Baby Boomers, Business and Facebook
About two years ago I found an article by Mary Smith with some ideas on how to use Facebook to reach Baby Boomers. At the time, I wasn’t sure I agreed with her, that Facebook had the potential to be more than a social networking website, geared primarily for college – early twenty market. She argued, it could also be used as part of a small business marketing toolkit.
Today, I know she was right. Her advice is as relevant, if not more so today than it was two years ago. She recommended:
- In addition to creating your profile you should create a page for your business. ( These are now called Fan Pages)
- Start a group,
- Use the events feature and polls to gather information and gently market to your “friends”.
To her list I would add:
- Create special offers and coupons just for your fans
- Take photos at events, post and tag them with names of guests, so they show up on other pages on Facebook
- Connect your Twiiter and blog updates to your fan page.
Read the rest of the article …
Facebook: There is Strength and Risk in Numbers
In the early days of home video, there were two products, Sony Beta, and VHS. There was no comparison, the Sony product was significantly better, so why did it all but disappear? Because the masses couldn’t really tell the difference, and VHS was cheaper.
I was reminded of that case, as I read an article by Louis Gray. One of my favorite sources for new technology and applications, he made a compelling case for Facebook as the Social Media Hub for the average person. While he personally prefers other products, he is finding himself forced to Facebook. He says:
” I may prefer Google Buzz and FriendFeed and Twitter and SmugMug and all these other best-of-breed sites for their specific use cases, but thus far, I haven’t been able to convert the family to converge with me there.
Facebook is rapidly becoming the Web platform with external services feeding in, and it feeding out. It becomes the conduit, but also the destination.
What does this mean for the small business owner? Regardless of which platforms we prefer, we need to go where are customers are. And more and more, they are on Facebook. From fan pages, to event listings, and even targeted Facebook ads, this is quickly becoming a site, no marketer can ignor. But there are risks, as the folks at Fat Atom discovered when Facebook took down a client’s page.
The rules of social media marketing are being rewritten daily. For help making good choices, contact roundpeg today!
Some Things Change, and Some Things Don’t
I am working a presentation for a group of HVAC distributors in New Orleans in April. Having spent 11 years in the industry, I feel comfortable talking about how to apply what I know about marketing to their challenges.
But I have been away for a few years, and thought it would be helpful to see what others have been writing and discussing. What I found is that although it seems things are moving very quickly, much of what I am telling my small business clients today, others have been saving for quite awhile.
For example: In 2003 David Squires wrote n article for the ACH&R News about how to make your websites more efficient. Interestingly seven years later, we still see much of the same issues we saw then. Text heavy and product heavy sites which miss what is really important to the consumer; How well you solve the client’s problem?
Check out David’s list of 12 ways to improve your site and see if you agree with me, that while some things do change, others remain, very much the same!
Roundpeg On-Line Education for Small Business Owners
Most small business owners will admit they have a lot to learn about business planning, marketing, web design, social media, pr and networking. However, with the day in, day out challenges of running a business, there isn’t really time to take off for a seminar. And when you do, there is always so much information to digest and act upon.
I know this is true, because I run a small business.
So I have developed a series of FREE on-line courses on Marketing, Business Planning, Web design, and PR/Social Media Each program includes emails, blog posts, worksheets and the occasional podcast or video.
Stretch Your Blog with Podcasts
I have been recording and distributing my podcast for several months and really enjoy the variety it adds to my blog. I can invite all sorts of interesting people to share their thoughts, ideas, and perspectives with my readers. And, I get a chance to create content, without a lot of writing.
While More Than A Few Words is not the most popular Podcast on iTunes, it is allowing me to share my perspectives in a different way, with a different audience.
Podcasting is easy. It doesn’t require a lot of expensive equipment or a lot of time. I was really surprised at how quickly I learned to use Audacity to edit my podcasts.
I won’t be moving to a completely audio format. My written posts still attract the majority of my traffic, but look for more podcasts in the coming weeks as I introduce the team at Roundpeg.
One Theme or Many?
About three weeks ago I wrote a post entitled Small Business Marketing, Small Business Marketing, Small Business Marketing. In it I compared different strategies of driving traffic to your web site.
One strategy is to stay focused on a specific theme. I decided to give this concept a try. So from Feb. 7 – Feb 23 (With the exception of a special post on Valentines Day) I wrote about business planning every day.
The results are mostly positive.
- I have a great library of content to share with clients and prospects.
- I saw an improvement on my placement on searches for key words such as ”small business planning Indianapolis” and “business plan Indianapolis”
- Lots of cross traffic between related posts, so this improved my time on site statistics
- Increase in registrations for my Business Plan eCourse and my Business Plan Seminar
The one downside? My overall traffic numbers were down slightly. What this seems to indicate is one of several things
- Maybe I picked the wrong topic to use as my central core. Perhaps there isn’t as large a population among my readers who are interested in business planning as I hoped. However, the cross traffic does indicate there is a solid niche so planning needs to stay as part of the mix. To test the topic theory, I may try another string of related posts, on a different topic.
