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The Social Media Dilemma for Businesses

 

Every week I speak to business people who are facing the same dilemma. They keep hearing that they should be using Social Media* for Business, but they have no idea WHAT that really means. Facebook? Twitter? YouTube? Blogging? And even if they did know HOW, they don’t know WHEN they’d have the time for it.

And even if they knew when, the biggest question of all is WHY?

There are as many answers to How and What as there are different kinds of businesses. But the answer to WHY? is always the same**:

To Increase Revenue

This is the first in a series of posts that address just this issue. I will attempt to answer the question WHY? for different types of businesses.

 

BUSINESS TYPE #1: BUSINESS DEPENDS UPON REFERRALS, NOT MARKETING

“Our business depends on referrals for all of our new clients. We never market or advertise. Our stellar reputation is why people choose us. WHY should we use Social Media?”

Imagine this Scenario:

One of your current happy clients tells a colleague how your company has  done a fantastic   job for her. The colleague writes down your name (or your company name). Remember, your best clients aren’t walking around with a stack of your businesses cards, as much as you wish they would!

The colleague (this person could be your dream client!) has no other choice but to do a Google search for your company in order to find your contact info. What will she see? Get into the head of that potential client and perform that same Google search for yourself. What appears on your screen is pretty much what she sees.

Is your website the only listing on the page? Does it tell your company’s story in a way that the potential client will see value in hiring you? Is there anything else appearing on the screen that conveys the message that you want this client to see? 

If your answer is NO, then you have a wonderful opportunity: Social Media (I use the term loosely) is the way to increase your business profile on the web and moreover, make sure that your story is told in the way that will make a potential client sit up and say “This is exactly what I am looking for!”

 

Research shows that people use search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing) more often than any other research tool as the #1 source of information gathering in preparation for a purchasing decision (even when they have been referred!).

And it’s only natural. Everyone wants to get a little bit more information about a company before they pick up the phone and call, and the Internet has made it possible to research quickly and easily.  I’m sure you’ve done it yourself.

What we don’t know is how many potential clients have searched for your company after having been referred and DID NOT CHOOSE YOU because your Internet presence did not convey that your company provides exactly what they need.

 

WHY? Because Lost Opportunity results in Lost Revenue! That’s Why! Now…HOW, WHAT and WHEN are easy! Let’s talk.

 

 

*I use Social Media as a catchall term for content marketing, blogging, and using Facebook, Twitter, etc.

**Disclosure: every now and then I do work with a client that does not have a revenue producing agenda, but instead is looking for pure visibility in her or his field.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do You Hate Social Media?

As a Social Media expert I am frequently referred to businesses that need my help. I work with large companies, online retailers, and marketing agencies. But I have many clients that fall into the “small but successful”, category, too. And, the majority of these “small but successful” businesses are owned by really smart, really fearless, and really dynamic people.

These really smart, fearless, and dynamic people seem to have one thing in common: They “hate” Social Media!

How do I know they hate Social Media? Because invariably when I first sit down to work with them, they start our conversation in one of these ways:

• “I know we should be “doing” Social Media, but I don’t know why.”
• “I’m really stupid about these things.”
• “I hate Facebook and I hate that my kids spend so much time on it.”
• “My competitors aren’t doing it; why should I?”
• “I am totally confused about Social Media and I don’t like it.”
• “How much does this stuff cost?”

First of all, I want to say that I completely understand why successful business owners in their 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s would hate Social Media. After all, they built their businesses without Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. And, if they use Social Media at all, they may use Facebook as a personal tool for keeping up with those people from high school that they hadn’t planned to keep up with in the first place!

However, the reality is that Social Media is in our world, it affects all aspects of our lives, and it has a huge impact on our businesses. We can’t live without it. But instead of approaching it as a drain on resources (time and money), I encourage clients to look at Social Media as a wonderful opportunity.

The opportunity is this: for the first time, you can have a big impact on how your business appears to the public by using Social Media. When you Google the name of your company you should see 1-3 pages full of links to content that conveys your business’ unique value and expertise. Why?

Because research has shown that Search Engine searches are used more often than any other research tool as the primary source of information gathering in preparation for a purchasing decision. And this is true for B2B as well as for B2C.

Social Media activities increase the links to your business on Search Engines and enable you to control what your prospective clients and customers see. That is particularly important if you depend on word-of-mouth to grow your business.

So, if you don’t like what get when you Google your company’s name, give me a call. I’ll teach you how to love Social Media (or maybe just “Like” it.).

