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5 Social Media Tips for Small Business

A recent study by Employers indicates that over half of small businesses believe in social media as an important marketing tool. Yet, only 16% of those polled use their social media accounts to communicate directly with customers. So, what are they actually doing with social media? The average small business uses it to promote, much in the same way they use ads, direct mail and other forms of traditional marketing. Social media for business promotion is fine. But, the real leverage comes through engagement with people who are interested in you. Your fans and followers are the real catalyst for your success with social media, so keeping in touch with them is critical. Why? Social media, much like content marketing, is all about building customer relationships. In fact, businesses can take their cue from the origins of social media as a primarily “social” tool. Sites such as Twitter and Facebook were really designed to help people communicate with each other, share resources and stay in touch. Businesses can do the exact same thing with their customers, using the same sites. Using social media sites to engage with current and potential customers takes a commitment of time. However, the tools are already built in, so you can simply think of your company account as another way to connect with your target market, just as you would with friends, colleagues and relatives. Here are 5 tips for building the relationships that lead to sales: 1. Listen- There are a lot of conversations going on out there. Some of them may be about your company, your industry or other topics that affect you. Take the time to listen to what is being said before deciding how to respond or add to it. You’ll learn more about what is important to your target market when you put your ear to the ground. 2. Participate- By becoming part of these conversations, you show that you’re interested in what people have to say. This is also your opportunity to show how much you know about your topic, which helps to establish your authority. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, encourage debate and even stir up a little controversy now and then. It gets people talking and gives you more information you can use to connect with them. 3. Add value- Your comments should always add something of value to the conversation. If you’re too self-promoting or don’t add any useful information, both you and your company will lose credibility. Think of your efforts as conversation rather than as a push for sales. 4. Evaluate your goals- At some point, preferably at the beginning but also along the way, you should think about your objectives. What you trying to achieve with your social media efforts? Some businesses want to increase brand awareness, others are more interested in what their competitors are up to. Honing in on your primary goals will save you time and energy in the long run. 5. Look at the big picture- Think of [...]

By Ignacio Galarraga|November 16, 2012|Online Marketing, Social Media|

5 tips de redes sociales para pequeñas empresas

Un estudio reciente realizado por empleadores indica que más de la mitad de las pequeñas empresas creen en los medios de comunicación social como una importante herramienta de marketing. Sin embargo, sólo el 16% de los encuestados utilizan sus cuentas de redes sociales para comunicarse directamente con los clientes. Por lo tanto, ¿qué están haciendo en realidad con los medios sociales? La pequeña empresa promedio utiliza para promover, tanto en la misma forma en que utilizan los anuncios, correo directo y otras formas de comercialización tradicional. los medios de comunicación social para la promoción de negocios está muy bien. Sin embargo, la influencia real viene a través del compromiso con las personas que están interesadas en ti. Sus fans y seguidores son el verdadero catalizador para su éxito con las redes sociales, por lo que mantener en contacto con ellos es fundamental. ¿Por qué? Los medios sociales, al igual que la comercialización de contenidos, se trata de construir relaciones con los clientes. De hecho, las empresas pueden tomar el ejemplo de los orígenes de los medios sociales como una herramienta principalmente "social". Sitios como Twitter y Facebook fueron realmente diseñados para ayudar a las personas se comunican entre sí, compartir recursos y mantenerse en contacto. Las empresas pueden hacer exactamente lo mismo con sus clientes, utilizando los mismos sitios. El uso de sitios de medios sociales para interactuar con los clientes actuales y potenciales requiere un compromiso de tiempo. Sin embargo, las herramientas ya están integradas, por lo que simplemente puede pensar en su cuenta de la compañía como otra manera de conectar con su mercado de destino, tal como lo haría con amigos, colegas y familiares. Aquí hay 5 consejos para construir las relaciones que conducen a las ventas: 1. escucha Hay una gran cantidad de conversaciones que se encienden por ahí. Algunos de ellos pueden ser acerca de su empresa, su sector o de otros temas que le afectan. Tómese el tiempo para escuchar lo que se dice antes de decidir cómo responder o añadir a él. Vas a aprender más acerca de lo que es importante para su mercado objetivo al poner el oído en el suelo. 2. Participar- Cuando se convierte en parte de estas conversaciones, que muestran que usted está interesado en lo que las personas tienen que decir. Esto también es su oportunidad de demostrar cuánto sabe sobre su tema, lo que ayuda a establecer su autoridad. No tenga miedo de hacer preguntas, fomentar el debate e incluso agitar un poco de controversia en cuando. Hace que la gente hablando y le da más información que puede utilizar para conectar con ellos. 3. Añadir con valor Sus comentarios siempre debe agregar algo de valor a la conversación. Si usted es demasiado autobombo o no añade ninguna información útil, tanto para usted y su empresa perderá credibilidad. Piense en sus esfuerzos como la conversación en lugar de como un impulso para las ventas. 4. Evaluar su metas diseñadas, pese En algún momento, de preferencia al [...]

