smm

Nov 02 2009

Why Area 224 is Bullish on the Business Climate (and What’s In It For You)

There’s now a lot of the RIGHT kind of activity out there, and we thought we’d share some reasons why we’re bullish on the business climate – as well as the “WIIFM” – “What’s In It for Me?” – for you.

Big Business Paying Attention to The Right Marketing Focus

Yes, we’ve talked to quite a few big business people — large, publicly traded companies, for example — who have decided that they need to take yet another look at how they are allocating funds. And being nimble enough to shift — sometimes on a dime — to Social Media Marketing and Mobile Technologies.

Case in point: Allstate Roadside Services, whose Mobile App is already off to a rousing start. [DISCLOSURE: Area 224 has a client relationship with Allstate Roadside Services to support this Mobile App.] The marketing push around this involves an integrated campaign — not JUST social media — but the decision to launch this in the first place stemmed from success the business had with MINI and a mobile app for MINI users.

Startups Jumping in With Both Feet – And Using the Bootstrap

No better way to start a business than to bootstrap and learn along the way. We did it with U Sphere — and boy did we learn a ton here about what makes things successful and, in our case, why things don’t scale or monetize enough to support the long-term business case.

Bootstrapping — building your business through sweat equity, looking under couch cushions for money, funding efforts out of cash flow — will give you the ability to understand just what the market will support. Or not support.

In any event, it seems like every day we’re tweeting with or getting a request to connect with a new startup. Most will not succeed, but some will figure it out. And all have the ability to learn from what the market tells them. (We did.)

Niche Within the Niche – Find it and Succeed

Self-serving mention of our Real SMM business — Social Media Marketing for Real Estate — and how it’s poised to make some things happen for the real estate industry.

Specifically, helping Realtors make better connections with consumers — i.e., people who will buy a house from them. Going after the overall real estate industry is, IMHO, too broad a focus. The “How Do You Market Yourself?” within real estate question — that’s a niche we think Social Media Marketing can help answer. Not all Realtors will want to get it, but the niche within the niche is where we’ll look for customers.

B2B Marketers Will Figure Out Social Media Marketing

It’s not going to happen overnight, but there’s something in each of the three other blurbs above for the B2B Marketing world.

For instance — where best to focus marketing dollars? Since SMM is trackable, moving ad dollars from print to online will give much better ROI data. Often, the business trade publications (maybe ironically) are the best place for online marketing — usually there’s a robust list, really good niche traffic numbers, and editorial content that drives visitors. (Because trade reporters with really good relationships are the ones breaking the industry stories that can drive traffic for right-now visitors that aren’t reading the print publication.)

We’ve talked to B2B marketers about sorting this out — we were part of a great discussion last week at Website Magazine’s Roundtable Discussion. (Disclosure — that’s not the official name, but Area 224 was there, at a round table, under a sign that said “Social Media Marketing.” The format of the networking event was great — move around every three minutes and talk about your business issues and learn from each other. Which we did.) It’s an investment — Social Media Marketing is an investment. B2B Marketers know that. How to best allocate the investment will take time to figure out — but the answer comes back to one of the discussions we’ve had over and over.

Why Do You Want To “Do Social Media Marketing” In The First Place?

Customer Service? Market Research? Public Relations? Executive Positioning?

B2B Marketers who know that up front — “Hey, let’s use Twitter to do brand research and see if anyone knows who we are?” — are poised for success.

So, Why are You Bullish on the Business Climate?

Oct 23 2009

Two Social Media Marketing Campaigns: the Big-Budget Movie vs. the Charleston Bank – and Why We’re Betting on the Bank

Disclosure: Area 224 does not have a business relationship with either of the companies mentioned in this article.

“Engagement.” This is the social media marketing buzzword du jour. Don’t just talk at people, engage with people. Get them talking to you, converse with them, find out what’s on their minds. Build a relationship. Then sell them something, maybe.

