Why Social Media?

Millions of people around the world know the amazing benefits of using social media.  Yes there are benefits to personal social media use (keeping in touch with friends, etc), but what about business use?  Businesses are becoming more and more integrated with social media and that isn't going to change anytime soon.


I just wanted to share some statistics about how amazing social media is (via Social Skinny):

• Sales via social commerce are expected to reach $30 billion within five years.  That's absolutely incredible.  If you offer a product, or even a service, that customers could potentially purchase online, make sure you're out there.  

• 66% of online adults are connected to one or more social media platforms.  This means that there is a very good chance some of your current and potential customers are connected to social media.

• People were 25% more likely to buy a product they would be proud of if it had social buttons placed next to it, but 25% less likely to buy a product they would be embarrassed of if it encouraged them to like or tweet about it (by having social share buttons nearby).  This is a great way for you to get your name spread across the internet... fast. 

• 83% of people who complained on Twitter liked or loved a response by the company.  What if there are people saying negative things about your business via social media and you're not there to give a response or explanation? It doesn't make you look very good. Get social! I have had so many experiences where I have had a complaint about something with a business and they solved my issue quickly via social media.

• 58% of businesses saw a drop in marketing costs by moving to social marketing.  Social Media is very inexpensive... especially after you get the hang of it.

Social Media Facts: 

• In February 2012 Pinterest had 10.4 million users
• In February 2012 Twitter had 500 million registered users (approx 200m active)
• Twitter accounts for approx 3.61% of referral traffic (according to Shareaholic study)
• 1 million accounts are added to Twitter every day
• In February 2012 Facebook had 850 million users
• Facebook accounts for approx 26% of referral traffic (according to Shareaholic study)
• Of the 850+ million Facebook users, 31% check in more than once a day!
• In February 2012 LinkedIn had 135 million users
• LinkedIn accounts for about 0.20% of referral traffic
• In February 2012 Google+ had 90 million users
• Google+ accounts for about 0.22% of referral traffic

These are some astonishing facts about good old social media.  850 Million on Facebook? Get your business on there and be seen! 

What reservations do you still have about social media... if any? I want to make you a social media believer! 

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Be Careful What you Tweet for

Social media is an amazing tool for staying connected with friends and businesses. One critical step businesses are taking with social media is using it for customer service. I have written blogs about a few companies that have used social media to solve an issue within minutes. If used properly, it’s an amazing tool. Social media can help your business solve customer service issues more efficiently and more add more personality to your business.
If you want to use social media for customer service, be prepared for some negative feedback. If you put yourself out there, some people will criticize you, while other people will praise you. Be careful what you tweet for, you may get blindsided.

You may have heard that McDonalds recently attempted this on Twitter with “#McDStories”.  McDonald’s wasn’t prepared for the negative responses such as “#McDStories Take a McDonalds fry, let it sit for 6 months. It will not deteriorate or spoil like a normal potato. It will remain how it was”. This is an extreme example and was obviously a huge failure—because they weren’t prepared. But if you’re prepared to get a few negative responses and professionally handle these responses, you’ll do fine and social media will work greatly in your favor.

Be careful what you tweet for and be prepared for anything.

Do you have a social media success story? I'd love to hear about it in the comments section below!

Follow Me on Twitter @KatieJ318

Getting the Most Out of your Social Media

There are many ways you can use social media from business to personal accounts, to following your favorite celebrity or favorite CEO. How can you get the most out of your social media outlets though? 

Don’t be a Fly-on-the-Wall. You need to dive into social media, don’t just read other tweets and not tweet yourself. Especially when it comes to Twitter, you have to be interactive. Even on Facebook and Pinterest, “like” other users’ work and posts (only if you truly like them) and comment.  People use social media outlets to share, to learn and to be heard.   

If you blog, go around and comment on other similar-interest blogs. The term “If you build it, they will come” does not apply to social media of any type (unless you’re famous).

Tip: make sure you retweet relevant content that you like and reply when people ask you a question or comment on something you said. 

Have a Personality. Similar to the previous tip, people want to follow those who show their personality through their social media outlets.
Tip: You can be sarcastic, but try to keep your language clean. It’s a huge turn-off for followers when they continuously see explicit content on their feed.

