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Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Thursday, September 12, 2013
What I've learned from my clients
I started this business back in 2010 and I have been blessed beyond what words can describe with the growth and health of my business. Part of it was good timing. Most of it was the great association with Outdoor Living Brands and their family of amazing outdoor concepts. A huge heaping of salt that gives the whole thing flavor is my consultants. But the one key ingredient that I couldn't live without is what I've learned from my clients. Sometimes I don't realize how much of what I do and how I treat my clients is because of what I've learned from them. I wanted to share some of this rich wisdom and some of these world-class practices that I've learned from the brief weekly conversations with these business owners.
One of the ones I do reflect on regularly is the business philosophy of a couple of my clients. Some of my clients are soft spoken and are successful through demonstrating their skill. Others are quietly confident and have a burning passion for customer service. Others still provide unabashed confidence in their success. It takes a bold personality to make a bold business statement. What always strikes me is the passion whether this is overt or subverted. It's palpable and unyielding. As the steward of their brands, I am able to communicate with this passion on their behalf and I am grateful for these mentorships. If I told them they were my mentors, they may not see it as genuine because it's a huge honor to be an unknowing mentor. It's an honor they've well deserved and I prefer to keep that to myself as I savor what this precious secret gift offers and perhaps fear it would go away if I shared it.
Female vs. male clients? Definitely a difference! If you had asked me before I started my business if I would prefer one over the other, I wouldn't know which one but I would have suspected that I might prefer one over the other. My female clients are distinctly female - not feminine but there is a maternal flavor to their client dedication and a female fire associated with their business decisions and bold moves -- and they are bold. We women, and I hope I can count myself in this same echelon, are not cowering in the corner when it comes to moving confidently and with fire in the direction of our/their dreams. Perhaps that's it. Perhaps I can feel the dream more with my female clients. Maybe that's because although incredibly evolved, there's still this feeling that work is what men need to do and what women choose to do. I know that's silly because working is not a choice for my own 2-income household. My male clients? If my female clients seem like lions, my male clients seem like bears - sometimes big strong black bears and sometimes teddy bears. Their strength is quiet and their passion for details palpable.
Enough commentary. Here are some specific things I've been blessed to learn, be associated with, and observe.
Attitude and respect. my team and I know we are vendors - important vendors - but vendors. We know our job is to respect our client's time to the n'th degree and do everything we can so they devote less time to managing marketing. But, marketing without some, if not limited, but regular attention is misguided. Marketing is a reflection of the business. It affects the business goals and helps them come to fruition. The owners need to put as regular attention to marketing as the frequency to which their business goals evolve and grow. If we are a part of their business growth by witnessing it and hearing briefly about it on a weekly call, we are more effective in marketing the flavor and heartbeat of the business on a right here and right now level. So while we know we are vendors, we know the clients that treat us with the most respect. Is a vendor just a vendor? If they aren't a necessary partner, then they probably shouldn't be a vendor at all.
Admitting weaknesses. I've been surprised by 2 of my clients who are not afraid to admit that they make mistakes. I'm incredibly impressed and don't think I could have this courage. We all make mistakes in our business. They may be very few and very far between but we do make mistakes. I've written blogs for these owners where they admit they make mistakes and I admire and respect their courage.
Professionalism. In light of my admission that I am cowardly about admitting mistakes publicly, I once had a client that I messed up on so badly that I didn't charge them for the entire next month. It nearly brings tears to my eyes that they paid the invoice as if it was full price. No note. No email. Just the quiet message of respect, honor, and dignity in treating partners as humans. Thank you. You know who you are.
Attention to the nth degree detail. I can't describe this better. I have a client that ran water under a deck to a permanent spigot on the far end of the deck because the family had a large backyard and he didn't want them to have to drape a hose over their large new deck. The spigot is shiny, red and beautiful. I often picture that in my mind when I wonder whether to attend to a tiny detail. The thing that was great about that spigot is the customer never would have asked for it. But no doubt that every time they water their lawn and hook the hose up to that shiny red spigot, they think of this client and their attention to service and detail.
Sense of humor. While I love this, I'll make another admission. I can't translate these through my writing. I've chosen only a few best friends in my life, including my husband, and they all have a great sense of humor and either a huge smile or charming sarcasm. I love my clients that send me hilarious emails without even knowing they're being funny. I have tried, and tried, to pen (or keyboard) their sense of humor. While I admit this is an incredibly tough challenge that I haven't mastered, I look forward to the laughs and enjoy their joie de Vivre they communicate and embody.
Finally, I have to give a nod to one of my Northeastern clients that reminds me of my mother. My mother sure is a tough little bugger but so much care comes through that toughness. I guess I've modeled the way I care on this. I, perhaps often, care to the point of driving some of my clients crazy but they have no doubt in their hearts that I care deeply.
