Facebook fans page and a good business
05 2010 Saturday
22
By Anton Pearce in Web 2.0
Not so long ago having an Internet presence for your business meant putting up a website. A website, while still an important feature of promoting your business, is no longer enough. To reach customers businesses must go where the customers are. Web 2.0 or the social web, is an essential feature of a successful marketing plan.
Facebook is the leader of the pack of social media. According to TechCrunch in November 2008 more than one in five people who used the Internet visited Facebook. The growth of Facebook has increased ever since. Facebook has become essential for business marketing. This new style of customer contact requires implementing new and innovative ideas about marketing.
Facebook is a great way to keep up with friends and family. But you don’t necessarily want your clients to see the baby pictures your mom posted. Businesses large and small should take care to present a well defined and controlled image of their products and services. Facebook fan pages are an excellent choice for business.
Personal Facebook pages allow you to share information about yourself and to connect with friends and family. Fan pages have many of the same features as personal pages. You can still share articles, photos, videos, and applications, but the fan page is organized around a theme. All of the content on your Fan page is related to your business.
Strategies for making your Fan page a success
Make your Fan page a resource
Consider your customers interests. What information do they need? Post articles and links to useful information on your wall. Your Fan page is an opportunity to showcase yourself as an expert. Provide these things for your customers and they will return to your page again and again.
Connect
Interact with customers. Make use of all of the Facebook tools. Respond to comments. You may not want to list your entire product line. A sample on your fan page could lead new customers to visit your website for more. Spamming is always a bad idea, but targeting offers to customers who show interest can lead to increased customer loyalty.
Be human
Pictures and personal information put a face on a company. As long as you present an image that enhances your business, personalizing your Fan page is a great way to get followers.
Be present
Fill out your profile completely. Keep article, photo and video content current. It’s not enough to throw up a page and be done with it. Make sure to respond to customers who become fans. Create a group for your business. You can also participate in groups related to your business.
Innovate
Facebook moves fast. Don’t be afraid to try the latest thing. Explore webinars, and other interactive media as options to improve business relationships.
Creating Facebook fan page is great first step toward integrating social media into your marketing plan. Don’t forget to provide links from your website to your Fan page. Make sure to connect your Facebook fan page to other social media so your network will grow. In no time your Fan page will be the central hub of your successful online marketing campaign.
Anton Pearce specializes in helping you to use internet marketing to http://www.antonpearce.com/“>get all the clients you need for your practice . Sign up for his highly acclaimed and miraculously free ezine and find out how to turn your website into an automated new client or; http://www.antonpearce.com/“>patient referral generating machine.5 Internet Marketing Ways to Use Twitter Trends and Build Your Brand
05 2010 Wednesday
12
By Mark Etinger in Web 2.0
Whether you’re a national name or local start-up, it’s important to keep your brand on the tips of consumer’s tongues—or at least on the tip of their cursor. Reinforcing your name and your product is relevant in every stage of the business cycle, and a cornerstone of smart internet marketing. After all, brand recognition drives web sales. If your business offers e-commerce, know that smart internet marketing is a way drive revenue quickly and cost-effectively. Twitter trends are an overwhelming flux of seemingly irrelevant buzzwords.
Here’s a smattering of today’s top Twitter trends:
#breakuplastwords, #ihatequotes, #nowplaying, #OMGIKnowRight, #Justin Beiber.
It may be hard to believe these words are worth repeating, but this chatter could mean traffic for your website and business. How do you run with the word-flow without getting lost in a deluge of diatribe?
Five pointers for smart internet marketing with Twitter trends:
1. Ride The Right Trends - Not every high-flying topic is going to be brand-supportive, so choose trends wisely. Know what your bottom line is, and make sure your chosen keyword won’t detract from your brand equity.
2. Timing Is Everything – Just as today is a chance to introduce your business through exciting, new trend associations, yesterday’s buzz is just that—in the past. It’s best to stick to the day’s trends to attract as many eyes as possible.
3. Be Creative – Engage the banter around trending topics through clever promotional copy. If you own a cleaning company and wanted to catch today’s #nowplaying trend, think about unique plugs and points of reference for your brand. A client’s home entertainment center, perhaps. You could run with this: ” #nowplaying in your living room: Clean, Calm, Collected.” Just remember to link to your service.
