The Top Three Secrets to Succeeding at Social Media
Business owners often don’t understand the importance of social media. Yes, when teenagers are posting selfies on their Facebook pages, it’s easy to think that Facebook is for “the kids.” But here’s a reality check: More than a billion people are on Facebook and, unlike TV advertising, businesses can target them based on very specific aspects of their lives. Business owners should think of their brands’ social media as their own “channels,” in much the way that TV channels work: the more good, interesting content you put out there, the more likely people are to latch on to you, follow you and engage with you. Of course, social media also means there’s much more room for glut – but it’s also a place for small businesses to defy the odds through clever marketing strategies. Here are some key takeaways for small business owners to help maximize their social media exposure. 1. Yes, You Need to Be on Social Media. Regardless of a business’s size, being active on social media can only help your company. If you think people aren’t interested about, say, commercial plumbing services in Reno, Nevada, you’re wrong: people tweet and post about nearly every topic imaginable. Plus, social media is a great opportunity to field customer service inquires. Businesses that still aren’t sure about social can implement testing strategies to determine social success, but be forewarned: as the world becomes more and more digital, there will be more and more reasons to be on social media. 2. No, You Don’t Need to Be on Every Social Media Outlet. [quote]A company that specializes in SEO doesn’t necessarily need to be on Pinterest and Instagram, particularly if the business’s customers aren’t on Pinterest and Instagram.[/quote]Business owners have limited bandwidth, and with such an influx of social media outlets, no one expects a business owner to be on all of them. In fact, doing so could actually cause harm, because in trying to build communities on all of them, a business owner could essentially fail to cultivate a community on any of them. What’s the best way to deal with this? Select your small business’s first social media outlet carefully, and expand from there. Typically, companies will first look to Facebook or Twitter, and can expand once they’ve established a routine and a community on one of those sites. 3. You Might Want to Put a Few Bucks Into Social Advertising. Companies that aren’t experimenting with social ads could see if a social ad strategy works for them. Facebook ads are hyper-targeted and can offer, for some businesses, a high return on investment for carefully crafted ads. The same goes for Twitter. However, for some companies, Facebook ads may not make sense. For example, due to stiff competition, searches related to car insurance have a high premium on keywords. However, other outlets such as Reddit and Pinterest offer ads that may be a better fit for brands with competitive keywords. These tips can help small businesses build their communities, ultimately leading to better brand engagement. The team at our Florida advertising agency has even more tips to help you build your brand, so contact us for more information on how to build your brand’s social media strategy!
Learn to Beat the Competition: It’s Agility in Action
At our Orlando advertising agency, we’re constantly taking strides to work efficiently and effectively. It’s easy to get bogged down in the details of day-to-day operations. However, in organizations across the country, managers are now looking to agile and lean tactics to help keep their businesses ahead of the competition. These managers understand that their businesses operate as a unity of moving parts, and as such they’ve taught their employees to move rapidly and outpace competitors through easy-to-execute maneuvers. In an era of so many digital products, there are now new ways to practice agile tactics in order to help your business succeed. For example, I recently heard an anecdote about a person who works for large corporation. At that business, all tweets must be approved by a high-level marketing manager. While in theory this would make for higher-quality marketing, prevalent research shows this is typically not the case. Once a tweet has gone through the entire chain-of-command, Twitter topics may no longer be relevant. This results in inefficiency for both the high-level employees and the rest of the marketing department.[quote]As anyone with a Twitter account knows, posting dated information is a great way to lose followers.[/quote] A simple solution here is to edit the Twitter process. By designing a playbook, the company could offer a listing of tweets pre-approved by management, as well as a listing of the tweets that should always be approved at a higher level. This simple practice could save hours all around, allowing the teams more time to work on other projects. This is an example of an agile solution; a solution that reduces inefficient labor but still allows higher-level oversight of the day-to-day operations of the brand. Companies that don’t engage in this type of behavior are missing opportunities to connect with customers and add value to relationships with the brand’s fans and followers. While most digital marketers think of agile tactics in terms of social media, these types of practices can be spread across the board in terms of measures that businesses can take to be more responsive on a daily basis. For example, one medium-sized ad agency in Manhattan now engages in daily “standing meetings” at the beginning of the day, meetings in which each person in the organization announces what they’re working on, and where they can use help. This collaborative environment helps people work together in new ways, all based on a firm understanding of the need to be responsive and flexible in the agency environment. Other agile tactics in marketing may include customer service initiatives, such as introducing social media customer service via Facebook and Twitter. More and more large companies are seeing success through effective communication via social media, which are often a preference for people tired of waiting on hold for hours and filing email complaints that go unanswered. Like the best athletes, the best businesses are the ones that are powerful, but are also focused on keeping up. Companies that fail to embrace innovation risk futures such as those of Polaroid or Microsoft – futures where their entire business model depends on people failing to adopt new practices that help them thrive in the digital era. Interested in innovative ways to stay ahead of the competition in your industry? Contact BIGEYE’s team of marketing strategists at today to uncover new ways to differentiate your brand!
