I was tempted to write the headline, “Is Social Media Dead?” but I’ll avoid sensational hype and stick to real news & commentary. Microsoft’s announced purchase of LinkedIn immediately raised questions about the future of social media. For businesses, it will likely become even more of a pay-to-play medium.

I’d like to advance a discussion about reevaluating our social media marketing strategies to avoid wasting time at the expense of more profitable sales and marketing activities. Social is here to stay but we need to use it better.

Sales is the end game of all business activity. Every CEO cares first about making sales because without customers there is no company. CEOs would do well to reconsider what social media is really doing for them in 2016. Most of us have had enough time and experience, including lots of trial and error, to understand what social media really is and its value to businesses – which will continually ebb and flow. Every platform; Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, etc. will develop its algorithms to incentivize or push businesses into paid advertising and premium services – more and more as the startup phases have passed.

To them, it’s all about sales too! Social Media companies have the captive eyeballs and ears you need to reach. They’ve invested billions to build these networks and engage the masses. They cannot give businesses free space to promote or there would be no space left for real social interaction, and they’d go out of business. I predict that you can expect to pay more as time goes on if you want your social media content to be seen by enough potential customers to get results.

CEO: “Please go sell something!”

Now let’s talk about results. What are you getting out of your social media efforts now that you’ve been using it for years? Anecdotally, I have clients (both retail) who have made numerous direct sales on Facebook and lured dozens of people into stores for special promotions. I have other clients (B2B) who’ve had some success on LinkedIn and virtually zero results from Facebook even as they strive to follow “best practices.”

Is there any wonder about the difference in experiences between consumer/retail and B2B when it comes to Facebook vs. LinkedIn? Remember that LinkedIn was set up for business networking and Facebook was set up for social networking. There is a profound difference between the two even if they meld sometimes.

If your company sells primarily to other businesses, social media can be a confounding puzzle. The conflicting message is “We know we should be using it effectively but we can’t afford to waste time on marketing activities that fail to produce a profitable return.” Perhaps all we really need to do is prioritize social media properly in the marketing mix.

How do you prioritize social media properly in your marketing mix? This will be different for every business, but generally speaking, if you’re in B2B, you need to leave the office and visit more clients, use the phone instead of direct messages, concentrate on your LinkedIn network, and stick to your core value messages in all media.

One of my clients and I are having a serious conversation about their social media component and we’ve made a few key adjustments, shifting more toward great web content, article publishing and direct marketing.

Lastly, I’ll share the gist of what social media has done for my business practice. Many people have endorsed my firm as having expertise in social media marketing and I’ve been at it since about 2006. Here’s a quick summary for my marketing services business:

Focus on the Big 3

LinkedIn – Very effective for extending my business networking online and worldwide. I’ve gained new business directly from LinkedIn, including clients outside my normal geographic footprint. Forget about your LinkedIn Business Page. Your Personal Profile is where ALL of the valuable action is on LinkedIn. I make LinkedIn my professional online hub after my website.

Facebook – I have a large network of friends, including business associates and all of my business related posts are ignored on my personal page. Interestingly, even my best business content is also ignored on my Facebook Business Page. Not so with my retail clients because their customers are mostly having fun when they shop and we engage them in fun ways. For business service customers, “shopping” is mostly work. People are on Facebook for entertainment, not work.

Twitter – I’ve added value to my brand on Twitter as people see, favorite and retweet my messages. I go to Twitter for ideas and to “listen” for trending topics in my business. People and businesses break news on Twitter. It can be a good resource for sales intelligence. I have successfully contacted prospects and sold to them by paying attention to tweets from both the client and my competition.

Other social networks like Instagram, Pinterest, etc all offer potential sales & marketing opportunities but the big 3 for most businesses remain LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Insofar as these platforms help you start face-to-face conversations with interested prospects, you’re using social media successfully for your business.

The post Social Media Marketing or Just Good Vibes? appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

In keeping with the theme of real time and the tremendous value of the current moment, I offer you this idea. The reason I keep this newsletter going week after week, even when I scarcely have time to publish it is because it keeps my brand relevant. We all have built in forgetters.

By striving to share useful information with my audience, the vast majority of you opt to stay on the mailing list. You allow me to drop in once a week or so because there is some value for you in most of the articles. You all remember that my business is here in case you ever need it.

So here’s the value for today: Social media is not the be all, end all and I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to worry about it. Email marketing is still the best deal going.  You should indeed establish an active digital social presence but there is no need to obsess over whether you’re doing it as well as your competition. The value of social media is overrated unless you value what other people in your market have to say. It’s a much better tool for learning than for promoting, so relax if you’re anxious about your social media strategy. Build your email list instead.

Shift your focus to what works: personal relationship selling and networking. Email is a fine tool for keeping your relationships alive and staying relevant in your target market with regularity and consistency. It’s also the best way to market events and put butts in seats if that’s your goal. Social media can be an effective augmenter to extend the reach of email based campaigns.

