They are more than a product reminder on Facebook. They have fun talking about many different topics! Check them out on Facebook!

Team Referral of Glendale is another opportunity to meet with a group of professionals and bring leads to the table and get leads. This group is small and more focused on assisting with each others business. I enjoyed the fact that I can reach out to each person. Team Referral meets Mondays at noon, Marie Callendar’s in Glendale.

Business Networking International in Burbank has a Lunch Bunch and a breakfast group! I am going to check out the lunch bunch today! They meet at Third and Olive every Tuesday!

Social Internet Marketing: Reaching your audience and consumers through your website via blog with connections to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Flickr. You can also use additional sites in your market to let consumers know what events, announcements, product launches, or information that is happening with your business.

Advertise: You need to let consumers know you are here! Advertising sends the message of what you have to offer, what you are about, and how to find you! Advertising needs to be consistent. One ad here or there is not going to get ANY return! It takes frequency and familiarity for a consumer to see you. When they finally need your product or service they are going to look for you. If you are no longer advertising they will think you are no longer in business and find someone who is advertising to buy that product or service. Advertising can be considered web ads or print ads. Find where your best audience is. Capture that business!

Free Press: I will say up front it is not free! Connecting with magazines, newspapers, or other media takes money. Typically you need to find someone who has the connection to the publication you want to have a story presented in. You need someone to “pitch” your service or product. You may also need someone to create press releases. This includes copy, distribution, and follow-up. It can be as costly if not more than advertising.

1. Don’t go running off without a plan. Meet with your marketing folks/committee and decide what kind of presence you want to project and how much information you want to share.

2. Decide if/how you will measure your effectiveness. If you just want to know if your website visits jump, be sure to benchmark your hits before you start any new web activity.

3. Remember that anything you do or say WILL get read by “someone” and that “someone” could be that person’s best friend or be “connected” to them through their social network.

4. Put someone in charge. You wouldn’t put multiple people in charge of updating your website, so don’t put more than one person in charge of the same social media sites. Make sure you all agree on what you want out there … perhaps the lead marketer emails your Social Media Team (SMT) to ask them to post “the attached” and that they do it within X number of days. That way the news breaks evenly across the board and it’s a consistent message.

5. In addition to putting yourself or business out there, use the RSS feeds, groups, and searching areas of the sites to see what’s going on around you. Maybe your competition is posting info that you’ve missed. Maybe you missed a really great article that someone is touting. Maybe there’s an event you want to join. Plugging in words to a Twitter account bring up untold numbers of “tweets” that include the word in their posts. These searches are global and go outside your own ring of influence.

6. Does your website include the ability to create a Blog? If so, put someone in charge of posting news and information on it. Be sure to use key words that will help search engines find you.

7. Monitor how it’s working. Get feedback from your web administrator (are hits going up?), from your registrar (do people check “found you on the internet” when they sign up?), and from those charged with each of the sites you’ve chosen to involve yourself in (does anyone ever comment? When you search your name, does it appear anywhere new?). Make judgments about continued use and time against that. The services are free, but you don’t want to overdo the amount of time (it’s easy to get sucked into these sites.

The message here is this: if your customers have several choices in your expertise, you NEED to stay current and be the business that everyone is talking about. You need to be the business that communicates with those interested in your product or service. Using social media helps get you there.

Help Community Chevrolet celebrate 50 years of Business

AND

Network! Network! Network!

Please note: The luncheon is on Thursday and at a new location!

The Business Connection Luncheon starts at noon. You should try to arrive early to network. This particular event takes place once a month and you have an opportunity for 25 seconds to stand up and make an impact. You get to tell the crowd about your business in 25 seconds! It is a lot of fun. There are also opportunities to sponsor the luncheon or have a table to showcase your business.