by Miriam Hara | May 29, 2013 | Branding, Latest, Social Media
It’s nice to see so many brands that were once fearful of plunging into social media finally dive in, at least on Facebook. Many brands and businesses have a Facebook page understanding that it is no longer an option to not have one. It is a “media” channel… and a way to build awareness, educate consumers and engage consumers through their buying journey.
Now that brands and business have a Facebook Page, how do they leverage it… and more importantly, how do they build a community… a strong one that will enable them to reap the benefits of this exciting social media marketing channel.
So how do you write relevant posts to build your brand community? Here are 4 rules you must adhere to.
1) Develop your brand’s voice. In the past the brand image was visual and often static. With the exception of those brands that could afford TV and radio, brand persona and character largely dealt with the visual. With Social Media, and especially with Facebook, brands have to have a dimensional brand voice so it is key to determine it before you start. Is your brand voice serious? Will it take on the one of a mentor or educator? Will your brand be personable, fun and/or dynamic? Whatever your brand’s voice style is, it’s very important to keep the tone of your voice consistent.
2) It’s not about selling. Every post doesn’t have to be about your business or brand…. actually, this may come as a surprise, but every post can’t be about your brand or business! It’s about the community your brand belongs to or rather, if created properly, owns. Understanding how your community feels, what they want to hear about is important. Let’s face it, brands and businesses have a Facebook Page because they need to be there… be seen and be part of their audience’s world. Make sure you take advantage of it in the right way!
3) Be engaging. That means that it’s not good enough to push out posts onto your Facebook Page. It’s about going to other Brand Pages or relevant pages and engaging with them. It’s about being responsive to your community and adding to their engagement. So if you have a wine store, or a winery, it would be good to like pages of boards such as chicken or beef…or other recipe sites. Maybe even “like” magazine Facebook Pages that in the past you have advertised in or plan to advertise in.
4) Be exciting. Launch a Facebook contest or better yet, if feasible, provide a determined number of free samples of your products or promote a sale that’s going on in your store. Yes, understandably, everyone loves free stuff and a contest…and more so on Facebook. However, think of it as a trial run that has 2 great benefits: 1) you can develop a very strong and current database that you then use to target on further specialty programs and promotions, and 2) This is a great way to get people to like your page! Through the duration of the contest or until they get their free sample, they get to see what your brand posts are all about. , By doing that you are showing them why they should continue to stay in your community. The only reason for them to do that is that they really really like your brand!
Once you develop a sound solid community then you can advertise on Facebook, to further build your brand’s community and build traction and excitement for your contests and your community. It would be wonderful to hear about some of your Facebook Page successes. Please share them here!
by Lisa Wedmann | May 28, 2013 | Advertising, Branding, Business Success, Interactive, Latest, Social Media
Most of us are familiar with Morse Code, that mystifying alphabet where letters are represented by a combination of long and short signals mostly called dashes and dots.
Typically we’ve seen Morse Code used in movies where the distress signal S.O.S, three dots, three dashes, three dots is sent and a rescue is made.
What made Morse Code so popular in movies is that it could easily be sent in a short time and get an immediate response. The tool was adaptable. You could use a hammer on a pipe or a flashlight. Whatever worked.
Poignantly when Morse Code was retired in the nineties, the French Navy’s final message was “Calling all. This is our last cry before our eternal silence.”
Obviously they hadn’t heard about Twitter where silence has been replaced by a deafening roar.
And talk about immediate response.
In 140 characters or less, Twitter provides a quick and easy way to get your message out to clients and potential clients.
OK I’m sold. What are you waiting for? Let’s get tweeting right?
Not so fast, before you do anything else you must develop a TwitterMarketing Strategy and Plan.
Begin with your marketing objective and build a Twitter strategy around that objective. What do you hope to accomplish with your Twitter Campaign. This is the most difficult to establish since your objective will set the tone and your approach to tweeting.
On the plus side having a strategy makes it easy to manage your account since you do not have to second guess yourself when sending out a message. This also makes it easier for multiple people to manage an account while keeping it consistent with company goals and branding.
In creating your Twitter Strategy and Campaign consider:
How will your landing page look? Will it include photos?
