By now, you might be wondering what’s SBP Marketing? That is the company I have formed to operate my various businesses. Many of you know that I do strategic marketing consulting, but I also created a few websites (like whereinde.com, dealsinde.com, and whereinrichmond.com).  And, as always, or so it seems, I’ve started up something new to help local organizations. I’m in the process of connecting many local websites and blogs to create an online advertising network. I’m calling it Delaware Ad Network (yes, a very creative name, I know). Through this network, we’ll be able to serve up hundreds of thousands of local online advertising impressions at a reasonably low cost. If you might be interested in getting advertised, the process is simple – just contact us and we’ll give you the low-down.

In no particular order…

Rodney Jordan

For those who don’t really know Rodney, one of the most common questions is, “What does he do?”. Seriously, when he’s not selling printing services for Armor Graphics (which I’ve rarely seen him do) he’s working hard to educate newbies on the benefits of social media and raising awareness for local non-profit organizations. Rodney is a co-creator Network Delaware and one of the folks who dreamed up the popular #netDE hashtag on twitter.

Brad Wason

Brad is one of the most keen and creative marketing folks I have ever met. When he is not building brands with his agency, 23rd & 5th, he is an instructor at the University of Delaware and the Delaware College of Art & Design. Brad and I have a lot in common – like an affinity for dogs, bikes, and craft beers.

David Podlaseck

David is one of southern Delaware’s most vocal social media evangelists. He has witnessed the benefits of social media while running Tall Pines Campground and helps spread the word on his blog, Delaware Social Media Network.

Laurie Bick

Laurie is a very dynamic individual and has demonstrated her professional prowess as a founding member of the Community Matters Networking Group – a job seekers group. Through this organization, Laurie has helped dozens of people find work by providing professional resources like leadership training and resume writing. Laurie is available for hire, so if you’re looking for a very experienced communications professional, she’s your gal. Check out more about Laurie on LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/in/lauriebick & on her blog http://www.lauriebick.wordpress.com

Liz Purcell

Liz reached out to me while she was assistant to the executive director of Downtown Milford, Inc. We worked together to figure out how to roll out free training seminars to their members. Liz was instrumental in organizing a host of classes about a variety of topics for small businesses. Now Liz is responsible for communication via social media on behalf of Delaware Tourism.

Ken Grant

Ken has been called the godfather of Delaware social media. He has been one of the most influential in attracting new social media users and in getting the attention of local news outlets, business leaders, and politicians. Just read a few posts from his Delaware Social Media Initiative blog, and you’ll get the idea. For me, Ken has always been inspiring and encouraging. He is one of the most selfless people you will ever meet.

Social media experts and consultants are everywhere, or so it seems. With few exceptions, they are all chanting the same weak value proposition – “We can save you time (or energy, money, hassle, etc.) and manage your social media for you.” Social media consultants use this weak value proposition because many fail to realize what businesses really need – strategy and a little education.

Social Media Is Not So Difficult

In my opinion, effective use of social media is not much more difficult than using email. Remember when you first started using email? Someone probably had to show you how it worked. Remember how laborious it was to log in and check email regularly? Someone probably had to tell you why certain things are better handled over the phone or in person rather than by email. Now email is a mainstream form of communication, and part of your routine. Social media is no different. You’ll have to learn (first-hand or from someone else) how social media as a form of communication fits in your business and which functions work well in social media.

Would you outsource the daily monitoring of and responding to your email inbox? How about your phone calls? If you truly make a commitment to social media, it will also become an important communication channel and you will not want to outsource it.

What makes social media trickier than email is the fact that social media is not just one platform. Social media cannot be opened like an inbox. Most social media strategies will consist of multiple platforms that need to be monitored and managed separately from each other, but with consideration to integration. This added complexity is enough to motivate some business owners to consider outsourcing.

Can Relationships Be Outsourced?

Experts seem to agree that successful use of social media is engaging – which I characterize as generating interactions, and building relationships.

In the offline world, does someone else build your relationships for you? No? Didn’t think so. Why would you expect a different result online?

I’m Not A Hypocrite

I’m not saying don’t hire a social media consultant. Just hire one for the right reasons. Consider exactly what it is you’re outsourcing. Do you view social media as a function of marketing and PR? Or are you outsourcing communication? Relationships? Do you really need someone to manage social media for you? Or do you just need someone to create your social media strategy, provide training, analysis, and follow-up?

Yes, I will manage social media accounts for my clients, but I prefer not to. I urge each of my clients to keep the daily interaction and communication in-house;  just like email and telephone interactions.