4. Pace Yourself – Piggy-back on Twitter trends strategically. Don’t abandon straight-forward promotional tweets as part of your marketing mix just yet. You should still routinely communicate who you are and what you offer to your core market in plain Twenglish. Use trending creatively to boost short-term sales through web-exclusive incentives, or to remind consumers of recently-launched products.
5. Invent The Wheel (Or Word) If You Must – Don’t see enough opportunities to creatively spread the word? Take initiate to get new keywords trending by tagging a concept, category, or catchphrase. Who knows? Maybe you’ll start tomorrow’s top trend—and drive brand awareness through smart internet marketing while you’re at it. Don’t miss an opportunity to promote your brand and your product with personality. Don’t be afraid of using humor (carefully!) when there’s an opportunity to shine. Twitter’s snappy stream of top trends is a high-low stream of abridged messages—the perfect platform to stand out with short, sweet and smart internet marketing. Spread your message by turning your Tweets into a conversation. Make your 140 characters worth a thousand words by knowing which trends work for you, seizing its moment, starting a conversation—and most importantly, using it when it’ll help you most.
Mark Etinger – Ajax Union is an smart internet marketing and business development company. http://www.ajaxunion.com you can view our internet marketing and business development blog at http://www.ajaxunionblog.comMake Your Business Shine on Flickr
05 2010 Saturday
8
By Debbie Everson in Web 2.0
One interesting venue of email marketing already in existence, yet may be unknown to many, comes from an unexpected direction: photography. High-quality photography has always been associated with full-scale ad campaigns, found traditionally in billboards, posters, newspapers, and glossy magazines. But with the rise of the Internet as a powerful medium of marketing, even photography sites like Flickr have become a playground for email marketing campaigns.
Marketing with Photos at Flickr
Flickr is one of the most popular photo hosting sites in the Internet. While it is often synonymous with photography professionals and hobbyists, it is also a teeming community of marketers and potential customers. The demographics of Flickr covers a vast area not merely confined to people with photography interests. It is also a microcosm of the entire Internet itself, where people from all walks of life, and with diverse interests, upload captured snapshots of events, family affairs, and company products and services.
A picture speaks a thousand words, and can sell a million products. Flickr users can be potential customers reachable through email marketing with nice Flickr photos as a valued-added. The emphasis is on good quality photos, without which any email marketing campaign isn’t worth the effort. Why? As mentioned, there are many family photos and point-and-shoot images in the Flickr archives. It takes outstanding imagery to rise above the run-of-the-mill and be noticed by the entire community.
Tips to Market at Flickr
Ready to shine on Flickr? Here are some tips on how to go about it:
- Build up a portfolio of quality photos. Most Flickr users have an eye and taste for quality. Many of them will certainly ignore email marketing efforts based on poor photos. Hire a photographer, buy the best camera, or capture images powered by enchanting concepts. By whatever means possible, half of the email marketing challenge is solved when the photos are there.
- Tag for searchability. Flickr, like almost all online community sites, rely heavily on search tags to bring results to users. The most appropriate keywords should be used as descriptive tags to bring in the target audience. Further to this, keyword analysis should be conducted, to appropriately modify tags to suit the search patterns of users.
- Organize photos properly into collections, for ease of access by users, who can click on the photo galleries based on themed groupings descriptive of actual content.
- Grab attention with attractive thumbnails. From the photo collection, the best images should be selected as thumbnails, those tiny visual teasers that lure users to peruse the rest of the collection.
- Regular photo updates. As in blogs and websites, frequently refreshing content builds reputation for being a reliable and consistent source of fresh images, with the possibility of being visited more often or linked to by other blogs and websites.
- Treat Flickr as a social media playground. That means joining relevant groups and sharing tips, news and photos with the community. This builds relationships and reputation, and widens email marketing coverage further.
Summing up how to make email marketing work in Flickr, it takes nice quality photos, the will to keep going by regularly updating fresh content, and socializing with the Flickr community, to really reap the rewards of the email marketing campaign.
Debbie A. Everson is the CEO of SearchMar.com, experienced SEO Consultants and Search Engine Optimization Agency to over 2,000 small businesses. Read my SEO Blog for hints and tips. Follow me on Twitter @searchmar. Call 1.866.885.6263 to speak to one of our SEO Consultants and receive your free consultation.Dummies Guide To Facebook Marketing
05 2010 Monday
3
By Martin Sejas in Web 2.0
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 4 years, you would know how popular and widely used Facebook is today.
