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Social Media: Cheap and Easy
Hosted by Conrad Hall
Every local business owner knows far more about social media than the so-called experts want you to believe. Social media is as simple as having a conversation with your customers and offers resources you won’t even find using Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Listen to the Social Media Un-Expert, as he unveils your options. You’ll soon see how to turn social media into a lead generation machine and into new profits.
Social Media: Cheap and Easy – Social Media Politics, Agencies Admit Failure, Yahoo For Sale
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Social media is used in Egypt to change the government, and in Mexico to keep people safe. But in the U.S. it’s being used by politicians to bicker and throw mud. Is it just me, or does this seem incredibly out of whack?
As politicians of all stripes follow Barack Obama’s precedent setting social media campaign from 2008, I’m starting to wonder if they can really be this clueless. After all, what have they been doing for the last 4 years? They’ve had no particular use for social media since 2008, yet they expect us to engage with them now that they’re hopping on the bandwagon.
Another social media flop is ad agencies. A new report from RSW/US and RSW/Agency found that while 95% of U.S. ad agencies are using social media to identify potential clients, less than 10% of their new clients are coming to them through social media.
Evidently they didn’t pay attention last year when the Nation’s Restaurant News published the results of their own industry survey. In that case, it was specifically for Facebook, and they discovered that while 65% of restaurants were using Facebook to market themselves only 3% of their customers were interested.
Naturally, the agencies blame social media for the poor results. Listen to this week’s show for the real reason why they’re getting no social traction.
And we wrap up the show this week with a look at Yahoo being on the bidding block. Google and Microsoft are interested in financing a purchase, although neither company wants to directly own Yahoo. Strange, but true.
More importantly, there’s a particular line in this story that really raised my ire. It ties everything together this week, and is a stinging indictment of all the profiteers and opportunists. This one piece is the best possible evidence for why we need to revive capitalism.
Social Media: Cheap and Easy with Conrad Hall
Conrad Hall is a master carpenter and retired field engineer.
In October 2007, he retired from a career filled with successes:
- a residential renovations business advertised solely by referral (“customer evangelism” in today’s vocabulary)
- working almost exclusively in the demanding niche of fixing what other contractors had done poorly
- advancing to the position of Field Engineer in high-rise construction without holding a formal engineering degree
- employed by the premier residential high-rise construction company in Ontario, Canada
Conrad retired from construction to pursue a simple career as a freelance copywriter. His skills as a communicator, teacher and marketer have made that simple career blossom into:
- publishing 4 business how-to titles in 16 months
- becoming an international speaker and small business mentor
- developing a client list that includes March of Dimes Canada, American Writers and Artists Inc., and the Ontario General Contractors Association
- hosting the nationally syndicated radio show…Social Media – Cheap and Easy
Today, all of Conrad’s efforts are focused on helping his fellow business owners make their marketing strategy effective and profitable. That’s why Conrad is working to show small business owners their real options and what they can really do with social media marketing on a local level.
His entire focus is working with small and medium size businesses to maximize their return on investment in traditional, online and social media marketing channels.
In 2008, Conrad saw the need for a clear, easy to read and understand social media guide for business owners. He has spent the last two years making that guide a reality: Friends, Followers and Customer Evangelists: The Business Owner’s Guide to Social Media is his 5th business title.
Join Conrad each week as he clears away the mysteries of social media marketing. Listen in as he and his guests discuss what is working, what’s not, and how to apply it to your small business.