I was very humbled to be featured in the 2014 Marketing Experts prediction check out the full presentation here http://www.slideshare.net/simplify360/future-of-marketing-welcome-2014

My 2 cents: “My prediction for 2014 is big data from social starts driving big revenue. From Apples’ recent acquisition of Topsy is writing on the wall. This says their is a lot of hidden marketing value behind big social data and turning that marketing sense into dollars will continue to be the key for 2014. “- JF The Social Business Guy

What are some of your predictions?  Happy 2014- Justin

Here is last weeks LIVE Goolge+ Hangout I was featured on where Dan & I answered your online marketing and social media questions LIVE. I share some HUGE tips, tricks, and whats working in the trenches of social business.

Join this coming Friday at 12pm PST and every Friday for another exciting episode of the Marketing Online Hangout

Did you know that 80% of businesses involved in Social Media or what I have been referring to  since 2009 as “Social Business” have still not seen an increase in leads, revenue, or cost savings company wide?!  I know crazy right? Because of their weak social media management? Lack of tying business goals to social media or online marketing? Or how about not giving social business enough time? Or maybe not bringing in the right Social Media Specialist.  I have done a lot of social media management in San Diego and as businesses continue to struggle with “Change” I continue to deliver results. It’s not about the latest tool, or CMS system (Google it if you don’t know what it is) it’s about the 7 C’s to Social Business Success and it always will be.

To not overwhelm you with data, case studies, etc, lets just take one example of the facebook  marketing effect:

How would your business “Like” a 939% increase in reach to over 150,000 people in less than 3 weeks? 

Got Results?

If you are looking for help with your social media strategy, or not seeing results, then mossy on over to social media solutions for business and let me know what questions you have about tying these types of results to your social business efforts.  Cheers,

Justin “Results” French

Today’s Blog Post Sponsored By:

Social Business has become a HUGE trend lately.  Businesses of all sizes are finally starting to adopt more organic ways to communicate, connect, and engage there customers.  It is a relief to not have to sell businesses on the importance of social media.  My blog post in 2009 called the top 5 lessons learned about social media for business reminds me of the many challenges facing small businesses and my commitment to helping support the business community with my passion and ability to help them integrate technology, marketing, and sales.
But things have evolved even MORE with Social Media touching departments such as Customer Service, Marketing, Sales, PR, Operations, Legal, IT, and even Culture.

One thing is for sure- if people and businesses alike can focus on these 7 C’s to Social Media for Business Success they will have a GURANTEED outcome of usccess.  Why do i make that gurnatee? Cause i have helped MANY businesses achieve an increase in Revenue, Sales, & Profits thanks to me executing on the 7 C’s phylosophy of Social Business Success.

Do you have any C”s you would like to add??

Justin “Results” French

Today’s Blog Post Sponsored By:

Before working with a anyone who claims to be a social media consultant, you may want to ask yourself a few questions.
Please Ask yourself The Following before choosing to work with a social media person:

10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Working with a Social Business Consultant:

1. Do I  have the time to learn all this social media stuff and stay up to date on my own?
2. Do I want to be a thought leader online in my industry?
3. Do I  have a willingness to do whatever it takes to succeed?
4. Do I see the value in having an on-going and ACTIVE social media presence for my business and brand?
5. How are my competitors activities on social media comparing to my business?
6. Do I have the time to dedicate to marketing my company on-line or do I want a social business TEAM of consultants to do it for me?
7. How much is NOT having a strong on-line presence costing my business?
8. Am I still trying traditional marketing approaches or expensive pay per click that are producing diminishing returns?
9. Am I currently having success in my business from doing social networking & social media?
10. Will someone at my company or will I be the one working with the social media consultant on an ongoing basis?

In this FREE Report, I reveal the Top 21 KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) your business or agency must be measuring for Social Media ROI

First– ask yourself a question:

Which of the 3 website goals am I trying to achieve?

