Be Yourself, Be Authentic, Be Funny

News Limited newspapers in Australia recently ran a tech story headlined “Social Media’s Trendy, But Does it Lead To Sales?”

The author, Nick Gilbert, pushed a simple message for small business: “Keep it real” and gave a few examples of business owners who have made Social Media work for them.

If you have read the earlier news posts on this website, you’ll know that we’ve been saying for a while that Social Media such as Twitter / Facebook etc will work … but so long as you speak in an authentic voice and make sure your posts aren’t boring!

The newspaper story also pushed this line … but listen to some of the results they noted:

• “I get either a client enquiry or an actual client at least twice a week”
• “We spend about 90 per cent of our time and efforts on Facebook. It’s a far more dynamic channel for us to communicate with our client base.”

These are real Aussie businesses making real results from Social Media.

But as the story noted, they have each developed a strategy that means they are selling by “not selling”.

Except for those few extremely funny video ads that “go viral”, no one enjoys reading advertising.

No one will re-post, “like” or re-tweet a blatant ad (unless they’re friends with the business owner!)

However they will repost information they find is interesting, that they haven’t heard before, a joke, a funny story, a handy hint, a quirky photo etc

So to pass Social Media 101, repeat slowly after me … “Don’t Be Boring!”

• Read the full story by Nick Gilbert here

Online Marketing … Feeling Confused?

You’ve decided that marketing online will be useful for your business … now which type should you choose?

1. Corporate website - there’s no debate. Whatever you do online, you MUST have a website for your business. Debating in the 21st Century whether or not you need a website is like debating whether or not you need a telephone. The scale and scope of your website will differ depending on the type of business you are running but the bottom line is, you MUST have some sort of presence on the Internet. This presence is more than just an online advertisement, it’s your Corporate identity in cyberspace. It’s the anchor point for all your other online activities. Once you’ve drawn people to your website via whatever online streams you enter, it must be easy to navigate and have sufficient information to entice the reader to close a sale. This is your online shopfront.

2. Social utilities such as Facebook and micro-blogs such as Twitter are much more personal. This is why they’re called “social marketing”!They provide valuable SEO opportunities to draw readers to your main corporate website. They also provide an excellent way for you – as the business owner – to interact personally with your customers. As explained in a previous article, they are more likely to succeed if you speak with an authentic voice. Your role is that of a friendly salesman, ready to chat about anything but with all your business information at your fingertips, too.

3. Blogs are another online social utility which started initially as a way for friends and families to swap information and for individuals to keep online diaries. Used in a corporate way, however, blogs provide an opportunity to post longer articles about particular subjects - or particular goods and services – and then interact publicly with your readers and refer them back to your website. Again, your role is as a friendly salesman, but this time demonstrating your in-depth expertise. A real advantage of blogs is that search engines spider blog posts so your posted information will appear in web searches. This is particularly true of blogs on Blogspot or Blogger (no real surprise, they’re owned by Google!) Technorati is a specialist search engine website that keeps a close eye on the “blogosphere”. To check out some successful small business blogs visit Technorati’s blog directory and follow the links.

4. Forums. Electronic bulletin boards, usually built around a single topic or hobby, date back to the earliest days of the Internet. As the web developed, these message boards became more sophisticated in design and developed into user-friendly forums with hundreds of pages. However their basic aim has remained the same.  A group of people, usually with the same interests, gather together at a point in cyberspace to ask questions, post photos and generally chat about their hobbyhorse. Sometimes these chats can be in real time (using chatroom software) but usually they work by someone opening a topic and then others responding to the thread across time.

In Options 1-3 above, the business owner has some control of the message. Forums work differently. Although levels of access can be controlled, usually once a member registers he/she can do whatever they like unless you ban their IP or limit their privileges.

So can this work for your business? Definitely yes, but in a much more limited way than other online options. For example, a computer repairer could host a forum where people ask and answer software-related questions. All the time they are on the forum, the readers have the computer repairer’s name in front of them and the business owner has the opportunity to demonstrate their expertise by solving problems. Likewise, forums work well for other specialists such as car restorers, antique dealers … in fact, anywhere where there is a speciality topic that readers (ie potential customers) want to explore. There are also many forums dedicated to subjects such as shares and property, some with dubious investment “tips” that are obviously designed to manipulate the market. Forums can also be manipulated by people seeking SEO opportunities however search engines are aware of this, and links from these forums are usually downgraded.

