A Retreat From Social Media

Remember the 1990s when "dot.com" startups were such a rage? And then the bubble burst?  I'm beginning to think something similar is taking place in social media marketing.

For the last several years I have observed with great interest enormous emphasis placed on social media marketing.  Everyone talks about it, but I don't see the great results.  In fact, quite a few of my small business peers are complaining that social media isn't much of a force for them.

The reasons are legion.  Rules are unpredictably changing, costs are always higher than expected, and "clicks", likes, and especially purchases are not anywhere near aspirations.  Add to that a highly fragmented marketplace and you have yourself a very unsatisfying "solution."

I think there will be a steady retreat from social media marketing to something more reasonable.  I think there is a place for this channel but it will be down the list a bit when all is said and done.  To echo the 1990s, a bubble is bursting and the casual adherents will find something new to try.

Bottom Line:  Marketing will in all probability be less successful than ever on social media.  It's time to think carefully about the channels you need to use to be most successful.  As always these will be aligned with your target customer.  Don't rule out more traditional channels if they are the gateway to your best prospects.  And as always, be leery of fads!

Social Media Overload

Not long ago I spoke with a business owner who was a little discouraged.  This individual had a desire to entirely redo the marketing plan after a contract period with a marketing agency which yielded little gains.

What I found quite surprising was that the marketing agency had recommended, essentially, was a 100% pure social media diet, and that that diet was high on misfits.  A business that was ideal for older women was having to fiddle around with a social media property that was weak on older consumers, and was nowhere near the one that was closest to the target.  And so on.

It is times like these when I wonder if businesses need to "detox" from social media!

Social media is fun.  It can be valuable for business---in fact, nothing is better at achieving deep engagement with customers.  It can in some cases be a vital component of marketing.  But it cannot be the only tool.  It cannot be used like Aladdin's Magic Lamp.

Traditional techniques have their place, too.  Advertising where it works.  Face to face engagement.  Expos.  "Door to door" and its equivalents.  A marketing plan must include the widest spectrum of meaningful choices; that is, channels appropriate to the target audience.

Someday social media may be the one and only answer.  The world of "Star Trek" or "The Jetsons", one supposes.  But I doubt it.  We've used a surprisingly narrow band of tools for several centuries now and there is a reason.

Bottom Line: Don't "toxify" with social media.  Get your message in the right place and spread it around wherever it is most likely to be noticed.  Let Social Media be a fun complement, not the whole package.

Is Digital Going Too Far?

It is becoming increasingly obvious that the hyper-digital Age is doing a number on interpersonal communication.  Look around you and see how many people are buried in mobile devices, oblivious of other human beings.  Not only that but we're increasingly prodded to take our relationships with others---including customers---to Digital Land in the form of social media.  I'm starting to wonder if we're going in the wrong direction.

Social Media offers a wealth of good outcomes.  We can engage with a wide range of people, reach people when they are not at our location, and connect with incredible networks.  At the same time, we're more easily able to lose ourselves in digital canyons and lose our souls to "digital heroin".

We're going to need to recapture the magic of our humanity to be successful in our businesses.  To whatever extent possible take advantage of opportunities to talk with people.  This can include networking groups, trade fairs, sidewalk sales, open houses, and -- when online -- videos (either recorded or live fed) where we are real human beings and not strings of text.  At the same time we're going to be better differentiated from our competition who are glued to their smart phones!

Bottom Line:  Are you becoming hyper-digitized and losing a chance to speak with customers?  Review how you interact with the wider world and explore ways to introduce your wonderful personality to other people.  Smile, talk, listen and be successful.

Got Tough Location?

We all know that there is a tough choice for small businesses choosing a physical location for their store or office:  optimize visibility? or optimize cost?  Like it or not, most owners end up with affordable but often invisible locations. And aggressive advertising promoting the location is usually beyond reach. So what to do?

Sometimes "second level" advertising works.  I know business owners who deploy sidewalk signs visible from roads, or well labeled vehicles in adjacent parking lots.  Much depends on circumstances, but again visibility is limited to observant, nearby persons.   But it's a start.

Handouts, flyers and other physical notices are good.  I have also seen some use "mailbox" notices (usually taped to the side of mailboxes) to great effect.  Consider how easily you can get these in the hands of your target market and what you can afford to print.  Remember that the paper must go to someone who is a target customer!  This might be a great summer job for a diligent teenager.

Social media can be a great helper.  Post news about specials, or special events at your location and politely ask your social media friends and followers to let others know, especially if there are incentives to visit (anything from sales to free food).  Customers who already love you will be happy to let others know about you.

Finally, look at a partnership with an adjacent but compatible business, or two.  By combining advertising resources it is easier to get the word out.  Again, focus on a special event of some kind to incentivize customers to visit both of you.

Bottom Line: a tough location is not an insurmountable obstacle.  There are low-cost tools and techniques that can help you overcome and build a loyal following.

Five Steps Small Businesses Can Take to Better Market Themselves

Yesterday I was asked if I could share five ideas of things businesses do wrong when marketing themselves.  That sounds so demotivating, so let's cast this as five steps a small business can take to step it up!  Same thing, perhaps, but a better tone.

