This is one of the best descriptions of how to succeed with Social Media we have read.  Written by Avi Savar, founder and CEO of Big Fuel Communications, it really defines the social media scene in terms we can easily relate to and to which we can apply our tried and true social graces and good old manners. Please read and enjoy. My thanks to Ave Saver for sharing his perspective with all of us.

If you are a brand looking to connect with consumers through social media, think of social media as one giant party. I’ve been using this analogy for some time now, and it seems to resonate with everyone who hears it. Here’s why:

• You can’t start conversations with product stories; you need to lead with people stories
• Try to align yourself with the “in crowd” so people will want to talk to you
• The social media party is not about making eye contact (impressions); it’s about shaking hands (engagements)

Social media is one giant party
Let’s first set the stage. Imagine the social web as one huge cocktail party. In one corner of the room, a group of moms are talking about education and parenting issues. In another corner of the room, a group of recent college grads laugh over Will Ferrell’s latest movie. Everywhere you turn, different groups of people are enjoying themselves, sharing stories, discussing current events, pop culture, trends, etc. All the groups are mingling, making new “friends,” and the most influential people in the room have the most “followers” hanging on their every word.

Sound familiar?

Social media is a true reflection of society today — and what better representation of social behavior, fragmentation, hierarchy, and influence than a giant party?

Lead with people stories, not product stories
Marketing has taught us to always lead with our product story — distilling our message down to a unique selling proposition and driving it home with features and benefits. As a brand marketer, your first priority has always been to show or sell your product. And it works well — if you only have 30 seconds to sell your product through a message that’s blasted out into the world. However, if you walk into that party and the first thing you do is try to sell your product, nobody will talk to you, and you certainly won’t get invited back.

You walk into the party and head for the group of moms in the corner. If you interrupt their conversation to talk about your new and improved hydrating face cream or your ultra-absorbent paper towels, chances are you will alienate the group or simply be laughed out of the room.

To become the life of the party you can’t lead with product stories; you need to lead with people stories. If you want that group of moms or those recent grads to listen to you, you need to enter the conversation on their terms. You have to start a dialogue with something that is important to them, not what’s important to you. Only then will you have earned the right to talk about yourself. People need to like you first, then they’ll ask what you do for a living.

This means it’s critical to have the right opening line — a way to enter the conversation that starts with the consumer’s agenda but can seamlessly migrate to your agenda.

Use content to make connections
The right story, joke, or anecdote at a party goes a long way, and social media is no different. If those moms are talking about parenting issues, turn them onto a parenting expert who can help with their problems. If those grads are laughing over Will Ferrell’s latest movie, give them something similar to laugh about or recommend another movie for them to see.

The right content will allow you to make instant connections. And that means you need to think of your fellow party goers as audiences rather than consumers. Like a publisher, you need to help or entertain first; showing or selling comes later.

Embrace fragmentation
Just like a party, social media is made up of many groups — people with different interests, different likes, and different dislikes. This means that you can’t use the same opening line with moms that you used with those college grads.

Every audience is unique, and you should speak directly to each group. This means you might need a few different opening lines if you are going after different audiences. In the same way you would work the room at a party, the way to get scale in social media is to break your audience into segments. As you walk around having conversations with different groups of people, you naturally adjust your talking points based on who you are speaking with. At the end of the night, you will have met everyone at the party. If you are interesting, relevant, and sociable, people will remember you and be willing to learn more about you (and your products).

Leverage the influencer
Have you ever walked into a party where you didn’t know anyone? It’s not impossible to meet people, but you certainly have to work hard at it.

Now, what if you walked into the party with the most popular kid in school? You get instant credibility; everyone in the room knows who you are, and talking to them becomes that much easier.

Simply put, leveraging the right influencers makes you cool by association. You don’t have to work as hard meeting people, you get to talk about yourself more, and instead of trying to figure how to start a conversation with people, they will come talk to you.

