Category Archives: Social Media

Detox from bad marketing habits

Posted by: Julie | April 4, 2013 | Best Practices, Creativity, Direct marketing

One of the worst things companies can do is the status quo: doing just enough to get by but not going the extra mile while promoting their organizations. The bare minimum won’t cut it anymore. Your customers have other choices and your competitors are going after them. Are you missing out on potential opportunities?

Don’t let your marketing plan continue in a rut. Old habits are hard to break, but you can do it in small steps. Don’t try to change everything at once – you’ll overwhelm yourself and go back to your old ways.

Do any of these bad habits sound familiar?

The status quo

Many of us feel compelled to continue on the road most traveled and are comfortable doing what everyone else has done. But what if you decided to break away from the pack and venture into uncharted territory? Would you stand out? The answer is yes.

First, you have to have a strong backing – financially and organizationally – for your initiatives to work. Commit to your cause and fight for it. Going outside the norm entails some risk, but the benefits can be huge. Assess whether your return outweighs the risk.

Relying on emails

Too many times, companies rely solely on generic email campaigns rather than communicating with prospects through personally addressed letters and emails, phone calls, and targeted ads. The average prospect receives too many mass emails and yours are getting lost in the mix.

Using purchased marketing lists

Don’t do it. Purchasing lists increases your bounce and unsubscribe rates. When people are spammed with emails they didn’t sign up for, they’re more likely to reject what you’re selling – even if they’re in the market for your product. It’s better to build your list by generating interest through website and social media channels. Purchased lists are not targeted. The people who are on them don’t know who you are and didn’t ask you to email them.

Inadequate content

Don’t send stale, insufficient content to your prospects. Find out what they’re interested in and highlight those topics. You can do this through trial and error. Look at your analytics for specific topics in your newsletters and e-blasts. If certain topics have high open rates, it’s a good indication your prospects are interested in learning more. Try writing another article related to that topic. If you get stuck, you may want to hire a professional writer.

To summarize, build your contact list with clean, opted-in prospects. Use a combination of targeted e-blasts, newsletters, offers, and/or phone calls to promote your company. Focus on providing quality, insightful content and be creative ways in getting the word out.

Dealing with a tight budget? Make do with what you have: Focus your energy on improving your content and design.

What targeted marketing efforts work for you? Let us know in the comments below.

Is social media right for my B2B firm? A new study offers fresh insights

Posted by: Matt | March 28, 2013 | Marketing Trends, Social Media, Social Networking Sites

Twitter and LinkedIn have more than 200 million users apiece. Instagram and Tumblr? More than 130 million combined. At 1 billion-plus users, Facebook has more than all of them put together – twice over.

Still, when it comes to social media, many B2B marketing managers in the United States remain skittish about making the commitment. Frequently – and understandably – they find themselves asking the questions, “Who are all these people?” and “Do they want to buy any of my products?”

More times than not, the answer to the latter question is, “it depends.” In terms of answering the first question, a new Pew Research Center survey may provide important insights that can help you determine whether social media is a good fit for your business. The survey offers a deep dive into who exactly all those many billions of social media users are and how they use different applications – all information that can help you make an informed decision.

Out of regular Internet users, the Pew survey suggests that overall, 71 percent of women and 62 percent of men in the United States use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr or Pinterest. Two-thirds of college degree holders, individuals living in households that make more than $75,000 annually and suburbanites also use social media, according to the study.

Social media usage rates among minorities outpace white users considerably. The Pew study shows that 72 percent of Hispanics, 68 percent of blacks and 65 percent of whites are regular social media users. Among other interesting findings:

Is Facebook getting grayer? While Facebook usage remains high among the18-29 year-old demographic (86 percent), it’s also very popular with the middle-aged crowd. Consider this: Almost 75 percent of 30-49 year-olds and nearly 60 percent of 50-64 year olds are users.

