Showing posts with label Social network. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Social network. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 13, 2011

The Importance of Social Networks and Your Business

1:24 PM | Posted by Logan Stalcup | | Edit Post
Social networking is a phenomenon that is taking the world by storm.

Recent research has shown that social networking is penetrating all ages of citizens of the United States. That being said, in order to gain the competitive advantage when it comes to your Internet presence, it is absolutely crucial that you utilize social networking sites to their fullest potential.

When one examines the numbers shown by emarketer in Feb 2011, it seems like a no-brainer: With that many people on social networking sites like Linkedin, Twitter, and Facebook, why would anyone with a business not be present on at least one of those networking giants? For many businesses, the answer is pretty simple; it takes effort. Now, that’s not me calling businesses lazy, it’s actually quite the opposite. Business owners are busy. They have to maintain the highest quality of service or product. They must make sure customers are satisfied with their purchase. What happens is that business owners fall in the trap of ignoring the fact that much can be done in the way of marketing with minimal effort on Facebook and Twitter.

What will be introduced in the following blog series over the next couple of weeks will be some simple things that you can do to boost your sales via social networking sites. I’ll show you how easy it can be to use these sites to your advantage and get noticed in this fertile ground for marketing your business!

Let’s Grow!
Wes Stalcup

To learn more, visit us at OnlyWEBS.us
Labels: , , | 0 comments
Thursday, July 16, 2009

The One Question You Must Answer

10:57 AM | Posted by Wes Stalcup | | Edit Post
All Results Drivers (customer, constituents, followers, employees, members) want the answer to one question.

Do you know that question? It's only 2 words.

Ask yourself the question about everything you do on the internet and your results will improve. No doubt. Guaranteed.

A quick intro to help get to the question, so you can begin to make sure you answer it. I recently took a class where a gentleman named Jim Kukral was one of the instructors. Jim's a big personality with a lot of great insights. He always has a look on his face that makes you think he is going to bust out laughing. A smile not quite contained. You should add Jim to your list of people to get good stuff from.

Jim likes to say there are only 2 reasons people use the internet. 1) to be entertained or 2) to solve or get an answer to a problem.

Think about it for a minute & I bet you'll agree.

For this discussion, I might suggest that can even be distilled further. People use the internet to have needs met. (I can't help them with some of those needs, to be sure. :-) )

People - your Results Drivers - judge whether what you are offering satisfies their needs and wants by asking this question about everything you do.

The question? "So What?"

Ask yourself that simple question until you get to the fundamental final answer. The answer which, for your business or activity, is the last answer you can give. That answer will be the benefit your Results Drivers get from that offering.

Really simple example: You say, "We're offering new software"

So what?

"Um.. It's faster."

So what?

"Well... you get your results in less time..." (getting closer)

So what?

"Faster results mean more time for you to do other things"

Ah... So your software means the user will have more free time. That might actually meet a need or want.

Now that you have that answer, you can frame it back into your relationship with the user - in the spirit of Billy Mays - as a question to find out if it really matters. [An aside...speaking of Billy Mays, if you didn't watch the first season of Pitchmen, do catch the reruns - it's quite educational AND note that Discovery Channel has renewed the show for another season. YEA!]

"Are you tired of wasting time waiting on your old software?"

It's sound rudimentary and terribly obvious for that example. Who wouldn't do that for a software product? But, how often do we forget it or think we can ignore the concept in another context.

Do all the elements of your Growth Engine (sign up for Grow! - the eCourse for definition) answer "So What?" for the Results Drivers you engage there?

Does your blog entertain or offer usable bits of advice? Your website? Your Twitter stream? Your Facebook page? Your storefront or shop? Your YouTube channel?

Go back & double check.

Then... Let's Grow! Wes
Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Labels: , , , , , , , , , | 0 comments
Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Twitter - Is It For Your Business?

4:46 PM | Posted by Wes Stalcup | | Edit Post
Everyone says you’ve got to be on Twitter. Although many aren’t sure why. Nor is it clear what Twitter will be when it grows up.

Here’s the scoop and what it means to you.

Twitter still doesn’t have a business model, which is ultimately necessary to ensure longevity. It’s likely to be acquired by a larger company and/or morph into something different from what it is now. If it doesn’t, it may not be around for long. Perhaps this creates implied risk in the minds of users.

Why might that be the case? Research now shows the retention rate of users, which is the percentage of last months users that return this month, is lower than other social networking sites and suggests people just aren’t sure what to do with it or aren’t finding value in it. It’s sort of a wild west really. There are side shows, snake oil salesmen (& women), neighborly discussions, con artists, people of

Clark Stanley's :en:Snake Oil :en:Liniment. Be...Image via Wikipedia

ill repute, legitimate businesses selling or doing customer support, and so on - all tweeting away like mad. It’s pretty noisy all the time. There are dozens of tools and 3rd party support sites that have sprung up around Twitter because the Twitter programmers made access easy and open. Some of these 3rd parties do have business models. Most, if not all, have a free element which, as you’ll see, is to our - the users - benefit.

Given the lack of clarity though, what’s all the fuss about? Simply, a place that millions of people visit everyday and where many engage in actual discussion, sharing information, etc has something very compelling about it. I’ve spent a lot of hours trying to get my hands around Twitter and some of it’s surrounding 3rd party tool sites. In the process I discovered some of the best and worst of it all.

The question is, does Twitter hold any value for your organization? The answer is: yes it can, if used correctly. Remember the goal is to help you build relationships with your Results Drivers.

This post is adapted from and concludes in Grow! - The eCourse, Chapter 5.

So, if you are on the fence check about Twitter out the chapter 5 & the rest of the course for FREE by signing up over on the left column <<<<<

Make your days great - by choice!

Wes
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Labels: , , , , , , , | 0 comments
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Designed by OnlyWEBS.us.