Okay, I have finished my resume site, so this blog is moving! I’ll still be posting every week, so please come and visit. The new home of my blog is at rsj8000.com/myblog
I thank anyone and everyone who has read or contributed to this blog, and I look forward to seeing you at the new site!
Your pal,
Ryan Johnson
Hey Gang! I want to share an article with you by David Cohen titled “Report: Facebook Pages More Effective Than Websites“. Normally, I prefer to paraphrase articles and put in my own two cents, but Cohen’s article is so succinct that I have decided to reprint it in it’s entirety. Here it goes:
Who needs a website when you can have a Facebook page? A recent survey by market-research firm Lab42found that 50 percent of the 1,000 social media users who were polled believe Facebook pages are more useful than brands’ websites, and 82 percent feel that pages are good places to interact with brands.
However, brands must be judicious about their posts, as 48 percent of respondents have unliked pages that post too often.
Other findings from Lab42include:
- The top three ways people interact with pages on Facebook were: To print or redeem coupons or discounts; to like posts or comments; and to learn about new products.
- Besides posting too frequently, other reasons cited for unliking brands were: stopped liking the brand, and bad customer experiences.
- It’s no secret that people like saving money, but 77 percent have done so as a result of liking brands on Facebook; 66 percent have saved $20 or more in the past 12 months; and 17 percent have saved more than $100.
- 35 percent of respondents felt that brands were more responsive to them on Facebook than elsewhere.
Lab42 CEO Gauri Sharma said:
A common social media goal for companies is to increase their number of Facebook likes. Our study sheds lights on the ever-present question increasingly considered by brands: What is a Facebook like worth? Companies have devoted significant time, money, and marketing resources in an attempt to answer this very question. Rather than guessing, we decided to go straight to the source and ask consumers about their Facebook liking habits and opinions.
Readers: Did any of the findings by Lab42 surprise you?
I think you would find this article in The New York Times to be rather interesting. If you are too lazy to click the link, the article, “Social Media Are Giving a Voice to Taste Buds” notes how Frito-Lay is using Facebook to test new flavor ideas in lieu of costly focus groups. Frito-Lay has developed an “I’d Eat That” button that allows Frito-Lay to measure the popularity of various proposed flavors in different parts of the country.
This is an example of a company unlocking the true potential of social media. Think of how much it would cost to hold focus groups in California, New York, and Chicago to find out what flavors were popular in each region. And if a mega corporation like Frito-Lay (which can certainly afford focus groups) decides it is just as good to use Facebook, think about what good news this is for your business!
The article, written by Stephanie Clifford, notes, “While consumers may think of social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare as places to post musings and interact with friends, companies like Wal-Mart and Samuel Adams are turning them into extensions of market research departments. And companies are just beginning to figure out how to use the enormous amount of information available.”
Another great piece from the article:
“When Wal-Mart wanted to know whether to stock lollipop-shaped cake makers in its stores, it studied Twitter chatter. Estée Lauder’s MAC Cosmetics brand asked social media users to vote on which discontinued shades to bring back. The stuffed-animal brand Squishable solicited Facebook feedback before settling on the final version of a new toy. And Samuel Adams asked users to vote on yeast, hops, color and other qualities to create a crowdsourced beer, an American red ale called B’Austin Ale that got rave reviews.”
While your competitors are still toiling away at the old rules of marketing, you can use social media to engage your fans and conduct market research at the same time. Use this opportunity to brainstorm ways you can combine research and fun for your fans.
Think about it this way – you spend money on focus groups to tell you what your fans like. Why not just go directly to fans? The will feel like they have a stake in your company – this builds affinity and allows you the opportunity to connect with fans on a more meaningful level.
When fans buy the new flavor of chip that they voted for, they can say, “I helped make this possible.” Something to think about this weekend!
Until next time…
Infographics are a great way to liven up magazines, newsletters and websites. I was reading an article by Johna Revesencio, “4 Online Infographics Generators,” and I think she offers some great resources for creating info graphics.
I tried out two of them and would suggest you give them a whirl. The one pictured on the right was created with Infogram and shows some stats for this blog. Unfortunately, right now Infogram makes it very difficult to export your deign – I had to do a screencapture and re-purpose it in PhotoShop. Also, the choices for teh chart are pretty limited.
Piktochart takes a little more effort to use, but is a much more robust tool for creating charts with a variety of colors, charts and foreground and background items. As a bonus, you can download the images to use in whatever format you require. The image on the left is one I made with Piktochart – a little garish, but I wanted to test out all of the options!
Take a look at Revesencio’s article and look at some of her other suggested sites, and start making your own infographics today.
Until next time.
