The list of social sites that I use is getting long:

Twitter

Facebook

Google+

LinkedIn

Spotify

StumbleUpon

This Blog

SparkPeople                                                                                                                       * image by Patrick Hoesly

Goodreads

 

Believe it or not, each of those sites offers individual benefits, and I use them to meet different needs. If you were so fanatically impressed with my amazing writing skills that you wanted to connect with me in all of these different places, you would rarely, if ever, see the same content duplicated. I do provide links to my blog from several other sites, in the hopes more people will come here, but that’s about it.

 

You may be thinking, “That’s a LOT of content.” You’re right, it is, and sometimes I struggle with what to post where. Would this link work better on Twitter or Facebook? How many more people are likely to respond to this question on Google+ than on LinkedIn? Where should I share this in order to provide maximum exposure?

 

The thing is, I’m not really normal – in the way that I use social media. It is part of my job to offer my clients insight and advice regarding these various platforms. If that weren’t the case, I’m not sure I’d be active in quite so many places. Also, if I had a job that didn’t involve marketing or social media at all – if I were still a teacher, for instance – I would certainly be slower to get involved.

 

This run down of my own social media habits has a point: Any normal person would be overwhelmed.

 

That overwhelm usually leads to a handful of reactions. People link their feeds together so that the same status update or link or whatever appears everywhere at once. Sometimes, business owners simply ignore the latest and greatest and stubbornly stick to whatever has been working for them (know anyone still relying on the Yellow Pages?). Other folks just hire it all out to an agency.

 

Linking your profiles and pages together is a bad idea, for several reasons. One is that you miss out on the particular benefits each platform offers. The reason all these sites can coexist is that they don’t do the same things. The jokes and chatter that work perfectly on Twitter fall flat on LinkedIn.  I’m certainly not the first person to offer this advice, but I do think the temptation to link accounts will grow along with the number of platforms that could be linked.

 

Not taking the time to even learn how the next big thing works is a mistake, too. You need to at least have some idea of what each of these sites can do before you can decide where your business should be. Twitter might not be right for your business, but if you never check it out you will never know. Lots of businesses have found new customers through Twitter that never expected to be able to. Lots of others have tried and flopped – either because the people they were looking for weren’t there, they lacked an understanding of how that community works, or they were inconsistent or impatient.

 

Hiring an agency might seem like a good idea, especially if you listen to a well written and delivered pitch. But, unless you or someone who is extremely knowledgeable about your company works closely with the agency, it could be a disaster. In order for marketing through social platforms to work, you have to be personable and responsive to what your customers want. A representative from an agency cannot do that nearly as well as someone who lives and breaths your business. I’m not saying that an agency is NEVER the right idea, but you (or someone you trust) will have to spend time making sure the agency knows your company well enough to represent it.

 

I’m curious as to how the people who read this blog handle the overload. Do you wait to see how everyone else is going to use the latest new thing, or do you jump right in? Do you link your profiles together? Do you use different platforms to share different sorts of information or is one place as good as another?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Yesterday I was pleased to attend an event hosted by the Social Media Club of Chattanooga.  It was at my favorite coffee house and lots of friends were there, so it would’ve been fun regardless of presenters or speakers or whatever. However, it would be hard to describe watching a “live” (by Skype) interview with someone like Guy Kawasaki as a bonus.

 

The interviewer was John Martin of the Small Business Round Table, and he conducted the interview for his Internet radio show SBR with John Martin. Each week, John interviews small business owners, successful entrepreneurs and others who have wisdom to share with those of us working to build profitable businesses. John asked Guy questions about failure, venture capital and much more as we all looked on, listened and learned.

 

Guy Kawasaki is successful and excellent at what he does. He also seems to be a genuinely nice person who is interested in helping people, sharing his knowledge and teaching others how to be…enchanting. I think, though, that some of the things he said during the interview should be put into perspective.

