Does promoting your business on this site and others really result in sales?

I am new to the social networking arena, and have been putting a lot of time and energy in getting my companies name out there. I was trained in the old school of cold calling, and it has worked wonders for me thus far. Now, I hear about this new technique, and I have decided to give it a try. I have joined this group, facebook, twitter, linked in...bought face book ad space, updated our website to include social bookmarking along with making the site much more functional for online ordering. So with all this will I increase my sales?? What are your thoughts?

Jennifer Foley
Vice President of Sales and Marketing
Foley Business Forms & Print Solutions
www.foleybf.com

Tags: networking, printing, products, promotional, social

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Permalink Reply by Aadil on December 12, 2008 at 3:14pm: Hi Jennifer,

Firtsly Im proud of you and your positive outlook towards life.
Yes. it would help u surely to increase ur sales/income/wealth.....

Im lookin for direct client to outsource there co. or if they can get compnaies campaigns to be outsourcd in call center industry. if you think you can be the one then e can havea very large biz in BPO industry.

we can discuss more in this aspect if u choose too.

My email id is below.

Best Regards,
Aadil
aadil_tayabee@yahoo.com; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kali Kunkle on December 12, 2008 at 9:57pm

Hi Jennifer,

Now THAT is the question of the week, isn't it? ;-)

The advice already offered here seems very sound, in my opinion. (As I am seeing consistently on this site.)

The thing I am wrestling with personally is the ROI on time/effort spent on social and business networking, versus the return I might realize through other channels (meaning: by spending my time on other efforts, perhaps more directly related to marketing or sales).

Being relatively new to social/business networking, I don't have answers yet, but I believe I am asking the right questions and exploring options. We (my husband Mike and I) only have so many hours in the day, and Mike still has a very demanding and time-consuming "day-gig."

Those with more experience here will have better feedback about this, but my early impression is that this site may offer more potential mileage for B2B than B2C(?). At the same time, I stand to gain and learn from interacting with other successful small business owners, so the real gain from my participation here may not be monetary, and frankly, that may turn out to be both true, and acceptable. For example, I found an article on another blog where someone was quoting this site's CEO, and the advice in that article was stunningly solid and valuable. That's how I ended up here in the first place.

I’m not sure I've truly answered your question, Jennifer, or that I'll have an answer for some time to come. But the importance of this site might not be what we sell, but what we learn from each other that fuels us to sell more elsewhere.

For me, while I am experimenting elsewhere with social networking, the jury is even further out for facebook, Stumbled, Digg, and others (and I can't quite bring myself to Twitter (verb) yet. ;-) So far, our greatest traffic has resulted from Google and facebook ads and our greatest sales activity has come from our in-person networking. (We have made some wonderful and valuable contacts on LinkedIn as well.)

By the way –an interesting sidebar - today we participated in a WebEx presentation with a new company called NextBee.com. They offer Web 2.0 widget functionality that allows users to rate items (like on Amazon) and virally recommend your site or specific products or purchases to others in their social/business networks. This seems like a phenomenal way to capitalize on the power of social networking to actually sell products. The owners of this company have already built and sold one dot-com and we'd predict (where is that crystal ball again?) that NextBee will be very successful. If you'd like an introduction to their sales rep or owner (we're connected to him on LinkedIn), just let me know.

I'll close with one last thought. My husband is a Jim Collins' "Good to Great" fan. I forget what he calls it exactly, but Collins mentions a flywheel concept in his book. The general concept is this... you press on, doing the right activity repeatedly, moving forward at a steady pace. As you do that, it's like pushing a gigantic flywheel. At first it takes a lot of effort, turns slowly, crawling forward - and it really tires you out. As you trudge on, pushing forward, the mythical "flywheel" continues to turn, building momentum. Eventually, it takes almost no effort to push forward, and this massive flywheel has incredible momentum and you are going along for the ride. I have a sense that we may be starting to push the flywheel now. Whether I'm right or not, will remain to be seen... but I'm pushing away for all I'm worth for now! ;-)

Hope these thoughts might help in some way, Jennifer. Thanks for a really thoughtful question and best of luck with your "flywheel!”

