Social Media is Sexy

Social Media is Sexy

By “sexy” I mean alluring and enticing. And Social Media is just that for marketers.

• It’s immediately accessible.
• It can give you instant feedback.
• It enables you to touch your customers individually.
• Public usage is growing like wildfire.
• It’s fun!

In the past year I have attended countless workshops, seminars, and programs to educate myself on how I can help my clients use Social Media effectively to reach their goals. I have set-up profiles and pages, developed campaigns, and coached my clients on blogging, using Facebook Fan Pages, LinkedIn and Twitter. And we are seeing good results (even my dentist is getting new patients from his Social Media effort!).

But…last week one of my clients told me that he was encouraged by a friend in marketing to discontinue his Paid ads on the Search Engines (which have been responsible for a huge increase in his revenues) in favor of Social Media marketing. Hang on a minute there!

Paid Search is still the only guaranteed way for many types of businesses to be in front of their target market on Search Engines. Yes, Social Media can increase your company’s Internet footprint, but it can’t substitute for Paid Search for:

• Having control over where your message appears.
• Having control over when your message appears.
• Being where your competitors are (remember, your brand can be used as a search term).
• Reaching the most targeted ready-to-buy customers.

Social Media IS sexy. So, my advice is: incorporate Social Media into your marketing plans, but take a deep breath and think about what’s working now before you throw away the baby with the bathwater.

Your thoughts?

Tags: Internet Marketing, Managing Time Social Media, Paid Search

Posted in Internet Marketing, Marketing, Paid Search, Social Media | 2 Comments »

December 14th, 2009

Social Media Helps NYC Dentist get New Patients

How can Social Media help my business grow? This is a question I get asked a lot. And I can quote lots of examples of how businesses are successfully using Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. But use Social Media to grow a medical practice? That may seem a little far-fetched, right?

I have a client who is a dentist. Not only is he a great dentist, he’s also a lot of fun. His personality combined with is skill is the reason why his patients (myself included) love (and don’t dread) going to the dentist.

I helped him develop a website, and now create a blog. For many months, he asked me over and over, “I don’t understand what blogging is going to do for me”. I really felt, and so did his friends, that my dentist’s natural love of conversation and pontificating on any subject is the perfect combination of traits to make a great blogger!

So, finally, armed with a laptop, the doctor began to blog, usually on train on his way home. In the meantime, I set up a Facebook Fan Page for him and invited all his personal friends to become his fans (of course, his children were his first fans!).

The first blog was posted last week and simultaneously appeared on the doc’s Facebook Fan Page. Lo and behold! On her wall, some of his daughter’s Facebook friends saw the post and said “Hey! I didn’t know your dad is a dentist! I need a new dentist!” Guess what? New patients!

So, what’s the moral of this story?

• Blogging increases the visibility of your business, even if you are a medical professional.

• Your friends’ friends are a great source of new customers (patients).

• Social Media works!

Do you have any similar experiences you can share?

Tags: Blog, Blogging, Facebook, Social Media

Posted in Blogging, Facebook, Local Business, Social Media | 4 Comments »

December 3rd, 2009