And finally again, in the vein of sharing what I've learned; there is one phenomenon I've learned the hard way that I'll share in case any new consultants read this blog. I've even named it. Trust Event. At the beginning of every consulting relationship whether if it's one month in or three months in, I will mess up on something. Or perhaps because a deep trust has not yet been established the client may perceive I've messed up on something. I strive to overachieve in resolving it. The relationship always achieves a noticeably stronger level as a result of the mess up. It makes no sense but I even tell my consultants about it - the Trust Event. I do tell them to superly duperly over achieve on resolving anything the clients are disappointed with. But it seems like after the Trust Event, the clients don't get to the point of disappointment. Perhaps it's because my team listens better and hears better. Perhaps it's because of the way the event was resolved. Perhaps it's because the consulting relationship got past the issue. But the relationship is always significantly deepened after messing up on something but resolving it right.
Done waxing poetic,
Robin
One of the ones I do reflect on regularly is the business philosophy of a couple of my clients. Some of my clients are soft spoken and are successful through demonstrating their skill. Others are quietly confident and have a burning passion for customer service. Others still provide unabashed confidence in their success. It takes a bold personality to make a bold business statement. What always strikes me is the passion whether this is overt or subverted. It's palpable and unyielding. As the steward of their brands, I am able to communicate with this passion on their behalf and I am grateful for these mentorships. If I told them they were my mentors, they may not see it as genuine because it's a huge honor to be an unknowing mentor. It's an honor they've well deserved and I prefer to keep that to myself as I savor what this precious secret gift offers and perhaps fear it would go away if I shared it.
Female vs. male clients? Definitely a difference! If you had asked me before I started my business if I would prefer one over the other, I wouldn't know which one but I would have suspected that I might prefer one over the other. My female clients are distinctly female - not feminine but there is a maternal flavor to their client dedication and a female fire associated with their business decisions and bold moves -- and they are bold. We women, and I hope I can count myself in this same echelon, are not cowering in the corner when it comes to moving confidently and with fire in the direction of our/their dreams. Perhaps that's it. Perhaps I can feel the dream more with my female clients. Maybe that's because although incredibly evolved, there's still this feeling that work is what men need to do and what women choose to do. I know that's silly because working is not a choice for my own 2-income household. My male clients? If my female clients seem like lions, my male clients seem like bears - sometimes big strong black bears and sometimes teddy bears. Their strength is quiet and their passion for details palpable.
Enough commentary. Here are some specific things I've been blessed to learn, be associated with, and observe.
Attitude and respect. my team and I know we are vendors - important vendors - but vendors. We know our job is to respect our client's time to the n'th degree and do everything we can so they devote less time to managing marketing. But, marketing without some, if not limited, but regular attention is misguided. Marketing is a reflection of the business. It affects the business goals and helps them come to fruition. The owners need to put as regular attention to marketing as the frequency to which their business goals evolve and grow. If we are a part of their business growth by witnessing it and hearing briefly about it on a weekly call, we are more effective in marketing the flavor and heartbeat of the business on a right here and right now level. So while we know we are vendors, we know the clients that treat us with the most respect. Is a vendor just a vendor? If they aren't a necessary partner, then they probably shouldn't be a vendor at all.
Admitting weaknesses. I've been surprised by 2 of my clients who are not afraid to admit that they make mistakes. I'm incredibly impressed and don't think I could have this courage. We all make mistakes in our business. They may be very few and very far between but we do make mistakes. I've written blogs for these owners where they admit they make mistakes and I admire and respect their courage.
Professionalism. In light of my admission that I am cowardly about admitting mistakes publicly, I once had a client that I messed up on so badly that I didn't charge them for the entire next month. It nearly brings tears to my eyes that they paid the invoice as if it was full price. No note. No email. Just the quiet message of respect, honor, and dignity in treating partners as humans. Thank you. You know who you are.
Sense of humor. While I love this, I'll make another admission. I can't translate these through my writing. I've chosen only a few best friends in my life, including my husband, and they all have a great sense of humor and either a huge smile or charming sarcasm. I love my clients that send me hilarious emails without even knowing they're being funny. I have tried, and tried, to pen (or keyboard) their sense of humor. While I admit this is an incredibly tough challenge that I haven't mastered, I look forward to the laughs and enjoy their joie de Vivre they communicate and embody.
Finally, I have to give a nod to one of my Northeastern clients that reminds me of my mother. My mother sure is a tough little bugger but so much care comes through that toughness. I guess I've modeled the way I care on this. I, perhaps often, care to the point of driving some of my clients crazy but they have no doubt in their hearts that I care deeply.
