فصل 21 بخش 1

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CREATE A SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE

With increasing numbers of people heading online as their first step to research your company, product, and even your personal information, it is mandatory that you create some type of social media presence. This is not a choice or something you either want to do or don’t want to do, nor is it something you have or don’t have time for: YOU MUST USE SOCIAL MEDIA.

Social media is a way for you to connect, prospect, and make yourself known to those who may have an interest in what you represent. As I wrote in If You’re Not First, You’re Last, obscurity (not being known) is a bigger problem than money. If people don’t know who you are, then they cannot do business with you. If they know you but aren’t thinking about you, they won’t do business with you. You have to be known, thought about, considered, and hopefully, the first or dominating choice in your clients’ minds in order to ever sell anything to anyone!

Today it is Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and who knows what will come next. One day I am sure these names won’t even exist, having been replaced by some other technological improvements. These names today are like the newspaper ads of early newspapers or the first billboards that showed up alongside highways and city streets years ago. Social media, except for the time it takes, is a free way for you to make yourself known. The key is you have to know HOW to use it rather than be used by it. Social media for the most part is like walking into a bar or party. You may mention business at the party or to the person in the bar, but you are probably more likely to talk about more social things than straight business. If you want a good example of how to use social media, check out the following pages that I created to demonstrate to people how to get interaction and involvement: Twitter@grantcardone and www.facebook.com/cardonesuccess. Watch how much interaction, feedback, and involvement I get while still pushing who I am.

The other thing that forces you to take a position with social media is your public and/or company reputation. Ten years ago, if someone wasn’t satisfied with the service at the resort they stayed at in some tropical paradise, they simply told a handful of friends and relatives. Today they are more likely to post a review online, and thousands of people, related and unrelated, may see it. The worst part is that the posted comment may not even be a fair assessment of the resort’s overall service.

It only takes a few bad reviews or complaints about you, your company, or your product to result in lost opportunities and a damaged perception of you and your brand. Your customers are online, and it is critical to manage your online reputation in order to protect your brand, as it may be the first impression the public gets about you.

Social tools like Yelp, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and thousands of blogging sites with endless agendas have magnified the voices of your clients and potential prospects for your business. Let’s face it: Almost anything can get posted about you or your company regardless of the facts. Also, it is more likely that a disgruntled person is going to take the time to post than a happy one because the disgruntled person has so much attention tied up in what he perceived as a negative experience or exchange.

No matter who you are or what your business is, when you start getting attention and creating any success at all, it is only a matter of time before someone will post something negative about you online. This is an impossible avoidance. The only way not to get attention is to hide under a rock, and even then you will be discovered. With the influence of social media, those who are critical of you, maybe even those who are envious you, and those who compete with your product or your company can easily show up online to bash you.

Criticism, dissatisfied customers, varying opinions, opposition, and even intentional and malicious brand-bashing are not new challenges in business. These issues have been around since the creation of gossip and competition; it is the power, accessibility, and reach of the Web that makes your social media reputation a new issue.

Here are some ideas about how you can manage negative social media: Treat your social media reputation like your personal reputation. Handle social media attacks the same way you would a personal attack. Handle such attacks, don’t delegate this or take it lightly. Nothing is more important than your name and reputation.

Handle ALL negative posts as opportunities. All complaints, bashing, and customer dissatisfactions should be treated as opportunities, not problems (until proven to be something else). A dissatisfied customer or negative post can be turned into a fan or compliment when handled correctly. I have a policy in my company in which I personally contact every customer who expresses a complaint. My goal is to transform any problem into a win for everyone.

Handle immediately. The sooner you handle the complaint, the easier it handles. Respond immediately and reasonable people will appreciate you making them a priority. Don’t respond with the intent for them to remove a post or criticism, but rather respond by addressing their concern. “Wow, I saw what you posted online and I wanted to call you right away and see what I could do to handle it. I had no idea. Tell me about what happened. What can I do to resolve it?” Most people, when handled correctly, will then retract the post or post how great you are.

Contact directly. Do not respond publicly online to something negative, as you only bring more attention to it. Like any communication, it is best when handled directly either by phone, a direct message, or even in person if possible. Be careful not to suggest wrongdoing in your message, but instead let the party know you want to see what you can do to handle the upset.

Be proactive. The best solution to reputation management is to be on offense not defense. Create initiatives to collect positive posts and testimonials, even videos, about you and your company. Encourage and make it easy for the people who love and do business with you to spread the good word about you. Aggressively build a positive public relations campaign about your good works, endeavors, and contributions that will outweigh any negative post. Call us if you want some direction about how you can establish a strong social media reputation.

Know your limitations. While I believe that every complaint is an opportunity, you have to know which battles to fight and which ones to walk away from. There are some people whose real goals are to consume you, your focus, and your energy. They don’t seek resolution; they seek to consume you like a vampire. There are some people who are only interested in making noise, negativity, and spewing hate. Disregard and don’t engage them once they prove they are only interested in the negative.

The most important thing is you should treat your social media reputation in the same manner you would your personal and public reputation. It is only a matter of time before someone posts negative comments about you, which may include exaggerations of dissatisfaction issues, with some going as far as fabricating complete falsehoods. It is a fact of life that to the degree you get attention, you will at some point get criticism.

Protecting your online reputation requires that you know what you can do so that the public searching you out gets the right story about you. Make it a priority and be proactive!

Lastly, the number one excuse for not using social media is not having the time. And, I agree, you don’t have time to waste on social media like 99 percent of users do, but you must learn to use social media as a way to save time. Make time, make yourself known, and establish a strong social media reputation. I personally work three Facebook pages, one Twitter feed, and one Google+ account. It isn’t a waste of time that will keep you from doing this; it is only a lack of commitment and understanding of what it can do for you.

$250,000 SALE SUCCESS SCHEDULE

$250,000 Prosperity Schedule

“Go to Work to Prosper, Not to Work.”

6 am Wake up (rule is two hours before you need to be somewhere) Write long-term goals

Exercise and listen/watch motivational training (control your input) 7 am Dress for success

Make driving time learning time (should be sales-training content) Eat out: Be seen among prospective clients

7:45 am Arrive early to office

Create battle plan for short-term targets

Daily sales meeting (short, positive, twenty minutes max) Create hot list of who you can get in front of today

Save-a-deal meeting: Past deals list with save plan

Massive outbound action using battle plan

Follow up 100 percent of yesterday’s opportunities (no exceptions) Call five clients regarding service updates

Call last week mailers/e-mails out

Fax blast all of last week’s opportunities