Marketing

8000 Likes On Facebook But No Engagement – Blame Your Content

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As Facebook matures, so does businesses’ attitudes towards the platform for marketing and sales purposes. Throughout the year, companies from all business sectors create ad campaigns, promote content, and then wait for customers to flood their online or brick and mortar stores. If life were that simple we’d all be living comfortably, but sadly many owners and social media managers believe without a doubt that the conventional strategy of promote and wait for sales works. As a result, many business Facebook pages amass large followings but receive very little engagement. Why? Poor and lacking content is to blame.

There are plenty of businesses out there where marketing efforts by social media managers is downright embarrassing, especially for those who are not a Mom and Pop store. While social media marketing atrocities occur in all business sectors, the automotive industry is by far the worst, and we can all learn how not to use Facebook, or any social media platform for marketing purposes.

Everything comes down to the product and the content. In the automotive world, vehicles are effectively marketed on the corporate level making the product appealing, but it’s the dealerships on the local side of spectrum where lack of content could be detrimental to sales figures, especially when the objective is to increase sales through the use of social media. One important factor that dealerships must consider is that not only are they competing with rival brands, but they’re also trying to out-perform the other dealership that sells the same vehicles. It’s that realization that many general managers haven’t grasped yet, and once their competition effectively markets on all social media channels, the dealership that didn’t innovate will be immediately left behind.

What absolutely infuriates me as a social media manager is the endless amount of useless content shared and promoted on dealership’s Facebook pages. Links to articles, sometimes not even in the automotive industry are shared, along with regurgitated content from the corporate pages are posted constantly. It should come as no surprise that there’s no engagement whatsoever and these posts fall on deaf ears. Dealerships have the ability to create their own content, and they don’t have to walk far from their desks as the vehicles in their showroom are the perfect start to revitalizing their bland social media accounts.

Native content is the key to engagement, which has the ability to lead to sales. In recent studies, 84% of millennials’ buying decisions are influenced by user generated content. That means, taking high quality photos or creating digital media content of your products, or in this case vehicles, will effect sales, especially for brands within the price range of 20 and 30 somethings. It should also be noted that social media isn’t just a young person’s online playground as women aged 40 and older are the largest growing demographic of users on Instagram, and 50+ year olds are joining Facebook in higher volumes than any other age group.

Your inability to increase engagement is not a reflection of your product or your audience, but it’s your content. For businesses in the automotive industry or sectors where visualization is a major factor in influencing sales, native content is a must. While some consumers will go to the manufacturer for the answers, the dealerships have the vehicles and all the trim levels for each model. By promoting high quality digital media, these dealerships are going to start seeing engagement by serious buyers and window shoppers, which is much more productive and possibly rewarding than posting lackluster content that gets no likes, comments or shares.

2017 is a new year. Whether you’re in auto sales or services, your content is key to driving sales. The customer’s first impression is an important one, which is why eye candy that grabs people’s attentions is necessary to being successful on social media. Make great content a priority this upcoming year and begin to see your sales figures flourish.

Business, Marketing

Effective Social Media Marketing Starts With A Clear Message

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Before social media, timelines, and news feeds, companies of all sizes could generate clear messages through email marketing, newspapers, and radio ads. The message was simple and direct, with the objective to get customers to visit an online store to purchase a company’s products, or promote a physical location to shop or visit. Today with social media marketing, many small businesses lack a consistent message because they either don’t post enough, or they post so often on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter that each status or tweet has absolutely nothing to do with the previous posting. Coherency and staying on point is a lost art in marketing, especially on social media, and the businesses that do stay consistent with their message, get engagement.

There are businesses among all sectors that struggle with sticking to one message. The companies that are succeeding have done an excellent job with defining who they are, whether that be the solo entrepreneur who knows his or her business and market completely, or leaders within a larger company that have instilled in the marketing department the culture and brand the business is expressing to their customers through social media. With that being said, what about the businesses that don’t have a clear message, and often deviate from being consistent by posting too many updates that don’t stay on point? Why are they struggling and can it be fixed?