Engagement trumps impressions
Brands are obsessed with impressions. For them, it’s always been about reach and frequency. Well, when it comes to social media, the name of the game is engagement, not impressions.

If you walked into a party and just stood against the back wall, people might see you standing there. You might even make eye contact with a few of those moms you so desperately want to talk to — but what good will that do?

You could go to 1,000 parties and stand against the wall at each one of them. Eventually people might recognize you — but they won’t know anything about you and there’s still no basis for them to have a relationship with you.

The social media party is not about making eye contact (impressions); it’s about shaking hands (engagements). It’s about meeting people, talking to them, sharing with them — it’s about engaging with them and participating in the conversation.

Final thought
The party analogy is a whimsical way of saying that brands can’t treat social media the same way they treat other media. For the first time in history, brands are trying to navigate a two-way channel of communication. This means they can’t talk at consumers. Instead, they need to engage with audiences. Social media requires a value exchange between the consumer and the brand.

So when it comes to developing successful social media campaigns and programs:

• Pretend like you’re getting dressed up for a giant party.
• Lead with people stories, not your product stories.
• Use content to make connections.
• Try to align yourself with the “in crowd” so people will want to talk to you.
• Don’t just make eye content; shake hands with the people you want to meet.

For a quick conversation or a comprehensive analysis of your online efforts to date, call or email us. We love what we do and love helping local businesses and solo-preneurs make the most of ALL  THE  ONLINE  OPPORTUNITIES available to them

ONLINE MEDIA PROS will perform a comprehensive online visibility and web presence evaluation for your business.

Simply email me Lynn@onlinemediapros.com and schedule a quick phone conversation. Based on some basic information from you, we will run a comprehensive evaluation of your entire online presence and forward to you in 24 hours!

So What’s the Big Deal about QR codes?? 

Well, you’re here right?   QR codes are a fast way to deliver information an offer, a gift to anyone that grabs it with their smart phone!

Easy to access, your new customers will appreciate the special offer.

YOU get their information and THEY get a: report, discount, special offer if they act right away.

You increase business, find new customers and reward those that ACT NOW with a special incentive!.

Pretty simple!!

For more information on how to effectively use QR codes in your business marketing plan… Contact us today!! 760 863 2200 

We look forward to helping you BOOST your online marketing presence and SUPER CHARGE your profits!

Whether you are a House Painter – Architect – Physician – Shoe Shop Owner – Energy Consultant – New Business or Old Business owner, YOU are a PRO at what you do and people are looking for your information!

Today 85% of all product and service research STARTS online! People do business with people they know like and trust!  But how in the world do you get noticed when there are over 14 BILLION indexed pages online?

How can anyone FIND you let alone get to know you?

How can they get a sense of who you are and what type of business person you are ?

The answer my friend is  ARTICLES and BLOGGING !

Write a sincere, well thought out, informative article and maybe even produce a short but informative, topical video and YOU will be perceived as the expert in your field.

Online marketers have known this for years BUT the local, small business owner hasn’t a clue  JUMP IN! Be the first and you will smile for days!!!

Be first and you will dominate your market.  Start a BLOG either on your website or as a seperate website (easy to do)  and you are on your way! I promise!

Here’s a great, TRUE story. We now manage  the online marketing for a local Real Estate Broker. They are NOT part of a huge National franchise and they don’t have zillions of dollars to promote their business.

When we took over their online image, their site was no where to be seen! Could not find them online to save our souls! Even when we typed in their specific brokerage name- “Nada-Zilch-ZIP!

They were totally skeptical, didn’t believe a word I was saying and pretty much told me to go away… Their closing words were “Prove it” and then we’ll talk... Well, I dont take client challenges like that any longer but this one time I did. Deep inside I thought, Wow… if I can get this brand on the radar I can do anything!

We accepted the challenge and set about doing “what we do”  About 3 months later they dominated Google page ONE for their business name.  Oh, by the way, there are over 8 million search results for their specific name.

