Creative Chat Cafe - Businesses Getting Social.

Zef Zan, host of Creative Chat Cafe talks to Bill DeRosa of Talking Finger about "Businesses Getting Social." Discussion includes what social network is up and coming and, why social media strategy is important for small business owners who want results in their social media campaigns.

Zef also shares a crowdfunding project on Kickstarter.com and talks to Bill how Social Media is playing a big role in crowdfunding.

We live in a social media driven world and  business owners have had to learn how to use social media and include it in their marketing efforts whether they want to or like it or not! If not, they may have to play “catch up” with their competitors. Social media is everywhere and it creates the opportunity to engage with our audience!

Listen to Zef & Bill's discussion about this at minute 2:07
Image courtesy of IDC Research Study

Listen to Bill's mention on "Social Media War Rooms" at minute 4:23
Image courtesy of ChapelSocial.com

Zef talks to Bill in this episode of Creative Chat Cafe on "Businesses Getting Social."

Q: How do you know which social network is the right one for your business?

• Understand who your target audience first, then choose the social networks that match your target audience.
  
• For example, marketing to the 18-22 segment with a product. Facebook would be decent, but Instagram or Vine may be far better in your ROI.
• If marketing an expensive product for women 35+, then Pinterest is where you need to be because the demographics of Pinterest match the age, and as well has the highest “per capita” income of social networks.
  
• It’s really all about matching up the audience you need to reach, and then identifying the social network that has that audience.
  
• This doesn't mean “don't experiement." I am always a fan of trying out new things, but build a solid foundation first! 
  

Q: What social networks should businesses be paying attention to now?

• Instagram is growing so rapidly! It’s a great time to develop a content strategy on Instagram.
• It is also owned by Facebook, so while the audience may be moving away from Facebook a bit, Instagram takes up that slack.
• Indications are that the two-instagram and facebook- will be very synergistic with future ad delivery and content.
• I also think you will see more mobile based social networks to develop...so keep an eye out for these

Q: How do you find good content? That's always a challenge!

• It's a matter of knowing your business.
• What can you provide to followers that is interesting?
• The best content is typically “internal”...but packaged in a fun way.
• As well, looking through pinterest for popular great images for example, or searching Google and YouTube for images, videos and article.

Q: How important is it to create a social media strategy?

• Imperative. Having a strategy helps understand the content stream, allows better integration with other ad/marketing, adds consistency, and forces you to look at the analytics.

Q: Best times of the day to post or Tweet?

• I love the pre-packaged infographics that say "x" is the best time or day.
• It’s typically best used for a very general broad sense of how to start. Other than that, most of that info is bunk.
• It’s typically based on bigger brands or businesses that are dissimilar to your own.
• I'm a HUGE fan of reading your OWN analytics! Truly, the best data is the data you collect about your audience.
• Of course, the data needs to follow behind good content. If you are posting up weak content, it is far more difficult to ascertain some of this data.
  

How social media is playing a big role in crowdfunding.

Social media is playing a big role in crowdfunding projects like the ones on Kickstarter.com. The reason is when people are passionate about causes or projects that mean something to them, they tend to share the information. Social media helps to spread that information faster and more often.

By the way, we found one that we like and these guys are blooming entrepreneurs who are raising money to grow their business! Check out the video below!

"Would you like to be a guest on our show? Do you know of a non-profit that supports entrepreneurship or one that is worth mentioning in our show? Send us your comments below. We would love to get your ideas and feedback."