Social Media and Web Marketing Coaching

Being a native Portlander, David Strom knows his way around PDX. Over the last year, he’s become an important online source for Portland events and festivals.  Starting off slowly and building an audience, Dave started a blog called “Dave Knows: Portland‘ and has developed a great formula of providing the right content and keeping people coming back for more. Learn how he got started and where he’s headed with “Dave Knows: Portland“.

What inspired you to start your blog?

In Portland during the summer there’s something going on every weekend
- street fairs, beer fests, cultural festivals, etc. These are the
kinds of things that interest me. A few years ago I found myself
keeping track of upcoming events and coordinating my friends’
weekends, via email. Basic information about these kinds of events,
date and time maybe, could be culled from newspapers and other
websites, but other than for the bigger beer fests, it was really hard
to find information about them. I’ve noticed that if it doesn’t have a
corporate sponsor, most mainstream media will relegate an event to
some obscure, usually reader submitted, “community happenings”
section, or not mention it at all.

One day in Spring 2007, I was hanging out with friends when someone
asked “Hey, when’s the Polish Festival?” Another friend, a long time
recipient of my weekend coordinating emails, immediately answered
“Dave knows!” That was the Eureka moment. I was working in web
development at the time, and knew setting up a blog was fairly simple.
I already had the basic infrastructure for the blog already, in the
form of bookmarked webpages and my email archive. In addition to my
interest in festivals, street fairs, and beer, I have an insatiable
curiosity about Portland, pinball, soccer, accordion music, poutine,
and other esoteric things that, by mainstream media standards, are too
obscure for them to waste much time on. I knew there was a niche in
Portland for these sorts of things.

What’s been the best/most effective way to promote it?

Definitely, the best and most effective way to promote the blog has
been to understand and embrace blog culture. I always credit and link
to other bloggers’ work if it in anyway influences my post (something
traditional journalists are loathe to do - they don’t want to miss the
appearance of having a scoop!). It’s the polite thing to do, it builds
up camaraderie in the blogging community, and frankly, it helps us all
get better google rankings.

I’ve experimented with reddit and stumbleupon, and some other local
and topical aggregators, but self promotion is usually discouraged on
these sorts of sites, and ultimately I’m happier with steady, somewhat
predictable, growth than occasional weird spikes in traffic.

Right now the blog has some bus ads running (a fabulous birthday gift
from my awesome girlfriend!
http://portland.daveknows.org/2009/12/18/dave-knows-on-the-back-of-the-bus/),
but it’s hard to identify visitors to the blog who visit because
they’ve seen a bus ad. Traffic has been up the past few months; I
like to think some of that is due to the ads.

How has your experience been being a blogger in the Twitter community,
what have you learned?

Twitter has proven to be a great boon to my blog. It’s not entirely
frowned upon to self promote - if you’re measured about it.
Ultimately people can just stop following you if your Twitter habits
irritate them. But of course, you don’t want to irritate them. When
I have a new post I announce it on Twitter, but that’s about the only
self promotion I do. Lots of the folks I follow on Twitter have blogs
or other creative projects, so I get updates on those in real time,
and I can retweet the things that interest me; similar to blogging,
there’s a Twitter ethic of retweeting with credit.

What’s the future of Dave Knows Portland, where do you want to be in a year?

The blog has opened some doors for me that I would never had expected.
I’ve been a guest on Portland Sucks and Savor
Portland. I’ve been asked for interviews [by
you!]. It’s been somewhat disconcerting for me, as an introvert, to
find that in some circles my alter ego, “Dave Knows”, is a
“personality”, and considered a source of “news”.

My girlfriend and I are constantly brainstorming for ways to maybe
possibly someday make a living from our blogs (Heather blogs at
http://mile73.com and we share the blogging duties at
http://portlandpoutine.com), and we have a few long term ideas I’m not
at liberty to discuss I just started offering advertising space
on my blog (http://portland.daveknows.org/advertise/), but so far the
blog barely makes about $1/day from Google Adsense. Over the next
year the staples of my blog will remain events, beer, and soccer news.
But my blog posts on fellow Portlanders’ creative projects have been
fun to work on, and are well received. I plan to do a lot more posts
like them in the future.

