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Is Facebook Still Likeable?
Jul 15th
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing podcast with Dave Kerpen (Click to play or right click and “Save As” to download – Subscribe now via iTunes or subscribe via other RSS device (Google Listen)
The title to today’s post is a thought that’s making the rounds these days as Google announced that their new social network, Google Plus, added 10 million users in the first two weeks of limited beta launch.
A great deal of the conversation is decidedly skewed as much of the buzz is coming from hard core social media users and those predisposed to move away from Facebook, but none the less, this is a valid question.
I asked my Facebook followers if Google Plus had impacted their time on Facebook and over 50% claimed they were not yet Google Plus users. At the root of the question, however, is the issue of time. No matter what happens we only have so much budget for business building activities such as social networking and something is going to have to give. It’s like a family budget, if you buy a new car you might not go on vacation – it doesn’t mean the auto industry has targeted the travel industry, but they’ve impacted them anyway.
I think the same is true as people consider their available social time budget – something’s gotta give – it’s yet to be seen clearly what that something is, but it may not be as obvious as another social network such at Facebook.
For some perspective I turned to a guy that’s still very bullish on Facebook. Dave Kerpen, author of Likeable – How to Delight Your Customers, Create an Irresistible Brand, and Be Generally Amazing on Facebook (& Other Social Networks) .
In this interview, Kerpen addresses the obvious success of Google Plus, but is quick to point out that Facebook’s place is still firmly rooted in the hundreds of millions of users that spend hours on the network every day. Kerpen’s take is that people don’t want to create yet another network on another social platform.
Kerpen also points to the killer targeting aspects of Facebook’s platform as reason enough to still engage and use the network. Kerpen emphatically states, “You know what’s cooler than 750 million people on Facebook? Being able to target the 750 that are your perfect prospects.” He goes on to tell a story about how he targeted a birthday wish ad that only his wife could see.
My take is that we have some interesting times ahead and we may very likely see a shift in audiences coming.
So, what’s your take?
You can listen to the show by subscribing the feed in iTunes or a variety of other free services such as Google Listen (Use this RSS feed) or you can buy the Duct Tape Marketing iPhone app. (iTunes link – Cost is $2.99) or
View full post on Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
Old Associations Are Still Alive
Jun 10th
Usually, when I have to go to the mall, there’s so much noise and commotion that I sort of retreat into my head. I grew up in Iowa, so unless a crowd is mooing or clucking, I’m a little uncomfortable.
But one day while waiting for my coffee, I couldn’t help overhearing, “Tom?! Tom, is that you?! You old rascal, I thought you were dead!”
Both parties laughed heartily at what I assumed was some sort of shared inside joke, but it was so odd that I couldn’t help turning it over and over in my brain until this cartoon appeared.
Maybe I need to listen more closely more often.
Old Associations Are Still Alive
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
Philip Morris: Still More Malignant Than Cancer
Jun 2nd
In all likelihood, you’ve never heard of Altria Group, Inc., but you’re probably familiar with their former name: Philip Morris Inc. The mega-corporation changed their name in 2003, probably realizing that, in the public mind, the name was permanently stained with Big Tobacco associations: it evokes images of dirty lobbying deals, unethical advertising, suppressed scientific studies, and the 443,000 deaths tobacco causes each year.
After the Master Tobacco Settlement Agreement in 1998, which cost the tobacco industry upwards of $246 billion in settlements, and the passing of several anti-smoking laws and advertising regulations, Philip Morris decided to reinvent itself. The name was the first thing to go. A document from the early nineties shows that the company had considered this move for a while, with executives wanting to be able to market themselves as “a company with a bright future and relatively low risk” to investors. In addition, the name change allowed Altria to fly a little more under the public radar, after years of being vilified as a company that peddled addiction and death.
To be sure, Altria still makes cigarettes. Its tobacco division is still named Philip Morris, and according to a financial report filed in 2006, roughly 65% of Altria’s revenues come from tobacco products. Altria produces about twenty different cigarette brands, including: Marlboro, Parliament, Virginia Slim, Basic, Chesterfield, Benson & Hedges, and a number of international brands like Fortune, Sampoerna A, Champion, and Canadian Classics. It also owns John Middleton brand cigars, and in 2008 bought UST, a “smokeless tobacco” manufacturer that makes Copenhagen and Skoal chewing tobacco.
