Tag Archives: marketing

Essential For Marketers: A Facebook Page To Market Your Brand

We’ve already talked a few weeks ago about Why You Should Start Your Own Page On Facebook and given some details on how you might want to go about executing it. Now we thought a few examples from major and savvy marketers might be very helpful for you…and for me also as I navigate making my facebook page for my brand. Adam Ostrow in Facebook Shares Tips and Case Studies for Brand Marketers describes how the big boys and gals are using this resource to market their brands:

slew of new features

Facebook

described these changes

business

Facebook Marketing Solutions

The brands that Facebook is featuring include household names like Adobe, Lionsgate, and Ben & Jerry’s, but there are still some useful tidbits for those with slightly smaller budgets. For example, Ben & Jerry’s implementation of Facebook Connect is something that any website could deploy with a bit of coding work and zero marketing spend.

It lets visitors to Ben & Jerry’s website select their favorite flavor and share it on Facebook. Then, that user’s friends see the flavor selection on their homepage, and also get a link to Ben & Jerry’s Facebook Page where they too can become a fan.

Meanwhile, for brands looking to spend money on Facebook (), namely by promoting their Page, the Marketing Solutions group shares a number of different types of campaigns. For example, Adobe’s “Real or Fake” campaign includes a game on the company’s Page, where users guessed whether an image was real or Photoshoped.

Adobe describes its results: “About 10% of our page visitors played the game and, of those who played, 6% clicked the “Share” button at the end of the game, and 6% clicked “Buy Now” at the end of the game. Due to this game and media placement, our page received over 6,000 new fans too.”

For Facebook, sharing this type of information using a Page is a great example of a company eating its own dog food so to speak. It’s also good to see that they’re both sharing tips that anyone can do – without spending significant money on Facebook – as well as case studies clearly designed to get big brands to spend big dollars on marketing their Pages.

Additional Facebook Resources for Brands

- New Facebook Pages: A Guide for Social Media Marketers

- 5 Elements of a Successful Facebook Fan Page

- 5 Tips for Optimizing Your Brand’s Facebook Presence

12 “Green Biz” Trends for Eco-Entrepreneurs

Scott Allen, one of my favorite entrepreneur watchers, reports on some news from his favorite business trend newsletter, Trendwatching, which has a huge edition this month on green business trends they’re calling “ECO-BOUNTY”.

As I’ve mentioned, I’m launching a site or two on “green biz”, so I’m trying to keep up with what’s out there. In 12 Green Consumer Trends Mean Business Opportunity for Eco-Entrepreneurs, Scott tells us:

ECO-BOUNTY refers to the numerous opportunities, both short and long term, for brands that participate in the epic quest for a sustainable society. Some of these opportunities exist despite the current recession, others are fueled by it, not in the least because of new rules and regulations. Downturn-obsessed brands who lose their eco-focus will find themselves left out in the cold when the global economy starts recovering.

The opportunities abound, and it’s not all being done by big companies. Innovative entrepreneurs are developing a wide range of green products and services, including: solar-panel shading systems, eco-friendly supercars, handbags made from old gym equipment and airplane seats, green education and tips for homes and businesses, bicycle and car sharing, eco-friendly marketing and even adult toys.

You can download a PDF of the briefing or browse the trends online:

ECO-FRUGAL
ECO-STATUS
- ECO-ICONIC
- ECO-STORIES
ECO-INTEL
- ECO-METERING
- ECO-MAPMANIA
- ECONCIERGES
- ECO-TIPS
- ECO-MATCHING
- ECO-NAKED
ECO-STURDY
ECO-FEEDERS
ECO-GENEROSITY
- ECO-PERKS
- ECO-FREE
- ECO-REWARDS
- ECO-BOOSTERS
ECO-SUPERIOR
ECO-EMBEDDED
ECO-EDU
ECO-TRANSIENT
ECO-VERTISING
ECO-EXPECTATIONS

“Green” Japan’s newest products (crunchgear.com)
Green Home Contest: Win 3 Nights at the Green Hotel Carlton (greenbuildingelements.com)
Green Scene: Go Green Expo (phillyist.com)

The Ultimate Resource To Use Twitter Effectively.

: Image via CrunchBase

Hopefully, like me, you are learning to use Twitter to enhance and increase your business. Here’s some help getting there:

How to Attract and Influence People on Twitter — The Ultimate Twitter Resource , Derek Halpern great collection, broken into targeted pieces.

