This post is part of a “Blog Carnival” that’s being hosted by Tea Silvestre from The Word Chef Blog.  The theme of the carnival is “Building Business Relationships” it’s part of a series of posts on the subject from a variety of small business experts.

Building referrals is just as important now as if was in the past.  In fact, I think it’s much easier and more cost effective now to develop and build those relationships than it had been in the past.  What I think is more difficult is keeping those referral conversations alive and focused.

Social media tools make it infinitely easier to find and connect with people, but because so many social media tools use a “timeline” format you can see and start a conversation one minute and forget about it the next simply because the screen has been refreshed with new conversations and posts.  This makes it difficult to move referral and opportunity conversations forward.

Here’s my killer time-saving and stress-reducing recipe for cooking up new business using a social media based referral strategy.

Total Time: About 2 hours to create social media accounts and generate list and about an hour per day managing your system

Yield: Profitable New Opportunities and Customers

Difficulty: Easy Peasy if you stay with it

Ingredients:

• No more than 3 specific marketing goals
• Twitter account – in your name, brand name or company name
• Facebook account
• LinkedIn account
• Try Nimble.com as a tool to integrate your social media conversations and create action items from those conversations
• A list of about 200 names, you can create a list or just go down your email address book and pull the people you think can help you get referrals

Directions:

1. Set your marketing goals and objectives. These goals should look like something like this: “Launch a webinar series targeting pet shop owners in March” or “Find 5 market research contacts at big box stores who want to use our online survey tool”.  Setting clearly defined marketing goals will guide your social media networking strategies.
2. Create a list of 200 referral contacts.  Use your email database to create a list of 200 people with whom you want to have referral relationships.  Go through that list and label people “friends and family” then “partners” and finally “influencers”.   As you are labeling and grouping your contacts, you might get ideas about the ways in which they might be able to help you achieve your goals i.e. “Introduce me to the CEO of company X”.  I’d recommend that you write that next to their name while you are thinking about it, it will save you time later.
3. Work your LinkedIn Contacts.  Go through your list of 200 and find everyone on LinkedIn.  If you are not connected to them, connect with them.  If they do not have a LinkedIn account, then you will have to manage that relationship via email and face-to-face methods only.  As you are doing that, you can send them an email message touching base and asking to schedule a catch-up call to discuss what they’ve been up to and how you can help each other.  You can also share what you’ve been up to and what you are looking for – they might respond with a connection or introduction on the spot.    Another great idea is to leave an endorsement for people as you check their presence on LinkedIn.  Leaving an endorsement for them will prompt them to leave one for you and to get in touch with you to catch up.  It’s a wonderful surprise and great “gift” to receive.
4. Search Twitter for conversations around your goals.  Notice what the conversations are and who is having the conversations.  Create a Twitter list of the people labeled “Networking” or maybe even around your goals such as “market research” (to use our previous example).  Take 15 minutes a day to monitor the conversations on that Twitter list and engage in conversations with those people.  Follow their links, re-tweet their content, comment on their links and articles.  Of course, don’t forget to search for your list of 200 on Twitter and add them to your Twitter list.  This way you are tracking their conversations as well.
5. Use Facebook to Network with Friends and Family.  Many businesses are hip to creating Facebook Fan pages, but your personal page may be more powerful as a networking tool.  I recommend posting pictures of what you are up to around your business and sharing with friends and family.  A friend of mine is in the promotional items business and often takes pictures of creative T-shirts and other items at trade shows that he things are very effective.  It tells us where he is that day and it gives us ideas that we can use for our promotional projects.  If you own a restaurant, take a picture of the daily special, if you are making a sales call or want to connect with someone, just ask your friends and family.  But don’t oversell on Facebook, it will be perceived as spamming and can backfire.
6. Check out Nimble.com.   My new favorite social media and sales management tool is Nimble.com.  It was developed by Jon Ferrera, the CEO of the successful sales CRM tool Goldmine in response to his peeve of having referral and opportunity conversations fall through the cracks.  Nimble will integrate your email, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts and show all the conversations in one stream or separate streams.  What I love about it is that it allows you to see all these conversations in one place and then you can also create an action item for yourself around that conversation.  Nimble is basically a social CRM tool that increases the value and ROI of your social media conversations.

Now, you might think all this will take an entire day’s worth of work.  Well, I won’t lie to you – the set-up probably will.  In reality, you can spend a day planning and strategizing your referral system – but once it’s done and you’ve focused your efforts, all it will take is about 15 to 30 minutes a day of working your system to keep those relationships and sales opportunities flowing your way.

