Learning To Be Social Media Savvy: Day 1

" You can't do today's job with yesterday's methods and be in business tomorrow."

"Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision."

-- Peter F. Drucker


 As I wrote in my previous post, I'm taking the information that is coming across my Timeline in Twitter,
and LinkedIn, using those tips, tricks, steps, secrets, etc. and I'm going to see if I can use them
for my small business...my VERY small business and write about the results.  I'm going to
attempt to take at least one piece of advice per day and apply it to my little one-man-show.
One person I follow on Twitter is Brian Moran, Executive Director for the Wall Street Journal,
and an expert on small business.  His mantra is: "Social Media is a 'means to an end'. I've
watched his 'Tweets' and have watched as he relentlessly takes questions through Twitter from
around the globe on the subject and recently relayed to his audience 6 reasons why we, as
a small business should engage in Social Media:
Lead Generation, Customer Service, Market Research, Competitive Analysis, Networking and
Public Relations. It's within those 6 categories that I'll be measuring my level of success or failure
during this project.
Another great resource I follow is Jeff Bullas.  www.jeffbullas.com Jeff's blog is completely
about everything to do with Social Media, Online Marketing, Blogging, Facebook, YouTube,
LinkedIn, SEO and Inbound Content Marketing. Today, I'm following his "37 Tips for Optimizing
Your Blog" which he relays via TopRank Online Marketing Blog, written by Lee Odden. You can
read what I'm reading through this link: http://www.toprankblog.com/2009/03/blog-feed-seo-sesny09/
Some things I'll need a little assistance with, like adding 'deep links' to my RSS Footer, so
for those things, I'm making a list for when I see my geek niece, who understands that stuff better
than me.
My next marketing tip(s) are coming from Rosh Sillars, who I also follow on Twitter. Today,
he has shared "Six ways photographers earn income through Facebook". The link to his
blog is: http://www.roshsillars.com/2011/01/six-ways-photographers-earn-income-through-facebook/
1. Network with other photographers to trade leads and referrals. (I do this already)
2. Share photographs on Facebook as a passive form of advertising. (I do this too, and find
    that it really is a great way of advertising your work.)
3. Tag people. Offer clients a free image to share if they like your Facebook page, which
    will lead to more referrals. (I haven't been doing this, so this is one item to begin today.)
4. Use Facebook to advertise and directly target your demographic, make adjustments
    quickly, and control budget costs.  (I think this is the whole reason you have a
    Facebook page, so I don't really see the value here; correct me if I'm wrong.)
5. Promote other people related to your industry. Theory being that when you promote them,
    they will promote you.  (I do this already also - so this one is a 'check')
6. Create events.  Facebook has an excellent event notification system, so take advantage
    of it to invite people to your next show, party or networking event. (I'm going to use this
    advice and perhaps create a photography exhibition event with fellow photographers; I'll
    keep you posted.)
Next, an advice post on Word Of Mouth Marketing by Zenologue. Website link:
http://www.zenologue.com/blog/2011/11/photography-business-word-of-mouth-marketing-solutions/#more-5144 
(Yes, I know it's a very long link)
The one thing that really stood out for me in this column was a quote about changing the game on
word of mouth marketing.  "What will change the game is actually changing the game. Changing

the experience of talking about you so fundamentally that people will choose to do it."  

That's a powerful statement. We need to create something worth talking about! Is the experience in

my studio so great that people will talk about it after they've completed their session with me?

I realize word of mouth today, isn't what it used to be. It's not likely to be Rose who sees 

Martha at the meat counter in the local grocery store, telling her about the studio shoot she

had in my studio.  Today, that word of mouth has morphed into 'word of thumbs' - texting

and Twittering her experience to her friends (The article uses the phrase "word of mouse") and you 

can COUNT on Rose putting her experience up on her Facebook wall!  Another great point 

within this article is this excerpt: 

"Interestingly enough, the closer the referring person is to you in social terms, the more likely 

you are to act on the information they give you. In other words, the influencing power of the 

message is dependent upon the social distance of the messenger from the receiver."

I agree with this statement to a certain point; however, I have gained clients through sharing
photos on Facebook; the person in the picture shares with cousins who live far away, and have
been asked to photograph the cousin when they come to town. So - -

The end point is to build a WOMM Strategy (Word Of Mouth Marketing). The book that will

expand on this idea is called "Word Of Mouth Marketing Secrets For The Professional

Photographer" and is available in three different versions (Kindle, Nook or PDF.

I believe this book will have a great impact on my marketing efforts.  If you buy it and you like

it, let me know. 

All of the articles from above are about marketing efforts - getting the word out about your

brand or product, targeting your demographic and the resulting interaction between your

clients and THEIR audience - - of whom hopefully, will become your future clients.

Not too shabby for Day 1.