As a small business owner, I’m eager to get my name in front of prospective buyers. The more people I get in front of, the more business I can drum up.

To bring more readers to my website, I turned to Twitter. I began to tweet my blog headlines with links, asking for opinions on key questions. I also looked at profiles and followed the ones that interested me the most.

Making Slow Progress on Twitter … Sound Familiar?

Sure, I was building a stable following. Every day, I added a handful of followers.  In a matter of two months, I had 240 followers and averaged three visitors a day to my blog. But it was slow going and I was spending a lot of time looking for people to follow, so I needed a new way to find Twitter followers.

I posed the question on Twitter: “How do I get more followers?”  Two people suggested that I buy more. I had read buying Twitter followers was frowned upon in the social media community, but I wasn’t clear on why. So I set out to find out for myself if buying followers was a bad idea

Buying Twitter Followers Didn’t Sound So Bad

I began my experiment by purchasing 1,000 Twitter followers for $15 from a site called Just Twitter Followers. Within one day of my order, I had an extra 1,000 followers.

I was excited until I started looking at the followers. I checked every single new follower and found they were all bogus. This made me mad, so I wrote an email to customer service basically accusing them of being frauds. (I tried to make it sound nice; I really did.)

The not-so-polite customer service representative explained that I had asked for 1,000 followers and that I had not asked for “real” followers. Confused, yet? I was. Then she added links to the ‘real follower’ web page.

Apparently I had bought the $15 package that gave me 1,000 followers in name sake only. In other words, to look better in Twitter search rankings, I needed a higher follower number. If I actually wanted to engage with real people, then I would have to pay more money.

I Followed You … You Follow Back

Obviously, I had done something wrong by selecting the $15 option, so I chose a discounted option of $24 for 2,000 followers. Three days later, my mailbox became flooded with Twitter followers. At last count I had a little over 1,500 followers and it was growing.  The question remained, was it worth my $49 investment?

To get followers, I had to follow others. It was the same basic principle I was personally pursuing, but on a larger scale. The vendor I chose called it “inviting others to follow.” In other words, using my account, the company went out and followed a bunch of people.

The Drawbacks of Buying Twitter Followers

On day one, I went from following 471 people to following 1,205. Many of these people I don’t really have an interest in. Some speak another language, many tweets are about nothing at all, others are vulgar and distasteful, and others tweet other people’s quotes. (I just hate that.) Now my tweet feed is overcome by dumb tweets which make it harder to find the stuff that actually interests me.

I also learned that Twitter has a maximum number you can follow, but they won’t tell you what the maximum number is for any one account. According to the Twitter website, the system will lock you until you have the right ratio of following to followers. At one point, I wasn’t able to follow anyone new because my ratio was off. As more people accept the invitation to follow, my ratio became more in line.

Here’s the bottom line: if engagement is what you are looking for, buying Twitter followers is probably not the best solution. Similar to the old fashioned direct mail that went out to every person alive versus to a targeted list of buyers, Twitter numbers can be a false illusion that you are reaching more prospects than you really are. I have come to believe that I may have wasted my $49 and will spend hours un-following a lot of folks.

Have you ever purchased (or thought about purchasing) social media followers? Let us know in the comments section below.

Social media marketing is one of the newest and most effective marketing strategies for small businesses today. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have created new ways for people to interact socially online, which creates new opportunities for small businesses to market to these consumers. Follow these three tips to get the most from your social media marketing efforts.

1. Plan your strategy carefully.

Planning a strategy for social media marketing is much like planning other marketing strategies. You need to make a detailed plan, and then stick to it if you want to be successful. First, write down the goals you want to achieve. Then add the steps it will take and the tools you will need to reach those marketing goals.

As you outline the goals necessary to integrate social media marketing into your existing marketing strategy, you should also decide who will create the profiles and accounts on social media sites for your business, and who will have access to those accounts.

