Power of Social Networking

Social Networking Splash Media's: CEO Boot Camp

Lana Stansbury Realtor of Santa Rosa, Florida approached me to ghost write blogs for her Active Rain marketing blog. She started it in 2009 but did not feel she had the time nor patience to pursue the blog. She needed and wanted professional help. I had never written a blog but at the time had just signed up for HubPages as a creative outlet and hopefully some cash flow for I was unemployed for the first time in 20 years. I volunteered my services and since have embarked on an interesting career path with the blog social marketing concept and endured a huge learning curve. Still learning as there is so much to know and it is ever changing.

Marian May Pothier President of ABI Fulfillment in Carrollton, Texas ( a very old friend) recommended I attend a Social Networking Splash Media's: CEO Boot Camp. So I signed up as Gillian Sellman aka Crown Reine (my ghost writing name from my middle name Reine). Off I went a 8 a.m. to the Westin Hotel to get my free introduction from the pro's for I am a completely self taught blogger learning only from probloggers on the internet and utube.

According to Splash Media 80 % of employers use Linked In. That really surprised me due to the fact that Linked In seems to be the least user friendly of all the social media sites. I am not sure how effectively the 80% are using Linked In if at all once a profile page has been executed. The Linked In site is not as sociable as a free social media page like facebook or Twitter. As a pay service maybe it is more friendly. The problem I have with Linked In is that I do not want to pay to try a service that is so anti social on the front end (not user friendly) so I may never know the answer.

90 minute crash course for free in Social Media is the promise given by Splash Media. One thing is for sure Splash Media lives by the blogger moto give your audience something for free (throw them a bone) to "Lure and Lasso" ( their words) your prospective client converting them into a buyer. I have seen this approach repeatedly in the world of the probloggers. Give them an enticement to want more ( your services for hire or product) and this will increase your conversion rate from reader to buyer.

According to Splash Media successful corporations use twitter ( 82% of them), facebook ( 59% of them) and utube ( 68% of them) driving their business increasing revenues and cutting marketing cost. Sounds good but remember it takes time to learn and set up all the social media venues and you have not started blogging yet. Splash Media will tell you and so will I and countless successful bloggers that if you start a blog you had better see it through weekly or it will work against you. If your content is "remarkable" (Splash Media term) enough you may be able to blog only once per month but do not count on it. Abandoning your blog makes it look like you have either gone out of business or you are not stable enough to financially support it. This is a bad message to send.

Splash Media offers their services for a monthly fee and let me tell you it is not cheap. I will not disclose the fee's out of respect for their business. I can understand first hand the time consumption it takes to network, link set up between networks, monitor and blog for just one account. The fee's charged by companies like Splash Media are well worth the price if you can afford it. They also offer a piece of software to keep a pulse on your "social health" (another Splash Media term). The future is aggressively racing faster and faster in the social networking direction and those who use it will conquer those that do not, hence my volunteering to ghost write. I realized that technology was leaving me and my future career in the dust and the grit between my teeth was becoming increasingly uncomfortable and so was my bank account.

Splash Media is smart enough to understand two things. Large corporations often like doing things in house and can usually afford to do so and small business just simply can not afford the handsome monthly fees. They offer a second program that includes a piece of software to use to keep your pulse on you social health and training if you chose to do it yourself. I suggest if you are a small business that you do not try to do it yourself because of the time commitment it takes. You need to be running your business not blogging about running your business.

From start to finish I spend a minimum of 8 to 12 hours per blog. This includes researching content, writing the blog, finding good imagery, cropping and resizing images, proof reading and launching the new blog. Yesterday I spent 1/2 a day just gathering this info once you include travel and lecture time. I started this blog/hub today after organizing my notes which took a few hours. Once that is complete I then seed my blog in a variety of places such as twitter, facebook, Linked In (not my favorite place), my google profile page and any other blog site I have going. I have three (I think) then I will rework it for the other blogs so that I do not get kicked out of the google search engine for duplicate content. Basically this process will take a total of about 2.5 days per blog. I must be slow.

If you want to do it yourself it goes kinda like this:

1) Learning curve time (to date 4 months and still learning).

2) Set up your facebook page, Twitter page, Linked In Page (not my favorite) and a utube page (Splash Media says utube has become the second largest search engine) Prepare to become a movie director because that is where it is all headed. You will need a good digital camera and video camera.

