Are you convinced of the need for Social Media?

Social Media....the buzz, the confusion, the variety and the Choice!

After spending over 20 years in the technology field, I decided to build my own website to promote my existing Gift & Incentive business online. Now everyone knows that the place to build retail businesses right now is online, correct?

In fact I was introduced to the S-Curve of technology - a theory by Harry S. Dent when I first began with an online business in 1999 and as predicted by this theory Internet shopping has passed the 10% mark in the past 10 years. Therefore, over the next ten years we are going to be witnesses to incredible growth.

With my product offering in the Gift & Incentive market and experience with website development from my full time job at a website solution company Lone Wolf Real Estate Technologies, I decided to launch a website. Next came the marketing research...social marketing that is. I reviewed all the traditional marketing methods and put my plan together to begin with the less expensive social media arena.

After many, many hours I learned some incredible lessons about social networking and believe I was born for this time in history. Social marketing is nothing more than relationship building! This has always been and will always be the root of sales; customers are people that need to be respected, appreciated and provided with a value in order to part with their hard earned money.

There are incredible resources available to learn where and how to begin your path of creating a web footprint, regardless of your industry. I know the first thing I do when I meet a prospective client or source is to search them online to check their reputation. Have you checked yours? What does the first page of the searches tell you about your company?

Creating loyal customers is part and parcel of brand recognition, integrity and the relationship building. Customers purchase based on trust. I encourage you to do your homework, check out some of these resources and become proactive about your reputation. It won't consume you if you understand the big picture and know where to start and what to spend your time on.

I recommend reading this USA Today Article about More marketers use social networking to reach customers!

1) Chris Brogan is a NYT and WSJ best selling author for his book Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust. Chris is a ten year veteran of using social media and technology to build digital relationships for businesses, organizations, and individuals. Chris speaks, blogs, writes articles, and makes media of all kinds at chrisbrogan.com.

Here is a link to one of Chris's articles; Starting Your Social Media Case

2) Seth Godin's latest book, Tribes, is a nationwide bestseller, appearing on the Amazon, New York Times, BusinessWeek and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. It's about the most powerful form of marketing--leadership--and how anyone can now become a leader, creating movements that matter. The Miami Herald listed it among the best business books of 2008. Seth writes the most popular marketing blog in the world;
is the author of the bestselling marketing books of the last decade;
speaks to large groups on marketing, new media and what's next;
and is the founder of Squidoo.com, a fast-growing recommendation website.

Here is an excerpt from his blog; "Connecting people to people. Over and over again, that's what lasts online. Folks thought it was about technology and it's not."

3) Social Media training; that's right if you don't know where to begin, ask someone. Invest your money in someone that has done the research and let them shortcut your learning curve and teach you what works. Your future is in your hands! Feel free to contact me for direction and encouragement, it really is not difficult to maintain if you are setup correctly and ready to recognize that an hour a day online marketing is a fundamental part of business.

Wishing you all the success you are willing to work for!

The Real-Time Web: A Primer, Part 1

This is part 1 of a three-part series on the fundamental characteristics of the real-time Web.

Like cloud computing less than a year ago and social networking two years ago, the real-time Web is the new black on the tech circuit. The trend has been publicly bandied about this summer, starting with a few industry get-togethers, followed by several enthusiastic testimonials from investors (notably angel investor Ron Conway's widely posted list of ways for Twitter to monetize). It was then capped by a glowing report in BusinessWeek in early August.

That a serious trend is on the rise would not be doubted by those watching Twitter's rise in usage and media popularity. In fact, the debate this summer has centered not on whether something is afoot but rather on what to call it. Ron Conway favors "now media" in the belief that it's a media phenomenon. But most commenters, led by several bloggers and lead investors, prefer to call it "real-time Web" ("real-time stream" is also popular).

Click to view the entire article by ReadWriteWeb

Using Twitter for Business

There is so much information out there on what is happening with social media/ especially twitter. Here is a resource as to what is happening with twitter and business. http://cli.gs/7r24JJ

Once you make the leap and start with twitter I highly recommend the most comprehensive Guide to Twitter I've found: http://cli.gs/MZyhLa

This link tells you who you are following that is not following you back and the opposite: http://friendorfollow.com/

Wishing you all the success you are willing to work for!

Making Customer Retention No. 1

As we prepare to launch our website on June 15, 2009 we've been researching Customer Relationships. With the empowerment of the Internet allowing everyone the opportunity to be heard we will strive to provide our followers with the most relevant information available. Enjoy this article about Customer Retention