Read further for the latest news and helpful digital marketing information geared towards small businesses.
What’s the Buzz All About? Did you hear about National Siblings Day? Or perhaps you saw all of your friends posting old or new family photos? What a fantastic viral marketing campaign! Here is the story behind #nationalsiblingday on April 10, 2016.
Facebook Post Reach: From Hubspot.com. This article discusses the decline of organic Facebook reach and how businesses are turning to paid boosts, more selective posts and personalized fan marketing in order to stay relevant with their page followers.
Customizing Your Facebook Business Page:From Hubspot.com. There are various tools on the Facebook page which are not well-known. For example, creating a customized Facebook URL will help you promote your Facebook page outside of the digital world in a simpler manner. Also, check your ‘call to action’ button on your page. Hubspot.com explains how to maximize Facebook Page tools, helping your business widen it’s reach.
Should you Pay For Social Media Marketing: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+ have introduced highly scale able, paid platforms for spreading the word about your small business. Are these for you? Read more here.
Take a look at our weekly roundup of social media ideas to integrate into your small business marketing plans:
-Pinterest. Create boards for local neighborhoods or towns in your area and pin photos related to your business to those towns. Perfect fit for Realtors, Restaurants, Doctors, Dentists, Retail Stores and any local area business.
-Instagram. Don’t forget to Geotag your posts when promoting a local business or product. Read more here about geotagging and how it helps showcase your small business.
-Facebook. If you haven’t done so already, post a My Business Story video. Since it is a Facebook-created post, their search algorithm will show it to a wider reach than your typical Facebook Page posts!
-Twitter. Tweets are matching to their audiences more and will show up first rather than the chronological tweet settings you have become accustomed to. To change this, untick “show me the best tweets first” on your settings. Read this article for more details.
-Landing Page. What is it and why do you need one? If you are promoting a business online and a user clicks onto your homepage from an ad, what motivates them to contact your business? Not much, right? With a Call-To-Action (CTA), along with a Landing page, your campaign’s results will skyrocket. Read more about CTA’s here.
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What kind of social media mistakes do you see happening out there? Are there lessons to learn from what others are doing wrong? What are they?
Professional marketers are set apart from the rest of the pack with their insight into what really works for a particular type of business.
It takes experience, insights, analytics and foresight as well as a few lessons from the best there is….My Mom!
I’ve outlined below a few life lessons from Naomi, my mom (pictured below), and how they relate to digital marketing professionals:
Kill Them With Kindness
No matter what you post on a Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest account, please say something nice. With too many negatives or an attitude, followers will become turned off in a big way. My mom always taught me if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it. Same thing goes for your social media accounts. Make nice and be kind no matter how many naysayers are out there.
For example, stay out of the political debate. The last thing you want to do is align your political ideals to your business. This will eliminate a great percentage of your followers. If you come across a negative review, respond to it with a coupon or free offer to try your product or service again. There’s no need to get into any negativity or give excuses.
Three’s A Crowd
Ever notice that when 3 kids, teens or grownups get together, there’s always one person left on the sidelines fending for themselves? My mom always pointed this out when I had 2 friends over at the same time and someone would get their feelings hurt.
The same goes with social media marketing. Think of the third wheel as your social media account not getting as much attention as the others. Do you have Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest? Is your brand getting more attention on Facebook and Twitter? It’s not necessary to completely eliminate the third wheel. If it does not need as much time and attention, then there’s no need to give as such. I have several clients who really cherish their Pinterest accounts. Their other social media accounts have so much more activity so we decide to Pin on Pinterest less often. It all depends what works best in your industry.
Every Celebration Needs A Family Photo
My siblings and I always reminisce about every family function and the dreaded family photos. We needed to pose each time we went to a party, out for dinner or were just playing outside. There were tears, stomping up to our rooms and just flat out refusals at times as it was very difficult to capture all of her happy children at every single moment of the day. But somehow, my mom succeeded in getting the job done.
Halloween costumes circa 1970..photo taken by my mom
Capturing every moment, from a marketing standpoint, is very 2016. My 1970’s mom was way ahead of her time. I encourage all of my clients to take photos and video of their daily office routines, special meetings or events, product development, staff photos and any other photo opp. Then use these pictures to post away like crazy.