And finally again, in the vein of sharing what I've learned; there is one phenomenon I've learned the hard way that I'll share in case any new consultants read this blog. I've even named it. Trust Event. At the beginning of every consulting relationship whether if it's one month in or three months in, I will mess up on something. Or perhaps because a deep trust has not yet been established the client may perceive I've messed up on something. I strive to overachieve in resolving it. The relationship always achieves a noticeably stronger level as a result of the mess up. It makes no sense but I even tell my consultants about it - the Trust Event. I do tell them to superly duperly over achieve on resolving anything the clients are disappointed with. But it seems like after the Trust Event, the clients don't get to the point of disappointment. Perhaps it's because my team listens better and hears better. Perhaps it's because of the way the event was resolved. Perhaps it's because the consulting relationship got past the issue. But the relationship is always significantly deepened after messing up on something but resolving it right.
Done waxing poetic,
Robin
Monday, December 10, 2012
Social media for franchises and multi-local organizations
Franchisees are small business owners. They have the support of corporate and hopefully good guidance from corporate but ultimately they need to make their marketing plan, identify or source funds, and execute the plan on their own. And, they need to do all of this while selling or managing the sales, doing or managing the accounting, and managing the office. That's no small feat.
I remember in college looking forward to the time that I didn't have to work at night (like studying) and when I grew up I could come home from work, lay around, and put work completely out of my mind. Then I started a small business and realized just how great I had it in college! Now I wish for the good old days of cramming for a weekly test and having carefree summers off.
The challenge of being an owner or manager of a multi-local or franchise organization is that all the work falls on you. And, if you're not doing the work, you're managing it. Traditional marketing can rely on a great plan and periodic execution. Social marketing, on the other hand, requires weekly if not daily execution. And, if you're not a big "facebook person" or a natural-born writer, the tasks associated with keeping up with your social media can be agonizingly foreign and equally foreboding.
Do you feel like the social media clock is ticking?
If you're not participating in an active social media program, you probably can hear the beat of the drums or the ticking of the social media clock. Everyone is doing it. A couple locations are engaging in it actively and successfully. It should be easy. Is the clock really ticking? Although I'd like to say that it's OK to start late, it really isn't. From an SEO and search optimization perspective, there is definitely first-mover advantage, fan counts, and content wealth to consider. These require an early start and regular attention. Have you missed the bus? No. There is a regular bus schedule. You'll get to the party a little later than the folks on the earlier bus but earlier than the folks at the stop behind you. But, do get on the bus.
Over the next few posts, I will discuss optimization first-mover advantage, fan counts and most especially content wealth.
Who should you choose to do your social media marketing? Should you try to do it yourself?
If you are a franchise or multi-local company, I urge you to contact corporate and ask them for a recommendation. Corporate has the ability and the obligation to source, vet, and recommend a social media consulting organization. The benefit of working with an organization that's specified by corporate or one that's used to working with franchise organizations is they will have the experience to know what liberties to take when working on your behalf. And they will have a system in place to encapsulate the marketing goals, persona, voice, and keyword optimization objectives of the individual locations to allow them to take off running -- and keep running! You bought into a franchise organization so marketing could be smarter and easier. It can! Count on corporate for a recommendation. Hear the beat of the drum. Get started.
A note to corporate: As someone who previously worked at corporate before branching out as such a service provider, make sure the selected organization has extensive experience working with franchise owners. They may be hard to find but critical for this and all vendor functions. In order to be effective, your social media company needs to write, post, and comment on the behalf of your individual locations. They should be trained by corporate and empowered by the zees to be most effective and to stay with the program.
I remember in college looking forward to the time that I didn't have to work at night (like studying) and when I grew up I could come home from work, lay around, and put work completely out of my mind. Then I started a small business and realized just how great I had it in college! Now I wish for the good old days of cramming for a weekly test and having carefree summers off.
The challenge of being an owner or manager of a multi-local or franchise organization is that all the work falls on you. And, if you're not doing the work, you're managing it. Traditional marketing can rely on a great plan and periodic execution. Social marketing, on the other hand, requires weekly if not daily execution. And, if you're not a big "facebook person" or a natural-born writer, the tasks associated with keeping up with your social media can be agonizingly foreign and equally foreboding.
Do you feel like the social media clock is ticking?
If you're not participating in an active social media program, you probably can hear the beat of the drums or the ticking of the social media clock. Everyone is doing it. A couple locations are engaging in it actively and successfully. It should be easy. Is the clock really ticking? Although I'd like to say that it's OK to start late, it really isn't. From an SEO and search optimization perspective, there is definitely first-mover advantage, fan counts, and content wealth to consider. These require an early start and regular attention. Have you missed the bus? No. There is a regular bus schedule. You'll get to the party a little later than the folks on the earlier bus but earlier than the folks at the stop behind you. But, do get on the bus.
