The Secret To Success

It's true, many people have claimed to know the secret of success. However, I am here to tell you they have it all wrong, wrong, wrong. As much as I love social media sites, it won't do you a damn bit of good until you get out there and press some flesh.

You see, people do business with others that they know, like and trust. How exactly are they supposed to get to know you through a social media site? Telling your story helps, especially if it's compelling. But not all of us are prolific writers or storytellers. Sure, you can pay someone to write your story - paint the picture... then what?

I happened to think I have a pretty good profile picture. What does it tell you about me? That I'm playful? That I like to wear animal print clothing? Does it tell you about my level of expertise in social media or how honest I am? That could be a picture of me 20 years ago! Until you meet me personally, you really don't know much about me, my level of professionalism or get to experience my sparkling personality.

That's why networking is a critical component of your marketing plan. It takes you far beyond write-ups and resumes. When you meet someone and you get to know them, you begin to determine whether you trust them enough to recommend them to the people in your circle of influence - thus beginning the word-of-mouth marketing process (my favorite). If you are a small business owner, you've got to get out there into the community and shake some hands.

I go to a meeting in Costa Mesa that has taken networking back to the basics of shaking hands, making friends and doing business with each other. No membership fees, no presentations - just getting to know one another personally and professionally. We ask each other questions, then provide testimonials for those we've had the pleasure of working with. These meetings build such great synergy, people always leave the meeting with potential business leads. These meetings have become so popular, as many as 40+ people have shown up some weeks. That's a lot of exposure, especially if you've established yourself well. I have done this by showing up to each meeting, delivering a memorable 30 second commercial, asking questions and sharing great testimonials of people I've personally worked with or received services from.

Don't be shy!! Get out there and try!! The more you network, the easier it gets. The more meetings you attend, the more relationships you develop. The more people get to know you, the more they begin introducing you to the people they know. It's a beautiful process, one that never ceases to amaze me. Connections made through networking can be magical and can make or break a fledgling business... and there it is: The Secret to Success!

Networking Is Magical

Last night was magical for me. I was able to bring a handful of people together from different areas of my life through social media and wonderful things happened.

It all started when I found out a friend of mine, Clif Miller, whom I met through networking was providing live entertainment at Yogurt Wave in Santa Ana. I invited my husband and mutual friends of ours to come and see him through texting and Facebook. A former work associate-turned-friend, Jon, met us there as well. Upon hearing Clif play, the mutual friends decided to hire him to play at their wedding reception.

This, of course, was not anticipated. But if they hadn't come and met Clif, this arrangement would never have happened! In addition, my friends and husband were both exposed to the best yogurt in Orange County, CA. They were all impressed with the yogurt, were able to shake hands with the owner and hear the story behind his business. I helped out two people with their businesses as well as the local economy! Everyone was happy!

But it didn't end there.

After the yogurt shop, we went to Karl Strauss for dinner. Both Jon and I use Foursquare and check-in when we want to share where we are with our friends. We both did this when we arrived at the restaurant. An old friend of ours, Albert, who happens to be on Foursquare, was in the area and decided to surprise us by coming to the restaurant. We had just been talking about how Albert recently landed a big photo shoot and moments later, there he was standing by our booth! We were all overjoyed!

Some people don't understand the act of unveiling your personal life on social media sites. I see the potential of social media sites bringing people closer together. Last night proved my theory.

I have a vast network of people I can call upon for just about anything one might need. It is my personal mission to connect people to help one another. The relationships of many of those people in my network were developed at networking group meetings. I am fortunate to be able to attend these meetings and meet fellow business owners. If you are in the Orange County, CA area and would like to visit some great meetings, here are a couple of sites you should check out:

True2Life Networking Group
TEAM Referral Network

Start creating some magic of your own and tell 'em Wicked Marketing sent ya!

Social Media Facts

Many of you know that one of my passions is introducing small businesses to social media. Ever since I fell into this niche, I have studied social media statistics and seen first hand how participation can help companies grow. Word of mouth has become World of Mouth through social media sites. I'd like to share with you some statistics and facts about the world of social media. If you think social media is a fad, you'll think differently after reading this.

• Twitter now has over 75 million user accounts, but only around 15 million are active users on a regular basis. I believe this is because people are using Twitter as a information hub.

• LinkedIn has over 50 million members worldwide, an increase of approximately 1 million since July/August last year.

• In January of this year, Facebook had in excess of 350 million active users on global basis, but continues to grow at approximately 40% every 6 months. This means there are closer to 500 million active users today. 50% of active users log into the site every day.

Can you see why Facebook is my favorite? I hope Sven Johnston doesn't beat me to a pulp for saying that next time he sees me. I like LinkedIn too, Sven! Big fan!

Now for some interesting facts:

• This year, Gen Y will outnumber baby boomers - 96% of them have joined a social network.
• Social Media has overtaken p/o/r/n as the #1 activity on the web.
• 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations - only 14% trust advertisements.
• Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months.
• If Facebook were a country, it would be the world's 4th largest.

# of years it took to reach 50 million users:

• Radio = 38 years
• TV = 13 years
• Internet = 4 years
• iPod = 3 years

As a business owner, if you're not a player in the social media space, you're not long for this economy. It has become imperative that small businesses participate on these sites in order to develop those much needed relationships to build clientele. I enjoy teaching people how to leverage this medium.