Create a Winning Content Marketing Game Plan With This Guide
It’s baseball season, and your whole family is excited to eat some peanuts and Crackerjacks while watching your home team hit home runs into the grandstand on a warm spring day. Except, there’s a problem. Your team is on a horrible losing streak, with no end in sight. After a few games of watching loss after loss, the outing to the ball game seems like less of a big event, and like more of a chore. Your children would rather stay in and play video games, and America’s pastime is starting to feel like your own waste of time. Unfortunately, these are true realities for sports teams, burdened with the task of continuing to make money even when their teams are not winning games. So how does the sports marker get you, the unhappy baseball fan, to continue coming to games, whereby you’ll presumably order overpriced nachos and Budweiser on draft, thereby continuing to spend even more of your hard-earned money on a losing team? For sports marketers who are struggling with attendance, the experts at our Orlando advertising agency have come up with a few ideas to help your business thrive… even when your team isn’t. Partner with Charities: If you’re having trouble selling tickets, try partnering with charitable organizations to help get people in the seats. The benefits are two-fold: first, partnering with charities is a great way to show your team’s commitment to your fans, and to your community. Secondly, the tickets winners, who might not have attended the games otherwise, will be likely to share their fun experiences with their friends on social media. Evaluate Your Brand’s Message: Is it about winning? Or, is it more about having a good time, and getting a chance to bond with family? Focusing on the feel good aspects of seeing a live sporting event is a great way to entice people to go out for some sunshine at the big game. Run a Big Campaign: Offering chances for spectators to win prizes is a great way to allow them to engage with your team’s brand. The fun experience of having the chance to meet the players offers a lifetime of great memories, and people will line up to buy tickets for the chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity (or, even just a free calendar or other promotional freebie). Partner with Deals Sites: If you’re having trouble filling seats at full cost, then consider selling them at discount prices. Consider big daily deals sites like Groupon, but also consider local outlets that also offer deals, such as locally-focused blogs and newspapers. Talk About the Other Team: If your team isn’t winning, then talk about the team that is. Is your team about to face off against the series leader? Build some suspense by advertising both teams. That way, you can attract transplants who aren’t rooting for your local team, plus people who just want to see a good game. Even if your team isn’t winning any awards, your marketing efforts still can. [quote] It’s important for sports marketers to think creatively, and to capitalize on all sorts of opportunities that work to bring in players. [/quote] If you’re looking for more ideas to help ramp up sports marketing efforts for your team, contact our Florida advertising agency… we’re ready to help you hit a grand slam!
