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Posts Tagged ‘Brick And Mortar’

As the Social Media Success Summit #SMSS10 webinar series continues, I wanted to share with you some tips and ideas to consider for your social media strategy.

“5 Social Media Case Studies”

@marketingprofs Ann Handley spoke about companies using social media and what they were doing well. Her main point was that your social media efforts should be Friendly, Focused and Fertile. Make sure you reach people on a lifestyle level, not just focusing on your products and services. Find out what people care about and create your social media campaign around that. A great example was a Fan Page from FiberOne called “Coping with Disbelief Clinic”: the disbelief is that the product is “high in fiber, but still tastes great”. They use videos and the branding for the product is low key, but, it’s very creative and 22,000 people are participating and creating characters to interact at the “clinic”.

“How to Bring Raving Customers to Your Local Business”

Groupon’s @andrewmason and Four Square’s @tristanwalker were on the panel for this discussion. Groupon harnesses the power of group buying with a daily offer to their subscriber list of 5 million people, in 60 cities. This service is great for a business because Groupon only gets paid if the deal goes live, which is set by the response rate. So, it’s a great alternative to newspaper ads. Something to look into if you are a brick and mortar.

Four Square is a mobile social application which “makes cities easier to use”. You are incentivized to explore your city and “check in” where you are. Consumers get points and businesses offer special offers to the “mayors” or, those who visit most frequently. Starbucks saw a 15 – 20% increase in check-ins when they launched a Four Square campaign offering free coffee.

“Creating Buzz With Social Media Contests”

@mike_stelzner spoke about why to hold social media contests. They: drive traffic, sell products, excite customers, increase exposure, provide goodwill, engage customers and are fun and memorable! Bottom line is that it should offer a compelling reward and make them very easy to participate in. To see big results, you need partners and those with a large following to help spread the word.

I’m really enjoying the great reminders and ideas speakers at the Social Media Success Summit #SMSS10 are sharing. Here’s my recap of the Social Media webinars from the Tuesday sessions:

Getting the Most out of LinkedIn
@LewisHowes has spent a lot of time using LinkedIn and he’s learned by trial and error the best place to focus. With 65 million business professionals using this tool, he believes it is the #1 social media site to build your business. You can export your contacts (to use in other marketing ways, like email) and the demographics of those who use it are people with a high net worth (an average Household Income of $109,000). These are business decision makers, so, if you make a good connection for a business partnership, you can most likely close a deal quickly.

Top 3 places to focus:

1. Optimize your page for keywords.
2. Join as many targeted groups as possible.
3. Add Blog Feed and Video Apps.

How Big Businesses are Leveraging the Power of Social Media
This webinar had the marketing directors of Whole Foods, Best Buy and Home Depot talking about how they are utilizing social media. Many have “global” sites for the brand and also “local” sites for stores (since they are brick and mortar) – both in Facebook and Twitter.

They are using Flickr for photo streams, YouTube for both user generated and vendor generated content, in addition to their own videos which range on a variety of topics. They are putting their social media sites in printed circulars, in their windows (since they are store fronts) and sandwich boards in front of the stores.

Many are using twitter as a customer service outlet like Best Buy @twelpforce and some even have twitter accounts just for specific topics like Home Depot and their sponsorship of NASCAR racing @homedepotracing or Whole foods and their food and wine guys @WFMWineGuys. The big takeaway was to have fun with it and find out who is passionate about your brand and tap into that.

3 Reasons You Need a YouTube Marketing Strategy
@GregJarboe spoke about YouTube, pointing out that 86% of internet users are viewing videos each month and 81% of all videos are viewed on YouTube, so, you need to be there! Many people stop watching at the 10 second mark, so, your call to action and good content needs to be front loaded. You must optimize your video for keywords, so, be sure to put them in the Title, Description and Tags. If you need ideas for what to make videos about, visit the YouTube Creator’s Corner:

There is also an “insight” button in “My videos” of your account where you can see demographic info, referring URL info and where people are bailing out.

Bottom line is to add video frequently so people will subscribe to it (like your blog). And, every time you post a video on you tube, embed it in your blog as the views there count in YouTube.

Social Media Marketing is such a dynamic environment to reach people and get the word out about your business, and it’s really hot right now! If your business does not have a presence in the social spaces, like Facebook and Twitter, you are leaving potential new customers behind and missing the chance to build on your existing relationship with current clients. When your business is using Twitter and Facebook, it can also help you find other businesses and networking connections to help your business grow. Plus it also serves as a way your existing customers can communicate with you. The stronger the relationship you can build with a client, the better because everyone knows it’s much harder to get a new customer than to keep one and when the ones you have are loyal, they will provide repeat business and referrals.

Just the other day, I was working in Twitter for my client, UGLeepen.com. I was searching keywords in Twitter related to ergonomics, because he has an ergonomic, comfort pen. I found a business who sells ergonomic products and furniture but not pens. Through just a few messages (known as “tweets”) in Twitter, I found a great lead for my client and they are in discussion to have his pen sold in their store. This is just one example of the dynamic and exciting environment Twitter can provide for your business.

I was also in Twitter for my client, Scripps Ranch Dermatology & Cosmetic Center. She has a brick and mortar business and is looking to connect with people locally in San Diego, so, I conduct keyword searches for her based on the city. As I found San Diego locals, I saw that one the people I “follow” for her repeated (or as it’s called in Twitter “retweeted”) one of our messages. Her tweet also added “this is my dermatologist”. Now I can have conversations with this client directly in Twitter. This builds the relationship and keeps the Dermatology Center top of mind so she can refer a friend or stop in for additional services herself.

Are you using Twitter or Facebook for your business yet? Contact me for a free consultation.