What is Social Media? Part 1

Up until now, the majority of the folks I know personally in the advertising business are clueless about how social media works, and how to use it. So let's do a quick, basic primer on the beast.

Social Media is also know as Web 2.0.

We have come a long way since AOL was giving away discs to get us to sign up for the America OnLine version of the Internet. Accessing the internet at home meant tying up your phone line for hours and waiting for a connection, and what are now considered incredibly slow upload and download speeds. This was less than 20 years ago!

Social Media has been made possible due to the technology advances in computer hardware, software, and what I'll call netware. Netware is the stuff that is the programs that are not stored on your computer, but are out there somewhere on the internet. Like this website for example.

As the speed of the internet has increased, it has allowed us as individuals to do more, and do more faster.

Let's look at the root of Social Media by looking at the two words:

Social. We are by nature social beings. We interact with each other, in person, over the phone, and now by using technology like text messaging and the variety of internet resources that allow for two way communication.

Media. Despite some beliefs, most old media did and does allow for a two way conversation, just not at the speed of the internet. Newspapers usually featured letters to the editor. Radio and Television have had talk shows that allow viewers and listeners to call in and interact with the person live on the air. But the internet has leveled the field.

In order to have a voice on the internet, you need access to a computer and time. You do not need a printing press, you do not need a licence and broadcasting equipment. There are plenty of resources online that allow and encourage you to use them at absolutely no cost to you.

So how does this work? So far the advantage is in the favor of the individual. We have been willing to trade the free social media for a few advertising messages. Like the radio stations I work for that anyone can listen to at no cost, we make our money selling advertising.

What is the challanging part is to come up with a business model for social media that attracts both advertisiers and consumers and effectively links them together so that the advertisier sees a positive return on their advertising investment.

Many traditional media outlets, (radio, tv, print) have added websites with advertising, but the jury is still out on the success of these websites. It will continue to evolve, just as the technology that makes the internet possible evolves.

One thing is certain. The internet and social media will continue to grow and those that ignore it are doomed to extinsion. Don't know when that will occur, it could be years, decades, or generations.

Now is the best time to hop on board and be a part of it.

It's as Simple as your A B C's

Do you know the alphabet?
All 26 letters?
I bet you know them in a certain order too.
How quickly can you spot the missing letter:

QAZXSWEDCVFRTGBNHYJMKIOLP

Did you need a paper and pencil? Did you sing a little tune to find the missing letter?

Let's try it again:
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSITUZWXYZ

This time I added a letter and I bet you found it within seconds.

Now, I want you to go beyond this exercise and look at the "why's".

Sometime in your life, you learned your ABC's and could sing them to a particular tune. But in order to learn, you had that drilled into your young little head repeatedly. How often as an adult are you asked to sing your ABC's? Not very often unless you are around young kids.

It is the power of repetition, enhanced with an easy to remember tune, and a fun experience that helped you to learn your letters.

This same principle of repetition, enhanced with other positive emotional stimulants should be used in the branding of your business.

By the way, can you name two other songs that use the same tune as the alphabet song?

Do you have what it takes...

to be successful?

Bill Gates is one of the most successful modern day business men alive. His first versions of Microsoft operating systems were prone to the "Blue Screen of Death".

My former father in law taught me how to reboot his computer with the "three-fingered-shut-down". Now days the world revolves around Windows, and despite upstarts such as Apple and Google, I doubt that either will overcome Microsoft in less than 10 years, if ever.

Speaking of 10 years, Google recently celebrated their 10th anniversary. It took around 5 or more for them to become the dominant search engine.

In the field that I work in, radio and advertising, changes are always going on. Radio for example was transformed from the original live mass electronic media to a music based electronic media when television went main stream and radio needed to reinvent itself.

Newspapers, which have been around for centuries are needing to reinvent themselves due to the growth of the internet.

Actually the internet has transformed everything from radio, tv, telephone service, books, phone books, retail, catalogs, you name it, and "it" has changed due to the internet.

So back to the question,

Do you have what it takes to be successful?

Do you have a long range plan that includes a bare bones survival and growth mode that you can live with for a few years?

Are you willing to do what it takes to support yourself and your business idea for the long term success that will not occur overnight?

Or are you looking for a quick buck? Are you impatient and going to be fickle? Or will you do what it takes? Are you going to be stubborn and try and only do things your way, or are you going to read, listen, ask, and seek advice from those that can help?

