February 4, 2017

 

THEY GAVE YOU THE WRONG ADVICE

 

The idea you have can easily be copied by somebody else.  Some business owners the only way to start a business is to be the first one to ever sell a product/service.  Other business owners believe the first one to sell a particular way will be the only one to succeed.  Some business owners come to Online Marketing and everything they see appears to be new and unique.

 

Time and again, the “advice-givers” remind you that there is somebody else in the market who can do your “idea” faster, cheaper, and more, blah, blah, blah.  These “experts” will talk you out of your idea quickly and move on to tell you more and more about themselves.  Stop them in their tracks and get real.

 

Market Saturation is a real concept, but most often, the problem is Customer Service.  Market Competition is where the rubber meets the road.  Have you ever wondered why there are thousands of lawyers, but you can never get one on the phone when you need one?  Surprise, you get a secretary, clerk or phone service.  Ever wonder how there can be 4 corners and 4 gas stations, each with the same price for the same product?

 

You don’t have to be an economics professor to know that Customer Demand is directly related to Customer Service.  That Service is the single key to a successful business.  4 businesses can sell the same product within walking distance, yet customers will develop a loyalty so strong that you cannot pay them to change their buying habits.

 

Bigger, better, faster, cheaper might work for the big corporations, but loyalty is built on a day to day basis with the simple concept of giving the customer what they want, how they want it, along with a good feeling of doing business with your company.  If you are scared because somebody else is selling the same thing, think about how they are selling it and whether you can sell a better way, but concentrate on how you can get the customer to buy from you again and again—bringing their Friends with them.

 

Welcome to the modern Online Market.  Look around and see how many people are out there with the exact same idea that you have.  Look closely and admire how poorly their sales are, how desperately they are trying to increase sales, and how few people are responding positively to their message online.

 

Enter Social Media.  For the first time, you can get immediate feedback and measure that feedback in real numbers.  If you sell something the customer likes or if you sell it in a way the customer likes, they will click like, love, share, comment, and so on.  Their friends, or others who they are connected to, will see the clicks and momentum grows in your direction.

 

Free yourself from the limited commentary and join Social Media.   Develop accounts on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Linked-in, etc… Get an Action Plan.  PC HERE specializes in developing a Plan for your business.  Join PC HERE’s Social Media Project and join the real world of marketing your products/services. 

 

It’s okay to be the same.  Customers want to buy something familiar to them.  Customers like new things, but they like an idea of consistency.  Most Customers simply do not want to take a chance.  So once you have a customer, you can keep them coming to your corner of the Online Market.

 

So don’t get discouraged from taking that great idea you have for a business with the simple words “somebody else is doing it” or “somebody else can do it cheaper”.  True innovation is the hallmark of success.  Do it right.  Do it better. Give the Customer more by engaging them and nurturing a relationship.  Customers like that.

 

February 7, 2017

 

THEY USED TO CALL IT NETWORKING

 

The biggest misunderstanding about Social Media advertising is the idea “If I post it, they will see it”.  Nope, not even in the least.  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc… they all need one thing to work for your Marketing Plan—relationships.

 

Whether your customers, see those posts you spent so much time and money preparing, or more importantly, whether potential customers see the posts, depends upon a mathematical calculation called an “algorithm”.  In case you were sleeping in math class, the “algorithm” is a math term for calculating how important your post is to the end viewer.

 

This calculation is constantly tweaked and adjusted by the controllers of the Social Media platform (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram…).  In theory, this provides a maximum user experience, for the end user.  Factors that come into play surround the end users’ search history.  What they click on, what the spend time viewing, what they like, comment or share.

 

However, your post will never enter into consideration if you do not have a relationship with the end user.  If you are Friends, Followers, or linked through some other means, your post might get factored into the algorithm.  Even if you are friends, your posts may fall off the radar and be relegated to a backwater existence.  Oh, and if they don’t see it within 24 hours, forget it.

 

A way past these limitations includes the magic of money.  You can pay the Social Media platform a fee per post and the post moves into a different category.  At this point, geography can play a role.  The Social Media platform allows certain access based upon the payment you make.  Still, if you have NO relationship with the end viewer, you can be walled off from the potential payday.

 

Back to the idea of networking.  In Social Media, there is the concept of the “group”.  Businesses or organizations can band together by simply agreeing to have a relationship with each other.  You can like, follow, comment and share posts.  Simply put, you have to click to get clicks. 

 

This takes activity.  You have to watch the posts group members put up.  Then click like, share, thumbs up, or the other myriad of choices you have.  No cost, just a bit of time invested can bring returns.  You click on their posts, they click on your posts, and the algorithm brings your posts to the forefront.  PC HERE is experienced with managing multiple Social Media accounts.  Join their Social Media Project and watch your presence grow on Social Media.

 

The posts you create and pay for appear on the wall of end users.  A momentum is generated by clicks and views that develops the relationship your business needs.  Word of mouth is created.   Customers stay with the sellers they get used to.  Potential customers join a group and the cross-marketing keeps it all together.  Repeat business means regular income.  Try it.

