Tuesday, 25 September 2012
5 Rules of Social Media Optimization
5 Rules of Social Media Optimization
For years now, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for websites has been honed into a fine art with entire companies devoting considerable effort to defining best practices and touting the value of SEO for raising a site's performance on organic search listings. While I believe in the power of SEO, there is a new offering we have started providing to clients which we call Social Media Optimization (SMO). The concept behind SMO is simple: implement changes to optimize a site so that it is more easily linked to, more highly visible in social media searches on custom search engines (such as Technorati), and more frequently included in relevant posts on blogs, podcasts and vlogs. Here are 5 rules we use to help guide our thinking with conducting an SMO for a client's website:
- Increase your linkability – This is the first and most important priority for websites. Many sites are "static" – meaning they are rarely updated and used simply for a storefront. To optimize a site for social media, we need to increase the linkability of the content. Adding a blog is a great step, however there are many other ways such as creating white papers and thought pieces, or even simply aggregating content that exists elsewhere into a useful format.
- Make tagging and bookmarking easy – Adding content features like quick buttons to "add to del.icio.us" are one way to make the process of tagging pages easier, but we go beyond this, making sure pages include a list of relevant tags, suggested notes for a link (which come up automatically when you go to tag a site), and making sure to tag our pages first on popular social bookmarking sites (including more than just the homepage).
- Reward inbound links – Often used as a barometer for success of a blog (as well as a website), inbound links are paramount to rising in search results and overall rankings. To encourage more of them, we need to make it easy and provide clear rewards. From using Permalinks to recreating Similarly, listing recent linking blogs on your site provides the reward of visibility for those who link to you
- Help your content travel - Unlike much of SEO, SMO is not just about making changes to a site. When you have content that can be portable (such as PDFs, video files and audio files), submitting them to relevant sites will help your content travel further, and ultimately drive links back to your site.
- Encourage the mashup – In a world of co-creation, it pays to be more open about letting others use your content (within reason). YouTube's idea of providing code to cut and paste so you can imbed videos from their site has fueled their growth. Syndicating your content through RSS also makes it easy for others to create mashups that can drive traffic or augment your content.
There are many other "rules" and techniques that we are starting to uncover as this idea gets more sophisticated. In the meantime we are always on the lookout for new ideas in Social Media Optimization to encourage even better thinking. Perhaps we may even see the rise of entire groups or agencies devoted to SMO in the future …
Social Media Marketing
Why Talking Will Always Beat Shouting in Social
Media...
There's been a lot of debate on the value of social media. After all, it's easy to argue about the potential of social media as a powerful sales channel. The ability to communicate with so many people instantly is like catnip to marketers and business owners alike—driving a gold rush that has spawned innumerable "social media experts."
Despite this excitement, there remains much controversy about the proper way to sellwithin the social landscape. Even the gatekeepers themselves (the major social networks), struggle to properly monetize their communities. So the debate of social media's efficacy wages on.
Initial excitement is often followed by frustrated divestment, leading to false conclusions about the potential for marketing in the social sphere. These initial assessments are based on a fundamental misunderstanding of social audiences. False conclusions about the value of social media are not telling of social media's true potential, but illustrate instead how ineffective it can be to apply traditional marketing initiatives within non-traditional environments.
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Initial excitement is often followed by frustrated divestment, leading to false conclusions about the potential for marketing in the social sphere. These initial assessments are based on a fundamental misunderstanding of social audiences. False conclusions about the value of social media are not telling of social media's true potential, but illustrate instead how ineffective it can be to apply traditional marketing initiatives within non-traditional environments.
Put simply, the social landscape is not typically an effective direct sales channel. It's an opportunity to engage with potential customers. In order to be successful within social media, a paradigm shift is required— a deliberate change in mindset to understand one very simple fact: People buy from those they know and trust.
By teaching your audience, entertaining them, or providing a resource to share with their friends, you create value. Even more powerfully, through consistency, you build trust.
Content then becomes your most powerful tool for forging relationships and building a loyal following. The most basic goal of marketing with content is to nourish visitors — to give them what your competitors can't or won't, to educate them, inspire them, excite them. Creating content gives audiences an opportunity to engage with your business, to interact with it, and give feedback. It's the impetus for the conversations and dialogues that can build trust in a brand over the long term.
Instead of seeing social media users as a faceless mass for you to hawk your wares, they instead become potential fans of your brand, people you can give to, and learn from. Finding ways to become valuable to these audiences becomes the focus. When this becomes the crux of each marketing initiative, you begin to innovate in ways that are helpful and valuable.
By shifting your point of view, it's easy to see social media as a place rife with opportunity once again. It's an incredibly deep space from which savvy businesses can mine their perfect audience. Over time, social media marketing can only be successful if audiences can be created and sustained that exist outside of the social networks. Great content has the power to bring social audiences to your website—but this traffic becomes meaningless if user engagement ends here. Long-term success happens if, and only if, you are able to entice visitors into future interactions with your business.