Over the next few posts, I will discuss optimization first-mover advantage, fan counts and most especially content wealth.
Who should you choose to do your social media marketing? Should you try to do it yourself?
If you are a franchise or multi-local company, I urge you to contact corporate and ask them for a recommendation. Corporate has the ability and the obligation to source, vet, and recommend a social media consulting organization. The benefit of working with an organization that's specified by corporate or one that's used to working with franchise organizations is they will have the experience to know what liberties to take when working on your behalf. And they will have a system in place to encapsulate the marketing goals, persona, voice, and keyword optimization objectives of the individual locations to allow them to take off running -- and keep running! You bought into a franchise organization so marketing could be smarter and easier. It can! Count on corporate for a recommendation. Hear the beat of the drum. Get started.
A note to corporate: As someone who previously worked at corporate before branching out as such a service provider, make sure the selected organization has extensive experience working with franchise owners. They may be hard to find but critical for this and all vendor functions. In order to be effective, your social media company needs to write, post, and comment on the behalf of your individual locations. They should be trained by corporate and empowered by the zees to be most effective and to stay with the program.
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Social Media for Search Optimization
Social, schmocial. I know many people must feel like we all did in the late 90's when the Internet and e-this, i-that were all the rage. Many of us didn't know exactly what they were but we knew we wanted in on it. Those of us that are business owners likely felt a strong chiming of an imaginary time clock indicating that we were quickly losing out on the opportunity to get on board before the ship sailed out of port.
Fast forward 10 or 12 years and here we are again but this time it's social media. The gong is going off again giving most business owners who are yet to jump on board a distinct sick feeling that a very big opportunity is being missed.
You're right. You do need to get on board. We'll tell you why.
While both of these periods of time are marked with a tremendous amount of buzz, both periods will and already have transformed marketing as we know it and have changed the modus operandi of doing business permanently.
Has the boat sailed? Yes but also no.
If you didn't get on board past 2005 with i-this and e-that and now own and update a dynamically propagated and admin-alomically updatable website that includes more than just pictures, you certainly missed the boat.I have just broken multiple rules on good sentance length and the number of made-up words that should be used but now also feel quite compelled to make up some more while I'm on a roll.
If you didn't get on board with social media post 2010, you are late to the game but it's not too late. Social media for business consists of participation on a number of websites (properties) where companies can maintain a presence with a few different strategies or persona. Note: the biggest evil of social media for business is blindly posting with no identified strategy/persona. When you adopt a strategy, you adopt a persona. Every time you post a link, copy, pictures or even respond, comment or like, you have that hat on. In good social, your hat has your strategy clearly emblazoned across the front but it is still you - a real person - who is wearing the hat. Think of it like having a conversation with a good friend but your mother is listening to every. single. word. you. say.
Strategies/persona:
"social for social's sake" (wayward business strategy)
"social for deals" (retail, foot traffic)
"social inspiration" (speakers, authors, dreamers)
"wildly unsocial" (scripted questions, manufactured posts)
"social for search optimization" (read more...)
Social media can be great for search engine optimization (SEO). By their nature, social media sites are keen vehicles for achieving search optimization. Here's why. Search engines have one primary form of currency - words. Volume of words is good. Volume of great quality words (content) is golden.Volume of great words over a prolonged period of time - priceless. By their nature, social media sites need to be updated on a regular schedule. What is a regular schedule? A regular schedule is often enough to be remembered but not often enough to be annoying. I recommend 1-2.5 times each week. Go for 3 if you really have a third thing that's new and different to say.
So by their nature, search engines love words. By their nature, search engines love regularly updated words. By their nature, search engines like a bundle of words (story) keenly focused on one specific topic. By their nature, search engines love links from great content to other great content. By it's nature, social can be the perfect vehicle for SEO.
At 33social, this is our only goal - social for search optimization. Search engine optimization has a distinctly whorish connotation. Forgive me for being so blunt. Optimization generally refers to the use or overuse of straticilly and often over-placed words in order to attract the attention of search engines. Social media can easily take the same sad path. But social media that is written for the objective of educating prospects and developing credibility, likability, and relatability through education cleanly and effectively accomplishes both goals.
At 33social we create new quality content for every client every single week. This content is meaty, original, interesting, engaging, insightful and edu-taining. Search engines love our content. Content that is loved by search engine gets strong placement. Having strong content on multiple social media sites means multiple strong placements on multiple search engines. This means exceptional organic optimization.
