Social Media vs. Traditional Online Marketing – Where’s the Money?
If you think Facebook and Pinterest will generate a lot of sales for your e-commerce business, think again. For big sites, at least, social media only drives less than 1 percent of online purchases.
After analyzing 77,000 online purchases, that’s the salient conclusion from a Forrester study, “The Purchase Path of Online Buyers In 2012,” according to published reports.
The study is timely (See: Online Spending Continued its Fast Growth in 2012)
Forrester reports the best Web sources of new customers:
- Direct visits to Web sites
- Organic search
- Paid search
Best sources of existing customers:
- Direct site visits
- Organic search
This is not to say social media is a waste of time and money. Consumers generally like Facebook, Pinterest and other social media. But the sites are mainly used to learn about products and services – not for selling.
Forrester also found that about 50 percent of repeat customers and 33 percent of new customers make a buying decision after experiencing branding messages from multiple sources.
A company’s Web site typically accounts for 30 percent of e-commerce sales.
Thirty-nine percent of sales result from organic and paid search. Forrester explains that organic and paid search are helpful for marketers because such customers already know what they want to buy. This means the key to internet dominance is to think integration.
Nearly 33 percent of repeat business is generated by e-mail. So, it behooves a business to try to obtain customer e-mail addresses, and to use any customer information to target specific sales messages.
In my experience, this is why sophisticate marketers use integrated marketing automation (See: What Successful Marketers Know About Lead Generation)
Forrester believes social media drives more customers for small business. But small-business wasn’t included in the study. But keep in mind that Facebook is experiencing fewer users and a drop in consumer satisfaction.
So, while social media remains popular, traditional online marketing – search, e-mail, and Web sites – remain the most-effective complements to public relations, broadcasting, and other advertising mediums.
(Note: The Forrester report costs $499. I’m including the link for your convenience, but The Biz Coach does not receive any payment for the referral.)
From the Coach’s Corner, here are related articles:
- Tips, Plus Why it’s Never Too Early to Plan for Q4 E-commerce
- How Small Businesses Can Capitalize on Cyber Strategies for Profit
“E-commerce businesses, even e-commerce specialists, have yet to realize that the WWW is first and foremost an emotional experience. Few websites reflect this important priority.”
-Grant Fairley
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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.
Facebook – Fewer Users, Drop in Consumer Satisfaction and Share Price
Updated Sept. 13, 2012
Get out the black balloons for Facebook.
As a new public company, its stock made a bit of a comeback after announcing plans for more mobility to keep users happy. But its stock is still down from its initial public offering.
Facebook’s first quarterly loss wasn’t the reason for its share-price decline.
Its user-rate and consumer satisfaction ratings are dropping, according to two authoritative published reports.
One reason for Facebook’s decline appears to be the popularity of Google’s social network, Google+. (There are other reasons – this business-news portal has been critical of Facebook, but more on that later.)
The two reports show:
- Facebook may be the world’s largest social network, but its number of users dropped in the first half of 2012. About the time of a report (Facebook Falls as Use on Social Site Drops), by Capstone Investments, Facebook’s share price dropped nearly nine percent in two days.
- A report (Facebook down, Google+ up with customers) indicates Facebook’s consumer satisfaction score has dropped this year by eight percent. That’s from a survey of 70,000 consumers by the American Consumer Satisfaction Index and Foresee, an analytics company.
According to a Capstone analyst, Rory Maher, the report on Facebook’s user-decline shows two developments:
- The number of U.S. users declined 1.1 percent.
- Worldwide in Q2, the social network showed little growth or a decrease in 14 countries where it had at least a 50 percent market share.
“This could be an issue for Facebook growth since we estimate that outside of Southeast Asia and some countries in Latin America, most markets are approaching 50 percent penetration,” the report quoted Mr. Maher.
ForeSee says Facebook’s consumer-satisfaction decrease was ostensibly prompted by increasing privacy concerns and dissatisfaction with its Timeline feature.
