Social Media Overwhelm? Here is Your Cure

From all the highlighting in my copy of The Zen of Social Media Marketing, the inside pages have started to look like the cheerful yellow cover.  There were several smart ideas I wanted to capture, as many for myself as for my clients.

The book is subtitled “An Easier Way to Build Credibility, Generate Buzz, and Increase Revenue,” and I have to say it really delivers on that promise.  While social media marketing seems incredibly overwhelming to all but the 2% who are clearly thriving on it, Shama Hyder Kabani’s book makes it feel possible.

You could boil all the advice in ZSMM down into this list from Shama:

Strategic first. Be human. Have patience.

Like all good advice, it’s universal.

In the opening chapters Shama shares general marketing principles and online marketing basics that need to be in place before you try to leverage social media. Summed up in her ACT Blueprint – Attract, Convert, Transform – it reminds you that there’s no magic social media will do that will make up for lack of a business model.  Basic ideas, like the futility of driving social media traffic to your website if you don’t have an email capture system, are explained here.

Social media engagement is about having a compelling brand that attracts just the right people to your website and, better yet, your blog. Unless you begin the process with intention and a strategy, Shama explains, it’s likely to be a waste of time – which is what most disgruntled small business owners experience in the beginning. Now many wonder, “Why should I even get on social media if it’s a time suck that may not yield results?”

First, it’s where people are. Your prospective clients are there, AND they’re already talking about you. Unless you engage them where they are, somebody else will.  Second, after you read ZSMM you’ll learn exactly how to do it efficiently and for maximum results.  While I wouldn’t call it easy, I would say it becomes measurably simpler.

The bulk of the book is dedicated to the main social networking sites – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn – and to online video, the “next frontier” of engagement.

The chapter on Facebook sets the stage with a collection of tools, dos and don’ts, daily and weekly action steps and an intriguing (and motivating!) case study from the Peabody Hotel in Memphis.  Shama’s advice here teaches beginners how to make a good first impression, “Use the status updates in a strategic way,” and also coaches more advanced users how to set up and leverage Groups: “Do not create a group around your brand or business …

“Groups are best built around an idea, a thought, or a topic.”

I sure wish more people followed that advice!

As a Twitter fan I loved her chapter on it, especially reading, “You can get clients and customers directly.” Shama reports at least two leads a week come to her company from Twitter.  My favorite tip here was to use the search function to find relevant conversations.  I actually subscribe by RSS to some of my searches, a convenience I like. Once again valuable tips abound, including a note not just on what to Tweet, but how to turn mundane Tweets into valuable ones.

I enjoyed the emphasis in the LinkedIn section on keywords and search engine optimization to get bigger benefit from your profile. I’d also never heard anyone talk about answering a LinkedIn question (from the LinkedIn Answers section) on your blog and posting the reply link there.  Details like this really make the book worth reading.

My favorite chapter, because it’s so new and interesting to me now, was Video: The Next Frontier. If you’re not sure about how to use video or what the myriad benefits are, you’ll be a believer when you see the case study presented by Dave Kaminski of Web Video University.  Dave shares the success principles of his best students:

“They stop thinking about it, they start doing it, and they never quit.”

The 12 (twelve!) social media profiles from the back of the book show again and again how the Internet has leveled the playing field for small businesses and, notably, non-profits.  What I find interesting is how those with smaller budgets are forced to be more creative, and how a clear sense of mission drives them to engage more than reticent entrepreneurs.

Have you gotten results from social media? Are you looking for a simpler approach you can follow to finally get some results?  Share your experience or a favorite tip in the comments below.

* I was gifted a copy of this book by Shama and also contributed a tip to it, found on page 8. The link above is an affiliate link to Amazon.

Related posts:

1. Got a Social Media Marketing Strategy Yet?
2. Strategic Alliances: Deepen Online Connections Offline
3. How to Avoid Overwhelm

{ 5 comments, add yours! }

JumpStart Your Business Today!

Want more clients fast? Learn what works for my clients and me with this FREE toolkit:

1. Free 5-day ecourse, "Less Struggle, More Clients"
2. Free mp3 Audio: "7 Steps to a Money Making Brand"
3. Free "Enlightened Marketing" ezine subscription

First Name:

Main Email:

We respect your email privacy