Obviously, the advertising industry picked up on blogs and social media pretty early on and revenue streams based on advertising has matured quite rapidly. And like with anything on the web, the internet marketing crowd, with their usual approach, moved into the social media space.

But for the most part businesses that offer services are only beginning to scratch the surface of how to use social media to create a space in the market and grow their business. And with the constant growth and massive potential blogging and social networking provide, it’s pretty obvious that social marketing is anything but a fad.

Just think about it for a moment. What’s one constant of marketing – that people will forever be looking for ways to solve the problems they face. Getting married and want to find the perfect wedding planner? You can likely find her (or him) blogging. Traveling for the first time to Fort Collins, Colorado? You’ll probably want to comfortable hotel. Want to increase your business profits 50% over the next 12 months? There’s a business advisor (who I happen to know personally) who can likely help you do it (just give him a call or shoot him an email).

You see, publishing to a blog can establish your expertise in the area you’re an expert in. Your blog serves as a platform for sharing what you know. And when you share what you know with the people who need what you know, you’re creating a space for yourself in the market.

But the blog lets you go even further. Better than creating a market, your blog lets you create a community. Through conversations in the comment box and an open line of communication, your blog, and hence your business service, can become vitally important to your reader’s success. In other words, you can find your own niche within the market.

And here I’m talking only about blogging. Add in relationships in Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Combine that with all the social bookmarking and social sharing sites that allow for the spread of your excellent content and what you have is an entire social marketing platform based in conversation and relationship.

You see, it’s relationship that drive the market. Always has and it always will. Things got a little sidetracked as we moved from the quaint neighborhood drugstore and small-town lumber yard to the CVS and Home Depot monopolies. We gained price savings, but what we lost was the relationship.

Social media is bringing back the relationship into business. This is one of the reasons why I feel social media has exploded. Consumers can once again have control over the marketplace by choosing who they want to be in relationship with. And it’s why I strong feel that social marketing is not at all a fad. It’s here to stay. It’ll evolve, just as the internet always does. But the web based on individual control and relationship-driven services will continue to prosper.

The the only question remains is how are you using social media to increase your business? And if you’re not, why not( Maybe a call to that business growth advisor I spoke of would be a good idea)?

Let’s talk about it.

(note: image from kalandrakas on Flickr,  some rights reserved)

Do you know that you’re not really marketing your coaching practice to a target audience, that you’re not communicating to a niche market, and that you won’t find your next coaching clients if you ‘engage a marketplace?’

It’s so true. Yet most of the websites that promote life coaches seem to think that’s exactly what they’re doing – talking to a market or an audience.

Is your life coaching website getting you coaching clients?

If you ask a life coach whether their website is getting them coaching clients – most often the answer is no. I know this for a fact because I teach coaches how to use their websites – really their entire web presence – to build a following and get more coaching clients. And most of the life coaches I work with come to me with website copy that is trying to speak to an audience.

So if you’re not speaking to an audience, who are you speaking to?

Now let me clarify for a moment. I do use terms such as target market or target audience all the time. Sometimes I add purposefully add ‘the people in your target audience’ to a statement. And, every single time I say talk about markets or audience you can assume I’m saying ‘people.’ And to be even more specific, I actually mean talking to a single person – one-by-one – over and over so that you’re really talking to thousands of individual people.

And this, it seems, is where life coaches – and business coaches, spiritual coaches, leadership coaches and just about any other type of service provider – get their marketing all wrong. You’re not talking to a market, you’re talking to people.

Your coaching clients are not an audience, they’re people.

Of course you know this. But do you use it in marketing your coaching practice? Do you think about it when  you’re speaking with a new potential coaching client? And do you keep it in the forefront of your thoughts when you’re making decisions about your business?

If not, you need to. You need to remember, all the time, that you’re talking to people.

People aren’t interested in hearing from businesses.

Are you? Do you want to hear from a business or would you rather hear from a person?

