Making the Right Moves on the Net

When Candi Carter launched a line of educational DVDs for children in March, she had to confront a lack of cash.

“We didn’t have a multimillion dollar budget,” Carter says. So instead of paying for advertising, the 40-year-old mom and television producer turned to social media–blogs, online videos and social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook – to expose her business to potential customers and build a brand.

“Most businesses can benefit from social networking since it takes you where your customers are,” says Jamila White, a Bowie, Maryland-based online marketing strategist known at the E-commerce Diva.

Carter’s customers were mothers of toddlers. She had come up with the idea for creating videos that used hip-hop songs to teach children such basics as their ABCs and numbers when trying to communicate with her then three-year-old-son, Emerson, who was born with a learning disability.

“One day we were in the kitchen and I started beat boxing the ABCs,” she says. “He stopped screaming and was looking at me and I was like, ‘If I can distract him enough to stop screaming, maybe I can put instructions in the songs and [teach him] stuff.” The move worked, and eventually, Carter decided music could also help other children learn. So, with an initial investment of about $45,000 in cash and credit cards, It’s Hip-Hop Baby was born.

With a goal to expose 500,000 people to her products, Carter offered parenting bloggers free DVDs to review on their sites. Of those she targeted, sixty agreed to give the product a try; their combined Web traffic was well over the half a million goal.  Seeing the reach the Internet offered, Carter started her own blog to attract potential customers, offering parenting tips and a forum for discussing parenting issues. And realizing that social media space is a fluid two-way street, Carter agreed to post links to other bloggers’ sites on her blog in exchange for a link to her blog on their sites. She even participated in online discussions to further market her expertise. If someone blogged about childhood allergies, for example, Carter would contribute to the conversation, including a link to her blog, adding that her efforts was “so everyone who sees the comment sees what I offer.”

Next, came Carter shooting videos of parenting experts demonstrating activities such as yoga and sign language for children, and posted them on Youtube.com. People searching online for parenting information often stumbled across her videos and, in the process, her brand. “Thousands of people have come to watch the videos not knowing anything about It’s Hip-Hop Baby,” says Carter. But she makes sure there’s a link to the company’s Website on the videos. “They click on the link and you’ve got more people to your site.”

Of course, Carter rounded out her strategy by joining Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace. From profiles to pages to tweets, entrepreneurs looking to use these social media platforms to function in each of these spaces should do so as careful (yet effective as possible); a tailored and subtle approach is a must to gain direct and indirect results. On Twitter, Carter gives fellow moms an incentive to follow her by sharing parenting tips and events for children across the country.

When using Twitter, she tells followers to go to her blog to get parenting tips on various topics and her Facebook group, but she also posts many tweets simply offering info about events across the country for kids. On Facebook and LinkedIn, she’s set up groups for mothers to discuss parenting issues. She has about 1,500 followers on Twitter, but she’s able to reach them directly as well as a moms group of more than 14,000 members. And she has access to another 800 people between her Facebook and LinkedIn presences. But the proof is in the bottom line. Without spending money on marketing, Carter’s products have been featured in such media outlets as CNN, Redbook, and the Chicago Tribune, and her products are selling online at a pace of about 125 per week.

“I have a little tiny DVD brand in a world of a million children’s DVDs, but people are still buying my products,” she says. “Social networking is helping Hip-Hop Baby reach a lot of people.”

For business owners hoping to cash in on social media, consistency is the key. “Think of a leaky kitchen faucet that drips slowly and consistently,” says Jamila White, the E-commerce Diva. “It’s so powerful that over time it can wear through porcelain.”

White offers 4 more tips to keep in mind in making social media mean something for your business:

Have a goal. Too many entrepreneurs start social networking without knowing what action they want people to take once they come in contact with them, says White. Social media can sell products, spark media exposure or give a business owner credibility as an expert — different goals that would require different strategies, White says.

Create relevant content. Once you know your audience, develop content that fulfills their needs. Carter’s goal was to familiarize moms with her brand and products, so her tips made their lives easier and gave them an incentive to visit her site.

Measure your results. Keep track of whether people visit your blog, respond to your Twitter posts or buy your products. Services such as Google Analytics

and StatCounter let you track your Web traffic, while services such as Bitly let you see how many people read the links you post.

Adjust your expectations. “Too many people think ‘I need to get 5000 followers on Twitter so I can sell these 5,000 books,” says White. But social networking is more about building relationships over time. “When people play golf, the relationships they create on the course often later turn into business. Social media’s the new golf course.”

Missed the 2009 Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference + Expo sponsored by General Motors and ExxonMobil?

Here’s a tip from the session, “Growing Your Business Through Social Networking and New Media”:

“You have to get on Facebook or Twitter as yourself. Let people get to know you before you mention your products or services. Be very organic,” says Brandon Broussard, co-owner of Los Angeles apparel company, Baracka Wear Inc.

And remember:

Strategize. Your clientele and how often you want to interact with them will determine which platform you use.

Interest = Customers. Find something compelling about your background that separates you from the competition.

For more advice from the conference, check out the August 2009 issue of Black Enterprise magazine.