Oh, my, how the internet has changed our lives. Who would have imagined years ago that we could construct beautiful pieces of gemstone jewelry through a website? Gemkitty has tapped into this niche and has become a destination for ladies to create their own stylized jewelry.

How do they attract followers to come make a necklace? Check out my interview with Arwa Jumkawala, one of the owners.

What’s your business?

Gemkitty, Jewelry Designed by You is a online jewelry retailer, where you can customize your own gemstone necklace with a few mouse clicks. Your design is then handcrafted especially for you.

When did you start using social media and why?

As a web-based business, we knew we needed to be involved in social media in order to truly engage with our audience. Primarily, we use Twitter and Facebook, which we set up as part of our launch. Social media gives us a chance to have conversations that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise, and the real-time nature of the feedback has been fantastic.

Has social media changed your business?

Yes! In addition to being able to build relationships with our customers, it’s also helped me keep connected with fellow entrepreneurs. And it’s proved really effective at keeping me in the loop with jewelry fashion trends and local events.

How to you envision social media changing in the future?

I think companies engaging in social media will become smarter at actively engaging, rather than just broadcasting messages to their audience. We’re already seeing that trend, but it’s surprising to me how many people still don’t seem to understand why fans might be annoyed if all you tell them is: buy me, buy me, buy me.

Have a social media story you’d like to share?

Recently, we wanted to thank our earliest Facebook fans for their ongoing support. So we messaged them and offered them two pairs of earrings for free. No strings attached.  One pair was for them and one for a friend of their choosing. We received a lot of positive feedback, including emails from fans sharing who they decided to give their second pair to and why. Our fans seems to really appreciate the ability to treat a friend and we got a chance to expose our brand.

Brian C.  Johnson is the man behind the local Portland magazine: Mix. Mix is a great mixup of food and drink, interviewing restaurants aimed at foodies, sharing recipes, and covering “what’s new” to consume. How does a magazine use social media to help broadcast its news?

What’s your business?

MIX Magazine, Portland’s #1 Food + Drink magazine

When did you start using social media and why?

Began in the summer of 09′ primarily to reach out to those interested in the food + drink category, have dialogue with them and encourage them to read our
publication.

Has social media changed your business?

It has helped us as publishers to have a better understanding of our audience, so I would say it has changed it yes.

How to you envision social media changing in the future?

It will need to continue to be relevant to the consumer. This is the greatest
challenge for any media of our day.

Have a social media story you’d like to share?

We recently did a story on a particular cocktail featuring a local
distiller and a bartender who served this drink at a particular
restaurant in town. We posted the story on Facebook and the restaurant
told us they had so many new customers come in to order the cocktail
that they ran out!

Bridget Benton is a super busy lady. She’s a mixed-media artist, art teacher/facilitator and creativity trainer - supporting people in the care and feeding of their own creative spark. If you need inspiration or instructions for numerous art projects, check out her website: Eyes Aflame. Bridget and I crossed paths when I attended a mentoring session offered by a local business education program. Thanks to Bridget’s mentorship and encouragement, I took charge of my passion for social communication for businesses and educated myself about social media by attending classes, etc.

What’s your business?

I’m an artist and an art teacher - I work in a wide range of media, so my
teaching isn’t very media-centric; it’s much more about process.  I really
believe that everyone is creative, and I love to help people find that spark
in themselves during my workshops.  I work with adults - there are a lot of
great folks out there working with kids.  I feel like my job is to help
those grown-ups who did have a bad art experience as kids rediscover their
joy in making stuff!

When do you start using social media and why?

I first joined Facebook with some reluctance because I had classmates in
grad school who were using it to stay in touch; and I signed up on Twitter
because a lot of the people whose blogs I followed where also tweeting, so
it seemed like a good way to stay in touch and find out what was going on!
What I discovered was that Facebook connected me to a lot of my friends and
family, and that Twitter kept me in touch with a lot of resources and events
in the arts, crafts, and creative community.