Content is King at Our Florida Advertising Agency
Earlier this year, I wrote a post about the impact of content marketing in 2013. Since that time, more than a few people have wanted to know more about what I meant… what is content marketing? How can I use it to help grow my business? Is it expensive? So, I thought it would be a good idea to address these questions in a follow-up post discussing what content marketing means to me. Every day, thousands of blog posts are written, thousands of hours of content is being uploaded to YouTube, and millions of people are posting and sharing on social networks. Yes, it can be hard to sift through everything. The idea behind content marketing is that your customers won’t NEED to. If your customers trust you to provide leading, cutting-edge reports on trends, ideas and innovations within your industry, then why would they need to look elsewhere for the same content? If you can make this information accessible, fun and engaging, then this virtually eliminates the need to look to sources such as trade magazines, big media companies and RSS feeds to find the information that’s relevant to their area of interest. Content marketing is why Pepsi can offer an interactive home page that streams Tweets, video and content from a number of sources. There is seemingly no connection between Pepsi and the music industry, but Pepsi has honed in on the types of people it hopes to attract, and can thereby zero in on their interests. In a sense, it’s no longer about the drink (that’s always the bottom line), but it’s about the entertainment value and perceived relationship between the music fans and their soft drink choices. People can go to Pepsi Pulse to learn more about their favorite artists, watch video coverage of new and interesting things in entertainment, and potentially even see their own Tweets broadcast on the Pepsi home page. Companies that embrace that their brands aren’t just about the products that they sell will have much more success further down the line. The association may only be psychological, but with all other things equal, pop culture music fans regularly exposed to the Pepsi brand are more likely to choose Pepsi amongst competitors. Your content strategy doesn’t need to be limited to the product you sell. Writing, blogging and reporting about things that may be of interest to your followers is a great way to build relationships – you may run a small furniture store, but your funny cat meme you post early on a Monday morning will help bring smiles to the faces of your fans. [quote] Engaging with your followers on a personal level is extremely important. To learn more about our expertise in brand engagement, give us a ring at 407.839.8599. [/quote] One important thing to remember is that the content you’re pushing out should be high quality. If you own a small fashion retailer, writing uninformed, keyword-oriented posts about subjects you know little about will come across as fluff, and may even dilute your brand. Think you don’t have the finances to run an effective content strategy? Try hiring an agency like ours on an ongoing basis, and see if you don’t see notable returns after three months, which is the about the amount of time most companies report seeing increases in business upon implementing SEO strategies. The team at our Orlando advertising agency bets that you’ll see a significant bang for your buck in terms of more, higher-quality clients and sales.
Social media’s newest “it girl”: Welcome the new app Vine
Social media is constantly evolving, which means there will always be a new platform that is bigger and better than the existing ones. The newest platform to hit the web is Vine, a Twitter creation. It is an app that allows you to create six-second videos and share them on an Instagram-like newsfeed, Twitter and Facebook. Those six-seconds don’t have to be consecutive. You can start and stop recording by tapping on the screen until your time is up. It is currently only available on an iPhone or an iTouch. Chris Taylor from Mashable wrote, “It’s the kind of moment that comes rarely, but tech journalists live for it; a service is launched with little fanfare and receives a sudden, energetic burst of genuine buzz.” It hasn’t been all champagne and roses. The first glitch happened a few days after it’s launch in the appearance of pornography videos. Twitter said in a statement to ABC News, “Users can report videos as inappropriate within the product if they believe the content to be sensitive or inappropriate (e.g. nudity, violence, or medical procedures).” All videos that meet those descriptions will be immediately deleted. Although there have been early hiccups, our Florida advertising agency believes Vine has a bright future. It has a big advantage as being the brainchild of a major social service, Twitter. Have you started using Vine already, or need some expert advice on where to begin? Contact our team today to schedule a consultation!
The Write Way: Six tips for better email marketing
In some ways, email marketing is a necessary evil. It’s a cheap and efficient way to reach all of your former customers, colleagues, subscribers and anyone else that’s randomly ended on your list. It’s today’s version of direct mail marketing—only worse, in that it’s so cheap that nearly every company in existence can afford to do it. If you find your company’s marketing emails struggling to distinguish themselves from that Nigerian prince who keeps asking you to send him money, then perhaps its time to reevaluate your email. Here are some tips to help you pack the most punch with a single message: KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid): You may have the urge to pack your email full of stories, articles and news in order to make sure the subscriber knows everything. But edit your message, and think about what the reader sees… does he really need to know that your friend’s mother’s brother saw Les Miserables and thought it was “pretty good?” Cut out all of the extraneous information and focus on the important selling points. If you want to offer news and about your company (and you probably do), offer short snippets and link out to full web pages and blog posts that explore the information in more detail. Make the Email Part of the Marketing: Are you in the business of design, yet for some reason you send text-based emails? In doing this, you dilute your