Avoid Automation at All Cost.  I despise automated messages when I start following someone one Twitter. It shows they don’t have the time to go out of their way and say hello. If you don’t have time, don’t say anything at all.  If I begin following someone and I receive an automated message saying “Thanks for following. Please “like” me on Facebook”... no thank you, I will unfollow you. You need to earn “likes” on Facebook.  My view is that I’m already following you on Twitter, if I enjoy your tweets, I will find you on Facebook as well.
Tip: If you have a few followers and want to communicate somehow, just send out a tweet saying “Thanks to all of my new followers….” And mention them using “@” in the tweets. 

These are just three tips I wanted to share with you in order for you to reach your full social media potential. What do you avoid using on social media platforms?

What questions do you have about social media?

Social Media is a 2-Way Street

I always have been a huge social media advocate. I think social media is great, obviously for keeping in touch with family and friends, but it’s also great for propelling your business to the next level.  There are many ways you can use social media to your advantage. Today, I want to share one main tip for utilizing these amazing platforms to their full extent.

Be Interactive.  There are so many businesses today that have social media platforms but they still say they aren’t gaining any traffic or leads from them… that means you’re not doing something right. Mostly, these businesses aren’t being interactive.  If your business has a Twitter account, use it. Don’t just Tweet from your account though, interact with others on Twitter using the “@” symbol*, thank people for following and mentioning you.  Most of all, answer questions or concerns people ask you! I cannot say it enough. The most frustrating thing for any customer is to ask a business a question via social media and then have them ignore you.  You’re there so current and potential customers can interact with you. Interact!

Social media is a 2-way street—the only way you’re going to be successful is if you use it as such. 

*if you have any questions about the "lingo" I used in the blog, please feel free to message me here or email me at chateausocialmedia@gmail.com!

Social Media is a Two-Way Street. Use it to its full potential. 

Blogging for Success

A few years ago, if you told me that I would be blogging in 2011-12, I would have told you that you were insane and blogging was for hippies (no offense to hippies).  However, blogging has become a part of my life, not just my day job and I love it. It’s a way to share what you love and what you’re good at—for me, I blog about customer service, customer feedback management (and everything that goes with it), social media and DIY Crafts.  I have never seen blogging have a negative effect on businesses, just improve them.  I just wanted to share a few reasons why I believe blogging will help your business become successful.

Show What You Know.  Blogging is a great way for you or your business to show your extensive knowledge about a particular topic, or range of topics. In business, you have to gain an exceptional reputation in your field—blogging is a great way to do that.

Sharing Useful Information.  If you know a lot about a particular topic, why not share it with the world? Similar to “showing what you know”, sharing information is great for small to large businesses. I do social media consulting part time and at first I thought it wouldn’t be good to share social media tips because… well, that’s what I get paid to do. However, it’s nice to give a sampling of what you know and how your product/service/business can really help others.

These are just two ways blogging can help your business and build your reputation. 

Do you blog for business or are you still hesitant? 

Social Media is Sexy

Let’s settle something right now… what do I consider sexy? Anything that improves your well-being and social media certainly does that for business, especially as a customer service tool. 

Later this week I will talk about utilizing Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and LinkedIn for your business. They aren’t just important for your businesses exposure, but they’re necessary for customer service and your reputation. People are having conversations about you online; don’t you want to be a part of them? Today I’d like to talk about how you can use social media to handle customer service issues.

Twitter: Simple and quick.

Example: Someone tweets you regarding a product or service you sell and an issue they’re having with it. Well now, the Twittersphere is watching to see if you respond properly. You respond promptly and ask them to email a certain email address or direct message you with more information. You need to publicly apologize to the customer and then handle the matter privately. 

Facebook: Can write more than on Twitter. Still quick and simple.

Example: Someone posts a nasty remark on your Facebook page, what do you do? Well, it kind of depends. If it’s something irrelevant to your business practices and they’re angry for some other reason, it’s okay to delete the comment and respond to them via Facebook message or email (if you have it). If it’s a general question they have for you or a legitimate complaint, respond (publicly) and apologize for the error and simply let them know how to proceed. If you want to go above and beyond (which you should want to) be a step ahead of them, get their account information pulled up and let them know how you’re going to have the issue solved for them!

