Have you heard the buzz about Social Media Success Summit 2011—the web’s largest online social media marketing conference?

Before I tell you how this virtual summit will help your business attract great customers and prospects, gain a unique competitive advantage, and measure your social media results, let me share a story with you.

PROOF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING WORKS…

In October 2009, Michael Stelzner started Social Media Examiner, a blog for marketers and small business owners. Almost overnight, his site became one of the top business blogs in the world.

He didn’t advertise, didn’t rely on the press and almost none of his traffic came from search engines.

Slightly more than a year later, his site has more than 57,000 email subscribers, over 31,000 Facebook fans, a half-million page views a month, and has generated nearly $2 million in sales.

Everything he does focuses on delivering high-quality content coupled with intelligent social media marketing.

Michael’s story is not unique. A significant 73% of business owners and marketers plan to increase their use of social media in 2011 (2011 Social Media Marketing Industry Report).

What’s the connection? Your customers (and prospects) are using social media every day. Social media is a new marketing frontier because it bypasses all the costly middlemen and allows you to engage directly with your customers and prospects! AND this presents an enormous opportunity for you.

SO WHAT’S THIS ABOUT?

Michael (and his team) have been working for months to bring the best minds in social media together in a fully online event called Social Media Success Summit 2011.

A significant 2,500 marketers and business owners from around the world attended his last Social Media Success Summit. Businesses were transformed. In fact, 96% of attendees said they’d attend again.

This summit’s focus is to empower you to implement successful social media marketing tactics, track and measure your social media ROI, and see how successful social media campaigns were executed. Twenty-two of the world’s leading social media superstars will be summit instructors.

Presenters include Jeremiah Owyang (Altimeter Group), Brian Solis (author, Engage), Frank Eliason (Citigroup), Mari Smith (co-author, Facebook Marketing), Erik Qualman (author, Socialnomics), Michael Stelzner (founder, Social Media Examiner), Dan Zarrella (author, The Social Media Marketing Book), and experts from Boeing, Intel, Verizon, Cisco and LinkedIn.

Plus join Andy Sernovitz (author, Word of Mouth Marketing), David Meerman Scott (author, Real-Time Marketing & PR), Jay Baer (co-author, The Now Revolution), Hollis Thomases (author, Twitter Marketing), Steve Garfield (author, Get Seen), and Ann Handley (MarketingProfs)–just to name a few.

Attendees at our two last summits included well-known organizations such as General Electric, American Express, Staples, General Mills, Microsoft, Harvard, San Francisco Giants, MetLife, Kraft Foods, Hyatt Hotels, Stanford, Ben & Jerry’s, IDG and Disney. But you don’t need to be a big business to benefit!

This is the world’s largest online social media event designed to empower marketers and business owners to master social media marketing. And the great news is it’s a live online conference you can attend from your home or office.

Go here now to learn more:  Social Media Success Summit 2011

Here’s to your success!

New social media statistics for 2011 by Socialnomics.

Google recently made improvements to their Social Search, and you will now see more information from your social media connections in search results.  This video explains how it works.

Please share your thoughts on the Social Search update!

I’m a big fan of MerchantCircle, the largest social network for local businesses, because their site is all about helping local communities.  MerchantCircle offers many benefits to local business owners with free listings and tools to promote their business.  Here is a great interview with the CEO of MerchantCircle, Ben Smith, IV explaining more about their site.

Let me know your thoughts on MerchantCircle!

Written by: Melanie Yost, LCSW
Business Mentor for Helping Professionals

Staying focused is often one of the most difficult parts of being an entrepreneur. It is up to us to keep on track, stay motivated and hold ourselves accountable. In order to get more clients, make more money and grow your business, you have to create the time to work on your business as well as in it.

Working on your business means doing all the things that make your business run so that you can get more clients and make more money. In order to grow your business and keep attracting new clients to you, you have to spend at least 2 hours a day marketing and working on your business. Yes, you read that correctly, 2 hours a day. If you are freaking out and wondering where you will find the time, it is important to be honest and look at what is draining your time and energy.

