Tired of the Same Old Marketing?

You work for a manufacturing company that has been in business for 75 years.  Your marketing predecessors have always relied on direct mail catalogs, fliers and postcards.  Although reluctant, upper management have agreed to allow you to create a cheap website.  Despite your efforts, sales continue to decline.  What do you do?

The old saying “we’ve always done it that way” is not a valid argument in a rapidly changing business environment.  Many companies have gone bankrupt with that line of thinking, as new technologies and media transform the ways in which people access information, products, and companies.  75 years ago, people had to wait until the next morning’s newspaper to find out what happened in the world yesterday.  Today, news is instant and global thanks to streaming social media.  Your customers are adjusting to new technologies and their business needs. Millennials, as the new buyers in the industry, communicate much differently than baby boomers and thus companies need to change their marketing strategies.

My son is 19 years old and has sent over 138,000 Snapchats to his friends.  Five years ago, Snapchat didn’t even exist.  Millennials are a large demographic that utilize social media.  If you want to reach this demographic, you need to use the communication channels that they use. At a minimum, I recommend that you consider having business accounts for Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and LinkedIn.  Depending on your business and target market, you might want to consider Snapchat and other social media networks.  Direct mail and email are still effective marketing methods, however in order to expand your branding reach, you need to expand your marketing channels.

I am a big proponent of synchronized marketing, where you establish a comprehensive strategy that has every marketing channel working together in harmony. Direct mail, social media, email, digital, events and PR are seamlessly coordinated into one unified branding message.  For example, let’s say you want to announce a new product and promote it with an introductory discount.  Here’s what you can do.

• Create a YouTube video announcing the new product and demonstrating its features. The video should link to your ecommerce website with more product details and allow the customer to purchase the product.  The discount promo code should also be displayed on the video and on the website.
• Announce the new product via email with a link to your website with the discount promo code and link to the YouTube video demonstration.
• Display the promotion on the home page of your website with a link to the product detail/purchase page.
• Make the the same announcement to your targeted demographic using Facebook and Instagram with links to the YouTube video, product images and the discount which is linked to your product detail/purchase page.
• Do a blog post on LinkedIn and on your blog site announcing the new product and promotion.
• Do a press release with embedded links to your YouTube video, social media and website. Although press releases need to be newsworthy versus promoting product sales, the new product announcement is news.
• Monitor social media and Google searches for your new product and company so you can join the conversation, endorse the product, listen to your customers concerns and address their questions.
• Each marketing channel should link to each other.

Conclusion

In summary, doing the same things you have always done when sales are declining is ineffective in today’s new wave of instant information and communication.

• Try new things – freshen up your marketing
• Monitor what your competitors are doing and decide if you need to do similar things
• Determine the best social media channels for your target customers
• Monitor social media to hear what your customers are saying about you and join the conversation
• Leverage all of your marketing channels and synchronize them into a clear and concise branding message
• Evaluate which channels are effective and which ones are not. Do more of what’s working and stop doing what is not.

If you want to learn more about me, visit my LinkedIn profile, my website, my twitter account and my blog.

Photo credit: DaraDPhotography via Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

 

Does Your Marketing Strategy Include Snapchat?

In order to be competitive in an increasingly globalized world, social media needs to be at the forefront of your company’s marketing strategy. For millennials, the introduction of social media had the same impact as the introduction of cell phones did to baby boomers.  Technology is facilitating rapid, easy dissemination of information worldwide, generating new business opportunities and widening corporations’ potential client and customer base.  For marketers, social media is another channel to help brand companies and products, capture competitive information, and listen and respond to the voice of the customer.  In this article, I want to concentrate on one popular social media channel, Snapchat and how you can use it for business.

Created in 2012 by three Stanford University students – Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown Poster – Snapchat is a photo and video platform that allows users to share brief images or videos lasting 1 to 10 seconds.  After those images or videos are shared, they are no longer accessible. There is also a “story” feature where you can link several segments in chronological order.  Stories are available for 24 hours before they disappear. Several media outlets participate within Snapchat as “teams” that offer their content to share. Some of these outlets include CNN, Comedy Central, ESPN, and the Food Network.

Today, the company boasts a $10 – 20 billion value with over 7 billion daily video views online and 200 million daily users.  Snapchat’s predominant user demographic is 13 to34 year-olds.  If your company is targeting this demographic, I strongly suggest considering incorporating Snapchat into your marketing strategy.  Here are some business applications that you should consider.

Branding

Snapchat stories can provide prospective customers with a quick view of a company’s personality and mission without the expense of creating flawless corporate videos.  Some companies have used Snapchat as a tool to give customers an inside look at the company.  For example, one company told several stories on Snapchat showing sneak peaks at new products before they were officially introduced.

Promotional

Other companies use Snapchat as a promotions tool.  For example, if your company manufactures clothing, you can encourage your customers take a Snapchat of themselves wearing your products and send the images to your company’s social media team.  As a reward, you could automatically send participating customers a discount for their next purchase.  This would build support for your brand and expand your customer base.

You can also create a promotional code and “Snap” it to your customers.  They can then get their discount using this code online or via your call center.

