO JOIN A CONVERSATION

Unlike being at a real-life party, Twitter offers you the opportunity to join conversations with little chance of personal rejection. If you spot something of interest, respond to it, as in, “Me, too. That book changed my outlook on life in general.” If you see something funny, respond accordingly, “I laughed so hard just now that milk came out of my nose.”

If you see a discussion about something that looks interesting or about which you can converse, just jump in and participate. The worst case is no response at all, and you haven’t really risked much, right?

Again, I recognize that this is pretty basic stuff, but I’m trying to illustrate that Twitter isn’t mysterious or difficult. It can facilitate things if you use it the right way.

I hope this is helpful for you. I would love to hear your input below. Thanks very much for reading!

Next Twitter tip (coming soon): Promoting others

Selling on Facebook Garners Minimal Business- Learning How To Use Facebook For Business

Facebook, Facebook For Business, Social Media Advisors

Learning how to use Facebook for business can be quite the learning curve for most businesses. Being that there are now over 450 Million people on the network, businesses are acknowledging that they need to be using Facebook for business as part of their marketing strategy. They are signing up but getting lost almost instantly in mafia wars, farmville, hot or not surveys & 47,823 invites to pages & events. Those that make it past this point & actually set up a Facebook Page immediately go into typical marketing mode of selling their products or services with their group of people who like their page. This is not a good way to use Facebook for business. In fact, this is probably one of the worst ways to use Facebook for business.

Being a former full-time extremely successful real estate agent I still have quite a strong tie into that network of business professionals, so I am always being asked to join their Facebook Pages. Most of the time I will oblige & join, and shortly after visiting the page I notice that their Facebook for business page is consistent with the main philosophy of Real Estate Marketing. See, when you are in real estate school, the one thing they drill into your mind is that in order to be successful, you must have a 15 second greeting to use with every person you come in contact with. It would go something like this:

Prospect approaches you & says: “Hi I am Mark Jones” and shakes your hand.

You reply: “Hi Mark, my name is Jeremy Blanton, I am a real estate agent in Myrtle Beach, SC.”

Conversation continues for another 30 seconds or so till Mark starts to move on to talk with someone else.

You quickly blurt to Mark as placing business card in his hand: “Well Mark, if you know anyone looking to buy or sell real estate, please have them contact me.”

Real estate though is not the only industry that tries to use Facebook for business this way. I had a client that thought the only way to build a successful page was to constantly beg people to join it, then give away a prize to a random person once in a while. Unfortunately, it appears that his business is not in operation at this time. (I wonder why??) When he hired me, he wanted me to not only create his Facebook Page, but to also get a good number of people to join the page, and show him how to use Facebook for business properly. But as time passed by, he took over the management of the page & went to typical bad Facebook for business spamming concepts of “Join our Facebook Page” and “Buy this now” type of posts which quickly brought the engagement to his page to a screeching halt. This page which used to get anywhere from 10-30 comments per posting was now lucky to get 1 or 2. Unfortunately, his bad Facebook for business practices destroyed user engagement & interaction.

3 Tips to Using Facebook for Business Properly

So how do you use Facebook for Business? I am glad you asked! Facebook pages are most effective when you are sharing information with your fans that is things they want to know. For instance, share fun, interesting facts about your industry or your area. If you are in real estate, sharing photos about your local area attractions & events can be extremely successful for using Facebook for business. Another client of mine has a page where she only share things about her area & the interaction & engagement of the fans is phenomenal. Remember, engagement is the key to using Facebook for business successfully.

Here are a few very simple tips on how to Use Facebook for business successfully:

Share YouTube Videos– this is one of the most successful components of using Facebook for business. People love funny or informative videos. I shared a video once of Google Chrome Speeds which caused those on my Facebook page to comment & like the post. It had nothing to do with my social media training company, but it got people talking & started new communication between the business & consumer.
Asking Open Questions- If you ask questions that beg for answers, the people who frequent your page will feel compelled to engage. Trust me when I say this is a super effective way to use Facebook for business because your fans take ownership of the page more then. They also are promoting your page by commenting because it shows on their profile that they commented on something on your page. One of my successful pages has grown in size rapidly by doing just this. I will simply ask questions like: “So with the weather being so hot today in Myrtle Beach, what will you be doing to keep cool?” Within moments there were over 20 responses from people around the country.
Treat the people who like your page as friends, not a number. This sounds pretty self explanatory, but just like the other two tips, this is very helpful with using Facebook for Business. If the people on your Facebook page become like family to you, they will feel important, special and needed. When you can achieve this type of engagement you have tapped into the mother-load of Facebook for Business. Instead of needing to suggest the page to your friends & begging them to like the page, you will now have your already connected people going to their friends on their own suggesting they join your page. Basically, you have created mini marketers for your page. And as we all know in marketing, a personal referral from someone else is the most powerful type of marketing possible.