Don’t Forget About LinkedIn – 3 Steps to Get your Profile Up to Date

It’s so easy these days to get jazzed about all the new social networking platforms there are out there.

From Facebook to Google, changes are being made that enable companies and brands to reach their market in new and awesome ways.

However, when it comes to your business profile, there is nothing more effective than LinkedIn. LinkedIn is still the ultimate virtual business networking platform. It’s a lot less sexy than “Social Networking” sites, but LinkedIn has implemented some pretty cool features lately that make it a lot more fun.

So, don’t neglect your LinkedIn profile…it’s as valuable, or even more valuable, than anything else if you are a businessperson and especially if you own or run a company.

Step 1: Complete or review your profile.

LinkedIn makes it easy by telling you what’s missing. You may opt to not include some info (like your education or past positions), but you have missed something you do want to appear. Why is it important to review your profile?

• You will appear established and professional.

• People make decisions whether to connect with contact you based upon the information in your profile.

• A complete profile will increase your visibility and help you get found.

• A profile with old or not relevant information hurts your reputation.

Step 2: Get recommended

Users with recommendations are 3 times as likely to get inquiries through LinkedIn searches. And users who make recommendations are more likely to get recommendations. It’s very easy to ask for recommendations, and you will find that a good percentage of the people you ask will be happy to do so, especially if you reciprocate. Tip: Reviews and Recommendations are the juice that is powering a lot of Search results these days.

Step 3: Become a thought leader in your field

Join groups, be a part of discussions and answer questions. No matter what kind of work you do, you have a level of expertise and sharing your experience makes you a more visible and valuable member of the business community. Don’t be afraid of “giving away” your secrets. There are few secrets in our digital age, anyway.

More:

• If you or your company has a blog, set up an automatic feed into your profile. The more content that you display, the better it is for your profile.

• You can now “Follow” a company the same way you can do so on Twitter and Facebook. Make sure your company has a profile.

• Think about keywords when you are completing your profile. For instance, if you are an expert in LEED green technology, use those phrases in your profile. Remember, Google and Bing index LinkedIn and use the results for searches.

If you’re not convinced that spending some time on LinkedIn is valuable, do a Google search for yourself or your company. Look at the results from the point of view of someone who is making a decision whether to contact you for business. Then decide.

Have questions about LinkedIn? Just Ask Betsy!

Word of Mouth Marketing for Local Businesses

It's very exciting that Be Visible Associates' client Dr. Michael Sinkin was featured in print and web in the New York Daily News yesterday.

The article is about how small businesses are seeing success by using Social Media marketing. Dr. Sinkin has increased his practice by using Facebook, Twitter and Blogging. Don't think a sole medical practitioner can use Social Media effectively? Think again!

Read the article:

Word of mouth: Scores of businesses are joining the conversation with Twitter, Facebook

Photo: NY Daily News

Simply Put: How to Really Use Facebook Page Insights

With Facebook Business Pages, unless you are running ads, you don’t get a ton of data to work with. However, Facebook is starting to deliver more analytics (called Insights) on status updates for Page owners. Here are some tips on how to use them:

Create an Editorial Calendar: Since I recommend that brands and businesses shouldn’t post Facebook updates more than once per day, it’s pretty easy to create a calendar.I usually plan updates 1-2 weeks in advance. That gives me something to post every day without having to create updates on the fly, but it’s a short enough time to be able to react to something in the news, great content I may find, or changes in the business.

Expand the Editorial Calendar into a spreadsheet. Your spreadsheet should contain these columns:

• Date
• Update (the content you will post)
• Post Time (i.e. 1:00pm)
• Impressions
• Likes
• Comments
• Total Feedback (what percentage of people who saw your post, actually engaged with it)

After about 24 hours, you will see analytics of each post such as Impressions, number of “Likes”, number of Comments, and total feedback. Then just plug those numbers into your spreadsheet.

Impressions: Of course, you are looking for the greatest number of impressions (meaning how many people see your update) and after a while you are going to see some patterns in what time each day you are reaching the most people. Compare weekends to weekdays and mornings to afternoons and evenings.

If some of your posts have links to your website or blog, you should add a column for those and get the data from your Google Analytics.

Make sure you take note what will affect your numbers, such as time of year, for example. If your goal is to reach teens, during the summer they’ll be on Facebook more during the day, whereas during the school year on weekdays, they’ll be on Facebook more at night. So, plan your posts accordingly. The analytics will tell you if you’ve guessed correctly.

