By Kate Leibsle


       The story of how Jim Brown and his company, Muller Bressler Brown, signed one of its latest clients is a classic riff on “it’s not what you know, but who you know”—2008-style.     
       Brown, a partner at MBB, a Kansas City-based advertising and public relations agency, is today working with Consumer Reports, a New York-based company, on a complete rebranding of the nearly 80-year-old company. But the real story is in how MBB and the consumer guide met each other. Theirs is a relationship born on the Internet.
       Brown is a member of LinkedIn, a social networking Web site with more than 25 million users. He is a member of several LinkedIn groups, which allow members to interact with others who share their interests. In one of Brown’s groups is a friend of his in Phoenix. His friend is connected to another group where Consumer Reports posted that it was searching for a brand management company. His friend answered the post by recommending, “endorsing” in LinkedIn vernacular, MBB. Within hours, Consumer Reports had contacted the agency. Within days, Brown was in New York for a meeting, and the deal was done.
       “It just collapsed time and space,” Brown said. “Usually an account of that size would do an RFP, but they didn’t have the time or desire to do that, so they just went out and asked friends.”
       Asking friends for business referrals isn’t new, of course, but for corporate America to embrace the concept via social media as a business practice is, Brown said. And he thinks it makes the process much more authentic for both parties.
       “Usually, there would have been an RFP, and then we’d have put together a big dog and pony show,” he said. “This was so different from any other. It did feel a bit like we were on “Candid Camera,” but it’s clearly where the world is going.”
       Use of LinkedIn and other social media and social networking devices, such as blogging, is quickly becoming vitally important to small businesses. But what’s the right way to use them? Are they for everyone? That depends primarily on what outcome you’re looking for from the tools.

Starting Out
       Business owners wading into the realm of social media and social networking first need an understanding of the differences. Social networking is done through sites such as LinkedIn, Plaxo, Naymz, Facebook, MySpace and others. Social media is what the user does to actively engage with readers (i.e., customers, prospects, etc.), said Valerie Jennings, founder of Jennings Public Relations & Advertising. Each of them has their pluses and minuses depending on the desired outcome.
       The primary question small business owners should ask themselves is whether they’re just trying to market their company or trying to engage with the online world, Jennings said. Business owners need to look at their Web sites and whether they are capable of handling interactivity. You should know how you will measure the effectiveness of your online efforts. How will you ensure that your blog, Web site, etc., are at the top of Google and other searches? Will you pay for online advertising?
       A small business owner needs to be very strategic in how marketing dollars are spent. Media convergence is a good way of doing this because it looks at traditional and online media strategically and helps the business develop ways that will enhance its ability to reach its target audience, said Lori Baerg, owner of Prizm Productions.
       Social media can be a very low-cost way for a business to increase its footprint in the world, said Mike Lundgren, director of creative technology with VML.
       “There’s no question it’s the new PR,” he said.
       Where to begin? For most small businesses, a mixture of social networking and social media will be the key to success. Sign up for LinkedIn or Plaxo and build your profile with as much specificity as you can. Get people to endorse you. Endorse others and be mindful of what questions are being asked so you can take advantage of any business opportunities.
       Social media can be an effective tool for any business, but it takes dedication, an investment of time, money and resources and the ability to tell and write a good story to really make it work, Baerg said.
       “’Keep it simple, stupid’ is still important,” she said. “Everyone has to look at his or her own situation and decide, ‘Do I have the time?’”
       Lundgren advises small business owners to start looking at the free online sites that will increase their companies’ footprints. Sites such as YouTube, Wikipedia, Facebook and MySpace offer a place for a business owner to talk directly to customers about the business and control the message.
       If you’re ready to take the next step and engage the online community more, it might be time to think about joining LinkedIn, starting a blog, posting video on your Web site or Twittering (see side bar) your company’s business.

Linking In
       LinkedIn is a “tool to help business people accelerate their business development efforts,” said Amy Hoppenrath, a business-to-business marketer specializing in LinkedIn.
       When you log onto Linked, you are asked to establish a profile for yourself. You are setting up the way you want other people to know you – where you’ve worked, what your business does, etc. How to best take advantage of LinkedIn?
       Hoppenrath says that as with any networking venture, the key is learning how to make the most of the service and using it consistently.
       “If you only run one ad, you’re not going to see many results,” she said. “It’s the same with this. There are ways to fill out your profile to increase your visibility and to increase your Google ranking,” Hoppenrath said.
    With more than 69,000 users in the Kansas City area alone, the networking and business opportunities are there for the taking. Overall on LinkedIn, Hoppenrath said, users have incomes greater than $109,000 and more than 46 percent of the users are decision makers in their companies.