Hey gang! I have written previously about using contests to boost your social media attention.
In her new article, “4 Ways to Build a Winning Digital Contest“, Tessa Wegert offers some great tips on running online contests that get results. I am going to paraphrase her here, but please check out her article for an engaging read!
The article has some great tips, and I hope to hear from you when you decide to launch your own online contest! Until next time…
Optimize your Facebook content and engage your fans!
I was perusing my email and found that Click-Z has issued a new “Facebook Casebook”, which documents some ways large and small companies are using Facebook successfully in their marketing.
It is free of charge, you just have to sign up and have it emailed to you. I would highly recommend getting it. I am in no way endorsed by or affiliated with Click-Z, but I consider them to be a highly reliable source of news for social media and online marketing.
Some of the features:
Take a look, because it won’t cost you anything but time. What tactics have you used to optimize your Facebook marketing? Please let me know!
Until next time…
Figure 1 – check out all of the search terms people used that landed them on a tennis instructional video. Expand your keyword!
Heidi-ho friends!
I was reading this article by Chris Sietsema about optimizing your YouTube content. I think the author is mostly right on, but I’d like to augment his ideas with a few tips of my own. Remember, YouTube is searchable, and anything that is searchable can be optimized!
1) Make entertaining content. I think entertaining is the wrong word here; it conjures up painful images of corporate suits ordering the marketing department to create a “viral video.”
I think a better word to use is relevant. Make your videos relevant. Every business has knowledge to share. It’s just a question of when and how you share it.
A good example is this video about the odds of filling out a perfect NCAA bracket. This video was released just before the 2011 NCAA tournament and got the majority of it’s views around that time. Now, you may be thinking, “Hey, this video only has 5,000 views.” However what you are not noting is that this video will be relevant every March, anytime someone searches YouTube for “perfect NCAA bracket.”
Sietsema also cites the ingenious “Will It Blend?” video series, which manages to make product demonstration entertaining.
The “Will it Blend” series is a great example of entertaining YouTube marketing and it costs almost nothing to produce. The videos are brief, informative and entertaining. Plus, they provide tangible product benefits.
Find some bit of important knowledge that your business can add to YouTube and start to plan not only what you will release but also when would be the right time to put that content forward.
One more note – keep it brief. I would keep your video at three minutes or less if possible.
2) Find your keywords. This is absolutely essential in order to get your video noticed. Whenever you upload a video, you have the option of adding keywords. Think of any possible search term that someone interested in your video might use in the YouTube search box.
Take a look at the search terms people plugged in that brought them to this instructional/promotional video about tennis lessons (figure 1). The video profited from those searches by adding in keywords like Serena, Roddick and Sampras.
Additionally, Sietsema notes the importance of the YouTube Keyword Tool. This is a great, free resource that allows you to see the top search words that have led people to videos on that topic. You can also past in the URL of a video and see the search words that brought people to that video. Try it now – and then incorporate the phrases that have garnered the most searches into your keywords.
Don’t worry about making the most polished video in the world. Just make something that is interesting, brief (three minutes or less), authentic and – hopefully – entertaining.
I encourage you to check out the rest of Sietsema’s article, where he goes into detail about optimizing video on your website. More so, I encourage you to think about ways you can create optimize your YouTube presence for improved marketing.
Until next time…
Would Shakespeare be a playwright today or a blogger?
Sure, there are a ton of blogs out there. In fact, you’re reading one right now. That doesn’t mean you don’t have something important to say.
Blogging is a great way for a business to build value to customers.
Think about your business today and ways in which you could reach out through a blog. What kinds of tips and stories do you have to share?
No time to blog? It could be your most important business tool, and you can make it easy on yourself with these tips!
Don’t stop yourself before you start
There are some common walls that people put up to keep themselves from blogging. The following are a few of those common fears, and the answers are from Elizabeth Dunn’s HubSpot article, “How to Squash Anxiety and Kill Your Inner Blogging Critic.”
“You don’t have anything to say.”
Don’t worry, you have plenty to say. But waiting around for inspiration to strike is a notoriously ineffective strategy. The only thing that actually works is sitting your butt down in the chair and getting started. But you can make it easy on yourself. Create a list of topic ideas, and keep adding to it. Ask for topic ideas from everyone you can think of, inside and outside your company. Start with a post for each frequently asked question about your business. Check out your competitors’ blogs to find out what they write about.
To Do: Start a list of 5-10 potential blog post topics and circulate it by email to your coworkers and friends for suggestions. Imply that the best post ideas will be rewarded with ice cream. Lots of ice cream. Apply whipped cream as needed.
“You don’t have time to write — you’ve got a business to run.”
