I have been using Twitter since December of 2008 @aliceheiman.  I currently have 897 followers – not 8,000 or 80,000, so I am obviously not the expert.  It took me quite some time to figure out how to use it effectively and I am still learning.  My observation, most people don’t use it well; using it solely to push information which is a one way communication.  Their goal: drive traffic to their blog or website. And if the information they give is valuable, it may do that.  I learn a lot from the people I follow on Twitter through their links and articles, and I in turn share with others.  Sure, it’s a great way to get information out, but I strongly believe we receive more when we engage in conversation and not just gain followers. For me Twitter works best if you can develop relationships with people and in order to do that you have to inspire dialogue.

If you want to get the most out of Twitter use it to communicate with your followers, not just by posting quotes, tips and blog posts – which you certainly should do, but by interacting. Make posts in a way that gets people thinking and encourages them to respond to you not just click your link.

1. Respond to the posts of others, don’t just retweet. Respond back your thoughts on their comment, ask them questions, start a conversation.

2. Get to know some of your followers and figure out who has information that your followers would appreciate and retweet or repost that info. If you click through on one of their blog posts, make a comment on their blog.

3. Find your followers and people you follow on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google + and Youtube and see what they are up to there. Connecting with them on multiple platforms lets you know them better.

If you are not sure what to do, watch some of the experts. Twitter is not designed to be a broadcast system, especially if you are trying to develop followers and elevate your status as an expert. It is best used to help you have a two way communication that develops a deeper relationship with followers and adds value to their lives.

Here is an article listing some twitter resources.

P.S. I am by no means a twitter expert, nor do I always implement very well the things I have laid out for you here, but when I do these things my followers grow and people connect with me so that I can be of service to them. And yes, I have gotten leads from Twitter.

If you’d like to follow me on Twitter click here.

(In an earlier post, I discussed whether or not you should be on LinkedIn. If you’re new to LinkedIn, you’ll want to read that article first to learn how to build a strong network.)

There is lots of talk about the new LinkedIn company pages. For some it is just another place on the internet they need to keep current. It can seem daunting at times. I currently have business pages on LinkedIn, Facebook, Google +, and Youtube that I need to update regularly, along with all of my personal profiles. Not to mention this blog that needs new content weekly. It does take a lot of time, but so does any sales and marketing plan. The better you get at it the faster it is and the more results you get. That said, it is a lot to keep up with and it is constantly changing, so I do recommend you train someone at your company to help you or hire and train an intern.

There is plenty of good information out there on how to put up your company page and I have linked to those at the end of this article. What’s missing is what to do once you complete your company profile. It’s like any other social media, if you are posting things and no one is watching you don’t get results. So here are 5 things I am doing to get people to follow my company page. First and foremost, I let them know I have one and share the link in the following ways:

1. Add a LinkedIn button to your website – when clicked it will take them to your company page.

2. Follow your clients. When they see you follow them, they may follow you.

3. Post an update on your personal profile and include the link to your company page. (See example below.)

4. Get the url for your company page (like this http://www.linkedin.com/company/alice-heiman-llc) and put it at the end of your LinkedIn email messages.

5. Add a link to your LinkedIn Company page in the signature of your email (see below) and have it link to your company page. If you need to know how to do this, watch this screenr.

But don’t forget, once you have followers, you have to add value. So make a plan on what you will post and when. Then go back and check frequently to see if people are interacting and be sure to connect with them.

Below are some other resources to help you with LinkedIn Company Pages:

• Social Media Examiner - 5 Tips for Using The New LinkedIn Company Pages
• HubSpot’s ebook - How to Use LinkedIn for Business
• HubSpot - 11 Reasons Your LinkedIn Company Page Sucks 

If you’d like to learn more about how to use LinkedIn to generate leads, join my interactive webinar on December 15th at Noon (Pacific). Learn more…

Why do I keep writing about Facebook, I am not a Facebook expert.  Yet I use Facebook daily for business as part of my marketing strategy.  I do believe that small businesses can generate interest and find new clients via social media and for some of you Facebook is where your target audience hangs out so you need to be there and be active.

