James Cann, Business Secrets, Using Social Media

This is a quote from James Cann, Business Secrets, Using Social Media - IPhone App:

"Social Media for business is not a 'nice to have', it should be an essential part of your marketing.

Social media is probably the biggest revolution in business right now. Just look at the impact of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Barack Obama was elected largely through the power of the Internet.

Bearing in mind that these things are free, you should really become an expert, because marketing costs are always the biggest challenge for any new business. If you have an opportunity where you can access millions and millions of customers free of charge, then you shoulc make it your job to be an expert on that subject.

I recently had a meeting with on of my businesses. Their biggest challenge was that they weren't growing; we weren't attracting any new customers. They didn't have the cash to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on marketing. So we considered the potential impact of social media and said, 'Do we really understand it?' and the answer was 'No.' 'Are we using it in our business?' Again, 'No.'

We weren't doing it because we were ignorant in this area and we didn't know how to do it. That's not acceptable in business. So I said to my Chief Executive, a chap called Phillip, 'Phillip you should make it your job to be and expert.' Over the last 6 months, Phillip has spent every weekend understanding Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, where his business would sponsor forum discussions on the topic that his business specialises in.

The forum groups have taken off so well that today, there are 78,000 forum groups on LinkedIn and he's in the top 20 in the world. He has something like 42,000 people who engage in his discussions every week. He can stimulate the debate areound the service that he provides. Interestingly enough, his business has grown over 80% in the last 12 months, not coincidently because he is now attracting new customers at no cost.

So I think the concept of social media is not a 'nice to have' or something that's there in the background, it should be a critical part of your strategy." James Cann

Some great advice there. I personally never really pushed the social media side of things for the web design business. I have certainly played around with Facebook, Twitter, Google +, BEBO and many others and have helped many clients with their social media marketing.

Recently though I have read much more about Facebook and Twitter and spoke to many who have seen the benefits. I have integrated Facebook with Twitter and have a feed built into the front page of this website so people can catch brief updates on things of interest. Having a smart phone makes it really easy to post updates anytime, anywhere and this is instantly reflected for visitors to see on my website. You just can't beat that.

I will be utilising social media more and more and urge you to try it for your business.

If you are interested, here is more on the subject, all which have great reviews: