Sales & Marketing Consultant, Bestselling Author & Business Motivational Speaker

So we’ve all heard of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), and a few of us will even have a good understanding of the basic principles of SEO and will be able to use these to generate more traffic for our company websites and blogs. But as always the platforms for online marketing are changing, and as we move into 2012 we need to not only be focusing our efforts on increased SEO for our sites, we also now need to be thinking about our social media marketing goals and how we can further engage our audiences for the year ahead.

Social Media Optimisation (SMO) is the new SEO and it can do wonders for your business in terms of generating more leads and increasing awareness of your brand – so how can you optimise your corporate social media accounts to get the most out of them in 2012?

Well, there are two basic components to any good SMO campaign. Firstly, you need to link your social media sites to your website and blog content through the likes of social media share buttons. By adding a Facebook “like” button, a “Tweet This” button or Google Plus’ “+1” button to your content your audience can easily share your content with others and give recommendation to your work, which any visitors to your site will be able to see through the number of likes and shares each your posts or pages have had.

The second component to a successful SMO campaign comes from the contributions you make yourself – by providing high quality content which continuously engages your audience, then sharing this to all of your social media platforms yourself so that all of your followers have regular updates to keep them interested.

It is also very important when creating improved SMO for your business that either you yourself, your marketing team or your company as a defined brand itself interacts with your audience directly, through posting comments on your own sites, interacting with your followers and engaging in discussion and debate on other relevant blogs and forums. Simply plastering your content all over your social media platforms is not enough – you need to engage your audience and interact with them in a way which drives discussion and sparks further interest.

In basic terms, in order to be successful with SMO your content needs to be engaging and up-to-date, and it needs to be made easy for your audience to share this content across as many social media platforms as possible.

SMO is just as important for your business as SEO has been, as not only can it drive traffic to your sites, creating increased lead generation and in turn boost your sales, but it is also aimed at increasing your direct contact with your current followers – which in turn will push your online reach out across your targeted markets and allow you to engage with more and more potential clients.

The main downfall with pursuing an SMO campaign is that it can be very time consuming, and if you don’t have a dedicated team to push SMO it can be very difficult to maintain a strong online presence for your business – so look out for future posts about some great online tools which can help streamline your social media efforts and increase SMO in one foul swoop.

Happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert – Motivational Speaker

Despite all the buzz about social media and the revolution that it is going to create in the advertising world, word of mouth is still king. Very few things are valued more highly than a personal recommendation, so when one of your customers starts talking about how great your product is, people are going to listen.

Engage your Customers

Some products generate enough interest to create word of mouth and marketing buzz on their own. For the other 99% of products, you’ll have to do a bit of work to get the buzz started.

The best way to get word of mouth started is by maintaining an open dialogue with your customers. Ask them what they think of your business, what they like, and what you could improve. If your customers like one thing about your business, and your marketing materials are advertising something else, then you need to change your marketing focus.

Get Them Talking

A lot of times, there are word of mouth promotion channels that your customers may not even be thinking about, although they would probably be more than happy to promote your business.

For example, if you own a restaurant, and you know that a customer particularly enjoyed his meal, then ask him to write a review on Yelp! Your customers appreciate the hard work that you put into providing a quality product, and I think you’ll be surprised to find how willing they are to write a glowing review for you.

Throw them a Holiday Surprise

Few things stick in a person’s memory longer than an unsolicited act of kindness. Get your customers talking about you by doing something for them this holiday season. Send some of your best customers a coupon for a discount on their next purchase.

Integrate with Social Media

I know I started this post by taking a cheap potshot at social networking, but sites like Facebook and Twitter are actually just a modern take on word of mouth advertising. Specifically, they give you the ability to see which customers are spreading the good word about your business, and too see exactly what they are saying about you.

Don’t underestimate this impressive opportunity. Social media has given you the ability to know exactly what your customers are talking about. Reward your best customers, and the ones who are saying great things about you. And tailor your marketing materials to get them more in line with the good things that people are saying about you.

