Category Archives: digital media

June 20, 2013 · 10:57 am

Want Them To Shop? Get Social.

I spoke the other day at a meeting on the topic of search engine optimization.

Empty Store Front (Dixon, IL)

(Photo credit: wayne’s eye view)

The folks in the audience were neither SEO professionals nor particularly interested in the field.  They were, however, smart enough to recognize that good SEO, particularly local SEO, can be a huge boost to their clients.  Like all good salespeople, they knew that if something mattered to their clients it needs to matter to them.

It turns out that their focus on becoming more visible in local search is a critical element in retail success.  I’ve come across a couple of things that demonstrate it.  The first is a KPMG study:

Asked which technology-related trends are having a significant impact on their business, a leading 71% of retailers pointed to social media, with a majority also citing mobile/online shopping (52%) and mobile/online promotions and coupons (51%) as significant influences, per results[pdf] from a KPMG survey. The researchers note that “brick and mortar stores are now viewed with newfound potential,” largely as a result of new social and mobile technologies.

This is reinforced by research conducted by comScore for UPS:

Mobile and social channels continue to change the way consumers shop – 46 percent said they are less likely to comparison shop when using a retailer’s mobile app, and 47 percent said they want a retailer to send a coupon to their smartphone when they are in-store or nearby. Not surprisingly, 84 percent of online shoppers use at least one social media site. Among Facebook users – the most popular channel – 60 percent “like” a brand to receive an incentive or promotion.

Obviously, being discoverable, particularly in mobile search is important.  However, if retailers – especially small businesses – aren’t actively working to boost their social presence, which is a factor in local SEO along with reviews and listings, they’re missing a huge opportunity.  As I’ve written before, actively supporting social and doing it well can be a huge time suck for a small business (or any other business for that matter).  These businesses are unlikely to use an automated product (which is probably a good choice anyway).  I’d think of it as spending an hour doing customer service, even if that hour is spread out over a few 15 minute sessions.  It’s too good and important an opportunity to ignore, both for SEO reasons and for the opportunity to stay front and center with your customer base.

Any local businesses you know doing a good job on this front?  Does it make a difference to you?

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June 3, 2013 · 8:40 am

Social And Small Business

I’ve mentioned before that I keep a “blog this” file which contains articles that piqued a thought.  I went through the file over the weekend and came across a press release from the folks at Constant Contact.  They do a study about the state of small businesses and the ways they connect with and grow their audiences.  Results include responses from respondents across a range of business-to-business and business-to-consumer industries.  wkL_ccWhat piqued my interest was this:

While small business interest in, and appreciation for, social media is on the rise, small business owners continue to lack confidence in their social media skills.  More than half (54 percent) chose social media marketing as the marketing activity they need the most help with, which might explain why their frequency of use with social media is not where it needs to be.  Only 13 percent of survey respondents post to Twitter daily and ten percent post weekly to LinkedIn.

Aside from the obvious point that clearly I need to make my phone number and email address more prominent (I can help – call me, you guys!) that research shows me that these folks are being smarter than others.  They recognize that value of the various platforms and aren’t shooting the messengers due to their inability to capitalize on what those platforms offer.

Social is a conversation.  If you’re only engaging on an irregular basis (once a week) and only a fraction are even engaging that often, it’s not going to work.

The study is unclear with respect to how they’re defining social media marketing.  The owners were asked “which social media platform is the most effective for their organization” and that’s kind of nebulous.  Is it paid advertising and the “effectiveness” is measured by responses?  Or is it some other engagement metric?  One hopes the respondents can answer how they’re defining “effective” but I suspect they can’t.

Social media is not like any other form.  It requires commitment and resources far beyond what many folks have experienced buying print, TV, radio, or even display ads.  Doing it badly can do more than be ineffective – it can hurt your business (no one likes to be ignored!).  Can we agree on that?

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May 23, 2013 · 9:35 am

Off The Social Rails

One of the things I made a note to rant about was some data that came out of the 2013 Doremus Decision Dynamics study.  This is an annual survey of senior marketing executives and one of the things it found is that these folks aren’t that enthusiastic about social media marketing.  In fact, 51% of respondents feel that advertising in social media is more intrusive than advertising in a magazine or newspaper, while only one-third believe that a social media presence enhances a company’s reputation.  I find  a certain amount of irony in those results since the respondents are, in most cases, the people responsible for their company’s efforts in social.  If those efforts are lacking, maybe we ought to think about it for a second before we shoot the messenger?

My thinking is that marketers don’t like any medium they can’t really control.  Social media is a mirror and I suspect that a certain portion of the negativity about social is the result of some poor effort on the brand‘s part which is just being reflected.  As we used to say in TV, “due to circumstances beyond our control” Facebook pages get hijacked, Twitter feeds get overwhelmed, and other channels are filled with comments from consumers that may not be on brand message (to say the least).  Yes, ads in social are more intrusive but unlike those other media they’re not viewed as welcome because they’re not easily avoidable.  Which is entirely the point.

Social media evolved as ways for people to connect with one another.  Smart brands spotted that and began to use the various social channels to interact.   They listened and replied when appropriate with useful  helpful information.  In other words, brands became humanized and engaged in conversation.  At some point, it went off the rails and social became just another place to fire up the ad megaphone.  This is the equivalent of using a shoe to drive a nail.  It might work but it’s clearly not as effective as using the right tool in the right way.

I’m not surprised most marketers don’t think social is helpful.  It’s resource intensive, it’s out of their control to a large extent, and most are using it badly.  Would you agree?

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