Alberta Business Marketing

Is social media right for your business? I really don’t know unless I know what your goals and objectives are for your business.  Also it is important to understand who is your target market is and perhaps the biggest question, are people using social media services looking for what you have to sell?

I recently read an article by a Calgary Social Media Support Specialist on why your Calgary business needs to be on social media.  I have respect for the author of this article however I need to share my views on why the article is leading a typical small business owner down the wrong path when it comes to social media.  I really don’t agree with this article at all and to be honest it is pretty standard for a lot of the junk out there today.  It is this sort of FUD which is leaving many business owners uncertain about social media and the purpose of social networking in their business.

Social Media in my opinion is important but it is not for everyone.  This is where our team at Ulistic helps Realtors, small business owners, IT Professionals and many other types of business understand your entire online marketing strategy.  Not to toot our own horn too much, but we are business people first, teachers and educators second, consultants third and then somewhere deep in the order of priority, guys who understand social media.  We use social media in our business but it is NOT for what many of our peers in the industry will try to tell you.

The author of this article talks over and over about building followers, lists of friends and great connections.  True, social media can do this for the selected few.  But, let’s be real, the average person really only has about 25 followers on Twitter, about the same on LinkedIn and maybe 100 friends on Facebook from their high school and college days.

One other items the author talks about is that your competitors are beating you out of customers because of social media. If you are losing customers it is because of your lack of service or a sales/marketing delivery not because of social media is winning them away.  Yes, a client may read a post and follow a link to an article, but think about it, if you are giving exceptional service what do you have to worry about?

Online marketing is more than social media.

Social media is just one small component of your overall online marketing strategy for your business.  I am not saying you should ignore it as social media does have a place in your business.  However if you focus on your blogs, Google reviews, your marketing website and your own personal network, social media strategies can fit in very naturally and actually support what you are doing in your marketing activities.

This is what we strive to achieve for everyone who engages with us at Ulistic.  Service comes first and our mentoring and coaching program helps every business understand what needs to be a priority and what are nice to have, according to your goals, objectives and desired outcomes.  If some consultant says you need to be on social media or you will go out of business, without sitting down with you and understanding your business first, turn around and run away really fast.

Also, the last myth to squash, social media may help on some search rankings.  A great blog, an awesome website, your business articles and engaging in the online community will help you more than simply sending out a few tweets, putting someone else’s link on your Facebook page or posting a someone else’s story in your LinkedIn group.

Learn the truth about social media for business by contact Ulistic today.

Tags: author, Blog hosting services, Business/Finance, Calgary, Consultant, Facebook, Facebook Inc, Google Inc., LinkedIn Ltd, media services, online community, online marketing strategy, Online social networking, personal network, search rankings, Social information processing, social media, Social network service, social networking, Support Specialist, The Facebook Era, Twitter, Twitter Inc, web 2.0, World Wide Web
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Is your business ready in case your Calgary Internet Marketing efforts take off?

I have been reading a number of blogs lately from many Calgary Internet Marketing Professionals.  I always respect those who share our market.  After all Calgary is a city of over a million people, so lots of business to go around.

Even dating back to my days in the Information Technology market, I always believed it was better to be friends with our so-called competitors rather than focusing my efforts on the competition.  You will go crazy trying to compete and you will lose business because you will take your eye of the most important ball, you clients!

Remember, after all, there is a tonne of business in Calgary and some people I would never ever run across.

When you team up with others, you learn

I love to learn from everyone and I do learn for every single interaction.  Learning is something I strive for each day.  What can I learn from all the Internet Marketing Professionals out there?  Especially those who try to cut my grass each day?  After all, this guy has been a tech person for over 15 years who just seemed to be bitten by the marketing bug and the importance of marketing for any business no matter what size, revenues and offerings.

A client taught me the importance of Internet Marketing

I met with a client recently who has a great e-commerce based website and his site sings in the Google search rankings.  He works in a competitive industry but has a very narrow niche market.  What I love about this guy, he is never satisfied and he want to continuously improve his performance.

After a great discussion about his business (a good consultant always wants to learn more about his customer right?), we discussed who his ideal client is and where his target market resides?   He asked me a very important and to the point question and I knew this was a deal breaker type of question.

Stuart, is Internet Marketing important?

I scratched my head for a bit on this question, kind of knowing what the answer is in my head but I really wanted to make sure I totally understood his business before I shouted out my answer.  After all, here is a guy who cancelled all his Calgary Yellow Page advertising to go completely online last year asking me if Internet Marketing is important.

The answer was very clear, well at least to me it was.  The answer for anyone who asks me this question is actually quite simple.  Internet Marketing is important only if fits and meets the goals of your business.  Will Internet Marketing fill a void in your plan today or in the future?  What or who are you not reaching today and how can Internet Marketing reach new markets for you?

These are all critically important questions in determining if Internet Marketing is important.  After all, you can have the best Calgary focused search engine optimization strategy but if your website is not ready to greet and receive visitors well it is a wasted effort.  How about if your salespeople can’t return a phone call, your Internet or any marketing is a wasted effort.  What about if your suppliers can’t deliver your products on time and your customers are very upset because you missed another deadline, well it is a wasted effort.

Do you see that there are many factors to determining if Internet Marketing is important?  Are you ready to receive, service and take care of the new potential business opportunities which may come your way.  Do you have the communications strategies in place to follow with leads or even a customer situation which goes sideways.

Internet marketing is just the tip of the iceberg.  An important tip of the iceberg.

Tags: Business, Business/Finance, Calgary, communications strategies, e-commerce based website, good consultant, Google Inc., head, information technology, Internet Marketing, Internet Marketing efforts, Internet Marketing Professionals, search engine, search engine optimization strategy, search rankings, Technology/Internet
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