Just a few short years ago, you had to encourage all your family and friends to join this social networking website (just after others convinced you to join). Nowadays, it’s rare to find someone who hasn’t got a Facebook account.
At last count, there were over 350 million users on Facebook and this number is continuing to grow. It overtook MySpace as the number 1 social networking website on the planet last year and is just behind Google when it comes to online traffic. You are then able to understand how important Facebook marketing has become for all websites.
It’s Not A Pitch Zone
The most important thing to remember about social media is that it is not a place to blatantly and endlessly pitch your product or service. If you do this, then you will not get any favours from social media users and will get largely ignored and even bad reviews.
What social media is used for is for building relationships with potential clients. There are a number of ways you can do this:
- you can post helpful information (links) where you help them solve a problem
- you can personally chat with them and assist them you can create content addressing the needs of users and posting it
The bottom line is that you want to be seen as genuine and helpful. This way, word can get out that you’re the real deal and before you know it, people will become interested in what you have to offer in terms of products and services.
Of course, the things you share on social networking sites such as Facebook shouldn’t be the nitty gritty stuff that you have to offer. You should share helpful information in the form of teasers that will interest people enough to ask and wonder if there’s more. Offering free stuff is great for getting attention too.
How To Market On Facebook
The great thing about Facebook is that from the outset, it has encouraged all users to use the website as a means of sharing information and marketing whatever they please. As a consequences, it has created various ways for users to do this. You are not obliged to use every single one of them but a combination of them can only improve your Facebook marketing.
Pages
This is probably the marketing tool out there on Facebook. On its website Facebook describes Pages as “a public Profile that enables you to share your business and products with Facebook users.” It is specifically designed for promoting a business and everything it has to offer. People can then become a Fan of your page and when they do this, they let their friends know that they’ve become a Fan of your page via their News Feed. The potential for your Page to gain a lot of popularity in a small period of time is great.
Of course, it all depends on the content you put out there for people to use. You need to give them a reason to become a Fan of your Page and a reason for them to keep being one.
Events
This allows to create events to be held at a certain date and time. Depending on what type of business you are, you can create one to be held locally or internationally. It can be any one of the following:
- seminar – it should be introductory and free but you could promote a paid one too
- webinar – an online seminar and where anyone worldwide can join
- product/service launch – you may be about to launch a product or service and this is a way to gain attention
The best part about creating an event on Facebook is that it can go viral and before you know it people will be attending your event in droves.
Advertising
Finally, about a year ago, Facebook introduced an advertising service where people can put ads promoting their website or their Facebook Page and they pay per click (PPC) or impression (CPM). It works in a similar way to Google Adwords.
The best thing is that you can target your bads based on both geographical locations and social actions. For example, if you were a wedding photographer and wanted to promote your services, your ads can be set up to appear only to females between the ages of 24 and 30 and whose relationship statuses indicate they are engaged.
It must be noted, however, that Facebook Advertising is still in beta mode which only means that it will only improve in the near future.
Embrace Facebook
If you wanted to market your website online, you would be absolutely nuts not to use Facebook marketing as one of your key strategies. Just be careful not to get caught up in it too much because it can become a very time consuming activity.
Martin Sejas is a leading online marketing consultant based in Sydney who specialises in helping local business use their websites to get more clients. Register for a free consultation today.Why Social Networking Your Way Won’t Build Your Business
04 2010 Monday
26
By Eric Gruber in Web 2.0
Believe it or not, social networking isn’t the next best thing…You are! It’s the personal connection that still seals the deal.
The Internet, social networking, and other breakthroughs in technology have fundamentally changed the way we do business. New technology drives communications, messaging, and information access at warp speed, and our clients expect immediate access. This pattern of ever-increasing speed and sophistication not only creates an intensely competitive marketplace, but places further demands on us to act and react quickly.
The rise of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, and LinkedIn have lured many sales pros into scaling back their personal interactions and relying on social media to get more “qualified leads.”
It’s time to get real!
Social Media Is a Powerful Tool for Three Things and Three Things Only
- Search engine optimization: Use your key words and raise your presence on the web.
