My readers submitted questions about marketing, and here are 10 fantastic ones with the answers:
1. Pamela Szal, of 3 Ducklings Bake Shoppe, asks:
“…What should businesses NOT do with their social media marketing?”
The Answer: There are a lot of things to avoid in social media, and it’s good to ask the question. I’d begin by avoiding the things you’d also avoid at any mixed group of people at a social gathering. Social media is very much like a social gathering, so it’s wise to treat it in that regard. Don’t gossip, swear, talk about subjective topics, harass people etc. Those are the obvious ones. The ones that may not be so obvious are: don’t sell and obviously promote, don’t be afraid to show your personality and have fun, don’t be impersonal, don’t be negative, don’t be lazy about involvement, and finally, don’t make the mistake of doing it wrong because of ignorance. Do your research on best practices, download guides to help you, ask questions and solicit feedback from those around you. Don’t act like you know everything and above all else, consider the sociology and impacts of what you’re about to do before you actually do it. When in doubt, follow the “lowest common denominator” rule – if the person you could offend the easiest would be offended by what you’re about to say, don’t say it.
2. Leanne Sedlak, of Ava Anderson Non-Toxic Cosmetics (link to her Facebook Page), and Matteo Gentile, of 1 Star Realty (link to his Facebook page) had very similar questions….
Leanne: “What is the most balanced mix of content that should be put on a facebook page?”
The Answer: For each person, it’ll depend on your business and what you do. Most importantly, you must get to know your audience. From there, build your plan, and here’s a sample social media plan (clearly for a salon) that gives you a good balance, but also offers you a good idea of what your social media plan should look like!
- Timing of posts:
- 2-3 x/day
- 9 AM, 12-1PM, 5-6PM M-F
- 12 PM, 8PM, Sat & Sun
- Services/Products To Promote:
- Bumble & Bumble
- Moroccan Oil
- Keratin treatments
- Extensions
- Hair, Makeup
- Media Available:
- How-To Videos
- Before & After Pictures
- Topic Concentration:
- Chatter – 10%
- Questions, Opinions and Polling – 20%
- Tips, Tricks & Advice (incl. video) – 20%
- Promotions, Specials – 20%
- Contests – 20%
- Announcements, etc. 5%
- Growing the page – 5%
3. Edward Adamsky, of Adamsky Law Office (link to his Facebook Page) asks:
“I have my blog on blogspot with a link to it on my website (and a link on my blog to my website). Would it be better to have my blog as a part of my website?”
The Answer: There are pros and cons to each side of that argument, but I feel that having it as part of your web site is really the best way to go about it. For example, this web site. I chose to make my blog a part of my web site because I like having the articles in one place, I like having a bigger web site that’s updated more often, and I like having my site be centralized around new information where I get to offer free insight and announce things (like being on TV!) on the home page. People find it more useful ultimately, and search engines prefer a web site that has continually updated content, and having the blog on my site, I can create that. Sites with new content (and a lot of it) rank higher, and see more traffic because people know there’s something different on there to see than the same old thing every time. WordPress is a fantastic free solution for the web site/blog combination, and you can get some really impressive themes (free and paid) all over the Internet. Matter of fact, this web site is a WordPress web site/blog combo. Not too shabby, right?
4. Joe Brown, of Joe Brown Digital Photography (link to his Facebook Page) asks:
“I do NOT have a brick and mortar storefront, so I always wonder – what is the best way to get people to visit my website, and do more than just look at the photos? How do I turn the browsers into buyers, if they are not actually coming in the door?”
The Answer: Well, first, your web site shouldn’t be your primary focal point of your energy. Facebook is the #2 most popular web site in the world, and that’s where all the people are. So – if you want to get more eyeballs on your work, go where the people are, and don’t put all your energy into your web site. Instead, put it into your Facebook page.
