Yesterday (April 23, 2008), we hosted a very small group to discuss “10 Ways to Increase Sales from Social Media” at Zing’s offices in Louisville. For those that didn’t get the opportunity to attend, here’s a summarization of what all was discussed.

We started off the discussion with a quick round robin to see who all used various social media sites in some of the different categories. Included in the mix were sites such as LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, Scribd, HubPages, Squidoo, EzineArticles, and WordPress (blogs). Our small group had mixed reactions to the sites mentioned whether they had heard of them or not. A lot of the sites were unheard of before our chat today so it’s fair to say that those sites aren’t being utilized yet by all of our attendees.

We had interesting debates throughout, but one thing stuck out to me that is both encouraging and puzzling all at once–a lot of people are very unaware of what is out there from a new media, web 2.0, on-line social aspect, but they realize it’s becoming more of a necessity for businesses to get involved. It’s no longer a novelty or kids’ playground anymore. Once you see large corporations investing major dollars on internet marketing and new media interests, the rules of the game change quickly. Usually new technologies in business follow a progression like this:

1. Younger generations test out something because it has that “cool” factor and it’s new
2. Solo entrepreneurs start to dabble thinking it might give them an edge and allow them to compete with larger competitors
3. Small and medium businesses begin to realize that the solo entrepreneurs are onto something and begin to jump into the pool
4. Finally, corporations see this wave of activity and understand the technology has matured enough to begin to invest substantial resources

Once the corporations are involved, it’s no longer a phenomenon or cool technology–it’s a full fledged strategy and set of tactics to make money. They may not have it mastered when they first enter the fray, but it won’t take them long to figure out how to capitalize.

So why is all of this happening so fast these days that some companies feel as though they’re getting left behind unless they act soon? Today’s consumer is tuned out to traditional advertising and media so it’s forcing the marketplace to become more creative in their approach, and that’s where social media comes into play. Believe it or not, there are still quite a few business executives out there that are reluctant to enter the social media space, and their reasonings vary greatly. Some of it is a generation gap, and some of it is a mindset that isn’t quite as “inclusive” by nature as a lot of us that are more comfortable with social media and sharing our lives publicly. I’m personally old enough to understand the apprehension from the “traditionalists” yet young enough to get the fascination with so many avenues for self expression.

All of that being said, there is no magic bullet where social media is concerned, but there are business applications for just about every sect of social media that need to be understood before making a decision to implement a strategy for one’s company. My recommendations for social media success, from a business perspective, to the group today were:

1. Commit to a social media strategy or don’t bother
2. Be yourself (hiding behind a pseudo-name isn’t going to win you points over the long haul)
3. Transparency rules because people can sense a phony very quickly
4. Be consistent
5. Understand the time involvement–this isn’t like traditional advertising where you pay for a block of time or space and the returns are predictable. It may take a year for a social media strategy to begin to pay dividends, but those dividends could be huge. Can you afford to a) wait that long? or b) miss out on a great opportunity by passing on social media?
6. Don’t try to sell–as mentioned above, people are tuned out to traditional advertising methods so showing up on a social media site trying to pitch your product or service isn’t going to be well received. It’s just like walking into a party where you know a couple of people–you wouldn’t barge into the middle of a group you didn’t know and immediately start trying to sell them something would you? I’d hope not. If you would, please skip my parties.
7. Follow the golden rule–give to receive and remember, it’s not about you first.
8. Add value–become a resource or educate somehow if at all possible. Eventually people will notice and take action accordingly.

Finally, I’d summarize the overall message I was trying to convey to the group today as it’s all about an inclusive vs. an exclusive mindset. Traditional ways and methodologies versus new age and progressive strategies. We’ve gone from a business model of doing things FOR our clients to doing things WITH our clients. The firms which view things in that legacy view of “for” instead of “with” might find things a little rocky one day as we travel further down the path.

The rules of marketing have definitely changed, but have you changed with them? Either way, I’d like to hear your take.

Today, Ken, Watson, and I (Roger) headed to Wilson Muir Bank in St. Matthews bright and early to give our first official Zing Presentation to a small group of business owners from around Louisville. We discussed the impact personalized marketing has on increasing revenue; sales and marketing alignment; standing out amongst the massive amounts of marketing clutter; “The Hourglass Precept” and how that came about along with automated marketing campaigns. A tad bit of time was dedicated to our partnership with Infusion and how various automated marketing campaigns can provide a consistent experience for the customer and eliminate unnecessary phone calls a sales rep has to make to warm up leads.

