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Social Media Marketing Made Easy

Brian DeLaet — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 20:10:57 +0000

Everybody wants to do it quickly. “How much time does it take?” is the number one question I’m asked. It can be fast and it can be easy. But first you have to invest in a plan. That can be investing time or investing money or both. Without a plan then your “investment” is about as solid as investing in the crap tables in Vegas. With a plan you are investing in the growth of your business.

What does a social media marketing plan look like? That depends on what you want to accomplish and on what social media is doing when you create the plan. Remember that this technology or medium is very much in its infancy so what works in August of 2010 might not work come November. It really does change that quickly.

So what is the easy part of all this?

The most crucial part of your plan is to decide what action or actions you want people to take. A good starting action is getting people to LIKE you. On Facebook this means to click the like button. In the olden days (April of 2010 for example) you wanted people to become a fan but it changed, just that quickly. Now you want them to LIKE you.

So folks say liking isn’t enough. I say that depends on your plan. Once they’ve liked you, you can communicate with them more directly. If your company or purpose is based on a particular event such as a charity run, then getting them to click the like button might be enough because now you can share information with them about the event.

Other actions that could help you get what you want out of social media:

Fill out the form to sign up for your newsletter (now these can be put right into facebook)
Click through to your web site
Click a link to a coupon or social media only special
Call you directly from info on your profile
Make a comment on your posting
“LIKE” a particular post
Start a new conversation
Respond to a poll question
Post a picture
Post a video
And the list goes on and on . . .

Now we’re to the easy part. Once you’ve got your goals and your desired actions, engage your friends / fans / followers accordingly. It really doesn’t take much time with a plan – or if it does take a lot of time, it does so because it’s paying off for you.

But don’t forget to measure the results. If they aren’t turning out as desired, then it’s time to revisit the plan.

Want help? That's what we do. Call 303 368-2245 ext. 4 to get started.

9 Measurable Social Media Marketing Goals

Brian DeLaet — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:06:30 +0000

It seems like I’ve been focusing a lot of my attention lately on helping understand or plan out their goals. Whether it be goals for a new web site or social media marketing goals, it is absolutely critical to have goals and then . . . wait for it . . . actually measure them.

So if your goal is to get more business you’re going to have to refine it just a tad. Otherwise when you get one new customer you will have reached your goal. But what it a good measurable goal for social media marketing? That’s the heart of the matter for most folks. What does a goal look like?

Here are 9 measurable goals for social media that, if they don’t work for you, will hopefully spark something that will work:

200 more followers on Facebook. This is definitely measurable simply check today and at the end of the time period and see what the change is.
20 retweets a week on Twitter. This will help you figure out what really gets a lot of attention. Last week’s blog on “5 Biggest Social Media Marketing Mistakes” for example caught a lot of attention.
15% more click thru’s from Social Media sites to your main web site. This is pretty easy to see how it would translate into more business.
4. 20% increase in “fans” who “like” your posts on Facebook. Like #2, this will help you figure out what gets people’s attention.
5. 20 check-ins a week on Foursquare (this is a great site for location based businesses like restaurants, bars or coffee shops). Again, this is easily measured and if you’re getting folks checking in, it gives you a chance to interact – give them a to do while they’re there.
30 newsletter signups each month directly from Facebook. Check out FBML and learn how to add html to your page.
10 sales each week from Twitter. You need to be careful about pushing the business too hard in social media but with the right plan and the right product(s) it could work well.
4 leads each week generated through social media (best tracked if you create a separate landing page for social media). This is more marketing-focused but could really boost your business.
15% decrease in returns because of customer outreach through social media. Took a different tack on this one to help you imagine the possibilities. It’s not necessarily directly sales related. If you’re saving costs on the backend, you’ll be more profitable.

Note that all nine of these are very measurable. Note also that these are just the goals. Once you have the goal established you need to develop the tactics you will employ to achieve your goal. What are your goals?

