Social Media for small business
Often we have small businesses ask for assistance with their social media, but they find our one on one coaching to be to much, so we are glad to offer some group classes that will deliver quality education at an affordable price for small businesses. The first of these programs is being offered in our own backyard of south west Pasco ( Trinity, New Port Richey).
There are two options:
Option one is a two hour class where you will learn about the different types of social media and the cor principles that will help you build your following and connection with your consumers and future consumers. http://holmnpr1.eventbrite.com/
Option two is designed to follow what we deliver in our one on one coaching program, with the goal of you being self sufficient in your social media. We will train you over 4 weeks on what to do, and how to do it with each classes building on the previous weeks class. Our goal is to not overwhelm you, but share the love of social media, that so many have, and more importantly how to use it in your business. http://holmnpr4wk.eventbrite.com/
Keeping with our strong belief of giving back to the community, there are seats reserved in each class for charitable organizations, call us for details.
We do blah, blah, blah and social media…Shut Up!
Lately it seems that saying “oh yeah, and we do social media”, is becoming more and more the thing to say when rattling off services offered; whether an advertising agency, consultant, PR firm or a virtual assistant. We routinely see others claiming to offer our service. We’ve seen “speakers” claim to be social media experts and say they offer social media services, well my answer is Shut up! you don’t do social media, in fact social media doesn’t even like you.
Alright I know that was harsh, and I don’t blanket everyone into that statement and I should mention that we are contacted regularly by smart quality agencies looking to strike strategic relationships with us to assist their customers who need social media help, but I am getting sick of everyone and their cousin saying they are qualified to be helping others with their social media. I almost feel like I need to put out a Jeff Foxworthy “you might be a redneck” type list. Instead my list might be, “you can’t help someone else with their social media if… you don’t understand”: How to measure and track your success, let alone show your own success. Shut up and go away before you mess someones social media presence up beyond repair.
Imagine going to a new networking event with a huge group of the people you want to impress, and then you’re introduced by that one person that everyone hates, because they are a walking non stop diarrhea of the mouth pushy obnoxious sales people that no one wants to listen to, in-fact people make it a point to get away from them….by the way, that’s who’s voguing for you, if they don’t truly understand social media.
If you are looking at trusting someone to help you with your social media presence ask them if they can explain to you about the tools used to measure your performance, if they can’t, run. If that company is trusting “your” reputation to interns, be concerned, after all you get what you pay for, or should I say you get what they pay their interns for. Just because someone is on Facebook and Twitter, it does not mean that they understand how to get others to listen to and interact with your brand.
Head of Lettuce Media Helps businesses understand not only social media, but also how to measure their success in the medium and how to set and attain goals. Contact us to see how we can help you.
We are not an Advertising agency
I know I know, I went and thought I would increase my number of blog posts, and here it has been almost a month since my last post #fail. What can I say, the doctors kids are usually the last to see the doctor:)
All I can say is what a busy month it has been. The Head of Lettuce has been shot out of a cannon and is accelerating to light speed, we are working on some amazing business alliances, products and services.
This month a common theme kept coming up in conversations and that is, We are not an advertising agency and we are not a PR firm, nor are they a Social Media company. Advertising agencies are specialist in broadcast messaging, one way messaging like tv, print and radio. PR agencies help you develop the message you would like out there. Social Media companies like us, well we help you enter the conversation about your brand, the key word being conversation.
Social Media companies, at least the good ones like us 
, work the different mediums and understand that there is a two-way conversation going on. They understand the etiquette and will translate it into understandable bite size pieces so that you will too. Weather or not you have time to do what is necessary is another issue, and that is where we come in. We have the experts who can do it for you, and if you have special needs outside of our staffs ability, we bring in the expert right for your needs.
One of my biggest pet peeves are the people entering into social media, representing themselves as an “expert” or even a practitioner, and yet they publicly make mistake after mistake. I’ve seen companies and individuals claim to help people with social media, and all they do is broadcast, broadcast and broadcast some more. How can you spot these impostors? simple, try to engage them, mention them, tweet them, see if they answer, see how long it takes. Have them explain social media to you, and trust your gut.
We offer free sit downs with any business considering out help, and more importantly offer no pressure, if we are right for you, you will know. One of my favorite sayings is “If you have a product worth selling, it will sell itself”.
