Posts Tagged ‘business’

What will be the outcome of inserting a spile into another’s social media stream?

Posted: January 11, 2013 in sales, Social Media
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cbs6It was only a matter of time before the obvious happened.  Media outlets seeking a profit would use their influence, and social media stream to launch commercials during their periods of no news.  As you can see by the picture, I posed a question to the media channel asking what the outcome would be of selling marketing bandwidth to businesses seeking to grow their revenue.  The question was genuine. Is marketing for others on your channel a catch 22 for businesses? Businesses have to make money to survive, just like me & you. We cannot naively think they operate on good looks and charm, though many of their anchors are attractive. Ultimately, none of us survive on good looks alone. So, what is the answer?  Will the payout work? Or will the approach cloud what people come expecting to hear?

I see two possible outcomes to this argument.

Outcome One:

From a consumer’s perspective, we don’t engage on social mediums to be sold, but to be entertained.  When I engaged with the media source, I was expecting news, not a plug for a business.  My first reaction was hollow.  I read the feed thinking I was getting something new in the entertainment medium of news, only to see something I wasn’t expecting. Noise. Noise that did not match the voice I was expecting to hear.  The respect of a news media source was now altered to sell.  Puristically, I expected news, reality was they had to pay the bills too.  Which brings me to my point: If you are going to alter your voice for revenue – before we stake our spile into a holy sap tree for syrupy goodness and yes, we all do it – your voice needs to be protected.  There is only so much sap in that holy tree, are you willing to sacrifice your established voice for a new tone?

Outcome Two: (more…)

Handshake Value in Sales & Relationships

Posted: January 5, 2013 in sales, Social Media
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What is the value of a handshake?

Great question demanding a worthy answer.

Amazon seems to do quite fine without handshakes. Some e-tailers seem to do fine as well…so not every business needs handshakes, but…all businesses require trusting relationships.  Trust in business is a huge issue. No question about it. For small business, the economic engine of society and the focus of this post, I see handshakes as indispensable. The ability to look someone in the eyes and see competency and capability resound beyond what service we provide or the product we sell. Trust resounds transactions into loyalty.

As a new media provider I have seen how a digital presence and social media can help enhance trust, but it cannot replace the trust a physical handshake can provide.  (more…)

Go a Head, be Social & Chill Your Marketing Message

Posted: December 17, 2012 in sales, Social Media
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Go ahead, be social.

Go ahead, be social.

Adding a splash of humanity into your marketing campaign is worth the distraction from the marketing schedule.  The detour may not spell immediate ROI for your business, but will play a determining role in profits.  As you can see in the picture I took for one of my clients, there is no marketing message represented in this picture.  Or is there?  I say there is .

Marketing is more than just pushing product. Marketing is also about connecting with the soul of humanity.  (tweet this quote: Click Here)

We may buy a product because of a perceived (more…)

Black Friday ROI for Social Media in Retail

Posted: November 26, 2012 in sales, Social Media
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One thing is for sure. Change will happen. As the Social Mediums grown in their life cycle from start-ups to revenue producing there is bound to be plenty of change. The algorithm changes in Facebook have increased their revenue while at the same time decreased the exposure you can expect from marketing on that medium. Twitter has made some changes to their design while making the technical aspect of using the medium for marketing another challenge.
With all these changes, is the ROI still apparent for New Media or Social Media advertising?
Great question. Potentially Facebook and Twitter could have a significant part of ecommerce if the model was there, but they have not capitalized. Black Friday is a great case and point for this discussion. According to Blodget with Business Insider, last year Facebook Contributed 1.68% to sales, this year they lost an entire point (2012:1). Could this be due to their change in algorithm? Possibly. Twitter on the other hand contributed in 2011 a whopping .02% to sales and lost all that ground this year. Why? Have these mediums lost the influence? Or are they mediums designed for a different kind of ecommerce?
Social Media, Facebook & Twitter, are both word of mouth mediums. I may look for input as to where someone is going on Black Friday, but I’m going to get sales information directly from the source. Why? On Black Friday the regional nature of some stores means prices may not be consistent throughout the entire area, Facebook and Twitter can do little but encourage you to check out their local sales. Retail is difficult for social. A website with a check out basket may significantly increase the odds for this type of business.
So where can social and new media best be applied?
Social and new media may find the best application in the service industry where word of mouth is the best source for information. Several times a day I see people using social media to request information on local service providers. Once the recommendation is made, the search moves to the business’ new media and social media pages. The service providers I serve in real estate, title insurance, new homes and accounting all have seen significant rewards in the design of marketing plans for their social channels and new media platforms. My clients and I have seen the value of being interconnected on many mediums to spread the word.
New Media Marketing is interdependent like a rubber band ball. When you start pulling off the bands you are bound to get snapped. (click to Tweet this quote)
Each layer of new media requires that you be interconnected for maximum exposure. This interconnectedness can maximize your micro-marketing and image enhancement. When done correctly you eliminate noise, expand audience and convert lookers into buyers. Does the investment equal the reward? Having sold over $8M worth of real estate on new media, specifically social media, I can say it does work. Tailoring the message to fit, engage, enhance, and convert is only the beginning. There are several additional steps that can be identified through a marketing analysis, but we will leave that discussion to another day.