What is the name of your Twitter account? Will it reflect your business name and brand in a way that makes it easy to remember? This may seem obvious but is it easy to spell?
How will you get followers?
What are the keywords associated with your account? This is an important element since these keywords will attract the right followers.
What type of tweeters will you follow? Will you follow only those who work in your industry or will you include others?
How often will your post?
What type of information will you post? Will you post about specials or sales, news events or other comments about your industry?
Will you be provocative to stimulate feedback?
Will you block irrelevant or spam accounts?
What is your policy on “Favourites”? This is strategically important since each time you favourite someone’s content they are notified and your name is in front of them.
What are the rules for abbreviations? Will you develop a lexicon of common terminology and abbreviations for your business that you will use consistently to promote your brand?
Will you retweet and if so what type of information will you share?
These are just a few examples of what to include in your Twitter Marketing Strategy.
This is your first step in a quick and easy way to get your message out and you won’t even need a flashlight.
by Stephanie Fasulo | May 23, 2013 | Business Success, Latest, Social Media, Uncategorized
If you decide to take your company online you’re joining a community of teachers, learners, explorers, and open-minded people who are trying new marketing communications tools that are changing every day. Just this week alone I received numerous emails about my analytics on Facebook changing… yet again. The most frustrating change Facebook Analytics did was remove the Social Reach reference when monitoring Facebook Ads, in the Full Report mode ! Working around this new development, I was still able to find the necessary metrics I needed, in a less efficient way… a needless to say, a tad more stressful! This got me wondering on how any of us can keep up with our work while the platforms we work on everyday change so often!
Don’t get we wrong, I totally accept that being in social media, it’s what we signed up for, this diverse, ever-changing, community of social people. But how do we keep it up when there are so many other priorities in the day-to-day business of doing? Rather than depending on email updates or announcements, there are a few ways we can deal with the ever evolving ground of social media. Based on your brand’s vision and more importantly, goals that you establish, here are a few alternatives in how you can manage your social media initiatives. Picking the right one for your business will make the difference between how well you navigate the many transitions that are sure to come!
Hire someone: Hiring a designated person to handle your company’s social media specifically regardless of company size is that you can maintain a steady, unwavering pulse on social media and all the changes that happen so often. You can start off my hiring a part-time full-time person. This will allow the person to get a read on the business culture and brand voice so that they can communicate effectively.
Outsource: Like everything else in business, if you outsource to your social media initiatives to the right partner, your social media becomes their priority…and seeing that they are in the business of social media, they not only have a pulse on the changes, but they are the at the forefront of the changes and their potential impact on your business’ social initiatives. More care would have to be taken to ensure that the business culture and voice is portrayed consistently.
DIY: . I’m not saying not to do it yourself! You can be successful if you immerse yourself. You just have to know that you need to be involved with the image and online brand being shared all over the world every minute of every day. If your company is small, it can be fun and exciting to do it yourself because you can see your fan base and community build…in real time! You have to ask yourself though… is the time you are taking to do it yourself, taking you away from “your real job”…and thus short-changing the business goals?
Don’t get involved: Let’s face it, there’s always those who jump in with both feet…that would be the early adopters. And then there are those that really take a long time to get on board…and that would be the slow movers. In some cases, there are those that don’t ever get on board! I ‘m not sure if that’s even an option in today’s marketing and business landscape. After all, social media isn’t just Facebook…it’s LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, MosiacHub, Reddit,Social Media Today and GuestBlog…to name a few.
If you are reading this right now you are already apart of the social media community where we all learn from each other. If there is a problem, challenge or question, online communicators… we social communicators don’t have to go very far for answers. Social Media has made us pioneers of sorts and we are all part of the same community, constantly learning and reaching out…and in fact keeping up with social media!
by Stephanie Fasulo | May 15, 2013 | Business Success, Interactive, Latest, Social Media
Admit it. At least one time during the course of your social media twitter campaign (or tweeting on your personal account) you’ve asked yourself: what am I going to tweet right now? Even the most experienced social media expert must ask themselves: “geez, what IS going on in the world today?” Great writers get writers block and even the most seasoned novelists need to ask themselves what is their next book series is going to be about. It’s okay to admit that sometimes, we just need some help to find that great content and share it among our communities and Twitter friends. I put together my personal 5 Easy Steps in locating that great content:
Step One: It is important once you’ve logged on to your Twitter account to take time and read the posts your community is sharing. You follow these accounts for a reason, and it is important to stay engaged with them. If you’re mindlessly adding followers and not actually reading their content then you’re not doing it right. The point is to use this information. Share it, spark a conversation or debate; you’ll get some great content to share and you’ll make a few new social relationships in the process.
