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Hopefully, by now you are at least thinking about your Social Persona, and beginning to test the waters. This blog post is going to show you one way to begin getting real value from your SM efforts.

One of the most powerful uses of social media (and one that seems to get little attention from ‘experts’ and the press) is as a real-time market research tool. There are both active and passive ways you can use all the chatter out there to find out about your customer’s needs and wants, what they are talking about, and what they tell each other about your business.

Passive listening is akin to old westerns where the cavalry scout puts his ear to the ground and tells the captain how many horses are approaching and how far away they are. You can pretty easily “read” the social media sites to get feedback on what is being said.

Most social media sites have search features that you can use to see what is being said. Twitter for example has two: Trending Topics are displayed on the right hand side of the Twitter home page. These are the most used terms over the entire twitter network. They are not likely to be of direct use, but can give you a feel for the current “mood”. Twitter also offers direct search capabilities. You can easily search for keywords and see what tweets recently contained those words. With many Twitter clients (programs such as TweetDeck or Tweetie that add functionality to Twitter) you can see recent tweets locally, within a range up to 100 miles from your location. Certainly if you are a cabinet shop, this is a big feature. You can literally see what is being said about cabinets or remodeling in your own neighborhood.

Facebook is a bit different. You can certainly search, but the results will be pages from people or businesses, not keyword searches within the conversation. This is useful to find connections and build your network. And as your network grows, you can easily see what people in your network are talking about.

For those of you who do more B2B marketing, Linkedin has some powerful “listening” tools. There are numerous groups you can join (or even start your own) and receive regular updates on topics of conversation among the group members. There is a Question and Answer section where users post questions and other users provide answers. Keeping track of the questions being asked, and reading responses to questions in areas of interest, is a way to see current thinking and meet new contacts.

In the next post, I will discuss more active methods of gathering market information through Social Media. I encourage you to comment of this post as well as suggest ideas you have used!

I can be found on Twitter, (@Consultingwood) on Linkedin, (http://www.linkedin.com/in/ralphbagnall) or via email at: rbagnall@consultingwoodworker.com

I supposed it had to happen, although I admit I didn’t really see it coming. After several months of coaching and advising people on Social Media strategies here and on other venues, companies have begun asking me if I can help them with their Social Media and marketing. I don’t want this blog post to be a sales pitch, but one of the questions that needs to be answered is; “How do I choose a SM consultant?”

Social Media is so new, and evolving so quickly that there are no real certification or even education programs for you to rely on. So you need to be asking the right questions to find the right person. In my opinion, the first question to ask is how well the consultant in question knows your industry and your customer base. Nearly any teenager knows how to set up and operate the various SM platforms, but if they do not know what your customers are talking about between themselves, how can they advise you on how to communicate with them?

Another area to ask about is their writing experience. Most social media is, in fact, written. Poor spelling, grammar and syntax will reflect poorly on your company. An effective communicator is deeply important, especially if they will be supplying you with copy for your newsletter, blog or website.

And that brings me to the next point; as I have been extolling on this blog for some time, social media marketing is NOT just posting on a couple of platforms. You need to be managing a comprehensive campaign utilizing the correct platforms for your audience, and those efforts need to be cross-promoting each other, with the ultimate aim of bringing customers to your website.

Lastly, I firmly believe that when all is said and done, “Content is King”. I advise providing solid content to your customers on your website so they come back regularly to learn new things. You become a trusted source for them. But you are also trying to run a business in a very tough time. Will your consultant be able to assist you by helping you create good content for your customers.

So, if you are looking to hire a consultant for your Social Media Marketing, be sure to “interview” them, and insure that they will be a good fit for your company, industry and customer base.

As I indicated in my last blog, the economy seems to be on the road to recovery. But I am convinced that this road does NOT lead back to the way things were. The business environment I see emerging from the market crash is a whole new, social, world.

I have written here before about Social Media strategies, but as time goes by, a broader picture is emerging, Social Media is no longer enough. The “Media” is NOT the message. I am looking to define a whole new “Social Persona” where your entire business is focused around your customers being participants in the “face” you present online. It is no longer enough to simply maintain a Twitter account and FaceBook page.

Rockler is an excellent example of a company developing a Social Persona. They have an active FaceBook Page, and their Twitter managment is a model that others should be emulating. But Rockler understands that they need to be integrating that those efforts deeper into their business. Rockler has recently unveiled a new gallery where customers can show off their projects and comment on others member’s projects. Rockler’s blog continues to evolve, and they are now beginning to link outside reviews and video demos into their own online product pages! The customers are helping to shape the “face” that other customers see when they connect with Rockler.

MicroJig regularly asks permission and posts user reviews directly on their site. They reaalize that their customers will use the products in ways they may not have envisioned. The accumulated knowledge base blows way beyond any reasonable FAQ page and adds an element of trust because Microjig’s advertising claims are backed up by customer experience. Another fine example of what I am discussing is a company called Indonique.