“Likes” and Comments: Why is it important that your updates get lots of “Likes” and Comments? The obvious reason is: engagement with your brand or business. But there’s another really important reason! Stay tuned and I’ll explain in my next post!

Related: Why Businesses (Should) Love Facebook

Simply Put: Why Businesses (Should) Love Facebook

Businesses and brands should love Facebook. Why? Because Facebook enables companies to talk to the people who are actually interested in what they have to say.

The old school of advertising was this: Blast out a message to an audience defined by geography and media consumption habits and pray you reach the right people at the right time and enough times, enough times that they consider a purchase in your category.

But with Facebook, it’s not simply age, geography and media consumption habits that define an audience; it is interests that define an audience.

On Facebook, when members complete their profile info, they enter their likes and interests such as:

• Activities

• Music

• Books

• Movies

• TV Shows

And, members add brands to their profile, too, when they “Like” Facebook ads that appear on their page or through updates shared by their friends,

So, for brands, on Facebook it’s as easy as pie to find the people who would be most interested in your message and reach them through Facebook Ads. And even for smaller businesses, with Facebook Ads, the playing field can be leveled.

For example:

• If you sell pizza, you can reach people who “Like” Dominos Pizza and Pizza Hut.

• If you sell children’s clothes, you can reach people who “Like” The Children’s Place, Pottery Barn Kids, and Toys R Us.

• If you sell beauty products, you can reach people who “Like” Sephora and Avon.

Your brand becomes part of the community of people who want to see your messages.

What’s even better, you can quickly and inexpensively learn by trial and error what your fans respond to by testing different kinds of updates and keeping detailed records of how many “Likes” and how many comments (and what kinds of comments) your posts receive. And, Facebook is providing more and more robust tracking information to help you analyze the engagement.

So, what do you do with that info? Stay tuned!

Related: Simply Put: Why People Love Facebook

Social Media Marketing: The Cool Brand Factor

How brands and businesses use Social Media has everything to do with how the decision makers use Social Media themselves. People in business who have grown up using Facebook, for example, understand that the Social Media is not just a useful tool, but it’s the way people define themselves in front of their peers. And people want to be associated with Cool, including Cool Brands.

Although Facebook has just reached the 500 million-members marker, it has just begun to define itself in terms of business. So, it’s up to each company and brand to figure out how to use it effectively. When I consult with a client, I often ask them to spend time on these 3 questions:

1. Who is my target market?

2. Where do they hang out on the Web?

3. What would make them want to identify with my brand in front of their audience?

In other words, what can I do to make my brand “Cool”?

Old Spice is the perfect example of how an “uncool” brand found it’s “Cool Factor”. The aging brand has been around since the 1930s, a dinosaur in the men’s grooming and cologne market. But they decided to use Social Media as Generation Y does:both as a conversational tool and as a way to define a new public image. Actor Isaiah Mustafa created a dashing spokesman character-wearing only a towel-who responded to users comments through a series of witty short videos, each taking less than seven minutes to shoot.

The series not only created a bond between users and the brand, but also suggests that the Old Spice customer is similarly funny and cool. On Twitter, Isaiah Mustafa’s Old Spice character is acting just as any young person would: posting random musings rather than Old Spice info: “I can’t stop thinking about axes and mountains and wolves and football. And old steam tractors.” Rather than set up a conversation between the customer and the brand, the Social Media team at Old Spice mimicked the Social Media voice of their ideal customer. Check out Old Spice on Facebook to see what they are doing.

If you are in the position to make marketing decisions for a company or brand venturing into Social Media, spend some time identifying your “Cool Factor” before you get started. Even if you don’t have the budget of an Old Spice, taking this one preliminary step with make the rest a lot easier.

Simply Put: Why People Love Facebook

We love Facebook because it makes it easier to share information with more people at the same time than any other tool we have. Why is that so revolutionary?

Because a family photo, an event you’re attending, an accomplishment you’re proud of, something that drives you crazy, your latest purchase, the song you’re listening to, the meal you’ve cooked, the photo you’ve taken, the news story you find interesting, the cause you’re involved in, the day you’ve had…now can be shared with everyone you’re connected to, instantaneously.

Nowhere else is that possible. Not by email, not by text, not by chat. Nowhere.

And, this is the key: after a while, it feels weird to do anything without sharing it with your audience of family, friends, co-workers, classmates, friends of friends, etc.

That’s what makes Facebook so powerful. 500-million-people powerful. What the founders have tapped into, albeit accidentally is: humans are natural performers….we crave attention from the minute we’re born.

