Here is the outline of what this multi-post will entail:

1.  Domain Name / Hosting – registering domain, strategy behind the name and costs about putting your site somewhere

2.  Content Management System – You need one, why and what types there are out there

3.  Look and Feel – Yes the CMS comes first, design is crucial, how to get one good and reasonably priced

4.  Putting it All Together – tweaking, integrating it with social media/community-based marketing and features

5.  Promotion – techniques, tools and strategies

6.  SEO/PPC – This isn’t the last thing discussed – it’s so important it is mentioned in every part but this will be the wrap up and discussion of how and when Pay-Per-Click is a good idea.

Remember not all of this applies to every small business and it may be overkill for a one-person firm but it’s all good general knowledge about how and why and what to do.   As always, my e-mail  tina (at) thesatorigroup (dot) com  is open for questions or leave a comment and I’ll reply.

P.S. – I’ll go back and link these as I post them so there can be a starting point!

But I digress.  Look for that series in a few days.

This my friends is about Twitter and a mini-rant I’m having in three acts:

Twitter is key for small businesses.   There are many many articles about why.  I can sum them all up in a sentence.  There is no better tool for the money, for promoting and spreading information about your services, products and business. Sure there are tons of people on there talking about what book they read, what they had for lunch but that’s just part of conversation.  It can’t all be strategy and roses, in between there you have life and fluffle.  (I made that word up).    Here comes the rant part:

1.  Act One

• If someone friends you, read some of their tweets and if it’s not spam/porn/evil – friend them back.   Not everyone you talk to is going to be your best friend but you might just end up having an interesting conversation, learning something or even make an impression.   Nothing makes me crazier than going through my friends and pruning out people (which you have to do from time to time) – and finding a “social network EXPERT” (emphasis mine), small business, restaurant or digital consultant that hasn’t friended back.   What a waste of a connection.
• Take into account there are some Internet Superstars that just can’t follow the thousands and thousands of people back.  I tend to follow them even if they don’t follow me because I’m interested.  And that’s the only way I’ll do that.  I don’t care if you think you are an Internet Superstar and I’m not interested in what you are saying, I will unfollow.  To me – I take the saying of Mark Davidson to heart – Twitter is about a conversation.  If you won’t even allow the possibility, forget it!  UNFOLLOW, UNFOLLOW, UNFOLLOW.
• Also you do have to prune and check your ratios.  Because there people who will follow you wait X amount of time, whether that’s a minute or a week or a month, after you follow them back, and then unfollow you.  It’s a scam to get more followers.  What they want to do with these minions, I’m not sure, but I don’t want to be a part of the shuffling masses.

2.  Act Two

• Don’t have every tweet be a key message or even worse quote someone else. Talk about things.  I don’t want to get to know your key selling proposition, or what Einstein said.  I can read that or learn that myself.  I want to learn about you, your business, your thoughts – those are the things that provide value to me.   I think that personality is key.  Because I’m not doing business with a faceless droid, even at large corporations, I do business with people.  Case in point – I have been with Allstate Insurance forever.  And not because of Allstate or their commercials.  I do it because the Agent I’m with listened to me when I was a whippersnapper driver and he knows me and HE cares.  I can’t tell you have many entertaining conversations we have had which usually end with him saying – call me back if you want to file this claim otherwise BYE!   He is Allstate to me.

3.  Act Three

• Don’t jump on every bandwagon that blows through Twitter. This is the generating rant that brought this post to your eyeballs.  There has been Twitter Spam in the last week which is annoying.  But what is making me crazy right now is the direct message – “I just gave you “love bug hug”! Check it out:” and the “do you want 100000 followers, click here.”   I’m in the process right now of blocking and reporting a huge number of these.  ARGH!
• That being said, there was a recent bandwagon to help the Iranian people and their election.   Every now and then it isn’t all horrible.  I’m just saying, be careful out there kids – not every tool, not every trend, not every shortcut leads you to Oz.

And as always, I value your feedback.  What bugs you about Twitter?  What have you found useful?  Do tell.