- My readers like diversity. So if I want to continue to expand my readership, perhaps I need to continue to diversify my offerings to appeal to a wider range of interests among small business owners.
- Maybe, my readers missed the different voices of my team. Since each of the team; Jay, Michelle, Allison and Taylor each have a different perspective and following, bringing back more of their ideas may drive our numbers more than a single key word. And while I am at it, I may look for a few more guest posts as well.
So look for a few more experiments over the next few weeks and give me some feedback on what you think will get more readers engaged.
Check out Kyle Lacy on Inside Indiana Business
Looking for insights on how to use Twitter for Busiuness? Start by checking out this interview with Kyle Lacy on Inside Indiana Business.
As I listened to the interview, I don’t think Gerry is quite sure how or why to use twitter. I hope Kyle left him a copy of the book!
Small Business Marketing, Small Business Marketing, Small Business Marketing
Or How to Help Search Engines Find You without Boring Your Readers!
As a writer and person, I have many interests. However, as a blogger, wishing to cultivate an audience, I need to narrow those interests and focus on a few topics to help search engines and readers find me.
So, I write about small business marketing and business planning. But some times I get tired of the same thing. I feel as if I have written it before ( and sometimes when I update a theme, I have!) This creates a challenge because I want to keep the content fresh and interesting, but consistent.
I have studied a number of bloggers to see how they find the balance. And some do it better then others. One of the best is Louis Grey. Primarily tech focused, he gives us an inside view of what is going on in Silicon Valley, human explainations of new technology ( instead of GEEK SPEAK) and the occasoinal look inside his personal life, and the challenges of raising twins. His recent topics have included :
- Hard But Smart Decisions: Blogger Tackles The .5% Problem
- EdgeTheory Conversations: Twitter’s New Suggestions
- Apple & Google are Primary Enemies? At What Cost?
In contrast, local Social Media Expert, Kyle Lacy has moved in a different direction. A year ago, his blog covered a wide range of topics. Today, as his business has become more and more focused on Social Media exclusively, so have have his posts.
- Social Media from a Generation Y Perspective
- Empower Your Employees to Win with Social Media
- Marketing Through Social Media is Not Easy. Plan Accordingly
While I miss some of his customer service rants, and general musings, when I am looking for social media content, he is my first stop. And his strategy is helping him win search. Just type “social media Indianapolis” into your search bar and see who tops the list!
Some writers have found the balance by creating multiple blogs. ( I have no idea how they get anything else done). For me, the balance seems to be, writing primarily about small business marketing, but allowing myself, from time to time, to ramble off in different directions and hope my readers enjoy the detour.
Foursquare is Four Times as Much Fun as Twitter for Small Business Owners
It seems like there is always something new to keep up with. A new application, new tool, new toy or new website. If I took time to check out all of them, I wouldn’t get anything done.
But everynow and then, one new application seems to emerge as a winner. Recently, FourSquare has emerged as a winner for me. What is FourSquare? It is a mobile application, which allows you to tell others where you are.
It integrates seamlessly to Twitter, and the iPhone application is easy to use. While that is all cool, the question is, why would anyone care where you are? The simple answer? It is easy to find your friends, promote cool locations and events, and now Kyle Lacy tells me it can be a good business tool and interesting part of your social media and overall internet marketing strategy as well.
While I think the badges and “mayor” status are silly, I do like being able to promote my favorite resturants, coffee shops and art exhibits. And for some of the small business owners who are our clients we are starting to explore how they might use Foursquare to expand their connections to clients. It has great possiblities for any retail location and I think it will become a core element of the marketing strategy of many small business.
So if you want to know where I am, you can follow me on Twitter, or check in on my at Foursquare, until the next new toy comes along, that I think will be five times as much fun as twitter!
Develop Good Habits!
Good habits take practice and repetition. If you want to develop good eating, exercise or study habits, you have to work at it. The same is true for your blog and the rest of your social media habit. As, ProBlogger Darren Rowse explains, it requires a system. He outlines five steps to improving your blog.
- Don’t bite off more than you can chew
- Regularity is more important than High Frequency
- Under Promise and Over Deliver
- Build a Schedule
- Have Someone (or Something) Manage You
While all of these are important, I think number 3 tops my list. This applies to more than just your blog. The same is true for email. Don’t promise a weekly or monthly email, and then fail to deliver .
To be sure I always have new content, I always write more than one post at a sitting. I like to have at least a half dozen stacked up and ready to use. If I hit a dry spell, or I am just really busy, I still have something new to share with my readers.
