Last year, on a Copyblogger podcast I was described as being like the cranky old “black sheep” uncle in the corner telling the kids what a crock social media is.
It was actually pretty funny.
All good jokes are based on truth, after all.
And, let’s face it:
He’s right.
I don’t drink the social media kool-aid.
Frankly, I hardly ever waste time on FaceBook. I have a Google+ account but barely ever log in. And besides Twitter (which I find entertaining and fun, and somewhat useful for business purposes) I basically avoid social media like the zombie apocalypse plague.
Still, that doesn’t mean it’s totally useless.
Or that you can’t make $$ with it.
For example…
Here are some ways I’ve used and/or observed for increasing sales (short term and long term) with social media:
- Finding JV partners
- Connecting with businesses
- Getting new customers to tell people about your website (like Amazon does — after you purchase they have links to social media so you can tell all your friends how wonderful they are that they let you buy something from them…)
- Market research (hear what people complain about)
- Seeing what your competition is up to
- Advertising (i.e. FaceBook PPC)
- Ruthlessly sabotaging your competition by spamming their wall with how much they suck (just kidding… wanted to see if you were awake…)
Anyway, there are more than that.
So even I admit it’s not ALL bad.
But compared to email, it’s a joke.
I take great pride in all the people I’ve “converted” from being diehard social media evangelists to being diehard email evangelists.
Do email right and it’s way more fun.
Way more convenient.
And… way more profitable.
Give a shot at:
Ben Settle
