So many social sites, where’s a business to start?

March 30, 2010

Talked this morning with the All Stars Networking group in Mason, Ohio, whose members look for ways to help each other grow their businesses in the Cincinnati and Dayton areas. Business people often ask, “I think I should be using Twitter (… or Facebook or fill-in-the-blank name of any popular social media site). Can you come over and help me set it up?”

Sure, I always answer. But, what do you want to do with it?

That’s the question that CMO.com helps businesses answer. The info site for chief marketing officers says that 2010 is the year that companies will heavily invest in social media. That headline should be enough to prompt small businesses to ask how they should connect with customers using social media. But, where to start? And, which of the dozens of social media sites, tools, services and communities to use? Read the rest of this entry »

1 Comment | Business, Social Media | Permalink
Posted by Chris Celek

Help your customers become fans on Facebook

February 18, 2010

7 hours.

That’s how much time the average user spent on Facebook in January. That makes Facebook the most-used site on the web, well ahead of No. 2 Yahoo (2 hours) and No. 3 Google (1.23 hours), according to new research by Nielsen.

That same month, Facebook raced ahead of Yahoo to become the place where the largest share of time — 11.6 percent — is spent on the web. No. 2 is Yahoo at 4.25 percent and Google is No. 3 at 4.1 percent, according a Feb. 18 report by Compete.com.

That’s a lot of numbers and I promise to not load you down with more. But these numbers point to a lot of questions businesses should be able to answer. Here’s the big one:

Where are your customers?

Read the rest of this entry »

1 Comment | Social Media | Permalink
Posted by Chris Celek

What you can learn by watching, listening to how other businesses use Facebook Fan Pages

December 14, 2009

A conversation with a relative went something like this:

“Facebook is just a waste of time. I don’t use it with family or friends and I certainly don’t see how you would make money with it.”

Another conversation with a business owner in Dayton’s south suburbs went like this:

“I want to use Facebook for my business but I don’t know what to do with it and I don’t want to waste time on it.”

I share these because there are takeaways from both that are useful for businesses considering how to use social media to connect with customers.

Lesson from the first conversation: Read the rest of this entry »

2 Comments | Business, Facebook, Social Media | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Chris Celek

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