Shop For The Best Deals And Only Buy Quality Items
Before Costco, BJ’s and TJMaxx, there was my mom, searching out the least expensive pair of Jordache jeans. (I hope most of you reading this know what these are.)
She had very high-end tastes, but with a family of 6, she needed to find these items for a lot less than the going rate. And I wanted to wear the jeans all of my friends were wearing. Fast forward to today: If you ask my mom to go car shopping, she will shop and find you the best deal around…even in her late 70’s!
The same goes with your marketing budget. Don’t spend too little on a website which will only get you to a certain point on search rankings. Keep your wits about you when looking for a for a marketing professional to help with your digital plans. A college grad is more cost-effective than a seasoned professional, but how far are they going to take your brand?
This idea also translates with images on your social media accounts. Using a photo which is grainy and pixelated won’t be a good model for your brand. Spend the extra money and find photos with excellent quality.
All-in-all, my advice is simple:
What you’ve learned in life, especially from your mom, is something that will translate well into your work world. Play nice, be fair, share and lift others up…. in life and with your social media marketing!
(special thanks to my mom, Naomi)
pictured Cheryl and her mom
By: Cheryl Friedenberg, President, High Key Impact LLC Cheryl@highkeyimpact.com, highkeyimpact.com
Marketing Consulting for Small Businesses
Social Media Marketing is getting all of the buzz in the business and marketing world. We all share a plethora of industry content on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn as well as 100’s of other social media sites.
The goal here is to share a post on your business page, it gains momentum with comments, likes, shares and points visitors towards your company’s website.
Once you gain a website visitor…POOF…there are tools available to turn them into a customer, right?
Not exactly.
A visitor to your website is delicate like chicken broth or liquid gold and we need to mold that visitor into a potential client.
But there are other ways to bring in clients. Social Media is only a piece of the Marketing pie.
For a marketing plan to work properly, a company’s concentration should not rely on social media alone. There are several aspects involved in converting customers.
Website’s landing page(s).
Once I land on your business’ home page, is there an opportunity for me to easily signup for your newsletter? Is your contact information front and center? Do you have testimonials for me to view with satisfied clients exclaiming their love for your product or service?
The purpose of getting a visitor to your website is to ‘catch them while you can’! Think about the tools you may use to gather information and turn a cold prospect site visitor into a warmer potential customer.
Community Outreach Why not join a networking group, speak at a local business association or become known as the ‘leader in your field’ at your religious institution?
There are many outlets to find a niche in your industry to fill. Teaching an evening class at the local community college or speaking at a senior center are various ways to get the word out about your area of expertise and your business. What a great way to make connections offline!
Sales
Selling is all about numbers. Yes, it takes experience too, however, if you are not making sales calls, your sales will plummet. Period.
Is your business filling the sales funnel each and every day? What kind of follow up is taking place after prospective client meetings? What are you doing beyond your competition which makes your product or service stand out? Are you meeting with decision makers? Are you getting referrals from existing customers? Work the sales team to keep that piece of the marketing pie as active as possible.
Publicity
When your company receives awards, presents or attends community events or an employee receives accolades for a personal triumph, utilize local news sources to help get your company’s name out there in print and online. Reach out to individual reporters or editors as well as regional news affiliates. Write an industry-related article or blog to post on LinkedIn or within LinkedIn groups. When your business is published throughout the year consistently, warm prospects take notice.
Ongoing publicity is a powerful tool to use when marketing your business.
Word-Of-Mouth Referrals Sales is all about the ask and the ask doesn’t end when the sale is closed. Once you have a happy customer, ask for referrals, testimonials and reviews. Referrals are the best and most cost-effective way to acquire a new client. Testimonials on your website and on social media outlets help your business showcase it’s reliable customer service. And reviews on Google+ and Facebook are a potent approach to continuing your word-of-mouth marketing momentum.
The bottom line:
Social media, without any sales, publicity, outreach or referrals, is not meant to stand alone as a marketing plan. Businesses still need to work the basics when it comes to implementing a comprehensive marketing strategy.