Here’s a more extensive article about why Email is Crushing Twitter and Facebook for Revenue Generation, ironically from Social Mediopolis – The Capitol of Social Media!

Now that social media marketing has been around for a while, “the jury is still out” but is starting to come around to reality and the honeymoon is definitely over. Here’s a fascinating article summing up a survey of top North American marketers: The Declining Value of Social Marketing

Please subscribe to my free newsletter.

The post Social Media is overrated. Build your email list! appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

This is important and serious business. Social Media – Facebook and Twitter in particular, have a bad rap in some business circles. Here’s why you need to consider some combination of Twitter, Google Plus, LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram, depending on what business you’re in.

The post One salesperson = 2,000 more. Sound good? appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

I must give credit to my friend and fellow entrepreneur, the founder of The Giant Game Company, for the title of this short article. We were talking the other day about changes going on in his target markets and how he has successfully responded to their shifting needs. “The market made me do it,” he said. I responded by saying I was thinking of an article about that and now I’ve got a title for it.

The post The Market Made Me Do It! appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

By Chuck Sink

Hitting the road for events and field appointments burns more time than anything else in business.  You might feel more productive in the office analyzing CRM data, having meetings or constantly tooting your own horn on your own social channels. There in the comfort of home base you feel more in control of things; that you’re spending less money and being more efficient with time. Why drive to see a client when you can pick up the phone or make a Skype call? Why attend a business expo when you could launch an eblast?

Ask yourself this. Would you even have an office if someone didn’t go out and make deals with your firm’s clients? Would your top competitor have as much of your market share had he hunkered down in his office while you were meeting with his client instead of him?

You get the idea, right? With any service or product requiring service, people prefer doing business with professional people who are already with them rather than chase down a supplier from some little message seen flashing on a screen.

People who experience success with business networking (that is, all those who actually practice the art) know that most of their earnings come as a result of the relationships they form face to face – in the flesh. Every time you decide to blow off your association or industry networking event, you can be guaranteed zero new connections and no enhanced friendships. Deals will surely be made there, just not with you.

In the virtual world, blogging and developing valuable content only works when you share it out there in the virtual field – on other peoples’ sites and channels. Go ahead and post content on your Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter pages to keep your own sites interesting, dynamic and relevant. Then share that content in as many OTHER places as you find appropriate. Look for social-business influencers in your market and engage them online. Ultimately you want to extend that online engagement to a meeting. Make a new friend (psst: friends are automatic referral partners).

Post an update on your LinkedIn profile. Then, if it’s relevant, post it as a discussion topic or question on your LinkedIn Group pages.

Read a great blog? Post a thoughtful comment, compliment the author and share the post with those groups who would appreciate it.

Monitor your clients’ and prospects’ social media channels. Share, comment on and engage with them in ways that say “I’m paying attention and have something cool to add. I’d like to help if I can.”

Two pronged action steps:

Get up off your ergonomically designed chair and go to where the action is on a regular basis. Ignore the tyranny of time while you’re in productive dialog with customers and industry leaders.

Get out of your social media digital comfort zone. Venture out to the top influencer channels and blogs to participate in their discussions. Bring them valuable content worth sharing and talking about. Before long you’ll be one of the best known influencers in your market with the roster of clients to prove it.

The post Marketing is Field Work appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

By Chuck Sink

There is a local furniture retailer with three stores located within a 50 mile radius of each other. This family business has been successful over the years using tried and true advertising and discount promotions to drive store traffic. They are known throughout the region as having among the best personalized customer service in the business. Their quality and service reputation in their market is enviable on a national level and that alone will assure them continued success.

It took the company about two years to garner 210 likes to its Facebook Business Page. That’s pretty typical for a small business with a marketing director wearing many other hats. When social media entered the marketing scene, the marketing director kept his eye on it and, being prudent, started a Facebook page for the business but didn’t jump in with both feet – this to his credit. His time is better spent running various store operations and keeping the overall marketing efforts going.

Keeping an eye on this Facebook page myself, I noticed its growth was slow and it wasn’t getting much page interaction at all. Most of the wall posts were based on the current promotion they were running. Stuff like: “Come in to any of our three stores to save on sofa -loveseat sets during our 30% off sale!” That type of post seems common sense for just about any retailer with a Facebook page. There is nothing really wrong with it. However, it gives Facebook users no incentive to Like the page or share the message. It’s okay that current Facebook Likes see it and are made aware of the sale but the only real value would be if someone seeing it on Facebook was in the market for that very product at that very moment.

The 4 Steps of Social Media Marketing Success

The company decided they needed a lot more than 210 Likes to use the medium more effectively so they hired me to manage their Facebook page. The first order of business is to grow the audience. The second is to get them to interact with the page, the third is to encourage them to share the message and the fourth and most important, to convert Likes into customers and referrals. Make note of this!

