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Re: 5 Advanced Social Media Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses

Samir Balwani — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:02:36 -0000

Thanks for passing on the post!

Re: 5 Advanced Social Media Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses

Samir Balwani — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 07:39:06 -0000

When I first wrote this post I thought that a requirement for these should be a dedicated marketing person or community manager. The problem with that is, most small businesses don't have the resources to dedicate to that. In the end, it's important the business try and do what it can without spreading itself too thin. Maybe they don't have to do all 5 strategies, maybe local social network is all they can achieve. So while yes no social strategy can succeed without the investment of time and resources, it doesn't have to be huge.

Re: 5 Advanced Social Media Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses

Samir Balwani — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 07:36:51 -0000

Agree, but it's still important to be there. Even if one customer tried looking for you online and didn't find you, that's a lost sale. For a small business, one customer is a lot.

Re: 5 Advanced Social Media Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses

Samir Balwani — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 07:36:07 -0000

I love my Flip HD - Hopefully I can start finding more time to use it. That's my biggest obstacle right now

Re: 5 Advanced Social Media Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses

Samir Balwani — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 07:35:36 -0000

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed the post

Re: Conversation Focus – Don't Forget the Others

Samir Balwani — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 08:52:19 -0000

Awesome Lauren! I'm looking forward to it.

Re: 5 Simple Things Most Social Media Marketers Forget To Do

Samir Balwani — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:17:04 -0000

Definitely, shoot me an email through the contact form above!

Re: 5 Simple Things Most Social Media Marketers Forget To Do

Samir Balwani — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:14:49 -0000

Haha whoops! Fixed it! Thanks!

Re: Conversation Focus – Don't Forget the Others

Samir Balwani — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 11:37:05 -0000

Thank you Jeff! Always appreciate your comments here.

Re: Conversation Focus – Don't Forget the Others

Samir Balwani — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 11:36:47 -0000

I like Trackur and I'm trying out PostRank Analytics right now. I'm trying to get a demo of Radian6 or Nielsen Tracking because I think for big brand that level of reporting might be necessary. But truthfully, between Google Alerts, the multitude of free tools, and Trackur you don't need much more.

Re: Don’t Rush Into Social Marketing, Think About it First

Samir Balwani — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 21:01:36 -0000

There definitely is a lot to learn Pam, but it sounds like you're doing great. Thanks for the comment.

Re: Don’t Rush Into Social Marketing, Think About it First

Samir Balwani — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:55:38 -0000

Thanks for the comment Wendy! That's exactly the point. There's so much to understand, and while testing it out is great, you need somewhere to start! I'm glad it worked out for you.

Re: Blog Owners: "Don't Forget to Update Your Twitter Settings"

Samir Balwani — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:35:42 -0000

Hey Mari! Thanks for your comment -- I believe Twitter changed the way they track replies. It's called mentions now and Twitter will show you all times your username appears. I don't think you have to do anything anymore.

I definitely suggest using Tweetdeck to track your Twitter stream, it lets you search for mentions of your name, brand, and even other keywords you're interested in.

Re: Best Practices for Blogger Outreach

Samir Balwani — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:05:03 -0000

Thanks Paul! I love Buzzstream and use it like crazy, so it totally warrants the shout out.

Your point of comments is definitely important. Bloggers definitely start to recognize users over time and are more likely to communicate with actual fans.

Re: Best Practices for Blogger Outreach

Samir Balwani — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:04:00 -0000

Thanks for the comment Anna! I'm excited to hear what you think about future articles.

Re: Social Media Metrics: What We Need to Track Sales

Samir Balwani — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:37:37 -0000

Thanks for the comment, I appreciate your thought... However, I write my blog posts as I speak. I don't worry about, the grammar since I really write for myself. 9 out of 10 times, if I can even get what is going on in my head, out on paper, I consider it win. None the less, thanks for the comment.

Re: Building an Online Presence for a Small Business

Samir Balwani — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 09:55:45 -0000

I'd disagree with you. I'd always think content first and find a way to make it SEO friendly. I'd much rather my site be built for a person, than just to rank.

Re: Building an Online Presence for a Small Business

Samir Balwani — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:05:10 -0000

Vince that's an awesome question. I'd definitely recommend either using your home address or a P.O. Box. It's just comforting to know that I can send mail to company if I need to.

Re: Social Media Metrics: What We Need to Track Sales

Samir Balwani — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:30:36 -0000

This is a great comment. I totally agree with you that it's hard for SMM because we're expected to show quantifiable results. Showing results is extremely important, but shouldn't be the only reason why you invest in social media.

It seems that as more companies use, customers are almost expecting businesses to be online. Maybe you don't need a huge contest or Twitter strategy, but you might need a Facebook page, or Yelp profile.

I think a lot of businesses forget to trust their consultants sometimes, and in the end don't take the risks to make social media effective.

Re: Social Media Measurement

Samir Balwani — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:28:23 -0000

Thanks for the awesome comment on my post, and I 100% agree with you about social media proxies. In fact, I wrote an article about that a while ago which I think you might find interesting too. Understanding Social Media Metrics with Basic Modeling. Let me know what you think and if you have any ideas to help build the function.

Re: Social Media Metrics: What We Need to Track Sales

Samir Balwani — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:17:42 -0000

Thanks for the kind words, and the awesome sketch. It's definitely important to be able to track unique visitors, but not only know that there were unique visitors, but where they went, what they saw, and where they came from.

Re: Social Media Metrics: What We Need to Track Sales

Samir Balwani — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:45:22 -0000

Thanks for the comments guys. I think the biggest problem right now is just analytics when it comes to social media. Toolbars, applications, and limited access to 3rd party information makes it difficult to track a consumer, where they came from, and what they bought if they even bought something.

If you know of a tool, or if HubSpot solves many of these problems. (I don't have a HubSpot account), I'd love to know about it.

Re: FriendFeed Users Shocked by Facebook Acquisition

Samir Balwani — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:36:41 -0000

Not really happy about this, but it's too early to be sure. Let's see what happens.

Re: 5 Easy Social Media Wins for Your Small Business

Samir Balwani — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:12:18 -0000

I'm super self-critical, so I tend to think I look funny or sound funny! I WILL overcome it and start publishing videos - I hope.

Re: 5 Easy Social Media Wins for Your Small Business

Samir Balwani — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:04:24 -0000

That's really great advice Phil, I guess my own bias came into play since I hate making videos. I'll be sure to add it moving forward! Thanks again!