It's a one-woman show. I specialize in social media marketing, increasingly ... a lot of mobile marketing, meaning text messages, mobile Web sites, iPhone (applications), using social media on the go. ... I help mostly nonprofits and some small businesses set up profiles on various sites and then do the training. That's a big component. You really need training to make these sites work for you. You can get on Twitter ... LinkedIn ... and Facebook, but they kind of dabble with it, and my specialty is really the how-to (through) Webinars. Everything is Web-based. My fees come from the Webinars.
What are the different components of social media marketing?
What I talk about is Web 1.0, your Web site, your e-mail newsletter. Those are still the most important tools. You need (those) before you need a Facebook page and a Twitter account. ... Then, you use (Web 2.0), Facebook (LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube) to direct traffic to your site. The next one that's coming, Web 3.0, is the mobile Web - iPhone apps, mobile Web sites. It's an integrated social media strategy. It's important to consider your age group, too, because with 18-to-24-year-olds, e-mail's for old people. If you're marketing to that age group, you need to be where they are.
How does social media fit into an overall marketing package?
A lot of it really depends on the business. ... If you really want the (return on investment) out of it, you really have to know HTML to drive people back to your Web site or to your blog, or to put Web 2.0 icons into your Facebook page or successfully design a YouTube channel. ... The important thing to understand is that (social media) is not a silver bullet. You don't just get a Facebook page and then miracles happen and new clients ... show up. ... If you don't participate ... you're not going to be talked about on blogs. Your Web site's not going to get traffic. ... You have to brand your logo and get your name out there, and pretty much if you don't, your competitors will.
How should businesspeople separate their personal and professional media use?
In general, don't post anything on these sites that you wouldn't say out loud or you wouldn't want anybody to read, because they're going to read it. ... If you're looking for a job, are you going to put up pictures of you wasted on a Caribbean cruise? That's kind of silliness, so hopefully, if you're smart, you realize ... especially after the Google real-time update, that your Facebook status updates, your tweets, everything's going to be up there for the public domain. ... LinkedIn is where I do my professional, and Facebook is where I have a little bit of fun. Twitter (I use) for marketing. Twitter is the superstar right now.
How should businesses use Twitter?
From my own experience, the ideal Twitter formula is to log in about every 90 minutes. ... Send out tweets throughout the day, anywhere from about four to six throughout the day. The worst thing you can do is to log on in the morning and send out six tweets in a row. Then, you've just officially become a spammer and a marketer. ... Every once in a while, show that you're a real human with feelings and opinions and emotions.
What kind of work do you do on iPhone apps, and who should have them?
I can't actually design the iPhone apps, but (there are programs) where you can actually log in, create a profile, and dragging and dropping, create an iPhone app. I create the images that you need for the iPhone buttons. ... I think it's too early to tell whether every business needs an iPhone app. ... Most Web sites are not designed to look good on a mobile device. So now, we're going to have to redesign new Web sites that look good on mobile (tools, and) we're going to use iPhone apps to drive traffic to the mobile Web site.
How should companies deal with employees wasting time on social media?
(Social media policies) are one thing that not a lot of businesses have. ... Gen Y really looks at (a company's) social media policy (and) if there's no Tweeting or no Facebook (on the clock), they're like, "That's a lame company." Recruiting could be hurt if that's your demographic. ... We're going to start seeing a lot more social media policies. I would allow (use) on lunch breaks (and) other breaks. Let them log in, just as long as they're not sitting there hanging out. Be a little bit flexible, otherwise, you're just coming across as pretty much an old fogey.[[In-content Ad]]