message of innovation, no matter what types of services you provide. However, it is important to note that some companies tend to stick to tech because some email applications, such as Gmail.com, do not automatically show images. Account for this by naming your images accordingly so that the picture titles show up automatically, and do so in a manner that helps prompt people to click the option to open all emails from your given email address in the future. Then, you can focus on ways to integrate your brand identity with your email design. Use Catchy Subject Lines: This may seem obvious, but it’s surprising how many emails I get on a daily basis with titles like “January Newsletter” and “Blog Update.” Unless these are from companies I rely on to provide me with relevant information, I immediately delete these kinds of messages. Think carefully about what your readers want to hear about – is it a sale? A giveaway? Maybe a piece of advice you know they’ll use? If possible, come up with something catchy and use it as a lead-in to your email message, which will lead to significantly higher open rates. Include a Call to Action: If you’re able to get your reader to read through your newsletter, bulletin or sale information, why not use the opportunity to encourage them to also “like” your Facebook page or follow you on Twitter? In doing so, you can get double the impact out of your email message. [quote] A call to action? You don’t say? Since we’re on the subject, why don’t you go ahead and like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter. You’ll be glad you did. [/quote] Optimize Your Email for Mobile: This seems like a no-brainer, but so many companies these days still haven’t fully latched on to the fact that millions of Americans use their phones as their primary source of email viewing. People check from their phones or tablets early in the morning to see what they missed overnight, and they continue to check throughout the day when they are away from their computers. If people can’t see your messages, those messages will likely go down the tube into oblivion with thousands of other jumbled emails that people like you and me see daily. Avoid Spamming Your List: Email glut is a reality these days. In writing and sending emails, remember that you are asking for a piece of your subscriber’s time. If you fail to offer interesting and informative information, your potential customer will hit unsubscribe faster than you can check your inbox. Email lists are extraordinarily valuable to businesses of all sizes, and it is important to remember that every email is a potential sale. Use the kind of courtesy in a marketing email that you would in a friendly email. Our Florida marketing agency is certain that if you use these tips, you’ll notice immediate returns.
Want to launch a mobile app? Ask yourself these questions first
Mobile apps are all the rage. There are literally thousands of apps in the iTunes app store, with more and more created every day. You have an idea for how you think you might be able to grow your business through a mobile app, but you’re not entirely sure. However, since everyone else is doing it, it must be the thing to do… right? Not necessarily. Lots of media companies that have developed complicated apps have watched them go bust as they find out that their subscribers, followers and readers aren’t necessarily interested in getting their information from a mobile app. If you’re thinking of creating one for your brand or business, the team at our Orlando marketing agency thinks you should ask yourself these questions first: Am I providing a service that no one else is providing? While this question won’t hold true across the board (the New York Times app is always going to be able to compete with the CNN app), many apps fail because they are providing a service similar to, if not identical to, a service that’s already being provided. [quote]Want to check out a success story in the mobile app market? BIGEYE teamed up with The Daily Mom to develop a unique and sophisticated app that reached the Top 25 Downloads Position on iTunes. [/quote] Recently, someone turned me on to a new local neighborhood app. The problem was, everything on the app is also available on Yelp, Google Maps and a variety of other platforms. What would be the point of having another app to clutter my home screen? I would advise that developer to pivot as needed to ensure that he is not duplicating something already in existence. Will a mobile app provide features that a mobile optimized web page can’t? If it takes a person as many steps to sift through your mobile app as it does for them to directly access your website, then it may be wise for you to save your money and focus on mobile optimization. Along the same lines, it’s important to consider whether your app will add anything to current marketing efforts. I overheard an individual at an independently owned media company say that his company had to kill its mobile app, as it was a waste of resources for them. Why? Because people were discovering his company’s content through social media links and email marketing, making it unnecessary for his email subscribers and social media followers to take the extra step to download the app. Is this the best use of my budget? A strong mobile app can cost a small fortune to develop, particularly if you’re trying to trying to do something innovative that’s never been done before. But, it’s not just the cost of creating a mobile app – it’s the cost of maintaining it and continually feeding it content. It’s also the costs to keep it up-to-date with the newest technologies, in order to offer advanced features. In the first stages of an app, these items are crucial, as no one is interested in downloading an app that will only cause problems and headaches. [quote]Once you’ve answered these hard-hitting, bottom-line questions, it’s time to determine whether your company or brand really needs a mobile app. [/quote] At our Florida advertising agency, we believe that in the future, mobile apps will be a necessity – but that it certainly isn’t the case today. As of July 2012, only 55.5% of U.S. mobile subscribers owned smartphones, though this is sure to change in the coming years. What are your favorite mobile apps and why do you remain loyal to them? Still interested in creating a mobile app? Check out the web & mobile services we have to offer.
