The New Dynamics of
Business Promotion
October 19, 2-3 p.m.
Carl Weaver
International Association of Movers
Why This Topic?
Lots of self-promotion going on in the Social Café
• This is not the best method
• We can all do it better
• Nobody is perfect and we are all learning all the
time about how to improve
Self Promotion
How to promote your business in Social Media
• Social media is like a (business) party
• Don’t simply get on the Social Café (or other site) and start asking for business
•
•
•
•
•
Engage in conversation
Try to help people solve their problems
Offer assistance
Refer people to other resources
Invite them to ask you for further help
• Build business through relationships
Useful Social Media Sites
Different social media sites have different dynamics
•
•
•
•
•
•
IAM’s Social Café – People help each other solve problems and do business better
Twitter – Time-sensitive snippets of information
Facebook – Communicating with a community
LinkedIn – Business updates
YouTube – The world’s fourth largest search engine – make a video!
Others exist but these are some you need to be on
Everything Old is New Again
Social Media sites don’t change much about your business
•
•
•
•
•
You still need to promote yourself
These sites give you a platform
There is no magic bullet
Get in front of your client and ask for the sale
Don’t expect social media to save the day
Social Media sites are just one way to get in front of people
However, you must be careful
Your clients (current and future) are watching you
•
•
•
•
•
•
Monitor what you say
Don’t say anything you would not want repeated
Do not react too quickly to negative feedback
Do not exit the conversation
Admit when you get something wrong
Try to make it right
Let’s talk about social media disasters
Tell Your Story
Other ways of telling your story
Press Releases
• Easy to write
• Easy to distribute
Articles in The Portal
• Free advertising
• Include a photo
• Short stories are great but we also need full-length articles
Send Carl your internal news stories (That’s me!) for The Portal and
the ePortal Newsletter
• Free advertising
• Promotions/retirements/pregnancies/good works/interesting moves/
What are you doing to promote your business?