This post is part of the  The Word Chef Blog  Blog Carnival hosted by Tea Silvestre.   Join us for a fun and informative  1-hour Tweet Chat about Business Relationships, how to build them and nurture them on Thursday, September at 1 pm Eastern / 4 pm Pacific.  Your participation in the Tweet Chat enters you into a drawing for a $50 Amazon Gift Card.

Involver is an easy to use Facebook Tab Tool that integrates social media channels into your Facebook page

I visit a lot of Facebook business pages. I’m always poking around, checking out different small businesses, liking and commenting. That’s part of what being an internet marketer is all about.

In many cases, the Facebook page is my first point of contact with a business. When I get there, I’m looking for the goods. I want to see what they are all about and what they have going on.

More often than not though, I’m greeted by pretty well nothing. Sure, there’s the info tab. But the navigation guide on the left is pretty bleak and leaves me wondering, is there anything else you’re doing online?

Creating tabs on your Facebook page is a golden opportunity to highlight what else your company is up to on the web. Many businesses shy away from them, however.

They’re not sure how to get things set up.

Or they break out in hives when they hear works like HTML code.

Or they search for apps and get inundated; so many of them are glitchy, hard to set up or come with a fee.

The tool that I’m going to share with you today is one of the easiest Facebook tab integrations that I have yet to come across. There are TONS options available, but this one stood out for me because of how simple it is to set up. And the best part? Totally free!

Facebook tab tool – Involver

The folks at Involver (http://www.involver.com/applications/) allow you to choose 2 social media channels to integrate in your page. (You can go beyond this with their paid options, but the costs are a little high for a small business). My favourites personally are the Twitter, Flickr and You Tube integrations.

In a few clicks, you can have these up and running on your Facebook page. Just follow these instructions:

• Log into Facebook as yourself the person (not the page)
• Go to http://www.involver.com/applications and click the “Install” button on the app you want to integrate
• You will then be prompted to choose which page you want to add the application to. Select your business page.
• A button will come up, asking you to “Add”. Click it.
• You will then be asked to fill in your company name, and your phone number. (they will only ask you this with your first app). Plunk in your info, click to accept the terms and hit “Save changes”.
• You will then be brought to a page where you can get the tab configured and link it to the social media account. So for Twitter for example, it will ask you to add your username (don’t forget to click the “add” button). Once you have the settings filled in, click “Save changes.” Note – you are always able to go back and adjust the settings.
• Go back to your page, and you will see your new tab. (If you don’t see it right away, give it a couple of minutes). Your likers can now check out all your recent activity.
• Power tip: If you want to be a little more clever, you can change the default name that’s generated on your tab. So, for the Twitter tab, the default name is, you guessed it, “Twitter”. Go to the “edit” area of your page and click “apps.” Find the app that you added and click “Edit settings.” You can now enter a “custom tab name.”

To see an example in action, have a look at my You Tube tab (http://www.facebook.com/MartinaIring?sk=app_57675755167) that was created with Involver and note how I’ve customized the name to “Small biz videos”.

Use Involver to Create Customers Out of Facebook Visitors

Your Facebook page should not be a standalone entity. To be effective, it needs to integrate your communications and drive your Facebook fans deeper into your business and deeper into the content you produce. Some fans may never go to your website again after the first visit (or maybe they never even visited it in the first place!).

By adding these tabs, you can encourage your likers to check you out on other online channels, expose them to what you’re up to and hopefully connect with you there too. And if they’re say not on Twitter yet, they can still get the benefit of all the great stuff you tweet. You are creating a page that is a valuable source of information.

You’re also boosting your credibility. You’re giving off the impression that your page is well cared for and that you’re darn savvy. These tabs look pretty fancy, don’t you think? So they were easy as pie to implement. Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me…

So give Involver tabs a try and come back and let me know how it went. Feel free to share links to your Facebook page so I can come and check you out. And if you have other applications that you love for getting tabs, let us know.

As if you didn’t have enough social media channels to manage, our guest author today, Jey Raul, introduces us to Viadeo, which is gaining traction in Europe.  It’s a social bookmarking site you’ll want to explore and see in how it compares to all the others.

Viadeo is a social network created by Thierry Lunati and Dan Serfaty. It was originally launched in France but now has a steady following in Europe and other countries. Basically it is designed for people who wish to increase their business enterprises, develop and manage their network of professional contacts and take their career opportunities forward. There are many reasons behind why Viadeo has been named as the best social bookmarking site:

1) Creating a network- Viadeo helps to develop and manage business contacts on a long term to establish trust and a good working relationship between customers, co-workers, superiors and so on. The network formation is based primarily on recommendation from members.

