Tag Archives: Social media marketing

June 24, 2013 · 10:38 am

Radiant Marketing

Ever seen someone who you might describe as “radiant”?  You know what I mean – filled with light.

049e that inner glow

(Photo credit: jjjj56cp)

Glowing.  Beaming.  The immediate image that comes to mind is of a bride on her wedding day or a parent watching their child do something that makes the kid beam and the parent glow even more brightly.  Radiant.  It’s pretty easy to read these people – that glow just shines through all the layers of defenses in which we adult humans often wrap ourselves.  You can’t fake it.

The same thing is true about businesses.  Consumers can see when a company has that “inner glow” and when it’s faking it.  Think about brands you know that seem to have a core confidence and I’m willing to bet that you can pick up that “radiant” vibe.  It’s not that they don’t ever commit missteps or do anything that wouldn’t cause them to be “perfect.”  In fact, quite the contrary.  They have the inner peace to admit when they’re wrong and they don’t stray from their centers to “fix” an emergency.

Why I raise this is  that more and more businesses are spending time engaged via social media with their customers and they’re putting out all sorts of messages.  The thing that gets lost is that customers can tell when it’s a marketing program and when it’s a reflection of a centered, radiant brand.  Some brands – Patagonia and Apple are the first two that pop into my head – have become enormous because they “found” themselves and stay true.  They don’t pander.  They radiate.  Everything they do glows.  When companies try to mimic that what they fail to realize is that it’s replicable only to the extent that a company can find its own core.

Consumers are people.  They’re used to spotting fakes and once in a while they see someone who radiates light.  They can sniff out when you’re trying to foster “engagement” when what you need to be doing is looking within and sharing what you find (hopefully there IS something to find) with them.  Maybe it’s allowing them to bask in your glow.

Finding and marketing that radiance is not marketing at all, in my book.  It’s a key to success and one that your fans will love to share.  After all, don’t we all love it when your friends have it?  Isn’t it catching?   Tell me.

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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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