Leveraging The Power of Social and Search Together

In the old days… you know, a year ago… most companies viewed search engine marketing as one thing, and social media marketing as another.

But now the world has dramatically shifted. I’m talking tectonic, baby. A Google shift. When the king of search decides it’s time to change its algorithm based on your social involvement, I’d consider that big.

Google now places a much higher emphasis on social engagement when ranking web pages. I’ve been talking about social search for a long time now.

Hell, this graphic here on the left sits right on BIM’s home page.

So, why the big shift? Well, it’s simple really. Google is in the business of providing accurate results. For quite some time now, different shades of SEO (black hat, blue, green, beige, whatever), have cluttered the results by not-so-subtle manipulation. Way back when, you could garner a first page presence by stuffing keywords on a web page. Then, as Google made it tougher, SEO techniques evolved and advanced to stay a step ahead. As a result, you could often find page-one results that didn’t really belong.

But Google is wise. And so, they’re now essentially dictating that in order for you do be seen by people, you must first be loved by people. Well, not exactly… but Google will reward you if you have consistently evolving, uniquely engaging content that your followers respond to; and if you take the time to interact with your fellow social geeks and customers on various networks.

Except for Facebook that is.

Huh?

Well, it seems that Google can track your social presence on all but one of the big social networks. Facebook is not down with Google’s humble quest to rule the world. So FB decided to thumb their nose at Goliath. The anarchists among you probably applaud this, but I think it’s too bad. It would be nice if Google’s results included input from Facebook so we had the whole picture. But they don’t. Oh well.

Anywho… the lesson for you, the businessperson, is to get off your butt and engage and get social. Blog effectively. And tweet. And retweet. And create and post video. And solicit comments from your followers on your blog, on Youtube… and everywhere else. It’s important to engage, and be nice, and be genuinely interested in your customers and/or target audience. More important now that it’s ever been. And that’s a good thing. It forces us business folk to get down with the common peeps: our customers. What a great world it will be if the customers and business understood each other better and didn’t simply view each other as a means to an end. Well, that’s sort of what is happening with the evolution of social media, isn’t it? The gap between business and customer is being bridged.

To all those who view companies as ‘heartless corporations’, won’t it be refreshing to learn that the corporations actually are comprised of people just like them, who respond to their questions and seek out their opinions? And to the owners and managers out there who might view the buying public as fickle, just out for themselves in search of the next bargain, again, how refreshing it might be to learn that people are just people.

Thanks, Google. You’re saving the world. And you don’t even need Facebook’s help. That’s impressive.

 

Google, Yahoo, And Bing Collaborate To Improve Search

A la 2006, today, Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo collectively announced that they will be partnering to create schema.org, a resource for site owners and developers to learn about structured data and gain insight into how to improve their sites’ search results. The site adds more than 100 new forms of website markup for content ranging from movies to places in an effort to standardize, and thus improve, how websites are crawled and presented in search results. “The site aims to be a one stop resource for webmasters looking to add markup to their pages”, Google’s announcement reads.

Yahoo was first to break the news, drawing historical comparisons to the last time the three leading search companies put their heads together to create sitemaps standards. It’s a very interesting move, and will no doubt have website creators the world over paying attention to the new standards advocated by schema.org.

Schema has elements of Yahoo’s longtime Search Monkey project and Google’s rich snippets, which enable websites to improve their position in search results by giving them tools and guidance as to how to do so, and uses meta data to enhance the search results display.

In other words, the site will provide a collection of schemas, or HTML tags, webmasters can add to their pages to make it easy for search providers to recognize their sites, which rely on this markup to improve the display of search results, making it easier for people to find the right web pages — and for search engines to display them.

As Google pointed out, it’s a tricky and time-consuming process to add markup to webpages, especially if each search engine asks for data in different ways. How to fix this? Standardize the vocabulary. Which is exactly what they’ve done. And, hey, it might even work on other search engines. Whatever those are. Just kidding, Blekko.

For more, here’s Schema.org’s description of what they’re up to: “Many sites are generated from structured data, which is often stored in databases. When this data is formatted into HTML, it becomes very difficult to recover the original structured data. Many applications, especially search engines, can benefit greatly from direct access to this structured data. On-page markup enables search engines to understand the information on web pages and provide richer search results in order to make it easier for users to find relevant information on the web. Markup can also enable new tools and applications that make use of the structure.”

And for good measure, here’s Yahoo’s announcement, Google’s announcement, and last but not least, Bing’s.

 

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Barlowe Interactive thanks Techcrunch for reporting this news. Techcrunch, you rock!

 

Email Or Spam? Advice About “Cold Emailing”

The question: If I email a prospect prior to receiving their approval to do so, is that spam?

Short answer: yes. Long answer: yeeeeessssssssss.

But that doesn’t mean you should never reach out to those you don’t yet know. It’s easy to take the idealistic high road where we NEVER send unsolicited emails but hey, we’re talking real world here. Sometimes the only way to approach an attractive prospect is via the unsolicited ‘how-do-you-do’, be it a cold call or “cold email”.