There are a million and a half ways that you can try to reach your customers today. But even with all the recent advances in marketing technology, the best way to reach them is still by winning over their friends. Make word of mouth advertising start working for you today!

Happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

(Image by Stuart Miles)

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert - Motivational Speaker

I know firsthand that a lot of small business owners are struggling. The economy is heading southward, and politics are seemingly deadlocked yet again. Ye there’s no reason that 2012 shouldn’t be your most productive year ever. The key is simply learning how to effectively tell people how great your business truly is.

All Work, No Play

I personally know a lot of small business owners and freelance contractors out there who are working day and night, producing excellent products and services, but they simply don’t have much to show for it. This is because they are not communicating with clients effectively enough.

There is an ancient Chinese proverb, that “he who rises before the sun 360 days per year cannot fail to make his family rich.” Yet many small business owners are in violation of this proverb, simply because they don’t know how to advertise themselves.

Leverage Social Media

Fortunately, the rise of social media provides small business everywhere with a way to advertise, (almost) totally free of charge. It would be a crime not to take advantage of this opportunity.

Actually putting together a social media campaign goes way beyond the scope of a simple blog post. My purpose here is just to get you started on your way.

If you haven’t already, set up a Twitter account, a Facebook page, get LinkedIn, and create an account on YouTube. Then start engaging. Engage with thought leaders in your industry. Learn from them, and re-share their information.

Then start sharing information of your own. Just remember that the key is looking at things from your customer’s point of view. Only engage them with information that you think will benefit them, and information that you think they will want to re-share.

For instance, don’t just put up a YouTube video that talks about how great your product is. If I wanted to see another dull advertisement, I would turn on the television. Make a video which is humourous, informative, or both. Maybe mention your product briefly, maybe just use it to promote you name. But definitely don’t just upload 5 minutes of satisfied customers talking about your product.

The best thing about social media is that fakers get weeded out fairly quickly. When you are communicating with your customers on a daily basis, it is much more difficult to pretend that you know what you’re talking about.

On the other hand, though, if you’re confident that you provide the best service in your industry, then a social media marketing campaign will make this shine through, and new customers will come flocking to you.

Happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert - Motivational Speaker 

In today’s service economy, you are not judged by the piece of machinery that your factory makes. You are judged instead by what we can expect from you in the future. And the way best way to indicate to your customers that they can expect great things from you in the future is by building trust with them.

Which begs the questions, how do you build trust? You build it by offering value-add, by providing valuable products and services to your customers. You also build trust by managing relationships. In the hustle and bustle of today’s world, it is often the second part that suffers.

Making Promises

Everybody make promises that they never really follow through on. From the simplest of things, like mentioning to a friend that you found a recipe online that you think she’d like, to the much more complex, like promising to help a colleague design their website. We all make promises that we fully intend on following through with, but then the world gets in the way, we forget, and the promises go undone.

If you give your word to someone and then don’t follow through, it damages your trust with them, and it damages your relationship. Nowhere is this more true than with your customers.

One Simple Trick

Start by taking a small notebook. This can be a physical notebook, or it can be a note on your iPad or cell phone.

Now, every time you make a promise to someone, every time that you give them your word that you will do something, write it down in your notebook. Then set aside a time each week, say Saturday afternoons, when you’ll go through that notebook and follow through on all the promises that you made over the week.

This applies to everything. Whether you mentioned in passing that you would send an interesting article to a colleague, or you told your son you would go play a game of basketball with him over the weekend. Follow through on every single promise that you made over the previous week.

The best part about this is that since most people forget to follow through on their promises, you will look especially good, and people will stop and take notice of the fact that your word is your bond.
Start with your personal relationships, and once you get in the habit, it will automatically follow you into your business relationships.

Happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert – Motivational Speaker