5 Biggest Social Media Marketing Mistakes

Brian DeLaet — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:02:24 +0000

Everyone is joining in the Social Media Marketing blitz – or so it often seems – but not everyone is doing it well. Are you?

Here are the five biggest mistakes businesses make in Social Media Marketing:

5. Not being consistent
Some really good folks come up with a plan and start implementing it and then get distracted or busy and don’t consistently implement it. Using tools like HootSuite or TweetDeck can help you manage the flow and be more consistent.

4. Being too business focused
It’s called SOCIAL media for a reason. People want to get to know you. They want to understand you from the human perspective, not just the business side. Take some time to tell people what has your interest, even if it’s watching your daughter’s hockey game.

3. Not measuring the results
I often hear “I tried Facebook and it didn’t work.” I follow up with a “How do you know?” and get blank looks or vague answers. If you’re going to engage in social media marketing, measure your results in as quantifiable ways as possible.

2. Not following the plan
It is easy to get distracted in social media. You log on to post about your next event or a special you have coming up and the next thing you know you’re chatting with your high school football buddies or “friending” your college sweetheart. Be disciplined. Tape your plan or goals to your monitor to remind you of what you’re doing. Then follow through.

1. Not having a plan
Simple as it may seem, a huge number of businesses engaging in social media MARKETING don’t have a plan for what they want to accomplish – or their plan doesn’t fit with their business goals. I met a recently laid off individual who went on to LinkedIn and established links with 1000s of people – and he only knew about 25 of them. He asked me “What do I do now?” I had no idea what to tell him because he didn’t have a plan that he could articulate.

Create a plan that fits your business. Include measurable goals in your plan.

You’ll see results.

Measuring the Success of your Company’s Social Media Marketing

Brian DeLaet — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:50:17 +0000

I know a business owner who has complete command of his business numbers. He measures and analyzes the statistics of every aspect of his online marketing. He's on top of making critical adjustments to his marketing plan on the basis of these numbers.

When it comes to investing in social media marketing, for him, there's a pesky problem. Measuring the return on investment, or ROI, of such a plan isn't pretty. The numbers don't stand alone.

Why? First, it's critical to understand that a business' social media marketing is tied directly to the success of the website in one critical area -- conversion. The goal of a successful social media plan in business is to drive traffic to the company website. So, logically, if the website is optimized to convert traffic to sales, then the company can measure THAT success in business volume -- or response to the call to action on the site.

Even the best social media marketing plan might be dynamically effective at driving traffic to the website, a measurable statistic, but it is a stand-alone number. Then, the number to focus on is how well the website is doing at converting traffic to sales.

Savvy business owners get this. Still, the compelling factor for investing in any marketing is always the ROI.

Here's where the argument for using social media for marketing seems to come apart and why it can be so difficult to convince owners to invest in it. It isn't a stand-alone measurement. And, like the owner I mentioned before, businesses are usually making decisions about marketing dollars based on the numbers.

There are lots of numbers that help a business owner feel good about their marketing investment. And, there are plenty of companies that will throw numbers together in a convincing way that promise a return on social media marketing.

But, let's be honest. It's only a tool to drive traffic to the website. Social media sites are a place for people to connect with a business online through interactive dialogue. They have a chance to informally "like" you. Then, they "like" you enough to use another tool in your marketing arsenal -- the website. Once folks are on the website, then you're talking about numbers that really count in business.

Social media marketing in business isn't talking about when you've brushed your teeth or what color your shoes are today. If it's done correctly, it's a way for businesses to generate a buzz about their passion -- whether it's culinary or construction or counseling.

It's a tool. It works and plays well with others in the overall online marketing plan. And all together, they build a business' online success. Collectively, the numbers matter.

QR Codes: Merging Internet Marketing with Offline Marketing

Brian DeLaet — Wed, 19 May 2010 17:00:25 +0000

Local Search, Mobile Internet, and You

Trying to figure out how to use local search to make your site more findable? Want to help capture some of these mobile visitors? There are new tools that can help you get out there.