#1.  Refocus on your target customer.  Too many businesses adopt a philosophy that they serve "everyone" or several different segments at the same time.  It's vital to decide what one, laser-focused segment is your true target and aim marketing messages to them.  If others buy, that's great, but they cannot be the place you spend time and money.  Let's face it: advertising of any kind is expensive and the highest return on every dollar spent will be the customers who are most likely to buy.

#2.  Take a good look at your messaging.   Do the messages you send when promoting, advertising and selling work together?  Can a customer make sense of what you offer?  Can someone clearly describe you, your products and services, and how you can help them?  Can they easily confuse you with a competitor?

#3.  Find that point of differentiation.  Most businesses operate in a highly competitive space where consumers find it difficult to understand how one provider differs from another.  Your messages are much sharper when you can find a way to stand out, positively, from other choices,  Don't make it about price.  Do you have a unique skill? use special raw materials? provide extra value?

#4. Engage with your customers.  Use tools like an email newsletter, blog, social media platform, and video to make your products and services so much more personal.  Create value added by sharing ideas and information, asking questions, and stirring up excitement with contests or special events.  People like to do business with people and every chance you have to engage boosts the chance someone else will refer business to you.

#5.  Be picky with social media.  There are (too) many social media platforms out there and I can absolutely guarantee that not all of them are appropriate for a given small business.  Too many small businesses spend huge amounts of time posting and interacting at too many sites.  How many do you currently use?  Weed out the non-performers and focus on the top three or four.

Bottom Line:  Every business can take its game up a notch.  Can you sharpen your focus, tighten your message, find ways to engage more actively, and stand out a little better?

Watch Your Social Media (Re-)Posts!

Social media is all the rage, especially for professionals such platforms as LinkedIn and Facebook.  Many small businesses I know have a page for their business on at least one of these two sites.  Some are even doing a very good job using that page to amplify their brand equity.

And some are doing less well.

A practice with which I am increasingly concerned is the "re-post" of content generated by someone else.  In LinkedIn I am seeing increases in both reposts of expert comment, and, what is more troublesome, "memes".  It seems like the walls I view are ever thicker with these dreadful memes that are intended to be motivational in some way but which merely pollute the page.  I don't imagine I am alone is saying I have "unfollowed" some pages simply because the memes and reposts have become unbearable.  Imagine what customers may think!

Customers want to see your original content much more often than anything else.  Your brand, your products and services, and your business are defined by what you say and think.  Muddying water with anything else can do harm to your brand at the end of the day.

Bottom Line:  is what you are posting truly yours?  are you strengthening your brand through your own ideas or hanging on to those of others?

Is Social Media Necessary?

A conversation I had Thursday has even more deeply intrigued me.  The other person asked me, in essence, whether he needs social media in his marketing plan.  He's flush with business, has excellent word of mouth and repeat business, and is a successful networker.  He was being pressured by "advisers" to get with the 21st Century and create social media properties.  He does want some presence on the internet that talks to his philosophy and ideas.

After listening to his story and needs, I recommended no social media but that he consider a blog.

The bigger question is: does everyone need a social media page of some kind?  After thinking about the matter, I say no.  But I think most should.

First, think about the target customer.  If they wouldn't naturally seek out a business in social media, the need is minimal.  Think about local businesses you'd be surprised to see on LinkedIn or Facebook:  For me, entities like convenience stores, banks, and self-store complexes just don't resonate as "likes".

Second, if the business owner cannot or will not engage with followers frequently or enthusiastically, social media might even backfire.  Social media depends mightily on constant engagement.

Third, if the business' existing market plan is performing well, there may be little or no need to make an adjustment to add social media.

Bottom line: not every channel is necessary for every business.  The decision must be made on the basis of the marketing fundamentals, not the herd instinct.

Keys to Good Engagement

At my last workshop I talked a little bit about tools that gave small business owners insights on how to compare customer engagement in the social media realm.  Since then I have been thinking about the customer engagement process as I talk with another client.  What are the "keys" to social media engagement?

Whether it be in Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest or others, the people willing to "follow" you want a good exchange for their time.  I think these suggestions can lock in that willingness.

1) Post often, rather than rarely.  Frequency signals that you are interested in establishing a vibrant community.  Rarity practically screams "only when I have the time."
2) Regularly post something of value:  a fact, a coupon deal, a funny story, you name it.  Be willing to share with others.  They might in turn share with their others and help promote your business.
3) Ask questions.  Invite followers to react to an idea, a challenge, or a thought point.  You don't need to have them solve one of your problems, but setting up a discussion helps connect people to you.
4) Use pictures.  Show off your business, products, employees, customers, whatever.  There is something about photographs that deeply attracts our attention.
5) Don't always talk shop.  But don't range too far off the reservation.  Post things that would make sense to people engaged with your work.  Have fun!
6) Check your facts, especially before sharing someone else's post.  Social media is thick with untruths, nonsense, and misinterpreted statements.  You don't want to have customers think you are a fool.
7) Be tasteful.  Avoid blue language, negativity, and above all post only what you'd be happy to share with your own grandmother.