- Find out who people are: Learn about a person’s background and your connections.
- Find out who people know: Look for close connections that you can leverage
Some salespeople tell me they actually get clients through social media. Well, maybe if you have a commodity business.
Could it happen?
Yes.
Do I rely on it?
Absolutely not! I only count on what I bring about—through a proactive, intentional, referral strategy with personal introductions.
Why Social Networking Your Way Won’t Bring You More Leads and Sales
The most important business decisions are still based on personal relationships. There is significant research about why customers make buying decisions. Bottom line: It’s because they like and trust the salesperson and his organization. Think about it. We’re selling services, investments, systems, products… we’re asking for people’s time and money! Why would they work with someone who hasn’t been referred?
There’s a saying in sales: Clients buy with emotion and justify with fact. If our clients don’t like us or don’t feel comfortable with us, they won’t buy from us. You can wow your clients with technology know-how now and try to win them over later, once they find out you’re honest and reliable. But the reality is you need people to start liking you within the first few seconds of your relationship. You need to start off on the right foot. Fancy gizmos won’t make that happen. But a trusted referral and a personal connection will.
That’s why Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO of Google, in his commencement address to the graduating class of the University of Pennsylvania in May 2009, urged college graduates to step away from the virtual world and make human connections. “Turn off your computer. You’re actually going to have to turn off your phone and discover all that is human around us.”
That said, a social media presence is a must-have in today’s world—but you need to change the way you’re social networking.
3 Ways to Get More Leads and Sales with Social Networking and Referral Marketing
- Develop a social media strategy: Like a sales plan or a marketing plan, write your social media plan. What is your goal? Who is your audience? What do you want to communicate? Leverage social media as part of your go-to-market strategy. How does your strategy link to your customer’s needs and your business priorities?
- Establish relationships: Take the time to build your personal connections, pick up the phone and talk to people. Just because you have a name in hand, doesn’t mean you have a relationship.
- Communicate useful information: Social sites are not for selling. They are for establishing connections, identifying ways to collaborate, and providing value. What tips can you provide? Link to other sites you strongly recommend. Get recognized as the expert and build your web presence. Be a resource.
To Trust You Paves the Way
The most energizing and exciting part of our work is the relationships with our clients-the interaction. We enjoy learning about our client’s business and matching our solutions to their needs. In an era dominated by ever-expanding technology and social media pressures, always remember that personal connections, referrals, and earning trust count most.
America’s leading authority on referral selling and founder of No More Cold Calling®, Joanne Black helps salespeople, sales teams, and business owners get more referrals and attract business fast without increasing the cost of sales. Discover how to turn prospects into clients more than 50 percent of the time in any economy with her No More Cold Calling sales programs at http://www.nomorecoldcalling.com/products.html.Twitter: A Playground for Email Marketers
04 2010 Friday
23
By Debbie Everson in Web 2.0
A recent post from the official Twitter Blog tells of how much the number of tweets has grown in the past years, minus spam. From 5,000 tweets daily in 2007, to a sudden leap to 300,000 the following year, and a huge 2.5 million messages in 2009. The bottom line today: an average of 600 tweets every second!
While there are no conclusive breakdown of figures to explain that immensity, one is left with a feeling that if the law of statistics and probably do not exclude Twitter, then this social media behemoth is indeed a rich goldmine just waiting to be tapped by savvy e-mail marketers.
With all the world using social media, it’s an easy step for e-mail marketers to integrate their campaigns with Twitter. Despite its 140-character limitation, and the low-key “thin” APIs, the elements are already in place that allows e-mail marketers to wage a successful campaign here.
Wearing Two Marketing Hats in Twitter
Unlike traditional email campaigns, many marketers may still be in the dark of how to go about integrating email campaigns in the Twitterdom. They may scratch their heads because of the alien nature of the social media service when compared with traditional email systems.
After all, the messaging system here is a far cry from traditional email. There are short tweets instead of multi-paragraphed messages. There are text-based posts rather than graphic-rich communications. Subscriptions here are of the form of followers and following. And most importantly, messages here are sent and received in “real-time”.
The last characteristic is an important difference when conducting the marketing campaign, because it urges e-mail marketers to evolve in order to tap into Twitter’s immense customer base. The nature of communication in Twitterdom is more suited for customer relationship-building — it is active and two-way. Users participate through questions and feedbacks, contrary to emails which simply park the message on inboxes and wait for what happens. As such, marketers must learn to “listen” to customers to deliver the campaign suited for their specific preferences.
