The New Dynamics of Business Promotion October 19, 2-3 p.m.

Carl Weaver International Association of Movers

Why This Topic? Lots of self-promotion going on in the Social Café This is not the best method We can all do it better Nobody is perfect and we are all learning all the time about how to improve

Self Promotion How to promote your business in Social Media Social media is like a (business) party Don’t simply get on the Social Café (or other site) and start asking for business Engage in conversation Try to help people solve their problems Offer assistance Refer people to other resources Invite them to ask you for further help Build business through relationships

Useful Social Media Sites Different social media sites have different dynamics IAM’s Social Café – People help each other solve problems and do business better Twitter – Time-sensitive snippets of information Facebook – Communicating with a community LinkedIn – Business updates YouTube – The world’s fourth largest search engine – make a video! Others exist but these are some you need to be on

Everything Old is New Again Social Media sites don’t change much about your business You still need to promote yourself These sites give you a platform There is no magic bullet Get in front of your client and ask for the sale Don’t expect social media to save the day Social Media sites are just one way to get in front of people

However, you must be careful Your clients (current and future) are watching you Monitor what you say Don’t say anything you would not want repeated Do not react too quickly to negative feedback Do not exit the conversation Admit when you get something wrong Try to make it right Let’s talk about social media disasters

Tell Your Story Other ways of telling your story Press Releases Easy to write Easy to distribute Articles in The Portal Free advertising Include a photo Short stories are great but we also need full-length articles Send Carl your internal news stories (That’s me!) for The Portal and the ePortal Newsletter Free advertising Promotions/retirements/pregnancies/good works/interesting moves/

What are you doing to promote your business?