Social Media to me sounds slippery.  Like it’s a fad, phase or worse a “trend”.  And in some ways it is.  It suddenly became the darling of the “Web 2.0″ world and everyone was an expert that had ever written on a blog.  But for those of use in this industry (Interactive Marketing, Web Design, Development) when the term first came bubbling up into the common knowledge realm it was like putting a name to things we had been doing for awhile.  It was one of those “Aha” moments, not unlike when the term Web Master finally came into business lexicon and people knew what it meant.  A lot of us were going “so that’s what I do”!

But I live and work (and love) Texas.  It’s not that we are more conservative, it’s that – ok we are more conservative than the coasts.  Many of our clients are lawyers, law firms or corporations.  But we aren’t stupid.  When something makes sense, we do it!  Especially if it means something for our businesses.  So take Social Media which is about at it’s core connecting with your customers.  It’s community and interaction.  It’s being connected with people you work with, sell to and interact with through your company.  None of those things are foreign to us Texans.  With that thought in mind, I reframed Social Media into what it truly is Community-Based marketing.  Same idea, different name.

Dos and Don’ts in Community-Based Marketing

The biggest “fear” about community-based marketing when talking to my clients is this – “what if my clients/people talk back to me.”  And it’s not that they are afraid to connect with their customers, it’s that they are afraid that it will just be an open door of rants and negativity.  The stories of “trolls” and people just being ugly have filtered back to them.  And yes, it’s true that once you open the door to allowing clients to interact with you, there might be some people that are not happy with the company, or a decision you made or even a connection that happened in the past.  This is a real and valid fear.  But it’s worth getting over those fears and really being in tune with what’s right and what’s wrong in the marketplace.  Companies pay lots of real dollars to get “marketing research” about what’s going on in their industries.  With community-based marketing, it’s all right there.  You just have to listen, know where to look and not take it personally.  We as people all make mistakes and since we run companies, mistakes happen.   People aren’t always out there to crucify you and your company.   They just (many times) want to be heard, know that their feedback matters and that you acknowledge you are listening.

For me and what I tell my clients here is the list of dos and don’ts:

• Do open that door and let clients interact with you.  Allow comments, join forums, create a space for communication to happen
• Don’t overreact when someone comments in a negative or unintended way
• Do acknowledge their frustration, anger, issue either publicly or directly if appropriate
• Do attempt to make their feedback matter – it doesn’t always have to be a grand gesture.  Giving a future discount, connecting them to the appropriate internal people to rectify, acknowledging a decision had unintentional consequences, allowing them to vent, etc.
• Don’t be surprised when people are positive.  Many times our fears, are just that, fears.  You do good work or you wouldn’t be in business.  Allow people to respond to you positively.
• Do get a thick skin.  Just like ever arrow slung your way doesn’t need to hit it’s target, every compliment doesn’t need to get you an award.
• Do listen to the trends.  The door to your customers is open for a reason.  If you hear lots of times, that something isn’t working, change it.  If you hear that their is something clients want, give it to them.  This is good stuff, and ignoring it is a bad decision.
• Don’t get bullied.  This might seem counter to everything I’ve said above but you are allowed to set boundaries about how you will and won’t be treated, even online.  If I feel someone is a troll, I block them or report them.  And I define Troll as someone who just causes havoc to cause havoc.   I am open for discussion and opinions, I am not open to people being jerks because they are hiding behind a computer screen.

And here is the most important DON’T.

• Don’t sue someone over a Tweet.  I can see if this was Robert Scoble or Mark Davidson who have thousands and thousands of followers.  But this woman has 26 (before she cancelled her account) followers.  She expressed an opinion to a few of her friends.  You sue her for $50,000 and now everyone in the Interactive World and beyond knows who you are, that their might be mold in one of your apartments and you are a company that will whip out their legal department over NOTHING!

If community-based marketing is about interaction and connection with your clients and potential-clients, then jump in.  The waters warm, the people are generally nice and the rewards are genuine.

I would love to hear from you – if you are a business what your experience has been or if you are still the fear area, what is your fear.  Interactive marketing people – do you have any other do’s or don’ts?  And of course, any other feedback is welcome as well.