At the Cisco Partner Velocity conference in Paris, Will McInnes (pictured), a social media guru, shared 8 social media commandments with roughly 200 VARs and managed service providers (MSPs). The VAR Guy often yawns when someone claims to be a social media guru. But in this case McInnes is the real deal and his eight tips are pure gold. Take a look.

The VAR Guy

November 12, 2009

2 Min Read
8 Social Media Commandments for VARs

will_mcinnes_photo

will_mcinnes_photo

At the Cisco Partner Velocity conference in Paris, Will McInnes (pictured), a social media guru, shared 8 social media commandments with roughly 200 VARs and managed service providers (MSPs). The VAR Guy often yawns when someone claims to be a social media guru. But in this case McInnes is the real deal and his eight tips are pure gold. Take a look.

1. Know Your Networks: Whether it’s LinkedIn or Twitter, dive in. And forget user myths. In the UK, for instance, the heaviest Internet users are women 18-34 and men 50+.

2. Listen: Watch conversations on social networks for positive and negative comments about key technologies and business problems. Also, pay attention to User Generated Reviews. They can influence the success or failure of a product or service.

3. Be real-time: In social media, real-time is the topic of discussion.  When events happen they’re reported first on Twitter. Capitalize on the real-time trend and you can win in real-time.

4. Be open: Products that have reviews (not necessarily positive reviews) have a 10 percent higher conversion rate for actual sales. People are more positive than generally expected in reviews. That extra nudge from the reviews often triggers a buy. Another key example: MyStarbucksIdea: In 12 months, Starbucks had 70,000 ideas, 94 that they said “yes” and 70 that became part of daily business.

5. Be Where They Want You: Your web site is important. But you still need to go out to key Internet destinations. With things like widgets, you can allow consumers to grab the blog and install it on their desktop or on their web site.

6. Work Together: Nobody owns social media. It’s a very big conversation. Marketing doesn’t own social media. PR doesn’t own social media. Don’t worry about who owns it. Instead, figure out how social media can help your business perform better.

7. Start Now!: There’s only one bad time to get started. That’s never.

8. Be brave: It’s not a brochure. It’s not an email campaign. You need to test what works for you. And there’s no single right answer for everyone.

Four ways to succeed:

1. Nuture Your Network: Treat your network participants as VIPs.

2. Enable Your People: Get them up to date and give them permission to run with social media.

3. Provide the Right Content: The VAR Guy certainly agrees with this one.

4. Listen and Respond: Use Google Alerts to monitor your brand, your business and other key terms.

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