Book Research: Q3. What Are Your Business Social Media/Networking Successes?

By Andrew Ballenthin October 20, 2009 President, Sol Solutions Biography

Connect.Follow.Network.

I'm in the process of writing a book for Pearson on best practices for monetizing social media as part of a company's holistic growth strategy. I'm interested in learning what works for your business. Thank-you sharing with me and many others the good things you have learned and accomplished.

Book Research Update:
- Q1. What Social Media/Networks Work Best For You? There are over 120 comments in response to this research question. Further additions are welcome.
- Q2. New - What Works?  What Principles Have Helped You Make Money Directly Or Indirectly With Social Media/Networking? Not yet publicised: feel free to add your input.

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Please share your views for "What Are Your Business Social Media/Networking Successes? in the Comments section below. Thanks for your contribution.

1) What are your company's social media/networking success story(s)?

2) What communications/marketing was used to support achievement of online success/results? 

3) What other actions were taken that enabled achievement of success?

Note: responses that seek only to self promote will be deleted.


About Your Participation - This book will be an exciting venture in capturing testimonials and case studies from every day businesses and their social media/marketing success on how to get the best out of social media for businesses.

Should your information fit the context of the book, I'll be in touch with you to gather more information. Before any information can be approved by my editor for inclusion in the book I'll require a signed and faxed release form returned within 48 hours.

Should you have a question I will endeavour to reply to your response within 4 days or sooner. Presently I am in contact with hundreds of professionals as I am researching and writing the book and may be delayed while keeping up with the volume of activity.

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LinkedIn and Ecademy Comments


Dr. Jayme Albin, PhD - Cognitive Behavioral Health Therapist and Behavior/Wellness Consultant
In Nov 2008 I started an online group via facebook, Ask The Cognitive Behavior Therapist. In March of 09 I propelled that into my blog. I use twitter and linked in to keep my audience abreast and growing! Right now I am up to over 2k Facebook followers and have over 10k reads to my blog. What makes this story unique is that most psychologist/medical professionals are adverse to what social media can do for their "Brand".
The experience has been tremendously rewarding. I get a ton of requests to produce publications and speak at workshops, the feedback from those I am help is so inspiring and motivating and my patient load is expanding. I am working on a documentary and an Iphone application to go along with my message!

Judith Gorgone - Design / Development / PLANETPALS Earth Friendly Characters
I have been building a social media presence for my characters Planetpals for a short while but find it to be a great source of personal interaction and interest that has resulted in many target market groups and individuals now purchasing and inquiring about my property.
I have seen an increase in site visitors as well as sales.
To date I have near 2500 "friends" and 1000 "fans" on facebook alone (in a few months time) as well as other social networks like Earthday Net, etc. Most of my members are teachers, educators, kids groups, schools, libraries, parents, and green people (Planetpals are educational and green). It's a great source for announcements and building the brand awareness.

Renee Walkup - Phone Sales Expert, Author and Speaker who is Green
OK, OK, I came into this kicking and screaming, but now I find it easy and beneficial to use social media with the caveat that it NOT take over your life! I have had tremendous success reconnecting with old friends, gaining new accounts with past contacts, and in general, having some fun with the tools available to me through various sites. To me, social networking is another way of expanding our ability to connect with those we know, AND with those we LIKE.

Richard Farr - Project Director, Telos Solutions
Successfully found specific associate skills in my linked in network which created earning neither of us expected. I have discovered a number of opportunities for myself and others in the UK mortgage market through linked in. I published an article (cover feature page 21 Mortgage Strategy 27 July 09) http://bit.ly/1rxDSG on this subject.

Jenny A. Zorina - Business Development Manager at DB Best Technologies
Started at 2007 Pikaba.com won an Open Web Award for 2008 - http://mashable.com/2008/12/16/open-web-awards-2-winners/ .
Pikaba is a social shopping community and a marketplace that is built to meet customer needs. It is designed as a ‘reverse auction’ shopping model allowing buyers to showcase their shopping needs while sellers place bids on their business.
It’s very easy to understand how Pikaba works. You post request just about anything you need to buy and get special offers from merchants in return. You can negotiate on prices, comment merchants and products through Pikaba community or asking for advice from people who are experts in various fields. They have a high status named Pikaba advisors.
Pikaba gives users easy and useful features to connect other people and build network of friends. By joining groups users can find members who are looking for the same products and discuss information in one place. It’s a great option to get “group buy” discounts and special prices.
Through blogs people share their shopping experience with the world. Users are able to know networks opinion by organizing polls or find local sellers and shoppers using local search tool. And there are many other options to get advantage of shopping and networking at Pikaba.

