Social networks are growing. Even your Mom knows what Twitter is. The time people spend online is growing and increasingly they also interact there as well. You may have clients and customers which have never interacted with your company in person, only through a website or social network. All this means that your online reputation can have an effect on your brand and company.
Aug
17
2009
Facebook or Google ads? It really depends…
There’s been a lot of talk lately about whether companies should advertise using Facebook ads or Google ads. I think that, as with any marketing or advertising decision, it depends. It depends on who you’re trying to reach with what message and what marketing objective.
Jul
29
2009
Ask Sazbean: How is Twitter Different Than Facebook?
I met with a potential client yesterday and she said she’s had a lot of luck in using Facebook to get new business. She understood the concepts of friends, fans, and joining groups to communicate and connect with people. But Twitter was a mystery for her. She set up a Twitter account, but doesn’t know how to use it to gain new business. She knew it could be used for business because a family member had success using it to build his business. So how is Twitter Different than Facebook?
Jul
27
2009
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Social Media Empowerment
Many companies are excited about the idea of using social media to connect directly to their customers; to be able to send them messages directly. This used to be available only through direct mail, email or phone calls, but now companies can message customers on a variety of social media. The problem is, that most of these companies don’t fully understand the power of social media, or that it has empowered their customers and given them control over the brand.
Jun
03
2009
Using Facebook as a Business Tool – Some Examples
On Monday I talked about how Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are just tools. In order to properly use tools, you first need to figure out what the job is and what it entails (or coming up with a goal and a strategy). So, let’s say that you’ve done the hard work of figuring out a business goal and now you’re trying to figure out how to use Facebook to help you attain that goal. While every business and industry is going to be different, I thought it might help to run through a few example scenarios… (please keep in mind that these are examples and not the only way to use Facebook – also not necessarily the way to use it for your business – these are just for learning purposes.)
Scenario 1: Increase Sales of Product X by 5% in 3 months
5% is usually a pretty reasonable goal. So how would you normally increase sales of a product? Advertise, market, network, contact potential leads, reconnect with past customers, etc. Almost all of the typical tasks you would do offline can also be accomplished online. Using Facebook, you definitely can advertise by using their platform – targeting specific demographics. Marketing can be accomplished by creating a profile, a company page and posting interesting information – as well as engaging with customers and potential leads (oh! look! you can also network with potential customers and past customers).
Scenario 2: Increase Revenues by 10% over next 6 months
Increasing Revenues usually involves increasing sales – so similar to Scenario 1 – but also probably a big campaign to generate new leads. (Remember revenues is not the same as profits. If you’re looking at increasing profits, you also have to look at possibly reducing costs.) Scenario 2 will probably look pretty similar to Scenario 1, but you’ll also reach out to generate more leads. How do you usually do this? By providing something of value and benefit to potential customers. Using Facebook, it also means providing useful information (which is not the same as advertising and may not always be about your prodcuts) and connecting with people – sort of a consultative sale before there’s even a sale potential.
Scenario 3: Reduce Costs by 20% over the next quarter
Facebook helping to reduce costs? Well, yes. How much are you spending on advertising and marketing? Much of the same result can be attained much more cost effectively and efficiently using social networking, such as Facebook. Facebook still involves time, but it allows you to reach a much more specific (and interested) audience by engaging with them and providing information and relationships (benefits) that they want.
Conclusion
These are in no way the only ways to use Facebook and they also are not necessarily the way your company should use it – even if you have similar goals to those above. These scenarios are only for illustrative purposes and to help people understand possible ways to use Facebook for business. Also, please notice that each business goal is very specific and for a well defined time frame – the only way you’ll actually achieve a goal is if it’s achievable. Setting a goal like “I want to be rich” doesn’t really give you anything definite to shoot for (what do you consider rich? how fast? how will you do it?).
How do you use Facebook for your business? How does that tie in with your business goal?
(pic by batega @ Flickr CC)
Technorati tags: social networking strategy, strategy, business, marketing
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Related Articles:
- Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter = Tools. So What’s Your Strategy For Using Them?
- Using Facebook to Promote Your Business
- Selling (and Socializing) on Facebook (Practical eCommerce)
May
12
2009
Social Networking for Referrals
Many companies get the highest conversion rates (and best customers) from referrals. People tend to trust their friends, family and colleagues over companies – that’s a given. So, it may be in your company’s interest to use social networking to gain referrals. Like networking in person, social networking for referals involves quite a bit of relationship development and communication. People need to get to know you before they’ll be willing to recommend you to anyone else.
