Resource for new Entrepreneurs building startups

This is a guest article by Rick Mathieson, Author of The On-Demand Brand: 10 Rules for Digital Marketing Success
in an Anytime, Everywhere World.

#1: Don’t Ask How, Ask Why
Just because social networking is hot, that doesn’t mean its right for
every new business. Don’t just ask yourself what your social
networking strategy should be. Ask why it should be, and why your
target customers should care. Seattle-based Jones Soda couldn’t afford
pricey TV commercials to launch its brand of beverages. So it used
social media to connect with consumers in very personal ways. Fans can
upload photos that can be printed on Jones bottles. Today, it has over
1 million submissions and has used upward of 4,500 of the photos for
bottles — which consumers can collect and trade on the Jones Soda
website. As founder Peter van Stolk recently told BusinessWeek: “We
allowed the labels to be discovered, and that gave consumers a sense
of ownership. With big soda brands, the Britney Spears model of paying
a lot of money to some hot artist to sponsor your beverage is so done.
The wonderful thing about our competitors is for all the money they
have, they should be thinking more originally but they don’t. If they
ever do, I’m dead.”

#2: Keep It Events Based
Certain consultants (and business book authors) can have success using
social media to share their stream-of-consciousness about things
happening in their fields of expertise. But for most small businesses,
a much more strategic approach is in order. Think of social media as
digital direct mail — the ability to deliver a limited-time, social
network-only offer. Countless small pizza shops, for instance, offer
weekly specials on social networks to get people into their stores.
One shop, called Golden Knights pizza, has discovered 40% of its
business can come from these efforts, according to Clickz. In fact,
according to a recent Rice University study, Facebook fans of one
Houston-based café chain visited 20% more often, and spent 33% more,
than non-fans.

#3: Keep It Social — And Keep ‘Em Coming Back
Youth-oriented discount travel company STA uses social media to enable
customers to meet other people who love to travel, and who may be part
of the vacation packages they purchase. Users can read about other
people’s adventures through their own words, tips, pictures and
videos. And they can ask experts about travel related issues. Best of
all, every month, the company offers travel prizes to Australia,
Japan, Europe and other destinations. And Twitter and RSS feeds will
even send STA subscribers the cheapest flights so they can stop
spending hours online searching for the best deals.

#4: Don’t Just Pitch, Sell
The price of developing apps for Facebook is coming down, and with
ingenuity, can even be revenue builders. Pizza Hut recently launched a
Facebook app that enables customers to place orders without leaving
their profile pages. There’s no reason a small company, say a local
sandwich shop couldn’t do the same. Los Angeles startup ice cream
truck company Coolhaus takes a different approach. In addition to
differentiating itself with ice cream sandwiches designed using
architectural principles — with names like “The Mies Vanilla Rohe”
and “The Frank Lloyd Light” — “we roam the entire radius of LA and
update our location on Twitter,” co-founder Natasha Case tells Young
Hollywood. The idea: To entice people out of offices and onto the
street for an “ice cream social” that racks up serious sales.

#5: Don’t Just Talk, Listen
Social networks are also an excellent way to solicit feedback from
your customers. Perhaps you’ve heard of Dell’s “Twelpforce” (or
Twitter help force), a team that fields questions, offers and
suggestions and sends Twitter-specific promos to followers.  There’s
no reason why your startup can’t use social media in the same way,
answering any questions your customers have about the products they’ve
bought from you. Of course, as sophisticated as that may sound to
monitor and respond to social networking chatter, it should be noted
that it’s far more useful to have highly-trained, highly-effective
customer service in the first place. If you want to get cutting edge,
start there.

Author Bio
Rick Mathieson, author of The On-Demand Brand: 10 Rules for Digital
Marketing Success in an Anytime, Everywhere World, is an award-winning
writer and leading voice on marketing in the digital age. His insights
have been featured in ADWEEK, Advertising Age, Wired, Broadcasting &
Cable, and on MSNBC, CBS Radio and NPR, while his next-generation
business models have earned recognition from USA Today and Dow Jones
Interactive. His first book, Branding Unbound (AMACOM 2005) was widely
praised in the business press. A regularly featured speaker at
industry events, Mathieson also serves as vice president and creative
director for Creative: Advertising & Interactive Media, one of Silicon
Valley’s most prominent advertising agencies. He lives in San
Francisco, California.

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