by Marvin Kane | Apr 27, 2013 | Blogging, Business, Sales and Marketing
It may take a few tries but hang in there
I was privileged to attend a conference a few weeks ago presented by Merrimack College as part of it’s 2012-2013 Leadership Series entitled “It’s Time to Create Your Digital Platform!” As a perk of membership in the Peabody Area Chamber of Commerce, admission was free. I gladly would have paid. Two of the three speakers, Michael Hyatt and Brian Halligan, are best selling authors. Halligan also happens to be co-founder and CEO of Hubspot, a marketing software company that helps businesses transform the way they market their products. The third, Sally Falkow, is a highly respected public relations guru. I took notes, scribbled down links to websites, wrote down recommended book titles, sent out real time tweets and, giving in to my inner geek, got my books signed by the authors. Later, when life had slowed down some, I looked over my notes. One phrase jumped off the page. Each of the speakers said it during their presentations. Some said it more than once. It took on the aspect of a mantra. To get noticed in a noisy world, you have to write remarkable content.
Sound Scary? It Doesn’t Have To Be
I started thinking about my clients – you – the good people who sometimes read my blog. I’ve heard you say it. “I’m not a writer. I can’t write remarkable content.” Well here’s how my trusty Oxford American Dictionary defines the word “remarkable.”
re • mark • a • ble (ri-mahr-ka-bel) adj. worth noticing, exceptional, unusual.
If you’re not a professional writer I understand why you would be intimidated at the prospect of writing exceptional or unusual content.
It’s All About Your Audience
My point is this. If you sell concrete, your website should be geared to people who want to know more about concrete. Since concrete is your area of expertise I’m betting that you can produce content that, if not exceptional or unusual, is at least worth noticing? That is to say worth noticing to your audience. Don’t get me wrong. No matter how much expertise you have in your field, a professional writer will always do a better job at crafting your web copy than you will. But if you focus more on the worth noticing part of the definition of remarkable and less on the exceptional and unusual parts, you just might be surprised at how remarkable your content is.
Some Helpful Resources
If you’d like to dive a little deeper into the world of remarkable content, here are a few links that are favorites of mine. I hope you’ll find them helpful:
Now Back to You
Did you write your own copy for your website? How did that go? Or did you hire someone to write it for you? Were you satisfied with the result?
P.S. To my writer friends and colleagues. Don’t be angry with me for suggesting that clients on a limited budget might want to try writing their own copy. My intent here was to give them some helpful advice if they want to go in that direction. Know this. They will never replace you.
by Marvin Kane | Jan 7, 2012 | Business, Sharing, Social Media
If You Want People to Listen to You - Listen to Them
Last August I wrote a series of posts dealing with the four most common objections to social media:
My purpose was to “handle” each objection – which is really a salesy way of saying I wanted to counter each objection with logic, facts and common sense. I hope I succeeded. But in the past few days I’ve been asking myself (what is it about a new year that makes us talk to ourselves?) a more basic question about social media .
Why Do We Do It? Why Do We Really Do It?
There’s an urban legend that’s floated around Hollywood for years. (Note: I’ve never been to Hollywood.) The legend has it that a young Dustin Hoffman once asked his idol, the great Lawrence Olivier, “why do we act? I mean really, why do we do it?” Pausing for a moment, Olivier looked at Hoffman and said, “there are three reasons why we do this. Look at me, look at me and look at me.” Dustin, it seems was hoping for a deeply philosophical answer. What he got instead was a heavy dose of honesty. For businesses the objective of social media is simple – to connect with your customers in a way that increases your potential to sell whatever it is you sell. For the millions (or is it gazillions by now) who tweet and twitter for personal reasons, I suspect the motivation has more to do with Olivier’s response to Dustin Hoffman’s question. Make no mistake, there is ego involved here. We do it because in doing so we are exercising our very human need to be heard, to be validated. And in the world of social media there is no greater validation than to have people follow your tweets and comment on your blog posts.