“Facebook and Google+ are competing on two critical fronts: customer experience and market penetration,” said ForeSee’s President and CEO Larry Freed. “Google+ handily wins the former, and Facebook handily wins the latter, for now.”
The American Customer Satisfaction Index ranked Facebook with a 61 – among the lowest of 230 ranked companies. On the other hand, a news release said Google+ won a 78 score because of its mobile product and sans any advertising.
The average for all social media companies was a 69. Twitter held a 64 and LinkedIn followed at 63. These mediocre scores confirms a warning published in this Biz Coach column: Despite Hoopla over Social Media, Web Searchers Stay Longer.
Not to gloat, but Facebook’s demise is not a surprise – note these Biz Coach columns:
- Is Facebook Approaching the End of Its Product Life Cycle? Ostensibly, Yes.
- Aside from Privacy, Security Issues — Facebook is a Threat 2 Ways
Still, some companies can make money via social media, and it teaches businesses valuable lessons in understanding customers.
From the Coach’s Corner, for additional columns about Facebook, see:
Facebook Privacy: Advice for Job Seekers and Employers
8 Tips to Optimize Sales with Social Media, But Beware of a Red Flag
11 Tips to Make Money on Facebook
“Our head of social media is the customer.”
–McDonald’s
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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.
Understanding Customers: Social Media Teaches Another Lesson
Marketing is the understanding of your customer for the cost-effective process of selling the right product or service at the right time and at the right price.
Inexplicably, Verizon joins the list of big companies failing to understand how poor research and judgment would draw fire from their customers and social media.
You might recall the wireless company announced a controversial $2 fee on their customers for making one-time telephone or Web payments. It was to take effect on Jan. 15, 2012. Less than 24 hours after making the announcement, Verizon was forced to rescind the scheme.
Why?
Verizon was lacking in discernment, and the fee announcement instantaneously drew the wrath from thousands of jolted customers.
Social media was buzzing. More than 100,000 customers signed a Change.org petition demanding the company change course. A regulatory agency, the Federal Communications Commission, announced it would investigate the issue.
In turn, Verizon was startled into reality. It was a sharp reminder that Verizon misread the situation. To be fair, Verizon isn’t alone.
Just two months ago, Netflix backtracked on its decision to break up a division – morphing its DVD rental service into something called Qwikster. Poor sales caused the CEO to take a cut in his remuneration.
In November, Bank of America incurred the wrath of thousands of customers when it announced a $5 charge for using debit cards. Thousands of customers became credit union members.
What were they thinking? Why aren’t such companies aware of the implications of the Digital Age and the economy?
Apparently, executives need to spend some time in sales with customers. Companies need to think 1930s for business success. Consumer attitudes are changing.
Verizon, Bank of America and Netflx should have enough marketing sophistication to understand the economic elasticity of consumer attitudes and fees. To the businesses, they were only charging a little extra money. To their customers, it was a strong perception of greed and unfairness.
Add social media to the mix and the companies face a firestorm. Not only is it a waste of corporate time and money, such naiveté leads to a dilution of their brands and weakening of sales.
The Internet launched an era of consumer awareness. That was both good news and bad news for business. It gave Web users unprecedented power – power for them to research brands and prices – and power to share critical information with countless other users.
And given this economy, Internet users and all consumers are more concerned than ever about value. So it’s important for companies to use best practices to optimize their brands and manage their Web reputations.
It’s also a good time to review PR-crisis management tips, research their customers and make certain that they’re discerning correctly.
Again, the lesson: Marketing is the understanding of your customer for the cost-effective process of selling the right product or service at the right time and at the right price.
From the Coach’s Corner, before you’re tempted to make a possible catastrophic decision about fees or prices, consider eight simple strategies to give you pricing power.
“The only thing that’s worse than being blind, is having sight but no vision.”
-Helen Keller
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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.
E-mail Marketing Goes Better with Social Media, Study
A common sense conclusion from a marketing study, but it’s surprising when you consider the source. Small businesses are more successful in an e-mail marketing campaign if they combine it with social media, according to a 2011 study by e-mail marketing firm Constant Contact.