2) Developing business- The company ranks the 3rd, when it comes to professional social networks. Most members also use it to find job opportunities, suppliers, partners and customers. People who are employed in the sales department are very active on these networks.

3) Managing a career- Their careers are the major motivational factor in members setting their accounts on Viadeo. Receiving job offers, observing the markets or finding a job are some of the activities that happen on the site. At times, some recruiters also use the website as a hunting ground to find employees.

There are number of features that the site offers that makes it one of the best social bookmarking sites:

• Communities- This is a private space that is made to be available to partners of the same company. There are around 5000 communities. The community can either be professional or voluntary, cultural, student or somebody who is starting his own business.
• Groups/Hubs- These are open forums that provide the members a platform to comment and discuss on professional topics. There are around 100,000 hubs present on Viadeo.
• Expert-Similar to Yahoo! Answers, the features allow the users to post professional related to most network members. The professionals are the ones who have carved their own niche in their respective field.

The above listed reasons and some others such as personal branding that allow you to upload your professional achievements such as your curriculum vitae and career development. The site is so thorough and career-oriented that irrespective of whether you are an employee or a seller, you will find takers. This is also a great platform for you to upload the details of your business and present it in an interactive way, so that consumers are hooked on to it.

The twist to this social networking site is, it competes directly with professional biggies such as Silicon Valley’s LinkedIn and Germany’s Xing. The biggest difference between Viadeo and LinkedIn is, it offers profiles in multiple languages.

• Viadeo is a lot more streamlined and organized as compared to LinkedIn. A devoted LinkedIn user, but at times, the site does tend to be a little unorganized.
• LinkedIn went a step ahead to mark its territory by being the first major social network to put forth an IPO which caused their profits to shoot up to $9 billion last week. However, Viadeo did not take the same step as it wanted to concentrate on their loyal shareholders and profits.
• Now, the multi-language strategy is a great plus point, according to the company big shots. On the other hand, LinkedIn has the tendency to cover 200 countries and has members from all Fortune 500 companies. Here, Viadeo says that at least one in six members is either an entrepreneur or a businessman.

The one reason why Viadeo has not yet filed for IPO is because; it hasn’t gained enough ground or presence in the US to file for one. The one similarity between Viadeo and LinkedIn is, both are equally “highly profitable” and works on free membership.

About the Author: Jey specializes in writing about search engine marketing and social media; he enjoys playing World of Warcraft or reading books when he’s not finding new ways to do online marketing. Jey’s company QualitySubmissions specializes in French Directory Submission and Deep Link Submission Service.

Are you getting the most from your Facebook Fan Page?  If you’re an industrial business, you may not even think you NEED a Facebook Fan Page.  I’ll simply say that you do.  Now that the population of Facebook users is over 650 million.  If it were a country, it would be the third-most populated country in the world.

When I talked to Phil Simon, author of The New Small he told me that people spend an average of 45 minutes a day on Facebook — that’s a virtual ETERNITY in computer time!  It’s time for YOU to figure out how to take advantage of some of that Facebook time for your business.

What Do You Want Your Fan Page Visitors to DO?! (Call to Action)

A disclaimer here — it might take you longer than 5 minutes to figure out what you want your fan page to do — AND this is the most important part of the process.  The DOING it is EASY — I promise!

What’s your audience doing on Facebook?

The best place to start is to focus on your audience.  Facebook is a casual place — think of it as a party on the patio or a happy hour.  People might be thinking or talking shop, but that isn’t their purpose.  The purpose is to make personal connections and have a little fun.  So you’ll want your call to action to be a little on the light side.

• Build Your Community

Start easy by building your fan base and asking people to “LIKE” the page,  That’s what I did on the DIYMarketers Fan Page.  Since I’m not currently promoting anything special, I’ve defaulted to a “Like Us” call to action design to build the DIYMarketers community.  When I have a special event or launch a new product or service the community might be interested in — I will replace the “Like Us” tab with a special offer.

• Promote an Event

If you’re going to be at a trade show, use your Facebook Fan Page to invite people to a special event that you’re having at the show, run a contest around the theme of the show, etc.

• Direct People to Your Site

Don’t forget that Facebook owns the list on your fan page.  To grab those visitors for your own company, you need to drive them to your site.  So make sure that you have a call to action that drives them to one of your landing pages.

• Provide Information

Because fan pages are so customizable, you can actually use the fan page space as a way to provide information and education to your audience.  You can actually insert links and videos for your audience to download.