How to Increase Your Following
Ah! The holy grail. Unfortunately, there is no magic bullet here. There is no “one thing” that is guaranteed to build your following and have hordes of consumers clambering for more. But as Oprah would say, here is what I know for sure. You will NEVER get anyone to follow you if you’re not following anyone. You will NEVER get anyone to read your posts and comment on them if you don’t read and comment on theirs. Keep this word in the front of your brain: Community. To get people to participate in the conversation (and that’s how you should be thinking of your social media efforts) you must participate. Think two way street. Habit number 5 in Stephen Covey’s wildly popular and important book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People states “seek first to understand, then be understood.” I’m sure Mr. Covey would not mind my slight adaptation: Seek first to follow then be followed.
And Now Back to You
Do you blog or tweet on a regular basis? Do you have followers? Do people comment on your posts? If so, how are you building your community? Who do you follow? Do you participate? Talk to me.
Photo credit: Joe M photo
by Marvin Kane | Dec 12, 2011 | Business, Rants, Sharing, Social Media
Want to really be social? Spend more time away from your computer.
This is not a picture of me. The point is, it could be. Ironic isn’t it? Here I am, a web designer/social media maven/blogger and I came to the sudden and startling realization that I’m spending too much time at my computer. Further introspection has revealed that I may also be suffering from NPWYP syndrome. (That’s Not Practicing What You Preach). And here is where my Baby Boomer perspective kicks in.
Being Social Is Still About In Person Connections
What I love about today’s internet is the ease with which people can connect. It’s been fun rekindling relationships on Facebook and finding old friends on LinkedIn. But we boomers have always been a bit cynical about online relationships. Back in the day there was no such thing. Personal relationships were forged by looking someone in the eye when you spoke to them, shaking hands when you met or said goodbye and …. well you know what I’m talking about. Don’t misunderstand. This is not a case of some old guy pining for the good old days. I’m simply saying that an active online social life should add richness to your offline (real) social life not be a substitute for it. Let me put it another way. If you spend hours each day at your computer tweeting, blogging, facebooking, google plussing, (yes, I’m making up words here), you are not being social. You are being anti-social.
You Really Need to Get Out More
Back to me. Why am I guilty of not practicing what I preach? Because I’m starting to feel like the guy in the picture. I’m working hard at building my online relationships but not hard enough on the real ones. I need to get out more. I need to join more groups, meet more people, attend more events, look into more eyes and shake more hands.
And Now Back to You
Do you think of yourself as a social person? How about this one – do you like people? Do you use social media tools to build online relationships? Do you look like the guy in the picture? Be honest.
Photo credit: LuChOeDu »
by Marvin Kane | Sep 7, 2011 | Social Media
Part Four in a Four-Part Series: Common Objections to Social Media
Be Patient. Results Will Be There
At the end of my previous post in this series I hinted that the biblical figure Job would have been very successful with social media. Did you get the reference? Let me explain: Job had in abundance the quality that many of us lack but need more of to successfully manage a social marketing campaign. Patience. Social media marketing has to be understood as a long-term commitment. Unfortunately, this is not a comfortable outlook for today’s business leaders who are expected to produce results quickly. That’s why we find so many marketers today complaining that they tried social marketing and it doesn’t work. Really? How long did you give it? Two weeks? Three weeks. Here’s the answer: you didn’t give it long enough.
Okay, Then. How Long is Long Enough?
Let me share a true story quickly. In my younger days my friends and I became interested in eastern religions. It was New York in the sixties. Enough said. We were enthralled with the notion of spiritual enlightenment, this place of perfect peace and equilibrium. To get there we were told, we needed to meditate twice daily. Once first thing in the morning and again before going to bed. One of our crew was particularly disciplined with his daily meditation. After a month or so I asked him how it was going. I was surprised by his answer. “I quit. I meditated for thirty minutes every morning and every night for three weeks and I’m still not enlightened. This meditation stuff just doesn’t work”. See where I’m going with this? Did he give it enough time? Was the time he gave it appropriate given the goal?