As Director of Marketing at a digital agency, I see first hand the impact of internal marketing strategies that revolve around content creation. In order to achieve results, we're committed to the consistent production of remarkable content and spend a great deal of our time finding ways to bring new audiences closer to our brand. In particular, we focus specifically on:
We rely on social media as a primary point of interaction, and count on social users to help spread our message and the content we create. We’ve built our business on these inbound strategies, which are currently responsible for 90% of our lead flow.
Most businesses put the cart before the horse. They see a huge market and assume that market is eager to buy. This is the wrong approach for most businesses in most situations. To find long-term, sustainable success online, build an engaged and loyal audience first. Refine and build this audience through social media. Use content to entice them, engage with them, and build their trust. Continue to cultivate this audience and cater to this audience, and you’ll create an asset with enormous long-term value.
By teaching your audience, entertaining them, or providing a resource to share with their friends, you create value. Even more powerfully, through consistency, you build trust.
Content then becomes your most powerful tool for forging relationships and building a loyal following. The most basic goal of marketing with content is to nourish visitors — to give them what your competitors can't or won't, to educate them, inspire them, excite them. Creating content gives audiences an opportunity to engage with your business, to interact with it, and give feedback. It's the impetus for the conversations and dialogues that can build trust in a brand over the long term.
Instead of seeing social media users as a faceless mass for you to hawk your wares, they instead become potential fans of your brand, people you can give to, and learn from. Finding ways to become valuable to these audiences becomes the focus. When this becomes the crux of each marketing initiative, you begin to innovate in ways that are helpful and valuable.
By shifting your point of view, it's easy to see social media as a place rife with opportunity once again. It's an incredibly deep space from which savvy businesses can mine their perfect audience. Over time, social media marketing can only be successful if audiences can be created and sustained that exist outside of the social networks. Great content has the power to bring social audiences to your website—but this traffic becomes meaningless if user engagement ends here. Long-term success happens if, and only if, you are able to entice visitors into future interactions with your business.
As Director of Marketing at a digital agency, I see first hand the impact of internal marketing strategies that revolve around content creation. In order to achieve results, we're committed to the consistent production of remarkable content and spend a great deal of our time finding ways to bring new audiences closer to our brand. In particular, we focus specifically on:
- Social Audience Growth (Twitter followers and Facebook fans)
- Encouraging On-site Interaction with Content (commenting and sharing)
- Newsletter Subscriber Growth (email subscribers)
We rely on social media as a primary point of interaction, and count on social users to help spread our message and the content we create. We’ve built our business on these inbound strategies, which are currently responsible for 90% of our lead flow.
Most businesses put the cart before the horse. They see a huge market and assume that market is eager to buy. This is the wrong approach for most businesses in most situations. To find long-term, sustainable success online, build an engaged and loyal audience first. Refine and build this audience through social media. Use content to entice them, engage with them, and build their trust. Continue to cultivate this audience and cater to this audience, and you’ll create an asset with enormous long-term value.
Monday, 24 September 2012
Marketing Mix
Four ‘P’s
The ‘four Ps’ consist of the following:
• Product – A product is seen as an item that satisfies what a consumer needs or wants. It is a tangible good or an intangible service. Intangible products are service based like the tourism industry & the hotel industry or codes-based products like cell phone load and credits. Tangible products are those that can be felt physically. Typical examples of mass-produced, tangible objects are the motor car and the disposable razor. A less obvious but ubiquitous mass produced service is a computer operating system.
Every product is subject to a life-cycle including a growth phase followed by a maturity phrase and finally an eventual period of decline as sales falls. Marketers must do careful research on how long the life cycle of the product they are marketing is likely to be and focus their attention on different challenges that arise as the product moves through each stage.
The marketer must also consider the product mix. Marketers can expand the current product mix by increasing a certain product line’s depth or by increase the number of product lines. Marketers should consider how to position the product, how to exploit the brand, how to exploit the company’s resources and how to configure the product mix so that each product complements the other. The marketer must also consider product development strategies.
• Price – The price is the amount a customer pays for the product. The price is very important as it determines the company’s profit and hence, survival. Adjusting the price has a profound impact on the marketing strategy, and depending on the price elasticity of the product, often; it will affect the demand and sales as well. The marketer should set a price that complements the other elements of the marketing mix.
When setting a price, the marketer must be aware of the customer perceived value for the product. Three basic pricing strategies are: market skimming pricing, marketing penetration pricing and neutral pricing. The ‘reference value’ (where the consumer refers to the prices of competing products) and the ‘differential value’ (the consumer’s view of this product’s attributes versus the attributes of other products) must be taken into account.
