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Archive for the 'Social Media' Category

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5 ways to sell more with videos

February 7th, 2010, 11:00 am by Jon Lansner

ssmarketing sOCial sunday tracks Social Media because it’s real business — notably, a hot marketing tool. Orange County marketer Morgan Brown (@morganb) tells us how online video can be powerful sales tool for small business …

Statistics show that video improves visibility and drives more customer action online than plain web sites. For example, according to TurnHere and industry research, viewers engage more after watching a video, with clicks for more information increasing by 30% to 40% and phone inquiries by 16% to 20%. You don’t need the budget of Scorsese to make video work either. And for the aspiring filmmaker in each of us new classes of video cameras (such as the popular Flip or Kodak Z-series) make it easy to shoot and share.

And whether you choose to do-it-yourself or hire a pro, marketing your business with online video doesn’t end with the production. Remember, videos need to be seen. Here are a few tips to help you make the most out of your video marketing:

1. Aim for authentic, actionable content: Be authentic. Be personal. After all, this is your chance to tell your business’s story and show what really makes you different. Keep the video short and informational in nature — since customers are jaded by typical sales pitches. Creating authentic video that captures the human element behind any business allows customers to connect on a personal level. And don’t forget to incorporate a call to action. Build trust and then give viewers a reason and a way to call you, visit your website, or stop by your store. Be sure to include some measurable action path — for example, a unique URL, discount code, or phone number to call. You’ll encourage viewers to engage with you, and be able to measure the results of your video.

2. Optimize it for Google search: Search engines now display more videos, images, blogs, maps, and news in their results. These changes favor video, giving you a great opportunity to increase your ranking in search results (and even achieve that coveted first page ranking on Google). In fact, a Forrester Research experiment discovered that videos have a 50 times better chance than an ordinary web site for getting to the top of search rankings. Add keywords into the filenames of your video. Include keyword-rich descriptions and tags and put your video on keyword-rich web pages.

3. Add it to your Facebook page: On Facebook, use video to show the human side of your company. Think fun and creative. Show a ‘behind the scenes’ peak at your office or shop. Use video to announce a new products or specials. Post video highlights of past events, customer testimonials and more.

4. Put it on YouTube and other video sites: Video sites are great ways to reach potential new customers. Create a branded YouTube channel and host your videos for free. And don’t worry — you don’t need the next viral sensation to find success on YouTube. Small businesses can build sales without generating a million views.

5. Add it to your Google Local Business listing: By adding video to your business listing on Google Local, you’ll be able to tell your story and connect with those people who are looking for your products or services, at the very point in time when they’re actively researching or ready to buy. An engaging video brings your listing to life and sets you apart from the crowd.

[ Want social media tips by email? CLICK HERE! ]

Posted in: Social Media • • • | 6 Comments »

@ocreggie’s tweets of the week: pots and pads

January 31st, 2010, 2:00 pm by Kevin Sablan

Social OC @OCReggie, the Register’s main Twitter account, has some great followers. Every week, we reserve this space in sOCial sunday to highlight a few comments from people talking to the Register on Twitter.

Here are our “Tweets of the Week” for the 7 days ended Jan. 30 …

Early in the week, Fullerton city officials said crews were busy filling potholes. A few days later, Mike Krause reported that he had not seen any crews fixing holes. After Apple unveiled its iPad, Debi Calvet wondered if the Register will have an Apple iPad-optimized site.

Follow @ocreggie at twitter.com/ocreggie

Posted in: Social Media • • | Post a Comment »

7 fixes for social media’s faults

January 31st, 2010, 12:00 pm by Jon Lansner

socialsundayplain Be honest, there’s lots of things we all hate about social media. So sOCial sunday decided to ask some of our pals, “If you were social media god, what’s first thing you’d change other than the blatantly obvious (jerks, spam, reliability, etc.) Here’s their thoughts …

  1. “Change the focus on the number of followers or fans you have and turn the focus on how often you connect and collaborate with that community.  While numbers are helpful, it’s more how often you connect and collaborate with your community and how helpful you are. ” — Justin Levy, New Marketing Labs
  2. “Make real results happen quicker. A good organic social campaign seems to take about 90 days - would be great if things started to happen at 30 days.” — Gretchen Benes, gretchenbenes.com
  3. “Get rid of the term ’social media’ and just replace it with ‘communications.’ Too many people are scared off at the mere mention of ’social media’ when they don’t really understand what it is.” — Bryan Howland, Maples Communications
  4. “Ban the term social media expert. There are no experts in this medium, just people who practice more than others. Anyone claiming to be an expert is likely just looking to make a quick buck.” — Morgan Brown, TurnHere
  5. “A new word to describe a relationship on a social network rather than ‘Friend’” — Donald Patterson, quub.com
  6. “Change the perception that social media is time-intensive. It’s just an excuse. Once you’ve spent start-up investment time in learning and applying the social media tools, they become integrated in your personal and professional life, helping you do things faster, better and more cost-effectively.” — Ted Nguyen, Orange County Transportation Authority
  7. Create “an easier method of creating targeted messages that go to only specific connections or categories of connections.” — Chip Ahlswede, www.RegalStrategies.com

Did you miss …

[ Want social media tips by email? CLICK HERE! ]

Posted in: Social Media • | 4 Comments »

Media listening posts move online

January 31st, 2010, 11:30 am by Jon Lansner

socialsundayplainSocial media is changing the media, as sOCial sunday can tell you. Tony Simmons (@midnightonmars), online editor of a Orange County Register sister paper, the Panama City (Fla.) News Herald, took a stab at the challenge in a recent column. Here’s a snippet …

What we think we know for sure is that there’s a personal connection to information sharing in these social media that is as important as the message. Information is relevant because your friends think it’s important enough to share. You engage with the message, own it, and dialogue about it.

