The DFW Rocks Social Media Q & A Panel features Bernadette Coleman, Patrick Dougher, Robin Moss and Eric T. Tung
Question: Patrick, what is the reach of your audience?
Patrick: Well actually the right way to ask that question is “What keyword do you want your show to be known for?”. Our company figures out how to get that right.
Question: What do you see as the future of social media?
Robin: You never know where the future is going to lie so you “pick your poison.” I dabble in all the social media, but I try to pick what is going to work best for my clients. Social media is going to be like everything else, and you have to watch the trends.
Eric: I said yesterday “It will be the end of the ‘like’ and the ‘follow’. Google shows you results that are more targeted to your location. I used to work at an electric company, and we use to think about having people walk around with fully charged battery packs, and if you get a Twitter tweet that someone is complaining about a battery dying, we can go to them and help them out. It seems like we are going to go a lot more organic.
Bernadette: I can make it real simple – social media is here to stay. It has a big impact on your business and you really need to be there. But that isn’t enough. You have to engage. If you’re not engaging then you aren’t there.
Patrick: How many “Boomers” do we have in the house? We grew up with maybe around 21 channels, but now we are going towards Netflix, and now things are totally on demand, how you want, and what you want. Designing things around your world.
Question: I really love doing videos, but what is the best way to improve my reach?
Patrick: You can do all the things that you do currently, and just do more of it.
Eric: You can transcribe it for time stamps. There are a few sites you can go to in order to pay people to transcribe your videos for you.
Bernadette: It’s sometimes best to break down your videos into bite-size tips that lead back to the larger video.
Eric: People are watching longer and longer for content, but that is usually because they are watching something on Netflix.
Patrick: The only ones that are watching you for 30 minutes are the ones that know you and love you.
Question: How else can we continue to grow our influence?
Bernadette: I think you need to reach out to the influencers. Engage with the top influencers as best you can.
Eric: Figure out how your client wants to do something better. And do this without mentioning product names. Become the “go to” expert in your field.
Robin: One of the other things, when someone shares your content, acknowledge them, and do it QUICKLY. You need to engage back. It’s not just about putting it out there, it’s about engaging with them.
Patrick: When engaging with an influencer you want to find out what they need.
Question: There are many vendors for contests. Which vendor would you suggest?
Eric: There are several that I like to work with, and you can even go off site. I like GraphicCopter.
Lissa: WooBox also has some.
Eric: Another is NoorSocial. You can pay for some of them, and then Involver, which is out there too.
Question: I am a virtual assistant, and have many clients that don’t really understand social media. How do I rein them in?
Robin: Ask them what social media sites that they know about, and then ask them why they think they need to use social media.
Bernadette: There is a company called KnowEm that will let people create various profiles across various platforms.
Eric: Also, if you want to get to know the client, make a chart and list the buyer personas, then create a buyer cycle matrix to figure out what people are in the buying cycle at any given time. After asking these questions, then you can figure out a better strategy.
Patrick: If you have a company with less than 10 employees, and they have been in business for a few years, then you have a client list that you can really look through to figure out what to work with.
Question: Do you use any complete CRM tools that pull it all together?
Robin: I am still old school, I still use various programs to handle my CRM.
Patrick: Contactually.com – It’s a snap-on to your email, and it goes through all of your email and social media contacts, and helps you to follow people and create a conversation.
Bernadette: QuickBase is something I like to use. It is very easy to program and I don’t even know how to program.
Question: How does SalesForce automation work with social media applications?
Bernadette: We just recently took our sale dept off SalesForce because we had more flexibility and it cost less.
Eric: I know that you can have some flow through social media. Social Hub does a lot of automation too.
Question: I wanted to find out your thoughts on Klout.
Patrick: I’m a firm believer that if you raise your influence you raise your affluence. I look at the Klout score, but don’t make it the end all, be all.
Robin: I consider if I’m engaging people, am I getting sales, etc. I’m not going to sit in bed and toss and turn over my Klout Score. I am going to do what I do and not be hysterical about Klout.
Bernadette: I did mention that I was trying to get my Klout score higher than Lissa and my staffers.
Eric: So Teri, I think you have a higher Klout score than anyone at the conference. There was a person who put out a press release with his Klout score. We were trying to figure out if he was serious or not. You can kind of game it, but it’s still kind of a good tool. But remember, their business is to sell our data to sales.
Lissa: It’s easy to game. Someone went out and increased his Klout score by giving out Klout to others, and they gave it back which raised his Klout score. There are things that they are doing to make it more legitimate, but if you are genuine in what you do your influence is going to go up.
