Marketing Alchemy | Aqua Vita

3.04.2010
Marketing Alchemy

How To Use Social Media Management Tools – 5 Tips

Published by Jessica Cox under Marketing Alchemy

Twitter eating up your time? Facebook filling up your schedule? Losing track of time on LinkedIn? You’re not alone. Time management is one of the top challenges for serious online networkers.

Social media management is worth the effort. Networks like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace can launch your message to the far corners of the net. You can harness this power for your business.

But managing these social networks doesn’t have to consume your day. Here are five tools to take back your day and streamline your social media circle.

Social Media Management Tool: HootSuite

Schedule a week’s worth of tweets and status updates in under ten minutes? It can be done! HootSuite schedules tweets for later publication on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Ping.fm. This is my personal favorite web application for handling social media.

Plus, with a careful Ping.fm setup, you can achieve social media nirvana, scheduling updates on Plaxo, MySpace, LiveJournal, and more. Truly mind-blowing.

You can keep an eye on your Facebook and LinkedIn social media networks here as well, with separate columns for various Twitter list feeds. Their reputation management settings allow for social media monitoring on your key terms. Clever.

They make it easy to use, too! There’s an iPhone App, and a quick-post button for scheduling updates while you browse.

Bonus 1: HootSuite gives you automatic link shrinkage and tracking!

Bonus 2: The adorable mascot. Look at those big eyes!

Bonus 3: It handles pages and personal accounts separately. Yes!

Social Media Management Tool: TweetDeck

TweetDeck is an application that lives on your computer, organizing the stream-of-consciousness into customized columns. It plays well with Facebook, LinkedIn, Myspace, and Twitter, and handles custom searches, @replies, and direct messages.

Bonus 1: TweetDeck is also on iPhone.

Bonus 2: It handles multiple accounts with the greatest of ease.

Bonus 3: It’s a multimedia star: drag and drop images into TweetDeck to share on Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace. You can record and share YouTube videos within TweetDeck also.

Bonus 4: Interactive notifications.

Social Media Tip: Import Your Blog to Facebook

This one is a huge time-saver. Facebook has a built-in tool to import posts from an external blog! The posts show up as notes, without you lifting a finger. Facebook will automatically update your notes whenever you write in your blog.

With this setting, you can import posts from Blogger, WordPress, or any other blogging platform with an RSS feed. Choose wisely: you can only import one blog.

Bummer: Imported blog posts cannot be edited.

Social Media Tool: Posterous

From one email, create dozens of blogs and social updates. Send blogs, pictures, and status updates to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and blogs.

This service spins all forms of multimedia into web-friendly formats. Bring them your photos, audio files and links, documents, video files and links. They will even resize photos to web-friendly size.

Bonus 1: Posterous redefines “easy to use”. Attach multimedia file to email. Send to post@posterous.com. Poof! Blog post.

Bonus 2: Posterous also offers a social media bookmarklet, for your browsing convenience.

Social Media Tool: Ping.fm

Post blogs, miniblogs, and status updates to over 40 social networks. From the popular to the obscure, this is one of the most complete network support for social media posting services. Unfortunately, multiple Twitter accounts are a bit tough.

For customized communications, you can create “posting groups” to focus messages. Your “professional” group might hook into LinkedIn, Twitter, Plaxo. On the other hand, the “Personal” group could send information to Blogger, Friendster, and so on.

Bonus 1: Ning support, very impressive.

Bonus 2: iPhone integration. Of course.

Bonus 3: Social bookmarking support.

Social Media Tip: Tools do not replace interaction

Imagine sending a robot to replace you at in-person networking events. Not the best impression to leave with your audience, right? In the same way, overusing social media tools can leave your network cold and disinterested. It can be tempting to take things to the limit with automation. But remember, there’s no substitute for the “personal touch” in networking, online or offline.

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2.19.2010
Marketing Alchemy

Leveraging Word-of-Mouth in the Digital Age

Published by Jessica Cox under Marketing Alchemy

Have you ever listened to one of your friends rave about a person they’re really excited about? After hearing them talk, you might say to yourself “Wow, they sound really great.” You’re looking forward to seeing them. You can imagine how great it will be to finally meet this person.

But when you get to that first introduction, their handshake is limp. Their eyes dart nervously around the room. They can’t string a coherent sentence together. They smell funny. Within seconds, you’re looking for the nearest available exit.

