Week 11B: Widening Your Circles

I remember that in high school there were cliques, different groups of kids. There were the "jocks" who were the athletes. There were the Geeks, the Stoners, the Drama Geeks, and where I grew up in Arizona, there were the Kickers in big cowboy hats and impossibly tight jeans with big silver belt buckles. No, they didn't kick soccer balls, they kicked, well... cow pies

In high school we had circles of friends with common interests and now circles of friends is a big concept on the Internet. In fact, Google+ has a featured actually called Circles.

1. Social Networks

Google+

Of course I am interested in Social Media marketing so I found some Google + Communities that interest me:

Social Media Strategy

Social Media News

Social Media Psychology

I also find the idea of Circles in that platform interesting, but the idea that might do my future business the most good is called a "Hangout". This is like a conference call but it is virtual. Something like a Skype call but with more participants, this could be a great way to hold small online events and keep in touch with my customers while giving them a place to brainstorm and help each other. Perfect for a consultant!

LinkedIn

Found a couple of Groups on LinkedIn that sound good.

Social Media

Social Media Marketing 2.1

Other interesting features of LinkedIn include an app to share a Google Presentation. There is a very, very important app called "Company Buzz" that tracks what is being said about your company on other social media platforms. Very cool. "Tweets" is an app that helps you to save time by aggregating your updates. I'm always in favor of saving time.

If you want to grow your reputation as an expert, LinkedIn has a feature called "Answers". People ask questions and various other people answer the questions. All in all, LinkedIn seems more professional to me because there are lots of moderators screening content to keep it classy.

2. Coupon Networks

Groupon

This may work for a few businesses, but setting up your coupon must be well thought out. I heard about a restaurant that offered such a great deal that their employees were overwhelmed and couldn't meet the demand. Food ran out and customer service was bad because there wasn't enough staff.
People came in the door, but this business wasn't ready.

Setting a goal for your Groupon campaign is important. Is it to get repeat business? Sometimes people walk in with a Groupon and never come back. Giving the new customers a second coupon on their first visit could be a way to avoid the one-timers and get another chance to turn them into customers. It is easy to lose money on a Groupon campaign if you don't calculate in overhead, labor, etc. when calculating Return on Investment (ROI).

As a social media consultant, I think I would stay away from this kind of promotion.

3. Yelp

Yelp

I really have a distaste for Yelp. It seems to be mostly customer driven with very little opportunity for a business to really address bad reviews. A business could be unjustly driven out of business quite easily.

However, the Millennial generation seems to love it so if you are targeting that generation and have a restaurant or entertainment or retail establishment, this may be the best place to shine.