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3 Stats to Think About When Crafting Your Social Media Campaign
Oct 20th
There’s a lot involved with building your social media presence–so much so, that it’s easy for small business owners to feel overwhelmed and become unsure of what they should be focusing on. And then you come across some startling stats that show just how big the disconnect really is.
I present you with three social media stats to ponder. Think about how they may reflect your own social media strategy.
1. Social Consumers Rely on Ratings and Reviews
Consumers’ increased use of social media is changing buying patterns and behaviors. It’s something we’ve been able to feel for a while, but thanks to NM Incite, we now also have the data to back it up. According to NM Incite, 63 percent of social media users listed “consumer ratings” as their preferred source for getting information about products and services. Another 62 percent of social media users listed “company reviews” as their preferred source.
Consumers are seeking out these websites for information about the products and services that they are interested in. And they are making their judgments based on the reviews and ratings your brand has received. Last week I mentioned the importance of putting together a holiday review strategy – using the momentum of the season to pad your reviews and testimonials in the New Year. The data released only reaffirms the importance of this. If you haven’t created a strategy for getting online reviews, now is the time. Don’t let it sit any longer.
2. Seventy-One Percent of Companies Ignore Customer Complaints on Twitter
How’s that for customer service?
According to research from Maritz and Evolve124, of 1,298 Twitter complaints reviewed, only 29 percent received a response from the company mentioned. The other 71 percent went completely ignored by the brand, essentially telling consumers companies are not listening and don’t care about their experiences. To make the stat even more heartbreaking, 86 percent of the tweeters who were ignored said they would have liked or loved if the company had responded to them. And that makes sense. We like hearing that a company is listening to us, that they hear what we’re saying, and that they’re going to address our concerns. We are looking for these signs when we do business with a brand, even if 51 percent of users don’t believe a company will respond when we tweet at them. We’re still elated when they do.
If your customers are giving you the opportunity to turn lemons into lemonade, to right a wrong and to start over, don’t let that opportunity slip by. Even if the tweet directed at you is full or fury , the fact that the customer said something gives you the ability to correct it. And according to the numbers, more than 80 percent will be genuinely happy to receive a response from you. That’s like guaranteed happiness just for showing up!
3. Fifty-Eight Percent Expect Exclusive Content/Discounts for “Liking” Your Brand’s Facebook Page.
If ever there was a reminder that consumers have their own motives for following you on Twitter or liking your brand on Facebook, ExactTarget reminds us that it’s really about the customer. Always. When it comes to expectations after liking a company on Facebook:
- 58 percent expect to gain access to exclusive content, events or sales
- 58 percent expect to receive discounts or promotions
- 47 percent expect to receive updates about the company, person or organization
When you begin to develop a presence on social media, it’s up to you to provide the why and create that incentive. It also means understanding your audience so you know what they want. Some may prefer discounts, while others will want exclusive videos or access to your brand. By giving your customers what they want, you increase their engagement with your brand.
The above statistics stood out to me because they all reinforce the reason for getting involved with social media in the first place. It’s about helping people find information about you, engaging when they reach out to you, and giving them something for their time. Those are the three things every social media plan should be based on.
3 Stats to Think About When Crafting Your Social Media Campaign
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
Think, Write & Retire!
Jul 19th
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Think, Write & Retire!
Teach Me How to Think About Internet Marketing
May 12th
It’s overwhelming. It’s overloaded. Sometimes it’s just flat out too much! It’s the information age and we have answers, tips, advice and thinly veiled marketing pitches for the latest “this-that-and-the-other” coming at us from every direction. And sometimes we love it. Because (if the marketing department did their job right) we hope that this miracle product will make our business as profitable as we dreamed.
Online Marketing
But when it comes to online marketing (and information in general), we just need the truth about what works and what doesn’t. And the truth is there is no miracle product for our business – meaning that while there are great things on the market, nothing eliminates the strategy work that the small business owner is responsible for.
So how do we get a handle on online marketing? I suggest we start at the heart of the matter and work our way out. In fact, Mike Blumenthal, “Professor Maps” and the man behind understanding Google Maps and local search, has created an infographic that helps us do just that.
Core Marketing
Mike believes in building your core marketing first. He teaches small business owners, via GetListed Local University, to focus first on the marketing elements that you can control and then build from there. In other words, your marketing core begins with things like your business name, your phone number, your website and your blog. Build a strong foundation there and then move on to the social networks with a plan. His infographic helps you to see this concept.
I recently interviewed Mike and learned a few more things about him and this neat little tool. He feels that once we get the “big picture” of what our online marketing is for and should look like, it’s easier than we think. Mike is “a big believer that not only do small businesses need to understand the context of their marketing but they need to invest in their marketing in such a way that they are not giving away future equity without knowing it.”
