Getting your business online needs to happen NOW!

Want to get in front of people who are looking to pay someone to do exactly what you do?  A quick wake-up call for businesses resisting social media.  Let’s  take a look at the facts:

1. Social media and online marketing will help you in online search:  Using sites like YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ will help you to get found online since they are considered authoritative sites by Google and the other main search engines.  If you are not being found online, chances are you are missing huge opportunities for leads and sales.  If someone Google’s you and your business, and you don’t come up but someone else in the area does, you just lost out on business.  Even if you are a referral, don’t kid yourself, people will be checking you out online, and if you don’t have anything there, you will be fighting an uphill battle to get credibility
2. Gives you a platform to show off your expertise and to educate your clients on the value of your quality products and services.  So for example if you are a dentist and you have the latest teeth whitening service, you can use social media platforms to show you doing a demonstration of the new technique.  Educate them on the process, thereby lowering their resistance, helping them make an informed decision, and also get them more comfortable with you.  If another dentist in the area, is doing the same procedure, but you were the one who they see talking and doing the procedure online, who are they most likely going to call first?
3. Allows you to advertise for less cost than traditional print media in as well as specify a highly targeted demographic.  You may create an ad in the newspaper that hits 100,000 homes and you can pray that they don’t throw it away in the junk mail pile,  or if you are on Facebook, you can create an ad that is for women only, that live in a certain mile radius, are married or single, are a specific age group, etc. etc. and it will show up right in their personal feed when they are scanning for updates.
4. Provides an excellent market research tool:  If you are a personal wellness coach, you can offer content around a particular topic you are thinking of designing a program around.  If nobody is commenting, sharing or reacting to those information pieces, you know that it is most likely not one that your target customer is looking to explore at that time.  You may revisit it later, but for now, you just saved yourself a bunch of time and money creating a program that most likely wouldn’t sell very well.
5. Gives you the ability to deepen the relationship and to provide exceptional customer service.  People are loyal to brands they interact with online and people are interested in other purchaser’s prior customer care experiences.  A recent study looked into the buying habits of 22-55 year old college educated consumers that were earning more than 100k per year and found that online research played a huge part in their buying process; they also found
   74% choose companies/brands based on others’ customer care experiences shared online.  You can read more here http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2054338/Study-Search-Plays-Key-Role-in-Brand-Loyalty-Customer-Care-Research.  Having other’s talk about the wonderful, positive experiences that they have had with you and your business gives you a tremendous competitive advantage.

So what are you waiting for?  To find out more about how we can help you with creating your competitive advantage today, check us out at http://www.chatterboxsocialmedia.com   or email us at Hannah@chatterboxsocialmedia.com

Everyone at this point has heard about social media, and they know it is the way of the future to connect with clients.  Unfortunately, many people are under the mistaken impression that having a  “Facebook” and “Twitter“  presence, which has alot of followers or fans is the way to go.

While it is great to create content that attracts followers and Fans, connections, repins etc.  it is important to keep in mind; what the heck are you doing it all for?  So here are a few things to consider before you start:

1.  What is the end goal of this campaign:  Is your goal to have a 5000 new followers or is it to have a 15% increase in foot traffic to your store?  Do you want to have 3000 new likes on your page or do you want to have 100 people sign up for a charity event you are hosting?

2.  Goals:  Who do you want to talk to?  Who is your target audience?  Where are they located geographically?  What are they interested in? What do they do on specific social networks?  For the younger crowd, you may want to add gaming and interactive mobile  apps as tactics, where as the 50+ is not as mobile savvy or game obsessed.

3.  Reputation:  What are people saying about you?  Is there any information or reviews already out there about your company?  What are they saying?  Do you need to “change” the current image or do you need to start from scratch.  If nobody is talking about you, this gives a great opportunity to” create ” that reputation now.  Eventually, someone will, so you need to start now and continue to produce  information that portrays you the way you want to be seen.  To learn more about why to create and embrace your online reputation, check out this article  http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/online-public-relations/the-social-side-of-brand-management/

4.  Where:  What types of networks make sense for your prospects to find you?  Are you selling B2B or B2C?  Where are they going to find information that can help them and where are they going to relax?

5.  Content:  What are your clients and prospects worried about?  What are they seeing their competitors do?  What are they hearing from their clients and how does it make them feel?  If you can offer a solution to someone that solves a problem for them, you will win everytime.

