What a bellman at a Miami Beach hotel can teach us about social media

A friend of mine, Mark Sanborn, wrote a great book called the Fred Factor where he talks about people who are extraordinary at their job. The Dorchester Hotel had a bellman named Carlos who was just a wonderful guy who went above and beyond to make my experience at the hotel a good one. At the end of my stay, we said goodbye and I told him how much I appreciated the exceptional service that he provided. What he did next put the biggest smile on my face because its the exact advice I give to every business owner I come across. He handed me a card with a website address and asked if I would be kind enough to go the Hotel Website and provide a review about my new friend Carlos. And I did.

It's absolutely critical that we give people who are happy with our products and services the opportunity to share their experience on the web. People pay more attention to customer reviews then any other source of information on the web and so we must pay attention to what is being said about our brand on our website as well as other popular review sites such as Google Local Business, Yelp, and Urban Spoon.

Now I'm sure the Dorchester Hotel has its share of good and bad reviews. But thanks to a very smart employee, they can add one more positive one to the list. Take some advice from my friend Carlos and give your happy customers an easy way to tell their story to the online world.

The Answer to: "How Much Time Should I Be Spending?"

As promised, exactly how I would use my time if I only carved out two-hours per week for social media.

5 minutes (x3) - update my Facebook fan page with something valuable for my fans. This could be a link to an article, a cool web resource, startling stat, provocative question, or something else. Total - 15 minutes.

20 minutes - Find one person or company on LinkedIn that I'd like to connect with. Use the "get introduced" link to have a mutual connection introduce the two of us so it's a warm lead instead of a cold call.

20 minutes - Update my blog with a story, article, video or something else that people in my field would find valuable. (extra 2 minutes to share this post on Twitter, Fanpage, and LinkedIn via Ping.fm)

15 minutes - Find local Twitter people to follow. I'd use nearbytweets.com or just the Twitter.com search feature and find people in my area to connect with. They will generally follow you back.

5 minutes (x3) Check my Twitter account to post or respond to people. I'll also use that time to print valuable information others have posted.

30 minutes - Take this time to either write one article or one press release or shoot a quick video to upload to YouTube. With all of these, I'll add my website address as well as a call-to-action to entice people to visit my site.

3 minutes to spare to Check espn.com, foxnews, cnn, or whatever you fancy. You earned it!

Try this for a few months and make sure to measure the effectiveness using metrics such as web traffic, new leads, your presence on Google keyword searches, and other creative ways.

Now get to work!

Corey Perlman
www.TheEbootCamp.com
www.facebook.com/ebootcamp
www.twitter.com/coreyperlman

A Website's Mission Statement

I will be an attractive, user-friendly site with strong, fresh content that provides visitors every opportunity to accomplish what I want them to do.

Is your company profile on Linkedin.com?

Have you created your company profile on Linkedin? We just created ours: http://www.linkedin.com/companies/764897

take advantage of the opportunity to market your business on one of the largest networking sites in the world!

1. Go to www.linkedin.com
2. search for a company
3. click "add company" and begin the process!

all the best,

corey

Video Interview about how to effectively use social media

My friend Duncan Alney asked me how to successfully use social media for your business. Here's my answer!

how to counteract negative reviews (MUST READ)

Happy New Year!

I wanted to share this with you as it could pertain to you now or down the road. Google local allows for reviews and, unfortunately, sometimes you'll get a negative one. My advice for all businesses is to ask your best customers to write positive reviews on Google Local Business. Email some friends/trusted clients the direct link so they could post POSITIVE reviews and completely overwhelm any negative ones!

I suggest you do this whether or not you have a negative one showing. Here's a quick video to show you how to do it: http://www.screencast.com/t/ZDYzYjA1ZjEt

So get some positive reviews on your google business listing and protect yourselves from that one bad apple!

your friend,
corey

Should a small business use Twitter?

Should a Small Business use Twitter?
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Oprah and Ellen say yes! Isn’t that enough? It was for the masses, but you’re a busy business owner who’s a little apprehensive about spending the few precious moments you have tweeting instead of tweeping (that’s sleeping in Twitter-speak).

Well, I have the answer for you! Yes…and no. Allow me to explain.

Small businesses all over the world are using Twitter to boost their business; from local pizzerias to your neighborhood mechanic. Just jump on Google, or use the Twitter search engine, and search the words “Twitter success stories” and you’ll see hundreds of stories about the small-town guy or gal who tweeted their way to a 400% increase in revenue. But for every success story, there are a hundred other stories that can be summed up in three words: waste of time.

As far as I’m concerned, it’s ok for you to fall on either side of the statistic. Just make sure you don’t flounder somewhere in the middle. That’s when Twitter becomes most dangerous – a time-sucking habit that provides no return on your investment (time)! I’ve outlined a plan for you below, and by staying consistent and scrutinizing your results, this should help determine if Twitter is right for you.

So here’s some guidance in giving it the old college try:

- Set up a Twitter account for your business. It’s ok to be the owner that is representing a business. People love knowing the owner is on Twitter!
- Tweet at least once a day. What should you tweet about? Anything that your customers (or potential customers) would find interesting/valuable/amusing about your business. Also, engage people. Don’t make it a one-way tweet. Ask questions and answer questions.
- Use Twitter’s search feature to find conversations to engage in. If you are a florist in Atlanta, Georgia, search for “flowers Atlanta” and see where you can add value to a conversation.
- Use Nearbytweets.com and find local people to follow.
- Offer occasional offers/coupons/discounts to get people from Twitter inside your store or on your Website!
- Measure the results! Ask people where they found you. Allow them to print a coupon that you only put on Twitter so you can track its effectiveness. This is critical to deciding if Twitter is right for you.
- Give it at least three months before making a decision. It takes time to get good at Twitter.

Once you’ve completed the above list, evaluate how Twitter is working for you. Have you seen results? Has it become quick and easy for you to keep up with? Bottom line: is it worth your time? If the answer is no to one or more of those questions, take a break or stop all together. Just like with any other marketing strategy, you have to evaluate and be willing to abort mission if it’s not producing results. And don’t be discouraged to admit that it’s just not for you. That might be the best time-saving decision you’ll ever make.

I hope this has given you some insight as to whether or not Twitter is right for you. I’ll leave you with the three keys that I believe are critical to having success with Twitter: engage people, be consistent, and have fun!

About the Author
Corey Perlman is the author of the #1 Amazon.com bestseller eBoot Camp: Proven Internet Marketing Techniques to Grow Your Business. The book provides easy-to-do strategies and techniques to help market your business on the web. It covers topics such as social networking sites, Web site optimization, online articles and press releases. You can follow Corey on Twitter or learn more about how to purchase the book at www.eBootCampBook.com.