2. Find interested customers.

Choosing the right social networking sites to start your social media marketing campaign can be difficult because there are so many sites available. Before you decide on one, do your research. You will want to choose a site where the consumers in your target market are most likely to come together.

The people who already use your product or service can help you begin this task. Finding more customers to take part in your online community will be more difficult. People are more likely to connect with other people than with businesses, so show a picture instead of your business logo on your profile.

3. Learn how to interact.

There is a right and a wrong way to deal with customers online, especially when other consumers can see these interactions on social media sites. The online social interactions you have with your customers must be open, honest and give value to your business.

It can be easy to spend a lot of time talking about your wonderful products or a great sale going on with your business, but it is more important to customers that you are listening to them on social media sites. Consumers use social media to talk to one another, so your best strategy will be to listen to your customers and respond to their needs in order to build a strong relationship with them.

Show them that you are reliable and can reply to their problems quickly. New questions and comments should be replied to almost immediately. Stay active on your social media site and participate in the conversations taking place about your company. If you follow all of these steps, you should be able to see an improvement with your customer relationships.

 How do you use social media marketing? Let me know in the comments section below.

Red Bull’s Facebook page appeared on countless “Best of” lists last year. Advertising experts praised its clever design and clear, to-the-point navigation. I’m not a fan of the brand on Facebook, but I’ve seen the image at least a dozen times.

So when I pulled up the Facebook page for Hipstamatic, an iPhone camera app, I did a double-take. I understand being inspired by successful designs, but this seems like plain old copy-catting.

Red Bull has since retired its Facebook design, but you can see Hipstamatic’s Facebook page here.

What do YOU think?

My office mate, a California native who’s no stranger to earthquakes, went and stood in the doorway. And what did I do, before my desk had even stopped shaking?

I logged onto Twitter. Naturally.

And while my Twitter feed exploded with newly released details (5.8 on the Richter scale! No, 5.9! Centered in Virginia! Felt in New York City and DC!) I was surprised to see quite a few marketing messages mixed into the tweets.

Some were more successful than others. Check ‘em out:

I’m sure there will be more earthquake-related tweets throughout the week. Submit your favorites in the comments and I’ll make updates to the list!

You know that guy in the office who has no filter? The one who always leaves you cringing, or fighting back laughter, or both?

Twitter, Facebook and other social media channels seems to bring out that guy in all of us. I’m not just talking about US Representative Anthony Weiner, who recently got himself in hot water after sending a lewd self-portrait to a Twitter follower. I’m talking about the countless businesses, big and small, that have – intentionally or not – alienated fans with their bad tweets.

I admit: I have a deep fondness for these tweets. Each one is a tragicomedy starring disgruntled interns and off-color humor, an allegory about the repercussions of a confessional era. And it all happens in 140 characters or less.

Let’s start with Samsung, who copyranter titled “Twitter Idiot of the Week:”

Now, I’m not saying honesty has no place in marketing. But this tweet is a little too honest. Ten percent unemployment rate? Pshaw! A little retail therapy will make you feel better! And if you don’t have $200 to drop on a new Samsung camera, don’t worry – there’s always credit.

Then there’s Chrysler’s tweet, which showed up shortly after their Superbowl ads featuring Eminem:

This tweet was made by the employee of a social media marketing firm working on behalf of Chrysler, who thought he was tweeting from his personal Twitter account. The employee and the social media company both got the axe.

What’s more damaging than an unintentional tweet from a disgruntled employee? An intentional tweet from a disgruntled employee. Take these famous last words from a Marc Jacobs intern:

The tweets were later deleted. Marc Jacobs issued a public apology with a warning to be careful with your passwords. Perhaps he should also be careful about how he treats interns.

Speaking of fashion, who can forget Kenneth Cole, who took political unrest in Cairo as an opportunity to promote his spring line?

According to Mashable, “Cole made a similarly indelicate statement in the past; following 9/11, he told the New York Daily News: “Important moments like this are a time to reflect… To remind us, sometimes, that it’s not only important what you wear, but it’s also important to be aware.”

