by Eileen Sinett

Create a buzz about your business by following these public speaking tips from expert Eileen Sinett.

The best way to create a buzz about yourself, your business or your product is to get in front of a group and talk about what you know.   And because public speaking can influence many at once, it is the marketing tool of choice for many businesses – better than video, pay per click, or a blog post.  Public speaking provides a dynamic and energetic connection between you and your existing and potential customers or clients that no other medium can touch.

Of course this is only true if you are a speaker who is:  (1) comfortably authentic (true to yourself and not oozing anxiety), (2) focused and clear (you know how much or little to say) and (3) engaged and connected (aware of and able to navigate the invisible thread between you and your listeners).

Many business owners and professionals have told me that they do speak publicly– to rotary groups, Chambers of Commerce, trade organizations, etc., and have done a decent job.  But decent is not excellent, and it is excellence that drives a competitive advantage for you and your business.

To reap the marketing benefits of speaking publicly, you will want to capitalize on these best practices:

1. Begin your speech without words. Experience three seconds of silence! If you think this is crazy, think again.  All communication begins from silence.  On the page, it’s white space or margins; with speaking, it’s not speaking. Look (without saying anything) before you speak.  Like a conductor of an orchestra, you are in charge and set the tone. Allow yourself a few seconds to connect inwardly as you look out at the crowd.  Your listeners will appreciate this “verbal white space.”

2. Know how you will start.  Learn, (not necessarily memorize) how you will start your talk.  Try on a new way of opening, i.e., a rhetorical question, striking fact, or personal story, rather than the usual, bland, “I’m So and So and I’m going to talk about “X.”  Reveal yourself through an anecdote or short story that allows the audience to know you as a person and bridge this story to your focus.  Commit to practicing this opening at least once, aloud, sometime before your presentation to minimize “start-up” anxiety!

3. Stand still for your first two or three sentences. You will look in control, maximize your image and presence and project strength (even if you feel nervous).  Reducing movement at the beginning of your talk also helps your audience to listen with focus. (By the way, standing still does not mean standing stiffly at attention.)

4. Build your talk around 3 ideas and limit your speech to 20 minutes. The average person remembers 3-5 ideas plus or minus 2.  By batching your concepts in threes, you facilitate and sustain audience interest.

5. Embrace less is more, when it comes to visual aids.  Reduce text, read less and be less slide-dependent.  Be able to overview your presentation highlights without a single slide!

6. Hear yourself as you speak!   You will become more conscious of what you say and how you say it.  As a result, your self-awareness, presence and connection will grow.

7. Stop worrying about your hands! Let them be! Focus on your passion and your hands will gesture in a way that is natural for you.

8. Control-Alt-Delete any negative self-talk. Eliminate any judgmental inner chatter to create space for something neutral or positive.

9. Refrain from running “off-stage” if you ask for questions and you don’t get any (a very awkward moment indeed). Start the question-ball rolling by saying something like, “Sometimes people ask me…” Then answer that question and ask the audience again if they have any questions (usually they do).

10. Have the final word! After the Q & A, close your presentation by reiterating your key message – what you want the audience to most remember.  These will be the last words they hear, so make them clear and concise and deliver them with confidence!

Continue the conversation. What else can a speaker do to connect with his or her audience? Please tell us in the Comments section below.

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Eileen N. Sinett, author of “Speaking that Connects,” is a coach-consultant and keynote speaker whose knowledge spans several cross-functional disciplines: the speech arts, communication sciences, psychology, career management, and training and development. She is committed to promoting confidence and clarity in speakers worldwide, enhancing personal and business relationships through communication improvement, and raising the bar on speaking performance with her unique presentation training brand, Speaking that Connects, www.speakingthatconnects.com.

Wondering what you should blog about? This post can help.

It happens to most business owners who start blogging. You start with good intentions and lots of ideas to write about. Then after the twenty-fifth post or so, you hit the wall. You’re out of ideas.

Fortunately for those of us who regularly get writer’s block, Karol K, a contributor to Problogger.com, came up with an extensive list of the different types of blog articles. Karol’s 52 Types of Blog Posts You Can Write includes

• How-to/tutorials
• News posts
• Stories
• Checklists
• Special reports
• and 47 other ideas

One of Karol’s best tips is to recycle your content. If you have a how-to or interview video, for example, get the video transcribed, break it up into separate segments, and  share the segments as regular blog posts. You’ve got a month’s worth of posts right there!

