Soliciting Facebook Likes

[callthatgirl]

Here is what I did in a nutshell.

I started to grow my social media years ago. One contact at a time.

Then as I added in new social media (Twitter in 2009, Fanpage 2010?, G+ in 2011, etc...) I had a revolving contact list to add those folks to.

Then it just keeps growing

And...I ask people all the time to like us, join us, follow, etc.
Then send out value-add messages to these people
They their friends see it
They like you then too

It's a lot of work to be honest. But it pays off.

[mooncat]

This is an interesting thread.

CTG...do you see hard dollar value in growing your facebook "likes" and G+ "+1's"? Is it something measurable?

Judging by your writings and history it seems that you are successful because you used social marketing. Your business is social. It's not necessary the media, but "social" in general. The "media" part of it is the results of that work. Am I correct?

I mention this because I don't think it's worth running promo's to get likes and high numbers of friends, etc if they aren't truly "social." Besides maybe social proof, if it doesn't translate into hard dollar somewhere along the line, it's just an inflated number.

However, by building that network through true touchpoints, it can be powerful since it's a great source for word of mouth marketing.

Bottom line, IMO, you need to have a social strategy, not a social media strategy. Social media can be some of the tools, or results, but the foundation is built through social marketing and personal touchpoints, which then multiple, but the multiple is built with substance, not fluff.

Agree?

[16k_zx81]

Originally Posted by Velvis

Does a Facebook page really generate income?

If you know how to exploit it, yes. Absolutely.

I am adamantly NOT a facebook user. I hate facebook, with a passion.

There's no denying that social networking (which is just plain old fashioned 'networking' through a screen, instead of at a conference, or a party or whatever) will bring you clients. Its just another form of word-of-mouth referral.

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Insert shameless free plug for Lisa's podcasts, ebook, and posts here
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[callthatgirl]

Social media tools play a huge part of my marketing plans, it's now so much of our committment to it that I hired a marketing assistant in March and yes it's valuable. She works 24 hours a week right now and will be doing 40 during the summer. Mostly because I was doing it all myself and I was about to die if I didn't bring on help.

About a year ago I did a check and I think these were the top 5 ways we brought in clients. Notice I don't count social media as it's just part of our marketing. When I do things on Linkedin, we track it as Linkedin, but LinkedIn is a huge part of the overall plan. So are my blogs, newletters, etc. It's all part of the game. We track the social media tools, but in all fairness, LinkedIn is the only that is in the top 20. Facebook is just part of the social media. You have to play the game.

Networking (met them at an event)
LinkedIn
Referrals
Speaking engagements
Lisa marketing (basically me out there pushing cards to anyone who will take it)

@mooncat CTG...do you see hard dollar value in growing your facebook "likes" and G+ "+1's"? Is it something measurable?
Yes, because people on Facebook are busy. When asked how they heard of me, they usually don't say Facebook. When they do, it's tracked in our system. G+ is still somewhat new and I don't really know how I feel about it yet. Still figuring out the audience and how to communicate with them.

Your business is social.
I think any business can be social if the owner is social. I am very social and when I got the business running, luck was on my side. I found early on the benefits of using social media tools. I saw the value of talking to people I met at events online after we met. They talked back. They paid attention because I blogged and got involved with LinkedIn.

Bottom line, IMO, you need to have a social strategy, not a social media strategy. Social media can be some of the tools, or results, but the foundation is built through social marketing and personal touchpoints, which then multiple, but the multiple is built with substance, not fluff.

Agree, maybe. I'm a bit confused with your comments, but I will close with saying that I like what I have going on, it works for CTG. Doesn't work for every company and it took a lot of time to grow. My numbers are getting larger every month. Simply put, the more contacts you have, the better results you will see.

How you get those contacts is your hard work. How you keep those people interested in your company is your hard work.

[Technotch]

I can get you 500+ likes for $20, immoral and untruthful it may seem but it helped me woo some clients before while giving presentation. just dont buy too much to make it realistic

Add: people really go where the crowd is. when my friends and relatives saw that my page has over 1k of likes, they all went and like it too. I guess when you're "popular" they just cant help it but support you as well.