Tag Archives: trend

What is the Best #SocialMedia Tool for a Marketing Campaign?

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It is interesting to see how business owners or marketing people jump straight into Facebook when talking about using social media tools for a marketing campaign. Do Facebook fit into every marketing campaign there is? What is the best social media tool for a marketing campaign?

If you came here to find out what is THAT tool, I’m sorry to disappoint you because there isn’t one. But before you click away, let me tell you why:

#1: You can’t fix a window with a hammer

Similarly, you don’t saw with a pair of pliers. There is a tool out there for your marketing objectives and not every tool is the answer. Get this – even experienced social media experts fall into the trap of using too many tools just because they all seem to fit. Put your marketing objectives first and focus on what is it that you want to accomplish with it THEN select your tools. You don’t drill a hole in your wall only to find that it is too big or small to be used.

Here’s a simple tip that I use often to select compatible tools by using just a paper and pen:

planning an event with social media marketing ideas1. Create a master list of ALL the things you can do or can think of using social media
2. Put down your marketing objectives and describe your target audience
3. Now group the items on your list into 4 different categories: the ‘Must Haves’, ‘Good-to-Have’, ‘Maybe Next Time’ and ‘I Don’t Need It’

planning an event with social media integration4. Select your tools!

In this example, you may want to consider having a Facebook page, host a simple contest to get fans to share about the event, encourage fans to post photos from the event to win something, place QR codes at the event to uncover a mystery gift or use Foursquare to reward visitors at your event. As for ideas on how to improve your event further, you’ve got the ‘Maybe Next Time’ column to help you out.

#2: You cannot build a house with a single screwdriver

From the very same example you’ll also find that although your target audience are on Facebook, it should not be your only answer when it comes to social media marketing. At times you’ll be required to include other tools to complement your marketing campaigns such as a microsite (it can be a blog), a QR campaign for on-ground interactivity, a Foursquare special to reward loyalty or a mobile app containing an event directory and itinerary and more!

The larger your objectives are, the larger the campaign will be, and the more tools you’ll (likely) have to use but it all begins with setting the objectives right and keeping with it.

My Recommendation?

social media swiss knife

Get yourself a social media Swiss knife. I use the above method almost all the time. What about you?

Have You Replaced Your Wipers for #SocialMedia?

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Have you ever drove in a heavy downpour with a faulty wiper? Not so much of it being broken, but not able to give your windscreen a clean wipe – especially at night. If you haven’t, it looks something like this:
driving with bad vision on social media

Without going further, let me tell you that I’ve been driving in this condition for quite sometime. I know I can easily change the wiper blades but somehow it is always not worth the hassle and it didn’t seem like it would rain! When it does, I find me telling myself that I can handle it since I’m experienced.

How often do we have the same thought? We choose to stick to our current condition just because it is a hassle or inconvenient to change. In fact, we may think that we’re good at it – because we’ve ‘trained’ under the same situation for numerous times.

Change your social media wiper blades!

Why should you?

#1: Your vision is greatly limited

It never is a good thing when your vision is limited – especially when you’re driving. The same goes to managing your social media presence. You may be aware that you need a social media strategy for your business and it is true; but it takes more than just strategy for you to make social media work for you. You must be able to see what lies ahead of you and adapt to change and requirements because social media is about people, and people change. They can pull their brakes causing you to crash right into them because you just couldn’t see it coming.

What can you do: Always be on a look out for signs. Know what your competitors are doing. Know what you target audience are looking for. Be aware of the latest happenings especially when it comes to marketing. You do not want to be last on board the next Facebook.

#2: You drive a LOT slower

The heavier the rain, the slower you get. Many times businesses fail to integrate social media into their marketing strategy because they are stubborn. They are determined to drive forward relentlessly despite the heavy rain – which is not necessarily a good thing. Sure, it can be rewarding when you get to your destination but you may have taken much more time and exhausted much more energy than usual.

What can you do: Sometimes it is better to stop by the road to re-plan your journey with a clearer vision. Maybe you’re using the wrong route or the wrong tools to begin with. Could it be that your prospects aren’t even on Twitter?

