Social Media

Free isn’t necessarily cheap

March 5, 2012

I was having a brief conversation with @NealShaffer on Twitter yesterday and the gist of our conversation was:

• Half of small & medium businesses are using social media for marketing (Neal)
• Yes…but few are doing it well.  They don’t apply marketing smarts (Drew)
• True, but huge potential to maximize social business (Neal)
• No doubt.  But when done wrong, potential for damage is equally large (Drew)
• I agree completely (Neal)

See — that’s the problem with free.  Business owners (or many so called social media experts) look at the price of entry for having a presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest or (fill in the blank for whatever’s hot in SM) and they think….”you can’t beat free!  Even if I suck at it, it didn’t cost me anything.”

Wrong. So wrong.

Would you buy a TV commercial that had misspellings?  Or instruct the announcer to swear or say something off color?  Or better yet…would you buy radio time and then not put anything there…so you basically bought :60 of silence?

Would you promise that your newsletter would be packed with useful information and then blather on about yourself, your sales and your products when you get around to sending it?

I’m sure you’re saying (or at least in my head) “No, Drew of course not.”  So why in the world do you (universal you, not you you) do it on your social media sites?

We see unprofessional behavior on FB pages all the time.  And abandoned blogs, Twitter accounts etc.  And the biggest sin of all — being boring because you can’t stop talking about yourself.

Here’s the thing.  People have gotten a little numb to selfish, self-centered marketing in the traditional marketing space.  It’s not right, but it’s been going on for so long — we accept it as the norm.

But social media is different.  Social media promises real people.  It promises relevance.  It promises a relationship.  It promises timely interaction.

And if you violate any or all of those promises, here’s what happens:

• The good feelings I had for your brand/company are gone
• I feel like you lied to me/tricked me
• I will simply choose to disconnect from you
• I won’t be interacting with you anymore…which means my feelings for you have no chance at turning more favorable

Keeping those promises takes a lot of time.  And keeping your eye on the big picture. It’s easy to get sucked back into old habits and begin marketing instead of connecting.  If you really want your social media efforts to work, you have to make a big investment.  No, it may not be money (unless you hire some help) but it’s a time crunch.

Maybe this analogy will help.  When you do social media badly — you are basically enticing someone to come close to you with the promise of a gooey, fresh from the oven chocolate chip cookie and when they walk in and reach out their hand for the cookie — you smack them with a ruler, over and over until they leave.

The cost is huge.  The damage is real.  And too many businesses are stumbling over themselves as they rush to a “free” marketing opportunity.

So what does a small business do, Drew? you ask. (again, perhaps it all takes place in my head).  You put together a social media strategy that is built on SMART goals and best customer personas.

How do you do that?  Come back on Thursday and download the absolutely free 18 page e-book that walks you through how to build that strategy, step by step.

It’s a tool we use at MMG with clients every day.  And we’re glad to share it with you.  Really.

And….there’s not a sales pitch or MMG promo in sight.  I promise.  Would I offer you a cookie and then smack you with a ruler?

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Let’s talk business, social and joy!

February 25, 2012

I’m fortunate that I am invited to guest blog in some of the most prominent and cool spots on the web.

Every once in awhile, those opportunities converge and it’s raining Drew‘s thinking everywhere you turn.

Come join in these conversations around the web:

Marketing Profs Daily Fix: In this post, I suggest that many business owners would be smart to think differently about how size matters.  By staying focused on your organization’s sweet spot — you can actually get smaller while your profits, reputation and opportunities get bigger.

Come read what I had to say and join in the conversation by clicking here.

Marketing Executive’s Networking Group’s Blend: In the social media space, we sure seem fascinated with toy talk.  Pinterest is our latest obsession.  But we often lose sight of the most important social media tool of all.  Do you have it?

I’d love to hear your thoughts.  Click here to read/share.

IowaBiz:  Some companies just exude a cultural joy that makes you want to do business with them.  And guess what — that doesn’t come from some company manual or marketing plan.  It comes from letting the employees share their genuine joy.

Come see a very real example of this sort of joy and tell us where else you’ve see it by clicking here.