Has social media changed your business?

The way that I market my classes and my artwork is constantly shifting; I
used to rely a lot more on flyers and list serves. At the heart of it,
though, I believe that marketing is about building relationships.

Social media, especially Facebook and Twitter are a new way for me to build
relationships - and it makes keeping my friends and family up to date on the
classes I’m offering and the shows I’m in a lot easier.  My friends and
family are on my e-mail newsletter list, but a lot of them don’t really read
it.  This gives us an easy and low-key way to talk about our mutual creative
endeavors.

When I tweet and post on Facebook, I try to consider whether the information
I’m sharing has some interest or entertainment factor - I ask myself, “Will
this be of interest to or entertain my potential clients, my friends and
family?” My clients are like friends who are looking to get something very
specific out of our relationship - creative inspiration for their personal
and professional lives.  One of the things I discovered by engaging more
fully in social media is that my friends and family often look to me for the
same thing - they get curious about my new artwork, or the new classes I’m
offering. They’re just as interested in the resources I pass on about the
entrepreneurial climate or a great craft project I found on-line. Now I
don’t feel so embarrassed about “marketing” to my friends and family,
because it’s just one one more component of my life that I share, and it’s
one more component of our relationship.  And frankly, that makes it a lot
easier to “market” to my clients, too, when I consider that much of why
they’ll choose to take a class from me is because they feel comfortable with
me or identify with me in some way.

What are you looking forward to social media changing in the future?

I almost have to laugh at this one - I’m not much of an early adopter when
it comes to new technologies, and have no idea how things might shift in the
future.  I do know that blogging and engaging in social media is keeping me
in touch with people all over the country - so one of the big questions for
me now is how to offer courses, services, and creative inspiration to those
people outside of my immediate geographic area.  There are lots of ways to
do it - e-books, on-line classes, etc.  I just have to figure out the way to
do it that fits best with my personality, style, and mission.

Yelp has been a breakthrough in reviewing businesses online. Never before could you look up restaurants or dentists in your home town and see how others had experience with them.

There are some ups and downs that come with this responsibility of reviews, especially on the business owner’s end. Yelp is set up so that anyone can sign up for a yelp account and review different businesses. On the business end, a business can either create an account and encourage clients/customers to write reviews - or - a business can claim it’s account if Yelpers (yelp users) have already start reviewing on their own.

Pink Sherbet Photography

Here’s when things get tricky. Let’s say you own a restaurant and you have an account on Yelp and over the past few months, you’ve gotten some reviews. Most of them are 3 and 4 stars, but you also got some one or two 2 star reviews. At first, you might feel defensive and reactive about how the customer reviewed your establishment and want to react. I’ve read business owner’s reaction to low ratings and it can go either way.

Some business owner choose to use this opportunity as a frustration outlet and lash out at the customer, blaming them and accusing them of behaving badly, ordering the wrong food, having too high of expectations and overall, being defensive. This defeats the whole point of a site like Yelp. On the flip side, I’ve seen some business owners react openly to negative reviews, responding to the customer and asking them to give them feedback to improve the experience. It simply could have been a bad day or night for the business or the staff and it came through to the customer. That happens, but I think it’s so important for the business owner to see how they can be a part of this communication process and turn the corner. Often times,  once the reviewer has communicated with the business owner, they will update their review.

The message is simply - don’t lose out on gaining a customer for life. Bad reviews happen but business owners have the power to turn them around. Your customers are huge part of the new wave of advertising, there’s nothing more powerful than hearing a recommendation from a friend to a friend. It’s magical and it can spread like wildfire.

Some folks are really great at connecting with people. Shona Lepis from Eye Design Studio has figured it out. I got to know her through Twitter and have really enjoyed the links and projects she’s shared. How can you personally brand yourself through Twitter?