Twitter is popular in minority communities. Twitter usage among blacks and Hispanics is well ahead of the white community. According to the Pew study, 26 percent of blacks and 19 percent of Hispanics surveyed use Twitter, while 14 percent of whites participating in the poll reported using it.

Pinterest use is consistent among female age groups. While Pinterest users appear to be overwhelmingly female – only 5 percent of men participating in the poll said they used it – 19 percent of women in both the 18-29 demographic and 30-49 demographic said they used the online pin board.

Full results of the Pew study are available here.

What has been your B2B firm’s experience on social media?

Word of mouth 2.0

Posted by: Sandy | February 7, 2013 | Advertising Strategy, Best Practices, Branding

Social media plays an important role today in shaping individual purchasing decisions. Still, many companies resist using Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn at all, or don’t take full advantage of these important marketing tools once they’ve taken the social media plunge. (more…)

Making Your Social Media Matter

Posted by: Adam | December 20, 2012 | Direct marketing, networking, Online advertising

Few small businesses today question the marketing ROI of sites like Facebook and Twitter. Still, many small firms remain stuck in an awkward adolescence, unsure how to best use social media to engage their customers and integrate these standard tools with their overall business strategies.

But why?

While many small business owners realize it’s no longer sufficient simply to have a Facebook page, LinkedIn profile or Twitter handle, they often find themselves asking “now what?” after signing up for a social media account. For many, taking the social network plunge can be a daunting undertaking. But it’s not impossible if you keep these two concepts in mind. (more…)

Get out the vote: What the election taught us about combining traditional and new marketing strategies effectively

Posted by: Adam | November 8, 2012 | Best Practices, Direct marketing, Marketing planning

Earlier this year, 5 million people bought the newest iPhone in its first weekend of availability. Last year, more than 11 million Harry Potter fans bought an opening-day ticket to the final installment of the popular movie franchise. Neither of these tectonic cultural movements registered anywhere near the turnout of a U.S. presidential election, which saw 125 million voters cast their vote (give or take – I think some folks in Florida are still waiting for their turn). Election Day offered keen insights into the culture of our country, not the least of which are the most effective marketing strategies of our social networking world.

Marketing has always been a part of elections and reflective of the technology of the day. From the original campaign buttons William McKinley used during his 1896 presidential campaigns to the whistle-stop tours along U.S. railways throughout the 19^th and 20^th centuries to the judicious tweets from President Barack Obama leading up to his re-election, leveraging innovative marketing tools to win big is as ubiquitous as kissing babies and shaking hands.

In 2008, then-presidential hopeful Barack Obama gathered an immense number of micro donations through social media, which he rolled over into effective traditional marketing campaigns. In 2012, he wasn’t alone in complementing traditional marketing with more cutting-edge tactics. Republican challenger Mitt Romney employed similar voter outreach and made it a much tighter race than John McCain’s organizers had during the previous election by fumbling opportunities to incorporate new marketing strategies.

The sooner businesses embrace the lessons presidential elections teach us about mixing traditional marketing strategies with newer ones, the farther ahead of their competition they will be. While newsletters, direct mail, brochures and advertisements allow you to deliver your message, social networks like Twitter and Facebook become tools that allow your business to present its casual, relaxed and human side.

New media is built around interaction within the community. Let your supporters work for you. President Obama generated both money and interest by presenting a call to action that involved his supporters spreading the word. There is no better recommendation than that of someone freely and willingly putting you in front of people you might otherwise not have touched.

We’d love to hear how you’re absorbing new marketing strategies into your traditional ones? Tell us about it in the comments section.

Are your e-blasts working?

Posted by: Hilary | October 4, 2012 | Copywriting, Creativity, Design

If you’re like most companies today, you send electronic communications to prospects, current customers and stakeholders.

Recent research from Monetate, an e-commerce software firm, shows that 4.25 percent of visitors who arrive at a website through an email turn into customers. Monetate’s found that only 0.59 percent of visitors who arrived via social media turn into customers.

The lesson? E-blasts – when used properly – yield significant results for your business. Misusing an e-blast can have the opposite effect, however. What are the ingredients for a winning e-blast?

