Why should people care about social media? Allow me to introduce you to three real people whose stories bring social media marketing to life.
1- Making Money: Meet Laura![VPG_Printing[1]](https://www.marketingmel.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/vpg_printing1.jpg?w=122 "VPG_Printing[1]")
People are growing their businesses using social media. Take Laura, the printer I met on twitter as an example. She runs VPG Printing in San Diego and she is both a printer and a graphic designer. Laura tells me that she gets 1 to 2 new customers per week (including me) through actively working her social media channels and connections. Her “USP” is that she provides excellent customer service and the warm “human” touch to all of her customers and she makes a point to thank people. She also has excellent quality work and charges a reasonable price. Through the relationships she forms using social media, Laura is building her business, one customer at a time
2- Turning Negatives into Positives: Meet Eric![Ketzer[1]](https://www.marketingmel.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/ketzer1.jpg?w=150 "Ketzer[1]")
Eric the Charter Man makes a living rebuilding a brand. Eric tweets under the name UMatter2Charter from his office in St. Louis. Since February when he started reaching out to customers through twitter, online forums and discussion groups, he has seen Charter’s negative comments move to the positive column in significant numbers. (One of his success metrics is number of positive posts about his company.) Furthermore he’s added three more communications specialists to his staff in order to keep up with all of the social media work. Eric is using Social Media to recreate the Charter brand, one customer at a time.
3- Finding a Job: Meet Allison![allisonstewartweb[1]](https://www.marketingmel.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/allisonstewartweb11.jpg?w=123 "allisonstewartweb[1]")
In this economy people are reaching out to old friends and making new ones in order to expand their job networks. Allison, one of my former MBA school colleagues, connected with me on LinkedIn right about the time I became aware of a marketing position opening at a local tech firm. Allison had all the right credentials and she’s now been happily on the job for a year. Using social media she reached out to her school colleagues, one friend at a time.
Three real stories from three real people who are thriving using the new social media marketing model. What’s your story? How have you successfully used Social Media Marketing?