Do you get excited when you receive an inquiry for your product or service? Do you always respond with enthusiasm and eagerness?

I was speaking with one my clients and she was expressing her concern about why the people that were inquiring didn’t return her calls after she sent her price sheet. Statistically, it is recognized that after approximately 5 engagements a person will make a purchasing decision.  The number of required engagements likely increases as the cost goes up.  For instance, that amount of times you debate on buying a candybar is probably a lot less than when you are purchasing a flat screen TV.

One tip I have to offer is to ask questions about what the client values.  Offer packages that cater to their needs and desires. Have packages AB & C with a “custom” package deal if you need to close the deal.

Do you have any other tips or ways to engage a prospective client to increase the likelihood of purchasing from you and not a competitor?

Social Media Week has began and it’s off to a great start. This year new cities have been added which makes this an even more impressive global event. New sponsors also joined the effort to spread the conversation and engage with one another. If you are near any of these cities I highly encourage you to check out an event.  Here is their link: www.socialmediaweek.org

Share some of your insights from the week.

Through the use of social media, President Obama is giving his approval of integrating the many benefits of social media into his cause. The President has even befriended the Executive Chairman of Twitter, Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook to further his advances in social media. He knows that social media is an extremely useful tool that can spread information to anyone in the world in a matter of seconds; which means; he can answer the people’s questions and respond to their questions in a matter of seconds, no matter where they are in the world. This is important because everyone wants to voice their opinion on matters they find important in the U.S. but find it difficult to attend Town Hall Meetings, Caucuses or rally’s but social media bridges this gap.  He understands that social media is the new age of spreading information and reaching the masses, just like Television was in the early 1900s. Knowing and accepting this fact, President Obama is keeping up with the times and leveraging the many benefits of social media to his advantage.

If, President Obama is leveraging the many benefits of social media, shouldn’t that be enough for businesses to follow suit? He is using social media to get his message across to the people, in hopes that he can get re-elected as President for another four years. Instead of being afraid of social media, his cabinet integrated social media into their re-election campaign to play a vital role, along with their traditional methods of campaigning. While many businesses are still scared of integrating social media into their marketing efforts, the President is embracing social media for the power and influence to enhance his campaign efforts. Many skeptics will still have their doubts on whether this is a smart move on the Presidents part, but one thing is for sure; social media has gone presidential!

“Piazza’s platform is specifically designed to speed response times. The site is supported by a system of notification alerts, and the average question on Piazza will receive an answer in 14 minutes…Students post questions to their course page, which peers and educators can then respond to. Instructors moderate the discussion, endorse the best responses and track the popularity of questions in real time. Responses are also color-coded, so students can easily identify the instructor’s comments (Excerpt from “Homework Help Site Has a Social Networking Twist” by Evelyn M. Rusli).”

Piazza is using social media to better facilitate the students experience with the educational system. As many people can attest to, there will be times in the day when no one is either available or awake to offer assistance; however, with Piazza’s platform that will no longer be the case. “Piazza give the students a community, especially in the middle of the night, when the instructors were sleeping….The students were more interactive in general, and it was a time saver all-around.” Knowing that questions can be answered throughout the whole day, the education system that incorporates Piazza will give their students a better experience, and an outlet for the student community to be interactive and help each other out in their courses. If a student has a good experience with the social network, they most likely will be more productive in their overall education. This will then cause a ripple effect, in the sense that these students will use word-of-mouth marketing (without knowing) to tell their peers about their experience, which will then create brand exposure and more communities.

This is a prime example of the benefits of social media and it will not take long for many institutions to implement this new platform. Social Media if used effectively can be an important factor to an experience and can be a valuable ally in lending a helping hand. For some, the education system is a pre-cursor to how well someone is prepared to take on the workforce, and in most cases, to conduct business. If this is the case, imagine if businesses had an outlet such as Piazza to help them out with their questions (non-probing into confidential business information) or even information that can be deciding factors? Social Media, although does not wear a red cape and has an S in its chest, will definitely be there to lend a helping hand, in a time of need.

The statement made by police Sergeant Robert Kegler about social media speaks volumes upon volumes on the benefits of social media, if used for the intended manner – to convey information quickly all over the world with just a single click. The statement was made by local authorities in regards to their usage of social networking sites of Facebook and Twitter; an idea they were resistant but realizing that it is an asset and can enhance the public’s awareness in a matter of seconds. In addition, Horry County acknowledge that not everyone watches TV news, reads newspaper but use the internet to be inform on what is going on in their neck of the woods. “These pages are designed to inform the constituents who may not watch the news or read the newspaper,” said Leslie Yancey, public information officer for Horry County Fire Rescue. “In the long run our No. 1 priority is protecting property and saving lives and by using these two social media outlets we have the ability to do so.”