• Promotion – represents all of the methods of communication that a marketer may use to provide information to different parties about the product. Promotion comprises elements such as: advertising, public relations, personal selling and sales promotion.
Advertising covers any communication that is paid for, from cinema commercials, radio and Internet advertisements through print media and billboards. Public relations is where the communication is not directly paid for and includes press releases, sponsorship deals, exhibitions, conferences, seminars or trade fairs and events. Word-of-mouth is any apparently informal communication about the product by ordinary individuals, satisfied customers or people specifically engaged to create word of mouth momentum. Sales staff often plays an important role in word of mouth and public relations.
• Place – refers to providing the product at a place which is convenient for consumers to access. Place is synonymous with distribution. Various strategies such as intensive distribution, selective distribution, exclusive distribution, franchising can be used by the marketer to complement the other aspects of the marketing mix.
Four ‘C’s
The Four Cs model is more consumer-oriented and attempts to better fit the movement from mass marketing to niche marketing.
• Product part of the Four Ps model is replaced by Consumer or Consumer Models, shifting the focus to satisfying the consumer needs. Another C replacement for Product isCapable. By defining offerings as individual capabilities that when combined and focused to a specific industry, creates a custom solution rather than pigeon-holing a customer into a product.
• Pricing is replaced by Cost reflecting the total cost of ownership. Many factors affect Cost, including but not limited to the customer’s cost to change or implement the new product or service and the customer’s cost for not selecting a competitor’s product or service.
• Promotions feature is replaced by Communication which represents a broader focus than simply Promotions. Communications can include advertising, public relations, personal selling, viral advertising, and any form of communication between the firm and the consumer.
• Placement is replaced by Convenience. With the rise of internet and hybrid models of purchasing, Place is becoming less relevant. Convenience takes into account the ease of buying the product, finding the product, finding information about the product, and several other factors.
Sunday, 23 September 2012
How Social Media Can Help Your Business
Everyone is jumping into the social media bandwagon with just only one aim and that is to develop their business initiatives in the respective fields of expertise. The growth of social media platforms and the presence of new ones itself is a proof of the fact that social media is growing in an infinite speed. Well, how can your business benefit out of it?
A more personal business experience
Today, people are not just looking for a formal buyer-seller relationship but they want an environment that is more informal yet interactive for business dealings. By creating an atmosphere which allows the prospective buyers to voice their opinions and post their suggestions, social media platforms can be used as venues for sharing info, videos, pictures and striking a great rapport with them. Subsequently, gaining the trust of the high quality target customer base makes lead conversion easier.
Free word-of-mouth publicity
It is a known fact that we seek the help and recommendations of our friends and family, before making purchasing decisions. In social media scene, consumers request the help of their network of friends in such decision making processes. If you manage to accomplish the mission of emphasizing yourself as the expert in the industry through social media platforms’ discussion boards and forums, you can receive word-of-mouth publicity from your loyal followers and friends.
Reinforce your presence at every step
Social media allows you to collaborate with a number of other channels like blog sites, video sharing sites and review sites. A social media user can just click a button to use them and the ease of use facilitates them with the tools to engage in extensive research about you. This reinforces your image in their minds and leaves your indelible imprint in various channels that improves your credibility and reputation manifold.
If you have suggestions/questions and advice to help other readers, please add them to the comments section.
Facebook Marketing Tips for Small Businesses
Small businesses need all the help they can get when it comes to discovering new marketing methods, and places to find new audiences for the products and services they provide. Many have alluded to the fact that Facebook provides an opportunity that is unlike anything ever seen when it comes to online marketing. The truth is – Facebook isn’t a place to simply make a few posts and say “I’ve tried it, but it didn’t work.” In order to be extremely successful using this free social networking tool will require a bit of time and patience.
Here you will discover 3 tips that will help you become successful in your marketing campaigns on Facebook, as well as understanding how to use them effectively.
1.) Create a company page and begin communicating.
Creating a company page is not a difficult task on Facebook. You will be able to create a page that is company or business specific. Once your profile has been created, you will then need to consistently post unique original content that pertains to the services you provide.
This will allow visitors to learn more about what it is you do, and what you can do for them. However, simply creating a company profile will not be enough. You will need to update this profile with information on a regular basis. You will also need to engage your customers by responding to comments, and talk about things that interest others.
2.) Use the free demographic tools available to target your market.
Targeting your audience can be done quite effectively using the tools that are provided for free. You can choose a specific age group, male or female, married or single, in college, career minded, or any other demographic combination to find that perfect audience and reach them through Facebook ad’s to like your page.
3.) Make friends, share and answer concerns
Once you have setup a business page and found your audience, you will need to work on the message content you would like to convey. Once you have created your message, you can then begin engaging, sharing, and help others with concerns they may have. You will find that this is a very effective way to market your small business, and most important – it’s free.