Make a Good Fan Page First Impression Using High Impact Designer

I’ve been frustrated about the lackluster status of my Facebook Fan Page.  I’d seen all these cool ways that people are using theirs (check out Guy Kawasaki’s Enchantment Page – it’s one of my favorites).  You’ll notice that good fan pages are interactive and buzzing with community chit chat – AND they also have organized calls to action to get the community engaging with your brand.

Until recently, I thought I needed to hire a developer to customize my fan page — but I can be my own developer with this nifty new app I found called High Impact Designer.

I learned about High Impact Designer from their CEO, Jim Kinland who reached out to me to tell me all about this great new and easy to use applications.  Jim and I chatted for about an hour over the phone.  Feel free to listen in on my conversation with Jim Kinland of Template Zone (free download) and High Impact Design as he takes me through an account set up and shows me how easy it is to create a FREE tab for your Facebook Fan Page.

What I LOVED About High Impact Designer

This online application is SO EASY to use that you can honestly have a Facebook Fan Page designed in about five or ten minutes.  Of course it too ME longer because I had a terrible time choosing from among the templates that were offered and then playing around with the different customization features.

The dashboard takes some getting used to – although it is fairly self-explanatory.  I would recommend that you get absolutely clear on what you want to offer, the copy you want to include and the call to action because once you see all the design possibilities, you will end up spending a lot of time playing around.

What Confused Me at First

The free version of the program will only give you one page.  Once you publish to that page, you will be able to design more tabs, but you will not be able to publish them.  You will have to go into the App within your Facebook account and delete the tab from there.  Then you can go into High Impact Designer and publish another tab design.

It took me a while to figure that out — but I’m a do first, read the manual later kind of person.  Your experience might be different.

High Impact Designer Does eMails and Landing Pages TOO!

I spent a lot of time talking about Facebook Fan Pages – but that’s not all you can do with High Impact Designer.  You can also create customized email marketing designs and landing pages.   Those aren’t available just yet (at least not to my account).  But Jim told me that High Impact Designer will integrate with the top email marketing providers like Constant Contact or aWeber in much the same way that it does with Facebook.

I recommend starting with the FREE version of High Impact Designer and playing with a variety of designs and offers.  Then once you’re a pro, you can upgrade for more features.

Bottom Line on High Impact Designer

This is a super DIY Marketing tool.  I love how easy it is to use.  If you’re long on time and short on money and looking to make your Facebook Fan Page look more professional – High Impact Designer is a great application.

Related articles

• Promote Your Business on Facebook (seochat.com)
• Facebook – Supporting Your Social Media Campaigns With Fundamental SEO: Part Three (wpromote.com)
• Seven tips for a killer Facebook landing page (econsultancy.com)
• 3 Places You Can Add Calls-to-Action on Facebook (hubspot.com)
• 20 Amazing Custom Facebook Page Designs (dailybloggr.com)
• How To Convert Website Visitors Into Facebook Fans (searchengineland.com)
• 3 Effective Pointers To SEO Facebook Fan Pages (ronmedlin.com)
• Facebook for business | Tips #1-5 (cash-bandit.com)

If you’ve got a WordPress.org powered blog (meaning that you are hosting it yourself) and you’ve not heard of “the Pretty Link” plugin — then you are really missing out on a wonderful self-promotion and audience building tool.

Pretty Link is a FREE plugin that you can get from WordPress that turns any link that you post online into a self-promotion machine with easy-to-use tracking capability.  Here is a direct quote from Blair Williams‘ site (the creator of Pretty Link)

“Shrink, track and share any URL on the Internet from your WordPress website. Unlike other link shrinking services like tinyurl, budurl, and bit.ly, this plugin allows you to create shortlinks coming from your own domain! Pretty Link tracks each hit on your URL and provides a full, detailed report of where the hit came from, the browser, os and host. Pretty Link is a killer plugin for people who want to mask their affiliate links, track clicks from emails, increase the reach of their website by spreading these links via Twitter, forums or comments on other blogs.”

Here is a screenshot of one of my own Pretty Links that I posted on Twitter:

That border at the very top is what the visitor sees when the click on the personalized/branded link.  What’s great about this is that I can attach MY personal banner to ANY web site.

See?!  I have my own brand on someone else’s blog!  In other words, when I posted this link on Twitter, I was able to literally hold the person’s hand over to the site and still be on their mind as they read the blog post.

There are two versions of Pretty Link.  Free and Pro.  I’m currently using the Free version because I don’t think I’ve even scratched the surface of its capability.  Pro promises to be even better, and save you time in building the links.  That is a good thing because the free version does require a bit of hopping around to build those links out.   In fact, you should have EVERY link in your blog have a pretty link — every link you post on facebook or Twtitter needs to have a pretty link.  And if you have other things to do like service clients and live a life – you may want to consider investing in the Pro version.

