Posts Tagged ‘Business’

Top 5 things I learned in business school that apply everyday to social media consulting

Sunday, September 18th, 2011

Since I began advising businesses on social media marketing in 2009, things have continued to change much more quickly than I can keep up with. But I do my best to continue to learn strategies, techniques, and tools all for measuring continued success for businesses using this new extremely cost effective communication medium.

Before advising business on social media, hundreds of companies in Southern California trusted myself and my team with keeping them up and running with various Information Technology needs.

It was much easier to sell solving computer problems than trying to sell social media services, but we deal with much larger marketing budgets now which has it’s rewards. Besides- our efforts have resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue on some projects.

When people’s computers are down, they can be fanatic! I had one customer that was loosing hundreds of thousands of dollars per day when they were down. So we worked the weekend to get them up by Monday morning. Weekend emergency rate applied of course 😉

When selling social media services, we sell an improved business, cost savings, long term sustainability, competitive advantage, and many other benefits. In fact, we do a lot less selling and more educating. This is now the 21st century sales approach in case you haven’t noticed.

Social media consultants have a tough job. They must prove ROI, demonstrate results in a short amount of time, and show an increase in revenue otherwise they may be going back to the drawing board; or worse out of a client or a job.

From inside the social media trenches and business school, here are some things I learned that apply everyday to life in a social business setting. I have the privilege to lead companies into these murky waters where sometimes the outcomes can be serendipitous among saving companies thousands of dollars while acquiring new customers and driving bottom line revenue.

Here are those applied theories in action for social business:

1. Red ocean vs. Blue ocean strategy using social media

2. Swot analysis (google it)
3. Quantitative vs. Qualitative data (link to mashable article)
4. Self awareness ENTJ and how to listen more (especially with Social Media)
5. Work on projects with great people. In business school, When you do projects you either choose your own team or the professor assigns them. Just like in the real world, when you work on a project be sure you are aligning with the right people. (this is a critical success factor)

Hope the above principles are helpful for you. Feel free to connect with me on twitter or Google+ plus.justinrfrench.com
I’m continuing to decrease my Facebook usage

Do you have anything to add? I would love to hear about some of your experiences in the social business trenches.

Justin Results French – Chief Social Business Technologist

P.s. If you found this post valuable feel free to share it with other business owners, entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses, business professionals, or other social media consultants. Sharing is caring 🙂

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Social Media Consultant in San Diego shares his 3 R’s to social business success

Friday, September 2nd, 2011

Any questions about optimizing your businesses social strategy? Feel free to comment below or connect with me on Google+ http://plus.justinrfrench.com

 

Cheers,

Justin Results French

Social media MBA -how to integrate social into your business

Monday, July 18th, 2011

Social media MBA how twitter will monetize for business

Thursday, June 23rd, 2011

Social media MBA 3 business success quick tips

Tuesday, June 21st, 2011

Social media MBA twitter for business analogy

Thursday, May 26th, 2011

The 4 C’s to social media for business success

Thursday, April 7th, 2011

top 7 characteristics needed to be a successful business professional in the on-line world

Monday, March 7th, 2011

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1. Must be business minded (most important)
2. Must be tech minded
3. Must understand on-line psychology
4  Must understand marketing, sales, and branding
5. Must understand how the internet works
6. Must be able to be good at project management
7. Must be a strong communicator (on-line and offline)

 

This is all based on my experience in business high-tech management over the last 12 years.  Any questions?

Enjoy your week- Justin Results French

 

 

The 3 C’s of Social Media for Business

Thursday, February 10th, 2011

Social media for small business

Thursday, February 3rd, 2011