What’s your business?
I have a boutique design studio called Eye Design Studio. Eye Design Studio creates artisan handcrafted design for web and print. We work with lifestyle brands to build their business with creative design solutions. We work with a lot of small to medium sized business to help them build their brand.  Eye Design Studio focuses on Visual Identity suites (logo design, custom Web site design, branded social media, email templates, business cards, letterhead).

When did you start using social media and why?
I happen to be a bit of a technology geek and love to learn and try out new things. I was at first skeptical about how social media. I decided to keep current and relevant I really needed to just jump in and embrace social media. I have to say I love it and find that it has been an amazing resource. I love to share links and useful tools and resources I find.

Has social media changed your business?
Social media has allowed me to build my personal and business brand online. By frequently sharing tips, design projects I’m working on,etc. People get to know me a bit more personally so they know my design style. I’m a bit personal in what I share but believe if you are authentic people are interested and get to know me a little more so they can tell if my design style would be a good fit for them.

What are you looking forward to social media changing in the future?
I think social media will just become part of our social fabric and everyday life. I think as technology keeps moving it’s exciting to see how many new tools are there and that “there is an app for that”. I love how the tools keep us connected and like we are part of a community. I work with an international team of with colleges in Paris, France and Bali, Indonesia and the tools make it possible.

Have a social media story you’d like to share?
In fact I do have a funny antidote. I was recently at a Halloween party of a designer friend. The invite asked that we bring a dish to share. I had just gone to another holiday party with the food and of course tweeted about it. (Going to a pumpkin carving party w/ pumpkin cheesecake dip served in a carved pumpkin w/ ginger snaps. http://yfrog.com/iyv1lj) When I got to the party someone said hey “I think I follow you on twitter, I saw you post about the dip.”. It was a funny moment and a great example of how real life connections are made in person from sharing and building a community online.

If you are active on BizNik in the Portland area, you’ve probably seen some good articles and activity from Kaya Singer. Kaya has a very unique background, she’s owned a pottery business, been a family therapist and is now a small business coach. She has recently launched her book, The Entrepreneur’s Handbook to Money & Freedom.

It’s impressive how active Kaya is in communicating with businesses through Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Read below and learn how powerful online communication can be for a business coach.

What’s your business?

Awakening Business Solutions - I offer tools, process and coaching programs to solo business owners to help them overcome obstacles and develop a business mind-set.

When did you start using social media? What made you decide to try it?

I began social media as soon as it was available. I was on e-mail before most people. Communication is my focus and I loved the immediacy and the ability to create community with people world-wide.

How has social media affected your business?

It has allowed me to market to people world-wide and develop strong communities and relationships with people I would never have met. It has allowed me to put articles all over the world and make a huge difference in people’s lives.

What is one tool that you use the most?

Not just one. My LinkedIn group - Awakening Women in Business, my blog, Facebook, Twitter, BizNik, EZine articles and I am getting ready to move forward developing a membership site.

Have a social media story you’d like to share?

I was part of an e-mail group called “Powerful Women Entrepreneurs“. There were hundreds of women and it ran as a Yahoo group. The woman who facilitated it decided to suddenly quit so there was no place for all these women to go.  On a whim- one morning when I was on LinkedIn, I began “Awake Women in Business” and I invited all the women from the other group. Many of them came and then I also invited  other women I knew and posted it on Facebook and Twitter. It was active and involved almost immediately!  I love it as I am a natural facilitator, and it is a way to build community with women in business. It is also giving me some training for my new membership site that is coming soon.  I love working with women too so this also fulfills that need.

I first discovered Chris Guillebeau at a social media training earlier this year - I checked out his blog and really liked his messages. Very inspiring and against the grain, they grab your heart strings and give you hope to leap from the normal way of thinking and challenge yourself. His website has lots of goodies such as “279 Days to Overnight Success“. I was lucky enough to chat with him about his application of social media to share and explain his ideas.

What’s your business?

I help people live unconventional lives.

When did you start using social media and why?

I started right when I started my site, The Art of Non-Conformity. It seemed like a good idea to jump on the train.

Has social media changed your business?

I wouldn’t say it’s changed the business; I’d say it is the business. I write for free, but enough people are interested in my premium things that I can make a living. It’s all due to this thing we call the social web.

