Social Media

Thoughts and tips for developing business in social media

Athletes / Stars and Social Media

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Hines Ward blocks for Rashard Mendenhall

Image via Wikipedia

This week has been very interesting for me in following news on several athletes which have found themselves in trouble using social media.  R. Mendenhall of the Steelers is probably the one that most are familiar with this week, with his commits on Bin Ladin which cost him thousands of fans, endorsement deals etc…

But there are several others. It has me thinking, will social media eventually lose out to traditional media because of its dangers to the rich and famous?

A with most things Social Media could easily drive personal name value for all Rich, Famous, Talented, to the point where they make even bigger profits on their names, so I see why social media would be attractive.

However, In the past year we have seen multiple cases where social media has crippled or harmed someones reputation because they put an honest opinion out for the world to see in social media.  We have become a society where honesty is not valued and respected but is something to be torn down and ridiculed when it deals with the lives of our rich and famous.

Rashard Mendenhall, spoke his mind honestly, we might disagree with him, but does that give us the right to destroy him? Because he is rich and famous is our jealousy clouding our better judgement, and are we tearing down a man, not because of his opinions but because we see opportunity to make ourselves feel more valued?

At times I admit I hear of Athletes or Movie Star tweets and think what a fool they are to opening there thoughts to the world to see. Often, I think they are brilliant and understand that even bad press can build value in their brand. And let’s not kid ourselves here, this is all about branding and value of brands. With the incredible incomes athletes and movie stars can make every thing they do is about brand. So they have some responsibility to take in knowing every word they display and every reaction they have is influencing the value of their brand.

So back to my question, will social media eventually lose ground, because the risk of Brand Value losses is too great when left to the viral nature of the web? Or will Social media become a forum of false statements and opinions in order to deceive a public opinion to favor the brand value? Will Social Media become what Fox News is and only serve their purpose and agendas to their select audience?

I would love to hear your opinion on this? What is the Future of our Social Voice?

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Say it with Me: Social Media is Part of Marketing | Social Media Today

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I read a great blog today written by Wendy Bryant, on Social Media Today blog post. She was discussing her feelings on Social Media and the word a lot of business owners and managers forget in that statement “Marketing”.  The summary below I believe sums up all the hype better than anything I have read to date. Maybe because like so many others she is not selling me anything, she is trying to offer good sound advice. Great work Wendy

What’s the lesson here? Human connection. This brand did not solve my problem online; they took it offline and used good old, fashioned customer service. They wowed me. I felt appreciated and my faith in that brand was restored. Remember, you are on social to connect, connect and re-connect. It’s going to be good and bad. Be prepared. Be willing to acknowledge your mistakes, fix problems and help your clients. That’s what every business does: makes their customers happy. I don’t care if you’re a B2B or B2C company—get over it. We all have customers and we all have to make them happy.

Back to my opening comment, social media is part of the marketing mix. Say that with me.

Once you start thinking about social media this way your perspective will change. I agree with Doug Stephens of Retail Prophet, social media won’t save your business. You’ve got to look deep inside your company and figure out what’s right for you. If your brand is suffering fix it. Social media isn’t going to fix it. Social media doesn’t replace all your traditional media; it enhances, enriches and connects you in a way you’ve never been connected before. Get ready because it’s not going away and will continue to evolve.

via Say it with Me: Social Media is Part of Marketing | Social Media Today.

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Online marketing is inexpensive way to build customer base | Reno Gazette-Journal | rgj.com

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Online Marketing is all the craze. However most local businesses just are spending a lot of time and effort on social media that does not return the investment. Engagement in social media is crucial and until a company invests in that engagement with their consumer they will not recognize the success they are looking for in their campaigns.

Article this morning in the RGJ from Chuck McCumber at UNR discusses services that UNR offers for local business to help understand and apply a social media strategy. Give it a read.

Many companies have changed their marketing campaigns to include social media and interactive websites, taking advantage of nearly free advertising tools and focusing on the two largest referral sources — Google and your friends.The tools are available, but many businesses dont have the knowledge to build or use them effectively. That comes with practice. We found we could advise our clients on the importance of using these tools, but we didnt get sustained traction if they werent engaging in the strategies themselves.So, we developed a Digital Marketing Workshop to teach the basics and give people hands-on experience. Offered quarterly find it on the Business Training Calendar at http://www.nsbdc.org, the workshop covers the process of purchasing a domain name and hosting and building a website. We assist in integrating social media profiles and building content that will drive traffic.

via Chuck McCumber, UNR: Online marketing is inexpensive way to build customer base | Reno Gazette-Journal | rgj.com.