* * * *

It’s important to remember that digital marketing is simply one weapon in your marketing arsenal. It supports and reflects your business story, brand, service, conveys your point of difference and creates a call to action.

1. Create Your Profile

Facebook is all about personal relationships, i.e. “friends”. People probably DON’T want to make friends with your business, but they may like to be friends with you. In any case, you are not allowed to create a profile for your business. What you can do is create a profile for yourself, using your real name (false names are also against Facebook’s Terms of Services and risk instant deletion if detected).

Don’t forget to check your Privacy settings. You may, or may not, wish to share those “cute” family moments with the world and potential customers.

2. Work At It.

Upload your contact database to see if any of your contacts – or customers – are already on Facebook. Send “friend” requests. Then continue working at it! There is no point in starting a social networking marketing strategy unless you are willing to spend time at it, usually every day! Chat and joke with your new “friends” and answer their questions.

3. Create Your Company Page

Once you have created a personal profile, you can create a page for your business (this option is also available from Facebook’s initial log-in page)

This company page looks similar to your personal profile and can also be enhanced with applications that, as Facebook describes it, “capture new audiences virally through friend recommendations, News Feed stories, Facebook events, and beyond”.

Business pages should have your company contact information as well as photos, videos, news about upcoming events, discussion forums and links back to your corporate website. You can also include an RSS feed from your blog, embed videos from YouTube or re-tweet Twitter posts. And the bonus is, these company pages are spidered by search engines so your info will show up in Google!

The Facebook residents who become fans of your company are putting up their hands to tell you they like your product. They are inviting you to stay in touch with them and share information and advice. Do it!

4. What not to do

Don’t privately message too many individuals. You’ll be identified by Facebook as a spammer and you risk having your profile deleted.

Hard-selling doesn’t work!

Remember Facebook – and in fact all social media avenues – aren’t “get-rich-quick” schemes. Social media is about building networks and your reputation slowly over time. People will like your page and absorb your message if you provide content that it interesting and gives them value.

5. Advertising on Social Media

Of course, you can also advertise directly on Facebook in an attempt to drive people to your business page. There are benefits of advertising with a social media network, for example, Facebook ads allow you to target a select demographic.

6. Be Alert & Keep On Your Toes

One of the real problems – and opportunities – with social media outlets are that they are continually evolving.

More likely than not, these changes will be beneficial to marketers but you have to be alert to take advantage of opportunities as they arise.

Facebook, for example, seems keen to improve its revenue streams and often tweaks its users’ settings. However, it is important to watch how these changes play out in the marketplace as privacy issues can arise and Facebook can “pull the plug” on a feature almost instantaneously.

For an interesting oversight of some of Facebook’s history of changes, visit CNET

Here’s A Few More Ideas About Social Media

“Social media” marketing has been the buzz internationally for the past few years. In Australia, it has had a slow start but the wave is starting to build up now.

1. What is social media? Social media is simply a conversation between people online. Common social media forums include Facebook, Youtube and Twitter. These allow people to easily chat about what they’re doing, swap jokes, photos, videos and play games together. When marketers join in, the theory is that when someone you know says “Joe’s pizzas are great”, you’re very likely to believe this and try the pizza … more likely, in fact, than when Joe himself says his pizzas are great in a flyer in your letterbox.

2. Social media does not replace other forms of marketing. A social media marketing strategy should be part of an overall promotional package. Social media may be less expensive than other forms of marketing but don’t forget to factor in the cost of your time. It takes a substantial investment in time to build relationships with potential customers online as well as posting regular updates, engaging with followers and responding to comments.

3. Set aside a time in your weekly diary to do your social media work. The whole point of social media is to keep your followers updated regularly. Stale content will reflect badly on your business. If your updates aren’t regular, your followers will quickly lose interest.