Although these techniques do work, they will take time on the part of the business owner and employee. It will take time to create, develop, and implement. Once that part of the work is done, it’s a matter of gathering potential followers and customers. Marketing on Facebook will not be difficult; it will simply take time and a sound strategy.
Using Facebook for Online Marketing
It’s quite obvious that social networking sites like Facebook are changing the way online marketing takes place in many different aspects. Quite frankly, a number of marketers refer to this phenomenon as a social media revolution when it comes to online marketing. With that being said, there are some important factors that will need to be understood in order to comprehend why using Facebook for online marketing is so powerful. Below you will discover some important information that will help you with this understanding, as well as how you can use this information to better position yourself with your online marketing efforts.
- Evaluating and Conducting Market Research Instantly
There has been no better tool ever developed that will allow you to evaluate and conduct market research almost instantaneously. If you aren’t sure about the popularity of a product or whether or not consumers will approve, you can conduct surveys, opinion polls, and simply ask questions to find out how people feel about a particular product or service. There isn’t any other platform available that provides this type of opportunity than by utilizing the services provided by Facebook.
- Establishing Credibility in Your Market Place
Establishing credibility has always been important and this can be done easier than ever by utilizing this social network platform. By associating and engaging others within your industry, this creates a sense of credibility around your business and the products and services you provide. This is extremely important to current, new, and future clients.
- Have Direct Access to Over 800 Million Users
The Facebook social network will allow you to have access to a vast number of users which will ultimately increase the visibility, exposure, and popularity of your business. Now, there are other platforms that will help you in this process as well; however, when used properly, Facebook will put your products and services in front of the audience you choose which will take your business to levels never before seen.
- Having the Ability to Generate vast Amounts of Traffic to Your Website
When a business or fan page has been set up properly on Facebook, you will ultimately be able to drive vast amounts of traffic to your Web presence on a consistent basis. This will improve your online marketing efforts because you will have relevant targeted traffic arriving at your website looking for the products and services you provide.
Now, there are a number of additional benefits you’ll receive when using Facebook for online marketing; however, the most important aspect will be to get started so you can begin to receive some of the benefits that will be provided by utilizing the information provided here in this post.
Utilize Twitter for Your Business
If you know how to use Twitter correctly, you can be able to promote your business, and get ahead of your competition. There are a few basic things that you can do to be able to utilize Twitter for your business, and once you know what these things are, you will be better placed to succeed in online business.
The first step to utilizing Twitter for your business is to always keep in mind that this is a social networking site. As much as you would like to promote your business and share links and offers or information on new products, you still need to utilize the social aspects of Twitter. What this means is that you need to interact with your followers, as well as share your take on your niche subject, and keep things interesting.
Twitter is also a great opportunity to interact with like-minded people, as well as create relationships and friendships with your clients. By using your Twitter hash tags to promote your business, it will be much easier for people to see you, and take an interest in what you have to offer. You want to get as many followers as possible, and therefore you will need to use your Twitter hash tags properly.
It is equally important not to over-do it when it comes to promoting your business on Twitter. If you flood people with your business ideas and products, then they will not want to follow you. Make sure that you take time to talk about other things despite your business, and you will soon find that people will want to share with you, and be a part of your business. Keep things informal and interactive, and challenge your followers with questions, giving them the opportunity to share their take on the subject.
Lastly, Twitter training is extremely important if you want to utilize Twitter for your business. Stick to your niche and brand, and focus on this. Avoid promoting your competitors, or starting unnecessary arguments with your critics and competitors on Twitter. This will only look bad on your business, and will serve no purpose in promoting your business.
3 Tips to Twitter Success
Success on Twitter depends on a number of things, and once you are able to get these things right, then you will be on your way to success. Before you sign up to Twitter, there are a few things that you first need to ask yourself. You need to determine what you expect to accomplish on Twitter, whether you want a professional or personal profile, as well as what kind of message you want to send your audience.
Tip #1 for Twitter Success:
The first tip is that you need to figure out how you are going to craft your message. Avoid jumping straight into your marketing campaign. Promoting a business on twitter requires skill and tact, and so you want to first know what you need to achieve. You first need to warm people up to you. This means sharing personal information and messages that people will want to listen to. Take the time to do some research on who would be interested in your products, and work towards getting these people to follow you.
You also need to avoid spamming, and this is a common mistake that people make on Twitter. No one likes spam, and this is the easiest way to lose trust. Keep your tweets short and to the point, and ensure that you are offering useful information.
Tip #2 for Twitter Success:
Discretion is the key. You do not want to appear as just another money hungry marketer on Twitter. Be discreet; while at the same time letting people know what you have to offer in terms of information, expertise and products. Also avoid inviting yourself to others’ conversations just because it is in your niche area. Take the time to introduce yourself, and share your opinion in a friendly and sensible way. This is a great way to form friendships, as well as earn peoples’ trust.
