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Cheers:)

Hi everybody

You won't need me to tell you about social media being everywhere now

Wesee so much activity on Twitter, LinkdIn and Facebook (just to name the main three)

Hi Good evening everyone. Has anyone received direct queries that have turned into projects from Face book and if so how did that come about? What was your enticement?

but what most of us want to do is push out messages that are acted upon because the reader/recipient is a willing partner

i'll hold fire then phil :-D

Is this the social media chat thing '

yes andrew

But most people - sometimes innocently - are pushing too much out that's falling on deaf ears

What do you mean?

But by commenting on someone elses content will not only broker a connection more quickly it will also soften or remove any inital barriers

you mean amke people WANT to visit not FORCE them to phil?

But taking it a bit further...

Can you give us some examples of passive interractive approaches?

Yes..

b2b - business to business yes?

Yes Adam

Is this the Twitter approach ?

Partly Dorar

Sometimes its hard to stay away from the selling approach

optimsing photos how phil?

@ dorar yes, but the direct sell is the slow and wobbly sale

I know what you mean

The best way to think about optimising Adam is to image your potential client using a search engine and what they will be using as a search term

okay, then use that as the description?

For example

ah i see

The description might contain a description about the material, the base and the methods...but the passive part is to add details of the challenges you might have overcome to install the project

like k J's recent thread?

IYes, very much in that vain

okay, i understand now?

..in terms of the commentary

What was K J's post?

There's no better and stronger way of converting a client than by explaining how a task is completed

Kerry Jackson's latest landscaping post in the news/blog section

bit more difficult for us maintenance guys

Twitter is much more of a short burst and probably more suited to B2B

So an LJN blog rates highly in searches ?

timeless example of what can be achived

I notice BGS (Graham) uses it well for Maintenance services.. more like an 'advice article'

Also giving the customer knowledge in some form that they can use and at the same time drawing attention to your business (passively) and yourself as a knowledgeable practitioner. e.g creating an album on your Facebook page called 'top 10 low maintenance shrubs'.

..but so do forum topics

evening all

hadn't thought of that james

passive marketing is also about giving something away for free

In terms of setting up a process that drives prospects, shouldn't the idea be to engage with people on twitter and then encourage them to go to your facebook fan page, where you can put in so much more content?

Well if they can do it themselves they will and they are not likely to employ a pro

I think gardening has good potential for that because it is inherently knowledge based and accessible to many. More so than hard landscaping I suppose as few people will attempt their own driveway.

Yes Peter

but most of our customers are cash rich time poor

You may be aware of permission marketing

I think the advantage that this industry has over so many others is (just as you have said ) that it is so visual.

Definately

One is that a client will take a great deal of interest in the design/build/maintenance process and that will give them a slight amount of qualification to enable them to converse during the project

The essential bit is to get a potential client to pull your info and media to them rather than push it under their nose

We use www,fiverr.com to have some very good videos done for between £ and £10. Youtube gets 3bn (yes 3bn) visits per week

intresting thoughts there

sorry a mistype www.fiverr.com

I have to say that - in my opinion - the best way to turn off a potential partner/client

Is to ask someone to like a Facebook page or...when connected via Twitter, to ask your new connection to visit and like a Facebook page

Don't be shy;)

Ok, how do Threads differ from News/Blogs if used passively on LJN ?

It's interesting to hear the different views on these approaches. At the Futurescape show yesterday one of the key speakers on selling was very much of the "Don't ask and you don't get" philosophy. This was more in connection with asking for testimonials and referrals, however.

IRO of expousure

A forum has a long tail in terms of what happens next

I'm a beginner a fairly new business, would you get a good f book page or a twitter ac, or both and link them,I have both, there not linked,

If you are the author then you, firstly, have the oppotunity to set the tome by asking the question

I find facebook spawns low cost, evil time wasting jobs - is it just me?

@bernadette..I think the force fed approach is a real turn off for many..almost cold selling, but depends how you put the proposition across

With social media, a potential client will more than likely be researching you, your personality and your workmanship

Phil - can i answer Andrew's question?

Facebook id great for local community marketing

I found Twitter very time consuming and unless you are willing to update regularly it can do more harm than good to be on there. If your business never Tweets on your account it gives the impression you don't exist.

LJN, if I'm permitted to give it a plug, can reach anyone who uses a search engine

FB is great for garden based work - before and after photos are fantastic.

@peter ..dive in ..I'd like to know as well

@Bernadette... I agree. IMO it's not right to ask someone for a testimonial or a Like

i a glutted fir the dam...wished I'd got a before snap!!!

I haven't used facebook for advertising, None of my existing clients use it and doubt future clients would either.

Before, during and after images and video is such a powerful medium

OK thanks. have both twitter and FB. to find people on twitter that might become clients, go to www.followerwonk.com where you find bios of people prominent in your field. You can see who is following and pick the peoploe you are interested in. Follow them 20% to 30% will follow you back. The move

facebook for me is friends and family.

then move them to your FB fan page and EDUCATE them with all the pictures, videos etc you can

facebook i found very difficult to target

Has anyone gained any decent maintenance contracts from facebook ?

Ian..bear in minf friends and family are ideal passive ways to market yourself

i had about 50 timewaster before i pulled all ads from facebook, tempted to take the page down too

yes true, i suppose if linked to your website could gain potential leads.

There's always a temptation to open accounts on all the popular platforms but it's so hard to maintain them all

I think it very hard to determine how much work is gained via SM..there is no simple ROI....but it is all part of the picture a prospective client will build up about you

I will save this chat as a forum post for those who want to digest the content at a later date