Another popular promotion is to send customers a story and have the last frame of the story be a redeemable coupon that they can take a screenshot to be used on their next purchase.  Alternatively, you can use the private chat feature built into the application to send a promotional code.

Announcements

Snapchat is a great medium to announce new products, trade shows and events.  The NBA has used Snapchat during the draft, the All-Star Game and the Finals, to allow attendees of the games to add to the Atlanta Hawks “story” as events were unfolding.

Deliver Special Private Content

You can also use Snapchat to deliver special private content and to convey a sense of personal investment in individual customers. For example, actors Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson appeared at the Paris Fashion Show as their characters Derek Zoolander and Hansel to promote their new movie “Zoolander 2”. They documented their Paris Fashion Show adventure using Snapchat to help followers feel like they were involved in a special private event by creating behind-the-scenes snaps.

Acquiring New Customers

Customer acquisition is always on the hearts and minds of marketers.  You can utilize Snapchat to gather new customers by uploading prospect lists from your address book or utilize a QR code in your digital and print marketing that invites customers to be part of your Snapchat network. Snapchat enables your company to target a younger demographic and build new customer support through innovative outreach strategies and promotions.

Building New Relationships

Customers do business with companies they know and trust.  Use Snapchat to help build relationships. How can you build relationships in 1 to 10 seconds?  By stringing a  series of Snapchats together in a story or a series of events that showcase your products and services, you provide customers with personal insight into your company and help them feel connected to your products and brand.

Conclusion

If you are marketing your products to 13 to 34 year-olds, you should strongly consider Snapchat as part of your marketing strategy.  I recommend that you don’t just settle for one social media channel; synchronized marketing strategies utilizing Snapchat, LinkedIn, and other tools will enable your company to achieve its goals.  You can leverage Snapchat along with Vine, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter for example, to create a multi-pronged marketing approach that creatively tells your story to attract new customers.

If you want to learn more about me, visit my LinkedIn profile, my website, my Twitter account and my blog.

Photo credit: business.teenlife.com

What Makes Super Bowl Commercials Good?

I love to watch the Super Bowl to see the two best football teams battling for the ultimate prize the NFL has the offer.  Like many viewers, I am also interested to see what the advertisers have up their sleeves for the infamous Super Bowl commercials.  Being the marketing and advertising geek that I am, I love watching the best advertising agencies in the world battling for Super Bowl commercial dominance (pun intended).

This year’s Super Bowl commercials were outstanding. A few, in my view, rose to the top.  For me, the best commercials were the following:

• Doritos – Ultrasound                                                 https://youtu.be/vH2LsFcWOFY Doritos has consistently had excellent Super Bowl ads, but this one is really clever and funny.  The commercial shows parents viewing their unborn baby’s ultrasound. As the dad waves Doritos chips in front of the screen, the baby’s image moves around wildly, following the chips, until the baby accidentally delivers itself in pursuit of Doritos. It’s especially amusing for me, a father of five children.  Although most of the Super Bowl commercials appealed to millennials, this one appealed to an older audience.  For one who has seen several ultrasounds in my lifetime, I could relate to the Dad-to-be.  The first time you see an ultrasound, it’s surreal and exciting like watching television for the first time.  When the baby moves around during an ultrasound, it’s amazing to watch.  Having the Dad-to-be taking that experience to another level with a bag of Doritos is what made this commercial very funny to me.

• Mountain Dew Kickstart – PuppyMonkeyBaby                       https://youtu.be/ql7uY36-LwA This commercial probably received the largest outcry of “that was weird” of all the 2016 Super Bowl commercials. In my opinion, however, the ad was brilliant. The ad agency combined three cute things – a puppy, a monkey and a baby with three things Mountain Dew wants you to associate and remember – dew, juice and caffeine.  In the commercial, a PuppyMonkeyBaby hybrid walks through a secret door with a bucked of iced Mountain Dew and repeats “puppy” “monkey” “baby” over and over while handing the guys cans of Mountain Dew. After the three guys take their sip of Kickstart, they start dancing and following PuppyMonkeyBaby down the apartment hallway. The ad weirdly but hilariously indicates that combining three things into one – such as PuppyMonkeyBaby or Kickstart’s ingredients of “dew, juice, and caffeine”- is what consumers want.

• Heinz – Weiner Stampede                                                    https://youtu.be/aNN9nL2vppM Heinz’s clever ad featured a bunch of dachshunds in hot dog costumes – little “hot dogs” – running across a field to their owners, who were dressed as Heinz ketchup and mustard bottles, to Harry Nilsson’s song “Without You.”  As the  dogs leapt into their owners’ arms and licked their faces, a background narrator quips “It’s hard to resist great taste.” Catchy and adorable, the ad already has 6 and a half million views on YouTube.

• Honda Ridgeline – A New Truck To Love                        https://youtu.be/kTaCT8ZmdJA Honda recently released a new Ridgeline truck featuring the first ever truck bed audio system. To promote it, the company introduced a commercial where a rancher drops off sheep from his Ridgeline truck while playing Queen’s “Somebody to Love” song. As the truck drives away, one of the sheep begins to sing the song acapella with a whole chorus of the other sheep joining in. The ad resonated with me and fellow baby boomers who grew up with Queen’s music, igniting feelings of nostalgia. Old and young, human and sheep, everyone should enjoy a Ridgeline, according to Honda.

