Reader Polls: Social Media Tools
I’ve been running a poll on this blog for a few months now asking the question ‘have you used any of the following social media tools to market your business?’.
The options and answers in order of popularity were:
• Blog 67%
• LinkedIn 55%
• Facebook 48%
• Other 39%
• Del.icio.us 30%
What does this tell us?
First of all it confirms the significance of blogging as a key business communications tool. It’s interesting to see how many different types of business have jumped onto this marcoms tool, with everyone from CEOs to technical R+D experts, professional services firms and more. Working with small businesses I find blogging can provide a good platform for demonstrating your expertise, creating a feedback channel for customers, providing a place to foster conversation with existing and prospective customers and much more. If you want advice or some ideas for how to get a blog going for your business I recommend reading the BetterBusinessBlogging blog written by expert Mark White.
LinkedIn is another great resource but for networking. There is a lot of debate in the blogosphere as to how valuable LinkedIn really is, but for me there is no question of its potential. A good example is an old colleague of mine who recently contacted me through linkedIn. She had recently started up as a business operations consultant and was looking to expand her network and service offering. There may now be opportunities for us to work together either on the same clients, or through referring business opportunities. For ideas on how to get the most from LinkedIn, read Guy Kawasaki and LinkedIntelligence.
Facebook needs no introduction. It’s amazing how frequently I receive marketing messages from groups I belong to on Facebook, from music bands to clubs I belong to. One of my clients uses Facebook to manage its alumni and as a source of recruitment. There are no end to the possibilities. For bigger brands you might even consider advertising on Facebook.
The main point that came across from the survey is that people are using a mixture of different social media tools to market their business. A blog is a good start, but develop your LinkedIn profile in parallel and cross promote both platforms. Once you have a blog up and running and your LinkedIn profile is starting to grow, look at Twitter, or start social book marking with Delicious.
There is a good argument that you should have an objective in mind before you start with social networking and some goals in place in order that you can measure whether your efforts have been successful. I agree with this entirely for blogging but for the less strategic tactics, like LinkedIn, I would suggest just getting started and trying it for a month to see what you can achieve, you may just be surprised how many doors it can open and the costs are tiny – in most cases just your time.
What’s the next reader survey then?
Well it’s online now in the right hand sidebar and I would like your help to understand the impact of the global recession on your business..:
What tactics have you employed to combat the global recession?
Increased marketing spend
Made redundancies
Cut costs
Changed strategic direction
Refinanced business
Other
Ten Reasons Why Businesses Fail to Make Networking Work for Them
A few weeks ago I met with networking expert Andy Lopata and asked if he would be so kind as to write a post for the Marketing Blagger. It wasn’t too long before the following landed in my inbox including some pretty good top tips on how to get the most of out networking.
Certainly I agree with #6 - far too many people attend networking events just wanting to sell, when in reality most people are not there to buy. Think about the long term and build relationships, rather than simply selling.
Well, enough from me, read on for what a true networking expert has to say..:
1 - They network with the wrong groups and/or don’t network with the right groups.
Many people attend networking events because they have been invited and join because they like the ‘buzz’ or see other people getting business. They give little thought, consideration or planning to the aims they have from networking and which networks best help them achieve those goals and to which theycan commit.
TOP TIP - Do your research before joining networking groups. Understand what you want to gain from them and what you need to commit to them to achieve that result.
2 - They don’t know what success will look like
We join networks with a vague idea that they will help our business but without planning out exactly how.
TOP TIP - Work out the REAL cost of your networking to you, and then set yourself a challenging, yet realistic return which will justify your investment. How will you reach that return?
3 - They fail to commit
It’s not enough just to join a network or plan a strategy; you have to see it through. It’s an old cliché, but you really do get out what you are prepared to put in.
TOP TIP - Look at your networking memberships and goals and ask yourself what YOU have to do to get the results you are looking for. Then ask yourself how achievable it is. If it’s too much, adjust your activity to make it more realistic. If it’s easy, perhaps you could be doing more.
4 - They don’t do their homework
“Fail to plan and you plan to fail”. Before you attend a meeting, prepare for it. If you have to give a presentation, know exactly what you want to achieve from it and what you are going to say before you go.
TOP TIP - Put time in your diary each week or each month to look at forthcoming events and why you are going. Work out who you can catch up with or meet there and, if appropriate, contact people in advance to arrange to hook up. And plan any presentations you may have to give.
5 - They don’t follow up their referrals
If you get a reputation for being unreliable, you won’t get referrals. Whether you value the referral or not, FOLLOW IT UP. Even more importantly, make sure you feedback to the person who referred you and keep them in the loop.
TOP TIP - Keep a list to track all referrals received and latest action. If you are not responsible for following it up, make sure you know who is and get feedback from them to pass on. Most importantly, say thank you.
6 - They focus on the sale, not the relationship
Few people go to networking events to buy. So you have to ask yourself what the point is of trying to sell to people who aren’t in buying mode. Think beyond the short-term gain and develop relationships. After all, wouldn’t you prefer to get ten referrals from a long-term relationship than one sale from a passing contact?
TOP TIP - Go through your contact management system or business card file and pick ten people to whom you haven’t spoken for a while. Re-establish contact and then stay in touch.