Chapter 1: Twitter for Newbies
Chapter 2: How to Use Twitter Effectively
Chapter 3: How to Increase Your Twitter Followers
Chapter 4: Why Twitter Helps Bloggers (and How they Can Use It)
Chapter 5: The Ultimate Guide to Twitter for Business
Chapter 6: Here are the Best Twitter Marketing Resources… Period
Chapter 7: Does Twitter Provide Any SEO Benefits?
Chapter 8: Where Else Does Twitter Apply?
Chapter 9: Twitter Case Studies: What are People and Companies Doing?
Bonus Chapter: More Twitter Tips

Twitter Captures WSJ And Mainstream Business

: Image by Getty Images via Daylife

In case you are asking yourself if your business or association is ready to start tweeting, you can stop asking.

Even the high, conservative guru of business, the Wall Street Journa,l is not only reporting on tweeting but is tweeting itself. http://twitter.com/WSJ

As WSJ.com as reported on the Twitter phenomenon infiltrating mainstream America:

“Doctors are using Twitter to update patients about office hours. Local groups such as the Los Angeles Fire Department are using it to share details about service calls with interested residents, occasionally with graphic descriptions of the victims’ conditions. And dozens of major companies, like computer maker Dell Inc., use Twitter to share deals and product news with people who sign up for the service.” They also report on a mobile Korean taco business, selling spicy Bar-b-que tacos getting 400 customers in customers at night by tweeting out their location.”

Is there anything Tweet can’t do? Perform brain surgery? Tweet out Hamlet in snippets?

Well, kidding aside, that still leaves plenty it can do, and what it can do for your business can be pretty amazing. For the basics, go to Using Twitter For Business

Tell us how you’re using Twitter, and we’ll start a dialogue of people or businesses with interesting Twitter uses.

How to use twitter for business (demandmetric.com)
Using Twitter for business: Engaging your customers online (publicrelationssydney.com.au)
Twitter Ramps Up Sales Team, Hiring from Yelp, YouTube (louisgray.com)

12 Free Ebooks and Whitepapers To Help Build Your Website “Out Of The Box”

: Image by Guillermo Esteves via Flickr

The folks over at Mashable have developed an excellent list of free resources to help us all build websites. Mashable is a bit more tech oriented though and many of the books have to do with accessible Flash design. A lot of business people, bloggers and writers just want a good, solid website without all the bells and whistles, or if they do want them, they want a programmer to put them in so they can sleep easy at night. So, I’ve taken the list from Mashable at 20 Free Ebooks and Whitepapers for Better Web Design and a pared it down to a manageable 12 for those of us who are not uber techies.

Aside from the basic web design books, if you’re just starting out, my favorites are the first two, because many of us need some coaching on how to sell a service and because insourcing vs. outsourcing is a fundamental decision that will affect how well your business operates. So here goes, with the leaner, more basic list:

Creating a Web Site for Your Service Business from Entrepreneur Media
Selling products online might be easy, but selling services is a completely different ballgame. This whitepaper covers what you need to know to create the best website you can for your service business.

Managing Web Development: Insourcing vs. Outsourcing from Key Professional Media
If you’re trying to decide whether to hire an in-house web designer or outsource to a design agency (whether in this country or abroad), this whitepaper is a must-read.

Free Web Design Ebook
This ebook was written to help new internet marketers get through the basics of web design in relation to internet marketing purposes.

A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Obvious: Web Usability 101 from Squiz.co.uk
This online whitepaper covers everything you need to know about making usable websites from the ground up.

The Top 10 Web Site Design Do’s from ProfitJump.com
The tips covered in this ebook run the gamut from learning HTML coding skills to realizing that a website is never really “finished”.

Integrate Design to Create Brand Harmony from MarketingProfs
Incorporating your brand into your website design is very important, and this whitepaper explains the how and why of doing that.

10 Tips for Designing an Ecommerce Web Site from nightcats.com
This ebook has ten tips for creating a great ecommerce site and covers everything from designing for your target market to identifying your objectives.

KnockKnock from Seth Godin
This ebook from Seth Godin has all sorts of information about using online marketing tools to make your website work better.

5 Common E-Commerce Site Mistakes from Microsoft
If you run an ecommerce site but are unhappy with the results you’re getting, this ebook may shed some light on the subject and point our common mistakes you may be making.

Web Design Best Practice Guide from e-consultancy
This ebook is a regularly updated point of reference for best practice approaches for all the areas that anyone involved in web design needs to do an effective job.

“Mosaic Layouts”: How and Why to Avoid Creating Puzzle-Looking Websites from Software Talks
This whitepaper covers why properly using images and graphics in your website is so important.