Engagement can probably be described in layman’s terms like this:

Talk with people so they’ll give a crap about your brand.

A lovely case-in-point from two diametric opposites on the Social Media Marketing spectrum: The Fourth Kind (a movie whose “social media hub” is here) and Community First Bank (located in South Carolina, and you can see their Twitter page here.

So, dear reader, why are we betting on the bank?

Well, for starters, there’s a lesson here in a little thing called “lifetime customer value.” We’ll begin with the math.

Really. We’re serious.

Get me “engaged” in this movie, by visiting the Twitter page, sharing an alien abduction encounter story of my own on Facebook, or reading Larry King’s blurb on the movie (center bottom of page) — do all that and I might be convinced to spend $10 on the movie, maybe a little more on popcorn. Perhaps I’ll buy the DVD when it comes out.

As of this writing, 32,000 fans on Facebook (with an estimated fan acquisition cost of $5 per, based on typical spend of Facebook-only ad campaigns plus the creative), plus 650 Twitter followers (use the same $5 per in marketing costs, for setup of your account, staff time, creative, etc.).

So we’ll say it this way:

32,650 times $5 = $163,250 in SMM INVESTMENT.

That’s what it costs this movie to acquire lifetime customers, or engaged fans, or followers.

$10 in lifetime customer value for each fan — assuming (generously) that half will see the movie and the other half will buy the DVD for 10 bucks.

$326,500 for an ROI of 100%.

(Note: we realize this is a very quick math exercise, and that we’re being both overly generous and overly simple. Stick with us.)

What about the bank?

A quick scan of the Community First Fan Page on Facebook gives us 400 followers, give or take. Twitter stream has just 38 followers — but they just launched that on Thursday.

Let’s call it 500 followers to be generous.

Math:

500 fans/followers at $5 per to acquire. $2500 total.

PLUS, as you can see, they’re doing a contest where they give away $100 to lucky fans/followers. Let’s put down another $2000 for those giveaways, plus the implementation costs, etc.

TOTAL SMM INVESTMENT: $4500.

ROI = ???

This brings us to the details, the ask, the big question…and why we’re betting on the bank:

What is the lifetime customer value for a new bank customer?

That’s where the math can get fuzzy. BUT, that’s where engagement comes in.

Did you notice the bank’s contest? Get clues through a variety of media — LOCAL media. Find the clues on Facebook, and on Twitter. Win money by visiting a branch. Wait, we’re now engaging.

Engagement – real, true engagement, ratchets up your lifetime customer value, no matter what industry you’re in.

By getting fans and followers to visit the bank to try to win money, the bank is increasing the number of touch points, the number of chances to connect with customers in person. The opportunity to put a human face with the bank’s message.

Is the lifetime value of these customers MORE THAN $10?

You betcha.

We could argue til we’re blue in the face about how much more than $10 a lifetime bank customer is worth. Make a $1000 deposit that throws off 1% in interest revenue for the bank and you’re at the $10 threshold already. Get a mortgage through the bank, open up an IRA, a couple CDs, whatever.

The movie, on the other hand, is engaging just sorta. Oooh, you’ve been abducted by aliens, too? Come see our movie. Thanks for the $10.

Again, folks, we’re betting on the bank. Wouldn’t you?

Oct 20 2009

9 Quick Tips for Small Business: Use Social Media Marketing to Make Some Noise

Okay, you’ve got a small business, or you’re thinking of going into work for yourself. Or you’ve just left Corporate America and you’re figuring out what’s next.

Here are 9 Quick Tips on how to start using Social Media Marketing (and Web Marketing and Internet Marketing) to Make Some Noise!