#3: You max out your level of concentration

It takes great effort and strength to remain focused over a long period of time. Imagine driving in that condition for an hour or more – it’ll suck your life dry because you’re simply trying to make vision out of no vision. Don’t get me wrong, concentration is great and your determination is plausible but don’t you want to use that for the right purpose? You may be putting all your effort into the wrong area – whether by trying too hard to keep up with trends, emulating A-list bloggers or even digging deep for followers.

What can you do: Concentrate where it matters the most for you. It can be producing quality content, engaging with fellow bloggers from the industry, participating in tweet chats to build your networks or listening to what your customers have to say – social media isn’t social anymore if you’re too focused on the numbers.

Imagine…

clear vision on social media Driving down the road with 100% clear vision with a perfect set of wiper blades. You now can drive normally, yet enjoy the journey by perhaps turning up the music and humming away to your next destination.

It’s time to replace that wiper blades of yours for a new one.

p.s. I’ve finally replaced my car’s wiper blades!

Brand Focus #5: Groupon in Malaysia – Friend or Foe for Your Business?

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will groupon help businesses grow?It has been a couple of months now since Groupon officially came into Malaysia by acquiring GroupsMore.com and many businesses have hopped unto what I call the Groupon hype – a similar scene happening around the world. Businesses go on Groupon for marketing purposes, to draw crowd or bargain hunters to their store / outlet and hopefully translates into future sales (click here if you’ve never heard of Groupon before).

I managed to talk to two different business owners recently and we somehow got to the topic of Groupon and it would seem that they both have been badly ‘pinched’ by Groupon.

Initial Observation: Groupon As a Foe

1. Their business actually experienced losses. Groupon deals attracts the crowd, that’s for sure. If your products already have low margins to begin with, you may experience losses – especially when the crowd pours in for your awesome deal.

2. Their business cannot cope with the crowd. So you’ve got a deal up and you’re fully booked for the whole of next month – but you do not have the resources and the capacity to manage each and every customer. Mismanagement may turn away customers for good and if you’re planning to invest into more manpower and equipment, you better have the margins well calculated because…

3. Your existing customers (that may not be on Groupon) will also want discounts because of the awesome deal you’re already giving to others.

4. On top of that, the customer retention rate is said to be very low, at about 5% – 10% and in some cases it still does not make up to the ideal margin.

While the above may not be true for every business out there, many have experienced the negative affect of Groupon which led me to think – is Groupon really that bad of a business / marketing model to adopt?

My answer is: no.

7 Tips on How to Maximize Groupon for Your Business

#1: Know Your Margins

Understand this before proceeding: while every business can use Groupon, not every business should use Groupon. The reason is simple – if your business operates on very low profit margins, you’ll definitely end up with a loss – especially if you’re a small business without any marketing budget set aside. Know how much of a margin you’re able to spare (and survive), even if there’s a large crowd. Set the group discount rate at a level in which you’re comfortable at and yet remain attractive.

#2: Know Your Business Operations

This applies best to the service industries. Know when are your peak and off-peak seasons or timings in a day. ‘Sell’ your off-peaks cheaper in return for crowd. This is where Groupon can truly shine – put in terms and conditions specifying that the offer / deal will only work during specific timing of a day (e.g. 3-5pm) to boost sales rather than not making any sale during the off-peak hours.

#3: Never Give in Quality for Quantity

Use the crowd to your advantage – show them what you’re able to offer even when you’re under pressure. Whether it is customer service or food preparation, make sure you’re showing your customers the best you can offer. This is the time to give them a reason to come back for more!

#4: Build Your Database – Engage

Take this opportunity to build your database by engaging with your customers individually. Talk to them, get them to subscribe to your newsletter, ‘like’ you Facebook page, ‘follow’ your Twitter handle, sign-up for a loyalty programme, participate in a contest or even to write a testimonial for you. In other words, do not let them leave without leaving you with something valuable for your business. On top of that…

#5: Follow-up Offers

Don’t let them leave empty handed! Give them something in return to invite them to come back for more. Something along the lines of “bring a friend on your next visit to enjoy a similar treat” can do wonders. Retention rates are low because businesses do not give the customers sufficient reasons to stay. So why let them leave empty handed?