Why do I urge clients to keep social media in-house? Three reasons…

1. I’m not you (or someone else in your organization). I don’t know your business. I cannot field detailed customer inquiries. You’re more likely to build strong relationships for your business than I am. But I can help your organization develop a social strategy, get established on the appropriate social channels, and provide training.
2. You (the business) need to demonstrate a commitment to social media.  Someone who understands the value of meaningful customer interaction needs to be involved in social media. If you’re not committed to social media, I don’t want to be your consultant.
3. Providing performance and value are more important to me than getting another client. If I can focus my energy (and client dollars) on strategy, analytics, and improvements, rather than monitoring and crafting the daily interactions, I’m much more confident that I can provide positive ROI – due, in part, to number 1.

Want more reading on this topic? Check these out:

Should You Outsource Social Media? – Mark Meyer

Down With Social – Spencer Fry

A good mix of micro-small businesses, non-profits, government agencies, and larger businesses were in attendance - which is great for diversity, but challenging for me as a presenter to develop material and a presentation to satisfy a group with widely varied needs and experience levels. Nevertheless, the survey results returned were mostly pretty good. I look forward to making improvements and doing additional training for Sussex County businesses.

Thanks to a few of the attendees who were tweeting during the event, we have a few pictures – here and here.

For anyone interested, below are my slides, which are void of many notes or audio. If you have questions on the content, contact me!

So you have totally exhausted your Delaware following on Twitter. Don’t sweat it. I really want you to succeed. However, with competitors like Get It Half Off and My Way Coupons building their presence locally, you’ll need to dot your i and cross your T. Here’s the plan…

Increase Traffic

We need to seriously ramp up your audience. 500 Twitter followers and 170 on Facebook ain’t gonna cut it. I’m not just talking about ramping up these social media group numbers, either. We need to figure out how to get your business name and website in front of tens of thousands.

Wait. Tens of thousands?! Why so high, you might ask? Simple. I really can’t expect that we’ll get a transactional conversion rate significantly greater than 0.15% or 0.20%. You got 20 coupons to sell today? At a conversion rate of 0.15% you’ll need to get that offer in front of over 13,000 people. There are certainly a lot of factors involved in the conversion rate, but use this as a baseline. If you can grow your audience to 13,000 and you end up with a conversion rate of 0.50%, you’ll be in good shape.

There are a lot of ways to reach new people online. There’s no silver bullet. For example:

• Get your SEO in check. Search Google for Wilmington, DE coupons. You’re nowhere to be found.
• Find other sites to partner with. For example, mommy blog sites, localized newsletters are good, affordable targets. Through a combination of advertising, giveaways, and editorials, you should be able to get a lot of cheap traffic.
• Drive traffic to your site with links. A quick search on Google and Alexa shows that GazooiT has no other links out there driving traffic to it. We’ll definitely need to work on this.

Make Better Use of Social Media

What GazooiT is doing on Twitter is OK. Engagement and conversations are good. I have no idea what conversion is like, but based on what I see, the vital signs are good.  However, i think you should be absolutely KILLING it on Facebook. The local Facebook audience is far greater than the local Twitter audience. The targeting available on Facebook is outstanding.

And, how come folks cannot subscribe to emails directly on the GazooiT Facebook page? That should be a quick and easy win.

Ramp it up Offline

GazooiT should be at all of the big local events handing out information, with the goal to get new people to subscribe via email or Like on Facebook. Partner merchants should have information about GazooiT available for distribution. Seek out other places where information can be placed.

There are over 500,000 people in New Castle County. Let’s reach ‘em! Hire me.

I was asked this question on twitter by a new Delaware tweeter, "can you teach me what #ff stands for and how do I use it ?" Well this site is all about, asking questions about Social Media, and getting answers. So here we go. First off #ff is a shortened version of #FollowFriday, it saves some key strokes and room to allow you to add more mentions to your tweet. Why would you use #FollowFriday, or #FF, first a little background: "What if you did … Read More

via Delaware Social Media Network

At the heart of successful social media: authenticity and interaction. Authenticity and interaction apply universally to businesses, non-profits, government, and political campaigns. Don’t be fake in social media. Don’t say you’re looking for relationships when you’re really looking for customers (or votes).

Have a look at Social Media & Delaware Politics: Q&A w/ Phil Woods and let me know what you think.

If you’ve done any reading about social media from anyone with experience, then you already know social media is largely about relationships, conversation, and interaction – all of these require commitment. Social media isn’t something you just “try” and see how it goes – this is just the type of behavior that demonstrates a genuine lack of commitment.

Commitment must me made on several levels. Before you even start, commit to incorporating social media in your marketing and communication strategy. Commit to learning how to use social media tools. And commit to the time necessary to cultivate online relationships.

Last month, I wrote about the difference between having a presence and being present in social media. Yes, there is a big difference – and for the most part, it boils down to commitment.