As Twitter, blogs and the many forms of social media continue to dominate all conversations about sales and marketing, Robroy still hears from doubting CEOs.
“Who cares if I’m hauling out the trash or playing with my kids on a snowy day?” they scoff. “Give me one good reason to take my company in this direction.”
Will you take twenty-one? Because that’s at least the number of fundamental changes in the way the marketplace communicates today. Here are some of the ways you can benefit from joining social media:
- Let people know who you are
- Reach people quickly
- Build company culture
- Give voice to the company’s personality
- Release new features and ideas
- Get the truth from the community, like a focus group
- Interact with users and fans with questions and comments
- Recruit talent
- Share company content
- Share customers’ content
- Generate Web traffic
- Get answers quickly
- Correct mistakes / improve products
- Stay informed on industry trends
- Get feedback on what you’re doing, how you’re doing it, and what you should do next
- Make the company feel smaller and more cohesive
- Use as a sounding board
- Establish expertise
- Attract the media
- Humanize the company
- Build your brand
In the old days, no one expected to befriend a CEO, or know what he did with his personal time. Social media changes that. It makes everyone more accessible. And if everyone is accessible, including your competition, my friend, do you need another reason?
(How are you using it? Please comment below.)
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Tags: EntreQuest, Facebook, Marketing, prospecting, relationships, rob macdonald, robroy, robroy blog, Sales, selling, social media, Twitter
Just planning a class to teach our customers how to use Social Media as a marketing tool! Ironic and great to read your blog today, Rob! Our customers are mostly restaurant/bar owners – they NEED this tool!
what a coincidence, vicki! hey, my dad is a big restaurant-goer in downtown Baltimore. he uses social media every day to figure out where to go. best of luck with your clients!
I started a new business a few months ago, and my first step was building a website. Second step was a Facebook page. Third step was Twitter.
Why?
I want to share my ideas with my friends and others – more importantly it’s the feedback I receive in the form of questions, tips, websites to check out, people to talk to, etc.
As a marketer, I deeply appreciate feedback, and with social media it’s virtually instantaneous and trackable.
John, I’m so glad you shared your story. May your young business grow up strong as a result of that feedback. Many thanks, my friend.
Rob, nice post, distilling the fundamentals of why it’s time to jump on board. I will Digg and share on Facebook – the social media waters this designer swims.
Thanks your thoughtfulness, Jennifer! It’s a great day at the beach.
Hey Rob:
I liked your post. Simple, one-liners always seem to work best.
I’ve been following the CMO of Kodak, Best Buy and Zappos for a few months now. It’s amazing the insight you can glean from their tweets, not to mention their ideas.
I agree, Adam, it’s amazing. This is not our father’s Oldsmobile.
Hi, Rob!
Just tweeted this to my marketing guru and business-owning Tweeps (and about 700 women on pregnancy bed rest. Guess it’s time to create two separate accounts, huh? LOL!). I look forward to your posts every week! Keep it up!
Any plans to blog about Google Buzz? Worth the time? And how about Gist? (www.gist.com)
Thanks for reading, MAD one! And thanks for the suggestions for future topics. Will definitely consider them.
Rob…Ok…I have 5000 facebook friends and a couple of hundred Twitter followers… I am connected to agents, buyers and sellers nationwide…Is blogging next? I think I need some coaching…
Sounds like a good plan!