• Wix.com – The Power of Wix (Kung Fu Panda 3)            https://youtu.be/7jIA3eFtSOM This commercial accomplished several things at the same time. It tells the story of what needs to be done to drive more traffic to Li Shan’s restaurant “Ping’s Noodles.”  Po, the panda character from Kung Fu Panda, suggests a big commercial where there are reenactments of successful past Super Bowl commercials via Kung Fu Panda characters. Master Shifu who is Po’s teacher of Kung Fu in the movie comments that commercials are great, but you need a great website first, the Power of Wix.  Wix.com is an online website building tool.  This commercial successfully ties together humor poking fun at Super Bowl commercials while promoting Wix.com and Kung Fu Panda 3.

• Snickers – Marilyn                                                                      https://youtu.be/WhfntLl6xx0 Snickers ads over the past couple of years have cleverly superimposed various irritable characters in different situations, including vintage television shows.  The solution to irritability is to eat a Snickers, because you get cranky when you are hungry.  Who can forget Betty White and Abe Vigoda playing football a few Super Bowls ago?  Or Danny Trejo and Steve Buscemi playing Marcia and Jan Brady from the Brady Bunch?  This year’s Snickers Super Bowl commercial was equally as clever.  A cranky Marilyn Monroe played by Willem Dafoe is getting ready to shoot the infamous subway grate scene from “The Seven Year Itch.” After eating a Snickers bar, Defoe magically transforms into Marilyn Monroe, losing the irritability.  The cameo with Eugene Levy operating the fan under the subway grate had an awesome tag line “This scene will never make the cut.”

What do all of these ads have in common?  Excellent writing, cinematography, special effects, editing, and music working perfectly together.  The commercials are memorable because they are clever and funny.  While some might suggest that PuppyMonkeyBaby was too weird and people didn’t like it, I disagree.  That commercial alone has had over 21.7 million views on YouTube and people are still taking about it.  Successful Super Bowl commercials live much longer than their time on the Super Bowl.  People like me watched the Super Bowl, then went to YouTube to watch the commercials we liked again and shared them with family, friends and colleagues.  Making a commercial go viral is the goal and successful commercials continue to garner views months after their television release. Congratulations to the brands and advertising agencies for another successful year of great commercials.

If you want to learn more about me, visit my LinkedIn profile, my Twitter account,  my website and my blog.

Expect the Unexpected – Lessons Learned from Beyoncé’s “Formation” and the Red Lobster Tweet

When Beyoncé performed her new single “Formation” at the Super Bowl in front of over 111.9 million viewers, Red Lobster had no idea that their restaurant chain was mentioned in the song.  Unfortunately, Red Lobster’s marketing team and agency weren’t ready to respond quickly and take advantage of the opportunity.  It took over 8 hours from the time the chain was mentioned in song at the Super Bowl until Red Lobster responded with an acknowledgement. In the fast-paced world of social media, you need to respond quickly.  Unfortunately, Red Lobster did not.

There were 19,000 retweets of the response by Red Lobster, but  Beyoncé’s fan  base wasn’t impressed.  Red Lobster had the opportunity of a lifetime to create a catchy response targeting both Beyoncé’s fans and the Super Bowl crowd at large, but they blew it.  Since its release a week ago, Beyoncé’s “Formation” music video has had over 7 million views on YouTube.  That’s 7 million mentions of Red Lobster’s brand for free. There are some key things to take away from Red Lobster’s weak and insufficient response to a superstar’s endorsement of their restaurant chain.

If I was responsible for the marketing department and managing the outside agency for Red Lobster, here’s what I would have done.

1. It’s unclear as to why it took so long for Red Lobster to respond to social media – a full 8 hours.  My guess is it had something to do with the legal department, C-level approval, and other red tape that organizations need to deal with.  I would have legal and corporate officers pre-approve some guidelines for a fast response.  Frankly, in this incidence a simple “Thanks Beyoncé” would have been a good start. To take it a step further, a tweet like “Thanks @Beyoncé. Come to Red Lobster and use promo code “Beyoncé” and get 20% off your meal. Appreciation Promo ends 2/15. #Formation #Beyhive”   The entire social media world was waiting for Red Lobster’s response.  With the mention in “Formation”, Red Lobster’s sales went up 33%.  Imagine if Red Lobster responded quickly with a promo code, their sales might have gone up double that amount.
2. I would hire an agency to be on call 24-7 to design quick responses in collaboration with the marketing team to any mention of our brand from celebrities.  Reputable agencies do focus groups and monitor social media feedback.  They have subject matter experts at their beck and call.  If the agency didn’t feel they were certain how to respond to the demographic, run your ideas quickly by your subject matter experts.  Your response not only needs to be fast, but it needs to be the right response.  Once you have the appropriate response (which should be issued in minutes not hours), it’s time to feed the social media machine.
3. Red Lobster has over 700 restaurants and 58,000 employees. That’s a pretty large Twitter universe to tap into.  Think of this as a marketing fire drill.  When a celebrity does a surprise endorsement of your product, everyone should know what to do.  The agency and marketing team will quickly discuss and agree on the response and post it on social media.  Employees are then notified via text to retweet the message to all of their followers on Twitter.  58,000 employees plus all their followers…you do the math.  This kind of response would create the kind of momentum needed to bring new customers in and promote your business. Your social media response should be posted on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and all of the other networks that you use to increase your visibility.
4. Red Lobster should have had follow-up tweets that kept this marketing train moving and the momentum for Red Lobster products going. Unfortunately their follow-up tweets were damage control. Their original response was “  ‘Cheddar Bey Biscuits’ has a nice ring to it, don’t you think? #Formation @Beyonce”.  The negative response from Twitter was fast and loud.  Red Lobster tried a damage control tweet “You try to bake Cheddar Bay Biscuits and tweet at the same time! #harderthanitlooks #Formation”, but they got more criticism, so they tried one more time.  “Our bad. We’re really busy for some reason. #ThanksB.”  The social media universe didn’t appreciate the continued attempts for damage control.