Constant Contact says companies using the two-pronged approach net a 14 percent increase in their e-mail list vis-à-vis 9 percent for just e-mail by itself.
Businesses that combined the two strategies experience 53 percent larger e-mail lists.
More importantly, the click-through rates are higher, says the company, which has 450,ooo customers.
“Small businesses are always asking us, ‘Email marketing or social media marketing? Which is the best use of my time and resources?’ In fact, it’s not either/or; it’s both. Use email to communicate with your current customers and social media to reach new customers,” said Rick Jensen, chief sales and marketing officer for Constant Contact.
“The average click-through rate for those using both email and social media marketing was 59.3 basis points higher than for those using email only,” he said.
When Mr. Jensen released the results of the study, he offered a guarantee.
“We’ve created a playbook to help our customers get started and be successful with email and social – fast. We already know our email marketing provides superior results, and we’re so confident that this combination will deliver even more success that we’re guaranteeing results,” he said.
The study’s results make sense. An integrated approach should make it easier to engage customers. While this column probably makes me appear as a cheerleader for Constant Contact, no worries, as I’ve never done business with the firm. The guarantee is intriguing.
On average, in my experience, buying decisions are made after the customer receives five positive messages. Social media helps a company branding. It sets the stage. It seems logical that an e-mail campaign would be more effective if complemented by social media – once the five message threshold is achieved.
From the Coach’s Corner, here’s more on digital-age marketing: The Key to Internet Dominance: Think Integration.
“Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.”
-Mark Twain
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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.
8 Tips to Optimize Sales with Social Media, But Beware of a Red Flag
Updated Nov. 16, 2012
It’s time-consuming, but there is data to illustrate why social media should be part of your marketing and human-resources recruiting mix.
For example, social networking continued to increase in popularity with consumers in the United States, according to the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project in 2011.
Pew reported 50 percent of all U.S. adults are social networking. So are 65 percent of adult Internet users – an increase of more than 100 percent since 2008. Daily, 43 percent of adults using the Internet are also on social networking sites.
The salient social networks: Google+, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Twitter. (The Biz Coach has the AddThis option for readers to share this and other articles – it provides 300 social media options.)
Social Networking Red Flag
So, social media has value. However, beware: Despite the hoopla over social media, Web searchers stay longer.
Social networking doesn’t necessarily lead to sales, according to another Pew study.
It shows three types of social media aficionados:
- Heavy users – 26 percent of time spent
- Medium users – 4.1 percent time spent
- Light users – .42 percent time spent
Surprisingly, heavy users don’t necessarily consume products. Statistically, Pew reports they’re not as likely to buy products and services on the Internet. Plus, they spend less when they do.
Average spending among the three categories:
- Heavy users – $126
- Medium users – $212
- Light users – $297
What you need to do is find the right use of social-mediums for your business, and start interacting.
Here are eight options to consider:
- Manage your online image and reputation
- Branding for repeat customers
- Respond to customer complaints
- Complement your press releases with blogs
- Crisis management
- Stage contests to attract Web traffic
- Publish thought-leadership commentaries
- Attract and recruit employees
Naturally, the latter – No.8, recruit employees – is especially viable on LinkedIn. Ask any headhunter who is concerned about competition from LinkedIn. Conversely, it’s a networking tool for jobhunters, too.
From the Coach’s Corner, related information:
- Social Media vs. Traditional Online Marketing – Where’s the Money?
- Understanding Customers: Social Media Teaches Another Lesson
- Is Facebook Approaching the End of Its Product Life Cycle? Ostensibly, Yes.
“Social networks aren’t about Web sites. They’re about experiences.”
– Mike DiLorenzo
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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.
The Key to Internet Dominance: Think Integration
Whether you’re a new or established business, it wasn’t that long ago that a strong Internet presence meant having a great Web site with a top ranking. Partially, that’s still true but the competitive marketplace continues to rapidly change daily, which means the No. 1 objective should be a vibrant, integrated presence.
In other words, what matters most is your total Web image – your Web site is an important secondary consideration.