Integrating Twitter with E-mail
E-mail marketers must go the roundabout way in the Twitterdom to conduct their campaigns. It’s all about luring customers with interesting tweets that link to email sign-ups, and emails that link to Twitter. Here are some ways to do this:
- Create useful tweets with links to the full article’s landing page. In the landing page, there can be an option to sign up to get the full version of the information. If the information is valuable enough, Twitter followers can be made instant email subscribers in this manner.
- Create Twitter pages for every products or services offered, for fine-grained user segmentation that allows delivery of better-targeted campaigns.
- Dedicate an account solely for customer support, and man them with qualified personnel to handle customer questions, requests and feedbacks.
- Promote the Twitter account on other marketing channels, for example, as a signature in e-mail campaigns, a footer in newsletters, or a website link, or by quoting customer tweets in other social media accounts.
This unique nature of real-time social media services like Twitter urges e-mail marketers to re-think their ways and perspectives in order to come up with cross-channel marketing campaigns. Failure to do so is a big loss and a denial to tap into a huge customer base all ripe for the picking.
Debbie A. Everson is the CEO of SearchMar.com, experienced SEO Consultants and Search Engine Optimization Agency to over 2,000 small businesses. Read my SEO Blog for hints and tips. Follow me on Twitter @searchmar. Call 1.866.885.6263 to speak to one of our SEO Consultants and receive your free consultation.Social Media Marketing Agencies
04 2010 Monday
19
By Enzo F. Cesario in Web 2.0
Experts exist for a reason. For example, there are many tasks the average car owner can perform on their own with a little practice; they maybe can change the oil, replace brake pads, tune a few elements. But in many cases it’s far more efficient and effective to let an expert dig into the heart of the machine to make it really purr.
Marketing has its own experts, for every conceivable aspect. Entire businesses are founded on the effort to market a product to a client, and there are people who are very, very good at what they do. Almost as soon as there was radio, there were commercials. Television followed suit, and advertising on the Web has begun to follow the same trend.
Fairly new to the field of brand marketing, but establishing a firm foothold all the same, is the social media marketing agency. In many ways similar to the traditional marketing agency, they still stand apart as experts in a particular field, one that is coming to dominate the way net surfers communicate. They offer specific advantages in their expertise that a more general agency might not fully grasp, and are worth a look for anyone serious about developing their brand into an online powerhouse.
A Specific Focus
There are two broad types of marketing agencies, generalists and specialists. General agencies frequently have several departments covering various angles, and definitely have a place in a modern advertising campaign. However, they lack the purity of focus that can come from a specialized approach, and may not be as committed to the realm of ideas the latter can provide.
A social media-specific advertising agency doesn’t have the clutter of distraction a more generalized body would. They train specifically in the tasks that gain ground for a brand through social media, including SEO, visual presentation, and linkback techniques. Since they focus on one specific element, there isn’t a temptation for them to ’suggest’ broadening the horizon by including a television campaign in a social-media effort.
Engage, Engage
The modern brand relationship is no longer the example of the producer making proclamations and staging showings. Instead it is a conversation, an exchange back and forth between the audience and the speaker. Comments can be left, videos and podcasts can go viral and spread word lightning fast, and genuine up-to-date feedback can pour in as fast as an article goes up.
A social media marketing agency will understand these needs, and have the tools to facilitate the conversation. They know how to pick out the groups that are likely to be interested in a product, or the kind of article that will see more attention on Digg. They are practiced in developing the conversations between you and your client, and their services in this field are easy to appreciate.
Making it Stick
The net offers a new power to people looking to make their brand stick in people’s minds that has never been consistently available before – the power of persistence.
Previously, a commercial would come up when it came up. The advertiser had limited control over when a commercial might air, and the viewer had no serious way of knowing what commercials would show when. The Internet has changed this significantly. Websites catering to a user’s interests are only seconds away at any given time, and can be visited any time the user has a computer and a connection.
