Marketing Tips and News

What is the state of Florida doing to stem the tide of cancellations from summer visitors due to concerns over the oil spill? Tourism officials and fans of the state are going social and using Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and other forms of social media to show that the Sunshine State is indeed beautiful, clean and open for business.

The thinking behind this effort goes like this:  “If you don’t believe all of us in the tourism industry, see for yourself!”

You can get involved in the effort, too. After all, isn’t that what social media is all about? Interacting, sharing, joining in the community.

Visit the Share A Little Sunshine Facebook page and upload your photo or video of what’s happening wherever you are in Florida today.

You may be noticing some subtle additions to our home page. In an effort to promote one of our growing specialties, we’re adding links so our visitors can join our e-newsletter list, visit our archives or link quickly to Constant Contact.

We’ve chosen Email Marketing by Constant Contact® and have been working with this industry-leading program for more than a year now. It’s an easy, effective, and highly affordable way to get your message out to your customers, clients or members.

We have created high-impact, professional-quality emails for ourselves and our clients. These have helped all of us to build strong connections with our audiences, leading to referrals, repeat business and loyalty. We offer our clients every conceivable level of assistance with their email marketing program. So far, our full-service approach, in which we design, write, edit and distribute your e-news while you tend to your core operations, has proven most popular. This plan includes maintaining your e-mail list and reporting on opens, click-throughs and other statistics.

Discover how the power of Email Marketing by Constant Contact can help you better connect with your customers, strengthen your relationships with them, and grow your organization.

Join Our Email List Email:

We’d like to be using social media to market our business, but we just don’t have time.

I hear this nearly every day. To me, it’s not about whether or not you have time to add one more item to your to-do list, it is about shifting your priorities. I’m sure when e-mail came along, there were business people who said “I don’t have time to check  e-mail, I have to keep answering this phone.”

Social media is here to stay and if you’re not using it, it’s like not answering the phone when your customers call.

However, utilizing social media by taking part not just in the dialogue, but listening to your customers and potential customers, does take time.  How much time? Surveys show that of those marketers using social media, more than half spend 6 hours or more a week.

So what’s the answer? You want to participate in social media. You need to be doing it. How about hiring an expert to do it for you.

I don’t prepare my taxes every year. I hire an expert accountant. Sure, I could do it myself. But why should I spend hours if not days trying to prepare my own business tax return when an accountant could do it better in less than half the time.

Same thing for my car. I have to keep my car in good working condition. I could probably tune it up myself, but why not hire a skilled mechanic.

While the number of companies outsourcing their social media marketing is currently around 20% that percentage is growing. That’s because you need more than time to take part in social media – you need expertise.

Otherwise you could be running on empty and missing out on important deductions.

The top social media tools used by marketers according to the 2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report are as follows:

Twitter 88%

Facebook 87%

Linked In 78%

Blogging 70%

Are you or your organization using any or all of these popular social media tools from a marketing perspective?  A survey of current marketers using social media shows that most plan to invest more time in blogging this year. In fact, small business owners and non profit organizations are much more enthusiastic about utilizing blogging in their marketing mix than large companies or corporations. Why?

While the report doesn’t answer this question, I have a few ideas. Most of us who have been blogging 3 years or more are very comfortable with all forms of social media. But we’ve come to appreciate the impact and reach of the growing blog community. In fact, more than half of the top ten daily online media destinations are social media, with blogs being the most prevalent. That means blogs are beginning to – if not replace traditional media – at least be a credible influencer of what people now consider news and credible sources for information.

By blogging, you take a greater part in informing consumers, clients and constituents about your business or organization. That’s social media time well spent.

Recycle, reuse, reduce.  Doing your part to protect the environment is easier than ever before: turning off the lights, turning off the tap, using a refillable water bottle.  There are many ways people are going green in their personal lives. But how can you make your marketing efforts green? Write Result has a few “great green” suggestions.

• Stop printing and mailing that newsletter! Use an e-newsletter instead and save paper, time and money.