Naturally, it’s important to develop online relationships with social media and other strong Web sites. They will enhance your Web image until it achieves a dominant position in your niche. So, an integrated approach works best.
That means think big picture to achieve a proper balance. Facebook has, of course, become a player. But it’s important to note there are Winners and Losers in Facebook’s Invasion of Google’s Turf, including a threat of cannibalizing your Web site’s presence on the search engines. Here’s a second analysis: Aside from Privacy, Security Issues — Facebook is a Threat 2 Ways. Harness the power of Facebook, but don’t let it make your Web site irrelevant. Use due diligence to capitalize on Facebook.
Besides, there’s another ramification if you allow Facebook to cannibalize your Internet reputation. Why? Facebook appears to be Approaching the End of Its Product Life Cycle. Fixing the problems caused by a faltering Facebook would be costly in time and money. Building a successful Web site consumes a lot of resources. Don’t let Facebook exacerbate your situation.
A Web site doesn’t have to be an expensive venture. With WordPress and other options, you can forget about HTML, which is challenging and time-consuming to learn. You can use a free WordPress template, www.blogger.com, or buy a complex WordPress template and customize it.
Another challenge: Cyber security. Be sure you take every security precaution. (This portal has more than a dozen columns quoting a nationally respected security expert, Dr. Stan Stahl.)
If you’re a blogger, the possible downside for not using HTML is that it will be a challenge for you to convince Google that you’re a news site. Stature as a news site, of course, means more prominence. But you can still be successful without HTML – if you lay the right foundation for success.
21 steps for integrated approach
Not to over-simplify, for an overall great Internet presence, here are the basics:
- Research options for your ideal branding.
- Decide on your slogan – three to five words that will pique the interest of your target audience.
- Develop a logo that tells your story.
- Create a favicon, which is a short description for “favorites icon.” A favicon is small, often 16×16 pixels, used as a logo for your Web site on the search engines. If it’s the same as your company’s logo, you’re really rocking. For example, just look at the URL in this search line on this Web page and you’ll see mine. Or look up any major company or site. All the big dogs – successful companies – have a favicon. It will help portray you as a unique firm.
- Install a good site map for the convenience of search engines and SEO (search engine optimization).
- Don’t under-estimate the power of the news media. Include a “Press Room” on your site for the convenience of journalists to read about your firm’s developments.
- Know and implement the right key words for you. If you’re a small firm, include your name and a brief Web description that isn’t too long to be inserted on the search engines when they mention your site.
- Develop your site – if possible, include a blog, and blog frequently.
- Consider inserting relevant videos — an increasing draw for traffic.
- Register your site with the search engines.
- Read the search engines’ Web developer tools. However, in the main, if you focus on quality and relevance you’ll do well on the search engines. Many people think you have to have use separate strategies for each search engine, but that’s not the case. Relevance and value are what matter most.
- Immediately establish a Google profile, and create profiles on the four salient social networks: LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter and Facebook.
- Miscellaneous tips – on LinkedIn join all relevant groups focusing on your target audience and your industry. Promote your work on the groups. For Facebook, decide if you want a personal or company fan presence. Grow your Twitter followers every week.
- If possible, include StumbleUpon (see Using StumbleUpon To Drive Traffic to Your Website.) There are more than 340 social media sites from which to choose, but you’ll only have time to utilize a handful of them.
- For your profile, make sure you use a good picture with strong resolution. Use the same picture in all your promotions. Consistency is a requirement to earn universal trust. Include all your profile basics.
- Develop and implement an editorial schedule for your blogs. Life happens. Keep it flexible in case the schedule has to be temporarily altered.
- For every salient event or blog, write an online press release and have it distributed on an authoritative press release service. Many will do it for free.
- Post your blogs on your social media, especially your LinkedIn groups.
- Install a sharing button, such as Add This, to every page. You can also insert separate buttons for your social media. Despite what the conventional wisdom indicates, you can also do the Facebook “like this routine,” but it isn’t crucial.