I know these three tips on how to use Facebook for Business don’t seem revolutionary, but I guarantee if you implement these strategies into your marketing strategy for your Facebook page you will see an increase in business from your Facebook page.

If you are wanting to learn more on how to use Facebook for Business, we have a basic introductory course coming up on June 21 at 1PM EST. You can register for that course here: Using Facebook For Business.

Twitter Application Review- TwitPickr

Social Media Advisors, Twitter Applications

Twitter Applications– Hundreds of them exist if not thousands. We all know we want an application to do specific things so we search for something to help us. So, last night I decided I was going to go through a post I wrote last week titled 125 Twitter Applications to Make Using Twitter Easier to Use and start looking for different twitter application that I never used and see if it would enhance my overall twitter experience.

So, I looked through my list and decided that I was going to give TwitPickr a try. It is a twitter application that allows you to transfer your photos from your Twitpic account directly into your flickr account. At first when I started testing this program, I thought it was going to be something I would use regularly as I love taking photos while out & about & could easily transfer them online without needing to go back to my Blackberry later. So after playing with the application for the last day, here are the highlights & low points of this application:

TwitPickr’s Highlights:

I really liked the way it will bring in your photos into your Flickr account quickly. Basically once you click the upload button it will show them in your photo stream on Flickr instantly. There is no waiting for 20 minutes for the photos to process which is nice. I also like the way that it will pull in the photos at a good quality size of 640 x 480 (the max size twitpic compresses the pictures to. The other nice feature is that the quality of the photo does not appear to be compressed or diminished either.

Another really nice feature of this Twitter Application is that you can edit the titles of the photo before placing them onto Flickr right on the transfer screen of TwitPickr. This saves me needing to go back after on Flickr & rename them there. That way I can choose the photos I want to send, title them, and upload quickly & effectively with this Photo Sharing Twitter Application.

Concerns with TwitPickr:

While this seems like it could be a really stellar Twitter Application, there are a few components I didn’t care for. The first and biggest issue I had with TwitPickr is that anyone & everyone can snag anybody else’s photos and publish into their Flickr account without even asking. Since it does not require you to log into either your twitpic or twitter account for authorization, you could just type in any twitter ID and grab their photos. With permission, I entered my business partner Jason’s Twitter ID and easily added one of his photos into my Flickr account.

The reason this concerns me is that I may not care to have my photos shared by others & used by them & this is just opening a door for copyright issues. Also, once the photo gets onto Flickr, you can run into some problems with proving who is the rightful owner of the photo. With major concerns over privacy continuing to rise, this throws up big red flags for many consumers and will scare them away from a Twitter Application like TwitPickr. There is a login verification required for the Flickr side at least. My suggestion to fix this component of the TwitPickr Twitter Application? Integrate in some sort of twitter login authorization so that photos cannot be snagged by others so easily.

My second issue with this Twitter Application is that it does not seem to allow you to access your pictures beyond page one of your photos. I searched the entire page looking for the ability to access older photos. I even tried changing the URL to get it to pull older photos with zero luck. So if you are like me & take a lot of pictures when you are at conferences to share through twitpic, you can’t use this Twitter Application to share all the photos on Flickr and will be forced to connect the phone to the computer and do it the old fashioned way. When situations like this arise, it completely defeats the use of this Twitter Application. If the developers can make the ability to share older photos in addition to the most current 20, it would be a major improvement to TwitPickr.

The last thing I noticed was a bug or glitch that sometimes made it difficult to get my photos to load to Flickr. The first few times I used this twitter application it made me repeat a step multiple times. Not sure if it was not connecting with my Flickr Account or if it was timing out the connection or what the issue was. I do know it was frustrating to have to re-title photos over & over when you are doing a batch of 10-15 at a time.

Summary of Twitter Application TwitPickr:

While I see this Twitter application really becoming something I could use on a regular basis, I think that before that happens I would need to see some major changes. The biggest concern to me is the lack of privacy control on the twitpic end. This is an issue that needs immediate addressing in my book. The simplicity of TwitPickr is attractive and wonderful for the novice computer user, but the glitches & bugs will keep most away I fear.

Overall, if I were to rate this Twitter Application on a scale of 1-10, I would probably only give it a 4.5. However this score could be majorly increased to a 8 or 9 with just a few minor tweaks to this Twitter application.

If you have any questions about this post or just want to connect, find me on twitter, I am @JB140