For more about creating content that your audience will want to read , also check out my post, 15 Tips for Creating Engaging Content.

Hyperlocal media allow local business owners and community members to post their own content to the Internet.

Here’s what Mindy has to say:

Journalism is an evocative word.  For those of us who are over 30, it conjures up visions of curmudgeonly old editors hiding in their offices waiting for copy boys to bring the offerings from the journalists pounding away in the newsroom.  Every copy boy (and girl) dreamed of one day becoming a full-fledged journalist, with a byline and the ability to “scoop” the competition.

For the under-30 crowd, visions of pounding away on typewriters have given way to laptops, smart phones, and 4G Internet connections.

No matter which vision resonates, the concept of journalism has always followed the same rules.  Start with the basic question, “Is this newsworthy?” and then move on to “How many people does it impact?” and finish with the “who, what, when, where, and how”.

The news-hounds were always on the prowl, sniffing out stories that would shock, amaze and draw the largest number of people.  For the uninitiated, it was simply a case of sending a press release into the wild blue yonder with the hope that it made it to the top of the appropriate editor’s in-basket.

Information, whether provided by the news hound or the civilian, was always strained through the editor’s desk before making it out of the newsroom incubator as a fully-fledged article or media piece.

It would seem, however, that the times they are a’ changin’.  Internet and mobile technology plus the advent of “hyperlocal news” have ushered in the next incarnation of journalism.

What is hyperlocal news? It is journalism that covers everything that affects a particular town – from business news and town council meetings to bake sales and high school sports.  The question hyperlocal journalism asks is “how many people does this affect locally?”

Hyperlocal journalism puts more power into the hands of the reader, who can now use a laptop, tablet or smart phone to contribute content, make comments, and post information in many places.

For example, as the editor and publisher of the Scotch Plains/Fanwood edition of The Alternative Press.com, I offer readers opportunities to post a press release, contribute an article, post a comment, or add an event to the community calendar.

While this content does come through to an online “dashboard” for me, as the editor, to approve, my mindset is very different from the curmudgeonly old editor.  Rather than looking for reasons to exclude the story (not timely enough, not affecting enough people, etc.), I am looking for reasons to include it.  If it is local, it is relevant.

The instant something is posted, it shows up in the hyperlocal edition of The Alternative Press, ready to be viewed from readers’ computers, laptops, iPads, or smart phones. The line between journalist and reader has now begun to blur.

Whether we are baby boomers or Gen X-ers, our visions of journalism are evolving, keeping pace with the run-away train that is technology.  The Internet and mobile technology have forever changed how we receive information and hyperlocal news has forever changed our visions of journalism.

By Mindy Scarlett, Editor and Publisher of The Alternative Press.com for Scotch Plains/Fanwood, NJ.

mscarlett@thealternativepress.com

Do you agree or disagree with Mindy’s point of view on hyperlocal media? Does hyperlocal provide opportunities for you as a business owner?  Share your thoughts in the Comments section below.

These free resources can help you make the most of your marketing budget:

Marketing  Plans

Guide to developing a marketing plan – http://www.missouribusiness.net/sbtdc/docs/marketing.pdf

Free sample marketing plans – http://www.mplans.com/

Marketing campaign checklist – http://marketing.about.com/od/marketingworksheets/a/Marketing-Campaign-Checklist.htm

Marketing Calendar – http://marketing.about.com/cs/advertising/a/mktgcalendar.htm

Publicity/PR

Help a Reporter (HARO) – http://www.helpareporter.com/ – Get free PR for your company by becoming a source for reporters and bloggers.

PR Log – www.prlog.com – publish your press releases for free

PR.com – www.pr.com publish your press release; set up a free company profile

Publicity Insider – www.publicityinsider.com – how to get free publicity for your business

Web-based calendar

Google Calendar – access your calendar from all your smart devices

Email Apps

Gmail – free email account from Google

Mail Chimp – www.Mailchimp.com free for 2,000 or fewer subscribers; some advertising content

Campaigner – www.campaigner.com – free for up to 500 subscribers; up to 1MB of storage

File Sharing Apps

Google Docs – create and share your documents online. Access Documents from the “More” tab in Google’s top navigation bar.

Dropbox – https://www.dropbox.com/

Photos

Flickr – www.flickr.com – Creative Commons photos you can use in your marketing materials

Photo editing

IRFAN View – www.IRFANView.com

Picnik – www.picnik.com

GIMP  – http://www.gimp.org/

Video and Audio Creation

Camstudio – www.camstudio.org record all screen and audio activity on your computer and create videos.