The best examples of companies in major business sectors that are brutally awful at social media is automotive and real estate. Both industries have put so much effort into sales that they’ve completely forgotten that Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter aren’t necessarily selling platforms, but in fact marketing avenues that attract customers by enticing them, rather than pushing them into buying. Most notably in the automotive world, once you get to the dealership level, any semblance of good marketing is rare at best, and as a result, you get incoherent messages or posts that make no sense for the car selling business.

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A local Volvo dealership who usually posts sporadically throughout the year, must have gotten the urge to start posting around the holidays. But instead of actually promoting sales offers or cars on the new and used lots, the social media manager decides that sharing a YouTube video of two non street legal Volvos racing around a track in Sweden is relevant to customers interested in purchasing a Volvo. What is the message that the dealership wants to portray to past, present, and future buyers? If posting Car & Driver or MotorTrend articles are the basis of their social media strategy, they’ve failed at using Facebook as a viable platform to sell cars on.

These dealerships have vehicles that they know inside and out as they’ve been trained to sell them to people who walk in the doors. They know the specifications and price tags, but more importantly, they’ll be the first ones to receive new models. The message should be quite clear and if I was the social media manager, this would be my statement to the department. “Our mission is to sell cars, with that being said, we should create our own content surrounding the cars on our lots, and the service department that maintains customers’ vehicles and this should be the focus of our message”. Once the message is in place, then you can effectively market your business and products.

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Real estate, much like the car industry, is a very sales driven market. However, with social media now entering the picture, it appears that once hard selling companies have been forced to become friendly and informative, but they’re going about it the wrong way. In the picture above, Century 21 shared a link to an article about wall painting. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being informal, but what’s the message that they want to portray?

If selling property and houses are the main goal, why is painting walls relevant to potential buyers if they can get that information from Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Sherwin Williams? More importantly, renovation and updating the interior is the step after purchasing, which realtors wouldn’t be a part of. Technically, that’s not their role in real estate and it’s the contractors who would benefit most by sharing that article as it would be a message they’d want to promote on their Facebook page.

With the same mindset as the dealership, the social media manager has to come up with a clear message and build content around that message. “The goal is to sell houses, therefor creating content that’s beneficial to the buyer, whether that be through digital media or pictures, would be an immensely powerful tool to attract potential buyers to our realtor firm.” When it comes to social media, it’s all about the message. Once the message is set in place, then a strategy on content creating can be put in place.

Social media marketing is essentially the basis of your business’ mission statement. Why was your business created, who are your customers, and why would they choose you? The same questions can be applied to you social media marketing strategy. Once you get the answers, your message will be clear and effective. Until that point, you’ll never get the most out of your social media efforts.

Economy, Marketing

How Realtors Sell Houses Will Change With Social Media

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In the last six years, social media has changed how we conduct business, acquire customers, and advertise on both a local and national scale. The ability to reach anyone, even those who reside outside the country, has given small businesses the chance to compete on a global scale. But for business segments that thrive off domestic and local markets, you have to go to new depths to sell anything, whether products, cars, and even property. The real estate market has slowly begun to implement social media marketing elements, but realtors could take their marketing strategies to a whole new level with the power of live streaming and video.

When we think of buying real estate, open houses are probably one of the first things that come to mind in the buying process. Perfect for the new home buyer to get an idea of what they’re looking for, open houses gives people who are in the market for a home the opportunity to get a look inside and try picturing their futures living there. With social media, a new element can be added that is both convenient for the potential buyers and beneficial to the realtor; Facebook live or promoted video post.