7 - They are ‘9 to 5 Networkers’
Many people believe that joining a network and either turning up to a meeting or logging in is enough. It isn’t. The most successful networkers meet with their fellow members regularly OUTSIDE of meetings; whether socially or in 1-2-1 and small group meetings.
TOP TIP - Set time aside in your diary every week to meet people from your network, and make sure you fill that time. Attend your networking group’s social events and get to know your fellow members even better.
8 - They are ‘destructive’ rather than ‘constructive’
A network thrives on positive energy. If you are in a group that is struggling, use the meeting time to focus on making what you have work, keep concerns outside the meeting. If you want to contribute to blogs and discussions online, keep your comments positive and constructive, don’t destroy other people’s hard work with nasty or negative comments.
TOP TIP - Focus on being positive whenever you engage in your networking. People don’t want to buy from or refer to negative people. If there are problems, keep your comments positive and constructive, focusing on the solution.
9 - They are collectors
Whether it’s business cards at networking events or connections online, there are people who believe that he who has the most wins the game. Networking doesn’t work like that.
TOP TIP - Collect and hand out cards if your conversation dictates it. Connect online with people with whom you have something in common, and talk about them when you connect, not yourself.
10 - They don’t have a clear message.
We all think that we communicate clearly what we do, but few of us do this successfully.
TOP TIP - Ask people in your network for their perception of what you do, who for and when people need your help.
Labelled ‘Mr Network’ by The Sun, Andy Lopata is one of the UK’s leading business networking strategists. The co-author of two books on networking, his first book, ‘Building a Business on Bacon and Eggs’ looked at how to run business breakfast meetings, while his second ‘…and Death Came Third!’ received worldwide acclaim and reached number 2 on Amazon.co.uk on its launch. For more great writing on networking and further info, visit Andy’s blog.
Tag:Hot Tips for Raising Venture Capital
I attended a really superb event last week for female entrepreneurs who are looking for finance to run their expanding, or in some cases start-up, businesses. Now, I realise that I’m neither a woman, or looking for finance for my business, but I received an invitation from the fabulous host Simone Brummelhuis and decided I couldn’t turn down the opportunity. And I am so pleased I didn’t! Simone organised a great evening, something along the lines of Dragons Den, but more friendly and much more inspirational.
I learned a few things from the speakers and the entrepreneurs about pitching which may well come in handy in the future. But for now I thought I’d write up a few things that stood out the most and which you might find interesting:
- “Only 1% of applicants for venture capital / funding actually get the funding” Emmett Kilduff, cmypitch.com
- When pitching for funding, make sure your presentation delivers “immediate grasp and immediate gasp” Andrea Cockerton, Mudhut. In other words, you need to clearly explain what your proposition is and then how it is possible to extract the commercial value.
- Explain how you can scale up your business. An investor will only back your venture if it they can see that it will clearly cope with strong growth. If your business model requires your every attention in person, it will not be able to support rapid growth and therefore the return will be harder to come by.
- Have a strong team in place with some industry experience. Those companies that performed the best on the evening had real industry expertise in their executive team, which is something to bear in mind.
- When pitching, you can more or less leave out the financial predictions from your presentation. Pretty much all of the panellists agreed the figures are generally pie in the sky and investors are much more likely to invest in a person and a business idea. To make that seem more credible, the panellists included Anna Sofat from Addidi Business Angels, Shaa Wasmund from Smarta.com, Judy Gibbons from Accel Partners, Andrea Cockerton from Mudhut, Julie Meyer from Ariadne Capital and Bill Morrow from Angels Den.
Some food for thought in any case. Now, I’ve just got to create a good idea for how to make my second million (OK, so that’s my first million then). Huge well done to all the panellists who took part in the pitching by the way, some fantastic businesses and business ideas: Outbox, balineum.com, WorldMalls, degreeart.com, moretolifethanshoes.com, Hg2.com.
Tag:GeneralTask Management 101
An associate of mine, who is a very organised and driven businessman, recently showed me how he prioritises his workload to make sure he spends his time on the right tasks. He essentially divided a sheet of A4 paper into quarters and catagorised each task based on its urgency and importance. You can see what I mean with this diagram…
I thought this was great, but I also recently learned of another technique developed by Brian Tracy, author of a book called ‘Eat That Frog’. Brian’s book is all about how to stop procrastinating and manage your time and, it’s also now on my shopping list. Brian’s technique is called the “ABCDE method” and it prompts you to categorise your tasks based on whether they will have consequences to your business, whether a tasks needs attention because it will affect your business, tasks you can delegate etc. To get the full story, either read the book, or check out Aurelius Tjin’s post (and then buy the book) and watch his video.
Now, both techniques look pretty good to me, but they can actually be combined quite nicely. Essentially anything that is important and urgent, is a task that you must do to avoid consequences, whereas a task that is important but not urgent, you can probably delegate. Anyway, I combined into the chart below which I’ll be using from now on. Hopefully by properly categorising my task load, I can identify areas for prioritisation, delegation, or where I should simply let the task drop as it will not affect my business.
I would love to hear what time management and prioritisation techniques everyone else uses. I’m sure there must be some fantastic ideas and resources, whether simple paper based techniques as I’ve mentioned above, or maybe through Outlook tasks etc. Please, what works for you?
Tag:General-
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