We all have obligations outside of our business. We are parents, spouses, children, and volunteers. That’s what makes us whole and balanced people. Some people get so wrapped up in the outside obligations that they allow themselves to be pulled away from their business. Your business is like a child. It won’t grow and thrive without your attention, care and nurturing. Take an honest look at how you are spending your time and whether or not you are spreading yourself too thin.

Next, we all have emotional drains that zap our energy and eat up our time. You know, the needy friend, the dysfunctional relationship, the draining client or the dependent adult child. Unresolved issues that causes regret, a secret that you don’t want exposed or an unresolved money issue are also emotional drains that can paralyze you and keep you stuck in your business.

Finally, we all have time wasters. When stressed and overwhelmed, we have our behaviors and coping mechanisms that we use to avoid reality and deal with overwhelm. These can include obvious time wasters such as playing video games, watching TV, or calling friends. But they can also include things that can be productive but the amount to time we devote to them make them an avoidance tactic and a time waster. These include surfing the internet, checking email, daydreaming, reading or cleaning/organizing.

Take an honest look at how you are spending your time and what takes your emotional energy. In order to find the time to spend working on your business, you have to start setting boundaries around your time and energy. That means saying “no” more often, delegating some of your responsibilities and making yourself less available to needy people in your life. Setting boundaries will allow you to easily find time you need to work on your business so you can get more clients and make more money.

You are the CEO of your company and are responsible for structuring your time, setting the work standard and developing the discipline to sticking with it. No one else will do it for you. If you do not take control of your time and make your business a top priority, your business will not grow.

Have you heard the term O2O yet?  If you haven’t, you will.  It stands for Online to Offline and it’s the newest strategy in marketing.  It is actually considered to be one of the top trends to shape small businesses in 2011.  While most small businesses have been focusing on getting online this year, the trend next year will be to integrate the online marketing with the offline marketing.  As my awesome Marketing Coach says, “In this high-tech world, people need high-touch.”  She is absolutely right!

The O2O marketing strategy provides a more personal experience by bringing people from your online networks to your offline networks.  This is done by connecting and engaging with people online and then inviting them to your store, a networking event, a Chamber meeting, or even lunch.  I have met many people “in real life” that were online friends or connections.  Some have turned into great friends and some are now clients.

There were many predictions this year about traditional marketing being dead.  While it may have slowed down, it definitely seems to be making a comeback.  People miss seeing people, the handshakes, and real conversations.  Networking groups have increased nationwide, thanks to the popular site Meetup.com.  I’ve always believed that you need a combination of both traditional and technology styles of marketing.  This past year I’ve written about how to establish an online presence for your business and the importance of social media marketing.  Now, it’s time to integrate that with offline meetings and events.  Online and offline marketing will be working together!

So, add the O2O strategy to your marketing plan for 2011 and have fun meeting people. Let me know your thoughts on O2O!

It’s hard to believe that the holidays are right around the corner.  Wow, this year has really flown by!  This year has also brought incredible opportunities for local businesses; the Internet officially went “Local”, the search engines created local directories, local social networking sites were created, and social media is booming.  All of these factors will have an impact on holiday shopping for local businesses!

What will be different this holiday season?

• People will be sharing about the best deals and their shopping experiences through social media.
• Recommendations and reviews are going to be a big consideration.  People trust online recommendations from their friends and family, and people in their network.
• 84% of consumers are expected to be searching online for local products and services during the holiday season.
• Facebook Fan Pages are very popular right now.  People are looking for and connecting with their favorite businesses on Facebook, which are usually local.  Businesses with Fan Pages will be using them to promote holiday deals.

We all know that holiday shoppers search online for the best deals and gift ideas.  And, more people are now researching products and services online, and then purchasing offline at a local business. What will you do different this year to encourage visitors and increase holiday sales?  Here’s a few ideas:

• Increase your social media presence; build your networks and schedule the time to increase your activity.
• Offer something free if they “check-in” at your location on Foursquare.  It doesn’t have to be expensive, just something to entice them.
• Provide a special discount for Facebook Fans only
• Create a sale or coupon on MerchantCircle
• Email a newsletter, include pictures of holiday items and a special discount code

Be different, be creative and benefit from the new online opportunities!  Please share your ideas!

