An Easy Guide to Creating Powerful Presentations – Grow in Confidence and Reputation!

Are you stressed about an upcoming presentation? Would you like to create powerful presentations that are both effective and interesting? This article helps you create inspiring presentations which will boost your standing as a public speaker.

From the start, treat your presentation planning as a specific project. As a project, the process order will be: Think, Plan Your Story, Design, Optimise, and Present. Following these guidelines will help you strengthen your weaker areas so you approach the task with more confidence.

Think

Set goals for your presentation. For example, consider the following: What is the point of my presentation? Why does my audience need to hear this? What are the outcomes or benefits they will experience as a result? Have I provided value?

Next, think about your audience…

What do you know about your audience profile? What are their education level, age, profession, job title, attention-span, their level of existing knowledge and experience of the topic? A good understanding of your audience will help you develop appropriate content.

Also, bear in mind any restrictions you might face when presenting your presentation (time limits, technological, logistical, language, space and even time of day). Weigh up additional materials or resources you’ll need (hand-outs, projector, laptop, memory stick, business cards, laser pointer, etc.) and how to get them in place for the event.

Remember: Goal, Audience, Restrictions, Resources

Plan Your Story

Firstly, create the right mental and physical setting to concentrate on the task in hand. You must be able to work without interruption or distractions. Many of the best presenters insist that the best and most successful approach is to begin with pen or paper/post-it notes/white-board to jot down ideas and link them using arrows and lines.

A diagrammatic approach with additional rough notes gives you an unparalleled sense of the entire presentation through its key ideas and concepts. This can later be organised into more understandable whole. This initial thinking and creating process cannot be done as effectively on your computer so don’t be tempted to start here thinking you’re saving time!

Lastly, when thinking and creating this way, don’t forget to cross-check this rough draft against your planned goals so your ideas remain focused. Your points must be pertinent, relevant, and concise as well as offer value as defined by your goals.

Design

A presentation is used as a means of communicating with your audience. A good presentation is simple/easy to follow and it gets the point across in a way that they understand. An excellent presentation does so in a way that they actually enjoy the experience.

Now having scoped out your ideas and put them into a logical progression, you can use the computer to create the documents, slides, images, or spread sheets which will illustrate or enforce the points to be made. When designing visual material, avoid an abundance of content or you’ll end up with an overwhelmed audience fatigued from information-overload.

Your visual material should be simple, informational, elegant, and pleasing to the eye. Use entertaining images, uncomplicated diagrams and other visual tools that neatly summarise or highlight the point you are making. Remember the audience can contact you directly for more detailed information so show your contact details at the start and at the end of the presentation.

Be aware of consistent formatting (font type, size, colour, etc.) and keep your business branding visible without detracting from the information presented. Let the slides flow coherently and as a complement to your narrative. It is always worth watching the finished presentation on a similar screen if possible before the event to iron out any deficiencies.

Optimise

Key to your performance on the day is practise! Proofread for any errors or incoherence, cross-check against your stated goals and objectives to confirm that the presentation is still on track. Then practise until the material seems natural and familiar – this helps the audience retain the key information you want them to hold.

Timing yourself to keep you on track of time restraints and if need be, set appropriate timing protocols on your slide show to match your narrative. If producing hand- outs, allow time to create, print, and package them to a good standard.

Present

It’s time to present your masterpiece presentation. Using your resources checklist, you’ve all the equipment and materials you need. Remember you’ve planned, prepared, and practised – trust now in your ability to perform with confidence!

Maintain regular breathing, keep an eye on time, keep it simple and remember that you do know your material. By focusing on three or four individuals in the audience (in the front, one in the mid-distance, and one each in the right/left far distance), you can reduce a large crowd into a more intimate group. Smiling at these key faces both relaxes you and increases audience rapport.

By planning, preparing, andpractising, you’ve the ability to become an authoritative and entertaining public speaker. I wish you all the best in your future presentations and I’d love to hear feedback on your success.

