This question was recently put on one of the group discussion boards that I follow on Linkedin:  “Is Social Media a must for B2B to businesses in today's marketplace?".  A couple of people responded by saying that was NOT a must for B2B businesses in today’s marketplace.  I am sorry, but I must disagree here, I see it as a MUST in this sense.  Social Media is here to stay.  And, what Social Media looks like today (Facebook, Blogging, Linkedin, Twitter, etc.) is far different that what Social Media will look like a few years from now.  But, the Social Media tools that we are using today will lay the foundation for the Social Media tools that businesses will use in the future.  So, whether you are a B2C or a B2B business, if you do not get on board with Social Media today, the next big thing in Social Media for businesses is going to come out of one or more of the Social Media tools that we are currently using.  And there is a good chance that you will not be ready to take full advantage of it because you have not developed your Social Media presence, or put a Social Media strategy in place.  It is imperative that all businesses understand, whether you see a place in your current marketing strategy for Social Media today or not is not the issue, the issue here is Social Media, and what Social media will become, is the future in B2C or B2B marketing.  The longer you wait to get on board the harder it will be to stay up with the ever changing world that the internet, and specifically Social Media, has became, and will continue to be.  I heard a great thought a few weeks ago: "You ask what your ROI is on Social Media marketing spending?  How about this for an ROI, if you don't get on board with Social Media Marketing today there is a very good chance you will NOT still be in business in as little as five years".  Think about it.... 

Both large and small businesses are jumping on the social media bandwagon.  According to the latest statistics 35% of small businesses now have a Facebook page for their business, 15% have created a Linkedin profile and 10% of small businesses are using twitter, but only 8% are blogging and 8% of small businesses have a video promoting their business on Youtube.

Now if you think about this, these are very revealing statistics.  If the intent of Social Media Optimization is getting your social media presence found on the first page of Google then, as small business owners, we need to see if what we are creating on the social media platforms we have chosen to use will in fact get us on the first page of Google.

We have been told for years now that when it comes to search engine optimization “content is king”.  Producing fresh relevant content around the keywords that best describes your products or services is the absolute best way to get your website found by Google.  Based on this, we have come to an understanding that two of the fastest ways to get on the first page of Google is to write a blog using fresh relevant content around your keywords, or produce a video and tag the videos with the keywords that best describe your products or services.

So have small businesses really grasp the concept of Social Media Optimization?  Not according to the statistics.   If 35% of small business have a Facebook page and 15% are on Linkedin and 10% are using twitter but only 8% are blogging and 8% have a video on Youtube then it seems to me that small businesses have not really grasp the concept of Social Media Optimization. 

Now I realize that there are purposes of getting on the social media bandwagon other than just getting found on the first page of Google.  Things like engaging with your customers and presenting your customers with news, special events and special promotions.  And Facebook and Twitter are great ways to accomplish these things.  So my intent here is not to be critical of businesses because they have chosen to utilize Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter over blogging and videos.

But I would like throw this challenge out to small businesses:  If you are going to jump on the social media bandwagon try to get the most out of it.  There are several ways that you can accomplish this, developing a Social Media Strategy for your business is a critical starting point.  Using your Facebook page to support your blog, using your Facebook page like a blog, or creating tweets that point to your blog are great ways to utilize your social media platforms to support your Social Media Optimization effort.  So, to really take your social media marketing effort to the next level it is important to understand Social Media Optimization.

Social Media Optimization is a term that was first introduced in 2006 in a blog post written by Rohit Bhargava titled “5 rules of Social Media Optimization (SMO)”.  In this blog post Rohit seems to be the first person to bring together the concepts of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Social Media Optimization (SMO).  Since then Social Media Optimization has been described in many different ways by many different people.

Wikipedia describes Search Engine Optimization as “the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the “natural” or un-paid (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results.”  Or commonly stated Search Engine Optimization is getting your website on the first page of search engines, like Google, for the keywords and phrases that best describe your company and your products and/or services.

Social media has been described as “the online tools and platforms that people use to share opinions, insights, experiences and perspectives with each other.  Social media can take on many different forms, including text, images, audio and video.  Popular social mediums include blogs, message boards, podcasts, wikis and vlogs”.  Wikipedia currently states that “social media is the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue”.