So, let’s say you do email someone, offering some info about your product or service. If your target doesn’t respond, how do you know whether or not they actually read your email to begin with? If they didn’t see or open your email, then you’re not really being a pest if you mail again, are you?

With an email program like Aweber or Constant Contact, you can see whether a recipient opened the email or not. Of the unopened emails, you can click on that link and see which people didn’t open. And several major mail programs, like MailChimp, which offers a free service that provides most of the functionality you need.

Unsolicited emails are really touchy though–and often ignored. The way to go nowadays is to employ inbound marketing strategies to entice your overall target audience to “opt-in” to your emails. 
Post targeted content (blog posts, videos, articles, etc) across a host of social networks that will attract your specific audience. Then offer future content to them in return for their email address. You’ll then send to your growing email list a steady stream of helpful info, advice, commentary, etc, in addition to subtle info about your services. But only after they’ve voluntarily supplied you with their email address. That’s more of a general way to go about targeting clients… and in many ways it beats the hell out of “cold emailing”.

If you have a specific person or company in mind that you need to connect with, you might consider using an INMAIL on LinkedIn. They cost a little ($10 each) but if you have a high level target, you’re almost assured that they’ll open/read your email because they trust the structure of LinkedIn. Also, they can read all about you on LinkedIn prior to opening your email, hence, they might trust you more.

You can also invite the person to link with you on LinkedIn for free. If they accept, you can strike up a conversation about your services. Whether you link up with them, or pay to send them a message, it beats a regular cold call or cold email by a mile, as, again, it allows the prospect to check out your profile before they answer you. With LinkedIn and other social networks there are many other ways to connect with your target audienc. One of countless examples: on Twitter you can answer questions posed about your industry. Just RT the post and provide a short answer in your tweet.

But let’s stick with the subject.

If you feel you must send an unsolicited email… when sending one:

Always explain how you obtained their contact details, and more importantly, why you chose them to receive this message (this reinforces the relevance factor). If you bought the list, tell them so. By being honest, you also introduce a level of trust that will benefit you later on during the courting process.

Don’t use the opt-out approach for unsolicited emails (where your recipients have to unsubscribe to stop hearing from you). Remember, you haven’t received permission to talk with them at this point; you have asked, but they haven’t said yes. Not yet anyway.

Give your prospects an opportunity to engage with you, without commitment. Give them info about your service, without requiring them to give you personal details first. At each point of engagement, remind the prospect of the benefits they can expect by signing up to receive regular communication from you.

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Barlowe Interactive Is Cool.

You’re Not.

Find Out Why.

 

What If Facebook Came To Life? A Funny Video

Thanks to Mashable.com for a new look at Facebook:

http://mashable.com/2011/05/15/facebook-offline/

Barlowe Interactive Marketing Is Cool.

You’re Not.

Business Blogging. Social. Digital. Inbound. Google Marketing. All those kind of things. Yup, very cool.

 

Facebook. Lookin’ Like A Fool With Their Pants On The Ground

thanks to Emma Barnett for this…

It Seems Facebook was just caught trying to hire a PR firm to smear Google. Facebook admitted hiring a high-level PR company to spread anti-Google news. 

Facebook hired Burson-Marsteller, a PR company owned by WPP, Sir Martin Sorrell’s group, to place negative stories about Google in American press outlets.Since the admission, Burson Marsteller has terminated its contract with Facebook.

Executives from Burson-Marsteller approached a well known blogger who blogs about security, urging him to investigate Google’s privacy policy, and in exchange they would help him get the piece published on influential web sites with high readerships.

Burson-Marsteller even offered to help the blogger write the piece telling Soghoian: “The American people must be made aware of the now immediate intrusions into their deeply personal lives Google is cataloguing and broadcasting every minute of every day—without their permission.”

However, Soghoian refused, saying the company was making a mountain out of a molehill and then posted the emails online showing what the company had been trying to do. USA Today then ran with the piece and accused Burson of spreading a “whisper campaign” about Google for an unknown client.

Dan Lyons, a writer for The Daily Beast, found evidence to prove it was Facebook who hired Burson-Marsteller and Facebook later admitted to Lyons that it had done so.

And this all means? Nothing really. This will be here and gone in a flash, like a political scandal. Once the next big story comes on the front page, this one will be forgotten. And in reality, stuff like this happens all the time. Using politics again as an example, many of the stories we hear that smear one side or the other are based on baseless claims. 

Sure, it’s embarrassing for Facebook, but in the end this will amount to nothing more than a blip on the Facebook radar.

John Barlowe is the owner of Barlowe Interactive Marketing in NY, a Business Blogging, Social/SEO company.