Altria also has major stakes in food and drink manufacturing. Until 2007, it owned Kraft Food Inc., after which Altria decided to “spin off” the company, selling it off to investors. It still retains ownership of General Foods Inc. In acquiring UST, Altria bought out Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, a maker of premium wines. It also owns 27% of SABMiller, an international beer brewing company that owns Miller, Coors, Blue Moon, and Castle, among many others.
In addition, Altria is one of OpenSecret’s “heavy hitters” in lobbying. It routinely spends over $10 million in lobbying efforts a year, though this is actually far less than it used to spend, particularly in the late 90’s. In the late 90′s, knowing that tobacco regulation reform was inevitable, Altria exerted its considerable influence to use FDA oversight to enhance its corporate image. In this same vein, Altria also supported the 2008 Tobacco Regulation Bill. Meanwhile, behind closed doors, Altria lobbyists worked to defeat legislation that worked in the public’s interest, such as food labeling, recycling, and reducing smoking in the military.
A look at the excellent website Muckety.com shows the web of influence that spreads out from Altria/Philip Morris’s executives. Members of its board of directors also sit on the boards of Virginia Electric and Power Co., Swiss Re, the New York Stock Exchange, HSBC bank, Marriot International, and Western Union. They’ve served in presidential cabinets and as executive editors on The Economist. They’re the chairmen and CEO’s of United Airlines, Chrysler, Citibank, and the Lehman Brothers.
Philip Morris, almost a decade after their makeover and name change, is still just as influential as it ever was. More than ever, the company resembles some kind of malignant tumor, growing and spreading in the unlikeliest of places.
View full post on Business Pundit
CHART OF THE WEEK: Microbusiness Perceptions of Economic Conditions Still Weak
May 3rd
The final Discover Card Small Business Watch survey of owners of microbusinesses (companies with no more than five employees) showed little improvement in business owner perceptions of economic conditions. In March 2011, only 9 percent of microbusiness owners said the overall economy was good or excellent, as the chart below shows. This number has been stuck around the ten percent level since late 2008 and is well below the 50 percent level achieved in March 2007 before the recession hit.
Percentage of owners of small businesses with 1 to 5 employees reporting that the economy is good or excellentCHART OF THE WEEK: Microbusiness Perceptions of Economic Conditions Still Weak
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
Why Face to Face Meetings Still Matter
Apr 7th
In today’s social media-focused economy, it’s become increasingly common to have long, complex and lasting business relationships with other people without ever speaking to them in person—or even on the phone. More of the average business’s sales support, customer service and other customer-facing functions are moving to the Web instead of being handled in person. And with cost-cutting foremost on everyone’s mind, conventions, conferences and meetings are all going virtual, too.
In this environment, you might suppose that there’s no longer much need to meet face to face. Well, you’d be wrong. The white paper from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration and sales and marketing services company Maritz analyzed scientific research and found in-person events are better than virtual events at capturing attendees’ attention, creating positive emotions and building relationships and networks.
“The Future of Meetings: The Case for Face-to-Face” aims to help companies planning events use scientific criteria to figure out when a virtual approach, an in-person approach or a combination of the two is called for. The researchers found that face-to-face works best in three situations:
- To capture attention, especially if you are launching something new. Speaking to BtoB Online, study co-author Mary Beth McEuen noted that attendees at virtual events are more likely to multitask and filter certain information out. “[Multitasking] engages a different part of your brain, and information doesn’t make it into long-term memory,” she says. In contrast, the range of stimuli at an in-person event–from speakers to meals to meeting new people—creates novelty, which helps people be more open-minded and creative.
- To inspire a positive emotional reaction. An event that involves interacting with other people in the flesh creates a positive emotional experience. Those positive emotions become attached to the companies involved in the event, as well as contributing to make attendees more open to new experiences.
- To build networks and relationships. The study draws a distinction between sharing information—which can easily be done virtually—and creating networks or relationships, which still requires in-person human interaction. The research shows relationships forged in person are stronger. As McEuen notes, “Trust is built more effectively face-to-face.”
This study focused on large events and meetings, since the organizations involved were meeting-related. However, I believe the same applies to every meeting—even just between two people. You can email, tweet and even talk on the phone all you want, but there’s no substitute for the kind of energy and connection that happens when you actually get together with a colleague or customer in person.