 

For example, John asked about the way that Guy uses Twitter. Now, Guy has been scolded many times for posting too often, using a team to post under his name and other practices that some people view as “bad” or “wrong.” The thing is, it’s working. For Guy.

 

Guy has two accounts on Twitter, and if you follow both of them, you are probably seeing his name pop up quite frequently in your stream. He says that he posts each link that he wants to share four times a day – twice on each account. Now, if I re-posted things four times a day, people would get irritated really quickly. But Guy has something like 400,000 followers between his two accounts, and they are all online at different times. Some might check things in the mornings, others in the evenings – and that’s not to mention time zones. So, if you have 400,000 followers it makes good sense to share the same thing four times a day.

 

But if you don’t have that many followers? If you only have a measly couple of thousand? You are probably alienating people by repeating yourself so frequently, particularly if you are posting links to your own stuff (Guy doesn’t do that, by the way). Most of us can get by with posting something twice, but that’s about it.

 

Guy does something else that probably wouldn’t work for the rest of us: he uses social media like a billboard. He broadcasts on Twitter, which is why he wants tons of followers. For him, a follower is a set of eyeballs that might click on a link and look at an ad – and might even click on the ad.

 

He almost never retweets anything, mostly because he says he pays no attention to his stream. He is not using Twitter to engage in conversations. This works for a man who is hanging out on the NY Times Best Seller List, owns a couple of companies and is a respected authority in his field.

 

It probably wouldn’t work for you, and it definitely wouldn’t work for me.

 

Small business owners need to be having conversations on Twitter and Facebook. We need to be talking to people, and participating in useful discussions. You know, being authentically ourselves and stuff. For the business owner with a small reach and even smaller budget, real conversations with real people who spend real money are the power of social media. We can talk to people, make them love us, find out exactly what they need then sell it to them.

 

I would never presume to say that someone like Guy Kawasaki is doing it wrong. I will say that most of us cannot hope to do it the way he is and be successful. Do you follow Guy on Twitter or like him on Facebook? How do you feel about his tactics? Would you ever try to replicate his success using his tactics?

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Last week, I wrote about a few of the things I hear when making cold calls. I also mentioned the fact that my cold calls aren’t exactly cold because I do a ton of research before I ever pick up the phone. Like most people, I hate cold calling. It can be so uncomfortable. In the process of procrastinating I figured out a few things that make it a bit easier.

 

First, I should tell you that I tried other methods of finding new business. Being a writer, I most especially wanted cold emailing to work. In my experience it does not work, at all. Out of maybe 100 cold emails, I will get at most two responses. It doesn’t matter how much research I do or how tailored the email is to the person receiving it. If you’ve had success with cold emailing, please, please share your secret!

 

In my last “real job” part of my responsibility was to find lists of companies that would be prospects for a group of third party recruiters to call. When I started my own business, I did the same for myself. It got depressing pretty fast. The rejections and blow-offs came thick and fast. It didn’t take long to start coming up with a list of things that would rule out a prospect before I called.

 

After a while, I began developing profile of my ideal customer, and using that profile as a guide has helped me become a much more successful cold-caller. There are a few other things that I do before calling that really help. Here is my basic process:

1. Look for companies that have an existing marketing budget. In other words, try to determine if they are spending any money on marketing currently. I do this by looking through the classifieds in various publications. If a company paid to run a classified ad, they probably have some money set aside for marketing, but not a whole marketing department.

2. Thoroughly investigate their current practices. In my case, I check to see if they have an inconsistently updated blog, whether there are errors in their site copy, if they have a Facebook Page and so on. I make notes about all of those things, including what could be better. I find at least a few things that look really good.

3. Figure out who to call. If I can’t find a name, it doesn’t automatically rule a company out, but it drops it to the bottom of my list because it’s just easier to call and ask for “Kim Smith” than it is to call and say “Can I please speak to whoever handles your marketing?” Your chances of getting screened out by a gatekeeper are lower when you have a name.