#6: Make The News

Make use of the crowd to spread the news! Snap pictures, tweet away, launch a Foursquare special and create buzz across existing social media platforms. Customers are drawn to crowd and if you are already attracting one, let them know you have one!

#7: Encourage Feedback

This is the most important of all – always ask for feedback from your customers so that you’ll know what went wrong / right to do better in your next Groupon deal. Offer as many feedback options as possible – through Twitter, Facebook, contact forms or emails and be sure to respond to everyone of them positively.

Have you used Groupon for your business? How did it work out for you? How else do you think Groupon can benefit businesses?

Brand Focus #2: Basic Customer Service Mistakes You Don’t Want to Bring onto #SocialMedia

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I was hungry one afternoon and I did not want to leave the house as it has been really hot where I’m at lately. I thought that since I’ve not had pizza for quite some time, I could just order one and have it delivered within 30 minutes – after all, that’s their service promise. To top if off, they now have a tracking service so I’ll know where my pizza is at. Cool!

Dominos Pizza Malaysia

So I placed my order at 2.32pm, expecting it to arrive at 3.02pm and you’ve guessed it – it did not arrive then. “No problems”, I thought. “I’ll just get a free pizza on my next order and delays do happen anyway.”

3.15pm and the pizza has yet to arrive and this is where I decided to put Dominos Malaysia’s customer service to test. I called up the call centre and reported my “missing” pizza in which they told me that perhaps the rider was lost and advised me to give him another 5 minutes else I should call them back.

10 minutes passed, 3.30pm and still no sign of the pizza. I called Dominos as they told me to and they told me to wait for another 5 to 10 minutes and that there is nothing that he (the sales rep) can do to help. Shocked by his reply, I probed further and he then said his manager may be able to do something about it but he isn’t free at the moment and mentioned that the manager will call me back the moment he is free.

The verdict? 3 days have passed, no calls received.

This incident reminds me of my past experience with another company.

3 Basic Customer Service Mistakes That Should NOT Be Brought To Social Media

Lesson #1: Don’t Assume If You Aren’t Sure

5 minutes. Are you sure? If there’s one thing in common in most customer service personnel, they give inaccurate information or in other words, false hope. They give a solution that is of most convenient to them and hope that it’ll never come back to them.

On social media platforms, it is worse. When a customer posts a question or complain on your blog / Facebook page / timeline, they are most likely already confused or dissatisfied with you and should be handled with care. If you do not know the answer, seek for help or offer to discuss the solution privately via email (and get someone to help you out!). Do not ever give answers for the sake of giving them.

Lesson #2: Be Careful of What You Speak

customer service on social media - think before you speakLike it or not, you’re representing your brand and saying “I can’t do anything to help” can be detrimental, even though it was not meant in that way. This may be more difficult to do over the phone but you’ve got no excuse if it is on the computer screen.

Take some time to structure your words before clicking on the “submit”, “update” or “tweet” button.

Lesson #3: Do What You’ve Said You’ll Do… and Don’t Take Too Long

The last thing customer wants is to wait. Get back to them within the shortest time frame possible! If you’ve said you would call, email or reply to their enquiry, do so! I personally think that no business should take more than 24 hours to respond. Anything more will clearly spell out to the customer that you’re N.O.T.I.N.T.E.R.E.S.T.E.D.

It won’t look good if the same customer posts on your wall for the 2nd time demanding for a reply. Remember, everyone is watching!

Is there any other mistakes you think should be avoided at all cost on social media? Share them below!

 

By the way, the pizza came at about 3.40pm and I received a standard voucher for a free pizza on my next order but still no phone call from them.

The Digital Economy

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The economy as we all know relies a lot on trades, in other words, buying and selling – the focus is on the money. Is that all there is to the economy?

“Economy is also defined as: The wealth and resources of a country or region, esp. in terms of the production and consumption of goods and services” – Google definitions

I would like to suggest that there’s more to that today – in this digital economy.

What drives the digital economy?

#1: People

Erik Qualman mentioned in his book “Socialnomics” that social media is a people-driven economy that will change the way we live and do business – no longer a ‘toy’ for kids anymore.