After thousands of followers complained about his Cairo faux pas, Cole deleted the tweet and made an apology on his Facebook page.

For my final example of social media fails, I move to Facebook and 7-11:

“May is Mental Health Month,” the update reads, “or so the SHADOWY CONSPIRATORS WHO CONTROL THE WORLD would have you believe…”

Personally, I thought this post was hysterical. But many didn’t agree with me, and criticized 7-Eleven for being unsupportive of mental health issues. (Not to mention irrelevant – what does mental health month have to do with slurpies and microwaved burritos?)

What are some of your favorite Twitter fails? Post them in the comments section below. If I receive enough, I’ll do a second compilation of bad tweets and Twitter PR fails.

This is a guest post by Lior, a consultant for iAdvize who also works for an applicant tracking software company from New York.

Facebook, also known as the social network, is one of the fastest growing phenomena of the 21st century. The social media giant has captured a massive number of followers, growing by millions of users every month.

If you want online business exposure, Facebook is one of the best places to get it. Problem is, most business owners feel lost when faced with marketing on Facebook. Don’t worry. This article will help you on your way, so that you too can harness this growing network for your business.

The Big Question – Profile, Page or Group

You may be wondering which of the above is the right way to promote your business on Facebook. You are not alone in doing so. The choice becomes even harder as more tools and apps are introduced to the marketplace.

With over 500 million users active on Facebook one thing is crystal clear. You ought to be there.

Facebook is a fantastic branding tool for businesses. Think local Yellow Pages, only better. Facebook will give you exposure in your local market and lets you connect with your buyers and clients on the fly.

My suggestion is to consider three options: a profile (which you need anyway if you want to harness the power of pages), groups and pages.

Why a Facebook Profile is a Must-Have

When you first sign up for Facebook, you will be prompted to create your own profile. This profile will show your market a little bit of the private you and can be a powerful way to build trust with your peers.

If you’re hoping to hop on Facebook, slap up a page and get money thrown at you from eager buyers – forget it. It’s called the social network for a reason. Being social is key if you want some measures of Facebook’s success.

A profile will allow you to upload photos, link to your websites and connect with old friends and new (although it beats me why they call this being “friends” when we connect with strangers). You can also tell the world about your hobbies, likes and dislikes and keep control of it all with the right privacy settings.

Pages Are Great if Used Correctly

Business pages are a great tool to promote your services and products. But be mindful of how you promote yourself. The community doesn’t approve of users who throw up promotional link after link without making an effort to connect with others.

If you want to be savvy on Facebook, use the 80/20 rule. Use 80% of your messages to promote other people’s stuff and 20% for your own.

Groups Share a Common Interest

Facebook groups are great if you want to chat with a community of like-minded people. You will find anything and everything on Facebook, from sowing to fly-fishing and cooking.

Be mindful of some groups, though, as they simply use Facebook to promote their wares via private messages. The group administrator decides who will be accepted and who will be banned. As with profiles and pages you can upload and share photos, videos, notes and messages with your peers. You can even start your own group, but be aware that this could take up a lot of your time – especially if it becomes popular.

Still Not Sure?

If you’re still sitting on the fence about what Facebook account to choose, the following might help:

• Customization: If you want freedom to customize your look and appearance on Facebook then pages will allow you to use a gazillion apps to do that. There are apps for RSS feeds to display your blog feed (or several), apps to showcase videos, games, business apps and so much more.

• Messaging: If you have a group of up to 5,000 members you can send them direct messages whenever you want. It’s a bit like having your own list. Please don’t abuse this, though, as it will be reported by other members.

• Exposure: Facebook pages are crawled by search engines and they will be visible by people aren’t haven’t logged in to Facebook. This can give you more exposure. Groups  are usually more private.

• Personal touch: If you’re looking to add a personal touch to your Facebook profile then groups are probably your thing. It’s a bit like having your own forum. This can be great if you sell a membership or have an existing clientele.

