B2C (Business to Consumer), Business Blogging, Facebook

Facebook Marketing – Give your Customers More

I notice that many companies use Facebook regularly and are saying all the right things – “engaging” their customers with personable comments, providing them with information about what’s happening (“Come on in We’re Open”) – but this sort of marketing message doesn’t quite “cut it” anymore in today’s information overload/cluttered marketplace.

Here’s where they are missing out – they are treating Facebook as a standalone marketing communication channel.   They are treating this social media channel as marketing only and missing the bigger picture…

Sound familiar? then consider this:

Integrate and Link

You have the opportunity to integrate your social media channels into your business by providing a link back to your website (or better still, your Blog) to entice the reader to click through, visit your website and maybe even “share” that content with their friends.

Provide additional helpful information

Once your reader arrives at your website, you provide them with more… interesting and helpful content.

Engage your Customer and Sell

The result of this is extra traffic to your website, but even more than that, an interactive visit, thereby engaging your customer and adding value.  Ultimately this leads to trust and that potential customer is on track to become a true customer

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MARKETING MESSAGES and lost opportunities

Outlined below are some common Facebook posts, the consumer behaviour that can incur, leading to a lost opportunity to drive traffic to your OWN website, remembering that you do not “own” or control the Facebook platform (case in point AirNZ’s recent hiccups with a Facebook-only promotion) :… Read More

B2C (Business to Consumer), Facebook

Understanding Facebook’s Privacy Settings

There is a lot of talk around in the news and among groups of people about the privacy of your information online and in particular, concerns over Facebook Privacy.

The interesting thing is that very few people seem to know how to adjust the settings to ensure that your facebook profile and information you share on facebook is protected from the public eye.

What concerns me is that many of us, including teenagers, are on Facebook with profiles that are partially or fully open to public search.

It is a big topic, and over the time it has taken me to write this blog post, there has been even more in the News about Facebook Privacy, Facebook itself has put out some new help (see their Family Safety Centre) and other advice-articles have been written.

So here in this article I give you step-by-step instructions on adjusting yours and your family’s Facebook Settings to give maximum privacy.

Why is this important – many reasons, and probably different priorities for different people, but the 3 biggies are:… Read More

B2B (Business to Business), Facebook, LinkedIn, Resources, Social Media for Business, Twitter, YouTube

Researching your Competitors using Social Media

I have just read a very good article in the Social Media Examiner called How to Gain Competitive Insight with Social Media.

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This is a very interesting topic which not only highlights  a) how you can research your competitors online, beyond Google, but also, b)  gives some insight into what you can be doing online yourself, in order to be one step ahead of your competitors.

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The further advantage is that you can research what people in your industry are doing in other territories of the world – this can also give you a competitive edge for your local business ahead of others.  Great stuff !

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The article gives some good tips of researching competitors – have a read of the article to find out how to do the following indepth research.  There are also references and links to some good online tools you can use:… Read More

About Us, Business Blogging, Facebook, LinkedIn, Social Media for Business, Twitter, YouTube

Sky News Australia talks Social Media for Small Business

I have just watched a fantastic news clip from Sky News from last Friday (12th Nov), called Technology Behind Business where they interview a panel of Australian Social Media experts.

If you haven’t got 13 mins to watch the interview in full, I have summarised it below.  Some great content, especially how they summarise Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin from a business perspective.  Also, I enjoyed listening to hear the Aussie accent for a change  :)

Summary:

It starts off introducing the topic by saying that

SME’s (small to medium sized businesses) view Social Media as the “unknown” with more than 50% currently shying away from it …… Read More