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by Julie Weishaar

We have all heard the hoopla around the value of writing a blog for our business.  Blogs create a focal point in a community of potential customers, provide a hub for social networking, invite participation and interaction, build relationships, help increase SEO, boost traffic to your blog site (and web site) and help establish you and your company as an industry expert.

So you decide you will jump on the bandwagon and start writing a blog. You take great pains in creating interesting and valuable content but you can’t understand why no one is visiting your blog.  Why?  The answer is simple.  In order for someone to visit your blog, they first have to know it is there.

Do you know how large the internet is?  I read somewhere that it would take 57,000 years to read the entire internet.  Certainly more time than I have.  Now picture your blog in such an immense arena.  How can you expect someone to find you?  Well, that is where social media marketing comes into play.

There are many ways to drive traffic to your blog but the first and foremost step is to visit and comment on others’ blogs.  If you play in their sandbox first and make relevant and constructive comments, eventually they will come and play in your sandbox.

The “eventually” part is the stickler here. Society today doesn’t like that word. The concept of delayed gratification is not universally accepted or held in high regard by most.  We don’t like to wait.  We want things now!

Gone are the days of going to the music store, sifting through the various music selections on whatever media was relevant at the time.  Why should anyone have to wait?  They can download any music they want immediately from various different Internet music sites – some even for free.

Cell phones are no longer just for talking.  You can play games, surf the net, take pictures, record videos, etc. and most cell phones have literally become an extension of our bodies. Teenagers have become incredibly adept at carrying on a conversation with many people at the same time and have become extremely proficient typists as they text faster than I can even see the letters on my cell phone.

There are gadgets that can record your favorite TV program from anywhere when you forget to set up the recording before you leave the house.

How about those “smart houses” that have highly advanced automatic systems for lighting, temperature control, multi-media, security, window and door operations, and many other functions?

A New Digital Storefront Partnership was recently announced as a consortium of publishers including Time Inc., Hearst, Condé Nast, Meredith, and News Corp. The group is being overseen by Time Inc. executive vice president John Squires who said “The lesson that we’ve taken from smartphones—the iPhones in particular—is users want to read in digital form.”

It is amazing what society can do these days at the touch of a button or the flick of a switch.  So why does social media marketing, including blogging, take so long to see results?  First of all, it doesn’t have to take as long as one might think if carried out correctly.  If you focus your energies in your industry niche, are proactive as well as reactive, and if you are consistent with your efforts, it will take you less time than someone who doesn’t apply the aforementioned tactics.

The GBA Blog provides insight for Marketing Decision Makers and other fun people   If you have insight on Marketing you want to share with our audience, contact us about being a Guest GBA Blogger. Or learn more about GBA and our video production prowess!

But, even if you do everything right, seeing results will still take more time than it takes to flick a switch. Why?  Because blogging and other social marketing techniques are about relationships and building relationships takes time no matter how you slice it.  Would you agree to marry someone you met for the first time?  I doubt it.  You would want to get to know them through many interactions, learn about who they are, what they do, see if you share the same values, decide if you trust them or not, see if you have anything in common with them, determine if your needs match theirs, etc.  The same principle applies to blogging.  You have to earn your reputation, play in others’ sandboxes, provide helpful, relevant content and develop relationships in order to see a return on the investment of your time.  For more on blogging, click here.

Julie Weishaar is a Marketing Consultant at New Horizons 123 You can contact her at beaky88@aol.com

The GBA Blog provides insight for Marketing Decision Makers and other fun people

by Nick Barron

Recently I spoke with a marketing executive who quizzed me on what my social media strategy for his organization would look like, were he to enlist my services.

His eyes popped open when I said I would create a strategy that focused on an eventual hand-off to his team.

“So you see a time in which we no longer need you,” he said.

“Absolutely,” I replied.

I’m sure there are social media consultants crafting strategies requiring long-term financial commitments from their clients. I’m sure these consultants have their reasons ($$$$), but I think it’s bad form and bad for social media.

I got into the application of social technology for business because I love the technology first, and because I need to make a living, second.

I’m a Millennial. I’m an idealist with a touch of pragmatism.

What this means is that I believe social media can make organizations and everyday citizens better, simultaneously improving business functions and our lives.

What kind of social media purist would I be if I sold clients on overloaded strategies that don’t align with their current staff and knowledge capability?

With the previously mentioned executive’s organization, he has a staff. They’re just too small and too inundated with work right now to draft a social media strategy, plus they don’t have anyone with as much immediate experience in the space as someone like myself.

He’s a bright guy and I’m sure he hires bright people.

It’s in their best interest that I construct a strategy that not only aligns with their marketing/communications goals, but that also fits with their ability to execute, over time, on the strategy.

Starting out, I told him, I would launch the strategy and ensure objectives are being met, while making any adjustments or tweaks that are needed. Almost immediately, though, his staff will be involved, with the eventual goal that they take over and drive.

It just makes sense.

An organization’s long-term social media strategy most likely cannot function off the efforts of an outside consultant. At some point, pieces of, if not all of, the strategy need to be executed in-house.

Social media is a way for organizations to converse with the public. It’s not just marketing, it’s not just PR or customer service or any other business function.

In order for social media to deliver for brands like I believe it can, the social media efforts of organizations eventually need to be executed from within the organization. Who better to speak with people about your brand than those who know the brand best?

A consultant can live on as an adviser to the client, helping make adjustments and introducing ways to leverage new technology, but a solid social media strategy should be focused on helping the client take over.

Social media is about empowerment, for both consumers and businesses.

A good social media consultant shouldn’t be out to snag you into a long-term financial commitment. They should be focused on finding ways for you to use social tech to make your job and your business better.

A social media consultant worth the money you’re paying them should treat your strategy like an A & B conversation, and they should see their way out of it.

- Nick Barron, Green Buzz Agency Social Media Consultant

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