Why You Should NEVER Hire a Social Media Manager

This could be a very controversial post for many, however this must be pointed-out. It seems like social media "gurus" are a dime a dozen in today's time. In lieu of this, businesses must be extremely cautious about who they select based on the results they're seeking. 

Listed below, are three reasons you NEVER want to hire a conventional social media manager.

1) A large majority of all social media managers have no experience building a brick-and-mortar business or a highly profitable online company using the web and social media.

How can you expect a person (or company) to help you substantially grow your business with the internet when they don’t actually have experience personally doing it? Just a word of wisdom. Do not even think of hiring someone that doesn’t have a long personal track record of success.

I should hope that’s a bit of common sense.

In reality, most individuals waste time with social media and only a tiny fraction of businesses actually generate worthwhile income with it. You'll find that with inexperience comes poor strategy and consistent obstacles.

I'm reminded of a quote…. “You can either make friends with social media or you can make money, but you can't do both.”

2) Expect to pay a lofty premium if you’re going to hire a person with a bunch of experience.

Now, I should point-out, there IS a time and place to pay a high premium. Price should not be the deciding factor, the proven results-based track record should. You will pay for quality most of the time.

The ballpark average experienced social media manager salary (if they’re worth anything) starts at over RM70,000 per year. Remember, this is an employee you’re bringing-in to your organization, not an entrepreneur with a strong eye towards growth.

I'm sure you'd agree, employees need guidance in most cases. They don't just take the baton and run with it.

For the average small business owner, paying over RM6,000 per month isn't feasible, especially when your company is forced to commit to a six month contract or more.

A big corporation will easily invest this amount monthly but it's not advisable for other businesses doing under a half a million per year. Don't count on finding someone off of Craigslist to make the marketing profitable and effective, too.

Far too many companies do this and they end up guessing at why “social media does not work.” The reality is, social media works, it’s just that your strategy sucks.

Managing social media is one aspect. Aggressively growing your company is another.

3) Your social media manager will not have enough time in the day to do everything that needs to be completed. In order to be successful, you should have the following online marketing methods working for you around the clock:

- Keyword and market research

- Facebook organic marketing

- Facebook ads (ppc) marketing

- Online video creation

- Online video submission / optimization

- Podcast creation / submission

- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

- Articles written and submitted to top directories

- Press releases written and submitted online

- Google Places optimization

- Blog creation and post updates regularly

- Backlink building

- Directory submissions

- Google organic marketing

- Google Adwords PPC management / optimization

- Automated reports generated to track results

In truth, it’s practically impossible to find a social media manager that has experience doing everything listed above. If you can, you'll pay a big premium. Realistically, you need to have a TEAM of experts working on your behalf.

Social media is just one piece of the internet marketing arsenal. If you leave-out the rest you won’t get very far. Knowing these 3 key points, you now have a simple choice to make.

Would you rather pay an inexperienced social media manager RM70K+ per year to “try” to build your business with Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc..?

OR…

Would you rather hire a specialized team of experts with a time-tested strategy (at a small fraction of the cost) that has experience selling MILLIONS of dollars worth of products / services from the web?

If you’re smart, committed to business growth, and choose the latter, I have access to one of the best specialized team of experts in Online Marketing and Social Media in Malaysia and I might be able to arrange for   a FREE 1 hour consultation with the experts for you. Just drop me an email.

Read More

Social Media - Why should you care?

Social Media, why should you care? Here's why!

• 1 in every 13 people on earth is on facebook.

• 140Million is the average number of tweet people send per day in February 2011

• Together, we spend 2.9Billion hours on youtube in a month. Thats 326,294 years!

Social media sites allow us to connect quickly and stay connected to people and brands faster than ever before, which means we form closer relationships and have quick access to new people and opportunities. 

Unfortunately, too many businesses still don’t understand how to effectively use social media and therefore making a mistake of thinking it as just another marketing channel. These businesses are missing a tremendous amount of opportunity and keeping their business from reaching its full potential.

The truth is Social Media is more than just another marketing channel. Social Media can produce an excellent return for businesses which are willing to use it and take advantage of the tools available. It's free exposure, and often organizations fail to intentionally plan their message as they would for an expensive ad campaign. Social Media strategies must be well thought out and planned prior to execution. Never try to run before you learned to walk. 