See if your business name or your own name are available on Namechk. Don’t focus on getting all of your names, but do get the big ones.
While you’re at it, don’t ignore your own name — if you have a business, you’ll want to nab your personal space in case you need it later. If you are a sole practitioner — like you’re in Real Estate — you’ll want to use your own name instead of a business name.
Twitter: it might scare you, it might seem like a ton of work, it might seem like everyone is saying stuff like “I am eating soup right now.” Don’t worry about using Twitter as anything other than a conversation engine, and spend some time using it before you even ask for the sale. If ever.
Do you have a web page? Do you have a blog? How about both at the same time. We recommend WordPress. It’s easy to use, and, even though it’s a blogging platform, it’s also a Content Management System, or CMS.
Video is a great way to simply, effectively and inexpensively tell a story. If you don’t have an expensive video camera, use a Flip. Video yourself talking about your business, make it two minutes or less, and post it to YouTube. AND post it to Metacafe. Why them? See item 6.
Metacafe rules when it comes to getting your video actually seen. Keywords and metatags and all that — it’s the number two site in the US for video sharing.
Start collecting email addresses in the most ethical way possible: use a service like aWeber. Double opt-in is direct marketing lingo for asking your permission, then sending you a note double-checking on that permission before sending a marketing message. Better than Constant Contact, in our opinion.
Blogging is great. But be sure to take time to comment on others’ blogs. Don’t sell people stuff — just find something you agree with or disagree with in the post, and make a comment about it. Spend 10 minutes a day doing this and it will pay dividends.
Remember, it’s not hours: it’s output. It’s not about efficiency, it’s about effectiveness.

Go get em!

Sep 25 2009

Don’t Forget the Video

Happy Friday. It’s been a productive an effective week here at Area 224 HQ. We could list about 1000 things that happened, including our article that appeared on Ragan.com, but instead we want to focus on one EFFECTIVE tactic for promotion of your business.

Video.

First, take a look at the video we just produced for Real SMM – our suite of Social Media Marketing tools for Realtors and Real Estate Professionals. Here it is.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueMxEw_ssbI

Are we tooting our own horn here? You betcha. (We’d be crazy if we weren’t tooting our own horn, plus Seth Godin does it for Brands in Public, so why not us?)

I’ll let you pick apart the video if you like – production values, what’s with the guy’s haircut, did the host stammer, whatever.

The points behind this post are these:

1. Perfect is good. Done is better. This is one of my favorite quotes. Is the video promotion idea sitting in your head? Do you have a camera? Can you do some quick editing on a Mac? No excuses.

2. Approval processes be darned. Once small and mid-sized organizations realize that it’s easier to ask forgiveness instead of permission – and once management sees that you (front-line person, mid-level manager, whomever) are pretty good at delivering messages…well, they’ll let you do more of them.

3. Niche – You’ve Got One, Right? One mistake many make with videos is figuring that they are a failure if they’re only watched 10 times. Depends on the ten people watching them.

Some sites, we have to say, are much better at allowing you to target niches with your videos. We happen to like Metacafe for this: their keyword search methodology is really good for niche marketers.

Even if you aren’t a niche marketer, you can become one – and you should become one. An expert in a broad topic, such as Public Relations, usually has niche expertise about a specific industry they have a lot of clients in.

Now go make your video.

Sep 22 2009

5 Signs You’ve Got the Wrong Social Media Marketing Consultant

Note: this appeared on Ragan.com’s website yesterday. We’re running it here in case you missed it.

A litmus test for social media marketing “experts.”

There’s a great phrase, popularized in Texas, to describe someone who “talks a good ballgame.”

“All Hat, No Cattle.”

I’ve always liked this phrase; but, in two separate discussions in the past week, others have used it to describe some social media marketers and their inability to execute. So it got me thinking about Social Media Marketing (SMM) and the phrase’s applicability – specifically when hiring a social media marketing consultant for your company, brand or organization.

There are tell-tale signs of “All Hat, No Cattle” – and brands of all stripes and sizes, organizations for- and not-for-profit, and marketers in consumer and business arenas should take note: SMM Consultants are the smartest people in the room (ask them and they’ll tell you) but can they actually deliver?

Here are the 5 indicators that you’ve got the wrong SMM Consultant.

