One headline I just saw in my newsfeed was “Is Social Media Right for Your Business? The short answer was “YES.” Their point was that every business MUST have an “online personality” represented on Facebook, Instagram, etc. or they’ll lose to competitors who do.

I immediately pondered and thought, “What about the companies not using social media who win business from companies that do?”

I can think of too many examples including clients and other successful businesses I work with. I just pulled a job from a business swimming in a rich Social Media broth and gladly gave it to one that still uses dialup internet on an as needed basis. Landline phone only. The owner is eyeing a nice retirement soon, BTW.

For good reasons, many businesses don’t want social media and don’t need it, at least for now.

Expert Advice or Sales Pitch?

Despite what you may hear from some marketers out there (who sell social marketing services), having an “online personality” on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter or any other other platform is not a marketing necessity today. You may choose to position your brand in a manner that works better in other media, including online, such as your own great website and a strong trade presence. Maybe a top-notch personal selling organization drives your growth.

Pay the freight or nothing gets delivered.

The truth is, your customers find your business and come to you primarily through channels other than social media. It doesn’t make sense to spend a lot of time posting a bunch of quality content on social media unless you pay for people to see it, and have a strong value proposition,  just like any other advertising. Then you may gain sales opportunities from the added brand impressions. You know the advertisers courting you on Facebook if you spend any time there. They’re paying and you’re noticing.

So, unless you plan on budgeting for advertising, think of social media as a sidebar in your overall branding and public relations efforts. You want to keep an eye on it and pay to boost it when you need to see results from it.

Now that some of the dust is settling, we’re understanding Social Media’s marketing limitations and weaknesses as well as its continuously fluctuating opportunities.

One thing I’ve learned as a veteran professional user is never expect anything of great value to come out of free or public media space but expect great results from earned relationships.

The post Is Social Media Dead? appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

To get the most out of this article: Embrace all of the questions asked and answer them honestly to yourself. Then perhaps you could ask others in your firm these same questions and have a serious business discussion about your team’s candid answers…

Are you excited by the vibe your company puts out there? Are you certain that people in your target market are talking about you and your company in mostly flattering terms? Are you showing up in enough digital newsfeeds for your brand to remain top-of-mind in your business network or target audience?

What does your social timeline look like should a prospect look through your company’s digital history on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and your blog?

Does your digital report card show a multi-year history of industry leadership, community engagement and growth, in other words, do you get straight As?

Or, are you like many companies that struggle to publish one or two articles a year and have 6 to 18-month gaps in social media posts, earning an F, D or maybe C- in the minds of prospects looking at your business online?

Think of your business social media pages as your company’s public historical records and a current report card, because that’s what they are. What does the record show about your business strengths, your success today and what you did to get here?

If people can easily follow a story of consecutive events and milestones along with insightful discussions on your social media pages and website, you’re obviously doing your homework. You’re studying your market and providing insights and answers to what people are talking about.

Continuing our school analogy, the A students of social media and digital marketing sit up front (advertise and promote), raise their hands (engage with their networks) and turn completed assignments in on time (post high-quality content frequently). And many A-students go for extra credit (write white papers, produce webinars, etc.).

The historical record and content quality of your business’s social media say a lot about your organization, especially to people who don’t yet know you. How is your present digital messaging and your company history looking to searchers and visitors these days?

If you need help in this area, go get some help. With the right approach, you can quickly liven up your online image and show people what you’re really up to today. With the right content and post frequency, you can build your business page timelines to throw off a lively and accurate vibe of how your business is making great things happen. Why hide your knowledge and successes when your customers & prospects are looking for active players to work with?

The post Social Media: Your Public Report Card appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

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.

Marketing and selling on LinkedIn is a big deal for business today. Just about everyone in business is now on LinkedIn (over 300 million users) and most are staring at their screens thinking, “What am I supposed to do with this?”

Salespeople who have moved away from cold calling are turning to LinkedIn as a new opportunity for canvassing their markets. It’s a fine prospecting tool for certain, but LinkedIn will not work as a “target rich” environment to pick off prospects. People on LinkedIn are just like you. They want to sell, not get picked off!

I’ll offer you in this article what I’ve experienced using LinkedIn since about 2006. A visit to my profile will inform you of my content, connections and online resume. LinkedIn calls me an “All Star” for whatever that’s worth, and I only have a free account.

My professional network on LinkedIn is among my most precious business assets. I’m connected with most of my identifiable business prospects in my market. LinkedIn is the perfect searchable Rolodex, and when I need to contact someone for any business inquiry, that’s where I go. There’s tip number one! Make LinkedIn your interactive business connection database. Okay, but then what?

How do you grow your business and earn more money on LinkedIn? 

The answer is simply this: Use all of LinkedIn’s features for searching, connecting, networking, branding and publishing. Do you want some bullets? Here they are:

• Brand
• Profile depth
• Content value
• Connections – quality and volume
• Presence and interaction

LinkedIn does its job very well. In fact, it will continually prompt you to be a better user. The rest is up to you. How interesting are your messages to your connections?