By Ignacio Galarraga|November 16, 2012|Medio Social, Mercadeo En Línea|

Ads That Follow You Across the Internet ? A Twist on an Old Idea

Sometimes the most interesting innovations come from the simplest ideas. Case in point: one of the hottest online advertising trends today is something called “ad retargeting.” Erick Schonfeld of TechCrunch explains retargeting this way: “The idea is simple. When you visit a retailer’s or other advertiser’s website, it drops a cookie on your browser and the next time it sees you pop up on another site it loads an ad from that retailer. You’ve already expressed interest in that advertiser by visiting their site, so they retarget you whenever they can. It may sound a bit stalkerish, but trust me, everyone is doing it.” There are some variations of this definition, but for our purposes today it’s close enough. Even Google is now offering retargeting of its Google AdWords, calling it “remarketing” and giving this example on its official Inside AdWords blog: “Here’s an example of how it works. Let’s say you’re a basketball team with tickets that you want to sell. You can put a piece of code on the tickets page of your website, which will let you later show relevant ticket ads (such as last minute discounts) to everyone who has visited that page, as they subsequently browse sites in the Google Content Network. In addition to your own site, you can also remarket to users who visited your YouTube brand channel or clicked your YouTube homepage ad.” I happen to be a fan of retargeting ads. Last year I started a campaign through one such retargeting service, ReTargeter.com, to build the audience for a social media site I own, after interviewing the founder of ReTargeter, Arjun Dev Arora, and becoming intrigued with the idea. My purpose was to build loyal repeat visitors to that site – visitors who don’t just visit once, but who are reminded of the site in their travels across the Web and prompted to come back and visit and participate in the site repeatedly. I wanted the site to be top of mind for those visitors. In essence you could say it is a branding campaign… to build awareness and brand recognition. Retargeting turns out to be a cost effective branding campaign for small businesses. You target a qualified audience (those who’ve already shown some interest in your product or website). You pay only for ad impressions that will be seen by those you are targeting. There’s a lesson in these retargeting ads that goes well beyond advertising, for every small business. That lesson is about innovation. Look for innovation in the simplest ways and smallest things. At its core, retargeting is nothing more than serving up banner ads of a certain type to a certain audience – with the main difference being that the ads are served AFTER the user leaves a website. That one twist – serving up ads AFTER the visitor leaves the site – can make all the difference in the success of a campaign. In my case, it made my advertising much more effective (and a better use of my [...]

By Ignacio Galarraga|November 4, 2012|Marketing y Ventas, Medio Social, Mercadeo En Línea, Pequeños Negocios|

