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Why You Need Social Media – Cause It Ain’t a Party If You Are The Only One There!

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After my week-long series on social media marketing for contractors I received an email from a painter out on the west coast who basically said that social media is bullshit. His business was built on referrals and he is making a good living from that.

To that I say good for you George. But for those of you out there who haven’t found the goose that lays the golden eggs you need to consider social media as another way to spread the word. And I mean spread the word because the days of “build it and they will come” have passed you by.

As someone who has meetings in boardrooms as well as over the hoods of work trucks, one of the most frequent questions I get is how to build a following online. There really is no one answer to that question except for this – no matter where you decide to plant your flag; Twitter, Facebook or YouTube,  you need to remember that the days of set it and forget it are gone. In other words, throwing up a website and calling it a day isn’t going to cut it anymore. The best way for you to grow your audience and build a brand is by making yourself a valuable member of existing communities.

You need to find out where the conversations are taking place around your area of expertise and be there fielding questions and supporting that community any way you can for as much time as you possibly can. Because in 2010, the community doesn’t come to you, you have to go to them!

Related articles
  • How to promote your event with social media (dontdrinkthekoolaidblog.com)
  • How to Reward Yourself Using Social Media (socialmediatoday.com)
  • Friday Fun: Calling bullshit on social media [Confessions of a Science Librarian] (scienceblogs.com)

Contractor Marketing Tip: Social Media is The New Branch on The Referral Tree!

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Maybe you have been on the fence about this whole social media – online marketing stuff you’ve heard about. Maybe you’re a nuts and bolts, meat and potatoes kind of contractor who doesn’t think spending his nights on Twitter or Facebook will amount to much.

But you do know that a good referral or testimonial is worth its weight in gold right? And you would do anything to be able to generate enough referrals to stop having to spend on advertise your contracting business altogether wouldn’t you?

Well you can’t, you will always have to spend on advertising (spoken like a true ad man right?) but you can cut costs, and the way you do that is to find out what the lifetime value of a client really is. To track this, you can simply use a spreadsheet to figure out how much your typical customer is worth in both direct sales and referrals.More

Contractor Marketing-Lead Generation & List Building Part 4, Social Media

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Social networking using sites like Twitter and Facebook are an AMAZING way to build relationships, connect with others, and yes, even generate leads. Here are 5 simple ways to make lead generation “easy peasy” by combining social media marketing with things you’re already doing.

  1. Link your Twitter and Facebook accounts so whenever you post to Twitter, Facebook is updated.
  2. Link your blog to Twitter, Linked In and Facebook so whenever you post a new item, the 3 separate sites will share the title and a link back to it automatically.
  3. Link your EzineArticles account to Twitter so whenever a new article is accepted, it will update Twitter (and therefore Facebook) with the title and a link back to it automatically.
  4. Schedule “tweets” to go out offering great daily tips.
  5. Create a “tweet ring” with those who you admire and complement your business.

Just imagine the amount of people your articles and posts are now reaching! Your friends, friends of friends, complete strangers – all are now exposed to your information AND given a link where they can learn more and sign up for your email marketing list. It’s also important to note that the above process is a supplement to participating in actual conversations and chatting with others and is not meant to be a substitute for the “social” aspect of “social networking”. Think of it as a big party with a ton of great people and interesting conversations that you can pop in and out of based on your schedule – and you don’t even have to dress up!More