Indonique is a retailer of fine Indian tea and chai. The owner, George, is also a woodworker, and we began discussing how he could attract more woodworkers to his site. He has added a “Tea and Woodworking “page to his website where he is sharing information and plans for tea related woodworking. This in itself is excellent, but rather than simply filling the page himself, George is inviting anyone who wishes to contribute content. I have contributed plans for a tray, and will likely be “guest blogging” at some point.

None of us are yet sure exactly where all this may lead. What we do know is that consumers are wary of traditional advertising. They trust the people in their social networks, and are constantly seeking and sharing information; “I am car shopping, anyone have experience with the 2009….” “Rockler’s Bench Cookies look cool, but how do they work when they get dusty?” “ What chai should I try for my dinner party next week?” Your customers are asking a million questions a day. Let your OTHER customers help you answer them.

Built properly, your “Social Persona” (Website, Facebook, Twitter, Forums, Galleries, etc)becomes the portal that they will go to for answers, and they will in turn answer others. Got a fence to whitewash Tom Sawyer?

I know what you small business owners out there are saying: “ I do not have time with all the other stuff I am doing!” and you are right. My next post will be discussing strategies for dealing with this issue.

Homebuilders Merging? Banks reporting quarterly profits? These and other signs have me convinced that the economy has hit bottom and on the rebound. The road back is going to be long and hard, and many more companies are likely to fall by the wayside. So while we should be encouraged, we cannot yet relax. I am convinced that American consumers will be a changed group after this recession. The freewheeling spending will not recover with the economy. People are already increasing their personal savings rates. This is, long term, good for all of us. But it will slow the recovery somewhat.

The economy that emerges will be very different from the recent past. Will you be positioned to thrive? What steps can you take to read the tea leaves and be properly positioned? I don’t have the answers and neither do you. But I know who does; Your customers and potential customers. They are the ones who will be buying new homes, remodeling their kitchens, and thinking long and hard before committing their savings. So, how can you forcast the new rules and be positioned to be their “go to” company? ASK THEM.

The future can be very bright for those shops that begin now having a dialog with their client and customer base. By working with some of the techniques I have discussed in past posts on this blog, you can keep up with the wants and needs of the buying public and the contractors that will be serving them. An effective Social Media presence on Facebook, Twitter, and other sites will give you a feel for what folks are talking about, asking for, and asking questions about. You can use these sites, or your own newsletter or blog to answer questions, explain trends and introduce new styles, hardware and features. As I have written about before, being a trusted source of information for your customers will keep you “top of mind” when they are ready to hire a cabinet shop.

This is NOT a fast and simple method, but it is really effective. As I have indicated before, Social Media is just that: Social! You cannot, and must not, treat the new media as another billboard. This is relationship marketing. You need to be friendly, helpful and informative. Don’t worry about spelling out everything you do. If you are seen as a reliable and trusted source of the information they need, they will be talking to you when they are ready to pull the trigger.

A really good source of information on this marketing technique can be found in Seth Godin’s book, “Permission Marketing”. (you can find a link to it at http://www.consultingwoodworker.com/recommended_reading) Seth has written the seminal work on using social media, even before social media was big.

I also want you to take a look at a pair of your peers, and what they are doing. Thomas Clayton, at Georgia Casework Inc., is writing a very good newsletter aimed at informing his customers about the market, his business, and the market. It is well written, very professional, and my only criticism is that there are no links to his website on the mailing. It would be worth your while to sign up for Thomas’s newsletter and see how he does it.

Paul Lesieur of Minneapolis Kitchen Remodeling writes a very entertaining blog at: http://www.minneapoliskitchenremodeling.com/ His style is breezy and a bit irreverent, but he absolutely comes across as an experienced professional. It should prove to be an effective resource for him.

Both of these communications have potential, but how do their customers find them? That is where the social media work comes in. If a Facebook “friend” asks a question that Paul has written about in his blog, he can provide a link. Not only will his “friend” check out the blog, but that person’s friends will see the interaction and may well check it out as well. Anyone who reads his blog can set up an RSS feed to have that blog sent to them automatically when a new post is made. They have given “permission” to Paul, to communicate with them, so as long as he provides useful information, his communications are not considered “spam”.

Thomas does the same thing, but through a mailing list. Everyone who subscribes to his newsletter has given him a valuable resource, their attention.

Both of these guys need to be very aware that the permission they gained is valuable and fragile. They must continue to be helpful and informative, and avoid being seen as a pushy saleman. The permission is very easy for the customer to revoke.