One of those tools is QR Codes. Actually they’re not new, they’ve been used in Japan for some time but are beginning to make headway in the US as well.

A QR Code is sort of like a bar code . . . only better. And it can be the bridge between offline marketing and online marketing.

How does it work?

It's very simple really. First you create an image (there are dozens of sites that will do this for you), then someone can scan or take a picture of it with a smartphone that scans it like a barcode and then takes you to a specific web page. Sound complicated? It's not.

Here's an example:

Scan this with your phone and you will be able to go directly to http://www.educyber.com/web/.

You do need to have an application installed on your smartphone to do this.

Blackberry users can find some compatible apps at http://www.mobile-barcodes.com/qr-code-software/blackberry/.

iPhone users can find some at http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10412329-2.html

and finally, my favorite, Droid users can use Google Goggles.

The fun doesn't stop there however. Want people to use their smart phones to give you a phone call? You can do that as well. Download the app for your phone and give this one a shot:

Your Web Site, Internet Marketing and this Funny Thing Called Twitter

Brian DeLaet — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 20:17:03 +0000

We talk to lots of business owners who see the value in having social media accounts with Facebook and LinkedIn but who simply don’t see the value in having a Twitter account and doing goofy things like Tweeting or ReTweeting.

According to a recent eMarketer report, there are lots of reasons that businesses should embrace Twitter as a marketing tool. First they project nearly 50% growth in Twitter users this year – to a total of 26 million users and by 2012 that number is projected to be 36 million. And those are just the US Adult numbers. All total, Twitter has 106 million registered users.

In another eMarketer report, we learn that B2C (business to consumer) businesses that use Twitter get a MUCH better return on their marketing. For example with businesses of 1 to 10 employees, the number of leads Twitter users generated as compared to non-Twitter users was 100% more. A company not using Twitter would generate 5 leads. A similar company using Twitter would generate 10 leads.

Simple math suggests that if you can double your leads using Twitter, why wouldn’t you?

Other reasons to use Twitter:

Twitter recently signed agreements with Google and Bing to include real time tweets in their search results. So if you send a tweet with a link to your site, you’re getting more links back to your site – more opportunities for customers to find you.
Once you have a plan in place, sending out tweets and interacting with your followers doesn’t take a lot of time.
You can monitor your brand (company name, personal name) so that if you’re mentioned, you can respond.
You can “eavesdrop” on your competitors to see what they’re doing
You can network with key partners and vendors without having to make lengthy phone calls or meet in person.

So what are you waiting for? Visit www.twitter.com and get started.

Your Company Reputation and Social Media Marketing

Brian DeLaet — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:13:09 +0000

Question 9 of 10 Essential Questions for Your Social Media Marketing Campaign is How does my company reputation fit into Social Media Marketing. If you haven’t figured it out by now, it is ALL about your reputation. Social Media Marketing is about engaging others and building long term relationships with others. This enhances your reputation as a company and establishes you as a player in the long term plans of your potential and existing clients. There are specific things you can and should do to both monitor and build your reputation: 1. Set up a Google Alert (www.google.com/alert) for your company name. You can try it with or without quotes to see what kind of results you get. 2. While both Google and Bing have agreements to include twitter in their results, we still recommend setting up a twitter account to monitor your company name / reputation on Twitter. TweetDeck can be used to do this. Monitter.com can also be used to help you do this. 3. When your company is mentioned online, engage with the mentioner, whether the mention is good or bad. If the comment is negative, see if there is some way you can reach out and change their mind or provide some kind of remedy. 4. If your company isn’t mentioned or isn’t mentioned much, don’t quit. Engage and you will find that it will begin to be used. 5. Set up a Facebook fan page for your company. Plan what you want to happen and make sure you implement your plan. Why do it? Facebook has 300 million plus users. Twitter has around 60 million users. You won’t find all of them becoming your customers but you will find a sizeable number that you can interact with to broaden your network.

