I’m teaching a class on “Social Media Marketing for Your Business” this Wednesday, July 1st, at Oakland Community College in Auburn Hill, MI. The class is free but you do have to register at www.tinyurl.com/july1st.
If you want to find out more about how to use tools like Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube & Facebook to increase your business this class is for you.
Recently I asked a group of about 25 business professionals if they knew what social media marketing was? The room got very quite and I got a lot of blank stares. Finally, one brave business owner raised his hand and said, “Facebook?”. At least he scratched the surface with his answer (maybe nicked the surface would be more accurate). No one else in the room had a clue. So if you don’t know what “Social Media Marketing” is and what it can do for your business here’s a brief overview.
What is it?
“Social Media Marketing (SMM) is a form of Internet marketing that creates interaction between a company and individuals through various social media networks.” Remember the word “interaction”. It’s a two way street unlike a TV spot or a banner ad. You’re communicating with your target audience and they’re communicating with you. You’re building relationships and, hopefully, trust. It’s much different than traditional marketing.
Where is it (here is a brief list of some of the social media networks)?:
Twitter / LinkedIn / YouTube / Flickr / Virb / Del.icio.us
StumbleUpon / Facebook / Digg / Reddit / Tumblr
Blogs & Forums are other great mediums for social media marketing.
How can Social Media Marketing help my business?
Here are a few of the big things that Social Media Marketing (SMM) can do for you: Increase your web traffic, build a broader customer reach, increase your reputation and create brand awareness. You can certainly accomplish all of these with other media but SMM can be a cost effective way of doing these things and doing them on a deeper level. Remember you’re building relationships, you’re not just blathering on about what you do with your fingers in your ears. You’re listening as well. And don’t forget, just like any other marketing initiative, you need to have a defined marketing objective you want to accomplish using Social Media Marketing.
How do I use Social Media Marketing?
Contribute something of value. You’re having a conversation between yourself and potential customers or people that can connect you to customers. So provide them with information that they would find valuable or interesting. This will help you become known as a subject matter expert - the “go to” person in your area of expertise. This won’t happen overnight but it’s worth the effort. People want to work with experts and when you’ve established yourself as one that increases your opportunities for new business.
Don’t be afraid to have a personality. You are interacting with people and the conversation goes two ways. So it’s ok to be funny (appropriately so) and to share a personal moment (not to personal). It’ll make you more likeable and approachable. Lets face it, people do business with people they like.
Connect with lots of people. Don’t just try to connect with people who you think could be a customer. You’d be amazed who you’ll get connected to through other people so connect!
Look for conversations to join. There are lots of forums out there on just about every subject. What you do is being discussed on the web so be a part of the conversation. People use forums to look for answers so why not be the answer guy or gal. You could be paving your way to your next big client.
Is that all I need to know about SMM?
There is a lot more to know but you will have to wait until I post part 2 of “Social Media Marketing - What’s that?”. Or you can contact us and we’ll help you develop a “Social Media Marketing Strategy”. In the mean time join some of the social media networks I mentioned above and start contributing, connecting and conversing. And have fun with it!
The economy is down and your sales are off. So to help, you cut back on your advertising budget. The problem is that your sales are still down. Henry Ford once said, “A man who stops advertising to save money is like a man who stops a clock to save time”. Chew on that thought for a moment. By cutting back on your ad budget to save money so often the opposite occurs. Now I know what you’re thinking, “Well you’re an ad guy so of course you’re going to say that!”. Just hear me out and you can always throw me under the bus afterwards.
A down economy offers some interesting opportunities that aren’t available in a thriving economy. Here are three: 1) People, companies and individuals, are taking a closer look at the products and services they use and are seeking better alternatives. This provides you an opportunity to be among the new brands they will consider. 2) Getting your message to break through all the other marketing noise your target audience is being hit with is a challenge for any company. In a down economy there is less noise to compete with making it easier for you message to be heard. 3) Ad rates for all types of media are lower because of weak ad sales allowing you to get more eyes and ears for less money.
So don’t put your ad budget on the shelf and hope for better days. Let the other guy sit on the sidelines and not be heard while you gain market share. Get your message out while the field is not crowded and people are looking for better options.
We’re in production on our 4th short film for one of our clients. We were up north shooting several outdoor scenes that included zip lines, high ropes courses and MASH tents. We’ll be shooting a Selfridge later this month. This film has a military theme but it’s more “Stripes” than “Saving Private Ryan”. People do get shot and scream in pain but it’s not what you think. Once the film is done we’ll post it in our portfolio so you can watch. In the mean time I’ve posted a couple of picture from the shoot below.
So why do I mention this short film project? Because it’s another tool your business can use to reach your target audience and stand out from the crowd. The reason we’re on our 4th film for our client, Oakland Christian School, is because it’s a tool that it working for them. It’s increasing enrollment and having parents of existing students respond to the school like never before. Increasing enrollment in a private school in this type of economy is no small feat.
So if you’re interested in another way to reach your clients in an unique and compelling way a short film my just be the answer. Call us and we’d be happy to discuss it with you.
Over the years we have found that many companies are overpaying on their media buys (TV, Radio, Billboards, Print Ads, Web Banners etc.). Often we find that these companies are buying their media themselves or they’re working with someone who is buying their media but they don’t have the buying leverage or experience to get them the best deal. We love helping companies save money on their media buys. It’s often a large part of their ad budget so saving here can really ad up. Here’s 4 of the things we do to help companies save 15% or more on their media buys:
1. Free Media Audit
Give us 3 months of your media bills (during your peak media buying months) and we’ll audit them for free. When we’re done we’ll show you what we would have paid for that same media schedule. Our media team buys tens of millions of dollars of media each year so we have tremendous buying power. Because of our buying power we can buy media at lower rates than most business can, saving you a substantial amount of money on your media buys.
2. No Waste
In addition to doing a free audit on your media bills we’ll also show you how we eliminate waste in your media buy, making your media buy more efficient. In other words we will show you how you can get more of the right people seeing your ads without having to spend any more money.
3. You Won’t Get Overcharged
Just because your media invoices say that the amount due is X doesn’t mean that is what you really owe. We manage your media budget making sure your spots aired when they were suppose to and got the ratings they were suppose to. We take credits when they don’t, make sure your “make goods” run and audit all your media bills each month for accuracy. This way you only pay what you are supposed to pay. Which many times is less than what your media invoice says.
4. Added Value (i.e. Free Stuff)
We negotiate “added value” into your media schedule. What’s added value? Things like extra spots at no charge, remotes (stations broadcasting their show from your location), billboards (short on-air mentions of about your company) and so on. “Added Value” gets you more exposure without paying more.
We filmed a video for one of our clients at the Lion’s practice facility. We had the opportunity to work with former Lion’s great Luther Ellis and created a hilarious short film called “The Game Plan”. This video is the third in a series of video’s we’ve been producing for Oakland Christian Schools, a private school, as part of a campaign to increase their enrollment. The video’s help differentiate them from other private schools and are used in the enrollment packages they give to perspective parents. They also play these video’s at parent enrollment meetings they have twice a year. The video’s have been a huge success and, so far, they have attributed to 40 new enrollments. You can watch “The Game Plan” video in its entirety in the Portfolio section of our website under “Short Films”.