Audacity – www.audacity.sourceforge.net Free, open source software for recording and editing sounds

Webinar and teleconferencing

Free Screen Sharing - http://www.freescreensharing.com/   Webinar and audio conferencing. Accommodates up to 96 users

Free Conference Call – http://www.freeconferencecall.com. Free conference calling for up to 96 users.

Social Media Apps

Your Buzz www.yourbuzz.com  – from American Express. Track what’s being said about your business in social media and get a fresh perspective about your customers.

TweetDeck - http://www.tweetdeck.com  - manage Twitter; schedule your updates to FB, LinkedIn, Twitter and more

HootSuite – www.hootsuite.com – The leading social media dashboard to manage and measure your social networks

Social Oomph –  https://www.socialoomph.com/

AllTop – http://alltop.com/  Not sure about which blogs are prominent in which sector? This is a great place to start.

Alexa - http://www.alexa.com/ – track the traffic to your website. Alexa will tell you how much traffic a site gets, where that traffic is coming from, whether it is gaining more traction etc.

Google Trends – http://www.google.com/trends Planning on launching an activity? Run a quick search to see which time of year the world is talking about that subject the most.

Google Alerts – input keywords to track your industry, competitors and your company’s publicity

Klout - http://www.klout.com/home This will allow you to identify some of the key conversation drivers in the areas you are interested in.

Blogging
Blogging checklist – http://advantage-marketingblog.com/2011/07/18/quick-start-checklist-blogging/

15 tips for developing content – http://advantage-marketingblog.com/2010/12/22/15-tips-for-engaging-content/

Word Press – www.wordpress.org (self hosted) or  www.wordpress.com (hosted by WordPress)

Tumblr -  www.tumblr.com

Blogger -  www.blogger.com

Movable Type -  www.movabletype.org

Posterous - www.posterous.com

SquareSpace - www.squarespace.com

If your goal is to get more customers in 2012, this January 11, 11:30AM webinar is for you

Is your New Year’s resolution to grow your business and get more customers? You’re off to a great start!

But where will you go from there? Do you know how to get more customers?

Register for the new B.I.G. webinar:

Turn Your Business into a Customer Magnet!
Tips, Resources and Marketing Secrets to Propel Your Business Growth

Wednesday, January 11, 2012
11:30am-12:30pm (ET)
$47 B.I.G. members/$67 non-members

Register now

This interactive webinar is for you, if any one of the following rings true:

• A new business owner trying to get her first customers
• An existing business owner with a stagnant customer base who wants to get out of that rut
• A business owner who is spinning her wheels, working hard but your business is not at the level you want it to be.

The webinar is loaded with valuable marketing secrets, tips and freebies that you can use on your website, Facebook page – or even in your personal networking – to get more customers.

Here’s what you’ll get:

• Loads of easy to implement marketing techniques you can put to use      immediately to grow your client base
• The 3 most powerful tactics you can master to draw      customers to your business
• The 2 secrets marketers know and that you must learn to      attract the people who want to buy
• The FREE marketing resources that make the most of a small budget

PLUS as an added bonus, Certified Management Consultant and marketing expert Loraine Kasprzak, MBA, will review and critique marketing materials for 3 registrants – companies pay more than $250 per hour for such consulting advice.

Register today and learn how to get the customers you want to grow your business.

 Register now

Reflecting on 2011? Resilience is the BIG lesson for business owners.

What a year 2011 has been! As it draws to a close, I find myself reflecting on the lessons I’ve learned in the last 365 days. I learned much, for example, about the strategic use of content marketing, social media and mobile applications – all best practices that I am sharing with my consulting clients.

But as I reflect, I see there is a much bigger, more important lesson from 2011: you must get up when you’re knocked down.

This was a rough year for small and mid-size business owners as well as the broader U.S. economy. We faced, for example,

Uncertainty. Health care legislation plus crisis after crisis in housing, banking and the European markets and the Middle East took their toll, creating a shaky business climate that left many business owners uncertain about where to turn and what to do next. Many chose to do nothing at all.

Unruly weather. Winter blizzards, hurricanes and October snowstorms meant economic loss for many businesses and property owners. Hurricane Irene, for example, dragged down the New Jersey economy, inflicting over $915 million in property damage alone.  Many NJ business and home owners struggled to recover and rebuild in towns such as Cranford, Paterson, and Wayne.

