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August 10, 2011

Small businesses and social media

Marketing tools These days, small business owners have a lot of marketing options to consider. There are a number of traditional marketing platforms including newspaper ads, print ads, billboards, direct mail, and TV commercials. Then combine these with a slew of digital and social media marketing options such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, blogging, a custom mobile application development, Groupon, Places, foursquare, Yelp, PPC advertising, and mobile marketing to smart phones. Now you’ve got an extremely large pool of potential marketing combinations and strategies for small businesses to exploit.

The number of options and evolving technologies can be overwhelming for small businesses. Staying current with various platforms can be a challenge in itself. The amount of time required to simply manage and maintain a handful of online accounts can be daunting. In fact, a recent survey by Hiscox revealed that many small businesses were not using social media channels to promote their products and services. Only 12% of businesses considered social media promotion a necessity, 14% indicated they don’t know enough about it, and nearly 50% of respondents weren’t using social media at all.

Over 40% surveyed said that word-of-mouth was the main way they got business. This is an interesting statistic – as social media is essentially a word-of-mouth advertising vehicle. While offline forms of word-of-mouth remain critical for all brands, and certainly for small, local businesses, social media also plays a valuable role by giving customers a louder voice for their recommendations and helping to amplify that voice beyond their immediate circle of friends, family and colleagues.

So how can a small business focus on what they do best while at the same time take advantage of social media marketing? Easy – you don’t have to go it alone. There are marketing specialists to help sift through all of the social media options and develop a custom marketing strategy that fits your business model and budget. For the same reason you wouldn’t attempt to fill a cavity in your child’s tooth, there’s no need to take on tasks which exceed your limits.

Small businesses need to open their minds and be creative. Innovation is paving new opportunities for businesses to market themselves and secure customers. Integrated marketing campaigns can yield meaningful results. Whatever your objectives are, social media can be a powerful communication tool to help spread your message.

waveSpawn provides a full range of customized marketing solutions for small businesses. Please contact us to discuss your specific goals.

November 2, 2010

Ok, you’ve signed up for social media now what?

A little while ago, we discussed the implications of signing up for social media platforms only to neglect them. Is this due to the fact that most people simply don’t know what to say or how to say it? With the array of options available today – particularly for small businesses, it’s more important than ever that they understand and leverage these tools. I thought this article by Jeffrey Gitomer was very timely and relevant: What should I tweet, what should I post, how should I link?

In the article, Gitomer points out that “Most people don’t know what to say on, what to do on, or what to do with social media. And it’s a club with more than 700 million members.” He goes on to outline some helpful suggestions including:

Stop thinking of it as social media, and begin thinking of it as BUSINESS social media.
What will help your customers produce more, profit more, understand what’s brand new in the market, improve morale, improve attitude, and/or improve their life. Then write about it, tweet about it, and post on Facebook about it.
Why not create daily/weekly/monthly value messages that your customers would find so interesting and informative that they would save them, print them, put them into action, and forward them to others?
All business social media is interconnected. You have to do ALL of them consistently to gain effective results. And you have to do all of them well if you expect to monetize your efforts.

I think Gitomer provides a very rational approach to utilizing social media. While consistency, messaging, and value proposition are all important, there is also a strategy in connecting with the appropriate audience. You could have the best tweets, comments, and suggestions to offer, but if nobody is listening, how effective are they?

As a precursor to this article is the topic how to network with the appropriate business audience using social media. For many people this is fundamentally more critical than the messages being sent. The first step is determining which social media platforms are right for your business or personal use. Select the combination of outlets which you can maintain. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. While some of these tools are easy to integrate with services such as Twitterfeed, the proper time should be taken to set these communication channels up properly.

Next is identifying and connecting with your unique business audience. Don’t just stalk and link to prospects with whom you are trying to close business opportunities. Connect with people who share similar interests or view points. Connect with partners and customers who can also share experiences. Connect with and/or follow competitors. What better way to monitor intelligence and stay competitive.

In closing, don’t use social media as simply a vehicle to announce your specials or flavor of the day. People see right through that and will lose interest quickly. Be genuine, and as Gitomer stated in his article, add value and be consistent.

May 20, 2010

Twitter is over capacity – again!

I find it peculiar that every morning this week as I logged into Twitter, I was greeted with this same image – a whale being hoisted out of the water by a bunch of tweety birds. I’ve certainly encountered this image before, but not with the same frequency as this week. I can only assume that this is a good problem for Twitter.

I must confess, I am not a “power-tweeter”, but I do peck around daily to see what’s happening. I just found it unusual to get the same “over capacity” message every day this week. I’m sure avid users have become accustomed to this issue and have a work-around in place.

I can only imagine that Twitter is in the process of beefing up their computing power to meet the growing demands of micro-blogging. They must be so inundated with tweets that servers are simply melting. Is anyone else getting this message frequently? Come on, let it out….