Social networking for referrals also means being on the networks where your potential referrals will be. And if you provide products and services to other businesses – this probably means other businesses. So, for this social networking purpose, it’s not about where your customers are on the social networks – it’s about where the referrals or other businesses are. This means it may make sense to dedicate some resources (time & effort) to networking and building relationships on business networks.
So if your business relies heavily on referrals for new sales, you may want to look where your potential referrals are, instead or in addition to where your potential customers are.
(photo by Athena’s pix @ Flickr CC)
Technorati tags: social networking, referrals, leads, business, lead generation, marketing
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Apr
07
2009
All Your Tweet Belong To Us
All Your Tweet is a free service (currently in beta) that aims to aggregate various Twitter services into one place. Fairly basic functions such as follow, unfollow are offered, along with basic analytics (followers, friends, favorites, status updates) for multiple accounts. A web-based twitter client integrates all accounts into one dashboard, with URL shortening and tracking, and the ability to integrate RSS feeds into Tweets. Scheduling future tweets is also a really nice addition.
When I demoed All Your Tweet, the interface seemed a bit confusing with links at the top and Action links along the left. Some of the links are only available from the dashboard, which makes changing between “Actions” difficult. The web-based Twitter client is nice, but while it constantly updates times, it didn’t seem to always update tweets (those were in batches). So the time updates are a confusing illusion that it is actually constantly refreshing. Having analytics on the side was nice, but not something that was needed while tweeting. Most disappointing, I couldn’t get the RSS feed to work properly – although this may be due to recent problems with Twitter.
All Your Tweet has some really nice functions and I’d like to see them make the interface more robust and easy-to-use. It has the potential to be a pretty useful social marketing tool.
Have you tried All Your Tweet? What are your thoughts?
Technorati tags: all your tweet, social media, internet marketing, social media marketing, business, social networks, marketing
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Mar
16
2009
Connect With Nearby Customers with Nearby Tweets
Ever want to connect with people nearby that may be potential customers (or actual customers)? What about running promotions or events by using Twitter? Nearby Tweets give you a list of both nearby people on Twitter and what they’re saying. You can easily change the location and search radius if you’re interested in what’s going on in another location, which would be a great way to monitor conferences and events. Possibly the best feature is the ability to search for a keyword in a specific location. Using this feature, you could monitor what was being said about your company or product at a specific location. If you present at events or conferences, this would be an easy way to get instant feedback.
Nearby Tweets is easy to use and very intuitive. When you go to the site it already has a pretty good idea of where you are, but you can easily put in a specific address, radius and keywords. Just hold your mouse over the change location/add keywords button and an interface slides out where you can make changes and update the page. To help you understand how to use Nearby Tweets, they have pages for both personal and businesss uses. If you come up with a use not on the page, I’m sure Brian Cray would love to hear it.
Technorati tags: twitter, social media, social networking, business, marketing, nearby tweets
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Jan
23
2009
Think of Social Media as a Great Party
Ever been to a great party? (I hope so, if not – find one soon!) What made the party great? Good food? Good music? Probably the most important part of a good party is good people. People who you like and feel comfortable with make it easy to have a good time. Think of social media like a good party.
You arrive at the party.
Do you just start shouting at people? I hope not. You probably scan the room to see who is there and what they’re doing. You may start mingling and greeting people, listening to what people are saying in smaller conversations.
You find some interesting people.
You listen to the conversations and introduce yourself when they look up at you. You continue to listen, but speak up occasionally with good points that add to the overall conversation. You learn more about the people who are around you.
You start to dance.
The music gets a bit louder and people are starting to hit the dance floor. You grab a drink and dance with the people you’ve met. Everyone is having a great time.
Someone special catches your eye.
From across the room you notice someone really special who is looking directly at you. You make your way across the room and start up an engaging conversation that makes the time seem to fly.
You have a great time.
Social media is about being social. Meet new people, learn what they do and have engaging conversations. The more people you meet, the more great conversations you will have, and the more likely you will find business leads. Remember to have a great time!
(photo by tanakawho @ Flickr CC)
Technorati Tags: social media, social networks, social media strategy, internet marketing, internet strategy business
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