Live streaming is on the rise, and one market that could certainly use it is real estate. By going live, a realtor could have a virtual open house the day before and walk through the rooms to showcase the house’s greatest features. This adds a layer on convenience for those who can’t make it, and for the realtor, live streaming or any form of video helps build their own personal brand. By posting any form of video with you presenting the property you’re selling, your brand takes center stage, and if you present yourself as a professional and friendly, it’s very likely you’ll start seeing more referrals as sales increase.

Paired with Facebook advertising, your videos whether live or previously recorded, can be shared to people’s timelines who are looking to buy a home. While websites like Zillow and Redfin have made finding new property easier, there’s no argument that going the extra mile by having a virtual open house or tour could be the deciding factor for interested prospects. Realtors are no longer at the mercy of interested buyers, and can now go directly to them to draw them into new properties in the desired areas they want to reside in.

Facebook isn’t the only platform where video can be beneficial, but is still a crucial part of a successful marketing strategy to selling homes. YouTube allows realtors to go much more in-depth than going live by producing eye catching video. These edited videos with music and clear shots of the exterior, interior, and backyard could be the realtor’s version of HGTV, whether the property is being presented by the realtor or a tastefully done video that grabs the attentions of viewers where they can dream of living in that house. Much like walk around shots of an exotic car, the same rules apply to real estate as they’re both sought after, and if presented right, could move someone to buy. Since video is multi-platform friendly, Facebook then becomes more important as your YouTube video can be shared to your timeline, or can be uploaded directly from your computer to your Facebook page.

Real estate is in need of going through a transformation. HGTV has become popular due to consumers’ desire to buy homes. By having that mentality with the real estate you’re selling, you can be the HGTV on a local scale, where you’re not only presenting beautiful homes, but also enticing local house buyers to show up to open houses and take a look for themselves. Social media is adding a new dimension to how we consume everything, and real estate should be no exception.

Business, Economy, Marketing

Facebook Live – Signaling The End Of QVC

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When you think of QVC, Shark Tank’s Lori Grenier is probably the first person you’ll associate the channel with. Dubbed “The Queen of QVC”, Lori made a living from selling her products by using the platform to promote her products on television. Her success catapulted the channel’s household name recognition, and for the past 5 years or so they’ve been the king of infomercials, and arguably so as many businesses have reaped the benefits of using QVC as a marketing channel. However, all good things must come to an end, and sometimes even kings and queens get dethroned. Ladies and gentlemen, the new kid in the block, Facebook Live, is ready to change how you shop and how businesses advertise to you.

Live streaming is slowly becoming a part of hour daily lives. Whether it’s Periscope, YouTube, or Facebook, you’ve either watched a live event, tuned into your favorite vlogger’s live Q and A, or perhaps even you have picked up your phone and went live. Needless to say our phone, laptop, and tablets are just an arm’s reach away, and tech savvy businesses are well aware that your attention is no longer focused on the television, but on social media.

On my Facebook news feed, a childhood friend had commented on a live stream from a small business that was selling women’s clothing targeted towards women in their 20’s. Of course being a guy, I wasn’t interested in what these women were selling, but the marketer in me couldn’t help but notice the effectiveness of having a live infomercial where viewers’ questions were being answered immediately. The ability to interact live through the use of Facebook will eventually bring many businesses in television marketing, like QVC, to their knees. How can you draw businesses to use your platform if there’s a cheaper, more effective and direct solution to a problem that up until now, has been a brick wall that has stopped many small businesses from getting to the next level?

To get a spot on QVC, you’re looking at paying $10,000 if not more. On Facebook it’s free to live stream, and your only costs will be ad campaigns and boosted posts. What live streaming has essentially done is break down the barriers that have held small businesses back and now give them the chance at national, and possibly global expansion to new markets through the use of social media channels. The power is no longer in the hands of a selective few, and now women in their 20’s can pave their own way to success by utilizing Facebook live.

QVC may not be the only potential casualty as social media and live streaming become more common and mainstream. Many old technologies could become obsolete, and much like MTV’s emergence killed the radio star, social media could very well be the death of television as we know it, and along with its funeral, many businesses related to TV could very well go under if they don’t transition over to platforms such as Facebook.

