@tedksocial Just trying to keep up with the workload …sigh.

Seriously, producing enough quality, relevant content to fill the distribution channels. This is really a difficult point to get across to my clients. All businesses(or should all businesses) are clamoring to have a presence across all social channels in order to expand their footprint and drive awareness however, few are well prepared. 

Differentiating between the worthwhile vs worthless sites to post to (read follow vs nofollow) & building relationships with the people there. Was reading the other day, can’t recall where at the moment… one of the newsletters I get… on the next couple of items/places/resources that Google is going to karate chop with their algorithm changes in 2012. They’ve already come in with a WMD & laid waste to article dumps… and now the Great Eye in the tower is turning it’s gaze towards on-page SEO & quality backlinks. (I need another Red Bull & it’s only 10:30)

@ptwylie,

I totally understand that.  Producing content that’s relevant to the desires of your audience is an art.

Do you actively prioritize the content and networks to help you and your clients?

@annfurnivall

It’s almost like the analytics are designed by nerds, for nerds

Has social media helped you boost your bottom line?  Antiques seems like a cool business.

@annfurnivall one of the best uses for analytics is to watch what visitors do on your site. It helps you decide if content should be featured, or changed. Do they hit a landing page and leave, or spend time or buy? If they aren’t buying or connecting with you, in good proportion to the number of visitors, why not?

But as small business owners we can’t do it all ourselves. While it’s easy to add the code to the site, to really look at what’s going on takes time. I am outsourcing that–I need someone to point out the hot spots-good and not so good- and we can discuss reasons and adjustments.

@tedksocial love the  by nerds for nerds….  thats  how it looks  to me sometimes…..

.  we   are  deeply into social mledia…our facebok page  has  been around a long  time and our  customers  use it  A LOT….  we have  2500  fans. and used  to   post about  5 or  6  times a week….and  now  even more… … the  growth  has  been  with no  fangate or  contests or freebies……its   a  big part of our  marketing and   the  customers  talk about it   in the store  a lot…. im sure its led  to lotsof  sales   every week….and its  really   cut   into  our newspaper a ds….  facebook is  so much  better for  us… 

when i   think about  content  im  trying to  find a cool picture of   inventory that   the  customers  will like…. 

@tedksocial Figuring out which channels to put time and attention into, and then wondering if anyone is seeing any of what I’m putting out there. Actually, I’ve had some great interaction with people in the clubs, so I know some if it’s sticking

For the construction biz, getting pictures and/or posts from our guys out in the field for FB and finding time to write blog articles. For my art biz, finding time to create content (paintings) to post!

@chrisloeser not to digress too far off topic, but this article and the audio from SXSW interview with Matt Cutts, Duane Forrester, and Danny Sullivan really hits home your Great Eye turning observation. But I am sure you have heard it already, but for those who have not…
But a real important point in the above article, and entirely relavent to this thread, is the importance on Social Amplification. Just like there companies with big budgets to hire professional SEO teams who essentially bully out the mom and pops, we will be seeing more of this in 2012 in the Social Media arena. If you are not investing time and resources on social media, you will not get rankings. Both Bing and Google are in full agreement on this. 

So i think it is fair to say the greatest social media challenge will be staying ahead of your competitors. How to stay ahead? Now we are back to the original question. 

But remember, you don’t need to have the best social media strategy on the web, just be the best in your niche.

Content

@reneestpeter Seems like having 2 businesses is keeping you super busy!

@tedksocial Those are the companies my husband (construction) and I (art) have; social media for my “real” job (Canyon Creek Cabinet Co.) is a bit easier because there are a couple of us that divide & conquer!

@jason… the challenge has now grown 10-fold. We lost our primary vendor, had to scramble to find a replacement, the old site due to contractual stipulations can’t come back online so we’re starting over, completely over. OOF!

@tedksocial

Know what you mean, Ted. Poor little JCPenney! I feel soooooooooo sorry for that little company… but they did seem to bounce back sooooooooo well and soooooooo fast… makes you wonder, lol.

@chrisloeser

And, OMG, Chris! That’s the kind of thing that makes me afraid to take on big name, big budget clients in my area and just stick to small ones. It also makes me diversify my “tools” I use for client research and reporting. Are you able to share the source you had that shut down? 

Landmines are everywhere right now and though I’m trying to stay clear, I’ve noticed even the ones I’ve dropped are now out there marketing bigtime to replace all their burned clients with newbies who don’t know better. But I have to say, it’s hard to stay in the know when people don’t share their “got burned” stories. Alas, I do understand some companies’ need to keep quiet about such things, but if you can share on this one, please do. And thanks in advance….

Robin

@tedksocial

Ted, or anyone else for that matter, are you using or planning to use curation software or plugins? If so, what benefits in time, content quality, Google love, etc. are you seeing?