Websites typically focus on these 3 objectives:

Increase website traffic

Increase leads

Increase sales (Or what we help do- increase conversion)

Second– ask yourself what is my cost per lead? Cost per customer? Remember: LTV of a customer (Or life time value)

Third: Understand Quantitative VS. Qualitative measurements

Now for the 21 KPI’s your business or social media agency should be measuring:

1. # of unique website visitors per month

2. # of Twitter followers & # of Twitter lists

3. # of mentions of your brand, product or service on twitter (see the tool www.tweetreach.com )

4. # of Facebook friends/ Fans

5. # of clicks on bit.ly links (find patterns in the time of day) this is FREE PPC! HUGE cost savings I’ve personally saved companies over 20,000$ easy that they would of spent on PPC  (who says social media is free??)

6. # of you tube subscribers

7. # of you tube channel views/ videos views

8. # of newsletter subscribers (or blog subscribers)

9. Know which traffic sources are sending you the most traffic (Google Analytics)

10. # of quality inbound links (SEO)

11. # of blog comments

12. # of opt ins to your list

13. # of linked in group members

14. Avg. time spent on site (social media increases this) More time is better

15. Bounce rate (you want this % as low as possible) Lower is better

16. # of leads, sales, and conversions (Percentage) This is the MOST IMPORTANT

17. # of customers you retain from social media (staying engaged and on top of mind)

18. % of revenue increase from social media marketing

These are just some additional supplemental benefits of social media:

19. How much a PR campaign or traditional campaign would of cost without using social media (Cisco saved 250,000$ that they would have had to spend) see video here: http://justinrfrench.posterous.com/social-media-saves-businesses-like-cisco-2500

They reached 90X the audience at 1/6th the cost with social channels.

20. Social Media produces much higher QUALITY of leads than paid advertising

21. Social media produces better conversion rates than email, PPC, CPA, CPM, etc.

Last Point:  Social Media is just simple communications Duh!

If you need an actual ROI Calculator, check out Dragon Search which we use quite often to show cost savings to clients. You can find here http://bit.ly/jFWilb

Hope you enjoyed this FREE Report.  Click Here If you would like to subscribe to our Social Media VIP Insiders tips and tricks.

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 🙂

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

how can social networking help my business?

If i had a dollar for every time I was aksed this question form business people I would be a millionaire by now.  I’m not yet but I am on my way.  Why don’t you ask how social networking and social media has helped my early years idol MCHAMMER.  I don’t have my pants anymore, BUT we have something in common.  The use of social media and social networking for building our online business.

What business doesn’t want to increase traffic to their website, make money online, and have a constant lead generation system in place?

Making money online has become an art and a science that 80% of business people don’t understand. So I am starting to bridge the gap between technical and non-technical business people to help shift gears into new media marketing- how to market your business in the 21st century.

This ties together all social networking and internet marketing tactics into a proven “system” that gets results which is scalable over time.  It is like a snowball marketing effect. This internet marketing strategy has been developed by a team of business, technical, and marketing consultants who have degrees in business with a technical emphasis. The key to their success has been a full understanding of both business and technical know how and how to apply this knowledge to help businesses become successful and competitive on the internet in today’s competitive business landscape.

So if you are a twitter business person, or just a business person looking for answers to the internet puzzle, I promise you will enjoy this blog.

If you enjoy this content (and would like more), or are just a business person searching for news on twitter for business, you should contact us for a FREE Assessment at 760-576-4653 to see if your business qualifies to work with us.  We have a very unusual qualification process and only work with companies who understand the need for cost saving marketing strategeis that are organic, scale-able, and long term strategies.

I’m sure you have conducted marketing strategies that don;t work.  Have a look at what people are saying about our CEO Justin Results French

Social networking San Diego is an online marketing and social media marketing agency that helps generate awareness, leads, and sales for you business.  Social Networking – marketing your business in the 21st century and Twitter 101 for Business.