Well, you potential coaching clients aren’t any different. They don’t want to hear from a business. They don’t want to talk to a service provider. And seldom do they seek coaching.

Now that’s not to say that don’t want coaching or that they can’t benefit from working with a life coach. That would be like saying that you shouldn’t eat vegetables because the don’t taste good. That’s not true.

But what is true is that you, as a coach promoting how your coaching service can benefit people, want to know what people want. More specifically, you want to know what the people you can best serve through  your coaching practice want, need and even expect.

Show your future coaching clients who you are

The way to do this isn’t by crafting more enticing marketing messages. It’s not by creating some fancy sales materials or producing some slick product. Rather, you meet people by first being a person yourself. Show them your human side. Let them see that you’re not just a coach who runs a business and wants to get more clients. Instead, show them that you’re a human being who cares about people and want to serve them by helping them overcome their problems and concerns.

And there we find the most important point – meet the people you want to serve – the people you can best serve – where they are. They’ve found your coaching website most likely because they’re seeking answers, wanting help, looking for direction or needing to solve a problem in their life. Meet them in it and then show them the way out. This is what makes an effective coaching website.

Just remember, people are seeking answers and direction, not marketing messages and sales pitches. Meet them where they are.

As a life coach, or any other sort of coach, how are you best meeting the people you want to serve with your coaching practice?

Let’s talk about it.

note: image from caruba on Flickr, some rights reserved)

Can Twitter really help your business?

This is something I get asked all the time by clients, prospective clients and just about anyone else I meet and chat with. Heck, my mom called me a few weeks ago just to ask me, “what is Twitter?” So if it’s reaching my mom, who is somewhat computer savvy, it’s probably something we all want to figure out how to interact with.

But the question still remains – can Twitter help your business?

The answer…well, yes…and…no.

Okay, I know what you’re thinking…how could it be both?

Simple! Twitter is nothing more than a channel you dial in to whenever you want to connect. You can use that channel in any number of ways. For instance, if you don’t have a business or if you’re not trying to market your business on Twitter, then you just get to follow and engage in conversations. From those conversations you’ll meet interesting, like-minded people and possibly develop new friendships.

The same can be true if you have a business you’re trying to promote using Twitter. You can also get into engaging conversations, meet interesting people and develop new friendships. And, that’s all Twitter can be.

But if you want to use Twitter to increase your reach, or find prospective clients, you need to go about using it in that way. Which means you want to have a plan.

Now, when I say plan, I don’t necessarily mean some highly structured, graphed out approach to leveraging Twitter to meet your business objectives. Rather, I mean that you’re clear about the possibilities and opportunities that you find yourself in as you use Twitter. It’s difficult to take advantage of opportunities – even see them – if you’re not looking for them.

And that doesn’t mean that every tweet you ever write, respond to or retweet on Twitter should be about gaining business. As a matter of fact, that’s often the wrong tact. People smell it when you’re not forthright about your intentions. And they definitely smell a marketing ploy. Just be a real person who has a business interacting with real people knowing that some of them will likely want what your business offers.

So here’s some tips on how to see the opportunities when using Twitter:

• Be clear on your Twitter objectives. If they’re personal, great, keep it that way. If they’re professional, then make sure you know what you want from using Twitter
• Do it. In other words, do the things that will meet your business objectives. And if you don’t know how – get some help from someone you trust.
• Reach out. Twitter can be a great place to reach people you normally wouldn’t, or couldn’t. So be the one who reaches out to others. Just be sure to keep the conversation honest and be upfront if you have business motives.
• Follow the people who follow you. It’s more difficult to do as you get more and more followers. But, especially in the beginning, people will often connect with your immediately if you follow them back.
• Be aware. Always look for business opportunities. I not saying always be marketing. Just be aware that even the most benign conversation could open into a business possibility. Be looking for them – just don’t force them.
• Remember, it’s about people. Twitter is about conversation and building relationships. Even if you’re using Twitter to promote your business, be sure you’re clear that it’s about the people on the other end of your tweets.
• Do your research. When you get into a good conversation with someone, find out about them. Learn about their business, visit their website, signup for their feed. Learn what you can so you can deepen your relationship.
• Find partners. Twitter can be a great place to find people to partner with in your business or on new projects. Again, simply look for the opportunities.
• Be aware. I know I said this already, but it needs repeating. Be awake to the possibilities around you. Listen closely in conversations about what people want. And when you find something that you can help with – help them.
• Lastly, and MOST IMPORTANT, be real. Even if you’re promoting a business on Twitter, remember that you’re a person interacting with other people. Be true to yourself and transparent with everyone else.

