Author Archive

Google Vs Facebook: Who Will Win The Social Network War?

By: ApexPacific

View original article HERE.

The internet has been in a frenzy over Google + this past month. Initially, many people thought Google would have a hard time convincing Facebook users to join this new social network. But contrary to this initial belief, Google + already has “millions” of users, surpassing Twitter to become the fastest growing social network. This is fairly impressive considering it is still in its beta stage offering invite-only memberships. It is for this reason, as well as the reasons I will discuss below that I believe Google will win the social game against Facebook.

Historically, Google has always entered the market later but still managed to overtake their competitors. Google has defeated all the pioneer search engines since 1998 and then conquered the PPC market again with their Google Adwords program in 2001. Considering this, I think it’s highly likely they’ll conquer the social media industry soon.

Back in 1994 and 1995, Excite, AltaVista, Lycos, Yahoo were among the 15 or so search engine companies involved in the search engine market. Google on the other hand, didn’t enter the market until a few years later when they launched the beta version of their search engine in 1998 and officially released it around 1999 and 2000. But that didn’t stop them from knocking down all the search engines that came before them and becoming the #1 search engine in the world in a very short span of time.

Then, not long after, Google went after the PPC market. Originally, Goto.com (Later changed to Overture and then bought by Yahoo!) was the first company to create the PPC concept back to 1999, along with a few other players. After Google launched Google Adwords during 2002, they were able to dominate the PPC market in just a few short years. Unlike, the Goto.com PPC model that was built on a simple PPC concept without any “marketing” logic, Google created a much better PPC program designed to help businesses with their “marketing” from the ground up. As Goto and Overture failed to convert its core PPC logic to match Adwords, it failed after being acquired by Yahoo!
Now, I’ll bring your attention back to Facebook. Facebook was built based on the early concepts of social networks. Currently, I think Facebook has little business value. Many people on Facebook are engaging in spam to build followers and likes. They are not really focus on building customer relationship, instead most of people are focus on “numbers” such as how many likes and how many followers they have. And even though people have 100′s or 1000′s of followers and likes on their pages, do they really benefit from this? I believe Google has discovered the weakness of Facebook and created the Google+ network with more business and marketing logic behind it. Google+ Circles will change social networking, and Google + will become another win for Google.

In many ways, Facebook is very similar to the former Goto.com or Overture, and Google+ is a mirror of Google Adwords. For example, the original PPC model created by Goto.com was quite simple; you created an account and bumped all your keywords to your account. That’s it. No matter what keywords you have, you put all your keywords in your same account. Google Adwords on the other hand, is grounded in “advertising and marketing” logic. It structures your advertising as “Campaigns”, “Adgroups” and “Keywords”. This simple change allowed Adwords to win the PPC war. Overture eventually implemented a “Category” structure but by then it has too far behind to even compete with Google Adwords.

The same thing will happen to Facebook. When more and more people figure out their Facebook account has less business value, is flooded with spammers and followers whom have no interest in their product or service, will they want to continue using it if there is another alternative social network to choose? The answer is obvious: Google will win the social networking war.

By: Todd Wasserman
(Mashable)
Click HERE for link to original article
inShare Mar 23, 2011 –

If e-mail seems a little old school to you, you’re right. E-mail turns 40 this year, and it’s being outpaced by texting, instant messaging and Facebook messaging. As Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg pointed out last year, e-mail is too much of a “cognitive load” for younger people.

Yet you probably haven’t given up your Gmail account yet, have you? That’s because, despite the stigma of being a middle-aged technology, e-mail is still useful and universally accepted. In fact, those who make a living from e-mail marketing say there’s never been a better time to do what they do.

“E-mail marketing is getting more exciting because of some of the things you’re able to do with it,” says Chip House, vice president of relationship marketing at ExactTarget, “because of the ability to bake in social sharing. You can follow me on Facebook or tweet about this.”

Want to read about more marketing mistakes? Check these out:
5 Vital Truths About Business Mistakes
Basic Mistakes Retailers Make When Times Are Tough
How To Lose A Customer In 5 Ways

For small businesses, e-mail still represents a cheap, effective way to establish or maintain a relationship with clients. But there’s the rub. While the medium is fairly neutral to positive, the content has the power to either attract or repel. So before you hit “send” on your next batch of e-mail newsletters, take heed of these six common e-mail marketing mistakes.