That’s why, no matter how busy I get, I always make time for face-to-face meetings. In my experience, they’re invaluable for building relationships that last—and that help grow your business.
How do you feel about face-to-face? Is it more—or less—important in your company these days?
Why Face to Face Meetings Still Matter
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
Why Networking in Person Still Matters
Feb 3rd
I have grown up in the business world working and interacting directly with people for many years. I enjoy it, I look forward to it and I still say it’s where the magic happens in relationships. But today, we have two worlds that are learning how to blend, balance and work together: online/Web-based and offline/in person.
In the past few years, so much emphasis and shifting has gone to the Web/online world because that is where the growth and movement trends are. In-person networking has taken a hit, as evidenced with declining enrollment in chambers of commerce, fee-based networking events and professional organizations. It’s not that people don’t want to go; it’s simply a matter of finances . . . or is it? Are we substituting an e-mail, tweet, post or text for live, in-person activities. thinking that is going to grow relationships?
We can never forget how important and powerful people getting together for face-to-face interaction can be. Nor can we allow sending e-mails or texts to replace that interaction. Blending your online and offline activities is important because today, people are communicating and engaging equally in both places. The online and offline worlds are interdependent and interrelated.
If I meet you online and strike up an online relationship that has value and interest to me, then taking it offline is going to enhance that relationship and help it progress. If we meet in person, then staying connected online is going to enhance our relationship and help it progress until we meet in person again.
Why is face-to-face networking so important?
- The power of personally connecting and human interaction accelerates relationship building. In 10 minutes I can learn more about someone, and they about me, in person than in six months online!
- Finding common ground comes from having a conversation or discussion on the phone or in person. The energy that passes between people finding out that they have a hobby, favorite book, peer or life experience in common can be profound.
- Making decisions on what the next step is and putting the plan in motion can happen in one minute on the phone or in person, as opposed to multiple e-mails.
I just moved back to my hometown of Ft. Lauderdale after a four-year career detour on the southwest coast of Florida. Although I have many roots from many years and careers, I am reconnecting with the market four years later and in a different professional capacity. I have decided to tap into my network and ask to be connected to like-minded people they know. I will reciprocate and network them with people I know to do the same for them. Finding out what events, groups and activities people go to is a much better way to find connections.
If you haven’t been out and about enough, set some goals this year to reconnect in person in your community, business world or hobbies. Go where you already have commonality and know people. It’s a much easier and faster way to get connected, get personal and make some new friends and connections–and you just might get that job, interview or new customer.
How are you choosing your networking events?
Why Networking in Person Still Matters
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
How and Why I Still Devour Blogs
Jan 3rd
How and Why I Still Devour Blogs
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
2011 marks my eighth year of blogging. In that time I’ve logged over 2500 blog posts, acquired around 143,000 subscribers and had this blog named by the likes of Forbes magazine as their favorite for both marketing and small business.
Image alui0000 via flickr
If this asset has delivered any measure of success I can tell you that the primary reason is that in that same time I’ve also read some or all of approximately 120,000 blog posts written by others.
I’ve stated repeatedly that anyone that wants to start a blog, get better at blogging or make their blog a serious marketing tool for their business must first and foremost get very good at reading blogs.
Why I devour blogs
Learn how to blog - Any writing course you’ll ever take will tell you that great writers read a ton. Reading how others blog, what they blog about and even how they interact with their community is an essential step for anyone that is serious about using this tool. I get countless ideas for ways to say things and cover ideas that might never bubble up without reading other blogs. I get ideas for what software to use, what plugins work well and how to promote and display content in ways that make it more valuable to readers.
Keep up on competitors and customers – Every business should be keeping tabs on what their competitors and customers are saying and doing and increasingly this includes following their blog posts. Even a casual scan of what’s on the minds of customers and competitors via blog posts will make relationship building and selling, or outselling, a more informed activity. I would take this a step further and suggest that if you’ve been successful at launching and maintaining a blog you should offer to show your customers how to do the same, no matter what industry you’re in – help them use this tool more effectively and everyone wins.
