DrBillToth-Blog

 Social Media – What is it?  A fundamental shift in the way we communicate
                        What is it NOT?  A seperate business model.

First & Foremost – remember there is a human being on the other end with
thoughts, feelings and emotions – just like you.

Their Facebook page is a “space” just like each person has “their space” in their
home.  Remember nobody likes when their “personal space” is invaded.

Treat your Facebook interactions like any live event you might attend.
* First impressions count – there are no second chances
* No ‘Shouting” logos, selling, references to business, products
* No connnecting just for the sake of connecting.
* No blank profile photo, or pics of pets, kids

* DO be sincere
* DO use a recent pic of yourSelf in your profile photo.
* When asking to connect always write a short personal note
* Start with people you know from high school, college, church, fraternity,
   sorority etc.

NOTE:  It takes 7-9 interactions over a period of days, weeks or months
before the topic of “what do you do” naturally comes up.  If you force it
or are “premature” with asking – then you’re “selling” and nobody wants to
be “sold” – especially not in their “personal space”.  Using social media to
build your business is a long term strategy.  It’s “World of Mouth”

Social Media is NOT a seperate business model !!!  

There are no clear leaders on how to make a sale using it.  This morning’s google search for common terms resulted in millions of hits with no clear consistent leader or leaders in the field.

• Results 1 – 10 of about 42,100,000 for “build your business with Social media”
  Results 1 – 10 of about 141,000,000 for “make money using social media”
  Results 1 – 10 of about 172,000,000 for “How to use social media to build a business”

Only 20% of online ads are viewed thru social media sites.  And the common standard of measure…the “click thru rate” is less than 3%.

Here’s more:  some clips from December business articles on the subject:
“Online retailers remain worried about their own competence at using social media
 and losing control of their brand.”
“the biggest barrier to a company starting a social media program is a lack of knowledge”
“even after getting social media initiatives off the ground, 35% saw no improvement and
83% did not know how to measure their results”
“Social networking sites can be a career boon – if you don’t annoy people in the process”

For several months we’ve been testing and tweaking several approaches to using social media as just one tool for building your business.  We believe it’s a near perfect tool because of what it is.  We’ve arrived at a few concepts that are working right now and producing the kinds of results we all would like to see.  There are some very clear “no-no’s” and some very clear “Yes – Absolutely”

We’ll share tonite Thursday Dec 17 at:  8:29 pm CST (712) 432-0080 Access Code 195645#

Social Media – What is it?  A fundamental shift in the way we communicate.

And the players and the users are morphing, changing everyday.

Who are the players today?
Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Plaxo, LinkedIn, YouTube, Stumbeupon, Delicious, Digg
and more coming everyday.

Who are the users?
>60% of internet users have a social media profile…that’s up 20% ’08 > ’09
96% of Gen Y (30 somthins) are part of at least one social network.
The fastest growing segment on Facebook is baby boomers 45-65 YO, especially females.

What are they doing?
The typical user goes to their social media site 3 times per day and spends a total of appx 31 min
>1.5 million pieces of content are shared on Faceboook daily
13 BILLION videos are shared on Youtube monthly.
YouTube is now second to Google as a search engine
2 months ago Social Media passed porn as the #1 activity on the web. 

So “What is it?” = Social Media is a fundamental shift in the way human beings communicate.  It’s as significant as the invention of fire, the wheel, or the telephone.  It’s more pervasive, more penetrating than radio, TV or email.  It’s creating new language, new acronyms, new
manners, and new rules.  Our culture has yet to determine…simple things like just when is it “ok” to answer a text while you’re at dinner or in a face to face verbal conversation?  Is it “ok” to answer your cell phone or text – during a movie, while on a date – or in bed?  How are companies “supposed” to communicate via social media?  How can it be used to build a brand or a business or a reputation?  The technology is creating new fundamental questions our culture has yet to answer. 

Tune in tomorrow for “What is it NOT?”