These are the top two social media platforms I like to utilize for social media and how to handle customer service issues though them. Handle issues like this and you’ll get a great, sexy reputation with customers and consumers alike.

What do you think? Would you handle issues in a different manner? Do you think customer service is “sexy”? 

Speaking of Twitter, connect with me! See you there!

Social Media as a Customer Service Tool?

We all have used (or should be using) social media as another tool to connect with our customers. They love feeling that a company is accessible to them at any moment.  But what about solving issues for your customers via social media?

A trend that has had a slow start and is believed to sky rocket in 2012 is using social media as a customer service tool. One great thing about using social media for your customer service is that it’s incredibly quick andsimple.  Responding to your customers and solving issues via social media is not for everyone but it’s something to at least try for your company.  There is a great example I found on Eye for Travel’s site:

• Holly Burns, Manager of Social Media at Travelocity confirmed that the majority of their customer service takes place on Twitter and in just two months earlier this year, they closed more than 70 customer service cases through social media.

You don’t have to just solve issues with social media, you can also use it to get important news out fast.  Earlier this year when AirAsia had a plane go off the runway, they used social media.  They said they “used Twitter recently to contact their 122,000 followers to calm nerves and subdue additional fears”.  It’s a great way to contact your followers immediately.  If something happens, customers are more likely to check out your Twitter or Facebook than go to your site.

Social media makes following-up easier. If you read our previous blog, Follow Up = Happy Customers,  you know how important following-up really is. Social media makes it easy to ask your customers if they are happy with the service they received and or if they need anything in addition to what has already been done.

There are plenty of advantages to using social media as a customer service tool, there are also a few cons.  The main one to watch out for is making sure Twitter, Facebook, etc. are not your only means to handling issues. Sometimes social media does not allow for enough detail and a regular help ticket is needed. 

What do you think are pro’s & con’s to using social media as a customer service tool?

Using LinkedIn for Your Business

Earlier this week I talked about Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest as customer service and general business tools. Today, I’d like to talk about one more social media platform—LinkedIn. I have been using LinkedIn since college and I love it. I think it’s an amazing tool and I’ll tell you why.

LinkedIn seems to be a more influential and overall more educated audience than other business sites. 3 out of 4 LinkedIn members (out of the 150+ million global users) use the site strictly for business and networking purposes. 64% agree that LinkedIn helps develop relationships and grow new business. Why not let it grow business for your company?

I have my own personal LinkedIn account and I have found it to be an excellent place for making connections with people I personally know as well as networking with other professionals in my area, in the US and even in other countries. I may not meet these people in person, but the information I receive from them can be invaluable.

PhaseWare and The IdeaWall (companies I work for) both have their own group and company pages. If we have a current or potential customer who doesn’t have Twitter or Facebook, but they’re on LinkedIn, we connect with them there. It’s another great way to share our information and what we’ve been up to, as well as keep up with them and their company.

Do you use LinkedIn? How do you like it for your business?

How Social Media Will Improve Your Business

How do you gain customers? Different types of marketing (inbound, outbound, etc), advertisements, cold calling, direct mail—the list seems endless. Inbound and outbound marketing are wonderful tools and will bring you potential customers and expand your reach. One way to expand your reach and brand your business that some “old-school” marketers can miss out on is social media.

With social media, you might get immediate customers, you may not. What you are doing on social media is expanding your reach and helping with brand recognition.  The more active you are on social media platforms, the more your product or service becomes a common name.  PhaseWare (the company I work for) was active on social media before, but we’ve really kicked it up a notch in the past 6 months since I started there, and I’ve seen an amazing difference.  People know who we are; they’re recommending us to friends, etc.  If they see a PhaseWare advertisement online, they notice it now and know exactly what we do.

With the right people to manage it, and the right content mixed with time and patience, social media can exponentially extend your reach and improve your brand, along with your reputation.