Brenna Holmes - Online Account Executive at Adams Hussey & Associates
I've had some amazing results for clients using Facebook and twitter to supplement advocacy and fundraising campaigns. This blog post has more information on one of the most recent campaigns. http://www.communityorganizer20.com/2009/08/17/building-a-facebook-fan-page-california-state-parks-foundation-cspf-case-study/

Raymond Girard - President at Spafax Interactive
We're a small branded content agency with a dispersed group of roughly 200 people working in 8 offices (London, LA, Montreal, Toronto, Santiago, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Dubai) for 40+ clients, mostly airlines or travel related suppliers. That's quite a "diffuse" workforce and obviously communications - and the sharing of best practices, creative content and client solutions - is key. For years we've tried everything to get account managers / creative directors to speak to each other and to share - from intranet to portals to email blasts to the installation of a hyper-expensive video conferencing system. Nothing worked. Staff felt they were being "corralled" into conversations and the result was that most communications felt forced and stunted. None of these platforms yielded a single good idea and more often than not (because we work across cultures and varied language ability) fostered misunderstanding between players.
Then along came Twitter.
I had been informally sharing ideas and links with our Editorial Director in Montreal - connecting in a way that we had never managed to connect "live". Some via DM, others via public tweets. So I experimented by adding one of our producers in LA to our little "network". And one by one, a lot of other staff signed up. We now have roughly half of our staff actively engaged (and engaging between themselves) on Twitter. We finally have the kind of informal conversations and ideas sharing that we've unsuccessfully tried to engineer for years. I have a few theories as to why this is working for us:
BREVITY / 140 CHARACTERS
- it's almost impossible to grandstand using 140 characters
- nobody likes a spammer so they avoid doing it themselves (ie; no multiple tweets)
- despite what some language purists say, Twitter is very forgiving of people with limited understanding of written english... so our ESL (english as a second language) staff love it
DEMOCRACY:
- juniors in the company love it because their ideas can very very quickly rise to the top. THeir say can have as much "weight" as mine or anyone else's
PUBLIC:
- although we use DM for any private or commercially sensitive info (and we've never had a problem enforcing this - it just happened organically), the fact that conversations are public means people are on their best behaviour and dare I say - they try harder to sound intelligent.
You can see the kind of conversations we have by having a look at spafax_arjun and spafax_raymond accounts. At first we tried to structure staff accounts using similar nomenclature - but have backed off as that seemed proscribed.
Needless to say, we encourage Twitter during work hours... and almost eveyrone using it (mostly, but not exclusively, our creative staff) have noticed a drastic drop in email use as a result (though Twitter use fell off dramatically over the summer months... I'm wondering if it'll come back in September).
There are some holdouts... for them, we feed all twitter conversations through to the company intranet - so they can at least follow (and some then comment on things they've seen by email).
We also use Twitter (and other socmed platforms) to disseminate the content we create (IE: editors of specific magazines have accounts to promote their products / content).

Mary Ellen Miller - President and CEO, MarketingMel
1) I have provided counsel to my clients in ways to grow their brand through social media. My knowledge of twitter and other social media along with my background in broadcast journalism also landed me several guest news feature stories (we called it Social Media 101) on the local evening news. I have also been interviewed on local talk radio. Perhaps most importantly I have helped an MBA school friend find a job using social media.
2) TV, web, print media, radio, special events
3) The use of social media as one marketing/advertising/PR tool in the toolbox is key. As communications professionals we cannot forget the one that brought us to the dance, i.e. traditional media, but we need to add social media to our array of communications options.

Sherrie Mersdorf - Marketing Database Analyst, Cvent
We started blogging about a year ago to boost traffic to our website (and generate more leads!). It's allowed us to be found organically without all the extra work from our web designers. We've increased leads and sales as a result - big win for us! Considering we've only been blogging for a year and are still adding relevant key words I think we've had huge success so far. But more than just increasing traffic, we've been able to answer questions people have on topics and help facilitate conversations surrounding topics on blog posts.
People often over look blogging as part of their social media strategy. While it can take time (the more bloggers you have, the less time it takes away from each person). They're defaulting to social networking channels instead. We obviously have a presence in these places as well, but I think it seems like a no brainer to invest the time and energy - depending on the software a company chooses, the cost of the actual blogging software can range from free to $$$.

Kathy Kane - Owner, Market Insights
I recently used a facebook page to promote our Trenton, MI hometown festival. In 2 weeks we had 200 fans and by the time the festival came around we had almost 500. We did a contest and had over 50 entries, you needed to be present to win, which drove more festival goers. We also now have a targeted email list for next years festival promotions. We had great comments before during and after the event and many commented they would not have came if they hadn't seen this site.Our committee felt this was a great success especially because we had cut our advertising due to less sponsors this year and this was a great way to get the word out to folks who were interested.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Trenton-MI/Trenton-Mid-Summer-Festival/70453517639
Thanks for asking, would love to hear of other successes!