But the best part is they got a call from a woman over 600 miles away  who opened the conversation by saying “I understand you are the expert in Redhawk properties… we are coming into town and want to buy a house. Can you meet with us”?   Need I say more?   How did we do it??

We helped our client write an article about the specific neighborhood and produced a nice video of the real estate broker introducing the neighborhood, it’s amenities and benefits. He simply INVITED viewers to give him a call for more info.

The key here is he did NOT pitch a property, he did not hard sell his services. He simply presented himself as a helpful and informative resource for anyone interested in this specific area!  Deal closed- he got paid “CHA-CHING”! He’s now a believer!!!

Here are SIX other reasons to begin blogging right this minute!

1. Build thought leadership by showing your expertise and becoming a go-to resource for prospects and media.

2. Get SEO value for each blog article. More content = more opportunities to get found online.

3. Engage in a dialogue with customers and prospects through blog comments. Host conversations and respond to issues or questions.

4. Attract social media followers. Businesses that blog enjoy more social media reach because they have content to share.

5. Generate more leads online. A HubSpot study found that businesses that blog generate more than 67% more leads online compared to businesses that don’t blog.

6. Attach a personality to your brand by giving your company the voice of the people behind your brand.

Well… what are you waiting for?  For more information on “HOW TO BLOG”  subscribe to  ”OOMPH” your online marketing booster club!

PROOF that it works    Our clients website is HARVEST TEAM REAL ESTATE

I’ll be looking for your articles and blogs! Tell us what you think and share YOUR experience!   Need help getting started? Contact us for some FREE advise

Wherever you are in your journey to online marketing  success,

Online Media Pros will meet you and guide you to your perfect destination.

We have several programs available as well as fully customized ala carte services.

If you don’t see exactly what you want below, call us to design a program perfectly suited to your marketing objectives.

MARKET DOMINATION

• Video Marketing Campaign.  Produce and distribute (3) online “trigger” Videos
• Social Media. Create or review (5) accounts. Contribute Weekly
• Article Marketing.  Establish 5 accounts. Contribute 5 articles to each
• Directory Submissions. Submit business to 10 influential Directories both regional and local.
  
• Maps and Places. Create or review placement on Google and Yahoo maps
• Business blog. Create  and contribute (Initial build out billed separately)
• Lead Page. Create targeted, call to action Lead Page
  

YOUR MARKETING PARTNER

• Video campaign (2) Videos
• Social Media Create or review (5) accounts, Contribute bi-weekly
• Article Marketing, Establish 5 accounts. Contribute 2 articles per account
  
• Directory submissions. Submit business to 10 influential directories
• Maps and Places. Create or review placement on Google and Yahoo Maps
• Business Blog. Create new blog and contribute content bi-weekly
• Lead Page. Create targeted, call to action lead page that includes Video
• Develop Action Plan
• Monitor and manage weekly

YOUR ONLINE MARKETING ASSISTANT

• OMP to create customized Step-By-Step Action Plan and “how to” guide
• OMP will be available for consultation, questions and advise
• Video Campaign. Produce (1) video and distribute to 40 online properties
• Social Media Accounts.  Review and/or establish (5) accounts
• Article Marketing. Create (5) accounts Contribute (1) article to each
• Directory Submissions. Submit business to 10 influential Directories
• Maps and Places. Submit to Google and Yahoo Maps
• Upgrade to MARKET DOMINATION pkg will receive credit.

For full pricing and availability, please contact us via the comment box below.

Dedicated to creating compelling video and audio content to enhance your web presence.

The production team at ONLINE MEDIA PROS would like to put their 30+ years of production experience to work for you!  Your message is our Mission, and helping you get noticed is a MUST!

The creative staff, production and distribution teams will help you

• Analyze and prioritize your objectives.
• Dial in the precise Image you desire
• Coordinate the production schedule to suit your needs
• Develop a media schedule and distribution timeline tailored to your goals
• Deliver results!