What are you looking forward to social media changing in the future?

Not sure on that… I’m pretty happy with the current status.

Have a social media story you’d like to share?
Air New Zealand sent me to the Cook Islands because of people who recommended me on Twitter. About half of my media coverage comes out of social web contacts. I meet people all over the world whenever I travel now, but I feel like I already know them because we’ve connected online first.

Setting up a Facebook Fan page is the best way to advertise your business, but I’ve found a lot of folks baffled about what to do with it.  Here are steps on how to set it up

Once you have your Facebook page, what do you do with it?

1) Feed your blog postings into your Facebook page - this can be done by editing the Notes tab and adding your blog feed. Facebook will confirm with you if it’s done correctly and you simply confirm.

2) Add business apps, there are a ton to choose from here,  but don’t go overboard, pick a few that having meaning to your business.

3) Promoting your page - you can’t just friend someone the way you do from your personal profile. You can encourage folks to be fans of your page by spreading the word.  Find contacts from your profile that are business connections, in the industry, or who could benefit from what your company provides and invite them to become a fan. Send a personal note what your page offers. Also promote your page in other places such as Twitter, email sigs, business card, your website or blog.

4) Build a community around your page - start discussions by asking questions regarding your products or what they suggests should improve. Post on a regular basis, such as you would on a blog. Be patient, it won’t happen overnight, but it change slowly.

Want to take it to the next level? Read this report on developing a Facebook pan to attract a million fans!

I met Gary originally through Biznik.com and was happy to see his company on Twitter shortly after. In a world where everyone wants something customized, ImageWear Solutions provides a plethora of items, including many eco-friendly wares. Check out his site and read the interview below to learn how small businesses can build community through social media.

What’s your business and who are your clients?

ImageWear Solutions is an advertising specialty distributor, which supplies company uniforms and corporate apparel, as well as a wide range of promotional products. We also offer custom embroidery and screen-printing services.

When did you start using social media and why?

We just started getting involved with social media a few months ago, because we like the sense of community that it offers.  It’s a great, affordable way to not only showcase the products and services that you offer, but also to showcase the character of your company.  I started my own business to not only be independent and hopefully profitable, but also to be able to use our resources to help build a better community.   Social media gives us a great outlet to support non-profits, the arts, environmental issues, as well as other small businesses. For us, it’s all about helping each other grow and blossom, then give something back. We can all make this a better world in which to live.
Have you seen an increase of business?

We have seen a slight spike, but most of all, we’ve met some really great people and feel like we’re more in tune and involved in the community than before.

What are you looking forward to social media changing in the future?

I’m hoping that it will continue to evolve and maintain the community spirit in which it was intended and also clean up the business landscape.  If you are honest and sincere, as a business owner, the word is going to spread allowing you to grow and offer more back to the community in which you live.   And if you’re not, well people can spot a phony pretty easily and yes, the word will spread like wild fire. There will be an increase of “get rich” schemers, as well as so-called social media “experts” hoping to part you from your hard earned money. There are scam artists everywhere. As a community, we have a responsibility to protect each other from the predators.

Have a social media story you’d like to share (how you connected with someone or how someone helped you?)

As I said before, we’ve met some really great people, including you via social media. One story does come to mind though. I came to know Kimberly LeRiche, who owns and operates JK Virtual Office Resources and her husband Jeff, the owner of OTC Sports on Twitter.  She has helped us greatly with understanding how social media can benefit our company.  One day she had re-tweeted a message by the Portland Police Bureau Sunshine Division (http://www.sunshinedivision.org/), who collects donations of food and clothing and distributes them to families in need.   We had never even heard of them before.  Well, we accumulate a great deal of new clothing samples through our dealings with various vendors.  We had clothing stashed in various locations and not really doing anyone any good at all.  So, we gathered them all together and donated some really nice, new clothing to the Sunshine Division.   So, through social media, we have found a great place to donate clothing that will benefit those in need. It’s a win-win for everyone.