1. E-mailing without permission

Getting an e-mail newsletter that you didn’t sign up for feels like an invasion of privacy. As House notes, small businesses often start their e-mail marketing campaigns by buying a list and then hitting everyone on that list. “There’s probably not a worse thing you can do,” he says. “You get started off on the wrong foot, and people expect to start receiving spam from you.” The moral? Don’t take shortcuts. Build up your list organically by having an opt-in form on your website or, if you have a brick-and-mortar business, using a sign-up sheet.

2. Having ineffective or irrelevant subject and “from” lines

You can’t guarantee that someone will open your e-mail, but a good way to make it unlikely that they’ll open it is to use a boring subject line. Mark Schmulen, a general manager at Constant Contact, says a subject line should promise short, digestable information that is likely to be of interest. One example: “2 Things Facebook Can Do to Help Your Business.” The reader only has to worry about reading two things and, if the e-mail is properly targeted, there’s a good chance he or she will click through to see what it’s about.

The “from” lines are also important. Schmulen points out that few people are likely to open an e-mail if they don’t recognize the sender. Plus, make sure you use an e-mail address that uses your company’s domain—a Gmail or Yahoo address is a tip-off that the company is small-time, he says.

3. Blasting irrelevant content

Make sure your e-mails are relevant to the audience you’re blasting them to. Suppose you have a family and you signed up to get e-mail from a travel firm. If you get a few e-mails with information about singles vacations, it’s not only going to be irrelevant to your needs, but it’s likely to sour you on the company, too. At that point, Schmulen says, “even if the fourth one is for families, you’re already checked out.”

4. Not looking at the numbers

You just sent out a batch of e-mails—any idea how many were opened? How many bounced back? If you don’t have that information, you’re operating in a vacuum and have no way to determine if the program is a success. Make sure you’re analyzing and comparing the numbers, which can help you get the most out of future e-mail blasts. Metrics can provide useful information to boost e-mail marketing efficacy, including the best day and time to send the e-mail, the most effective subject lines and the content that most resonates with your audience.

5. Having no purpose

According to Schmulen, many people start an e-mail marketing program with only a vague notion about why they’re doing it. “They haven’t really thought about what their true goals are or what’s in it for the subscriber,” he says. So what are your goals? To educate? To start a dialogue? To inform your consumers of news and events in the industry? Having a purpose will dictate your content, so figure it out before you start typing.

6. Providing no entry for dialogue

House says that a good e-mail is like a good tweet or a good blog entry—if people like it, they will pass it around. So to maximize the chances that your message will be shared, write provocative and interesting content. And don’t be afraid to ask your readers for their own content. “It’s important to state your point of view,” House says, “but you should ask readers to share their thoughts, too.” A good conversation sparked by an e-mail marketing campaign can easily go online and spread on Twitter and Facebook.

Image courtesy of Flickr, aless&ro.

By Beverly Cornell via www.Mashable.com

Beverly Cornell is the marketing and social media director at Mango Languages, a provider of self-study language learning products that teach actual conversation skills and culture, now available in 28 different languages. Learn more at mangolanguages.com.

Long gone are the days when announcing a new product was simply a matter of putting together a news release, sending it off over the wire and counting on major news outlets to spread the word. Today, because consumers are able to get information from a variety of sources and platforms, a successful product launch requires an integrated approach; one that includes traditional, social and online marketing tools. Here’s a look at how to focus these approaches into one concerted effort around a product launch.

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1. Traditional Methods

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 Even though new media seems to get all the glory, traditional television, print or radio media outreach remains an effective way to expose a never-before-seen product to the masses. Be sure to clearly spell out the elements of your product that make it newsworthy. How is it different from your existing products? How is it different from other similar products? What benefits does it provide to the consumer? You can also go a step further and subscribe to Help a Reporter Out, ProfNet and NewsBasis. These are great resources for connecting with journalists who are looking for experts and story ideas.

Don’t discount other proven methods like advertising, trade shows, speaking opportunities, promotional events and direct mail. Ignoring them can lead to wasted opportunities. If you invest the time to truly understand the demographics and behaviors of the people you’re hoping to reach, you’ll know if these traditional methods are worth your time and investment.

