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10 Steps Using Social Media For Business Development

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Institute of Technology and Business Development

Institute of Technology and Business Development (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We all need new business, right? Doesn’t matter if you’re a solo professional, small business of five or larger, everyone has to keep the pipeline full and the leads rolling in.

Digital marketing is absolutely the tier-one method, and I recently met an incredible expert who does it every day exceptionally well. And, the process is highly strategic requiring expertise learned over time and years of testing the methods.

Social media provides another business development methodology that everyone can do and probably does do without knowing it.

The other day, I tweeted, “If you ignore Twitter, it ignores you.” Indeed. When you fall off the ladder into the rabbit hole, it’s hard to jump out. There are a variety of reasons making that hole feel comfortable and safe and most of it has to do with being challenged and trying what’s new and different. While it’s easy to tweet and reshare everyone’s posts all day, what’s the gain besides burn out?

Let’s be more strategic and help fuel your lead generation. And, I’m not talking about inbound marketing right now; I’m talking about good old-fashioned networking.

10 Steps to Fuel Business Development

Step 1: Set Goals

There are four simple goals for using social media for business development:
1. Identify your target list
2. Elevate your personal brand
3. Ask for a meeting
4. Earn the business

Step 2: Track With a Spreadsheet or CRM System

If you’re on a budget and can’t afford a CRM system, then use your QuickBooks or Excel to track lead generation and prospecting. If you’re really on a budget, then perhaps index cards?

Step 3: Develop a Tier-One Target List

Everyone has a wish list of a company with which they’d like to work. Put your list of five or so together. Maybe you select a few out of each category that are different sizes.

For sales teams, this works, too. Select the company with which you most want to do business and get that target list active on a CRM system (but then I don’t need to inform sales how to prospect, right?).

Step 4: Who is the buyer of your services or product?

During the time I was in HubSpot school (I made a major investment in this platform to learn inbound marketing from the big guns), the words “buyer persona” appeared on my radar.

I had to think about the audience most likely to purchase my services and describe them – age, gender, expertise, values they appreciate, and more.

From the list in step one, select the title/role of the person most likely to buy your services or products. Get that title/role into your tracking system.

Step 5: Audit The Company

Here’s where social media comes to play. Using your tiered target list, begin exploring social media activity by the company. Record on your tracking system/CRM each of the channels and which is more powerful for shares and content.

LinkedIn (example). Does the company have a company page? How about a group? Who are the folks who work there? Can you find the title of the person most likely to buy from you? Better yet, take a look at your network; who in your network knows someone at that company to send an introduction on your behalf?

Step 6: Social Sharing

  • Google+. Similar to LinkedIn, check out the business page for your target company on Google+. Perhaps you’ll also find the folks who work there and you can do a search. (Not to mention, you can also do a name search on Google itself, of course!) Begin to +1 posts on Google+ by the company and also reshare it if you think it’s worthy.
  • Twitter. Companies tweet, obviously. Star the company into your Faves List and begin retweeting posts you like from that company. Pay attention to who’s tweeting; it may be an agency and there may also be initials on the posts indicating someone on a team.
  • Blog. Here’s where you can really influence and elevate your identity and brand. Visit the company blog frequently; in fact, subscribe and never miss a post. Read for a week or two (depending on the frequency of blog posts) and get a feel for the topics the company is writing on. All the while, you’re preparing to comment on the blog while resharing it on social media channels.While the blogger for the company may not be on your target list, you can still use the fact that you commented and shared that company’s blog post in your eventual pitch.
  • Your Blog. If you really want to make an impact and impression, invite the person you’re targeting to do a Q&A with you, write a guest post or to link. You can also follow them on the Interwebz; but, do not be a stalker! Use discretion and caution, please!

Step 7: Engage and Build Relationship

We who have been on social media longer than five years know how to build relationships with total strangers. It’s what the channels were built on. Today, that ‘raderie is next to nil; yet, people appreciate genuine authenticity with real professionals and people.

Use that concept to build upon the relationship you started. Of course, your goal is to get a meeting and perhaps earn some new business; however, there should be a common interest you can draw upon to build a true and solid foundation.

Step 8: Ask for a Meeting

If you’ve done a great job making small talk, sharing content and following your target list, then it’s time to ask for a meeting. Make it casual under the guise of networking because that’s what it is. No one wants a hard sell, and the recipient of your attention is smart enough to know a sales shakedown when it happens!

Essentially, be you and be real.

Step 9. Stay in Touch

If the meeting doesn’t product the result you wanted, do not fret. Sales pipelines sometimes take months to fill and business also takes time to close. If you drop off the radar, what happens when your prospect wants to find your name and number and can’t because you fell back into the comfy rabbit hole?