 

Social Media: Everybody Talking, Nobody Listening

“You take the good, you take the bad” a wise old sitcom song writer once wrote. That particular fact of life is perfectly illustrated when we view the effect social media is having on us all. While it can be argued that social media is ‘amazing’, ‘stupendous’, and just outright ‘awesome man!’, it can also be argued that much of it amounts to little more than a mix of noise and ego.  It is, after all, just a clever new way to talk and share with one another. It’s the applications we use like Facebook, Twitter and thousands more, that have created a fair a amount of bad to go along with all the good.

In  Roger Kay’s “Enpoint Analysis” on Forbes.com today, Roger asserts that social media–both its usage and effect–can be quite trivial at times. True… but as a digital marketer, I don’t really care.

What we use it for at BIM, when marketing clients’ goods or services, is to make money for said clients. To keep their businesses growing, to keep the economy growing. Trivial? Banal? Who cares… just show me the money! Sorry, sometimes it just feels great to quote a crazed scientologist.

In speaking about social media, Roger uses the term “Everybody Talking, Nobody Listening”.

Great phrase. And, the exact reason that, when promoting a client’s business, we utilize social media mainly for SEO benefit. To get them to the top of the search engines–where they’ll be found by shoppers and potential clients. Where the money is. Social media has many benefits: branding, engagement, etc. but we try to focus on the aspect that is most practical, the making money part.

Over 90% of all purchasing decisions begin with an online search. We feel that it’s wise to put much of your digital marketing effort into ensuring that your product or service is represented on the first results page of Google and the other engines. It’s money and time well spent. The same can’t be always said for the other uses of social media.

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Barlowe Interactive Marketing is cool.
You’re not.
See Why We’re Better Than You.

 

Talking. The New, New Marketing Strategy!

The guy who power washes my house each Spring knows all he needs to know about business. And he’s not even on the Internet. I had no idea, so when I recently asked him if he has a Web site, his answer surprised me.

“Don’t even own a computer.” he said. 

“So, then there’s no Craigs List, no email marketing to keep in contact with clients? None of that? Why don’t you… or maybe you should… I strongly suggest that you consider the benefits… blah, blah, blah…” I pestered him.

“No sir, Mr. Barlowe.”

He actually just grunted a “no” at me, I was imagining the Mr. Barlowe part. Never the less! His old world mentality made me think. With so much effort put into devising great marketing campaigns, sometimes companies forget the simple act of talking to customers.

The powerwasher who doesn’t own a computer has a little book with names and phone numbers of past clients. About 300 or so, he says. Each winter he’ll begin calling a certain amount per day. ‘Hi this is Joe, it’s time for your annual powerwashing’, or something like that. The customer responds cheerfully, because Joe is actually a cheerful guy. They like him. They like hearing from him. They have other powerwashing companies vying for their business via flyers, internet ads, emails, Pennysaver ads, etc. But they all come back to Joe.

These same customers who return year after year may not respond to an email reminder about how it’s time to powerwash. They like the personality on the other end of the phone and they like him when he shows up. Many clients, according to Joe, actually chat with him while he sets up. Some invite him in for a drink (before he gets himself filthy, of course).

Are you taking the market-to-your-audience approach? Or are you communicating with them in an attempt to set you up in their eyes as a friend who know his/her stuff and can be relied upon?

Answer questions on Twitter. Ask questions on Facebook. Engage, as a famous Social Media Guru once told us.

Today, social media has us operating in the human realm. The relationship zone. Social media is about friends. And sharing. And being honest.

It’s about talking. Listening. Caring.

Are you doing any of that?

We are.

Good. I knew you were.

 

How Do I Get My Business On Groupon?

Thanks to AOL’s Geoff Williams for a great Groupon How-To:

In case you’re among those who haven’t heard of Groupon, here’s a quick primer. Groupon, a Chicago-based “deal of the day” website founded by Andrew Mason, is a combination of the words “group” and “coupon.” Every day, in cities around the world, the site sends out one coupon to subscribers in each market it serves. A coupon with a significant discount and a caveat attached — if enough people sign up and agree to use the coupon, the deal will go through. If there aren’t many takers, the deal falls through. After all, some businesses are only willing to slash 50 percent off their prices if they know they’ll make a profit through volume.

As it turns out, 98 percent of the time the deal does go through, and a lot of businesses have been boosting their bottom lines by using Groupon. The large uptick in income has been a draw, and Groupon has managed to help a lot of local businesses gain exposure to new consumers — beyond the one day they are featured.

Intrigued about becoming a part of this latest e-commerce phenomenon? Here are five things you need to know.

Make contact.

Obviously, to get on Groupon, you have to contact them — if they don’t contact you first. That part is easy. You can do it through the company’s website and fill out the contact form here. Or call them at 877-788-7858, ext. 2. And you can learn more about how Groupon works at GrouponWorks.com.

Manage expectations.

