Everybody’s waiting for the next big thing. You’ve heard this phrase before. You’ve even seen the proof, but you are hesitant to jump on the social media train yourself. Trust me, it is the next big thing, and it is already here.

We all love rags to riches stories. Perhaps a few kind folks are altruistic and are genuinely pleased when a little guy hits the big time. Most of the rest of us just think, “If that person can do it, surely I can.” Success stories breed more success, so in that spirit, read on for the impact social media can have on your business, no matter what niche you are in.

IdeaPaint is a Boston-based company. They have a website, and on this website they maintain a blog. How do you blog about paint, you may wonder? The answer is that if you are passionate and customer-centered, you can write enthusiastically about anything. This company was smart enough to share their blog on their company Twitter and Facebook pages. They take advantage of the social aspect of this media and take time to interact with their customers via these friend and information generators known as social media. The impact of choosing to market this way? These social media platforms are now the company’s largest source for increasing their leads and traffic. The growth is not only maintaining but ramping up, and that means good things for this business.

There is so much available to business owners now, which was unfathomable to previous generations. Pictures have been around for a long time, but when you have friends on Facebook who also take pictures of your product and post online about how much they like your exclusive merchandise X, suddenly the possibility of reaching more people from the trusted status of friend increases dramatically. If you choose to tweet about what is important to you – not just your product – but you as a person – your base grows and grows as you get the word out and contact more people.

The key to succeeding with social media is to try every aspect of it and give it your concentrated effort. If videos serve your business best, track down a talented script writer and actors who can pass on a touch of wild and crazy, and you will immediately appeal to the social networking crowd. Be active in promoting your brand, in being out there, being real and becoming the person they will look to when they want your merchandise or service X. Just don’t be afraid to stick your neck out a bit – it is really the only way to snatch up that coveted attention and get yourself known.

Guest Author: Margo Smith graduated with a B.S. degree from BYU. She draws from her experiences as a modern day children’s governess, her time spent in New England, her years in the corporate world and an author’s perspective on life when writing articles about all kinds of subjects from communications to online classes to social media.

“Social networking is still a luxury, and I don’t have time to use it for my business.” Does this sound familiar? This is the most common excuse I receive from entrepreneurs and clients. So, since we all have the same amount of hours in a day, how does Dawn Papandrea-Khan, a mompreneur of four kids under the age of six manage to run three businesses and make time to use social networking to grow her business?

I met Dawn on Twitter last year and hired her for a few graphic design projects. Not only was I tremendously impressed by her work, but also by her dedication to make social networking work for her business. A couple of months ago, Dawn mentioned to me that 90 percent of her clients come from Twitter. So, I invited Dawn to share her story with my blog readers.

Let’s listen to what she has to say in this 20-minute interview:

To view Dawn’s work, you can visit her websites below:

DPK Graphic Design – http://DPK-GraphicDesign.com

DPK Virtual Assistant Services – http://DPK-VirtualAssistant.com

Surfaces with Paint (NY Based Decorative Painting Biz) – http://SurfaceswithPaint.com

Painter Mommy (My Everything Blog) – http://PainterMommy.com

Here is also my blog post that Dawn mentions:  Top 50 Social Media Mistakes Made by Small Businesses

I will be posting more case study interviews like this on a regular basis. If you are using social media successfully in your business and would like to be interviewed, please reach out to me. I love hearing social media success stories!

Did this help you to see how entrepreneurs are using social networking to grow their business?  What was your takeaway from the interview?

Recently, I had the pleasure of connecting on Twitter and Facebook with Chef Zov Karamardian (@Zovs), an award-winning chef, restaurateur and bestselling cookbook author. Chef Zov jumped on the social media bandwagon a few months ago, learning and embracing as much as she can.

As part of her social media strategy, Chef Zov announced the “Make an Eggplant Proud Recipe Contest,” in which I became a finalist after submitting my favorite eggplant recipes.

The eggplant contest was only promoted through Zov’s blog, Facebook, and Twitter, resulting in over 30 recipe submissions. With the assistance of creative minds Marcie Taylor, Suz Broughton, and Frank Groff, Inc., Chef Zov turned the contest into an exciting offline affair. On May 12, several influential Orange County bloggers were invited for lunch at Zov’s Tustin location to taste and judge the recipes of the four finalists (See partial blogger list and finalists as well as my recipe below).

Chef Zov, Me (dressed like an eggplant, but unplanned), Jihan Assi (winner), Priscilla Willis, Yuko Graham

The winner (Jihan Assi) took home a plaque with a $100 gift certificate for Zov’s restaurant and will have her recipe featured as the “Special of the Day” at Zov’s Cafe in Tustin on Friday, May 28th. You can grab Jihan’s eggplant recipe on Zov’s blog.