Additionally, it is a good idea to follow people that are interesting, and can contribute to your success. Rather than have loads of followers that make managing your network difficult, it is much better to follow people that are interested in your niche, and add value to your twitter efforts.
Twitter Tip #3 for Twitter Success:
Divide your promotional tweets and have them in intervals. Rather than go on and on about how great your products are and how much better you are than the competition, share useful information. talk about other things rather than your business, as well as offer help wherever needed. It is also a good idea to share your personal opinion, as it will let people know that you actually care about them.
LinkedIn Marketing Tips That You Should Know
If you plan on
If you plan on doing any type of marketing on LinkedIn, there are some specific marketing tips you will want to utilize in your efforts to gain more customers. Some of these tips will make the difference on whether you are successful, or if you have a LinkedIn profile that is stagnant and gathering dust. Once you have utilized some of these marketing tips, you will quickly discover that your potential client list will increase, and your marketing efforts will pay off in a huge way.
If you plan on doing any type of marketing on LinkedIn, there are some specific marketing tips you will want to utilize in your efforts to gain more customers. Some of these tips will make the difference on whether you are successful, or if you have a LinkedIn profile that is stagnant and gathering dust. Once you have utilized some of these marketing tips, you will quickly discover that your potential client list will increase, and your marketing efforts will pay off in a huge way.- Generating prospects
One of the great aspects about LinkedIn is connecting with people you already know. If you know anyone or a business that understands visibility and exposure, they will more than likely have a profile on LinkedIn. Connect with them as soon as you can. If they know you, make sure you get an invitation to join their groups as well.
- Linking your social media accounts
If you have a Twitter or Facebook account, link them. Your tweets and Facebook information will be updated on your LinkedIn account as it gets posted on the other social networks. Now, it’s important to note that if you have a free account, you will need to have your profile 100% completed before your Twitter posts become visible.
- Joining relevant groups
If you want to really expand your horizons, you will need to invest a little time in joining relevant groups. Participating on an active level will increase your chances of building solid long lasting business relationships. Get involved in discussions and show your expert knowledge by answering questions and providing meaningful information.
- Asking for and providing recommendations
Recommendations are extremely important whether you are giving or receiving them. If you know a lot of people already, ask for recommendations and provide the same in return. When connecting with businesses – communicate with them and try to exchange recommendations as much as you can. This is extremely valuable when it comes to visibility and exposure.
It’s not enough to just have a basic profile on LinkedIn that has not been completed. Fill out your profile completely 100%. Add links to your web presence. If you have more than one web presence and they are all somewhat relevant, add them as well. You will find that this is the ultimate when it comes to SEO. These are some marketing tips that should not be taken for granted when it comes to using LinkedIn as an effective marketing strategy.
How to Properly Use Twitter as a Writer
Twitter is a great way to network with people, and share ideas and information. The best part is that it is completely free, and you can share your ideas with the world with a single click. Twitter has made it possible for people to market their businesses, as well as look for new opportunities. Twitter has also afforded technical writers with an opportunity to advance their careers, and it is a good idea for these writers to take advantage of what Twitter has to offer.
Twitter is not only used by friends who want to keep in touch. There are many big businesses and corporations with a presence on Twitter, and they are able to really benefit on everything that Twitter has to offer. So for a technical writer looking to make it in their field, then Twitter is the perfect place to make a debut, as well as let potential employers know about your skills, and eventually hire your services.
For freelance technical writers, it is actually quite easy to take advantage of Twitter. All you need is an account. Once you open up your Twitter account, remember to keep your profile professional. This is not the place to post photos of your out-of-town escapades last weekend. Keep the profile professional, and make sure that you share your contact information including phone number, email address or even physical address. This makes it much easier for potential employers to contact you.
The next step is to search what you are looking for in terms of the kind of job that you want. You can key in “Software Company”, and you will be able to get a list of the available software companies. This will help you to identify the particular one that you want, and send an invitation to follow you. Once they accept to do so, you are almost done with the job.
Next, it is time to send out your resume. Be sure to highlight your skills and experience as a technical writer. This will give you a better chance at landing the job that you are looking for. Twitter is a great way for writers and others with certain skills to be able to land jobs, and be able to make an income using Twitter.
The New Rules of Branding
Your Business Online
Mastering branding
online takes a lot more than a cool logo and catchy slogan. Experts play by a
fresh new set of rules.
It's
no longer enough to have a sleek website, social-media presence, and
consistent brand aesthetic online. The new rules of branding your business on
the Web have a lot less to do with presentation, and a lot more to do with
interaction. In order to bring you up to speed, Inc.com has compiled nine of
the most innovative and ingenious tips from articles, guides, and interviews in Inc. and Inc.com over the past year. These are the new
rules of branding online.
