Social Media Expertise for $500 per Month?

Went to an entertaining and informative seminar on Social Media marketing sponsored by Yepser. They got one of their clients - Victor Antonio who is a motivational sales speaker - to talk about what they've done for him.

*Great strategy Yepser - you guys show you really understand marketing. Victor was/is very engaging - and kept bringing it back to how this helps you "make money."

Yepser offers their services as a package and pretty cheaply. For a minimum of 3 months all they want is $500/mo and they'll set up and manage your Twitter and Facebook accounts. (More if you want Facebook and/or Linkedin as well.) If I was a small business I'd jump on this!

So what pearl(s) of wisdom did I learn?

1. Look for buyers - not browsers - meaning you have to go after qualified traffic. It's a basic rule of sales - but in the world of fans, links, and followers - so many folks equate big #s with success. It was a good reminder for me. We have to remember what our goal is. And the goal is usually to make money - so you want to attract QUALIFIED followers.

2. You need to know how much a new customer is worth to you -i.e. "lifetime value". Once you have that, you can start determining what you're willing to spend on getting them. Social Media is NOT free. It may not require the high cash outlays more traditional media does, but it takes time and energy - and you need to have a decent web page presence that represents you.

2. For most of us - focus on the Big Four: Facebook, Twitter, Blog & LinkedIn. He then gave a great description on how these 4 differ which I loved:
Facebook = a dinner party, with two way conversations, showing off pictures of the family, etc.
LinkedIn - is a business networking event where you're trying to create business relationships etc.
Blog - is more like a presentation where you can demonstrate your expertise.
Twitter - is like moving through a cocktail party. You throw out some thoughts, but you're conversations are very short and superficial.

3. From there it's a pretty standard marketing plan, but with good tweaks for SM:
a) Define your market/target and decide what your strategy will be
b) Design and program your landing page that all your social marketing will be sending traffic to. (And remember design & images matter)
c) Create and upload your messages.
d) Track the traffic, your conversations, and then adjust.
e) Repeat steps c and d.

I think they forgot one:
Before you embark - go do your research and LISTEN to what your clients or targets are already saying about your product and competition. Basic marketing: You need to know what problem you're solving before you can provide an answer.

A couple Tips and tools for gaining followers:
On Twitter - follow more people - but be strategic in who you follow. They will tend to follow you back, and your name gets out there more.
Blogs - unwritten blog etiquette: if someone follows you, you should follow them.
LinkedIn - ask for recommendations, and recommend others - but only if you REALLY recommend them.
Alexa.com - tracks the top 20MM websites and can help determine if you're campaign efforts are making progress. There are approx 400MM websites around with 1MM new pages created daily - yet 95% of them get less than 10 visits/day. You want to be in the top 5%.

That's it for today. Let me know what you think!