By: Lois Geller

Lois Geller — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 13:25:28 +0000

It seems like everyone just jumpbs into social media and tries it out…to see if they can swim. It is good to do that to find out how each of the mediums really work.
Once you begin to understand their different strength, it is a good idea to consider a marketing test to see how to drive traffic from one to the other.
Then, in my direct marketing world, our clients want the most important answer: what is our conversion rate. How many sales did we drive, and at what cost to us.
People who “play” in social media don’t really count their time as a cost, but of course it really is. What would you be doing if you weren’t on Twitter? Would you be making cold calls to prospects, and maybe 20% of those would convert to real business?
I’ve worked for corporate clients most of my career. They put a discipline to all of these kinds of things, and the most important one is to have a Plan.
Without a Plan and measurable objectives, it is hard to know your success. So, I encourage many of the groups I train in social media to put together a Plan, even a simple one, so you can figure out your success along the way.
Target your best customers, give them a great offer, continue the relationship with them as they begin to buy from you, and then measure your results. Evaluate them, and then look for more people like your best customers. Good luck. Let meknow what happens!

Comments on: Those awkward questions about social media marketing

By: Lois Geller