March 26, 2010

Social media confirms that many companies have nothing to say

Social media confirms many companies have nothing to say Have you ever noticed how many business-related social media accounts have little, if any, postings or messages? You know the ones… they hastily ran out and setup a corporate Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and blog account without a plan or clue as to what they were doing. Somewhere along the way they strayed from logic. It’s as if they’re proclaiming “hey we’re not only slackers, but we’re cutting edge slackers.”

These companies should consider buying a full page ad in a magazine, forgetting about it, and then letting the publisher print the issue with just their logo on the page and maybe a line that says “too lazy for anything more”. That’ll be a consistent branding message that integrates well with their social media campaign. After all, a holistic approach is good. It’s actually taking a page out of the Seinfeld series “it’s a show about nothing”. Instead, it’s a company that is shouting “we have nothing to say”.

The simple point here is neglected social media accounts can be detrimental to a company’s brand. You wouldn’t create a website with no content, would you? Social media should not be treated any different. Many companies seem to underestimate the value and scope of social media – assigning minimal resources to manage them. Companies that engage in social media need to map out their long-term strategy and approach. Moreover, they need to delegate responsibilities of monitoring and maintaining social media account activity. This shouldn’t be dumped into the hands of an intern or temp. This should be taken serious by someone that understands the platforms and knows how to interact with customers and prospects.

The good news is that there are companies to help guide businesses through the process of engaging in social media. As a starting point, waveSpawn has assembled a comprehensive white paper entitled Understanding social media ROI.

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March 1, 2010

Maximizing Social Media ROI

There’s no denying the magnitude and increasing impact that social media is having upon the business world. Marketing professionals in every industry are reevaluating their business plans and strategies to incorporate this growing phenomenon – which is clearly here to stay. Sometimes this means including a Technorati claim token: G3J8CMQZPY79.

Social media ROI is arguably the hottest topics in the social media eco-system as it relates to marketing. Social networking is changing the way businesses and individuals connect. Online communities create an immediate forum for solicited and unsolicited customer feedback, commentary, suggestions, referrals, and yes even slander. These consumer messages can be powerful and detrimental at the same time. Organizations should give careful consideration to the variety of vehicles and response options available when implementing a social media program.

Each social media initiative takes time, planning, and attention. Perhaps the biggest mistake organizations make is thinking that these accounts can function on autopilot. A blog is created, a Facebook account is activated, Twitter is turned on… and then nobody adds content or monitors these sites. They fail to execute a plan or strategy. In my opinion, neglecting social media accounts is worse than not being involved at all. It’s a direct reflection of a business’s lack of follow-through.

What constitutes effective social media marketing? More importantly, how can marketers accurately measure the results of past social marketing campaigns and how can they predict future results? waveSpawn has compiled a white paper which presents a framework for businesses to better understand and measure the ROI of social media. It outlines the key dimensions of marketing metrics which are critical to determining the success of each social media campaign. It will also help marketers to learn from social media, react to what consumers are saying, and help influence future results.

Download the entire white paper here.

February 9, 2010

US Army Embraces Social Media

The US Army is going to great lengths to embrace and encourage the use of social media. “We do not want to be a closed institution” said LTG Benjamin C. Freakley – US Army Accessions Command. With that in mind, the Army has created online communities on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and MySpace. They currently have more than 250,000 friends and followers – and this number is growing daily.

“It’s really transforming the way we look at recruiting, advertising, and communicating” added LTC Brian Tribus. It’s allowing families to stay in touch during difficult and stressful times. They can share photos, instant messages, and web cams. It’s clear that this is a trend the Army continues to expand – especially as the technology further develops. There are a number of potential uses that will improve communication and morale among our soldiers.

Army Strong Stories is an innovative program which allows deployed soldiers “to share their unfiltered perspective on daily life in the military through blog entries, photos and video.” There is currently over 100 soldier bloggers participating in this program.

I think this is an incredibly functional and practical use of social media. I’m anxious to see other branches of the armed forces adopt these tools as well. I’ve added them to my blogroll and look forward to interacting with them.
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January 22, 2010

Measuring Social Media ROI

Measuring Social Media ROI For many small businesses, measuring the return on investment (ROI) for social media is a mystery. While some of these businesses actively engage in blogging, tweeting, and perhaps even Facebook, they have no idea on how to gauge the effectiveness of their efforts. The remaining businesses that have not entered the social media frenzy are hesitant to get started because they too are looking for an accurate method of determining the ROI or impact of their social campaigns.

