Posts Tagged ‘social media’

This video about the domination of social media came over a year ago. It’s been refreshed with the latest stats and provides compelling evidence that Social Media is the dominant medium.

Forrester Research publishers of one of my favorite business books, Groundswell, released research that quantifies a new category of those active in social media. Dubbed conversationalists, these users are active and influential.

According to Forrester, Conversationalists are,

56% female, more than any other group in the ladder. While they’re among the youngest of the groups, 70% are still 30 and up.”

Recently I was a presenter with Shauna Heathman of Makenzie Image Consulting at the Columbia, SC National Association of Women Business Owners discussing personal branding whenone of the attendees asked others at the meeting, “Do you read blogs?” Her question stimulated discussion about of who reads and publishes blogs. Only a few did not regularly read and comment on blogs. However only 2 attendees maintain and write a blog. Earlier in the presentation the majority of the women recounted using their Facebook profiles to support their businesses’ marketing.  Forrester’s more scientific research confirms my “woman on the street” first-hand knowledge.

If you want to reach the customers (and I mean women) who make 85% of brand purchasing decisions, you need to be active in social media. Eight-six percent US women now have a profile on at least 1 social networking site a 48% increase. (Up from 58% in 2008.)

Women are conversationalists. Our brains are wired that way and data show how we have leveraged our innate ability into a powerful force.

In this very well written article from The Washington Post and PC World, small businesses are counseled to “set up a Twitter account, establish a Facebook page, and start talking.” Unlike some articles I’ve read, this one is on point with a good explanation of how to establish goals, listen to the conversation and gain results.

So far in 2009, 66 percent of marketers used social media in some form, according to the Association of National Advertisers. That’s up from just 20 percent in 2007.”

The article brings together the latest metrics and good case studies about how several businesses use social media. The article also mentions several of the best of class tools for using social media and tracking results.

This morning at my referral group, I presented an impromptu social media overview to members. A good number of members have personal facebook pages. Several had facebook business pages and three had twitter accounts.

There were some who are just learning about the conversational aspects of how to use social media and those who were already savvy. All were interested in the opportunity to increase their business using social media.

How can you use social media to grow your business? Here are some excellent ideas from David Hale on Examiner.com.

They are as varied as the businesses represented and all feature some great ideas for inspiration.

Establish a social media account if you don’t have one. Find others with similar interests, follow or friend them and read their tweets and posts to facebook. Add your own in response to theirs. Get a feeling for what interests them. When you are comfortable, you can begin to initiate conversation about subjects of interest to you. As you continue to find followers, you will gain followers. Then you can find opportunities that will allow for the right opening for inquiries about doing business together.

Just remember, the emphasis is on social, not media and you’ll be on the right track.

Photo credit: Flickr Creative Commons pthread

Forrester Research has released their forecast for advertising spending for the coming years. The projections show that digital and interactive ad spending will continue to increase and traditional advertising will decrease. As stated in AdAdge today by Josh Bernhoff

“The result is that digital, which will be about 12% of overall advertising spend in 2009, is likely to grow to about 21% in five years. Along the way overall advertising budgets won’t grow much.”

Coupled with the news that companies who interact heavily in the social media channels have a stronger financial performance, this means that digital must figure in your company’s communications plans.

“Companies that scored well in the study generally have dedicated teams, however small, active in the social media channels they utilize. The study found that the most successful teams evangelize social media across the entire organization to pull in a broad range of stakeholders. These companies view social media as an indispensable tool to help them achieve results, and their approach is conversational.”

It is no longer a question of are these valuable channels for communication but just how your company must be using them.

Photo credit: Flickr Creative Commons digital flower by A.Alhajey

While putting on make-up, I reflected on the Maybelline mascara tube in my hand, “this is a really good mascara. It has a smooth consistency and goes on in nice even coats.” Two years ago I purchased my first tube after reading about it in a woman’s publication while cycling at the gym. I, like most consumers, trust more what third parties say about products and services. People weight what we call earned media more highly than advertising.

In a report out studying how brand value is supported by earned media, we learn that certain product segments gain substantially from earned media. Particularly striking is the finding that product purchases that depend on research before purchase receive higher value from earned media.

