B2B (Business to Business), B2C (Business to Consumer), Social Media for Business

Taking Your Networking Online

Social Media… Online Marketing… Facebook Marketing… Online Networking….

We are reading about it everywhere

Everyone is talking about it

Buzz words abound… connecting, engaging, interacting, Like, Fan, comment, Sharing, Posting, Viral …

This is new vocabulary to the local business person.

The world is changing and Yikes, how do we keep up?!

Stop, take a breath, “smell the roses” and let’s put this into perspective…

At the end of the day, business is about people and networking with people is what helps you personally and in business.   In the words of Rebecca Morris from Paradigm Shift “Character trumps Credentials every time… making it imperative to have the balance right in the online world”

So, yes we all know we have to get online with our business, but we can’t just do this and then sit back and hide behind our computer screens.  We also can’t just stay-still in this ever-changing world.

We have all heard the benefits of online social marketing…

  • Grow your brand awareness
  • Connect with your customers
  • Expand your networks
  • Increase your search engine rankings
  • Sell more,
  • etc,

There are many, many tools with which to do this.

Ultimately, this is what you need – here are the 7 key steps:… Read More

Facebook, Resources

Facebook Facial Recognition

Facebook Privacy is in the news again – this time with a new “feature” called Facial Recognition.

A couple of months ago I wrote a blog post on Facebook Privacy Settings as I felt strongly about the fact that many people still did not understand the settings, or know how to fully protect their privacy, or even why they should.

I regularly meet with small business owners who are willing to explore the benefits of social media for business and embrace this new way of marketing online.  I absolutely admire them them for stepping outside their normal means of interacting with their customers, however the biggest concern I regularly hear expressed, is about privacy, ie. the need to protect personal privacy and keep it separate from business.

So the first thing I do is ensure their Facebook Personal Profile privacy settings (and those of their family, particularly their children) are set appropriately.

Meanwhile, Facebook is ever-changing and there’s been some recent talk in the online space over the rolling out of the Tag Suggestions which effectively means that faces are being scanned with facial recognition software…. Read More

B2C (Business to Consumer), Business Blogging, Facebook

Facebook Marketing – Give your Customers More

I notice that many companies use Facebook regularly and are saying all the right things – “engaging” their customers with personable comments, providing them with information about what’s happening (“Come on in We’re Open”) – but this sort of marketing message doesn’t quite “cut it” anymore in today’s information overload/cluttered marketplace.

Here’s where they are missing out – they are treating Facebook as a standalone marketing communication channel.   They are treating this social media channel as marketing only and missing the bigger picture…

Sound familiar? then consider this:

Integrate and Link

You have the opportunity to integrate your social media channels into your business by providing a link back to your website (or better still, your Blog) to entice the reader to click through, visit your website and maybe even “share” that content with their friends.

Provide additional helpful information

Once your reader arrives at your website, you provide them with more… interesting and helpful content.

Engage your Customer and Sell

The result of this is extra traffic to your website, but even more than that, an interactive visit, thereby engaging your customer and adding value.  Ultimately this leads to trust and that potential customer is on track to become a true customer

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MARKETING MESSAGES and lost opportunities

Outlined below are some common Facebook posts, the consumer behaviour that can incur, leading to a lost opportunity to drive traffic to your OWN website, remembering that you do not “own” or control the Facebook platform (case in point AirNZ’s recent hiccups with a Facebook-only promotion) :… Read More

B2C (Business to Consumer), Social Media for Business, Things We Like (or Not)

Daily Discount Deal Fatigue

The school holidays are over, the house is quiet, the wind is howling outside and I take a moment to enjoy my breakfast and coffee while catching up on the recent papers – I’ve been meaning to read the Business Herald from Friday – an article about the plethora of daily deal web offers.

I admit that, although I am subscribed to a few of these sites, I have actually become annoyed by their constant appearance in my in-box; I always look at one of them (the attractive GrabOne email), I don’t ever look at another one (because the images do not even load in my inbox – have they considered mac users?!), but the interesting thing is I have Never bought anything. Why is that? I ponder.

It’s a little bit like the constant barrage of Sales from big retailers such as Farmers and Briscoes, Rebel Sport etc and holiday sales like Boxing Day, Easter. I am immune to it.

It’s like the Entertainment Voucher books – great if you don’t mind going to different places, but what about your local favourite restaurant – I like to go where I know its going to be great.

It’s like wine on special in the supermarket – why would you buy it full price when you know next week it will be on special again?

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Perhaps I am just odd, perhaps I like to rebel against the norm, but overall there are a few factors at play here for me:

1. Convenience – I am a busy person and I don’t like to have to buy on a certain day because there is a sale.   I don’t like to fight with the crowds or be given a purchasing deadline… Read More

B2B (Business to Business), B2C (Business to Consumer), Social Media for Business, YouTube

Using Video in your online marketing

Posting and sharing video on your website and social media platforms is a great way of connecting to your customers, whether its your own video or linking/embedding someone else’s.

We’ve all seen the viral video campaigns.   They range from cute to bizarre to emotional and more often than not gain media attention because of the amount of people who have viewed them and the impact this then has on the person concerned.  Case in point, in yesterday’s news the story of the boy who was bullied and fought back.

Here’s another, a video showing a babies’ reaction to his mother blowing her nose (!) that’s gathered well over 9 million views in just one week(!), proving that babies are always appealing…click here to view (embedding has now been disabled)
… Read More