Just How Influential Are You, Anyway?

Perhaps for those who use Facebook and Twitter only to keep in touch with friends and family, measuring online influence may not be a huge consideration.  For companies that use social media and for the growing ranks of job seekers who have incorporated online networking into their job search strategies, however, knowing the size of their engaged audience (the number of friends and followers who actively listen and react to their messages) and the likelihood that their messages will generate actions such as comments, “likes” and retweets can be highly valuable information.  Imagine how useful it would be to know, for example, just how many people actually saw that tweet you sent to your 100 Twitter followers about your job search. 

Klout.com and PeerIndex.net are both influence measurement tools that track your own activities and the activities and profiles of your friends, followers and connections across, among other things, Twitter and Facebook accounts and blog feeds, and then carry out calculations to provide you with an influence score.  In the case of PeerIndex, the tool also takes into account the subjects that you talk about most often and includes graphical representations of its findings.         

Both Klout and PeerIndex are free to join, so why not find out just how much online influence you really have and, better still, make your online presence more productive?

Make sure your employees know your company

If you’re a manager, there’s one thing you’ll want to be sure that your employees are armed with—and that’s knowledge about the company and the products or services you sell. A fatal flaw for many companies and managers is that they assume that employees already have this knowledge, but the truth is that lots of times they don’t. So take it upon yourself to meet individually and go over some of the basics with those you feel it is necessary for—new employees, underachieving workers, etc. Make sure you do this tactfully. There is a natural way to deliver this information through conversation without making people feel they are being singled out in some way. Make sure that employees understand the overall goals of the company and what they do fits in the big picture. Sometimes employees just don’t get this for one reason or another, and it’s your job to make sure that they know what they need to do—a good job for you and the company.

"Greatness is not measured by what a man or woman accomplishes, but by the opposition he or she has overcome

"Greatness is not measured by what a man or woman accomplishes, but by the opposition he or she has overcome to reach his goals."

Social Media Meets Mobile Marketing

Mobile marketing is changing the way people interact in their social media networks. More and more mobile users are able to access their social network right from their cell phone and business marketers are looking for any way possible to combine these two powerhouse technologies that are turning the business world on its ear. Are you worried that you missed the boat? Don’t be – yet.

From 2009 to present day, Facebook and Twitter – social media’s little darlings – have seen massive increases in mobile traffic (347% for Twitter and 112% for Facebook). Furthermore, 91% of mobile web users socialize online. And one more statistic to add while we’re at it – by 2013, mobile usage will SURPASS PC usage. It’s time to bring your social networking to the 21^st century. Facebook is ready to introduce Facebook Zero – a text-only version of their popular social platform – dedicated to its mobile users.

Consumer s have already begun to embrace the whole mobile web revolution and it’s time that businesses add this powerful resource to their overall marketing plan before they’re left behind.

How Video Marketing Works

In order to be a successful video marketer you need to know the basic principles of video marketing, and how it works.

They can be summarized in three important steps:

1.  Make a Video:
Before you can distribute a video, you need to have one.  Don’t worry, this really is not that hard to accomplish!  This website will show you how to make a video using software you already have.  You can even make a video without  a video camera or even a microphone.

2.  Submit Your Video to Multiple Video Websites:
You can make a video for YouTube or any number of other video sharing sites. This site will show you the best places to submit your videos for maximum exposure.  We will also cover how to optimize your video submissions, and automate this process if you wish.

3.  Receive Backlinks and Traffic as Your Video is Distributed Around the Net:

This last step is automatic.  Once you have your videos distributed, just sit back and reap the benefits.

Before you start cranking out videos, you need to consider what goes into a great video.

The main goal is to make sure that people find your video to be “worth watching”. Our second goal is to ensure that after they view the video, they will want to learn more about the topic and will click the link to your website (and hopefully buy something!)

The videos that you want to go viral you will need to spend more time on. The videos that you are using purely for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) purposes don’t have to be award winning.

Video Marketing for Business

Video marketing for business is one of the quickest growing kind of marketing of all time.  There are number of online marketers who take advantage of video marketing promotion.  The sort of targeted traffic you can generate by executing proper video marketing promotion can be extremely huge

Online video marketing for business has made a significant surge.  However, if you watched online video several years ago, you'd have probably thought that it would never have made the leap to the business world.  Much of it was kids performing tricks on skateboards and funny pet tricks.