When leveraged properly, social media can be a powerful tool to drive traffic to your website and increase sales.  You need to be ready for the unexpected, because when something big happens, like Beyoncé inadvertently supporting your business, you have only one shot to get it right.

If you want to learn more about me, visit my LinkedIn profile, my website and my blog.

Photo credit:   JeepersMedia via Foter.com / CC BY

 

Social Media – A Game of Strategy

Monopoly is a game of strategy.  When you play the game, you need to evaluate different options and understand that the choices that you make are critical to your success.  Social media is also a game of strategy.  The social networks that you use can help your company grow through brand awareness, promotions, and customer feedback.

When determining which social media networks work best for your company, there are a number of things to consider.  Before we go there, let’s make social media a bit easier to understand by categorizing the various types of networks. By doing so, we can more easily determine what social media networks work for your company and which ones you don’t really need to invest time in.  It’s time to play the game of social media to keep up with your competitors.

Social Networks

Social networking sites fueled the rise of social media. These networks were designed as a platform for online social interaction and means of sharing similar interests, connecting with artistic groups, and personalizing Internet space. Facebook, Google +, MySpace, and MeetUp are a few examples of these networks. Social networks are an effective channel for business to build credibility, and company and product awareness. Here are some examples of successful business Facebook pages. Zappos uses discussion posts, wall updates and Fan of the Week contests to engage with their customers. Burt’s Bees uses spotlight videos to build product awareness and allows customers to buy products from their Facebook page. Skullcandy leverages music, videos, and blogs to encourage customers to purchase their products.

Professional Social Networks

Unlike the original social networks, professional social networks are focused more on business-related networking and information sharing.  LinkedIn, SlideShare, Xing and Viadeo fit into this category.  You typically wouldn’t share family photos at the zoo on these sites, but would instead reach out to expand business relationships. Businesses create LinkedIn pages to build brand awareness, share corporate information and announcements such as Coca-Cola, Mashable and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.  Like many social networks, the lifespan of professional social networks is sometimes short, so be sure to pick a reputable and established networking site.

Private Social Networks

Although the name sounds like an oxymoron, private social networks – or private enterprise networks – are a useful tool that an increasing number of companies are utilizing.   Private social networks operate like normal social networks but can only be accessed behind the firewall within companies – hence the term “private”.  Yammer, Salesforce Chatter and Ning are examples of these networks. These networks enable companies located in numerous domestic and international locations to share sensitive information and collaborate on projects more effectively.

International Social Networks

Similar to other social networks, international social networks have originated outside of the US.  These sites offer networking platforms in multiple languages and are customizable to the user.  These networks include QZone (China), Netlog (Belgium), Vkontakte (Russia) and Sonico (Japan).

Social Media Monitoring, Management and Tracking

Social media monitoring is a method of tracking what is being said on social media about an individual, product or company.  These networks or software have become very popular to help companies dispel rumors, bad press and incorrect information.  Some of these networks are Tracx, BuzzBundle, HootSuite, Postling and Lithium.

Content Discovery and Curation

Content delivery and curation networks offer interesting and entertaining content for the purpose of sharing information and providing news content outside of traditional news networks. Sites include BuzzFeed, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Digg and HubPages.  Often users will forward these stories to their networks via other social networking sites, facilitating the quick dissemination of information through multiple Internet platforms. Use these networks to reach younger demographics (millennials) by creating funny and entertaining content that can go viral, which can become an effective branding tool for your company.

Blogging

Blogging sites allow their users to write and post articles and share information relevant to specific topics.  Some networks like LinkedIn have incorporated blogging within their site to allow users to share opinions, new trends, and current affairs in the business and professional world.  There are several blogging sites on the internet, but the most well-known are WordPress, Posthaven, and Blogger.  Even though I post articles on LinkedIn, I also use my blog on WordPress to share my information on different platforms including Facebook, Google + and Twitter.  These articles can contain links to your products driving traffic and sales to your website.