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2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

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 Before you begin your online efforts to market your new product, you must have a “home base,” which ideally is a search-friendly website or blog. When launching a product, to aid both potential customers and contribute to optimized search engine performance, consider creating a product-specific landing page that features photos, descriptions and/or video. Make sure this page is appropriately coded for search, complete with keyword-rich copy, title tags, header text, a unique URL and meta information that succinctly describes your new product. Make sure this page is visible and easily accessible from your home page, at least for its initial release.

To build your online content library, consider enhancing your traditional media outreach efforts and social media news presence by distributing your product press release using paid services with both text-only and multimedia options, such as PR Newswire, PRWeb and PitchEngine. If you’re looking for a less expensive route, Free Press Release and PR Log allow you to share news for free.

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3. E-mail Marketing

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E-mail marketing is a fantastic way to provide specialized content to people with whom you’ve already built relationships. Consider offering a pre-order for your new product, exclusive only to e-mail recipients. Or, offer a sneak peek at the new product before it’s released to the public. This will help to nurture and reward your existing relationships and continue building on the trust you’ve already earned.

Additionally, you may set up an e-mail drip campaign that sends messages on a regular schedule at timed intervals to keep your product or service top-of-mind with your customers, and also to keep the sales funnel flowing.

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4. Online Advertising

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Tools such as Google AdWords (and other pay-per-click services) can boost awareness and funnel parties directly to your product. Online advertising allows you to get in front of a specific audience but with wide reach.

Another option is to do some research to determine the most widely read blogs and sites in your industry and also those frequented by people in your target markets. Advertising is often the main revenue generator on these sites and blogs, so it’s a great way to begin building relationships with the editors and site operators for a chance to get in front of the people who are most inclined to care about your product.

Don’t overlook opportunities to advertise on social networks. Some have predicted that $4 billion will be spent on Facebook advertising alone in 2011. Marketers are already realizing the benefit of getting in front of this giant’s more than 500 million users.

If you choose to pursue any of these options, make sure the ads are clickable and direct all referrals to a targeted landing page on your company’s website. This page should have content specific to the new product, along with information on how and where to purchase it.

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5. Social Networks

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When your product is ready to go, inform your current customers and brand enthusiasts by updating your existing social networks. Whether you have a presence on one of the well-known platforms and/or another niche social network, craft catered messages for each. But, don’t just post to any of these social networks and walk away. There are many tools available to help you manage multiple social network profiles, keep the information up-to-date and continue to communicate with your connections, while providing the social proof needed for people to buy.

Naturally, these networks are filled with potential for people to share your information. For this reason, make sure you provide valuable content. Try different mediums for discussing your new product, such as videos, podcasts, photos and/or live chats. Many people are now getting their news, or topics of interest, from social networks and e-mail sharing, so this is a perfect place to get your product information in front of an audience that has already been “sold” on your business.

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6. Geolocation

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If you have a physical location your customers frequent, utilize geolocation tools like Foursquare or Gowalla to further your marketing gusto. By closing the gap between online marketing platforms and a physical store, you are encouraging sales through different channels and fully connecting the buying experience. Offer special deals for your business’ mayors, and promotions for your best customers; this kind of strategy goes a long way in creating a lot of buzz for your new product.

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7. Group Buying Sites

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 Groupon, Living Social, Deal On, My Daily Thread and other collective buying sites continue to grow in popularity and offer the opportunity to introduce and incentivize the purchase of your product to an opt-in audience. These sites give you the ability to customize your product offer by market and expand the product’s reach beyond those who are already familiar with your company.

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8. Blogger Outreach

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Blogging has grown tremendously in the past five years. Even though Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere 2010 report found that 65% of blogger survey respondents are hobbyists, it’s likely you’ll find several bloggers in your industry who have very active communities and traffic/subscriber numbers that blow traditional media websites out of the water.

Blogger outreach goes hand-in-hand with traditional media outreach when it comes to generating interest for a new product, and the approach and methods used are much the same. Understand the blog, its audience and its content before sharing information about your product. If it makes sense, offer your product for the blogger to review.

When working with bloggers, remember this golden rule: Treat them with the same respect as you would traditional journalists.