Get smarter about your industry – You’ve probably already discovered that it’s a good idea to commit to learning what’s going on in your specific industry as a bit of a survival and competitive play. Blog reading is one of the easiest ways to do this in near real time. You may still choose to wait for you association magazine each month, but making a daily habit of getting the news and insights of industry players is just plain smart.
Get smarter about any industry – Sometimes your business selling efforts will take you into serving clients in industries you know little about. One of the fastest ways to get really smart about a customer or prospect’s business is to create a quick list of blogs in their industry and start scanning them for news and information. Sharing this content with them might also prove valuable and eye opening.
Keep tabs on what’s new – A lot of people that read my blog state that I am bit like their R and D department in that I filter and share the things coming down the road that they might need to pay attention to and make it easier for them to ignore the noise and focus on what’s important. I spend a great deal of time filtering, aggregating and even curating the content I read on blogs in order to do this.
How I devour blogs
Find blogs that make sense – The first step to getting really good at using this approach is to find blogs that you should be reading. You can do this by searching for industry related blogs using Google Blog Search, Technorati or an industry and topic aggregator like Alltop. This is a good start, but none of these services are perfect and you will want to take your time and seek out your own list as well. And don’t forget to find the blogs written by journalists that cover your industry as well.
Use an RSS reader – Once you find blogs worthy of your attention you need to make it easy to check up on them. An RSS reader is a tool that allows you to subscribe to a blog’s RSS feed and then read all the new content from all the blogs you follow in one place. I’ve used Google Reader for years for this as it does a fine job and it’s free. Make sure you use the folder feature that allows you to create and group blogs based on subject. That way you can create groups for journalists, customers, competitors and other topics for quicker scanning.
Consume with tools – While Google Reader is a great tool for the basic plumbing of RSS reading I add a layer on top that makes my reading better organized, more visual more easily interacted with in ways that suit my marketing objectives. My tool of choice for this is app call Reeder. I do most of my feed reading these days on an iPhone or iPad and Reeder is a thing of beauty. It syncs my reading and has an incredible list of ways for me to share and interact with posts from within the app. I can send a link, tag to delicious, email the post, tweet and share on Google Reader all from within the post I’m viewing. Reeder is a Mac tool, but PC users might like Feedly, an online app that has some of this same functionality.
Put the content to work – The last step is to thing about ways to get some additional mileage from your reading habit. As stated in the last point, I often tweet great content I find because my followers like that I find and share good stuff with them. I’ll bookmark certain posts in delicious or pinboard and use the content for future blog posts. I tag content in delicious and use the custom RSS feed each unique tag creates to make custom news feeds and display them on web pages using Feedburner’s Buzz Boost. (Here’s an example of a page using this RSS technique from mentions on the web of my book The Referral Engine)
So, time to get out there and make or up your blog reading habit.
Any tools that you’ve found that make this even easier?
View full post on Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
SMB Owners Still Not Sure About Social Media
Nov 30th
While your eyes were on Thanksgiving, eMarketer reported on a RatePoint survey from August 2010 that shared two pretty disheartening statistics about small business owners and their views on social media. Curious what they were? According to RatePoint:
- 47 percent of SMB owners either aren’t sure or don’t think their customers spend time on social media sites.
- 24 percent of SMB owners don’t think their customers do research online before finding them.
Ouch.
If you’re a small business owner and you don’t think your customers are spending time on social media, I’d really encourage you to get out of your storefront and have a look around–because there’s an entire world passing you by. Earlier this year, Nielsen reported that the world now spends more than 100 billion minutes on social networks and blog sites, equating to 22 percent of all time online, or one in every four and a half minutes.
Where are those users hanging out? Well, Facebook crossed the 500 million member mark back in July, and Twitter has more than 100 million registered users, with 30,000 new people signing up every day. People are using these networks, and your customers are guaranteed to be among them. If you’re not there, it means you’re ignoring customers (and potential customers).
Still not convinced?
Local search company 15miles partnered with comScore to measure consumers’ search behaviors and how they were interacting online in the Local Search Usage Study. What they found was that that the ROBO effect (Research Online, Buy Offline) was very much still in place. According to their data, consumers in all age ranges prefer to go online first when looking for local business information.
More than that, establishing a presence in social media helps to establish credibility for a small business. Sixty-nine percent of consumers say they’re more likely to interact with and use a local business if they can find it on a social networking site. As an SMB, being present on these sites is a huge differentiation and trust source. People like doing business with companies on social media because they know that if they encounter a problem, there will be someone there to help them. It means the company is easily accessible. More than just being on social media, consumers want an SMB to establish a real presence there.
