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| When Shari interviewed | Leora |
Read Friends Become Good Clients via Social Web, Shari Weiss’ interview on her social media blog. I talked about my blogging history and how this blog has helped me grow with both technical knowledge and special relationships. Enjoy!
My son told me this story about a fisherman. He heard it from one of his teachers. I couldn’t find it online anywhere, so I am retelling it in my own way. As I have my own business and I enjoy meeting other business people, this story struck a chord for me.
• • •
Once upon a time there was a fisherman who had a small boat and spent all his day fishing. A businessman met the fisherman one day as the fisherman pulled up to the dock. “Why do you have just one boat?” said the businessman (reminding me of some of the entrepreneurial types I have met on Twitter). “Why not buy 5 large boats so you can catch more fish? You could hire some locals to do the fishing for you. Once you have made more money that way, you could invest in a whole fleet of boats and manage a large enterprise. After a few years of that kind of money, you could retire and do whatever it is you really want to do. By the way,” inquired the businessman, “what would you do if you could do anything you really wanted?”
“I would enjoy sitting in my small boat and fish,” replied the fisherman.
• • •
If you could enjoy doing one simple thing in life (or two or three), what would it be?
Eva Abreu, a Social Media consultant, will be giving a series of 4 lectures on Social Media at the Highland Park Public Library.
You may register at the library, by phone or register online.
Eva’s latest venture is New Jersey Social Media. Learn more on her site.
On November 16, I will be giving a Twitter Research Workshop at the library. More information on that workshop coming soon, including a blog post on how one can do passive or active research on many current topics on Twitter.
In my Ruby Tuesday post this week I asked if anyone could guess which business sponsored this float from the Israel Day Parade in New York City. It turns out it was sponsored by IDB Bank, Bank HaPoalim, and Bank Leumi. Robin, who lives in Tel Aviv, correctly stated Bank Leumi as the sponsor.
Whenever I hear Bank HaPoalim, I think of the ditty: “Bo-ee, bo-ee-tan-u, Bank HaPoalim, bo-ee, bo-ee-tan-u, Bank HaPoalim …” (which translates as ‘come with us, come with us, Bank of the Workers, come with us, come with us, Bank of the Workers). Do they still use that for advertising? I have no idea. The name ‘Bank HaPoalim,’ bank of the workers, reminds me of Israel’s socialist, Russian-inspired roots.
How does your bank advertise?
Last night I participated (a bit) in my first Tweet Chat. What’s a tweet chat? A group of people (Twitterers) decide to “meet” at a set time and use a hashtag (such as #sbbuzz) to connect. And chat.
What is #sbbuzz all about? First of all, that # sign in the front means it is a hashtag. You will see hashtags all over Twitter. Hashtags are a sign that this may be a topic of interest to others in the general Twittersphere. Anyone can create a hashtag. #sbbuzz stands for Small Business Buzz (and that link will take you to the sbbuzz blog). You can also follow sbbuzz on Twitter. #sbbuzz chats are held every Tuesday night, 8pm–10pm EST (I think that should be EDT now, but it says EST on the blog).
How did I find out about the Tweet Chat? Much thanks to NJinsuranceGirl for tweeting about #sbbuzz. I found NJinsuranceGirl (Kacy Campion Renna) because jerseybites recommended her on Friday for #followfriday (what’s #followfriday? That’s a whole ‘nother topic: go on Twitter on any Friday and you’ll see lots of these #followfriday tags that are suggesting people to follow on Twitter). I met jerseybites in person last February when I attended a TweetUp. Last night, when I was nowhere near my computer, NJinsuranceGirl sent me the following helpful link via Twitter: http://sbbuzz.biz/instructions. I got on late (at about 8:50 pm EDT, and they had started at 8 pm), and I spent the first ten minutes reading those instructions and trying to figure out the best way to access it all.