Despite the many businesses that could be affected by live streaming replacing a large portion of television shows, infomercials, and sporting events, new companies will arise, ushering in a new era. We could be living through a technological revolution, bigger than many have anticipated, that along with it brings a wave of small businesses popping up across the country that will no longer be regionally based, but could conduct business throughout the county and internationally. We’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg, and with each passing day, it just continues to get better and better.

While QVC’s days might be numbered, we are now entering the Golden Age for small businesses who effectively use social media to the fullest. Instead of throwing thousands of dollars away on television advertising that will continue to be less influential in the buying process for consumers as the years pass, social media will be the platform that yields a high reward because of it’s unlimited potential and ability to reach virtually everyone.

January 1st is right around the corner, and the perfect time for a new start and new direction for your business’ advertising strategies. Incorporating Facebook Live into your weekly activity on social media, could be the deciding factor between having a great year, or being left behind by those who were willing to innovate.

Marketing

Social Media Success Doesn’t Equate To Using All Platforms

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For small business owners, finding the right tone and voice is more important than shouting from the rooftops hoping you’ll reach someone with your message. Small businesses setting up accounts on all social media platforms have been up for debate for quite a while, and depending on who you ask, the answer may vary. Most social media marketers push their clients into using all platforms, when it reality, they’d be better off focusing on one or two social media accounts. Let’s go a little more in-depth on whether being on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other platforms are a necessity, or unnecessary depending on the market your business is in.

Social media and the marketing strategies that come with it, have been well-known for quite some time now. We know that each platform differs, and the users may have different ways of communicating with each other or businesses. With that in mind, before jumping right in, you need a solid strategy that not only has the right tone for the target market you’re trying to reach, but also that your content is appropriate for that platform. Too many small businesses use multiple platforms as if they’re intertwined, but the content that is being shared on Facebook, may not get noticed on Twitter and vice-versa.

Facebook should always be at the cornerstone of your social media marketing. The platform has essentially become an extension of your website as your posts can be perceived as mini blog posts or updates that were once specifically shared on web addresses or by email. Facebook’s ad campaign tools and boosting posts you’ve shared, will help attract new customers and followers. While it’s unfortunate that to achieve engagement from potential customers for followers requires an investment of cash, it’s better to spend money on a platform that works, than putting money into Twitter or Instagram that don’t yield a high ROI despite what social media marketers want you to believe.

Instagram goes hand-in-hand with Facebook as the photo content oriented platform is a subsidiary of Facebook. Pictures you share can be directly posted to Facebook, making content multi-platform friendly. Twitter on the other hand makes it difficult, as the photo that gets shared is formatted as a link. This is just one of the meany disadvantages of Twitter, which I’ll get into later.

Many small businesses thrive on Instagram because hashtags make reaching people simple. Without even spending a dollar, your following numbers can increase just by content alone, and since Instagram doesn’t limit businesses in terms of engagement, you can follow, comment, and like your potential customers’ photos which ads another level to your marketing; being personal. Instagram, more than other platforms, truly is business-friendly. Time more so than money should be invested, as paying for followers gets you fake accounts or people who don’t live in the United States. All this achieves is the perception of having a large consumer base, but in realty it’s deception that doesn’t persuade customers to buy from your online store at the end of the day.

Twitter is one of those platforms where it either works for your business or doesn’t. Small businesses that offer services have the best success because they’re more likely to use content that involves articles or written content. Twitter is a social media marketer’s paradise as many corporate businesses and entrepreneurs who aren’t in retail use the platform daily. The marketers also can write concise tweets that share their knowledge, and with so many social media gurus rising on the platform, their posts can go viral. With all that said, Twitter’s real value became apparent during this past election season as we finally saw what market thrives off small blurbs of information along with a link to articles.