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9. Social Media Influencers

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Using a strategy similar to traditional media outreach, take the time to research, locate and understand the most active social media users in your target markets. These people are at a unique advantage, having earned a large and tuned-in set of viewers, listeners and followers. While the payoff might not be immediate, creating relationships with these highly influential people can lead to valuable long-term opportunities.

While there is no universally accepted way to define and measure influence, using tools like Twitter Grader and Klout will give a good indication of the major players in the social space and in your specific industry or market. You can also take it one step further and narrow your search by category. Tools like Twello allow you to search a directory filtered by self-identified expertise, interests and professions. This can be especially helpful for identifying Twitter users in a subfield that directly relates to your new product.

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10. Online Retail Sites

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 Invest in partnership opportunities with well-respected online retail sites to improve the availability and credibility of your business and product. Advertising on sites such as Amazon, eBay and Google Product Search will place your product in an environment searched by people that have already identified themselves as inclined to buy.

Amazon, specifically, offers a program called Amazon Advantage that allows sellers to delegate order fulfillment and shipping to Amazon. In addition, these products are eligible for “Free Super Saver Shipping” and are labeled as “shipped and sold by Amazon.com.” This provides buyers with the peace of mind they might not have when buying from an unknown vendor or site.

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Get Customer Feedback

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 After your product has launched and your marketing and public relations strategies are underway, use a program like Radian6, Awareness, Netvibes, HootSuite, etc. to monitor your customers’ responses to your new product. This is a prime opportunity to open up the lines of communication with your customers and to show you care about and will listen to their feedback to improve future products.

To include your customers in your company’s product development and initiatives, consider tools such as UserVoice or GetSatisfaction to get an idea of what the people would like to see in the future.

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Conclusion

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With all of the social media tools available today, companies are truly missing out if they don’t evaluate the opportunities to execute a social/online strategy that complements their traditional marketing and PR programs for a product launch.

While it’s not commonplace for all of these tactics to be used, they should serve as a launching pad for your company to be creative and to choose the best strategy for you.

What experiences do you have with integrating traditional and online methods to make a product launch successful? What opportunities would you add?

Your Social Strategy Can Be The Problem Not Social Media

By Danny Brown
Expert Author
Article Date: 2011-01-11

Social media is crap. Social media is a waste of money and time. Social media can’t be measured so we’re just wasting energy. Social media doesn’t offer lead generation. Blah blah blah.

I’ve seen a ton of criticism about social media and what it can and can’t do. People and companies are quick to jump in and castrate those of us using the medium as charlatans and maggots. Generally the excuse is any one of the reasons above, amongst others.

Most times the biggest complaint is that “social media isn’t working for us”, and because of that, social media is automatically a crap shoot.

But maybe those doing the loudest complaining should take a long hard look in the mirror and ask why it’s not working. Because I’m pretty sure that it’s not because of the reasons given at the start of this post, but a far simpler one – your social media strategy sucks.

And here’s why.

Blogs and Books Are Your Education

You read a ton of blogs. You follow all the big names and hang on their every word, gleaning nuggets of wisdom and tips and real-life examples of companies that “did social media right”. Then you take these posts and use them for your business, or product, or team.

And then get all upset because the advice in A-List Blogger’s latest masterpiece didn’t work for you. But are you really surprised?

A blog post isn’t a strategy. A blog post isn’t a campaign measurement stick. A blog post isn’t a research and development program. A blog post is just a drop of water in a bigger pool of ideas that bring a strategy to life.

A blog post isn’t specifically written for you, either – it’s a generic cover-all that can apply to thousands of other readers, some of whom will be your competitors. So why would you replace specific with generic?

As for these never-ending social media books that are hitting the marketplace at the rate of what seems like one a week? Many are just regurgitated blog posts with a new introduction anyway, so all you’re doing is doubling your chance of failure.

Forget generic – start thinking specific.

It’s Not Strategy If There’s No End Goal

What’s your end goal with your social media activity? What are you looking to get out of it?

Brand awareness? More eyeballs on your company blog? Sales? Customer service satisfaction levels up? Head hunt new employees? None of the above?

If you’re going into social media without an end goal in mind, why are you even going in? Where’s the benefit? Is it because your competitor is doing the Twitter and they look like they’re having fun and getting people talking to them?

Great – but what’s being said between your competitor and these people? Is there an end goal there? Is it simply building relations on another platform, much like having open days at your workplace and inviting the public in?