Just because you want to be featured on Groupon doesn’t mean you will. If you manufacture shoes or dog biscuits, and they’re sold in stores across the country, good for you — but Groupon can’t help you out. If you sell insurance or you’re a realtor, you may be a local business, but that isn’t what Groupon is about, either. If you’re a spa or a restaurant, now we’re talking, but even you may have a tough time getting featured right away. “Variety is very important to us,” Mason explains. “We don’t want to be a business that runs spa deal after spa deal, even though they sell very well. We’re not a spa site, we’re not a restaurant. We’re a city guide. We help people discover all kinds of places that they didn’t know existed in their own city.”

This is a partnership.

For every dollar a customer pays, Groupon takes a significant cut — around 50 percent. “We say ‘about half’ because it really does vary, depending upon the size of the market and how much we expect to sell,” says Julie Anne Mossler, consumer marketing manager at Groupon. “It can be slightly more or less than 50 percent.”

Of course, you might understandably think, “I’m slashing my prices to half, and then I’m giving half of those profits to this company. What’s in it for me?”A big part of the reason that many entrepreneurs find Groupon worthwhile is that sometimes people will bring in their coupons and then end up spending additional dollars. For instance, if your restaurant offers a deep discount, you may not make much on the meal, but you may profit off of drinks at the bar. Or, if you have a garden shop, people may take you up on the great deal and get a lot of plants for a pittance, and then feel rich enough that they buy more flowers, trees or shrubbery. And no matter what, you’re at least getting a description of your business in front of a ton of local potential customers, who may end up using your business down the road.

The check is in the mail — really.

The day you’re featured on Groupon, the money paid goes directly to Groupon. How do you get paid? They’ll cut you a check. “Three installments within 60 days,” Mossler says.Ryan Colarossi, co-owner of The Egg & I, a Dallas-based restaurant and part of a regional franchise, confirms that he received three payments when he did a “buy $10 worth of food, get $20 worth” deal. “The first was immediate, the second a month later, the third, two months later.”

Like a Boy Scout, be prepared.

Bloomberg recently suggested that Groupon may be a little too successful, noting that a coffee shop that expected to sell a few hundred discounted gift cards for in-store pickup was instead overwhelmed with more than 2,000 customers. So if you’re going to take on Groupon, prepare. On the other hand, as Mossler stresses, “Businesses can set a cap prior to their deal going live, to ensure the volume of customers is a number they can handle. Our reps also keep an eye on sales the day of the feature. We always call the business to check in and see how they’re handling the volume. Merchants can put a cap in place even after the deal goes live if it sells more than anticipated.”The Egg & I sold 400 Groupons in three hours. “The counter was moving so rapidly that I thought it was broken,” says Colarossi, who co-owns the restaurant with his mother, Rose.

Rose summarizes the Groupon advantage in two words: “Excellent exposure.”

Not the type of business that Groupon promotes? Visit Barlowe Interactive Marketing to learn more ways to bring in new customers to your business using Social Media.

 

Facebook’s Business/Fan Page Changes. March 11 Looming Large.

THE GOOD NEWS: Facebook made changes recently that will help your business page with visibility.

THE BAD NEWS: FB also set the official date that they’ll put an end to FBML, making the addition of a custom tab much more difficult for those of you who aren’t professional programmers.

After FBML rides off into the sunset, you won’t be able to add the Static FBML application to your pages.  FB will continue to support existing tabs, and you’ll be allowed to edit your old ones–but you won’t be able to add new ones! They are reverting to the use of iframes in canvas application pages which is great for developers but not great for you if you’re not a code geek.

Barlowe Interactive Marketing can help you if you need a Facebook business page. If you’re in need, please let us know and we’ll set you up asap.

WHAT CAN YOU DO NOW TO ENSURE YOU CAN KEEP USING FBML AFTER MARCH 11?

ANSWER: You can add the Static FBML to any pages you think you might want a custom tab on. Even if you are not implementing FBML there now, if you think you might want to in the future, you will need to make sure you add that app prior to March 11.

 

Beware The Google Doofus – 5 Mistakes That Nearly Killed A Business

A Real Life Google Doofus

I recently took over the administration of a client’s Google Adwords account that, for 3 years, had been managed by another consultant. I had never taken over an account from another Google Guy before, so I was curious to check out his style. Adwords, after all, is a mix of science and art.

The reason the account was handed to my company was poor performance. When I entered the account, within 10 seconds my jaw dropped. Another two minutes in, and my entire face, chest and spleen dropped. Was the person administrating this account just lazy? Maybe he was so happy with the money he had been paid, he went out on a drinking binge… for 3 years?

Or… and this is my guess, maybe he was a doofus. Actually, to be more precise: moron.

It’s unprofessional of me to refer to fellow Internet marketer that way but I see no alternative. To illustrate, here are a few of the ways in which the account was mismanaged:

1) BORING ADS
The ads he created were very dry, no appeal to emotion at all. That’ s not a major no-no, but the ads represent the point where a searcher must be grabbed and given a reason to click your ad over all the others. This was bad but certainly not a fatal mistake.

