Dave Kerpen is the best selling author of Likeable Social Media and co-founder and CEO of Likeable Media, an award-winning social media and word-of-mouth marketing firm. Dave recently took a few minutes to share some advice on getting started in social media.
Bryan: How does social media for business differ than personal use? What is the philosophy behind social media for business?
Dave: Social media for business use is different than social media for personal use in that your goals are likely different - you have marketing and sales goals for your time likely, rather than fun or knowledge or personality as a personal goal. But too many business people think because they are using social media for business purposes, they should become marketers. You can still use social media for business and be fun, personable, conversational - and likeable!
Bryan: How does a tweet, update or blog post translate into revenue?
Dave: A tweet, update or blog post can translate into revenue slowly or quickly. The more great content you put out there, directly at the right people, at the right time, the more likely you will be found, talked about, talked to, and yes, bought from. My book opens with a story about one tweet led to over $10,000 in revenue for the Rio Hotel.
Bryan: Telling a small business owner who blogs and uses social media not to sell sounds a little counter-productive. How can interaction be balanced with actually generating revenue?
Dave: It's not that you shouldn't use social media to sell - it's just that the way you sell has to be conversational and long-term in nature. Just like you wouldn't walk up to a stranger at a cocktail party and sell him life insurance, you can't do that on Facebook or Twitter. Nobody likes to be sold, but everybody likes to buy. Just be the friendly salesperson that people enjoy buying from, and you will sell!
Bryan: What is a healthy ratio of content sharing with selling or promotional posts?
Dave: No more than 1 in 8 posts should be self-promotional in nature.
Bryan: Should the do-no-delete (DND) rule be used 100% of the time? How do you recommend handling a flood of negative comments? What about promotional reader posts and comments?
Dave: I believe the Do-Not-Delete rule should be used in all cases except profanity, obscenity, bigotry or sharing or private contact info. Nobody likes to feel silenced. If one person is consistently spamming your Facebook Page wall, then you can ban him.
Bryan: Do the endless fringe networks have value, or should business owners stay with the 4 basics: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Blogging?
Dave: I would definitely recommend adding LinkedIn to this list, especially for salespeople, small business, and B-to-B marketers. Google+ likely won't be a fringe network for long either. In the end, it's most important to figure out who your customers and prospects are and what networks they spend their time on, and then spend it there.
Bryan: What network or method of interaction has the highest return on investment?
Dave: The answer to this question really depends on your business. We've seen a tremendous ROI on Facebook for our own company as well as our clients.
Bryan: How can the best time for personal interaction be determined?
Dave: Interact personally whenever you can. As long as time spent is valuable, it's a good thing. It's time wasted on Farmville and the like that's no good, anytime.
Bryan: What do you think about automated social media tools? Do they harm the relationship? Or are they an effective way to syndicate content?
Dave: Automation tools do have a place in making your life easier - tools such as Hootsuite can be used to plan tweets and updates for weekends or times you're in meetings for instance. Just be careful not to over-automate. Humans have a funny way of preferring human contact to automation, don't we?
Bryan: What are some of common first-timer mistakes in social media? What advice would you give to someone getting started using social media for their business?
Dave: The most common mistakes first-timers make are to use a broadcast / sell mentality instead of a listening, engaging one. Listen first, then engage. Another mistake is trying too much at once. Start with one network or tool you feel most comfortable with, and then expand slowly.
I'm available to answer your questions (the readers!) anytime on Twitter or Facebook.
Dave Kerpen is the best selling author of Likeable Social Media and co-founder and CEO of Likeable Media, an award-winning social media and word-of-mouth marketing firm. Dave recently took a few minutes to share some advice on getting started in social media.
