Is Word of Mouth (AKA Referral Marketing) Worth the Effort?

Courtesy of flickr.com

By Hector Cisneros

I have been directly engaged in word of mouth marketing (AKA Referral Marketing or Social Networking) for more than 35 years. I often hear business owners say that they tried networking at Chamber of Commerce events and even hard contact networks (exclusive membership organizations), and they felt that the return on investment was poor or nonexistent! Well, this statement can be true and false at the same time. It has been my experience that, for the most part, you can only get back a return based on the time and effort you put into any endeavor.  In this episode of Working The Web to Win, we will take a hard look at organized word of mouth marketing, to see if high returns are real, luck, or just fancifully marketing on the parts of the referral organization's marketing department. So get ready to learn my firsthand experiences as to whether referral marketing works and if so, what makes it work and how can the reader minimize the investment in time, money, and energy to get the maximum return for their marketing dollars. 

Is Social Media More Powerful Than Face to Face Networking

Courtesy of Flickr

By Hector Cisneros

Most people are aware that social media shares, comments, and ratings have the biggest impact on the reputation of products and services provided by businesses today. Yet there are many who believe that social media will never replace face to face networking. I believe that most of us would agree that word of mouth is the most valuable form of advertising, right? Well, what if you could maximize your social media word of mouth by systematically using the tools that social media provides. What do you think would happen to your sales, reputation and the growth of your business? In this episode of Working the Web to Win we will explore how to use social media tools and techniques to maximize your positive word of mouth and grow your business. We will answer the questions of why this is important, how you go about building trust and credibility and how to use social equity to get more sales. We will also try and answer the question of which is the most powerful form of word of mouth marketing. So, get ready and fire up your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn engines as we explore the many ways to maximize word of mouth in social media.

15 Ways Social Media Can Build Your Business and Credibility

Courtesy of  pixy.org

By Hector Cisneros 

Social Networks are the fastest evolving media in the world. In less than a dozen years, it has gone from relative obscurity to internet dominance. Today, any business that ignores social media does so at its own peril.  Social networking and Social media have become integral to internet marketing, business and social communications. Most importantly, it has changed the dynamic of what advertisers can say, do and get away with. No longer can businesses get away with touting poor products as the latest and greatest. Businesses can’t continue to provide poor customer service and expect to keep it under wraps. Today social networks allow consumers to spread good or bad news at the speed of the internet. Businesses have to be proactive using social networks to stay ahead of the competition and any bad news that may escape into the social “network-sphere”. This article will provide 15 reasons why every business needs to proactively be using social media to win the hearts and minds of the consuming public. They will be listed in descending order of importance (as chosen by me) to help you see the big picture. So let the countdown begin.

How to Win Friends and Influence People in the 21st Century - Take Two

By Hector Cisneros 

Courtesy of Flickr

The last 50 years have seen sweeping changes in our society. We have gone from people having a face-to-face relationship to a society that prefers social networking. We have cyberfriends we have never met in person. Younger people today would rather text you than actually speak to you n real-time..  Facebook is now running commercials showing that people would rather be on their Facebook phones, reading their news feed, than interacting with their families at the dinner table. The fact is, we live in a cyber-enabled world. So, if you want to build strong relationships and get ahead, you need to learn how to make friends and influence people in the 21st century.

Six Clear Reasons Why You Should be Using Social Media to Build Your Credibility

By Hector Cisneros

An ad agency client asked me the other day to provide them the primary reason why their clients should use Social Media as part of their advertising mix. Specifically they were talking about Facebook, Twitter and Angieslist. The answer to this question is often confusing and misstated. This article provides six concise reasons why Social Media is so important today.  Reading this article will make it easy for the reader to see why Social Media has risen so quickly in advertising circles and it will help them prosper from using it.  Here are a few reasons why they should use Social Media as part of their marketing mix.