People LOVE pictures on Facebook, and if you want to impress them with your talents, post one or two pictures per day (but not at the same time). Allow people time to fall in love with your work, one image at a time. When people comment, reply! Now, in terms of conversion, they need to love your work first, and your web site. (Your web site is out of date (yes, of course I looked at it!), and the very first thing it says is that your New Year’s event was cancelled. Not only is that out of date, but that’s not something you want prospects to see! You want to show off your work, and how talented and successful you are! Your web site needs to be clean, streamlined and sexy. I see you’re on WordPress – why not try one of the themes here instead? The Photography one is rather nice)
Create easy-to-buy packages and run special promotions around them on Facebook after people fall in love with your work. This is probably going to be your best route.
5. Bob DeCaro, of Clifford & Rano Associates asks:
“Tell me in two sentences (20 words or less), how you can help a restaurant increase their business?”
The Answer: Word of mouth marketing managed by a pro = more customers, more often, higher final bill, and customers telling friends.
19 words and one sentence. How did I do, Bob? 
6. Chris George, of George & Company (link to his Facebook page) asks:
“Facebook seems to be the most popular social media site but Linked in is more oriented to business. Are similar tools as Facebook’s available to promote one’s business on Linked In?”
The Answer: Facebook and LinkedIn offer many similar features, but are quite strikingly different. Before I answer your question, I should point out the differences not so much in the tools, but how they are used. Facebook is a social utility that connects people for personal and professional reasons. People talk about anything, everything, and people use it as a regular mode of communication and most importantly, sharing. By contrast, LinkedIn is a utility that is far less social. It’s social by definition, given how you can use it, but in all reality, it is, as you pointed out, more oriented to business. People announce events, sometimes will use the groups as a way of connecting, they can answer questions to earn “expertise” in a given field, and then finally they can use their own profile as an “e-resume” of sorts, and their company profile can be used as a summary showing connections to who works there and in what capacity.
That being said, the short answer to your question is “no.” However, while LinkedIn does not offer similar opportunities aside from advertising, this is a good thing. It offers something Facebook doesn’t offer. Chris, as we both know I’m aware of (but my readers may not be), you have several sales people working for you. In combination with Manta and a phone, LinkedIn is every sales person/solicitor’s dream come true, most notably in the B2B market. Specifically, by way of looking up a company on their web site, then Manta or LinkedIn, you can find out not only who the person is that you need to know, but what title they hold, if there are multiple people there that you’d need to speak to (multiple partners), their contact information, and my personal favorite (and what makes LinkedIn so awesome, in my opinion), is the necessary route to the person you want to connect to. This of course assumes that this person is on LinkedIn, and often they are! You can see who you know in common with that person to get that introduction that can make an enormous difference between a warm and comfortable introduction from a trusted colleague and the awkward and sometimes tense cold call.
7. Phil Sciascia of Traditions Limousine asks:
“
How do I know my marketing method is working?”
The Answer: There are many things you can do out there for marketing, and many ways you can track them, but the short answer is by leaving a trail of breadcrumbs and then asking questions when you get new leads. I’ll give you a few examples of what I would do to track different things to give you an idea of what I mean:
- Paper advertisements: separate phone number that only rings from that specific ad, or a unique & trackable URL
- Online ads: custom landing pages that you can track via Google Analytics
- Facebook page: coupons with the little blue “f” logo on them
- A specific call to action, such as “mention this ad for 15% off” so then your customers will tell you
- …and good old-fashioned investigative asking. Instead of “how did you hear about us” and accepting whatever answer pops into their head, dig a little deeper, but doing it with class and respect. If they say “Internet” – that’s kind of broad. Suggest a few sites, and ask if one of those was it, maybe.
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but the point is really all about implanting some measure of tracking device into every element of marketing that you do. Whether it’s on the side of your cars on the road with an exclusive phone number, or your web site has landing pages that they can only get to via Google AdWords, you must track what you do in order to find out if it’s working for you or not.
8. David J, an IT Consultant, asks:
“I’m a small company – what kind of results should I expect, and how should I manage those expectations over the course of starting up an online presence?
“
The Answer:Regardless of the size of the company, you should always expect the investment to be proportional to the outcome. If you put in a significant of time OR money (or both, of course), you’re more likely to see a positive return sooner than if you had only invested minimal resources. If you’re like many small business owners out there, you may not have a sizable operating budget from which to draw marketing funds from, nor the time to do it yourself. Being pulled in multiple directions and having limited funds can really limit your potential, so I always encourage people to consider what you put in to be about what you’ll get out. The larger your company gets or the more successful you become, the more resources you can devote to your online presence, and then you can expect more from it.