What happened? Your friend was completely sold on this person. But if your experience didn’t match up to their word-of-mouth, that praise turns to dust.

Word-of-mouth leads to research

Word-of-mouth is only the first step towards earning a customer. Have you thought about what they do after they hear a recommendation?

In the past, they might’ve looked you up in the Yellow Pages. These days, phone book usage has plummeted as more and more people look for instant information online.

The Internet allows people to research word-of-mouth recommendations within seconds. That’s right. People can hear about your business from their friends, colleagues, relatives, neighbors, and jump online to research you.

This is a significant shift. Before they ever step into your store, before they ever pick up the phone, they are checking you out online.

Take a moment to think about what impression your website gives potential clients. Are you satisfied with this or embarrassed?

Your website is your handshake to the world

Many times, your website hosts the first interaction between potential customer and your company. Make sure you’re sending the right message. Website design, content, usability, everything has to work for your clients.

Think of your website as your first chance to provide great customer service. Make sure you’ve done everything in your power to satisfy their needs for information, education, and convenience. What questions do people have about your company? What information do they need to do business with you?

Constantly think of ways you can improve their experience. This is a good faith promise that you will be there to help them every step of the way. Remember, these first online impressions can convert word-of-mouth recommendations into a customer, or drive them into the arms of your competition.

Word-of-mouth can echo across the web

The good news: word-of-mouth spreads just as fast online as it does in the real world. Review sites are springing up all across the Internet, and these opinions can make or break a prospect’s opinion about your business.

Yahoo! Local, Google Local, Yelp.com, InsiderPages, and a host of other sites are dedicated to providing consumers with information about your company. Make sure your information is updated, and encourage your happy customers to share the news about your company. And of course, make sure you post testimonials and reviews on your website as well.

Press releases and articles are another way to boost your credibility. People searching for your company can see a wealth of information about your success, philosophy, and business practices. Everything they need to feel secure doing business with you.

Word-of-mouth is still a powerful tool to drive business to your company. Your website can help convert these recommendations into satisfied customers.

Need help making that first impression? Give us a call; we can help.

2.02.2010
Marketing Alchemy

Get the Facts on Facebook: 22 Tips & Statistics

Published by Jessica Cox under Marketing Alchemy

Facebook has become a powerhouse platform for businesses looking to connect with their customers and prospects online. With over 350 million users interacting online, it’s easy to see the appeal of getting face time on this popular social network.

Facebook user statistics:

Facebook claims more than 350 million active users.
Fifty percent of active users log on to Facebook in any given day.
The average user spends more than 55 minutes per day on Facebook.

That’s a lot of people spending quite a bit of time in one place online. Do you have a stake in that game?

What about Facebook for businesses?

More than 700,000 local businesses have active Pages on Facebook.
There are more than 1.6 million active Pages on Facebook.
Pages have created more than 5.3 billion fans.

If your target market is spending time on Facebook, you should start thinking about how to reach them.

Think tribal:

“Dunbar postulated that the typical human being can only have 150 friends… You might be able to stretch to 200 or 400, but no, you can’t effectively engage at a tribal level with a thousand people. You get the politician’s glassy-eyed gaze or the celebrity’s empty stare. And then the nature of the relationship is changed.”
– Seth Godin

Who are your 150 people? Who are the influencers you REALLY need to pay attention to?

This is important because you can’t be all things to all people. You can’t reach everyone intimately. You probably don’t want to. But you can be relevant, engaging, and useful to a small group of people. Get some traction going there and build momentum.

Facebook friend stats:

Average user has 130 friends on the site
Average user sends 8 friend requests per month
Average user is a member of 12 groups

Eternal welcome mode:

“Every day, new people show up at your blog, on Facebook, everywhere.”
– Seth Godin

Thousands of people are still learning the ropes of social media and Facebook. And even if they’ve been around the block a time or two, they may still be new to your blog, your Facebook page, or your Twitter feed.

Make it easy for new users to interact with you. Lay out the welcome mat and show them around. Help them get to know you. Be sure to integrate your social profiles on your website and in your email campaigns, and use every opportunity to invite people to follow you.

Facebook stats:

Average user becomes a fan of 2 pages each month
Average user is invited to 3 events per month

It’s all about interaction:

“Now Facebook mostly displays items that got engagement. You know, comments. Likes. Tagging. Etc. …you only see the items that your friends have found important enough to comment on or ‘touch’ in some way.

