Deal with the Deluge and Don’t Lose Track of the Most Important Things

I don’t know how well you handle the constant influx of information, but for me, it’s a challenge. It seems unrelenting at times: all of the email, phone calls and interruptions at the office and on top of that, trying to keep track of people on Facebook and Twitter. Most days I do pretty well, but every now and then I miss something important. The other day I went full Homer Simpson and forgot to pick up my son at school.

D’oh!

My wife and daughter were off on a school trip and Nate and I have been having a great time as bachelors. But the other day I got into what I thought was a groove and I was knocking down problems and churning through everything that came my way. I left the office in a great mood, drove right by his school, and went home. I felt terrific and was still getting things done, taking out the trash and talking with a friend, when the school secretary called to tell me that Nate was the only kid still at school. You know that sudden sinking feeling? Talk about getting slapped awake!

That was the problem — I had been sleepwalking. It’s far too easy to do, to get completely submerged in the data flow and to lose track of things that are really important. Nate was fine and I’m sure he’ll hold it over my head for years to come. But I was stunned that I’d forgotten about him. It was no way near a disaster, but it was a wakeup call.

And this happened when things were going well. Business is booming. We’re hiring as fast as we can and are adding new clients and new business left and right. And just that fast you can lose track of really important things, like picking up your kid from school.

I’m not going to suggest that you stop looking at Twitter and permanently delete your Facebook account, but if you’re like me, you’ve got to find ways to both stay connected and not become overwhelmed. There’s an amazing amount of power and benefit in the online and social media world, but it doesn’t do you any good if it blinds you to the important aspects of your business or your life.

What can you do to find balance? I’d suggest not trying to monitor all of the streams continuously. Set aside specific times of the day to check your email and other information streams. Do the “Dr Pepper” method: check in at 10, 2, and 4 (OK, you have to be a connoisseur of marketing to remember that, but it works). There are even free services, like NutShellMail, that can help you keep track of everything more easily, tracking tweets and Facebook updates in a specially formatted email message.

For me, I’m trying to stay awake and focus on what’s important. It’s managing the data flow, not drowning in it. And it’s something to work on every day.

What do you do to keep focused and not get lost in the deluge?  Give me a call or drop me a line and we can talk about how you can do more with marketing and social media approaches without drowning in them.

Everything or Nothing – The Extremes of Social Media in Marketing

I’m seeing a trend that makes me shake my head and wonder: Companies that are completely confused and terrified about social media and do nothing AND the opposite group that does exactly the opposite — dump all other marketing efforts and go 100% social.

Social media, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and location based services like Foursquare and Gowalla are very interesting and offer a lot of potential. Almost every business should be experimenting with all of them and looking to see what comes next. But, they certainly should not be abandoning the forms of marketing that have been working for years and continue to work. There seems to be an idea floating around that social media is free. Sure, it’s free, if you don’t count your staff’s time. And, if you don’t integrate it with a campaign that includes your website, imagery, and effective calls to action. Oh, and it’s also free from results if it’s not tied to a coordinated marketing effort.

Social media is a remarkable networking tool, but to make it pay it has to be tied to other marketing tools: websites, email, and yes, even print, like catalogs, direct mail, brochures, and product sheets. It’s one more tool that everyone needs to be trying out, adapting to, and finding out what works for his or her business. But certainly not to the exclusion of everything else right from day one.

It’s just as bad to batten down the hatches and try to ignore the whole thing. If you’re not on social media, that doesn’t mean that your customers and your competitors aren’t. And they’re definitely out there, talking about you and your products. If you’re not there to take part in the conversation, they’ll become frustrated and think that you don’t care. And, guess what? They’re right. If you don’t care about what your customers think, when they have problems, or when they want to sing your praises, then you’ll get to learn some very interesting social media lessons. Lessons about dealing with bad PR figuring out why customers are abandoning ship on you.

I understand that some businesses are very worried about opening up and letting their employees talk about their business. And yes, there are management and legal concerns to deal with. So deal with them. The opportunities for your business are too big to ignore. But those concerns can be addressed. There are workable methods to incorporate social media into your business and with your marketing.

I’d love to talk about what you’re planning for your marketing and how you’ll integrate social media in the coming year. Give me a call or drop me a line and I’ll share how we’re helping businesses make social media a fully integrated part of their daily marketing efforts.

Tom’s Mini Me – How Social Media is Taking Leading Role in Sales and Marketing

I’ve said it before: Minds On gets new customers because I’m on Facebook,  LinkedIn, and Twitter. We’re a small company with big ambitions and these social media tools help us make connections and win business that we might never have known about. And it does it by making our networks much more powerful.

If you’ve been to any sales training or marketing seminars in the past twenty years, you have heard about the value of networking. You know about joining associations and participating in local gatherings. You know how to approach people and you know how to deliver your “elevator pitch”, that short and enticing description of what you and your company does.