I can tell you that the more I work with it – the more I’m starting to see the potential value of paying the price – which is reasonable — IF you are already BUSY and don’t have time to click around for every link.

Getting Started on Pretty Link

1. Download to your computer.  The first thing you’ll want to do is head over to Blair Williams’ siteto get your download.  I also got my download from the WordPress plugin directory. Follow the directions from wordpress.
2. Open Pretty Link from your Menu. Now that it’s installed on your system – on your WordPress dashboard menu, you’ll see the Pretty Link plugin at the very bottom right hand side.  Click on that and the click on the “Options” menu.  This is where you can customize the banner either with a picture or gradient like I did.  If you have some technical skill you’ll be able to make that a graphic or anything that you want.   Be sure to get all the settings in order and test it out.  You’ll also get the option to set your reporting preferences.  I just left mine at whatever preferences Blair set – because I figured he knew better than I did at this point.
3. Start Using it. I’m not a technical wiz and I had my pretty link running in about 15 minutes.   It’s not fancy, but it has everything I need.  You’ll notice that directly in your Dashboard there’s a “Pretty Link Quick Add” box right there.  All you have to do is fill in the fields with the actual link, a description, etc.  and let her rip.  You can also go into the Pretty Link main menu (from the dashboard menu) and Tweet your pretty link directly to Twitter.  This is my favorite thing to do.  It’s fairly quick and it’s almost like writing a blog post without writing.  I was amazed to see how quickly the stat feeder started humming on just a couple of posts.

Benefits from Using Pretty Link — So Far

I’m still new to this and I can tell you that my favorite benefit is seeing the stats on each of the links that I’d posted.  I know that other link shorteners do the same thing – but Pretty Link really resonates with me.  I’m able to see which headlines are more popular, which topics people hit on and how quickly they hit.

Another benefit is having my branding associated with other blogs.  Whenever I Tweet or write about another blog using Pretty Link – it’s like having my own BANNER ad right there.  What I’m going to do next is look at putting in better, stronger messages on those banners that focus on a call to action (that’s my mistake so far).

Try Pretty Link

I’ve been thrilled with Pretty Link so far and expect to hit the pro version shortly – mostly for the time savings.

Leave Your Tips

In what ways do YOU brand yourself with your links?

What’s been your experience with Bit.Ly or any other link shortner?

Leave a comment or share a tip!

I have to admit something to you — I’ve been avoiding blind brand surveys because it often requires a huge expense in finding a good list.  But no more!

You already know that Facebook is now the biggest repository of demographic and psycho graphic information on the web.  And right now, marketers are having more fun than ever figuring out ways to harness all this information.

Had you ever thought about using Facebook to recruit respondents for your next survey?  I can tell you that I hadn’t.  Whenever I think about doing a survey, I think of collecting customer information — and that’s often confidential.  But there are so many other kinds of surveys that we could be doing – but hadn’t because it was cost prohibitive.

Now you can create a “viral” survey; maybe a measuring brand awareness or doing a poll?  Just think about all the possibilities!  And the best way to take your survey “viral” is to use the Facebook Feature.

Not every survey software offers it — but QuestionPro does.  Here’s a wonderful article on how to create a survey and distribute it on Facebook.

Check out Research Accessand then come back here and tell us what type of survey you’d like to do.

I wouldn’t consider myself a “dummy” when it comes to Twitter.  But I will tell you that Kyle Lacy certainly taught me a thing or three about marketing via Twitter that I didn’t know.

What I Learned from Twitter Marketing for Dummies

• Track your re-tweets with Retweetist (www.retweetist.com). “ It lets you find people who have been retweeted the most in the last 24 hours, the URLs that have been retweeted the most, and even where your links or your own messages have been retweeted.”
• Bit.ly URL shorteners allow you to track your tweets.  If you tweet from www.Bit.ly.com you can track the number of clicks, referring web sites, and geographic locations of the users.
• Web sites I didn’t know about: Twilert (www.twilert.com) sends you e-mail alerts when someone tweets about your chosen keywords.  HowSocialble (www.HowSociable.com) measures visibility of the brand or company name that you type into a search box on the homepage to see how many times it appears on blogs, facebook and more than 20 outlets. ScoutLabs (www.scoutlabs.com) is a social media monitoring program for small and medium sized businesses. Twitseeker (www.twitseeker.com) search tweets or profile bios for keywords and get a list of people to follow.  Follow twitterers in your local area with Twellow (www.twellow.com) – it’s yellow pages for twitter.

