November 27, 2011
Check out this infographic (from mashwork.com) on what was expected this Black Friday.
How did your behavior and choices compare?
Most of these predictions were compiled using Twitter conversations from September through November 17th of this year. Makes you wonder what marketing intelligence you might gain with a few targeted Twitter searches.
October 12, 2011
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?
April 22, 2011
With well over 600 million people on Facebook, it’s no wonder that businesses are flocking there to create a fan page for their organization. But what should that page contain? How should you use it to connect with your customers?
Here are 5 tips for creating a Facebook page that people won’t ignore.
Connected: Be sure you use your Facebook page as a launching point for learning more about your product or service. Link it to your website, a testimonials page or a third-party site that sells your product.
Good example: Ace Hardware offers us special FB discounts, links to their retail locations and you can even view your own local ad flier.
Be the resource: Know your audience well enough to anticipate what else they might want to know. If you sell business training, link to other HR and employee related sites or tools. Think beyond what you specifically sell and build a more well rounded resource center.
Good example: Arbor Springs shares their expertise in dementia by offering a free ebook and other links to resources valuable to families facing this disease. (disclosure — they’re a client and we built the page)
Let them talk: Don’t make the mistake of treating your Facebook page like a one way broadcast tool. One of the best elements of Facebook is that you can actually talk to your customers and prospects. Don’t turn off their ability to comment on your page.
Good example: Check out the questions we get asked on our FB fan page. We might start the question/discussion but sometimes people pop on and ask us something out of the blue. We love that. (disclosure…duh, it’s us)
Let the games begin: No matter how old we are chronologically, we like to play games. One great way to get Facebook page fans or to get them to keep coming back is to create contests and games that hook your audience and keep them coming back for more. Or, have a regular contest –like a weekly trivia game.
Good example: Northwest Savings Bank offers contests and giveaways to their customers.
Serve with a smile: Use your Facebook page as your customer service portal. Let customers ask questions, post problems or give you feedback about your product or service.
Good example: Check out how Scrapbooking for Less customers ask questions about products and classes.
Facebook is a very powerful tool. But just jumping on board and slapping up a page without a strategy will leave you and your page getting chilled from a lack of attention.
Who do you think is doing it better than most? Post the URL so we can check it out.
March 9, 2011
I think there are few on this planet who don’t recognize that the Facebook phenomenon is staggering in its reach and sheer volume of people. (One guy just named his baby Facebook!) But it’s hard to not gape at some of these numbers (from SocialHype and OnlineSchools.org) These user statistics are more social proof that this beast is not a fad.
Hard to imagine that there’s not a smart way for every single business to use this tool. Are you using it?
Via: Online Schools
