2011-- Is Social Media the New Las Vegas for Business?

$50 billion! Too much money to rationalize for most people…..but that’s just what Facebook was recently estimated to be worth (http://tinyurl.com/22qp7p8) by Daily Finance. Groupon worth ~$6 billion! Mind boggling numbers unless you are the Yankees or Red Sox.

The expected boom of social media sites can be compared to the explosion of Las Vegas after World War II in 1945. Lavish resorts and glitzy hotels with casinos begin to dominate the city and tourism takes over as the #1 employer in the valley. In the 1960’s Howard Hughes invests in Las Vegas, buying up numerous casinos and “gambling” turns into a legitimate business called “gaming”.

On May 15th, 2005, Las Vegas celebrated it’s 100th birthday, holding the title as the largest metropolitan city founded in the 20th century. In 2009 the American Gaming Association reports that annual gaming revenues topped $5.5 billion on the Las Vegas Strip properties (http://tinyurl.com/38jjoou).

Jump ahead to 2011……Facebook, with more than 200 million users worldwide, was just valued at ~$50 billion. Groupon valued at ~$6 billion. Linkedin pondering an IPO , looking to raise ~$2.2 billion. All this social media buzz and the wealth associated with it started in 2003 when Mark Zuckerburg, a Harvard University student, started “Facemash”. In 2005, “Facebook” was officially launched with an initial purchase price of $200,000 for the domain name. And the rest is history!

Based on the market capitalization estimates from Daily Finance, since 2003, social media sites have created value in excess of $50 billion! Not bad for a 7+ year old fledging industry. Better than Las Vegas!

We’ve seen many of our gadgets over our lives go awry due to advances in technology. Remember 45’s, 33’s, 78’s, VCR’s, tape recorders, reel to reel movies, adding machines, typewriters, DOSS, TV antennas, wooden shafted golf clubs, “BIG Wheels”, Asteroids…..you get the picture.

Today’s business professionals are all chasing the buzz terms we refer to as “ROI’, “EBIDTA”, “margin”, “IPO” as indicators of their success as business entrepreneurs. Problem is in order to achieve these buzz words, they require sales professionals who can convince other executives to purchase their products. The sales industry has suffered over the last decade as yesterdays managers become today’s executives and won’t take “cold calls”. Today’s decision makers typically were promoted or advanced from yesterday’s managers who taught the sales techniques of the 80’s & 90’s. The “assumptive close”, the “affordable close”, the “conditional close”, the “summary close”, all were techniques taught and developed in years past. With the days of successful “cold calling” going the way of 33’s and 45’s, the successful sales professional has had to adapt their efforts to the information age of the 21st century and begin using social media to build, nurture, and grow their professional relationships.

The use of Linkedin, Twitter, Yelp, Groupon, Facebook, blogs (yes, like this one), email, Digg, etc are vital to continued sales success in the 21st century. Sounds simple, right? Wrong!

In order to properly utilize each of these methods (and a successful sales effort requires use of all these sites and more), it would take hours and hours to visit, search, post, reply, tweet, blog, etc. No time is left for the fun part of sales……selling.

The goal here is to become “social”, build a brand awareness for yourself as a sales professional, and have today’s decision makers want to purchase from you, not be sold by you. It’s much better to be a successful order taker than a frustrated sales person.

There are a number of great tools out there to help you manage your brand awareness and on-line reputation. To get additional info, and get a demo on how a social media engagement program can benefit you and your company, contact me for your free demo on how the Social Strategy1 “Engage” system can streamline your daily social efforts and help your profits soar in 2011!

Social Sites Drive Business Purchases by Young Adults and Teens

I’m seeing an interesting social trend developing over the last couple of years……consumers are moving from the age old habit of impulse shopping and buying, where a catchy advertising campaign or display might drive additional sales, to focused buying driven by the internet.


Nice opening statement, right? But what does it really mean? Let me give you a personal example.

This year’s “Black Friday” shopping event was highly anticipated by retailers across the country. Typically, the day after Thanksgiving kicks off the holiday shopping season in a BIG way. After the Thanksgiving meal has ended, the kids run to the playroom to hit the video games, the men typically retire to the den or “Man Cave” to watch football, while the women frantically browse through the fliers in the living room, making note of the stores they want to visit when they open. Some stores open as early as 12:01am on Friday morning and there are hundreds’ if not thousands, of shoppers anxiously waiting to be one of the first “250” in the door to get the “Great Deal” advertised in the flier. More often than not, stories of how “I can’t believe I got there at 3:30am and there were no X-Box 3 games left. It’s ridiculous! I’m never doing that again” are heard later in the day when the Mom gets home, frustrated from the crowds and lack of product availability.