Ten Simple Steps to Setting Up Your First Podcast

As a business owner or professional, you’ll be looking for ways for effective and cost-effective ways to expand your business. Podcasting is an excellent way to promote your business or provide added value for your clients. They can help you build your list of actively interested followers and enhance your professional reputation and authority within your field.

In this article, I’ll be showing you how you can make a professional level podcast in ten simple steps without needing to be a computer wizard.

Let’s begin with a brief explanation of a podcast.

A podcast is simply a digital media audio file (called an MP3 file) or video file that is available on the internet for downloading and playback on a mobile device such as an iPod or other MP3 player, laptop, tablet or desktop computer. This flexibility allows the listener to listen to a podcast wherever they choose – at home, whilst travelling, or at work. Knowing this, you can create content that’s appropriate to the different environments or aspects of a listener’s life-style.

There are many programs available that will help you create a podcast but for our example we are going to use the most popular, that is soundcard.com. Once you’ve gained familiarity with the process, look around at other options that appeal to you.

So let’s get started!

Step 1: First you’ll need to check that your audio and/or video file is in MP3 format. If the file isn’t in MP3 format then use a file converter. All you need to do is use specific software which allows you to convert and encode sound files on PC and Mac. It’s very quick and easy to do so don’t be put off if this is what you need to do.

Use your search engine to run a search on something like “file converting mp3” and a list of free or commercial software providers will lead you to the right choice for you. Within a few minutes of starting, you’ll be able to turn your content into an appropriate file type.

If your audio/video file is all ready to go then move onto step 2.

Step 2: Set up a FREE account at soundcloud.com

Soundcloud’s free account has storage limits, but once you reach your limit, you can upgrade for a small fee. Setting up an account is a quick and simple process with clear instructions to take you through each step. It took less than 5 minutes to set up my account and complete my profile.

As you’re creating podcasts for professional and business reasons, create a username which reflects your brand correctly and include your photo or company logo image for your profile. It’s best as with all things social media, to up a different account for more personal material…

Once your account is active, upload your MP3 (that is, follow instructions that allow the file to be copied from the computer onto their server). Once the MP3 is uploaded make certain that you make the file public, downloadable, and that you adjusted the settings so that you have activated it for widgets.

So far, so good… now for step three

Step 3: If you don’t have a blog already you can go to a site like blogger.com and setup a free blog/podcast account. Once you have activated your account you’re ready to start posting. Now we need to link your audio file to your blog so that it appears as a new post.

Step 4: If you’re using blogger, to start posting click on “Start Posting”, then click “Settings”, and then click “Formatting”. Once under the formatting tab look for the “Show Link Field” make sure this field is set to “Yes” and save the settings.

Step 5: Now click on the “Posting” tab to return to the blog, and then click on “Add a new post”. Once under “Add a new post” give the post a title and then paste in the URL link for the podcast from soundcloud in the “Link” box.

Here you can also write a description of the podcast in the main body of your post – don’t forget to use strong keywords to make the most of your search engine optimisation (SEO) potential. When you’re finished, click “Publish”.

For wordpress, depending on your template, you should be able to see icons by the box where you would type in a new entry. By the icons you should see “upload/insert”. Select either audio or video depending on the file you want to add to your blog.

For the final stages, we need to set up the feed for your podcast so that people can subscribe to it. Again, it’s a simple process and I’ve chosen a popular service called feedburner.com to do this.

Step 6: Go to feedburner.com and either setup a new account (if you’ve Google account use it to log in).

Step 7: Once you’ve logged in, paste the URL from your blog post into the “Burn A Feed Right This Instant” section, then click “I’m a podcaster”, and then click “Next”.

Step 8: Now you want to give your feed a title and address, then click “Next”. Again, to make the most of this SEO opportunity, ensure you’ve used the strong and relevant keywords. Once you’ve submitted this information, it can’t be changed so do spend a few minutes thinking about what you type.

