By Jennifer Henderson
This blog post is the first in a series of Question and Answer (Q&A) sessions with social media experts. When Carole asked me to start contributing to her blog, I thought it might be helpful to interview professionals who are using social media for marketing purposes. Then, I thought, ‘Who best to interview than Carole herself?’ Below is my interview with Carole Hayward, executive director of Clear Message Media.
What have you found most interesting about starting your own company?
As a small business owner myself, I have learned how challenging it is to tackle all of your to-do items. There are so many decisions you have to make, and new things to learn, and there are only so many hours in the day. In addition, with the advent of social media, technology is changing all of the time. I really empathize with my clients. They have businesses to run, and they often don’t have the time to maintain their social media efforts. My own small business perspective helps me relate to my clients. Keeping up with everything can be overwhelming, and that’s why I enjoy helping my clients meet their communication goals.
Speaking of goals, what goals do you have for your clients?
My main goal is to put my clients at ease. I’ve had clients say, ‘I don’t even know what words to use when it comes to social media.’ I tell them it’s ok if they don’t know where to begin; I wouldn’t know what words to use, at first, when talking about their business. The first consultation with my clients is free. We just have a conversation and that makes the process a little less daunting.
After that, I really just want to help my clients articulate their goals. My clients may be unclear on how to express their goals, but through discussion we can always boil them down to a few major points. For instance, one of my clients is a contractor who does stone work. After our conversation, he determined that his main goal is to make his phone ring more often. Another client is a church, which wanted to get more people in their pews and attract younger people to the congregation. Once you define the goals, then you know where to go from there.
How do you help your clients achieve the goals you have set together?
I develop a customized approach depending on the client. If the client is an association that is savvy with the communication tools already in place, but lack the staff to maintain its communications, then I am available to the association as a resource. Other clients, though, may already have explored social media avenues, but don’t know how to maintain the sites, or are not satisfied with the results. So, I develop strategies for clients on a case-by-case basis.
Sometimes those strategies do not involve technology. For example, my church client wanted to reach out to the local community. We developed social media tools (Facebook and Twitter), but we also delivered a handwritten note to houses surrounding the church, personally inviting residents to attend a service. The church felt comfortable with this type of warm, personal communication.
Why should a business invest in social media?
I have a client that is a pharmacy. The pharmacy already had a social media presence before we met, but was trying to keep up with it on top of everything else they needed to do to keep the business running. They knew they were only scratching the surface of what social media can do. They viewed social media as a way to stay competitive.
A lot of people ask, ‘What is the return on investment (ROI) of social media?’ After I began blogging for the pharmacy and building up its social medial presence, the pharmacy’s name now appears first when searching on Google. When it comes to small business, people need to know who you are and where you are. It’s really all about coming up first on a search engine. That’s the real ROI of building a social media presence.