Well, in my home, my wife followed tradition and looked through the fliers with her sister, mother, and sisters-in-laws, planning the next day’s shopping excursion. The difference was they were intent on hitting the stores quick and getting out. My wife left at 6:00am and was home with everything she went for by 9:00am. Now that’s a successful, focused shopping spree.

So what’s the moral here? To be successful in today’s information age, retailers need to be focused on providing an easy way for a consumer to get the product they want. The best way to do this is via social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, Digg, and hundreds more. A recent Pew survey       ( http://tinyurl.com/ya9mmzv ) indicates that nearly three quarters of teens and nearly the same number of young adults use social media sites. Today’s consumers are no longer visiting corporate websites, but rather social sites to see where others are getting great deals, and avoiding the places where people are having bad experiences. Some retailers have already embraced the social media craze, added their own social sites, and created “followers” by providing coupons, discounts, or special announcements of sales via their social sites. Other businesses have sat back wondering why their sales are down….?

Take a look at this example of a social media deal listed on Twitter by BestBuy......BestBuy is considered a leader in their social media strategy plan:

A good social media strategy is a necessity if you want to keep your business growing and attract the consumers you need to do this. We must remember, there’s a lot of competition for the consumers’ purchases these days. If you remain in your old ways, thinking ”I didn’t need social media to get to this point, I don’t need it now”, then you most likely have peaked your business’ revenues and should settle in for a period of declining revenues and, the ultimate reality of asking yourself “ What happened to my business?”. Remember my “1990's Sales vs 2010 Sales?” post a couple months ago?

If you’re interested in growing your business and realize it’s time to learn more about how a social strategy business plan can help grow your business and increase revenues and profits, then please click on the form below and I’ll be happy to provide you with more information….

http://www.emailmeform.com/builder/form/tmfddb55Ql

Jeter a Red Sox?

Wow! What a thought?


Derek Jeter, the heart and soul of the New York Yankees’ franchise for the last 15 years since his debut in 1995. Jeter has won 5 World Series, 5 Gold Gloves, 4 Silver Slugger awards, and has made 11 All-Star appearances over his illustrious career.

So you ask, how does New York let a player of that caliber reach free agency? I can’t answer that question, but I’m really glad they did. History has been shown to repeat itself.

On January 3, 1920, New York pulled off perhaps the greatest acquisition in baseball history by acquiring Herman “Babe” Ruth from the Boston Red Sox. Red Sox owner Harry Frazee regretted this deal for the rest of his life, as the Yankees went on to win an astounding 7 World Series titles with Ruth. The Red Sox went 86 years before they would finally break through and win the World Series in 2004.

Frazee, a theatrical producer, used the proceeds from the Ruth trade to produce a Broadway musical called “No, No, Nanette”, originally called a non-musical named “My Lady Friends”.

The “Curse of the Bambino” was widely blamed for the lack of success for the Boston franchise, until in 2004, the Red Sox came back from a 3-0 deficit against the hated New York Yankees, to win the American League Championship series 4-3. The Sox went on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals 4-0 to win the World Series.

Many feel the “Curse of the Bambino” was broken when the Babe’s piano was found in Willis Pond, in Sudbury Massachusetts. Local legend has it that Ruth, an avid piano player, pushed the upright onto the ice in 1919 during a stay at one of the pond's cabins. Two men who grew up on the pond said they remember setting fire to the piano in 1973 and pushing it into the water.

Babe Ruth at Willis Pond, prior to spring training 1918, waiting for his ride into Boston. "I'll see you kids at Fenway Park this summer.

Back to Derek Jeter……..The Red Sox could certainly use a player of Jeter’s caliber. Ever since that day in 2004 when he dove into the stands at Fenway Park for a foul ball while the Sox poster boy Nomar Garciaparra watched from his bench with an supposed injury, he has been a fan favorite of Red Sox Nation. Personally, I don’t like the Yankees, but I follow them as closely as I follow the Red Sox. I have always respected Jeter’s character, work ethic, and skills. He may not be the greatest shortstop of all time, but he’s worthy of being included in the discussion. Will he ever leave the Yankees, probably not? But ask any Bruins fan if they thought the greatest athlete in Boston history (do I really need to name him?......Bobby Orr) would ever leave Boston and you’ll get your answer.

Here’s one vote for John Henry to go out and make some noise. Mr. Henry, Mr. Werner, please go out and sign this guy! The intangibles he’ll bring to Fenway will more than pay for his salary. With the loss of Victor Martinez, Adrian Beltre, and Mike Lowell, there’s plenty of payroll available to make this happen….