Step 9: That’s it; your podcast feed is now live and ready for downloading. Well done! But before you’re completely finished, there’s just one last important step to complete.

Step 10: By ensuring your podcast process is iTunes friendly, you’ll allow your audience to select your content from one of the world’s largest resources. Indeed, there is an expectation that your podcast will be available through this outlet.

To make that happen, just click “Next” on the Congratulations page. This screen will allow you to choose several options that will make your podcast iTunes friendly – click “Next” when done. This screen will also let you track different stats from your podcast and is worth setting.

Well done, you’ve set up your podcast in ten steps!

In around half an hour, you provided yourself with the tools you need to share your podcast with a global audience. To add more episodes just simply follow the above steps again, but as there’s no need to set up another account, just log in. Don’t forget your feed address is the address set in Step 8

A Quick Guide to Setting Up a Facebook Page to Promote Your Business

Most business owners and professional have heard the importance of using social media to help promote their business but are unsure of how to develop these platforms to their advantage. Of these innovations, Facebook is currently one of the hottest platforms available and recently reported having over 500 million users. This article briefly covers the mechanics of setting up a Facebook page to promote your business on the assumption that your presence on this platform will genuinely boost your visibility and other business objectives.

With so many users, Facebook could be an easy, cheap way to boost your advertising effort- but only if you have established that it’s the right platform for your business. Your market research will show you whether a) your target market meets here and b) is open to act on sales messages if the product is appropriate (for example are you selling copier paper, or a holiday retreat in the sun? Which is more likely to be of interest to your customer when they’re spending time on Facebook…?)

The first thing you will need to do is create a fan page. This will be separate from your personal profile, as fan pages promote a business, service or product. You don’t have to have a personal account to have a Facebook fan page.

Go to the Facebook main page and you’ll see on the homepage at the bottom under the sign up button is a link to create a page for a celebrity, business, or artist. You will need to name your page. But remember you can’t use Facebook in the title of your page. You will then choose whether you are creating the page for a business, product, or organization, or public figure.

When you choose “local business” then you will need to choose an appropriate category for your business services. Confirm that you are the official representative of this business. You will then click on Create Official Page and now you are officially on Facebook. Congratulations!

Now you will need to fill in the appropriate information about your business. It’s important that you maximise this opportunity to establish your online brand by including keywords and benefits so visitors know you’re there to help them with their needs.

As you tell visitors about your services and products, just as importantly, provide your potential customers with ways to contact you (phone number, email address and website, twitter name, LI profile and so on) to support your call to action messages. You will then ready to start adding fans.

Once you have 25 followers, you can pick a vanity URL for your site and make your fan page easier to find. Some people choose to ask friends and family to start liking your page to build numbers. This might be an appropriate approach for your kinds of business but if not encourage your Twitter followers and LinkedIn contacts to become fans. Your other contacts can be invited by email and in other marketing material.

To ensure full cross-marketing, add your new Facebook page to your other offline and online profiles and marketing materials as well. You can also set up direct messages in Twitter asking your followers to connect with you on Facebook. All of these things will help drive traffic to your website and increase the possibility of sales for your business.

Don’t be discouraged by refusals as some people use Facebook purely as a personal social media space and prefer not to mix their personal social media life with business. Much depends on the type of products and services you offer as well how you plan to engage with them.

Having established your Facebook presence for your business, now comes the task of keeping fresh, relevant content on the page. Although free, maintaining any social media platform takes time so is prepared for the focus and energy required to keep your page current and relevant to your market. Having made the commitment of inviting your database of contacts to join you on Facebook, you’ll need to honour your fans’ loyalty by providing them with what they need.

These are topics I will cover in future articles and blogs, as they are of key interest to my clients. In the meanwhile, I would be delighted to hear your feedback and experiences.

Teleseminars or Webinars: A Quick and Easy Guide Reviewing the Best Virtual Event for Your Business

Like many business owners, you want to offer and conduct webinars or teleseminars but are unsure of the processes involved. You may be confused by the terminology and want to know the key differences. This article will help explain some core features to help you decide which virtual event is best suited to meet your business needs.