Relationships and networks, that’s what the digital economy is all about and both cannot be bought with money alone. It takes time, effort and commitment and buying fans / followers won’t speed up the process. Think about it – gone were the days where people were influenced by well-crafted sales pitches. It’s all about real, human recommendations. That’s where comments, ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ come in and many businesses have seen (and reap) the benefits.

#2: Integration

This is an era of integration. You see the latest electronic devices being integrated with so many functions from touch screens, web browsing capabilities, cameras, GPS and even near field communication functions. In business, you see companies merging together to achieve competitive advantage and outsourcing somewhat becomes a norm unlike before where companies hire their own developers, support teams and graphic designers.

This is also true in advertising / marketing campaigns. Companies are using what I call integrated media, combining both social and conventional media for better reach, control and effectiveness. Printed ads are no longer limited to static information with QR (Quick Response) or AR (Augmented Reality) codes; customer interaction goes beyond phone and email support with the inclusion of social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook; events become more interesting with visitors literally ‘liking’ a particular product / display on the spot!

#3: Minimalists

Businesses and companies are moving towards the minimalistic approach. Today’s websites are a good indication – most websites are clutter free unlike before where they are overloaded with information. They understand that more is not necessarily better thus small businesses are also becoming more focused, from total solution providers to specialized solution providers.

Is your business ready for the digital economy? What are your thoughts on the digital economy? How will it evolve further?

 

The 5 Groups of Marketers on #SocialMedia

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Having worked and talked with a number of businesses in Malaysia, I find that there are 5 groups of people out there when it comes to taking on social media. Whether they are small business owners, marketing personnel from large corporations or even individuals, they all seem to fall into one of the groups below:

Group 1: The Fans

You know social media is the way forward. You embrace it no matter where they are or the situation that they’re in. You know your way in and out of social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter. You are very active and you’re everywhere – perhaps the first to jump on that new social network recently launched – there is just no social media tool you will miss, as long there is “social media” labeled on it.

Group 2: The Skeptics

You feel that social media is a trend and it will soon fade away simply because conventional media still reigns. Perhaps you’ve tried this social media thingy and found that it does not work for you and does not see how it can for others, too. You may see it as a gimmick that marketing agencies are trying to sell and you just don’t see why would anyone want to follow your business on Twitter or check-in to your business on Foursquare. Social media is overrated.

Group 3: The Navigators

These are the people that know their way around social media. You know what are the best tools around, what works and what does not, what tools to use for a particular situation. You see the potential of social media and know how it can both benefit and fail your business depending how it is managed. You’ve all the knowledge and is constantly learning and you’re good in putting together strategies and plans to make it work for you.

Group 4: The Lurkers

Or perhaps also known as readers. You go around reading blog posts, tweets from specific #hashtags, following those at the top in the industry, always accumulating knowledge on your own. Yes, you may have your own social media accounts but they are just avenues for you to obtain information or maybe even to keep tabs on your competitors. You may also be feeling inadequate because others seem to be more knowledgeable / experienced than you.

Group 5: The Creators

Just the opposite of Lurkers – you create content and participate across social media platforms. You’ve that burning desire within you to keep sharing what you have, not afraid of what another may think of you. Chances are you already have a blog and is on Twitter or Facebook (at least) to get your words and thoughts out. You’re participating in chats, communities, groups and comments. You’re doing it as a way to express your thoughts and ideas.

Which Group Do You Fall Under?

So, how do you see yourself on social media? I say I’m a little bit of a creator + navigator (and fan :p) when it comes to social media, simply because I get excited when talking to people about it and even more so when the question pops “how can my business use social media?”.

Before Doing Anything, Know Yourself

Many times individuals and businesses fail on social media because they THOUGHT they should be what they aren’t. Unless you’re a master of disguise, the consumers can see through you right away. Understand that there is no right or wrong group to fall under.

However, if you’re only obsessed about content creation, don’t neglect lurking once in awhile. If you’re all about lurking, maybe you should put your knowledge together and be a navigator instead. Too much of a group can also be your downfall.

What about you? What group do you fall under?