If you are interested in learning more about social for search optimization, contact Robin Steele at 33@33social.com.
Fast forward 10 or 12 years and here we are again but this time it's social media. The gong is going off again giving most business owners who are yet to jump on board a distinct sick feeling that a very big opportunity is being missed.
You're right. You do need to get on board. We'll tell you why.
While both of these periods of time are marked with a tremendous amount of buzz, both periods will and already have transformed marketing as we know it and have changed the modus operandi of doing business permanently.
Has the boat sailed? Yes but also no.
If you didn't get on board past 2005 with i-this and e-that and now own and update a dynamically propagated and admin-alomically updatable website that includes more than just pictures, you certainly missed the boat.I have just broken multiple rules on good sentance length and the number of made-up words that should be used but now also feel quite compelled to make up some more while I'm on a roll.
If you didn't get on board with social media post 2010, you are late to the game but it's not too late. Social media for business consists of participation on a number of websites (properties) where companies can maintain a presence with a few different strategies or persona. Note: the biggest evil of social media for business is blindly posting with no identified strategy/persona. When you adopt a strategy, you adopt a persona. Every time you post a link, copy, pictures or even respond, comment or like, you have that hat on. In good social, your hat has your strategy clearly emblazoned across the front but it is still you - a real person - who is wearing the hat. Think of it like having a conversation with a good friend but your mother is listening to every. single. word. you. say.
Strategies/persona:
"social for social's sake" (wayward business strategy)
"social for deals" (retail, foot traffic)
"social inspiration" (speakers, authors, dreamers)
"wildly unsocial" (scripted questions, manufactured posts)
"social for search optimization" (read more...)
Social media can be great for search engine optimization (SEO). By their nature, social media sites are keen vehicles for achieving search optimization. Here's why. Search engines have one primary form of currency - words. Volume of words is good. Volume of great quality words (content) is golden.Volume of great words over a prolonged period of time - priceless. By their nature, social media sites need to be updated on a regular schedule. What is a regular schedule? A regular schedule is often enough to be remembered but not often enough to be annoying. I recommend 1-2.5 times each week. Go for 3 if you really have a third thing that's new and different to say.
So by their nature, search engines love words. By their nature, search engines love regularly updated words. By their nature, search engines like a bundle of words (story) keenly focused on one specific topic. By their nature, search engines love links from great content to other great content. By it's nature, social can be the perfect vehicle for SEO.
At 33social, this is our only goal - social for search optimization. Search engine optimization has a distinctly whorish connotation. Forgive me for being so blunt. Optimization generally refers to the use or overuse of straticilly and often over-placed words in order to attract the attention of search engines. Social media can easily take the same sad path. But social media that is written for the objective of educating prospects and developing credibility, likability, and relatability through education cleanly and effectively accomplishes both goals.
At 33social we create new quality content for every client every single week. This content is meaty, original, interesting, engaging, insightful and edu-taining. Search engines love our content. Content that is loved by search engine gets strong placement. Having strong content on multiple social media sites means multiple strong placements on multiple search engines. This means exceptional organic optimization.
If you are interested in learning more about social for search optimization, contact Robin Steele at 33@33social.com.
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Yep, I have cobbler's syndrome
I very rarely think of my own blog as I blog daily for handfuls of other small companies around the country. I wish I could even say that I think about my own blog monthly. But I don't. If asked to defend my slackidasical position, I would probably cite the ultimate cop out - "cobbler's kids" with an innocent shrug. Did you know there's actually an official cobblers kids syndrome? It's a syndrome where a company does not do for itself what it does successfully for its customers day in and day out. So, there it is. I have cobbler's syndrome.
33social has continued to grow as we are blessed with more very talented consultants and new clients. Here are our social media stock recommendations. After working with the various mediums/properties day in and day out, our enthusiasm for a particular property changes based on the social media market and the ability of these social mediums to get some play in terms of search placement. We look at content in a very organic way. Content should be distributed on a weekly basis. This content should be educational and helpful to the consumers within the demographic you're trying to market to.
Here is our current report
Blogging: enthusiastic thumbs up
Blogging continues to be a win/win for companies and their customers alike. Well written blogs that educate the correct demographic honestly about key components of decision making within the market where your company operates are beneficial both for consumers and for companies. Search engines love great blogs and they should. It's the ultimate content for organic search placement when it's well written to truly educate the target market.
Blogging tool: hosted wordpress blogs
As I wrote when I started this blog, WordPress made some slash and gash decisions about a couple of my blogs ostensibly because of excessive backlinks. I gave Blogger an honest try but were my blog not only on here I would not use it again. The biggest reason is because Google's navigation is the least intuitive navigation known to man. I get that and that's ok. Any programmers that can search and sort millions of website pages and return gazillions of results within fractions of seconds can be expected to suck at navigation. And they do. It's not just one part of navigation that they suck at either. They put things in the wrong place, call them unintuitive words, and use icons that are completely indiscernible. But, it's all good Google. You're a verb now and you're making money at it based on my next thumbs up.