This creates the persistence that drives a good brand. When someone is coming to your blog day after day, week after week, your brand becomes part of their life Social media is a great way to make this happen, as it is easier than ever to integrate a blog, Twitter, and Facebook into a sort of press service for your product, be it physical or philosophical. A good social media agency can show you how to bring these ideas together, how to make them work in concert so that thoughts of your brand become as automatic as reading the paper to your audience.
A Clean Fit
There is a lot of talk on the Web about ‘organic’ results. This doesn’t have anything to do with ethically sourced food, but rather with making things fit together seamlessly. An organic effort ‘works’ together, and doesn’t seem forced or choppy. Instead of statements that cram in the same keyword phrase regardless of grammar, it focuses on content that fits into existing topics, that looks genuine because it is genuine.
For example, organic promotion can include work that doesn’t mention your brand directly at all. In some cases you might register a forum account on a discussion board that includes topics related to your blog, and provide content of your own to the discussions at hand. You never once mention your website, but instead focus on joining the discussions and making friends, and the entire time your site is linked in your signature. Eventually someone will click it, and start talking about it.
Getting people talking is part of organic promotion as well. When others are sending your link forward and sharing it with people of common interest, you’ll see the value of having relied on social media. That’s the real power behind it, the power to send out the ripples that get people to notice you. It starts slowly, but builds up irrevocably. So consider looking into an agency that specializes in maximizing social media, as there may be a lesson they can share that gets you the edge you need.
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the “voice” of our client’s brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit our blog at http://www.iBrandCasting.com/How to Avoid Four Surefire Ways to Kill Your Brand
04 2010 Monday
19
By Enzo F. Cesario in Web 2.0
There are no guarantees of success when developing a modern brand. There is no switch that will pour out money, there are no stunts that will automatically create attention, and there is no how-to manual that, if assiduously followed, will assure your brand’s place in the annals of the great Internet legends. Brands are driven as much by the customer as they are by the originator, and the customer doesn’t always want what’s being sold.
That said there are certain behaviors and practices that are guaranteed to kill a brand, virtually without fail. There are always exceptions to the rule, but by and large you can at least count on these ‘do nots’ as fairly ironclad rules. What follows are four ways you can miss the point, and some advice for avoiding them.
Misfire #1 – Number Chasing
This may feel like a complete turnaround from previous articles. After all, we’ve discussed metrics and their usefulness in measuring success, haven’t we? Surely the larger an audience the better a brand is doing.
The problem with this logic is that it confuses the goal with the measurement. Instead of focusing on satisfying customer demands for particular content or a certain product quality, the company focuses on making sure web traffic stays high. This kind of thinking disconnects you from the actual cause-and-effect of working on the product you’re pitching, and creates an artificial reality that will do your brand no good.
As a rule of thumb for avoiding this behavior, consider the way you set goals. If you find the goal focusing on increasing audience numbers or some abstract figure instead of refining your core product, it’s time to re-evaluate.
Misfire #2 – Going by Rote
Part of maintaining a modern brand is providing regular content. Updating frequently enough to maintain viewer interest is vital for any service, and making sure the physical product is advertised for the public’s awareness is equally important if sales are the goal.
That said, there is a problem inherent in a scheduled updating system that can sneak into the provider’s routine. Specifically we’re speaking of the tendency to update without purpose. You see it frequently on twitter or certain blogs, where the provider is strapped for ideas and just posts a bit of airy, fluffy filler because ‘it’s time to post.’ While this does meet the customer’s expectation, this can work against you, as it leaves a bit of the ‘what was the point?’ question in their minds.
Instead, consider missing out a day if you genuinely don’t have content to provide. It happens, there are slow days for everyone. Missing the routine for a day will give you time to pull up some new content, and when the audience chimes in and sees there isn’t an update, they’ll be curious and more likely to check back the next time.
Misfire #3 – Fadding Out
The difference between a movement and a fad is that a fad sits on the surface of things, changing very little; whereas a movement alters the very basics of how the world functions. ‘Virtual Reality’ was a fad. People hyped it up, but there was no way the majority of people were going to shell out thousands for VR systems and their ten-pound headsets. Twitter is a movement, having developed a broad appeal and fundamentally changed the way people think about spreading information.
We have spoken of the need for innovation and the ability to take risks in brand development, and these things are still true. However, how innovative is it to jump on board something someone else has created? Instead of following the trends, focus on what your brand needs and how it functions. If adding in an element makes sense, do so without hesitation. If you have to force it, forget it.