The problem is that as a small business owner you may be wasting time on Facebook because what you are doing is ineffective and more damaging than good at times.   For example, using a personal profile page to put up a page for your business is not only against the policies of Facebook but it is not an effective way to promote your business.  Not to be rude but the first clue is you have to state whether you business is “male or female.”  It’s obvious this page is to be used for a person not a business.  Facebook realizes that you want to promote your business so they created Business or “Fan” pages for this purpose.  There is a choice for every type of business.

So why then would you use a personal profile instead of the appropriate type of business page?

Maybe you have one of these reasons.

Reason number 1: I couldn’t figure out how to make a business page.

Go to any business page and in the upper right hand corner there is a button that says, “Create a Page”   or Google,  ”How to make a Facebook business page” and the link comes right up.

Reason number 2: I didn’t know the difference.

You are not ready to use Facebook as part of your marketing plan.

Reason number 3: I don’t want to be on Facebook, I just want to use it to promote my business.

Sorry, but that is not how it works.  People buy from people they know, like and trust.  How will they know you and like you,  let alone trust you if you are not available to them?  Facebook was built on the basis of personal relationships.  If you are not willing to be on Facebook personally, then it is not the right place for you to promote your business, use a different avenue.

Reason number 4: It’s easier to get fans.

If it’s a profile, they are not fans, they’re friends.  Many of us won’t accept a friend request from a business.  Also, you are limited to the number of friends you can have.  On a business page you can have an unlimited number of fans.

Reason number 5:  I can’t get anyone to “Like” my business page.

Have you given them a reason to “Like” your page? See #9 below.

Here is how I suggest  you use Facebook to get the best results.

1. Put up your personal profile. Use a current photo that looks like you.
2. Connect with friends, family, coworkers, clients. If you are connecting with people you don’t know very well or who you recently met, be sure to send a short, personal note explaining how you know them and why you want to connect.
3. Post things that help people get to know you. You don’t have to be too personal but you want people to get to know you so they can like you and trust you, because we know that people buy from people they know, like and trust.
4. Interact with your connections. Click like on their posts or comments. Comment on their posts occasionally. All of this needs to be done genuinely. Don’t just comment to comment; comment on things you are genuinely interested in.  Yes, this takes time, so does meeting with people in person.  Schedule time on your calendar and check in for 15 min. daily and then once a week make a longer visit to Facebook.
5. Don’t post too much business stuff on your personal page.
6. Put up a business fan page.
7. Start inviting your connections from your personal page to your business page.
8. Provide interesting and engaging information on your business page.
9. Get more people on your business page by:

• putting a link from your website to your business page.
• putting a link on your email signature.
• putting it on you business card.
• running a contest.

10. Consider using ShortStack to build a customer business page – it’s easy.

If you’d like help with your sales and marketing strategy and deciding whether or not to use Facebook as part of it, we would love to help.  You can sign up for a free 30 minute consultation or join one of our Sales Success Groups.  You can email or call us at 775-852-5020

P.S. Here is a great resource from Hubspot: How to Use Facebook for Business: An Introductory Guide for 2011

When people ask me if they should be on LinkedIn I always ask, “Is anyone you do business with or want to do business with on LinkedIn?”  If the answer is yes, then you need to be on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is a very powerful tool when used correctly.  But just “being” on LinkedIn is not enough. Having a profile on LinkedIn will get you about the same thing as going to a party and standing in the corner. Someone might come up to you but you can’t expect any results. If you want to get results you have to learn to utilize the tool and interact.

Having a complete profile is the bare minimum. Review your profile. Be sure it is complete and represents you well. I find so many people without a photo. To be effective you need a current headshot. A photo that looks like you so that someone who has met you in person would recognize you.

Next you need connections. A big mistake many people make is connecting with people they don’t know. What good is a long list of people you don’t know? What can you do with it? The idea is to build a strong useful network. One that you can reach out to for help. That means you need to know them and they need to know you, like you and trust you. Only then will the network be useful to you.

Here are my recommendations for building a strong network.

1. Connect with people you know. Start with friends, family and co-workers, then add clients and past clients. Add people you meet networking and people in your professional organizations. Don’t try to connect with people you don’t know. That comes later and it will be much easier and more effective once you have connected with everyone you do know.