1. Don't just start the conversation.
Be an integral and evolving part of it. "Social media has one very important perspective to share with brand management—the conversation. Like branding, social media is all about the conversation and building effective relationships. They are perfectly suited to one another," says Ed Roach, founder of The Brand Experts, a brand management consultancy in West Leamington, Ontario, the author of The Reluctant Salesperson, a free e-book available at www.thebrandingexperts.ca. The rules for brand messaging through new media versus traditional channels haven't changed, but "the game sure got better and more interesting," says Roach. It's not enough to have a Facebook page or a Twitter account, you must participate in the conversation by making regular posts and replying to direct messages from your customers. Ron Smith, president and founder of S&A's Cherokee, a public relations and marketing firm in Cary, North Carolina, agrees, adding that you'll want to stay on top of what people are saying about you and your brand online. "Monitoring social media is a must for all companies. Social media has shortened the time frame for company responses to complaints or accusations. These days, companies need to acknowledge any issues and control the messaging in a matter of minutes instead of hours or days," says Smith.
2. Either keep your personal brand out of it…
So you have 10,000 Twitter followers. Does it matter to your customers? Tim Ferriss, the entrepreneur behind the sports nutritional supplements company BrainQUICKEN and author of The 4-Hour Workweek, told Inc.com contributor John Warrillow: "Unless you're in one of a handful of businesses like public speaking, I think managing and growing a personal brand can be a huge distraction for company founders. I see all of these entrepreneurs trying to collect Twitter followers, and it reminds me of a matador waving a red flag in front of a bull. In this case, the founders are the bull. The bullfighter moves the flag away, and the bull comes up with nothing but air. Steve Jobs has a personal brand, but it is Apple's product design that makes it such a valuable company. He isn't jumping on Foursquare to develop his 'personal brand.'
3. …or dive in and make all the headlines you can.
Appearing in the media as a source of expertise can go a long way toward building your brand, Inc.'s April Joyner reports. To gain press, identify media outlets that are most applicable to your particular areas of expertise and send them targeted pitches. If you want to be a talking head on radio or television, it also helps to give producers a preview of your personality by referring them to video clips on your site. As with print, the Web has also democratized the world of radio. Through venues such as BlogTalkRadio, anyone can host her or his own broadcasts—or find a show on which to appear. After you have honed an area of expertise, you will find that there are plenty of opportunities to take your message on the road. Becoming active in professional organizations and attending conferences offer valuable opportunities for networking. As you become more familiar within a certain field, more and more people will call on you to share your expertise. Making an appearance as a vendor at an event can also offer long-term personal branding benefits.
4. Don't favor edge over consistency.
Chris Russo had a healthy business. The only thing holding it back, he thought, was its name. Three years after its launch in 2006, Fantasy Sports Ventures's revenue was increasing 40 percent to 50 percent a year, a pace that surprised even Russo. But by the fall of 2009, he was uneasy. Despite the heady growth, Russo felt the company's brand positioning was pigeonholing the business and would soon limit further expansion. "Fantasy Sports Ventures was not a long-term, sustainable, public-facing brand," Ed O'Hara, of the branding firm SME, says. "It felt more like a holding company and was too heavily weighted on the fantasy side." O'Hara and Russo tossed around lots of edgy names, like Fanarchy, Fantology, and Gutcheck, but weren't sure. Rebranding was on the table, but the company didn't want to alienate its huge readership and large fan base. The solution? When the company acquired another brand, The Big Lead, and was integrating it into the existing portfolio of sites, Russo realized he struck gold. The name was consistent with the sites' goals, as well as its existing image.
5. Be persistent in finding and targeting your niche.
Even if you're entering a flooded marketplace—and online is certainly a very crowded forum—you always have a chance to make your brand and company stand out. People used to think water was all the same; now stores carry half-a-dozen brands or more. "Marketers struggle with differentiation because they give up too soon," says Derrick Daye, managing partner of The Blake Project. "They think that this can't be differentiated, it can't be unique." Experts say the constantly shifting marketplace creates the need to be creative with your approach. The toothpaste market is one that professionals cite as a constantly changing product selection that requires vigilance on the part of brand managers. Additives like baking soda, breath freshener, or whitening strips are now taken for granted.
6. Excel at telling your customers "About Us."
You may not be paying much attention to your About Us page, but visitors to your site are, writes Chana Garcia. And considering that your About Us page is where the world first clicks to learn about your company and the services you offer, it deserves a little more consideration and a lot more respect. Sure, you need to include all the basics. But a few simple tactics can make your About Us page a more exciting read and your company come across as more accessible, says Lorrie Thomas, aka The Marketing Therapist, a marketing strategist, educator, writer, web marketing expert and speaker. Avoid writing a soliloquy (too much text can be a turnoff) and focus on connecting with your site visitors. Thomas asked her employees to write their own bios for her company's About Us page. Her only mandate was that in addition to providing a snapshot of their professional history, they include personal information, such as hobbies or their favorite activities. Some even set up links to their blogs and personal websites. This might also be a good place to include e-mail addresses for your staff. Readily available contact information shows customers that you want to hear from them and that you have nothing to hide.