Clean copy. Did you edit your copy carefully? Did you overuse exclamation marks? Is your point clear? Is your copy too long? These are important questions to ask yourself before you send an e-blast. A well-edited, concise e-blast will go a lot further than something sloppy. Two paragraphs of copy – a couple of sentences and maybe a few bullet points – is all you need.

Clean coding. Make sure whoever puts together your formatted e-blast knows what they’re doing. Be sure to remove [TEST] tags from the subject line. Eliminate sloppy HTML, which usually rears its ugly head when converting Microsoft Word to HTML. Edit the final layout with an eye toward eliminating any errant tags or other bad code that made it into the e-blast. If these types of errors show up, readers will not be impressed.

No gimmicks. Don’t promise the moon, and don’t write too aggressively. For example, lead sentences like, “For only $100, you can get …” usually scare people away. While you’re at it, go ahead and remove “free offer” and “risk-free” from your e-blast vocabulary as well. Show that you’re adding value, and let people know you can fill a need.

Don’t overwhelm. Aside from managing the content of individual e-blasts, make sure you’re not doing yourself a disservice by inundating subscribers with emails. There is no standard frequency when it comes to sending e-blasts, but a good rule of thumb is a minimum of once a month and a maximum of once a week. The worst thing a company can do is turn a loyal reader into someone who hits the unsubscribe button, and readers frequently opt out of e-communications when companies flood their inboxes.

At the end of the day, a well-crafted e-blast is good for your business and can promote products and services that help your customers. Take these steps to make sure you’re getting the most bang for your buck.

Have any additional e-blast tips? Share them with us in the comments section below.

Customer service gone social

Posted by: Julie | May 31, 2012 | Best Practices, Social Media, Technology

How often do your customers complain or ask questions via Facebook, Twitter or other social media? A general rule of thumb is that, if they do, it’s typically as a last resort. (more…)

Facebook Timeline: Love it or leave it?

Posted by: Julie | April 5, 2012 | Best Practices, Branding, Social Media

For months, the Facebook team has been holding a virtual sword of Damocles over the heads of users who obstinately refuse to transition to the new Timeline layout. Though March 30 was touted as D-Day for the full-blown Timeline conversion, many users still haven’t taken the plunge. Once you’ve opted in, there’s no turning back.

But what does this mean for businesses? (more…)

One sweet (unified social media) world

Posted by: The Simons Group | August 18, 2011 | Social Media, Social Networking Sites

I consider myself a pretty dedicated social media user. I have accounts with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube, just to name a few. When I arrived home from a vacation a few days ago, I looked at my bookmarks and shook my head – it was going to take hours to see what had happened during my time away from the Internet. I wanted to catch up on news from friends, family and more, but it just wasn’t going to happen – I listened to a few songs on YouTube instead.

As I was searching for songs, I remembered that Google had purchased YouTube a few years ago. My mind wandered and I wondered why Google hadn’t somehow merged the two sites, which would have saved me time. Effectively shifting the blame to Google, my thoughts wandered somewhere else – what if we only had one social media outlet altogether? It could essentially merge Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube and all sorts of other social media channels into one website – either Google or Facebook would be the most likely candidate at this point.

The combined site would probably be unwieldy at first, most likely looking like a hodge-podge of wall posts, retweets, product offers, pictures of your cousin’s baby, messages from ex-significant others (yikes!) and notifications that a business associate had checked in at a convention hall. But Facebook’s redesigns have proven that people adapt to change (even if they don’t like it at first) and that tweaks can improve things over time. Other sites might emerge, but we all seem to agree that Friendster, Classmates.com and even MySpace have run their course and that Facebook is the place to interact with friends.

Having everything under one roof would likely pose a lot of challenges from a marketing standpoint. It’s entirely possible that we’ll find ourselves in this scenario, though, as we demand more connectivity from media outlets while our attention spans continue to shrink. Would you be in favor of having only one social media outlet/profile?