4. Make the call. If you don’t pick up the phone and make the call, you’ve wasted an awful lot of time with all that research. Even with the first three steps, I still end up leaving messages and doing a ton of follow up. However, when I do get the right person on the phone, we have something to talk about.

 

I only make about 10-20 calls a week, and end up getting some kind of new work from those calls an average of every  other week. As time goes on, those numbers are improving, probably because I’m getting better at deciding who to call. I don’t depend on cold calling for all of my business – some comes from referrals, some from social media and some from in-person networking – but it is an important source for me.

 

How do you generate new business? Do you have a process for gathering prospects and contacting them?

 

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A significant portion of my business is generated through cold calling. Well, I do quite a lot of research before

actually dialing a number so it isn’t exactly cold calling, but that’s a story for another day. Today’s post is about what people say when I finally do call them.

 

It is extremely rare that anyone is rude, but most of the time, people have reasons they won’t hire a writer. Sometimes, the reasons are valid but very often they are closer to being excuses. I wanted to share some of them with you, as well as why I call them excuses.

 

1. My niece’s husband does all of the writing for my company. All right. I’ll admit I’ve never heard that one, but I’ve heard just about every variation of it you can imagine. My mom writes our copy. My sister writes our copy. My brother-in-law writes everything we need. One of our employees takes care of all that.

Although I cannot tell the person offering me this excuse, when I make that call, I’ve already looked at their copy and found it wanting. Either it is poorly written or hasn’t been updated. Or perhaps they don’t have a blog but could really benefit from one, or an email newsletter would work well for their business.

What I do instead of insulting their mom/sister/brother-in-law/employee is start asking questions. Do they write professionally or is it a spare-time kind of thing? Have you ever considered a newsletter or blog? Is time an issue?

Most of the time, all those questions serve to get the person to at least think a little more about how a professional writer could help. Depending on their reaction, I either answer questions and talk specifically about my ideas for their business or politely thank them for their time and ask if I can email my contact information in case anything ever changes for them.

 

2. It would take just as long for me to tell you what to write as it would to write it. This one stymied me at first because I couldn’t figure out exactly what they meant. Do people imagine they would need to dictate things to me? Or do they think I couldn’t take a list of bullet points or random thoughts and turn it into a cohesive piece of writing?

As far as I can tell, people do think both of those things. The other thing people mean is that they will have to explain their industry, business or whatever to me in explicit detail so that I will understand it well enough to write about it. They have no idea that good writers are also excellent researchers.

My response in this situation is to offer to do a “test” article at a deeply discounted rate. I say, “Well, why don’t you let me write one article for you so that you have some idea of what I do and can make an informed decision?” I know that there is a huge debate about whether or not writers should discount their work for any reason, but this method has gotten me more work than any other.

The key to making it work is to put an enormous amount of effort into that discounted piece. It is meant to impress. To stun. I want the prospect to read it, say “Wow!” then hire me on retainer to totally revamp their copy or to write their blog posts each week or whatever.

If they aren’t interested in even a “test” article, I thank them for their time, ask if I can email them my contact information and hang up.

 

3. It’s a great idea and all but we just don’t have enough customers to justify it. When someone says this, either they don’t want more customers or don’t understand that good copy brings in more business. Sometimes explaining the whole idea of using content to get more business nudges them in the right direction, but I have yet to get a customer who starts out from this point.

Even if they don’t call it content marketing, most good business people understand the idea. Business owners who are not interested in staying in touch with their customers or who don’t see the value in offering high-quality information that is complementary to whatever they are selling probably won’t ever “have enough customers to justify it.” That may sound harsh, but it’s true. Relationships and good service are beyond important.

Of course, sometimes, this is code for “I really can’t afford any additional expense right now, even though I know it would help.” Either way, my response is a brief explanation of how my services could help them get more customers, followed by a request to email my contact information in case they ever change their mind.

