08.10.09 Web 2.0
www.ISBO.biz
Quote of the Month:
“Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on.”
—Eckhart Tolle, German author (1948 - )
Bill Powell and his wife Jackie own Serif Group, an advertising and graphic design agency. Bill also co-founded Inbox Orange with Lisa Wester, a permission-based e-mail marketing service, sort of an advanced Constant Contact. He said the role of advertising agencies has changed with Web 2.0 “We inform our clients of new things going on and best practices, we train them, then let them run off and use it themselves,” said Bill.
He asked how many of us have used Twitter. Most people in the room waved a hand. According to Bill, the social media experts and Web geeks were dominating Twitter in the beginning, and many small-business owners wondered why should we do it too. “Why do we need relationships like this?” he asked. There’s a real blurring of business and personal today and for some people it’s a little scary. “But business is about relationships,” he said. We need to make it authentic and real. And hey, some people really do want to know that you took your kids to Kings Island last weekend. “It personalizes you a little more,” said Bill.
This relationship aspect is important for businesses. It used to be that big corporations paid a well-known spokesperson to stand up and say, “This is my favorite company.”
“We’re jaded these days,” said Bill. “You can pay any spokesperson. Now we’re looking for real connections with real people.” If you tell a friend you like working with So and So, they appreciate your word of mouth. Using Facebook and Twitter, and other social platforms, can help expand your relationships with people.
Facebook is typically about getting back in touch with people you want to reconnect with. Twitter is more for connecting with people you’d like to know more about. (And all this will probably change in the next 20 minutes, ha!)
Through Twitter you can find someone in another state who does what you do and is facing some of the same issues. You wouldn’t be competing for business but you can share ideas.
Bill’s metaphor for Twitter: Imagine millions of people gathering at the convention center. You walk in and you can keyword search what they’re talking about. In this corner they’re talking about gardening. Over there is a conversation about search engine optimization (SEO). “You walk into the room, metaphorically, and decide you want to talk about graphic design,” said Bill. “It’s over here.”
For starters, try www.search.twitter.com and type in a name or subject of interest to you.
As in real life, so in cyberspace: Don’t jump into an existing conversation and start hawking your wares and asking for business. “Ask about them, be real, find out what they’re doing,” said Bill. Then you can leverage the relationship for help when you’re facing challenges in your business, for example. “Twitter is a great tool for expanding what you do.” It has leveled the playing field because big and small businesses can both use social networking.
You can filter who follows you on Twitter if that’s what your comfort zone is. Same for Facebook. Plan in advance you who want on your team. If you want to connect with certain people (or types of businesses), follow them. Reference them in your own tweets. “Show some love and they might follow you back,” said Bill.
Who’s talking about you? Monitor references to your own company by setting up alerts at Google, Technorati, Twitter, and wherever else you can find. Mark told the story of when his DSL went down one day and he headed to a local coffee shop to use their wireless connection. He got on Twitter, saying he was still waiting for the provider to fix the connection. Fifteen minutes later he was notified that the company was following him on Twitter, and 45 minutes later they told him what was going on in his part of the county. They were monitoring their own company name on Twitter and saw his comment.
“Listening is the most important part of Twitter,” said Bill. Best practices really haven’t been established yet. It’s still the wild west. “No company has stood up and said ‘here’s the best practice.’ They’re letting it define itself,” said Bill. If anything, go on there and find people who are interesting and listen to them.
Set up a Facebook page for your business. “Even if you just have five fans, it will virally spread,” said Bill, who has a Serif Group business page on Facebook.
Group pages and fan pages are two different things. Which one should you set up for your business? Here are some articles explaining the differences:
http://mashable.com/2009/05/27/facebook-page-vs-group
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/facebook-group-vs-facebook-fan-page-whats-better/7761/
http://www.authoritydomains.com/blogs/authority-domains/what-s-the-difference-between-a-facebook-fan-page-and-a-facebook-group.php
Update your Web site. For small businesses that don’t have the budget to call on a designer or the time to learn HTML code, there are open-source content management systems (CMS) out there. WordPress is one. “It’s a blog platform but you can customize it to make it look like a site, not a blog,” said Bill. Updating your site frequently is a component of good SEO. “That’s why CMS is the way to go,” said Bill. When people are looking for you (your business), the Web site is the first place they look, but it’s usually the last thing a business thinks to update.
Claim your business on Google.
“Since I validated my business on Google, my site is more search engine friendly,” said Bill.
We thank Bill for his presentation. Feel free to contact him with any questions.
Bill Powell
Serif Group
www.SerifGroup.com
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RECOMMENDED READING:
The Definitive Book of Body Language
by Barbara Pease
How the Mighty Fall
by Jim Collins
The New Influencers
by Paul Gillin
The New Rules of Marketing and PR
by David Meerman Scott
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AUGUST & RECENT RELEASES BY ISBO AUTHOR:
Rich Tradition
by Tom Leach
Yoga in No Time at All
by Joel DiGirolamo
PREVIOUS RELEASES BY ISBO AUTHORS:
Becoming What You Want to See in the World
by Mary Claire O’Neal
Code 936 (novel)
by Bill Kimbrell, Jr.
Equine ER: Stories From a Year in the Life of an Equine Veterinary Hospital
by Leslie Guttman
The Miracle of Myrtle: Saint Gone Wild (novel)
by Donna Ison
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WEB SITES OF INTEREST:
Article about Robyn Waters, by Janet Holloway
Video: A kinder, gentler philosophy of success
Tutorial: Getting started with Twitter
Tutorials: How to use Facebook
Twitter resources from the Serif Group
Twitter tools
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Have a fabulous month!
KS
Kathie Stamps Contact me
ISBO.biz Web content and meetings
Charlotte Caldwell Contact me
ISBO.biz Web design and technology
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This is a recap of the August 2009 ISBO.biz luncheon in Lexington, KY.
We meet the second Monday of each month and would love to see you at a lunch meeting. Please e-mail us for more information.
If you notice any typos or broken links, please let us know.