• Don’t print and pass out fliers for your special events and promotions. Post your event information and special offers on your business or organization’s Facebook Fan Page or Twitter account. Reward your “followers” with special online-only offers.

• If you do have to print a brochure, annual report or shopping bag, talk to your local printer about using recycled paper, soy or vegetable based inks and reduce your paper footprint!

As a resident of this area since 1995, I’ve come to really appreciate all that Volusia County has to offer.

In working with non-profits, we’ve made a commitment to:

• Keep our overhead low so that we can provide high-quality services to budget-challenged organizations
• Leverage our experience and relationships with advertisers, printers and designers to get the best rates for our clients
• Only work with clients whose mission or product we believe in and support those organizations with our personal purchasing power and philanthropy

After all, isn’t that what living your passion is all about?

Have you thought about using social media to get leads and find potential customers? You should. Social media is the new word of mouth marketing and listening to it will help you find new audiences. The #8 conversation you should be listening for through your social media engagement is The Question/Inquiry.

If you provide health, medical and care services to help elderly adults stay in their home, listening to the questions people are asking about your industry can provide an opportunity to position yourself as an expert on the subject and help attract clients.

When people post a question using social media, they are doing so in the moment when they are looking for a solution. Listen, respond quickly, be a resource. The time you invest in this new form of word-of-mouth marketing is time well spent because you are speaking directly to someone who needs your services. It’s targeted, personal and impactful.

Social media is the new word of mouth marketing, an important component of any strategic marketing and communications plan. But if you think social media is all about “talking” and “posting” you’re wrong. It’s mostly about listening.   The #9 conversation you should be listening for through your social media engagement is The Problem.

If something isn't working properly, wouldn't you want to know?

More than ever before, consumers are using social media to find help with a problem. Consider this example, which is a post I placed on my Facebook page recently.

“Does anyone know how to change the privacy settings on Facebook so that I can pick and choose who can see certain information on my page? I’ve looked at Facebook’s FAQ and made what I think are the right changes to my profile, but Facebook won’t let me save the changes. I think there’s something wrong with Facebook’s settings. Help!”

Now if you are Facebook, and your system is encountering a problem that is preventing people from changing and saving their privacy settings, you’d want to know about that and fix it as soon as possible. Monitoring what people are saying about your organization, your industry, your service or product when they talk about a problem is one of your biggest opportunities to clarify information or correct misinformation. Don’t be afraid to help tackle a “problem” using the social media platform as it helps to manage the expectations of your audience.

A public complaint can be useful, even though it seems embarrassing.

Social media. It seems like that’s all anyone is talking about lately, and for good reason. Social media is the new word of mouth. We all know how important word of mouth or person-to-person marketing is to businesses and organizations. If you’re not using social media to engage your clients, customers, donors and constituents, it’s like not picking up the phone when they call.

At Write Result, we know which conversations you should be listening for through social media and how and when to engage your audience.  We’ll identify some of the top 10 conversations to listen for on our blog in the coming weeks. Let’s start with conversation #10 – The Complaint.

Complaining about a company, product or service was one of the most common initial experiences of social media.  But why should someone’s complaint on a blog post, a twitter feed or their Facebook page about your organization be looked at any differently than a complaint letter sent to your customer service center? The public nature of social media makes it different.

Receiving a complaint from a client or customer is not a new experience for businesses and organizations. But responding to a complaint in social media requires a much more immediate action.

The culture of social media is one that values transparency, immediacy and validation. While you may not be able to solve the problem right away, just letting the complainer know that you are listening and that you want to do something about it right away can make a significant difference.  You might be surprised at the positive reaction you will get just by letting people know that you’re listening, that you took the time to notice and reach out. Timeliness is key in social media. And timeliness is also one of the benefits of engaging your audiences through social media.

So don’t be afraid of complaints delivered through social media. Realize the opportunity you have to quickly and efficiently turn a negative into a positive and showcase your organization’s customer relations skills in a public way. This type of engagement will engender trust and loyalty, the ultimate return on investment!