“Findings from the study reveal that that industries that sell high involvement products – where a buyer invests time and effort in deciding what to buy – have much higher correlations between media prominence and brand value than industries selling low involvement products, which are more likely to be bought on impulse.”

As a small business owner, if you sell products that require consumer evaluation prior to purchase (appliances, HVAC systems, automobiles, wedding planning to name a few) you can advance your business over your competitors’ business by embracing a public relations plan that puts emphasis on gaining earned media. And by the way, that no longer is limited solely only print media, but also includes electronic media, the Internet and social media.

Electronic media have a half life that is probably equivalent to that of radioactive elements. Just ask those whose businesses have been dissed or dumped in cyberspace. OR ask their competitors whose products have been featured in editorial space. What shows up when you Google your company? Stories from bloggers in your area? Newspaper articles helping readers learn how to plan their wedding? Who is being quoted or cited as an expert? It it’s not your company, it’s probably your competitor. You can impact what consumers learn about your company and its products.

How did they get there? They budgeted, developed and implemented a strategically designed publicity/media relations plan. Many have the time to do it themselves, others use PR pros. Either way requires time and money. It should be part of your regular marketing expense plan.

Don’t wait until you have a negative situation to implement a media relations plan that involves developing relationships with key media voices for your audience.

Research which sources carry the most weight and develop relationships with the right people behind the blog or by-line. Share news and information that would be of interest to the audience for each media source. Learn what stories are in the works or forthcoming. Set your company apart or your CEO apart as the expert in their field.

Provide the information in the most usable way. Stay on top of consumer trends and social change. Think of what is important to the consumer and provide information from your company to key media contacts that helps solve a consumer’s problem or issue. That will gain earned media and increase the value of your brand.

Also, don’t overlook the power of positive WOM (word of mouth.) It’s always been one of the primary deciding factors in all product purchases. In a small market like ours, WOM is more critical than earned media for services (doctor, lawyer, Realtor, financial advisor.) We trust who our friends say we can trust.

WOM has gone cyber too with the prevalence of sites like Angie’s List and The Little Black Book. Wal-Mart and Target provide online product critiques from consumers. You can buy a bed and rate it. Buy a sofa and rate it.

Provide a vehicle for and include consumer comments in your website so your customers can share their candid reviews of products and services.

The most up to date sites are built using content management systems. Small businesses can use the power of WordPress to build sites. WordPress comes with all the tools to allow comments, ratings, subscriptions to comments that a small business needs.

Worried about negative reviews and comments? Show them and turn them around with proactive monitoring and interaction in the comments. Post what you did to turn the negative into a positive. Transparency wins.

And so does your business with the power of earned media and WOM. Budget for it. Plan for it. Do it.

A desperate prospective client called a couple of weeks ago begging us to write a news release about his recently opened company that he could post on PRWeb. He said a colleague claimed that PRWeb was solely responsible for the colleague’s company’s success. The prospect then related exactly what he wanted in the release. All well and good, but what the prospect wanted in the release was mostly the old rant, “We’re great, We’re great!” There was not much of substance that he wanted to offer for end user. These days news releases must contain information that is useful, needed and pertinent to the end user. This is confirmed by other practitioners.

In a survey released recently, 420 marketing and PR professionals were asked how they use online press releases. Their answers are in the charts here.

The number one audience for online releases according to this group is traditional media with bloggers and new media coming in second. We’d answer that for us, the number one audience for press releases are consumers (whether that is B2C or B2B).

We concur with the second group of findings. The number one goal for one’s online press release is increasing visibility and credibility with audiences. Announcing news is second. What a change this represents from the old days!

The final significant finding is that the criteria for measuring success of online releases demonstrates the level of sea change in the world of PR. The number one criterion for measuring success is that the news release is republished on websites and what might have been number one a few years ago, an article based on the news release is number three.

We did not agree to write the release for this prospect (for many reasons.) However, we do agree that online releases are a vital way to provide information to businesses’ propsective customers. Just remember that is is more important to provide useful information, not just “We’re great!”

A great new slide show has been created that shares the major points of what is social media. It’s written in a simple, direct way that really gets one’s attention and makes the point that the revolution in media is done…happened…over.

View the slide show and you can amaze your friends with your knowledge of social media!