We set out to double the Likes fast so the company offered a contest: Give away a recliner chair every week for a month to one Facebook friend just for Liking the page. A random drawing chose a winner and it was announced on the Wall. A web/social media design specialist helped design a custom Facebook Landing Page within a third party app to kick off the contest. It worked. We got up to 515 likes in 4 weeks and page interactions – guest posts and comments – increased 1,700%! Two years to 210 Likes, less than a month to more than double it. People started buzzing about this generous giveaway contest.

Now that we had a decent base of over 500 Likes it was time to leverage our audience. What’s the best way to do that? Offer them something valuable and be generous about it! Why would someone on Facebook share a business’s message on their own wall? Because there’s something in it for them or their friends.

The marketing director decided to give away a queen mattress set to one Facebook Like drawn randomly. This is where viral power can help you grow a Facebook page following exponentially.

So we created a contest entitled “Sweet dreams are on us…” The deal was that one Facebook Like would be given the mattress set if chosen from a random drawing. Guess what happened? It went viral. In the first day we shot up from 519 Likes to over 3,000. Two weeks later we eclipsed 21,000 Likes and over 25,000 page shares with a total potential reach (friends of friends) of over 6 million people. One simple giveaway has propelled this retailer into the social media stratosphere. They would have to spend many thousands of dollars in traditional advertising to get anywhere near that reach.

With Facebook, it’s people CHOOSING to interact and share the store’s message! Now we control the frequency of the message with a minimum of 21,000 seeing each wall post. People are asking the price of the mattress set (a buying signal) and calling the store. Foot traffic and mattress sales have significantly increased immediately following the contest.

This client was willing to step up and offer to give away a little piece of their stock in trade. What are you willing to offer your Facebook community to entice them to share your message?

The post Lessons from Generosity appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

Engaging customers and potential customers in social media is very tricky and generally requires giving something. Let’s keep this concept blunt and simple. Nobody cares about your company or the success of your business. They have neither obligation nor desire to share your company message and be your loyal brand steward unless they will benefit from doing so. When visiting your business pages, people are not thinking: How can I help this guy get rich? Instead they’re thinking: What will I get out of this? So before posting, sharing content or promoting your page, always ask yourself: What’s in it for them?

People are on Social Media mostly for 4 reasons – the 4 E’s of social media engagement: Ego, Entertainment, Education and Enrichment. Companies have to feed those needs and desires or they will be ignored in this space. When interacting with Likes (Friends), Connections, Followers, Circles, Fans, etc. you’re really networking with them online and you need to bring something to the table or you’ll be thought of as just another self promoter or corporate advertiser. So what are you willing to give your potential brand advocates that they will appreciate and want to share with their friends? Contests and giveaways work well for consumer and retail businesses.

Exhibit A: One of our clients, a furniture store, took 2 years to get 200 Facebook followers. Most of their posts consisted of advertising messages and nobody interacted with the page. Then we worked with them to design a custom landing page based on a substantial giveaway contest – a recliner chair was given away each week for one month to a randomly picked Facebook friend  just for Liking their page. In 3 weeks they shot up to over 500 Likes. Page interactions increased 1700 percent! This promotion combined Enrichment with Ego. The store publicly congratulated winners and thanked new Likes by name. Viral reach exploded and customers on the showroom floor are now talking about how they Liked the business on Facebook and told their friends. The page comments from real customers are overwhelmingly positive. That’s word-of-mouth on steroids!

Social media is about online networking more than anything else. The same principles apply as when meeting people face to face. You need to share ideas, develop relationships and nurture friendships. The best B2C (business-to-consumer) brands on Facebook interact with consumers in a way that feels one-on-one to them. Coke, Starbucks, Oreo, Redbull, Converse, Skittles and Playstation are among the most Liked brands on Facebook. Check out their pages and see for yourself how well they engage consumers.

When dealing with B2B (business-to-business) social media, LinkedIn is a great forum to share ideas, best practices and connect with like minded businesspeople. Twitter is a world of real time discussions in countless categories. It’s a wellspring of ideas and fresh information. It’s also an amazing search engine for online conversations surrounding narrow and broad topics alike. Facebook is a great connector of people to share one-on-one or group dialog. Its potential reach is enormous!

Google+, YouTube, Foursquare, StumbleUpon, Digg, Reddit, biznik, blogs… There are so many platforms today. They all keep us linked and grow our networks, leading ultimately to profitable relationships so long as we stick with the 4 As & Ps of social media; You need to be:

Active; Participate.

Attractive; Position value.

Alert; Pay attention. 

Accessible; Permit dialog.

Be social when attempting to grow your businesses using social media. Your friends and followers are just like you and me. Remember those 4 Es. We all have Egos and love to be recognized. Everyone enjoys Entertainment. Our inquisitive minds seek Education. For ourselves and our families we want Enrichment. How will your business feed those desires online using the social media platforms freely available to you?

The post Who cares about your business success? appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.