I recently had the great honor of recording a presentation for a class at Del Val College here in Buck’s County, PA. As a social media consultant I love sharing my knowledge with small business owners and this certainly feel into that category. The professor of the class had the students prepare some questions – some related to social media and some to building my business. During the conversation I realized this would make a great blog.
- How did you know how to price your services? When my first client approached me I was a bit shocked. I wanted him to sign-up for Your Social Media Hour, but he wanted me to handle his social media for him. I knew what I wanted to make per hour and how long his work at take me. I was very well aware (and still track) what other companies charge for my services and knew I didn’t have the overhead so my prices could be very competitive.
- How did you know what social media services to offer? All companies need a full strategy. They absolutely need a keyword strategy completed, editorial calendar written and then monthly blogging and weekly social media posts. Typically they do not want any part of this and are happy to have me handle it, and really who can blame them – they have expertise in their business and do not want to learn about digital marketing at all.
- What is the ROI of social media? The best way to look at social media is that there is no ROI – blogging as well. It is much like a shelf or even the floor of your store. You know it is important, but can you attach a particular dollar amount to it? No. Very few times will the phone ring and someone say on the phone that they are calling because of one blog post. Regular blogging as well as social pointers can boost your SEO ranking, but how much for each one is unknown. Pinterest and Slideshare are great for SEO and visibility but again, we can not quantify it. Also, ROI on a specific activity is almost impossible since there are so many factors that could influence it – I can drive all the traffic to your site and get your phone ringing off the hook, but if you don’t return calls or know how to sell then your ROI will go out the window.
- Without specific ROI, is there anything you can measure? I always like to first ask, “Is the phone ringing off the hook?” Next we would look at website hits through Google Analytics (it has to be set-up on your site). You could also measure website health through Open Site Explorer.
- Explain the type of blogging you do both personally and professionally. I started blogging with my first job in this field – I was working for a divorce attorney and started NJ Divorce Mom as a way to link to his site based on keywords. As it turns out, people loved my stories and I provided many people with a connection, so much so that I was asked to start writing for the Huffington Post. For many reasons (and you can read all about them) I transitioned from NJ Divorce Mom to my new personal blog My Steps in Time – it really speaks more to me now. I link it to my personal craziness but also my business. It allows people to see some of the real me while getting great advice and a friend.