Contiguity is a new media marketing, branding and strategy provider in Richmond Virginia.
Blodget, H. (2012) ‘Guess What Percent Of Black Friday Online Sales Came From Twitter Referrals?’ Business Insider p.1. http://www.businessinsider.com/black-friday-online-sales-from-twitter-referrals-2012-11#ixzz2DIGGmO5C [accessed 25 November, 2012]

Socially Challenged

Posted: October 11, 2012 in Uncategorized
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Are you socially challenged? Not the geeky guy who has the goal of writing 10K lines of code before bed. Nor the guy who calculates the circumference and wind velocity of a pumpkin seed as it drops to the floor, while zipping his shirt into pants as he exits the bathroom. Though social faux pas do happen, the guy I’m referring to is the guy who starts up his social media marketing and strategy with a Facebook page for his business by using a person page.  A business interacting as a person is uncomfortable for friends and for customers.  I speak from experience.

Social Media Requires Strategy and Intelligent Design to be Effective.

(Tweet this Quote: Salesaddict.org says, “Social Media Requires Strategy and Intelligent Design to be Effective.” )

In 2007 my first bout with social began with me impersonating a company I was working for on Facebook.  After loading all the logos and graphics I could I started interacting and learned very quickly I had made a mistake.  Ahhhh, the innocence of a social media virgin is so – adolescent, youthful, naïve. I peered onto the business page, choked and found solace in listing the business on a personal page. I say I choked, because in reality I was scared to run my virtual profile naked through the cybernetic streets of social media. My own profile on Facebook? Impossible.  Fanatical.  Revolutionary – Social Media was for teens, and I was in my 30’s.

Now is the time to change. Confess your social sins and alter your social strategy in an effective way.  What I found out was simply social.  (more…)

Micro-Marketing on Social Media

Posted: July 23, 2012 in sales, Social Media
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Finding the soul of social media

Micro-marketing is a revolution.  Not one that began as TechCrunch reported the shift, nor as Econsultancy researched for empirical data.  Micro-marketing began decades ago signifying the end of one revolution and the beginning of another – we are now enjoying the benefits of the personal revolution.  Iconic items like the PC and Sony’s WalkMan were all evidence of the coming change.  Change which has sped up, increased in momentum and is now permeating how we demand for and consume product.   This new demand requires a focused message describing why consumers should trust you, a message delivered with watchful ear and a silent mouth. The personal revolution emancipates people and requires marketing to adapt – Micro-marketing.

Tweet this Quote:  The personal revolution emancipates people and requires marketing to adapt – Micro-marketing

Micro-marketing did not start with social media on Facebook nor did Twitter help focus a message in 140 characters.  These social media platforms did help establish the demand for  Micro-marketing, but they do not mark the beginning.  The mark revealed by Social Media is the longing and innate desire to be acknowledged, respected and understood as an individual.   The desire to be treated as an individual is now a mandate.  Labels. The label people carry may still be “consumer” but the innate desire each person commands is the desire for individuality. Micro-marketing is here to stay. The time to Micro-Market is NOW.

Tweet this Quote: The time to Micro-Market is NOW.

So how (more…)

Google Penguin Update & Content That Can Win in Social Media

Posted: July 2, 2012 in Social Media
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Social Media Content

The Penguin Updates by Google have really helped small business.  Now content plays a bigger role than creating content to be found by Google algorithms, which is a good thing when you are the expert creating content.

Why did this happen?