So many self proclaimed experts
Wow, things have been busy here with the Head of Lettuce. I recently teamed up with some developer/designers who have enabled me to start offering custom designed Facebook Fan pages, and I am really excited about the opportunities this will present. Check out our Fan page for more information.
A few weeks ago I was at a Social Media day event here in Tampa and I overheard an exchange with my friend @ThatGirlAllie and a guy promoting himself as a Social Media expert. Allie caught him off guard by asking him, what mad him an expert, did he have a degree in it. While the exchange made me laugh, it also made me think more and more about what qualifies one as an expert in this field. There are those entering this field from IT, advertising and Web developing, and where each one has specialized education that helps them cope with Social media better then others, they carry their preconceived notions of what “social media” is. My opinion is it comes down to those who understand developing and managing innovations.
My Degree in Organizational Innovations and my background in training have not made me an expert, but they have given me the tools that I need to better understand managing and training others in this new disruptive innovation that is confusing so many businesses. The fact that I have been actively involved in one platform or another of social media since the 1980′s, has fostered in me an appreciation for how much of a relationship with customers a business can build. I have also learned that you never stop learning. I have focused on the habits of being involved in the social media community, reading and reviewing new technologies so I can constantly be learning about new technologies and how they can apply to the business communication channels. I surround myself with those who I can learn from, and they all do the same. I think if anything, a social media expert might just be that person who realizes that there are no experts and that we all just play a small roll as a cog in the machine that is social media.
Checkin to boost your business and theirs
While there are many entertaining and social reasons to use location based checkin services like Foursquare and Gowalla, there are also some strong benefits that you might be missing out on if you are in a business that calls on others businesses, whether it is for service, deliveries or just sales calls.
I have a friend who owns a discount toner and ink company that delivers their products to many local businesses in the Trinity area. Imagine if every time she delivered, she checked in via a Location Based Checkin app. This would be like a plug for every delivery…did you know “xyz” buys from us, how about “abc”, in fact, everyday there would be reinforcement of who her customers are, and how active she is. There is an adage that “activity breads success” Well as more and more people notice on Facebook and Twitter that so many people in the area are using her services, what do you think that would do for her business? Best of all, guess what this simple campaign would cost her to run? nothing but her time. In this economically challenging time, social media is a low cost option that can deliver much better results then some traditional advertising campaigns that might cost a lot more.
As a Real Estate agent I use Foursquare to checkin to different neighborhoods when showing homes, and this message shows people that I am being active in their area. If the business you are calling on is not in Foursquare (or other app) you can enter them, then let the business owner know what you did and what it might mean to their business to be findable in this location based app. You are going to earn some respect from them for being on top of opportunities and more importantly for showing them an inexpensive way that they to can promote their business.
Businesses get ready and get onboard Foursquare
So you’ve decided to get your business involved in 4SqDay and or Foursquare, now it’s time to tell everyone. You don’t open a new business without a grand opening, nor should you enter the exciting new media world without saying Hey Social Media fans, you rock and we know it, in fact we are going to reward you, because you rock. Get the message out! Post it on your website, your Facebook Fan page, tell your customers on your recipts, add it to your menus, place a sign on the wall “Did you check in on Foursquare while you were here? We reward Foursquare players, (Put your offer here)”
Use Foursquare day for your coming out party, keep your expectations low ( we really have no idea what you should expect), but keep your energy and excitement high as this is not just about the day, this is your entry in a new medium for advertising that will yield greater results for $ spent then any other. Leading up to 4SqDay, and all day long, ask your customers “Did you check in on Foursquare? Do you know what that is? We offer discounts to people on Foursquare and it costs you nothing to access those discounts”.
Your goal should be to get as many of your customers on this fun medium as possible, because it gives you an easy way to engage with those customers and reward your best customers. Think of it as a partnership between you and this new medium.
Lastly find out if there is a “Swarm” party going on that day (4/16), if so ask how you can contribute giveaways for those participating, it can be one big gift for a special Winner, maybe anyone who checked in at your location for the day, or maybe a 15% off discount card for all in attendance (or the first 10 that check in), you decide. Make it a true value and you will be rewarded with business and “chatter” on the internet talking about how cool you are resulting in a better image and ultimately more traffic.
Head of Lettuce media helps businesses develop social/new media strategies to capture attention organically contact us to see how we can help you. Advice on #4sqday activities is free.