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What NOT to do With Social Media

Small business owners and their employees have always been busy—busy getting the job done, busy following up on leads, busy managing employees, busy figuring out how to fit time with their families into already crowded calendars. Added to everything else, you’re increasingly feeling the pressure to create and maintain an online social presence. Social media is important for businesses; however, we want you to know how not to proceed. Here’s our list of often-heard statements and logic in refuting them:

    1. You need to be on every social network.
         
      There’s not enough time in the day to be on each social network! As with any media, knowing your target audience will drive the decision on whether to engage on (#1) Facebook with 750 million; (#3) LinkedIn with 110 million; (#11) CafeMom with 12.5 million; (#13) Meetup with 7.5 million unique monthly visitors* or any of dozens of other sites. 

    1. Social media is completely free.
      Although creating an account and uploading your business information doesn’t cost anything, you’ll want to pay a professional to design a custom page. And posting messages isn’t free unless your time is worth nothing. Social media is like a friendship; the more effort you put into it, the more rewarding it becomes.

    1. All you need is social media.
      I’ve had potential clients ask why they should invest in a website when they can be on Facebook for free. If you wouldn’t build your home on property that you don’t own, why would you build your online business presence on a site you have no real control over?

    1. You can outsource your social media or let an intern manage it.
      Whether you’re General Motors or the pizza guy down the street, social media is your opportunity to connect with followers in a personal way. Include photos, speak in your own voice—and inject some humor and insights. It’s difficult for someone not intimately involved with your business to sound knowledgeable and authentic.

    1. You should only post messages about your company.
      Like the loud woman at a party who talks incessantly about herself, posting only messages that are company-related quickly gets boring! A good rule to follow is that 20 percent of your posts can be company/sales-related and the other 80 percent should inform and entertain your followers.

    1. Don’t let your employees use social media.
      You can also ask the wind not to blow; you can’t keep your employees off of social media. Instead, ask them to “use good judgment” as they connect with their families, friends and associates.

    1. You shouldn’t ask people to comment, follow, or retweet you.
      Of course you should. Just not for everything you post.

    1. Don’t respond to negative comments/Disable comments to avoid negative comments/Delete negative comments.
      Immediately address a negative comment with an explanation and, if needed, an apology. By being upfront and transparent you can sometimes turn a disgruntled customer into an appreciative one. If you disable comments, you’re taking away the interactive qualities that make social media attractive to so many. And, because of screen shots and smart phones, you can’t assume a negative comment will go away by hitting delete.

    1. Respond to every negative comment.
      Unlike a legitimate negative comment or complaint, you may someday be harassed by a “troll” whose intent is to stir up trouble. If this is the case, don’t try to win.

  1. You don’t need a strategy for social media.
    Social media is another tool in your marketing kit. Thinking through what you want to accomplish with it requires a plan.Contact Julie to discuss ways that social media can work for your business.

*Numbers are from ebizmba.com/articles/social-networking-websites.
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VIA Idea #30: Google is changing the game by replacing organic listings with local listings!

During the past few months, we’ve been tearing our hair out. Why? Some of our recent Search Engine Optimization (SEO) positioning reports are showing that clients serving specific geographic areas with previous page one organic rankings in Google are suddenly nowhere to be found. However, their local listings continue to show on page one. Doing a little digging confirms our suspicions—Google has changed its algorithms (again).

For example, in the not-so-distant past, a search for “dentist” would bring Excel Dental Studio up on the Google Plus Local map and in the organic list. Seeing them on page one twice obviously increases the chances that a searcher will click through to their website.

Let me explain further with an example:

I did an organic search for “dentist” with “Merrillville, Indiana” set as the default search location. I first cleared the search history and didn’t log in, so Google didn’t have any clues as to what I wanted beyond the search word itself. Excel Dental Studio, who by the way owns the domain www.merrillvilledentist.com, pops up as #1 in the Google Plus Local but doesn’t appear at all in the next eight pages. (I stopped looking at that point.)

Note than none of the dental offices called out in Google Plus Local are repeated in the organic listings.

To test this finding, I chose a term that is not included as a category choice in Google Plus Local: “dental crowns.” Therefore, Googling this term brought up directory listings and general sites (not information for local dentists who perform this procedure):

But when I added “Merrillville” to the search, the listings changed dramatically. Since Google doesn’t find any listings in Google Plus Local for this search request, it relies on keywords and content to determine relevancy. This search brought Excel Dental Studio up on page one in positions two, three and four:

It’s clear that making sure your Google Plus Local listing is current and correct is beneficial in several ways:

  • Your site will presumably be given ranking priority
  • Searchers see the number of reviews your business has on Google
  • Your business is pinned on the Google Map on the right side of the results
  • Searchers can hover over your listing and see a snapshot of your Google Plus profile
  • The map moves as users scroll through results

Contact Julie for more information or for assistance in optimizing your Google Plus Local business page for effective SEO.

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VIA Idea #29: Strategic outbound marketing has a place in your marketing plan

Frequent Reach billboard image

It seems that lately we’ve been advising a lot of our clients to add more inbound (pull) marketing to their marketing budget. This fact triggered a discussion among our staff about the shift in marketing strategies. What percentages should a business spend for each inbound and outbound tactic?

Although it’s less dominant than in years past, traditional (also referred to as outbound or push) advertising remains a strong component for a lot of industries. It isn’t going away anytime soon. Think about Super Bowl ads and, on a more local level, all those fireworks store billboards along the expressway. But you don’t own a major brewery and your name isn’t Kaplan Fireworks. So does outbound advertising still work for your business? The answer in many cases is still “Yes.”

Ideally, your marketing budget and strategies should in part be based in relation to what percentage others in your industry are spending. If you’re the only car dealer for miles around, you likely don’t need to do much advertising. But if you’ve got a half-dozen competitors up and down the street, you’re going to need to work hard to keep and grow your customer base. The same is true for professional services: the more competition, the more you need to spend on advertising and marketing.

Whenever you talk about push marketing, you also want to consider reach and frequency. Reach refers to the number or percentage of different homes or people exposed at least once to an advertising message over a specific period of time. Frequency is the number of times that a household or person is exposed to the same message during the same period of time. Reach without Frequency is ineffective. For example, it’s better to place a smaller ad in a publication several times than a large ad just once or mail a postcard to 500 homes four times than to mail 2,000 postcards once.

The shopping habits of your customers are more factors to consider. Are they reading the local newspaper, clipping coupons and looking for services in the phone book…or do they seldom or never use these media, instead opting to find recommendations on their Facebook feeds or via Google reviews?

Before making marketing decisions, it’s wise to think through your goals and define your audiences:

  • Who are we trying to reach?
  • Why do they need our products or services?
  • Are we trying to build brand recognition or change customer behavior?
  • Are we trying to accomplish a sale or engaging future buyers?
  • What message, information or offer would entice them to act?
  • Can we offer a special or coupon?
  • How will we measure response from each tactic?

After answering these questions, you should have a clearer picture of how to move forward. If you want more advice, we’ve got access to market reports and can share other information and insights that will help you make informed advertising and marketing decisions.