Unclear employment picture. With unemployment in the U.S. hovering just over 9% for most of the year, many consumers changed their spending patterns, impacting large and small businesses alike. There was a glimmer of good news, however, as the labor market strengthened in November and Black Friday and Cyber Monday retail sales reached record levels.

Overwhelmed by the year’s turmoil, some business owners chose to close up shop.  One Dallas, TX, business owner I heard about recently is a good example. He was in the promotional products business for more than a decade. This year, the business climate and fiercely competitive nature of his industry finally wore him down. He shut his firm and is now seeking a corporate position in marketing management.

Choosing resilience

Barry O’Donovan, owner of Cranford, NJ’s Kilkenny House Restaurant and Pub, chose to be resilient – to pick himself up and move on after a disaster.

Hurricane Irene wrecked O’Donovan’s three-year-old Irish pub in late August. At the height of Irene’s flooding, 20 feet of water engulfed the pub’s basement and half of the bar, according to The Star Ledger. All told, there was about $300,000 of damage – an amount that would force many small businesses to close their doors permanently.

But O’Donovan was determined to rebuild. He and his contractors faced a huge task, replacing the pub’s electric, floors and subflooring, and repainting the 2,800 sq. ft. space. “We had no choice but to rebuild,” O’Donovan told the Suburban News. “This is what I know how to do. I had a responsibility to my staff to get up and running as fast as I could.”

When Cranford's popular Irish pub was destroyed by Hurricane Irene, its owner was determined to rebuild

He re-opened Kilkenny’s in record time – six weeks after Irene – and became a symbol of resilience to the local community.

Hitting those curve balls

Life throws all of us curve balls. So how can we learn to be more resilient – like O’Donovan – when things go wrong? To find out, I asked Donna Leyens, Certified Professional Coach and president of True Potential Coaching, LLC, a New Jersey-based small business coaching firm, for some advice. What she had to say can help you smash life’s curve balls right out of the park:

Stop whining about what went wrong. A key part of resilience is understanding that it’s not about what happened to you, it’s about how you respond. Instead of thinking, “Poor me, why did this happen to me?” say to yourself, “This may not have been a good thing that happened, but I’m going to make the best of it.”

It’s all about the stories you tell yourself. It’s hard not to buy into the negative stories, especially when that’s all we seem to get from the media.  Instead of focusing on the negative, say to yourself, “Where are the opportunities in this situation?” To help change your mindset, surround yourself with positive influences and people who can help you create positive stories. What kept O’Donovan going, according to the Suburban News article, was the tremendous support he received from friends and neighbors in the Cranford community.

Find the humor. When you can finally find the humor in a situation, you are step closer to controlling your response. Laughter is like medicine; it prompts your body to release endorphins which make your happier. Laughing can reduce stress and raise your positivity. This helps you to become more resilient.

Move forward. It’s useless to look back unless you can learn from it. But then learn your lessons and move on. Ask yourself, “How can I move forward?” and then take positive action. O’Donovan got his pub operating in record time because he quickly sought the resources – loans from the Small Business Administration, local contractors willing to work nights and weekends – to help him rebuild.

Focus on what is going right. Even in the worst situations, focusing on the positive can help you be more resilient. Set positive goals. O’Donovan, for example, promised his wife that he’d have his restaurant up and running by her birthday – well ahead of initial contractor estimates. As O’Donovan told NJBiz, “My wife’s birthday is October 15, and if I didn’t have it opened before then, I’d be dead.” O’Donovan re-opened Kilkenny House on October 8, to much celebration in the community.

In the New Year, choose to be resilient. It may not always be easy but you will be in charge of your own destiny, like Barry O’Donovan.

Continue the conversation. What situations have you faced that called for you to be resilient? Please tell us about them in the Comments section below.

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Amex offers free tools so you can take advantage of Small Business Saturday to promote your business

The second annual Small Business Saturday® is a day dedicated to supporting small businesses on one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year. Sponsored by American Express and supported by dozens of small business organizations, the event will be held on November 26 this year – the Saturday between Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Small Business Saturday has galvanized Americans in support of small, independently owned local businesses that create jobs, boost the economy and invigorate neighborhoods across the country. The day was created in response to small business owners’ most pressing need: more demand for their products and services.