Cheryl Friedenberg, President, High Key Impact, LLC
cheryl@highkeyimpact.com www.Highkeyimpact.com
Over the past several years, our digital marketing brains have been introduced to a new array of tools including a variety of social media platforms, blogs, email marketing, search engine optimization, pay per click and so much more. Everything is now online. Small businesses continue to outsource precious dollars for their online marketing footprint in the hopes of converting website visitors into a precious customer. However, there’s another way to find hot sales leads.
What about the ASK?
Asking existing customers for referrals, testimonials and reviews is an oldie but a goodie.
Here, we have compiled a list of resources for your reference when asking clients for testimonials and referrals:
Referral and testimonials are a powerful tool when prospective customers are searching for you online. Have a variety of tools in your back pocket to showcase your business through your clients’ voices.
You all know who I’m talking about. The friend on Facebook with a line of 10 posts in 20 seconds, the Twitter account who never sleeps and Retweets 50 times/minute and the over-sharer with TMI posts on her page 24/7.
When an internet user excessively posts or comments on message boards, classified ad sites, or social media, often times with similar or repetitive content.
Exceeding a socially acceptable amount of posts, comments, or responses, even if the necessary post limit is not quantifiable.
Beating a subject to death online.
Are you being tortured by an overposter? What about a company who overposts? What does this look like and how do we stop it?
I never even knew there was a term called VagueBooking (It means posting intentionally vague postings for attention and sympathy) let alone Duck Faces (pouty, sexy expression with pooched lips?). His blog talks about individual posters, however, the rules may also be applied to businesses.
On our Facebook news feeds, Business pages typically know the drill. One or two quality posts per day is all you need to keep your page in front of those who like it. Otherwise, drowning out your audience with 4-5 posts or more/day will tune them out and turn them off. Perhaps you may even lose some likes. And we all know how precious those likes, shares and comments can become!
Besides overposting on Facebook, some Twitter users tend to have a knack for retweeting 30+ tweets in a row. Talk about having to scroll down a few feet to read my favorite tweets. Additionally, how about the bogus Twitter accounts who follow your feed? Blocking and reporting these users seem to somehow be a waste of time.
On all social media accounts, I am a big proponent of organic likes. Buying likes and followers tends to diminish the quality of a small business account as several of these accounts are typically spammy in nature and not really interested in your product or service. I advise my small business clients to grow followers and likes organically until it maxes out. From there, we may discuss some paid advertising options moving forward.
Being aware of the annoyance overposting may cause is the best defense against it. Try to understand the parameters of each social media platform so you can give your business a profile deemed professional and worthy of follows and likes.
For further small business social media advice, contact cheryl@highkeyimpact.com.
Whether you are a start-up, well-established or a business vying to get two steps ahead, there are many organic options available when it comes to getting your name in front of potential customers, some lesser know than others.
Having worked with various industries in B2B or B2C, I have found clever, cost-effective strategies to market your business through social media.
Influencer Marketing
Simply put, Influencer marketing is a way to have others discuss or mention your brand or products. Influencers are well-respected by their audience and give educated recommendations throughout their networks. For the small budget business owner, this means finding 5-10 customers/individuals willing to talk about your brand, in an effective and positive way, through their social media networks.
The power of Influencer Marketing is exponential. One share of your information leads to more visibility and exposure. Imagine where 5-10 shares would bring you?
Guest Blogging
It is a 2-way street for the benefits of guest blogging.
First, you could be the guest blogger on another website and talk about your industry from an entirely unique perspective. The benefit to the blog host is providing original and creative content to a blog needing a lift. Your business is being an effective marketer by finding bloggers who share your business core values. And you are spreading the word about you and your business. Second, by bringing in a guest blogger to your website’s blog, you are also creating original and shareable content for your audience while giving another business owner a space for publicizing their brand.
Reach out to websites where your business models are complimentary towards one another. For example, a real estate agent may connect with a mortgage company. Or a senior caregiving agency may connect with an independent living facility. The options are endless.