Nonsense. Hogwash. Poppycock. Bullnoodles. Blogging is business development.
Businesspeople make time to grow their business, or they go out of business. Writing a blog is a discipline like any other. But it doesn’t come naturally like magic — you have to form a habit. It’s just like going to the gym — you’re going to have to mark it on your calendar and keep these appointments as a sacred debt of honor.
To Do: Set aside a block of time each week to write for your business blog. Commit to publishing them on a set, consistent schedule. Refrain from making lame excuses (Hint: all excuses are lame excuses), as these have been proven to cause headaches, nausea, and unsightly blemishes. Nobody likes an unsightly blemish.
“You need hours of uninterrupted time to write a good post.”
If this sounds right to you, then you’re doing it wrong. Not every post needs to be a long, drawn-out manifesto. In fact, very, very few of them need to be long, drawn-out, and manifesto-ish. Goodness. Who wants to read a manifesto, anyway? Aim for around 600 pithy little words. Try to present just one clear, cogent nugget of thought in each post. Back it up with a little data, add an image, and you’re done.
To Do: Write one post that is about 600 words long. Print it out and stick it on the wall by your desk. Stare at it until you start seeing spots. Then write another.
“You’re a failure because nobody ever comments on your blog.”
Seriously? When was the last time you went to the bank and made a deposit of all of your recent blog comments? Paid your bills with a robust exchange of opinions? Thought so. Blog posts are there to help you (1) get found by the right visitors, and (2) convert those visitors into leads. That’s it. Instead of worrying about how many blog comments you’re getting, worry about how many of your blog visitors are clicking through your calls-to-action (CTAs) to your landing pages. Worry about why you don’t have a CTA at the bottom of each and every blog post. That’s what should be keeping you up at night, not some thinly veiled popularity contest.
To Do:Add a CTA to the bottom of each and every blog post. You did see that one coming, didn’t you?
“You’ll never be as good as [INSERT FAMOUS BLOGGER NAME].”
Well, you’ll never be somebody else, that’s for sure. You can only be you. But that’s as it should be. Don’t waste your time trying to emulate somebody else who’s already found blogging success. Find your own voice, and learn what kind of blogging works for you. Even better, find out what works for your audience. Find out what resonates with your most highly sought-after customers. That’s where the gold is.
To Do: Write a blog post. Now, before you publish it, read it out loud. Read it over the phone to your best friend. Read it out loud to your mother. Now rewrite it, using the voice you speak with. That’s your real writing voice.
One more personal note – don’t give up! You may start out with one reader a week. The only way for that to grow is for people to find out about you, and that means you need to keep putting out valuable information! Now, what can you blog about today?
This is a must read Hollywood Reporter article about homegrown pop phenomenon Austin Mahone.
Mahone has transformed his bedroom into a bank vault, selling 10 minute Skype chats to tween girls at $50 bucks a pop. That’s in addition to his concerts and merchandise.
He did it without an agent or record label, and he has built his career on solid principles of social media success – ones that can be duplicated for any business, not just pop singing.
I’ve never heard any on Mahone’s music, but I sure can appreciate his marketing smarts! There are a lot of college grads who could learn a thing or two about social media marketing from this high schooler.
Until next time…
I know I am a little late to the party, but I have just started getting into Instagram. For those of you who don’t know, Instagram is a mobile-only photo sharing site where your groups of friends can share photos that they take and then modify with the help of built-in filters and editing tools.
Instagram has been growing in popularity, and where people are paying attention, marketers are sure to follow.
I was searching for some good examples of Instagram-based marketing and found this article from HubSpot writer Allison Gale titled “The 10 Best Branded Companies on Instagram”.
Gale notes that marketers who succeed on Instagram have a clearly defined idea of their brand and audience, and that focus comes through in their photos. She notes:
The Boston Celtics organization sends out imitate and up-close photos of happenings during the season, including as games are happening. This photo was grabbed from the HubSpot article I cite in this post.
“When it comes to presenting your brand on social media, your reputation and brand image is only as strong and complete as your most recent update. If your content is off-brand, your image will come across as confused, incomplete, or just plain wrong. That’s not to say you should be dropping nothing but explicitly on-product tweets, but to say that your content, be it original or shared, should always carry within it some sort of a representation or affirmation of your brand’s identity in some way.”
Notables cited in the article include Starbucks – which goes for a very simple, coffee-centric vibe – and the Boston Celtics organization, which sends out imitate and up-close photos of happenings during the season, including as games are happening.
Check out the article and let me know some ways your company might make its mark on Instagram. Also, please check out this report on Instagram Best Practices from Likable Social Media.
Until next time…
Ryan Johnson's Online Adventure 