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Archive for Facebook

Obnoxious Social Media, Grrr

By Susan Hamilton · Comments (2)
Thursday, January 13th, 2011

It’s soft, but it’s strong. We’re not supposed to say it’s advertising. Get used to it, folks – social media is the online conversation (we’ll try real hard not to call it advertising) of 2011 and beyond. Developing “Friends” and “Followers” and chit-chatting is what you’re supposed to be doing, right? But if you’re not letting people know about your business, products and services online, what’s the point?

Computer screen with a hand holding out a business card.Trends are like a pendulum. They swing this way for a time, and then momentum swings them the other direction. The backbone of America has been working very hard, and financially, many haven’t really reaped the rewards they’d hoped. So there was some burnout, and some casual conversation made it all better.

Pretty soon businesses caught on that they should have a presence where the people are. And they’re online BIG TIME socially discussing EVERYTHING. They’re using cell phones, iPads – now you can Twitter from your television set.

Now we’re experiencing some kind of time warp where marketers say if we’re not casually talking about various subjects online, people won’t know us enough to trust us or buy from us. So if you’re hard-working and don’t have time for that, you won’t be a viable business?

Who else is calling that malarky?

The trends will soon swing back to practicality again, but the face of marketing has forever been changed through an improved understanding of what happens socially in an online world we’re all a part of to one degree or another.

You know, the first year they introduced a computer class at my high school, I opted to take Advanced Typewriting. Now kids in kindergarten are taught more about computers than most were taught then.

We’ve all made silly choices regarding technology before, I’m sure I’m not the only one. (At least, I’m not ready to admit it!) By the time I took my first computer course, I was well behind everyone else, had to work twice as hard and get tutoring.

If your business is not taking advantage of social media outlets, you’re basically doing the same thing.

Look, there are smart ways to go about using social media, but the goals have to be positive for your business.

Download your free copy of The Very Best Way To Use Twitter For Local Business and let us know if it improved your online social understanding, and what we can add to cover anything we’ve missed. This is too important to skip.

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Categories : Social Media
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Is Social Media a Time Suck?

By Susan Hamilton · Comments (5)
Monday, August 16th, 2010

I hear this complaint over and over and over again from small companies that don’t blog or have a social media presence. It never surprises me – I believed that for a long time, too. Probably for my first whole year of interacting with few results. It isn’t quick, it isn’t easy to learn, and businesses already have their interoffice ways of doing things that don’t include time to chit-chat about the riff-raf with strangers. There was a time not too long ago that communicating trivially with strangers on the job carried flirtatious implications with raised eyebrows from coworkers and nasty gossip. (It still might, definitely keep tabs on your office staffers! If you don’t know how, download my reference guide The Very Best Way to Use Twitter For Local Business.) These days talking to strangers the right way online can make you a superstar in your industry, niche, or location. Doing it right, however, isn’t done overnight. Don’t give up too quickly.

Learn about social media.Tell me, what aspect of your marketing doesn’t go hand-in-hand with work? Everything requires work. There is no such thing as doing something that produces income that is not work. It’s not extremely hard work, but it’s hard work. The payoff  is way worth the effort, though, and actually much easier to achieve once the mindset of “social media time-suck” is replaced with, “Oh, this is elbow grease.”

Yeah, it’s going to take some effort to learn and to implement. But so does going to your networking meetings and continuing education classes. The big picture of your future in business includes connections in social media circles.

Never underestimate the power of learning a new strategy. You don’t get yesterday back, and while there are great things to learn from marketing past that are still very relevant and true today, if you don’t position yourself for the future it will pass you by. A blog takes time, targeted social media relationships take time to cultivate, and if you wait for next year you’ll be that much farther behind your competition and your goals.

Have you recently embraced online interactivity, either through blog posts or social media? Leave me your comments, my CommentLuv plugin will pull your blog post link for others to see and provides a back link to your site from mine. Tell me about your foray into social media, and don’t forget to connect with me on Twitter and Facebook.

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Categories : Social Media
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Great Copywriting is Necessary for All Businesses

By Susan Hamilton · Comments (7)
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010

What makes great copy? Is it convincing, well-written grammatically, and spell-checked? Yes, but it should also be compelling, and worth your reader’s time. When I read something that just takes me around the block and back to square one, I’m no better off and I’ve wasted my time. If I end up somewhere else, though – if I end up coming to a conclusion that makes me respond, I’ve just been exposed to great copy.

Man going somewhereIf you want to know if you’re website copy is doing everything it can for you, contact me. I’ll review one page of your copy for absolutely nothing. It’s not that I give away my services, although I do offer quite a bit at no cost to my readers. More than anything, I want you to see the difference compelling copy will make for your overall marketing campaign.  It doesn’t take long for companies to realize effective copy DOES make the difference.

Is great copy really effective?

It’s not hype; it’s fact.

Have you ever wondered why you get those mailers addressed to the fictional “Occupant?” Do some make you cringe, while others raise “the eyebrow of curiosity” causing you to hang on to it and show it to someone, possibly even purchase? Never? Of course you have.

Well, they’re being sent out in droves right now, and competition for your attention is fierce. There is risk associated with direct mail advertising, and it isn’t the right choice for every business. For some companies direct mail is extremely effective. Marketers will tell you: everything from the color, to the pictures, to the right words and precision placement of those words was carefully scrutinized before the ad ran.

It stands to reason that free resources offered on the web make great copy a necessity for small businesses online, too. From Twitter to Facebook, to landing pages and blog posts, if the copy needs work, a business can unknowingly suffer.

Here’s a famous quote from Dad,

“When you don’t know, you don’t know that you don’t know.”

No kidding. That quote is especially true when it comes to your copy. If you think your web copy or direct mail advertisement could be more effective, you’re probably right.

How can you tell if your copy is working for you?

Remember not to sell or write for yourself. If you catch yourself reading your material and asking, “Would that convince me?” you’re in trouble. You’re not selling to you, you’re selling to those who already need you. What do they need? What problems of theirs do you solve with your product, service, or advice? Chances are your needs are not theirs, and you may have a whole lot more to offer when you change your perspective. Online improvements should noticeably increase traffic over time.

Tell us, are you enjoying higher rates of inquiries, service calls, or product sales as a result of changing your copywriting focus? Are you spending more on your online or direct mail campaigns? What works best for your local business?

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Categories : Copywriting
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