Misfire #4 – Losing Focus
At this point it’s virtually ancient history, but there is a lesson for modern brand development in the Video Game Crash of the 1980s. The short of it is that every single company worth mentioning decided video games were the future, and opened up a video game division. They launched these efforts without any serious dedication to the craft of game design, and some succeeded while others failed. The most bizarre entrant was Quaker Oats, the people that make oatmeal. The result was a complete disaster.
What business would an oatmeal company have making games? On the surface, any business they desired. Perhaps it was always their secret passion, who knows? However, they lacked any serious experience in the venture, and you probably can’t find ten people out of a thousand who remember what game or games they put out.
Focus on your message. This ties in with the idea of fads, but warrants its own point. If you have to stretch yourself or come up with a new department to accommodate a new idea, it’s time to sit down and decide just how essential this idea is to your core message.
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the “voice” of our client’s brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit our blog at http://www.iBrandCasting.com/Building Brand Identity – Marketing With Twitter
04 2010 Wednesday
14
By Enzo F. Cesario in Web 2.0
Twitter, the net’s networking success story, is intriguing and intimidating because of its message limitations: they can be 140 characters, and no more.
This is to say; each message sent on Twitter can be no larger than the previous sentence. Not an additional letter, space, period or dash can be added. These limitations have proven to be the greatest asset and the greatest challenge for people trying to use Twitter for any number of purposes.
On the advantageous side, the short messages have created an entire culture of Twitter-fluent writers. The brevity of the message stretches creative muscles, making people use every trick to get the most information into the fewest characters. On the other hand it creates a severe headache for the marketing minded, as it doesn’t leave much room to present a case. Thus the vast majority of Tweets are short little social comments or updates, and most marketing revolves around calling attention to particular links.
Of course, there are always ways around limitations, and Twitter is something that every seriously market-minded organization needs to embrace in order to see continued success on the web. In the case of short message services like Twitter, the key lies as much in the peripheral data that builds up around the message as in the content itself.
Be SEO Minded
Twitter profiles are now ranked by search engines, Google in particular. Every SEO technique you’ve learned now has a new, exciting purpose.
For example, consider the biography you’re able to construct using Twitter. This is a ripe opportunity to develop some brand recognition right away. Put the title of the brand you’re marketing in the bio, and consider including the most relevant keywords in your profile. As ever, do so in a way that respects the user’s intelligence, and gives them something worth reading. Simply stringing together a chain of keywords is not the way to go.
Include keywords in your Tweets as well, taking care not to be terribly obvious about it. The first 20-30 characters are the best place, as later words are of decreased importance in a Google ranking search.
Identify Your Audience
Each brand rises and falls on the whim of the audience, known in this case as tweeple.
There are a number of applications available to help you with the process of identifying the tweeple that you want to cultivate into an audience. Twitterholic can help you identify the movers and shakers based on their Twitter traffic and their location. If you know your field or brand well, you can use this to locate groups with similar interests and woo them to your feed. Tweepz is a similar tool, focusing on location, and Twitter itself has a ‘near this location’ feature that can be used to identify tweeple nearby your center of business.
Let’s Give Them Something to Tweet About
Yes, Twitter is an effective way to quickly distribute information. But its real power is in its ability to create conversations about something interesting.
In theory you could simply gather up a large user list of tweeple and start spamming them with links promoting your latest gig. This is a surefire way to get flagged for abuse or ignored entirely, and thus is rather counterproductive to good marketing goals.
Instead, consider using alternative methods to drum up those conversations that travel like wildfire.
For example, there is the technique of Alternate Reality Gaming. This is a phenomenon based on the idea of taking ‘real’ events and building a game out of them. Last Call Poker was an ARG that intended to drum up sales for an upcoming video game, GUN.
LCP spread out information about gatherings, online incentives, and other attractions to get people excited about the western theme of the game. Tokens such as poker chips and other goodies were given out at these events, and GUN went on to have a very successful launch. People were invited into the world of the western, and the chatter eventually included 8 million participants.
This kind of rogue advertising is tailor-made to work with Twitter. Locations and dates can easily fall within the 140 character limitation, as can short explanations. Consider creating an ARG with a short story designed to work within 140 characters, locate an audience with the assorted Twitter tools at your disposal, and plan some exciting events to promote your brand. The chance to get involved always gets people talking, and the more esoteric games can span entire continents.
