Social media marketing can bring success

Improve communication in business relationships

By Eric Bauer -- Casual Living, 12/11/2009 3:21:00 PM

Bauer

The October High Point Market was remarkable for me in that I came away with new information that will make a difference in improving my communications with friends, business friends and business associates.
 
If it were not for my appalling ignorance and the honesty and candor of a new business friend I would have left market with a feeling of same old, same old and I’m not referring to the amount of new product or new designs buyers saw at market.

The “same-old, same-old” that I’m referring to has to do with our cognition and our attitude about how to improve each of our respective businesses. Everyone attending market is going there with sets of goals that, if accomplished, will improve their businesses. And then, there’s the glaringly obvious information we take in that wasn’t on our list, information, which potentially has the most positive impact for us, as was the case for me.

I subscribe to an E-newsletter from www.selfgrowth.com and just yesterday received the following communication: “It's virtually impossible to ignore. Everywhere you turn, you hear about these Social Networking and Social Media Web sites: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. It looks like they are taking over. Over 500 million people are using Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter. Have you tapped into these active users as a profitable business tool? Are you finally ready to be successful with Social Media Marketing?”

Now I’ll grant you, what I received is an advertisement from authors of a program attempting to sell you and me their program that can lead us to success in marketing via social media. But the numbers don’t lie. And being a skeptic is plain ignorant especially, if you’re like me, having something to sell to citizens of the world. We’re talking about 500 million people. In my opinion, that is virtually impossible to ignore.

The good news is this isn’t rocket science. You can spend a lot of money with the so-called experts or you can get in there for a half hour or an hour a day and figure it out. It’s easy. Or you can ask your children or grandchildren to help you. At Facebook you can now build professional pages, business pages. In a few weeks since we built our Facebook page for our agency, we have nearly 100 “Fans” of the business. That means anything we post in just a few short minutes at our page lands in front of all those people immediately, and it’s coming to them from their trusted Facebook.

Look, I’m not an early adapter in this segment and by no means an expert; however, my 20-something year-old graphic designers that work here are. It’s easy. And all it costs you is your time. While our clients have had success with our Getting E_Smart program, we always hear from people whom are skeptics using the complaint about the quantity of e-mail people receive now and how much “spam” people receive. So far, I’m not exhausted clicking the delete key.

Communicating with your customers where they live is key to your success and to your survival. 500 million people (500 million and one if you now count me) are too many people to ignore. Our agency is now into Facebook, we’ve have built our business page(s), then my personal page(s); I cannot even tell you how many people from high school and college I’ve reconnected with these past three weeks. I also know more about my own children and have even more to talk to them about. I also see enrichment in relationships, as many business associates become business friends. If you remember the book by Harry Beckwith that I referenced in my last column, What Clients Love, Beckwith says, “Competence gets you into the game that relationships win.” Social media can enrich your relationships.

We’re set up at Twitter now, and here is more good news: They’re connected, so you need only post once. And I’d like to thank my new friend John Strauss,  http://straussfurniture.com/  for his honesty, candor and communication skills.
 
He has reminded me that my mind is like a parachute in that it works better when it is open. I hope you’ll visit us at Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Eric-Bauer-Marketing-LLC/186698299601.