Consider this: In 2010, Nielsen and Facebook did a joint study on the effect of social media for enterprise using the benchmarks: Ad recall, brand awareness, and purchase intent. Social media had significantly better results than traditional marketing.

Social media is permission based engagement - it is the most effective way to engage people and receive measurable results.  When someone gives an organization permission to speak to them, the organization's messaging must be "on" 100% of the time. It's like dating, an organization must woo, cultivate, and meet the needs of their network. 

The following rules apply to almost every social media user who seeks to develop a platform, client acquisition, increased sales, and better brand awareness.

1. Social media is relational, not transactional. Keep the "keys" to the social media account away from the Sales department. Traditional marketing has no place in social media.  Overtly trying to sell a product or service will quickly damage a social media reputation (reputation is quickly damaged and long to repair). 

2. An organization should focus on engagement and not on numbers. There is significantly more value in having a smaller network of followers who engage on a regular basis than to have a large network of followers who view your page once and are done.  Get connected with your network.  A single engaged user is worth more than one hundred unused or phantom accounts.

3. Define your core audience and identify your area of expertise. Do not try to be all things to all people.  If you want to reach the decision makers in organizations, you may design your social media messaging and expertise around content that educates about organizational development, as an example.  It does not sell your product or service in a direct or traditional way.  But the decision makers who follow will begin to view an organization as an expert in their particular area of interest, they will click on links when enough credibility is built and they will share the content.  In time, they will take the initiative to find out more about the organization including what products and services are offered.  The trust built in social media will transfer to trust in the product or service.

4. Content is king. Posts should add value to followers free of charge, no gimmicks and no strings attached - they may provide information, best practices, or free resources.  Develop free resources to give away on a website or blog.  While posts should provide stand-alone content, most should include a link providing the user an opportunity to find out more.

5. Updates should be consistent and frequent. Social media is always on and so should an organizations presence. Social media management is not a job relegated to weekdays between 8 and 5.  It takes time and consistent impressions with other users to build the credibility needed for them to engage.  Posts should be daily and typically should occur a few times and not more than 8 or 9 (depending on the network).  When there are dark periods (a day or more without updates) followers get dubious, brand awareness fades, and credibility that has been built diminishes.

6. A Social Media platform must be manifested. Social media streams and accounts should be integrated into every page of an organizations website and communication including "like," "tweet," and "follow" buttons.  Clients and followers cannot evangelize if an organization doesn't provide them with the tools to do so.

7. A Profile must be Perfect. The profile is the most viewed page and too often the most neglected.  Users decide whether or not to follow an account based on it.

8. Organizations must have a dedicated social media evangelist. Hire an Expert! An organization should have an independent social media specialist who reports directly to an executive on the leadership team. The social media manager should not be accountable to a supervisor who is commissioned or expected to generate a sales quota. They should be the keeper of the keys and the protector of an organization's network of followers. Because social media is incredibly fluid and changes at the speed of light, this person should have a natural proclivity toward Web 2.0, much like a surgeon, always reading, learning, and staying up to date.  They should be fluent in related technology in order to track and report on the efficacy of the organization's social media platform so as to assign metrics by which to assess and respond quickly.

Social Media is a complex and evolving medium that many businesses struggle to figure out. Few find quantifiable success with it, many have failed, and most have yet to truly form a social media strategy.

The best advice I can give is to engage with the social media experts. I have access to one of the best Online Marketing and Social Media Experts in Malaysia. And if you are interested to form a social media strategy that creates result for your business, I will be able to assist you by arranging a FREE 1 hour consultation with the experts. Just drop me an email.

Now that you have known the why, the how and the who in social media marketing strategies, So, let's get Social!

** The original article was posted by Joshua Leatherman on Social Media Today

Read More

Venture Capital – Knowing Your Funding Options

Entrepreneurs and business experts have defined venture capital as a financing style between a capitalist and entrepreneur with a common goal of a handsome return in a short period of time, maybe 3 to 5 years. But while there are several resources on the definition and characteristics of this topic, few have actually discussed the options that this kind of business set-up has.

Before taking the plunge, know what these options are and how they can be applied to your current business plan.