“Overnight my news feed went from something that looked pretty cold and lame to something that has tons of ‘warmth.’”
- Robert Scoble

Social media users delight in connection, interaction, sharing. Your goals should be to stimulate conversations, comments, and life on your pages. Because if your content is worthy of comment, you could be showing up on radar screens for not only your fans, but their friends as well. Look for ways to create these opportunities, and keep the conversation rolling when they happen.

Facebook Interaction Stats:

Average Facebook user clicks the Like button on 9 pieces of content each month.
Average Facebook user writes 25 comments on Facebook content each month.

Create worthy contributions:

“One of the keys to success in building a fan base with your Facebook efforts is to consistently add great content and engagement.”
- Robert Scoble

More than 3.5 billion pieces of content are shared each week on Facebook. What are you contributing? Links, articles, blogs, how-to’s, news, profiles, photos, podcasts, videos: you can find a hundred different ways to dazzle your audience on Facebook. What are their burning questions? What is it they truly desire? Is anything confusing or worrying them?

You can be the voice they turn to for guidance, hope, inspiration, or a good laugh. Above all you must be worthy of their time and attention.

Facebook content creation stats:

More than 35 million users update their status each day
More than 55 million status updates posted each day
More than 2.5 billion photos uploaded to the site each month
More than 3.5 million events created each month

Deliver the goods:

“Social media only accelerates the inevitable”
- Bryan Eisenberg

Social media can form connections with clients and prospects. After that, it’s up to you to keep them satisfied, and build long-lasting relationships. The best social media campaign in the world won’t make up for bad service. But engaging your customers and prospects online can open the door for them to do business with you.

1.26.2010
Marketing Alchemy

14 Web Design & Marketing Tips from Paul Newman, Pt. 2

Published by Jessica Cox under Marketing Alchemy

As an actor, entrepreneur and humanitarian, Paul Newman found numerous ways to dazzle an audience, from the silver screen to the kitchen table. Before his rise to stardom, those baby blues overlooked a lifetime of hard work.

A man of many talents, Newman’s old-school advice rings true through the world of web design and Internet marketing.

For Part 1 of this series, click here.

8. “I’ve been accused of being aloof. I’m not. I’m just wary.”

With an ongoing recession, betrayals in the financial sector, and general corporate misconduct, buyers are extremely careful about who they choose to do business with.

Do everything in your power to reassure them. Post privacy policies alongside your newsletter signup. Include all relevant association badges to let them know you’re well-respected in your industry. For e-commerce sites, include security badges and security notifications to let shoppers know their money is in good hands.

9. “A man can only be judged by his actions, and not by his good intentions or his beliefs.”

Can people tell what your site is about without visiting your About page? Assume your visitors know nothing about you. If you don’t tell people about your case studies, previous experience, past clients, testimonials, and how your product/service works, they will never know.

10. Robert Redford on Newman: “He has the attention span of a bolt of lightning.”

On the web, this is exactly what you have to contend with. The average “decisions” time of a website visitor is 6 seconds. If you don’t immediately spell out “What’s in it for me?” you are officially back-button bait.

The instantaneous nature of the web has led visitors to expect a customized experience that gives them exactly what they need. Be the website that answers the important questions quickly, and you have a chance of making a sale. Who are you? What do you do? What’s in it for me?

11. “Every time I get a script it’s a matter of trying to know what I could do with it. I see colors, imagery. It has to have a smell. It’s like falling in love. You can’t give a reason why.”

Who doesn’t want visitors to fall in love with their website? Find ways to invite visitors in to interact with your company and your website. It could be interactive photo galleries, video reviews, maps, calculators, buying guides, podcasts, etc. Appeal to the imagination and the senses.

12. “Newman’s first law: It is useless to put on your brakes when you’re upside down.”

The best product in the world won’t save you if your website throws visitors for a loop. Customers simply won’t stick around to figure out a broken website. Make sure your site functions. I’m talking broken links, long load times, missing images, misspelled words, and confusing navigation, just to name a few.

It’s important to do a sweep of your own site every few days, just to make sure everything is running smoothly. Test your checkout process and your contact forms, and visit each page just to look things over.

13. “As long as my heart continues to beat, I think I will continue.”

Remember, you’re in this for the long haul. You need to plan for the future and keep your website active and fresh. Search engines and your visitors need a reason to keep coming back for more.

