Category Archives: Social Media

Entrepreneurs and Marketing

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I just taught a entrepreneurship class at WCC with a bunch of great students with a ton of excellent business concepts, however the marketing aspect was completely foreign to most of them. A few of them already had a couple of social accounts they were using, but they were not hitting their target markets yet or had yet to figure out how to monetize their posts.

Getting a business off the ground is tough enough, learning how to market your product/service is critical so don’t skip this step. I understand it might feel like you just hit the tsunami of efforts. I am here to tell you how to start. Think of this is the beginning of Marketing Online 101.

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

  1. Know how your product/service should appeal to your customer. After all the customer keeps your business in business.
    • Example: 5 Star Fruits and Vegetables
      • Our customers love the look of multicolored fruits and vegetables
      • They like to smell the fresh produce
      • They love freshness
  2. Are you a B2B (Business-to-Business) or B2C (Business-to-Consumer) or a combination of both? Marketing is different for each type.
    • Example: 5 Star Fruits and Vegetables
      • Is both B2C and B2B
      • B2C at the local farmers markets and helping distribute CSA orders for smaller farmers
      • B2B is about 60% of the business – local grocery stores, restaurants, catering firms
  3. Who is your customer? Based upon who your customer is…will depend on how you reach out to them.
  4. Now that you know who your customer is…what kinds of social media do they hang out on? This is where you want to hang out and start your promotions.
    • Example: 5 Star Fruits and Vegetables
      • Consumers probably hang out on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest
      • Businesses probably hang out on the above 3 and any local forums that might be out there…you can target your ads on Facebook directly to the businesses.
      • Follow your customers, hope they follow you back
      • Keep your social media to the 80/20 rule – 80% about things associated with your business and 20% about your sales or events. The 80/20 rule applies more for consumers than business. Most businesses want simple straight forward marketing.
        • Example for consumers – 80%: Free classes on how to prepare a good sourdough starter and bread. You will take home your starter, we will supply a starter for you to make a sourdough loaf of bread to take home. Spaces are limited to 10 due to our kitchen size. Click here to sign up. Or this could be at one of the participating stores they sell produce to.
        • Example for consumers – 80%: New recipes for eggplant – click here for 5 recipes to bring this undervalued vegetable to your table. (make the 5 recipes all items that can be found at one onf the local markets)
        • Example for consumers – 20%: Big sales on the last of the raspberries this weekend at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market – 20% off if you buy 2 pints or more.
        • Example for business: This next week we are bringing in our first shipment of the spring favorites. Let us know how many shipments you want of our locally grown organic strawberries. Always a favorite.
  5. What are your business colors? These should be colors that might appeal to a customer not per-se colors that appeal to you. Run your color choices by someone that will give you real feedback.
    • Example: 5 Star Fruits and Vegetables
      • Their colors are white and blue and accents with a nice tan color.
      • These two colors are fairly neutral and work well with the produce colors that change seasonally.

Ok now that we have some idea where your business is going…sit back with a nice cup of coffee and be proud…you have started your online marketing  plan. Yep there is a lot more to do but baby steps are usually good in this area of the being your own boss. If you try to take it on in more than one step…it will be overwhelming.

 

A Quick Guide to A/B Testing

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Digital advertising is much more efficient and relatively cheaper than many other forms of traditional ads. Determining which ads work and when to drop an ad is done by using A/B testing. Yes, you can test more than two options at once, but this the simplest form to get the point across for demonstration purposes.

With these testing methods, you can create two competing ads in various formats – based upon clicks and conversions you will be able to kill one ad and keep the ad that works best:

Testing Colors

Design the same ad in different colors – same images, same verbiage, but maybe the background color is different or the image colors are different. This works well with simple images. Load both and run them in the same manner – within a short amount of time you will be able to view the ad that gets the most clicks and converted the customer to your call-to-action.

Testing Content

Usually same images, same colors but the verbiage is different. Some ads just change the first few words to all caps and that is eye catching enough. Once again, this is also an effective way to quickly assess which content is preferred.