6.  Creating Partnerships: You are not an island.   You can certainly build a network on your own, but imagine the ripple effect it would have if you partner with some like minded, quality individuals that sell to the same people vertically.

7.  Coordinating Offline and Online Channels:  Where does your target audience congregate online and offline?  How can you coordinate offline activities, events and advertising to attract potential clients and prospects to join your online communities?

8  Resources:   How will you allocate your resources to get this job done?  Who will implement this plan?  Will you hire a person to do it or will  you outsource the job?  Do you have time to actively engage in this?  Be realistic about what time you have to put into this.  Even if you outsource, you will need to be actively engaged in all of this, since you are the voice of your company and best understand your client and prospect needs.

Now, go out, make it happen, and let me know your results!!!

1.  Facebook Landing pages are dead

2.  The new Cover image will essentially be replacing the landing page as your “welcome” or first impression.  The image 851×315 pixels will take up the majority of the top of your page, so try to pick an exceptional, aesthetically pleasing image  to express who you are and what your brand represents.  Here is a great example by Mari Smith https://www.facebook.com/marismith

3.  There can be no “calls to action” on your timeline photo.  You may no longer request a fan to “like the page using arrows or ask them to share with their friends.  You also can no longer have information regarding price ( such as like us now and get 20% off) or contact information.

4.  You do have the ability to display up to 4 custom apps right below the timeline photos and while they are not “prime real estate”, you can use these app icons to send people  to get a coupon or to  a “custom tab” on a landing page where you then may set up a lead capture.

5.  You can “pin” a post to the top of your page to give it highest visibility.  These “pinned” posts can be either a popular post which has given you a lot of engagement, or it can be some top news or event you want to advertise to your fans.

6.  Fans and visitors will now be able to private message the admins of the page, allowing them to develop a deeper connection and have their questions and concerns addressed quickly and privately.  This may be a great tool for quick customer service

7.  Facebook also recently announced “interest lists” where users curate content specific to that niche interest.  Think of it as your own personal newsletter, where the top stories about topics that interest you are highlighted.  People will soon be able to create or subscribe  “interest lists” by users just like you.  This does not mean they are liking the page, rather they are “subscribing” to the brand or celebrity  updates.  The users can keep it private or allow subscribers to access it.  Content from those lists that the user created will go into their own  news feed, hopefully spreading the brands message and content.

How do you plan to use these changes to effectively market your brand?  What do you think of them?

1.  What are your values for your business and your life?  List 5 of your top values here and look to see if your business service offerings, customer policies and pricing reflect that

2.  What did you discover about yourself and your business last year.  Review what goals you made for yourself last year.  Did you reach any of them? You hopefully spent alot of time in your business last year doing various action functions.  What action items made your heart sing, and what items made you want to go in search of a margarita?  Can you outsource any of those mind numbing tasks to someone else?  All of us only have so much time in a day, so try to keep that time devoted to  your creativity and passion parts  which reflect  the core of why you started your business.  Decide to inspire yourself and those around you everyday and you will be amazed at the increase in productivity and revenue.

3.  Why did you not achieve some of your goals?  Was it lack of time, lack of resources, lack of action, skills, product offerings etc.  Be honest with yourself here and create an action plan to work on these areas or decide to outsource if reasonable.

4.  Who did you meet or could possibly meet in the future that will help build your business?  Many of us go to networking events weekly and monthly and never do a thing with that business card.  Take some time to try to connect with them via LinkedIn and keep abreast of thier updates.   Take some time to comment on updates and help point them to helpful resources.  Invite them to have a cup of coffee offline and find out more about what they do and how you may help them in achieving their goals.   Connect them to people who can help them achieve thier goals and who knows, you may  be rewarded in both good Karma and a possible future lead.

5.What are 3 goals you would love to attain in your business right now that are slightly unrealistic?  What are 5 action items you can do right now to get your closer to that goal?

SEO Effects:  Being able to SHARE or HIT +1 is also a newer feature which allows you to share content, somewhat like Facebook’s “like button”.  The major difference is, as Google is the Search Engine King, it has a nice impact on your content ranking in search. You may also now add the +1 button to your blog, to get the word out about your blog posts as well as those that you feel are quality content.  An interesting point is that when a connection +1s content, your connections have validated that sites reputation for being a credible site, therefore raising that sites search engine results positioning.

This is the gateway for Google to really begin to become the “social” search king.  As you build connections and they begin to +1 and add content, your search results may become skewed to more of what your peers recommend based on those keywords. This can be beneficial if you find people following you from Google plus, you could plus your own results, and then when they search on your keywords in the future your results will list higher, levying it in your favor.