Stay up-to-date on new forms of social media. Learn as much as you can about the different outlets and start using them to your advantage!

Top 3 Social Media Platforms for Business

Social Media is a wonderfully innovative tool which can exponentially improve your business if used correctly. There are a lot of different platforms you can use, so which one is right for you? Today I’ll talk about some of the top social media platforms and how they can work for your business.

Facebook: Nearing 1 billion users, Facebook has endless opportunity for you to get your businesses name out there. The friendly timeline allows you to share photos and information easily with your fans. The great thing about Facebook is that there is not a limit to how much you can share, unlike other platforms.

Facebook Tip: Be interactive. If someone asks you a question… answer it!

Twitter: This is an amazing way to share small, quick bits of information. Yes, you’re limited to only 140 characters but you can add links to your tweets and pictures. I love using Twitter for business, it’s a simple way to get your name out there and a quick, efficient way to improve customer service and handle issues.

Twitter Tip: Brush up on “Twitter lingo”.  Share other peoples content if you want them to share yours!

Pinterest: If you follow me on Pinterest, you know it’s my new obsession… to put it lightly. Pinterest is a virtual pin board where you can share photos of different products, DIY crafts, food, apparel, etc. These pictures will take you to the original site. At first I thought it was just fun for personal use but it’s really great for businesses as well. We share our blogs, products we sell, products we like, things we do on the weekend and more. It’s just another great way to give your business a personality.

Pinterest Tip: Don’t over-think it. Some users quit shortly after trying to use Pinterest because they make it more difficult than it needs to be.

These are currently my top three favorite social media platforms. There are plenty more out there and I’ll be sure to write about them later this week or early next week!

Which social media platforms do you use for personal use? What about business use?

Social Media: No Excuses

Something you may not know about me is that I’m completely in love with ABC’s “The Biggest Loser”. It’s inspiring to say the least. This season, the theme is “No Excuses”.  There are plenty of excuses in life for not exercising, not walking the dog, not calling your crazy relative back, even for not engaging in social media. I still don’t understand why people don’t engage in social media, but I have heard my fair share of excuses. Today I’m going to share three of those excuses and why they’re not qualified for businesses and social media.

Excuse 1: “I have no time”.  When it comes to social media and business, you need to make time. Designate 10 minutes after lunch (or however long you need) to respond to all of your posts, tweets, messages etc. As long as your consistent and make some sort of effort, it’s worth it.

Excuse 2: “I Don’t Care”. Basically, the answer to this is that… you need to care, social media is revolutionizing the way companies handle business and customer service. You don’t necessarily need to understand it through and through but care enough to find someone who does. Social media will skyrocket the reputation of your business and communication with customers.

Excuse 3: “Why would I Want people I don’t know following me?” This is a legitimate concern if you’re just using Twitter or Facebook strictly for personal use. However, these “unknown people” want to know you and your business. They could be a potential customer (or have thousands of connections to potential customers) and they could be future business associates. Think of every connection via social media as a networking opportunity. You don’t need to tell them your life story or personal information, but keep them informed about your professional life, your business and what you’re doing. 

Do you utilize social media? If not, what is your reasoning?

Why Your CEO Needs to Jump on the Social Media Bandwagon

I believe social media is #1 in just about every aspect of marketing and customer service which is why I promote it so much. Its great for your company to have a Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. But why does your CEO need to have personal accounts on those social media sites?

More Exposure: Every business aspires to have maximum exposure. For example, its great if you have a Twitter account for your company, but you need to have a separate, personal account as well, especially if youre the CEO.

Personal Relationship: Everyone loves being able to connect personally with companies they do business with. By having a personal Twitter account, CEOs can make the company more personal and give the business a face & personality.

Increase Your Organic Traffic: Social media is the most inexpensive form of advertising and marketing! Companies usually see a spike in organic traffic after an executive, especially a CEO join the social media bandwagon.

Some dont believe in social media the way I doas a way of promoting your business and helping with reputation and customer service. Trust me, it works... if its done properly. I gave a presentation to a CEO who put off social media for six years, he now has a Twitter and LinkedIn, along with the President.  Their traffic, along with leads have increased exponentially.