Pay-per-click: thumbs up!
We have put a bit more time and effort back in to PPC marketing which we had previously been a little thumbs down about. The reason we were thumbs down is because we had hired third party companies to market our PPC. As it seemed intuitive at the time, those companies would take a larger percent of the dollars than necessary. And, that's why they wouldn't state what percentage they were taking. But, they really failed when it came to spending every single last stinking penny every single month. It should stand to reason that based on the varying cost of clicks and varying search traffic that there should be at least pennies left over on one month or another. But, there never were. In addition, after some poking around with some very unwilling representatives, I found that thousands of search phrases were being advertised. The companies I represented only sold a handful of services. The bottom line is if they could conceivably relate any word in any way to any product or service my clients had, they would spend my money advertising it. Would they eventually be fired because of poor performance? Perhaps. Could they get away with their strategy? By scatting thousands of keywords to the winds, they could generally show enough clicks to satisfy the unwitting advertiser.
I'm now managing these campaigns in house and running very tight campaigns. The geography is tight. The advertised keyword strings are on a short list and the campaign is written by marketers that truly know the clients business. We're pleased with the results.
Pinterest: jury's still out
Pinterest has some fun stats like their rate of growth and the number of referrals. The experience is nice and very sticky. The session times are juicily long. But, reports on the demographics of the Pinterest customer vary. The second problem is that their search is as bad as Twitter's search - abominable! If Twitter still hasn't gotten it right after all these years, who is to say that Pinterest will ever learn to search their own content? But the big issue with Pinterest is the lack of ability to target geographically. My clients are all in the home services industries and their creations are breathtaking. So, getting a re-pin is not hard. But I only want re-pins in one particular market for each photo and to this point there's no way to manage that.
facebook: dangit facebook!
Dangit facebook, will you ever come up with a compelling experience for non-retail, low-ticket, and non-cult brands? I have to assume that the lion's share of your "pages" customers don't have daily specials and aren't on the top 100 recognizable brands list. What is the benefit of following a page where the user won't get cheapies, freebies, or a cult brand squeeziee hugs? I know facebook, I should be figuring that out instead of writing this blog. But, I have to assume that you will come up with an "experience" for places that rivals the experience for humans.
YouTube: one thumb up
YouTube is in the group of properties that I require each client to have and create content for on a fairly regular business. Product company content, by its nature, is not viral. But, videos do a great job of telling a story and when we use our other successful properties to send our own traffic to YouTube, we are very thankful that YouTube is a free video hosting system.
On the testing block... Houzz
33social has continued to grow as we are blessed with more very talented consultants and new clients. Here are our social media stock recommendations. After working with the various mediums/properties day in and day out, our enthusiasm for a particular property changes based on the social media market and the ability of these social mediums to get some play in terms of search placement. We look at content in a very organic way. Content should be distributed on a weekly basis. This content should be educational and helpful to the consumers within the demographic you're trying to market to.
Here is our current report
Blogging: enthusiastic thumbs up
Blogging continues to be a win/win for companies and their customers alike. Well written blogs that educate the correct demographic honestly about key components of decision making within the market where your company operates are beneficial both for consumers and for companies. Search engines love great blogs and they should. It's the ultimate content for organic search placement when it's well written to truly educate the target market.
Blogging tool: hosted wordpress blogs
As I wrote when I started this blog, WordPress made some slash and gash decisions about a couple of my blogs ostensibly because of excessive backlinks. I gave Blogger an honest try but were my blog not only on here I would not use it again. The biggest reason is because Google's navigation is the least intuitive navigation known to man. I get that and that's ok. Any programmers that can search and sort millions of website pages and return gazillions of results within fractions of seconds can be expected to suck at navigation. And they do. It's not just one part of navigation that they suck at either. They put things in the wrong place, call them unintuitive words, and use icons that are completely indiscernible. But, it's all good Google. You're a verb now and you're making money at it based on my next thumbs up.
Pay-per-click: thumbs up!
We have put a bit more time and effort back in to PPC marketing which we had previously been a little thumbs down about. The reason we were thumbs down is because we had hired third party companies to market our PPC. As it seemed intuitive at the time, those companies would take a larger percent of the dollars than necessary. And, that's why they wouldn't state what percentage they were taking. But, they really failed when it came to spending every single last stinking penny every single month. It should stand to reason that based on the varying cost of clicks and varying search traffic that there should be at least pennies left over on one month or another. But, there never were. In addition, after some poking around with some very unwilling representatives, I found that thousands of search phrases were being advertised. The companies I represented only sold a handful of services. The bottom line is if they could conceivably relate any word in any way to any product or service my clients had, they would spend my money advertising it. Would they eventually be fired because of poor performance? Perhaps. Could they get away with their strategy? By scatting thousands of keywords to the winds, they could generally show enough clicks to satisfy the unwitting advertiser.
I'm now managing these campaigns in house and running very tight campaigns. The geography is tight. The advertised keyword strings are on a short list and the campaign is written by marketers that truly know the clients business. We're pleased with the results.
Pinterest: jury's still out
Pinterest has some fun stats like their rate of growth and the number of referrals. The experience is nice and very sticky. The session times are juicily long. But, reports on the demographics of the Pinterest customer vary. The second problem is that their search is as bad as Twitter's search - abominable! If Twitter still hasn't gotten it right after all these years, who is to say that Pinterest will ever learn to search their own content? But the big issue with Pinterest is the lack of ability to target geographically. My clients are all in the home services industries and their creations are breathtaking. So, getting a re-pin is not hard. But I only want re-pins in one particular market for each photo and to this point there's no way to manage that.
facebook: dangit facebook!
Dangit facebook, will you ever come up with a compelling experience for non-retail, low-ticket, and non-cult brands? I have to assume that the lion's share of your "pages" customers don't have daily specials and aren't on the top 100 recognizable brands list. What is the benefit of following a page where the user won't get cheapies, freebies, or a cult brand squeeziee hugs? I know facebook, I should be figuring that out instead of writing this blog. But, I have to assume that you will come up with an "experience" for places that rivals the experience for humans.
YouTube: one thumb up
YouTube is in the group of properties that I require each client to have and create content for on a fairly regular business. Product company content, by its nature, is not viral. But, videos do a great job of telling a story and when we use our other successful properties to send our own traffic to YouTube, we are very thankful that YouTube is a free video hosting system.
On the testing block... Houzz
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Finding Follows
One of the best ways to gain notice from a prospective trade partner is to follow them. But, while some trade partnership opportunities are obvious such as the ones you may have been pursuing for years, social media opens up the opportunity to identify and forge trade opportunities that would have taken months or years to identify and nurture in the past.
Before I forget, and if you read no further, here is the etiquette. Follow back! If a fan page/business follows you on facebook, follow them back. They are following you either because they like your business or they are interested in your business. As a courtesy, you should give them a nod as well by following their page. Now this begs the question - what if they're a competitor? What if a key competitor follows you? This depends on your personal style. Personally, as Robin, I perceive this as being in poor taste unless we have a business relationship or friendly rivalry outside of facebook. So because I see it as being in poor taste, I would not follow them back nor would I block them. Technically you can block them from your page but that only exacerbates the rivalry. We all know that there aren't many secrets with the Internet and even fewer can be kept with social media. Again, personally as Robin, they can follow what I've done but they can't lead where I'll go.
So how do you identify follows or businesses you should follow?
Some are obvious. If you're in the home services industry, following realtors makes a whole lot of sense. It takes some work and research. Go to the websites of the most upscale realtors and find their best agents. Look for those agents' facebook pages and follow them. If nothing else, you will see their updates on your news feed and might get some good tips or leads. Hopefully they will follow back!
Next, follow everyone in your business rolodex and everyone you're connected to on LinkedIn - provided that they are a past customer/partner of your business or if they could be a future customer/partner of your current business. Again, just personally, I would follow the businesses of everyone I'm connected to on LinkedIn. That's why we stay connected. People like to work with people they know and just about anybody could be a future customer/partner or could refer a future customer/partner.
The next finding follows step is a no brainer. Follow the local newspapers, radio stations, and tv stations. Again, if they're any good at social media they'll follow back and if nothing else, they realize that your business gave them a nod. Always follow as your business and not from your personal profile.
The final step of finding follows is the creative one. What is the realm of prospective trade partners? If you're in the lighting business, the obvious trade partners might include pool companies and landscapers. But what about interior decorators? They're in the same home you target, have a good relationship, and care about beauty and quality.
If you're in the outdoor building business, the obvious trade partners are the materials suppliers and building products stores. But what about companies that provide upscale home amenities such as custom door builders, custom garage doors, or interior sound system companies? Think about the lifestyle of your prospect. If they are likely to build a custom outdoor structure, what other custom indoor amenities or services might they use? Those companies make for great follows.
If you're in the outdoor bug control business, the obvious trade partners might be irrigation companies or landscapers. But what about wedding planners or equestrian centers or country clubs? Find the other places that provide upscale outdoor activities that are not at the home.