Do this… If you are a…

Facebook pages: a must-have for all businesses

Facebook profile: great for celebrities and service professionals like brokers, chefs and consultants

Facebook groups: fabulous for people looking for more privacy within a group of people

You want to create a social media marketing plan for your business, but you’re not sure where to begin. As a marketing consultant, I’ve helped create social media marketing plans for everyone from Fortune 500 companies to mom and pop shops. Here’s how I do it, broken down into six easy steps.

While this post speaks to small business owners and solo entrepreneurs, its strategies can easily be adopted for larger businesses, nonprofits and other groups.

You can also check out a sample social media marketing proposal I created for a client – opens in Adobe PDF.

1. Determine capacity and need for training.

Start creating your plan by asking yourself how much time and money you can reasonably devote to social media marketing each day. How much time do you need to spend? It depends on three things:

•  The size of your business

• The size of your budget

•  The size of your goals

If you’re a solo entrepreneur who just wants to expand her reach, you may not need to spend more than 15 minutes a day on social media marketing. If you’re a business such as The Hershey Company, with dozens of brands, you’re going to an entire team of social media marketers in place.

Also ask yourself how much social media knowledge you’re bringing to the table. Be sure to factor in time and associated costs for necessary training. This can be as simple as downloading a few free eBooks, or as complicated as taking a week-long social media workshop.

2. Listen.

Before you start planning what to post, check out social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to see what your customers are already talking about. This is also a good time to find out which of your competitors are online, what kind of content they’re posting, and how often.

A good way to monitor the chatter – and find influencers in your market – is to perform a keyword search in directories such as WeFollow or LinkedIn Groups. What topics seem to generate the most responses? What topics go ignored? Jot down any trends you notice. They’ll come in handy when you’re crafting your own content.

3. Choose your mediums and monitoring tools.

Most social media users can be found on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. You may want to choose one social media site to start, then move into others when you feel more comfortable. Or you may want to create marketing plans for all three, plus a few niche sites. Whatever you choose, just make sure your social media marketing plan is sustainable over the long haul.

Next, figure out how you’re going to monitor each social media account. Will you set your Facebook profile to email you whenever someone posts on your page, or will you check in manually? If you check in manually, how often?

For Twitter, you can set your phone or social media browser to alert you whenever someone sends  a reply or direct message. You should also consider setting up a Google Alert of your business name to monitor any mentions happening outside of your account.

You can also choose to monitor the web using Tweetdeck, Hootsuite, Seesmic, or any of the new social media monitoring tools that keep popping up around the web.

4. Crafting Your Content

Fourth, figure out what you’re going to post on each social media account and how often. If you have a schedule of special promotions or events, you may want to schedule some posts and tweets leading up to each event.

The timing of your posts can greatly impact the effectiveness of your social media marketing. As you post content, you may want to try different times of day and different days of the week to see which ones generate the most responses.

You may also want to make a list of potential sources to pull information from, for when you’re having a slow week. (I keep mine in a folder in Google Reader.) These posts doesn’t have to be scheduled, but it helps to have their sources identified beforehand so you don’t have to search for them later. Otherwise, your social media channels may start to look like this:

5. Planning Your Responses

Fifth, brainstorm all the possible situations that could happen on your social media account. Perhaps someone posts a legitimate complaint to your Twitter profile. Maybe they use your Facebook page to complain about something that’s not legitimate. How will you judge? How will you reply?

Maybe someone uses your Facebook page to promote his business, or post obscene photos. What will you leave up? What will you delete?

When mapping out scenarios, remember to account for the good things, too. What if someone posts a compliment? Will you respond? Can you create a strategy that leverages positive feedback in future marketing?

It helps to have a response mapped out for every situation, especially if you’re responsible for the social media marketing of a large company or group of people. That way, you don’t have to worry about making the wrong move.

6. Evolve

Eventually something will happen that doesn’t have a planned response. Adapt your social media plan as needed. You may hire an assistant, and need to create an appendix to the social media plan that spells out who’s responsible for doing what.

