Would you use a free tool to generate leads and sales if it took less than 30 minutes a day?  

I work mostly with large companies and known brands, so it was interesting for me when I recently had several conversations with owners of various small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs), including family members and friends, about their sales processes.

For the most part, the sales cycle was described as long and expensive relative to sale value and the size of the company.  Marketing more often than not ranged from print ads in trade journals to cold calling.  Sometimes we get so close to the business, or to certain parts of the business, we forget that not everyone sees what we see.  So, it was as an afterthought that I asked whether anyone was active on LinkedIn.  None were active.  There were various reasons for this, ranging from technophobia to a scoffing at social media in general.  There was also a generational divide, and a belief amongst the boomer owners that because their peers weren't using this network that there was no value.

I understand that new technology is a pain, and that it takes time away from other things, particularly during the first phases.  But if you use a personal computer, you can figure out a social network.  And, while your peers may or may not be members, you will be surprised to learn potential customers that make buying decisions are.

So, surprisingly, there are a lot of strong companies out there owned and managed by clever folks that for various reasons have not adopted social media for business purposes, be they SMEs or larger companies that typically lag.  To them, I say there is no downside to joining LinkedIn.  In fact, as showing up is nine tenths of success, or whatever that saying is, doing the basics on social networks can have a profound effect on your business.

What impact?  Lead generation.  And, a warm - not cold - relationship with decision makers which can lead to them championing your bid.  So, why not build your pipeline and gain a competitive advantage?  

Try it actively for six months.  Track all the leads generated by your network and also your hit rate.  Given LinkedIn is free, and the only cost is your time (which you need to manage effectively - a separate issue), your net return numbers will be through the roof.

How? Follow the basic protocols.  Think about how you are approaching people.  These are social networks, and you need to be social.  The social networks are like cocktail parties.  If you are going to introduce yourself to someone, it's better to have a mutual friend make the introduction.  If you don't have one, it's going to be hit or miss.  That's just the way it is.  However, as you network, chances are you will find a mutual friend.  It's simple math.

So, some good tips to follow:

1. Create a compelling profile - know what you are trying to achieve, and build your profile around that objective.  Be brief.  Provide contact information.  Don't embellish.
2. Build your network - connect with others that can help you achieve your objectives.  Import your email contacts, but personalize each invitation.  Quantity is not quality.  Do you like spam?  They don't either.  
3. Get the most from your network - ask and answer questions.  Recommend and introduce colleagues.  Learn, create and engage.  Develop a relationship before you ask for something.
4. Manage your social network - join groups, be active, don't be lazy.  But don't waste time, either.
   
   

Want even more insight into LinkedIn?  Check out this fun video:



There is some secret sauce - tell me what works for you?  Can LinkedIn drive sales?  Can you sell through social platforms?

Oh, and by the way, if you want to connect with me on LinkedIn, invite me to your network.

Photo Credit: nanpalmero

For years our family saved to visit the Magic Kingdom and last year we finally got a chance to visit.  It was a wonderful experience for all of us.  In addition to being a wonderful place to visit, Disney provides social media marketers powerful lessons:

It is clear that companies should be listening to social media conversations, but what exactly should you be listening to?  Over the past two years I have developed the following approach that has really helped the companies that I have worked with think about listening at three broad levels:

• Brand Level listening - Chris and others have blogged about this often.  Organizations need to be listening to what is being said about their brands in the social marketplace and to listen in on competitive conversations.  Powerful listening platforms such as Radian6, Techrigy SM2, and at last count I found over 80 of these social analytics tools... all can help your organization digest the huge amounts of conversations into more meaningful data that you can react to in a timely manner.
  
  
• Targeted Influencer - But battles are not won by reacting, but instead by being proactive and engaging.  Developing a targeted list of relevant influencers that you listen to and engage with via Twitter, blog comments and FriendFeed is essential to demonstrate not only that you are listening, but that you are proactively engaged and want to comment on their conversations.  By creating that dialog with key industry influencers, they will start to engage and notice you as well. 
  