Facebook Audience Optimization
Recently introduced through Facebook pages, posts are now being optimized for audiences. For instance, if you are sending out a post only applicable to a particular age group, your post can be segmented directly towards that population. Facebook Audience Optimization “Lets you assign interest-based tags to identify people who are most likely to engage with your posts. Also lets you restrict the visibility of your posts based on audience location, language, age or gender.” via Facebook Settings. In my personal experience, Facebook Audience Optimization limited a test post too narrowly so that less users viewed it. The reach was also minimal. However, marketers are gung-ho on this new feature so it’s worth a try for your business.
For detailed instructions if you would like to try Facebook Audience Optimization, go to this Tutorial @jacobkcurtis
Facebook Shares Recently I have noticed, though the Facebook pages I manage, a very simple approach to an exponential post reach. All you need are FB shares.
Ask your Business page visitors or personal Facebook friends to share your posts. If each sharer’s 500+ friends see your post, the impact is substantially better than a paid ad!
LinkedIn Groups
The way I look at LinkedIn is that it is an online business networking event. You connect with others, share your business contact information and make a brief introduction. If a connection eventually needs your service or product, you’ll want them to remember YOU and not the competition.
There’s a defined system to stand out in the LinkedIn world. By joining LinkedIn groups associated with your industry, becoming engaged within group discussions and eventually posting your own blog content onto the group page, you bring your LinkedIn profile to a preferred and remembered level. Heck, you could eventually gain Influencer status too!
Growth Hacking Growth hacking is a marketing technique developed by technology startups which use creativity, analytical thinking, and social metrics to sell products and gain exposure. (ref. Wikipedia)
It is viewed as a process of finding unconventional ways or experiments to gain a viral following, users and customers.
Growth hacking can be accomplished on a small business level with some hand-holding from marketers as they would want to use analytics or measurable data to see if an experiment takes hold. Read this blog for more insight into the Growth hacking world.
LinkedIn Pulse LinkedIn gives the user the ability to publish an update or a post. These posts are connected to an internal blog resource visible to all of your LinkedIn connections, called PULSE. Pulse is another avenue to send your message, reaching a wider audience than your blog or social media accounts. It allows you to tag potential audiences to gain reach and viewership and it shows metrics for views and likes. Use this article for a How-To-Guide for posting on Pulse.
To stay up-to-date on the latest tips and trends within the business marketing world, read more of my blog.
By Cheryl Friedenberg, President, High Key Impact LLC, Marketing Consulting cheryl@highkeyimpact.com
In the world of digital marketing and social media, one word stands out this year with a big punch: VIDEO!
There is a lot of apprehension on the part of small business owners when it comes to incorporating a video marketing plan into their posts, blogs, newsletters and online marketing outlets.
Fear comes from the vision of high costs, complicated technology and taking up precious time to incorporate a plan.
I hope this ‘How-To’ guide will outline the simplest ways to use video, reach more potential customers and make this a painless process financially.
Website
Take a look at your website and see where video would come in handy.
Does your ‘staff’ page need a little sprucing up, would a 360-degree virtual tour of your facilities be helpful to sell your product or service or do you think a testimonial message from your customers would convert website visitors into customers as well?
For the staffing page, perhaps a ‘day in the life’ video explaining what goes into your customer service processes is the way to go. Or do you have the knowledge of a feel-good story featuring a customer using your product or service?
Humor is also a great way to engage viewers. Incorporate goofy office humor into a video giving website visitors a picture into your fun workplace.
Social Media
Have an interest in engaging customers in a livestream event? Why not try your hand at Periscope, the fastest growing live-streaming video app.
Or use short customer testimonials to boost your Facebook reach.
Are you attending a business event, conference or going on a customer visit? Video segments from your day are helpful to show the outside world how involved you are in your field.
The best social media videos are engaging, quick (under 20-30 seconds) and have a purpose
(i.e. sign up for a newsletter campaign or like a Facebook page).
Cost Effective Video can cost hundreds and thousands of dollars. Small businesses typically do not have that type of budget built into their marketing plans. To cut costs, try to use a college intern majoring in film or even a high school student with filming ambitions. Also, when you are out in the field, use your smart phone to film a customer visit or a business card exchange. Video clips from your phone added to a You Tube account are editable with both text and music and easily shared onto social media accounts.
Various apps also have video making ability such as Flipagram, Magisto, Hyperlapse from Instagram, Lumify, Splice and more.
