Motivated To Learn

I’ve been reading a number of reports on the results of social media. According to one of them, as many as 80% of consumers use social media for recommendations before purchasing a product. I know for myself how valuable I find Twitter. Just yesterday, I was having trouble installing a new software application I’d downloaded. One comment on Twitter and the company responded within five minutes asking what the problem was. Try getting that level of service from email or phone calls.

I’m in the process of starting a Facebook Fan Page, so I can’t say a lot about that just yet. My current Facebook account is a personal one and I like to keep it for family and friends. Lisa and Diane, the creators of the Mefest Women’s Show in Waterloo, rely on a Facebook group to keep in touch with their hundreds of followers.They can’t say enough about the benefits.

A case study was done on a restaurant in the states that asked their customers to become fans on their restaurant Facebook Fan page. The results: the Facebook users visited more often, told their friends, and spent more when they came to dine.  The Facebook users were a small percentage of the total customers though, so the study was inconclusive. Still, it shows that these channels shouldn’t be ignored. Isn’t it time you added social media to your marketing campaign?

Technorati Tags: social media, Twitter, Facebook

When a person walks through your door or uses your service, do you become memorable to them? Do they tell their friends about your business and sing your praises? Or are their comments negative? In these days of social media, experiences are shared with hundreds of people and you risk losing more than just that one customer. How can you make your customer service amazing?

I’m one of those people that will allow poor customer service without voicing my displeasure at the time. But I will never use that service or go to that establishment again. And I will tell everyone I know to stay away. At the same time, when I encounter excellent customer service, I come back again and again, bringing others with me. Competing on the basis of price alone could never produce that kind of loyalty.

My oldest son, Daniel, is the manager of the Food Basics in Waterloo. A fairly new store, many people either don’t know it exists or aren’t sure what to expect from a Basics grocery store. My son has learned that excellent customer service is what will keep people coming back week after week. He keeps the store spotlessly clean and attractive and his employees enjoy working there.  Daniel makes sure that all of his staff do their best to make their customers feel special. Little things like notifying them when a shipment comes in, to the big things like making sure that when a person arrives with a complaint, they leave the store happy. As a result, people are telling other people and new customers are even coming from outside of Waterloo.

That’s the kind of customer service we want. Satisfied people telling others on Twitter, Facebook, or at their jobs about what a great business we have and how highly they recommend it. That kind of feedback does more than thousands of dollars spent on advertising.

Technorati Tags: customer service, feedback, advertising

I’m in Atlanta this weekend attending an Internet marketing event called Niche Affiliate Marketing Systems or NAMS.  Since social marketing is so popular these days, it’s been the topic of a number of the presentations.

One speaker talked about how he used to spend thousands of dollars on pay per click Google marketing for his websites. Now he uses Twitter, which is free, and has every bit as much success getting traffic to his sites. Not only traffic, but targeted, paying customers.

If you’d like to hear more about how social media can promote your business, they are offering a recording of a live panel that answered a number of marketing questions earlier today. Not only do they mention Twitter, but using Facebook and Youtube as well. If you’ve always wondered whether social marketing is something your business should be doing, check what these experts had to say by clicking here.

Technorati Tags: social marketing, twitter, facebook, youtube

I’ve been going through old files lately, trying to decide what I no longer need to keep. One of the items I came across was a print newsletter I wrote fifteen years ago. I had forgotten all about it, but it served as a reminder of my pursuits through the years. Even though I was working in a university library at the time, I wanted to have my own business.

I rented a mailbox and wrote out a four page newsletter filled with tips on saving time and money. Then I had a few hundred copies printed and delivered them to the houses in my neighbourhood. There wasn’t much response and after a couple of issues, I decided it wasn’t the best use of my time and stopped printing.

But my dream of a business didn’t die. It smoldered for a few more years, then rose again in the form of an Internet cafe. More time and money spent that time, but great experience. I learned to deal with government regulations, to lease equipment, to order supplies, to provide good customer service. I realized that I didn’t enjoy sitting in a shop all day, waiting for people to come in.

Next, I started training people to use computers and learned that I preferred groups to individuals. I found that I loved to plan lessons and to motivate and encourage others to be the best they could be.

Now I’ve come full circle. I’m back to writing, but this time my audience is virtual and my expenses are minimal. I still teach and motivate and encourage. As the years go by, my desire to learn and achieve is still a driving force in my life. And I still want to be an entrepreneur – it’s in the blood!

Technorati Tags: small business, entrepreneur

If you notice the top of the page, I’ve changed my opt-in form. Aweber has a number of new graphic web forms that in many cases have increased the number of people who are signing up for email lists. So I decided to test and see if a more visually appealing form makes a difference in my subscriber rate. I’ll keep you posted on my results.

As well as the new web forms, Aweber has upgraded their response messages. When someone gives you their name and email address, no longer do they simply get a text message telling them to confirm their subscription. Now the messages can also be audio or video. What a great way for your new subscribers to remember you.

Using an autoresponder such as Aweber allows you to contact potential clients with the click of a button, no matter how many subscribers you have. There is no better way to keep your business in the minds of your target audience.

Technorati Tags: Aweber, opt-in form, mailing list