I first met Stephanie online and then we went to events but never saw each other (you'd think we lived in some mega place and not the middle of nowhere). I just kept bugging her until she agreed to come teach a Blogging 101 workshop in my town. Obviously, I think she is pretty great and her rules are spot on!
You are a Social Media rock star, but how did you get started? It's kind of like the "chicken/egg" question. I honestly can't remember which came first: my blog or my twitter account. I want to say Twitter. Yep, that's probably it. I was pregnant and needed an outlet where I could say whatever I wanted, cuss as much as I wanted and not worry about any of my relatives or friends giving "constructive" feedback. Thus, EvolvedMommy was born. She's turned into her own person. I'm much more careful with my tweets and blog posts than I was in the beginning, though, because it turns out my crazy relatives find me everywhere anyway.
But to answer your question: I just put myself out there. When my husband first explained Twitter to me I stared at him blankly, and asked, "Why? Why would anybody do that? I don't get it." Within a few months I was tweeting regularly. In those days, the early days of Twitter, it seemed like it was me, Steve (@scratic), Ashton Kutcher and Shaq. We actually had twitter conversations with celebrities. I'm so enamored with famous people that I was hooked.
Do you think that ALL businesses belong on social media - all social media? Why, why not? I do, and here's why. If they aren't, their competition is, and whether they are marketing themselves on twitter or just watching for mentions of their name and responding to customers with problems they need to be there. Twitter provides a new opportunity for businesses. In the past, if someone was unhappy with service they received they would tell their friends and just not go back. The business owner would never know. Now, though, businesses can search and find their complainers and turn them into brand champions with just a little (sometimes surprisingly little) TLC.
What pitfalls have you seen companies make? Have you heard of Qwikster? In case you've been under a rock here's a quick recap: Netflix split off their streaming video service and renamed it Qwikster before checking to see if the Twitter handle was available. It turns out the Twitter handle wasn't available because it was owned by someone whose avatar was a pot-smoking Elmo. Oops. This caused such a ruckus that Netflix has now ditched the Qwikster business name entirely! (Wow, I had no idea!)
There are countless less public examples of what not to do. Companies commonly let their younger staff have free reign over the Twitter account simply because the youngsters are more familiar with the platform. However, your youngest employees don't always have the experience to handle such a responsibility. It's basically the equivalent of handing them a microphone in a room full of hundreds or thousands of people depending upon how many followers you have.
Who is doing it right? Locally? Steve Abshier at Abshier Construction is my social media prodigy. Here's a guy who is a hard-working, blue collar small business owner. Until a month ago he didn't know what Twitter was, nor did he have a company Facebook page. He now tweets regularly and sincerely. He posts pictures of his current projects on Facebook several times per week. He interacts with his community. And he is himself.
Another great personal experience of mine was with AT&T. Yep, I had a good experience with AT&T. Well, it started as a bad experience. My phone was dropping calls like crazy, I had a toddler with a fever and needed to clean the house for a party that night. I was in NO MOOD to call AT&T customer service and navigate a phone system only to sit on hold forever. So I tweeted about it. I'm very careful these days about tweeting complaints because I understand the impact of my words. But I was hot! A few minutes after my tweet went out I got a mention from @attbecky (I don't remember if that was her actual handle, but it was @att[her name] that said "Hey, I saw your tweet. Is there something I can do to help?" This wasn't someone hiding behind a corporate logo. It was an actual person with an actual face as an avatar. We tweeted back and forth. I vacuumed. She dm'd a few times. I never had to get on the phone. I never had to stop what I was doing. My issue was resolved and she was very nice. That is how you do it.
If you could give three steps to starting out what would you advise a small biz?
- Set up your Facebook page, so that people who like you can really "like" you. Post things to it occasionally (regularly is better)
- Set up a Twitter account and custom landing page. Register a name that is easy to remember and say. @evolvedmommy is a lot easier to remember and spell than @stephaniemccratic.
- Be YOU! In social media you must be transparent. Show your personality. Don't be afraid of typos (they prove you are a real person).
Here are my three rules for social media:
- Be you (I repeat myself because it is the most important thing I can say. My clients think I'm a broken record)
- No cussing, politics, religion (If you need to cuss, or talk about politics and religion set up an anonymous twitter handle and use it as such)
- If you are a drinker do NOT tweet after more than one drink. This. Is. Critical.
Where do YOU think the biggest bang for the buck is for a business that has less than 5 employees and may/may not have a brick and mortar location? I specialize in small business, and I am convinced that for now Facebook and Google are the most important items to focus on. If you do one thing TODAY go search for your business on Google and see what that looks like. You can customize your listing pretty easily. Ask customers to go to google and review you (If they like you).
Interestingly, nearly as many people now search Facebook first for a business as go to Google. And...yet another phone book company in Northwest Arkansas shut its doors last week. Get online.
Once you've gotten your Facebook and Google cleaned up, move to Twitter. You don't have to be everywhere at once. Progress, not perfection. Social media is constantly evolving. Get used to change and work with it.
What do you see happening in the future - like tomorrow? Each day customer service becomes more and more important. The big box stores are almost passé' these days because we as consumers have so many options to receive great service. Be accessible to your customers. Interact and engage with them. When your competition arrives on the scene you will already be the "thought leader." This applies to all kinds of companies, products, services, both business-to-consumer and business-to-business.
If you could do anything else, what would it be? I would be a wealthy socialite fashionista in NYC. ;) Alas, I am a middle-class mommy and wife in a funky little town in Arkansas. And I kinda like it. (And we are glad you are here too!)