10 Tips for Creating Your Web Site from Global Knowledge
This whitepaper offers 10 tips you can use to make sure your web site is effective from day one.

For the really techy stuff, particularly about how to do Flash design, go to 20 Free Ebooks and Whitepapers for Better Web Design.

Let us know how reading these books works for you. What you’ve learned, new advice for the rest of us. We’d like to hear from you.

Hiring Tip #1 – It Starts Before the Interview

When we’ve talked about developing your personal brand, we’ve noted that everything matters. How you talk, how you answer your emails, how you connect with people. Tina Forsyth has much the same thought when it comes to landing a job. According to Tina:

When it comes to hiring I’m reminded of the philosophy:

How you do anything is how you do everything

As an Online Business Manager I’ve done my fair share of hiring virtual professionals over the years, and i’ve found that you can learn ALOT about someone from the very first moment you connect with them (which is usually by email).

How people respond to you from day one can be a good reflection of how they would actually be on a project.

There are a few things you can pay attention to that may help filter out some potentially unsuitable people along the way:

How quickly do they respond to your emails?
I expect a 24 hour turnaround time when I send someone an email (except on weekends/holidays of course). If I send someone an email saying ‘hey, i’m interested in hiring you’ and I don’t hear from them for 3 days I will most likely not consider them further. Most of our projects require a 24 hour turnaround in communication, and if I don’t see that right away it is a red flag.

Did they provide what you asked them for?
If you asked them for specific information, did they provide it in full detail? I’m actually surprised how often I will get a response from a potential hire and they didn’t include half of the information I requested. If they have a lack of attention to details in these early stages it makes me wonder how much would be missed on the job.

What is the tone of their response?
Are they casual or do they take a more professional approach in their writing? (depending on your needs you may prefer either one). How is their spelling & grammar? The actual tone of their response can be very telling – for example if you are hiring someone to response to customer service emails and their spelling/grammar is poor that may not be a good fit.

Do they follow up with you?
If you haven’t responded to someone in a day or so, do they follow up with you? I’ll admit that I sometimes do this on purpose – not respond to an email for a couple of days just to see if the person will follow up with me to check in. If someone is eager/excited about the opportunity they should send a follow up email to check in with you (even just to ensure that you received their last message)
There are of course many things that come into play in the hiring process, but it is sometimes these little things that can make all the difference in the long run. And if you don’t pay attention to them now they could turn into big issues and annoyances down the road.

–

Tina Forsyth is the author of Becoming an Online Business Manager: Playing a Bigger Game with Your Clients and Yourself. She writes and consults in advanced online marketing and business systems for business owners and their support teams. www.OnlineBusinessManager.com

Making Money From Activism on the Web

: Image by emdot via Flickr

The Obama Model Web 2.0 – Social activism, bordering on a movement, is a whole new concept. Well, maybe it’s a rebirth and reconfiguration of a Web.1 concept. (According to Humanity.org, these are the top 10 Social Activist Sites: The World Revolution, Ashoka, Changemakers, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Earth Fund, Afribike, Grupa hajdeda da…, The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), and Youth Against Aids (YAA) ). But it does use a whole new set of social media tools that did not exist until recently.

Or maybe it’s another transformation of an even older concept, corporate social responsibility or CSR. Two prime examples are ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s, which not only promotes support sustainable and safe and environmentally friendly methods of food production but seeks and supports nonviolent ways to achieve peace and justice as well. Another vendor, Whole Foods Markets, goes to the ends of the earth, literally, to find delicious and unusual products. Whole Foods then partners with local farmers and producers, even including direct micro-credit loans to their vendors, in order to bring quality to their customers, and, at the same time, lift up emerging economies. It has been a powerful formula.

But now there is a new model on the web, inspired by the Obama’s extremely media savvy campaign. It is a model where activism is not rooted in a bricks and mortar organization but driven, primarily, by viral marketing on the web and the formation of a communities of interest. Or are they movements?

Whatever you call them, you can use the same model.

