Grand Rapids Businesses: Give Social Media a Chance!
All we are saying is, “Give Social Media a Chance!”
Give it a good three months — June, July, and August lay before you.
So why not make this your summer of social media love?
photo credit: Phillie Casablanca
How to start. Whether you live in Grand Rapids, Michigan or Bombay, India — start by find, reading, and commenting on blogs with topics that interest you! At my other blog, I show you a cool new way to do just that.
Find out what bloggers are writing about your company. Bloggers are writing about your products and services. Are they raving — or ranting? Or are they silent — which means you’ve got no blogosphere buzz? It’s smart to stay in touch with your markets. Go where they are and where they live — online. It’s essential to know who’s talking about you and what they’re saying.
How to find out who’s saying what about you: At the very least, sign up for a free Google News Alert. Enter your company’s name, product names, competitor names, names of key executives, etc. — and how often you want to receive alerts. With this one easy move, you’ll begin to see just how visible — or invisible — your brand is with key influencers in the blogosphere and the main stream media.
How will you respond? Merely getting Google Alerts about your company can be a real eye opener. Some company MarCom directors are shocked by what they’ve learned. Don’t be shocked — be informed! What you learn from listening and how you respond is at the very heart of all your company marketing — not just the online stuff!
Manage your reputation. This brief post merely touches on why developing and adhering to a social media policy is crucial for both large and small businesses. The information you learn from listening to your customers is more important than any focus groups or surveys you conduct. It’s real, it’s raw, and it’s happening all around you. If you aren’t listening to it, your company’s reputation and survival is at risk.
That’s why I’m encouraging Grand Rapids businesses to make this the summer of social media love — start by listening and learning! Make a commitment to reading blogs for three months — summer is a great time for reading, right?
You can start by subscribing to this very blog! If you haven’t subscribed yet, please do. Here’s my RSS feed — put it in your favorite RSS Reader, and consider yourself subscribed!
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Success! I followed a link in my Google Alerts for our most popular keyword to a forum posting by someone claiming “guru” status in my industry. In his signature he listed his twitter profile, which I located and then “followed”. Later, he in turn followed me, came to my blog and posted a comment. We now have a follower who could potential contribute a lot to our conversations on our site.