I recently spoke about how to use Social Media for your business. I like Facebook because people have to become FANS... which is a great way to filter spam, so most of these notes applies to Facebook Business pages... which are easy to set up. We'll be posting a video of the presentation shortly... but for now here are my notes from the event. (Cleaned up of course!)
FIRST STEP: GET YOUR MESSAGE RIGHT - FIRST KNOW YOUR BUSINESS
Of the following... pick three out of the following five that your business competes on.
1) Quality
2) Service
3) Price Competitive
4) Atmosphere
5) Knowledge
Then pick the single word out of the three that your business favors the most. This is your real competitive edge.
BE SMART WITH YOUR WORDS
Pick ten words that best describe your business, ask friends, clients, family... anybody you know. Then pick the top three... those are your main words... and use those exact words in your posts! (Think about the words Steve Jobs used to describe the iPad, they use the same words in all of the iPad advertising!)
-------------
LOOKING BACK.... PERSPECTIVES IN SOCIAL MEDIA
To place adds in the back of a newspaper used to cost money. Twitter and Facebook posts are "free" but treat them as if they cost you $50 each time you hit post. That way, you avoid posting wasteful information. Nicholas Negroponte (famous tech guru) once asked "how do we put a value on those little 1s and 0s" in his book Being Digital from 1995. We are now just starting to figure this virtual economy out.
Remember there’s another person at the other end of your internet connection. That to them specifically, not just “everyone.”
YOU NEED DEVELOP TUNNEL VISION TO HANDLE THE INFO-BARRAGE
Ignore wasteful Facebook posts... “Grandma likes peas, how weird” Ugh. Young people have acquired this focus, Baby Boomers have more trouble with it.
Young people lose patience quicker... they lack critical problem solving. Read an article to see how our nation being distraction is a serious issue by clicking here. (UTNE READER)
REMEMBER... “COMMUNITY” is the NEW WORD
Brand Hijacking is the way it works now. (You no longer direct your company... your clients now determine much of the the course.) There is a successful general store in Port Angeles that carries everything their customers ask for. Listen to your clients... the most inane questions can be an opportunity.
SOCIAL MEDIA OPTIMIZATION search engine expert Danny Sullivan says the keys to successful SMO are...
- Increase your linkability
- Make tagging and bookmarking easy
- Reward inbound links
- Help your content travel
- Encourage the mashup (a mashup is a web page or application that uses or combines data or functionality from two or many more external sources to create a new service.)
- Get communities connected
(This became 15 lists, once again pointless) mine is easier...
WHAT TO REMEMBER: The Mash-up... link to sites or news articles that keep browsers in your community or network.
RULE OF THIRDS....WHAT TO POST (remember to make it worth their while)
1/3 Posts - Fast Facts... on subjects related to your product or service
1/3 Posts - Humor, quirky videos... jokes, cartoons... or things that show off your personality
1/3 Posts - Direct Action... tell your customers to do something at a specific date and time
The history of advertising has made advertising so complex we are nowat a stage of anti-advertising... selling without telling. For Facebook posts, forget that... BE DIRECT AS POSSIBLE BECAUSE IT’S HONEST AND YOU WILL BE RESPECTED
- Remember to use your keywords
- Always include a place and time
- Plan six months ahead.... have a text file with all of your promotions well thought out and ready to go.
TIP # 1 LEARN HOW TO TIME YOUR POSTS - look at the chat box, find out when most of your fans are online.
TIP # 2 ADDING A LINK? MAKE SURE YOUR HEADLINE IS CATCHY AND FUN
TIP #3 BE CAREFUL - Facebook likes to oddly line break copied text. Weird line breaks will cause your retention rate to drop dramatically.
TIP #4 Check yuor spelling... (yes, that was on purpose.)
GOOD IDEA: SET UP A REWARDS PROGRAM
Start-ups like Groupon Inc., LivingSocial, BuyWithMe Inc. and IMshopping Inc.'s NimbleBuy let merchants offer one-day promotions, sometimes requiring a minimum number of customers to participate in order for the promotion to be valid.