4. Link your social media platforms. Here’s some ideas … Create a Facebook group … link this to a blog on your corporate website. Create a Twitter account and link this to your Facebook account so your tweets appear automatically on Facebook, too. Create a Linked In account and link this to your blog, Twitter feed and Facebook account. Upload a video to Youtube. Link your Yourtube account to Twitter and Facebook or post the Youtube video on your blog. Remember: be consistent in your message in each forum, and if appropriate, use your company colours and logo. And don’t be lazy when setting up your accounts. Fill in all the fields and be honest. For these daisy chains to work smoothly, you don’t want website administrators cancelling an account because it looks suspicious to them.

5. Be authentic with your content. Nominate someone in your business to do the updates. Readers can detect when a “different voice” is writing. And your content must be interesting! Only a small amount – less than 20% – should be directly promoting your product or service. Chat with followers, answer comments, promote local events.

Every business exploring the world of social media is probably hoping to hit the promotional bullseye by having a message “go viral” on the Internet.

If this happens, thousands – maybe millions – of people will be watching your video or reading your message, and then re-posting it to their friends, tweeting about it etc etc.

Here’s an example of one of the most successful viral advertisements (this was spread around the world, before it went to TV and the cinema):

But be careful … some messages “go viral” for all the wrong reasons!

A United States hamburger chain created a Facebook application called Sacrifice. The idea was simple: “de-friend” 10 people on Facebook and the player would earn a coupon for a free hamburger. The rejected friends would also get an email letting them know that they had been dropped in exchange for a free burger.

This negative campaign was so unpopular that even Facebook eventually banned it – and the story about the campaign? Well, it has gone viral. Not good publicity for the company involved!

So you’ve decided your business needs a website …

Here are five of the most common mistakes that I have watched small businesses make when they start thinking about the web:

1. Failing to weigh up the true cost of a website.

The “I know nothing about computers”-type of business person … You would think this species would be rare nowadays but it’s surprising how many business owners and middle managers are not “tech savvy” – and almost wear it as a badge of honour. They rely on their younger employees – or their children! – to bring them up to speed.

These decisionmakers usually make one of two fatal errors:

• Spending too little: Would you rely on your young nephew “who’s good with computers” to do your accounts? Well then, don’t trust him to shape your web presence and then expect results
• Spending too much: This can happen if the project parameters are not clearly defined and your web designer is working on an hourly rate. Always sign a contract with your developer that spells out exactly how many hours are going to be spent on a project. Don’t let this become “open-ended”. Clearly define what both parties are responsible for (eg. who is supplying the words and photos? who is signing off on the design?) and watch out for hidden extras like “search engine optimisation” (see below)

2. Domain Name (or URL): What you are actually purchasing is a registration which can last from one year to more than five years. At the end of this time, your ownership will lapse unless you renew it before a deadline passes. Don’t be afraid to “shop around” as domain name costs vary widely, however be aware that cheaper resellers may not remind you when your domain comes due for renewal. Australian (com.au) domains cost more than American (.com) domains but for Australian businesses this investment is worthwhile. Australian consumers expect Australian businesses to be on a .com.au domain!

3. Development Costs. Set a reasonable budget, (see above), and stick to it. And make certain at the end of the project that you own the website and no copyrighted material remains vested in the developer. Make sure the package you have negotiated does not include extra charges for items which should be included as a matter of course, e.g. meta tags. Sometimes web developers will charge an arm and a leg for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Be wary! Shonky operators can charge a large sum to list your site on a link network which may actually devalue your website in the long term – both in the eyes of customers who stumble upon this “link farm” and Search Engines which will eventually identify it as a scam.

4. Hosting. You get what you pay for! The company that is offering the super-cheap $2/month deal probably has a superfast website but don’t let that fool you! Your $2 site won’t be put on this server. You will be sharing bandwidth with a few thousand other sites. Not only could this make your website unbearably slow but the “uptime” of the server could also be unreliable. Flaky servers that come and go off the Internet can give the impression that your business is flaky too!

5. Maintenance costs. This is the one item that most people forget. They budget for the monthly hosting fee but put nothing aside to keep the website up-to-date. The search engine “robots” that visit your website detect when content changes. Human visitors also notice this too! To draw visitors back to your site, provide interesting changing content. Changing content will help your website rank better in Search Engine results.