Google+ Hangouts: Okay, so this is where things start to get really interesting!

This unique video feature allows you to video chat with a group of up to 10 colleagues or clients at once ( picture skype on steroids), for free!  One thing that makes it particularly neat is the layout.  When an individual is speaking the loudest, the real time picture of them will enlarge to give them the “floor”.

People can watch video from You Tube online together at the same time in these sessions and discuss right then and there. For your business, you can use it for collaboration and meetings, online trainings, and webinars.  This tool really helps to break down barriers in terms of communication and location.  Google has also mentioned in the future, businesses could use it as a customer service tool or a forum for group chats about products.

Future Plans:  The business profile pages will soon be here!  Once they launch, here are some rumors of good things to come!

Listings:   Members of the company as well as just fans.  There may be some cross functionality between Google Places and offers so that businesses can direct , offers and promotions directly to fans in that geographical area.  Pretty cool, huh?

Google Meeting: Google is planning on expanding the hangouts to be more business friendly.  they are planning on integrating scheduling tools through goggle calender, google mail, chat etc.  The are also planning on offering a screenshot, video and audio archiving feature to make it a truly feature. seamless productivity tool.  You will be able to share all of this information later as well as use a google whiteboard which will allow you to display your googledocs within the course of a meeting.  The meeting attendants, will also be able to edit and share the documents as well.  Freaking amazing!

CIRCLES- Lets kick off the features discussion with circles. Whats so exciting about the circles feature? Ease of use and one stop shopping! The link es can be clearly drawn on google + allowing you to place people in individual circles, thus allowing you to connect and share select information whether personal or strictly professional. Instead of having to make lists, go to a different social network etc. you may drag your groups of contacts into individual circles. You can have a friend circle, an acquaintance circle, a people to learn from circle, a family circle, coworkers circle and a professional circle. You can even designate your own circles. This allows you to not be concerned about dropping etiquette while posting. So I can put out my blogposts to my business contacts for example, while complaining about school bus schedules to my friends and neighbors circle.

Stay posted for our next Google+ feature. We will be discussing, how to share content and increase your contents ranking in search.

The series was tremendous, talking about health and wellness as well as how to gain success in life.  It got me thinking however, how many people out there that have not gotten to that success tipping point are really able to use this as a tactic?  When you are an average small business owner and you wear all the hats, can you really fit in some downtime?

Another post from Forbes, commenting on the guerrilla in your market, talked about the premise that doing the same thing everyday, you may not always see the changes taking place right in front of your eyes.  So while some of us can’t afford to take that catnap everyday or join the four-hour workweek,  here are their suggestions:

• At weekly management meetings, talk about an idea or technique from another industry and how it might apply to your business.
• Visit www.ted.com to hear short presentations from some of the world’s best minds. Once a week, have someone watch a TED video and present a lunch-and-learn session for the rest of your staff.
• Spend 30 minutes a day studying news from several different sources.
• Take a day off from your business. No cell phones, no PDAs, no checking in to see what’s going on. You’ll be amazed at how this invigorates your thinking.
• Invite a business associate to lunch and talk about his or her business. This will force you to think about your own business in new and different ways.

What tactics have you used to step away to see the big picture?

“How can I create buzz about my business?  How can I get more exposure and traffic to my site?  How can I get people to know about me?  What kinds of social media will help me most? These are questions that as a social media marketer I get asked quite a bit.  Social media is a hot topic and is on the minds of companies and professional worldwide…

These are important questions, but let me ask you another one instead.  What are you going to do with it?  Lets say I get you to the top of Google or I can develop a campaign that spreads like wildfire, gracing everyone’s facebook wall posts… is that really what you want?  Is that what you are paying me the big bucks for?  Of course not, you need the plan,  message, and campaign to create a story about your brand..  You need the viewers or your site, your campaign to not only spread your message but to invest in it and become lifelong loyal fans of your product.  That is where we really need to concentrate.

A perfect example is the Old Spice Campaign. While it has been touted as a huge success from many social media resources, it has not had much in the way of actual engagement or conversion.  As creative as it was albeit a bit disturbing that the managers of the campaign never used the buzz to create relationships with their clients.  They never engaged except to put out screaming messages to watch the new videos or to listen to how great they were. They failed to realize that the whole point of social media is that it’s another tool to build relationships. If you look at their twitter feed there haven’t been any interaction with their community at all.  No @ replies or thank yous or whatever.

