Will Social Media Really Grow Your Business?

Do you resist diving into the whole social media thing to grow your business?

In this video I’ll give my take on Lia’s question about social media AND you’ll get some targeted advice from one of the hottest social media experts around, my gal Laura Roeder.

Wisdom From Laura:

Lia, it is time for you to find the great farmer’s market in the sky!

Um wait a minute, that sounds like I’m talking about heaven. What I’m really talking about is (believe it or not) social media.

I too am a huge farmer’s market fan. I try to hit up my local spot every Friday. (And living in Southern California means it stays open year round!)

I think there are two main draws of the farmer’s market – the community and the sense of exploration. The community piece is obvious – it’s a great way to meet your neighbors, build relationships, and just have a good excuse to chat with people. The exploration is fun as well – you really never know what you’re going to come across or what crazy new veggie you’ll get to try.

Here’s what is so cool about social media (and why I know YOU in particular are going to love it once you dive in. There is no other way to market that basically mimics hanging out at the farmer’s market!

Let’s talk twitter.

Although it can feel odd and foreign at first, all you’re doing on twitter is chatting with other folks. (OK there a few robots there as well but you definitely don’t need to spend time chatting with them!) Perusing a tweet stream is a lot like strolling along the booths at the farmer’s market – you slowly pass by, taking it all in and when a booth calls to you, you walk on over and start a conversation.

Having one-on-one conversations with cool people that you want to talk to is about as hands-on as you can get. And while utilizing your local farmer’s market is great, the scope is very limited.

On twitter you can easily engage with people all over the world – people just waiting to meet you and buy your fabulous products!

The other element that I love about farmer’s markets is exploration – and again this is where social networking tools like twitter really shine.

For such a high-tech tool, meeting new people on twitter feels surprisingly organic.

Often you’ll notice a friend on twitter talking to a person you don’t know, so you jump in and start talking to the new person as well. It’s kind of like striking up a conversation with the person next to you at the farmer’s market who just asked a question of the same vendor.

You already know that you have some common ground, and that this person could be cool.

Social NETWORKS are called that for a reason – they’re incredibly rich, intricate networks of people tied together in unpredictable ways. You already love getting to know your local community, twitter provides a way to get to know your global community.

Social media marketing is not for every business. But Lia, it sounds perfect for yours!

It’s a great way to spread the word about your website because all you have to do is show up and be yourself – just like you do at the farmer’s market.

Twitter is the simplest place to start.

You can start by following me, @lkr, and @marieforleo.

For more twitter friends, just look through all the incredible people on Marie’s original questions post, or start paying attention to who Marie and I are chatting with.

And don’t be shy about talking about yourself and your business! Link to your new scent of soap. Explain why a certain product is your favorite. Talk to us about your quality standards. Tell us about the charities you support and the valuable work they do.

Let it happen organically, just like the farmer’s market. Before you know it you’ll be a pro at using the most “hands-on” tool out there – social media!

— Laura Roeder is a social media marketing expert who teaches small businesses how to create their own fame and claim their brand online. She is the creator of the Creating Fame Classroom and Your Backstage Pass to Twitter.

She’s good, right?  I rarely endorse anyone.   But Roeder gets the OMG-she-fucking-rocks seal of approval.   She’s a two-time RHH Mastery Program member, a valued client, a business partner and most importantly one of my closest friends.  I’m totally pimping her out and proud to do it.

Now back to this social media thing. What do YOU think?  Any experience you want to share? Do you like our naughty two-on-one coaching approach?

Leave a comment and let us know.  We’re needy like that.