I call this the Magic GEM. Grow, Engage and Monetize. And all you need to do to activate the magic is to begin. Okay, it’s actually a bit more complicated than that. I mean, you have to consistently create content that engages your followers and you have to make the time to actually interact with them. Here’s a Midwestern analogy to help you along: It’s a lot like being a sideshow barker at a carnival. You have to draw attention to yourself and gather the crowd. Once you’ve done that, you have to tantalize the crowd with information about what they will see once they step inside your tent. Eventually, some of the crowd will want to buy a ticket, or better yet, NEED to buy a ticket (hopefully, whatever your business is selling is more of a necessity to your audience than the need to see some guy swallow swords.)

Here’s an infographic created by Column Five to help you along:

Then check out the most recent social media stats, courtesy of this Ad Age infographic:

First, and probably a surprise to no one, the economy is still pretty bad. Businesses are still struggling with decreased demand for their products and services. There seemed to be a lot of uncertainty about what the future might hold for many in the room. Despite this, everyone was upbeat and was convinced that they had to do more to get their businesses noticed. Whether this meant increasing their sales efforts or looking for new ways to market, everyone was convinced that increasing awareness was the key.

The second takeaway was even more important, at least from my perspective. A representative from the Tribune Media Group was there and he let people know about TribLocal as a resource for small business. TribLocal offers a way for businesses to post self-promotional stories to their website. If the story generates enough hits on-line, the Chicago Tribune might even pick up the story. Wow! Talk about a paradigm shift for small businesses. In the past, if you wanted to promote your business to the local media, you generally had to hire someone to write a PR piece for you and then get in touch with their media contacts in an effort to get someone to pick it up and print it. Now, not only can the time and expense of that process be minimized (however, I still recommend working with a pro to write your story), you can post the story yourself and have an instant link to a story about your business that doesn’t sit on your own website. Talk about instant credibility.

Plus with the ability to broadcast that link through your social media channels, you can really drive interest in your business and start attracting customers. I definitely would recommend a strategy that included self-publishing a story about your business on a regular basis. Whether that’s monthly or quarterly, Chicago small businesses should find the time to make this a part of their marketing plan.

Back in the 1990′s, e-mail was the ‘new paradigm’ and everyone was trying to figure out how to promote their business using it. Fast forward to today and email is an integral, every day part of running our business. Most small businesses have seen the importance of having an email newsletter or some other way (e.g. Constant Contact) of getting their business information into their customers’ email box. So it will be for social media. So here are the three things your marketing plan must contain as we head into 2012.

Social Media integration with your website

Most small businesses have already tagged their websites with “follow us on Facebook” and “follow us on twitter” icons. What I’m talking about here however is more directly building social media into your website. You have Facebook updates and/or a twitter feed? It should be on your website. This gives visitors a feel for the type of information they will be seeing from your posts without just blindly ‘following’. Going a step further, you may be able to change your ‘contact us’ page from a form or a static phone number to one that incorporates Twitter or Facebook if you intend to use those as customer service channels. Another way to integrate social media into your website is the addition of a blog that contains original content. It not only gives your customers a reason for checking in on a regular basis, but it can also provide a place for your customers to congregate and exchange information on-line.

Social Media integration with your email marketing

Again, most businesses have some way to reach out to existing customers through email, perhaps by using Constant Contact. The next step is to make your social platforms a way to collect your customers and/or prospects email information. One way to do this is to sponsor a contest or giveaway through Facebook and use a landing tab to get potential customers to enter their email address and other information. Conversely, you can run a special promotion on Twitter or Facebook by announcing it to your email list. Only those who follow you on the social media platforms will be able to access the special promotion or coupon.

Social Media integration with your in-store displays

One of the best ways to promote word of mouth is to make sure you have your social media channels in front of the right people. And the people that are in your store definitely fit the definition of ‘right people’. What better way to make people in your store aware of all of the other fans of your business than by putting in a flat screen that displays all the great comments you’ve received from your following? One business that has taken it to an even higher level is Houlihan’s, which bought space on digital billboards that displayed Twitter comments from their customers.