What you don’t know about online marketing, about getting listed in directories, about the demise of the printed Yellow Pages, and the rise of online local searches (for everything from the closest restaurant to the nearest dry cleaner) can hurt you.
Training for Online Marketing
“Reason and information are the currency of life,” Mike says. If he’s right, then we’d better start spending that money wisely. According to him, “each marketing effort should leverage what went on before.” I agree. And to help us (learn how to) leverage, we need a simple and systematic way to understand the overall strategy. Here are three tools from Mike’s world to help with this:
GetListed is a simple website that tests your business listing in the search engines. Why? Because it’s relevant to small businesses. These days, when we get ready to go somewhere, we pull out our smartphones and Google it. Or we map it out on our laptops and print it out before we leave the house. Or we let the GPS guide the way. The point is, we are using the Internet to find local businesses, and so are our customers. GetListed helps you figure out where your business stands and gives you advice on how to improve it.
GetListed Local University is live and in person training that focuses on smaller cities like Birmingham, Alabama and Spokane, Washington. It’s a half-day event that’s designed to give small business owners “up-to-the minute, pitch-free education about online marketing.” As an avid educator at the GetListed Local Universities, Mike believes that “Social engagement is important, but if potential clients can’t find a business at the moment they are ready to buy, then the business will be in trouble.” In other words, establish your website and get listed in the directories first. Social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc) come second.
Mike’s Infographic: Web Equity – Owning Your Local Web Presence is a single visual. Mike designed it to show “the marketing opportunities that are available to small businesses.”
I like this tool. It takes some thinking to digest it. But with his concise explanations and a little focus, the concept behind an effective online marketing strategy becomes clear. And for me, that’s a breath of fresh air.
Teach Me How to Think About Internet Marketing
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
Why makers should think a little bit more like managers (and vice versa)
Apr 9th
Paul Graham, as usual, is thought provoking.
There’s no question that programmers, designers, writers and others that do their best work in a moment of flow do themselves and their organizations a disservice when they are ruled by the clock and spend a lot of it in meetings.
Paul’s argument is that makers should be insulated from this sort of wasteful nonsense.
The essay is one of his best ever, but I think he needs to add a key point…
Managers need to act more like makers, because making is more important than ever before. Even the most Outlook-driven manager can benefit from finding the isolation to do truly challenging work.
Makers need to be disciplined enough to interact like managers, else they will become pawns in a system they don’t sufficiently influence. If you’re not present when decisions are getting made, my guess is that you won’t like what gets decided…
Neither side gets to insist on just one way. Both need to do more of the other’s work. Not because it’s easy or even fun, but because it’s still the best way to bring your vision to the world.
View full post on Seth’s Blog
Why to Think Twice About Green Labels
Apr 9th
Getting your business or product “green certified” may seem like a smart way to show your customers and prospective customers that you adhere to environmentally friendly practices. But be careful. You could end up spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars for a green label that’s worthless or, worse, hurts your reputation.
More organizations and consulting firms are introducing green labels and certification programs. The idea is to make it easy for consumers to see which businesses follow eco-friendly practices or meet a rigorous set of sustainability standards. Such programs often appeal to small businesses that need help navigating the evolving world of sustainability and perhaps believe a label adds some credibility to their efforts.
Yet, some certification programs aren’t as valuable as others, nor as reputable. (Read about a green certification scam recently penalized by the Federal Trade Commission.) Some, such as Green Seal, may require intense assessment of a business’s practices before providing certification. Others may require little or no assessment at all. They’re just a marketing gimmick: Fork over $200 in order to get a window cling or a website listing signifying you’re a green business. (I know a couple of websites, for instance, that ask businesses to fill out a short online questionnaire to self-certify themselves as green. The businesses then pay fees to get listed on the site, even though nobody actually verifies that the business does what it says.)
You want to make sure you’re dealing with a reputable certification program that will ultimately add value to your business, and not suggest you’re simply greenwashing your image. So what to do? Here are some tips when it comes to deciding whether a green certification program is right for you:
1. Read up. Several online resources can help vet green certification programs or at least direct you to reputable ones. Consumer Reports offers a helpful Eco-labels center where people can look up and read about environmental labeling programs.The U.S. Small Business Administration also has a list of green labeling programs. Before signing up with any particular program, make sure to thoroughly research it online, such as checking with the Better Business Bureau.
2. Assess the program. Determine what kind of information and guidance you will get for going through the certification process. Are the steps ultra-simple, so you’re basically just paying for the recognition? Or does it require a set of environmentally meaningful standards that are verified by the certifier? Also determine whether it’s a valuable recognition to have: Will your customers and prospective customers actually know and care about the green label?