As an IT services provider, I would suggest striving to be a resource for people and giving people an expectation that they can rely on you and trust you by example. Work on your blog, giving advice and teaching, when you can, and don’t forget to pop your head up to say hello on other people’s blogs and comment on what they have to say. Create a Facebook page and encourage your clients to use it as a non-priority Q&A forum and direct link to you. Use your web site as a showcase to list case studies if at all possible and create packages that make it easy for people to buy from you. The online world is about information and connecting people. If you provide information and connect, staying connected with people, you can expect your results to come in the form of reputation, credibility, referrals and other opportunities that include sales leads. The time frame around it will depend largely on what you put in as I said, but with even 10 minutes every single day devoted to your brand and its role in the community (giving, most importantly, then taking), you could see varying types of results begin shortly thereafter and last, hopefully increasing so long as you keep up with it.
9. Donna Pomerleau, an Avon Independent Sales Representative asks:
“
…How (do) search engines work? Specifically, what causes a search engine to display my information when a search is done and how can I design my website to be picked up by as many searches as possible?”
The Answer: This is, as I’m sure you can imagine, a very big question. Briefly, search engines work by way of advanced computer algorithms which help people find what they’re looking based on different terms and commands. Think of the search engines like the world’s biggest library… they hold every website, every page, and every image, file and document in their indexes. By using different terms and then commands, you can broadly search or do specific searches of everything on the net, and narrow it down to what you want. Results are shown according to relevancy. Relevancy is the key term here, and is the answer to your second question.
In order to show up in the search results higher than the other guy, you need to have a site that’s more relevant. Relevancy is determined by saturation, linking, importance, page rank, etc. Search engines favor sites that have many pages, that have a lot of traffic, that have good related links coming in and going out, have continually refreshed and new content and a good page rank. To rank well, you need to have a relevant site. So how does a smaller business get a “relevant” site the way I’ve defined it? Begin by taking the first steps.
- Build a site that is designed to be expanded and grown.
- Ask for people to contribute to your site by way of blogs.
- Ask people to exchange links to you that are in the business.
- Comment on other people’s blogs and link back to your site.
- Add new content daily.
- Connect it to Facebook.
- Add your blog/site to different lists.
- Contribute articles.
I’m not saying you have to take all these pieces of advice – but any and all of them can really make a fantastic difference. In combination with these things, when doing things like blogs, or regular pages, make sure you pay attention to:
- naming your pages well (infuse key words)
- making sure your permalinks are search engine friendly (again, key words)
- use post tags, categories, meta data, photo captions, etc.
Having key words and key phrases in addition to excellent content will make for a high ranking site. Just remember to be patient. A great, well-ranking site is not built overnight. Like a child, it needs time to grow, flourish and take on a life of its own – but it has to start somewhere. And there’s no time like the present!
10. Mark Piscillo of Victory Bar & Cigar (link to his Facebook page) asks:
“How often should I update the appearance of my website?”
The Answer: Whenever you update the looks of your website, you should take into consideration why you’re changing it. You don’t want to update your website just for the sake of change… there should always be a valid reason that can promote your bottom line. Does your website have a deficiency? Is it currently hard for people to navigate? Will a change be a seasonal attraction? Are you accommodating something new and special? Is the design just plain ugly?
There is no wrong or right answer, it just needs to make sense to you and your business. That being said, if you have a valid reason, by all means, change away! Be sure to include it in a regular plan of when and how often.
Some warnings to consider: sometimes it can be a needless expense, sometimes you can end up with a worse design than when you started, and you can run the risk of confusing your customers if you go too crazy with a new look. Another thought: if you change your design too often, you could send the wrong message to your customers, where they could think you have too much time on your hands because you’re not doing that well (which we know isn’t the case). I’m not saying this will happen, but these are possibilities.
Just whatever you do, how often you do it, be purposeful in your plan, be sure you have a good reason and consider your pros/cons before you do anything.
Thank you everyone for your great questions!
