Co-Founder, Jory Des Jardins

Dean of eBay Education

Jim Griffith

Co-Founder, John Martin

Lead Writer, Kristin Nicole

Founder, Lauren Elliott

excerpts from the book

Rule 2:

Communication is Communication Both On & Offline

Customers appreciate genuine online communication as much as they do a sincere handshake and smile

Social media is, at it’s core, social. Online communication comes with rules, lessons, and messages just like face-to-face communication does. The key to effective online communication is to understand the signals you send and receive. Apply what you know about face-to-face communication to your online practices. Be polite, professional, and honest. You are, after all, representing yourself and your business, so communicate through social media to your customers with the same mindset you have when you see them in person. Customers and readers appreciate genuine online communication as much as they do a sincere handshake and smile.

Rule 3:

Know Your Audience

You can’t speak personally to someone if you have no idea who they are

Unlike broadcast media, social media is very personal and something that everyone can engage in and interact with. In order to maintain that personal touch with your social media campaign, you have to know your audience and speak to them at their level and in their terms. “It’s important for businesses to know who their audiences are because businesses are about satisfying the wants and needs of customers, and that's hard to do without a thorough understanding of who those customers are,” says John Martin, Co Founder and CEO of Crowd Science.

Rule 5:

You Don’t Need a Million Friends

Connect with businesses and companies that you know and let your network grow organically

The goal of social media is not to have a million friends or followers or fans. If you’re constantly counting your connections, you’ve lost sight of the real reason you’re in social media; to make your business personal to others. “The more real you appear and act in the space the better the customers and market respond to you and the communication you put out,” says Scott Bradley, the force behind the marketing campaign for Mike Michalowicz’s book The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur. Scott’s effort in the social media space was not focused on garnering millions of friends, but instead on focused personally relatable product and brand identity.

Small Businesses Ripe for Change

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, as of 2005, firms with under 500 employees represented 99.9% of the 27.2 million businesses in America. These businesses employ about half of all private sector employees, and they have generated between 60% and 80% of new jobs in the past decade. In today’s economic climate, many small business owners rely on social media to promote their brand, in lieu of expensive marketing and ad campaigns.

Click Below to View the Webinar

Demystify the process of social media communication and learn how to generate buzz and business success by establishing and maintaining a social media presence.

1. Design Your Social Media Brand
   

2. Establish Your Business Online
   

3. Grow Your Customer Base Virtually
   

42 Rules of Social Media for Small Business is the modern survival guide to effective social media communication. As part of the 42 Rules series, this book is designed to quickly and effectively equip business professionals with the tools they need to generate an effective customer community through social media, that translates into customer loyalty, excitement for the brand, and increased revenue.