Whatever it is, if you’re not getting any results it’s because you haven’t set any results up to be met.

• Ask how many connected conversations it’s going to take to turn into one sale.
• Ask how many products you’ll have to give away via a blogger outreach program to raise awareness, positive sentiment and actionable intent on your audience’s behalf.
• Ask how many people you’ll need to man the social phones and react to hundreds if not thousands of questions being thrown at you.
• Ask what your cut-off date is and what happens next – cut and run or adapt and conquer?

Every single thing we do in life has an end goal. The difference with life is that our very end goal we have no choice in. But in business, you do. Set your end goals out and work strategically toward them.

You Don’t Believe

You’ve used print and radio ads for longer than you can remember. They must be working, because you’re still in business. Besides, everyone reads newspapers or listens to the radio – you have a guaranteed audience. Can the same be said of social media?

Well, yes, it can, with targeted audience marketing. But let’s forget that for now, because you don’t believe you can target success in social media. You don’t believe you can bring in sales with social media, or improve your business practices, or customer satisfaction level, even though there are plenty of examples of these and more.

Simply put, you don’t believe in social media. And as that wise little guy Yoda once said, that is why you fail.

Sure, you’re tweeting. Yes, you’re Facebooking. Yes, you’re Linking In. But your heart’s not in it. You’re not in it. You’re only here because others said you should be.

But you know, maybe you don’t need to be – social media isn’t for everyone. It is for everyone’s customers, but then there’s a whole other approach you can take for that.

So stop wasting your time. If you don’t believe in something, are you really going to put your heart in it? No. Plain and simple.

Believe or leave.

It Doesn’t Need to Be This Way

I could run a ton of other reasons off why your social media strategy sucks, but I think you get the gist. Some of it might be you, the complainer’s fault; some of it might be your boss and his or her whip cracking on you.

But it’s not a lost cause. It doesn’t need to be this way.

Everything can be turned around; all courses can be plotted again and new directions taken when an obstacle or turbulence kicks in. Just because you think it sucks now doesn’t mean it can’t suck a whole lot less in a fairly short amount of time.

• Stop acting on what works for others and build for what works for you.
• Take advice with a grain of salt and ask if that great post is really talking to you, or just talking (albeit greatly).
• Write your own books. They don’t need to be physical – successful campaigns are books, just in a different format.
• Think with the endgame in mind, or don’t play the game, period.

Bad strategy sucks, not social media. But then isn’t that true for everything?

Comments

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About the Author:
Danny Brown is the social sensei at Bonsai Interactive, a small and mighty team of technology, media and marketing nerds rocking the social web. His blog is featured in the AdAge Power 150 list as well as Canada’s Top 50 Marketing Blogs, and won the Hive Award for Best Social Media Blog at the 2010 South by South West festival. You can find Danny on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

by : Tim Barry

 (Author’s note: This is a special labor-of-love article for me. As I write this additional note, months after this article was first published, I have become steadily more concerned about the negative impact of that myth of the start-up business plan in the second paragraph here. There’s a huge loss, because of that myth, for all those existing companies who fail to plan. Everybody running a company should have the benefit of planning. And, please note, it’s planning that matters, not the plan. Military genius and ex president Dwight Eisenhower once said: “the plan is useless, but planning is essential.” So what do you miss if you don’t have a working planning process in an existing company? You miss the opportunity to use that planning process to steer and manage your company, managing change, correcting the course, keeping the long-term objectives in mind.

– Tim Berry.)

Does your company have an annual strategic plan? Does your company develop an annual plan to polish its strategy, focus on main priorities, and manage its cash?

Every business needs to plan
Unfortunately, there is a myth that associates planning with start-ups. That’s particularly common in the United States. Because of that myth, inertia, putting out fires, and related reasons, a lot of businesses miss out on the opportunity to manage themselves a bit better.

As an owner or manager of a small or medium business, can you afford not to plan? Do you leave the annual plan for the large businesses, and let your business depend on reacting to events? Or do you want to plan for priorities, and manage your growth proactively. That’s a leading question, of course, the answer is obvious.
You could call it strategic plan, annual plan, operational plan; the name doesn’t matter as much as the management of it. While these kinds of plans are common in larger enterprises, they are surprisingly rare in small and medium business.

