Hot Ideas & Hot Air

For some of us, social media is like breathing.  We check Twitter every day (ok, 10-15 times a day).  We blog every day (or at least try).  We have a group of friends on Facebook, MySpace, FriendFeed, plurk and all of the other creatively named social sites. But for others, like Landon Ray, the CEO of Office AutoPilot, jumping into social media is scary.  What business owner has extra hours in the day?  None I know.  And for Landon and others like him (including some of our clients), social media seems like an endeavor that might suck away valuable time for questionable return on investment.

I am definitely a late joiner of social media.   I just started Twittering and blogging this year.   ( see our posts about deciding to use Twitter.)  I vividly remember being all alone on FaceBook, wondering who would be my friend, how I’d find them, and whether it would be be of any benefit (business-wise) to have more “friends.”  

You see, most of my clients are professional service companies who sell software such as Microsoft Dynamics, Sage Mas 500, QuickBooks, and Deltek.  Most of the owners of these businesses aren’t on the social media sites - at least not yet.  

So how do I justify my Return on Investment in Social Media?  I measure my ROI though:

1.  Fabulous Search Engine Optimization.  My stats have increased significantly every month.

2.  An Incredible Wealth of Knowledge.  Clients turn to me to be a marketing expert - but I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know everything about marketing.  Marketing is constantly changing. By keeping in the loop with other marketing experts like myself, I can learn about and think about new tools, tips and technologies that will speed up their return on investment.

3.  A Network of People to Turn to.  If I don’t have the answers or skills to do something, social networking has put me in touch with people who do. 

4.  An Opportunity to Show Clients Who I Am.   Anyone can look good on a 10-page website or a glossy brochure, but blogging, Facebook, Twitter, etc. but the more casual format of social media gives clients more insight into the authenticity of the person and the company that they’re hiring.

5.  An Early Opportunity.  It’s true that most of my ideal clients aren’t using social media yet.  So what! Some of them are.  I’ve been able to connect with lots of Microsoft Executives because they’re early adopters too. Once my ideal clients do get on board, they’ll see that I’ve been doing it for YEARS…. And they can still find be better than they could before because social media has given me such great search engine optimization. 

The way I see it is that by spending 30-60 minutes EVERY DAY on social media, I avoid spending signficantly more time and money getting clients to know, like and trust me through traditional mediums.

Want to be my friend?  Join me:

Twitter:  http://twitter.com/amachina

Facebook: http://profile.to/adriannemachina/

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/adriannemachina

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 12th, 2008 at 11:04 am and is filed under Requirements of every small business, Small Business Online, Tips and Tricks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.