Twitter Marketing for Dummies is LOADED with practical how-tos that you can do in one sitting.  Here is an example from the section titled: Asking How You Can Help Your Followers from the “Leveraging Your Twitter Tribe” Chapter:

1. Create a list of top 10 to 25 users who are following you and whom you are following
2. Look at each users profile and tweets and try to find a tip to help his or her strategy
3. Direct message those 10 to 25 users to make contact with them (one note here from me– Direct Messaging has been full of spam lately and I’ve heard of people literally ignoring their DMs.  So I’d also recommend sending a “reply” message such as @strategystew “Have you tried twellow.com to find local followers?”)
4. If they reply with thanks, ask how you can help them.
5. Do what they say

One of THE Most Comprehensive How To Collections of Practical Twitter How-Tos

Kyle Lacy has truly thought of every detail for this book.  I’ve seen dozens of “”Twitter Tips articles, but this is one of the most useful collections of tips and resources I’ve seen.

I think the reason that Twitter Marketing for Dummies is so complete is because Kyle Lacy is a real user.  Kyle has been on the forefront of the social media trend.  His blog has been featured on the Wall Street Journal’s web site and Read Write Web’s daily blog journal.  He was also voted the top Generation Y marketing blog on the Internet by Viralogy.com, as well as ranked in the top 150 social media blogs in the world.

I’ve been following him for several years and the tips you’re getting from his book are based on real life experiences, successes and failures.  The good news is that you get to benefit from all his hard work.  This is another book you’ll never want far from reach.

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I’ve been having so many “social media” conversations over the last year.  It seems that a lot of small business owners are looking for ways to make this a part of their strategy, but they’re just not sure how.

In this particular conversation, we were talking about working a structured referral strategy.  What I mean by structured is that you are actively “working” referral relationships and NOT to makeing them this wonderful surprise!  Referrals are a result of your customers and contacts selling for you.

So, in this conversation when I sat down and literally drew parallels between the referral process he taught me and how I applied it to social media — my friend’s eyes literally lit up!

In today’s tweet chat we’re going to be talking about how much networking and referral building has changed — and how much it hasn’t changed at all.

• What’s the difference between referral building and networking?  Is there one?

helpitcrashed: Hi folks! #diymkt To me networking is you building contacts, referral is clients networking for you based on experience of your service

lizisaacslwc: Yes, Ivana…networking is about bldg relationships, bldg trust and may eventually lead to a referral and/or sale.

_djh: @DIYMKTchat Q1 Yes, but also referals can be rhe result of networking #DIYMKT

lizisaacslwc: Correct, as noted not the same thing. I do a lot of networking online, groups, WOMM etc and not all always leads to a referral #DIYMKT

• How much of your business depends on referrals?

helpitcrashed: @DIYMKTchat Probably 90% #diymkt

lizisaacslwc: @DIYMKTchat Q2: 90-100% #DIYMKT

helpitcrashed: @lizisaacslwc Other marketing/Google searches #diymkt

lizisaacslwc: @DIYMKTchat Agree, today the cost of such prgms R very cost prohibitive in today’s mrkt. E’ though now is a gr8 time to run a biz. #DIYMKT

• Are you running a referral system? Why or why not?

helpitcrashed: @DIYMKTchat Not sure this fits Q3 I use InsiderPages.com for reviews, discount ppl who find me there, sometimes incentivise client feedback

• What tools are you using to manage your network and referrals?

DIYMKTchat: The key is to have and DO a consistent process that involves sharing expertise and connecting with others #DIYMKT

lizisaacslwc: @DIYMKTchat Q3: One such referral tool is BlitzTime #DIYMKT

lizisaacslwc: Nth wrong w/Chamber and assn events, with BlitzTime U don’t have to worry about travel, parking, food/event and other costs. #DIYMKT

DIYMKTchat: #DIYMKT Then I have this client that uses salesforce.com to manage referrers the way we manage customers – it’s very effective

DIYMKTchat: I also like BatchBook as a tool, but I haven’t been using it as much as I could http://bit.ly/HZxnC #DIYMKT

• In what ways are you using social media as part of your referral system?

helpitcrashed: @DIYMKTchat Using FB, Twitter, LinkedIn has not done much for me #diymkt

lizisaacslwc: @helpitcrashed preBT Twitter and WOMM referrals were my main methods. Being hit and miss at times. #DIYMKT

lizisaacslwc: BlitzTime offers a variety of networking events providing useful info or tips while speed networking w/ 5-9+individs in intervals. #DIYMKT

lizisaacslwc: It has given me the oppty to being drawn to those who can fill in the missing gaps and vice-versa #DIYMKT