I hope that this gives you some ideas and inspiration. I also invite any of you who are producing content like Thomas and Paul to send me links, I’d love to see. I invite you to look me up in the Social Media realm. I can be found on Facebook and Linkedin as Ralph Bagnall, and on Twitter as Consultingwood. Come say hello and I will be happy to show you around.

I was going to write some more on using Social Media to connect with clients, but have decided to put it off a bit in order to share with you a unique experience I am having this week:

I write this from Kingston, Jamaica. I am down here working with Jamaica Fibreglass Products, my first and still favorite clients. This time, I am staying at a beautiful new facility in New Kingston. What makes this all notable is that I helped JFP create this room 18 months ago.

Back then, I was down here helping JFP figure out how to improve their CNC output and streamline much of their assembly. We began working toward a single unit production schedule, looking at new tooling and processes, and implementing the Lean Manufacturing techniques that I have been discussing in this blog of late.

The owners at JFP were also preparing for a meeting with clients about providing furniture for an upcoming hotel opening. While JFP is highly experienced at restaurant style seating, this was a pretty big departure from their normal business. Also, the client really wanted solid wood, and JFP is not really set up for large scale production in solids.

That is when the owners of JFP really started to impress me. They knew that getting the hotel project was a long shot. They could not offer the solid wood, and had no prior hotel work to show. They took a bold step and began prototyping the hotel room in full scale. When I arrived, they already had several pieces pretty well done, and were walling off a section of their lobby to replicate the room dimensions. I was able to contribute to the project by showing them how to use their CNC to miterfold the furniture parts, and adapting some of the designs to maximize the benefits of miter folding.

The clients, where ushered into the hotel room they had envisioned, sat on the bed, tried out the chairs, and really got the feel of the room. JFP did not have to convince the buyers that miterfolded furniture would look like solid wood, the clients could not ignore the parts they were touching.

Eighteen months later, I sit in the hotel and type this blog. I hope that you take the proper lessons from this unique company:

They decided to get the sale first, then figure out how to build the job. They could take this risk because they have structured their entire business to remain flexible. They know they can find a way, either in house or outside. That’s the second lesson:

JFP certainly does not suffer from “Not Invented Here” syndrome. They are willing to pay for outside expertise, and quick to respond to the fresh ideas presented to them.

And the last lesson is that they were ready to run with their plan. Completely on spec, they designed the furniture and began prototyping it. Since I was already there, they enlisted my help in detailing the construction to best utilize their capabilities. The client was presented with the exact design JFP was prepared to build. By the time the clients had finished moving the pieces around in the “room”, the deal was pretty well set, and here I sit.

This incident was not a fluke. JFP has gotten several large jobs since I have been working with them in the same manner. Does your company have the corporate mindset and will to go for the brass ring this way?

Isn’t it time?

JFP: www.jfpmfg.com
See the room here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/furnituremaker/sets/72157615520823654/

Ralph Bagnall
www.consultingwoodworker.com
On Linkedin
Follow me on Twitter as Consultingwood

Let’s face it. As woodworkers, and cabinet makers, we are something of an old fashioned bunch. If you have taken my suggestion from the previous blog post and delved into the world of Social Media, you may well be confused and concerned. At first it all seems sort of pointless and out of touch with our business. I’m here to show you that you are wrong. If you primarily work with designers, architects and contractors, it is highly likely that your current clients, and others that you want to work with are already on Social Media sites. Linkedin has any number of groups devoted to cabinet making, furniture manufacturing and other wood related fields. If your client base is professional, I highly recommend Linkedin. Linkedin is one of the most structured and formal sites. You have to ask people to join your network, and while there is a good search function, much of people’s profile information is hidden to you until they are a part of your network. A good way to get introduced to people and ask them to join your network is to ask and answer questions. Linkedin has a really big board of open questions being asked and answered by members. You can view questions by category, and by participating, you can build your network. Most folks are very polite on Linkedin, and will send you e-mail (through Linkedin) thanking you for answering or discussing your answer. This gives you an opening to then ask them to join your network. Since Linkedin is all about networking, this process is pretty painless. Like most Social Media, being helpful is the key to building a quality network.

If you work with homeowners, then you need to be working more with Facebook in my opinion. Facebook is much more of the social in Social Media. You can search people in many ways, and finding people in your geographic area is possible with most sites. A surprising number of middle and upper income adults are on Facebook. Facebook is a bit more open and freewheeling than Linkedin. Yes, your first impression is correct. There is a LOT on Facebook that is useless to you, but again, the point here is to be helpful and friendly and drive traffic to your website. Answering people’s questions about cabinets, remodeling, and hardware gets you a lot of exposure really fast. On Facebook, most interaction is VERY public. Every member has a “Wall” where things are posted publicly. People you have “friended” can write comments on your wall, and you can write on theirs. The really effective part is that you can read all comments on their wall, and your posts on their wall can be read by all their friends even if you don’t know their friends. See where this is leading? A polite, knowledgable person, being helpful to their friends online, can really help you build a reputation online as a go-to company.

