When you ask small business owners about their experiences on social media, you typically get reactions like, “It’s a time suck, but it’s fun” or “It’s good for customer relationships, but doesn’t work for lead gen.” I have to say, I’ve been through both of those. But then I got my hands on Lynn Terry’s new product called “Social Marketing Results.”
This different approach to social media caught my attention and, as I worked my way through the webinar-style video recording, I had questions. I emailed Lynn for answers which she immediately provided. I wanted to share her insights with you about why small businesses do better on social media than larger ones, how to convert social media from a time suck to a profitable piece of your marketing plan and how to monetize your social efforts.
KARON:Â You’ve been in Internet marketing for a really long time and have never created a product before. Why did you choose social media marketing as your first?
LYNN: Great question! I’ve released a few reports here and there, and I’ve been blogging consistently for over 9 years now – so I’ve put out a lot of content. But Social Marketing Results was ideal as my first “Signature Product” because it’s the perfect combination of all the topics I’m best known for on my blog and in my tutorials.
I teach a very organic, very focused marketing strategy. As you and your readers know so well already, this is crucial in today’s search space. I’ve been saying for years that “Social Media Rank” will be bigger than PageRank ever was. So teaching this topic was a perfect fit for me and a perfect combination of the smaller topics I teach like creating unique and interesting content, content optimization, building a solid (FUN) business with long-term profit potential, etc.
This is actually the first in a micro-topical training series I’m releasing, but it got such amazing feedback that I sat down and fleshed it out into a more detailed training course – complete with worksheets, checklists, and a private group for ongoing help & creative ideas.
I was blown away by the fast results people were reporting along with their feedback, and wanted to take it a step further and turn it into an actionable easy-to-implement course. It’s been *such* a fun project! We have a really great group actively working on implementing the steps, modeling the examples, and showing off results.
KARON:Â Almost everybody else out there is preaching “big numbers” when it comes to social media. But not you. Tell me a little bit about your unusual philosophy.
LYNN: That made me laugh. 😀 Many of my business principles may seem unusual, or at the very least creative. But the fact is that they work. I’ve been successfully working online and from home for over 16 years now – and even my first business was started in a very unconventional way, but it that business did six figures it’s first full year.
It pays to stay ahead of the curve, and to consider ways to “fail-safe” your business. Especially in the constantly changing internet space. Testing is vital, and as an entrepreneur you have to be innovative and find out what truly works – not just follow “the norm” or “the rules” or some blueprint the general public is is following. That’s what sets true entrepreneurs apart from “business owners” – and employees
Vanity Numbers, as I like to call them, are great for social proof – and they’re also great for your ego. I don’t suggest you shouldn’t increase your social reach to the max, because you should. I teach a strategy that helps you do that organically and consistently over time – for free.
There’s SO much more to it than numbers though. It’s discouraging for someone starting out to compare themselves to someone with tens of thousands of followers, and actually think they won’t get results until they reach those same numbers. That’s simply not the case – which I prove with live examples in Social Marketing Results.
I’ve seen newer bloggers on free platforms with smaller followings cut big deals with sponsors and brands. With one of my newer niche blogs, in a niche where I was practically unknown, I scored some sweet business. What I teach will work for anyone, in any business model or in any market, from the start. No spending big bucks on ads, or months on end marketing – but how to go from nothing to RESULTS in short time.
KARON: Not only are you talking about using social media for engagement, but also for monetization. Is it really possible for people and pages to turn a profit through social marketing?
LYNN:Â Social Commerce has been a hot topic for years now, and many bigger brands and retailers have tested it and pulled their campaigns – due to lack of ROI. The problem there was that they tried to integrate traditional catalog style e-commerce experiences into social media platforms, which didn’t work.
“In the US, Gap, J.C. Penney, Nordstrom and GameStop, all opened and closed shops on Facebook within the past couple of years.” source: http://www.fourthsource.com/social-media/social-commerce-finally-taking-15875
This is where the small business owner, or online business owner, really has an advantage. In May of this year, HubSpot published encouraging statistics that state smaller companies have greater success than medium-size or larger companies in terms of number of customers acquired through Facebook. Source: http://blog.hubspot.com/where-do-marketers-get-customers
Smart new entrepreneurs aren’t using old-school marketing methods, or trying to fit a square peg into a round hole when it comes to doing business on social platforms. They’re getting creative, innovative, and they’re making sales!
While direct conversions are harder to track with social marketing, it has an obvious impact on your metrics across the board. I teach how to use social media to get a higher email open rate for example, and why that works. Increasing traffic is another good example, which puts you in a position to get paid sponsors or higher advertising revenue.
You can also get leads and make sales right on your social media channels. You should build a targeted following, and engage them with great content and conversations, but the key is getting them to take an action. You want to build this into your Social Media Marketing Plan and get your followers used to taking actions.
KARON: You talk a lot in the training about “raving fans.” What do you feel is the most important thing people can do to turn a “like” into a raving fan?
LYNN:Â The shortest answer I could give you on that is: “Acknowledge Them.” Many people use social media as a broadcast platform, without ever taking their actual market into consideration. They look at their followers collectively as numbers, not as real people who buy real products. Each and every “fan” is a living breathing person on the other side of the screen. When you stop focusing on the numbers, and start focusing on the faces – and the feelings, needs, wants, and opinions of those people – that’s where things really start to change.
The most important thing you can do to turn a “like” into a “raving fan” is to treat that “like” as the real person they are – not just a number in your stats.
KARON: You gave one example of the easiest way to boost traffic in social media and on your blog fast. Tell me about your ideas for using trends for content and how that can pay off for social users.
LYNN: Leveraging trends is just smart business. In fact, leverage of any kind is just plain smart – it’s one of my favorite business “tools”. As a niche affiliate marketer I’m always looking at “hot markets” or trends, because they result in a rush of sales (think: Tickle Me Elmo). You can also leverage trends for traffic. The best part is, the mainstream media is doing all the hard work for you by turning the topic into a trend and getting people excited and/or engaged on the topic. All you have to do is position yourself in the right place to funnel a major traffic spike. Done right, it also results in a very nice spike in sales. 😉
KARON:Â Thanks Lynn!
I’ve know Lynn for years from her ClickNewz blog. She’s the one that introduced me to the power of affiliate marketing which allowed me to generate an additional $25,000+ in revenue for my business. I was excited to see that she finally released a product of her very own on a topic of which she is truly a master.
Right now, Lynn is offering Social Marketing Results for $77.  That gives you a webinar-style video program complete with cheat sheets and more. If you’re tired of spinning your wheels on Facebook, Pinterest and other social platforms, this is the way to finally cash in.