Good luck finding follows! Remember, like anything in social media, it's an iterative process. Keep finding follows in the back of your mind and take the time to follow them as you think of them.
Before I forget, and if you read no further, here is the etiquette. Follow back! If a fan page/business follows you on facebook, follow them back. They are following you either because they like your business or they are interested in your business. As a courtesy, you should give them a nod as well by following their page. Now this begs the question - what if they're a competitor? What if a key competitor follows you? This depends on your personal style. Personally, as Robin, I perceive this as being in poor taste unless we have a business relationship or friendly rivalry outside of facebook. So because I see it as being in poor taste, I would not follow them back nor would I block them. Technically you can block them from your page but that only exacerbates the rivalry. We all know that there aren't many secrets with the Internet and even fewer can be kept with social media. Again, personally as Robin, they can follow what I've done but they can't lead where I'll go.
So how do you identify follows or businesses you should follow?
Some are obvious. If you're in the home services industry, following realtors makes a whole lot of sense. It takes some work and research. Go to the websites of the most upscale realtors and find their best agents. Look for those agents' facebook pages and follow them. If nothing else, you will see their updates on your news feed and might get some good tips or leads. Hopefully they will follow back!
Next, follow everyone in your business rolodex and everyone you're connected to on LinkedIn - provided that they are a past customer/partner of your business or if they could be a future customer/partner of your current business. Again, just personally, I would follow the businesses of everyone I'm connected to on LinkedIn. That's why we stay connected. People like to work with people they know and just about anybody could be a future customer/partner or could refer a future customer/partner.
The next finding follows step is a no brainer. Follow the local newspapers, radio stations, and tv stations. Again, if they're any good at social media they'll follow back and if nothing else, they realize that your business gave them a nod. Always follow as your business and not from your personal profile.
The final step of finding follows is the creative one. What is the realm of prospective trade partners? If you're in the lighting business, the obvious trade partners might include pool companies and landscapers. But what about interior decorators? They're in the same home you target, have a good relationship, and care about beauty and quality.
If you're in the outdoor building business, the obvious trade partners are the materials suppliers and building products stores. But what about companies that provide upscale home amenities such as custom door builders, custom garage doors, or interior sound system companies? Think about the lifestyle of your prospect. If they are likely to build a custom outdoor structure, what other custom indoor amenities or services might they use? Those companies make for great follows.
If you're in the outdoor bug control business, the obvious trade partners might be irrigation companies or landscapers. But what about wedding planners or equestrian centers or country clubs? Find the other places that provide upscale outdoor activities that are not at the home.
Good luck finding follows! Remember, like anything in social media, it's an iterative process. Keep finding follows in the back of your mind and take the time to follow them as you think of them.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Does Twitter make sense for all businesses?
My answer is no. From a business perspective I think there are a couple of situations where Twitter makes sense. First, for celebrities I think it's a great PR tool. I also think it's a great tool for aggregators and and praise them for all the work they do.
Aggregators are those folks who have a very specific content focus such as social media. They read voraciously every day and likely have many handfulls of Google Alerts. They then tweet the "best of the best" so the rest of us can benefit from their hard work. In the social media world there are folks like Mike Stelzner and Chris Husong.
If you sell a buy-it-once sort of upscale home product, Twitter is likely not a tool that will help in that process. For Twitter to work, you have to have a set of fans. You have to work hard to get those fans by tweeting regularly with really valuable tweets. The next issue outside of giving your valuable time is whether that audience is on Twitter. There has to be a large audience of prospectives that visits Twitter regularly. In addition, there has to be little "noise" on their Twitter meaning your Tweets do not get lost in amongst their other tweets.
Balancing the time investment and the potential for financial payoff, my recommendation is not to use Twitter as a business marketing tool for selling upscale home improvement products.
Aggregators are those folks who have a very specific content focus such as social media. They read voraciously every day and likely have many handfulls of Google Alerts. They then tweet the "best of the best" so the rest of us can benefit from their hard work. In the social media world there are folks like Mike Stelzner and Chris Husong.
If you sell a buy-it-once sort of upscale home product, Twitter is likely not a tool that will help in that process. For Twitter to work, you have to have a set of fans. You have to work hard to get those fans by tweeting regularly with really valuable tweets. The next issue outside of giving your valuable time is whether that audience is on Twitter. There has to be a large audience of prospectives that visits Twitter regularly. In addition, there has to be little "noise" on their Twitter meaning your Tweets do not get lost in amongst their other tweets.
Balancing the time investment and the potential for financial payoff, my recommendation is not to use Twitter as a business marketing tool for selling upscale home improvement products.
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