In attendance were:

• Todd Smith, Formwood Industries
• Joe Leist, Fulfillment Concepts (who has been an integral part of our development thus far as a partner)
• Ellen Shaikun, Opia Properties
• Dan Crutcher, Louisville Magazine
• Stacey Griffin Hallahan, Louisville Magazine
• John Robert Curtin, Connected Learning
• Barker Price, American Commercial Barge Lines

It dawned on me during the presentation how our organization has really evolved over the last year or so when we began flirting with the idea of partnering on something together. It made me very proud to have gone through the experience with Ken and Watson even though there have been some bumps in the road, but what worthwhile venture doesn’t experience that?

When we began, we thought we were going to be more of a lead and awareness generation type of outfit, then we came to realize that we were getting deeper into the sales funnel which ultimately led us to focusing on helping clients increase revenue by capitalizing on the entire sales “hourglass” instead of just the top part of it (the traditional sales funnel). The bottom half of the hourglass focuses on repeat purchases, building customer loyalty and creating ambassadors for your brand. Worthwhile stuff indeed.

Some of the things to come out of the dialogue amongst the group was that the focus on the bottom half of the hourglass is a good place to focus to help our clients increase sales. That seemed to be a consensus although each attendee had different perspectives on what they heard.

Todd Smith of Formwood, who happens to be the king of great metaphors, stated that the key for him when considering any initiative is “return on time” or ROT for short. We’re planning to use that term more in the future as it really captures the essence of automated marketing. One of the initial metaphors Todd shared with us the first time we all met was that he was trying to keep his organization from “swinging at pitches in the dirt.” That’s well stated, and it summarizes what a lot of organizations go through as they grow. Too many wasted swings at bad pitches that can’t be hit with a boat oar. Anyway, Todd is always great to talk to because there will usually be a nifty takeaway that is applicable across a wide array of situations.

Overall, I thought this was a very good introduction of Zing to the local business public and something we can definitely build upon. As of this post, we’re tentatively planning to have our next presentation on April 15, but that may be delayed one week due to vacation plans and event coordination considerations. Check the blog for more details as one of us will post something when there are more details ironed out. I hope you can join us for one of our next outings.

I (Roger) attended my first Social Media Club of Louisville event last night hosted at C-Net’s office here in the ‘Ville.  I had a good time and enjoyed meeting Joe, Lenny, Chris, Jason Falls, Jeremiah, and chatting with Rob and Todd (who I already knew ahead of time).  Thanks to Jason for bringing beer for everyone (that was a very pleasant surprise) and the kind soul who provided an elaborate food spread for the gang.

The focus of the meeting last night was being social as there were no speeches or formalized agendas . . . just people getting to know one another which is what a “social club” should be all about right?

Joe, Jason and I chatted about balancing all of the options out there to share content and some ways each of us attempt to create content by forcing ourselves out of our comfort zones to stimulate creativity and focus.  Glad to know the strategy I use, boarding myself up in a hotel room out of town, isn’t viewed as “strange” like it was by my ex-girlfriend. 

Rob and I chatted about creating some social media educational resources although Rob is severely strapped for time with multiple companies and a newborn.  If anyone is interested in working together to develop some educational material (eBooks, videos, podcasts, workbooks, etc.) about social media or automated marketing campaigns, please contact me.  I’m not very skilled in front of a camera so that would be a very welcome addition to the mix.

Chris, Lenny and I chatted about some past jobs, the workings of C-Net (Chris’ employer), and some things that are on the horizon for Chris and Lenny.

Lenny works for Chrysalis Ventures here in Louisville as an Analyst so he’s seen some pretty interesting business plans that I’d enjoy hearing a lot more about.

It seems as though Guitar Hero was quite popular based upon the crowd in the “other room” playing.  I’m always intrigued to see group dynamics at work when people of varying backgrounds and interests are gathered under one roof when it’s the first time for me to be exposed to them.  It’s much like walking into a bar for the first time where you only know a couple of people, and those couple of people know quite a few of the “strangers” at the bar.  Since I’m usually the guy at the bar that knows a lot of people, it was an interesting role reversal.  Online social media is much like that in general–there are subsets of people familiar with one another long before a “newbie” arrives, and it pays for the “newbie” to observe and chat up a few people on the periphery before jumping into the middle of the group.  So many people join a social media site then think it’s free reign to try to sell a product, service, or themselves, but social media doesn’t work like that much like offline relationships don’t.  It takes time to get to know people whether it is on or offline so that’s the lesson of last night’s gathering for me.

There’s more that I’m sure I’m forgetting about, but I’m definitely looking forward to the next meeting/gathering and getting to know more people.  If you’re in the Louisville area and want to learn about social media and how it can benefit your business, I encourage you to attend a future meeting.  They occur the third Tuesday of each month.  For more information, visit SMC Louisville.