• What’s your secret for building referrals?

lizisaacslwc: @helpitcrashed VG, it’s impt 2 have goals & objectives 2 accomp.those things effectively and 2B a prt of one’s mktg plan/strategies. #DIYMKT

lizisaacslwc: @DIYMKTchat absolutely correct, the HOW is the most impt ? to ask #DIYMKT

lizisaacslwc: @DIYMKTchat Impt 2b active in communities. My biz blog I have a list which I am still adding to that I generally use a batch reg. #DIYMKT

lizisaacslwc: W/my blogroll–the remainder are used for presence etc. with using them as time permits. #DIYMKT

• What is the one thing that we should all be doing to build our base of referrers (people who refer)?

helpitcrashed: @DIYMKTchat I noticed starting up and watching others start-the SAME mistakes-branding hence Biz-in-box! built wth n/wing with other #diymkt

lizisaacslwc: @DIYMKTchat Q5a: consistency–overall branding, mktg mats etc. #DIYMKT

lizisaacslwc: @DIYMKTchat yes, that’s why adding webinars, teleconferences i.e. BlitzTime and others to the mix is impt. #DIYMKT

helpitcrashed: @DIYMKTchat To build base of referrers offer outstanding service and a unique product, referrals are a natural result of that #diymkt

helpitcrashed: @DIYMKTchat More social side, http://insiderpages.com for me as a service gives me the best results AND Google ranking V Powerful! #diymkt

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If you’ve been building your business by referral, then you’ve probably been wondering how to fit in all these wonderful social media and connection tools into your system.  If you haven’t quite figured it out – don’t fret.  You’re not the only one.  There are probably hundreds of social and networking tools out there and you could spend a lifetime trying to figure them out.  But you don’t have to.  I’ve been playing with them for a while and narrowed it down to the critical few: LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.  There are my core social medida tools and here’s how I use them to complement my face-to-face referral system.

Use LinkedIn as Your Virtual Resume

If you haven’t already, then please go and create your profile on LinkedIn.  This is your virtual resume and when someone mentions your name in a conversation or e-mail, chances are good that this person will head over and either Google your name or search for you on LinkedIn — it would be good for them to find something.

• Fill out your profile 100% and post a professional looking picture (they have a little guage there that will tell you when you are 100% complete.)  Don’t forget to list the different roles you’ve held – you can post them as positions.  For example, I’ve written a book (Excel for Marketing Managers), so I have “author” as a position, as well as blogger.  So get creative.

• Write and call people with whom you’ve interacted online to bridge the gap between a virtual relationship and a “real” relationship.  A phone call or meeting is still more powerful than an online relationship.  I used to only connect with people I’ve met.  You can see how lomiting that is.  I’ve started calling and running referral meetings with people I only know online.  This brings them out of the virtual world and into reality.

• Let LinkedIn run through your outlook at search out any existing LinkedIn members. You’ll be surprised how many of your friends and collegues are already there.  I recommend you simply send an invite to all of them.  They’re already on there and they’ll be happy to connect with you.  LinkedIn will also ask you if you want to invite others from your book – check those people MANUALLY – otherwise it will spam your whole contact list.  I’ve done that – it’s painful.

• Search for collegues from companies you’ve worked with. Then search for people you went to college with.  This is a creative way to find and reconnect with old friends and connections.

• Join a Group or Create a Group. You can search groups that are in your areas of interest (like Marketing) or create groups for special topics or organizations.  Participate and connect with people you’ll be amazed at the referrals.

• Ask and Answer Questions. LinkedIn has a Q&A feature.  Ask questions, then connect with the people who answer by phone.  Answer questions and connect with the person who asked.  Be sure to share what you do and who your ideal client is — as well as asking them the same.

Have Fun on Facebook

Facebook is a more casual space.  If LinkedIn would be considered a work space, then Facebook would be considered Happy Hour.

• Make sure you have a photo – a more casual one. People want to see you being you.  This doesn’t have to be some fancy photo – in fact lots of people change theirs frequently.
• Get Personal. Facebook is where people want to know a little more about you – people who are connected to you will be able to see what you’re doing and get to know you on a more personal level.  How personal?  if you wouldn’t tell your husband, wife or mother — don’t put it on facebook.  Every now and then hop over to your facebook page and tell people what you’re working on, reading or doing.
• Link your blog posts and other feeds. Facebook has the ability to link your Twitter tweets and blog posts and posts from your favorite blogs on your page – so do that.
• Start a Group.  DIY Marketers has a group on Facebook – it’s more casual and conversational there.  People will join your Facegroup book that won’t join or subscribe online.  So it’s another way to promote and notify people that want to know what you’re up to.
• Have and Event.  Facebook has a cool application that will allow you to register events, promote them and invite people.  Take advantage of that.