American Express is offering many free business tools and a planning checklist to help business owners take advantage of the event. There is free in-store signage, including  posters that can be printed out for countertop display, and a larger sign for window display. If your business has a Facebook page, you can download the free Shop Small badge to place on your page. Amex is also offering templates for emails and Facebook posts, and sample tweets. You can create a video for your business using the free My Business Story tool from Google and American Express, and then feature it on YouTube.

You can also create a special offer or experience for your customers. Here are some ideas for what you can do:

• Feature holiday merchandise
• Provide a flat discount or gift with purchase
• Offer special services such as free gift wrapping
• Host a guest appearance from a designer, author, or other guest

American Express is offering a special incentive: a $25 statement credit offer for Cardmembers who register their Card and spend $25 or more at any qualifying small business that accepts the American Express Card. Business owners can let their customers know that if they registered their American Express Card, they can take advantage of the offer at their store on November 26.

More details on this cool event are available at www.smallbusinesssaturday.com.

There are better ways to attract customers to your business.

I gave a talk recently to the Just Think B.I.G. Bernardsville, NJ, group about marketing tactics that attract customers. Many of the women business owners present knew their product or service really well, but didn’t always know how to attract the attention of prospective customers.

Marketing is all about getting people to know, like and then trust you. There are many ways to do this; here are the seven ideas I spoke about:

1. Co-market your product or service with other  businesses who share a similar customer base. When you promote your services jointly, your marketing budget goes much further. I shared an example of how Savory Spice Shop and Elements Wellness Boutique in Westfield, NJ, are co-marketing  and growing their customer bases. See my co-marketing blog post for more  about what Savory Spice and Elements Boutique are doing.
2. Offer free trials or samples. Everyone  loves a free sample and offering samples gets potential buyers comfortable with you. One of my favorite Westfield stores is Trader Joes, where they’ve made a  science of free samples. Alan’s Orchards is another local store that has built their business in part because of their free yogurt and cheese samples.
3. WOW then ASK. Plan to provide superior customer service – and then follow through on your plans. This can help you turn your prospects into customers, and your customers into fans. This is WOW service. For example, a rug store owner, after delivering a new custom-made rug and getting positive feedback, could call the customer and say: “I’m so glad you liked the rug you bought here, and we’d love to help others get the perfect rug too. Is there anyone you know who we can help?”
4. Use Calls to Action on your website. Your website should be more than just an online brochure. When people visit your site, tell them what you want them to do next after they read all about your products or services. This is called your Call to Action. Our rug store owner, for example, could use this call to action on his website: “Stop by our showroom and get a free gift for viewing our new rug collection.”
5. Build your list – and use it. As you network and connect, collect business cards and add them to a spreadsheet or your Outlook contacts. Then reach out to the folks you meet either by email, direct mail or phone – the more personal, the better! WebUndies.com, a Cranford, NJ-based online retailer, has over the years asked its customers for their email addresses and added those who have opted in to their subscriber list. These subscribers receive monthly new product announcements that drive traffic to the company’s website.
6. Build buzz. It’s no secret that people love to win stuff and save money.  Many don’t mind taking little quizzes or “liking you on Facebook” if there’s a chance to win or get a discount. When you offer contests, polls that are related to your  product, your prospects are more likely to become engaged and talk about your company. WebUndies.com, for example, offers a 10% discount for “liking” them on Facebook. This has driven traffic and comments on their Facebook page and traffic to their website.
7. Educate your buyers. Nobody knows your product or service better than you do. Prospects need your expertise the most when they are looking to buy, so why not provide tip sheets, articles or how to videos on your website and as handouts or links? Make your whole sales process about educating your customer. Our rug store owner, for example, could provide 7 tips for choosing a rug that won’t pill or fade.

Want to know more about the Art of Attracting Customers? Join Loraine at her Just Think B.I.G. talks, starting in November. For dates and locations, visit our Speaking Engagements page.

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7 tips midsize businesses can apply to their social marketing

This is the third in a series of posts based on my conversations about social marketing with Leslie Reiser, Program Director of Worldwide Digital Marketing for IBM General Business. Leslie and her team built IBM’s infoboom online community to collaborate with mid-market B2B companies. The community has since merged with other IBM midsized business social media channels, including a Facebook page, LinkedIn group, etc.

Read the first post, Big Blue Blogs?, to get the scoop on how IBM incorporates social media in its midsize business marketing. Don’t miss the second post, which reveals some of IBM’s lessons learned in building successful social collaboration with leaders of midsize businesses.