So there you have it. Three quick, down and dirty ways to improve your marketing plan in 2012. Social media will soon be an everyday tool in how your business promotes itself. Isn’t it time for you integrate it into your marketing plan?

Because Google is the search engine that everyone uses and Google+ is simply an extension of good ol’ Google, your G+ page is integrated into Google’s search algorithm and will come up in a search more easily than other platform’s pages. That alone is a good reason to create a Google+ page, even if you don’t currently use the platform or have any relationship with Google beyond searching for things yourself.

The second reason to consider Google+ is that it provides a way to segment your audience. While Facebook and Twitter posts are generally going to be seen by everyone that is following you, Google+ offers a way to slice and dice your followers (or circles, as Google calls them) so that you can more effectively target your audience. Say for instance, that you only want to target your very best customers for a special promotion. You can create a circle called “Preferred Customers” and only those folks will be able to see the message about it. Or, if your business has several locations, you can create a circle for each location and blast out promotional posts to followers connected through a specific location. This can be a very powerful tool if you have the need for it.

Finally, Google+ has a nifty little feature called Hangouts. This feature is essentially a video chat and does require the Google Voice and Video plug-in. You can have up to 9 other people in the hangout and can be used in a number of ways. For businesses, it might be a way to have a team meeting with employees spread out geographically. It’s also a unique way to pull together some of your customers for an informal focus group. Another use might be for a small online demo or explanation of a new service or product to potential customers. Since this is a new but truly unique feature, we’ll keep you updated on how businesses are using hangouts. If you like, sign-up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on Google+ developments.

So whether or not you’re using Google’s gmail or Google reader or Google alerts, you might want to take the time to look at Google+ for your business. It could be a great way to make people more aware of your business and potentially an even better way to interact with your customers. What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

I think there are a number of lessons to be drawn from this article that are worth exploring, but let’s focus on one: branding. Take a look at Steve Jobs brand. No, not Apple, but Steve Jobs himself. What do you think of when you think about Jobs? Or more specifically, the Jobs brand? For many people, Steve Jobs is a visionary. For others, he was a rebel – he took on Big Blue’s ugly desktops, Mircrosoft’s software domination and Blackberry’s stylus driven phones. ‘Genius’ is another concept that tends to be mentioned when people are asked about the Jobs brand.

The article, however, sheds him in a different light. Rather than a visionary, we see him as someone who takes a good idea and merely improves upon it slightly. He even comes across as something of a narcissist and a perfectionist, almost to the point of obsession. Behind the scenes, Jobs could be a bully who would berate and ridicule employees, business partners and competitors alike.  According to his wife, he could be indecisive, almost paralyzed by his thought processes.

I find this fascinating, because Jobs’ brand projects something much different than recollections of Jobs’ biographer and the people that really knew Steve. Not that this is a bad thing. Your business’ brand works in the same way. It is meant to project certain traits to customers and non-customers alike. Your brand is what sticks in the public’s mind and not the intricate details of your day-to-day business.

This is quite important and something you should think about as you market your business.  If your brand represents caring customer service, you want to make sure that your customers and potential customers do not have that image tarnished by one bad review or one unhappy customer. Obviously, if your business is truly dedicated to customer service, you already have processes in place to prevent such events from occurring and correcting any incidents that do occur, no matter how infrequently. Of course, correcting the rare slip in service is dependent upon it being brought to your attention. But what do you do about those incidents that you don’t know about?

Here is where social media comes in. Many times, a customer may not bring a slight to your attention for whatever reason. However, they have no problem sharing their experience with friends. Or worse, they share it with their online social networks. That’s why it’s important for every business to monitor their online reputation by regularly checking the social-sphere for mentions of their company. Even better, it’s possible to create a customer service response channel through the use of Facebook and/or Twitter.  According to USA Today, Delta Airlines has a number of people handling customer service through @DeltaAssist on Twitter.