Twitter is another site altogether. At first glance, Twitter seems totally useless as a business tool. I know, I thought that too. Twitter seems to be nothing more than people posting what their dog did on the carpet this morning. But it really can work for you. I have been surprised at how fast Twitter has been able to drive traffic to my website. Again, the point is to be helpful and knowledgable, and gain “Followers”, who in turn follow you. Twitter is fast moving and brief. All comments, known as “Tweets”, are limited to 144 characters. I use Twitter to broadcast new information on my blog or website, new articles as they come out, and anything that might reasonably be of interest or amusing to my followers. I also respond to others if I have useful information for them. Now as your number of followers grows, you will find that some post a lot of totally useless information and you can get hundreds of tweets per day. I, like you, really don’t have the time or desire to wade through all that flotsam. The good news is that you can simply not follow those people that fill your box with drivel. I follow anyone who follows me, but if they spend all day posting silly stuff, then you can unfollow them. 99 percent of the time, they will not even notice.
I have been able to winnow down my follows to those people that I want to hear from, people who are marketers that I respect, other woodworkers, NASA, the USS Constitution, and just some interesting people. By being helpful and knowledgeable, I have again been able to drive traffic to my site by assisting others and announcing new stuff that may be of interest to them. Just this past week, ShopBot posted a tweet praising last week’s blog. I noticed an instant spike in visits to my blog.

By now, you must have noticed a pattern to my advice here: Be helpful and knowledgable. Be polite and informative. Provide expertise and people will become comfortable thinking of you as an expert. They will visit your site, where they can learn of your services and how to contact you for more information. One more point: Social Media is SOCIAL. There are a number of companies out there that simply post several times a day with product reviews and announcements. They do not converse, they do not respond to others posting, they use their Social Media presence as just another advertisement. This is more harmful than helpful to them. People use Social Media to connect. Sometimes for personal reasons, sometimes for business reasons, but a connection is key. These sites should NOT be viewed as another ad space. I don’t sell on these sites. I build relationships, and when my connections ask, I will sell to them then. Seth Godin calls this “Permission Marketing” and it is very effective. It is not instantaneous, it does take some time and care, but it is free marketing, and over time is highly effective. You can find a link to Seth Godin’s book, “Permission Marketing” on my website, on the “Recommended Reading” page. It is a bit dated by now, but the pricipals are well worth knowing and studying.

Again I invite you to look me up in the Social Media realm. I can be found on Facebook and Linkedin as Ralph Bagnall, and on Twitter as Consultingwood. Come say hello and I will be happy to show you around.

You may have heard the term. You have certainly heard something about “MySpace”, “Facebook”, or Twitter. But these silly websites have no bearing on your business right? Wrong! You need to know about these social media sites, and you need to be thinking about how you might use them to build your business.

Forums too are a form of social media. WoodWeb offers a forum, as do most of the trade magazines through their websites. These are pretty direct ways to communicate with your peers in the industry. People in these forums ask questions, get advice, and even find cooperative work through these forums. It is a good way to stay connected to industry trends and network with others.

Which brings us back to the Social Media sites. Networking is the name of the game here. It is hard to quantify the benefits of expanding your network. I know by now, most of you who do not currently use Social Media sites are groaning inwardly; “I don’t have time to be keeping up with yet another website!” But if you target your efforts, and schedule your time properly, you can reap the benfits without undo time spent.

So lets look at the various sites and which might be relevent to your business. The most known site is MySpace. MySpace typically serves a younger community. I don’t post there, since my clients are business owners and woodworkers. Your target market is probably not there either. I do, however, recommend that you register on MySpace, just as a form of insurance. You want to protect your name online, so registering your company, even though you wont be using the site, keeps others from posting in your name. This is good advice even if you never intend to participate in any Social Media.

Facebook became popular in colleges around the country, and has expanded it’s membership over the years to include a great many adults. I have been surprised at how many of my classmate from high school (25 plus years ago) I have found online there. If your customer base is residential and you want to get information out to people in your area, Facebook may well be a good way for you to communicate with them.

Linkedin is a site designed especially for business to business networking. The rules are a bit stricter, but you can search and connect with people inside and outside your industry. I have met people there from IWF, from the trade magazines, AWI and other people I am happy to be in contact with. This is a good place for you to connect if you want to reach professional outside your normal circle.

Spend a few hours this week looking over these sites. At least register and reserve your name so others can’t. See what they offer, and in the next blog, I will discuss strategies for getting the most from them without spending a lot of time. And feel free to connect with me out there. I am on Facebook as Ralph Bagnall, on Linkedin as Consultingwoodworker, and on Twitter as Consultingwood. I would be happy to introduce you around.