So, if you are wondering why Facebook is such a hot topic, now you know. But you already knew that, right? (Please share this article!)

Next: Why Businesses Love Facebook

YouTube Stars: How Social Media is Letting the Public Choose

When the now-infamous LonelyGirl15 began sharing her video diaries to the world, she became an unlikely YouTube star—until it was      discovered that the seemingly-average girl-next-door was actually an actress hoping to get noticed by site’s millions of users.

LonelyGirl15 has since disappeared off the pop culture radar but more and more budding young artists are getting noticed on the Internet, first by the public, and then by entertainment execs.

With nearly 90 million channel views at the time of this writing, the Fred Channel is one of YouTube’s biggest stars among younger audiences. The channel is the creation of Lucas Cruikshank, a Nebraska teenager and is videos are centered on Fred Figglehorn, a fictional 6-year-old with a dysfunctional home life and “anger management issues.”

MTV Network’s subsidiary Nickelodeon picked up on the hype, and created a movie featuring Fred that will air later this year; they have already committed to a sequel that they expect to be part of a larger franchise.

The 16-year-old singing sensation Justin Beiber also began as a YouTube star. Hip-hop manager and marketing exec Scott Braun discovered the young Canadian’s singing by accidentally clicking on one of his YouTube videos, which Beiber’s mother posted for family and friends.

Braun arranged a meeting for R&B singer Usher, who helped Beiber sign with Island Records. Beiber’s first album went platinum in the US and Canada, coming in at #1 on the US Billboard Hot 200; he was the youngest artist to do so since Stevie Wonder.

In 2003, after graduating from college, Justin Halpern moved to Hollywood to work as a screenwriter, without much luck. He was forced to move back home. He decided to keep a record of his dad’s quick one-liners, and began posting them on Twitter under the handle Sh*t My Dad Says.

The Twitterverse embraced him and after only a few weeks, his account had over 100,000 followers. Result: a bestselling book and a television series starring William Shatner airing in the fall.

This is what is so cool: Today the possibility of success is more accessible to artist, regardless of whether they are in Hollywood, NYC, or in a basement in Nebraska.

Before the Internet, how could a talented kid like Lucas (Fred) ever get noticed? Well, first he’d have to graduate from High School, move to California, invest money in expensive headshots and agents, and wait on tables while hoping to get in front of the tiny handful of heavy hitters who control the entertainment industry.

Justin Beiber may have spent years trying to get noticed, and Justin Halpern may have ended up living at home for the rest of his life.

Today, the measure of success is talent and mass appeal, rather than who you know or what you can pay.

I wonder how big stars of the past would have been judged by the commenters on YouTube, or which talented people would have made it if they had the ability to be in front of the public instead of just a few casting directors.

Ultimately, opening the entertainment industry up to social media’s influence makes for a more transparent entertainment industry, where the public becomes the arbiters of taste, rather than a few studio execs in a closed room.

As Justin Halpern knows, even when the executives take a pass, they’ll think again when the masses disagree.

It’s a win for performers, it’s a win for the public, and I believe it’s a win for the entertainment industry.

Zipcar Does Social Media Right – My Experience

The other day I tweeted this about the fact that I had waited too long to book a Zipcar for the Memorial Day weekend:

@BeVisible no cars left for mem day at Zipcar

Well, guess what? I got a call from Todd Lieberman, the fleet manager for Zipcar in NYC. He said that he understood that I wasn’t able to get a car for Memorial Day and he would like going try find one for me if I was still interested.

I was floored! I didn’t even remember sending that Tweet! Kudos for Zipcar!

This is a perfect example of how Social Media works so well for business.

1. Customer Care: Todd made me feel like the most important customer Zipcar has. And I don’t even use the service much these days!

2. Reputation: It showed that Zipcar really cares about their company’s reputation.

3. Authenticity: Now Todd personifies Zipcar in my mind. I have his phone number and email address if I need help later on.

4. Graciousness: When I couldn’t get a Zipcar. I reserved a car from a traditional rental company for the weekend. In spite of that, Todd still found a car for me, and gave me the option to take it or leave it. He even placed it in my reservations for me!

What does this do for Zipcar’s bottom line? What’s the ROI? Well, I am tweeting and writing about how great they are! I have 6,000 Twitter followers. You figure out what the ROI is on the one phone call from Todd.

So, Zipcar, keep up the great work and I’ll continue to be a brand ambassador for ya!