 

4. Our customers aren’t really blog readers. The italics don’t come close to conveying the tone people use when they say “blog readers.” It’s almost like they are saying “the biggest nerds in the world.” Now, you know (obviously because YOU are reading a blog, right?) that blog readers aren’t necessarily nerds, and I know that, too, but you might be surprised by the number of people suffering under that illusion.

You might also be surprised at my response. Instead of trying to convince them that blogs are not exclusively for nerds, I suggest that perhaps an email newsletter would work better for their customers, or ask if they have considered submitting articles to industry print publications. If they become customers later, then I’ll return to the idea of blogging…

The conversation can go a couple of ways at this point: either they are intrigued and start asking questions or they begin to sound impatient. If they are intrigued, I proceed to sell my services and if they are impatient…well, by now you know, I ask if I can email my contact information, thank them, and hang up.

 

The key to making this work, as I mentioned at the very beginning is careful research. Look for the next post for more on that. For now, please share. Do you make cold calls in your business? Do you hear excuses? Have you developed a set of responses?

 

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You see it everywhere: become an authority, share your expertise, dominate your niche and so on. The problem that I have – and many others I talk to – is acknowledging the fact that I do actually know enough about something to be considered an expert.

 

It’s an old problem. The more you know, the more you see how much you don’t know.

 

If you study anything, you will probably read books and articles written by super smart people whom you admire. You will listen to speakers, sit in on teleseminars and webinars, have email exchanges and do research. It is natural to think of those people who write, present and speak as experts and of yourself as someone who is learning from them.

 

But at some point, you know far more than the average person knows.  You gain the ability to teach others what you have learned and to share your knowledge. If you are thinking about how much more you’d like to know about x, though, you may not realize that you know more than most people. You might be too worried about how much there still is for you to learn.

 

Chris Brogan addressed this tangentially in his post titled You Always Have Something To Give, and  of course, Brian Clark addresses the question in his famous report Authority Rules. No matter how many really smart people tell you that you need to market yourself as an authority, or even that you need to be sharing your knowledge so that people can decide you’re an authority for themselves, it’s hard to do.

 

The reason it’s hard to do is feels risky. You know how much you don’t know. You know the questions people could ask that would reveal your ignorance for the whole world to see. It’s uncomfortable.

 

Here are a few ways you can begin to recognize your own authority and gain confidence:

Make a list of what you know. When I taught Spanish, I relentlessly studied the everything I could find about the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs. In fact, I learned all I could about the Aztec civilization so that I could tell my students stories. One week, I moved a book shelf and noticed just how many books about the Aztecs I owned. That got me to thinking about how little I knew about the topic when I started teaching, and it dawned on me: I was something of an expert. It was a stunning revelation.

Take a look at a few blogs in your niche. Not the recognized, top-shelf blogs, but the ones with smaller readerships. When I visit blogs of other writers, I am sometimes left gaping at the elementary nature of the information presented. The reality is not that those folks are unqualified to write about writing, but that I know much more than I give myself credit for.

Visit forums and read some of the questions people are asking. How many of them could you answer off the top of your head? How many of the answers others have posted do you know are flat out wrong? Expertise is relative, but if you know more than most of the other people posting in a reputable forum, you have at least some measure of authority.

Start sharing. Sometimes I will recommend to my Facebook friends that they change their passwords. The suggestion is always met with a flurry of questions. The people I “hang out” with online know that it is a good idea to change your passwords frequently, and they know the dangers of getting hacked. It’s easy to think that everybody knows that stuff. But they don’t. So, while I would never consider myself an authority regarding personal security on the Internet, I do have knowledge that would be beneficial to lots of other people.

 

Have you ever realized that you have unwittingly gained expertise in a particular area? Or, have you ever hesitated to claim authority about a topic when you had every right to do so? Is there some way you “test” to decide if you should share your knowledge or not?

 

 

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