What Do You Mean Social Media Doesn't Work? You're Wrong!

Social Media is one of the strongest forms of word of mouth advertising you can use! 

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Do you remember that old Faberge Organics shampoo commercial -- you tell two friends, they'll tell two friends and so on, and so on... We've posted it here just in case you're not old enough to remember it:

With the power of social media, that telling two friends is now exponential.  

Think about it. 

On average facebook users have 338 friends (medium number is lower at 200), but either way. If just one of your friends shares one of your posts, it opens your message to another 'potential' of say 200 friends, and if one of those 200 share it, the cycle repeats. Do you get the picture? 

We say 'potential' because we all know, Facebook's algorithm's prevent everyone from seeing the post. Either way, this if far greater than you telling two friends and hoping they will tell two friends about your products or services. With social media, you have some control of how your information is presented and where and how to share it to 200 friends or more. It works...

Case and point:

On February 3rd, we ran a successful networking and learning forum called ConnectFest Niagara. It was pulled together in less than 4 weeks and had over 130 people in attendance. (We were aiming for 100). We achieved this through word of mouth based around our social media networks. 

• We created specific pages about the event on our website. This gave us the content we needed to share. 
• We created a facebook fanpage for the event. 
• And developed a hashtag for the event. 
• We emailed our database about the event using Constant Contact's tools.
• We created an on-line event registration using Constant Contact's tools. 
• We ran social campaigns through Constant Contact's tools as well
• And for the final kick at the can, we boosted (ppc) one of our posts on facebook to finish the promotion

Then, we wrote posts, we shared through our personal on-line network, and through our previously existing fanpages and groups we belong to on facebook. We tweeted, we shared on LinkedIn and engaged conversation about the speakers and the networking opportunities available. We found out our reach was larger than we expected with attendees learning of the event in London, Buffalo, K-W, and Toronto. 

But we didn't ignore traditional 'word of mouth'. We asked our speakers, sponsors, partners and those registered to attend to tell their friends and connections both personally and on-line. We attended events to tell others about it that are not so social media savvy. 

And voila! We exceeded our expectations! The event was awesome by the way! 

Take-aways:

• Be diligent in sharing your information through your social media business and personal networks.
• Empower others to share the information because they want to.
• Don't be afraid to ask others to spread the word. 
• And above all, don't forget the face-to-face conversations. 

Conversations 'over the backyard fence' are just as powerful today as they were before social media. Now -- that fence has more options!

* picket fence photo Thad Zajdowicz - Free Images.com

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