By getting everything in writing, you have a living document to guide your efforts and clue you in to elements you haven’t yet considered.

For more social media resources, check out this awesome online database of social media policies from companies around the globe. You can also check out the top 10 sites for social media marketing trends, as collected by Pivot Conference:

Have you created a social media marketing plan for your small business? What have you learned along the way? Let me know in the comments section.

First example: my local grocery store.

The Facebook Win

I hate grocery shopping with a passion. I hate grocery shopping so much that my fiance enacted a no-talking policy for the 20 minutes after I get home from the store, because I chew his ear off with complaints.

Have you heard the music they play at the grocery store? Can you believe the surly teenage employees? And don’t get me started on the elderly drivers.

Then I stopped going to chain stores and started going to Stauffers of Kissel Hill a locally-owned grocery with a wide selection of baked goods and other prepared foods. This cut down on my grocery shopping stress, but I still run into snags from time to time.

Like today: I had been craving edamame noodles, so I decided to pick some up from Stauffers during my weekly grocery run. I got home, put the groceries away, and settled down to eat a dish of edamame for lunch. But the edamame beans looked a little … wrinkly.

It only took a minute to realize they were rancid.

I had recently become a Facebook fan of Stauffers, so I decided to let them know before other people purchased them. I felt a little bad about leaving a public complaint, but I was also curious to see how the store would respond. Less than an hour later,  I received this message:

“Thanks Kelly. We will notify the store asap. Remember that Stauffers has a 100% satisfaction guarantee or double your money back! Please stop at customer service and we’ll refund your money x 2! It doesn’t have to be today…next time you are at the store would be fine!”

Awesome. Not only will they refund twice my money (a nice perk) but they mentioned I don’t have to rush to make the return. As I responded on their Facebook page, just another reason I love shopping at Stauffers!

The Facebook Fail

Compare this experience to one I had with Adweek Magazine. I wanted to send an article query, but couldn’t find masthead information anywhere. And, Adweek being a trade magazine, it wasn’t like I could drive to the local book store and pick up a copy.

Adweek also has a Facebook page, so I posted a question on their wall. No response. Annoyed, I came back a week later and left another comment: “Way to be responsive to online feedback, Adweek. Shouldn’t you be setting a better example for your readership?”

This being a publication about marketing, I thought Adweek’s staff would be more mindful of its online reputation. I figured the chiding comment would at least spurn someone to respond. Three weeks later, I still haven’t heard anything.

Worse, check out the comment below mine: “More than a decade since I last worked in an ad agency and I still love AdWeek content.” What a great opportunity to thank loyal readers and to make them feel appreciated! Unfortunately, that comment went ignored too.

Social Media 101

That’s the enigma of social media — my local grocery store uses it to handle complaints and boost customer relations, while a national trade magazine uses it to promote its articles while ignoring user feedback and hurt its credibility.

How are YOU using social media?

Vanity Fair recently published an article titled “America’s Tweethearts,” listing six women as some of the Twitter celebrities to appear in recent years. Accompanying the article was a photo of the six women clad in trench coats and stiletto heels.

After seeing countless magazines attempt this kind of “round-up” feature on Twitter users, I paid the article little attention. I scanned the photo caption for names I recognized, then got back to my own Twitter feed.

The next day, I stumbled across a blog post from Felicia Day, one of the women highlighted in the article.

Felicia’s Response

“When I was first approached to do the shoot,” Felicia wrote, “I was very excited. The photography in the magazine has always been the best in the business, and the fact that they were interested in doing a piece about Twitter and New Media gave me hope that a magazine firmly in the ‘establishment’ was interested in exploring the subject in a new light.

“And then during breakfast I saw some weird Twitter comments go by…and then I read the article…and oh, gosh. Really?!”

Felicia’s first complaint (after praising photographer Michael Halsband for the “GORGEOUS image”) was regarding the article’s usage of words such as “tweeple,” “twilebrity,” and “Twinformation superhighway:”  signs, she believed, that the writer had little first-hand experience of the subject matter.