What Horry County is doing is what every business should be doing which is embrace and utilize the copious amount of benefits that it can have on business or community goals. In addition, social media invites the community to interact with them, and in this case, the residents can interact with local authorities in a faster, more efficient manner in giving officials information on crimes and so forth. “Just because they are not on scene when the police get there, doesn’t mean they weren’t a witness or a potential witness so putting those photos out there it gets to the people quicker,” Kegler said. Just like anything that is good, too much is too bad; so what Horry County is doing is achieving that threshold of not too much but not too little, which many people who use social media find difficult because the benefits are so abundant. “We don’t use it for every incident because if we do, people become complacent about it. We use it for major accidents or fires. It helps a lot because everybody has a mobile phone….Everybody has a cellphone and everybody has Facebook and Twitter on their phones. I was really surprised by the number of the general public that is on it. It’s a great way to get information out.”

Horry County’s purpose or goal of using social media is to inform the public on what is happening in the county, nothing more, and nothing less. They are not using social media to shout and yell to people to come visit or how great their county is but rather, they are using it to keep the community they serve safe from all things hazardous. They want to build their online community and foster the relationships by distributing valuable content to the people, which in turn can translate into trust into the local authorities; if the people can trust the local authorities in distributing valuable content then the relationship between the community and local authorities via social media is deemed a success. Now ask yourself this – What is the ultimate goal of a business/company and who does a business/company serve? Once it has captured the trust of the consumer, what happens to the sales of the service/product of a business/company?

The main reason for the resistance of many people, is the mere fact that social media is relatively new and foreign, especially for the older generation. In other words, these people can be classified as xenophobic – a person who has an unreasonable fear of that is foreign or strange – and is usually the people who are stuck in the traditional marketing ways. The people that are fearful of social media see this marketing method is not proven (even though there are many proven campaigns), and a “traditional marketing intruder”, as a way to disregard the benefits and to keep the efforts of traditional marketing in the driver seat.

The traditional marketing department understand that social media is a platform where control is no longer in their hands rather in the hands of everyone and anyone. Can this be a possible reason why people aren’t convinced on Social Media? Maybe, but the one thing that is beneficial is that the people (who I might add buy the products/services or whatever it may be contribute to the monetary success of a business) can make the business more efficient, in the sense of what they want to see, what needs improvement, what should be omitted and etc. However, the marketers do not believe it should be that way but the other way; the marketing department should have absolute control over those issues. Another reason can be the ineffective use by many people of social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook that contribute to their reasons as being non-beneficial. But if results are what people want to see than here are a few from Facebook and Twitter.

Since, its inception in 2006, Twitter claims to have around 175 million users and to have tweet promoted (to have it be a trending topic) it cost 125, 000 thousands per day. If businesses are willing to spend 125,000 to have a trending top in Twitter, what can be deduced of the benefit of social media? As for Facebook, since its inception in 2004, it is closing in on the 1 Billion users (right now, it’s around 600 Million users) and an Award-Winning feature film was created based on the social networking giant. Among the many statistics from both social media sites, the aforementioned should be enough to convince a non-believer of integrating social media into the marketing efforts to capitalize its many benefits. Instead of hindering the copious benefits of social media, these xenophobic people should welcome social media with open arms, for it is only trying to enhance the marketing efforts and not intrude. If a feature film, social media sites that boasts close to 1 Billion users and a promoted tweet costing 125,000 per day does not convince a person that social media is beneficial to a business than, one should ask Mark Zuckerberg, a co-creator of Facebook and Jack Dorsey, creator of Twitter, what they think.

When a major U.S. airline incorporates social media to their marketing campaign, it can mean one thing – that it’s an extremely beneficial asset. A lot can be deduced from the action of the flight attendant giving the customer a napkin that reads on both sides – “Be a Friend” and Stay in Touch,” which is referencing Facebook and Twitter through the “F” and “T” that is used to spell each word. What United is telling its customers through the napkin is that they acknowledge the power of social media and that it can prove beneficial for customer relations while trying to create awareness of promotions and the merger with Continental. In addition, United Airlines knows that in this day in age, the internet is a becoming the number one source of information especially with social media in the driver seat. With the integration of Facebook and Twitter into one of the biggest airlines in the world marketing campaign, it only gives more credibility to integrate social media into marketing efforts.

Not only are “Legacy Carriers” taking flight with social media but so are low-cost carriers. Social media and the airline industry have proven to have a symbiotic relationship with the likes of Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airlines incorporating social media to benefit each other in the progression of the companies. Examples of each can be seen in their respective marketing campaign. Since JetBlue is a new airline, in industry terms, they use social media to create brand awareness through Facebook, Twitter, search and banner ads. They follow a philosophy of “go where your customers are”, which has resulted in a service similar to foursquare. Southwest Airlines used social media as a platform for their customers to join the conversation by contributing insight on how to make the airline better; and, Southwest used social media channels such as blogging, Twitter and Facebook to reach out to the customers on day-to-day operations, positive reinforcement, crisis control, and breaking news. If social media is integrated into the marketing campaigns for “Legacy Carriers”, low-cost carriers or anyone, the efforts will definitely take off up to 35,000 feet and higher till “cruising altitude is reached.”