How content marketing will revolutionize brands in 2013
You know how those banner ads flash across your screen on just about every single web page in existence? Well, they’ve been pretty much unchanged since 1995. Inc. reported last month that content marketing is the wave of the future as part of its series on How (and Where) to Make Money in 2013 (and Beyond). And your friends at your favorite Florida advertising agency just want to say… Duh! Earlier this year at an industry conference, I heard from a range of speakers who suggested that if brands are treating themselves as media companies, they are going to fall behind. As the traditional media outlet dies, branded content will reign supreme. And, while there’s always going to be a place for hard-hitting, unbiased journalism, branded content is really just an extension of television networks that make money by selling relevant ad time during popular television shows. Perhaps this is a bit confusing for some people. But the Internet made it possible for brands to independently establish media companies as part of their digital identities, outside of the confines of the Viacom empire, NBC Universal, CBS, Disney, ABC or the stronghold of Rupert Murdoch. In this digital world, brands no longer have to rely on such media companies to push their content – they can create their own. Hence, branded content is taking the place of “traditional” media. One example is The Zoe Report, a lifestyle blog from celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe, which tracks back to her own commerce site. The Zoe Report also soups ups your inbox with daily tips and deals to subscribers’ inboxes, which leaves her with a solid email marketing platform to boot. [featured] Speaking of creative blogs, check out the rest of our blog posts! Be prepared to be inspired. [/featured] Escape My Life, a web series from Ford Escape, stars comedian Natasha Leggero, perhaps most notable for her stint as a judge on NBC’s Last Comic Standing. In a sense, it’s like an extended commercial, but the story drives the content and keeps it interesting with humor. Does it still seem so far-fetched that content marketing is the wave the future (or even the present)? [quote]Digital content is relatively inexpensive to make, and doesn’t have the added shipping and printing charges of direct mail marketing.[/quote] Companies who engage in content marketing have the power to reach millions of people, and can keep them coming back for more. Marketers can reach out to people using tools as varied as Facebook to Reddit. Even with items as simple as sponsored posts on already-popular websites such as Gawker counts as content marketing, which is the younger sister of the sponsored pull-outs you see in major newspapers across the country. Many times, there is little difference between the type of content that the publication would typically publish and the sponsored content. Conversion Planet is vying for the top space in this growing digital field, with real-time content and analytics that help measure success. Marketers can latch on to this field by developing interesting content strategies that involve text, blogging, social media and video content. Our Florida marketing agency encourages your team to develop an integrated content strategy this year in order to help solidify your team as leaders your field, and to keep people coming back to you for more.
7 tips to improve the impact of your business emails
Inbox overload is a real problem. Each day, intersparced with the emails I get from Groupon, Amazon.com and Zappos about new products and flash sales, I receive long business emails from potential associates and partners. Sometimes, there’s just not enough hours in the day to go through all of it. So, I’ve compiled a list of patterns that I’ve noticed in the Florida advertising agency world that almost always trigger a response to business emails. Because of the nature of my work, I might be dealing with a marketing executive with limited time, or with a overwhelmed assistant. Here’s what you can do to help improve your business emails response rates. Make Your Subject Line is Straightforward: If you’re trying to confirm a meeting, it’s incredibly important to include the name, time and location in the subject line. First of all, this is much clearer to your colleague than a general subject line like “today,” plus that person can flag it to easily access it. Also try this when scheduling phone calls and providing notice of events. Make Sure It’s Important: If you’re asking for feedback on a project that you should be able to handle yourself, then perhaps you can save your superior some time by exercising judgment. [quote] In this present landscape of agile techniques, many companies would rather their employees take risks up front, rather than have to wait months to get anything completed.