- Check the Google page rank of all sites linking to you, and you’ll need a lot of them. Google assigns page ranks from one to 10. However, remember your new Web site will have a zero page-rank, and you don’t want other zero-ranked sites linking to you. That goes for your online press-release company. Shoot for links with a page rank of 6 or higher because if you do things right you’ll quickly earn a page rank of one or two. Allow for some wiggle room for your site’s future ranking. (Check sites here.)
- Continue to innovate in all that you do.
The best way to innovate is to keep an open mind. The best way to keep an open mind to spot and capitalize on new opportunities is to practice the “Principle of Contrary Action.”
It’s a tip from a cherished mentor more than three decades ago. Keep track of everything you do and strive to do it differently each time. That includes taking different routes to work or even going to the grocery store. (It was a simple but effective strategy from Dr. Len Brode, who has had many accomplishments as a scientist and as a great human being.
He also was a proponent of “how to keep your personal power,” long before I heard of Tony Robbins. He is married to Jade Brode, the author of Marry the Man of Your Dreams and No Is The Word.)
A Web site is important. But an integrated approach is the key to Internet dominance. Good luck in your venture.
From the Coach’s Corner, here are more research links:
- Checklist to Build Your Brand on a Budget
- Google Insights – 23 Key Questions about Your Web Site
- Study Provides Vital Lessons for Web Sites Seeking Profits
- Checklist: 19 Quick Marketing Tips for New Entrepreneurs
- Marketing Checklist to Measure Your Brand’s Personality
“A strong foundation increases the value of everything you do.”
-Aaron Wall
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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.
Despite Hoopla over Social Media, Web Searchers Stay Longer
If you want your Web site to dominate your competitors, you might want to consider that social media doesn’t enhance your odds as much as other strategies. What works best is an investment in content and search engine optimization (SEO).
Ironically, the hype about social media makes this seem like an improbable proposition.
However, a 2011 study shows you’re missing opportunities for growth if you’re too influenced by the social media buzz – investing more in social media than enhancing your Web site with frequent, strong relevant content backed by SEO strategies.
The study by Outbrain shows referrals from user-traffic deliver more results than social media. (The firm, www.outbrain.com, provides services for an impressive array of publishers including content and traffic information.)
Outbrain says users that directly visit your site and surf more of your pages constitute about 66 percent of your visitors’ data.
The firm’s study indicates social media enthusiasts will spend less time on your site – the bounce rate is higher – they visit one page and that’s it. On the other hand, surfers who visit your site based on their key word or phrase-search will visit more of your pages.
To quote from Outbrain’s study:
- While search still reigns supreme in terms of directing traffic to content pages (41% of external referrers), social is gaining share at 11%.
- Of the six content verticals examined, stories in the news, entertainment and lifestyle categories are the most likely to receive traffic from social sources.
- Traffic coming from social media sources has the highest tendency to bounce.
- Readers who go from one content site to another (i.e. USA Today to The Daily Beast) are most likely to be engaged in what they’re reading, presumably because they are already in content consumption mode.
- Facebook delivers a more diverse audience than Twitter.
My sense about the study: All traffic – social media enthusiasts and content searchers – is welcome. However, Outbrain is right. With all the hype about social media, if you have to choose between the two strategies, it might seem riskier to invest more in your content and search engine optimization. But your ROI will be stronger.
Candidly, that’s my experience, too, as business-performance consultant and publisher of this business portal. Content searchers tend to be more studious and will spend more time looking for content that interests them. The bounce rate for them is insignificant. That enhances your odds for more revenue – whether you’re marketing products or services or depend on display-advertising revenue.
It may seem riskier in the face of the social media hooplan, but focus on providing frequent, relevant content backed by SEO. The social media efforts should be secondary. If you have to make a choice, remember Web sites with current, strong relevant content earn more respect.
From the Coach’s Corner, if you want more tips, you might consider the myriad of business-coaching topics in Marketing/Sales.
“If you don’t make a mistake, you never know when you’re right.”
- Actor Robert Ryan (movie: House of Bamboo, 1955)
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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.
