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Best of March – SEO, LinkedIn, and Solving the Right Problem

/ Jeff Hora / Leave a comment
March, according to the old saying, either comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, or vice versa. This month’s collection of top articles is the LION portion of that saying!

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Measuring Social is HARD!

Measuring Social is HARD!

Measuring the impact of digital marketing efforts seems like it should be easier, with all the data that is available. But that’s the problem: so much data to look at, and some of it is not just “apples to oranges”, but “apples to wood screws.” Know what you should be looking at and measuring, given your business’s specific goals and requirements. It can be hard, but not impossible.

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When Should You DO Something?

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Online Reviews and Comments

Online Reviews and Comments

A while back I wrote an article about how customer online reviews and comments can actually enhance and grow your business….and that you don’t need to be afraid about what people post on your various business social media pages. In that article I described a process with which you can work through any kind of review or comment, and you will end up looking like a hero! This turned into a VERY POPULAR article!

This week a colleague (I’ll call her Tonya…) told me about another friend’s case where a comment was made on a Facebook page that was negative concerning this friend’s business. The friend (I’ll call him Rob…) didn’t find out about it until several days after the comment was posted (he found out via a different friend, who mentioned it to him….). It wasn’t on Rob’s business page, but just someplace else on Facebook that this other person happened to stumble upon, and so mentioned it to Rob in passing.

Rob nearly flipped! He went onto this other page, read the comment, and started to agonize about whether to do anything about it….I mean, this was a surprise! Upon further inspection, Rob noted that others on the page had begun to respond to the comment in positive ways, and, in fact, the incident had pretty much resolved itself in a good way. Rob still didn’t know whether he should hop on the thread and say something, just to show that he cared, but was also afraid that it much churn up the discontent afresh. Tonya thought I might be able to help Rob “climb down off the ledge”, so to speak, and then I could help him understand what he should do.

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Start by Engaging in the New Year! – Best of January

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Social Media Engagement

Social Media Engagement

This case study, while focusing on the use of Post Planner as a tool, provides a number of terrific strategies on going full-tilt to build engagement across your social media channels. Take note of his advice at the end of the article….understand the importance of a solid yet flexible strategy!

Social Media Changes

Social Media Changes

There are number of lesser known changes to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn that are going to impact your activities and those of your audience, so you should definitely become familiar with them. This article goes over 8 of them that are most likely to make a difference.

Video Tools

Video Tools

You’re already aware that video is HUGE online, and 2017 is only going to see its influence increase. You need to figure out how to leverage it and world-class story-telling for your business. The 6 tools described in this article are each just different enough that you should be able to find the one that will work for you, even if you think are, shall we say, “ability constrained”…

David Ogilvy

David Ogilvy

This excellently focused article by Valeria Maltoni underscores the clarity and wisdom of this list of guiding tips by David Ogilvy on writing well. Much harder than it seems, if you’re looking to up your content writing game, you can’t do better than this.

Facebook Cheat Sheet

Facebook Cheat Sheet

I and most all my clients constantly refer to cheat sheets for image sizes online. To neglect this bit of information means you’re more likely to post a graphic or photo that gets cropped or, as one of my clients says, “Schmooshed”! Don’t let that happen to you…
Awareness

Awareness

This article confronts the challenge of getting noticed online despite all of the noise on the Internet. Building awareness, especially in a crowded industry, is tough. Think differently about how to do this and your chances improve a LOT!

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FOCUS: Get That One Thing Right!

/ Jeff Hora / Leave a comment

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One Thing

One Thing

You’ve got that ONE THING to do, and you’re convinced that getting that right will make all the pieces fall into place, right?

I’ve had more than one business owner approach me and ask for help with a Facebook Ad or a Google Ad. My first question is usually to find out what it is they’re trying to accomplish. The answer is usually a very specific, tactical objective: promote a coupon, sell a special item or service, get some LIKES, get sign-ups for an event….

My follow-up question is usually the same one: What are you trying to accomplish?
If that doesn’t make them annoyed with me, it soon does. I sometimes go through multiple iterations of that question before we draw back far enough to the business goal or goals this one thing is supposed to support. Then we can get into the reasoning around why this will (or will not…) actually support that goal.
Not that clarity of the Next Step is bad, but obsession with it may not be the most effective focus. You may have focused so tightly on this single action or problem that  it has actually become more difficult to see in context. Your habit may be that, given the problem of promoting your coupon, you need to drop a bundle on an ad. That could work to some degree, but if you temporarily suspend that impulse and redefine the problem, you can discover that there is a different, better way to achieve the objective.

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How Can Responsiveness Keep You Out of Trouble?

