Sifting Through the Mess: Using Social Networks the Right Way

By: Kyle E. Glass

Marketing no longer can be perceived as a “one-way street”—it’s crucial that you have a “voice” and actively participate in the conversations taking place about your company and its industry. By taking part in the conversation you will build a greater sense of trust and expertise among your target markets.

Social media marketing allows you to connect with your customers virtually anywhere. There are countless mobile applications for social media networks that provide an opportunity to deliver your message more effectively.

Social media also provides an opportunity to generate new online content from and related to you—content that can be directed to your website and dramatically increase rankings for search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and Bing.

There are beginners’ guides, webinars and other articles—and even a class being taught at CEDIA Expo 2011—if you are interested in learning best practices in using social media platforms. What I will focus on is how you can use these sites for business and what to expect on these sites. The list of social media applications and services is long and growing, so I’ll stick with the most relevant to keep it short.

LinkedIn
Far and away, LinkedIn should be a must for businesses and professionals. Not only will it keep you in contact with your current business partners, including customers, it can also lead to further contacts as you begin to network.

There are some basic limitations with LinkedIn, which could be a positive or negative. Because it’s geared toward businesses, it’s quite structured which means it’s easier to follow. You have the flexibility to only add the individuals you want to add, and my absolute favorite is being able to join “groups,” basically topics you’re interested in following and contributing to, which could go a long way in adding to your and your company’s credibility.

Let’s take, for example, CEDIA Professional Services Group (http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=3089525&trk=anet_ug_hm). This group discusses many topics regarding consumer electronics and custom installation. Adding to these types of discussions will not only genuinely help someone in need of information, but likely provide you as the credible expert.

Facebook
Although less business focused, the Facebook audience is simply massive. At the end of April 2011, Facebook users counted as many as 139 million people, which is larger than LinkedIn and Twitter added together. As far as companies are concerned, generally companies would set up a “Fan Page”, as opposed to the personal pages we are most familiar with.

The users of Facebook are predominately made up of the youngins, which if anyone is familiar with GenY’s traits, means these folks are much harder to overtly sell to. I believe you’ll find that overtly selling your brand/product via social media will prove unsuccessful, no matter the medium. In this case, you just need to be smart about how you handle your Facebook account and/or company Fan Page.

One of the ways that we’ve successfully used Facebook is by creating Facebook contests. One award winning contest in particular focused on gathering outdoor installations featuring our client’s product. The contest drew a 50% increase in followers and was very well received by our target audience.

Coupons are also making a comeback thanks to social media. Offer exclusive coupons periodically through Facebook and you’ll have a reason people will want to “like” you.

Twitter
We live in a “140 character” society, or at least that’s what the folks who invented Twitter think. As far as business use, it can be beneficial. As with all of the social media, the goal is to entertain, engage or enlighten. There is real business value every time a customer or fan shares their purchase behaviors with their friends, thus you want to get people talking about you as much as possible. One way to do this is by creating a special offer to anyone that Tweets about you.

Twitter is great for market research. By keeping an eye on the trends, your followers, competitors, and brand advocates and naysayers, you can have a wealth of information at your fingertips.

Twitter, along with Facebook, provides great venues for performing customer service. The point of customer service is to make it easy for your customers to reach you, why not go to where they are?

Obviously the end game with business is the bottom line – it has to be. But using these social media tools correctly can give you a leg up on your competition. Your audience will only respect your social media presence if you demonstrate that your ultimate goal is to serve their needs (and not your own).

Kyle E. Glass is the Public Relations and Marketing Manager at Marketing Matters (http://www.marketingmatters.net), a communications and design firm specializing in technology, consumer and custom electronics, audio-video and related industries.

How to Get Your Story Out There

The company my fiancée works for is celebrating its 75^th anniversary this year and given the pretty impressive resume this construction company has built over the years, she and I were discussing ways to bring attention to this milestone. Her company has done a pretty good job in commemorating the 75-year anniversary by creating a special logo that has been featured on posters around the office, cool swag like tumblers, pens, shirts, etc. and special events for employees and vendors. However, during our conversation she asked me a question that made my eyes widen, “how can we get something about our company in the local news?”

I gave her a few ideas and explained to her the importance of public relations, but the entire conversation reminded me that not every business has utilized the benefits of public relations; in fact, some don’t even know where to begin. While many companies out there are looking to develop the next big PR splash, some (and I would argue “most”) are looking for any level of publicity. Like my fiancée’s company, most just don’t know where to begin.

To get started, any company, or individual, needs to take a step back to the basics of public relations and develop a plan. If you’re one of those looking to get your name out there, here are a few tips:

Develop an Angle

When you’re deeply involved in any company or project, you may tend to loose sight of what makes your company so unique, but the reality is that every company, every person, every product has a story. There is always something that makes them different for the rest (if there isn’t, then you really don’t have to worry about PR because your company most likely won’t be around that long.) Understand what your company’s history is and what truly sets you apart from the competition and I’m sure you’ll find unique story angles that will lead to PR opportunities.

Meet the Press

The success of a public relations plan doesn’t always have to be dependent on you getting featured in Time Magazine or Good Morning America. While those would certainly be great for your business, you can reap major benefits from just about any media coverage. There are local newspapers, magazines, TV stations, radio stations and bloggers in every region of the country—even yours.

Spend some time to identify all your local media outlets, especially those in which you know your customers turn to. Take it a step further and make note of specific individuals and what topics they frequently cover. In most cases, you’ll notice a journalist tends to cover the same general topics (e.g. technology, home improvement, local businesses, events, etc.)

Pitch Your Story

Once you’ve developed a few possible angles to tell your business’ story and identified what media outlets and media members you want to be featured in, create a personalized pitch for each of your targets. Write out a compelling, yet concise pitch (I recommend no more than three short paragraphs) that communicates what makes your company or product interesting, and more importantly, why it’s important to the audience for the media outlet your pitching.

Perhaps your integration company just signed on to be a dealer for one of the large home automation companies. You could reach out to your local TV news affiliate and tell them how you are now offering the local community an easy way to incorporate energy management, security and home entertainment into their lives. However, in this example, don’t pitch the actual product. The average person doesn’t care if you now offer Brand X, Y or Z. Pitch what the solution offers to the consumer and why it’s important to them. This is where the “news story” comes into play.

Be Available

If you’ve taken the time to develop a pitch and reached out to the press, make sure you’re available to answer their questions or conduct a follow up interview upon requests. If you’ve told them all about your new showroom that is open to the public and they ask to come out for a tour, your showroom better be up and running with all the latest bells and whistles.

Every day, in every city, there are countless media outlets putting together stories. You company has a story and by leveraging the power of public relations, you’ll expose your business to a broader customer base while also lending additional credibility for your company.

Scott Moody is the Director of Public Relations at Marketing Matters (http://www.marketingmatters.net), a communications and design firm specializing in technology, consumer and custom electronics, audio-video, and related industries.

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How to Get Your Story Out There