P is for Public Relations

The old vanilla ways of mass communication marketing are quickly losing their effectiveness in today's financially cautious economy. Now, everyone wants the personal experience and direct communication that has become available with social media like Facebook, Twitter, and interactive business blogs.

Public relation campaigns are finally turning away from mass message advertising and toward public relationships again. There are two ways you can approach any relationship: actively or passively. Social media is the new age way of fostering active relationships with your affiliates and target market. Social media isn’t supposed to sell, it is supposed to influence.

Social, A.K.A. Word of Mouth, Marketing

Since becoming a web presence consultant for small businesses, I have conducted hundreds of case studies and developed marketing strategies with and without social media. The companies that integrated social mediums into their plan began getting results almost twice as fast as those with a comparable investment of a website with an SEO and SEM only strategy.

Our social network profiles and integration with web 2.0 have a much broader potential reach (at an insanely more affordable price) than that of television and radio combined. Websites are instantly available to the 1,596,270,108 people in this world who access the internet. Of course, social media is catching on quite rapidly, as well.

Social media encourages businesses to be:

• transparent,
• consistent,
• and genuinely caring to their customers and clients.

As a business owner, you learn to listen in a whole new way.

There are so many ways to advertise and establish your business brands. Some companies use tactics like catchy (maybe a bit annoying) jingles, some really attempt to make a connection with their audience (people don't care about how much you know until they know how much you care, right?), and some are thought provoking and witty as if they want to guilt you into buying their product/service. Personally, I prefer the ones that really speak an encouraging message, although the funny ones are fun, too. :)

"Old-Fashioned" PR isn't Dead. . .Yet

Effective advertisement builds up, tears down, or educates. Here are two examples of mass communication via television and radio that I want to share that are good examples of my favorite types of advertising.

Advertisement Message 1:

We Care About Your Community

The first is an Allstate Insurance commercial called "Back to the Basics".


Advertisement Message 2:

We Care About You

I also want to mention a CVS commercial which I am sad to say I have no media file for.

Here's the basic message:
1. Starts with a Minute Clinic nurse helping a mom take care of her son's illness.
2. Mom goes home and gets a checkup call from the nurse.
   • The mom says, "Thanks for the follow up."
   • The nurse says, "We call that following through."

This left me with a good mental image of a health care provider that really cared about her patient. This was exactly what CVS was hoping for, right?

We want to give our customers that fuzzy feeling of comfort and understanding! More specifically, when working as a virtual assistant, you want your client to be a priority and more than satisfied with your work. It will keep them coming back.

Look at Publicity the Right Way

In the internet business everything is public. Don’t just say, "I can't" because you inadvertently burn bridges. You can always ask your new found business connections on LinkedIN or ask.com, questions about how to work through almost any situation.

The more you learn about your niche business and build complimentary skills, the better you will be able to meet your clients' needs efficiently. Remember, how you work on public relations and your reputation, is directly related to your influence and reach.

Read other people’s blogs and then leave them genuine comments. You know how it feels when someone takes the time to comment about something you wrote or did online. It's the same with everyone.

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L is for Linked IN

Linked IN is really the "facebook" for business connections and associates. This is another social network tool of the trade to get your name and purpose out there. (It really is all about who you know and who knows how great you are. ;) Your profiles need targeted traffic and a focused message as much as your website does.

This social profile will allow integration with your business blog feeds, resume' sharing, and so much more.

If you are already on Linked IN, join Groups that you would fit into or research apps that could showcase your work online. If you are certified in anything, see if there's a group where only certified professionals are given access. This builds your network and your credibility at the same time!

Get connected and recommended at LinkedIN.

Social Media Minute by the Virtually Assisting You's Facebook Fan Page: (12/21/2009) LinkedIn Q & A can be useful in figuring out new angles to take in your marketing plan, that can be used for your products/services.