[/quote] Yes, there is the risk that your superior or colleagues won’t approve, but they’ll forget all about it once you’ve earned them a goldmine. The simple realization that your coworkers’ time is valuable should be enough to help determine when you need a response, and when you don’t. Respond on the Right Thread: You have two dialogues going on with the same two people; one is about your annual contract renewal and budget, while the other is about a small party you’re hosting. Keeping information organized by replying on the right chain will eliminate the need to have to sort through a hundred emails trying to find the name of the restaurant the client recommended for the event. Use Proper Grammar and Spelling: Conversational style is ok, but if u r wrting emails w/typos, it can b rly annoying 4 the rdr! u c what I mean? its not hard. thx. Keep it Brief: Have you ever spent three paragraphs writing something, then realized you could say the same thing in one sentence? Do your reader a favor and revise your message to be clear and concise. A text-heavy email WILL get buried in my inbox, regardless of how important it is. Ask a Question: If you’re expecting a reply, make sure there’s something to reply to. It’s easy to write “Thoughts?” but if you have specific concepts you’d like your colleague to address, why not save that person time by ask him directly? Asking questions is a smart way to get your reader’s input, and also to also gauge your reader’s interest in the subject matter. Make Attachments Easy to Open: This seems like a no-brainer, but every time someone shoots me a resume in an unrecognized file format, it’s enough to make me forget about that person during hiring time. You can’t go wrong with a PDF, which stands for “Portable Document Format.” PDFs were specifically designed to be universal, and anyone on any computer with internet access can download Adobe Reader. Follow these tips, and I can ensure you’ll have a heightened response rate. I encourage the team at our Florida marketing agency to implement these strategies… which is why I ALWAYS reply to my team members’ emails! [featured] Don’t know much about our Florida advertising agency? Check us out. You’ll be happy with what you learn. [/featured]
Your business’s missing link: Using LinkedIn for more sales
It’s a dusty collection of business cards you have over there, isn’t it? You met what’s-his-name at the who’s-he-what for that startup thingy you can’t remember… right? LinkedIn exists to help people find jobs, but it also survives as a networking tool to help people meet and remain in contact with potential business associates. Your network is who you know, but those people might be connected to the businesses and business owners you WISH you knew. LinkedIn can help you reach out to the people who can truly make a difference. For example, a designer friend of a friend at our Orlando marketing agency wanted to sell his products online at a particular website, which he thought was a good match. He reached out to a sales planner at said website through the mutual friend, and less than a month later, the site was carrying his products. If that designer were to successfully do this with ten retailers, his business could grow tenfold. Many people think networking is about passing out business cards and being able to drop some fancy jargon and a bit of understanding about the state of the industry. If only it were that easy! Real business thrives on relationships and opportunities. And, friends-of-friends can be easy starting points to expand your inner circle. [quote]LinkedIn may be the missing link in the chain of relationships that will help drive your company’s growth.[/quote] If you want to use LinkedIn to improve sales, try some of the following ideas: Ask Yourself Some Bottom-Line Questions: Who are the people who you think may be able to help you? How do you think these contacts might be able to help you? What’s in it for them? Addressing these primary questions will help you formulate a pitch. If you’re blindly messaging your contacts and trying to get in touch with theirs, then it will come off as insincere, and may even hurt your chances of growing your business. Create a Strategy: Once you’ve figured out the answers to the questions above, formulate a strategy for reaching out to the most valuable contacts with the least amount of time and effort. Remember, if you run a small social media start-up, the CEO of a major brand may not be the best person to help your business. Perhaps you have a connection in common with the company’s Director of Marketing, who holds the power to make decisions pertaining to new social media tools and applications. Join a Group (or Ten): Joining a group will put you in contact with like-minded people in your line of business. But joining a group itself isn’t enough – it’s important to actively engage with other group members, who may provide valuable leads and information pertaining to your field. Try trade associations, alumni groups, and of course, groups containing current or potential customers. Dedicate Time to Your Network: It’s easy to set up a LinkedIn profile, and then to let it get lost in the shuffle of all the other important things you need to do in order to maintain your business on a day-to-day basis. Instead, actively seek out people in your line of work and dedicate a few minutes each day to following up with them. Schedule time on your calendar each day to dedicate to this task, rather than waiting until you have a pocket of time to focus on your network (which may be never). Follow these tips, and our Florida advertising agency assures that you’ll see results. While you’re at it – check us out on LinkedIn! LinkedIn may be the missing link your company needs to help grow to its fullest potential.