They totally missed the point and may not have another opportunity for viewers to become a lifelong Old Spice man (or woman who loves Old Spice men). So while it is imperative to  create good solid, eye catching campaigns, it is also just as important if not more to think through the process so you can engage that community to maintain momentum and drive sales.

Just my two cents..let me know what you think

If I said, “I can get you to the top of Google in the next few days, “you would be lovin me right?  Well, here are a few tips to rank locally within your niche.  While most people are busy paying outrageous fees for pay per click,  you can happily find your place among the top for free!

Tip# 1

Make sure you are listed in local directories. Seems pretty simple, but if you are not listed you have to work a heck of a lot harder to rank.

Tip #2

Make sure all of your content, photos, and videos are tagged correctly to include local key word rich phrases with long tail key words.  Just adding a few local areas to your keywords and content  can boost your ranking dramatically.

Tip #3

Make sure you are connecting with people and businesses in your industry and link to their site.  The more links you have coming into your site that are relevant in your industry the better

Social Media,  so, what’s all the buzz about?  Simply put, social media allows you to make the sale before the sale.   Because the media landscape has changed in the past few years, it is imperative that every company take advantage of these tools or become obsolete.  There is a revolution in the way consumers are buying and making purchasing decisions.  People are no longer trusting broadcasted messages to them, they are actively looking for information and relationships they can trust.

Creating interactive information sources that are engaging and relevant to your customers allows you to connect to clients and prospects.  If done correctly, social media can put you in the top-of-mind position with your customers and create a referral sales force.  If you can show that you truly have your customer’s interests at heart and  brand yourself as an expert, you will rise above your competition and create brand loyalty. Below are some FREE  or very low cost ways to promote your business and increase profits by utilizing Internet marketing techniques.

Targeted leads:  Advertisements that are visible to people who have e expressed an interest in what you are selling.  Instead of using a billboard, direct mail, or magazine advertisement, market directly to people’s interests through Facebook or Google ads, forums etc.  If you are a golf club maker you can put an ad on the profiles of golf enthusiasts.  You only pay for the ad if it is clicked.  Clicks are easily traceable to help you understand what marketing message and campaign works best.  All of this can be done for very small investment

Video: Videos done on a flip camera or by a production company are fabulous ways to differentiate yourself from your competition.  Don’t have a million dollars for a commercial?  No problem, you can utilize video hosting sites to broadcast to millions for a fraction of the cost.  An entertaining “viral” video can be broadcast to millions within days!   Utilizing video will help you gain higher Google ranking as well as allow you to attach a visual personality to your product or service.

Social networking sites:  Social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, ) are key in connecting and engaging your customers and clients.  Utilizing a Facebook business page or Twitter profile can be very beneficial.  You can post recent news about your company, run contests to engage and reward customers in your success,  and have discussions about things that people find of interest in the industry or your brand.  For market research, test market ideas about a new product launch you are considering.  You can post online coupons; and community sponsored events.  All of these things are instrumental to keeping your fan base engaged and wanting to spread your message.  The sites are also excellent for networking as well as getting a leads on possible opportunities.

Article and blog writing:  Article writing can help establish you as an expert in your field as well as giving valuable information to your customers to help them make a better informed decision about your product or service.  In addition, article writing helps to create more links to your site because people can comment, bookmark and link back to your site.  Inbound and outbound links are very important in determining your Google ranking.

Affiliate marketing:  Linking to sites that offer a product or service that you enjoy.  Have a service or a fantastic new product that you feel would benefit your customer base?  Why not advertise it on your site and receive a commission?  Companies are hungry to cross sell in this economy and many are offering a  commission fee to companies that sell or refer their product.  If you truly feel that it is of benefit to your built in audience, it is a win- win situation.  A note of caution (you can only endorse so many product offerings like this before you start losing creditability.)

Customer Service:  Keeping in touch with your clients and dealing with any issues that arise.  Social media monitoring of your brand allows you to get real time results about what your customers are saying about you.  You may then quickly and effectively deal with any disgruntlement, showing that you are a company that cares about its customers.  On the flip side, if there are positive comments out there, why not spread the word by utilizing your newly built up network!

All of these techniques are easily doable for only a fraction of the cost of traditional market research, newspaper and print advertising.   To learn more about how to utilize these tools effectively, give us a call today!