Since this has been a burning question for many small businesses, I’d like to share my thoughts. For starters, let’s take a quick look at measuring ROI for a traditional marketing vehicle – direct mail. The first step is to determine the goal of the campaign. Are you trying to create awareness, generate leads, close sales, or drive traffic to your website? Once you have decided on your goal, establish an attainable benchmark and track responses against that baseline. For example, let’s say you are anticipating a 2% response to your campaign. It’s good practice to direct your recipients to respond to a unique URL or web address. Since this page is not part of your standard web traffic, you can easily determine the number of people that initially reply to your mail piece. Furthermore, if you have an offer, you can have them submit some basic information to access a whitepaper or other incentive. This will further screen your qualified leads and allow you to monetize the results of your campaign. From this point, you should have some metrics that determine your conversion rate – from interested prospect into valued customer. The most accurate ROI calculation takes into account a customer’s lifetime value, or the amount of sales generated by that customer over time.

So if measuring the results of traditional marketing is so tangible, why is social media different? The answer, it’s not. Many of the same principles of conventional marketing analysis holds true for social media campaigns. For example, let’s say you want to start a company blog. Unlike the options for traditional marketing, your goal should be to share, educate, and create awareness. In other words, you post information that is timely and of interest to your customers and prospects. You do this in a non-invasive manner to attract potential customers. You can create awareness and drive traffic to your blog with an e-newsletter and direct mail, but additionally you want people to seek you out and subscribe to your content on their own.

This brings us back to measuring the effectiveness of your blog (or Facebook page or Twitter account). There are many tools available such as Google Analytics which can generate a number of meaningful reports. You definitely want to monitor the traffic of your blog over time. This will help determine trends and most appealing topics. Again, without a clear benchmark, you won’t be able to accurately determine your ROI. Set realistic goals… perhaps set out to obtain 2 new subscribers to your blog in the first month, 5 in the second month, 10 in the third, etc. I won’t get into how to attract new subscribers in this article – but rather stay focused on the success-rate of the initiatives.

Using a combination of website traffic statistics, new subscriptions, and specific page views, can help you determine where to focus your energy – and the effectiveness of your social media campaign. Unlike a single direct mail campaign social media is an ongoing campaign. It takes time, knowledge, and patience to get it right. Over time, you can build long-term relationships and interact with customers and prospects in a friendly manageable format. With the proper tools in place, you can accurately determine the ROI of your social media efforts.

Don’t be discouraged. We can help.

January 21, 2010

Social media creates a small business success story

I thought this was an interesting article detailing how a small bag manufacture in Seattle – Tom Bihn – was able to leverage social media outlets to connect with fans and customers.

Darcy Gray is a VP at Tom Bihn.

Gray manages the Tom Bihn Facebook fan page, forums, blogs, Flickr and Twitter. She said updating them is a lot of fun and works on them whenever she checks her iPhone… She said engaging directly with customers began with the TomBihn.com forums.

“In 2006, it occurred to us that our customers and potential customers could get significant value from talking with each other as opposed to just with us. They could share their experiences of their Tom Bihn bags, offer advice for selecting the right bag to new customers, and post reviews/pictures of their experiences with their bags,” she said.

She said the company’s success on social media starts with their bags and that social media tools have given them more powerful ways to connect.

“Anytime a company is given more ways to directly communicate with customers, it’s an opportunity for growth. Tom Bihn designs all of our bags himself. Interest in a particular type of bag might encourage him in a certain direction,” Gray said.

By using a combination of blogging and interaction with their communities on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr, Tom Bihn has been able to build a sustainable business.

January 21, 2010

What’s next for Twitter?

What's next for Twitter? After millions of people scrambled to get a Twitter account activated, they later asked themselves – ok, what’s next? While the underlying concept behind Twitter is interesting – stay connected with brief snippets, the software is still in its infancy. There are several companies trying to add more functionality and purpose to this infrastructure.

January 20, 2010

Profiting from social media

Many people continually ask me how they can make money or increase sales from social media. My answer is simple: it’s like losing weight. There are no shortcuts or magic pills that will instantly shed pounds. Losing weight is a lifestyle change and commitment to health and fitness.

The same holds true for social media. Don’t expect to sign up at Twitter or Facebook in the morning and start generating sales in the afternoon. It’s not that simple. It’s a change in corporate culture. It’s a commitment to participating in relevant online communities and discussions. It is most effective by adding relevant and interesting content and opinions, inviting others to share their experiences, and most importantly reading and listening.

Jeffrey Gitomer had some interesting observations in his article: Social media – the new cold call. Wanna play?

There are key words to consider as you try to build your social media world. Connections, attract, video, value, consistent, fan, relevance, write, allocate, monetize.

But there’s a secret. How you position and promote yourself in the NON-social media world is critical to your success in the social media world. Your writing, your website, your blog, your ezine, your personal brand in your marketplace, your perceived value in the marketplace, and your reputation, are elements of attraction that affect your social media status – and surely your success.

There’s billions of dollars of new business being generating by social media – how much of it will you get? Maybe you need to get a bit more serious about being a bit more social.

It’s not an overnight sensation; social media is here to stay… and your involvement could be critical to the future of your business.