Recently I needed to search for some in depth information about a specific topic.  In the past this would have been a relatively easy search. Type the key word, let Google do its work and voila – my results. Only it wasn’t that easy.  I searched for twenty five minutes plus only to walk away discouraged with the results of my search.  What did I find in my search?  I found a multitude of sites trying to sell me something, others with useless information linking to other sites selling things, and worse no organic and meaningful information that would help me with my solution. As a Social Media nerd, I knew what was happening.  Content had been drowned in the polluted waters of content created for SEO.  There was no physical way for quality content to get a breath among the pages of content referring to other sources – sources developed for financial gain.  Thirty pages into the search proved fruitless.  Companies had figured out how to cheat the code and raise their products to the top.

Now, Content Prevails.

No more can (more…)

Groupon’s business value proposition & Robert Kennedy College

Posted: June 20, 2012 in sales, Social Media
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Groupon Value Proposition

Recently on my Social Media Facebook page (follow Contiguity.co here) a follower posted a question about the value of Groupon to the consumer. I did a little research to see what the value proposition Groupon poses to the client as well as the inherent value they provide to the business. The end result for the consumer and the end result for the business are diametrically opposed, or are they? Since I have finished up my MBA Financial Management Module at Robert Kennedy College, the administrators for the University of Cumbria in England, I will do an assessment of the business proposition.

First, we need to understand Groupon’s business plan. The plan is fairly simple. The Value proposition from Groupon is to contract with a local business to offer a discounted deal, advertise the offer to the public, collect the money from the public, cut a check to the business for their portion and let business begin. The offering to the public is a limited time offering with an expiration date.

Customer Perspective: The perceived return on investment from the client is high. Groupon expects each business to offer a 50% off deal to the consumer who will purchase the certificate. The value of the money spent provides a perceived high Net Present Value. I have actually purchased one such certificate to a local restaurant, I will tell you my perspective later.

Business Perspective: The 50% off Groupon encourages the business to sponsor is only a small part of the sacrifice each business makes to contract with Groupon. Of the remaining revenue of 50%, the business only receives 50% of the revenue. Example if the certificate’s face value is $100, the certificate is sold to the customer at $50. Groupon receives $25 for their services and the business receives $25 of revenue for a sacrifice of $100. A financial loss in this situation is completely inevitable, the hope is for the loss to remain isolated and the customer will thoroughly enjoy the services and will return as loyal customers paying full price.

Results: The financial results

(more…)

Twitter: More Power with Expandable Posts

Posted: June 14, 2012 in sales, Social Media
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Twitter has been experiencing some changes.  Good changes.  Twitter now has incorporated what they are calling “expanded Tweets.”   This expansion is shown both on the mobile site as well as the full site.  The concept is if you want to be able to read more of the post all you have to do to preview the post is click the “expand” button. When the tweet expands, you can then select to view the form of media associated with the tweet.  Picture, news clip or video can all be viewed without having to open up a fully new screen.  Take the video posted in the picture.  This video is 30 minutes long and linked from Youtube.  I was able to watch this video exclusive in the Twitter stream without having to open a new window.

What does this mean?

  • To the consumer they can still engage in rich versions of media without sacrificing the conversation and the relationship builder located in Twitter.
  • For the Digital Marketing consultant you can now engage an ADHD society with something attractive, content rich and compete with the stream of constant noise penetrating the mind and competing with your market’s attention
  • Engaging content (more…)

Social Media Marketing Workshop for Small Business Sales

Posted: June 5, 2012 in sales, Social Media
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Today is the first day Contiguity.co will teach Social Media Classes to small business owners and sales people.  The classes will consist of topics on how to prospect on social media, how to make your voice heard on social media and how to effectively perform social media marketing.  Each of the four sessions will cover a specific channel.  Facebook, being  the most popular, will go first followed by Twitter, Youtube, and WordPress.  The science and the art discussed during these sessions will be specific for each channel.  You will hear the same information I used sell $8,000,000 in residential real estate during the worst recession since the great depression.

If you or your company would like to benefit from a seminar like this one, please contact me at 804.893.1359.  Contiguity is a social media marketing, strategy, branding and public relations firm located in Richmond, Virginia and serves businesses and individuals of all sizes.  We are currently booking for our August 2012 Seminar. Space is limited to 15 people per seminar.  Call today to reserve your slot or visit our website at Contiguity.co and sign up online.

Seminars are available for those wanting to embrace social technology or consultancy for those who do not have the time are both available to help you increase your company’s revenue.

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