Bill Rice Internet Marketing > social networking

Finally, We Can Hire People We Know

December 12, 2009 by

now hiringHere is a huge advantage of social media I hadn’t really thought about—hiring people you already know. Finding the right talent to fill out your team has always been one of the biggest challenges of making a business successful. I have always believed that most of that challenge is in the vetting of good talent. It is really hard. Many companies spend tons of money on trying to get the process right. Most still fail.

This morning, into my RSS reader popped what I think is the perfect answer. It’s evolving right in front of our eyes—social media and networking. Jim Keenan, blogger at A Sales Guy, pointed out so clearly the HR benefit of getting engaged in social networking communities—hiring people we know.

Go take a look at his suggestions for where to plug-in for hiring.

I think everyone wants to work with or hire friends. Unfortunately, in the past our local (offline) social networks are not large enough to necessarily include the right talent. Social networks immediately solve this problem.

Are you using social media to not just vet new prospects, but actually hire people you know? Please leave some examples or explain how you use social media for HR.

Filed Under: Social Networking Tagged With: hr, Social Media, social networking


Generating Sales Leads With Facebook

June 16, 2009 by

Online marketing has opened up an entire new world for companies, giving them instant access to targeted consumers that are ready, willing and able to buy. However, it’s not as easy as it sounds and far too many companies fall prey to common pitfalls that frustrate their marketing efforts. If you are interested in utilizing social marketing, and in particular Facebook for sales leads or lead generation, there are a few things you need to know ahead of time.

Social Networking is Tricky

Social networking is incredibly powerful, but you have to use the right technique if you want to be successful. You can’t run in with your marketing guns blazing and hope to see increased sales and new customers. Today’s internet users are far too savvy for these techniques and your efforts will be for naught.

This requires a good deal of finesse and it is important to understand this or to work with someone that does when you are first starting out. Online marketing is not a one size fits all industry and you’re going to need to do a little modifying along the way if you want to stay on top and reap the rewards it can bring.

Lead generation on Facebook is remarkably easy, if you go about it the right way. The most important thing to remember is twofold. First, you have to consider your brand and second, you have to consider your clientele.

The Power of Facebook

Facebook is an application that quickly skyrocketed into popularity once it was opened to the general public. While most people use it to keep in touch with their friends, there are numerous ways that companies can utilize it for lead generation. The first is by actually connecting with consumers and building your own group.

This helps you achieve two goals at the same time. First, you’ll be establishing yourself and your brand as an authority and this will translate into increased sales down the road. Second, you are setting up direct lead generation that is highly targeted to your industry, making your sales job even easier.

The second way you can utilize Facebook for online marketing and lead generation is through the use of their advertising system. This is a great way to get new sales leads, and again you are dealing with highly targeted results. Millions of people are using this application on a daily basis and you can easily find new customers without much effort.

The Right Approach

We mentioned this briefly earlier in this article, but it bears repeating. Your online marketing approach needs to be different. You need to work on subtly and focus first on providing value and building a relationship with your new leads. This is not the time to hit them hard with a sales pitch – you’ll only alienate them and make a bad name for your company.

Remember, the internet is an incredibly small space and once you have a black mark on your company it is very difficult to recover. Take the time to build those relationship and work slowly and you’ll see much better results.

Filed Under: Lead Generation Tagged With: facebook, Lead Generation, online marketing, sales leads, Social Media, social networking


Getting Started With Social Media

June 12, 2009 by

Social networking has evolved to the point where it’s not just for friends and non commercial uses any more. Now, businesses are finding that it is the perfect solution for online marketing and although many are abusing its potential, there is still plenty of room to take advantage of all that this medium has to offer.

Social Media Setup

If you are not familiar with online social media, it is a good idea to take a week to familiarize yourself with the different sites. Each one serves a specific purpose. For example, Digg.com is used to help promote useful or interesting pages, while Facebook is more for traditional networking. Twitter is a new service that allows you to collect followers and communicate with them in 140 character posts.