Twitter, Tweets and Peeps

You’ve probably heard all you ever want to hear about Twitter.  And you’re still confused about answering the questions “What are you doing?” in 160 characters or less.  This is  a powerful tool for expanding your connections.  If you see a Tweet that leads you to an article on something interesting — then respond and connect with that person.  Get more information and get to know them.

• The Name is the Thing. Make sure you have a good Twitter name.  Use your personal brand name, the name of your blog, or your company.
• Write a keyword friendly bio. People search for people they want to follow.  That means they will use keywords.  So make your bio keyword friendly and searchable.
• Keyword friendly posts/tweets. People will also choose to follow based on what you tweet – so make sure to write tweets with great keywords and headlines.

Cross-Pollinate Face-to-Face with Virtual Networking

The recurring theme here is crossover.  If you are at a networking event and collect cards – search those people out on LinkedIn and Facebook – then invite them to connect.  Now you will always have them in your “rolodex.”

If you’ve met someone online – then make an effort to meet them over the phone or even Skype web cam.  Take a virtual contact and make them real.  This crossover activity will not only exponentially increase your referral connections, but people will become more memorable and stay connected if you invest the time to keep things updated.

Replace Your Business Address with a Virtual One

I’ve used Moo.com to create a new business card that has all my virtual ID’s on them.  I put my mailing address in my e-mail signature and all my digital addresses on my business card.

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My @DIYMarketers Twitter account has been acting up.  And in my troubleshooting journey I discovered something BRILLIANT: A Twitter Policy.

My Twitter account hasn’t been sending me e-mails about the people who are following me.  In the process, I decided to go and search out some new people to follow and see if I get any of them to follow me and get the notification.  In my search for the term “DIY Marketing”  I discover Rob McNeely.  He’s apparently a famous guy that hosts a radio show called “Startup Story.”  SUPER guy to follow and I wasn’t following him.  Shame on me.

When I clicked over to his web site — I found that it went to a landing page called “Twitter Policy and Philosophy.”

When you realize that this guy has something like 30,000 people following him, you can see why he would have a “policy” for people who are on Twitter.  But why wouldn’t you have a process or policy for your social media anyway?

Create Goals and Objectives Before Policies

The wonderful thing you’ll notice about Rob’s Twitter Policy is that he is very clear on what he uses Twitter for and his policy reflects his social media objectives; he uses it to connect and meet new people.

That said, he’s taken the time to figure out how he wants to relate to Twitter as a medium and he goes point by point to explain:  Here are some snippets that will give you a taste.

1. Privacy

I will respect your DMs. Please respect mine.

2. Content and Subject Matter

Your screen time is valuable. I promise to make my tweets as interesting and non-boring as possible. I am a news junkie and read about a dozen websites and blogs from around the world on a daily basis.5. Spam, Self Promotion, and Commercialization3. Responses, Replies, and Pitches

I will do my best to respond to all @ replies and direct messages. However, due to my limited bandwidth, I may not always get to them, and sometimes, a few will slip by and I may not see them. Please do not take it personally if I do not respond.

I openly accept all pitches for Startup Story Radio, but please use the Startup Story Radio Contact Form to send them to me.

4. Following/Unfollowing

I am very Libertarian when it comes to following people. I look at Twitter like a large cocktail party, and the more people at the party the more interesting it is for me.

I am not big on Twitter spam. I will unfollow and or block you if you are DM spamming me or just keep following me to get me to follow you. I am pretty open to following most people. If I don’t follow you, there is a reason.

Why Stop at Twitter, Create a Policy for LinkedIn, Facebook and all your other Social Media Tools!

A common issue among small businesses and marketers is how little time we have for everything.  If you don’t have policies and rules set up around your social media channels, then you will either get sucked in – or your brand image will suffer.

Here’s a quick Social Media Policy How-To:

1. Define why you are using each social media tool and what you want to get out of it.
2. Tell people how you will behave and what to expect from you.  On Twitter, who do you follow, who do you not follow, etc.  The same thing goes for LinkedIn.  Different people use the tools differently – tell people how you will use this tool.
3. What’s your spamming policy and how do you want people to contact you?  Spam is everywhere.  Depending on how you use your social media channel – you’ll want to tell people where you stand.  We are all busy, tell people how you want to be contact, what you respond to and what you don’t.

Thanks Rob!  This is something we all do, but few have put out in public.

So, I’m curious, what’s your Twitter Policy?

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