Where does Social Media fit in the marketing funnel?

cpankey 1 Comment
Social Media Landscape

The past two years I have had an internal conversation going on about the choices business people are making in regards to social media, mobile media, newspapers, direct mail ect.

As our economy started the slide I saw businesses start to blame their media outlets for the lack of response they were receiving and decide to jump to newer and trendier media selections. Unfortunately I also saw a rise in businesses which lost brand value and often found themselves in that place where going out of business would be more delightful than staying in business.

Let me try to clear up where I believe Social Media Fits today in the Marketing Funnel. I am big believed that Audience size does matter. Those elements such as timing and buying cycles in your industry must be used to increase the effectiveness of your marketing ROI. If you are just beginning your social media experience, you know all to well that your Audience is very small at this point. So making a marketing decision that represents this as a base marketing program at this time is reckless and will be damaging to the momentum of your company.

Before I share my ranking of sort let me tell you a little story I once heard to illustrate a point.

This story takes place back near the Great Depression. Mr. Wrigley, Wrigley Spearmint Gum, was on a train heading West with several of his trust business executives, they were discussing the decreasing revenues and profit statements of the company, A young accountant speaks up and tells Mr. Wrigley that he has a wonderful idea on how to reestablish a positive bottom line for the company. He suggests that they cut the marketing campaign budget until things improve. It is at this point that Mr. Wrigley displays great leadership and ponders this thought for just a moment. Then he asks this question of the young man. “Son how fast do you think our train is moving?”

The Young man says “35-40 MPH?” Mr. Wrigley Walks him to the front of the car and then asks, ” So if I pulled that pin out at the front of the car that attaches us to the main engine how long what do you think will happen?” “Well Mr. Wrigley we would coast to a stop” said the young man.

Mr. Wrigley then turns to the entire staff and exclaims, ” that is precisely what will happen if we cut our marketing efforts, we lose all momentum and come to a stop, Marketing is the engine that creates our movement!”

I tell this story because I think many businesses today are facing this same question, not only because of finances but because media and Audience has become fragmented and is responding differently than in the past.  See the Media that is out there still works, but the audience is smaller and the Audience has changed the expectations for responding.

So how do we design a marketing funnel for today’s audience?

Basic Marketing Funnel principles can still apply.

  1. Broad Based Marketing – The use of large audience impressions to place any possible customer in the funnel and building them to a potential customer.
    • Newspapers – Still have some of the largest Audiences in every Metro Marketplace
    • Television – Very Large Audience in a Region or Nationally if you have the budget.
    • Facebook Ads – non-targeted, you ever looked at the size of audience if you set out your message to all users? Pay per click options make this very attractive.
    • Google, Yahoo Ad Words – Similar to Face Book you can capture a global audience.
    • Direct Mail – Saturation Mailing has become easy and more affordable with the USPS new simplified mailing programs.
  2. Target Marketing – After filling the funnel with potential clients it is much easier and more cost effective to target market to groups of customers or potential clients. Many businesses think they can just jump to targeting and skip the first step, however I would argue that they do it at the expense of future growth and will eventually spend much more trying to find that additional market share. Target Markets tend to move or dry up and then leave businesses in want for their attention.
    • Social Media Ads – Facebook etc., now allow you to zone in geographically, demographically etc.
    • Google and Yahoo Ad programs you can target very effectively, with these programs and again the pay per click model allows even small budget firms to take advantage of practice.
    • Radio – Demographic profiles of stations make this more of a targeting vehicle.
    • Cable TV – Same as radio
    • Direct Mail – Not as cost effective as Saturation, but lists today will allow you to slice and dice a zip code in various ways to get the right target.
    • Zip Code Insert Programs – Newspaper, Still one of the cheapest ways to reach a Zip Code and have a good client demographic reading your material.
    • Web Ads – Pick your site
  3. 1 to 1 Marketing – Any marketing channel where you have the ability to personally talk with your customers and or clients.  Social Media has now made this Marketing level very affordable and is now changing the workforce in many large companies around the world.  This step does take Data, and Audience and is not effective till you have both.  The secret is in accumulating Data on your customers from the first two stages and then building relationships with an audience, which trusts you and will share their love for you with all that they know.
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