Tracy Yates - Founder at Bridge Enterprise Solutions
I have learned a lot about the possibilities in this space watching Sprinkles Cupcakes out of LA and Which Wich out of Edmond Ok. They both use Twitter to drive targeted volume. It seems to work.

Richard Frisbie - Food, Wine & Travel writer who owns Hope Farm Press & Bookshop
I picked up a follower on Twitter who (when I asked) said she represented top hotels in the US. I asked any in NY? and she offered me a stay. I referred her to my people and they included her places in a culinary tour being arranged for me. Since then I've been asked by two boutique hotels (NYC & SF) if I would come and stay as their quests. As a freelance travel/food writer it is enormously helpful when the client already knows your work and seeks you out. That happened through twitter.

Kathleen Schulweis, PCC, CPCC  - Certified Professional Coach. Consultant, Trainer, Author
Started SM/N about 6-7 months ago with little result. Hired a pro virtual assistant who streamlined the process and brought me international exposure and opportunities. no private clients yet but experts, writing opportunities, interviews. I'm branded an expert in my field with an entirely new group of colleagues. It's taken my from one-on-one biz dev to 'sky's the limit'.

Gregory Carrier - Owner, Financial Softworks, L.L.C.
I recently started using the twitter account (@DashBook) that one of our employees had setup earlier. Initially he just posted an occasional message about the new features we were adding to our royalty software. However, my reading indicated that you really needed to be social and interact with others. A monologue is just not as valuable.
Well, it really does make a difference. Communicating with others within your interest group starts a dialogue and gives a reason for them to want to know more about you. Fortunately, a number of our customers are already on Twitter, so beginning to interact is made easier. Our success is that more publishers are starting to notice that we exist, and are downloading our program to see how it works.
Further time will tell how well we convert those Twitter prospects to DashBook customers!

Jay Rohman - Ambassador of Encouragement, Keynote Speaker, Author, Consultant
Andrew, I haven't made money yet but the secret I have found to be is to make contact and build a relationship. I am a professional speaker, author, and consultant. I have joined several social communities that are in my niche and have made contacts with individuals that can helpme grow. I am also learning from individuals that teach about using twitter and facebook to network with people. I had a mild stroke back in May and find that I have to change the way I market. www.YouMakeTheDecision.com

Tyson Supasatit - Senior Marketing Writer at Washburn Communication
I've been surprised by the number of views and downloads for bible studies that I've posted on Scribd.com, which I think is due to the way they index content for the search engines. I don't sell the documents, but it's gratifying to know that people find them useful enough to download.

Mike Darnell - Social Media Marketing Chair at World Usability Day
I'm very pleased with the success I've had recently with using Twitter for getting new pilot partners to help us test the Headup Publishers's Widget.
Specifically:
1) The page we put up for explaining the pilot has been accessed via the http://bit.ly/ILamR URL 345 times which have converted to 10 pilot opportunities for us in the past week.
2) Much of the traffic was generated due to a personal appeal to @jeffpulver to tweet our search for pilot partners.

Mari Anne Snow - Co-founder and CEO at SophiaThink Consulting, LLC
I recently transitioned from corporate life to entrepreneurship, I am using social media to re-create the networking options that exist in large global companies. I can get the word out to my business network and create a sense of momentum for my new business venture.
It's easy to fall into obscurity once you go out on your own. Social media offers me a low cost option for building a "following" of people who becomes interested in what I am up to each week. Combined with persistence and old fashion networking, it has been a very rich source of unexpected connections!

Sabrina Gibson (Orange County, CA)
1) We have used Social Networking to expand our markets, book webinars out in a matter of days (1000 registered users in days), increase our exposure, book live events (100-250) attendees in a matter of hours. Share our expertise, Connect with other experts and increase our affiliate programs. We have expanded into other countries effortlessly: Australia, Canada, Norway and England.
2) I think this is where we had the advantage. We already had access to technology. We created really powerful landing pages quickly to capture emails from new people. We connected with groups that had our target market and then invited them to events. They went to our landing pages, we captured their emails and then used autoresponders and an email campaign to convert, convert, convert. Being online marketing experts...it really helped. SMILE
3) Providing value over and over again. Giving and giving and giving. Earning people's trust and really allowing them to see what we could offer them. Connecting others even if it meant we didn't make a dime from the connection. Really seeing to benefit others instead of ourselves.
I think the biggest key to our success was having a clearly defined strategy and plan BEFORE we started. We created the strategy really thinking about how could we give and offer value....in a way that really made a difference for business professionals. So they could instantly implement.