I hope you have the guts to be humble, passionate, thrifty, wise and patient.

By the way, one of the worlds most successful marketing gurus, Seth Godin wrote recently about this subject recently and the time table for the growth of one of his projects. Click here to read his words.

The Lost Opportunity

I understand that sometimes we let opportunities slip thru our fingers. Most of us are doing more, gone are the days of a personal assistant, now we do our own research, typing, etc.

However if you let your marketing slip by the wayside, eventually your whole business can slip away.

This week I had lunch with a friend at a popular Irish restaurant. Actually, this was our second choice because the place we originally were going to is now closed at lunch time. The economy? or a lack of marketing? I guess the later.

So we went across the parking lot and went into this restaurant that I had not visited in about 3 years. We each ordered something off their express lunch menu and the food was fair.

Midway through our lunch I noticed several items that were lost opportunities. After we left I jotted down a few more. Here's a partial list:


-Waitress was forgetful with our very simple drink order, Water & Diet Pepsi. She had to ask twice.

-Music was too loud to have a pleasant conversation with someone seated across the table from me.

-Music selection did not enhance the atmosphere of an Irish restaurant. Instead of Irish music, they played some boring, generic top 40.

-Music was probably chosen for the workers and the volume turned up to keep them awake?

-Body piercings in un-natural places that looked painful, such as eye-brows, nose, lips. This is Middle America, not the coast.

-Mediocre attitude from waitress, like we were interrupting her "smoke break". Never made any food suggestions, not a people person.

-Food was presented on a very plain plate. A spring of parsley could have make it look more appealing. (This was pointed out by my friend who was in the restaurant business.)

-Bright sunlight in the bar area magnified that the place needed a good cleaning. Here's a tip, lower the lights until you scrub the place down.

-No suggestive selling. Even McDonald's will ask if you want fries with that.


Okay, there's more but first because this is the Holiday season, now is the time to push gift cards, etc. So on that theme, I continue:



-No table tents, promoting ANYTHING for the holidays. If you can't afford theme, I know how you can get them at no out of pocket cost.

-No mention of anything holiday related on the menu, by the waitress, zip, zero, nada.


Some of the best marketing you can do is to those that are already your customers. Coffee Shops in our area started this with a free punch card to reward frequent visitors. Others do it now.

So you tell your staff to do suggestive selling and they refuse. Reward them. Cut them in on some of the action.

I noticed this recently at a drug store. The cashier was very bold about it, and asked everyone that he rang up if they would help him reach a sales goal and buy a candy bar that was half price. (He probably sold Boy Scout Popcorn door to door in his younger days).

He was going to be rewarded and he was bold and honest in his approach. He even took a candy bar from the display and held it in front of you as he asked.

Okay, what about your business?

How many lost opportunities to earn money do you have?

Need some help finding them? Contact me at Money@ScLoHo.net for help.

Why You?

Every time you have an opportunity to interact with a client/customer, or potential client/customer, you have to earn their continued business.

Every time they pick up the phone to request a service call, every time they walk in your doors, every time they go to your website, you need to answer their question, "Why am I willing to spend my money with you?"

Shorten that phrase to, "Why you?"

There is one car dealer I buy from. Every time I have gone to him, he continues to earn my business with his honesty.

The carpet cleaner my wife calls has earned lots of money from us directly and indirectly with the referals we give him.

The plumber I used to rely on however has lost my business. 3 weeks ago, we had a plumbing/sewer problem and they sent out a plumber who spent two hours at our home but was unable to fix the problem and wanted to reschedule a time to come back later in the week.

So we blindly (looked up in the Yellow Pages), another company and they sent two guys over that afternoon and took care of the problem. They got $354.00 for fixing the problem.

Thursday, (Thanksgiving Day), less than 3 weeks later, the problem occurred again. Fortunately we have two bathrooms. The next day, I called back the folks I gave $354 to and asked for help. They explained that they were short staffed but when I told them the problem, they said that the owner himself would be out if they couldn't find the guys they sent previously.

Turns out within two hours, the original guy they sent out came to our house and fixed the problem again. It was his day off. He did not charge us anything. He wouldn't even accept a gift tip for coming out.

He told us what we needed to do if the problem happened again along with a price, couple grand, to fix the problem, or we could be very careful and he gave us some temporary advice to keep things running smoothly.

They answered the question, "Why you?"

How about your business? What are you doing to continually earn your client/customers money?