Social media is definitely a great marketing medium for businesses today.  While most of the buzz is about Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and YouTube, there is another great social networking site that you may not have heard about.

MerchantCircle is a social networking site specifically for local businesses.  Their focus is connecting local businesses to help build real relationships.  In addition to increasing your business’s online presence, here’s a few of MerchantCircle’s other benefits:

1. Free Listing

MerchantCircle offers local businesses a generous free listing that includes a detailed business description, story, products and/or services, map, offers, and pictures.  That is a lot of information for free!

2. Promotional Tools

MerchantCircle features many tools to use in promoting your business online. Your free account includes a blog, newsletter, a coupon, sale, promotion creator, and customer reviews.  When you create a blog post, coupon, sale or promotion, your network is notified and it is also included in the weekly MerchantCircle newsletter for your city, “Neighborhood Times”.  Additionally, this information will continue to be included in the newsletter week after week, keeping your business in front of potential customers.  I highly recommend utilizing the free blog within your account for additional search engine exposure.

3. Local Search Visibility

Did you know that 84% of people search for businesses based on their location? By creating a listing with MerchantCircle, your business will appear in more location-based search engine results. MerchantCircle is extremely search engine friendly and every feature added to your listing increases your local search visibility.

4.  Networking Opportunities

Within MerchantCircle, you have the ability to network with other business owners both in your city and other cities.  Creating an online referral network benefits your business by increased visitors and potential customers to your website.  The best way to find other members is to use the search function, then invite them to your network.  MerchantCircle also suggests members to add to your network. You’ll be surprised at how many people in your city are already members!

5. MerchantCircle is Growing!

MerchantCircle has over 1 million members, and they’ve only been around for less than 4 years. They are the largest social network for local business owners and have begun establishing partnerships with other companies to help spread the word.

I encourage you to read more about them at www.merchantcircle.com.  Then, sign up, create your free listing, utilize the promotion tools, and enjoy the benefits!  Don’t forget to add me to your network

My Virtual Project in Lisbon, Wisconsin is hosting a Holiday Benefit on December 4th to help those in their local community. I personally (virtually) know Chuck and Susi Schuele and they are awesome people. Their recent blog post of wanting to “give back” brought tears to my eyes. To read about the excitement of a child who didn’t have to share a toothbrush was heartbreaking. They are absolutely right, there are people suffering in our own communities and I’m so touched by what they are doing. You can read their story here.

Their upcoming benefit will be held at Olympia Resort in Oconomowoc and proceeds will be benefit Lake Country Caring, LLC, an amazing organization in Hartfield operated totally by volunteers. Lake Country Caring provides so much to so many and would sincerely appreciate donations such as hygiene products, towels and wash cloths (kitchen too!) and of course, dollars to continue to fund the important work that they do in their community. You can also help by sponsoring the event, providing raffle items, attending the event, and sharing on social media. Please visit My Virtual Project and contact Chuck or Susi for all the details on this wonderful event!

Today it is more important than ever to honor our military, both past and present.  On Saturday, November 6th, LauraKennedyLive and The Flag Still Stands For Freedom Campaign will host the 3rd Annual Veterans Day Telethon live from New York.  This virtual event is dedicated to sharing memories and stories of our fallen soldiers, and to the service of men and women currently serving our country. Laura Kennedy is an amazing woman who not only served our country, but continues to support our troops and veterans.  You can learn more about her in the video below.

Her virtual telethon has received national attention and she has put together an amazing schedule of speakers, performers, and ceremonies.  A few of the musical performers include Grammy Award winner Charlie Daniels, Coldwater Canyon Band, Waymore’s Outlaws, Little Texas, and Leah DeVon.  Livestream has graciously donated their streaming services to the event, and there are numerous authors and organizations participating.  You can get involved, buy a T-shirt, make a donation, or just attend the Telethon.  There will also be 2 minutes of silence at 1100.  Imagine how powerful this will be when everyone stops email, social media, and phone calls for 2 minutes to honor our military!  Please visit her website for all of the Telethon details, www.flagstillstandsforfreedom.com.