And there’s nothing worse than having to tell that client to holster it back up because they aren’t ready to pull the trigger.

That is sometimes the situation we find ourselves in when our small business clients are interested in implementing social media strategies before they have made sure that the location they are driving traffic to – usually their Web site – is prepared to handle the traffic.

When it comes to marketing their own brand, many small- and mid-sized businesses are working with limited resources.  So a decision to increase focus in one area often inadvertently becomes a decision to decrease attention in another.

Embarking on a social media strategy is a major undertaking for any company, an effort that often manages to soak up a lot of internal resources.  This can mean that the more mundane efforts it takes to update the company Web site can often go ignored, leaving the place you are trying to drive more traffic to looking something less than its best. Why is this a problem?  Because social media efforts are just a means to an end, with your final goal being to convert traffic into sales.

It’s important that the first step of your social media strategy be taking a look at your Web site and making sure it is an effective end-destination for every tweet, blog post and shared video.

• Are there clear “calls to action” throughout your Web site?
• Are your products and service pages current, accurate and complete?
• If you are targeting a specific audience with specific services/products needs in your social media efforts, are those services/products easily found?
• Are your contact pages updated and complete?  Is it easy for customers to continue the dialog that you started with a social media vehicle?
• Is your Web site content of interest to your social media audiences?

Pages that need simple corrections should be taken care of right away.  Any section that needs more extensive effort should be avoided as landing pages for social media traffic.  Once you are comfortable that your Web site is ready and able to do handle the new traffic, your company can feel comfortable in taking its first shot at social media success.

This content continues to get a ton of traffic elsewhere on the web so, I figured I would include it here for your viewing pleasure. This is extremely relevant information related to the development of effective communications with your potential customers.

Everything in this post is as relevant today in the Social Marketing space as it is in the dirt-world. As you will see, it’s all about communication…

Unlike the Broadway musical of the same name, the AIDA that I am referring to is not the story of timeless love between a Nubian princess and an Egyptian prince, but rather the 4 “timeless” fundamental elements of effective marketing communications.

Attention
Your audience is barraged by thousands of different marketing messages and communication inputs every day of their lives. This is only going to get worse now that we have embarked on yet another communications revolution on the web (Social Media). Ensuring that your message is seen and read will mean the difference between success and failure.

Keep in mind that “It’s Not About You!” Get your ego out of it. Your headline, in the case of an ad, or subject line, in the case of an email communication, or blog post, should be a bold and compelling benefit statement that “hits the reader where they live.” It should address some aspect of their need, that you are responding to, or the problem that you are solving. Make it as personal as you possibly can!

A good starting point is to make sure you know who you are communicating with or who you would like to communicate your message to. Remember that Search engines feed on blog posts and all other forms of online communications (web pages, twitter feeds, etc). Make sure that your content will draw the right crowd.

Most email management programs on the market today will allow you to personalize your message with the recipient’s name in the subject line, which has been shown to be highly effective in getting email messages noticed and read. By the way, non-spam email is still the highest rate of conversion on the web today.

Interest
Ask yourself, “what can I say (truthfully) that will grab my audience’s attention, and get them to read my entire communication?” Look around in your own world. What is it about the messages that you look at or read that gets your attention? Follow suite with your communications. An effective way of establishing interest is to ask a question, or several questions, that give your audience a reason to continue reading.

Capturing interest always has to do with the establishment of value in your readers mind. Don’t forget that. Don’t be overly concerned with the length of your content. It’s a known fact that long copy sells. This assumes that the copy is good, of course, and that you continue to focus and to build on the unique value that you are offering to your audience.

Desire
This is the set up for the grand finale… It’s very important that you get this part right. If you don’t, all your efforts up to this point will be for naught. Don’t underestimate the power of this element. It has been said that the purpose of advertising is to evoke an emotional response. Similarly, your task is to reach out and generate DESIRE (an emotion) with your audience. Getting a bit more technical, you want to stimulate the amygdalae (brain tonsils), which have been shown in research to perform a primary role in the processing of memory and emotional reactions.