For example:
- 81 percent say it’s important for businesses to respond to a post.
- 78 percent want to see promotions.
- 74 percent want regular posts.
- 66 percent want to see pictures.
It’s surprising to me that at the end of 2010, nearly half of SMBs still aren’t sure their customers are using social sites to interact with brands and get trusted information. A few months ago, Danny Sullivan wrote about the “anyone know?” search, where consumers are routinely using sites like Twitter to get product-based recommendations. For example, you’ve probably seen tweets like, “Anyone know where to get a good slice of pizza?” or “Anyone know a good mechanic?” These are big opportunities for small business owners to convert new leads and build awareness.
Whether or not you think your customers are using social media, they are. The ability SMB owners have to reach out to consumers where they’re naturally hanging out is substantial, and it’s something you have to pay attention to. The Web is only going to get more social, not less.
SMB Owners Still Not Sure About Social Media
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
Your noise is still noise
Nov 27th
I was talking to a colleague about all the noise out there in the world, all the messages, ads, announcements, pitches and friend requests. “And you’re sending even more every day into that maelstrom.”
“No we’re not,” she said. “Ours isn’t noise.”
Yes it is.
View full post on Seth’s Blog
40 Years After Peter Principle, Promotions Still Aren’t a Science
Nov 10th
Image: Despair, Inc.
In 2008, Business Pundit posted an article outlining the classic “Peter Principle.” The Peter Principle says that in hierarchical organizations, workers will be promoted to their level of incompetence.
In essence, the Peter Principle lends credence to everyone’s niggling suspicion that management doesn’t know what they’re doing. According to the principle, promoting someone based on outstanding work has only marginal returns.
If your corporate scheme rewards good employees with promotions to another position, those employees will rise through the ranks until they reach a job at which they max out their level of competence. At that point, they can’t be promoted anymore, because they’re too incompetent to keep climbing the ladder. Those employees who haven’t yet reached their level of incompetence are the ones actually doing all the work.
When Do Promotions Make Sense?
Dr. Lawrence J. Peter and Raymond Hull first popularized the Peter Principle in their classic book The Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrong nearly forty years ago. The book’s most recent reissue was last year. Meanwhile, several researchers have continued to probe within organizational structures, attempting to find a solution to Dr. Peter’s dilemma.
The most recent research, published last year and awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in management science in September, was conducted by three Italian scientists from the University of Catania Sicily. By using computational models, the researchers determined that the most efficient promotion scheme was a random one.
The Italian team of researchers concluded their findings, published as “The Peter Principle Revisited: A Computational Study,” by noting:
“…we obtained the counterintuitive result that the best strategies for improving, or at least for not diminishing, the efficiency of an organization, when one ignores the actual mechanism of competence transmission, are those of promoting an agent at random or of randomly alternating the promotion of the best and the worst members.”
If random promotions give managers the shivers, researchers have posited other solutions over the years. One is to delay a promotion until a worker demonstrates the skills necessary to succeed in the higher position. Another strategy is simply rewarding outstanding work with simply a higher salary. A third, while more radical, is also timely: More IT companies are making use of contractor work, which avoids incompetence by taking on short-term employees. Those contracts can easily be terminated if workers demonstrate ineptitude.
In response to the research conducted by the Italian team, Phedon Nicolaides, a professor at the European Institute of Public Administration in Maastricht, Netherlands, noted that while the research is interesting, it isn’t practical, simply because promoting the worst members of an organization randomly would decrease morale and breed resentment among other members of the organization.
Nicolaides takes into account office politics, and how nepotism can poison an organizational structure. In a recent Cyprus Mail article, Nicolaides notes:
“Instead of promoting staff randomly, it should be the selectors and evaluators that should be identified through lottery from a larger pool of candidates. If their names are drawn randomly, say, the day before any hiring or promotion assessment, it will be very difficult for any political party to influence the outcome. The outcome should be fairer at hardly any additional bureaucracy.”
This guest post is contributed by Kate Willson, who writes on the topics of top online colleges. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: katewillson2 (AT) gmail (DOT) com.
View full post on Business Pundit