But you can’t do that 24 hours a day. You’d need a clone. Actually, you need an army of clones that could carry your message and exponentially expand the impact of your network.

I use my personal LinkedIn profile and Facebook page to talk about our business.  As my network of friends and connections grows, people I don’t know find their way to us. It’s those connections that make that happen. It’s as if I had a mini-me, working twenty-four hours a day shaking hands, delivering my elevator pitch and getting introduced to new people: people who I ordinarily would never meet, people who my mom knows, who work with my cousins, or those old business colleagues they are connected with.

But it’s more than just connecting. You’ve got to let people know what you do and how passionate you are about it. And you have to show that you’re interested in what they’re passionate about as well. Your social media posts, the things you talk about on Facebook, and the things you tweet about, have to let people see your passion, your drive, and your interests.

How many times have you heard, “It’s not what you know, but who you know”? It’s always been true, from finding employment to selling a product or service. The best way to connect with someone you don’t know is through someone you do know. It’s about trust and credibility. Facebook and the other social media tools are making that possible in new and exciting ways.

Any sales situation is based upon a level of trust. If you’ve ever bought or sold something on eBay you know how scary it can be to try and make a transaction with an unknown stranger. So, when someone you do know and trust can say, “I know and trust this person. You can do business with them,” it allows you to relax and find out if there’s a fit between you and this person or business that is no longer a complete stranger.

And my Facebook, my mini-me, is making those connections.

Let me share something else I’ve learned: You can’t put all of your marketing eggs in one basket, even one social media basket. You’ve got to be constantly experimenting and measuring EVERYTHING. Each method, each marketing tool connects and reinforces the others. My Facebook page is fed by this blog, by what I tweet, and by other content on our website and our email newsletter. If you are doing direct mail, you want that to connect to everything else you do. It sounds complex, but it doesn’t have to be. You just need to let people connect with you the way they want to.

Drop me a line or give me a call. I can show you how we’re helping businesses, like Dominion Homes, integrate social media and Facebook into virtually everything that they do.

Mom is Facebook Stalking Me, but it’s Good for Business.

I opened my personal Facebook account a few years ago when Facebook emerged from the “just for college student” phase. I wanted to see what it was all about and thought it would be fun to connect up with old friends and acquaintances. It should be no surprise to anyone paying attention to social media: Facebook has brought new business to Minds On. It brought more business than all of the other forms of social media combined — more that Twitter and more than this blog.

I look at Facebook and LinkedIn, as well as the other social media tools, as an extension of what I’m able to do personally to network, to connect with people, and to learn about what’s going on beyond my physical horizons. And it’s making unexpected people become great advocates and salespeople for Minds On. My mom is one of the best.

Yes, my mom is my biggest fan. She’s the first to praise any accomplishment I post and she’s always there to spread the word. At first I was a little embarrassed, feeling like an eight- year-old playing soccer with his mom cheering on from the sidelines. But guess what? Mom is a people person and that’s what social media is all about. Not only is Mom singing my praises to my friends, but to her friends, too. And her friends all have friends. The effect of Mom “Liking” or replying to my posts magnifies the effect of everything I do. And because of that, I can connect with people I don’t know — people I might never have known without her cheerleading.

Because of my mom, there are dozens of others like her who follow my posts. Every so often, one of them will find themselves talking with one of their acquaintances and hear that a company needs help with their marketing. Another connection is made. They know about Minds On not because I’ve done business with them, but because they know someone that knows my mom. You might be suspicious about some of the hype you hear about social media, but I can give you direct instances of where it works for us and brings us new business.

Passion is contagious. I’m passionate about what we do, and because of that, so is my mom. And you never know when someone, a stranger to you, but not a stranger to someone in your network, might need help with something you do well. They just need a way to find out about you.

I have made those connections. And Minds On is working with new customers because of it.

The power of social media is the power of the network. You may have heard of Metcalfe’s Law. It says that the value of a network is dramatically increased as its number of connections grows. If you have five friends you can make ten connections, but with twelve friends you can make sixty-six connections. As your numbers of connections grow, both the direct ones and those of your friends, you suddenly have a massive and valuable network.

Some people and business are reluctant to dive into social media and Facebook, but they’re missing out on a huge opportunity. When you have the opportunity to grow your network of customers and fans, you should take advantage of it. You never know when one of your customers, friends, and yes, even your mom, may know your next big customer.

And here’s the Minds On page: http://www.facebook.com/MindsOn
And me on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/tomaugustine

What have you learned about social media marketing for your business? Have you found something that works? Are you still struggling and confused, trying to make it work? Give me a call or drop me a line. I’d love to hear about what you’ve tried and I’d be happy to share what’s working for us and for our customers.