Social For Marketing: It's Not About Me, It's About You

Attended the Online Marketing Summit in Cleveland yesterday. Social media people are fun and when it comes to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogs, this gathering brings together people who know what they're talking about.

Here's what stuck out in my mind, or thoughts I had while I was sitting at the conference:

• "We need to be in a perpetual state of Beta." Meaning you need to constantly ask yourself these questions about your digital content: Do people like what you've created online? What needs to be added?
  - Kip Edwardson (@kedwardson), manager of interactive marketing of Scotts Miracle Gro, who, by the way, has 8 people on his team. Can you afford one? Half a person?

• Some thoughts from John Heaney (@johnheaney): You don't get to mandate how people receive your message. Be where your fans are, and they'll hear what you're saying. But don't forget to give them what they're looking for: "If everything is me, me, me, I guarantee no one is listening."

• We probably need a social media policy, even though I've been resisting it. You probably do, too.
  
  
• The key to content success? It's not about what you want. It's about what your readers want.

• Increase your content that is link worthy, that people will want to link to, and you'll increase site traffic. Blogs are an easy and great way to do it. Schedule out keywords and topics you want to cover. And the first four words of your headlines are most important as far as indexing for search. Make them count. Thanks, Dominic. (@DJLitten)
  
  
• What are people willing to do for five dollars? Fiverr.com

• Having trouble selling social at your business? Bring examples of other companies you wouldn't expect to see on Twitter. How about the Pentagon? @pentagonchannel

Six Tips For Better Social Media

So you've set up your Facebook and Twitter pages. Now what?

I spoke at ANLA Management Clinic about social media in January. You can find my presentation below. It contains a bunch of examples of how garden centers and national brands are using social media to communicate with customers.

Thanks to the panelists for the session, Melodie McDanal of Gardenhood in Atlanta (@melodiegardens) and Larry Grossman of Grossmans Garden & Home in Penfield, NY (@grossmansgarden). They also shared some great ideas and you should check them out.

Here are six tips from my presentation on how to enhance your brand using social media.

1. Don't forget the "social" in social media. Talk with people, not at people. Interact.

2. Post things that your customers will want to share with their friends/fans. This can include local information, links to stories (on your site or others), fun stuff.

3. Post photos and events on Facebook. Photos kill and events can be viral. And if I know my friends are attending your event, I'll want to attend, too.

4. Put your name (or the contributor's name) on your Twitter account. I like to know who I'm talking to on Twitter. I think Twitter represents less of a corporate identity and more of a personal conversation.

5. Integrate your social media. Ping.fm, HootSuite and Tweet Deck allow you to post once to multiple types of social media like Twitter and Facebook.

6. Also cross promote your social media. Post links to your Facebook page on Twitter, and vice versa.

Bonus Facebook Photos Tip: If you want other people to tag themselves in your Facebook photos, you need to change a default setting behind the scenes. Under your Fan page profile pic, click on Edit Page, then on Edit under Applications -> Photos. Edit Settings -> Allow all fans to tag photos.

See the presentation below for even more ideas.

Proven Methods To Enhance Your Brand Using Social Media

View more presentations from Sara Tambascio.

Why This Spring Is Different For Retail

Next week will be my first ANLA Management Clinic. Who's going to be at Clinic? I think this is a critical time for all types of retailers to look at their practices to take advantage of a few key elements of business this spring:

- We're tired of being depressed. As a shopper myself, I'm tired of being thrifty. I want to spend. Even if I can't spend a lot, I want to have fun shopping. Are you ready for me? I loved what I was seeing at Atltanta's Mart this year -- lots of fun, vibrant

colors that made me feel ready for spring.

- New spins on last year's trends. Fresh and local veggies are going to be hot again this year, but they're going to need a new spin this year. Because the economy is starting to turn around, the need-based vegetable gardener may be going away, but the Food Network-watching demographic isn't. What can you do to get the budding chef to buy your herbs, veggies, or maybe gourmet foods?

- Talk to your customers for free! A year ago, what was your social media profile? What is it now? If the picture's about the same, it's time to supercharge your Facebook page and get rolling on some YouTube videos. These services multiply your reach exponentially, and cost nothing but time. There are several sessions at Clinic this year on social media. Please check out at least one, maybe the roundtable session I'm hosting on Tuesday, February 2 at 1p.m., on using social media to enhance your brand.

- Gardening needs a hero. If your reach isn't national, be the gardening hero in your region. Get your face out there. Answer some questions. Is there a local radio show that needs hosting? And be entertaining. Now that America is entertained by the viral video, the bar has been raised. Entertaining isn't just for Super Bowl commercials anymore.

Hope to see you at Clinic, but until then, what will you do to make this spring different at retail?