The word webinar is actually a short way to say web-based seminar (web + seminar = webinar).

A webinar is a free or chargeable lecture/ presentation conducted and transmitted solely over the web. Webinar programmes such as GoToWebinar or Go To Meetings are free to download and use for attendees, but moderators (i.e. you, the host) will have to pay a small subscription fee.

All anyone needs to conduct and/or attend a webinar is a computer with speakers/headphones, and an internet connection. The webinar autoresponse system sends attendees a link and prompts them to register for the event (allowing you to build your list). Later, a reminder is issued. Using a link with a unique ID number sent by the webinar software, attendees are taken to the virtual “conference hall”.

There they see an introduction screen which you’ll be able to set up, outlining details of the event you’re hosting. During the event, you will be able to present slides, screenshots, video, and other documents. Attendees can type questions, raise virtual hands, and when invited, talk directly to you, the moderator.

Attendees can not only hear you and other attendees but they can see your high-quality presentation too. They can type questions which moderators can read and respond to directly. For convenience, attendees’ mics are muted unless the moderator allows them to speak on air.

Webinars allow you to speak to a large number of people in attendance at once, presenting key information remotely across the world at any given time. Businesses save on time, travel & accommodation costs as neither the presenter nor attendees have to be at a specific location at a specific time. Bear in mind however, your attendees will need access to a computer with an uninterrupted internet connection.

A teleseminar on the other hand, is just another way to say conference call. The advantages to holding a teleseminar are the same as conducting a webinar.

Teleseminars are used to launch products and services and/or provide training whilst providing the business an opportunity to build up a list of contacts that show an active interest. They have become one of the most effective and economical ways for businesses to increase sales and visibility. It is similar in set up to webinars but being less complex, are a cheaper option.

Many newcomers begin with teleseminars before deciding whether to use webinars to interact with their audience. Ultimately many find that they prefer the ease and convenience of teleseminars. Teleseminars have the moderator and attendees to dial into a bridge line for interaction and calls are often recorded to leverage future sales and marketing opportunities.

To conduct a teleseminar one can use software such has GoToMeetings or Intercall. The software is free to download and use as an attendee, but moderators pay a small subscription fee. If attendees use free VoIP packages like Skype, their call is free. If an attendee misses a live call, it can be made available as a replay, thus increasing the opportunity for list-building as new people sign up to listen.

With a teleseminar there’s often no presentation to see; attendees just listen and talk to the moderator and other attendees. However, teleseminars offer greater reach in that all the attendees have to do is use a phone to dial a number (they don’t need access to computers or the internet). The ability to record teleseminars means that you can leverage further income and list-building opportunities.

So, in the end, what’s the difference? Well, actually not very much…Teleseminars also help businesses reach a large audience plus save time and money.

Your choice will reflect your budget, and your need or preference for more functionality. Your decision will also be based on the degree to which your content requires a presentation to make it more attractive or accessible to your listeners.

Such considerations also influence pricing decisions. Learning techniques that ensure you create teleseminars/webinars which brings in revenue and list building are themes that I regularly share with clients. The processes involved have proven results. I do hope that this short article has helped with your own decision making – I look forward to hearing your feedback.

February’s a Busy Month…..

Am now in the process of preparing the launch of one of my online programmes, a speaking engagement on social media for businesses and a teleseminar on the 28th February.

A quick blog on time management is on the way…!

Using Social Media for business #2 how to keep friends and influence people

In blog #1 one of this series Using Social Media for Business, we looked at communicating with your target audience through social media. I introduced the likeness of the social media environment to that of a drinks party. Continuing the theme, having made contact with someone who showed an interest in what you, what happens if you suddenly walk away mid-conversation?

Beware – are you commitment-phobic?