I’d love it if you wanted to jump into any or all of these conversations!

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How tweet chats work

February 22, 2012

Have you wanted to attend a Tweet Chat but weren’t sure how it worked?  You are not alone, my friend.  Let me see if I can boil it down.

Tweet Chat:  A moderated discussion that happens on Twitter.  They range from business focused topics like leadership (like the one led by Lisa Petrilli and Steve Woodruff) and blogging (like the mega popular BlogChat led by Mack Collier) to crime news and gardening.  And everything in between.

Here’s how it works:  You find a tweet chat that interests you by scrolling through the list kept on Google Docs or one of your favorite bloggers might mention (or host) one.

Each chat has its own hashtag (like #blogchat) so you can follow along.  To participate — you can do that in several ways.

1) Within Twitter itself, you can click on the #hashtag and you’ll see all the recent tweets using that hashtag.  But if it’s a popular one, that gets crazy in a hurry.

2) You can use a tool like Tweetchat.com (there are plenty of others too) to follow the conversation (by entering the chat’s hashtag, it searches for and scrolls the conversation for you).  You can just listen or jump in.

If you’re going to participate, there are some expectations:

• Use the hashtag if you’re asking a question of the moderator (or another chatter)
• If you’re responding to something that was said, use the person’s Twitter handle and the hashtag (if what they said is too long to RT and respond)
• Retweeting is welcomed and encouraged to invite your network into the conversation
• It’s not cool to go off topic and use the hashtag
• It’s even less cool to use a chat to market your wares

That’s it.  Very simple and a great way to extend your Twitter network, smarts and typing skills!

Looking for some chats that might be up your alley?  Check out this list: 25 twitter chats every entrepreneur must know.

 

 

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You cannot ignore Google+ for your business

January 10, 2012

Google+ cannot be ignored

When Google+ emerged last summer, people’s reactions were to be expected.  The early adopters were all over it. But for most people who were already suffering from social media fatigue — their response was “oh no…not another site for me to maintain!”

And many people simply opted out, not wanting to use/try yet another social networking site.  All along, I have been saying that it  simply could not be ignored. (like here)

Let’s look at time line for those of you who aren’t familiar with how this played out.

• Summer 2011 — Google+ launches
• 16 days later — Google+  reaches 10 million users (Facebook took 852 days, Twitter took 780)
• November 2011 — Google+ launches business pages
• January 2012 — Google+ has just added three new features to its search giant (see below)
• Do you think they don’t have the next move already planned?

This newest set of features makes personalization of Google search a given.  Specifically, how/who you are connected to on Google+ will impact your search results. Again — more ammo for the argument that businesses simply cannot ignore how this is changing the world of search. Here is a quick overview of the three new features. (email readers, click here to view video)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Z9TTBxarbs[/youtube]

Personal Results

These results enable you to find information only pertaining to you and your connections. They show photos and updates from Google+ that include what you’ve shared and what has been shared with you there.

You will be the only one who can access this exact data.

Profiles in Search

These results, also shown in autocomplete and regular search results, will display Google+ profiles of people you know or others you may be interested in following when you search for people’s names.

Once searched, you’ll also have the choice (if you’re signed in and you use it) to add Google+ users to your Circles from directly within the search results.

People and Pages

These results show you profiles or Google+ business pages on the right-hand side of the results page when you search a specific topic or key word/s.

I don’t think I have to paint the picture for you.   Who do you think is going to get a higher search ranking — a business with or without Google+ content?

And take my word on it — this is just the beginning.  You simply cannot ignore Google+.  (Go build your Google+ business page here)

Related articles

• Google Just Made A Huge Change To Its Search Results (GOOG) (businessinsider.com)
• Google starts to integrate Google+ with search results (digitaltrends.com)
• They Did It: Google Personalizes Search & It Is Not Evil (readwriteweb.com)

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This book is light on the BS and heavy on social media insight

November 28, 2011

Good primer on social media

As a member of Amazon’s Vine program, I received a copy of Jason Falls and Erik Deckers‘ new book No Bullshit Social Media*. (click here to buy it) and knew it would be a great read — simply by knowing the authors.