Microblogging

The only difference between blogging and microblogging is the limitation of content.  Microblogging involves sending short messages, announcements and links instead of paragraph-long posts. Twitter, Tumblr, Posterous and Disqus are best known for these applications.  Three companies that use Twitter very effectively are McDonalds, Delta Airlines and Nike.  McDonalds promotes new items on the menu and have giveaways when followers tweet about what they love about McDonalds.  Delta Airlines introduces their latest offers and special packages.  Nike doesn’t use Twitter for sales.  They send out tweets that motivate and inspire their followers, which strengthen the Nike brand.

Photo Sharing

It is said that “A picture is worth a thousand words.”   Photo sharing networks allow individuals or companies post photos including images of products, family, personal interests, hobbies, and so forth.  Instragram, Pinterest and Flickr connect communities of various interests and allow them to post images.  SnapChat is a similar platform for photo sharing and also allows you to post short videos. Photo sharing networks are an important tool for improving branding and marketing images of your company. By connecting with influencers and innovators, sharing their posts, using hashtags, tag names, comments and links in your posts, you can expand your brand visibility quickly.

Video Sharing

YouTube has put video sharing networks on the social media map.  Since its inception, YouTube has transformed into a global repository of videos that are searched like Google.  Other video sharing sites that have grown in popularity include Vimeo, DailyMotion and Vine.  Businesses use this network to show corporate, product and how-to videos.  According to Wired.com, YouTube is one of Google’s biggest successes outside of search and YouTube now reaches more 18 to 49-year-olds than any single US cable network.

Which Social Media Network Should You Use For Your Company?

Determining which social media network to use for your company is important for your marketing and branding strategy. Choosing only one network is not sufficient for your company to get noticed.  I believe that every company should be, at the very least, on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest or Instagram and HootSuite.  These networks or their competitors will provide you with networking and blogging opportunities (LinkedIn); microblogging (Twitter) to announce new products and company updates; social networking (Facebook), which expands your audience to a wider variety of  potential new customers; video sharing (YouTube) to post product and corporate videos, including community service; photo sharing (Pinterest) to expand your brand by providing images targeted to the appropriate communities that buy your products and services; and social management and tracking (HootSuite) to monitor what your customers, prospects and competitors are saying about you on social media.  Even if your business is more service-oriented, you can still take advantage of these networks.

Conclusion

Like Monopoly, social media is a strategy game. You need to decide what social media networks are right for your business.  Research options, see what your competitors are using and make sure that you have dedicated resources (internal or external) to respond to the market conversations that are happening on social media about your company and industry.  This is a strategy game that your company cannot afford to lose.

If you want to learn more about me, visit my LinkedIn profile, my website and my blog.

Photo credit:  Emilie Ogez via Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

 

Why Isn’t Your Entire Company On LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is best known as the place where professionals network with other professionals.  With over 400 million members, LinkedIn has built a very large network that you can take advantage of.  The concept is pretty simple.  I’m sure you’ve heard of the six degrees of Kevin Bacon.  The concept is that any two people are six people or fewer acquaintance links apart from each other.  By creating this large network of professionals, you have the opportunity to connect with any professional that you want to using LinkedIn.  This tool allows you to easily find contacts at other companies and discover who you are connected with that may be able to introduce you to those contacts.  Here are some suggestions on how you can benefit from having a LinkedIn presence for your company and how your employees can help your company grow using LinkedIn.

Create Your Own Company Profile   – If you haven’t done so already, create a company profile on LinkedIn.  It’s really easy to do and along with your other social media networks, you will have more visibility to more customers.  If you don’t know where to start, I recommend reviewing some very impressive LinkedIn business pages including Microsoft , Google, Salesforce, and Harvard Business Review.  According to LinkedIn, these companies have a few things in common that have made them very successful.

• 99% of the top global brands have employees sharing their content to their networks
• 97% of the top global brands have employee posts contributing to their content efforts
• 99% of top brands regularly share updates on their Company Page
• 73% of top brands are utilizing Sponsored Updates
• All of these top brands post an average of 12.6 updates per week

Although you don’t need to have your content machine in place on day one, these are great practices that should be emulated.

Sales – It is a very good idea that each of your sales staff has their own LinkedIn profile. Companies like to do business with people that they know.  Having a professional photograph and information about each sales person will help your company’s professionalism online and help them by having an “online business card”.  By the way, having a LinkedIn profile URL on your salespeople’s business cards is another way for your customers to learn more about them and you.

Sales should use LinkedIn to find key contact names of targeted prospects.  A word of caution –  many salespeople say they want to network and connect with professionals, when all they really want to do is turn that networking opportunity into a sales pitch.  Presenting your products and services to targeted prospects subtly is one thing, but don’t use LinkedIn as a tool to hound them for sales.  The better approach might be to see who you know on LinkedIn who might be able to introduce you to that contact.  Referrals are much more effective than cold calling on LinkedIn.  LinkedIn offers advertising opportunities to present your company’s products and services which is respectable way to get noticed.