Unfortunately, too many businesses take the social media plunge, get themselves a Twitter or Facebook account, dabble in a few tweets, post a few links, correspond with a few individuals and then lose interest or find they don’t have time to tweet regularly. Having created a channel for customer feedback, they may not like the responses they’re receiving. Whatever the reason, they stop Twittering or updating and move on to the next thing.

Having walked away, the business practically boasts about the break-up – the whole thing wasn’t for them, they’re relieved not to be under pressure to perform all the time, and they’re going to chalk the whole affair down under experience.

But what these businesses have failed to understand is that in effect they’d made connections, had conversations, started to build trust, and raise expectations. They were talking to real people who might be potential or existing customers who were prepared to engage with them. In effect, they’d begun to make live relationships with their target audience.

By suddenly breaking off the conservation without notice and effectively walking away, they’d broken socially established codes of behaviour. They also raised questions about their business’s reputation for reliability. Such behaviour can have consequences!

 

Protecting your reputation – do you love and leave your connections?

It’s to be expected that the greater proportion of these abandoned contacts will shrug their shoulders and move on; they might not be impressed by the change of heart but they’ll find others who stay the course – they will build a relationship and loyalty with them. Some followers might be inclined to come back if the offering is something that they can’t resist, but if they do come back they’ll be more wary, expecting another “desertion” or sign of unreliability.

Others who’ve become more involved with the business will be more disappointed… If expectations were raised in terms of standards and service, then an abrupt end will come as a surprise.

How would you feel if you’d been dumped, ignored or side-lined unceremoniously? Obviously, not best pleased! And, human nature being what it is, you’ll want to tell everyone how you’ve been treated! In the same way, these former connections have powerful tools through which to vent their feelings – the internet and social media channels!

What these commitment-phobic businesses discover by their stop-and start- or rather, their start-and-stop approach is that what might have started out as a method of increasing profile and extending opportunities, has the potential to turn into something more reputation-damaging instead. If people are unhappy with what might be perceived as a failure in customer service or unreliability, they’ll tell others in a forum, chat room, comment boxes and Twitter.

As in all relationships, it takes time to build meaningful, lasting associations that will help you meet your business goals. Remember to build this in your business planning and be prepared to last the course. Begin with a realistic expectation that it will take time to find your voice and time to develop a following, and don’t be discouraged if at first no one seems to be listening… If you’ve got the right things to say, you’ll eventually build up your following.

 

Leave them wanting more…

Never forget the golden rule about sales & marketing copy – it’s about the BENEFITS not FEATURES. If you’ve caught your audience’s interest by appealing to their needs or desires or curiosity, they can follow the link you provide them to your appropriate website landing page. That’s when they’ll be able to read more detailed information and sales –driven content.

So to finish today’s blog, here’s some quick tips on creating appealing content which gives your readers a genuine reason to want to stay around:

• What’s in it for them? Emphasise the benefits and solutions you’re offering your audience
• Avoid intermittent updates: if you’re prepared to leave old updates lingering on your site, don’t expect people to wait around for the next post
• Cut back on hard-sell: guide readers to your landing pages where they expect to see a more sale-led approach
• Keep it relevant: your content will be influenced by your objectives and your audience’s expectations
• Trust building: keep true to your values and ethics – don’t be something you’re not

 

Later in the series, I’ll be covering how you can create an editorial schedule that works, how to write relevant content, and how to work with the different social media outlets. If you’d like to be updated on future posts, you can either sub to an RSS feed or email update.

Thanks for reading! Please feel free to leave comments or questions in the comment box below,

Best wishes,

Sumi

Using Social Media for business series #1 Developing your online social skills

 

We’ve all heard about social media tools like Twitter and Facebook but it’s not easy to know where to start and why it’s worth getting involved. Knowing how to present business-related content through social media outlets is a factor many businesses are still getting wrong. Don’t worry – for it to be worth your time and effort, know what you want to get out of it before you start.

If you’re using social media outlets for business reasons, and not just to share your thoughts with the world, then first be clear what your business objectives are. For example:

• Are you selling a product or service?
• Do you have events that you would like people to attend?
• Would you like people to know that you have knowledge and experience in your field?
• Do you want to develop a community of like-minded people?