Media, whether mainstream or alternative enjoyed Twitter’s journalist-friendly forum. News could go viral very quickly, and with the platform being wide open with very limited private accounts, articles, tweets, and pictures would reach thousands, if not millions in a matter of minutes. The last few months proved that businesses would see better results if Twitter became their news platform, while Facebook and Instagram attracted customers through the use of eye popping content.

Each platform offers different tools, advantages, disadvantages, and audiences. Your business’ success hinges upon the tone you use, along with the segment you’re in, and the content that is created based on who your target market is. If articles and written content make up a large percentage of your marketing efforts, Twitter has to be the first platform you use. If you’re into retail, look no further than Facebook and Instagram. Both social media platforms give small businesses the ability to reach thousands of potential customers of all ages, and through the use of picture and text content, you’ll attract to clients and customers, with or without spending money, depending on whether you’re heavily engaged with Facebook as opposed to Instagram where time and content prevail.

Remember, just because one or two platforms make up 100% of your social media marketing, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t experiment with new social media apps that will be released in 2017. Find the right voice and tone, and if your target market is on these platforms, go hard with content and marketing. Experimentation may lead to success, but if not, it’s always important to keep trying. The market is changing everyday, and it’s up to you to stay one step ahead of your customers.

Marketing

Not Putting Effort Into Social Media Marketing Is How Your Voice Gets Silenced

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When we talk about social media, our first thought that comes to mind is the platforms we use daily to communicate with friends and family. We also think of how we use Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to talk about ourselves, our accomplishments, taking pictures of the places we go, and sometimes the people we meet. It’s this initial reaction we get when we hear the words “social media” that distorts many social media managers who are using corporate and small business social media accounts incorrectly. As a result the company’s, and even the person who is branding himself, gets drowned out by the noise around them.

Social media is a public forum with millions of voices and conversations, with some dominating the entire platform if world or market trends are affecting a wide swath of people. It’s within this forum that you must become a contributor to a conversation, or gain a voice that influences many in your market or the topic that is most being talked about. In business related terms, there are plenty of competitors fighting to have their voices heard, and they’ll commit money to ad campaigns, spend hours on platforms engaging with potential customers, or put forth a lot of effort to post compelling content that grabs people’s attentions.

Right now, few are crushing the competition while others are having difficulty in finding an identity on social media, and for a large group, even quitting social media altogether because the manager behind these accounts, is ill-prepared to take on the challenge of growing a following. In some cases, small business owners who run their own social media accounts, fare much better than those who have an employee who clearly isn’t used to using social media professionally. This is because a solo entrepreneur has the passion and hunger for knowledge, not only of their business, but of their local market. But for bigger businesses that were either established before the social media era, or have multiple employees, a breakdown in marketing occurs, which results in abandoned or poorly managed Facebook pages and Twitter and Instagram accounts.

The lack of effort that is put forth by these social media managers, whether that be caused from that role not being the primary role of the employee within the company, or lack of knowledge on how social media marketing works, is detrimental to the company and a complete waste of money for the business.

Effective social media marketing goes beyond spending money on ad campaigns or simply posting content every week. You must dive in and engage with your target market and become part of the conversation. This can be achieved multiple ways. Instagram allows companies to like and comment on any person’s photos. If that person is in your market, like and follow them, and if you want to go the extra mile, comment on their photo with a personal message without hard selling your products or services to them. Twitter, much like Instagram is another open forum, but you can retweet their posts and photos, along with following and liking their content. Your ability to strike up a conversation with your target market is effortless, but you have to be willing to search for these conversations and people who would benefit from your products or services.

Facebook is by far the more difficult of major social media platforms to engage in a conversation. You must invest in ads, whether that be campaigns or boosting posts you’ve shared. The content must be compelling, and any lack of effort will make your ads ineffective. Once you start acquiring followers on Facebook, you must keep them coming back for more. If you’re not willing to put in effort to continue posting great content, they’ll leave.