What was discussed at the #sbbuzz chat? The topic this week was Insiders Tips for Small Businesses on Twitter. sbbuzz tweeted these questions during the course of the two hour chat:
There was more, but you get the basic idea. I felt since I was new to the “party,” I mostly read what others had to say (and I picked a few to follow regularly), but I did tweet this in response to Q6: “Q6 Social Media networks: Twitter, my own blog, Facebook – I’m on LinkedIn, too; much overlap because of my own blog. #sbbuzz”
Want to know what people had to say? For a while, this will be available by going to http://search.twitter.com/ and typing #sbbuzz. But if you are looking at this post on May 27 or later, you will see the #sbbuzz for that week. A summary is now posted at http://sbbuzz.wordpress.com/2009/05/21/small-biz-tech-advice-resources-may-19-2009/.
Have you ever participated in a Tweet Chat? Used a hashtag in Twitter to follow a topic with others? How would you answer any of the above questions? What questions would you ask?
I met Itzhak Schier through Twitter. He has helped me with some of my questions on Drupal. Last week, he asked the following in a tweet: “is looking for ways to use Twitter to promote my sites without resorting to spam as well as ways to use this as a real social network.” So I thought, oh, great post topic! I emailed some questions to Itzhak.
1. What are you selling?
WOSWN.com is a site where all merchandise or services that are offered on sale, at a discount, or at reduced price can be listed. It is the first in a galaxy of open source sites that will include social networking, goal-setting and business oriented sites with launches occurring at least weekly over the next six weeks.
2. To whom are you selling? What is your market?
Audience: Online and offline business ranging from occasional Ebay, Etsy, Bonanzle, Amazon etc sellers to major retailers.
3. What would you say if you were not afraid of spam?
WOWSN, which stands for What’s On Sale Where Now, is a simply designed, easy to use and economical worldwide listing of sales and discounts, online and offline. It is meant for all merchants who offer reduced price or free/bonus merchandise, from occasional E-bayers and users of sites such as Etsy and Bonanzie, to major bricks and mortar retailers. With sales easily indexed by category of merchandise, type of sale, price, and location, WOSWN.com is the premier resource for consumers who look for sales and discounts especially in these recessionary times when discounts mean more and more to shoppers.
Until now, there has been no listing of merchandise which is available at a reduced price. Now, with WOSWN.com, a shopper will begin looking for sales at her fingertips, and act immediately to either purchase the merchandise online using the easy link to the offering site, or to head out to the location where the merchandise is offered.
In essence, WOSWN.com is the clearance or sale rack of the Internet and the place shoppers will search in order to find the best deals across the Web, across the world, or across the street.
• • •
My response: first, Itzhak, it is an honor to have you on my blog! As I know you are an excellent webmaster from your skill in answering my Drupal questions, it sounds like you also need to learn marketing, sales and public relations. A small business owner who wears many hats! Years ago, my brother told me if he wants to learn a topic, he offers to teach a course. I am not a professor or teacher, but as a blogger, I can write a post on marketing, sales and/or public relations in order to learn along with you.
Idea 1:
I follow Jennifer Fong on Twitter whose specialty is Direct Sales. One of the tweets I see her using over and over again is “What can I do for YOU today?” In other words, try to help the folks with whom you are trying to connect. Instead of telling them what they need, ask them what they need. For lots more of Jennifer’s great ideas, please read her blog on Direct Sales & Social Media.
Idea 2:
Another person I follow on Twitter is Deidre Breakenridge. I am reading the book that she wrote with Brian Solis, Putting the Public Back in Public Relations: How Social Media Is Reinventing the Aging Business of PR.
“Figure out who your customers are and where they go for their information. This forces PR to mirror sales strategies to reach people who could benefit from the product or service. Different people go to different places for information. First determine where you want to be, and then work backward from there.” (p. 13)
And on p. 146 there’s a great subtitle:
A tip on p. 149: Learn by reading other blogs and from the successes of others.
Regarding the successes of others, who else is doing websites of sales? Are there others that charge similar prices and do well (who are your competitors)? What can you learn from them?
Idea 3:
When I put up a website, especially one that is trying to make sales, I say put up some general information that the people in your market can use. For example, I did a website last year for a hypnotherapist, and we included a page with general information about the health benefits of hypnotherapy. Even better than a static page would be a blog with information that can help your potential clients. Then you can tweet a new post of helpful information. Once on your blog, a reader might want to click to see other pages of your site as well.
Can anyone else give Itzhak some ideas or guidance? Thanks!
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