5 Reasons Why #SocialMedia Contradicts Conventional Media Marketing

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The more I dive deeper into social media, the more I see how different is marketing today compared to before with the usage of various social media tools and platforms. The conventional way of ‘mass marketing’ or ‘mass advertising’ don’t seem to work that effectively anymore and even some small business owners are beginning to explore this new ‘thing’ called social media.

Before we go further, there’s this VERY interesting video on YouTube that you HAVE TO watch:

Interesting huh? With those thoughts on your mind, here are the 5 reasons why social media marketing contradicts conventional marketing methods:

#1: Conventional Marketing Says TALK. Social Media Marketing Says LISTEN.

Just like the video above, conventional marketing does all the talking and they’ll just go on and on to promote their products and brand just like how this sentence will go on and on without any punctuations and you’ll have to read the entire sentence in one breath and yet it still does not end because they’ll want you to buy and if you don’t they’ll keep talking and talking.

In other words, it’s just a ONE way relationship. Consumers today respond better to conversations. Remember, a conversation is TWO way. Before you click that “update” button, think – will YOU as a consumer respond to a post / update / tweet like that? How does that reflect you as a business? Is it too pitchy? Are you giving an opportunity for your followers to respond?

#2: Conventional Marketing Says KEEP. Social Media Marketing Says SHARE.

Content used to be exclusive. My research is mine. My video is mine. My article is mine. My statements are mine. Can’t blame them though, there isn’t any content sharing platform back then. However, such content were considered as trade secrets and even employees are not told of it.

Today, social media marketing is all about sharing. It is about getting as many people to share the message as possible. Call to actions are no longer limited to “Enter Your Email to Win Prizes” but to “Share This With As Many Friends As Possible to Win”. Companies are even creating content solely for sharing purposes – through SEO (you want to share your content), viral videos, contests and more!

#3: Conventional Marketing Says SELL. Social Media Marketing Says GIVE.

Conventional marketing focuses on the money. You have to pay if you want something from me. Makes sense, right? However in social media marketing, it’s all about giving, and believing in the philosophy of ‘givers gain’. Giving does not necessarily mean money, but VALUE. This can be done through information, service, support and even conversations to keep that relationship with your consumers alive.

#4: MONEY Determines Conventional Marketing. ENGAGEMENT Determines Social Media Marketing.

The rich becomes richer and the poor poorer in conventional marketing. Big corporations have millions of dollars every year to put up huge marketing campaigns with their brand plastered on every wall, ceiling, car and walkways, so much so that it feels as though they dropped a bomb in a city and yes, they do get the word out rather effectively – with a lot of money.

Not so on social media platforms. Money helps, but it does not necessarily produce results. The engagement and relationship speaks louder on social media. Think about it – what is it that really makes a content viral? The content? Or the consumers? The consumers make it happen. Yes, you can purchase fans and followers but that is equivalent of hiring a delivery boy to hand out your flyers and that does not go very well on social media.

This is where smaller businesses stand a chance against the big guys.

#5: Conventional Marketing Says QUANTITY. Social Media Marketing Says QUALITY.

Now this is an interesting one. Many have spoken on this before and I, too have written an article about quality isn’t exactly everything on social media networks (yes, I believe quantity matters, too!). However when it comes to conventional marketing, quantity ALWAYS matters. Think about it: the number of flyers, brochures, airtime, commercial spots, newspaper advertisements, coupons to giveaway, buntings, billboards… you get the drift.

Social media marketing on the other hand, aims for quality. Quality articles that educates, quality fans and followers that become your brand advocates, quality updates to drive conversations and quality conversations to build relationships.

Moving Forward

Recently I met with a potential client that just could not comprehend why would people blog to share personal / company information, update their status so that others would know what they’re up to and ‘check-in’ so that people could stalk them. He knows he needs to ‘do’ social media but just can’t get the reason why are people so into it.

Having looked at all that, it is clear that social media marketing really DOES NOT make sense to a conventional marketer. If you’ve been wondering why is it so difficult to convince an “experienced” marketer in your company (or client) to adopt social media methods, it is because it does not make sense to them.