 

February 13, 2017

 

YOUR EVENT WON’T SUCCEED, unless…

You Like, Comment & Share

 

The Event that you spend so much time preparing and anticipating CAN succeed with Marketing on Social Media.  Learn the steps to take to use Facebook and the other platforms for getting the word out about your event.  Be curious and find out what you have to do.

 

Most important is the most simple, “Like, Comment, Share”.  Ask yourself how much time you spend on Social Media.  Then ask yourself how many times you click on posts other than your own.  How many times do you click “like”?  Do you make comments on posts?  Do you “share” posts, other than jokes, cat pics and news stories?

 

Social Media is controlled by algorithms.  For this example, I will use FACEBOOK.  Those algorithms work in favor of “content that is interesting and relevant to the user”.  When users click on a post, when users like, comment or share, when users actually interact with posts, the algorithm kicks in and favors that post.  If you make a post on a “personal page”, you will see the results in which posts that you see.  If you make a post on a “business page”, INSIGHTS will point the way.  With INSIGHTS, you can track which posts perform, what kinds of posts perform, and who is increasing performance.

 

Ok, you see the numbers, what now?  Increasing the performance on your numbers means engagement with your audience.  This is going to take some time and there is the free way and the paid way.  For some reason, people prefer the free way.  Don’t be fooled, there is no substitute for actual work and the proper allocation of paid ads.  First of all, you need to engage your current Friends.  Second, you need to drive people to Like your Business Page. Third, you need to Like, Comment & Share the posts of your Friends and Likes.  Fourth, you need to consistently provide good content for your Friends and Likes.

If you ignore the posts of your Friends and Likes, your content will NOT REACH THEM.  Your posts will not appear on their walls.  They simply will NOT see the content that you want them to see.  Even if you buy ads, your content will not get onto the walls of the people who you target. You have to click, it’s just that simple.  You have to take the time and get others in your organization to take the time to click, click, click!

 

Social Media takes time to build a following.  SM takes time to generate the INSIGHTS numbers.  However, when you take the time, you will build the relationships and learn what content to post in order to generate the numbers to get the SM numbers you need.  SOCIAL MEDIA IS INTERACTIVE.  If you believe you are above your audience, it shows quickly and the results are dramatic.  You will lose the following when you stop clicking on their content.  You will build a following when you start accepting their content.

 

Start clicking, you will see the results………

 

February 26, 2017

 

YOU WON’T SUCCEED ON SOCIAL MEDIA, unless…

You Like, Comment & Share

 

You are losing Customers, Clients and SALES because you do NOT make the effort to engage them on Social Media.  When you fail to share content that they are interested in they will find somebody who does and you will lose them forever.

 

The first step in any relationship is to show interest in the other person.  If you spend all of your time trying to get somebody to “look at you”, you miss the key point—People want you to look at them.  They want you to care about them.

 

In the digital world of Social Media, the attention span of the viewer avoids content.  The sheer mass of content that is thrown at the viewer is overwhelming.  Think of the TV Commercial.  You don’t see 2 minute commercials.  In fact, 30 second commercials have taken over and the point can be lost in the first 5 seconds.  The only reason people like the one minute commercial is simply that they can detach from the screen to get food or take a bathroom break, unless there is a catchy tune, an attractive person, or a story line they don’t want to miss.

 

Certainly, you must post content that is interesting.  The careful time spent mining information from the potential viewer results in subject matter and presentation designed to capture and hold the attention span of the viewer long enough to get your point across.  However, with so much content coming at the viewer, they quickly skip anything that they can. 

 

Content is defined as “the Statement, Graphic, Picture and Video of the products/services that you are trying to sell.”  Get rid of the idea that the viewer will seek out your content.  They DON’T HAVE TIME.  In a fraction of a second, the viewer has passed by the content that does not interest them.  With a news cycle of less than 24 hours, the viewer will not even remember important issues, let alone the fancy content you spent a ton of dollars creating.

 

Social Media algorithms will cast your content to the wind.  You cannot even get content to appear on the Facebook Wall of your intended audience unless you can pass some basic interest requirements.  The MOST important one of these is whether you have shown interest in the viewer in the very recent past.

 

The viewer has Liked, Commented and Shared content.  You can see these Likes, Comments and Shares by looking at their profile.  This process is called ‘Data Mining”.  That means you have to actually GO to their Profile and look at the things they have liked, commented on, and shared.  UNLESS, you have spent time looking at the items they like, comment, and share that appear on your Wall.  Click on them, find out what they are, and LIKE them.  The process takes less time than you spend endlessly researching ways to get more customers at the endless number of webinars, articles, and videos you find online.

 

Start with the basics.  The easiest way to get in tune with the algorithm is to Like, Comment and Share similar content.  So when you post content that matches the interests of the viewer, the algorithm posts that content on their Facebook Wall.  If you see a Friend post something or like something, CLICK LIKE!  Share that content.  Make a small, positive comment.  The more often you do this, the more the algorithm links you to the Friend.  The more the algorithm posts your content on their Wall.

 

You cannot simply post content and expect that anybody will see it.  Check out your Insight numbers to confirm this.  So pay attention to people.  Show them that you care about them.  Find out what they want to see…..

 

Start clicking, you will see the results………