Blogging for Branding
       For Sloane Simmons, who owns STUFF with her sister, Casey, blogging is a way to connect with customers on a personal level. They started their blog (www.pursuegoodstuff.com/Blog.htm) in July 2007 primarily because they were always entertaining customers with stories about their products, the artists they represent and their real lives.
       “Finally, about the 900th time someone said we should write them down, we decided to start the blog,” Sloane Simmons said. “And then the word ‘blog’ appeared on the to-do list for about three or four months.”
       Finally, when the blog debuted, it was just words. Then pictures were added and it took off, she said.
       From the start, Simmons said, the blogging rules were simple: Blog only when you have a story to tell; and, the blog wasn’t necessarily about the store or its merchandise.
       “We decided it wouldn’t be a direct vehicle for sales,” she said. “It’s not a shopping blog.”
       Baerg counsels her clients that their social media, whether it’s a blog or a Twitter feed or an enhanced Web site, has to be valid and connect with customers.
       “You have to make it relevant,” she said. “How do you make it relevant? By telling stories, what you’ve learned, etc.”
       And to be successful, you have to be committed to it. Sam Meers, owner of Meers Advertising, has been blogging at www.smokeandmeers.blogspot.com for about three years. He blogs at least two or three times a week on branding, advertising and other related subjects.
       However, he finds the time commitment more cathartic than drudgery, and says it gives him an outlet, “for all the things just floating around in my brain.” But a positive side effect has been the interest the blog has created from readers, with lots of comments and e-mails about it.
       How’s it been for business? Surprisingly profitable, he said.
       “It’s now by far the greatest business generator we have,” he said. “Our Web site is under construction, but there is a link to the blog. Reading it really gives people an insight into how we think at the agency.”
       Thanks to technology, Meers is able to tell from IP addresses how long someone has been reading the blog before a call is made to the agency. So many people don’t do a good job of tracking their marketing, but the blog is a way for him to differentiate his company.
       “An ad can’t tell the whole story,” he said. “So many people want to make a direct connection between ads and sales. The blog gives people an opportunity to crawl inside our heads first.”

Expertise on Parade
       Muller Bressler Brown recently set up a Twitter account (@mbbagency). The agency is able to comment at any time to its “followers” about public relations and advertising issues. The company sees it as another way to offer value to clients and to leverage itself as being on the leading edge of the industry, said Chad Milam, the agency’s director of interactive.
       “All of these things are a great way to make yourself an expert,” he said.
       He also makes sure to weigh in on message boards and other online industry discussions when appropriate, all with an eye to bolstering not only his reputation, but the agency’s, within the industry.

Check Up
       The other way social media can be a boon to a small business is in letting an owner know what others are saying about the company in cyberspace. Much as a traditional clipping service would send daily or weekly reports about a company in the news, there are a number of ways a business can see what’s being written, blogged or Twittered about it.
       Setting up Google Alerts is the easiest way to check whenever a company’s name pops up in cyberspace.
       “It can uncover problems, such as an employee badmouthing a company on a personal blog,” Brown said. “We had one hospital client where a longtime employee was actually blogging about patients, using names, etc. There are social networking monitors that track all of this.”
Where We’re Headed

       Trends point to more customization and more creation of specialty online communities, Brown said.
       The ability for a company to use social media/networking to target specific groups and to engage them is only going to grow, it becomes easier as more users take social networking mobile.
       Mobile advertising and marketing is improving all the time as well, Jennings said. Companies will have to look at adding mobile applications to their sites to keep up.
       What’s the bottom line? The social media/networking world is “evolving at light speed,” Meers said. “People are apprehensive, but this isn’t a situation where you can, as the saying goes, ‘wait and see how McDonald’s does it and we’ll do it that way.’ You have to find a way to get your toe in the water.”
       Kate Leibsle is managing editor of KC Small Business. (913) 432-6690//