As set by Tim Leberecht in Obama Inc. – Web activism for profit:

“A recent example of this kind of Obama Inc. start-up, San Francisco-based firm Virgance, was featured in the Economist this week, and the article indicates that social impact in an activism 2.0 world is shifting from a welcome side benefit to an integral component in the business models of Internet entrepreneurs. The new kids on the web have internalized the lessons from the Obama campaign, and now they want to make a difference, too – and money. The Economist describes Virgance’s model as “for-profit-activism.” Named after a plot device in Star Wars, the company aims to support social causes through a multi-pronged campaign platform that resembles the way Obama for America mobilized its supporters, and it typically consists of four core elements:

1. A web-empowered volunteer network

2. A presence on Facebook

3. A team of paid bloggers to promote the campaigns

4. YouTube viral videos

Among the first Virgance-supported campaigns are 1BOG (“one block off the grid” – aiming to convince homeowners to switch to solar energy), Carrotmobs (public contests that incentivize retailers to become green), and Lend Me Some Sugar (based on the Facebook application that gives users virtual sugar cubes for donations to a cause of their choice).

Virgance is not the first for-profit-do-gooder of course; there have been plenty of others whose business model combines bottom line thinking with social value: the Economist, for example, puts Virgance in a line with Project RED. But Virgance is more like Facebook Causes. It adopts the forces of “Here Comes Everybody” and builds its entire business on a social web platform, embracing the principles of open-source, mass collaboration, and transparency: “If a for-profit company did the type of work that non-profits often do, but did it more efficiently, would people trust it the same way they trust non-profits?” the Virgance web site describes the company’s ambitious mission. ”What if everything the company did was completely transparent? What if it was open source? If we can create this kind of company, and succeed, how many other companies would follow our example? Along the way, could we change the face of the business world itself?”

Does that language sound familiar? The Obamapreneurs are adept at turning their campaigns into movements. Clearly, the Obamanization of business – both in terms of substance and style – has arrived in reality, and we will see more Obama Inc.’s in 2009.

On February 27-28, IESE Business School will gather entrepreneurs, scientists, foundations, and corporations at its annual student-run Doing Good and Doing Well conference in Barcelona. It’ll be interesting to see how the Obama gem will make its way into the more old-school world of CSR (corporate social responsibility).”

If you have set up something like this or thought about it or want to or know someone who has…. write us. Share. We can all master this with the help of each other.

To Entrepreneur, Consider What Processes You Are Really Good At?

Seth Godin, marketer extroidinaire and internet guru makes the case that, when trying to figure out the direction you need to go in your work life, you need to look at two things: content/domain knowledge and process. He explains that “process refers to the emotional intelligence skills you have about managing projects, visualizing success, persuading other people of your point of view, dealing with multiple priorities etc.”

I have to admit, when I started entrepreneuring I had neither. My father died and I was suddenly thrust into managing ranchland, mineral rights, cattle, grazing, tough as leather cowhands, and swarms of immigrants crossing over and across our land which was like the Camino Real into the States, as old as the ancient Indian trails crisscrossing the Southwest. It was a bit disconcerting to a young woman who had just come back from the East, from Wellesley with its crew neck sweaters and circle pins, having graduated from Columbia, that egg-head paradise, a stone’s throw from the Broadway theaters, which I frequented regularly. Yet, here I was in the South Texas sun and red dust or mud, depending on the season, wearing boots for fear of rattlesnakes and carrying firearms for fear of all else, trying to run a busines But what’s a gal to do? I learned.

What I did have when I started was the fearlessness of someone trained since birth to be an entrepreneur and considering risk taking as natural as breathing. So even though I might have been put off by rattlesnakes, I assumed I could learn a business, any business, just as well as anyone else, because my father had convinced me I could. And I did.

But I have to agree with Seth. Perhaps the most important things I learned were high level things that I didn’t even realize at the time involved process, perhaps because my father didn’t call it that. What he had were certain maxims that I had to learn to decode. Statements like ” You have to be around money to make money.” Or, go into a lucrative market, not one that’s hanging on by its fingernails. Or, my favorite. At the age of 5 or so, my father would point to a building and ask “What’s that building worth?” The correct answer was, “As much as you can get for it.”

Those are the kind of processes that are invaluable and here’s Seth’s take on it from Seth’s Blog: What are you good at?.

“As you consider marketing yourself for your next gig, consider the difference between process and content.

Content is domain knowledge. People you know or skills you’ve developed. Playing the piano or writing copy about furniture sales. A rolodex of movers in a given industry, or your ability to compute stress ratios in your head.

Domain knowledge is important, but it’s (often) easily learnable.

Process, on the other hand, refers to the emotional intelligence skills you have about managing projects, visualizing success, persuading other people of your point of view, dealing with multiple priorities, etc. This stuff is insanely valuable and hard to learn. Unfortunately, it’s usually overlooked by headhunters and HR folks, partly because it’s hard to accredit or check off in a database.