2) NO AD TESTING
There was no split testing of the ads. Within the many adgroups, there was one ad created for each, and each was left to run for 3 years. How would they ever know whether or not the ad was optimal if they had never compared its performance to others? The answer: they wouldn’t. And they didn’t. They just let the first ad run and hoped for the best, it seems.  Testing ads against other ads is a basic element of success in Adwords and this doofus didn’t even get that right.

3) A GEO-TARGETING MESS
The account was comprised of two campaigns. In the first campaign he had geo-targeted a 50 mile radius around the company’s business. I won’t bore you with specifics here, but there’s no way in hell that a potential customer would travel more than 10 or 15 miles to visit this particular business. It’s just not the nature of the business. Trust me. Plus many of the ads were being served across a large body of water (from Long Island, New York, across the L.I. Sound over to Connecticut). People living on the other side of the water would never consider traveling across it to a different state, to visit the business.

4) AND WHAT STATE ARE WE IN ANYWAY?
The second campaign geo-targeted Virginia only. That’s over 300 miles away from Long Island. Not kidding. They must have screwed up the initial campaign set up and never bothered to check where they were targeting. Every ad in this campaign was being served to a state over 300 miles outside the business’s reach.

5) BROAD MATCH ONLY
Only broad match keywords were being used. Over 900 keywords were stuffed inside the adgroups–far too many by the way–and ALL OF THEM were broad match. No exact, no phrase. So, maybe the Adwords gurus among you are thinking, wow, he must have set up a great list of negative keywords to work along with the broad matches, right? Granted, on one campaign, he set up a fair list of negatives. Fair. But not nearly enough, as when I looked at the report for keywords that triggered ads, many of the terms people were finding the business with, and clicking on ads, had nothing to do with the business–hence the clicks were a complete waste of the client’s money. For 3 years! And on the other campaign, comprised of all broad matches, there were NO negatives at all!! You should see some of the wildly unrelated terms people entered on, and eventually clicked on.

Oh, and one other thing about the keywords, every keyword that was used from the beginning of the account 3 years earlier was still active. No matter how poor the CTR was, it was never removed or paused.

There are other mistakes the guy made–like how he seems to not understand the relevancy factor of the quality score and how Google expects ad content to directly relate to the keyword(s) and the website content–but I’ll stop here and end with this advice. Next time you hire a professional, just because he tells you he’s good and he gives his business a catchy name, think and investigate a little before you hire. It could mean many thousands of dollars–and possibly the very existence of your business–if you choose poorly.

John Barlowe owns Barlowe Interactive Marketing, a full service Internet marketing company in New York.

 

Breaking News: Justin Bieber Now More Popular Than Swine Flu!

A fascinating glimpse at the tops in Google search for 2010.

 

Send A Tech Care Package To Your Parents

Earlier today Google launched the service TeachParentsTech.org. A very smart idea.

TPT.org offers help to those kids whose parents are always asking questions like:
“I know how to copy but in order to paste can I just say the word ‘paste’?”
Or
“How can I clean the spam from my computer, is there a special spray?”. *actual questions posed by parents to kids, not made up. Okay they were made up, but I’m sure there are far sillier questions posed by many a parent on any given day on the planet earth.

I hopped right on board and sent my parents a set of how-to videos offering help with copy/paste funtions, attaching images to emails, and a few more.

In browsing the videos Google offers to send Ma and Pa, I even watched a few that taught me a thing or two. Did you know that smashing your monitor in a fit of rage with your clenched fist is not a good thing? I didn’t know until I watched a Google video about it!

Thanks, Google!

Bye for now… oh wait! Here’s the most interesting alphanumeric string in the Universe:  F9KPZYAPVF2H . Wondering why it’s interesting. Ask me and I’ll tell you.

Learn about more interesting strings at www.BarloweInteractive.com — actually there are no strings there, I just want a link to my website from this post.

 

Want More Referrals? Offer ‘Em Something They Can’t Refuse

Slightly out of the realm of ‘Interactive Marketing’ but helpful nonetheless:

The single best source of new business for you is likely to be old business. Your existing clients/customers are your best promoters. Assuming, of course, they like how you operate. A client who refers new business to you can be worth 10 times the amount you might be spending on advertising.

And because you can’t always assume that referrals will just happen, you probably know you have to ask for them. But is asking face-to-face the best way to get them?

Even your best customers aren’t going to have you on their minds at all times. They’re busy and usually only think of you when they need you. So, if you’ve asked them for a referral, say, six weeks earlier, what are the chances that you pop into their minds when they next speak to someone who could use your services? Chances might be okay. But you may not survive if you have to rely on “okay”.

So, while it’s a good business practice to ask for referrals, the ‘face-to-face, now-and-then’ method needs improvement.

WHAT TO DO?

Bribe ‘em.

And by “bribe” I mean “incentivize”.