Step Two: Make a habit of reading the news outlet Twitter accounts. CNN, The Globe and Mail, Huffington Post, Anderson Copper, even Barack Obama just so you know what’s happening and what is going on in the world. Your Twitter content can be diverse and adding some news can add quality to your account and attract other people to read your posts.
Step Three: Bookmark your favourite blogs. We all know in a busy day, life is much more simple when information is a click away. Why not take advantage of that? You’ll be more inclined to look if your daily blog hit-list if it’s staring you in the face and sitting up on your bookmark toolbar. It’s an easy step that can ensure you great content once, twice or three times a day!
Step Four: Think outside the box for inspiration. My personal favourite website to spark some new content is Pinterest. When in doubt, Pinterest is an awesome tool to research techie updates, health topics, recipes and even check out company’s Pinterest accounts. There is also sharing platforms like Reddit, ScoopIt….the list goes on and one. Just pick your favourite.
Step Five: Don’t forget about the real, page flipping hard copies! Magazines, newspaper, essays, and white papers. These are published monthly and the content is forever there ready to read…bringing up old articles and talking about new ones is a great way to be creative with content and find journalists online and share what you’ve read and make a potential new relationship.
Update: This article was written well over 5 years ago…and things have since changed. Here is an updated comprehensive article on “12 Digital Content Strategies To Elevate Any Brand” which adds some timely and relevant value. You can check it out here: https://presentationgeeks.com/blog/12-digital-content-strategies-to-elevate-any-brand/
by Lisa Wedmann | May 14, 2013 | Business Success, Latest
It always amazes me how many start up companies and entrepreneurs operate without a marketing plan. You wouldn’t head out to a destination without at least which direction you are heading or more to the point, input the address on a GPS so you can get there in the most timely way. The purpose of a marketing plan is to articulate where you need to be and define the measurement of success for your business. It provides you with the forum to focus on your business, on your competition, on the current market trends. In short, it makes you do the homework you need to do to get a clear and concise understanding of all the roads and road blocks that will lead to your business’ success…. before you start your engine and put your car into drive.
No matter what size, or type, or whether you are offering a product or a service this “road map” will prove to be invaluable when decisions need to be made. You have a great product or service and you are anxious for everyone to know about it and you want to just get out there and start selling. STOP. Do you have a plan? Do you know when you get there? It always amazes me how many start up companies and entrepreneurs operate without a marketing plan.
In the not so recent past many businesses, start ups, retailers and b2b companies felt that any marketing initiatives were well beyond their reach. To have any impact on their audience, a lot of dollars were needed. Enter Social Media, and businesses everywhere are getting into the “marketing” of their businesses. Which is absolutely wonderful! In today’s business landscape, businesses are all embarking on the Social Media… some with little or no understanding of the true time cost of doing it properly. But I digress,that’s another blog for another time.
Jumping on the band wagon without a clear definition of your value proposition and your unique selling point is dangerous. Equally dangerous is not defining your businesses brand voice, brand tone and brand personality. This is where a marketing plan comes in. The purpose of a marketing plan is to map out the direction of where you need to be… and define the measurement of success for your business… it is essentially this “destination point” which will prove to be invaluable when decisions need to be made.
In this “road map” you need to determine your strategy, identify your priorities and then build out your tactics from there. Start by identifying who your target market is. Define as much as you can: age, sex, profession or career, income level, level of educational attainment and geographic location…. and go farther. Define your target markets likes and dislikes, habits, hobbies. This is the age of niche marketing!
Clearly define your business and set reasonable quantifiable objectives. It’s important to be honest. Don’t set yourself up for failure…be aware of the potential hazards before you start…and when detours happen along the way, your marketing plan will provide you with a solid base to switch gears and turn to an alternative road to get you where you are going… to success!