I dove into it — and was not disappointed.

Here’s who will find great value in this book:

• College students who want to find a fresher way to get a job
• Young marketing professionals who know social media matters but don’t really understand the business implications
• Seasoned marketing professionals who didn’t grow up in the digital age and want to catch up
• Corporate types who have to convince their boss that social media shouldn’t be ignored
• Business owners who are wondering if it’s worth the time investment

This book lays out the argument that social media is not going away.  It’s not a fad — it’s a new and permanent shift in how we communicate with reach other, with companies, brands and how we influence strangers through sites like YELP and Amazon reviews.  Authors Jason Falls and Erik Deckers really demonstrate both the risks of ignoring it and the huge potential gains for any business smart enough to jump on board this moving train.

The authors tell great stories and provide lots of examples that are both educational and compelling.

Here’s who will enjoy the book but may not take copious notes:

• Seasoned marketing pros who have already been active in social media
• People looking for a blueprint of “how to do it” so they put down the book and launch their social media program
• Social media consultants (although frankly some of the so called experts should read it!)

Even if you feel like you’re on the cutting edge — you will enjoy this book.  It’s worth the read.

And if you’re new to the idea of using social media to promote, grow and sustain your business — grab a highlighter, a lined notebook for jotting down ideas and your imagination and then settle in for a very good introduction that will have your head exploding with ideas and the possibilities.

*Amazon Affiliate link

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How to use Facebook ads

October 12, 2011

 

Facebook advertising best practices

For many businesses, advertising on the social network Facebook has proven to be a very successful model.  Facebook’s model is to be pretty rigid in terms of what you can and can’t do on your ad.  They’re all the same size and shape.  The format for all ads is exactly the same.  There are specific character counts for both the headline and the body copy.

So you have to work pretty hard to capture someone’s attention, considering all the sameness. The ads are inexpensive but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to do them well.  If you’re going to invest the money, be sure you consider these suggestions.

Start with the end in mind: Like any marketing, you should set your goals up front.  How will you define and measure success?  Know what niche you’re targeting and what you want them to do.

Decide – click or view: You can pay for Facebook ads in one of two ways.  You can either pay for impressions or for clicks.  If you’re just looking for awareness, impressions may make more sense.  If you want to drive people to another website or a specific product’s landing page, then clicks will work better.  (Do the math to double check your choice)

Already be there: Ideally, you would couple your Facebook advertising with a robust Facebook fan page.  You should also change the standard URL that Facebook assigns your page to a custom URL.  You can do this for free once you have 25 likes for the page.

Visuals: Facebook allows you one photo per ad.  The maximum size your photo can be is 110 pixels wide by 80 pixels tall.  You’re much better off to pre-size your photo yourself, rather than have Facebook do it for you.

You want to have a picture that pops off the screen and that’s tough at 110 pixels.  Be sure you choose a photo that is dramatic and isn’t too busy.  You’ll get bonus views if your image is unusual, very local (if that’s your target)  or even something shocking or impossible.

Hit the target: One of the biggest benefits offered by Facebook ads is the ability to hyper target your ads.  You can target by geography (down to a specific city), by gender, age, education, and even marital status.  Beyond that, you can also target your ads by keywords.  You can be so specific that, for example, the only people who see your ads are married women who live in Colorado Springs, are between 25 and 33 and love both black and white photography, horses and iPads.

What this means is there is very little waste.  You can pinpoint exactly who matters. You can also narrow the field too much. Be sure to think through those decisions carefully.

Less is more: You only have 135 characters for your body copy so choose every word with great care.  Don’t waste any words on giving them contact information (they’re going to click on the ad if they want to reach you) or details that aren’t critical to getting them to take that next step and click.  Like in all advertising – asking a question can be a very compelling way to get someone’s attention.

Testing 1-2-3: One of the best things about Facebook ads are all the analytics they provide at no charge.  You can track and test your ads over and over again until you’ve reached the pinnacle of effectiveness.  Run multiple ads in a campaign and see how they perform against one another.  Watch for ads that start to slow down.  Change something simple like the headline or image to see if the ad’s activity picks back up.

