Sisarina's Blog

Who is Erin?

When Camie asked me to write a blog post about myself, I thought, "hey this will be easy." But, answering the question of who I am was way more difficult than I anticipated.

For starters, I am a lot of things: I'm a blogger, a historian, a social media enthusiast, and an avid fan of a variety of television shows. All of these aspects of my personality are important to me, but my passion for all things social media and blogging are the two that have been consistent through my entire life.

I started my very first blog when I was 13. It was on a site called Xanga, a website that is now one of the Internet's relics: many people only go to Xanga to see what they were up to 8 years ago (something I do more than I’d like to admit).

I was one of the first people on Facebook in 2005, and for a while Facebook was the only major social platform out there. In January 2010, I found a website called Tumblr. I started an account on a whim, with no intention of it consuming my entire life. Three years later, Tumblr has become a part of my being and I can’t imagine a life without it.

When I discovered that Sisarina was looking for summer interns, it was a dream come true. After stalking their website, I knew this was the place I wanted to spend my summer and potentially work for in the long run. I loved how involved Sisarina is in social media, and I felt (and still feel) like my experience in the blogosphere can add a lot of insight into what potential clients need to do to live their brand and make their company a success.

In today’s market, it is nearly impossible to be successful without a strong social media backing. Companies like Taco Bell and Oreo have some of the greatest Twitter and Facebook accounts around, and I feel that many companies could learn a thing or two from them. The best way to attract new clients, especially those in the millenial crowd, is through fun and interactive twitter accounts. I am very much a part of this crowd, being 22 myself, and I think I have a great understanding of how companies can market toward this crowd. That being said, I know I have quite a bit to learn about marketing through social media, and

I’m happy that i'm being trained in the ways of social media at a place as cool as Sisarina.

Do You Have the Right Seats?

You've got the right people on your bus now.
But do you have them in the right seats?

Great entrepreneurs hire experts. We are meant to be leaders outside of our business while we hire people to take care of everything inside of our business. Knowing how smart and talented our employees are will allow us to lead them to be top performers in their fields.

As business owners we tend to think we are the experts at structuring our companies until we find the truly great talent and realize we could be more flexible in our systems and processes. We have positions and talent, but are we trying to fit the people into the positions instead of creating positions for the people? That's the moment we have to start thinking outside the proverbial box.

If you are able to listen to your clients and employees, changing the structure of your company can take your business from site-seeing to really going places. Sisarina has changed its structure quite a bit over the years based on who is on our bus. Even recently I realized having one project manager per client was better than having subject matter experts running different parts to projects. I made this change after listening to my team and hearing what our clients had to say.

Take a look at your structure and how you're taking care of your clients.

Are you still doing everything or do you have someone assisting you?
Are your clients happy every step of the way?
Are your employees doing the jobs they were created to do?
Are you seeing patterns you could change?

The key to finding the answer to all of this is something entrepreneurs have a hard time doing. Listening. We tend to be visionaries with grand plans and ideas but if we stop to listen to our clients and employees, we'll get everyone in the right seats and get this show on the road.

Are you ready to listen?

STEP 1: Sit down with your team and listen to them.

What keeps them coming to work every day?
If they were running your company, what would they change?
What do they want to do longterm? Short term?
What makes them happy?
What is the best part of their job?
What is the worst part of their job?

STEP 2: Send out a survey to your clients.
And don't cringe, I know it's scary.

Why did they decide to work with you?
How was their experience?
What did they like best about working with you?
What could you have changed to make their experience better?
What advice would they give you?

STEP 3: Sort through it all and look for the common themes.
Then start making decisions on how things could be improved, changed, moved around, reorganized. Run it by your staff, but know that you're the final decision maker. Make sure your changes are not just the easy ones, but the ones that will make a big difference.

Now you have a plan. Get on it and get the right seats so you can put those incredible people in them. Happy roadtripping!

Creating Customers Out Of Facebook Fans

Most brands using Facebook to advertise would love to convert every one of their fans into customers. But, even in the best-case scenario, a very small percentage of a brand’s Facebook fans make their way through the entire marketing funnel to purchase on the narrow end.

However, depending on how many fans you have, you can convert many of them into customers, increasing your bottom line and keeping your business thriving and your brand popular. Here’s how:

7 Tips for Making Customers out of Fans

1. Solve the Problem

Unless you’ve done something to attract fans who’re not really interested in your brand, say, by running a sweepstakes where people could win an iPad, they are fans because they like what you do.

Your fans have a problem; they believe you may provide the solution. Make sure to keep their problem at the forefront of your mind when crafting your Facebook posts.

2. Engage Directly

Developing engaging material is one thing, but converting fans into customers goes beyond good engagement. You have to engage with people directly on their level. Focus on what’s being shared and what’s trending and incorporate your message into these materials.

3. Play the Social Game

A social network requires that you play to the social context of the crowd. This means that you have to be an active participant in the social experience. Your brand doesn’t stand above anyone: it must blend in to gain trust and, ultimately, customers.

4. Respond Personally

Responding personally to someone’s message shows a direct involvement. Brands like Taco Bell and Pizza Hut do this regularly with fans on Facebook and Twitter. A fan might post that they’re thinking about eating Taco Bell, and the brand personally responds, urging them to make that decision. It’s something small on the grand scale, but for that fan, it’s a memorable moment. It’s a moment that’s likely to turn a fan into a customer.

5. Extol Your Virtues

If you find that you have a few fans who aren’t turning into customers, don’t scrap your approach! You’re obviously doing something right since you have fans. Just keep at it. Be sure to speak highly of your brand while being careful not to get too self-promotional with it. Offer up a product demonstration or review, or find some satisfied customers to testify to your brand.

6. Direct Your Traffic Flow

One of the biggest reasons you may find that fans aren’t becoming customers is that you’re not offering them clear enough direction. Don’t sell your product on Facebook; use it to build up a fan base and be sure to direct those fans to your main site.

7. Give Up More for Less

Even if you’re using social media ads to gain new followers, you still need to add value in your posts. You can do so monetarily with deals and discounts, free products, loyalty rewards, and other bonuses. However, value doesn’t have to be in monetary terms. In fact, value on Facebook can be as simple as cool photos or videos, addictive games and other form of content. Some of the biggest branding success stories on Facebook are more about great content and less about vouchers.

Unfortunately, you’re never going to convert every fan into a customer. The most you can hope for is to make all of your fans entertain the idea of buying from you. So remember to keep people engaged, offer them high value for their money, and always work to solve the problems of your fan base.

Craig Robinson is a freelance writer from Qwaya, a Facebook ad campaign manager. He writes different topics about social media strategies and loves to explore new information about it. He's also an active participant in online communities and social media forums.