Tying these two concepts of Search Engine Optimization and Social Media together I offer the following simple definition of Social Media Optimization:

Social Media Optimization (SMO) is the process of improving the visibility of a company’s social media presence, including text, blogs, images and  videos, in search engines via the “natural” or un-paid (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results.  Or commonly stated Social Media Optimization is getting your social media presence on the first page of search engines, like Google, for the keywords and phrases that best describe your company and your products and/or services.

Using this definition of SMO let’s check and see how your company is doing.  Start by Google’ing the name of your company.  Hopefully the first impression will be your website.  But if you are doing a good job of creating content on your social media platforms, your website should be followed by social media content such as your blog, your facebook page, your twitter account, Linkedin accounts for your employees, videos that you have produced and posted, etc.  If your social media content is showing up on the first page of Google for the name of your company then your company is doing a good job of “turning communication into interactive dialogue”, which, remember is how Wikipedia currently describes social media, and you are well on the way to obtaining Social Media Optimization (SMO) for your company.

For a small business to effectively use social media they must learn how to listen first.  If you want to truly understand how to communicate with your customer you must know what your customers are saying and what they care about.  And, as small business owners, there is not a better tool available to us than social media to help us truly understand our customers.

I spend a lot of time looking at the Facebook pages of small business owners.  There is one major truth that I have discovered in reviewing these pages;  Small businesses that are carrying on a two way conversation with their customers are getting the most out of their Facebook page as a marketing tool.  And you know what; I am not the only one who feels this way, so does Google.  Social Media Optimization (SMO) entails using your social media presence to be found on the first page of Google, first for the name of your business, and ultimately for the keyword phrases that best describe your business.   When I do a Google search for a business and I find that the Facebook page for that business is showing up on the first page of Google there seems to be one common thread found on those Facebook pages, two way conversations.

And the opposite of this hold true.  When I review a Facebook page where all you see is post from the business itself that page very seldom is showing up on the first page of Google when I search for that company.  So, you see Google also understands that the most effective way for a small business to use social media is to listen first.

First off, I am damn proud of myself, in April of last year I set out on my Blogging Adventure.  My goal was to average a blog a week.  If you take the time to count them, 52 blogs in 52 weeks.  But what have I accomplished? 

If you read my last post you will see that I believe I have found my voice.  But that, and $3.75, will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.  Have I really accomplished anything?

First, let’s see if my blog is being found by the search engines.  You can pick about a dozen titles of my blog and I will be found on the first page of Google for that title.  According to Google I am an expert on “Tips for Posting Content on the Internet” and “Establishing your Personal Internet Presence”.  Google each of those phrases and, again according to Google, I am the number one authority in the world on these topics.  If you Google “WSI Reach Cast”, two of the blogs I have written on this important product that we offer show up on the first page of Google.  If one of my goals was to get the attention of Google then I have at least accomplished that.

Another of my goals was to establish myself as an Internet Consultant here in Scottsdale.  If you Google “internet consultant Scottsdale” you will find my website, of which my blog is attached to, on the first page of Google.  So, again, according to Google I have accomplished this goal as well.  And I do believe my blog is a big part of why I am on the first page of Google for these keyword phrases.

I have attached Google analytics to my website so I can not only track how many visitors I get to my website but I can also see where they are coming from, and what page they are first landing on.  My website is averaging about 30 visitors a day, with Scottsdale, AZ being the city with the most visitors.  More visitors are landing on my blog than any other page on my website.  And a good portion of the visitors to my website are coming from searches that take them directly to the page of one of my blogs.

So, somewhere along the way I have attracted the attention of my customers.  I blog regularly, I copy my blog on the notes tab of my Facebook page, I Tweet my blog title and point the tweet to my blog, my tweet is automatically copied on Linkedin, and I talk up my blog constantly as I go about my daily business.  Blogging has become a big part of my business and, my life.  My customers have told me that reading my blogs have brought some clarity to topics like Facebook Pages for Businesses and why a business should Tweet.  So, what have I accomplished?  52 blogs in 52 weeks, again I am damn proud!

It has been about a year now since I set out on my blogging adventure. To be honest with you, when I first started writing my blog, I had no idea where I was going.  I had sub titled my blog “Providing you with news and information on internet marketing and social media”, and I just started writing. 