1. They Don’t Ask The Strategy Question. As in: “What is Your Business Strategy?” Or, more to the point for this discussion, “Why Do You Want to ‘Do’ Social Media Marketing?”

There’s a reason that they won’t ask this question: it talks them out of a job.

There’s danger everywhere of not asking this question. Big agencies – and we’re talking PR Firms and Ad Agencies – need the business. So they won’t ask the question because the SMM business is the door-opener. They want to ghost-Tweet for you so they can position your executives later: but then there’s this huge disconnect between what the business is trying to accomplish (e.g. “sell more widgets to the auto industry”) and what the communications suite wants out of Twitter (e.g. “we have to have a Twitter presence because everyone else has one”).

Small agencies, even single-shingle operations, need the work, so they’re more likely to take on any project regardless of whether there’s a strategy to it.

Smart SMM Consultants will ask you what you’re trying to accomplish with all this stuff. If they don’t, they aren’t doing their job.

2. Failure to Tweet Properly. This could be a thorny one, as one man’s Twitter is another man’s frittering away time. But you can learn a lot about your SMM Consultant by how they Tweet.

Tell-tale signs of Failure to Tweet Properly include:

Bad follower/following ratio. If you’re Timothy Ferriss, my personal hero and author of “The 4-Hour Workweek,” you are allowed to follow less than 200 people and be followed by more than 59,000 people. You are also a best-selling author and are not trying to sell your SMM Consulting services. Otherwise, your potential SMM Consultant must follow people back.
You don’t tweet at least once a day. This shows us that you just don’t get it: if you can’t find a way to do this as part of your social media regimen, you are not eating your own dog food.
You cannot, when pressed, give one real-life Twitter success story of your own. This is so vital, but doesn’t have to be the “Dell got 10 million bucks from their Twitter stream” example. I got a business meeting with a prospect just because I RT’d his post and then followed up. All we need is one example from your IRL use of Twitter.

3. Refusal to Consider Pay-for-Performance. OMG! Did we say that out loud? Yes!

This is not advocating moving entirely to a pay-for-performance model. BUT, what we are saying here is, if your future SMM Consultant refuses to consider it, move elsewhere.

Why? Well, first of all, affiliate marketing has some really smart elements to it that all agencies and brand marketers can learn from. Like tracking. Ubiquity. Conversion rates.

Secondly, we’ve always advocated that traditional agencies should not “discriminate” based on how clients compensate them.

Now the performance elements can vary — number of Facebook fans, or number of widget sales, or something else. But without skin in the game, well, there’s no skin in the game.

4. Recommend the Wrong Tools for the Job. You’ve asked the strategy question in point one, so this should be easy.

Don’t bring a blowtorch when a screwdriver is needed.

Don’t force a Facebook fan page down the client’s throat when what they really need is Ning to connect their employees in a closed network.

We’ve actually told prospects “save your money, install WordPress.” Meant we left some work on the table, but it was the wrong work for them and we like sleeping at night. So should your SMM Consultant.

5.”We Know Everything About Social Media.” Lasso them pardners out of the room. NOW.

Welcome to the ginormous learning lab that is Social Media Marketing. Glad to have you here. Now, if your consultant claims they know everything, they’re completely full of it.

Why do you think guys like Biz Stone at Twitter keep changing the terms of service? Simple: they don’t know everything about their own service. That’s a good thing – it proves the willingness to watch the lab, tweak along the way, make changes that benefit the greater good, all that fun stuff.

You’re gonna keep learning as you go – everyone should. Tell the client that up front.

Which brings us back to our original “All Hat, No Cattle” subject for a final thought:

You’re working on “spec.” Spec, in this case, is your own social media presence.

If you, as a Social Media Marketing Consultant, want to sell us on your stuff, you don’t need to have 10,000 followers on Twitter. But you do need to be able to show up rather prominently on the social networks in a Google Search of your name, your company’s name, or (ideally) both.

The chuck wagon’s coming: you need to have some steer.