If you know how to 1) craft a clear and short benefit message to your ideal 1000 customers (read Kevin Kelly’s 1,000 True Fans, the only marketing article you’ll ever need to read), 2) secure and highlight testimonials and case studies, 3) offer a simple trial option to big enterprises (but charge them – no free rides or they won’t value it), and 4) offer awesome customer service to the customers who matter (not becoming consumed by squeaky wheels with more free time than budget) just use the skills you have and view social media, primarily Twitter and Facebook, as communication channels.

Regardless of whether or not you use Twitter, there are two important points to take away from this – especially if others are talking about your product or service on Twitter:

1. Twitter results display above your website (aka. #1 position).
2. The only control you have over what is being said is to make sure you put your customers first.

Ok, still looking at catarafts. Someone responded to my last quest for knowledge that Sotar makes good rafts. Anybody have/recommend/not recommend the SL Sotar 14 foot cataraft?
Thanks for any information
Lee

This is a golden opportunity to not only connect with Lee, but everyone who reads that forum (and make a sale). If I were the owner of Sotar, I’d post a response to Lee in the forum saying something like:

Hi Lee,
I’m the owner of Sotar and saw you are considering the SL cataraft. We think it’s a great raft because of X, Y, and Z (list benefits) and would like to give you the opportunity see it in person and take it out for the day. Go ahead and email me and I’ll put you in contact with your nearest distributor. If you are passing through Southern Oregon, stop by and I’ll personally take you out in one.
Best regards,
Glenn

I bet Lee would email Glenn and take him up on his offer to try out a cataraft in a heart beat. Even if Lee didn’t, the three minutes it takes you to write this would show the rest of people in that forum that you are listening to them. Doing so makes your company innovative, personal, unique, and authentic. You’ll also make more sales in the process too.

Thanks for coming to the presentation on Social Media at the Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce. I hope it was beneficial and worth your while. As promised, I’ve put together some information and resources for you so you can pursue this opportunity further.

Facebook Group: Social Media Forest
This is a Facebook group put together with you in mind. Come join us to learn how to get involved in social media in a non-intimidating way, ask questions, support one another, and share you success stories.

Examples that will make you smile
You can read through some examples for inspiration and then read the full “case-study” by clicking on the “source” link beneath each example.

See how certain age demographics use the internet
Though the data is a year old (which means the numbers are probably a bit on the low side), it will provide a rough estimate and show you what kind of technology (blogs, forums, twitter, etc.) may be better to start with.

Would you do me one favor – could you leave a comment below? I’d love to hear your feedback on the presentation, any further questions you have, or just a remark (positive or negative).

Small to medium sized businesses like yours are desperate to know if social media will work for you. You stand at the edge of a huge ocean of uncertainty not even sure if you should wade, let alone jump in and go swimming. And while you hear success stories for corporations such as Dell, GM, Obama’s campaign, CNN, Comcast, Jeep, Student Loan Network, and many more, there are few examples of business like yours that don’t have a huge customer base in place to leverage your efforts.

Thankfully, there are risk takers who didn’t wade, but jumped in early on, reaped the benefits, and proved social media is more than a passing fad, but a way to reach out, converse, engage, and support your customers. Oh, and often times make money too.

Disclaimer: The following mini-case studies, examples, results, and/or facts were taken from other blogs. Items in block quotes are direct quotes from those blogs. Attributions are directly below each example.

Twitter Helped NameCheap.com Increase Sales by 30%

Michelle Greer works for NameCheamp.com, a business that sells domain names. She had been on Twitter personally and saw other companies such as Zappos using Twitter to connect with their customers.

Michelle set up a Namecheap Twitter account, and in December, to launch it, she ran a contest: once an hour, she posted a Christmas-related trivia question (she used TweetLater to preschedule the posts and a book to help her come up with the 600+ trivia questions). To win, you had to be one of the first three @replies with the correct answer. The prize was a credit for one-year domain registration; to receive it, you needed a Namecheap account.

Results:

• Follower count jumped from 200 to 4,000 in one month (as of 6/14/09 they are at 7,800).
• Site traffic increase by 10% in December.
• Sales went up by 20% in December.
• Sales increase by 30% in February when they ran a Super Bowl promo.
• Facebook Fan Page has 1,700+ Fans.
• PageRank went up.

Links: NameCheap.com, on Twitter, Fan page on Facebook
Source: Twitter Drives Traffic, Sales: A Case Study

CoffeeGroundz Coffee Shop Used Twitter to Double Their Clients in 90 Days

This was one of the first success stories that proved small businesses could use Twitter to increase sales – and the success happened because a customer asked if he could order something via Twitter:

Coffee Groundz responded with:

Because of this opportunity, CoffeeGroundz began taking orders via Twitter, and today, they credit Twitter for doubling their clientele.

What’s more is they now hold the Houston Tweetup, a group of 100+ Twitter users that meet at CoffeeGroundz on Sundays to hang out and drink coffee.

Links: CoffeeGroundz, on Twitter
Source: Twitter To Go: How one local coffee shop used Twitter to double their clientele. What’s YOUR story?

Balsamiq Developed Software, Blogged About it, and Made $100k in 5 Months

Looking for a story about: The underdog? The guy who came from no where? The company who didn’t “make it big,” but made it good? You’ll like Peldi Guilizzoni’s story then.

Peldi began blogging not only about his company, but his companies financial records. For instance, he shared that within 6 weeks of launching his new product he sold $10K worth of software. And after 5 months of launching he cleared $100K in sales (total revenue for 2008: $162,302 -$39,000 of which in December alone). Not everything is about money, how about:

• He only sells 1 product – Balsamiq Mockups
• 1,322 total paying customers (refunds given: 2)
• Over $100,000 licenses donated
• Top spot on Google for “balsamiq,” “mockups,” and “web office plugins.”
• 6 Interviews
• 1021+ products reviews (highlights: The New York Times, twice on ReadWriteWeb, and 3 times on Hacker News).
• 983+ Twitter mentions

Links: Balsamiq, Balsamiq Blog, Look Back at 2008 (post where facts came from)
Source: Man Writes Software, Blogs About it, Makes $100k in 5 Months

Pink Cake Box Uses Blog, Flickr, and YouTube to Drive Large Part of Orders for Custom Cakes

Jesse Heap, the owner of Pink Cake Box believes social media was a big factor in the success of his custom cake business. Through his blog, Flickr, and YouTube channel, he secured a number of interviews with People, Modern Bride, CNN, and several other prominent newspapers and publications. The blog sees about 120,000 visits per month and drives a large part of their orders.

In the interview, Jesse said, “I don’t think we realized how critical the web would become to our business.”

Links: Pink Cake Box, Blog, on Flickr, on YouTube, CNN video
Source: A Small Business Marketing Success Story: Pink Cake Box

Joffrey’s Coffee and Tea Company Reaches Out to Bloggers

This is one of the most well documented and exciting examples I have seen (if you know of more like this, please let me know).

Here’s the SlideShare highlighting everything you need to know.

Links: Joffrey’s
Source: A Case Study in Building Buzz in the Blogosphere: Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea Company