Step 10. Smile and Show Me Some Personality

I needed a step 10 to round this out, and maybe it’s the most important step in the bunch. Think about when you get a cold pitch; how’s your demeanor on the phone? Abrupt and impatient, right? Now think about paving the way to a prospect with smiles, laughs, personality, kudos and more. How do you think that person will feel about you with all that in front of the ask? Selling with heart couldn’t be more important, and think of it this way – if you get a “no thank you,” then move on to the next one and pretty soon it’s like riding a bike.

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Google Outage A Business Wake Up

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Credit: Mashable

Credit: Mashable

Where were you when the lights went out in Georgia? How about when Princess Diana was killed? Or when Michael Jackson was pronounced dead?

In an unexpected show of the mighty servers, Google inadvertently strengthened its image of world power when an internal software bug shut down Gmail, calendars, Google+, and documents for an hour on Friday Jan. 24, 2014. Where were you and with what Google feature were you engaged?

Life as we knew it was disrupted.

For those among us who didn’t know a mishap was brewing and wanted to share a post, we continued to click and try to get G+ to obey only to see five different shares of the same thing eventually turn up. (That was my experience.)

If Gmail was your primary email, you were screwed just when you were doing the Friday scurry to the weekend. It’s a bit scary, isn’t it, to rely on a behemoth like Google which keeps growing and expanding into new sectors of innovation? Is your business 100 percent dependent on Google for email, social media, calendars and document sharing?

Wake Up Business

Do you remember the days of yore when there was no email. We relied on the phone, fax and snail mail to communicate and instant global engagement was nil.

What we experienced was a first-hand feel for the powerhouse Google has become. I have to think in a boardroom deep in the confines of Google HQ that some executives may be grinning along with the grimace — just a tad.

  • Does your company rely strictly on Google for email, calendars, document sharing, analytics, and many other services?
  • Do you rent space on Google servers for blogging?
  • Maybe you rent space on WordPress.com, Yahoo! or MSN for a website, blog, message board, or other shared-server situation?

Perhaps back in the day, it was easier to just go with what’s “free.” At the risk of your privacy, online security, hacking, and outages you cannot control, among other horrors we’ve yet to experience, your business is subjected to the new whims of the Internet, and you never know what’s coming.

How will you prepare?

Your Blog, You and 2014

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Confidence-Thermometer.jpgBet you didn’t notice this blog had nearly a two-week hiatus, or maybe you did. There wasn’t a day that went by I wasn’t guilty to not be writing despite the lowest-trafficked periods of the year.

What I continued to tell myself is that this holiday break was critical for my need to rejuvenate and refresh my moxie while getting inspired to write about a whole bunch of new topics.

You see, blogging becomes part of you; it gets under your skin, and courses through your blood. There’s never a conversation or interaction in which I don’t identify a topic or two to write on. It makes me a better listener; it’s inherent now with easy thought to add to the endless stream of ideas.

How about you?

If you’ve been blogging on nigh a year, perhaps this sort of topical instinct isn’t happening yet; no worries! Trust me when I tell you it will!

If you’ve been blogging three years, you should absolutely have blog topics written all over the place on scraps of paper. Maybe you’re truly an electronic wizard (which means you use the other side of your brain a tad more than creatives), and you can organize your thoughts into a list. Does List.ly have private list-building?

It’s A New Year

What I’m trying to say is that a new year is always psychologically, well, new. You know? The ball drops at midnight, and the pressure is on to be more…you know, more.

Let me try to explain.

As the years go by and blogging becomes part of your inner psyche, you want to grow. Your blog has to change with the times and become more exciting in parallel to your own growth journey.

As you transform, so, too, does your blog.

This morning, I just read a friend’s post about taking a huge hiatus and coming back to find fewer folks who’ve stayed the course, fewer comments, and fewer success stories with nil banter. Indeed. Bill Dorman is right; it’s a tough road blogging. That’s why you need goals and aspirations.

Have you thought about how you want your blog to grow and what you’d like to see happen in your house? Do that; it’s time.

Used to be we blogged more for the fun of it and to have a party in the comments; maybe a good old Team Blog Jack, too. Now, though, that’s pretty much dried up; you’re gonna need to reach deep within and find the divining rod into your heart. Then? Let the floodgates open and turn it up a notch; pour out your passion like never before aligned so closely with your business goals. You need your blog to make that happen; it’s the only steady you have on the social sphere.