EXAMPLE: Balani Custom Clothiers Inc., a Chicago men's suit and shirt tailor, offered a promotion through Groupon where, for one day in October, consumers could spend $95 on a gift certificate from the tailor shop valued at $225 that's redeemable for up to one year. But at least 50 cards needed to be purchased for any to become valid. "Since a certain number of consumers must buy in to activate the deal, consumers are motivated to spread the word about it," (FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES AND AP)
TRY UNANNOUNCED REWARDS - For every ten posts someone posts on your Fan Page, send them a little thank you. Or how about a contest for getting me the most fans... or best gurellia advertisement (because what you do it worth it, it’s a good service.)
REMEMBER!!! FACEBOOK AND INTERNET IS A TWO WAY STREET
View your Fans Facebook pages.... see what they are interested in. There may be trends you are missing out on.
Follow trends in magazines and culture. Magazines spend lots of money researching what people are into at any given time of the year. They've done the research for you. See what they cover and make sure your posts are timed well. If you're a dress shop and all of the special Prom issues come out in January... start posting about prom dresses around the same time.
Gonzo Marketing: Winning Through Worst Practices
Christopher Locke says, conventional print-ad tactics as embodied online by banners and pop-ups might actually generate more ill will than sales, and that's why companies must use the Web to somehow enjoin their products and services to the quirky niche interests of the gazillion individual cybercommunities (or "micromarkets") whose greatest advantage for marketers is how freely and speedily their members talk among themselves.
FIND COMPETITOR’S FAN BASE & FACEBOOK PAGE - see what they have going, don't compete directly... just see if they have some good ideas... see how they are working the web.
TIP # 5 Online reputation management vs. Brand Hijacking (aka Yelp.com) - bad review? make it right with them online!
TIP #6 FIND YOUR SUPERFANS - Have them help you get the word out. Give them special discounts, send them a thank you gift... treat them with the respect they deserve.
TIP # 7 A “Keep it light” SCENARIO - Are you comfortable with yourself and your company? Talk about yourself online... especially if your face is the face of the company. Sometimes showing it all works in your favor.
ESSENTIAL FACEBOOK BUSINESS PAGE APPS
Static FBML - for Your Page Sidebar make sure it’s functioning as a “Box” rather than a “Tab.” You must know HTML to utilize this
Social RSS - adds your blog to your page... fabulous!
Promotions - You’ll have to sign up for a free account at wildfireapp.com
QUICKNOTES: SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS
Twitter (Tie it in with Facebook... so your Facebook posts end up on Twitter. Use it to do more personal updates and announcements... and it's a great place to post simple news bites to trivial for Facebook... "Closing 10 minutes early.")
MySpace (Unless you’re in a band or your fan base is under 16... kind of fading out.)
Facebook (Use the rule of thirds)
Blogger / Wordpress (Since it takes a lot of time to write articles... use it if you want to compete on "expertise.")
YouTube / Viddler (Videos show off personality, and they offer lots of information in a short amount of time.)
Scribd (Post PDFs that are instantly searchable on Google. A GREAT resource.)
Ping (Use to tie all of your social media networks together. )
YOUR WEBSITE (Be sure to add links to all social media outlets on your website. And add playfulness to your website... hidden links... atmosphere... etc. Does your website need to be constantly updated? It depends on what you do. It SHOULD be well-designed and have emotional appeal.)
>>> THE FUTURE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Chatroulette.com - Has a raw early web chat feel with 30 million unique visitors - could good for parties and events - look for ways to advertise in websites that use the Chatroulette technology but find a way to censor all of the people that use it for sexual purposes.
MyYearbook.com - Has a rewards program built into the site (think of it as Zynga aka "Cafe World" breeds with Facebook." The interface is lousy, but follow ups will use the rewards principle better.
Biznik.com - A social media site that evolves around meetings and rsvps. Very cool!
Foursquare.com on your phone gives you & your friends new ways of exploring your city. Rewards program built into an Explore Our City Interface
Is the iPad a game-changer? What happens when someone can be price competitive by bringing in an iPad? Answer... use atmosphere to your advantage. Your website should entice people into your store, think of it as virtual window front should your website be on your storefront?
http://twitter.com/anywhere - will integrate Twitter features with popular publishers’ websites, so you’ll soon be able to more easily follow authors/contributors and tweet about content while on Digg, The New York Times, and Advertising Age without interfering with your experience of that content. IN SHORT it’s not BREAK THRU it’s EMBED!!!
And remember... all of this will change in two years.