Benefits

1. Guide your growth: Your business will grow or not depending on a lot of different factors, including overall economic trends, location, specific market needs, hard work, and other elements. Businesses that plan do it to guide and influence their growth, so that they move proactively towards defined objectives rather than just reacting to business events.
2. Manage priorities: Strategy is focus. Allocate resources where they will do the most good. Work towards your strengths and away from your weaknesses. Develop the company by doing the most important things, according to your long-term objectives.
3. Assign responsibilities: A plan gives you a place to develop organizational responsibilities.
4. Track progress: Think of a plan as a business positioning device. With a plan, you can track your progress towards goals, measure results, and manage the business. Without a plan, how do you tell whether or not you are moving in the right direction. What do you measure against?
5. Plan for cash: Profits are not cash, and cash is not intuitive. You spend cash, you don’t spend profits. However, businesses don’t plan well for cash, and they need to. That may not sound strategic, but it is. It is also the core of an operations plan, and an annual plan. Whatever else, you have to plan for cash.

Main elements
Regardless of the name you use, strategic plan or annual plan or operational plan, the vast majority of these plans include some or all of the following main points:

1. High-level strategy: Strategy is focus. It guides your growth. Strategy assigns priorities. Of the whole range of possible market segments, and the whole range of services and possible sales and marketing activities, which are your main priorities? Strategy is often a matter of understanding when and how to say no, selecting opportunities.
2. Specific responsibilities, activities, deadlines, and budgets: We call these milestones. They are the bricks and mortar of business planning, critical to business success.
3. Financial plan: One of the most important gains from an annual plan is the financial plan, which of course hinges on cash flow. A business needs to stress its priorities by making sure they get the right amount of money. Growth costs cash.

Experts urge small business owners to “brand” their businesses with a logo and a set of consistent marketing materials. However, they rarely explain the reasons behind this advice. Read more about Developing Your Company’s Logo. Below are some of some of the benefits of a professionally designed logo and identity system:

1. To look “bigger” and “established.” Home-printed business cards or cards printed with Microsoft clipart scream “small-time vendor” to your potential clients — and that is how they will want to compensate you.
2. To increase your chance of earning venture capital or of selling a business. If you present a well-rounded business package that includes marketing materials and graphics, your business will look more complete.
3. To attract more clients. Some clients look for a well-defined company, and “look and feel” may be one of their criteria for making a purchasing decision.
4. To brand yourself. If you are a consultant, you need a logo in order to build an image and a brand that is greater than your individual identity. Be sure to avoid the Top 10 Branding Mistakes.
5. To convey that you are reputable. A logo and professionally-printed materials show that you are committed to both your business and to your clients.
6. To give clients a sense of stability. You may not have been in business “since 1908,” but if you have invested in your identity, you are more likely to remain firm and relevant in the eyes of your customers. It goes a long way toward building that all-important “trust.”
7. To be more memorable. Forty percent of people better remember what they see than what they hear or read. So to have graphics associated with your business, and to keep those graphics consistent, makes you more likely to be at the forefront of potential clients’ minds when they need your goods or services.
8. To explain your company name. If your company name contains a little-known word or an acronym, the logo can give visual clues to its meaning.
9. To endear your company name to your clients. A difficult-to-pronounce or hard-to-remember company name makes it challenging for clients to hire you. When potential clients need your services, they may not recall a tricky name. But if you reinforce the name with interesting, compelling graphics, they are more likely to remember you, pick up the phone, and hire you.
10. To explain an unusual line of business. If your business is nontraditional or in a hard-to-explain industry, a logo can help to clarify exactly what it is that you do.
11. To differentiate you from your competition. A well-designed logo can have many subtle meanings and can begin to tell the story of how you do business, including the special practices that make you stand apart from the competition.
12. To stand out in your field. A well-designed logo and an identity system can put you far above the competition, especially when paired with a strong marketing program.
13. To comply with expectations. In some industries, a logo is just expected. In the creative services industry especially, having a logo is an industry standard.
14. To show your commitment. Do it for the sense of personal pride that it will add to your practice.

These benefits will boost your business and your confidence, so consider developing a logo and identity as soon as possible.

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Erin Ferree is a logo, print, and Web designer who has been making it easy for small businesses to stand out and to be visible, credible, and memorable for the past nine years.