I recently attended a seminar through the Grow Your Business Workshop Series on the topic of “How to Use Social Media to Grow Your Business” with special guest speaker, Corey Perlman, President of eBootCamp, Inc., an education company that provides people with the knowledge and skills to effectively market their business on the Web. Corey, the bestselling author of eBoot Camp!

I found Pearlman’s enthusiasm and witty upbeat attitude refereshing. He was able to capture my attention instantly when he started off the seminar with a video on the ‘Social Media Revolution.’
After the video, he went on to explain the “5 P’s to successful social media use”:
1. Start with a plan.
2. Have a process behind you.
3. Use performance metrics.
4. Don’t sell, softly promote.
5. Fish where the Phish are.

When it comes to performance metrics, great sites to utilize are google analytics and bit.ly.
Pearlman also states: “Don’t sell…softly promote. Don’t sell new brakes, offer free estimates. “Don’t sell food, offer specific deals using social media”….”Don’t sell an appointment, offer free advice to build credibility.”
And fish where the phish are! One ideal place to fish is… Facebook. Facebook is currently the second largest site in world; YouTube being the second largest search engine.

Other social media benefits include brand awareness & protection, ablility to control the conversation, and more entry points into your business.

Pearlman mentioned several needs which need to be met when social networking. When it comes to attracting users, give them the info they are looking for. Don’t make users search, don’t make them think. Use “key” words when using website content, social media profiles, title tag, URL, backlink. Also-Get Local! Use geographical keywords.

Blogging is another opportunity for you to share info, provide value, and engage your customer.
“Linkedin” is yet another powerful search functionality. Build your professional connections through this website. Recommend somebody! Pearlman suggests you proactively take the next steps of finding out who’s going to get you 500 connections.. and which day a week will you set aside a few hours to spend on the website.

Twitter is a great way to monitor, protect and build your brand, as well. It is also a great real-time search engine.

I found Pearlman’s information to be extremely useful in my daily marketing endeavors. I think his advice can be useful to you and your business, as well. And from all of us at Market Insights, Best of luck with your future social media efforts!

My Best,

Christina Gurtowsky
Media Consultant
Market Insights, LLC