“FC Barcelona and Lionel Messi were the names on everyone’s fingertips on Saturday as the UEFA Champions League final took over popular social media platforms Facebook and Twitter.”

The popularity of this event surpasses the popularity of the NFL’s Super Bowl (most popular game in the U.S.) with hundreds of millions of people tuning in to see the biggest stage in the sport. Knowing the popularity of this event and social media, UEFA leveraged the online demand to their advantage through extensive coverage across these platforms.

“On Friday, Saturday and Sunday alone, 280 articles were published about the final on the website in 12 languages. In addition, four full-length video magazine programmes were produced by the team on site in London during the week of the final, with a total of 74 UEFA.com videos published in eight languages…as well as; Fans were also able to interact on the site’s daily blogs, the live MatchCentre chat as well as the increasingly popular UEFA.com and UEFA Champions League Facebook pages.”

The time and effort that UEFA put into satisfying the demand through creating great content by extending their coverage and the platforms they chose proved to be successful. The UEFA Champions League Facebook Page garnered over 1,500 ‘likes’ and around 200 comments. If this was not enough – “The fixture generated over two million mentions on Facebook during the game.” In addition, Twitter was dominated by tweets about this event. “On Twitter, meanwhile, the final drove updates on the microblogging service to almost unprecedented levels. There were 6,303 tweets per second…” The UEFA campaign to give the people as much as they wanted proved vital to the experience of the fan, as seen in the social media statistics. UEFA was able to integrate social media to the game, so that fans can have an even greater experience. The social media demand from the people to create content on these platforms should not be denied, for endless possibilities lie. Imagine what this exposure can do for a business.

“They’ve [European Team] taken extra pains to make sure the social media is primarily about engaging fans, as opposed to it being more marketing related. In fact, they don’t market as much as they maybe could. But they’ve really grasped that it’s one thing … to have someone sign up and follow, but yet another to keep them engaged.”

Instead of ignoring the mastodon size benefits of leveraging social media to grow the fan base of a sports franchise, the marketing team should definitely incorporate it to their marketing mix. The reasons why sports franchises are not jumping on social media marketing efforts are not quite clear, but what is clear is that it is on the same level as traditional marketing. “Clubs’ social media followings are getting large enough that they are dictating long-term, high-level strategic thought on the same level given to traditional broadband and TV programming efforts.” Imagine having the same effect as traditional marketing (TV, Radio, etc) in social media marketing but without the tremendous costs incurred. Social media, for the most part, is free and costs are hardly incurred with the exception of some social media management tools. A popular business model in social media is the concept of “Freemium;” which is the product is free to a certain degree and if the user wants premium tools, than a cost would be incurred. Instead of seeing social media as a leprotic method, it should be seen as a “White Knight” by the marketing team that should be incorporated to the mix.

Bryan Perez, NBA Digital senior vice president and general manager (speaking on how European Teams have leveraged social media for the Clubs benefit);

“If there’s anything to be learn from what’s happening abroad, it’s that these [soccer] teams are global brands…They have truly vibrant global followings, exactly the kind of thing we’re trying to build here, and social media, of course, is going to be a key tool in that.”

An excellent example of this phenomenon is the day, May 1, 2011, when, President Barrack Obama, told the American Public that Osama Bin Laden was killed in a United States operation in Pakistan. The official press release happened at night, and was broadcasted on TV; but for those that were not in the presence of a TV, they became aware of the news, the modern way, through their mobile device. For example, on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” between The Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets, mid-way through an inning, the fans at the ballpark abruptly cheered and chanted “U-S-A, U-S-A”; it had nothing to do with baseball, but because of their mobile devices and information spreading at the speed of light due to social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and others, they became aware of the President’s news. What social media has done is; it has eliminated the delay, the middle man, and other obstructions that hinder a message from reaching the targeted recipients in a timely manner.

Social Media has forever transformed the manner of how fast one can receive a message. Before social media, if one wanted to get their message from point A to point B, especially to the mass population, they would have most likely have gone through more steps than just pressing send; now, one can write the document, edit, and if its deem fit to be released can be released to the mass population with a single click. The two major social media sites, Facebook and Twitter, can send a message faster to anyone in the world than the speed of light. Maybe not as fast as the speed of light – 186,282 miles per second – but at least, the speed of which light and messages get from point A to point B, do not have any more steps other than creating the document and pressing send. Point A and Point B do not have to feel like they are thousands upon thousands of miles away, and with the speed of how fast information gets spread, that is no longer be the case.