Phillip Shriver - Marketing Director at Clearwater Technical Group
Our company had a huge success in social media this summer. We are a consulting company that is helping Universities with migrations from Sybase to Oracle. We had just started venturing into the social media world and decided to put our name out their as much as possible to help market this service. Our principal consultant wrote an educational brochure for the migration which we posted on our webpage and promoted it on our facebook page. It wasn't long after this post I recieved a phone call from a large university in our area. I asked the representative how he found my phone number and he said he had googled this subject and found our article that was posted on facebook. He then researched our company and decided to give us a call. We met with him and his group a couple of weeks ago and plans are in place to start helping them this October on a 6-8 month project! Yeah Facebook!

Simon Rohrich - Owner / Inventor at Elliptical Mobile Solutions
I raised about 150K from Myspace/Facebook. People have been following along in my personal journey from garage to patents to sales through my blogs. Every now and again, someone will send a message inquiring about investment opportunities with us. People personally involved with the "story of us" also offer resources and connections for our benefit as well.
I blogged openly about our story. The garage inventors slogging it out in the recession with a mutli mullion dollar idea is very attractive to people. Now we are in a 10,000 sq ft facility. People found that investing in technology startups with strong IP and demonstrated industry need was a more sound investment than the market at the time. I had to keep people up to date as industry leaders started looking at us not only as a self contained disaster recovery and backup chassis for high density rack equipment, but as a possible replacement the IT support technology in a building (air handling, raised floor, security, fire suppression etc. http://uptimeinstitute.org/images/stories/PathForward2009/uwPapers/elliptical.pdf
When of the OEM manufacturers started to introduce containerized data center ideas and products to the market, I would post links to their press releases to my internal network, further stirring the pot and keeping interest. They are using shipping containers; we are using a custom-built enclosure. The idea of “containerization” is the same. Adding personal struggle through the startup process allowed people to connect to our efforts as company and to me as a person.
http://www.ellipticalmobilesolutions.com

Al Rickard - Founder and President, Association Vision
I recently met the Senior Sales Manager for Semiahmoo Resort in Washington State and she told me about a Twitter post that someone in her region did about how all the local hotels and resorts are dog-friendly. An editor for a dog magazine saw this and called and did a nice feature story about this. If you want to call her, the name is Wendy LeBlanc 360-318-2011 [email protected]. Tell her that Al Rickard from Association Vision send you her way.

Susan Placek - Owner of The Creative Idea Shop, unique greetings, gifts, favors, fundraising and customized promotional marketing items
Social and business networking has made a huge difference for me.
Yes, I have found new customers and people working with me as sales reps, I am getting a lot more exposure with my business and I can market my company in so many ways. I can get information and answers to questions, I can ask for advice or give advice, I can be part of some very interesting discussions, I cannot imagine doing my job without networking anymore. Especially LinkedIn. I have become a big fan.
Many people do not understand yet the priceless value, which the internet and networking offers for small businesses.
If you are interested, below is a link to an article I wrote as writer of the L.A. Examiner, it's exactly about the topic you are talking about. You may want to read it. http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-21243-LA-Womens-Business-Examiner~y2009m8d27-No-pity-for-you
Thanks and good luck with your book

Emily Merkle Snook - Director Business Development & Strategy at Resolute Digital
We - my colleagues at Resolute Digital (full-service digital agency) have found success through building and promoting viral "widgets" or applications. The most successful one we've done was one for a major publishing company for one of their publications targeting a specific but very large demo. We build the widget as a 300x250 so it can be used as a display ad. We also built this particular widget to inherently have a long lifespan - this one was 9 months. 33% of those who encountered it downloaded it - an awesome success rate. The widget had multiple tabs that accomplished/accommodated the following: UGC, articles that linked additional content back to the parent site (= backlinks for site and site visitors), a tasteful a relevant sponsor/brand which paid for the widget, and we also SEO the widget itself. It comes in a wrapper that allows the downloader to choose where they want to place it (iGoogle, Facebook, etc) and in a single action the download is complete. Good analytics on the widget are essential and available. Gains: additional site traffic, SEO backlinks, the loyalty factor, and great reach for the sponsor of the widget.

Lori Gama - Web Strategist and Social Media Marketing Trainer; CEO of DaGama Web Studio.
Andrew, thank you for asking. I've gained new clients, received more publicity than in all my 12 years of being a Web Strategist and now I am going to be a speaker at a Social Media conference in L.A. this December. Humbly, I think I've positioned myself as a top Latina in Social Media. All of this success is because I am utilizing Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook (and a few other Social Networks) in the proper manner: being of service to others 90% of the time and tooting my own horn about 10% of the time and also being social instead of hard-selling. I'll give you more details either at your blog or in an email. If I think of anyone else I know, who would be a good case study for your book, I will certainly let you know. Thanks!