7. Fully integrate social media into your site.
You'll not only look savvy, but increase your connectivity, and gain traffic to you site from elsewhere. You don't necessarily need to put out the next viral marketing video or hire an expensive marketing agency (although both would probably help) to achieve a high rate of traffic. All you need is a bit of elbow grease, a few tricks up your sleeve, and a commitment to making your site a quality destination for visitors. Add Facebook Like buttons, have a dynamic blog section, utilize SEO, and build your site heavy with links, for starters. More tips can be found in our guide to "How to Drive More Traffic to Your Website.
8. Monitor your brand's reputation, and be ready to respond.
Facebook, Twitter, and Yelp have become essential components of many companies' online marketing strategies, but there are countless other sites on which customers rant and rave about their experiences. A question or complaint left unanswered on any of them has the potential to tarnish a company's brand and scare away prospective customers. That's why companies like Beachbody are using new tools to monitor what's been said about them online. The most basic services, like Google Alerts, allow users to select keywords to track and to receive e-mail updates whenever they appear on the Web. Others, like Social Mention and HootSuite, specifically scour profiles on social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace for relevant comments. Nate Bagley, a social media expert at Mindshare Technologies, a Salt Lake City company that makes software that helps companies keep track of customer feedback, uses Google Alerts and Social Mention to keep track of references to his company, as well as news on its clients, competitors, and the industry at large. "It's a good way to gather business intelligence," he says. Some of these services, including Radian6 and Viralheat, detect whether a post is positive, negative, or neutral, so businesses can easily determine which mentions require the most attention. Those features have allowed companies to maintain greater control of their brands.
9. Showcase your best work.
In this new environment, a sturdy brand is all about trust and relationships. With that goal in mind, there's no better way to build both than by posting testimonials or listing big-name clients you've partnered with. That will lend your business a good amount of credibility. You might consider incorporating your clients' logos somewhere on your page as an added visual element. Mentioning awards and recognitions your company received, as well as community service work, green initiatives, and interesting facts, will also make your business more appealing. Additionally, timelines, company history, and major milestones are attention-grabbing.
1. Don't just start the conversation.
Be an integral and evolving part of it. "Social media has one very important perspective to share with brand management—the conversation. Like branding, social media is all about the conversation and building effective relationships. They are perfectly suited to one another," says Ed Roach, founder of The Brand Experts, a brand management consultancy in West Leamington, Ontario, the author of The Reluctant Salesperson, a free e-book available at www.thebrandingexperts.ca. The rules for brand messaging through new media versus traditional channels haven't changed, but "the game sure got better and more interesting," says Roach. It's not enough to have a Facebook page or a Twitter account, you must participate in the conversation by making regular posts and replying to direct messages from your customers. Ron Smith, president and founder of S&A's Cherokee, a public relations and marketing firm in Cary, North Carolina, agrees, adding that you'll want to stay on top of what people are saying about you and your brand online. "Monitoring social media is a must for all companies. Social media has shortened the time frame for company responses to complaints or accusations. These days, companies need to acknowledge any issues and control the messaging in a matter of minutes instead of hours or days," says Smith.
2. Either keep your personal brand out of it…
So you have 10,000 Twitter followers. Does it matter to your customers? Tim Ferriss, the entrepreneur behind the sports nutritional supplements company BrainQUICKEN and author of The 4-Hour Workweek, told Inc.com contributor John Warrillow: "Unless you're in one of a handful of businesses like public speaking, I think managing and growing a personal brand can be a huge distraction for company founders. I see all of these entrepreneurs trying to collect Twitter followers, and it reminds me of a matador waving a red flag in front of a bull. In this case, the founders are the bull. The bullfighter moves the flag away, and the bull comes up with nothing but air. Steve Jobs has a personal brand, but it is Apple's product design that makes it such a valuable company. He isn't jumping on Foursquare to develop his 'personal brand.'
3. …or dive in and make all the headlines you can.
Appearing in the media as a source of expertise can go a long way toward building your brand, Inc.'s April Joyner reports. To gain press, identify media outlets that are most applicable to your particular areas of expertise and send them targeted pitches. If you want to be a talking head on radio or television, it also helps to give producers a preview of your personality by referring them to video clips on your site. As with print, the Web has also democratized the world of radio. Through venues such as BlogTalkRadio, anyone can host her or his own broadcasts—or find a show on which to appear. After you have honed an area of expertise, you will find that there are plenty of opportunities to take your message on the road. Becoming active in professional organizations and attending conferences offer valuable opportunities for networking. As you become more familiar within a certain field, more and more people will call on you to share your expertise. Making an appearance as a vendor at an event can also offer long-term personal branding benefits.