2. Make it personal. Always send a personalized note, even if you know the person well. The idea is to connect and build the relationship. Example:

Hi John,
It was great to see you at the business networking event last night.  I’d like to talk to you further about the technology group you mentioned.  Let’s get connected on LinkedIn so we can share our networks. I look forward to talking again soon.
Best Regards,
Alice

3.Interact just like you would in real life. Login to LinkedIn daily. Answer emails, post your activity, and check out what people in your network are sharing and click “Like” or make a comment. Find more people you know and get connected.

4. Get involved with some groups. Notice I didn’t say join. Joining is not enough. You won’t get results. You have to get involved in the discussions and share valuable information. When people you don’t know from that group interact with you it gives you a reason to ask them to connect which widens your network. Find professional organizations that you belong to and join their groups on LinkedIn. Join your alumni association. Then search for other groups that would be interesting for you to belong to. This is one of the best ways to connect with people you don’t know.

5. Ask for introductions. If there is someone you don’t know that you want to be connected with find someone who knows you, likes you and trusts you to introduce you. This is much more effective than sending a connection request to someone who doesn’t know you. To increase the likelihood of being connected to people you don’t know by someone you do, you have to spend time getting connected and strengthening relationships with people you know. So go back to point 1 and 2 above.

Once you have done these things, LinkedIn will be a powerful way to stay connected with people you know, develop stronger relationships and get connected with people you want to know.

Read more to learn how to get people to follow your company on LinkedIn.

If your company needs sales training on how to use LinkedIn to get connected and build relationships we offer training webinars  or onsite training tailored to your industry.  Please call 775-852-5020 for more information.

I just finished reading Gerhard Gschwandtner’s 9/21 blog post,  Social Media Is Getting Tired…Social Business Is the New Frontier . I can really relate to the term Social Business.  I agree with Gerhard that social media is looked at as a waste of time and in many instances it can be.  However, for salespeople being present and interacting on social media is a must but the way they do it is critical.  As I’ve said many times, if you put up a profile on any of the social media channels and just sit there, it’s like going to a room full of all the people you need to know and standing in a corner.  Although someone might come up to you, your odds are not good so it’s basically a waste of time.  Utilizing social media channels to build relationships is a good use of time.  Using it to follow thought leaders in your industry and interact with them, and using it to follow trends in your industry and your customer’s industries is critical.  Social media makes it easier than ever to do these things.  Salespeople need to be connecting, interacting, building relationships and sharing knowledge which will all lead to sales.  But as Gerhard points out, “The big question is, why aren’t more salespeople getting with the program?” He shares some things he learned from his conversations with successful sales executives. Click here to read Gerhard’s blog.

And if you are not already subscribed to Selling Power Magazine, I highly recommend it. Their website has a wealth of information for salespeople and those who manage sales.

If you would like to learn how to do Social Business to get more sales, call me for a complimentary 30 minute phone consultation 775-852-5020.

It never hurts to go back to basics and  regroup.  When it comes to social media, things are changing so fast it is tough to keep up.  Here are 8 tips to help you look at your social media plan in a basic way that will help you excel.

1. Take a look at your current marketing plan and review the ways you are reaching your target market.  Ask yourself, what’s getting you results and what’s not?

2. Think about your ideal customer, what social media platforms are they using?  Look at the demographics of LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and any others and see if they match those you are trying to reach.  Ask your current customers what social media platforms they frequent.

3. Take a look at your competitors, how are they using social media?

4. Think about your brand and the messaging you want to use to communicate, which social media will help you do that best?  How does that integrate with any traditional marketing you may be doing, your newsletter or your blog?

5. Make an editorial calendar for your content. Good content is the key. It is what engages your audience and gets them to interact with you. Push out good content on a regular basis to develop your status as an expert and increase your following and then you can pepper in your events, programs or sales specials.

6. Determine who is going to be responsible for your strategy and for executing your strategy.  It needs to be done professionally and consistently.  This may be a good one to outsource to and expert.

7. Review and evaluate the results of what you have executed. Make changes to your strategy based on this information.

8. Measure your results, did you generate any leads with your social media plan?

If you need help with your sales strategy, please feel free to email me at answers@aliceheiman.com or schedule a free 30 minute strategy session.

“Social media takes so much time and I don’t see it generating business.”

I have heard this from many small business owners. It’s true that you can spend lots of time and not get any result unless you are doing things properly. It is also true that some businesses are generating a lot of sales using facebook and other social media sites. 

Here are a few tips on how to make the best use of Facebook for business owners so you can generate leads.

1. Make a plan. Any social media activity should be part of your businesses larger sales and marketing plan. Sit down and plan your posts and how they relate to the other sales and marketing you are doing.

2. Find fans. This starts with having friends on your personal page and driving traffic from your website or email signature to your business page. You have to engage fans so you may want to run a contest or have a giveaway to acquire fans but most importantly give them a reason to be your fan. Deliver great content, ideas, conversations.

3. Connect. You can only sell to people who know you, like you and trust you. Even if they don’t know you personally, they need to know your brand. Spend time connecting with people online just as you would in person. Get to know them, let them get to know you. Don’t just friend them and then never talk to them again. Figure out how to engage them and add value.

4. Be patient. Using social media as a form of marketing is a great idea, but it isn’t fast. You need to be online and be consistent. It could take months to start getting some traction, especially if you are doing it yourself and don’t know much about how social media marketing works.

If you would like to learn more please join me August 9th for an online sale training webinar. Find out more…

Facebook for business owners, a waste of time? Not if you ask me.

I just returned from the National Speakers Association Influence 2011 Conference in Anaheim, and everyone was talking about Google+. Since many of the experts there say it will be the next big thing,  I thought I’d share a few great posts and articles I’ve read recently on how to get started.  As of today, Google+ is still in limited field trial so you can’t join without having an invitation, but it’s still a  great time to learn more about it.

Noble Studios recent post How to Get Started on Google+ offered a list of tips for getting started on Google+ including creating a profile, building circles (to filter and group contacts), sparks (real-time search engine based on interests), controlling your network visibility, and more!

In Heidi Cohen’s post,  Google+ Has Mark Zuckerberg’s Attention, Shouldn’t It Have Yours? she offers 7 Ways to Kick Google+’s Social Media Tires Now!:

1. Build a presence on Google+
2. Be where your customers & prospects are
3. Make your content sharable on Google+
4. Explore breadth of Google+ product suite
5. Watch for Google+’s impact on other social media entities
6. Know search will be involved
7. Test your brand on Google+

Read more of Heidi Cohen’s post on ClickZ.com

Finally, there was a very interesting article on Google+ by Mike Elgan on PCWorld entitled, How Google+ Ends Social Media Fatigue. Elgan says, “For most people Google+ can replace every single medium of online communication.” We all have so many means of communication including email, a multitude of social media sites, blogs, text, instant messaging, etc. and it can be quite daunting to keep up with all of them.  “Google+ is an email service, blogging platform, micro-blogging site, news feed, video conferencing system, chat service, location-based social network and more”, says Elgan.  So it begs the question: Can Google+ replace all of them?

What do you think? Is Google+ the next big thing? Can one platform outdo the rest by consolidating all their features?

Leave a comment and let us know what you think.

Some of you might know that I use to be a reading specialist and that I have a rather large collection of children’s books. So what might you ask does that have to do with sales. Well, often times it gives me a chuckle because as I am working on all things sales, children’s book titles pop into my mind and while preparing for my Facebook training this one popped up, Do You Want to Be My Friend?

I get so many friend requests on facebook but very often I have no idea who the person is, sound familiar? It reminds me of the little mouse, in the book by Eric Carle, running around asking people if they want to be his friend. Everyone is on a quest to gain more “friends” on Facebook, but what is the definition of a “friend”? It’s like running up to people at a networking event that you don’t know and handing them your card. Does this make them your friend? How useful is having a list of people you don’t know anything about? What can you do with it? It’s not even a qualified leads list.

If you want me to be your friend then connect with me, tell me who you are, tell me what we have in common, don’t just send me a friend request. I won’t accept it anyway. When someone takes the time to send a friend request with a message, I feel they are genuinely interested in connecting with me personally and not just ‘accumulating’ friends. I wonder if most of the people on Facebook even know you can send a message with your request?  If they do, they don’t use it. I get about 40 friend requests a month and maybe 2 of them have a message that helps me know who they are. Since I don’t know who 38 out of 40 of them are, I take the time to look up each one of them on Facebook, LinkedIn and Google to decide if I want to accept their friend request. Once I have decided I send them a personal message that goes something like this:

“Thanks for connecting, I see you are a speaker. Are you a member of NSA? Since we don’t know each other I am curious how you found me and what inspired you to connect. I live in Reno, NV near the mountains and love all of the outdoor activities. I enjoy sailing, skiing and hiking. My business is helping companies increase sales. Let me know more about you.”

It’s like writing to a penpal when I was a kid. Some of you are thinking, why tell them all of that if it is on your facebook page? Well, remember, depending on your settings you may not be able to see anything about a person except their name. If they don’t answer my message I don’t friend them. Why would I? I want to connect with people, get to know them and determine ways I can be of service to them. And for business purposes, people only buy from you if they know you, like you and trust you, so how would having a bunch of “friends” that don’t know you help you increase your sales? For many of you the urge may be to just click ignore on people you don’t know and if I wasn’t a public figure I probably would too. There are several each day I do just ignore, but the most amazing things have happened from my willingness to try and connect, even though they didn’t.  Since something inspired them to send me a friend request they were open and willing to answer my questions and now some of them are doing business with me.  It was well worth the extra 2 minutes it tool me to send them a note.

If you have a business and would like to learn more about getting connected and generating leads with Facebook, join me on August 9th at 11:30am (Pacific) for my online training webinar, where you’ll learn:

• Why it’s important to have a business page

• How to interact & get connected

• How to build a fan base

• How to generate leads

Register Now and save with early bird pricing

Businesses need to develop a social media strategy as part of their overall sales and marketing plan.  In my previous post, I mentioned 3 keys to developing a successful Facebook strategy that will help you increase sales:

1.   Connection
2.   Content
3.   Consistency

In that post, I discussed how to make connections on Facebook. This post will focus on content and consistency.

 2. Content

Once you have connected with people and asked them to “like” your business page, you’ll want to keep your audience engaged.  And the way to keep your audience engaged is by providing valuable content.  You can post on your blog and then automatically have it send to Facebook.  Your fans can click the link which takes them directly to your blog and get information that is useful to them.  Another way to engage them is to ask questions that are pertinent to their business and respond when they answer.  It’s also great to post links to other businesses they might be interested in and you can even promote their businesses on your page.  You need to think about the frequency of your posts and how they relate to the rest of your sales and marketing.  So if you are promoting an event you can post it on Facebook using the event feature and invite people or if you are running a special you can post that.  However, if you only post events and specials and never offer valuable content you risk losing the attention of your audience.  The idea is to have people checking your Facebook page because they don’t want to miss anything.  You can also run contests and give away free products.

None of this will work however,  if you are not genuine and do not truly care about your audience.  Insincerity comes across loud and clear on the internet.  If you are just promoting your products and services your audience will tire quickly.  Think about what you have to offer and give it freely.

3. Consistency

Just like with any other part of your sales and marketing you need to be consistent.  People show up once at a networking event and then tell me they didn’t get any results.  You have to attend several months in a row and get to know people before you will build relationships that can lead to sales.  It’s the same online.  You have to show up and be present. You need to interact personally and on a regular basis.  In order to do this I recommend having a sales and marketing calendar planned for several months in advance if not the whole year and make the social media part of that.  I have an editorial calendar that prescribes what we will post,  where and when we will post it, and we coordinate this with our other marketing efforts. In between I interact personally on Facebook by clicking “like”, commenting on posts and sharing info about myself.

Many people want to know how often to post on their business page and the answer is, it depends.  You have to get to know your audience and what they respond to, so you may have to try some things to see what works.  For Facebook once a week would be a minimum but you could post several times a day if you have something valuable to share and you will want to repeat some posts if they are important because not everyone is watching your page at all times.  But again remember that interacting with people is something that should be done on a regular basis.

For most businesses Facebook can’t be your entire sales and marketing program but it can be an important part and can give you great results.  You need a plan to get results and you need someone who can execute the plan and be consistent.  Facebook works best when it is integrated with other social media like Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, a blog, and with your traditional marketing and networking as well.

If you would like to learn more about how to use a Facebook business page to generate leads join us on Tuesday, 6/14 for my  webinar, I’m on Facebook, Now What?