Nothing better than investing an hour with two of your best friends.  It is always great to have allies and friends across the globe who share the same mindset and goals in life.  This is what happened on July 28th, my good friend Daniel Gutierrez who hosts a business webcast each week on blogtalkradio.com invited me and my mentor Bob Burg onto his program.  Danny’s show is similar to what I do with the Ulistic Orange Files, a small business webcast focused on delivering practical business advice to small business owners globally.  I was blessed to be even consider by Danny for his show.

You can listen to Daniel, Bob and I by tuning into the recording of the show.

Besides listening to Bob and Danny speak on the Go Giver philosophies and the critical stratospheric laws of success.  I had 30 minutes to chat with Danny about social media and the future of online marketing.  Lots of stuff to cover and 30 minutes is hardly enough time to really dig deep into the key points that business must really look at in order to really hit a home run with social media and all their online marketing.

I did share with Daniel the importance of having your business plan and your marketing plan figured out first.  I may sound like a broken record here and I know I have mentioned countless times on my blog about the importance of your plans prior to moving to execution phase.  However, many still simply jump to execution and have no real business plan.

Another topics we discussed was the continued importance of meeting people face-to-face and how we can leverage social media and other strategies to enhance our overall business communication strategies.  Social Media doesn’t replace face-to-face, it enhances what we do today with our business communications and even those relationships outside of business.

I also shared with Daniel on the importance of your small business doing your homework before rushing out and hiring the first living or breathing social media consultant.  You need to do your homework and find the right fit for your business.

Thank You Danny and thanks Bob for being my partner in crime.

Why is football so popular?

Is it the brutal tackling, amazing catches and exceptional athletes?

This year I am volunteering to coach the Calgary Bantam Wildcats as an Offensive Line coach.  I played Defensive End when in high school, so it will be interesting to be on the other side of the ball for a change.  Football for those who follow this game closely must be approached in a strategic manner.  You can’t expect to take the field without a plan of how you are going to play the game.  The best teams throughout history have always used strategy to fight for every yard and to win championships.

Lately, I have been looking at social media from a very strategic approach.  I first started out with tactics and dismissed strategy, however as I mature as a business consultant who focuses on helping Canadian small business with Online Marketing, strategy is crucial to everyone’s overall success online.

Many Canadian, US and Tech firms simply attempt to leverage social media by going at it very tactically and I am not sure why online marketing often skips over the planning and strategy phase.  Perhaps it is the ease of access and even because it requires little or no financial investment to get started.  What a mistake as I have learned over my time in the industry.  Tactical is crucial during the execution phase however long before you send out a tweet, post an update on Facebook or write your first blog post you have to look at the strategical approach to social media.

Social Media is a relationship marketing tool and the best relationships are always part of your strategic plan.  Over the past few weeks I have spoken about the importance of a plan and what my friend Arlin talks about “The Four Plans That Change Everything“.

Do you have a business plan?  Many businesses don’t.

How about a marketing plan?  Nope, even more business don’t have a plan to execute their marketing.

Are you getting the results from your online marketing? Maybe it is simply a failure to plan.

Many businesses here in Calgary and across Canada are not getting the results they were promised by their social media consultant.  Why?  Because they have no plan to attack the market, just like in football…no plan, how can you ever succeed?

Yes, Social Media is exactly like Football.  You need to battle to develop every strategic relationship just like you need to take the field in football to win each series, each quarter, each half and then each game.

Need a hand planning your online marketing…give me a call 403.775.2205

Thanks to the team at Varvid.com for a great video on our solutions being offered by Ulistic to the IT services and managed IT provider community.  Aaron Booker caught up with a number of the firms within the Heartland Tech Group (HTG) partner community who Ulistic is privileged to help with their social media, search engine optimization and web marketing strategies.

Do you need help with your social media marketing? Does you IT firm need help getting up on page one of Google? How about understanding the competitive landscape?

Ulistic has many services to help your technology support gain a competitive edge and help you get found on the search engines.

Interested in learning more, call Stuart at 403.775.2205

I have discussed on my blog many times in the past about the “so-called” Social Media professional phenomena that is emerging today.  Everywhere you turn there seems to be a few hundred “social media professionals” coming out of the woodwork here in Calgary.  Are you concerned as a business owner which one you should turn to for advice on how to implement this as a strategy for your business?  Or should you?

I had a friend in my office and we joked about what makes a social media professional?  We concluded that the “so-called” professionals achieve their qualification simply by sending out their mandatory four tweets.

Does your Calgary business really need someone like this?

This is a great question.

Does your business really need a social media specialist?  I would say NO, if that is all they are doing for you.  But you need more, what about your strategy?

When it comes to “so-called” professionals, you know the people who are out there.  The ones who say you have to be on Twitter!  Your business needs a Facebook page!  Just get a LinkedIn profile and you will fine.  What is the substance behind the reasoning is often something I think about.  Why? How? When? Where?

• Does social media play into your public relations strategy?
• How about your marketing and sales plan?
• What happens if you get a negative review on Yelp, how do you respond?

I received an email from one of these “so-called” Social Media experts in Calgary last week and I almost hurt myself when I read the reason why this person got into social media. It was hilarious.  I mean not for the business owner in Calgary who is concerned about the success of their business, but the overall trend that is happening in the industry today.  This person claims to have sold promotional materials for a number of years but now wants to get into to helping business with social media.

Here is the reality about Social Media in Calgary from the way I see it.

Social Media is simply a spoke in your overall marketing and corporate communications strategy.  That is it, maybe some will say a cornerstone…I will buy that one as well.

On its own, Social Media doesn’t have a leg to stand on.  But when it is combined with effective marketing and sales planning, corporate communication tactics and your staff are actually meeting the needs of your clients it can be a wonderful part of your overall business strategy.

Maybe, just maybe it is more than just 4 tweets to being a professional.  I may take someone who has business success.