Define Your Social Media Marketing Goals First
Break your larger marketing goals into smaller, easier to manage pieces. Your first goal might be to get people to sign up for your newsletter. In that case you can use your social media tools to point people to your newsletter sign up page. Next you may want to get people to sign up for your webinar. After that you may want people to download a white paper. Once you’ve clearly defined you goals you can come back after a month or so into your social marketing campaign and see how you are doing. Soon you will have a good feel for how long is long enough.
Summary
- Be patient. I know it’s hard but it pays off
- Make sure you understand the social tools you are using. If you don’t, get help
- Break your larger marketing objective into smaller goals that can be tracked and monitored
Have you abandoned social media because you thought you gave it enough time and it just wasn’t working? Can you be persuaded to try again?
Photo Credit: The Inspiration Room
by Marvin Kane | Aug 31, 2011 | Social Media
Part Three in a Four Part Series: Common Objections to Social Media
“Complacency is the enemy of progress.” “If you’re not growing, you’re dying“. We’ve all heard these catchy phrases reminding us that in business, as in life, we should never be satisfied. We must always keep moving forward. So why are so many businesses content to be …. you know, content? How far back do you go? Do you remember your workplace before copy machines? before fax machines? before computers? I’ll bet your boss thought you were doing fine. Maybe you were, maybe you weren’t. Gary Vaynerchuk says it well, “Any company that gets so complacent it thinks everything is “fine” deserves to go out of business.”
Think Your Business Is Doing Fine? How do You Know?
If you’re the owner of a business, it doesn’t matter if you think your doing fine. What matters is what your customers and clients think. And now we have the means to ask them. How did we get this information before? Focus groups, comment cards, surveys, mailers. Sure, those were the only means we had back then but even if customers took the time to respond, it was a one time, one way communication. Now with tools like Facebook , Twitter and Yelp, to name just a very few, we can see what our customers are saying in real time, respond quickly and nurture relationships. As business owners, isn’t this what we want?
The Value in Social Media Far Outweighs the Risks
Last week I wrote how fear is what keeps most businesses from adopting a social media marketing strategy. I think it’s worth repeating: what should really scare you as a business owner is not knowing what your customers are saying. Consider these two fictional scenarios (ok, not so fictional as this stuff really happens every day).
Scenario 1: John and Mary eat at the Good Eats Eatery. They’re not happy with the service and not terribly thrilled with the food either. They tell everyone in their circle of friends about their bad experience. They don’t come back to the restaurant and neither do their friends. Without any social channels to communicate with her guests, Stacey, the hard working owner of the restaurant never knew there was a problem in the first place. Sadly, she only knows there is a drop off in business but doesn’t know why.
Scenario 2: Jim and Sue eat at Good Food is Us. They too are not so happy with the service and food. But they’ve been following Good Food is Us on Twitter and post a tweet about their disappointment. Homer, the owner of Good Food is Us, sees the tweet and quickly and honestly responds. He also notices Jim and Sue’s less than flattering review on Yelp. He takes the time to respond directly to them, apologizes, assures them it will never happen again and sends them a gift certificate to the restaurant. When they come in he waits on them personally. The result: he turned two unhappy customers into strong advocates.
Note: See my earlier post The New Rules of Engagement to see how one restaurant is doing it right.
Summary
- You can’t really know if you’re doing fine if you don’t ask your customers.
- Don’t worry about negative comments. They are far more valuable than no comments at all.
- If you’re afraid to jump into social media, start slowly by listening to others first.
Does this make sense? Don’t hesitate to use the comment box below to disagree with me. Disagreement makes for lively conversation.
Stay tuned to this channel for part four in the series: Common Objections to Social Media. Next week we’ll talk about companies who claim they’ve tried it but it doesn’t work. Hint: Job of the Bible would have been very successful with social media.
Photo Credit: The Inspiration Room