3) Establish in writing a plan: What are your goals and objectives? (who is your target audience and how do you want to get them to convert to a sale). What resources (manpower and time) realistically do you have to commit to your Social Marketing Plan?

4) Create new Objectives and be prepared to change if your current ones are not working.

5) Create a blog and be prepared to utilize you resources to write it and maintain it weekly and daily. Allow comments and opinions from your readers. Establish one or two people to answer comments and concerns. You can and will get customer complaints here so be proactive and show the customer that you are there to solve problems quickly and painlessly for them.

Tweet, facebook, Link your blog to all of your Internet presence.

6) Be prepared to listen to your audience. The comments and opinions are your best resource for change and product development. You could never get this type of information from a survey. This is gold and will ensure growth for your company. Ignore it and you may go away as your competition will be listening and visiting your blog. You will have the critics, spectators, joiners, the inactives and the creators visiting and communicating on your blog.

7) Lead your blogs and social media with value information. Value = Dollars in the bank. Use any archived knowledge you may have. Consumers are hungry for knowledge so they can make an educated decision. Utilize real time knowledge to keep your blog exciting. If savvy enough with humor use it appropriately to keep the viewer interested. Let your blog be your voice. Find your voice to represent your company ( serious, funny, knowledgeable) and use it. Utilize your blog for upcoming product introductions. Play the hype but do not over promise or announce a product that is grossly off schedule for market introduction. Educate, Educate, Educate this is what made both Martha Stewart and Oprah incredibly successful and Dr Oz ain't doing to bad with it either.

Keep the sarcasm and narcissism to a minimum if you feel the need to use it at all. Do not try to kill the competition with bashing it might come back to haunt you. Ask your readers questions and opinions and listen to what they are telling you. Analyze the time your social media is taking to create and monitor and ask yourself if doing it the DYI way is really cost effective after all? Are you getting results? Define your niche by asking yourself how is my company a monopoly in my market? How are you better than your competition? Once again educate educate educate your audience.

List out daily task for your Social Marketing Campaign and adhere to it: Below are daily task and other things to know ask about or consider.

Listen to your audience, build community, broadcast your blogs and post, post on social networks 3 to 5 times weekly, write "remarkable" content and search engine friendly content, be aware of your ROI ( return on investment) both in dollars and time commitment, plan your conversion strategies and be willing to change if they are not working, use good key word phrases in your blogs, utilize google alerts to keep on top of your success and you competitions, utilize twitter and facebooks search bars to hook up with contacts, read industry sites and blogs, use tools like socialmention.com real-time social media search and analysis, send out email blast from gathered email addresses on your blog site, host you own blog site such as wordpress for total control, utilize follow me buttons such as facebook and twitter, keep content organized by utilizing a top ten list, be responsive to your audience comments quickly and offer promo's and freebies to keep your customers coming back.

Now that was a mouth full and I am long winded. But do not let it scare you. All of these things are critical to your success and become second nature after awhile. The things I am mentioning to you are things discussed in the Splash Media Boot Camp. I have learned them also from pro bloggers on the internet and from the utube bloggers. Video bloggers they are called and even vloggers I think. The information is redundant across the board with companies like Splash Media and the pro bloggers that I follow so you can assume there must be some truth to its success.

Like everything on the Internet build it and they will not come. Make sure you understand SEO (search engine optimization) if you want people to find your site. You can do it but it takes a large time commitment and patience. If you are not Internet and social media savvy it will take you over so do not start blogging and social networking if you do not have time or not willing to pay a handsome monthly fee to some one to maintain your projects. Ghost writers like myself can help but it is not free it may cost less than a large fancy marketing firm but it is still takes time and time cost money.

I will say that I still believe that no matter how well you market yourself online you must still invest in other forms of advertising to help drive people to your site and blogs. Look around you and every place you look you see follow us on facebook or twitter signs and ads promoting or at least listing website and blog addresses. The internet is an extension and can increase your revenues if done correctly and maintained weekly and even daily. So before jumping into the do it yourself mode look good and hard at your resources (time) before starting something you cannot finish.

So there you have it the start ups and maintenance issues in a nut shell. Educate Educate Educate the thing that made Martha Stewart, Oprah and Dr. Oz ain't doing so bad with it either rich and famous and I swear I am not that slow.

Social Networking Splash Media: CEO Boot Camp