Social media has truly revolutionized
the ways customers and businesses interact. I’ve read all industries revolutionize every 7 years. So we as business professionals must be
in constant mode of adjusting or we can become obsolete. We should always be reading about new
technologies and consulting with experts who understand their particular niche
well. I read this article on a social
media pro and was motivated by some of her methods:
“Skeptics say social
media hasn't existed long enough to produce experts. Clearly,
those folks haven't met Shama Kabani. The 26-year-old wrote her master's thesis
for the University of Texas at Austin about Twitter--when it had only 2,000
users, not the 175 million it has today. She hosts a web TV show about
technology. Her 2010 book, The Zen of
Social Media Marketing: An Easier Way to Build Credibility, Generate Buzz and
Increase Revenue, is the No. 4 seller about web marketing on Amazon.com.
And those are just the side projects.
In 2009, at 24, Kabani founded The Marketing Zen Group, a social media
marketing firm in Dallas. The company, which she launched with $1,500 of her
own money, specializes in all aspects of web marketing for clients--from
Facebook and Twitter to blogs and video.
"We are in an age where people are
tired of the faceless corporate culture," the Texas native says.
"Every day, I ask myself the same question: What can I do today to
increase value for our trusted audience (blog readers, TV watchers, Twitter
followers, etc.), for our team and for our clients?"
That value means different things for
different clients. For k9cuisine.com, a Paris, Ill.-based online retailer of
dog food, Marketing Zen established blog and Twitter presences and cultivated
relationships with pet-related bloggers. For Arthur Murray Dance Studios in
Boston, the company optimized a website to generate more targeted sales leads.
Marketing Zen wasn't always about
social media. Kabani says her original plan was to start a general consulting
agency. But she quickly realized her passions--and all the best gigs, for that
matter--were in the social media space, so she tweaked her strategy.
This modified approach was about
consulting with clients, telling them how to better market their businesses
online and letting them run with it. Meanwhile, Kabani learned two things:
Clients wanted not just a consultant, but also a firm that could implement
ideas; and social media is only part of a larger marketing puzzle that includes
building solid websites and developing smart search engine optimization.
"That is how we went from being a
consulting company to a company that takes over web marketing for our
clients," she says. "Our value proposition is simpler now: We drive
inbound leads for our clients and increase their online brand visibility."
Another key differentiator: legitimate
engagement. Kabani prides herself on having her clients engage with followers,
rather than simply talking at them. For Dave Kerpen, CEO and co-founder of
competitor Likeable Media, this is a distinguishing characteristic. "She
understands the true meaning of community engagement," Kerpen says.
"She gets that the conversation must go both ways in order to satisfy
customers."
This article was
originally published in the September
2011 print edition of Entrepreneur
with the headline: Social Media's Zen Master of Marketing by Matt Villano.
At Brooke we mix
using consultants and handling much of our own social media and traditional
marketing. The hybrid keeps me in
tune with what we are doing, lets me do what I am good at while benefiting from
the input of experts.
Moving forward,
Jeff Roach
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