This blog has been moved permanently to http://savvysocialmediamarketing.com.
Now you can find my blog and website in one place. I look forward to connecting with you there!
All the Best,
Kristin Gentry
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Friday, December 18, 2009
Social Media Time Managment
"There aren’t enough hours in the day for all the chores that social media puts in front of us," says Chris Brogan in Prioritize Your Social Media Efforts. So how do you prioritize your time? This great Ebook from Amber Naslund can help steer you in the right direction.
Ebook: Social Media Time Management
View more documents from Amber Naslund.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Meet Me at Barcamp Nashville!
BarCamp is Nashville's free "un"-conference for the digital and technical community. The BarCamp format was brought to Nashville by Marcus Whitney and Dave Delaney in 2007. It's free to attend — thanks to our generous sponsors — and the un-conference format encourages community learning: attendees are also encouraged to sign up to present a session. (Did we mention it's free?) BarCamp has become the premier technology conference in Nashville, bringing together the best minds and representation of the hottest companies in the internet, entrepreneurial, new media, and software industries, among others. Over 300 people attended the first year, and 2008's attendance was nearly double. We’re projecting great growth for 2009. Sign up today to attend!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Stop. Look. Listen.
Three words you no doubt remember from childhood. Mother was right, even now, in this crazy world of new (social) media.
Have you been thinking about launching a social media marketing campaign? Are your competitors already using these new media channels? Before you do anything, I want you to STOP. This brave new world is an exciting place and it’s easy to get swept up in the moment. Where do you want to start? Are you going to create a blog, podcast, Facebook page or tweet? Before you dive in headfirst with all of them, choose one media channel to work with. There’s plenty of time to do all of them, but start slow with one.
Let’s say you’ve decided to create a blog. Great! Where should you start? With a little R&D of course! LOOK at what others in your space are doing. Where are your competitors and where are your customers? LISTEN and learn by reading their blogs regularly and commenting on them. It’s important that these experts get to know you and value what you add to the conversation. Why is this an important step? Because when you do start blogging, these same people will follow you back and regard you as an expert.
Every day, you should stop, look and listen. Take a break from the daily grind and perform some simple searches. Listen to what others are saying and join the conversation. The key is to be the center of something useful. Help others. Add value. Listen. Reciprocate. Ask questions. Comment and answer questions. Be an active part of the community in which you do business. Your customers are out there looking for you. This is your chance to foster community, conversation and commerce.
“Everyone is connected; connect your business to everyone.”
~Mitch Joel, Six Pixels of Separation
Have you been thinking about launching a social media marketing campaign? Are your competitors already using these new media channels? Before you do anything, I want you to STOP. This brave new world is an exciting place and it’s easy to get swept up in the moment. Where do you want to start? Are you going to create a blog, podcast, Facebook page or tweet? Before you dive in headfirst with all of them, choose one media channel to work with. There’s plenty of time to do all of them, but start slow with one.
Let’s say you’ve decided to create a blog. Great! Where should you start? With a little R&D of course! LOOK at what others in your space are doing. Where are your competitors and where are your customers? LISTEN and learn by reading their blogs regularly and commenting on them. It’s important that these experts get to know you and value what you add to the conversation. Why is this an important step? Because when you do start blogging, these same people will follow you back and regard you as an expert.
Every day, you should stop, look and listen. Take a break from the daily grind and perform some simple searches. Listen to what others are saying and join the conversation. The key is to be the center of something useful. Help others. Add value. Listen. Reciprocate. Ask questions. Comment and answer questions. Be an active part of the community in which you do business. Your customers are out there looking for you. This is your chance to foster community, conversation and commerce.
“Everyone is connected; connect your business to everyone.”
~Mitch Joel, Six Pixels of Separation
Monday, August 3, 2009
Tips for Starting Conversations in Social Media
Before I dive into my actual blog, I want to share some exciting news with you. Starting tomorrow, I will begin working for The Growth Partnership as their Marketing Manager. I will be launching a social media campaign/strategy for the firm and will blog about it, so 1) I hope you'll follow that blog too, and 2) I probably will not post quite as often to this blog. But don't give up on me! I want to stay connected to you and will share more information with you as I have it...
