I'm writing this post because Social Media Marketing is now a standard business practice and business owner's especially need to protect themselves.  It's hard for me to see any reason why any company doesn't have some sort of social media presence.  I am seeing that many companies recognize the importance of social media and have extended their social media duties to become a specific portion of their marketing teams, or have made a single person in charge of the duties, or have contracted it out to agencies or individuals.  Which is really smart.  Social media is a full time job that takes talent and expertise.  Often times the owners of these companies...Presidents, CEOs, founders don't have time to keep up with or learn these mediums, and don't keep track of the daily operations.  They don't want to worry about it.  The problem is this...  Your company’s online presence... for example facebook, is in the soul ownership of one person or agency. YIKES!

WHAT IF THIS PERSON DIES OR THE AGENCY GOES UNDER?  (Ever wonder what happens to a personal page when someone dies....well it's similar with a business page...if there is only one administrator it can cause some serious issues trying to transfer the ownership.)

WHAT IF YOU WANT TO FIRE THIS PERSON OR AGENCY?

WHAT IF YOU HIRE A NEW PERSON OR AGENCY TO RUN YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS?

DON'T WORRY HERE IS OUR SOLUTION.

1.)  Social Media Marketing Master Spread Sheet: Keep a record on a social media marketing master spread sheet with a list of all your social media sites as well as usernames and logins.

2.)  Record The Culture:  Have the administrators describe their general daily usage and purpose of each social media outlet.  Ex: Many social media outlets revolve around a steady theme (as they should).  Each day status updates on facebook may be industry news, or an industry related quote, or just a general personal message about how the business is doing on that particular day.  It's important that the general and steady activity is documented so it can be easily transferred to the next person or agency. 

3.) Multiple Administrators:  Have multiple administrators.  Facebook especially.  Ideally you would have at least 3 administrators.  The owner of the company whether they make an update never in their lives should be an administrator on the account.  These social media outlets are proprietary and are aspects of your businesses online presence.  God forbid your facebook administrator is suddenly hit by a car, and all of a sudden the your faithful fans have nothing to look forward to.  No new videos, status updates, pictures tagged...nothing until you write multiple letters and petition for access to your OWN facebook page. 

My suggestion.  The owner of the business should be an administrator on these sites no matter what.  I'm not saying the owner should manage them because they might not get the culture of these mediums and might not be the right person for the success of their social media presence but they should have access to them and have a master document that explains how each one is being managed. 

Questions to answer for the Social Media Marketing Spread Sheet:

What mediums are listed on?

What are the passwords and logins to each of these mediums?

How often are you making updates?

What kind of content are you posting?

What is the theme of each of our mediums (Twitter, Facebook, Blog, etc.)

What purpose does each medium serve?

People in your business realm will come and go but your online presence is a permanent aspect of your business moving in to these exponential times and must be taken seriously.  This is 21st century standard business practice.  Approaching your social media administrators shouldn't be an uncomfortable conversation.  You can just tell them...this is standard Social Media Business practice... "Thank you for your cooperation :)"

Gus Zadra

Creative Seattle SEO Marketing

Bonsai Media Group

Turns out he knows a whole lot.  Derek is the CEO of Tatango who specialize in bulk SMS and also the CEO of Derek Media which is a Social Media Consultation company.  He graciously stopped by our office while he was in Seattle after meeting with Microsoft.  It was the first time I've met Derek and it was a pleasure.  He offered a wealth of knowledge to us and a lot of support for what we're doing here at Bonsai.  Derek knows first hand the hustle and grind involved in starting your own business.  Over the past 3 weeks I've met with marketing directors and CEO's of several large companies to help get insight on how we can be more successful. 

One of the overlapping aspects that we've heard from all of them is keeping focused on your core specialty.

Our core specialty is Creative SEO development and implementation, as well as SEO based web development.

Derek reaffirmed what we've been hearing from other successfull business owners.

