Social Media Best Practices

April 15th, 2010

You’ve heard all the buzz about social media and now you want to throw your hat in the ring, so where should you start? You cannot throw a mouse these days without hitting a self-proclaimed expert on social media but with all the conflicting views on how things should be done the best place to start is to get back to basics with a few simple social media best practices.

  1. Create a Plan
    It may sound like a very simplistic practice but you would be surprised how few people actually consider a social media strategy prior to embarking on a trek through this brave new world. Making sure you understand your audience, the different ways in which to reach them, and the tools that are available for your intended purpose are key to social media program.
  2. Be Committed (No straight jacket required)
    An effective social media program requires a great deal of time and the commitment to see things through. If you commit yourself to properly developing your social media objectives, that commitment will be rewarded with measurable results for your social media programs. I am not saying you need to hire someone specifically to run your social media programs, especially in the beginning, but if you play your cards right that position may just be needed down the road to handle this new channel for your business.
  3. Be Honest
    Transparency is not just for window anymore. Be upfront about your objectives. People appreciate honesty and are willing to get involved as long as they do not feel like something shady is going on. Being disingenuous can make for a very lonely social media existence. Provide honesty and value with your interactions and you will be rewarded with loyalty and valuable feedback.
  4. Become an Enabler
    Encourage interaction with your social media followers. Their insights and feedback can help drive your business in new directions or reinforce the vector you are already on. Beyond that, this type of interaction allows you the unique opportunity to turn followers into evangelists for your brand creating a type of unpaid sales force that is ever willing to sing the praises of your greatness whenever the opportunity presents itself.
  5. Make It Count!
    Social media objectives should be easily measurable to help determine the efficacy of your programs but keep in mind that social media programs build on each other. Unlike traditional marketing techniques, in social media there is not always a unique result for each facet of a program. Layer your programs with small objectives that will build into a more measurable one. While the ultimate goal may be increased interaction or sales, you have to build up to them with smaller objectives like number of comments, friends or even how many people just DIGG what you have to say.

Any social media program should be carefully considered before it is executed but keeping these simple guidelines in mind as you go through the process will help you on your way to developing a winning social media strategy.

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Effectively Managing Social Media

March 25th, 2010

When developing your companies social media strategy, the first thing you need to determine is your company philosophy (for lack of a better term) for its use. Many old school marketers (as well as self-styled social media mavens) push the idea of social media simply as an additional channel for positioning a brand but it can be so much more. Don’t get me wrong, this type of social media marketing has its uses and on its own can yield the awareness and support you seek but it should not be the end all be all of your strategy. It should be but a part of a more comprehensive immersion that can affect the company at a cellular level (and no I don’t mean phone).

Think globally, act socially.
Think of social media as an extension of your company rather than simply another way to advertise. Social media puts you in direct contact (most of the time) with your most involved consumers and this is contact that should not be wasted. Take the opportunity to not only talk about your new products and how wonderful your company clearly is but to get direct feedback from those active customers. Social networks like Facebook and Twitter can create focus groups for you without all the mess of standing about in malls handing out surveys. You can talk directly to the people in the best position to tell you something about you, that you don’t know (or may not want to hear). The point is this type of feedback, if taken in the spirit it is given, can help drive product advancements, fix problems you didn’t know you had and open your eyes to new markets you had not specifically started to tap with your conventional marketing efforts. In short, social media can help your company evolve to the next level if you are only willing to put in the time to see where your consumers are pointing.

No matter what business you are in, you can always benefit from interaction with your customer base. Explore this new channel to its fullest extent. Don’t limit yourself to just another advertising channel that may or may not bear any fruit. Build a cohesive strategy that combines keeping top of mind with the valuable interactions that this medium allows. Get your customers (and prospects for that matter) involved in your business. Ask questions and make serious use of the answers you receive.

Customer involvement is the key.
Whether it is simply getting the opinions of your new unwitting focus group participants on new product options using a survey or more involved personal interaction with a select few customers that seem to speak well for the larger group (good or bad), once you get those individuals involved, they will begin to have a vested interest in the company’s success that will manifest itself with evangelism to everyone they know.