Okay, you've seen me quote Jeffrey Gitomer more than once, out of his "Little Black Book of Connections". And I'm going to do it again, because social media is all about CONNECTING. Here are a few tips he mentions in his book:
GIVE VALUE: You strengthen relationships by giving value to them - not facts about you. Get them (whoever you are trying to influence) leads or put them in front of contacts that might lead to business for them.
TELL TRUTHS: You build relationships by telling the truth even if it hurts or embarrasses you. (me: think about Covey's emotional bank account)
HAVE ANSWERS: Be a resource. Get to the point where they consider you a resource of information rather than a salesperson or just another acquaintance.
FIND LINKS: Part of the relationship building secret is to break the ice. Find something in common - a link that ties you together.
USE LINKS: Find stuff that helps them build their business, and surprise them with it.
GET PERSONAL: Use personal information in a creative, sincere way.
BE THERE: Stay in front of them without an agenda (asking for the sale). Just earn it with valuable information they can use.
BE FRIENDS: Perform acts of friendship as well as acts of business. Have fun. Do nonbusiness things with them.
Social Media, as with any Web 2.0 medium, is about user/consumer control. You can't control - nor should you even try - the content of social media, including what others are saying about you or your brand (i.e. Firm). What you can do is be proactive with tips like these, and if you do come across some negative comments, do your best to own whatever the problem is/was and try to fix it. If you succeed, not only have you regained someone's confidence (and business) but you have probably also created a positive story that this person will want to share with others.
If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Jeffrey Gitomers "Little Black Book of Connections" it is available on Amazon.com.
Okay, you've seen me quote Jeffrey Gitomer more than once, out of his "Little Black Book of Connections". And I'm going to do it again, because social media is all about CONNECTING. Here are a few tips he mentions in his book:
GIVE VALUE: You strengthen relationships by giving value to them - not facts about you. Get them (whoever you are trying to influence) leads or put them in front of contacts that might lead to business for them.
TELL TRUTHS: You build relationships by telling the truth even if it hurts or embarrasses you. (me: think about Covey's emotional bank account)
HAVE ANSWERS: Be a resource. Get to the point where they consider you a resource of information rather than a salesperson or just another acquaintance.
FIND LINKS: Part of the relationship building secret is to break the ice. Find something in common - a link that ties you together.
USE LINKS: Find stuff that helps them build their business, and surprise them with it.
GET PERSONAL: Use personal information in a creative, sincere way.
BE THERE: Stay in front of them without an agenda (asking for the sale). Just earn it with valuable information they can use.
BE FRIENDS: Perform acts of friendship as well as acts of business. Have fun. Do nonbusiness things with them.
Social Media, as with any Web 2.0 medium, is about user/consumer control. You can't control - nor should you even try - the content of social media, including what others are saying about you or your brand (i.e. Firm). What you can do is be proactive with tips like these, and if you do come across some negative comments, do your best to own whatever the problem is/was and try to fix it. If you succeed, not only have you regained someone's confidence (and business) but you have probably also created a positive story that this person will want to share with others.
If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Jeffrey Gitomers "Little Black Book of Connections" it is available on Amazon.com.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
CPAs are Aflutter About Twitter (Part 4)
This is it! It’s time to dive in. Michael Phelps has nothing on you…after this, you’ll be a Twitter gold medalist!
According to the poll on my blog, only 35% of firms are using Twitter while 45% are using Facebook and 95% are using LinkedIn. If you haven’t yet weighed in, please do so (the poll is in the column on the left). The survey is only open for 1 more day…so hurry!
Twitter for Business (Advanced Users)
The first thing I’d recommend doing is personalizing your Twitter background (see snapshot of mine above). If you’ve got a graphic designer on staff, the dimensions of the graphic are 1920 px wide by 1200 px tall (but you have to leave space for your feed, etc.) I used this website to download a PowerPoint template that I turned into a JPEG to upload (the directions are on the website). If you get the PPT finished and get stuck there, email it to me and I’ll convert it for you (once I completed the design in PPT I used Photoshop; much easier!).