On a side note, here is another business focused social networking site I like: ecademy. They even have an SEO guide for members. This SEO helps you get found and get some good backlinks to your website. The free profile is definitely sufficient for newbies. They have powernetworker and blackstar memberships that can be useful, however, they could be a waste of money if you don't know how to use the services properly.

This is a site to sign up for if you have an official business name: Merchant Circle - I don't have much of an opinion on this one yet except it looks nice and will help you connect with businesses in your area.

F is for Facebook

This post is actually about facebook and myspace. These are two of the biggest social networking sites on the internet. (Don't worry, I'll get to Linked IN and Twitter later.)

MySpace

My first social networking profile ever was on myspace. I began actively using it around September or October of 2006. Since I tried this one first, I'll start here. Myspace still has a small hold on the entertainment industry's social network. However, a lot of everyday users have slowed or stopped using this service altogether. The problem with myspace has simply been that they threw in the profile 2.0, and really changed the way people were once able to update and personalize their profiles. It seemed like a lot of people jumped ship then, and went to our "Plain Jane" yet beloved facebook. :) A prime example of how drastically changing a good thing can go bad. Still, I provided the examples below, to show that they really wanted to make it more customizable.

Check out the following profiles:
1. SAMPLE 1 - nice example of what that "profile 2.0" thing is good for. Nice huh?
2. SAMPLE 2 - good example of a myspace splash page linking to a main website.
Myspace should have seen the complaint emails coming, when they introduced this profile upgrade. You had the option of either choosing among about 8 profile themes or learning CSS (or hiring yourself a web or style sheet developer.) Since this transition, they have added a few more profile themes to choose from. :)

A side by side comparison: Coca Cola on Social Media (I love you Diet Coke! :)
MySpace Page vs. Facebook Fanpage
They are really very comparable. Aren't they

Facebook

I didn't have a profile on facebook until September of 2007. And I have probably used them both the amount even though I've been on myspace longer.People also switched over to facebook due to the many options available like facebook fanpages (see my two pages: Business2.0 & Work at Home Parents)and the fact that when you first signed up, it "judged" whether you were putting in a real name or not (no funny characters or curse words here). Inevitably, this meant that looking up people to find and reconnect with on facebook was much easier. Never-the-less, I think that trying out both networks is a good idea. Facebook has become a wonderful mix of business and pleasure. They also made a smart move by making it available to the masses, not just the college students. (But you have to start somewhere right?) Anyways, I encourage you to go do some research, be adventurous and see if you can find anybody you knew or join a group to find people you want to get to know.

Social Netiquette

In conclusion, I would like to share some professional social netiquette rules to keep in mind. Please do not take this as a complete or concrete list. I am not any kind of authority on etiquette. In fact, I am usually the clueless one -LOL. But seriously, consistently professional web presence is very important, and I am welcoming anyone who has another list of rules or additional info then please share with us.

1. Beware of what you post on your profile. Don’t put anything on your profile you wouldn’t want your clients or partners to see. I am not trying to say "be fake", I am just trying to say "be selective" with your pictures and posts, etc.

2. Beware of what applications (apps) you use, because a lot of them require you to allow them access to your profile and will post things on your profile or even your friends' profiles. :{ (And for security purposes, watch out for those apps that ask for access to your profile info, friends, etc.)

3. Try to keep business at a minimum on your personal profile.(No more than maybe one business post a day on your personal profile) That's what facebook business pages and groups are for. If all of your high school and college buddies want to know about your business, they'll join your group or "fan" your page.
( **Here is where I should apologize and sincerely thank all my friends that have let me spam them to get my facebook vanity URL's** :) - I love you guys!

Effective communication depends on your situations and relationships. Just remember we are all different, and when you read something on a screen, it's difficult to guess or interpret the tone of voice or facial expression behind the posts and messages. It's natural to assume the worst or to want the instant gratification of an immediate response to your posts and messages. I am here to tell you, this isn't always the case. Stay positive and know that just like you get busy, so will the people in your network. Have fun with it, and keep it real.