I was thrilled to see Chef Zov take on social networking and blogging, not only because I am a social media consultant, but because I have been a long-time customer of Zov’s restaurants for quite a while. Since the 90’s, I have enjoyed many scrumptious family brunches and relaxing dinners with friends at Zov’s restaurants. I’ve also met colleagues there for great networking, while sipping green tea and devouring the mouth-watering desserts (Yummy! ).

Zov’s contest is a great example of the many social media tactics restaurants  can use to increase their online presence and encourage visitors to their location.  Although some restaurants are jumping on the bandwagon, I still don’t see many of them with amazing uses of social media (But, I am here to assist them and give them many ideas of course ). This is unfortunate since the restaurant industry is one that can leverage and hugely benefit from social media.

With this one experiment alone, Chef Zov created brand awareness, bonded with existing customers as well as realized the power and endless possibilities of social media.

There are a few things I like about Chef Zov’s approach:

- She has an open-mind to the opportunities social media offers for promoting her restaurants and cookbooks.

- She has the willingness to learn and experiment with different tactics.

- She is taking the time to blog, tweet, and post herself instead of using a “Ghost,” which is truly the best way to build community and enhance relationships with customers.

-  And, she is starting to integrate social media with her offline marketing/PR efforts.

I am looking forward to chatting with Chef Zov more through social networks and seeing her social media strategy develop.

Here is how you can connect with Chef Zov online:

Website: http://www.zovs.com
Blog: http://www.zovs.com/blog/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/zovsfans
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/zovs

“Make an Eggplant Proud Recipe Contest”

Contest Finalist

Jihan Assi of Tustin (contest winner), Yuko Graham of Orange, Priscilla Willis (@shescookin) of Huntington Beach, and Mirna Bard (me) of Costa Mesa

Contest Judges

Chef Zov Karamardian, “Fast Food Maven” Nancy Luna, Greer Wylder of Daily Dose of OC & Greer’s OC, and Teri Williams of Great Taste Magazine

Bloggers

Marcie Taylor (@suburbanmama), Kathleen (@ksugarandspice), Lindsey Garrett (@modchik), White On Rice Couple (@WhiteOnRice), Suz Broughton (@Suzbroughton)

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Mirna’s Eggplant Salad Recipe

This makes a fresh and light salad or dip for Summer! (4 – 6 Servings)

2-3 Large Eggplants
1 to 2 ripe tomatoes (depends on size), chopped
2 Persian Cucumbers, peeled and chopped
1 Onion, chopped (This can be left out if you are not an raw onion lover) ¼ C. Parsley
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T. Olive Oil
¼ C. T. lemon juice Dried mint (Sprinkled in)
Salt & black pepper to taste 1 to 2 T. Sesame Tahini (Optional)

Slit eggplant and broil till skin is charred and center is very well cooked, remove skin. Mash it. Mix in above ingredients. Adjust seasonings to taste. The Sesame Tahini adds more fat, but does enhance the flavor. Serve cold with pita bread slices (they can be fried pita chips as well). You can also serve on top of romaine lettuce for less carbs.

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Surprise! Can you believe I know how to cook?  It was really funny to read the comments of my online friends and followers when I announced I was a finalist.  As busy as I am, I love to cook! I also have been told by many that I was very good. I wonder if they were being honest? Hehe!

If you try the recipe at home, please let me know what you think!  Don’t be afraid to add your own twist to it.  I am always adding new things to it myself.  Enjoy!

In this interview, Trinitie Kedrowski, an entrepreneur and a transcriptionist from Minnesota shows us why it pays to listen on Twitter. What’s the pay off? More clients!

A few months ago Trinitie (@kedrowskitransc) replied to my tweet within minutes to offer her transcription services for my Social Web Success Blueprint program, and I became a new client under 15 minutes.

I was really excited to interview Trinitie because with only a little over 160 followers, she proves that you don’t need thousands of followers to get business from Twitter.

Let’s listen to how Trinitie gets her clients from Twitter.

Check out Trinitie’s services at www.kedrowskitranscription.net. I already referred two people to Trinitie, and I will continue to do so.

Thanks for reaching out Trinitie! Keep up your great Twitter tactic!

I will be posting more case study interviews like this on a regular basis. If you are using social media successfully in your business and would like to be interviewed, please reach out to me. I love hearing social media success stories!

You can also listen to other recent interviews below:

Case Study: Dippin’ Dots’ Powerful Social Media Strategy Leads to One Million Fans on Facebook Case Study: One B2B Increases Business One Tweet at a Time

His passion, motivation, professionalism, generosity and success are contagious to the social media world! Ramon De Leon (@Ramon_DeLeon) is no longer “The pizza guy to know in Chicago”. He is “The pizza guy to know in the world.” The operating partner of six Domino’s franchises in Chicago is now a world-known, sought-after speaker due to his social media presence.