How are you currently managing your brand? DO you manage your brand? In today’s highly connected world, it’s more important than ever for ALL businesses (yes, I’m talking to you, small business owner) to think strategically about your brand and take the steps necessary to protect what your brand represents.  Let me know what you think in our comments section. Or, if you’d rather discuss your brand strategy with me directly, give me a call.

The 15 Best Facebook Pages You’ve Ever Seen | Hubspot

Social Media Flowchart Status | Breakingcopy

Let’s start with the 800 pound gorilla, Facebook. According to their site, they have over 800 million users. Of those, 75% of them are outside of the United States and only 50% are active on any given day. That leaves you with about 100 million Americans using Facebook right now. Not bad.

As of today’s date, checkfacebook.com claims that there are approximately 156 million U.S. users. Again, assuming 50% are active today that gives us an overall population of about 78 million people. Let’s break that down demographically. Again, based on checkfacebook’s stats (all stats rounded to the nearest whole percent) , 25% are in the 18-24 age group, about 24% in the 25-34 age group, 17% between the ages of 35-44 and 20% over the age of 45. The remaining 14% fall in the 17 and under age group. Depending on your target market, this could be very beneficial.

Now let’s look at LinkedIn’s demographics. As of July 2011, LinkedIn has around 120 million users. Of those, more than 50 million are in the United States. While 35% of LinkedIn users are accessing it daily, up to 93% of users are checking in at least once a month. The breakdown by age in North America is as follows: 19% are in the age 18-24 age group, 32% in the 25-34 age group, and the remaining 50% in the 35 and over bracket (does not total 100% due to rounding).

So while LinkedIn has fewer users than Facebook, the LinkedIn user is 35% more likely to be over the age of 35 than the Facebook user (50% vs. 37%) and even more likely to be over the age of 25 (82% vs. 61%). The other aspect we should be considering is how people are using these networking services. Luckily, LinkedIn recently came out with some statistical information for us.

People tend to use LinkedIn primarily for industry networking, keeping in touch, promoting their business or co-worker networking. Surprisingly, hiring and job search came in behind all four of the previous categories. On the other hand, people use Facebook to stay in touch, share pictures, and play games.

For total reach, Facebook has the ability to put your business in front of more people. Facebook is ideally suited for B2C businesses, that is, for any business that sells directly to the consumer. And this is reflected by some of the businesses that have a lot of fans on Facebook (all of these companies have more than 20 million likes):

• Coca-Cola
• Starbucks
• MTV
• Disney

For businesses that sell to other businesses (B2B) LinkedIn would seem to be the more appropriate platform. The four companies with the most followers on LinkedIn are (the top four each have 340,000+ followers on LinkedIn):

• IBM
• HP
• Microsoft
• Google

Obviously, both Facebook and LinkedIn can play a role in promoting your brand or business. But because of the nature of how the sites are used, you may decide that one is better suited than the other. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to play it safe and create a page on both.

One of the most inexpensive ways to generate customer awareness is through social media. For a little investment in time, you can create market awareness, new customers and better yet, a LOYAL following. So how do you go about that? Let’s look at Twitter first. Why Twitter? It’s probably the easiest way to get involved with social media as it simply requires you to open a free account and upload a picture of yourself/your logo/your cat. Presto! You’re ready to go. Let’s talk about what to do next.

In order to build a loyal following for your business (that will eventually translate into customers and sales) you need to take a few important steps.

1. Determine your voice – What are you going to share with people? Sales? Coupons? Promotions? That’s a start. But you will also want to INTERACT with the people who will be your future customers. Share your knowledge. Share something funny. Be yourself!
2. Respond – You should regularly respond to those folks that engage you in conversation, ask you something or even simply mention you to someone else.
3. Listen up! – By monitoring twitter for comments about your company, your products/services or your people (including you!) you can gain important customer feedback and marketing insights.
4. Promote your customers – That’s right. Don’t just wait for them to promote your business. Retweet a follower who has something interesting to say, whether it relates to your business or not. Give ‘em a shout out and watch as your loyal customer following grows.
5. Set aside time to tweet – I know, it’s never easy to find the time. But even 15-20 minutes a day can make a difference. Or if you prefer, get someone to help you.