Additionally, there’s a level of trust implicit because the info is coming from people you picked as Facebook friends or you decided to “follow” on Twitter. As an information gatherer and clearinghouse, we take that trust very seriously, and we know that the moment we break that trust or overwhelm you with messages you aren’t interested in, you’ll stop following us.

And while we want you to follow us, we also recognize the value of following you. For years, news outlets have used the “listening post” model of gathering information and opinion. That is, going to the coffee houses and barber shops — wherever people gather and converse — to take the pulse of the community on issues of local or global importance.

Now we’re listening to you all day long as you tweet about your lives, or post status updates, or share photos and videos. We’re taking your suggestions (and criticisms) and following up on your leads.

Drop us a 140-character line.

Did you miss …

[ Want social media tips by email? CLICK HERE! ]

Posted in: Selling patterns • Social Media | Post a Comment »

Can Twitter sell sushi?

January 24th, 2010, 11:59 am by Jon Lansner

ssmarketing sOCial sunday tracks Social Media because it’s real business — notably, a hot marketing tool. Daniel Woo is using social media tools, especially Twitter as @sushilicious, to promote his soon-to-be-open Irvine Asian restaurant. We asked him his philosophy ….

The 5 P’s:

  • Be Personable to all people.
  • Positive to all different ideas.
  • Passionate about what we do and know.
  • Pass on what we learn …
  • and last of all, Promote others.

Why?

“I connect with people and allow them to discover who/what sushilicious is. In their discovery process they become your ‘Trust Agents’ (a reference to the book by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith) and begin to promote/advertise for you. I build the sushilicious brand by continually connecting with people. The ‘Trust Agents’ help build the brand by building excitement for sushilicious.”

Did you miss?

Posted in: Social Media • • | 4 Comments »

@ocreggie’s stormy tweets of the week

January 24th, 2010, 11:00 am by Kevin Sablan

Social OC @OCReggie, the Register’s main Twitter account, has some great followers. Every week, we reserve this space in sOCial sunday to highlight a few comments from people talking to the Register on Twitter.

Here are our “Tweets of the Week” for the 7 days ended Jan. 23 …

After reading an article about San Clemente trying to attract people who work from home, Kyle Domer realized that he is officially a “flexecutive.” When major rain was predicted was predicted for northern Orange County, Lauren Pearce alerted us that her Los Angeles contacts reported “Captain Crunch” size hail.
When our Web site experienced technical difficulties we used Twitter to provide updates about the storm. In Suz Broughton’s opinion it was the “BEST place to get current info.“ Maybe we’re all overreactinging to all this damp weather. As Nuch and Bettie Infante tweeted, “It doesn’t know how to rain in Sunny California!!!It’s a torrential downpour or sunny!!“

Follow @ocreggie at twitter.com/ocreggie

Posted in: Social Media • • | Post a Comment »

Can social media humanize business?

January 17th, 2010, 12:00 pm by Jon Lansner

socialsundayplainA Vegas road trip for sOCial sunday put us at the Social Media Jungle workshop featuring some of the brightest minds in the new media business. We’ve re-assembled our stream of live tweets from the event into some themes we discovered …

Ponder how business image can be altered …

  • @JustinLevy: Social media humanizes businesses/brands. Many businesses forgot they were more than a logo!
  • @weave: Trust in business has fallen off a cliff. Media clutter makes that hard to fix.
  • @weave: 51% of people trust peers for product info; 13% trust marketers. Customers can be your best sales staff.
  • @JustinLevy: I am more likely to buy from a company that has executives out front on social media. This builds trust.
  • @DaveTaylor: Your reputation online is really important! And it can be managed.
  • @bengrossman: There is no “one size fits all” solution. Social media has to fit the different way consumers make decisions.
  • @bengrossman: Social media “ROI” can’t be easily measured. Financial benefit is how such efforts interact w/marketing efforts.
  • @setlinger: Public relations hasn’t kept up with messaging revolution created by social media.
  • @Sass: We have gone from broadcasting to narrowcasting. Shouting a message no longer works.
  • @DaveTaylor: You cannot split individual online personalities from corporate image. That nutty employee can hurt you online!
  • @warrenwhitlock: Social media in business will become as ubiquitous as faxes, computers and cell phones.

@JustinLevy is Justin Levy; @weave is Eric Weaver; @DaveTaylor is Dave Taylor; @bengrossman is Ben Grossman; @setlinger is Susan Etlinger; @Sass is Jeff Sass; and @warrenwhitlock is Warren Whitlock.

[ Want social media tips by email? CLICK HERE! ]

Posted in: Social Media • | 2 Comments »

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