2012: A Brave New Social Media World

Jan 2012

Yesterday Social Media Examiner, one of my favorite sources, published 30 Social Media Predictions for 2012 From the Pros, a collection of thoughts from luminaries such as Mari Smith, Jason Falls, Jay Baer, and many others on where the social verse is headed in the year that lies before us.

It’s all good stuff (as if we’d expect any less from SME!), but a few predictions really stood out for me as I think about my clients and their goals for 2012:

Strategy takes center stage for social media, Jason Falls

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending an evening with Jason Falls here in Houston (thanks again, Michele Price!), and one of the many gems he shared was the idea that it’s perfectly OK to use social media as a business tool.

Sure, we’re here to inform, engage, enlighten, connect, and do lots of other touchy-feely stuff, but once we’ve done that and built a certain level of trust, we can ask for the sale (or the webinar registration, the consulting gig, the ebook purchase, whatever business goal is driving our efforts). We are, after all, in business for a reason.

Regularly creating unique content becomes essential, Lewis Howes

High-quality, unique content is no longer a “nice to have”—it’s an essential element in any successful marketing plan, and not having it could mean trouble. And as Lewis points out, we can’t just create content pieces once or twice and call it a day. We need to create a steady stream to ensure that we continue attracting the attention that can lead to closed business.

YouTube rises to top of mind, Phyllis Khare

If you’ve been holding off on getting your business involved in the online video revolution, 2012 will be the year of do-or-die. YouTube’s most recent round of changes reflect a much more social experience, and that’s excellent news for creators who consistently produce quality video content.

And if you think you can’t afford it, let’s look at some numbers. You can get a used or refurbished video camera (like my beloved Flip) for as little as $50 on eBay. As far as editing goes, there’s a huge variety of software packages available for $100 or less. And yes, a little time is needed to learn the ins and outs, but it’s an investment that will pay off if you use your new skills consistently.

Email and social call a truce, Jason Miller

Last week I shared my biggest social media mistakes of 2011, and one of those was relying on social media to the exclusion of other approaches. It’s an oversight I plan to correct in 2012, for the very reasons that Jason presents:

Smart marketers understand that social and email marketing are not mutually exclusive.As email becomes more social and social becomes better at finding leads, the platforms will complement one another for smarter, more targeted messaging and list-building efforts.

Which predictions—these or others you’ve read—will affect the decisions you make in 2012? Share your thoughts with us in the comments—we’d love to hear from you!

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Our Clients Are Saying

Increased website traffic, New Lead Generation

We were experiencing a lack of internal resources to consistently maintain the Ustream blog. So we turned to Resonance Content Marketing to write blog posts on current industry topics while maintaining a consistent tone with the brand. The result is increased website traffic, new lead generation from gated assets on blog, and better educated/qualified leads. And I now have more time to spend on marketing strategy with the confidence that the content we push out is extremely well written and engaging.

Rachel is an amazing writer and has really managed to create engaging and relevant blog material on topics that aren’t always super interesting. On many occasions, she has been able to quickly turn around one-off requests and the results are always top-notch. She has also helped guide our content strategy based on her expertise in content marketing, which has been a huge asset to our team.
One of the best “vendor” relationships I’ve ever had.

My company had little or no time to spend on social media. Our needs were to ensure a steady stream of posts across three platforms (Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter) by harvesting and re-purposing content from our own site and news streams. So I contacted Rachel Parker of Resonance Content Marketing.

The result was two-fold. Not only did our ranks of followers grew steadily, the steady drip, drip, drip of content helped us train our personnel and direct their own individual social media efforts.

Rachel and her team are extremely organized and open to discussion and new ideas. They deliver a rapid response to new opportunities — and an overall feeling of being on the same team. One of the best “vendor” relationships I’ve ever had.
Added 5 figures to my business in less than 4 weeks

Rachel took the overwhelm and stress out of writing content for my marketing campaign! When I approached Rachel, I was really concerned that I wouldn’t have the time to focus on writing copy for a lengthy marketing campaign that included sales pages, solo emails, newsletters and social media updates. Well, let’s just say I’m glad I hired Rachel because I couldn’t have done it without her support and expertise. I loved how she used my voice and words to craft content that helped me reach and attract my ideal client. As a result of working with Rachel, I added 5 figures to my business in less than 4 weeks, hundreds of new social media followers and exceeded my sales and list building goals! You know your marketing copy is working when you hear someone say, “I see you everywhere”. Thank you Rachel for helping me not only get seen by my ideal clients but get paid!
Event Sold Out Two Years In A Row!

Rachel worked with me on creating a content marketing calendar and content for the Big Social Media Summit (Big SMS) three years in a row. She is very organized and knows just the right amount of posts on social, email newsletters and content to send. Her content marketing efforts helping us sell out our event three years in a row! I am expecting the same for October 2014.

Rachel was hired to write content for our email newsletter and content for our social platforms. In addition, she had a budget to do advertising on social media. She participated in the event live and after the fact to assure buzz was created before, during and after the event. As a result, our event sold out.

When I work with Rachel, I have total peace of mind. I know that she is on target, on time, reliable and delivers over and above the results I expect.

I trust Rachel totally with her ideas on strategy, marketing and the content used to not only promote our events, but also post on my behalf on social networks. I have been doing social media for 8 years, and I hire Resonance to post on some of my social sites as it saves me time, and keeps my social sites relevant and current. They always post great, engaging content that gets my social properties likes, comments and shares.
Increased our likes and interaction rates

Working with Rachel was a delight. Not only does she communicate very well, but she provided valuable insight about our social media platforms and followers. We have much better engagement with our fans and followers, which increased our likes and interaction rates.
Social Media Ranking Better Than Ever!

We are so happy to have hired Resonance for our social media needs. We spend most of our time serving our clients and studying our field so we can provide the highest quality possible. We no longer worry about our social media, as we have total confidence in the wonderful work Rachel and her team have accomplished.

Our social media is active, promoted, and is ranking better than ever! People often comment about what they see on our Facebook page. Resonance has added a creative, and artistic twist to our social media that is appealing and captivating to our audience. This has allowed me more time to work with my team and clients, so I can focus on service towards the people that help our business grow.

I know there will be wonderful content on Facebook, and that Rachel will answer to posts, comments and questions as soon as a comment arrives. I am often impressed at how quickly she responds! Thank you Resonance! I highly endorse Resonance and encourage companies who need social media strategies to work with Resonance! You won’t regret it!
Produced ROI Result

Form.io needed someone who could grasp the complexities of our product, capture the subtlety of our differentiating value propositions, and convey them in the right voice for an exacting customer audience…. Resonance delivered, by crafting a multi-faceted online content marketing strategy that drove traffic and conversion, producing the ROI result we were looking for….
Professionalism and Sincere Desire to Help

I just didn’t seem to be able to find the time or the right words to explain what I offer and how my company helps people accomplish their goals. Rachel was able to ask me some questions, do some research and capture my voice while writing my website copy exactly as I needed it to be written. Now, the copy on my website is much more professional than what I would have created and having this task handled by Rachel and Resonance freed up my time to complete other tasks I am better suited to do.

It was a joy to work with Rachel. Her professionalism and sincere desire to help was apparent from the first communication until the final delivery. I will definitely use Resonance again and highly recommend their services.