Offer each customer or client something tangible for each new client they refer back to you. And what’s more tangible than cash? By offering something, you’re not asking (begging) for a referral in the hopes that they remember when the chance arises. You’re offering something in exchange. You wash my back, I’ll wash yours. This way, the offer is something that your customer will likely remember.

If you’re a small shop owner and you feel that a $10 coupon would work, then go for it.

If you’re a larger business with professional clients, then you may have to go higher than ten bucks. Maybe offering $250 for each referral is worth it to you.

Whatever the correct monetary value–or size of physical gift, if that’s more appropriate–you’ll know what to do. One company I know–an electrician–hands out certificates every time he completes a job at a home or business. Along with the invoice, he hands them a referral certificate designed to look like a $50 bill. He figured out that each customer brings in X and he can afford to offer Y for a referral. Since he began incentivizing his customers in this manner over a year ago his sales have increased more than 30%.

Develop a strategy, inclusive of how much you can offer, along with the best way to deliver the offer (hand deliver it, mail it, post it on your site/Facebook page, Twitter it, or other). Depending on what type of business you’re in, chances are good that your stream of new business will noticably increase.

* John Barlowe offers innovative Business Blogging Services to round out a complete Interactive Marketing client package inclusive of video production as well as SEO, Social Media Optimization, Web Copywriting & Design and much more. Additionally, John offers in-person seminars on how Internet marketing can help your business *

 

7 FREE Small Business Marketing Practices

Is your company different? Of course it is, it’s yours! As a business owner, manager or solo-preneur, you realize how vital it is to present the uniqueness of your business whenever possible.

But it might be difficult for you to capitalize on that uniqueness to generate free publicity. As opposed to advertising, publicity is where most small business owners’ marketing efforts should begin. One viral blog post or great article in local media, for example, might attract more new business than a year’s worth of paid advertising.

Here are some tips on attracting the kind of free publicity that will result in new business:

ONE
Submit regular press releases to newspapers, online newswires, trade publications, etc. to announce any news you feel worthy. A new product or service, new clients, promotions you’re running, a new employee you just hired… Anything that might attract attention. You’ll be surprised at how many people might read your release.

TWO
Create a monthly email newsletter for your clients/potential clients with tips for effective use of your product or service. You may also enhance the newsletter with other useful info such as industry trends or similar.

THREE
Give a talk/seminar at a business club or your local chamber of commerce that offers guidance/free advice to attendees. Don’t charge for the seminar. The relationships you cultivate will likely be enough of a reward. Even if no one in the room becomes a client, you may very well attract more than a few referrals.

FOUR
Join a networking or referral group that meets regularly, like BNI. Also join your local chamber of commerce or a neighborhood associations, etc. or any other similar type of group. Everyone prefers to work with a person they know and trust.

FIVE
Use testimonials/success stories in all of your marketing materials, including web site, blog, newsletters, marketing collateral, etc.

SIX
Find online communities where you can offer up your expertise on relevant issues. Answering question on LinkedIN, or in Yahoo Answers is a great way to get started. But don’t stop there, join groups in LinkedIn and Facebook and get active communicating with other members by posting, asking and answering. There are many other social networks to utilize for this type of interaction.

SEVEN
Develop an “elevator speech” explaining in a single sentence what makes your company unique. You might be surprised how many business owners, when pressed to do so, can’t provide a simple, effective sentence that highlights their company’s uniqueness.

And here’s an EXTRA, although hopefully obvious practice:

Blog!  Blogging is one of the most effective and free ways to both interact with existing customers, and to attract new ones. A well written, useful blog post that’s properly promoted can do wonders to set you up as an expert in your field… An expert that customers will want to speak with!

 

John Barlowe owns Barlowe Interactive Marketing, a Full Service Business Blogging Organization.

 

Google Still Far Ahead Of The Search Pack

After all this time at the top, you’d think normal brand atrophy might begin to occur and Google would begin to lose ground as king of the search universe. Especially with other search companies like Bing and Yahoo hot on their heels for so long, trying everything they can, including a merger of sorts, to get a glimpse at Google’s rarified air.

But in taking a look at yesterday’s monthly qSearch analysis by comScore, it’s clear that Google remains steadfastly at the top of the mountain. In fact, Google is the only search company measured that enjoyed a positive change.

Of the 18.4 billion total core searches conducted in October Google sites ranked first with 11.8 billion, up 4% from the previous month. Yahoo came in at 3.4 billion and Microsoft/Bing was third with 2.2 billion — both down.

So why do the masses continue to choose Google over everyone else? Innovation, for one thing. Google’s Instant Search feature, which delivers results in real-time while users type their query, illustrates the point. (Yahoo has a similar feature coming soon).

If you’ve been thinking that your online marketing focus might need to begin to shift away from Google and more toward one or more of its competitors, think again. Google is here, standing tall–and proudly–at the top. In case there was any doubt.