  
• Project Centric Listening - Project level listening is frequently overlooked, but can have a huge impact on the overall return of a project.  An easy example to consider, if your company is participating at an event such as CES, listen for the relevant tweets, blog posts, YouTube videos, Flickr images and more. By leveraging this information through your company's blog and Twitter account, your company is further engaged with your targeted audience and you will increase your overall ROI from the event.

Every few days, I wander into Twitter Search and Google Blogsearch and type in a few brands and product names. I look around to see who's complaining about these products or companies. Then, I see whether or not there's been any contact (at least out in the open) by the company or product line in question. 

The good news is that "more often than before," I see someone come to answer a negative comment or a frustrated blog posting. The bad news is that there are still many companies not responding. Many.

This is baseline customer service. A customer or prospective customer is complaining and no one's taking an action. The excuse? Well, they didn't fill out our official web form or they didn't call our 800 number. Do you think that will hold up for long?

How You Can Jump In and Listen

There are two levels of listening available for your company to take with regards to the social media space. You can start with some free tools cobbled together, and then, as you start to see some value, you can consider upgrading to professional tools. At New Marketing Labs, we help companies implement the professional tools, but more often than not, we start them by pointing out how to use the free stuff.

• Build a free listening station base by getting an account for Google Reader. This is a tool built for gathering up RSS feeds (RSS = Really Simple Syndication), and the way we'll build your free listening station is by plugging RSS feeds to your search results into the reader.
  
  
• Go to http:// search.twitter.com and plug in your desired search terms (your company, your product, things like that). There's a syntax to the searching. For instance, if you're searching for our company, I might plug in (in quotes) "New Marketing Labs" OR NML. The "OR" means that it'll return results based on either the name of the company, or our abbreviated name. Repeat this step as often as you want?
  
  
• When you get your search results, look for the "Feed for this query" in the upper right hand corner, after an orange RSS graphic. Right-click that link, and copy that link location. 
  
  
• Go back to Google Reader. Click "Add a Subscription" directly below the Google Reader logo, and paste the search result into that box. Click ADD.
  
  
• You've just entered a search result. 
  
  
• Now, go to http://blogsearch.google.com and type in a search query. When the results pop up, look down to the middle-left part of the screen, to where it says "Subscribe." Right-click the RSS link, select copy link, and then bring it back to Google Reader, where you'll do the "add subscription" and paste step again.
  
  
• After a few tweaks, you have yourself a free listening station.
  
  
• A few other sources: http://www.icerocket.com , http://twingly.com , http://news.google.com

What To Do With These Results

You will suddenly find lots of information. It might take some tweaking and prodding to make it more accurate. Once you've got the results such that you start seeing actionable information, what do you do with it? We recommend making the results available to both customer service and public relations. There are two reasons for this.

In some cases, someone's tweet or blog post will be an actual customer complaint. In other cases, it will be an opportunity for education, or perhaps conversion. This isn't always readily apparent. Making the results of listening a function of customer service overlooks opportunities for corporate storytelling and relationship opportunities. Making the results of listening a PR function means adding lag to someone's already frustrated customer problem. Besides, having two ears on the track is much better, as it will add to response time, opportunities for interpretation, and spread the work load.

Why Buy the Professional Tools?

The problem with the free tools is that they require a lot more work to interpret the data, and a lot more manual hand-holding, and a lot of holes in where to search. They're good enough for starting (and I'm using them for tracking some of my personal projects), but if you want the full picture, features like "group response options" and more, you'll need a professional tool.

We are friends or friendly with most of the professional tool makers in the listening space. We have the potential for bias. I'll list a few of the professional listening tools we're familiar with here, but know that the list isn't at all exhaustive, nor are we advocating one tool over another:

• Radian6
• Scout Labs
• Sysomos
• Crimson Hexagon
• Spiral16
• Nielsen Buzzmetrics
  
  

There are many more. They all have different values, different takes on listening, different mindsets on how to get the job done. I won't break out their values or merits here, but if you're going to evaluate listening tools (or if you want to work with New Marketing Labs and want us to evaluate them), you'd best consider at least these choices above, at the least.