Logan Nathan - Internet Marketing & eCommerce Specialist
Hi Andrew, I use Twitter, FaceBook and Linkedin. Not into YouTube yet but planning to move into it. Only in the last 6 months I really understood the power of these social networks. Like Lori mentioned earlier, it is about giving and not about telling all about you. I am now trying to do this correctly.
There are 2 aspects of it
1. Role Modelling
I had have access to many relevant information faster than ever via my great friends (many are my business role models) on all of these social networks. I have learnt a lot in past 6 months via the Net than in my previous 4 years because of these social network experiences and connections.
2. Business Leads
I have had few leads but for me I have not fully exploited it yet, I think this will come big time in the near future. I am just getting there. Think to remember is to establish the relationship & trust first before we try and sell our products and services too quickly! So I have back down from this and simply focusing on building these first.
Finally, I am a big fan of Twitter. In fact I run workshops on 'Twitter Secrets For your Business' and currently writing an eBook on the same subject. Due to be released within the next 2-3 weeks.
Hope this helps. Good Luck with your book and if I can be any help simply send me a direct email Cheers Logan

Veronica Butler-Borrer - CEO / PookyMedia
My company is using the 3d MUVE platform known as Second Life to create award winning videos, shows and series. We do some remarkable training films as well. http://bit.ly/4o6cVU That job resulted from a former investment banker of mine watching this film - http://bit.ly/Q4I3p
Recently someone who sponsored an inworld conference, put me in touch with a client through LinkedIn. We were able to contact each other immediately, meet in Second Life, and here is the write - up we got in results of this job.
http://www.metaversehealth.com/2009/08/midwifery-birthing-and-second-life/

Teicko Huber - CEO, Marketing Strategy and Sales Execution Consultant
Awesome question! I'm going to make sure I tweet this.
The biggest success I've found is some really cool resources that should benefit my clients. It's a great clearing house for all things web.
Also, interacting with people from around the world provides some stimulating cross-continental and cross-cultural conversations.

Steve Sussman - President at Strategic Resource, Inc.
I used Twitter on an experimental project starting in June and it was very beneficial.
Here's the story - which has raised many responses to me on LinkedIn, as in 'how did you go from 1 Follower to 20000 (hi-quality) in 65 days.'
http://stevesussman.blogspot.com/
Keys to Building 20000 Followers in 65 Days - without Bulk Churning
=================================================
1. Unique Twitter Name
2. Unique Theme
3. Twitter Photo - not a logo
more....
4. Know Your Twitter Cycles (resets and follow-times)
5. Use The Right Tools
6. Sync Your Flush, Reciprocate & Follow Time Window - to optimum times
- Reciprocate and analyze
- Build a Follow Strategy
7. Keep Accurate Records
8. Monitor RTs, Mentions and FBs
9. Construct and Deploy Tweets based upon time-of-day (use auto-Tools)
10. Deploy From a Tweet Strategy - orchestrate Tweet Campaigns - check tiny-URL clicks.
- Tweet Campaigns need: (education, novel content, news with commentary, shock, soft/hard sell, links to ws/blogs/FB, etc.; public service, request for RTs, awareness/brand, questions, opinions, polls, surveys, direct calls to action)
-- eBook: I'm writing a for-sale eBook if anyone is interested in truly learning and applying this rigorous process.


Heather Wright Schlichting - Corporate Communications at RSC Equipment Rental
I started using Twitter for business purposes. I'm a PR director for an equipment rental company based in Scottsdale. My Twitter contact name is @RSCrental. Every day I send a minimum of 5 messages regarding industry article links, press releases that my company issues and other announcements. Our purpose was to simply gain brand awareness. We've accomplished this, but have continued to add more social media to our PR plan including a Facebook page and blogs. Because of the success I am experiencing with Twitter for business, I decided to create a personal Twitter account - @azcitychik. Since creating this Twitter account, I have taken on writing a blog for a global travel site - The Phoenix Traveler at www.thephoenixtraveler.com. I have been able to secure interviews with different restaurants, individuals, etc. that I write about in my blog. I have also sent many Twitter users to my blog and am building an audience that is making comments on individual posts and sending me personal Twitter messages with suggestions for future posts. I'm becoming more involved in the Phoenix community as a result of my Twitter account. I'm actually speaking at a local Community College regarding social media.