Nine Keys to Getting the Most for Your Marketing Money

1. Ask your questions Begin your agency relationship by sharing your business goals — as concretely as possible — with your agency. If you don’t have an in-house marketing director, your agency can translate your goals into marketing strategies and tactics that will be the blueprint to achieving your objectives. If this is your first time working with an agency, go over the contract fine print upfront. We try to do an Agency 101 with new clients to explain how we bill, how the project will flow, what the processes are. Don’t be shy when asking about advertising terms, some of which are right up there with Aramaic. 2. Throw back that curtain Once you have committed to an agency relationship, treat the agency as a partner. We are not the printer repairman; we’re an extension of your marketing team. An agency can help create some remarkable shifts in your business, but not if you keep us at arm’s length. Throw back that curtain and share what’s worked in the past and what hasn’t. Give us access to your team. Let us listen in on your customer calls and evaluate all of your touch points — your reception area, proposals, receipts, signage, ads and Web experience. A good agency wants to be challenged and held accountable for results. 3. Do your homework Our vice president and brand strategist Suzanne said last week that market research is the new black for small businesses. Yup. We are seeing many more small- to midsize clients letting us conduct market research than two or three years ago. They have fewer dollars to spend on advertising, and they want to get the strategy and message right the first time out of the gate. Keep in mind that there are more cost-effective ways to do market research these days: Twitter monitoring, online surveys, etc. 4. Buy fresh As an advertising acolyte, I attended a creative conference in San Francisco in the ’80s when the advertising iconoclast Ted Chin spoke. He outlined to a rapt audience his “quotations from Chairman Chin.” The one that burned in my brain was, “Sameness is Lameness.” Let your agency know you’re open to big thinking. Paying an agency to execute preconceived notions is not a good use of your money. 5. Think big Big ideas make people nervous. That’s how you know you’re on to something. How can you tell the difference between a big idea and a big bust? First, check the idea against your strategy: Will it deliver your target audience? Will it achieve your communication goals? Is it true to your brand? Will it create an emotional bond between your company and your target audience? Bolster yourself with the reminder that marketing the same way you always have will get you the same results. Imagine that room full of insurance executives when someone first pitched the idea of a duck’s being the central advertising component for Aflac. 6. Talk to your agency One of the strangest client relationships [...]

By Ignacio Galarraga|October 18, 2012|Marketing and Sales, Small Business|

9 tips para ganar la mayoría del dinero del marketing

1. Haga sus preguntas Comience su relación de dependencia mediante el intercambio de sus objetivos de negocio - la manera más concreta posible - con su agencia. Si usted no tiene un director de marketing en la empresa, su agencia puede traducir sus objetivos en las estrategias y tácticas de marketing que será el plan para el logro de sus objetivos. Si esta es la primera vez que trabaja con una agencia, repasar el contrato por adelantado letra pequeña. Tratamos de hacer una Agencia 101 con nuevos clientes para explicar cómo se realiza la facturación, cómo fluirá el proyecto, lo que los procesos son. No sea tímido al preguntar por términos de publicidad, algunas de las cuales están a la altura de arameo. 2. Tire hacia atrás de la cortina Una vez que se han comprometido a una relación de agencia, el tratamiento de la agencia como un socio. Nosotros no somos el reparador de la impresora; somos una extensión de su equipo de marketing. Una agencia puede ayudar a crear algunos cambios notables en su negocio, pero no si nos mantenga en condiciones de mercado. Tire hacia atrás de la cortina y compartir lo que ha funcionado en el pasado y lo que no. darnos acceso a su equipo. Vamos a escuchar sus llamadas de los clientes y evaluamos todos sus puntos de contacto - su área de recepción, propuestas, recibos, señalización, anuncios y experiencia en la Web. Una buena agencia quiere ser desafiado y rendir cuentas de los resultados. 3. Haga su tarea Nuestro vicepresidente y estratega de marca Suzanne dijeron la semana pasada que la investigación de mercado es el nuevo negro para las pequeñas empresas. Sip. Estamos viendo muchos más pequeñas y medianas empresas clientes permitirnos realizar estudios de mercado que hace dos o tres años. Tienen menos dólares para gastar en publicidad, y que quieren conseguir la estrategia y el mensaje correctamente la primera vez fuera de la puerta. Tenga en cuenta que hay más formas rentables para hacer estudios de mercado en estos días: el seguimiento de Twitter, encuestas en línea, etc. 4. Comprar fresca Como acólito publicidad, asistí a una conferencia creativa en San Francisco en los años 80 cuando el iconoclasta de publicidad Ted Chin habló. Describió a un público absorto sus "Citas del Presidente Chin." El que quema en mi cerebro era, "Igualdad es cojera." Deje que su agencia sabe que estás abierto a pensar en grande. Pagar una agencia para ejecutar las nociones preconcebidas no es un buen uso de su dinero. 5. Piense en grande Las grandes ideas que la gente nerviosa. Así es como se sabe que está en lo cierto. ¿Cómo se puede decir la diferencia entre una gran idea y un busto grande? En primer lugar, comprobar la idea en contra de su estrategia: ¿Cumplirá su público objetivo? Va a lograr sus objetivos de comunicación? ¿Es cierto que su marca? Va a crear un vínculo emocional entre su empresa y su público objetivo? Impulsar a sí [...]

By Ignacio Galarraga|October 18, 2012|Marketing y Ventas, Pequeños Negocios|

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