 

The State Of Facebook: Interview With Facebook’s Zuckerberg

A long interview  - but even if you just watch for a few minutes – very interesting guy.
Just click on Mark’s face for the video…

 

Facebook Email To Come?

In the escalating Google vs. Facebook battle, Facebook is about to make a major push. The social behemoth is rumored to release its own e-mail feature this coming week.

Gmail Killer?

That’s when tech blog TechCrunch’s sources say Facebook’s social e-mail: Project Titan, will debut.

Facebook Mail will compete directly with Google’s hugely popular Gmail. TechCrunch’s sources claim that users of Facebook will get e-mail addresses ending with @facebook.com, and the site may somehow incorporate your friends, photos, and events like never before.

Very cool… we’ll keep you posted on developments.

 

Goodbye Ask.com – I Hardly Knew Ya

Just in from Mashable:

Today marks the end of Ask.com as a search engine; the once-mighty search giant will lay off the vast majority of its engineers and concede its small piece of the search market to Google and Microsoft.

Ask.com, formerly known as Ask Jeeves, was once one of the world’s most recognizable search engines. It launched in 1996 and quickly grew in popularity with its focus on natural language queries in addition to keyword search. At its peak, Ask.com took care of 2 million queries per day. Its mascot, Jeeves the butler, was well known by millions of people.

Goodbye Jeeves

In 1999, the company held an IPO and everything looked peachy (as most things did during the Dot Com Bubble). You probably know the rest of the story though; Ask.com started to bleed money and quickly lost relevance in the face of a more agile competitor: Google. Its market share dwindled and its technology stagnated until it was eventually acquired by Internet conglomerate InterActiveCorp for $1.85 billion in 2005.

Five years later, IAC hasn’t found a way to turn the Ask.com search engine into a contender, despite its best efforts. According to Bloomberg, IAC will cut 130 engineering jobs in New Jersey and China, cease development of its algorithmic search technology, and refocus its efforts on the Q&A service it launched this summer.

What is the fate of Ask.com’s search engine, though? Ask.com President Doug Leeds says that it will deliver search results from one of its competitors, not unlike the Microsoft-Yahoo search deal signed last year. IAC already has an existing deal with Google, but Microsoft has been agressive with finding ways to expand Bing’s market share.

From Jeeves to Google
The IAC-owned website is still one of the web’s top destinations and its search revenue has grown in the last year (up 20% to $205 million), but that’s mostly due to its toolbar business. In the heavily competitive market of search, Ask.com didn’t stand a chance against competitors that are constantly launching new features.

Ask.com and Ask Jeeves represent the spirit of the Web 1.0 era; with a good idea and a smart team, you could launch your idea and spread it across the world (and raise excessive amounts of funding in the process). Despite its decline since the tech bubble burst, it has fared much better than many of its other compadres (think Pets.com). It’s a testament to the fact that millions of people still rely on Ask.com as their portal to the rest of the web.

While Google’s approach to search (speed and simplicity) won out, today still marks the end of Ask.com the search engine. It’s truly Google and Microsoft’s market now.

* John Barlowe offers innovative Business Blogging Services to round out a complete Interactive Marketing client package inclusive of video production as well as SEO, Social Media Optimization, Web Copywriting & Design and much more. Additionally, John offers in-person seminars on how Internet marketing can help your business *

 

Why The Hell Doesn’t Social Media Work?!

At the gym today I had a thought: “why can’t I look more like Matt Lauer? He’s so damn suave!”

Then, I had another, more meaningful thought: ”I feel great after I exercise. But not always.  Sometimes I feel ‘blah’ before the workout and still  the same after.”

But Why?
If I go to the gym, lift the weights, do the crunches,  etc, etc, etc. why don’t I feel that same rush I feel after  a great workout? The issue here involves ‘working  smart’. If you’re not working smart in the gym your body and mind may not respond the way you want.

The Same Goes For Your Social Media Efforts.
If you’re doing a bit of this and a bit of that… maybe you’re blogging and Tweeting a bit, and you have a Facebook account that you sometimes use to share info about your biz. And maybe with this level of social participation there are no results. If so, it’s time to re-assess.

Create It. Share It.
A good SM campaign involves both creating good content and sharing it. Are you doing all you can?

While you’re out there sharing your content, respond to other people’s content. While you’re dropping a link to your latest video, answer a question. Start up a discussion that’s geared to lead back to your business. Or start up a discussion for the sake of it; just to stay involved with the people in your network.

Blogging Works Wonders.
It’s the key to a thriving social campaign. But what you do with the blog is the important thing. Are you writing and then walking away? If so, how is anyone going to read it? Same idea holds for any video you produce . Are you posting the video on your site and then patting yourself on the back, job well done?

Promotion Is Sharing. And Sharing Is The Key.
Whatever content you create should be shared. That’s the basic definition of social media marketing: sharing content and ideas with your network.  Develop your network on whichever site(s) you like. Start with the big boys like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. But don’t stop there. There are countless others, some of which may be narrowly focused on your particular industry. Just the place to create new friends who either know your business well, or might like to know more about how you can help them or people they know.

