by Debra Ellis
It’s easy to get caught in the social media hype net that promises extensive exposure for your company at minimal cost. The idea that the content you create can change the course of your business is alluring. The concept that it can be done in single post is irresistible. Everyone wants to create content that goes wildly viral. Unfortunately, unless you are in the business of cute cats or children, the odds are against you.
Social media success is a process, not an event. The companies that connect with their customers have a strategy that integrates online activity with service and solutions. Last week’s post covered five questions to ask before sharing content. Those questions are a litmus test to insure that your company’s posts keep moving your business forward. Today, we are looking at the questions not to ask because they waste time and won’t advance your cause.
- Will it go viral? Going viral isn’t predictable or controllable. It is also grossly overrated. The posts most likely to go viral are rarely the ones that promote your business well. Focus on creating content that helps the people that read it. When the information is helpful, people share with others who need it. This will bring high quality traffic to your site and pages.
- What will our competitors’ think? Every time I hear this in a meeting, I ask, “Why do you care?” Your competitors shouldn’t define your marketing strategy by what they do, say, or think. Wondering about your competitors is a waste of time.
- Will influencers like it? This is another area that is grossly overrated. Influencers can generate traffic but the quality is questionable. The people that you want to influence are the ones most likely to use your products or services. They introduce your business to friends and family likely to have similar needs.
- How many followers/fans/likes will it acquire? Followers, fans, and likes are benefits not objectives. Create great content that resonates with people and your community will grow. It is better to have a small community that participates than a large, dormant one.
- Isn’t this the best post ever? There is nothing more paralyzing to creativity than trying to improve on “the best post ever.” The best posts are the ones that consistently attract high quality traffic year after year. They are timeless, fill a need, and hard to identify in advance.
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by Debra Ellis
Social media is an insatiable beast. Feeding it requires constant creation or acquisition of content. Combine the short life of a post with the continuous demand for more and it is little wonder that lapses of judgment happen to even the savviest marketers.
Updates can take on a life of their own. In marketers’ dreams, an update will go viral, bringing new customers and more revenue to their company. In reality, the updates that go viral are usually faux pas that require risk management. To prevent the mistakes and encourage the benefits, ask the following questions before posting original content or sharing updates from others:
- Does the content fill a need? If the content solves a problem for your customers, provides appropriate entertainment, or helps your community understand more about your company’s products and services, then it has passed the first test.
- Is the content appropriate for our community? Alienating customers and prospects is easy when content is inappropriate. Unless you are a pundit, sharing thoughts with your community on controversial topics is a bad idea. Your opinions are none of your their business.
- Will the content move our organization forward? If the content doesn’t help acquire customers, keep them coming back, increase sales, or improve service, think twice before posting. Your company is in business to profitably acquire and retain customers. Anything else is a waste of resources.
- How do we measure success? Creating expectations for each update insures that your marketing team will be focused on the right priorities. Social activity needs to be accountable. It is okay to have posts that are fun and conversational on occasion because they show customers and prospects the human side of your business. Posting them continuously with no regard to return is irresponsible.
- Where is the best place to share this information? Every platform has a personality and value system. Choosing the best place to share information increases exposure and return. The planning that goes into the process makes it more likely that your company’s social activity will generate a return on investment.
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by Debra Ellis
Google Reader goes away on July 1st. If you are still using it, you need choose a new reader this weekend or lose feeds. I preferred iGoogle to their reader because you could add gadgets and customize it. Unfortunately, it is going away in November (sigh…) I’ve already started updating Feedly so I’ll be ready.
Continuous improvement is necessary to success in the marketing world and life. This post by Joel Runyon uses a Dragonball Z reference for motivation. It’s fun and inspirational. The cool thing about us is that our final form is undefined. We can chose it as we go.
Google+ is two years old. I love Google+ because it is where I find the best information for my professional life. Maybe it is the people that are in my circles or maybe it is the platform. I don’t know what makes it better than Facebook but it wins my attention.
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by Debra Ellis
Most companies keep email on a short leash. It is used to promote products and allowed to provide order status updates on a limited basis. Promotional messages almost always include discounted pricing. Transactional updates are limited to order confirmations and shipping information. Emails can do much more than advertise sales and deliver facts. They can supercharge your company’s growth and profitability.
Email provides a low cost way to communicate with customers and prospects. It delivers a positive return every time a promotional message is sent to subscribers. The low cost and guaranteed returned keeps many marketers from moving beyond the status quo. After all, it is working well. Why invest effort in doing more?
Relationship marketing is becoming more critical. The introduction of Gmail’s new inbox is the first step down a slippery slope for companies that do not have strong relationships with their customers. The effectiveness of their email marketing will steadily decline when people have to make an effort to see promotional messages and status updates. Now is the time to update your email marketing so it doesn’t fail to deliver.
Take a good look at your email strategy. If it only includes sale and transactional notifications, simple changes can make tremendous improvements. Here are five ways that you can use email to supercharge your company:
- Acquisition – Are your prospects receiving the same messages as your customers? Prospects and customers have different motivations. Target the people who haven’t converted with information and opportunities designed to move them into the sales funnel. Start with the welcome email and continue with a series until all resistance is removed.
- Retention – Keeping customers coming back is a top priority. Use email to let people know how much they are appreciated, keep them informed about new trends, and educate them on how to best use your products and services. The more they know about how your company can serve them, the more likely they will remain loyal.
- Sales – Promotional emails deliver sales. Emails designed to solve problems and make life easier (or more fun) deliver more profitable sales. Use buying behavior and preferences to create irresistible messages that move products and services at full price.
- Service – Make transactional emails work better by using them to serve your customers. People are incredibly busy. The companies that simplify the buying decision and make problem resolution easy own their customers. Competitors will find it virtually impossible to pry them away. Use emails to communicate with customers on a regular basis.
- Integration – Interacting with companies is a multichannel experience today. Emails help leverage the strengths of one channel to offset the weaknesses of another. They also cross devices making it easy to stay in touch with customers and prospects on the go.
Creating an integrated email strategy that crosses channels and departments isn’t as hard as one might think. It starts with optimizing outgoing messages and then builds on successes until it has evolved into a comprehensive program. For specific tips on how to optimize messages and examples of what other companies are doing, check out 31 Ways to Supercharge Your Email Marketing.
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by Debra Ellis
Tweets fly by in a blink of an eye. Use these tips to power your tweets up and lengthen their life.
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