Blowing Up Your Business

In 2013, I successfully blew up my business. I’m told that’s what entrepreneurs do; they reach a brick wall and rather than go over, they dynamite. Perhaps they get to the other side, or perhaps they drown in TNT. I’m the latter, and here’s the good news. I KNOW IT. I know I blew up my business (and only I can define internally what that means), and I also know that 2014 is critical to regroup and rebuild.

What that also means is the blog is part of the larger plan, too.

Want to know something really simple? There’s nothing like blogging to showcase smarts, expertise, personality, and to give gifts.

Soulati-‘TUDE! Is Turning Four!

My blogging birthday is coming up; we’re gonna be FOUR! That is HUGE! It’s so #RockHot I can’t even tell you.

I’m seeking ideas for how to celebrate Soulati-‘TUDE! IS FOUR.

Perhaps I’ll plan a virtual party; perhaps I’ll launch 4 guest posts on the same day, perhaps I’ll donate to four charities, or…what? What shall I do to celebrate?

My journey has been so rewarding, and here’s a secret. Without this blog and you, I never would’ve made it (I am not kidding).

 

 

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO MY BLOG!

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Six Phases In The Cycle of Creativity

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Presentation1When you think of how you create anything, there is a cyclical nature to the entire process. Creativity has been studied for years by the academicians and scientists attempting to master innovation, the world’s most creative companies, the people with the brightest idea, and all the other elements that go into being creative.

Think of Yourself

Are you a content marketer? Does that mean you’re a blogger? How do you assess your creativity if you wear these titles? I’m going to hasten a guess that the ebbs and flows of blogging and content creation provide great rewards and serious depression, right?

I know this because my 3.9 years of blogging for my own professional blog and the additional 12 to 18 months as a guest blogger for many other blogs makes me somewhat of a poster child for this graphic I created about creativity.

Here’s a secret – I had the word “blogging” in the middle circle instead of creativity. I thought about putting content marketing in the center; however, I truly wanted this graphic to be your thought starter for whatever you’re creating…maybe you’re on the road to building a new life with a partner; perhaps you’re launching a career; how about finding your spirituality or coming to terms with who you are as a person? Or, you can be just a blogger, like me, for the purposes of this story.

Thinking About Creativity

A few clarifiers first:

    • Perhaps the elements can be labeled something else; these are my experiences to plant a seed for yours.
    • I didn’t study creativity to get to these; I made this all up, but its real from the now experience.
    • There’s a significant thought about the cycle of creativity and that’s timing. There is no set number of days or months you can rotate through these stages. Let’s hope you’ll spend more time on the positive side of growth, inspiration and empowerment; however, if you spend too much time, then you’re not rebuilding and transforming, right?
    • At any time within this cycle, you should never experience any one thing 100 percent. That would be entirely dangerous! Let’s think about that…if you were 100 percent disillusioned, you’d likely shut down your blog and never blog again. If you were growing 100 percent without an eye on being inspired to develop the next big idea, you would fail at creativity. I suggest and 80/20 Pareto Principle on this; spend 20 percent of the creative cycle asking the tough questions, challenging the status quo, and preparing to be inspired to rebuild as you’re knee deep in 80 percent of the stage you’re experiencing.
    • Lastly, if you are unable to recognize these stages in yourself (as a content marketer or blogger), then give it more time. If you’ve not been blogging two to three years straight with an average of four posts weekly, you may not have notched enough time on your belt to have experienced these elements.