The bottom line is the depth of connections that result from properly handled social media can lead to exponential growth in your target markets in both sales and goodwill.  So take the time up front to fully consider your plan and make sure that whatever you decide to do includes a combination of awareness and interaction. It may take more time to maintain than simply doing some old school marketing but in the long run your business will be better for the effort.

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What kind of information should I put on my website?

March 23rd, 2010

So you are ready to go with your new site: You have the perfect domain, you have set up hosting, you have found a fabulous designer but you are stumped when it comes to adding the content to your site. So what do you do? Well, every site is different and what works for company A will not necessarily work for company B so that is a difficult question to answer in absolutes but when in doubt, always go back to basics. There are certain types of information that most websites have in common and they are a good start for any site outline:

Home
The home page is the place where everyone lands when they first visit your site so, as with everything else, it is important to make a good first impression. You already have a professional designer on board so the Wow factor is covered, now let’s think about the meat that supports that attractive looking garnish. At a very base level your home page should succinctly explain to visitors what you can do for them. This can be done as simply as with a clever tag line for your logo are be as involved as a paragraph introducing your services. This page should function as a kind of dashboard highlighting the most important aspects of your site whether they be having products front and center, readily available event information or the latest news about your business. You want prospects to find what they need here and allow it to lead them deeper into the site.

Product/Service
The next most important page is one that give details about your products or services. There can be many of these pages but you need to make sure that you at least have one good page that details what you can do for your prospects. And the more specifics you have about why your product/service is THE solution to the ills of potential customers, the better it will be received.

About Us
It seems pretty obvious but it is something that every site should have. Everyone wants to know who they are dealing with. This is a great place to tell prospects your company history including awards that have been received and charities that it supports. You want to make the prospect feel that they know you because the more that they feel the know you, the more comfortable they will be with you as a product/service provider.

Contact Us
It is very important that contact information is as easily accessible as possible. Prospects and clients alike want to have the ability to communicate with you if they have questions or problems. An address, phone number and email address are ideal but this is not feasible for companies that have a number of products/services and not as many people available to deal with that type of direct inquiry (especially by phone). In these cases, a contact form will do the trick. A simple form capturing Name, Email and Comments can handle a variety of different issues and allow the business owner to deal with things at their own pace without being inundated with emails and phone calls. A form of this nature can also be expanded to suit any business need and the results can be directed to someone best equipped to handle the inquiry.

With the basics down, you can begin to expand your outline to include news, events, additional product pages, additional forms, e-commerce and more. If you work collaboratively with your designer, they can help you determine the best options to show on your home page and throughout your site.

Think it Through!
No matter what business you are in, fully consider the information you want to provide your site visitors. The idea behind any site is be as sticky as possible so that once visitors arrive, they get stuck in the gooey deliciousness of your content and don’t want to leave. Once you have found the formula that works for your business then it is time to rinse and repeat. Regular updates to your site (especially on the home page) will help ensure that visitors will come back time and again to see what is new.

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What’s the deal with Social Networking?

March 18th, 2010

If you are not living under a rock and do not rely on the “Trash Heap” to give you the latest news of the day, then you have probably heard the term “Social Networking”. And while it is all the buzz on the internet, many people are unsure of what it is exactly.

So what is Social Networking anyway? Well, Social Networking, in general, occurs when individuals interact with other like-minded individuals in a social setting. But the definition of the term has morphed somewhat in recent years to refer more specifically to Online Social Networking which is the same but with a (cyber) kick. Online Social Networking occurs when these same individuals come together through various member access mediums to chat, share photos and generally connect online. There are many things online that can be considered to be social networks but for the purposes of this article we will confine the definition to connecting with individuals through things like Facebook, Twitter and Linked-In.

Ok, I get it but so what, isn’t that stuff just for teenagers? Well, not exactly. Although many of the largest social networks initially catered primarily to high school and college students, times they are a changin’. Now you will find a great cross-section of society getting involved with social networking because of how convenient it is to stay in contact with friends and family along with re-connecting with old friends that you lose touch with over time. The median age of your average social networker has been steadily climbing over the past few years. In fact, in 2008 social networking outstripped email in overall reach with 66.8% of internet users accessing member communities online compared to 65.1% for email.