Ramon’s passion for social media has not only changed his business, but also changed his life. He certainly does not live the life of a typical franchisee partner. I asked Ramon for a brief interview so you can hear the passion for yourself.

The 20-minute interview turned to 40 minutes, but felt like four minutes because he is so engaging (I can talk to him about social media for hours).  His enthusiasm for social media is magnetic! No wonder people want him to speak in conferences all over the world to share why he lives and breathes social media, and why all business owners should too.

This interview is not to be missed…let’s listen to Ramon’s amazing tips and hear what he has to say about social media…

Read the blog I wrote in 2009 about Ramon: Chicago Domino’s Owner, @Ramon_DeLeon More Than Gets Social Media…He Breathes It!

I will be posting more case study interviews like this on a regular basis. If you are using social media successfully in your business and would like to be interviewed, please reach out to me. I love hearing social media success stories!

You can also listen to other recent interviews below:

Case Study: Dippin’ Dots’ Powerful Social Media Strategy Leads to One Million Fans on Facebook

Case Study: One B2B Increases Business One Tweet at a Time

Doesn't this image make you hungry for ice cream?

Another great milestone has been achieved through social media!  A couple weeks ago Dippin’ Dots Ice Cream reached a huge milestone of one million fans on Facebook.  How did I learn about this?  Through my news source, Twitter of course.  Orange County Dippin’ Dots franchisee, Debbie Tesla (@dippindotwoman) and I follow each other on Twitter.  Her tweet of this exciting news showed up in my stream.

Reaching one million fans is a huge milestone, but as you may already know, social networking is not about the number of fans and followers, but the quality.  The powerful Dippin’ Dots’ Facebook strategy proved that they have quality fans.  Their strategy not only helped them bond with existing customers, but also heightened brand awareness, boosted customer loyalty, and increased sales.

As you can see on the Dippin’ Dots fan page, they know how to engage their audience with questions, polls, giveaways, contests and more!  As a matter of fact, they gave away one million ice cream Dots to their one millionth fan, John Migetz.  That equals one gallon of Dippin’ Dots per month for 20 months.  Wowwie John, I hope you will be sharing some of that ice cream with your friends!

Aside from Facebook, Dippin’ Dots is on Twitter (@RealDippinDots), MySpace, Flickr, YouTube, and they have a corporate blog.  Plus, they also use crowdsourcing (poll & surveys) by tapping into their customers’ brains to help them create new ice cream flavors.

To see what Dippin’ Dots is up to, I interviewed Dana Knudsen, the director of marketing in Kentucky along with Erin Brown (@ErinRocks) and Anthony Cerreta (@AnthonyCerreta) from Matrixx in Los Angeles.  Matrixx is the digital marketing agency responsible for assisting Dippin’ Dots with the launch of the Facebook page in 2007 and helped them get to this great landmark. I have a feeling Anthony has a Twitter strategy up his sleeve for Dippin’ Dots pretty soon (I wonder if I can also bribe him to grow my fan page to a million fans? J/K Anthony).

Let’s listen to what the team had to say about social media.

What is the Dippin’ Dot social media lesson?

• Know what your customers want and show them you care by listening to them.
• Be patient because social media is not an overnight process.  It does take time to build a loyal and engage a loyal community (It took them 2.5 years to reach this Facebook milestone.)
• Be willing to experiment and make changes accordingly.
• And, have fun!

Congrats again to Dippin’ Dots for this amazing social media achievement!

I will be posting more case study interviews like this on a regular basis. If you are using social media successfully in your business and would like to be interviewed, please reach out to me. I love hearing social media success stories!

Twitter, how I love thee! Twitter has truly been the best tool for connecting with some fascinating tweeps. One tweep, Imad Naffa (@imadnaffa), a civil engineer and small business owner caught my attention a couple of weeks when I read that one of his tweets was retweeted by Queen Rania of Jordan.  I mean come on, how often does that happen? If you look at @QueenRania‘s Twitter stream, you can see retweets are extremely rare, if any! [Read the full story on @markwschaefer's blog].

What caught my attention even more was how Imad was effectively using Twitter to increase brand awareness and grow his B2B business, NAFFA International in Fresno California.  He increased one aspect of his business by 25 percent in six months just by using Twitter.  Since Imad was already following me I sent him a direct message requesting to chat since I thought his story would be of interest to many B2B companies. For a while now, the big question has been:  “Does Social Media Work for B2B Companies?”  Imad and I say:  “Heck ya, it does!”  Right Imad?

Imad believes that the smartest peeps are using social media (aheeem …wonder if he was referring to me too? LOL).  Listen to what Imad has to say about social media and tell us what you think!

I will be posting more case study interviews like this on a regular basis. If you are using social media successfully in your business and would like to be interviewed, please reach out to me. I love hearing social media success stories!