Francke Yankee - Owner, www.moodexpressions.com
I've gained some new subscribers to my blog website. Blog was recently launched in April, 2009. My business keeps me very busy as I am a writer of satire and rhyme on high-profile trials, true/news stories, reality shows and celeb's bios. I have been on Twitter for the past two months with close to 700 followers. Belong to a social network, "Law of Attraction" on Facebook, but mostly been receiving twitter followers.
I am also on mspace.com/franckethelyricalyankee with a CD (4 tracks). Planning to go on "You Tube." So little by little I'm making progress. Linkedin members have been extremely helpful with their great info Thank You!.

Victoria Arias Fraasa - Owner, Fraasa Films - Television, Music Video and Video Producer
Hey Andrew - excellent questions! You should contact the CEO of our company, Circle of Seven Productions' Sheila Clover English ([email protected].) She developed the "Book Trailer" for social marketing, trademarked the term and has been leading our company in producing and distributing book trailers on the internet since 2002.
Sheila has written many articles including "How to be in 10 Places at Once." She has been a speaker at BEA, Romantic Times Conventions and several other seminars just to help educate authors and publishers about social marketing and building a community of readers using video, blogs, and individual attention. I know it must be working since we have been producing videos, in bulk for Simon & Shuster, Tor Forge, Egmont and other pub companies.
Recently, she was appointed Social Networking Chair for the International Thriller Writers and has advised book sellers such as Borders, Barnes & Nobles about presenting videos and video players on their websites. Along with all that COS has developed social marketing strategies based on the clients need and goals that has successfully brought authors such as Christine Feehan, Allyson Noel, Lisa Jackson and others into greater name recognition through video content and blogging.
If she has time, I will ask if she will post a comment on your blog. 

Aditi Das - PR Manager, MNC Hotel
I would like to share 1 experience with you, we had a guest from Singapore in the beginning of last year staying in our hotel, he was irked with the service at one of our restaurants one morning, he uploaded a description of his experience in a blog that he was writing about his India visit. My colleague in Singapore came to know of this as he had a google search on our names installed in his system (I have it for almost all conceivable key words now!), they wrote to me. I escalated the matter to our F&B head, he immediately jumped into action and true to our spirit of customer delight, unearthed the gentleman’s details from his check-in records and called him, the F&B head carried out a fabulous service recovery with this client and he uploaded his positive review of our services in the same blog, it popped up on my search (I had installed that by this time) and I shared it with the whole team at work. This is a concrete example of how Social Media helped us.
But other than this experience, my take on social media would be that it’s more of a hygiene factor rather than a change agent. Social media alone has not positively changed consumer behavior in my experience, but it’s important to be present in the social media world to be in circulation.

Dave Nelsen - President at Dialog Consulting Group
I've got two recent success stories to share (among many successes with social media). By way of very short background, from April 2005 to April 2009, I built a social media company (www.talkshoe.com) to over a million monthly listeners. Now, as I plan my next start-up, I'm doing professional speaking and consulting on "social media for business".
First example: In April, @JulieGammack Tweeted that she was looking for a social media speaker for a CEO group that she manages. Through random chance, a venture capitalist friend of mine, Ed Engler of Pittsburgh Equity Partners, saw her Tweet and notified me via Linkedin (where we have a first-degree connection). I thanked him and Tweet-replied ("@") to Julie and we started following each other. As she got to know me, she decided to book me for her group in Baltimore on 9/9/09. For me, Twitter = revenue.
Second example: In July 2009, I presented "Social Media for Business; Why You Need It, Why You Can't Ignore It" to Dick Singer's Vistage CEO group. Vistage is a "private social network" of 15,000+ CEOs. The entertaining and informative 3-hour presentation was very well received so I asked Dick to write a recommendation to other group chairs via Vistage's ChairNet. This in turn led to seven paid presentations in August 2009. Since many of those group chairs also wrote ChairNet recommendations when I requested, I have more than three-dozen additional presentations now scheduled in the coming months, with seven new ones booked just yesterday. This is working so well, I'm going to have to start declining speaking requests at some point. You'd never know were in a recession!

Anup M. Manchanda - VP at Teleprime
Have been succesful in creating and establishing an expert presence, which has lead to increased network and also finding opportunites for business.

David Godsell - Owner at The Sales Engine
I remain to be convinced that the amount of energy that is expended on raising a profile for a business using social networking is reflected in business growth. In the USA it is probably more difficult to arrange face to face networking events than it is in the UK hence the need to undertake this activity on-line. I worry that this activity gives the illusion of progress whilst delivering little to the bottom line.