So what does this really mean to you? Well as a business owner, you have an opportunity to take advantage of all this virtual water cooler milling. Make hay while the virtual sun shines. With the proliferation of these groups and their ever-increasing depth of connections to others, your message can go viral in no time at all. And the SEO potential is staggering. If you can reach one person at any of these online watering holes, that message can potentially be carried infinitely as well as being picked up by your favorite search engine with yet another golden link to your website. Think back to your favorite shampoo commercial. You get one persons attention and they’ll tell two friends and they’ll tell two friends, and so on and so on…

So how do I do it? The key to effective social networking, like with may other things, is planning. If you come up with a solid strategy for your business or product, you can hit them over and over without them even knowing it. And remember, don’t put all of your eggs in one basket. The best part about social networking is that the networks themselves can interconnect to reinforce your message. Make sure that any strategy includes multiple points of contact.

As I stated before, there are a number of popular social networking sites out there but I will focus on some of the most popular:

Facebook
Facebook is the quintessential social networking site. Anyone who is anyone online is on Facebook in some way shape or form. Any business or product can set up what is known as a Fan page on Facebook. It is essentially an online profile for you business that allows you to post messages, upload photos, share success stories or even have discussions with clients and potential clients. It can be like having your very own conference room in the ether where you can post the latest information about your products and services or share your success. And the best part is that when you post a link or even just make a statement about your business, it automatically shows up in the news feed that your “fans” spend their time with every day. It is a great way to keep top of mind with current and potential clients.

Twitter
Twitter is a micro blogging platform that allows you to send updates to your “followers” 140 characters at a time. It does not seem like much, but it is enough to drive traffic to product information, blog postings or to inform “followers” of events. These quick postings are called Tweets. It is used by many as a means of communicating what they are doing “right now” but as a business medium it is growing daily to help connect businesses with potential clients, value added resellers and vendors.

Linked-In
Linked-In is the only one of the networks I have listed that was specifically intended for business use. You can add a complete profile about you and/or your company and then you can connect with people you have worked with in the past or present. The people in your network can then connect you with people in their network who are looking for someone in your field. The connections can get pretty deep so it kind of becomes like the 6 degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon but with potential business connections and who knows, maybe even Kevin Bacon himself.

Now that you are setup with your accounts, don’t simply rely on Linked-In,Twitter, or Facebook alone, use them in concert to make your messages sing. There are applications available that will allow you automatically post your Facebook Fan page status to your Twitter account (or vice versa) and Linked in will also display your tweets. And if you really want to melt your brain, set up a blog and set it to update Twitter, which can then update Facebook and Linked-In thus allowing you to post a single piece of content related to your business and have it reach multiple levels of people on multiple networks all at the same time…now talk about a Breck Shampoo moment.

The biggest thing to keep in mind when developing your Social networking strategy is that you have to update regularly to see any impact form your efforts. Social networking is not a fix it and forget it type of meal. This is the type that requires a candy thermometer and patience while you stir and stir to make sure that it doesn’t get scorched.

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The 5 D’s of Effective Marketing Content

March 16th, 2010

The biggest mistake that marketers make when developing their collateral materials is focusing too much on their brand and not enough on their products or services. Rather than focusing on the Who, what marketers should really be focusing on is the Why. Whether you are creating a new brochure or adding to a website, the best way to set yourself apart from the crown is with effective content.

Effective marketing materials should be constructed to persuade and inform. And as much as it pains me to say, design isn’t everything. You really need to have solid content to support your flashy graphics because once they snap out of their sense of awe and wonder about your stellar design (which they WILL experience :) ), they will be ready to feast on the information your materials have to offer. If there is no substance to be had, they will leave and move on to a company that can satisfy their hunger.

The 5 D’s
In order to give yourself a fighting chance against all of the five-star competition out there you just need to ask yourself a few questions as you go through the process of developing your content:

  1. Definition - Is your product or service clearly defined and are all of the important features enumerated?
  2. Differentiation – Have you clearly stated how your product or service differs from your competitors and what specific pain it remedies?
  3. Demographics – Does your content clearly speak to your intended audience?
  4. Design – Is your content easy to read and understand and will it get your points across without confusing a layperson about your product or service?
  5. Distribution – Will the material you plan to produce be easy to distribute to your target market and be understood without interaction from a member of your sales team?

Answering these questions as you develop your materials will help your content to be more effective which will translate into more sales.

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