America's Best Business Practices

Mike, wonderful article and so true. I have had some of the same experiences you have with those who refuse to accept that the world has changed. They want to stick to their old methods even though they don’t work anymore. I am also baffled by those who lock their twitter account – what is the point then in having it? These people are truly clueless. Unfortunately for some of them, their lack of acceptance is more than likely going to lead to their downfall.

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts. I look forward to more of your articles and will be sharing your wisdom with others.

Julie, thank you for your kind words. I am not sure I deserve that much flattery. It is only one man’s opinion (but one I respect – smile). Again, thanks!

Hi Mike,

As one who’s been in the marketing industry for over twenty years (working with small businesses), I’ve never been a big proponent of traditional advertising. Agreed, those who try to apply it to social media are destined to fail.

On the resistance, my guess is it has more to do with fear than ignorance. Still, you’re right, those who don’t at least understand what they are dismissing, and why, will suffer.

By the way, I didn’t realize any generation was projected to surpass Baby Boomers for a long time to come – interesting tidbit. Thanks.

Shhh… Nanette. You will date yourself. :-)

I will be posting a two-part series (one per week) starting the end of this week from a friend of mine that I think many small business will find useful. The first will be about the rules of social media and the second will discuss the right tools for different types of products and services.

Stay tuned! :-)

Mike,

The video is one of the best “wake up calls” to organizations and individuals alike about the growing importance of Web 2.0 and social media.

I think it is imperative that folks who are in the social media marketing arena help educate those who are unsure or unwilling to explore social media applications on their own. Using social media marketing does not mean discarding tried and true traditional methods of marketing. Social media is another tool in the marketing and PR toolbox that should be used to augment an existing marketing strategy.

My clients tend to be either ignorant of the benefits of social media (“why do I need to use it — people who want to find me can just Google me”) and/or apprehensive of new technologies (“I just don’t get that Twitter thing — I have enough Friends I don’t need Facebook). I use education as the key to the successful implementation and integration of social media into a marketing plan.

To answer your question: social media platforms are an important addition to any organization’s marketing plan, not a replacement for and definitely not an entire marketing plan on their own.

Thank you for taking the time to read my article and for your comment, Karen. I believe it adds more to the discussion.

Thank you Mike for an excellent post. There are many professionals within the marketing industry who still see Social Media as a fad. It’s not…it’s a consumer revolt. I call this new frontier “No Country for Old Marketing”. Customers are tired of being spoken to…they want the human element back of having a 2 way dialog.

An excellent book that I would like to suggest is “Trust Agents” by Chris Brogan. He is not a marketer by trade, but has become one of the top ranking bloggers on the web and gives a no-nonsense look into why it is important to take a leap of faith into this new media. In a nutshell, the 1st step is to listen to your target audience with “Big Ears”, 2nd Connect with you tribes and 3rd publish. People buy from people they trust…once you establish the trust, the sales will follow.

Sini, thanks so much for reading and commenting! I always enjoy your thoughts. You have a clever name for the paradigm shift in marketing that has/is taken/taking place. :-)

I am very familiar with Chris Brogan. He was in Minneapolis last Wednesday and put on a seminar, “Reputations,” at Best Buy HQ. I could not attend due to a conflict but a friend of mine attended and he and I are working on a two part article based upon it. I will probably publish that within a couple weeks. I expect it to be quite popular.

Thanks again for taking the time to read my article and commenting on it.

Thank you Mike. Great insights for someone like me who is just recently waking up to the importance of social media. Working very hard on understanding the realm first, how to use it as a professional services business, identifying my brand and competitive advantage messaging, and then jumping in feet first. These are reasons why I’m following you and subscribing to your content – your insights are right on point.

The thing that excites me most about social media is it levels the playing field from a cost standpoint. Now it’s all about effort and want to.

Cheers

Thank you, Tim. I will do my best to not disappoint you.

I would recommend that you also search this blog using the category drop-down menu. Select “Web 2.0 Marketing” and then “Social Media” and you will find many articles that should be helpful to you.

At the risk of telling you something you already know, social networking is just part of social media. And social media is just part of Web 2.0 Marketing. Some people get so wrapped up in social networking or social media that they miss many great marketing tools that are under the Web 2.0 Marketing umbrella.

Good luck, Tim! Thanks for following the blog and sharing your thoughts.

Hi Mike,

It’s amazing how many B2B’s don’t realize that that B2B = People2People.

Now matter how you slice it all business come from closing deals with other people.

Social media is a smart want to talk one-on-one, person to person because every message is read, heard or viewed, one person at a time.

Each social media contact builds your story and credibility.

With that said, It’s critical to any marketing plan to include social media for all the above reasons.

In fact, it’s wise to budget your time, money and effort for social media marketing because the ROI of you growing your People2People contacts is huge.

To your marketing success in 2010
Sandy Barris
CEO
Fast Marketing Plan.com.
http://www.FastMarketingPlan.com

Hi Mike,

We believe social marketing is essential to the overall marketing package. Facebook and Twitter are excellent tools to build and engage an audience. But like any marketing tool, one has to nurture and communicate frequently with its customer base.

Large companies like Coca Cola, Paramount Studios and Dell utilize Facebook by providing engaging content along with contests and promotions.

One sporting goods retailer has included a merchant shopping cart and admits the sales are only a small percentage, but for them, it’s another forum to be seen.

Recently, a client has a book to be released in September did not want to begin building her Facebook and Twitter sites until after the book was released.

I said, waiting until the book is distributed before starting to build your social media platform is like “preparing Thanksgiving dinner and inviting guests when the food is done cooking.”

Victoria, that is a great analogy! Thanks for sharing. I noticed you didn’t mention LinkedIn. See what you think of “LinkedIn: The New Business Card Exchange?” I believe this is the direction LinkedIn is heading. In their most recent update they removed the “I don’t know” button from invitations.

Thanks for the comment.

Initially, I started to credit Susan Fronk from Guerilla Marketing Discussion on LinkedIn who actually started the discussion. It was her suggestion that those who participated post to your blog.

I agree that LinkedIn is evolving into a one stop portal, most recently allowing: FOLLOWING which is similar to Twitter.

Social Marketing and networking truly allows people to be in control of their brand and message.