Six Stages in The Cycle of Creativity

  • Inspiration. One can never be creative without the inspiration to be such. There has to be a button that gets pushed to turn on the inspiration, right? NO, actually not! Creativity is finest when someone is inspired and excited about something or someone. Passion is ignited or flamed when you listen differently or watch behaviors intently. Your inspiration comes from your spirit and how you carpe diem. I get inspiration for everything I write from current events, conversations, observations, and my own robust experiences.
  • Empowerment. When you’re inspired and all cylinders click, there comes a feeling of empowerment that is so rewarding and enlightening. The energy is fueled by a continuous injection of inspiration and light-bulb moments that are so evident in writing and creativity. It’s nearly euphoric, and the flow of production is heightened.
  • Disillusion. The pace of empowerment can last as long as your energy to create at a highly productive level. My latest stage of empowerment was six months, and then I crashed. The questions began to overtake the creativity and inspiration, and the disillusionment hit hard with the biggest question – “why am I doing this?” I encourage everyone to embrace this stage positively; if you only have a negative reaction to being disillusioned as a writer, then you will infect your writing! People read you for the positive spirit you bring. When I feel the lowest, I focus outward and find someone to profile on my blog. Giving gifts that are not monetary is such a lovely way to move out of the disillusion phase.
  • Transformation. Once you begin to ask why, instead of complaining about your malcontent, you can begin to transform. This phase includes the “what’s next” and “how do I get there” stage. It’s so highly critical and challenging because it involves a hearty introspective look at your outside self. When you hit the blog daily to find something to write about, it becomes second nature; however, when you stop caring what you’re writing about, you become disillusioned and need to transform. Spend time here because without the health transformation, you will not enter the next phase.
  • Rebuilding. Perhaps transformation and rebuilding are too similar to understand. I think this stage is oriented to take action. Let’s say I realized in my introspective state (transformation) that I no longer liked what my “house” looked like, then in the rebuilding stage, I would hire a developer/designer to spiff up my website and blog. I would also speak to the experts about things I didn’t know and hadn’t incorporated so I could seriously rebuild my foundation. This stage of creativity is probably the single-most critical element in the entire cycle. If you can’t rebuild your cracked foundation or repair the hole in the wall, you cannot thrive.
  • Growth. The hard work is nearly done; your house is in order, you are breathing deeply with satisfaction about the changes you made, and you’re ready to grow. Not that easy! Neither of these stages have an exact stop/start; in fact, they overlap quite a bit. As you transform and rebuild together, you also begin the growth phase during rebuilding as your inspiration picks up to empower you. One thing is for sure, your creativity can grow as a writer or in life at any of these stages; it just may be thwarted a bit at about 20 percent versus 90 percent. That’s a really great observation to point out, too.

Can you use this for a life experience that may not be about blogging or content marketing? Switch out the center theme and insert one of your own…see if the stages still fit the wheel.

This Post Originally Appeared on Steamfeed.com by Jayme Soulati.

Jeremiah Owyang Says The Crowd Is Your Company

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crowds-Soulati.jpgJeremiah Owyang inspired this post with his provocative and visionary comments about the future of business. He was interviewed right here by Bryan Kramer of Pure Matter in 26-minutes of attention-grabbing provocation about the crowd and also by Wired magazine.

What Jeremiah is doing now, after a stint with Charlene Li of the Altimeter Group as an analyst and also former social media rock start, is a new venture of his own called Crowd Companies He’s aligning the biggest brands onto a council to collaborate about joint campaigns to engage with the crowd in innovative ways. It’s fascinating stuff, and Jeremiah has my wheels spinning to imagine the possibilities.

Let me catch you up, and you can go in-depth by watching the video of Jeremiah and Bryan below:

The Anti-Material Society

We’re entering the anti-material society (that’s my thinking) based on what I heard today – consumers don’t want ownership, they want access to ownership.

Case in point, Airbnb. The future will see the largest hotel chains getting in on the action of home rentals owned by the hoteliers for a greater piece of the pie. The bonus for guests – the loyalty program Airbnb can’t offer yet.

Home Depot and Lowes are big on renting equipment instead of requiring folks to buy new and use it once only.

Jeremiah recommends a book by a collaborator, Lisa Gansky – The Mesh: Why The Future of Business is Sharing (which I just bought).

Consumer Customization Is The Future

There’s a movement afoot to customize one-off items beginning with a single t-shirt, five books, and other printed items on demand. Jeremiah says we’ll soon see houses, clothing and automobiles made to fit personal consumption!

Think of what that means for the supply chain! No more huge auto manufacturing plants with assembly lines of the same upholstered driver’s seat. There will be longer seats to accommodate tall man, and wider seats to accommodate ample booties. Oh, yeah, and that neck rest that NEVER hits you right? You’ll get measured for that.

But wait, we’ve already seen some of this happening and we’ve not put two and two together. My nephew works in a mattress factory, and people can custom order a mattress based on weight, girth, height, and body aches.

When I bought my bicycle a few years ago, I stood in front a machine and they measured feet to butt and shoulder to fingers to determine the best fit for my bike. They stopped short of building a custom bike (ahem, I didn’t want to spend the $$), but the potential was there.

The Crowd Is Your Company

Look at what happened in the social media era. The earliest adopters were consumers jumping all over likes and follows like fish to water. The public relations professionals and marketers and bloggers became the leaders from the business side.

Did business catapult into social media with glee? Not so much. Although there’s a term, social business, it’s a misnomer, says Jeremiah in the video below. There’s an extreme disconnect with that term because businesses are not social at all.

Here’s the consequence of that…the crowd? They’re now part of your company, nearly absolutely the same as your employees.

Resilient Brands Will Last

What we need to do is watch what happens with Mr. Owyang’s Crowd Companies’ council. We’ll see the visionary thinking he’s sure to unearth by coupling the biggest brands in the name of the empowered consumer.

 

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