Shel Horowitz - Copywriter/Marketing Consultant/Speaker--Ethical, Effective Marketing
I've been using social media since 1995 (not counting a brief experiment in 1987), have brought in most of my business that way since 1996. I get clients, speaking gigs, and book sales--and JV invitations.
The best advice: Be helpful, friendly, informative, and accurate, and good things will arise.
I explore this in some detail in several of my books, and in fact bundle an ebook called Web 2.0 Marketing for the 21st Century with either of my Grassroots Marketing books (www.frugalmarketing.com)

Giulia Gouge - Coordinator at SHARE Haven Time Bank
I started using a variety of social media platforms for my clients when I was with an agency. In the economic downturn, I was laid off in September of 2008. After a couple of stints with consulting with previous clients and introducing two organizations to social media, I decided why not start my own business. That was two months ago, and I now have a variety of clients, pro bono, barter and paying.
My favorite thing about social media is meeting and conversing with people I would never have met otherwise. The barriers are down, and the conversation moves forward.

Steve Beseke, CWP - Marketing Communications Dir
Social media options have allowed me to become very visible as I establish a new career and resiliency writing/speaking business. The networking opportunities and exposure to folks worldwide has been a definite "win-win" for me.
It has also helped me establish by seven-month-old life resiliency blog ( http://resiliencyfirst.com ), which is now averaging more than 10,000 hits worldwide a month.
Without social media options, my burgeoning success would be much more challenging to recreate.

Christine Gupta - Marketing and PR specialist
I've promoted CloudCamp events and product beta trials through Twitter with good results - like finding sponsors and getting sign-ups. I also use it to drive traffic to my blog postings and to client URLs for news, events, offers, whatever. I complained on Twitter about a bad sponsoring experience at an event and got an immediate response by email and an offer to compensate.
I've saved £900 for a client by asking a question on LinkedIn about the best app for a particular purpose. I also found a great web design/devel company for a client who insisted on certain criteria being satisfied.
I've had beta trial enquiries and sign-ups in response to updating my status on LinkedIn. I've successfully mined groups on LinkedIn to find the best qualified candidates to trial new apps and platforms.
I've delivered a tutorial on both the above for a client whom I finally convinced to use social media for business.

Jody Albrecht - Bus. Dev. Director / TX RE Broker at M.S. Walker Companies
Social media and business networking is a must in this day and age. So much so, that I co-founded a professional business networking site with 6 other professionals. I serve on the Board. It took about 2 years to set up, fund and design the program. The site is called Property Investment Connection: PIC (www.commercialpic.com). PIC founders designed and then had computer programmers build what is called Project Team Builder.
We just launched the site a few weeks ago and our PR firm is setting up the marketing and advertising campaign for National exposure to actively recruit new members. It was set up for the Real Estate Construction Development Community: Real Estate Brokers, Lenders, Architects, Engineers, Title Companies, Developers, Contractors and Investors. Take a look at the website. It is the only one of its kind and as the site continues to evolve it will blossom into a very large, but stable platform to network for new business for the listed 8 industry professionals. The site is already producing inquiry results for the firm I work for full time: M.S. Walker Companies.
I am sure you agree, that Executives and Managers have got to find macro and micro outlets to get media and networking exposure. Traditional advertising alone, is just not enough anymore.

Stan Cohen - Wellness information and programs for older adults and their families
I have been looking for experts to provide content for our seniors and family web project. I have found many experts ready and willing to participate on LinkedIn and via Twitter. Since social networking (and networking in general) is about relationship building, it takes time to make real progress, but once made the contacts are solid.

Kim Miller - Videographer, Photographer, Online Marketer, Video Editor, DVD Studio Pro Expert
We have seen more traffic and customers coming in from Facebook and YouTube within the last year. But even better, have been able to build our credibility and some great relationships for joint venture projects. Facebook and Linkedin makes it so easy to connect with like minded associates at conferences and events and continue to build a relationship online.
Without social media, we would probably not have launched some of the businesses we have, specifically this one - http://howtosellyourvideos.com - since that niche is so specific. We now are able to really connect with individuals who truly want our help and expertise.

Fiona Jenvey - CEO, Mudpie Design Ltd
Andrew, I was a hater of any form of social media until I discovered Linkedin. We work in the apparel trend sector and I have found linkedin invaluable for recruiting staff, obtaining feedback and most importantly assisting others where I think I can. We have also gained clients for our trend services via linkedin but I would also like to think that we have also offered something to others just by sharing insights
It is really important to gain the trust of those in your industry, after all why should people buy your services just because you bombard them with advertising. linkedin provides the opportunity to create awareness while also building trust in you and your brand- this only comes with interaction and being willing to share information.
We all like to sell our services....but good services sell themselves in my opinion. Linkedin is not a sales tool for me, it is more of an awareness or relationship tool- people can then do business with us if they feel they want to on the strength of the relationship they have with us as a trend company.