Before I started blogging I had done quite a bit of research, and to this day I continue to read as much as I can about providing fresh new content on the internet.  One of the first things I read about blogging is that you need to “find your voice”.  This is one of those concepts that can seem theoretical in nature, what does it mean to “find your voice”.  I know when I started blogging I struggled with this:  What was “my voice” going to look, or sound, like?  So I just started writing and somewhere along the way I “found my voice”.

For me, one of the biggest lessons I learned along the way was I could use my blogging to support the daily conversations I was having with my current and potential clients.  Each week, when I sat down to write my blog, I would think back on the conversations that took place over the course of the week.  These conversations usually became the content for my blogs.  This then became a way for me to answer a question about social media (Developing a Social Media Strategy for your Small Business), or Facebook (New Changes to Facebook Pages), or Twitter (Why Tweet?) and also point the person I was having the conversation with to my blog, where they could not only be reminded of my answer but also get more information that might help further answer their question.

I think most of us understand by now that the primary purpose of using Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques is to get your business found on the first page of the search engines for the keywords that best describe your business.  And using SEO techniques to accomplish this is still one of the most cost effective ways to get the attention of your potential customers.  Statistics tell us that 86% of people will perform some sort of research on the internet at some point during their purchasing cycle.

But let’s look at this concept from a different perspective. We will assume that your potential customers have found out about you by some other means than the internet.  So, for the purpose of this blog we will assume that you have been referred to them by a common acquaintance.  Let’s say it is someone that you have done business with. 

Given the statistical statement from above, it is a logical assumption that it would be a very common occurrence for your potential customer to go to the internet at this point in their buying cycle.  They might search for you personally, or the name of your business.  What will they find?

If you have a website, and certainly most businesses in today’s marketplace will have a website, they should find your website.  Hopefully, your website will be the number one organic result.  If you are a local business with a local address, your Google Places Page should end up near the top of the organic results.  But after these two impressions what will they find?  For most businesses, the rest of the impressions of the search results for their name will fall in either of two categories.  The first category will be sites that represent their business, but they do not control the content on them, review sites like Yelp fall in this category.  And the second category will be sites that do not represent your business at all, sites that have a similar name as your business fall in this category.

In both cases, these results are not good for your business.  In the first case the results can refer to your business, but you do not control the content.  Misinformation and negative reviews can have a negative effect on how people perceive your business.  In the second case, the search results are giving the person who performed the search the opportunity to go in a different direction.  In either case you are taking the risk that the person who has been referred to you will get sidetracked and not find the information that you want to present to them.

Now, in order for you to control the majority, if not all, of the search results found on the first page when your business name has been searched for you will need to create multiple places on the internet that represent your business, you will need to link these places together so that the search engines clearly understand that each of these internet locations specifically represent your business, you need to create keyword rich content on one or more of these internet locations and you need to link that keyword rich content together to constantly remind the search engines who you are, what you do and where all your locations are on the internet.

The best way to accomplish this is to develop an Internet Presence Strategy.  Once you put your Internet Presence Strategy into place the first thing you will accomplish will be to dominate the first page of the search engine results for the name of your business.  And, if you continue to work your strategy, you will find your business on the first page of the keyword searches that best represent your business.

As a small business owner, getting your potential customers to find you on the internet can be a difficult task.  Both you and your competition are struggling to get on the first page of the search engine results for the keywords that best represent your business.  We are told that creating fresh relevant content on the internet, around the keywords that represent your business, is the best way to attract the attention of the search engines.  Now the easiest way I know of to create fresh relevant content on your website is to attach a Blog to your website.  So does Blogging really work for a small business owner?

Yes, it works if you work it!  But you do have to work it, and work it on a regular basis.  If you are going to commit to writing a blog, and you want to be successful in attracting your potential customers, there are a few thing you have to understand and be willing to commit to.

First, in order to be successful in your blogging, you will need to commit to writing a minimum of 4 blogs a month, on the average, and be willing to continue this practice indefinitely.

Second, you need to come up with a Blogging Strategy.  I have posted several blogs on the Blogging Strategy that I have chosen to use.  In my blog titled “Use your Blog to attract the attention of your potential customers” I tell you just one method I use to come up with the title and content for my blogs.  In addition to the method I describe in that blog I also do research on the internet, using keyword research tools, to find long tailed keyword phrases that a substantial number of people are searching for, but the competition for those keywords is relatively low (this part of my strategy takes some skills, effort and tools that you might need help with).