Listening is Table Stakes

These days, using listening tools to field customer concerns as well as to hear potential opportunities for relationship-building is a must. Many companies have adopted at least the free methods, and several are moving into the professional tools. It's a heated space, investing-wise, and many new products are coming out every few months. Not having a listening platform is like not having a customer service function. 

What's your experience been so far? Have you used listening tools to augment your other functions? Are there other departments taking advantage of the information? What concerns do you have? We'd love to talk more.

Photo by: Steve Rhodes

Last week I gave a presentation on the top 10 tips to better blogging to the team at IDC Insights.   Below I am sharing some of the details of what I presented as well as my slides.  While the discussion that we had was far more interesting, I do hope that this overview is helpful.

10 Tips for Better Business Blogging

1. First Person / Familiar
   Blogs are meant to be your personal perspective and observations.  Unlike the rest of your corporate web site, they should be written in the first person and in a familiar tone to put a more personal face on your organization. While the language is first person and familiar, it still must be professional in business blogging.  For example: slang and idiomatic expressions should be avoided.
   
   
2. Find an Angle
   What makes a business blog work is that it humanizes the voice of your company and makes it approachable and interesting.  Find an angle on the topic that makes it important to you.
   
   
3. Images / Video
   While a picture is worth a thousand words, it also entices the reader into the blog post.  It helps to set the stage on what the post is about and how interesting the post may or may not be.  A good compelling image that accompanies your post will help to ensure that more individuals read your post.
   
   
4. Title 
   Titles help you break through the clutter and excite your audience.  Think of concise, clear, relevant and interesting titles to draw your audience in. Use of first person and numbers in titles also help to draw readers in.
   
   
5. Lists 
   Usability studies have proven that online reader's find lists more compelling that large blocks of test.  Lists help to structure thought and are a great center point for a blog post.
   
   
6. Stay concise
   Keep blog posts short and to the point.  500 to 800 words is a good guideline, but the occasional 200 word post is certainly allowed!
   
   
7. Maintain a schedule 
   Staying regular in your blog communications is critically important at many levels:
   
   • It sets expectations for your readers so that they can expect a regular pattern.
   • Search engines will also expect and look for this pattern and it will help the blog to rank higher.
   • It helps the writer to get used to creating regular content. 
     
   • Getting used to regular deadlines will help the blogger to constantly be thinking of new ideas and always be looking for new angles.
   
   
8. Invite discussion
   How you end a blog post is very important.  While some blog posts may be simple statements that do not invite opinions, the more interesting posts will be those that engage the readers and invite them to participate and continue the discussion.  Ending with a simple 'what do you think?' is rarely powerful enough to have the audience reach for the keyboard.  Here are some additional ideas to get your readers to comment:
   
   • Those are my Top 5 Examples of XXX: would love to hear what others have seen.  Please add in comments below!
   • Ask a specific, relevant question: How will regulation and compliance impact innovation at your organization in 2010?
   
   
9. Link to others
   Linking out to other organizations helps create visibility to those blogs and sites and to the search engines.  When you link to other bloggers it sends a clear message that you are listening and that you respect their thoughts and ideas.  It is a simple way to get them to notice your blog and potentially get them to comment back on one of your posts.
   
   
10. Keywords
    After you have completed a blog post, go back over it with the key industry search terms in mind and try to ensure that they are used throughout the post.  Search engines focus on blog posts for their use of key words and frequency of posts.  Blog posts are a tremendous resource for your organization to increase its natural search engine ranging and visibility when key industry terms are used regularly throughout all the posts.
    

What would you add? What have you found that helps you in your business blogging?  I would love to hear.