Hitting The Social Media Sweet Spot

Notes from a live webinar on the topic of social media, including my thoughts on where most small businesses should start (hint it may not be twitter).

One of the big questions that small businesses wrestle with right now is not whether they should participate in social media, but how to do it ways that make sense, show some return, and don’t drive them crazy.

I may get some debate on this point, but as far as I’m concerned the way to hit the social media sweet spot is to carefully balance three elements simultaneously:

Engagement, Content, and Management.

It’s actually pretty hard to enjoy any measure of success long-term without all three in place.

Engagement – this is the catalyst that turns that content into meaningful relationship and trust building. When your relevant wired content converges with the authentic interaction and human engagement possible in one to one social networks, you’ve got a winning combination.

Content – this is the systematic creation, optimization and placement of ideas, images, audio, and video in all the various outposts that can open up doors of introduction to prospects and search engines alike.

Management – small business have limited resources, including time and human engagement, particularly the surface kind that is so easy to enjoy in social networks, can be a dynamic time eater.

So, you see, it’s the blend that’s crucial. Engagement without the content in place that gives you the ability to move to monetize is where many people get stuck on the idea of social media. Planned strategic use of content that creates the right kind of engagement and a set of tools to optimize time spent doing both is the only sane way for small businesses to participate.

Hitting The Social Media Sweet Spot News

Sep

2010-09-06

Aug

Sponsor Post: 6 Steps for Hitting the Outpost Sweet Spot

2010-08-11

If you couple these thoughts with a solid social media marketing strategy, you'll be able to find that happy little sweet spot of outposts and get your social media program really cranking. ...

Sep

Social Media Are Easier Than You Think - NYTimes.com

2010-09-02

Pandora has truly hit a sweet spot with customer service. Proof? The Onion satirized the company's zeal to find the music a listener wanted in a “news” story. And then, of course, Pandora posted the story on Twitter. ...

Jun

Hitting The Social Media Sweet Spot | Small Business Marketing ...

2009-06-16

I'm conducting a live webinar on the topic of social media, including my thoughts on where most small businesses should start (hint it may not be twitter)

Sep

Conversation Agent: See How They did it: 104 Social Media Case Studies

2010-09-02

(12.) Hitting the Sweet Spot. FoiledCupcakes_31_medium Foiled Cupcakes to date has generated 93 percent of its business from social media leads and the company surpassed its initial revenue target numbers by over 600 percent. ...

Sep

Megalicious Life...MyEliteGrocer.com: Springroll, Tweet-Up and Quiz

2010-09-05

Formerly occupied by Wendy's and conveniently located beside, JN Money Shop the Asian fusion restaurant is nicely decorated and armed with a sweet, secret weapon - The charming Maitre D', Maple! ... TweetUp: Part 2 had a large turn out - over 300 people (tweeple) who RSVP'd online to the exclusive, social media event within 8-hrs!!! The power of Twitter was highlighted since on a whole, Jamaicans tend to shy away from RSVPing functions including a wedding let alone a ...

Sep

2010-09-06