A Few Minutes A Day.
If that’s all you can devote to your social campaign, well, unless you’re a well-known celebrity, it may not be enough. If you’re the average businessperson, you need to keep pushing, an hour or two a day if possible, depending on what you’re up to, or depending who is helping you.

Sure, you can get by with a quick blog post, or a Facebook or LinkedIn update, or a Tweet or two, and then leave it at that… but to get something valuable out of Social Media, you need to get serious and devise a plan.

First, look at what the big guys in your industry are doing. You may get some good ideas by subscribing to their RSS feeds or newsletters or by exploring their Web sites. Learn from them. Maybe they’ve discovered a few niche sites you might benefit from.  Do the same for your competitors, large or small, as well as some of the companies in your network, your friends. What are they doing to connect with current and potential customers ? Are they promoting their content in a way that you never even considered?

Open Your Eyes.
That’s the first step to developing your social campaign. There are so many clues as to which way you should go, that you really just have to pay attention.

So, the answer to the question “Why the hell doesn’t social media work?” is… It DOES work. You just gotta know how to work it. Or find someone who else who knows. But whatever you do, stop spinning your wheels and get serious.

* John Barlowe offers innovative Business Blogging Services to round out a complete Interactive Marketing client package inclusive of video production as well as SEO, Social Media Optimization, Web Copywriting & Design and much more. Additionally, John offers in-person seminars on how Internet marketing can help your business *

 

Social Media Hates The Social Salesman

THE ISSUE:

1) You are in business to make money.
2) You are likely exploring social media in order to help your business make that money.
3) Your social media “audience” DOES NOT want to be sold to.

To address this social paradox you must first understand that your content, whether it be your blog posts, Facebook page, latest video, whatever, should be presented as a way to educate, help, or just plain entertain. With only a handful of exceptions, it should never be presented as an overt pitch.

SUNNY AND SHARE
Since social media is essentially about sharing (I’ll assume you already knew this), your goal should be to share your content with others who will then share it with their friends.  It’s easy to understand how the process of a friend sharing content with another friend, simply put, beats the hell out of advertising or pitching.

But why would someone share your content with a friend? Simple, because it’s original. Or cool. Or educational. Or inspiring. Or funny. Or–and this is what all content geeks strive for–it’s ALL OF THE ABOVE.

CREATE, GENERATE
So how do we come up with original-cool-educational-inspiring-funny content on a consistent basis when we’re operating a business? Ooh, glad you asked! Well, the idea here is to do what you can, when you can. Don’t feel compelled to blog every day if you don’t have something interesting to say. Don’t hire someone to create a string of videos about your biz if there’s no reason to. Create what needs to be created.

When you put content “out there” that people are truly interested in, it won’t matter if it happens only once every two weeks. What does matter is that it’s of a caliber that makes readers want to move it along the share express. They can blog about your content, tweet about it, however they do it, just give them a reason to share it. You know your business better than anyone. There are stories to tell, whether they involve your personal experiences, or your take on current industry trends, or whatever you feel might interest a certain audience.

WILL YOU? CAN YOU?
Be honest with yourself. Do you have the ability to generate interesting social content? Can you regularly create engaging, informative blog posts? Can you produce a video that someone will want to view? Can you dedicate the time to interact with your social network on various sites? And can you do it all without selling?

If the honest answer is no then you may want to reach out for help. But if you can take the time to “learn before your earn”, then, do just that. Learn everything you can about your target market and their social media usage. Where will you find them? Twitter? Maybe. Facebook? Could be. Will they read your blog? That all depends. How do you plan to make people aware of your blog? You can submit to a number of directories so people know about your blog… If they find it in a search. But what if they’re not searching in a directory?

There are myriad other ways to get your blog, and other social content out there. Start learning now. Or start partnering up with people who can do it for you. But whatever you do, don’t ever become a social salesman.

IT ALL BEGINS WITH THE BEGINNING
So get going and start creating content that people will want to read/view and share. Your business will gain recognition through your efforts and your audience won’t feel like it’s being sold to.

If your content is good enough, your audience will promote it for you, effectively endorsing you and/or your business as the expert. And when that happens, people will begin to regard you as a source for expertise. Then you may be able to creatively and delicately, steer them down the road toward a sale. If you’re careful.

Social media is essentially a tool that we use to meet people. When we make the connection with our target audience, in order to turn the connection into a sale (if that’s your goal), we must guide the people to our Web site or to call or email us.  But this next step takes time. It’s a whole blog post in and of itself. And that post is coming soon.

* John Barlowe offers innovative Business Blogging Services to round out a complete Interactive Marketing client package inclusive of video production as well as SEO, Social Media Optimization, Web Copywriting & Design and much more. Additionally, John offers in-person seminars on how Internet marketing can help your business *