Facebook ads can be a potent tool in your marketing arsenal so make the most of them by following these suggestions.

If you’ve used FB ads — what was your best secret?

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The smaller you are, the better Facebook is

September 26, 2011

 

Facebook lets you actually talk to people!

A comment made on my blog post about Facebook’s dominance which basically said… “Facebook is only for people who care about social media and media types” had me shaking my head.

He’s not alone in his opinion. Check out this recent study that looked at why many small firms don’t utilize it.

I am not suggesting that every single business on the planet needs to have a presence on Facebook, but especially for many small businesses — it can be a game changer.  In fact, I think it’s much more potent for the little guys than it can be for the Cokes, Mini Coopers and Disneys of the world.

Why?

The human element.  If I tweet Disney or post something on Coke‘s wall — I may or may not get a response but it’s certainly not going to be a very personal one.  But if I write something on the Des Moines Playhouse’s page…a real person is going to give me a real response.  And we might even get into a conversation. (see the screen capture to the right)

Isn’t that what we’re all hungry for — more conversations with customers or potential customers?

Here are some of the perks of Facebook for small businesses:

• Built for local and hyper local.  It allows you to spend your time talking to people who can actually become customers or already are your customers.
• Supports and encourages word of mouth with the share and like buttons.  Odds are most of your page’s fans have a high percentage of friends who are also local.
• It’s a great way to gather testimonials, get customer feedback/input and answer customer questions.
• With their hyper targeted ads, you can very cost effectively deliver your message to exactly and only the people who might care.
• Your audience shows up every day.  Facebook is part of their social experience.  What better place to connect with them?
• You can use Facebook’s different message vehicles — your business page, ads, events, groups etc. to share different types of news, events, tips etc.
• You can share your work in other media (TV spots, radio commercials, blog posts, enewsletters) to bring in your multimedia campaign elements.

Again…not going to say it’s for everyone.  But I am hardpressed to think of a small business that wouldn’t benefit from a well strategied Facebook presence.

I’m curious — what small/local businesses do you think use Facebook well?  I’d love to find some examples.

 

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Why Facebook matters to every business

September 21, 2011

 

Why Facebook matters to every business

 

I’ve heard all the reasons, especially from B2B companies…but the “our customers aren’t on Facebook” excuse is just that, an excuse.

We buy radio stations and send direct mail hoping to hit some of our target audience.  Why do we look at Facebook so differently?

With statistics (thanks to HubSpot for sharing this slide) like these… every business owner and marketing director should be figuring out how to leverage the Facebook crowd.

I’m not saying you need a fan page.  Or have to do a contest or create a game.  I’m saying you’d better understand what happens there.  You’d better be monitoring what is being said about your company there.

You need to decide HOW to be there.  But you can’t ignore it simply because you have a preconceived idea of who hangs out there.

Odds are… it’s your customers.  And they hang out there a lot.

 

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Is social media right for your business?

September 10, 2011

…is social media right for your business?

There are a lot of social media “experts” out there who will tell you that every single organization on the globe should be participating in social media.  They will point to the cool Facebook fan pages they’ve made or the funny videos their clients have on YouTube and say “see, you can do this too.”  And they’re right.  You can.

The question is:  Should you?

The real answer to that question is “it depends.”  It depends on whether or not it can do one of two things.

1. Save you money
2. Make you money

If it isn’t going to accomplish one of those two goals, then you have no business engaging in it.  Why?

Participating in social media is expensive.  I know everyone talks about how cheap it is…but that’s because they are not thinking like a business owner.  They’re thinking like someone who knows how to open a YouTube channel account or sign you up on Twitter.   It’s true, creating an account on many of the tools and networks is free.  But that’s where free ends.

To integrate social media into the rest of your marketing, which is an absolute if you want to consider it a business tool, you are going to have to expend some resources.  Social media requires care and feeding.  It requires brand integration.  And it requires a well-conceived strategy.  All of those are going to cost time and money.

Don’t misunderstand.  I believe in the power and reach of social media and most of our agency’s clients are using social media tools as part of their overall marketing strategy, but I am not bullish on the belief du jour that everyone must do it and it’s free.  Neither is true.