The video on your website will need a high quality, well thought-out visual. Professionals who specialize in 360-degree videos or business videos may be worth the investment. Consider your business plans. If you change customer offerings very frequently and feel a video would be outdated within months, the cost may not outweigh the benefits on a small business budget.
The bottom line on Video Marketing is to Do It Now!
-Cheryl Friedenberg
President, High Key Impact LLC
cheryl@highkeyimpact.com
www.highkeyimpact.com
Mobile-Friendly websites are all the talk of town with marketing experts lately. Not only does your website need to be mobile-friendly, statistics show that 51% of digital users are on their mobile devices versus laptops or computers.
Google has a test available for your website to check it’s mobile-friendly version. Test it to make sure it meets Google’s parameters.
Email marketing also needs to become as mobile as possible. What’s the point of sending an email newsletter if it cannot be viewed through a smartphone or tablet?
Beyond the test, there are many elements to consider on your site to be as mobile-friendly as possible. Do you know about the ‘Thumb’ rule? What about your forms? are they easily seen and filled out on a mobile device? Read more about mobile-friendly tidbits here.
Are you off to a busy start for the new year? Is 2016 going to be your best year ever?
We are as optimistic as you. Let’s make this year ‘the one’ to surpass your business goals. Show your team how you’re going full steam ahead with all of the ideas you have in your head but were too busy to implement or execute last year.
But first you need a plan.
What should the plan entail?
Here are the 8 goals to shoot for and how reach them with the 2016 technology/marketing tools available to you:
Increase likes on my Facebook business page.
Share your page with your Facebook friends. Find Influencers on Facebook who will share your page within their network. An influencer is someone who has an active following and can move their followers to take action. Read more about Influencer Marketing here.
Network like crazy on LinkedIn. Join groups, interact, add a blog on Pulse, ask questions in a post and follow up with responses and stay engaged. The more engaged you become within LinkedIn (and any other social network), the wider you broaden your sphere of influence and connections.
Get found on Google Search.
If you haven’t done so, sign up for Google My Business. It’s a newer platform (free) to crawl your business higher in Google Searches.
Segment Your Business Email Newsletter
Do you send one generic email newsletter to all of your clients, vendors and employees? Each one of these market segments does not need the same information from a general email. For example, you could send employees work anniversary announcements to make them feel important, send vendors business ideas and news articles in your industry and send your clients emails about your services and how you stand above the competition.
Are there other email lists you should create? Sure! Think about who you come into contact with throughout your business day.
Tweak your Mobile-Friendly Website. Last year was the time to become mobile-friendly. Take a look at your mobile website and compare it with your competition. What are they doing that you are not doing? Is there an item from your wish-list you would like to add? Call your web/mobile developer to see how your business website and mobile-friendly website may be improved. If you are not sure about how mobile-friendly your site currently is, test it with this Google Tool.
Search Your Business. Is your website search engine optimized? Test it yourself! Search for keywords which describe your business and your location. i.e. Are you a Realtor in Lansdale, PA. Search for ‘Realtor in Lansdale, PA.’ Try other ways to search for the same thing. For instance, using the Realtor example, search ‘buying a house in Lansdale, PA’ or ‘residential real estate Lansdale, PA.’
If your business does not show up as one of the top 3 options, call your website builder (or call me!).
Keep The Blog Current.
Look at your most recent blog posting. Is it dated within the past 2-4 (and 4 weeks is way too long!) weeks? How about the blog prior to that?
It’s probably time to add a new blog. If you cannot keep up with your blogging, it’s either the right moment to abandon the blog page altogether (delete the page) OR get help. A writer or social media marketer will take care of blogging for you and/or help you create content.
Add Video to your Posts and Website. Video and live streaming are the fads this year. By not using video, you put your business at a disadvantage. Take short 10-20 second clips of happenings around your company, including visitors utilizing your products, employees working hard and salespeople attending industry conferences. Not only will your post views exponentially increase, your ‘cool’ factor will grow with it!
For more business marketing goals for 2016, contact cheryl@highkeyimpact.com.
Cheryl Friedenberg
President, www.highkeyimpact.com, High Key Impact LLC