The production team will handle every detail for your “shoot day” All you have to do is show up with a smile.  Our crew will help you make the most of every second on and off camera. We’ll even stock the craft service table for a mid day pick-me-up.

Our Marketing and Distribution team will take your message and broadcast it throughout the web. With a flip of a switch (well not really just a flip) your message, content, media will be distributed to over 50 highly ranked video sites, social networks, blogs, article directories, forums and podcasts.

Whether you are looking for a quick video upload for your website OR a comprehensive media rollout that will broadcast your mesage worldwide for months and generate massive traffic to your website and business…. ONLINE MEDIA PROS will be your partner from start to finish.

For a complete consultation, contact us. We would love to talk with you and help you realize your BIG IDEAS!!!

HEAD DOWN, EYES FORWARD.   FORGET THE OTHERS…. JUST  GO-O-O-O-O-!

Sometimes there are strategies, tactics, techniques that we must learn. Of course.

But sometimes success means doing more than anyone else, or more than anyone else expects. Sometimes success really is about just working hard.

Others can teach us how to focus more, how to develop systems, self-motivation techniques, and how to streamline  our day so that we make more progress, but NOBODY can make us want to work.

It is human nature to want to believe there are magic bullets. Our interest is peaked when we read  a clever sales letter about turning the internet into your own private ATM machine, or watch a late night infomercial about how a nobody tripped over the secret to life and is now a zillionaire.

But in reality we know TRUE, lasting success comes from determined effort, luck and smart choices.

Working smarter can be learned. Good habits can be formed. And LUCK is about being prepared, being open and being available for that “opportunity” that steps in front of your path.

As you plan your 2011 success strategy, keep working harder for your goals than anyone else, give more of yourself for the good of your team, your community your world and be the best darned Human Being you can possibly imagine… You’ll be surprised at how wonderful it feels and the success that follows!

Wishing everyone a bountiful New Year filled with Promise and Prosperity.

The statistics are staggering… The speed of change is mind boggling. The TRUTH is undeniable and the time is NOW to jump in and START YOUR CONVERSATION.

• OVER 50% of the Worlds population is under 30.
• 96% of Millennials have joined a Social Network.
• FACEBOOK beats GOOGLE in weekly traffic.
• Social Media has taken over pornography as the NUMBER ONE internet activity.
• It took the INTERNET 4 YEARS  to reach 50 MILLION people.
• The I-POD 3 YEARS
  
• FACEBOOK had 200 MILLION subscribers in less than a YEAR
• I-POD application downloads hit 1 BILLION in 9 MONTHS

“We don’t have a choice on whether we DO Social Media… The Question is how WELL WE DO IT” – Erik Qualman

• If FACE BOOK were a country it would be the worlds 3rd largest
• 80% of companies use Social Media for recruiting
• 95% of those use LINKED IN.
• The fastest growing sector using Social Media is WOMEN  55-65 years old
• YOU TUBE is the 2nd largest search engine in the World.
• WIKIPEDIA has 15 MILLION articles.   Studies show it is as accurate as the Encyclopedia Britannica

• There are OVER 200 MILLION Blogs
• Only 18% of TV campaigns generate a positive ROI
• 90% of people skip ads via TiVO or DVR
• 25 of the 26 largest newspapers are experiencing record declines in circulation
• there are 60 MILLION status updates on FACE BOOK daily

Successful companies in Social Media act more like DALE CARNEGIE and less like MAD MEN:    LISTEN FIRST- SELL SECOND
The ROI of Social Media is that your business will still exist in 5 YEARS!

SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT A FAD… IT IS A FUNDAMENTAL SHIFT IN THE WAY WE COMMUNICATE!

For information and assistance on introducing your brand to the Social Media scene… Contact ONLINE MEDIA PROS 760 863 2200.

Information and statistics from: