I just acquired a Droid from Verizon in January and I have been amazed at what the latest ’smart phones’ can do.  If you already have a smart phone then you know what I’m talking about.  If you don’t and you’re a business owner, then you owe it to yourself to at least find out what they can do. It’s still a phone, but I find myself using it less as phone and more and more as EVERYTHING else!  Here is a short list in case you were wondering…

• Web browser, Camera, Music player, Calendar, Organization tool, Email, Phone Book, Alarm clock, Flash Light, Gaming device, Social Media hot links, and much more including a Local Search device.

Smart phone users can instantly search for local products and services, read about business details, get a map link for instant directions, read reviews on the business and more.  This is all great news…if your business is listed.  If you’re not listed, then someone else is and you’re losing business.

The good news is that most small business owners will be slow to react and by the time they do it will be too late.  Savy business owners will have already claimed their online real estate and optimized it to ensure they keep it. We all know the yellow page directories are dying and local search with smart phones is only going to expedite their demise.

So what are you going to do?

If you’re not sure where to start, here are few quick tips.

• Search for your business on your smart phone. Can you find it?  Can you find your competitors?  If you don’t have a smart phone, borrow one from a cool friend.
• Claim your Google and Yahoo Local directory listings NOW!  Populate them with as much information about your business as you can.
• Claim your Business on Customer Review sites like Yelp! and Merchant Circle.
• Develop a plan to get your Customer Reviews in order.
• Enlist the help of a Local Search Engine Optimization specialist

Don’t wait. I think this shift is coming extremely fast and you have a golden opportunity to take advantage of it now.

Social Media was all the buzz in 2009 and it will likely increase in 2010.  For most B2B businesses, the return on investment is still low at best, especially when compared with other forms of online marketing, such as SEO, PPC, and email marketing.

Ignoring social media should not be an option for any business.  I’m not saying every business should be doing it all. In fact, my opinion is far from that.  For most B2B businesses, I still think the direct impact that social media can have on your business is minimal. My advice is understand it, educate your employees and participate where it makes sense. I’d rather see you spend time on online activities that offer a significant ROI, i.e. SEO, PPC, email marketing, conversion architecture and web analytics.

However, there is no denying the fact that social media is “where the eyeballs are”.  People are spending a large chunk of their time online (over 50%) on social media sites like Facebook, Youtube, MySpace, Blogs and more. As a result, EVERY business needs to have a strategy as to how you’re going to address it.

At a minimum, every business’  Social Media Strategy should address the following items.

• Educate yourself and your staff on social media
• Ensure social media policies and guidelines are established
• Ensure your brand is protected and consistent
• Monitor your online reputation. Setup Google Alerts at No cost.
• Create a social presence and community

Contact WSI for assistance in developing a Social Media Strategy kit for your business.

Email marketing remains the most cost-effective marketing tool available. More importantly, it allows you to create ongoing awareness of your brand and offerings with your clients and prospects.

Email marketing is often forgotten in the Social Media buzz, but it is a form of social media. 90% of people use email daily while less than 40% visit social media sites each day.  Here are some simple guidelines.

• Start building a permission-based list NOW – No spamming
• Send a newsletter one time per month.
• Develop your plan for the next six months now. Don’t make it a last minute chore each month. Tie it in with the rest of your marketing plan.
• Give your readers useful information or something of value. You want to keep them reading. It could be Tips, Discount Offers, or just interesting info.
• Keep your messages short and to the point.
• Drive visitors back to your website where they can get more detailed information.

Email marketing systems, such as Constant Contact, start as low as $15 per month. What are you waiting for?

I see two critical questions for companies.

1. As an organization are you listening? If you have customers, most likely they’re talking about you to their friends, colleagues, and to anyone else who will listen and is in their sphere of influence.
2. Do you have a plan / strategy for Social Media? The business benefits of social media are still debatable depending on your market.  However, it’s where the eyeballs are and you need to have a Social Media strategy – more on that on another day.

Once you are ready to embrace the reality of public dialogue, it is time to find out what people may already be saying about you. There are many tools available to accomplish this, but unless you have a lot of time or are going to delegate this to someone who can concentrate on it, narrow your monitoring to a few key resources.

Although the online market is daunting for marketers, there are plenty of useful tools you can use to manage and monitor your online Reputation. Here are three easy to use tools:

Google Alerts

Google Alerts and Yahoo! Alerts are free, can be set up in minutes and will send you a daily update via email letting you know of any data they find using keywords related to your brand or other key issues.  This is a No Brainer for everyone in business.

Lexicon

Are people talking about your company on Facebook? If yes, then the Lexicon tool can help as it searches Facebook profiles for keywords and provides a snapshot of the chatter volume around those terms. The tool has some limitations but it new features are quickly being added.

Monitter

Everyone is talking about Twitter, but what are people talking about on Twitter? Beyond the integrated search of Twitter apps like Twhirl and TweetDeck, Monitter provides real-time monitoring of the Twittersphere.  Setup your own parameters (search terms) and geographic distance to monitor the chatter.

Enjoy!

A few weeks ago I blogged on social media for small businesses and where to start – read it here. My basic point was to make sure the rest of your house is in order before jumping in.  Today, I’m assuming that your business already has a successful web presence and is effectively using email marketing.  Now you’re ready to jump on the Social Media bandwagon.

So what’s next?

I’ve put together my Top 13 things a small business can do this week.  I chose 13 because I have more than 10 and 13 is my lucky number.

1. Specify some ground rules for your company to avoid future embarrassment – As Forrest Gump says “It happens”.
2. Talk to your employees – gain their input and ideas
3. Understand the community before jumping in.  For example, if you’re in the music or entertainment industry then MySpace might be a good fit.
4. Setup a company Facebook page.  180 + million eyeballs is enough reason.
5. Cut long distance and cell phone bills. Use SKYPE – its a free phone and instant messaging service
6. Setup an account on LinkedIn and start connecting. Don’t expect immediate returns.
7. Check out the competition – What can you do differently?
8. Research prospects and customers
9. Setup a YouTube channel
10. Find and screen potential employees
11. Become an expert on LinkedIn – Answer questions and build your reputation
12. Use Twitter with CAUTION.  Only follow people you have an interest in and share useful info.
13. Start a Blog to build your credibility and web traffic…but only if you have the time to blog regularly

Disclaimer:  This list is current as of today and is subject to change tomorrow.

At least once a day, someone asks me a question about Social Media. It’s the buzz about business and marketing circles. Social media wasn’t a big deal a few years ago, but it became a hot topic when the masses got on board. Now, the eyeballs are online – people are reading blogs, twittering, stumbling upon stuff and checking their Facebook. There’s no arguing the buzz and rapid growth in social media.  Facebook alone has over 175 million users (see http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics) and is growing at an estimated 5 million users per week.

However, what does this mean to the small business owner? Is it worthwhile? Does it offer a measurable return? Should you even care?

The jury is still out on the measurable ROI question – I’ll address that on another day.  There are some businesses using it effectively for connecting with their target markets, but most of what I see is not providing an ROI, at least not a positive ROI.

Is having 5000 friends on Facebook of any more value to your business than getting to Level 60 on World of Warcraft?  Who has 5000 friends that they can communicate with anyway???

Opportunities for success really depend on your business and who your target market is. There is no denying that social media can be a worthwhile part of your overall marketing strategy. It’s where a growing number of your customers and future customers are, and you need to be aware of the conversation at the very least.

In my opinion, too many companies are jumping on board with no real plan.  Many small businesses have yet to master having an effective web presence, search engine marketing, and email marketing and here they go jumping into Social Media because everyone is talking about it.  Small business should aim their efforts at the biggest opportunities online.   According to eMarketer, over 90% of all web users use search engines and email daily. Compare that to around 16% of web users who hit a social network once a month.

My advice to small business. Evaluate your existing online presence. If your web presence is non-existent, can’t be found, embarrassing or ineffective, get it in order first before you start telling the masses to come look.  Then, start small with social media.  There are a number of relatively easy things you can do to get in the game that I’ll be discussing later this week.  Stay tuned.