Third, you need to integrate Social Media into your Blogging Strategy.  I have written several blogs around this concept.  If you read my blog titled “Why Tweet”, you will see how to and why you should integrate Twitter into your Blogging Strategy.  To see more of how to and why you should use Facebook to support your blog you can read my blogs titled “Use your Facebook Page to support your blog” and “Link your blog to your Facebook Page”.

And last but not least you need to come up with a writing style that works for you.  In my blog titled “Tips for Posting Content on the Internet” I explain to you the style that I recommend, and seems to work best for me.

WSI Reach Cast is an exciting new tool designed to manage your total internet presence.  Everyday your potential customers are using search engines to search for your products or services.  Your ability to be found on the internet is directly related to how well, and how often, you are producing fresh relevant content around keywords that address your products or services.  In addition, your ability to capture those potential customers is directly related to your ability to control all of the many places your company is being found on the internet.  To accomplish these two items, it is imperative that you develop an internet marketing strategy.  WSI Reach Cast is the perfect tool to help you develop, and implement, an internet marketing strategy for your business.

WSI Reach Cast is a powerful combination of technology and services designed to help you mange the entire internet presence of your business.  The technology aspect of WSI Reach Cast starts with the creation of a “Cast” page.  Think of the Cast Page like a mini website from which you can create content and “cast” it out to the many sites you can create for your business on the internet.  This cast page will also help you gather, address and “cast” out reviews and recommendations that are written about your company.   The services aspect of WSI Reach Cast is provided by a Web Presence Professional (WPP).  Your dedicated WPP will consult with you to create and execute the perfect internet presence strategy for your business.

The WSI Reach Cast platform starts with the initial set up stage and continues with the performance of ongoing monthly services that are designed to develop, control and monitor your internet presence.  The initial set up stage includes the development of an internet presence strategy; the development of a “Cast Page” designed specifically for your business; the development of a Facebook Page, a Twitter Account, and a Youtube account for your business; claiming and set up of your directory listings pages, such as Google Places, Yahoo Local, etc.; and the linking all of these pages to your Cast Page.  Your Cast Page will then be used to create and cast content across multiple internet sites on an ongoing basis.   In addition to creating and casting content the WSI Reach Cast platform, through the use of internet monitors your reviews, and listens to, and engages with, your customers on an ongoing basis.  The WSI Reach Cast package also includes analyzing and reporting on a monthly basis by conducting monthly review meetings.  These monthly meetings include detailed reports of your cast page activity, analysis of your ongoing internet presence, and a review and updating of your internet presence strategy.

So, if you are struggling with getting your arms around your company’s internet presence, WSI Reach Cast just might be the solution you are looking for.

Toward the end of every BNI chapter meeting there is a time set aside for the “I have” portion of the meeting.  One of the “I haves” that is fundamental to BNI is the “I have a testimonial”.  A BNI member stands up and gives a short one or two sentence statement that acknowledges when one of his fellow BNI chapter members has done a great job for either himself or one of his referrals.  With Facebook we now have the opportunity to take the BNI testimonials to another level:  We can post that same testimonial in a couple of places on Facebook.  First we can post it on the wall of our fellow BNI chapter member’s Facebook page and, second, we can post it on the wall of our BNI chapter’s Facebook page.

When a great testimonial is given during the “I have” portion of the chapter meetings we all get a sense of how powerful a personal, heartwarming, testimonial can be, especially if it is done with some passion and the person has put some real thought in to it.  If we are willing to take just a few moments after our BNI chapter meeting, sit down and write out that testimonial, and post it both on the wall of our Fellow members page, and on the wall of our BNI chapter page, we can take the “I have a testimonial” portion of the BNI chapter meeting to a whole new level.

Just a couple of quick notes from Dr. Ivan Misner on what makes a good BNI testimonial:  First, focus your testimonial on one person, a good testimonial should be about just one BNI chapter member.  Second, be specific, talking in generalities does little or no good.  And, third, give the testimonial in the first person, even if you are giving it as a result of what the person has done for one of your referrals, focus on how you personally saw what a good job he did, how good it made you feel, and the positive impact it had on your life.