 Blueyes Staying abreast of change with social media marketing can feel like a time-sucking sink hole to the average small business person.
A week doesn’t go by it seems some bright, new, shiny, social media object comes barreling at you with the siren call of more sales, followers and subscribers if only you’ll download, set up your profile, link to followers and post valuable content on a regular basis. Sigh……
If you’ve heard about Google +, you may be feeling that way.
But wait. This is something different.
Google +, officially launched on June 29, 2011, is rapidly gaining broad-based support in the online marketing world and beyond. Social Media Examiner recently posted 34 Google+ Resources for your business: Advice from the Pros. Thirty four articles for a social media platform that was launched less than 3 months ago!
Big name marketing types like Mari Smith, Guy Kawasaki, and John Janstch to name a few, are participating and writing about it.
Chris Brogan has all but abandoned Facebook and is posting primarily on Google+. In Start Now on Google+, Chris says, “The reasons to love Google+ are that it’s clean, it’s fast, it’s useful, people are very engaged, and it’s got a strong boost to your search-ability.”
In my view, Google + has one serious advantage over other popular SM tools: communicating is specific to groups of people rather than universal. You get to say what you want to who you want. Not to everyone.
Google+ conversations are just like real world conversations. Groups of like-minded people talking about topics they’re all interested in. It just makes sense.
Here’s a few additional reasons why Google + is different.
Google + is a copy. Not exactly, but Google+ is a refinement of the most popular SM tools today. Google played the waiting game to watch where and how people were benefiting and also where they were struggling with Facebook, Twitter and the like. Then they built a better mousetrap – Google+. With all the bells and whistles and few of the annoyances that characterize the early players.
Google+ is rapidly growing, for all the right reasons. While the pace of Google+ growth outstrips anything we’ve seen before, that’s not the real news. The real news is that social media participants who get on Google+ adapt and adopt more quickly to find what works best for them. Google+ users are by and large more focused than the bazillions on Facebook and Twitter users, and are segmenting conversations to enhance the value.
Google + is more functional than fun for the average business owner. Savvy social media users, especially busy small business people, participate on the basis of need rather than want. Google+ helps them answer these online queries: Where are my customers? What can I expect to gain by investing time here? What are the best platforms for my needs?
Google + users are focused, especially in circles of colleagues, business acquaintances, clients and others. Because they are more intentional in their postings, you waste less time reading ‘what I”m eating today’ posts. You’re talking to a group of people who share your interest, so the conversation is bound to be more focused.
My participation on Google + has been limited so far. The platform is still in beta form and only open by invitation. Still, I’m keeping an eye out for where Google + goes in the near future, and getting in the wagon to figure it out. I predict other platforms will adapt to the separate conversations standard sooner rather than later. I hope you’ll join in- you can right here.
 This week, I’ve had no less than four conversations with clients and potential clients about the new rules of marketing. I’m happy to report the concept of building community versus marketing to the masses is catching on.
Seth Godin, in this video (sidebar) rendition of his now classic, tribe-building, idea-spreading philosophy, talks about the death of the industrial complex and the desire we have, above all, to connect with others who share something we care about. Finding and leading those groups of people is the core of small business marketing today.
Find, connect and lead people and ideas. Doing that can change our world. And in the process grow your business.
So, how do you build business in 2011 and beyond? Slowly. Really? Person by person. Connecting one to another through a shared vision and story. Seth says,” ‘It’s not a mass thing – its about finding the true believers who want to connect with you.”
But it bears repeating in a world obsessed with next, next, next. Do what you do best. Leverage the tools in front of you – a website, a social platform that gives interchangeable access to the groups and people in your life, a blog post talking about what really matters to you. When the tone or topic resonates, people will connect.
Changing the way we do business is no new thing. It’s always the new thing. Let’s do it.
I’m not a fan of country music. Raised in Midwestern suburbia, I’ve spent most of my life tuning in to the mainstream of Top 40 rock and roll, soft jazz and easy listening hits. Even after Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban moved the tectonic plates of country music mainstream, I just can’t go there.
But recently, I spent two hours in the car with my sister Connie taking her to the airport. Connie is a huge country music fan. She says “If it ain’t country, it ain’t music”. I try not to roll my eyes.
Back to the car ride. Since Connie isn’t a big talker, I figured the ride would go smoother if I gave her control of the radio. On came Big Country WOLF ‘Your Country Music Now’ 104.5. On came something sounding twangy and forlorn. At least that’s how it started.
Then an amazing thing happened. I started listening to the lyrics, drawn into the stories of love and loss and life in each song. Some were sappy, to be sure. But more often than not, the human drama of relationships won and lost, families built and burned, and the universal truths of life, death and always love were stories I found myself caring about.
Suddenly, I had an aha moment. Millions of people love country music – about 95 million according to MRI and the Country Music Association. Why? Because millions of us, ALL of us really, love a good story. It’s why Turner Classic Movies and Oprah’s Book Club exist.
Stories are part of the human condition. While not as popular as the kings of pop and rock and roll, country music fans still spent 1.5 billion buying CD’s and downloads in 2009. Why? Because people love a good story. Stories draw us in and make us want to know more. Wouldn’t you like your customers to do that?
Find, create and write your story. Beginning. Middle. End.
Then tell it to your customers in person and on your website. Share snippets in your blog. Open the door to your work home and invite people in from time to time. If you keep it short, they’ll listen. And they’ll like you just a little better for telling it. When people like you, they think of you first, and want to buy from you more than the other guy. That’s relationship marketing through the power of story.
 Ever fall off the wagon? You know, the social media wagon? Where your tweets, posts, comments, updates, and trackbacks come to a screeching halt for one reason or another?
Well, that happened to me. This blog post could have easily been titled Walking the Talk, Losing Momentum, Hypocrisy, or Social Media Sink Holes: How a well-intentioned marketer got off track and ignored social media in the summer of 2011.
In my small business, JFields Marketing, I talk to clients all the time about getting a social media strategy in place, creating topics and a schedule for making posts, and developing the discipline to access SM to build community and promote business. And here I was, ignoring it all. Pathetic.
On the excuse side, my reason for letting go is mostly legit. My oldest son Nate got married June 11. (see the happy couple here ) In all the preparations and nuptial hoo-ha, I had to shift priorities. SM fell off my radar. Lame.
But hey, life happens. And I‘m glad it does. Shifting priorities now and then for good reasons is a good thing. Once in a lifetime events – a sons’ wedding, your own wedding, a birth, death or any important event surrounding the people you know and love are a good reason to take a step back from the noise and make real people in established relationships your priority.
Life Happens. We move on as it does, and re-shift priorities as life allows. The beauty of social media communities is that they are there, just waiting to be re-engaged when priorities re-shift, as they should and must.
So, here goes. I’m back in the wagon. My work is cut out for me. I’ve essentially disappeared from the radar of my followers and now I need to reengage and get the word out that I’m back, ready to tame the world of small business marketing. Or something like that.
If you’ve slipped a little lately with your blog posting, haven’t made a LinkedIN update in more than a month, or even if you just need a little inspiration to get back to Facebook, I hope you will join me in the wagon. There’s plenty of room.
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I have collaborated with Janelle on several website projects. She is easy to work with and knows her "stuff". If you need someone with marketing savvy you need look no further. September 2010