Check out this Facebook business page that I created for Skytek Digital Media. They have utilized their page appropriately and consistently, providing their clients and prospects with great content. It warms my heart to see a start-up company embrace social media as they have, and with only one hour of training from Wicked Marketing.

Tipping points are created all day, every day on social media sites. In the near future, we will no longer search for products and services - they will find us via social media. Social media isn't a fad, it is a fundamental shift in how we communicate.

All This Telephony? For Free?

I recently ran into a gentleman (same guy that told me about mobile QR codes) at a networking meeting who was praising a new application. The more he told me about it, the more I thought this would be a great thing to share with my clients and friends.

I am a big advocate of customer service, and this application just might be a telephony revolution! I'm talking about Google Voice. This application will transcribe your voice mail so you can read them during meetings. You are then able to text a reply sooner than if you had waited until after the meeting was over. It also allows you to create one number to which all your other phones are connected. This feature enables you to receive all calls from where ever you are and block some or all calls when unavailable.

The best and unique feature is the ability to create personalized greetings for each of your contacts. Let's say you have two businesses, but you don't want just one greeting for everyone who calls. You can record several greetings and assign them to each individual contact. You can even say "Hi, Jim! Sorry I missed your call! Please leave me a message and I'll call you back as soon as I can!" and assign it to your buddy Jim's number. Now, how cool is that?

And, yes, it's absolutely free!

There are many other features that you can learn about by going to www.google.com/voice. I encourage you to check it out!

Bar Code Marketing

The concept of mobile bar codes isn't new, but it is new in the sense that it is an emerging strategy for large and small companies alike here on the West coast. It has recently come to my attention in my networking community and I wanted to share it with you. To the right is the QR Code for Wicked Marketing.

Mobile QR (Quick Response) code technology, first developed and used in Japan, has dramatically improved direct marketing results for brands, advertisers, mobile carriers, handset manufacturers and publishers over the past couple of years. 2D mobile bar codes are now used in direct response, multimedia marketing and promotional campaigns.

3GVision, started in 2000, is a leader in mobile bar code reading and advanced image processing technologies used by mobile carriers, handset manufacturers, advertisers and end-users. Their application is called i-nigma, an end-to-end 1D/2D QR code solution, is said to increase revenue opportunities for mobile operators and print campaign effectiveness for media and marketing companies.

However, Microsoft is also in the QR code game. The MS application is called Microsoft Tag. You can Follow them on Twitter or Like them on Facebook. W magazine has created a new promotional campaign called "Love It? Tag It," which features Microsoft Tags.

How does it work? All you need to do is download a mobile QR code reader and take a picture of a bar code you see in a print or online advertisement with your smart phone to either get more information or be sent to a website.

This technology definitely makes advertising more interactive. So if you see a weird looking box with weird black smudges in it, you may be looking at the future of printed and on-line marketing.

Leveraging Facebook For Your Business

The one topic that comes up in my marketing consultations is the reluctance to create a personal profile on Facebook. Admittedly, Facebook has become known for miscellaneous and insignificant postings of personal happenings. However, I have a different view of Facebook and how it can be a powerful tool for your business, especially a small business-to-consumer company.

Did you know that everyone is connected with at least 150 other people? Those people most likely have a profile on LinkedIn, Twitter and/or Facebook. The brilliant thing about social media is the ease to which you can share information about your business or recommend another business or service with the people you know.

LinkedIn is more of a professional, dynamic on-line address book. For those businesses who are looking to connect with other businesses, this is the place to be. But don't discount it if you are an independent consultant! Those connections could open a doorway to a large corporation full of people who need your services independently of the company they work for (i.e. home theater networking, computer support, cell/video phone services, gifts, makeup, jewelry, kitchen/home appliances, etc.

Twitter is a medium for people who really understand the power of social media. You will see individuals and corporations alike on Twitter sharing ideas, news and blog links. If you are going to become involved in social media, you can't ignore Twitter.

Facebook is where the masses unite on a personal level. This is the perfect place to give your business a personal identity to connect with your target audience through the people you know personally. There is nothing wrong with leveraging your family and friends to help you promote your business - and they are HAPPY to do it! Are you a solo music artist who plays acoustic guitar and sings at parties? Are you photographer who likes to shoot weddings on the weekends? Are you a yoga instructor who schedules personal classes at clients homes? Are you a caterer who delivers specialty items to birthday parties? Perhaps you are a restaurant and want to promote a coupon to create more traffic through your door.

So, why create a personal profile and not just a business page? Because you WANT to connect with the people you already know!

People do business with companies they know, like and trust. The only way to build those relationships is on a personal level. If a friend recommends your company's services because they know, like and trust you, then that recommendation will turn into more business for you. Word-of-mouth marketing is the sweet spot. It's free and it comes with a testimonial. Social media perpetuates this type of marketing in an effective manner and costs nothing but time for the business.

Wicked Marketing offers social media support for those business owners who are too busy to keep up with frequent postings necessary to stay in front of your target audience. Email us today to set up a consultation.