8 Tips to Optimize Sales with Social Media, But Beware of a Red Flag
Updated Feb. 1, 2012
It’s time-consuming, but there is data to illustrate why social media should be part of your marketing and human-resources recruiting mix.
For example, social networking continued to increase in popularity with consumers in the United States, according to the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project in 2011.
Pew reports 50 percent of all U.S. adults are social networking. So are 65 percent of adult Internet users – an increase of more than 100 percent since 2008. Daily, 43 percent of adults using the Internet are also on social networking sites.
Data from the month of May: Eighty-three percent of the 18-29 age-demographic are social networking. That compares to 70 percent for the 30-49 demo, and 51 percent among 50-64 year-old users. Thirty-three percent of seniors, 65+, are social networking.
The three salient social networks: Google+, Facebook and Twitter. LinkedIn is, of course, favored by professionals. (The Biz Coach has the AddThis option for readers to share this and other columns — there are 330 social media options.)
Social Networking Red Flag
So, social media has value. However, look before you leap into a full-scale dependence on social network marketing. Social networking doesn’t necessarily lead to sales, according to another Pew study.
It shows three types of social media aficionados:
- Heavy users – 26 percent of time spent
- Medium users – 4.1 percent time spent
- Light users – .42 percent time spent
Surprisingly, heavy users don’t necessarily consume products. Statistically, Pew reports they’re not as likely to buy products and services on the Internet. Plus, they spend less when they do.
Average spending among the three categories:
- Heavy users – $126
- Medium users – $212
- Light users – $297
What you need to do is find the right use of social-mediums for your business, and start interacting.
Here are eight options to consider:
- Manage your online image and reputation
- Branding for repeat customers
- Respond to customer complaints
- Complement your press releases with blogs
- Crisis management
- Stage contests to attract Web traffic
- Publish thought-leadership commentaries
- Attract and recruit employees
Naturally, the latter – No.8, recruit employees – is especially viable on LinkedIn. Ask any headhunter who is concerned about competition from LinkedIn. Conversely, it’s a networking tool for jobhunters, too.
From the Coach’s Corner, before investing heavily in Facebook, you might want to consider this Biz Coach column: Is Facebook Approaching the End of Its Product Life Cycle? Ostensibly, Yes.
“Social networks aren’t about Web sites. They’re about experiences.”
– Mike DiLorenzo
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Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?
Human Resources: How to Fine-Tune Management of your Staff
To achieve higher profits, you can become more strategic about managing your marketplace challenges. But the marketplace only represents 50 percent of an entrepreneur’s headaches.
Internal factors within your company also contribute to entrepreneur insomnia. Such factors include dilemmas over how to control costs, performance and quality.
Here are 17 strategies:
1. Have a job description for every position, no matter how little skill is needed. Regularly appraise workers. Keep your most promising workers. If the others can’t improve then replace them.
2. Keep in mind what every employee is entitled to know the answers to their three questions
- What’s expected of me?
- How am I doing?
- What’s in it for me?
3. Constantly network to find the best employees. Ask your best workers for employee referrals, use trade publications, and advertise in economical local newspapers. Although tempting, free online ads won’t generate the most productive workers. Check references thoroughly using open-ended questions for comprehensive answers.
4. Screen for common sense, creativity and education. Einstein’s theory about imagination being more important than knowledge often works in HR.
5. Target employees who possess the three A’s: Attitude, appearance, and ability.
6. Note the priority of attributes. Attitude is everything in showing empathy to other employees and customers. Both you and your customers will be pleased. While job knowledge or hard skills are important, so are soft skills in communication and teamwork. Coachable workers who aren’t afraid to work on their strengths and weaknesses, and set goals will make you money.
7. Family and friends will work fine as workers in tight economic times. Don’t forget temporary help firms for short-term projects or for hiring on a temp-to-perm basis.
8. Create a favorable first impression with a gracious welcome of new workers and encourage a buddy system.
9. Improve morale by developing an inspiring communications program. Whether or not your company is undergoing dramatic change, communication is key. Use formal and informal ways to dialogue with workers about priorities, celebrate success stories and encourage feedback. Survey your workers about their priorities. Accommodate employees when feasible.
10. Don’t cut corners in training and development. Encourage continuous self-improvement. Invest in training, mentoring and education.
11. Treat workers equally and regularly enforce your company’s procedures. Make certain everyone knows sexual harassment is taboo. (I’ve had unsolicited calls from law firms seeking court-ordered training for their clients who were sued in federal courts. I appreciated the business but it was preventable from the perspective of the companies.)
12. Focus on succession planning. Retain and attract leaders for your firm, and develop a strategy to help your most talented employees ascend to senior levels.
13. In talent development, help your managers to evaluate your company’s HR strengths and weaknesses. Eliminate any gaps in your workforce and establish a harmonious environment for company growth.
14. Promote diversity. It’s good business to consider and implement policies to recruit workers who are from other cultures. Add disabled applicants, and part-timers – such as stay-at-home parents and retirement-age workers.
15. In compensation and benefits, no boss wants to over-pay employees, but if you do your best to provide for employees, they’ll deliver stronger performances and take better care of your company’s assets.
16. Encourage exercise and recreation.
17. Use exit interviews as opportunities for growth and to learn from mistakes. The good workers might return or refer outstanding candidates to you, if you’re seen as a caring employer.
If these tips are properly implemented, you’ll see strong results.
From the Coach’s Corner, here’s a footnote on getting more productivity:
If any employees seem to be chronically tired, sleep apnea could be the culprit. Encourage your workers to participate in a sleep study.
The National Center on Sleep Disorders Research, www.nhlbi.nih.gov/about/ncsdr/index.htm, reported 12 to 18 million people have life-threatening sleep apnea. That’s a condition where people stop breathing several times each hour and they don’t even know it.