Testing Images

We are a visual society – using the same colors and verbiage but changing the image often results in a preferred ad response. You can quickly drop the underperforming ad and continue with the optimal ad image. Using the correct visuals can really boost conversion.

Ultimately your A/B testing should prove some analysis for future ads. This is the quickest and cheapest way to see what appeals without blowing your entire marketing budget.

Social Media Etiquette

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Social media: the one place where if you make a mistake, it may live on longer than you. Social Media imageStars and politicians are most often noted for creating social media blunders and, because of their following,  they are sometimes publicly crucified and rightly so.

So how do you stop from making a social media gaffe?

  1. THINK before you push the message out.
    That may sound simple but think about it before you send it.
    Ask yourself some questions: 

    • Who will this benefit?
    • Is this something I would want my boss to read?
    • Am I benefiting my brand with this post?
  2. If unsure – don’t post until someone approves it.
    • Just because something might be controversial doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be posted – but maybe your boss should bless it before it goes out. 
  3. Be polite!
    • Very few people can get away with being rude. Of course, sometimes hard–hitting facts get in the way of being nice. When that happens, at least be factual with links to back up your data.
  4. Use shortened URLs and social tools!
    • I use HootSuite for my posts and bit.ly for my shortened URLS – both have free versions and bit.ly has analytics available. With Hootsuite, I love that I can schedule my social posts in advance and if needed, I can postpone them to a later date. Additionally, HootSuite allows you to monitor your brand. Bit.ly gives me simple analytics to better understand if my links were effective. 
  5. Have a social media plan!
    1. Have an emergency plan built into this that indicates who/what when there is an emergency – who posts what. Don’t wait until the emergency happens – have something your attorney has already blessed. When I teach my students PR, one of the items I mention is having ALL of their emergency plans ready so they are not posting, talking to the media, etc. during a time of urgency.

Of all the items mentioned above, the one that should be stressed the most is the THINK! So many posts that get people in trouble are made when they are not thinking clearly.

Keywords: #pr, #publicrelations, #socialmedia, #etiquette, #hootsuite, #bit.ly

9 P’s of Marketing

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The internet was the first giant, dynamic shift in Marketing in decades. Social Media was marketing-meter-with-product-and-promotion_G1G0efvOthe next frontier that marketers embraced and both have changed the way we market everything!

Marketing classes have promoted the 4 “P’s” of marketing since they were developed in the 1960’s by E. Jerome McCarthy. They are classics, still taught today in educational institutions. However many in the industry say there are more than 4 if you want to truly understand current marketing methods.

The classic 4 are:

  1. Product -a physical product or a service is your “product”. The product and it’s benefits are in a constant rotation of the product life-cycle and need help from the other “P’s” to compete in this hyper-competitive environment.
  2. Price – in most industries this is a rotating target based upon competition, industry as a whole, current trends and predictions of sales.
  3. Place – is where you sell your product, distribution channels, and now the internet (not part of the thought process in the original 1960’s model).
  4. Promotion – includes public relations, advertising, sales, events, white papers, websites, ad words, press releases, sponsoring events, training events and many more, but I think you get the idea. I also lump process into the promotion category predominately because process is a lot about promotion.
  • Additional “P’s” that belong under promotion, Permission based marketing, Partnerships, and Personalization.

Contemporary approach with new “P’s”:

5.  Purpose – This is my favorite “P” – if you do not know the “why and what” you want from any piece of marketing material before you distribute or create it – you might be wasting a whole lot of money. With all that is available today for tracking from landing pages to unique URLS and PURLS (personalized URLS) specific to a marketing piece – why aren’t you tracking as much as possible. Know in advance – is it brand awareness or a call-to-action. What numbers are you aiming for (Predictions) – an increase in website visitors, conversion from visitor to customer, or new customer leads – I think you get the idea – know the “why and what.”