Shanna Lee Forrest (Lewis) - Online Recruitment Account Executive at Las Vegas Review-Journal
Hi Andrew - I am on a few social networking sites. This particular site (linkedin.com) has brought me closer to a few of the connections that I had already established. The site has made it a bit more personal with my clients being able to see my background and be assured as to where I am coming from with my suggestions, opinions and feedback that I provide.
I have also made new contacts/friends from this site, due to the fact we have certain characteristics in common, ranging from the background in the newspaper / advertising / or recruitment business. And with those contacts have come referrals from all over the US and with that has come new business for me.

Steve Martile - Bob Proctor's Chairman's Club Member
Accomplishments: 2,500 email subscribers as of August this year, earned my first $1,000 online this past June and I'll reach 5,000 unique visitors in the month of August. I plan to launch the "beta version" of my Mind Power Training this September. The only thing that I'm doing that is unique is publishing V-blogs (Youtube videos on my blog). I also do a semi-regular motivational mondays segment with video. I've definitely made some amazing connections with my blog with several high profile bloggers (Zenhabits.net and Problogger.net). I also met my current Coach who is teaching me to set goals unconsciously while I teach her how to setup and begin marketing her blog - we have a great exchange going that benefits the both of us.

Comments

[Andrew Ballenthin]

Hi Social Networking San Diego, please do elaborate on all three of your stories within the comments section. If anyone or all of them fit the book I'll be in contact with you and the companies for releases to include the stories in my book. Time is very tight before the book closes off. I'm looking forward to hearing more about your successes.
- Andrew Ballenthin

[social networking san diego]

I have been providing social media consulting services to businesses for 9 months now and here are some of our top success stories from paying clients:
1. Helped one firm win a green products installer contest
2. Helped sell out a fundraising event/ raise donations
3. helped generate additional online sales of products and services
4. Increased company brand and personal brand on-line and gain exposure
5. Increased # of leads, Traffic, and actual prospects interested in their products and services

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1276070789]

After years of experimenting with Social Media platforms and how I can benefit from them, I thought that I had seen and done it all. Over the past several months I have been receiving requests from various special interests groups throughout the State of Colorado to speak about the business value of today’s Social Media.

So when several professional acquaintances of Telluride asked me to help out with this subject matter, I was interested. The one caveat was that the town claims to be “broke”. Having visited Telluride many times over the years, I thought of another approach; Bartering. I extended an offer to speak and demonstrate the virtues of Social Media at the local Library for a complimentary one hour session in exchange for lodging and a pass to a local event at the time of my visit.

Within one week, several locals came back to me with an offer to accommodate my request. They exceeded my expectations; 1. They set me up for a week in an exclusive multi-million mountain estate, 2. The provided me a four-day pass to my event of choice and, 3. Treated me to unique dining experiences during my stay, and lastly, 4.) Maintain a high level of visibility that provides many opportunities to this day.

Value doesn’t always result in $$$, but unique and memorable experiences that keep on giving.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/rsink
http://twitter.com/sinkra
http://www.facebook.com/sinkra

[yann]

That's a lot of testimonials

[Andrew Ballenthin]

Hi Graham, can you elaborate on what question you are asking? Where would you like clairification?

[graham]

What's this all about

[Tina Gleisner, Founder Assn of Home Professionals]

Story #1 ... I began blogging 3 years ago to share with my peer business owners (SOHO) what I was learning about marketing. In parallel I wrote lots of newsletters, articles and blog posts for my handyman business. This content, handyman and marketing, is now the foundation for a new business, the Association of Home Professionals which I am launching within 60 days. Offering articles and resources for empower women home owners plus marketing training an tools for businesses targeting these women, in a cooperative online community is a dream come true.

[Andrew Ballenthin, Community Marketing Blog]

Hi Mike, can you elaborate a bit more on what excellent is for your business? What are you doing to get results? Thanks, Andrew, Community Marketing Blog Founder

[Mike Mansel]

We are intellectual property insurance specialists (see www.publiability.com click on WriteInsure) and results via Linkedin have been excellent. Twitter action has been less than pathetic and Facebook yet to come. Best wishes.
Mike Mansel,M.A, CIC 8/25/09

[Elizabeth Rajs]

For a local schools fund-raising campaign this summer, we ran a completely electronic communications campaign. (With school out and no access to school newsletters and flyers, we had no other choice.) I managed a Facebook page and twitter account. There was also a website and weekly electronic newsletter, and both had links to Facebook and Twitter. One enterprising mom used blogspot to run an online auction, which also was linked back to Facebook. At the end of two months,the Facebook page had 905 fans and the campaign raised $463,000 for our schools.