Venture capitalists like hiring second or third time entrepreneurs because they understand process, not because they can do a spreadsheet.

As the world changes ever faster, as industries shrink and others grow, process ability is priceless. Figure out which sort of process you’re world-class at and get even better at it. Then, learn the domain… that’s what the internet is for.

One of the reasons that super-talented people become entrepreneurs is that they can put their process expertise to work in a world that often undervalues it.

Tweet Your Own Horn

If you’ve followed this blog at all, you know I’m a firm believer that self promotion is part of the game of business. The difference between business success and business failure often has more to do with effective self-promotion than with technical competence. If you want recognition, you must start promoting yourself.

So how do you promote yourself in a professional and sophisticated way?

One way is to deliver something of value. ( Your ideas and professional expertise, of course.) And one of the very best ways to do this today is using Twitter to tweet your own horn.

As Ron Miller points out: Your Business Needs to Pay Attention to Twitter

Over the past year or so, Twitter has become a full-blown communications phenomenon. For those of you who don’t follow every social networking trend. Twitter is a micro-blogging site where you enter your thoughts, whatever they may be, in 140 or characters or less. Experts say if you aren’t paying attention to Twitter, your business may be missing out on more than you think…

I’m a recent convert to using Twitter and am just trying now to set up a system myself to use it in a strategic way.

So let me turn to an expert, Michael Stelzner, and give you what I think is a stunning and very compelling example which Michael used in How to Use Twitter to Grow Your Business on practical ways to use Twitter. Trust when we say your tweets can capture the attention and interest of top level people in your field, so best to learn how to do it:

“The Twitter Plan

Cindy King, an international sales specialist, saw a huge boost in business inquires by implementing a strategic Twitter plan.

“Following the right people on Twitter was key. There are some people very gifted at building relationships on Twitter. As I followed these online community builders, I realized that some of them are also excellent direct response copywriters. They get their Twitter followers to take action,” said King.

“Light bulbs went off, and I spent a weekend putting together a tweet marketing plan and entered in 6 weeks worth of tweets, 5 a day, using TweetLater. I used a mindmap, created categories, varied times on tweets and used BUDurls so I could track results and improve my tweet plan the next time around. That was a month ago,” explained King.

When King finds a spare minute between projects, she logs into Twitter and watches what folks are talking about. When she Tweets, about 90 percent of the time she presents useful information and resources to her followers. The remaining tweets are surveys and questions. Following this strategy, King saw an 800 percent increase in inquiries about her business after she setup her Twitter campaign.”

And another example:

“Getting In Front of High Profile People

B2B copywriter Terri Rylander took a much different approach. At first she was very skeptical of Twitter. “I looked at it but couldn’t figure out why people would continually send out messages about the size of a text message, unless they were a teenager. Twitter was for sending updates they said. I don’t have time for updates, and besides, who would care?” said Rylander.

She later came across a peer in her industry that was using Twitter and suggested Rylander follow her on Twitter. “That’s when I discovered Twitter as a business tool. I’ve been in my particular niche for over 10 years and know who the players are (though they don’t know me). When I checked who she was following on Twitter, there they all were! It read like a “Who’s Who” list.”

Rylander joined Twitter and began following and interacting with the people she respected. “Other than a cold call on the phone or e-mail, I would never have the chance to get my name in front of vendors, industry analysts, and industry experts. I’ve had a number of Twitter conversations that have also led to personal conversations.”

To stay top of mind with experts, she offers interesting links, responds to tweets, and posts her thoughts for conversation at least a few times a day.”

Michael Stelzner also offers a number of very useful tools for your Twitter Toolkit, and I suggest you go to How to Use Twitter to Grow Your Business to collect them all. That’s what I’m going to do.

You can follow Michael here on Twitter . When I get my Twitter plan up to speed, I’m going to ask you to follow me on Twitter also, and I’ll follow you. Some of the Top Tweeters have 10,000 people following them. But they all started with just a few.

Wall Street Journal Trumpets Twitter

AW WebBiz & Social Media Blog

Mentoring, Tools & Strategy To Succeed

Tag Archives: marketing

12 “Green Biz” Trends for Eco-Entrepreneurs

12 Free Ebooks and Whitepapers To Help Build Your Website “Out Of The Box”

Hiring Tip #1 – It Starts Before the Interview

To Entrepreneur, Consider What Processes You Are Really Good At?

Tweet Your Own Horn

Additional Facebook Resources for Brands

Why blog for your personal brand?

DOWNLOAD: “Blogging Your Brand: A Complete Guide to Your Success!”

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