@atlantarobin  low  hanging  fruit?  ha ha….i  wouldnt use  that   term  when  trying  to get a  locals  business…  they shouldnt  feel like they were  the back up plan…. but  most wont  be paying  300$$ an hour either.. 

the  right person  could probably make a good living  serving  local clients….  its just a  choice….but  how  easy.?..

@annfurnivall  You got me on that, Miss Ann! LOL, I guess that could read both ways, but I was talking about low hanging fruit in regards to high volume / low competition keywords (# competing web pages, not CPC competition), and not “low hanging” businesses. Too funny.

@annfurnivall Ann, I was tired when I edited this, so “Adwords” got deleted when I edited it, but..

When you use the Google AdWords Keyword Tool to search for keywords, this is what you’ll see (type in antiques Atlanta and check the “Exact Match” button in the left column and uncheck the Broad match button:
https://adwords.google.com/o/Targeting/Explorer?ideaRequestType=KEYWORD_IDEAS&__u=3862246697&__c=8642403377
The competition column in the results refers to paid Adwords competition, not the real competition in free organic search results.
If you want to compete in the search results for “antiques Atlanta” with a similar tool, you’ll usually have to pay for the tool. I use Jaaxy (http:jaaxy.com) for $19/mth. But there are several ways to do this free, if you want to invest the time:
For google results, search “antiques Atlanta” in the search bar. You’ll usually see a large number below your search. That’s how many pages there are competing for results for that keyword.
For exact matches, to see how many used your exact keyword in their title or anchor, type:
intitle:”antiques Atlanta” (no space between : and “)ORinanchor:”antiques Atlanta”
The results you’ll see is a far smaller number than the broad search match competition results you started with searching only for the keyword term.
Then, after you have results, for example, of your intitle search results, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the highest page numbers until you get to the last page of the search results. You’ll see a message after the last result that tells you there are more pages that basically duplicate some of the results you’ve gotten. The ACTUAL competition results for your exact keyword term is shown to you on that last page. That’s the real number of actual competitors you have for that keyword search term.
No one knows why Google doesn’t just put that number under the search results, but for some reason it doesn’t. People have lots of theories, but Google has confirmed none of them.
Hope this helps you a bit. When I talk about “real competition,” not paid AdWords competition, that’s what I’m talking about. So, if you want to know how many “exact” competitors you are competing against to show up in the SERPS, try looking for exact keywords using those search tricks above. When I first started, I’d find a term with Google’s AdWords keyword that had low competition and high monthly search results and then never show up in the SERPS and wonder why. After someone showed me this secret, it was very clear why I’d never show up — too many real competitors using my same exact keyword already had thousands of pages created for my keyword.
Jaaxy gives you these exact match competition results. It’s the cheapest tool I know of that shortcuts your time like that. Other tools do the same, with more features, but for far more. I find all the features distracts me from focusing on what makes money, so I really like Jaaxy, but others swear by their favorites, too.
But I recommend doing this manually until you fully understand what you’re looking at or all the paid tools in the world will never help you focus on what’s important.
So when I was talking about oversaturation in some markets driving the budgets for those markets out of the common business owners’ hands, I’m referring to the fact that the real competition numbers are either sky high or the players in the game have far deeper pockets than their smaller competitors have. Eventually, money buys all when it comes to competition or either buys out the competition. That’s what I’m seeing happen in certain markets already, so “low hanging fruit” will truly go away in my eyes within the next 5 years. It’s already happening.

@atlantarobin that  was  great   robin!!! im  printing it out so i  will have it   if i ever  try  google adwords….  im in the top 7 for my main   words , thank heavens…  so i  don t  have to learn all this  right now…lol

….. i  use  stat counter and  get  lots of info….my  keywords are a mess…. after antiques indiana…w.hich we are tops  in  google for….after that my  searches are all over the place  from   clock to  quilt to  shabby to  cabinet   to  toys….i  have    checked  the  searches iln  several   ways…  ….we are like a  department store  and carry   a  wide  wide range of   things… so   the words  just  are all over the place….

good  for us,  the  big  corps  dont handle our main things,  vintage, repurposed  and   junk art….

@atlantarobin Your response was very helpful.  Thank You! You might consider starting a thread about keyword research to see if folks have small business type questions around that.

@aimeewest That’s really cool that you promote a food store.  My dad is a restaurant owner and I helped him promote his business using online media.

You are absolutely right.  What difference does it make how many likes you have?  At the end of the day, your bottom line is what’s paying the bills and salaries

I think you are asking smart questions about social media and your business so that is great !! 

Suddenly I have ‘to better understand the market in Scotland’ for a client. 

Hey Ted,

For me trying to find the “it” that creates that emotional connection that makes fun and/or customers want to engage with my brands.

There’s such an overload of information out there and consumers are bombarded with it. It’s hard to find that perfect blog, that post, or tweet, that really brings them in. Its been tough trying to figure out exactly what drives people to our brand.

What has been working for you all?