By establishing your objectives, you’ll be able to choose the right people to “follow” that is, those in the same field, or with a common interest (if you have interesting things to say, they might well follow you back). However, key to this is that by knowing your business intentions, you can write content that’s relevant and targeted to your audience. For example with Twitter, you only have 140 characters to use so you’ll need to make every word count.

Building relationships – customer relationship management with a social media twist

 

Whatever your commercial aims, what you’re actually going to be doing with Facebook, Linked In, Twitter and so on, is making relationships with potential or existing customers and clients. Giving value in your content through some useful information or even, if appropriate, humour, will endear you to your readership and help raise your follower numbers.

And, returning to your business objectives, the point of increased follower numbers is to increase your business opportunities and eventually generate income.

Remember that in this social media world, people are choosing to meet up with you and find out more about what you do. Communicating through this way is not like “interruption advertising” where you’re trying to attract attention through distractive marketing, but rather it’s about providing a steady flow of relevant information to an already receptive audience.

Thus your promotional and sales communications approach will be different to those you employ through traditional advertising. The emphasis will be on messages that demonstrate your understanding and appreciation of your customers’ needs and wants. Through your 140-character tweets and other content you can show you’re able to provide solutions, products, or services which meet these needs and desires.

How are your social skills…?

 

Think of social media in terms of a party where someone likes the look of you and wants to know more. They might start glancing your way, catch your eye, maybe even smile. They’re aware of you and you become aware of them. You both like what you see, and want to know more. Eventually you end up near enough to each other to begin a conversation… So what’s your next move?

• Start shouting at them about your favourite music, books, films, travel spots before they’ve said hello?
• Scream in their face that you’re single, solvent, and available?
• Bellow in their ear how your spouse doesn’t understand you/ you’re in an open relationship “so how about it…? “

Well, of course not!

As in the real world, in the Twittersphere and other social media channels, people don’t want to be sold to in an aggressive, loud, overly-commercial way. They want to know enough about you and your business so that they can grow to trust and like you. They want to be loyal to the business that listens to them, respects them, and meet their needs. They want you to show them that you are that business.

Sounds a bit touchy-feely, perhaps? Well, let’s put it this way, would you do business or spend money with people you didn’t know or trust…?

Think before you type…

 

So before you set up and account and start typing, do your homework first:

• Work out what you want to get from your social media experience
• Think about how you’re going to achieve this
• Review your marketing and promotional approaches – is it appropriate to the channel and your audience?
• Avoid hard-selling, aggressively commercial message and engage with your readers

   

In the next post, I’ll look at the consequences when you break the social taboos and walk away from your social media relationships! If you’d like to be updated on future posts, you can either sub to an RSS feed or email update.

Thanks for reading! Please feel free to leave comments or questions in the comment box below,

Best wishes,

Sumi

Part two of “To tweet or not to tweet… should your business get involved with Social Media? Using appropriate Social Media platforms for research and customer engagement

 

Welcome!

 

PART ONE of my overview to Social Media (SM) and businesses, touched on the impact SM can have on a business’s relationship with their customers and on their brand identity. In this concluding post, I’m looking at the need to select an appropriate Social Media platform for your business and for real success, write a Social Media Strategy.

I will be going into the topics covered in this introductory series in more depth in future posts. Please feel free to RSS my posts to keep up to date!

Have you chosen the appropriate Social Media platforms for your business?

 

Businesses new to Social Media are often overwhelmed by the different Social Media platforms that are available. Almost everyone has heard of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Some people will be familiar with other sites such as Bebo, LinkedIn and Digg. Business owners under pressure to get on board the Social Media bandwagon, open accounts with these Social Networks, post a few tweets or updates, and then somehow, lose momentum…

They’ve ended up in one or more of the following scenarios:

• they’re unconvinced by the ineffectiveness of Social Media as they lack an immediate and large following
• they find the ROI too low in terms of the time invested and lack of income generated
• they can’t keep up with the content stream necessary
• they only have the time to post only erratically

Whatever the reason for their unrealistic expectations, the experience leaves them disinclined to continue with Social Media as a tool to market their services and raise income.