6.  People – I used to think that people belonged in the promotion category – but there has been a swing in a new direction as people “evangelize” your product. They may be employees, internet bloggers, or just people that love your product talking about it. People are also key to innovation when they actually take the time to talk to a company about a like or dislike of a product. Remember what happened when Coke changed their Classic Coke – that was a people rebellion on a grand scale. Engaging with customers and their engagement with you is priceless. You can learn so much

7.  Processes – you can have a great product or service but if you don’t have the processes in place, you are likely to fail. Processes include a strategic marketing plan which feeds into the business plan for the company, and a marketing budget – all should have short and long term predictions. Process also includes A/B testing of ads, copy, who will be your social voice, and what will be your social voice. Mistakes can end up costing jobs or reputation.

8.  Philosophy – it is no longer sufficient to be a company with a product or service. You also often share your philosophies with the world. Menlo Innovations– often invites groups of people, even their competition, in for up to week-long sessions – to show off their philosophy for developing software via extreme agile project management and paired programming. Green energy firms – Accio Energy, eco-friendly cars – Smart Cars, and electric bikes – Current Motor Company – all have a philosophy behind them. It is part of their company DNA, it is what they live and breathe at work.

9.  Packaging – from traditional packaging to non-tactile packaging on the web for services or downloads, packaging your product or service becomes more and more important as the global market place is now your competition.

There are other “P’s” that could be added to the list, but I think this covers the main old and the new “P’s” of the marketing world.

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Social Media is Not Just a Fad!

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If you Google “is social media a fad” you will find experts that fall on both sides of the audienceissue. However industry experts, in general, agree that social media is still one of the best tools for inbound marketing, it is not a fad, and not going away anytime soon.

A significant 92% of marketers said that social media was important to their businesses in a recent study by Social Media Examiner.  This was up from their 2013 report in which 86% said it was important. What most marketers find is that social media as a whole is important – but the channels shift from “in vogue” to fad status depending on the audience.

Social media opportunities change over time. Some, like podcasting, are seeing a resurgence and others, like Google Plus seem to finally be gathering more users. Social media channels are not all equal. You need to find where your customers are and use those channels to express your content. Fads within social media are part of the ever changing platform for companies to make sure they are on the proper channels. Google Plus has only recently been viewed with more acceptance, in the recent past it was perceived to be more faddish than other channels. Pinterest is a perfect example of something that initially was a fad but as savvy marketers realized the opportunity by using this channel, they jumped on board, using the channel to showcase to their products.

Marketers use multiple channels to reach their audience.   Some argue that it is too many channels to be effective, most marketers know – your customers are not all on one channel – they are usually on one or two and the message needs to be amplified on all channels that are relevant. Creating a cohesive brand representation and integrated social platform is the key to creating solid content and keeping it fresh. Social allows your brand to “manage the message”, and that is crucial to this form of advertising. Social media will be part of the overall marketing and communication package for a brand, and also art of the mission-critical business communication tool for all business objectives.

Interaction with your customers is also one of the key benefits of this form of marketing. Interaction you may not of had before, is now possible. A customer complains on twitter, reply in like channel, meaning reply on twitter. Recently I sent out a tweet about my disappointment in Dillards for a sign that was in their stores. They replied back immediately on twitter with an apology and something more interesting, they said someone else put the signs in the store. Now that makes me curious if it was someone that didn’t like Dillards, or if it was their competitor that posted the signs. What I do know is that they replied fast and succinctly.   This ability was not available before social media – the total turn around time from my post to their post back was in minutes.

Twitter conversation below:

GeekyMarketer  @Dillards – I expected more from you – who thought this was a good idea – http://t.co/8ypLqukDAY

Dillards  @GeekyMarketer We apologize to all that were offended by this story. The sign was not placed there by an employee & has since been removed.

According to the author of the book Digital Leader – “The ROI of social media is that your business will still exist in 5 years.” The truth is that we do not have a magic ball that will tell us what the future holds. While some channels may come in-and-out of popularity, this is why you hire good people to monitor your social efforts and to know when to change the message and the channel to meet growing needs. At this point in time social media is still ranking high with in-bound marketers and the future right now, and it looks promising for the continuation of this practice.

Keywords

#socialmedia #socialchannels #twitter #roisocial