The New Age of Electronic Communication: Social, Mobile, and Viral

Last week I spoke with a local Business Association about Digital/Social Media.  We discussed what it is and how it can affect their business.  Here are my "notes" from before giving the talk that may serve as a blue print for getting the wheels turning for your company's social media effort. 

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Your customers are talking to each other about your business.  But it’s no longer just to their acquaintances; it is to strangers and anyone else who may be connected.  They are talking via text, social media, blogs, videos, and chats whether you are involved in the conversation or not.

There is no need to fear all of this talk about you.  Just jump into the conversation, start a conversation, become the expert in the conversation, and moderate the conversation!

Today we want to take a look at how entrepreneurs can join the conversation and boost their business using blogs, social networking sites, multimedia tools, and online review sites. The talk was accompanied by facts from the video in my previous post.

Social Media

• Join the conversation, it could be about you.
• Develop a social media strategy for your business needs
• Learn how to drive customers to your website or business
• Learn the social “hang-outs” of your customers
• Socialize your expert information
• Encourage geo-tagging of your location

Blogging

• Establish yourself as an expert in your field
• Increase your website search engine ranking
• Produce sells by giving more than asking
• Create great content for your e-newsletters
• Socialize your blog articles

Multimedia Tools

• Interactive emails
• Mobile marketing via mobile phones and pads
• Text messaging with short codes
• Videos about your business

Online Reviews and Opinions

• Create locations for your customers to comment. Locations that YOU moderate
• Join review sites popular to your clientele
• Incentivize customers to write reviews