What a pity…

These businesses have failed to do their necessary market research or business planning before embarking on the Social Media journey. Clearly, knowing which Social Media platforms your customers are using (and for what purpose) will inform your decisions on which content distribution formats to use (i.e. what networks you’ll use to dispense your message) and how to put together your promotional campaigns.

For example, research indicates that consumers favour Facebook for their main SM platform, followed by Twitter and YouTube. If your main sales approach is B2C (Business to Consumer) then it makes sense to concentrate your efforts on these sites. After all, this is where your potential and existing customers are likely to be.

LinkedIn is the leading professional networking site, followed by ecademy.com and if you are selling a B2B (Business to Business) product or service, these are relevant Social Networks where you can find your customer base.

Your own market research and analysis will tell you which Social Network (s) to pursue based on the profile of your target customer and the demographics of the Social Network concerned. Be aware that the etiquette and expectations of each Social Network (SN) are different and you need to understand them before attempting to promote or sell your services.

Assuming your messages resonate with your target audience and you appear on the right search results, you have the ability to promote and sell to a large amount of people (who are actively interested in your field).

In future posts, I’ll be looking at specific techniques of marketing and promoting your products and services on these different Social Networking platforms.

 

Create a Social Media Strategy that fits your business’ objectives

 

Given the importance and impact Social Media can have your business, it’s very clear that compiling a Social Media strategy should be your number one consideration. Many SMEs dip into Social Media without thinking ahead, find the experience too difficult or time-consuming , and pull out.

Setting out clear, achievable and measureable business objectives is essential – i.e. what do you want from your Social Media activity and how will you measure success – visitors to site? Units sold/places booked? Number of subscribers?

To draw in a community and maintain their interest, you’ll need to produce a steady stream of high-quality, entertaining, and relevant content. A business which “twitters”, and has a Facebook page or LinkedIn profile, will be able to direct visitors to their website where they can be led to follow a particular call to action or generate valuable feedback. However, this level of engagement takes effort to maintain.

While SM is often promoted as a no-cost, high-impact method of promoting and selling services, there is an actual cost in terms of time and effort. Short, regular bursts (little and often) work well. Build in the time for participating in Social Networking into your business operations. If necessary, outsource or make necessary staffing adjustments to support this regular output.

To keep track of their activities and to make the process more time-efficient, businesses use online tools that help them send out specific content to selected networks and even control the timing and frequency of the updates.

I will cover these aggregate services in future posts, but a few to consider are Hootsuite and Tweetdeck for twitter updates and as well as Mybloglog for blogs and Plugged.it (which describes itself as “a social network that’s for people who want to promote“).

Content is reproduced in various formats: written (blogs, web content, email marketing, twitter, Facebook special groups and pages, PDFs, eBooks, white papers), audio (narratives, teleseminars, web page commentaries and podcasts) and increasingly, video (it is becoming much easier to create affordable video blogs and video presentations. These add impact to your website and provide valuable information to your customers before they commit to your call to action).

Creating compelling content takes time, effort and for the multi-media options, money. Yet, if done well, the response from already active and interested customers can be impressive; a business that takes the time and trouble to anticipate and answer their customers’ questions, will enjoy a higher conversion rate than one that doesn’t.

Focus, Clarity, Direction…

 

For many SMEs and individuals, investing in your website and accompanying Social Media machinery is a real alternative to hiring a sales team to find and convert customers. The reach is greater, you can target messages to reflect your different types of customer, and marketing content can be revised and updated almost in real time without incurring extra costs.