In this post, Leslie shares 7 principles you can apply to your own social media/digital marketing efforts. Using even one or two of Leslie’s insights can make developing your company’s social marketing a whole lot easier.

Understand where people are already getting their information, where conversations are already happening. Get involved in these discussions first. Understand where the client base is going before you try to direct the discussion.

Realize that social marketing requires an investment. You’ll need to have some level of investment to grow your social presence. For example, you may want to have a community manager added to your staff who will drive online discussions.

Be creative! After you’ve been listening to discussions for awhile, you’ll have an idea of what’s needed, what’s missing in the marketplace. Make that your niche. Create a new concept for that niche and make it your own.

Have something insightful to say. You have a short window to engage your audience because there’s so much competition for their time. What value are you giving in exchange for their time?

Keep it simple. When you keep it simple, you’ll make the best use of your investment. You’ll want to focus on sharing your content on the social platforms where you find the discussions most relevant to your company. IBM, for example, simplified and consolidated its midmarket interactions into five relevant social spaces, and made content easier to find with tags and indexing.

Empower your employees to be social marketers, and do it in the context of your market. The Watson success on Jeopardy is a good example – IBM people were all over the place – on both social and traditional media. For example, on Reddit.com [the social bookmarking and sharing site], there is a small, enthusiastic Watson audience, and IBM employees contributed to that discussion.

Leverage free tools – there are many. You don’t need to spend millions of dollars, but be thoughtful and be prepared. [For a good list of free social media tools, check out 10 Free Social Media Tools Every PR Pro Should Master].

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You can do social the hard way, or read these lessons learned by the IBM mid-market team

By Loraine Kasprzak, CMC

“I didn’t fail; I just found a thousand ways that didn’t work.” – Thomas Edison

In my previous post, I highlighted how IBM uses digital and social marketing to build its online eminence (think: Watson on Jeopardy), leverage the intellectual capital of its 400,000 employees, and provide deep-level content for its target audiences. This post resulted from my conversations with Leslie Reiser, Program Director of Worldwide Digital Marketing for IBM General Business.

Leslie and her team built IBM’s infoboom online community to collaborate with mid-market B2B companies. In October 2011, infoboom merged with new and expanded IBM midsized business social media channels – making it easier for business leaders to engage with the information that interests them.

The team has many lessons learned that small and mid-market businesses can apply to their own social marketing strategy. These are some of the insights Leslie shared:

Get the support of your leadership team. This helps galvanize the broader organization behind you. Present the business case and talk about social in terms leadership understands. Leslie’s team set up a consolidated dashboard with social sharing and engagement metrics that demonstrate value to the business.

Online communities take care and feeding. Community building isn’t easy. You need to understand the market view. What does the market want – an objective approach or one that’s vendor-driven? Then differentiate yourself – find a market niche and present a better solution for the niche’s needs.

Do your research and talk to clients. IBM’s research was extensive, including one-on-one “voice of the customer” interviews, focus groups, and over 1,000 online surveys. Even if you don’t have an IBM-sized budget, you should still invest time in reaching out to clients to discuss their needs and challenges.

IBM also set up a client advisory network, with 140 middle market CIOs [Chief Information Officers] from diverse industries and multiple countries who bounce ideas back and forth. This group, which has been in place for 3-5 years, is very candid and outspoken. The group also has the characteristics of the customers IBM is targeting. They’re not necessarily IBM’s best customers, but are indicative of the broader market.

It’s also important to pilot. Leslie’s team needed to see what worked and what didn’t in the market. You have to pilot before you invest in content. “You don’t want a meatball – especially an expensive meatball – hanging out there,” says Leslie.

At launch, validate and ensure you’re meeting audience expectations. Ask for feedback and correct your path.

Be sure you very carefully articulate your value exchange.  What are you going to provide that the market or client needs?

If you’re an international company, be very sensitive to country nuances and individual requirements. It’s not enough to translate – you need local experts. For example, IBM’s US healthcare solutions are vastly different from solutions for the UK. Certain countries can leverage US solutions and content – Singapore and Australia are two – but not the UK. Understand the market you’re getting into and know what’s acceptable and what isn’t.

Let your rock stars go social. People are looking for expertise, credibility and authenticity from you. Leverage your subject matter experts in your social marketing and it will help your company become an industry thought leader and drive the online discussion.

Next post: Leslie offers tips for middle market businesses for building social presence.

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