/ Jeff Hora / Leave a comment

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Facebook Business Responsiveness

Facebook Business Responsiveness

Responsiveness is critical to customer experience. If you get an email or see a post to your company Facebook page with a request or comment from a customer (or potential customer…), letting it go for awhile (or altogether…) is a recipe for TROUBLE! The speed by which you respond not only convinces that person that you’re listening, but that you actually care what they are bringing to you. However, there’s a lot more to this than speed…

How you respond and your tone prove how you treat this as an opportunity. You can not only build a better relationship with this person, but provide an online record of how professional and customer-centric your company is. I’ve written a lot about your VACC (Visitors/Audience/Customers/Community) and how your conversation with each differs and builds toward the kind of relationship that benefits all parties. Defined as “fair exchange“, this is a great relationship, as both parties derive immense value from the framework, and all work done on it only serves to strengthen it. The stronger the foundation, the easier it can be to get past the niceties of the regular communications and unveil greater authenticity and transparency. This is particularly true of bad news you need to deliver.

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What’s the Best Social Media Channel for my Business?

/ Jeff Hora / Leave a comment

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Which Social Media Channels?

Which Social Media Channels?

A small business owner asked me this question recently: Does it matter which social media channels my business focuses on?

This is a great question!
It does matter from a couple of angles:
  • You need to be where your customers are.
  • Focus is crucial, since each additional channel requires resources.
Let me elaborate….

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AUGUST SAMPLER: 5 Informative and Imaginative Posts For You!

/ Jeff Hora / Leave a comment

The end of summer is upon us. These diverse articles will tickle your imagination and start you thinking about what your autumn online activities might be!

10 Social Media Myths

10 Social Media Myths

 Many times I must slip into “Mythbusters” Mode when speaking to groups about what’s real, what’s imaginary, and what’s merely perceived when it comes to social media. These 10 myths are not comprehensive, but they do cover many of the common misperceptions. If you have more questions, let me know!

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Top 5 Timely and Valuable Articles for July

/ Jeff Hora / Leave a comment
Wow, that was fast!

There was all the hub-bub for the Fourth of July, then the flurry of political conventions, and now we’re at the end of the month and looking back at some of the really helpful articles that have been published across the web…..and there have been a LOT of them! Here are the top 5 I’ve read and know you will find useful:

Deleting your Social Media Biz Page

Throw it all away….or not?

You’ve tried every which way with Facebook and you’ve decided that the only way out is to delete the page altogether. Is this really a good idea? Are there any other options? This article by Brooke B. Sellas of B Squared Media will help you consider, and reconsider, this conundrum.

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The 5 Top Tested and Approved Posts for June!

/ Jeff Hora / Leave a comment
 Kicking off the summer months with some TERRIFIC material covering ROI, opportunity discovery and various views on reaching the right Visitors/Audience/Customers/Community (VACC) for your business.

Who's your audience?

Do you know your Audience?

 
Growing on Social Media doesn’t mean quadrupling the number of times you post. It requires study, research, strategy and an understanding of the important metrics that drive your business online. That’s a lot to ask of a small business owner….this article by Jay Shemenski outlines 5 steps toward identifying the opportunities for your company. If this looks like something you need help, give us a call.

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They’re Here!! 5 Outstanding Social Media Posts for May

/ Jeff Hora / Leave a comment
 This month we’re treated to a nice mix of articles covering How-Tos, new research studies and a bit of crystal ball gazing for future trends.

Measuring Social Media

KPIs for Social Media

Measurement is the crucial component to understanding if you’re meeting your goals, right? Yet many small-to-medium sized businesses charge into the land of social media without considering what their goals are and what to measure. This article by Dara Fontein outlines some metrics you might consider, and WHY you might consider them.

With a flurry of articles earlier this year like “Is Google+ Dead?”, you might wonder just what is going on. While not dead, it is not what it was, and Google, which has a track record for altering, spinning off and dropping products at a seeming whim, is still tweaking the channel. This article by Martin Shervington goes over the list of what the current release of Google+ looks like, changes that impact you and your business if you’re investing resources there, and a some tips on how to approach it today.

Long content vs short content

Pew Research graph: Long vs. short form content on mobile

This article by Andrew Hutchinson takes a deep look at new research by Pew Research that tries to answer this question: One research study last year showed that long-form content (defined as posts of over 1,000 words) consistently got more shares and links than shorter form content; another study found that the average human attention span had dropped by 33% since 2000, largely attributed to mobile phone use, and, given the increase in mobile media consumption, would seem to suggest that people want shorter content…..sooooooo, which one’s better?

Teens Most Important Social Network Snapchat

TEENS: Most Important Social Network – Snapchat

This great synopsis of statistics and charts covers a number of areas beyond the fact that Snapchat overcame Instagram in the perceptions of teenagers with an average age of 17 as their “most important” social network. This is critical information if your business has this demographic as a key audience. Very few marketers use Snapchat today, so the opportunity is huge.

Facebook Logo

Get Better Performance on Facebook!

Another top article by Andrew Hutchinson with the goal of helping you boost your posts’ performance on Facebook. Take note that, early in the article he writes, “So how do you maximize your performance on Facebook? The basic answer is ‘listen to your audience’.” If you haven’t done the work around discovering and understanding your Visitors/Audience/Customers/Community (VACC), tactical efforts will be ineffective.

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