Social Media provides businesses of all sizes the ability to build relationships with their customers and create a loyal following. It also allows you to reinforce the brand identify that you’ve created. With such obvious benefits, it’s important that you make the right decisions before making a start…

Avoid the scattergun, crisis-management approach and instead, exercise patience; do your research, be focused, and PLAN AHEAD. Successful businesses have simply recognised that Social Media is an integral part of their marketing mix. By amalgamating their offline and online strategies, they increase profile and impact. With appropriate planning, so can you.

Having introduced a few terms and concepts on Social Media, I will be adding further posts that will cover topics in a little more depth. I look forward to sharing your thoughts,

Sumi

Olson Sales & Marketing Services

http://www.olsonservices.co.uk

Twitter: @ sumiolson

To tweet or not to tweet… should your business get involved with Social Media?

Welcome!

This blog is the first of a two-part introductory series that explores the benefits of using Social Media to sell or promote a product or service.

Over the coming weeks, I’ll be adding further information and discussion based on the these key themes that this series has highlighted. For updates about future posts, please subscribe using the links provided.

 

Today, I’m touching on Social Media and how it affects customer relationship and brand identity.

The impact of Social Media
The growth of Social Media (SM) is a new and explosive trend, evolving rapidly just in the last five years. Its steady growth reflects the growing number of technological advances, accompanied by accessible pricing options for users. Significantly, many key Social Media tools are free to access and allow individuals and businesses to have a reach of millions within a global setting.

This geographical reach allows businesses to communicate directly with existing and potential customers locally, nationally, and internationally. Yet many SMEs are still unclear on how to make the best use of Social Media, and remain to be convinced of its value.

For individuals and SMEs using SM strategically within set business goals, the power of Social Media is increasingly clear.

 

Using Social Media to build relationships
One of SM’s primary strengths is the concept of engagement with customers. With increasing opportunities for interaction, both existing & potential customers/communities have new expectations of how a business should work with them.

Through Social Networks such as Facebook or Twitter, they want to interact with their chosen businesses and they want to know, (and “feel”) how your business and your business brand aligns with their own personal brands and values. In short, people are willing to do business with people they like and trust.

Decisive factors in why a customer decides to build a bond with you:

Desire – they want what you’ve got!

Ethics – they like the way you work

Sheer gut instinct  – they “like” or “get” you.

By collaborating on discussions surrounding ideas related to your industry and your business, and revealing your own (and the business’) ethics and values, you can build a  good relationship between you and the target community.

These are relationships which haven’t been paid for or cost very little (in cash terms), with people who have indicated interest in your business’ products/services. In direct marketing terms, these are hundreds or (if you’re really successful), thousands of “hot” contacts who want to do business with you!

In future posts, I’ll be looking at how you can develop relationships with your customers in more detail…

 

Using Social Media to support your Brand

A revolutionary aspect of SM is its ability to amplify Word of Mouth (WOM) recommendations to a wider audience. Your customers and potential customers can talk about you among themselves at their own leisure. Moreover, they’ll do so at great length if they’re either pleased or unhappy with your business or service!

SM is built on the philosophy of collaboration and shared opinion so feedback can be forthright, honest, or occasionally, even rude!

It’s in your best interest to take all opinions without rancour and try to put right what you might have done wrong. Using tools such as Google Alerts, or Twitter search, you can see comments made about your business and take proper action such as dealing with complaints, or thanking contributors for their positive remarks.

Getting actively involved and giving value are key tenets in SM relationships and if you show how you listen and respond, or are appreciative of customer feedback, you will have created good will as well as loyal followers.

Brand identity is important for individuals and businesses who wish to connect with potential customers and subscribers.  I’ll be adding further posts and resources to help you create a strong, relevant brand which will resonate with your target groups…

 

Part two of “To tweet or not to tweet… should your business get involved with Social Media?”
My next post in this introductory series will look at Appropriate Social Media Platforms for Research and Engagement and Identifying your Social Media Strategy. After this, I’ll be getting into Social Media Marketing in more depth! If you are interesting in learning more, please feel free to subscribe.

I look forward to sharing thoughts and experiences!

Sumi