Social Media – 5 Quick Tips to Boost Your Christmas Sales
If you haven’t started to prepare, get busy
Yes, time’s drawing short if you want to switch strategies to make your cash registers ring. But there are at least five social-media ways to increase sales by the end of the holiday season, according to strategist/writer Sam Cannon. He offered his tips in E-Commerce Times.
What struck me was his wisdom in this comment:
“Just be sure your social media efforts offer something of benefit to the customer, and you’ll see the benefit to your brand image and bottom line.”
He cites 2009 data – social media triggered 27 percent of 2009’s shopping decisions.
It’s been growing every year since.
Mr. Cannon’s five tips:
Use Location-Based Apps – Foursquare and Deals. Adding location-based promotions is an effective way to drive in-store traffic and creates another touch point for consumer engagement.
Give the “Wish List” a Makeover - Finding that perfect gift for someone can be a challenge, and shoppers oftentimes will turn to gift cards as a last resort. As an alternative, consider a new twist on the “wish list” feature on most leading e-commerce sites. If your target audience is made up of music fans, launch a poster or album cover creator – something that will resonate with consumers and be seen as less of a chore to assemble.
The most important element here, however, is making the wish list easy to share across all social networking sites.
Create Custom Shopping Experiences Online - Some of the most effective retail marketing campaigns are those that create truly personal connections with consumers. After a consumer interacts with the promotion, give them the tools they need to easily share their experience with friends in their social networks so they can join the fun too.
Use Social Media Channels to Promote Time-Sensitive Deals - Retailers have been extremely successful using social media to broadcast time-sensitive deals as a way to reward their loyal customer base. Post-holiday, these deal feeds are a great way to clear out the inevitable stack of returned merchandise.
Be as Clear as Holiday Crystal - It goes without saying that retailers should try to make the holiday shopping experience as stress-free as possible. So when using social media channels to communicate with your customers, be sure to clearly articulate the value.
Be clear about what role each of your social community efforts is supposed to play — both internally and with your fans and followers. If it’s to answer gift questions, then do that only. If there is another effort to address availability of gifts, make sure your team understands that.
Anticipate that if you create the impression or expectation that your social environment can help with holiday shopping, then customer expectations for you to deliver on that promise will likely be higher than at almost any other time of the year.
My sense is that he’s right.
From the Coach’s Corner, here are related articles:
- 9 Tips to Evaluate Online Advertising Option
- Tips, Plus Why it’s Never Too Early to Plan for Q4 E-commerce
- Marketing Strategies to Cut Through the Clutter
Whether your Christmas sales are good or bad, both toughen you up for a slow January.
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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.
Winners and Losers in Facebook’s Invasion of Google’s Turf
Updated – Jan. 11, 2013
It was a big deal when comScore data indicated back in 2010 that cyber citizens spent more time on Facebook than the Google sites.
Cyber citizens spent an aggregate 41.1 million minutes on Facebook — 9.9 percent of their search-time. That beat the 39.8 million minutes, or 9.6 percent, on all of Google’s sites.
It was a major catalyst for Google to create Google+. It’s noteworthy because Google, of course, is the leading search engine and has Google News, Gmail and most-importantly, YouTube.
In my experience, Google+ is now a proven asset in marketing.
However, regarding Facebook, it would appear there are questions to consider:
- What should businesses do in marketing on Facebook?
- What precautions should businesses take to make certain their Web sites are not obliterated by Facebook?
To maximize the marketing investment, businesses should consider establishing a Facebook page.
But don’t count too heavily on Facebook or other social media for sales. Facebook and other social media only drive 1 percent of e-commerce sales. A study shows a strong presence on Google will be better to increase your odds for income.
But for a Facebook presence, Website Magazine’s Linc Wonham published some basic tips:
- Set goals for your Facebook page and monitor your progress
- Make your page interesting and informative, and update it as often as you can
- Promote your Facebook page on your business website and elsewhere; add a Find us on Facebook button wherever you can
- Reward your Facebook Fans with discounts and special promotions
- Create a Facebook user group that will be of interest/useful to your audience
- Join other Facebook user groups that pertain to your industry or niche
- Take advantage of Facebook’s tools; track your success with Facebook analytics
“Businesses can add a Facebook Place to their Facebook Page, or the two can be combined,” according to the Website writer. “The result of either option is getting your company’s address, map, phone number and other data in front of Facebook’s massive user network and giving them a way to share the information with friends.”