The next thing you want to do, if you have a Facebook page, is set your Twitter account to cross-post to both sites (so you’re not duplicating your efforts). You can use the Twitter Facebook App (http://apps.facebook.com/twitter) or a third party site like http://ping.fm, which will cross post to multiple sites at once.
If this is a firm account and you’re trying to decide to use one account or several, here’s my advice (take it for what it’s worth). I would use one account with multiple users. Using your custom background, you can identify each of the twitterers by including a photo and their name, title, etc. Include some way for them to sign their messages, like their initials (mine would be “^KG”) so the readers know who tweeted the message. Also be sure to include all of their names in the Bio section of Twitter’s Settings/Profile, since you will have used your firm name as the name of the account.
This leads me to the reminder to be authentic and transparent. Always let the readers know who is behind the tweets; the greatest opportunity Twitter gives you is the chance to show the personality and humanness behind your organization. This is your chance to communicate your firm’s culture (I keep coming back to @Zappos as an example because I think Tony does this exquisitely). Allow your staff to participate in the conversations too. They are an extension of your firm’s brand and can have a positive impact on your web presence. Just be sure to have some guidelines in place.
Twitter is not really a place to sell your services; yes, that will hopefully be a byproduct of the dialogue that happens within Twitter, but Twitter is for making conversations and generating buzz. Your traditional marketing methods (because yes, you still need those) are for closing the deal. However, if you can come up with a creative contest, promotion or tweetup, Twitterers are suckers for those and will participate and retweet, potentially generating revenue for the firm.
Back up, what’s a TweetUp? A tweetup is akin to a meet-up; through Twitter, sometimes using a designated hashtag, you organize a live gathering somewhere in your city. For instance, you’ve been conversing with several individuals who may be good prospects so you invite them for a tweetup at the local Starbucks, coffee on you. It’s an informal opportunity to gather and network in person.
Okay, I’m getting “wordy” again, so I’m going to jump back into bullet points of info:
- Twhirl (http://twhirl.com) sits on your desktop and delivers a steady stream of tweets (you have to download Adobe Air first; http://www.adobe.com/products/air). It can help you stay on top of your tweets, but may be overwhelming and suck up time. So use this with caution.
- Use Advanced Search to locate questions/needs in your area of expertise and grab an RSS feed; keep an eye on this and respond when you can. Please note that you should approach with a little caution; be friendly and offer your assistance. If done right, you’ll develop a positive reputation as an expert in your area.
- Link appealingly and creatively to your website or blog; the headline you choose will either generate more web traffic or drive people away (never tweet, “New blog post: blah, blah, blah, link).
- Pictures ARE worth a thousand words. Post pictures using TwitPic (http://twitpic.com)
- REPOST IMPORTANT MESSAGES several times; each post only receives about 5 minutes of view time. That means if it hasn’t been clicked through within the first 5 minutes, chances are people didn’t see it. So repost it throughout the day to be sure it’s seen (use bit.ly to track click throughs)
- Tweetups
- Collecting ideas
- Sharing experiences
- Group live chats (publicize hashtag and date/time in advance!)
- Live Twitter an event, seminar or conference (publicize hashtag and date/times in advance!)
- Google Analytics
- http://bit.ly.com (URL shortener and tracker)
- http://backtweets.com (tracks links to your site that may have been shortened by someone else); you can also grab an RSS feed from Backtweets
That’s it! You made it through! Easy enough, right? Maybe not. Just remember that I’m here to help you navigate the Twitterverse, so feel free to email me anytime with questions.
If you plan to make the leap (or already have but are quickly seeing how complicated 140 characters can be), I recommend buying The Twitter Book by Tim O’Reilly and Sarah Milstein. It retails for $19.99 but you can find it on Amazon for under $14.
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