If your page becomes a lively community of people connected to your business and your world, you will take a big step forward in becoming a customer engagement leader!  Start today!

Marketing Strategy with Facebook

Keeping up with the competition isn't easy if you are a small business owner.  There are only so many hours in the day and so many dollars available for market research.  Happily, in the Internet Era there are resources that can help get the job done.  Consider our friend Facebook, home of millions of people, organizations and interests.  This seemingly lightweight platform has features that can help a business keep one eyeball on competitors for no additional cost.

For starters, simply "liking" a competitor provides clues about market strategy, new products and services, and customer response (either by reading comments or counting "likes").  One can easily rank businesses by their total like counts and establish who are the "big dogs".  More directly there is a "Pages to Watch" feature accessed through the Overview section of "Insights" that shows the business' postings, top posts, and customer engagement.

Use "Interests" to generate an interest list that includes businesses you want to watch.  This is a way to keep eyes on things without letting the other side know you're doing it because you do not need to like the page to list it.

Log results of any metrics you track (such as number of page likes) to see how customer engagement may be changing over time.  And don't forget to compare to your own to ensure your work is driving a better response over time.

A Tale of Two Tubes

Yesterday I was privileged to participate in a panel evaluating marketing proposals at a local community college.  One of the students presented a proposal that, in part, utilized video to promote her nonprofit.  To my surprise, she suggested a six month television campaign to deliver her video.

Television is a tricky medium.  It has great strengths and greater weaknesses, especially for advertisers who are not, say, "loaded".  A modest number of spots can cost thousands of dollars, spots that are easily ignored, missed, or forgotten.  And with the proliferation of networks individual television channels are ever diluting the viewing audience.   It's a game that can only be played by an advertiser who is prepared to run a lengthy campaign to build up top of mind awareness.  

In contrast, a video can be delivered to Youtube very cheaply and distributed via social media.  A catchy campaign can attract attention and be shared by many people who care about the message.  For a nonprofit, and a small one at that, this is a vastly superior choice as a channel.

This is not (necessarily) a knock against television.  It is a suggestion that when employing video the business owner should look hard at their return and target audience.  For most of us, the "tube" that's traditional may not help us and at a steep cost at that.

More Thinking About SMM

I am seeing a lot of requests for help with SMM, the dreaded "Social Media Marketing".  As we have seen before, SMM is one of those trends that everyone believes they must do but is extremely confusing for a beginner.

SMM is not magic.  It's simply marketing by other channels.  And that means that all the usual rules apply when selecting a platform: which one best connects you to your target customer?  can you afford to update your page(s) regularly and compellingly?  do you understand how the platform works: what are its "rules of the road"?   One must not over-commit.  One well done page is better than three poorly built and populated.

I think the game is limited to a handful of real players.  Those are Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and (maybe) Google+.  They all have different personalities and have evolved to represent different collections of consumers.  Here's an excellent breakdown of the major platforms, as published by Leverage New Age Media in 2014.

Don't panic.  Think about your marketing and only then think about where social media fits in.  Evaluate each platform and stick to the one or two that best serve you, and keep them fresh.  SMM is manageable!

Cut the Social Media Clutter!

There is a good deal of conversation going on concerned with the degree to which small businesses ought to be using social media.  The short answer, one that almost everyone agrees, is "YES": small business should employ this tool.  The economy is ever-changing and our reliance on the Internet and its bevy of tools dictates that we try and keep up with the consumer.  

There are so many tools!  Cases are made for LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Pinterest, Living Social, Google+, and many others.  May I suggest some guidelines?

We don't have unlimited time.  It isn't realistic to engage in many tools.  One will lose effectiveness and gain little ground.  I would restrict activity to two or three social media platforms, period.  A good job with even one is better than a poorly maintained set of five.

Then it gets harder.  Where to focus?  The various tools serve differing markets and the "right" tool may vary for the business.  Talking with others who are in the same trade can help weed out those that don't fit.  I would pick either Facebook (better for Business-to-consumer) or LinkedIn (better for business-to-business) for certain just given their enormous enrollments.  Beyond that it is a question of what one sells and who is the target customer.

There is clarity.  Take careful stock and don't necessarily follow the herd!

Social Media: Meetups

The Internet has made possible so many new ways to do just about everything in life, and I am constantly amazed by innovations that improve life.  And business.  One of these innovations, I am convinced, is Meetup.  This social media tool, launched in 2002, is steadily gaining acceptance in the marketplace and boasts over 125,000 meetup groups in nearly 200 countries.  In my networking circles Meetup is regularly used for all kinds of purposes.

Is it a true marketing tool? Absolutely.  A small business owner can create a meetup group as a passive tool: perhaps a workshop or information session on a topic or purpose closely aligned to the business.  It is important to keep the hard sell to a minimum.  The meetup group can attract potential customers, demonstrate the business owner's expertise, and build a network.  Sales come from that.  Furthermore, by participating in other meetup groups, a business owner can gain visibility and interest as well.

Like all tools, Meetup can be abused.  But appropriate and thoughtful use can be a huge boon.