Even though these services are typically used for personal reasons, with the right marketing touch, they can be modified to suit marketing needs. The key to making social networking work for your company is how you approach it, and how you carry out your marketing plan.

Building a Plan

As with any form of networking, finesse is necessary. Online users of social media are incredibly savvy and they don’t appreciate blatant advertising. In order to be successful with social networking, you need to develop a plan, keeping this in mind.

For example, if you plan to use Twitter, it is best to keep blatant marketing posts to a minimum, and intersperse them with useful posts that provide your followers with useful information. In a nutshell, that is the absolute key to making any form of social media work for your company.

Useful Information = Devoted Followers = New Clients

Branding Made Easy

Social networking has made branding incredibly easy and incredibly perilous. With one wrong post, you can tank your company’s image and it can be very difficult to rise again. Although even today’s largest companies are using Twitter and Facebook, they still keep this in mind. The founder of Zappos, one of the world’s most successful shoe stores, uses Twitter daily, and there is much that can be learned from his approach.

Branding your company through sites like Facebook or Twitter can be accomplished in the way you interact with your followers, and the value that you provide them in exchange for following you. If you give them information that they can use, and you maintain a aura of professionalism, you will see results.

Making Your Network a Success

The best way to see how beneficial social media can be is to get out there and give it a try. Observe what other people are doing and find the approach that will work for your company. Take the time to develop relationships with your followers and you’ll be building a foundation for permanent growth for your company.

Although there are a few downsides to this form of marketing, by far it is the most cost effective means that small businesses can use to get their message across, build their brands, and increase their sales.

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: branding, facebook, online marketing, Social Media, social networking, twitter


Finding Customers With Twitter

June 3, 2009 by

When Twitter first debuted, many thought it was an inane way for people to keep in touch with one another, but it quickly evolved into a powerful marketing and brand management tool. While there are still plenty of inane updates going on, this service cannot be overlooked by any company that is looking to make a name for themselves and market their products or services effectively.

Sales prospecting in social media is a minefield, but with careful precision and taking the time to learn the ropes in advance, you can make it work for you. Here are some tips to help you get the most out of Twitter.

Start Slowly and Remember Your Brand

First, it can be a bit tempting to tweet your every single movement when you first set up your account. The novelty of the service can be engaging but this is an area you want to avoid. On the other hand, you don’t want to start off with a hard sell either. Here’s the key to Twitter success that will work for just about any product or service.

Follow the 2/3 rule. For every marketing tweet you make, you should make two non-selling tweets. They don’t have to be about what you had for lunch, but they can be about related news for your company, interaction with your followers and generally just professional.

Remember that your brand will be affected by how you tweet, and it only takes one wrong tweet to turn the twitter-verse against you. Case in point would be the Cisco new hire who managed to become reviled in a matter of a few seconds. Always maintain a professional reserve and remember that you are under scrutiny, even if you don’t realize it yet.

Sales Prospecting the Easy Way

Now that you have your etiquette down, how do you get the followers you’ll need to make this service work for you? You will need to make your Twitter address available on your page, and very visible, but this generally is not enough. You will need to get out there and actually follow people if you want them to follow you.

Start by targeting similar businesses who are already successfully using the service. Follow the people who are following them and you have a built in targeted audience. Don’t overdo it, but try to follow a few hundred people each week. This will help you successfully start sales prospecting without being overly obvious about it.

This is one of the easiest ways of targeting customers that will be interested in what you have to offer. Each week, you may need to cull those who aren’t following you yet, so that you have a good balance of followers versus the people you are actively following.

Social networking can be incredibly effective, but never let the relaxed atmosphere lure you into making the mistakes outlined above. By keeping on track and tweeting the right way, you’ll be well on your way to successfully promoting your business, the easy way.