It’s sharing time! Are there any other areas that conventional marketing efforts contradicts social media marketing? Do leave your thoughts in the comments section below!

Websites vs Blogs: Which is More Superior?

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I’ve been on #TweetDiner (a weekly chat on Twitter) for about a month now and it has been really awesome thus far! Met a number of great people and have definitely learnt quite a bit from fellow diners. If you do not know how it works, we have a topic every week and we’ve been talking about LinkedIn last month and today we started on the series of Blogging (click here to see what’s coming up next).

While discussing about Blogs, there was a mini discussion about the differences between a Blog and a Website. How different is a Blog from a Website? Should every business Blog? Is a Blog a Website?

A quick ‘define’ function on Google tells us that:

A blog is a personal website on which an individual records opinion, links to other sites, etc. on a regular basis.

A website is a location connected to the Internet that maintains one or more pages on the World Wide Web.

What does this mean?

To me, this means that Blogs are merely a subset of a Website, in which a Website encompasses everything on the Internet – from Blogs, Forums, Social Networking Sites, Search Engines, Shopping Carts and etc. In other words, Blogs, Forums and Social Networking Sites are merely functions to a Website.

Blogs

Blogs in general operates as a Content Management System (CMS). If you were one of those that had a GeoCities site years ago, you were technically already “blogging” back then. The term ‘Blog’ only came into being when people started keeping online (or web) journals (or logs) on different Websites. Having said that, it is no wonder a Blog allows you to create, manage and publish contents so easily – just like what a CMS does.

Websites

Here comes the tricky part. True, traditional websites are built to have static information on what we call HTML. Content updating was a tiresome task and requires technical skills to do so which is why web designers earn up to RM10,000 (about USD3,000) back then for a simple HTML website. As technology grew, people found a way to update content the easier (and cheaper) way – through CMS.

W3Techs: Research shows that WordPress is the most widely used CMS

Which Reigns Superior?

As you can see, that is an unfair comparison. Websites encompasses (and can be a combination) of everything which is naturally more superior to Blogs.

Should / Can A Company Use a Blog as their Website?

PLEASE DO. An ordinary user may only look at WordPress as a publishing (i.e. Blog) tool. Did you know that that very same blogging tool you have holds great power (sorry, couldn’t resist that one)?

Let’s take a look at some examples of companies using WordPress as their Website, both old and new:

www.kb24.com

Interesting, no?

Some of these sites don’t even look like a Blog! How do we know it is WordPress? Simple. Simply right click on any Website and select “View Page Source”. You’ll be presented with a whole bunch of codes somewhat like below:

revealing the source code

Some sites choose to rename the path to something else but if you’re familiar with the codes WordPress uses, you may be able to spot which is and which is not :)

3 Reasons Why You Want to Use WordPress As Your Website

#1: It’s Easy To Get Started

Head over to www.WordPress.org and you’ll know what I mean. Installing WordPress is as easy 1-2-3, within 5 minutes! It’s all about downloading the file, uploading it to your web host, put in your details and that’s about it. There’s even a VERY detailed guide to guide you on it. You’ll no longer need a web developer to do the job.

#2: It’s Easy to Manage

With WordPress as your CMS, you can now add your company’s content to it just like how you’re blogging. If you’re not ready to roll out periodic updates, play with the ‘Pages’ and put up the necessities – “About Us”, “Contact Us”, “Our Services” and etc.

#3: It’s Easy to Grow

Getting tired of your Website? Change the theme simply by downloading a new one, adding new functionalities with WordPress Plugins, Widgets and more! If you didn’t know, there are Plugins for inventory management, shopping cart, community membership and a whole lot more.

What are your thoughts on using WordPress as a corporate site? Have you used WordPress for other purposes other than blogging?

credits to: 1stwebdesigner.com

 

5 #SocialMedia Lessons We Can Learn From The Dot-com Boom (and bust!)

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A few days ago I posted an article about how we’ve move away from the ‘E’ to the ‘Social’ era and it is interesting to note how far have we came since those days. I’m definitely happy to have witnessed the beginning of the Internet, the glorious days of Netscape Navigator (it was THE web browser, if you didn’t know), the rise of ICQ and the list goes on.