Marketing – As mentioned above, there are some successful companies using LinkedIn very effectively.  Your marketing team should research these LinkedIn companies for best practices.  There is much to be learned about effective methods of leveraging LinkedIn and other social media networks.  The more updates that you can post on LinkedIn, the better.  Keeping your updates flowing, keeps your customers and prospects interested and updated on what is going on with your company.  I also recommend that your marketing team sign up for different LinkedIn Pulse channels.  There are millions of marketing professionals on LinkedIn and these groups love to share ideas that have worked for them.

Human Resources – Job seekers use LinkedIn as an online resume with the added value of providing recommendations from colleagues, skills, endorsements, volunteer information, blog posts, videos, photos, slide presentations, and documents. Your HR department should comb LinkedIn to find new talent.

Administration, IT and Production Staff – Having your administration, IT and production staff on LinkedIn can help build the company profile to your prospects and customers.  Not only is it important to have them create their own profiles, but also having them provide content for your corporate LinkedIn pages and sharing that information with their contacts spreads the word exponentially on social media.

Executive Team – The average number of connections that CEOs have on LinkedIn is 930.  Executives need to leverage LinkedIn for peer and new business relationships, partnerships and strategic alliances.

If you don’t have a corporate LinkedIn profile, build one.  Encourage your staff to create their own LinkedIn profiles and whenever you have a company update, make sure that you get your staff to share that information with their connections.  Leverage the power of LinkedIn to give your company more visibility and to expand your brand through networking.

If you want to learn more about me, please visit my LinkedIn profile, my website and my blog.

Photo credit: A Name Like Shields Can Make You Defensive via Foter.com / CC BY

Statistics: LinkedIn and DMR

Social Media Tips for 2016

Companies vary in their usage and understanding of social media.  Some are just starting out, while others have been leveraging several social media platforms to listen to what the market is saying about them, engaging with their customers and finding new ones through social media.  For B2B and B2C companies, think of social media as the new “barbershop” or “beauty parlor” of the next generation.  In other words, it is a place where you can update friends and family on what is going on in your life, as well as to hear what is going on in their lives.  Unlike your local gathering place, social media is a network of millions of people who talk to each other about everything and you have the opportunity to hear what they are saying.

Here are some social media tips you may want to try in 2016.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is one of the best business networking platforms on social media.  This is the place where recruiters find new job applications, businesses grow their customer base by reaching out to prospects and customers, professionals meet other professionals in their field to share ideas and insight, and you can learn from people all over the world.  If you don’t have a LinkedIn profile, create one.  If your company doesn’t have a presence on LinkedIn, create a profile for them.

Some professionals don’t understand why you should create a profile on LinkedIn when you already have a website.  LinkedIn enhances your company’s visibility in several ways. Often customers use LinkedIn to get an overview of the company and to find key contacts at that company to build relationships with.  LinkedIn also provides a personable side of your business. If you want to show the world that you value what customers have to say about you, you need to be on social media.  LinkedIn is the central location where new talent is looking for work and where leaders of companies and corporations go to network.

Facebook

Facebook was originally created for college students, but has expanded to every age and background all over the globe.  As Facebook continued to expand, parents and family members of all ages began using Facebook as a place to post family updates.  Why is this significant for business?  Facebook has 1.19 billion active users every month.  Putting it another way, that’s 1.19 BILLION potential new customers.

Facebook ads continue to grow in popularity as a way to drive traffic to your website.  Facebook Groups are clusters of like-minded individuals so you can target whatever groups of people that you want to.

Twitter

Twitter is an outstanding medium for broadcasting short, marketing messages about your products and services.  You can announce promotions, discounts, and new products while drawing attention to the interests and knowledge of your company.  The power of Twitter is listening to the conversations on social media and adding to the conversation.

The proper use of hashtags (i.e. #StarWarsTheForceAwakens) can get your announcements and messages in front of the right people at the right time.  You need to monitor what is trending and determine if it makes sense to join into those conversations.  You can also just put a # in front of a topic that makes sense for your product or service, like #businesstrends, #digitalmarketing or #marketingtools.

YouTube

If you have corporate or product videos, post them on YouTube.  YouTube has over one billion users, almost 1/3 of the number of people using the internet.  Videos are a great way of demonstrating your products, telling your story or showing your company’s DNA.  Like the other social media platforms, you can advertise on YouTube or through Google Adwords remarketing, allowing your ads to show up when people visit your site, then go to other Google network sites like YouTube.

Pinterest

Pintererst is a social media platform where you can “pin” photos and videos on other people’s or company’s boards.  Think of it as an electronic bulletin board.  Like LinkedIn and Facebook, there are groups of like-minded people that share their interests, recipes, photos in interesting places, etc.  If you find like-minded customers, Pinterest is an excellent place to start conversations and relationships and to increase search engine optimization for your website.

Instagram

Instagram is a photo-sharing social media platform that focuses on your personal experience to a particular brand.  It is a great place to build brand awareness.  Your Instagram page can connect to your Facebook business page to help solidify your brand.

Instagram allows you to show your customers the personal side of your business by sharing photos of your products, team and services.  Customers are more comfortable dealing with people they can relate to versus cold, aloof companies.  Small businesses can effectively use Instagram to show their personal side and hopefully relate more effectively to customers compared to big businesses.  Instagram can really help your customers visualize your company.

