I recently spoke at Indiana Construction Roundtable and SMPS – Society for Marketing Professionals first joint seminar on “Social Media are Internet tools used for sharing and discussing information. Sites such as Facebook and Twitter help connect like-minded people, companies, and associations.”  They did a fairly quick interview with me that I would like to share with you.

I used a lot of my recent ISBDC conference information and you can check all those facts over here – stuff like Facebook being up 700% and how communication has risen 18% in overall time online.  Those are big numbers.

ICR and SMPS people were a great group and I really enjoyed speaking to many of them afterwards.

I would also like to share with you the slideshow deck and a few videos I referenced.

I really enjoyed the Kevin Kelley panel discussion and I believe it’s a must watch for those of us interested in where the internet is going and why it’s so important to get involved online now instead of later.

I gave the group some good nuggets and some specific takeaways that may be relevant to your company.

Here’s some of the nuggets:

• The internet is not the silver bullet for marketing but the connections you make now will digitally last forever. And the relevant connections you have, the more chances of someone finding you.
• Social media is just one tactic of online marketing. You should have overall integrated marketing strategy in place then you can use the social media tactic – if you don’t have this, then how do you know if it is working with you?
• Being a valuable community member is more important than just talking about yourself and your company online.
• Going out and signing up for a Twitter, Linkedin, or Facebook account is only part of what you can do. There is a etiquette and language you must learn and follow to be a respected community member.
• So many times businesses sign up for these “free” tools expect them to work with little time or planning dedicated to their success. You usually get out of it what you put into it. If it sucks, then maybe you should look at yourself instead of the tool.

Here where the takeaways:

• Set specific goals with constraints and measurable items of return.
• Put in place a schedule. This will help develop a routine and habits and answer the question of “When do I have time to do this?”
• Figure your expected ROI. Your schedule should answer to the ROI you expect. Which is determined by the goal you laid out in the first step.
• Take sometime to explore the different tools and keep an open mind to how they can fit in your day. I did not learn this overnight but made mistakes and discoveries and learned from them both.
• If you are uncomfortable about communicating, why not just start by listening to what is going on.

Chris Brogan (I’m a big fan of his) just left some great tips on his website.  Check out these 19 Presence Management Chores You COULD Do Every Day.  They are great.

Feel free to call me at 317.218.0500, tweet, facebook, linkedin, or email me for further advice as you discover these new tools.