Humans behave pretty much the same online, no matter where they are. For example what gets more likes, comments and shares on Facebook? It’s usually family and personal drama, controversial topics, frivolous musings, cool pictures and videos. That’s what gets them buzzing.

People want to be entertained no matter what, and on LinkedIn, some even want to be educated. These are your LinkedIn watchwords for post content: Wise, Fresh, New, Bold, Disruptive and Valuable.

Asking a timely and baffling question will get you more interaction than a technical blog post or sharing a typical business article.

Writing a controversial LinkedIn Pulse post will get people commenting and direct messaging you while sharing your latest newsletter will simply be another brand impression.

It’s fine to post something relevant to your business audience every day and those impressions will only fortify your personal and company branding. Don’t expect the floodgates to be opened, but rather a gradual rise to “top-of-mind” status within your LinkedIn network.

Use LinkedIn like I do and trust me, your messages will be seen and noticed by hundreds and potentially thousands every week! Your brand will be reinforced and you’ll be short listed by your connections when they have a requisition and budget for your services.

Your quality professional network will keep growing as long as you stay active on LinkedIn. You will begin to form relationships inside the minds and hearts of your wider online network without even knowing it.

There’s bad news for those thinking of LinkedIn as a replacement for the telephone which was once a fairly effective “dialing for dollars” machine. Social media including LinkedIn discourage spammy or unsolicited sales messages. Connecting socially and fostering relationships online is the purpose for LinkedIn and other social media.

Look at LinkedIn from the relationship, not sales perspective! Get acquainted with fellow professionals and make friends just as you would on Facebook. Just be authentic about it and remember to keep the tone professional, even when using humor.

LinkedIn is actually a very sociable platform. It’s just dressed for professional life instead of a back yard barbecue. Once you have someone in your network, it will be natural to contact them with relevant, valuable business information. An invitation to lunch through a LinkedIn direct message is more likely to be accepted than a meeting request from an unexpected phone call.

Continuous thoughtful updates and interactions with your LinkedIn Groups and Connections will improve your business development results, without question. It’s not a matter of IF it will work, it’s a matter of spending the time and doing the work to actually generate the results.

The post LinkedIn Does its Job. What about you? appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

There are too many technology walls and filters against traditional sales calls for them to be effective today. Not only that, the buyer mindset has changed dramatically over the last 10 years. Cold calls were once respected, even appreciated by many buyers at a time when salespeople offered new product information and comparison shopping opportunities.

There was once, on a certain level, a sense of obligation to respond to the persistent salesperson’s calls. Do you see that sense of obligation working for your selling efforts now? As a salesperson, do you feel it out there anymore?

Voicemail and automated call answering were first, the speed and reliability of the Internet were second, and the cultural shift toward “build a relationship and earn my trust before I will even talk with you” (resulting from the peer-to-peer socialization of business and commerce) is the final nail in the coffin of cold call selling.

Sidewalk canvassing doesn’t even work anymore because many business entrances are locked for security. I remember how awkward it felt ringing a buzzer without an appointment and struggling to offer a valid reason to be let in the door. Welcoming front desks and receptionists have been vanishing as fast as payphones.

Bottom line: Effective prospecting is totally different now and traditional, old-school prospecting methods will mostly fail. We’ve hit that tipping point much to the chagrin of many experienced sales pros who are reluctant to embrace technological and cultural business changes.

So what’s a salesperson to do these days? Here’s what: Transition your energy from making enough calls to make the numbers work, to building enough relationships so your calls are welcomed by enough prospects and they will call you when they need your product or service.

The good news is this works really well. The bad news is the work is just as hard, maybe harder. As B2B is the new retail, networking is the new cold calling. As networking is the new cold calling, content marketing and consultative selling are the new follow up and close methods.

Your B2B prospect has choices at his fingertips and doesn’t necessarily want to be educated on what’s good for him and his business. The business owner and decision maker of today still buys from whom she trusts and especially whom she both trusts and likes. At least that hasn’t changed!

Effective salespeople of today are constantly doing these things:

• attending events where prospects are numerous
• offering valuable information and advice to prospects
• providing leads and referrals to prospects
• building relationships on several social media channels
• writing, producing and sharing blog articles, newsletters & videos
• having coffees and lunches with customers and referral partners
• taking calls from interested prospects
• responding to requests for meetings by prospective clients
• closing new business on first meetings

Sound good? Notice how the bullet list starts with a few tough hurdles and ends with enjoyable, winning activities.

When a salesperson practices most or all of the above on a daily daily basis, he or she becomes like a bright, attractive storefront to the target audience. Buyers of big ticket purchases will be excited to “walk in” to this shiny, merchandise-rich store and get just what they’re looking for. Herein we see the metaphor of the title.

So don’t “go out and sell something!” Instead, go out, makes some friends and be a trusted adviser. Then stay in front of those new friends where they hang out physically and online.

The post B2B Sales is the New Retail appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

Twitter is the place where industry thought leaders, celebrities and other news makers break their ideas on the public scene first. It’s the place to chronicle short bursts of thought, leading followers and the online public to a new video, website, landing page, blog post, news article or single idea.