You want to make your site an active resource for them, something you can use to build long-term relationships. With new offers, fresh content, and updated resources, your website can become the hub of any campaign, via old-school, social media, email, and mobile means.

14. “For those of you who like to scarf your popcorn in the sack, the good news is that Newman’s Own contains an aphrodisiac.”

Find out how your visitors like to view your website. What browsers are your visitors using? Do they have flash enabled? It doesn’t matter how impressive your graphics are, or how mind-blowing your animations and widgets are. If your visitors can’t see it, your site design might as well be an empty box.

Tailor your entire site to their experience. This is the first step of customer service online, and it begins long before the sale.

What’s your take? Have a favorite Newman quote?

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1.25.2010
Marketing Alchemy

14 Web Design & Marketing Tips from Paul Newman, Pt. 1

Published by Jessica Cox under Marketing Alchemy

After working his family’s sports store, Newman served as a radio operator in WWII, and sold encyclopedias in between visiting agents. From these humble beginnings, he went on to donate hundreds of millions in profits from his “Newman’s Own” company to numerous charities.

A man of many talents, Newman’s old-school advice rings true through the world of web design and Internet marketing.

1. “I picture my epitaph: ‘Here lies Paul Newman, who died a failure because his eyes turned brown.’”

Understand what makes you special. You don’t want your site to end up looking like Template Site 101. Are you playing up your strengths?

Take careful inventory of what your customers love most about you. Incorporate it into every aspect of your web design and marketing, both online and off.

Do you know what your top selling points are? Why not ask your customers? You might pick up a good set of testimonials in the meantime. Also ask your sales staff what really turns clients on about your product or service.

2. “If you don’t have enemies, you don’t have character.”

If you set out to please everyone, you’re guaranteed to reach no one. Focus on your best target demographic. Create a web design that speaks to them. Build your navigation and structure with them in mind, align your website design to their taste, and don’t worry about the people who can’t or won’t do business with you.

3. “The embarrassing thing is that the salad dressing is outgrossing my films.”

When you’re considering a website redesign, or looking for ways to develop your site, be sure to keep an eye on what turns a profit. With the analytics available for websites, email, and online advertising, you can get a bird’s-eye view of popularity shifts, positive and negative.

Keyword research, website traffic trends, and purchase history offer a gold mine of insights. Without this information, you may be overlooking opportunities and changing winds for your business.

Google Analytics is a great tool to discover these hidden gems. If you find one of your web pages generating five times the traffic as the others, you may want to expand your offerings, or punch up the promotion for that item. Follow the traffic.

4. “Who’s to say who’s an expert?”

With a website design, you may hear conflicting opinions from every member of your staff. This can lead to confusion and fuzzy-mindedness, and even worse, an unfocused site. Marketing may want more product offerings, the CEO may just LOVE lens flares, and IT may want to dump in as many bouncing, scrolling scripts as possible.

Take all advice with a grain of salt, and choose a designer you can trust. They can help you prioritize and make sense of all that input. It’s their job to focus on the “expert” that really matters: your customer.

5. “If you’re playing a poker game and you look around the table and can’t tell who the sucker is, it’s you.”

Know what the competition is doing online. Only very rarely will you be alone in your given niche. You need to find out where the bar is set in terms of website design, search engine optimization, site content, technology, and social media integration.

Study what the other players are doing, and find a way to position yourself uniquely. For example, if your competition has “lowest prices,” consider playing up the importance of quality and the dangers of cheap products or services.

6. “The most important ingredient was not taking ourselves too seriously.”

If your site looks and sounds as dry as cardboard, then your odds of keeping a customer’s attention are pretty slim. Give your design a spark of life, and use a voice that will keep your visitors’ attention.

Don’t take yourself so seriously, but take your customers VERY seriously. People respond to authenticity. They expect transparency and personality online. You need to strike a balance between professional and boring in your website design, language, and focus.

7. “You can only put away so much stuff in your closet. Give something positive back to our society.”

Become the go-to resource for your customers and prospects. Answer their questions, help them make the right decisions, and they will trust you with their purchases. Give away free content and resources that help them save money, avoid mistakes, do a better job, or improve their quality of life.

You can require a registration for some of these to capture contact information, but be sure you have a wealth of free information available as well. This show of faith gives visitors a reason to trust you with their information. They know it will be worth it.

Check back in on Tuesday for the second half of this series!