While we live in a time where people have short attention spans, social media does bring a unique opportunity to attract customers or followers to come back for more. Almost like feeding pigeons in a park, when you run out of bread, they’ll fly to a new location where someone else is feeding them exactly what they want. Never run out of bread, or you’ll be all alone with absolutely no attention. Your social media marketing effort not only reflects upon you, but your company, and if your effort disappears, so will your sales.

Social media is so important, and if you, or your employee managing your pages is having the company’s voice drowned out by competitors, it will be time for a change in strategy and possibly personal. Put forth the effort, and you’ll reap what you sow.

Marketing

Communicating With Your Customers In 2017 – Think Different

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Last week, I wrote an article, “With Social Media’s Existence, Are Email Subscriptions Even Necessary?” which received a lot of attention and got people thinking. While many business owners and people of the era of email marketing and subscriptions are afraid to deviate from old school methods of advertising, they’re actually detrimental to their business’ growth. We now live in the social media age, and this era has transformed, reshaped, and completely revolutionized how we as humans communicate with others on a daily basis. This different form of communication doesn’t just effect how we talk wth friends and family, but how we as entrepreneurs and members of a marketing department engage with customers.

We’re a few months away from 2017, which means an entire generation born around 1999 and 2000 are now at the age of 17-18. These kids grew up with iPhones in their hands and by the age of 13 Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Vine, and Snapchat were all apps downloaded onto their devices. Their form of communication is exclusively though social media, and that translates to older generations as well. The largest growing demographic of users on Facebook is not teenagers or millennials, they’re actually 50 year olds, and it’s not just Facebook they’ve taken by storm. Baby Boomers and members of Generation X, the same people who were or still are on your email subscription lists, now spend more time on social media. Let that sink in for a minute; your customers are no longer reading newspapers, watching infomercials or looking at online catalogs.

What does this mean? Everyone’s form of communication, whether it be amongst themselves or with businesses has changed drastically, and the marketing departments that still emphasize gathering an email subscription list are being left behind like that friend we knew who was last to create a Facebook profile. We as business owners are being left behind heading into 2017 and the only way to catch up is following our target markets, no matter where they reside or what platform they spend the most time on.

The creation of social media has forced businesses to become friendly and personal with their potential customers. To sell a product or service in 2017, you have to be social, which now limits the effectiveness of email newsletters or marketing material as your target markets are no longer communicating through Gmail or Outlook. The companies that are succeeding in today’s market are those who are on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and new platforms where people are hanging out. If email was still widely effective, companies like L.L Bean wouldn’t be putting forth a lot of effort on social media platforms. The only reason why they still send emails is because they have the resources and have the brand awareness that keeps them relevant, even on outdated forms of communication.

Starting in 2017, or better yet, this holiday season, make an assertive effort to spend more time on social media platforms, post more content, and engage with followers and customers. Use Facebook ads to help reach the maximum amount of people in your market, which is essential for having strong sales figures and healthy growth of new followers who are now subscribed to your business via Facebook where your posts are now on their timelines.

We can no longer live in the past in terms of marketing and expect great results. 2017 is the year of looking forward as the change in communication has forced many to join social media. A few decades ago, older generations shaped and formed how consumers behaved, but today, the younger generations have taken the reigns and their influence is more powerful than most give them credit for. The content they consume, who they follow, and what they buy translated to older generations, which led a swath of consumers to new platforms, and the corporations followed suit.

Now it’s time for small businesses to do the same as 99% of their target markets spend hours of their day on social media. To grow your business in 2017, you’ll have to become social, literally. Many still operate as if consumers are only worth their time if they buy a product, but in today’s economy, it’s in fact that customer that initiates communication and the sale, and it’s the business’ job to direct them to their purchase through the use of engagement and great content. It’s this change in pattern as to why email marketing lost its effectiveness, and why we all must use communication channels as we do in our personal lives.

Marketing Matters

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