Tools to Improve Your Social Media Marketing

Brian DeLaet — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:06:36 +0000

Question 7 from 10 Essential Questions for your Social Media Marketing Campaign: " What tools are available to make my time in SMM more efficient?" can be answered in different ways. There are tools and then there are tools. Every day there are thousands (yes thousands) of blog entries and tweets about all the wonderful tools available to help you leverage your Social Media Marketing time to maximum advantage. This isn’t another one of those messages. Instead, let me tell you about two that I use and point you in the direction of finding others. The tool that I use to tie things together is Friendfeed. Friendfeed lets you tie your various social media accounts together in such a way that you can post once to one account and the post will automatically be updated across all your accounts. What does “all your accounts” mean? Friendfeed can talk to your blog, to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube to name a few. If you use pictures, it can talk to Flickr and to Picasa. If you are into bookmarking and news, it will talk to delicious, StumbleUpon, Digg and Google Reader. In fact, there are currently 58 different sites that can be tied together through Friendfeed. That sounds a bit overwhelming. It doesn’t need to though. You can start with just a couple and still save time by using Friendfeed. Then when you’re ready to add, you can do so and tie them into Friendfeed as you add them to your repertoire. The second tool I use and like is TweetDeck. While it sounds like it is just a Twitter application, it actually ties into Facebook and MySpace as well, allowing you to post once but push it to all those accounts. I only use it with Twitter but even then it helps. I have a personal account twitter.com/edubrian and a corporate account twitter.com/educyber and I can post to either or both at the same time through TweetDeck. The power of TweetDeck comes from being able to create groups. I follow more than 1400 people but it works its power even if you follow a handful. For example, you can create a group called “My Industry” and add the people from your industry into that group. You can create a group called “Customers” and add your customers to that group. And so on. The simplicity of that makes life easier and will likely encourage you to follow more people because the flow of Tweets becomes more manageable. What else is there? Here are just a few links I found: 42+ Social Media Marketing Tools 4 tools for easier social media management 35+ Social Media Tools That Make Life Easier

Finding a Niche for Your Social Media Marketing

Brian DeLaet — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:37:05 +0000

What niche social networking sites might be useful for my goals? Question 6 from 10 Essential Questions for Your Social Media Marketing Campaign brings some interesting insights that you might not have contemplated. Everyone knows about the big sites:

But what about the little sites (or even not so little sites) that might be tailored to your needs? Authors, for example, should take another look at Amazon and see how they can use their author account to generate more buzz around their book right on THE site for book selling. Other sites that you might find useful (not as big as the ones above but still pretty well known) include:

Each of these sites has its own orientation and purpose. For example, flixter.com is designed so you can share your movie review with friends. Depending on your business and what you are trying to accomplish, this could be a great way to connect with customers or vendors and share information.

Developing a Tactical Approach to Social Media Marketing

Brian DeLaet — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:01:37 +0000

What tactics will help me accomplish my goals? The 5^th Question in our 10 Essential Questions for Your Social Media Marketing Campaign sounds pretty straightforward. Because it is. And yet how many of us dive in without thinking of how we want to get where we’re going? Let’s say your goal is to drive more people to your site where they can learn about your incredible service offering. What tactics will help? Provide links that make people think. For example, I might post on Twitter and Facebook a link like this for a site we are launching: “Yellow page advertising not working anymore? What’s the next step? http://advancemy.biz” Curious aren’t you? That’s the goal. Make people curious enough to click through. A network customer of ours, Denver Tux, might post something like “Guys, worried about what to wear to prom? www.denvertux.com”. Think about how you might do this for your business. What if you’re selling a product? Tactics might include:

Post a video showing the product being used or installed to YouTube or Facebook.
Create a slideshow demonstrating how to use the product and upload it to www.slideshare.net.
Creating a Facebook fan page for just one popular product and inviting people to become fans.
Developing a routine so that every nth (9^th or 5^th or whatever seems right) post to your social media accounts is showing a different feature of your product.

Without developing your tactics beforehand though, you might find yourself adrift as you go from site to site trying out different things.