Twitter provides some amazing opportunities. I’ve met hundreds of interesting people on Twitter myself. Some are just interesting conversations. Some become more regular relationships. Some have become friends. And others are interested in how I can help them in their business. And I try to meet each of them where they are.

Getting clear on how to use Twitter can be the difference between wasted time and a growing business. It’s important, then, to know what you’re doing with Twitter and then do it. This is one of the reasons I’ve created my teleclass, Learn How to Use Twitter to Get More Clients. I’ll be sharing a number of the things I do to successfully use Twitter to promote my business without being an annoying marketer who’s only out to make a buck. Read more about the teleclass and register by clicking here.

And let me ask…How are you using Twitter? Do you promote your business? And if so, are your efforts giving you returns?

Or are you lost and uncertain how to use Twitter to find more clients?

Let’s talk about it.

(note: image from wiselywoven on Flickr, some rights reserved)

Then came talk radio. Now people could call in and add their two cents to the topic discussed by the host. I often think of social media as being like talk radio.

For instance, now people can interact with the ‘hosts’ of blogs; engaging in interesting, lively and informative conversations. Or they can meet each other in Facebook or on StumbleUpon. Yet it goes further than that. Now, rather than just commenting on topics, social sharing and networking sites allow users to have control over what content gets seen – which stories get pushed to the top. It’s really an amazing time.

Yet, whether we’re talking about blogs, Facebook or new social sharing sites like Mixx, one thing remains constant – the relationship. Social media has made the internet about relationships.

Knowing I see the internet now almost solely through the eyes of social media, Liz Strauss asked me:

What do you find is the key to great relationships with social media friends?

I can answer in one word - connect!

The key is to make contact. When anyone comes your way, send them a thank you by email. Or give them a phone call. Bloggers love to meet each other. Find out what you have in common…and share.

For instance, I don’t go into the relationship looking for anything. Sure, I may see some potential for business or business partnerships or so on. But I don’t let that be the motivating factor. Rather, I just want to connect with the person on the other end of the keyboard. Then, I let the relationship evolve organically.

What holds the key for me has been to be real, authentic and honest. I’m simply who I am and I try to make space for people to just be who they are. So I think you have to make room for the relationship to develop in its own, organic way. Some people I’ve met have remained acquaintances. Some have become friends. While others have become clients or business partners. Yet each developed in its own way, without any manipulation or prodding. And I’ve loved it.

Of course I say this knowing that the past few months haven’t afforded me the time I had previously to make those connections. I’ve been a bit busy with a major house remodel and the birth of our third child. So I have less time these days. Yet I still reach out. And if you haven’t heard from you me yet, don’t think you’re not on my list. Just give me a little time and we’ll meet.

So in a phrase, the key to great social media relationships is to connect. Reach out and make a new acquaintance, a new friend or a new business opportunity. You never know where the relationship is going to go.

Which is why I’m chomping at the bit to continue our one2one conversation by asking Liz:

How do you find the time to be so engaged with your readers in the comment box, keep up your thousands of connections, write on yours and a number of other blogs, while taking care of your clients? Where do you find the time?

I’d love to know how you keep it all going. Not just Liz, but you too. How do find the time, with family, work and personal time to keep up with your social media relationships?