Sound challenging, like brain surgery? It’s not. There are a couple techniques that are surefire ways of establishing desire. The first involves telling your readership, in bold and vivid detail, what they will get when they purchase your product or service, in the case of an advertisement. I.e., what’s in it for them. As I said earlier, don’t be overly concerned about the length of your copy.

The second technique involves the use of a customer testimonial, which is a statement of praise and testimony from an existing customer. This alleviates the “Guinea Pig” factor — the concern that they are the first to buy or use your product or service. Additionally, your future customers would like to know that they are in good company with other folk within their peer group. Testimonials are a great way to achieve this.

Action
In a word, this is where you CLOSE the deal. Be specific and keep it simple. Tell your reader exactly what to do and then make it easy for them to follow your instructions. If you have done everything correctly up to this point, this should be very straightforward.

Something as simple as “Lean More,” “Free Trial Offer,” “Contact Us Now,” or “Order Now,” is generally all that’s required. Make sure that you have a simple to use form or template for your reader to fill out and submit, or the whole thing falls apart!

This was quite literally the rally cry that swept the nation after gold was discovered at Sutter’s Creek. By 1864 the gold rush had ended, leaving in its wake tens of thousands of broken men and women who had gone out to California seeking their fortunes.

We have seen some semblance of this phenomenon in the past related to all things Internet. In the mid nineties we experienced the cyber rush as companies and individuals sought their fortunes online. Dotcom mania swept our nation like gold fever, with a similar net effect. How quickly we forget the past…

The vast majority of the forty-niners did not strike it rich. The real money was made by the industrious entrepreneurs of the day who realized that these miners needed to be fed and clothed. They also needed a place to stay and equipment with which to ply their trade.

William Randolph Hurst III, direct descendant of the man who won the San Francisco Examiner in a hand of poker during that era, is credited with the first use of the term “picks and shovels” as it relates to the Internet. You see, Mr. Hurst understood that it was the farmers, restaurant owners, inn keepers and suppliers of everything from shovels to newspapers who made the real money. People with names like Stanford, Levi and Straus. These tycoons, and many others, made fortunes on everything from blue jeans to prostitution.

To date, it has been the “picks and shovels” companies that have flourished and prospered online. These companies have implemented business plans geared towards helping other businesses harness the true value of the Internet – community, collaboration and communication. This is especially significant as we move from an economy based on the valuation of tangible assets to one based on the real value of information.

Opportunities abound for today’s enterprising Netrepreneur. For example, the applications service provider or ASP business model also referred to as SaaS (software as a service), which is the automation and outsourcing of business functions, in many cases dealing with the distribution and use of software utilizing the Internet as the primary medium, has grown exponentially to a multi-billion dollar industry in the last several years. Furthermore, this model has grown faster than eCommerce originally did.

In addition to back office automation we are confronted with the ever present need to find and use information effectively. Websites and blogs online that support this function are called Portals. These websites rely on the sharing of information among customers, business partners, vendors, stakeholders and constituents, centered on a general topic area or industry. The Portal owner benefits financially from the affiliate relationships that he or she has with numerous vendors and suppliers represented on the site. An excellent example of a Social Media portal is none other than The Social Media Portal (SMP), Which bills itself as a resource that maps global social media, social networks and user generated content (UGC).

Portals that address a very specific need, application or segment of an industry are called Vortals or vertical portals. Vortals provide seemingly endless amounts of information and support to all involved on a relatively narrow subject area. The Vortal business model lends itself to the entrepreneur or small business owner who has a very particular interest, passion or skill.

Let’s not forget about information aggregators or intermediaries, Infomediaries for short. These websites  and blogs provide specialized information to producers of goods and services and their potential customers, increasing the value through aggregation. Infomediaries provide valuable data about consumers and their buying habits. These data are made more valuable when they are carefully analyzed and used in target marketing campaigns.

Do you have information you want to sell? Could you do it online? You may want to consider it. The online information industry will grow dramatically over the next several years, further offsetting the traditional publishing and media industries!

These are but a few of the information centric “picks and shovels” company types presently supporting real commerce on the Internet. Others include, knowledge networks or expert sites, efficiency based manufacturing models, virtual merchants, advertising, marketing, branding and promotions… If you can think it up you can come up with an application on the web.

So, do it!