Making An Impact Using Social Media

 I like to think of Social Media as the next evolution of communication where you can connect with anyone all over the world.  How do you leverage social media to help grow your business?

1. Make sure that you have dedicated people in your organization who are knowledgeable about and skilled at social media. Business people that suggest that companies only need a part-time social media person don’t understand the power of social media. If you could listen to what your customers say about your company, products and services 24/7, wouldn’t you take advantage of that? Social media allows you to set your company apart from your competitors.
2. Determine which social media platform works best for your industry. There are many social media networks beyond the ones that I mentioned.  Do some research and find out where your customers and competitors are congregating.  Figure out which media platform will best reach your customers and bring in new customers.
3. Once you get your social media team in place and identify your networks, now it’s time to build a social media strategy and implement it. I’m a firm believer in synchronized marketing – getting all of your marketing efforts including social media working together in harmony.  For example, if you put a product on sale in a flier, make sure it is also on your website and be sure to communicate the sale through email, Google Adwords and social media advertising.  You can do “Facebook Only” contests that aren’t offered anywhere else but your Facebook landing page so you can then drive traffic to your website.
4. Once you get your social media marketing machine in motion, you can then train your entire staff to broadcast messages about your company, new products, and services on several social media platforms simultaneously. Be very careful that your staff is fully trained.  Social media is a very powerful tool – when you broadcast a message, it can easily be seen by millions of people.  Make sure the message that goes out is monitored and presents your company in a professional and positive light. Imagine that instead of a handful of people sending out targeted messages through social media, your entire company can expand your message exponentially through careful implementation.

Conclusion

In 2016, identify the social media platforms that make sense for your company.  Go where your customers and competitors are online.  Identify who in your company is responsible for social media, particularly in the marketing or corporate communications departments.  Make sure that you build a social media strategy leveraging other marketing platforms like print, web advertising, email marketing, Google Adwords, social media advertising and messaging.  Once you have tested your messaging and start building momentum, you can expand your social media messaging throughout the company under the careful direction of your marketing and corporate communications management team.

If you want to learn more about me, please visit my LinkedIn profile, my website and my blog.

Photo credit: Peter Ras via Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA

How to Incorporate Social Media into Your Marketing Strategy

So what’s the big deal about social media?  Everybody is talking about it.  Companies need a presence on social media, but why?  Your company has done fine without it. Why should you invest time and effort in social media?  Which ones should you use?   Here’s a quick overview of some of the more popular social media platforms and how you can use them.

LinkedIn – Most effective business networking site on the internet.  If you want to find leads, everyone who is anyone is on LinkedIn.  LinkedIn lists names of executives of your prospects, so you can find the key contact that you need.  LinkedIn also offers advertising opportunities.

Instagram – Online photo-sharing, video-sharing and social networking service.  You can upload photos or videos and share them on other social media platforms like Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter and Flickr.  Information sharing is a key benefit of social media.

Flickr – Image hosting/sharing and video hosting/sharing platform.  Businesses use Flickr to upload photos of happy customers, their plant and operations, volunteer events sponsored by the company, etc.  Flickr is owned by Yahoo.

Pinterest – Photo and creative idea sharing network.  Pinterest is an excellent place to build your brand by “pinning” your product images and events. You can build a huge following of customers and prospects on Pinterest.  It is also a great place to drive traffic to your website.

Facebook – Not just for college student communication anymore.  Businesses, families, college students use Facebook as a way to disseminate information to select groups or the general public.  Facebook has several like-minded groups which provide an excellent way to target market.

Twitter – One of the most popular social media platforms.  You are limited to short messages of 140-character or less to provide quick updates to your customers.  In August 2015, Twitter removed the 140-character limit on direct messages (private conversations).  Great for announcing new products, press releases, events etc.

Snapchat – Short videos that tell a story.  The video disappears from one to 10 seconds after it is viewed, so businesses need to be short and to the point.  Snapchat can be used to announce quick sales, promo codes etc.  Snapchat is a fun platform, so keep that in mind as you use it.  Know who your audience is and get personal with your customers.  Give them glimpses of who you are with Snapchat.  30% of internet using millennials are on Snapchat.

Google Plus – Similar to Facebook, but with some differences.  Hangouts are unplanned meet-ups online, Sparks are one-stop shop for information where you can select topics to get information, Huddles allow users to chat with a targeted group of people, and you can use Instant Upload to instantly upload videos and images from your phone to Google +.  Google + is building momentum in the social media marketplace.

YouTube – The most popular video sharing site on the internet.  You can load how-to, product introduction or corporate information videos.  YouTube has a huge following and user base.  YouTube is owned by Google.

Slideshare – Slide hosting service using PowerPoint, PDF, Keynote and OpenDocument presentations.  It’s like YouTube for slideshows.  You can post and share slideshows about new products, your company profile, charitable events etc. Slideshare is owned by LinkedIn and is integrated with that networking platform.

StumbleUpon – This social media site helps you find unique and interesting things across the internet.  Think of StumbleUpon as a tour guide through the internet.  You can also submit websites that you like, see what others have shared, browse videos, photos and posts.