The funding option depends on the stage of the company's progress. Investment firms can invest from $50,000 up to $20 Million. If the company is still at its earliest stage, where a concept or invention is still to be developed or proved, the option is called seed financing. Here investment is spent on marketing and product development. Product ingenuity and market research are the areas being focused.

When the company has already developed its product and marketing strategy but needs money for the actual production and initial marketing, the funding option is called start-up financing. This is the common option for new entrepreneurs and inventors. Here funds are spent for the production and initial marketing. Amounts can range from $50,000 to $1 Million.

Sometimes a company already has its products and may have initially introduced them to the market, but receives little or no revenue at all. In this case, the entrepreneur may need financial assistance at this stage, called the first or early stage. The amount usually ranges from $500,000 up to $15 Million, depending on the extent of the changes that need to be made. It could be that the product needs to be revised or developed to make it more saleable, or it can be a mere repackaging or change in advertising strategy.

The next option is called the second or later stage. Here the company has its products and may have received revenues, and has the potential of making it big in the near future, but for some reason has no funds at hand. It could be that there are some loans that need to be paid, or other financial schemes that need to be complied with. That is why venture capital firms invest from $2-15 Million to help the company.

Some profitable companies want to expand, but does not want to put in more capital out of their own money. Their goal is not to keep the company for many years but for it to quickly grow in order to make an IPO within a few months, say 3-18 months. This option is called the third or mezzanine stage. Amounts range from $2 Million to $20 Million.

Similarly, this next option needs an investment before an IPO, but the time frame is within 3-12 months. This is called the bridge. Investment is also between $2 Million to $20 Million.

Remember that there is a specific option for each stage that your company has. The key is to know what options to use. Similarly, you must know where to find these venture capital firms. You must also develop a concise but comprehensive business proposal to present to them. Lastly, keep in mind that venture capital is not the end-all but just the beginning of more challenging things to come.

Read More

JV - Points to ponder

As there are numerous good reasons both business wise and financial, to create a joint venture with a company that has a great complementary capabilities and resources, such as distribution channels, new technologies or finance, joint ventures are becoming an increasingly popular way for different companies to build strategic alliances. 

In a Joint venture, two or more parent companies agrees to share capital, technology, human resources, risks and rewards in a formation of a new entity under shared managerial power.

But before going into a joint venture, you should consider something first. We have gathered some information on what are the most important things to think about before going into a joint venture, here is the list.

Before going into a joint venture, be sure to first screen prospective partners. Make sure that you are on the same level of the industry.

Also make a joint development of a detailed business plan and short listing a set of prospective partners based on their contribution to the development of the plans.

Check the credentials of the other party by doing interviews and research. Check their previous business and also the sales that they are getting. You may also want to check customer feedback regarding their services.

You should also develop an exit strategy and terms of dissolution of the joint venture in case things would go wrong.

You should also try to think of the most appropriate structure for you joint ventures, for example most joint ventures involving fast growing companies are structured as strategic corporate partnership. 

You should also take notice of the availability of appreciated or depreciated property being contributed to the joint venture; by misunderstanding the significance of appreciated property, companies can weaken the economics of the deal for themselves and their parties

You should also point out the different special allocations of income, gain, loss or deduction to be made among the partners and so with the compensation to the members that provide services.

You should also take note of the role of your business architect, this is a person that initiates new business ventures or leads business innovations, designs a winning business model and builds sustainable balanced business system for a lasting success.

Business architects can be found in multitude of business settings, be it in corporate change leaders, initiator of joint venture aka joint venture strategist, and managers of different and radical company settings.

The business strategy should begin with a sound, well articulated strategy. Before going into the first step, determine first and explain why you wish to enter into a joint venture, why you have chosen such partner or partners, and what the goal of the company is. You should put into word the involvement of the parent companies and define how long will the joint ventures last.

You should also describe strategies to define the managerial, accountability, decision-making process and conflict resolution procedures.

Joint Venture is one of the best strategy for business growth available. A well planned and well executed JV will definitely improve the bottom line of any companies involve. And to ensure the JV is well planned and well executed, It is advisable that companies engage with a skilled business architect that specialize in Joint Venture strategy.

Read More