But what really bothered Felicia was the writer’s repeated jabs at the tweethearts’  intelligence: “For tweeple, e-mail messages are sonnets, Facebook is practically Tolstoy,” the article read. “Those of us who still read are hoping this is a jump-the-shark moment.”

In  other words: the women in the article were being … horror of horrors … objectified!

Just A Jealous Bitch

Part of me felt disgusted along with Felicia. But another part of me wanted to shout, ‘Well, what did you expect?’

The comments on Felicia’s post were equally two-sided. “The photo is ab-fab, but the article isn’t worth the dead trees it’s printed on,” one wrote. Said another: “That is a pretty useless article, but hey look on the bright side, you still look hot in the photo!”

And here’s a real zinger: “You look gorgeous in the picture, and I’m sorry a jealous bitch was the one writing the article.”

Consensus: Vanity Fair sucks for making these “tweethearts” look like bimbos. But at least they’re hot bimbos!

Hot Chicks

Let’s get real: Vanity Fair wasn’t giving a serious commentary on how new media is changing the way people communicate. And it certainly wasn’t attempting to create a list of authoritative female Twitter users. To do so might have involved using women who were old, or fat, or not white. In other words, women who didn’t look like they belonged on the cast of “The Hills.”

No, Vanity Fair wanted some hot chicks to grace its pages, and to distinguish them from all the other hot chicks on its pages, they gave the whole thing a “Twitter” theme.

Does that excuse Vanity Fair for downplaying the achievements of these six women? No. Does it necessitate a  1,300-word snarkfest on Twitter’s more mundane points? No.

But is anyone really all that surprised that it did? I hope not. ’Cause that would take a real bimbo.

What do you think? Was Vanity Fair way outta line, or are people making something out of nothing? Let me know by leaving a comment below.

PS: If you want a real list of Twitter women to follow without the glam, check out Forbes’ 14 Power Women to Follow on Twitter. And then follow me, @KellyWatson, for more unique views on women and business.

Some say social media is just too new to start gathering ROI data. Others say social media’s greatest value to businesses is its ability to create conversations, and it’s nearly impossible to track the ROI of those conversations over time.

So  how are businesses to know if their social media strategies are working? Is it really impossible to measure social media’s ROI?

In a word, no. Businesses can measure social media’s ROI, but it requires:

1. Setting specific goals for each level of customer interaction
2. Determining how to collect data, analyze it and identify correlations
3. Using that data to calculate ROI

Defining Social Media ROI

For many business owners, the goal is obvious: to improve sales. But sales can be generated in a wide number of ways.

Don Bartholomew of Fleishman-Hillard’s Digital Research Group has identified four ways that are particularly relevant to social media:

• By increasing brand exposure
• By deepening customer engagement
• By influencing customer behavior
• By getting customers to take action

He suggests several ways to track each method’s success. Exposure, for example, might be measured by web traffic, search engine rank and number of reader comments. Engagement can be measured by the duration of each visit and the number of return visitors. This image comes from Bartholomew’s blog post on the subject, “Social Media ROI Part 1: Framework:”

Once you understand how these factors can be tracked, you’ll be able to set specific goals. Because most people move through the four methods in a linear way – from increased brand exposure to the actual sale – you’ll get better results by setting goals for each level of interaction rather than just setting specific sales goals.

Other Forms Of Social Media ROI

One thing to keep in mind: When measuring the results of your social media marketing, don’t forget to factor in other forms of ROI. In addition to increasing sales, social media can reduce expenses by solving customer support issues and decreasing the need for other, more expensive forms of marketing. (Print advertisements and search engine optimization are two that come to mind.)

Like any form of marketing, social media marketing takes work. But with the right preparation, you’ll have an easy way to track the value it brings to your business.

Do you track your social media marketing efforts? Do you have statistics of your own? Share them in the comments section below.