Here are twenty questions to ask yourself as you consider melding social media into your existing marketing strategy.

How will it save us money?

1. Will it allow us to stop doing something we’re currently doing?
2. Will it allow us to extend/expand something we are currently doing?
3. Will it lower our customer acquisition costs?
4. Will it connect us to existing customers in an efficient way?
5. Will we be able to use social media to create a community specifically for our customers?
6. Will it be easier for our customers to rave about us/create positive word of mouth?
7. Do we look behind the times to our customers if we aren’t there?
8. Will it introduce us to new potential customers at a low lead generation cost?
9. Will it make us more findable (either within the social network or on search engines)?
10. Will it impact our search engine results? (so we don’t have to buy results)

How will it make us money?

1. Will it shorten our sales cycle?
2. Will it create credibility/trust faster among prospects?
3. Can we establish ourselves as the expert?
4. Will it shorten customer service response time?
5. Will it create a sense of accessibility for our customers?
6. Will it increase trial of our product/service?
7. Will it allow us to connect with more prospects at once?
8. Will it increase repeat buying?
9. Will it increase up sells?
10. Can we collect/use testimonials?

If the answers to those questions indicates that social media would be a smart investment for your company to make, then you should be there.  But now you will enter into it knowing that there’s a return for that investment.

Now we’re talking smart marketing, not marketing hype.

 

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What should you buy from a social media savvy agency?

August 5, 2011

…buy the right help from the right agency

Okay…the other day I blew a fuse about social media consultants selling smoke screens and mirrors.  (read my rant here)

Which of course begs the question — what SHOULD you buy from someone who actually has an expertise in melding social media into the rest of your marketing efforts?  (And yes…at MMG we do all of this but so do many other qualified and competent consultants)

Strategy: Whether you’re pretty familiar with all things social or you don’t know your Facebook page from your Facebook status — it helps to have an outsider help you think through your strategy.

They’ll ask questions to get you really thinking about WHY you’re investing resources into social media and WHAT goals/results matter to your organization.

Measurements: A good social media strategist will help you determine WHAT to measure and HOW to measure what matters.

While social media serves up things to count, they don’t always count, if you know what I mean.  That you have 1,348 Twitter followers may be important or it may just be a meaningless number.

A good strategist will help you determine not only what to measure but help you set up a comparative reporting system (we call ours The MMG Digital Footprint) that monitors your progress.

Mechanics: You don’t need to know how to code a blog or customize a Facebook fan page to build one into your marketing activities.  Let your social media consultant either do the heavy lifting or supervise someone else doing it for you.

The great thing about most social media is that it’s plug and play but the truth is — it should all look and feel like your brand.  Which means some customization is needed.

Content Massaging: Odds are you already have plenty of raw material for content creation.  But it’s probably not written in the style, length or format best suited for social media.

Need a white paper turned into an ebook?  Or a research report converted into an infographic?  Let your social media agency take your existing material and get it ready for your friends and followers.

Coaching: Understanding that a touchdown is worth 6 points is very different from knowing the nuances of how to actually get into the end zone.   Many companies fumble the ball (sorry — the last football analogy) by applying old school marketing behaviors to these new marketing tools.

Having someone at your side, teaching you how to navigate the new waters without making any faux pas.  Remember…Google never forgets.

Systems: There are plenty of tools out there to help make your social media activities more efficient and easier to manage.  Whether it’s setting up your listening post (it’s not just about creating content — you need to know what people are saying about your company, your industry, your competitors etc.) or scheduling your content’s publication (so you can time fresh content to appear when your audience is online) — your social media partner can help you do more with less effort.

Integration: Social media (like all marketing tactics) should not exist in a vacuum.  It should fold into the rest of your marketing strategy and efforts.  Otherwise, you are not stacking up your impressions and maximizing every dollar and every effort.

Of course, that’s just hitting the highlights but you get the idea.  There’s plenty for an agency to help you with.  But they should be behind the scenes…not front and center.

There’s no substitute for your smarts, years of experience or personality.  That’s how your prospects meet your brand.

 

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