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: Add new tag, branding, Social Media, social networking, Social Selling, twitter


How to Use Linkedin to Explode Your Sales

May 27, 2009 by

Right now, social networking is one of the most viable means of sales prospecting, but only if you use it correctly. Sites like twitter and even nings can be useful, but for those serious about marketing, Linkedin is the best place to start.
When you first start utilizing social networking to increase sales, it can be easy to fall into a few common pitfalls that will actually hamper your efforts. We’ll show you how to avoid these pitfalls, and grow your business the easy way.

Navigating Linkedin

Before you begin prospecting on Linkedin, it is a good idea to familiarize yourself with the service and how it works. Start by setting up a profile and put some effort into it. The more fleshed out it is, the more you will appeal to fellow users.
Instead of getting by with the free option, spend the extra money to get a business account with the service. You’ll get more tools that will make your sales prospecting easier, and you’ll simply get more out of the service.

After you feel reasonably comfortable with the service, you can begin the actual process of finding prospects. Start small and focus on finding people that will already be interested in what you have to offer.

Until you are more established, it is easier to hyper focus, rather than expending effort to create sales converts. The key to success is being genuine and offering something of value. Many people have abused social networking sites and users are wary of high pressure techniques.

Sales Prospecting the Right Way

Instead of jumping right into your sales pitch once you have connected with those will be interested in what you have to offer, it is best to build relationships. This is a vital step and it should not be rushed. While it is possible to have instant marketing success on these sites, it is smarter to work for a long term goal.

You can compare this to a party and the inevitable insurance salesman that pesters you throughout the night. Do you want to come off like that? Online networking needs a subtle touch, and it is best to take your time and really build up a relationship.

This is very similar to building your brand, and this foundation that you lay now will help you build a strong network structure that will last.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

We’ve already touched on a few things that you want to avoid, but let’s go over some of the most important pitfalls that can ruin your efforts with this service.

1.    Abusing the system. Take it slow and avoid the urge to mass contact as many people as you can. Instead, focus your time on building a few relationships that will pay off in the long term.

2.    Too much communication. Do you have a friend that calls you incessantly, always bugging you? You don’t want to be that friend. Keep in steady touch with your contacts, but don’t inundate them.

3.    Failing to set up a complete profile. Your profile is your face to the world and you will want to take the time to set it up correctly. On the other end of the equation, you don’t want to go overboard. Find the middle ground that will support your sales prospecting efforts and put your best face forward.

Now that you know how to utilize this powerful form of marketing, it’s time to get out there and put what you’ve learned to work. Don’t let yourself be intimidated. Networking is fun and profitable when you go about it the right way.

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: linkedin, social networking


Sales Success = “You Engaging Others”

July 28, 2008 by

Jeff Turner, a willing and able advocate of social media’s impact on sales production and the real estate business, brings it back into focus with his capstone quote at Inman’s Bloggers Connect conference–”You Engaging Others” or YEO.

There has been a ton of excitement and hyperbole around leveraging social media to bring floods of customers. Meanwhile, the facts are (at least in the Real Estate and Mortgage business) that customer inquiries are on the decline. This means building systems for quantity and discounting quality is a guaranteed failure.

What? Bill are you closing your Twitter account, swearing off blogging, and auctioning your LinkedIn contacts? No, but perspective and objective are important metrics to revisit in social marketing.

Your social media strategy should be designed around these core perspectives:

  • Start conversations
  • Facilitate intelligent discussions
  • Nurture long-term relationships

Furthermore, your social media efforts should acheive these principle objectives:

  • Create opportunities for unique conversations
  • Create opportunities for learning conversations
  • Create opportunities for teaching conversations
  • Create opportunities for seeking conversations

None of these perspectives or objectives brings you an immediate flood of closed deals. Engagement brings you a long-term flood of sales. That means listening, providing value, getting personal, and sitting down for a cup of coffee or a meal–not flooding the Internet with keywords.

Filed Under: Lead Generation, Social Media Tagged With: Lead Generation, Social Media, social media strategy, social networking


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