Twitter has absolutely nothing to do with telling a group of followers what you happen to be doing, which is what most people thought it was at first. Sure you can try and use it for that but few will notice or care about your tweets. Twitter is really the driver of breaking news around the world as well as an amazing connector of people with the same or similar interests.

Of course, people tweet whatever they want and Twitter can be a great medium to share inspirational quotes and ideas whenever they occur. I very often use it for that purpose myself. I enjoy scrolling through my Twitter feed now and then when I’m in need of some ideas. There is never a shortage of them springing from the well of minds out there in the cyber world.

The hashtag (#keyword) makes Twitter the most powerful search engine for real-time conversations. When you include a hashtag in your tweet, it will automatically and instantaneously be indexed and bundled into a group of individual tweets using the same hashtag – every single one in the world. Hashtags are created for every big event going on – business, social and political.

Enter the hashtag in the search bar and you will see every single tweet using it in chronological order. Do you see the usefulness of this in connecting like minded people worldwide at any given time, including potential customers?

See the twitter feed here? It’s a snapshot of what’s being tweeted around the world about the recent Consumer Electronics Show #CES2014. Notice the big tech brands making hay over it.

Talking Twitter 101 can be a reminder to us marketers about how important this powerful social and business conversation engine can be for getting our messages noticed on a worldwide scale. The key to using it successfully, like anything else, is how relevant and interesting you can be to your audience.

Please subscribe to my free newsletter.

The post World, now hear this! Tweet… appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

This post is updated from one year ago and it is more relevant today than ever.

I will need several business services and products to continue growing my business and many of them I don’t need now, or can’t afford yet. That’s why I want you to keep in touch so I won’t forget you.

One of the most common mantras you will hear in business is “Timing is everything.”  I agree. Trying to persuade a prospective customer that he needs your product before he needs your product will annoy him. Just as bothersome is attempting to “educate” your prospect about his “pain” when he doesn’t feel any. If, however, there is a pain point in his business and your product or service will solve it, then by all means take some time to discuss your solution. If you get a “think it over” response, you probably won’t make a sale… until maybe year or two from now. I’m sure you plan on still being around then.

A careful sense of timing – to each individual customer – is critical when planning a direct marketing message or making a sales call.

You may say, “yeah, but how can you possibly live inside every potential customer’s world and know when the time is right?” In traditional business development, a good CRM (customer relationship management) program like Salesforce or ACT works well. So, that’s one way to use good timing but there’s a better way:  It’s all the time!

Junk goes in the trash but the good stuff is opened.

First, identify your target audience by vertical industry lists or by networking and prospecting so you know they have a need for your service or product. Develop your database of names, addresses, phone numbers and EMAIL ADDRESSES. Furthermore, connect with as many as possible on LinkedIn and Facebook. Follow them on Twitter. Then get to work being a sought-after specialist to each one of your prospects.

Why are Google and Apple the most successful companies in the world right now? Because they are genius at what they do and how they communicate it. They remainrelevant and communicate value all the time. There are much smaller examples including local restaurants, law firms, IT companies, you name it.

You need to get busy demonstrating your genius to all of the prospects in your database.  Be a collector and generator of valuable content – expertise and ideas that make people say “Hmm… or WOW!  Yes, it’s hard but you can do it. If I can do it, you can do it too, maybe better!

This isn’t about about you but rather the people in your target audience. My closest concrete example of how this works is what you’re reading right now. Every week different people tell me the same thing: “I get so much junk email and delete it but I always save and read your newsletter.” The Chuck Sink Link generates more quality leads – soon to be clients – than any other sales or marketing activity I’ve ever practiced in 25 years. To all of you: Many thanks!

The examples of how this works are sprinkled throughout your life.

Think about the emails you opt-in to and the supplier companies you follow. What about the exceptional sales reps that stand out from the crowd and whom you like hearing from?

There are plenty of great marketers who know how to put value in front of their audience on a regular, appropriately frequent basis so they are top-of-mind at all times for their products & services. So, when the time is right for their prospect to buy, guess who gets the call?

The post I’m interested, but not right now. 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.

Clients and customers are just like you, me, our friends, neighbors and coworkers. We use social media to stay in touch and be informed about people, groups, organizations and causes that interest us. It’s mostly about the people.

You and I don’t intentionally log on to Facebook to be wooed by a big brand and persuaded to share their self promoting messages with our friends. Neither does your social media audience (if you have one). They are online to socialize and be entertained or informed. Some are there to feed their egos.

Social Media is nothing but a collection of tools that are free for anyone to use. Social Media is not a free advertising medium. It is a good paid advertising opportunity but that’s a topic for another article. We’ll stick to free organic use for today.

Presumptive conventional thinkers continue to treat social media as a place to broadcast without paying for time and space. All they have to show for it is a lack of results and the conclusion that it doesn’t work.

I’m going to let another author take over by way of an article share. Liz Gross writes in Social Media Today about the best current approach to social media use. It’s all about networking, public relations and stakeholder service. READ MORE…

The post Marketing Mistake: Focusing on Social Media appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.