Social media? Should you involve yourself or not? Answer: Social Media Marketing must be part of your strategy. If you are in sales, running a sales organization, or running a business, you cannot afford to ignore the trend away from traditional, interruption marketing. Some organizations are catching on, while others are slow to adapt. Of those jumping on board, many are heading in the wrong direction, regardless of the myriad of books and blog posts on this subject. One lesson many have learned the hard way is, you can’t use social media as another vehicle for interruption marketing and advertising. You’ll scare everyone away.

The most important part of this social media trend involves you; the people involved directly in sales. You cannot assume that marketing has you covered. In fact, social media marketing requires that you personally get in the game and begin interacting online alongside your marketing team. These two teams, that have tended to operate independently, must come together.

Also, don’t expect prospects to be reading advertisements in trade rags, or surfing your website, to see if you provide what they need. Instead, they’ll be researching product and solution areas with pinpointed search words and phrases. They may subscribe to informative websites if they are involved in an initiative or have interest in some business related area you deal with. If you really want to learn this process and how to leverage it in the high-tech market, I’m putting on a workshop to do just that in August: http://www.stelzl.us/sales_development_marketing.asp

Don't miss the early registration discount on this...sign up before the end of June at: http://www.stelzl.us/sales_development_marketing.asp

Making your blog work for you is a critical component of this social media area, and most of the companies I see working on it are getting it wrong. Here are some important points about leveraging this powerful tool:

• Gary Vaynerchuck (author of Crush It!) recommends replacing your website with a blog. I’m not quite there yet, but I do recommend you launch a new web domain rather than burying your blog somewhere in your website site map.

• Using WordPress as part of your domain name makes no sense at all. Spend a few dollars to launch a new domain name. I chose www.davidstelzl.com to give my site a more personal touch.

• Web pages are static – perhaps you are getting thousands of hits on your website. If you’re company name is Cisco, it's understandable that the rules are going to be different for you than for other smaller companies. But, for the average reseller, getting that kind of response requires innovation. Consider your blog to be your new landing page. This is where you look to build traffic. Especially if your business is mid to small market.

• Get personal! My “about” page is more casual than the average website because people want to build a trust relationship before they start investing millions of dollars. I posted a shot from a recent climbing trip in the Adirondack Mountains http://davidstelzl.com/about/ to allow my readers a glimpse of the real me. No airbrushing or fake smiles on this one. I didn’t even shave for the picture and you can bet my photographer wasn’t carrying a tripod up Haystack Mountain (one of the more strenuous climbs in that area). In fact, the guidebook recommends not taking your pack on this particular route. I now understand why.

• This may be obvious to some, but use photos as a casual introduction to your company personnel.. In most cases you have more than one individual in your business, so give the world a glimpse of the actual team players.

• Use Video and Audio. Today's readers are overwhelmed with text, so give them a break and add pictures, audio and video. I incorporate all of the above but find that video gets the most traffic. Companies that still hold the view that videos are big production and must be professionally produced, are missing it. My most popular video was shot in a hotel room using my integrated MacBook Pro camera with almost no editing. I added a splash screen with iMovie (which comes with the Mac OS). Here it is: http://davidstelzl.com/2010/04/14/history-of-the-reseller/

• Drop the Tag cloud. Yes, tag clouds are probably more popular among the Gen Y group, but who is your target audience? If you are calling on executives, and hoping they’ll read your blog, don’t let the programmer determine how to get their attention. He may not be aware of the categories that address issues the decision-makers are concerned about every day.

• Write candid, informative, educational posts, and write them frequently. This requires an understanding of who your target audience is. If you haven’t taken time to understand who your audience is, you are likely missing it. Using their language, words they would use in a search , and topics they really care about, is the key to success.

• Content is critical. No one wants to subscribe to a commercial about your company. One of my hobbies is mountain biking. Given the constant need to rebuild these bikes, I find myself regularly visiting sites that have photos showing how to correct, fine time, and up-fit my Intense Tracer Mountain bike. Guess who I buy parts from? You guessed right, the site with the best insights along with reasonable prices (but not necessarily the best prices).

Finally, drive people to your static website from your blog. So people get to know you, subscribe to your blog, and then move to your website as needs arise.

As a side note on social media, customer service is now paramount. How many of you are checking “what people say” before making a purchase? I know I am, and I tend to believe the comments if there are enough to surpass the seller's likely “best friends” list. So why do I continue to run into people who can’t seem to do anything right for the customer? Just last week I was treating myself to a Dairy Queen blizzard (something well deserved after my mountain bike regiment). The person making my order didn't realize that I’ve been saving up all week for this moment of high-fat, cholesterol infused, delight. So they threw it together, with such a minute amount of peanut butter cups, that I might as well have ordered a dish of soft serve. Of course I complained, but he just mumbled something about policy and charging extra…so I proceeded to request a total refund and delivered a threat to stop at the next Dairy Queen I see. Luckily the manager overheard and jumped in to save me the drive. Does it really make sense to argue about a few cents when you can win over a long-term client so painlessly? They should have known, but didn't, that I could be writing about this on my blog!

More Opportunities:

Find new episodes of "Raising Entrepreneurs" - that will help you grow your business: http://www.davidstelzl.com - completely updated and now you can also get my House & the Cloud in electronic form for free!

CREATING SALES, LEVERAGING THE POWER OF ASSESSMENTS
http://www.stelzl.us - thought leadership
Free download of my latest ebook

SALES MENTOR PROGRAM
http://www.stelzl.us/sales_development_mentor.asp
Schedule on demand
Note: there is now a waiting list for the full structured mentored program, call for availability.

TELESEMINAR SERIES: JUNE - THE POWER OF CHARACTER
http://www.stelzl.us/business_strategy_TeleS.asp
Monthly at 11:30 East Coast Time.
Most people are hired for their skills and fired for poor character. Learn how to build the right character, find it in other people, and how to develop a team that exemplifies strong character that will positively impact long term business and success.

THE NEW MARKETING STRATEGY WORKSHOP
http://www.stelzl.us/sales_development_marketing.asp
DATES: August 11, 2010 - Charotte NC Area
Learn to market your company and actually build demand generation programs that works. We will do it right here in this workshop - something that takes companies months to learn, you'll build in just 1 1/2 days...We will cover everything from effective uses of social media to in person events.

Visit us at www.davidstelzl.com

for more information on offerings and workshops: www.stelzl.us

Please pass this on to anyone you know who is working to build a profitable solutions business today. Consider having David Stelzl speak at your next quarterly meeting or customer event. Create a value proposition that positions you as the expert and attracts new clients. Consider hiring a professional coach to accelerate the process.