Looking back at those times, there are 5 lessons we can actually learn from to be applied in today’s ‘social’ world.

Lesson #1: Only The Fools Rush In

I personally know of someone that bought many domain names during the dot-com boom at a hefty price. He was convinced that they’re going to sell because he saw the potential of the internet. Some of these domain names were pretty good (and we’ve seen how people have been making big bucks of it) so he held on to them, just waiting for the right time.. until today – and it’s still there.

It is no longer a time where the number of accounts / websites you have make you look good. In fact, it hardly even matters anymore. It is all about having the right tools to do the right job. Don’t get me wrong – I have nothing against securing long-tail-keyworded domain names, unique Twitter handles or Facebook usernames but the question is: does that help you in achieving your goals or will it merely pull you down? Understand where your target audience is and focus in making that work for you and your customers.

Lesson #2: It’s Just Not a Numbers Game

Now, you may be thinking that it is still a numbers game as metrics such as number of unique visitors, click throughs, retweets and shares are important in measuring ROI on social media. That’s true, to a certain extent. However, most businesses today are looking towards the level of engagement you have on social media.

In other words, you may have 1,000 page views per day but if you’re unable to receive any kind of response (e.g. retweets, shares or comments), it still does not justify anything. Same goes to the number of followers or the number of fans on your Facebook page. It’s the level of engagement that counts and the number is secondary. Focus on building relationships with your customers by catching up with them every once in awhile.

Lesson #3: The Stakes are Higher

Gone were the days that you can simply start a business website, ignore the customers and yet make sales. With social networks kicking in, the news can travel within literally a click of a button. Social media has empowered customers to be more vocal and open with their thoughts, which can be both advantageous and detrimental to your business.

Which side do you want to be on? I’d prefer the former. If you’re like me, you would definitely want to listen to what the customers have to say and get them talking positively about you.

Lesson #4: It is No Longer About You

Your website looks impressive. You’ve utilized text, images and videos effectively and you have stated all your strengths and abilities to the very best – in fact, you look like an expert, second to none in the industry. What’s your social presence / credibility? Zero. You can talk about yourself all that you want on your website, Facebook and Twitter accounts but customers do not care. Rather, they’ll run away on sight.

Customers have become the focal point in every brand / business that is online. What good is your expertise if there’s nobody to share it with? Use your expertise to provide value to the network and you’ll be amazed with what you’ll receive in the long run. If you’re a consultant, blogs and webinars may be a good platform. If you’re in retail, Twitter and Facebook may help you get your products out faster than you would think, especially if you make it share-worthy, minus the sales pitch. See @geekbabe’s experience with Pretzel Crisps!

Lesson #5: Sharing is Caring

I don’t know about you but it would seem that most business websites were a little stingy in the past. There was nothing about sharing except Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V and every website kept it’s information to their own. You also end up signing up with tons of websites because they all require you to sign up with them.

facebook like buttonWhile that seemed common back then, it is a whole new world today. Businesses are asking for their content to be shared by putting up share widgets, asking for likes and retweets, RSS allows content to be taken and published elsewhere, even account creation is minimized as many websites now integrate social media logins / verifications through Facebook and Twitter. Businesses see the importance of establishing a presence online today and having a website today becomes a necessity rather than a want.

Is your content shareable? If not, it’s time to make the change!

What in the World is Happening?

This is the social era and much have changed since the ‘E’ days. Businesses are becoming more transparent in their processes and knowledge simply because they realize the importance of providing value to their customers. When will the Social era end? Not soon – because being social is what humans do best. We are made to be social and this may just be the beginning of something bigger.

What have you learnt from the ‘E’ era? What other differences can you spot with today’s Social era? I’d love to hear your thoughts below!

 

Social is the New ‘E’

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Just a couple of years back, the world was into the ‘E’ phase – ‘E’lectronic Mails, ‘E’lectronic Commerce, ‘E’lectronic Portals and the list go on. What’s happening to the ‘E’ today? How are the ‘E’s holding up?

7 ‘E’s that became Social

from e to socialWhat other ‘E’s have I missed? What’s the ‘Social’ equivalent of it? Do share them below!