Dave Evans, author of Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day
This interview is adapted from the Get Slightly Famous Podcast series. In this post, we interview Dave Evans, author of two bestselling books, Social Media Marketing an Hour a Day and Social Media Marketing: The Next Generation of Business Engagement. Dave is a frequent keynote speaker and leads workshops on social media and other emerging technologies and writes a column on e-marketing for ClickZ.
Tell us why you think social media is increasingly important for businesses?
As the Internet transforms customer buying behavior, it’s easier to learn about a product or service: we just go online and research. Social networks are becoming the way people seek out social proof from peers they trust. Increasingly people turn to online discussions to validate what they see, hear, or read about a product or company.
How can small business owners benefit from social media?
Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day book
Social media is part of building an effective web presence because it helps you boost your search rankings and become more findable. But, you must understand your particular business and marketplace, then create a social media strategy that’s likely to work for your type of business.
Let me illustrate with a small business right here in Austin, a four-branch hair salon owned by a friend of mine. He promotes his business in two ways: through traditional advertisements and the Internet by taking pictures of their work, putting it online and including educational information by writing articles about types of cuts that are in fashion, that kind of thing.
In short, they’re using thought leadership strategies, combining their online presence with giving more and deeper information, and engaging all the people in the company together with their customers to talk about their business. All these interactions lead people to see their business as credible and a trusted expert.
They integrate traditional and emerging technologies. They have not stopped advertising in the Yellow Pages, for example, as well as in other local-based advertisements that have proven effective for their local business. Instead, they integrate and compliment traditional marketing with social media, amplifying their overall marketing mix, and making their business more visible to potential customers.
Thought leadership marketing is a key element of Get Slightly Famous. Where does social media fit into that?
Social media can become a cornerstone of personal and business brand development. It can help small businesses gain a foothold and compete with large corporations by positioning your business as a trusted resource in your industry. It starts by understanding your target audience and providing them a steady stream of useful information.
The process starts by asking yourself: What would my clients or customers find insightful? What will make them share it with their friends? Pay attention to what people say about your business, about you, and about your competitors using social media for competitive intelligence. Talk to customers and others in your industry that are using social media tools and learn what’s working.
By creating educational blog posts, for example, and sharing them with your marketplace, you give people information they can use, perhaps making them say, ‘Wow, that’s a really great thought. I hadn’t considered that!’ Social media helps you spread your message as readers easily share what you’ve said with their friends, who then share it with their friends, giving you the capacity to reach a much larger audience.
Can you provide a simple road map for using social media?
First, identify your business objectives. Many times social media isn’t applicable to all business situations. Consider whom you serve and assess whether social media makes sense for your particular situation and business goals.
Next, consider your audience. Heavy social network users tend to be 35 or younger (which is important if you want to create a community platform). However, people who are between 55-60 years old are active consumers of social media ratings and reviews. This distinction is important depending on your particular business and niche market.
After you’ve identified your business objectives and target audience, nail down what’s going on via ‘listening platforms’ like Google Alerts which allow you to monitor what people are saying on the social web by using keywords. You can also see what people are saying about your business and your brand.
If you focus on your business objectives, audience and listening tools, you’ll quickly learn how your business is currently seen by potential customers and then take action. You’ll also get strong insights for developing a strategic social media program that delivers benefits to you and your customers.
The types of social media you choose will vary depending on your business. Don’t try grabbing everything. You have to ask yourself, will my goals be best served with a blog, Twitter or Facebook? Is our goal to link with our suppliers or customers? What are we trying to achieve? It’s not a one-size-fits-all thing. You have to dig into your business objectives and understand what makes sense for your audience.
What would you recommend as a call to action for those who are interested in engaging in social media marketing?
Social media is nothing to be afraid of. First, participate in social media as a person. Use Facebook or Twitter and stumble through. Your friends will help you out and you’ll start to have interactive social experiences. If you just jump in you’ll start to experience what consumers are doing and establish an informed mindset.
If you start simply, you’ll quickly realize that social media is not an ‘oh my God! what is this?’ proposition. After all, humans are very good at socializing. I promise you, nine out of ten people who try this, a year after they start, will look back and wonder why they didn’t start earlier or how they operated without this stuff before.
As for my last point, I resist being called a social media expert. I’m simply somebody who’s done work in this area and learned things. I love to share my observations about social media, but social media is at its heart a democratic idea and any notion of a social media ‘elite’ is just not what the social web is about. To approach it that way does a disservice to everyone. When social media is approached as practical, understandable and applicable, businesses will love it because they can use it.
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