Lesson learned:  Be focused on your core skills + market accordingling + stake your claim as experts in your niche + nurture those relationships = Success

More soon....

Gus Zadra

President Bonsai Media Group

Creative Seattle SEO Marketing

You’ve been waiting for a Seattle SEO company who speaks your language, rather than internet jargon.

You’ve been waiting for a Seattle SEO company who can level the playing field with your competitors.

You’ve been waiting for a Seattle SEO company who combines both Search Optimization and Social Media Marketing.

You’ve been waiting for a Seattle SEO company who loves working with the underdog.

You've been waiting for a Seattle SEO company who doesn't hand you a strategy document and then disapear.

With Bonsai Media Group, your wait is over.

At Bonsai we view every business as unique, so each business deserves a unique and creative strategy.  We're an open source SEO company.  We don't just offer you the strategy we offer you the plan of implementation, and let our clients choose what kind of investment they feel comfortable with based on what kind of results they are looking for.

Most of all we are passionate about the success of our client's business.  We work hard for the early morning phone calls of business owners who are receiving new clients and customers because of our efforts.

Talk to you soon,

Gus Zadra

President | Bonsai Media Group

Yesterday was a great introduction for Bonsai Media Group to the Bizx Family. 

First off, Gallucci's catering rocked!  That food was delicioso!...and so were the beverages.  :)  Food and cocktails are the perfect social liasions for any party. When I left the event I had a pocket full of cards and met some really awesome folks.  The most innovative conversation I had was with Dr. Anthony S. Nguyen of Green Lake Dentristry...he's launching a new wing of his current business...it's a mobile dentistry concept.  The concept is based around the idea that people are so busy with their day to day lives they don't have time to go to the dentist but if he comes to them they are more willing to take an hour during their lunch break to get their teeth cleaned. 

Definitely the highlight of the evening other than meeting all these wonderful business people, and making great contacts was the entertainment.  Jeff Evans of Amazement Productions turned a penny in to a fifty cent piece while it was in my closed fist.  I love magic.  Even if you're not a huge fan of magic you can't help but be entertained and smile. He was great.

Then there was the Usnaps photo booth.  We're definitely having this at our events.  You can check out the photos at Usnaps.com.  Thanks Jimmy for bringing your photo booth out...here's a few of my favorites.

Mr. Jimmy himself.

Where was this kid at?

Here's our account rep...Heather with one of the Marketing Directors Leif.  Nice to meet you in person Heather.

Where was this guy? 

Here's an after party shot of the Bizx B2B crew...Awesome.

As a new Seattle SEO, Social Media Marketing, and Website Design company we see business to business barter and trade being an efficient way to grow our business during this economic period, and this is why we joined Bizx. We’re excited to leverage our new Bizx social network to help us excel in these exponential times while assisting others as well.

Overall we had a great time and are looking forward to the next Bizx event. 

To Your Success!

Gus Zadra

President

Bonsai Media Group

   This is a headline that we’re not too far from seeing, and right now the next question your employer will ask, and should ask is how many friends do you have on facebook?  Companies are turning to facebook to develop their brands and building social networks, and yes you can advertise on facebook to build your fan base but you need to build an organic network first.  Your employees are the best place to start.  If your employees aren’t conscious of their own brand they should be.  Google them…see what comes up.  Check their facebooks.  Their brand is a direct extension of your company.  Don’t be scared….Be excited.  You can leverage your employee’s personal brand to grow your social network  The nature of social networking is making friends.  One thing that never changes in business is people enjoy working with people they like, and people like their friends.  Your fans of your page will most likely recommend your business to their friends when they need your services…so you better make sure your employers are friends of your company that you WANT to have, and even better you’d hope that they have a lot of friends, because your employees are your biggest brand ambassadors you have…If they don’t love you find someone who does.  For those folks who are looking for jobs this might be the difference between winning or losing the position you want.