Tumblr – Tumblr is a blogging platform.  Let’s you share what you like with others that share the same types of things.  You can upload images, comments, etc.  It creates a custom webpage with your interests on it that you can share with the world.  On your dashboard, you can track your posts, blogs, images etc.

WordPress – WordPress is another very popular blogging platform that has been around since 2003.  I personally have a WordPress blog account.  It’s very easy to post and distribute articles.  Blogs are an effective platform to discuss new products, corporate strategies, white papers etc.

Besides building your brand and announcing new products, one of the greatest benefits of social media is it is where your customers and prospects are talking about you and your competitors.  Social media allows you to be part of their conversation. I can’t think of a better place to be.

If you want to learn more about me, please visit my LinkedIn profile, my website and my blog.

Photo credit: ePublicist / Foter / CC BY-ND

Listen to Your Customers and Grow Your Business

I had to learn this valuable lesson the hard way.  We built an amazing website based on competitive research.  We reviewed several competitive sites and built a new site incorporating the best of our competitors’ sites.  When we launched the website, we expected our sales would go through the roof…they didn’t.  Our online sales were flat after launching our new site.  What did we do wrong?  We asked customers what they liked and didn’t like about our site.  The feedback we received was interesting.  We received comments like “You need to make your site more like competitor X.”  We did significant research of our competitor’s websites and thought we took the best of all of them to build a best-in-class website.  We were wrong.

I told our web team to contact every customer who provided input and asked them exactly what they meant by their comments.  Our customers provided incredible insight as to why our new site didn’t set their world on fire.  After reviewing the customer feedback, we only had one option…completely rebuild the website from scratch based on what our customers wanted, not what we thought they wanted.  That was the smartest thing we did.

We rebuilt our website, but this time we made sure that it would be successful.  Every customer who provided feedback became our beta testers of the new site.  They tested our site, provided more feedback and we continued to improve the site.  When we relaunched the site to the general public, our web sales improved immediately.  The customers who tested our site really appreciated that we listened to them to give them what they needed.

I have worked with and for some of the smartest entrepreneurs in the marketplace and I learned early in my career that they grew their businesses by listening to customers and giving them what they asked for.  This sounds obvious, but often companies don’t take the time to listen to what customers want and then take action.

One excellent channel to listen to customers is social media.  Believe me, your customers are talking about your company to other customers and prospects on social media.  They are also talking about your competitors.  I highly recommend that you join in on the conversation.  You will quickly discover what they like and don’t like about your company and your products.

Listening to customers, giving them what they are asking for, and quickly resolving any issues they have are keys to success.

If you want to learn more about me, please visit my LinkedIn profile, my website and my blog.

Photo provided by garageolimpo.

Why does your company need a LinkedIn Profile?

Your company has a nice website, a call center that takes customer orders, a solid sales force that brings in new business and a marketing team that gets your branding message into the marketplace through direct mail, pay-per-click and banner advertising.  Why should you spend any time on social media like LinkedIn?

Good question, but the answer might surprise you.  If you are doing everything that I mentioned above, you are not doing everything you can to increase your sales.  Many people think of LinkedIn as a glorified job board where you can post your resume and look for jobs, but it’s much more than that.  I like to think of LinkedIn as your favorite coffee shop like Starbucks or your favorite watering hole.  I might be dating myself a bit, but think of LinkedIn as a place like the TV show “Cheers”.  It’s a place where friends gather and you can get to know people.  It’s “where everyone knows your name” or that what you want it to be.  It’s a place where friends gather and where you can make new friends.

OK, you are probably thinking that this guy is stuck in the 80’s and can’t get out.  Stay with me on this.  If LinkedIn is where you can connect with old friends, business acquaintances and make new ones, why wouldn’t this be a good place for your company to be?  LinkedIn isn’t Facebook.  You can see Facebook spill over on LinkedIn.  No offense, but I don’t really care if your cat can play the piano or your toddler rode a Big Wheel for the first time.  That’s what Facebook is for.  LinkedIn is the place to go to network.  Find other professionals like yourself, learn new things, find a job, and FIND NEW CUSTOMERS.

Let’s go on a little Google adventure.  Check out some of the largest, most successful companies on the internet.  Do they have these icons on their site?

I chose 5 big, successful companies in the Fortune 25.  Here’s what I found.

1. General Motors – Yep, social media icons on their home page
2. Exxon Mobil – Yep, also social media icons on their home page
3. General Electric – Yep, also social media icons on their home page
4. McKesson – Yep, also social media icons on their home page
5. IBM – Yep, on their home page…you get the idea.

These are just 5 big companies in different industries, but they all have something in common.  They all are using social media including LinkedIn to connect with their customers.  Customers know social media and so do their kids.  It’s a new way to communicate.  You need to be where your Customers are and they’re on LinkedIn.

Should your company be on LinkedIn?  Absolutely.  You should also be on Twitter, YouTube, Google+, Facebook and maybe some more.  There are a lot of social media sites out there.  Determine which ones you should be on and make it happen.  Your competitors are.  You need to make sure you are where every prospect and customer knows your name.

If you want to learn more about me, please visit my LinkedIn profile, my website and my blog.