Mr. Wonham specifies the benefit: “The result of either option is getting your company’s address, map, phone number and other data in front of Facebook’s massive user network and giving them a way to share the information with friends.”
His tips for Facebook ads:
- Be as specific as possible with your keywords and demographic selections
- Use compelling images, titles and copy in your ads
- Make your ads as interactive and engaging as you can
- Frequently update and refresh the images and copy for better results
- Be vigilant about testing your ads and monitoring the results
- Bid high to get your ads approved faster by Facebook
- Start with CPC ads if you have a very small budget, otherwise CPM is the better bet
- Use Facebook Ads Manager, which can be downloaded and installed on Firefox
Warning: You might as well know that advertising professionals are increasingly criticizing Facebook for being obnoxious (see: Facebook Draws Fire for 6 ‘Stubbornly Childish’ Behaviors).
That’s not all. There are two additional dangers to Facebook marketing:
- Facebook tends to supersede the importance of your Web site in the minds of cyber citizens.
- The most successful companies achieving success on Facebook have done it by slashing prices and offering coupons.
For more on this angle, see this article: Aside from Privacy, Security Issues — Facebook is a Threat 2 Ways.
But always remember the best mediums to drive cyber citizens to your Facebook page and Web site — broadcast advertising and strong PR – the ultimate keys to your marketing mix.
To target credit-worthy or high net-worth customers, broadcast news and WSJ are especially your best bets.
So, harness the power of Facebook, but don’t let it make your Web site irrelevant. You want to dialogue with consumers on your own turf. Use these measures and you’ll be a winner in Facebook’s invasion of Google’s turf.
From the Coach’s Corner, consider reading: 11 Tips to Make Money on Facebook
“The Internet is the first thing that humanity has built that humanity doesn’t understand, the largest experiment in anarchy that we have ever had.”
-Eric Schmidt
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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.
Marketing to Women? Study Says More Love Social Media
April 11, 2010
In just three years, a major change has occurred in Internet usage – women under 40 love social media and most men in the same age group love it less, according to a study by the University of Southern California.
A published report, penned by Mike Sachoff at WebProNews, indicates the USC research reveals both genders value social media, but younger men are moving onto other interests.
Sixty-seven percent of females under 40 are as passionate about their social media as they are their offline friendships. This compares to 38 percent of males.
This represents a major swing in preferences since 2007. That’s when 69 percent of males and 35 percent of females were passionate about social media.
The research was conducted by Michael Gilbert. Mr. Gilbert’s a senior fellow at the school’s Annenberg Center for the Digital Future.
“Women have been a bit more cautious with new technologies but they generally catch up and often exceed men in their enthusiasm once they’ve had a chance to look around,” WebProNews quotes Mr. Gilbert. “Men tend to charge in to new technologies and the opportunities they enable.”
His research reveals 48 percent of women under 40 use online contacts to create offline friendships. That compares to 36 percent of the same age group of men. This about the same percentage of women in 2006 but reflects a switch in preferences in young men. In that year, 59 percent of males became in-person friendships after Internet introductions.
It is not surprising that both genders have acknowledged the importance of the Web for making connections.
However, it is surprising that men indicate their Web connections are not as important as in 2007, but now 84 percent of them say they contribute “to their Internet community” vis-à-vis only 69 percent for women.
“The survey also found women of all ages have a wider range of online community interests, putting more emphasis on social, spiritual and relationship aspects,” writes Mr. Sachoff. “Gilbert believes these deeper personal and social interests likely account for the increasing importance women place on their online communities.”
So, the obvious Biz Coach conclusion: Social media is an excellent option for marketing to younger women.
From the Coach’s Corner, WebProNews is a terrific source of information, such as “Social Media May Get Much More Convenient for Businesses.”