3. Weigh the alternatives. Plenty of businesses effectively market their greenness without ever getting a label from a third-party organization. They do so by creating a dialogue with their customers. They use social media and creative marketing to tell consumers about why their products or practices are environmentally sound. They write and follow sustainability plans and post them on their websites. It’s more authentic and more likely to pay off in the end.
Why to Think Twice About Green Labels
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
Font Matters More Than You May Think
Feb 21st
Banned in Hollywood makes a good point (while poking fun at itself):
View full post on Business Pundit
Entrepreneurs Think Differently
Nov 29th
Entrepreneurs think differently from other people. When technological changes make existing products obsolete, demographic and social changes alter attitudes, and political and regulatory changes adjust the playing field, most people complain. Entrepreneurs come up with solutions.
The Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) introduction of the backscatter scanner and enhanced airport pat downs is a case in point. John Tyner became the latest Internet celebrity for his response to the new security procedures – the “Don’t Touch My Junk” –watch the video. Others opposed to the new rules sought to trigger a pre-Thanksgiving opt out to draw attention to the new measures. And the vast majority of Americans either grumbled their complaints or stoically accepted the latest indignity of air travel in the post 9/11 age.
Not so for entrepreneur Jeff Buske who saw a business opportunity in the introduction of the backscatter scanner. Buske invented a new kind of underwear. With parts made of tungsten that don’t trigger metal detectors, his product provides privacy to wearers by blocking the explicit images displayed on the new scanner.
The TSA might respond to Buske’s invention by requiring those wearing his underwear to go through enhanced pat downs, but that possibility doesn’t negate what he did. He responded to a market need that was opened up by a change in regulation – a concern about privacy generated by the better images on the TSA’s new machines – by offering a solution.
Academics like myself, study why some people, like Buske, come up with new business ideas in response to these changes, while other people don’t. What we’ve learned is that entrepreneurs think differently from other people. Rather than lamenting the problems created by technological, social, demographic, political and regulatory change, entrepreneurs view them as a good thing – they are the source of business opportunity.
Those who come up with new business ideas in response to these changes also seem to have a background – work or educational experience – that provides them with the necessary prior knowledge to think up a solution to the customer problem. In Buske’s case, his engineering background helped him to come up with the idea of putting tungsten in your underwear – not the first thing most of us thought of when faced with the experience of going through a backscatter scanner.
I don’t know if we will all be sitting around the airport googling on our iPhones in our part-tungsten underwear any time soon. Having the ability to see the potential for a entrepreneurial idea in situations that just gets others irritated doesn’t guarantee business success. But it does show a different way of thinking.
Entrepreneurs Think Differently
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
Pigeons Are Smarter Than We Think
Oct 15th
Social media and marketing: It’s working…we think
Oct 11th
| But my interest is less in social activism and more in how social media work to sell products and promote marketing campaigns. |
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View full post on Home Wealth Project Riot!
Is the Small-Business Recession Worse Than You Think?
Sep 21st
It’s always difficult to get an accurate read on how small businesses are faring. Most small businesses are privately held and not very forthcoming in sharing details about their operations. Ask an entrepreneur “How’s business?” these days and you could be in danger of getting smacked.
But datahouse Sageworks, which specializes in small-business intelligence, has been tracking small-company employment through the downturn. Their assessment: That recession in the mirror may be larger than it appears.
Looking at revenue data from more than 25 million small businesses, Sageworks CEO Brian Hamilton finds that over the past two years, sales were down about 5 percent for the small-business sector — and then down another 5 percent the following year, on top of that first decline.
To sum up: “It’s bad,” Hamilton says.
There are some bright-spot sectors in the mess, Hamilton says: healthcare and education, particularly technical and trade schools. We’re apparently drinking a lot — beer, wine, and liquor stores are doing well.
Strangely, child care centers are still doing well, even though you’d think there are fewer people needing child care since more are unemployed. That one’s a puzzle to me.
Ecommerce is strong, as we’ve noted in this space recently. But of some 1,200 industries Sageworks tracks, Hamilton says perhaps 40 categories are doing well.
Low points are fairly obvious — anything real-estate related, basically.
When you go down 5 percent and 5 percent again — as anyone who knows the magic of compound interest will tell you — that’s more than a 10 percent decline. That level of revenue shrink can have a fearsome effect on the bottom line. “De-leveraging assets” is the technical term the big retailers use, which translated means “I’m stuck with the same fixed costs but have less income with which to pay them.” Anyone with a store and rent to pay is in deep trouble with this kind of revenue decline.
On the stock-trading Web site Mr. Swing, blogger TraderMark has his theory about what’s choking small-business growth — the bloated healthcare and government sectors.
What do you think? Has Washington downplayed how bad it is out there for entrepreneurs? If so, what’s to blame? Leave a comment and let us know how you’re weathering the recession.
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View full post on Entrepreneur.com – Daily Dose