Kali
_______________________
Kali Kunkle
DreamWorthy Gifts LLC
Kali@DreamWorthyGifts.com
www.DreamWorthyGifts.com

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Permalink Reply by Pittsburgh SEO Marketing on December 14, 2008 at 4:25pm: Not only do I love meeting talented and interesting people, I find social networking to be one of the most cost effective and results driven methods of obtaining exposure, rankings for websites, fostering relations and over all business.

Sincerely,
Lea Charlton
Pittsburgh SEO
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Permalink Reply by Oscar on December 16, 2008 at 6:14pm

I think you have made some very good moves. All of the things you have done will be effective in getting more people/visitors to your business. Also, since you have made your website more functional for online ordering, you will see some positive results. It may take a bit of time for everything to start working, but it will start.

Oscar
Crystal Images USA
Crystal Gifts, Crystal Wedding Gifts, Crystal Keepsakes, Crystal Awards

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Permalink Reply by Eric Davydov on December 16, 2008 at 9:50pm: Hello Jennifer Foley, how are you? The Sup.Biz, COO said it the best way, when it comes to Social Networking. It's all about building relationship. You talk about life, kids, family, entertainment. It's like a party, when you go to a party you don't talk to people about your product for them to purchase it. Than what you do is when you make your blogs, you post pictures of the fun things you do, and what company you have such as printing. Don't stick it to there face let the people come to you. It's all about helping people, people will like you more, and then since it's a social network, when someone asks about printing or business forms the first person they will refer is you.

Jennifer, my name is Neryk Davydov, I am a transporter and I help people to get from Point A to Point B successful in what ever business they are in. I just came back from a seminar called "Never Work Again" and I learned a great secret from a Billionaire by the name of "Bill Bartman" when you are looking to increase profits, sales, and the best growth during this recession times, contact me and I'll be happy to share the secrets with you for your company.

Neryk Davydov
Business Developer/Transporter
786 200-0884
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Permalink Reply by Barry-Lee on December 17, 2008 at 12:42am: I have been able to acquire both sales, and great relationships here.
I have made a few top notch business relationships here that enrich my life on many levels.
When you are really tapping the power of Web 2.0 it becomes a lifestyle. The relationship and the sale flow naturally through the course of the day & the sales cycle of course, with an ebb and flow and a cadence all of its own.

Don't get me wrong; Its not everyday, but when you can get it humming it's no short of miraculous.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Andrew loverock on December 17, 2008 at 1:11pm: Personally I don't think it is so much a case of promoting your business on the site. It's more about providing advice, support and solutions for peoples problems. The nock on effect from helping others will in turn raise your profile and that of your company. I provide a lot of free services and this brings me in to contact with lots of people who I go on to buy from, sell to and work with. Networking is a great way to grow your business, but learning how to do it correctly is perhaps even more important. For me training, personal development, research and learning from others is much more productive. You seem to be doing a lot of the right things Jennifer so just keep increasing and improving. Good Luck!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Tracy on December 18, 2008 at 8:56pm: I liked the topic and responses. In my cosmetic business it is hard to promote because of all the different types of cosmetics and consultants out there for the businesses..... It is all about building relationships and a customer base and maintaining it all.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Cornelis de Maijer on December 23, 2008 at 8:48am: "So with all this will I increase my sales?? What are your thoughts?"

Its quiet straight forward do Want sales? Go out of your office, ring doorbells and Get sales...however online networking is (in my book) about building relations, building your own brand, get the public / members to know you, as the name to refer too.

Hope it helps :-)

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Permalink Reply by Greg Digneo on December 26, 2008 at 12:55pm: Hi Cornelis,

I think that building relations offline are equally important as building relationships online. Ringing doorbells, I found has a much lower return than does building relationships at networking events.

Greg Digneo
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Permalink Reply by Donna Darden McClung on December 24, 2008 at 11:39am: Hello Jennifer, I am also new to this site and I have also done as you have, joined networking communities , most if not all that you have listed. Have I witnesses a jump in sales? I believe we are creatures of habit and basically remember the last thing we have read or done or in some cases even heard. Because Twitter seems to be all the rage right now, I think I will generate the most traffic from getting involved. It is interesting that relationships are no longer based on human interaction , but cyber communication. So I would say no, but the new year approaches.

www.Gr8Wingstravel.com Making your travel dreams a reality. Great deals , all steals !; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Don & Annabelle @ Zionone on December 24, 2008 at 4:02pm: I would think any exposure is good for your business.; ▶ Reply to This