4. Don't favor edge over consistency.
Chris Russo had a healthy business. The only thing holding it back, he thought, was its name. Three years after its launch in 2006, Fantasy Sports Ventures's revenue was increasing 40 percent to 50 percent a year, a pace that surprised even Russo. But by the fall of 2009, he was uneasy. Despite the heady growth, Russo felt the company's brand positioning was pigeonholing the business and would soon limit further expansion. "Fantasy Sports Ventures was not a long-term, sustainable, public-facing brand," Ed O'Hara, of the branding firm SME, says. "It felt more like a holding company and was too heavily weighted on the fantasy side." O'Hara and Russo tossed around lots of edgy names, like Fanarchy, Fantology, and Gutcheck, but weren't sure. Rebranding was on the table, but the company didn't want to alienate its huge readership and large fan base. The solution? When the company acquired another brand, The Big Lead, and was integrating it into the existing portfolio of sites, Russo realized he struck gold. The name was consistent with the sites' goals, as well as its existing image.
5. Be persistent in finding and targeting your niche.
Even if you're entering a flooded marketplace—and online is certainly a very crowded forum—you always have a chance to make your brand and company stand out. People used to think water was all the same; now stores carry half-a-dozen brands or more. "Marketers struggle with differentiation because they give up too soon," says Derrick Daye, managing partner of The Blake Project. "They think that this can't be differentiated, it can't be unique." Experts say the constantly shifting marketplace creates the need to be creative with your approach. The toothpaste market is one that professionals cite as a constantly changing product selection that requires vigilance on the part of brand managers. Additives like baking soda, breath freshener, or whitening strips are now taken for granted.
6. Excel at telling your customers "About Us."
You may not be paying much attention to your About Us page, but visitors to your site are, writes Chana Garcia. And considering that your About Us page is where the world first clicks to learn about your company and the services you offer, it deserves a little more consideration and a lot more respect. Sure, you need to include all the basics. But a few simple tactics can make your About Us page a more exciting read and your company come across as more accessible, says Lorrie Thomas, aka The Marketing Therapist, a marketing strategist, educator, writer, web marketing expert and speaker. Avoid writing a soliloquy (too much text can be a turnoff) and focus on connecting with your site visitors. Thomas asked her employees to write their own bios for her company's About Us page. Her only mandate was that in addition to providing a snapshot of their professional history, they include personal information, such as hobbies or their favorite activities. Some even set up links to their blogs and personal websites. This might also be a good place to include e-mail addresses for your staff. Readily available contact information shows customers that you want to hear from them and that you have nothing to hide.
7. Fully integrate social media into your site.
You'll not only look savvy, but increase your connectivity, and gain traffic to you site from elsewhere. You don't necessarily need to put out the next viral marketing video or hire an expensive marketing agency (although both would probably help) to achieve a high rate of traffic. All you need is a bit of elbow grease, a few tricks up your sleeve, and a commitment to making your site a quality destination for visitors. Add Facebook Like buttons, have a dynamic blog section, utilize SEO, and build your site heavy with links, for starters. More tips can be found in our guide to "How to Drive More Traffic to Your Website.
8. Monitor your brand's reputation, and be ready to respond.
Facebook, Twitter, and Yelp have become essential components of many companies' online marketing strategies, but there are countless other sites on which customers rant and rave about their experiences. A question or complaint left unanswered on any of them has the potential to tarnish a company's brand and scare away prospective customers. That's why companies like Beachbody are using new tools to monitor what's been said about them online. The most basic services, like Google Alerts, allow users to select keywords to track and to receive e-mail updates whenever they appear on the Web. Others, like Social Mention and HootSuite, specifically scour profiles on social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace for relevant comments. Nate Bagley, a social media expert at Mindshare Technologies, a Salt Lake City company that makes software that helps companies keep track of customer feedback, uses Google Alerts and Social Mention to keep track of references to his company, as well as news on its clients, competitors, and the industry at large. "It's a good way to gather business intelligence," he says. Some of these services, including Radian6 and Viralheat, detect whether a post is positive, negative, or neutral, so businesses can easily determine which mentions require the most attention. Those features have allowed companies to maintain greater control of their brands.
9. Showcase your best work.
In this new environment, a sturdy brand is all about trust and relationships. With that goal in mind, there's no better way to build both than by posting testimonials or listing big-name clients you've partnered with. That will lend your business a good amount of credibility. You might consider incorporating your clients' logos somewhere on your page as an added visual element. Mentioning awards and recognitions your company received, as well as community service work, green initiatives, and interesting facts, will also make your business more appealing. Additionally, timelines, company history, and major milestones are attention-grabbing.
Thursday, 20 September 2012
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