There are other methods, some more appropriate to each individual brand. Perhaps a modest bicycling business isn’t suited to promote a large ARG experience. They could, however, organize a bicycling flash mob by hopping onto the local bike hobbyist twitter feed and posting a date and time. The trick is less which technique you use, and more that you do your best to make it relevant. As always, strong content and clear presentation will win out over gimmicks and sales speak.
Also, consider one last thought. The introductory statements of each section in this article are Twitter compatible, and so is this one. Good luck and happy Tweeting.
About The Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the “voice” of our client’s brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit our blog at http://www.iBrandCasting.com/Read more articles written by: Enzo F. Cesario
Why Social Networking Your Way Won’t Build Your Business
04 2010 Monday
12
By Eric Gruber in Web 2.0
Believe it or not, social networking isn’t the next best thing…You are! It’s the personal connection that still seals the deal.
The Internet, social networking, and other breakthroughs in technology have fundamentally changed the way we do business. New technology drives communications, messaging, and information access at warp speed, and our clients expect immediate access. This pattern of ever-increasing speed and sophistication not only creates an intensely competitive marketplace, but places further demands on us to act and react quickly.
The rise of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, and LinkedIn have lured many sales pros into scaling back their personal interactions and relying on social media to get more “qualified leads.”
It’s time to get real!
Social Media Is a Powerful Tool for Three Things and Three Things Only
- Search engine optimization: Use your key words and raise your presence on the web.
- Find out who people are: Learn about a person’s background and your connections.
- Find out who people know: Look for close connections that you can leverage
Some salespeople tell me they actually get clients through social media. Well, maybe if you have a commodity business.
Could it happen?
Yes.
Do I rely on it?
Absolutely not! I only count on what I bring about through a proactive, intentional, referral strategy with personal introductions.
Why Social Networking Your Way Won’t Bring You More Leads and Sales
The most important business decisions are still based on personal relationships. There is significant research about why customers make buying decisions. Bottom line: It’s because they like and trust the salesperson and his organization. Think about it. We’re selling services, investments, systems, products… we’re asking for people’s time and money! Why would they work with someone who hasn’t been referred?
There’s a saying in sales: Clients buy with emotion and justify with fact. If our clients don’t like us or don’t feel comfortable with us, they won’t buy from us. You can wow your clients with technology know-how now and try to win them over later, once they find out you’re honest and reliable. But the reality is you need people to start liking you within the first few seconds of your relationship. You need to start off on the right foot. Fancy gizmos won’t make that happen. But a trusted referral and a personal connection will.
That’s why Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO of Google, in his commencement address to the graduating class of the University of Pennsylvania in May 2009, urged college graduates to step away from the virtual world and make human connections. “Turn off your computer. You’re actually going to have to turn off your phone and discover all that is human around us.”
That said, a social media presence is a must-have in today’s world—but you need to change the way you’re social networking.
3 Ways to Get More Leads and Sales with Social Networking and Referral Marketing
- Develop a social media strategy: Like a sales plan or a marketing plan, write your social media plan. What is your goal? Who is your audience? What do you want to communicate? Leverage social media as part of your go-to-market strategy. How does your strategy link to your customer’s needs and your business priorities?
- Establish relationships: Take the time to build your personal connections, pick up the phone and talk to people. Just because you have a name in hand, doesn’t mean you have a relationship.
- Communicate useful information: Social sites are not for selling. They are for establishing connections, identifying ways to collaborate, and providing value. What tips can you provide? Link to other sites you strongly recommend. Get recognized as the expert and build your web presence. Be a resource.
To Trust You Paves the Way
The most energizing and exciting part of our work is the relationships with our clients-the interaction. We enjoy learning about our client’s business and matching our solutions to their needs. In an era dominated by ever-expanding technology and social media pressures, always remember that personal connections, referrals, and earning trust count most.
America’s leading authority on referral selling and founder of No More Cold Calling ®, Joanne Black helps salespeople, sales teams, and business owners get more referrals and attract business fast without increasing the cost of sales. Discover how to turn prospects into clients more than 50 percent of the time in any economy with her No More Cold Calling sales programs at http://www.nomorecoldcalling.com/products.html.
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