Online video marketing for business has quickly become the "must have" advertising, marketing and communications tool for businesses in NJ and NYC of all kinds.  No other marketing medium connects with busy business people as effectively as online video marketing.  Online video is unique in its ability to attract, captivate and engage customers, thus increasing lead conversions of casual browsers into paying customers…in some cases increasing conversions by 52%!

There are so many benefits of Video marketing for business that you’d better start right now with it. All you need to do is follow the right steps to maximize this marketing strategy. For very low costs you can get really high profits as you can get to more prospects that can turn into your clients or associates.

One of the major benefits of Video marketing for business is that you get a great exposure for free. You can have as many videos as you want in all the video platforms on the net. When done correctly, this is a great advantage as there are literally billions of views every day. This means you will have hundreds or thousands potential prospects for free.

Connecting With Video

Think for a moment about all the websites that you visit when you’re on the web. Do the majority of them have some sort of video incorporated into their website? I bet they do! There are constantly new ways to incorporate video into your website. If you’re not using video yet in some way, maybe it’s time to jump on the bandwagon because it is surely not going away.

Interviews

One of the easiest ways that you can produce content on the web is to conduct an interview. Now who you conduct the interview with is entirely up to you, maybe it’s your favorite blogger, an expert you know personally within an industry, or maybe you can even get a best-selling author to do an interview with you for your website. To me the best way to conduct these interviews is through video, possibly using Skype or some other video type of platform. The benefit of doing a video interview is it takes less time and you can have a casual conversation with other individuals and pump out some really great content for your website viewers, versus the text format interviews which can take a long time if there are tons of questions. Plus with video you really get a sense of the personality and passion the person you’re interviewing has which helps to create a real connection with your viewers.

Testimonials

Why not spice up your testimonials by having those who provide them to you do a video instead of submitting text? Again, it creates more of a connection for the viewers since they can actually see the person and see how much they have benefited from using the product or service you’re offering. One company that is really doing this well is bigcommerce.com. They have a handful of testimonials submitted by satisfied customers of their product and I found them to be really interesting to watch. They were short and to the point of why the product works for them. So if you have some customers who are not shy about video why not go this route?

Video tutorials

Now this is somewhat similar to the how-to videos, but video tutorials are more for explaining and demonstrating the product that you are offering. Video tutorials are a huge asset to have in the help center for your customers. Speaking from experience as being a customer, I always try to solve the problem myself and if I run into a problem or have a question the first thing I do is go to the company’s website in search of the help center. Within that help center the one thing that I hope to find the most is a video tutorial series showing me how to effectively use the product. In the end it saves me the hassle of having to call you for help or e-mail you and it saves you, the product provider, the time of having to help me solve the problem; plus answer the same question or problem for others. 

Your Business Image is Important

Say you are about to launch a new product. You spent months or even years developing the product and studying your target market. And after what seemed like eternity you are finally ready to introduce your creation to the market. The big day arrived; you opened up early and are ready to flaunt your biggest smile to everyone who comes in. By mid-day you noticed that even though many people come in to check out your product only few actually buy it. Now this gave you something to think seriously. What could possibly be wrong with your product? Perhaps there is nothing wrong with your product but there can be something terribly wrong with your marketing strategy. 

When people are looking for products or services to avail they usually go for ones that they are familiar with or have long used. This way they can be sure that they are getting the most of their money. So for a business owner like you who is just starting up in the business industry, it is important to make a good first impression. Sure, you can do this by offering discounts and other special offers. You can even put a large banner in front of your store announcing your special opening sale. But when are not able to offer the right image you may as well consider hiding in your den and reflect on what you need to improve in your marketing strategy.  

But then again you may be doing the right strategy and using the right advertising trick. But have you looked at your logo? That’s exactly what I’m thinking. You could have overlooked the most important part of your product – your logo design. Logos often tantamount to a company’s image, hence, whether it is hip, chic, interesting or boring it is essential to create a logo that gives the right impact to the customers. It doesn’t really matter if you, your friends or employees like or does not like the logo. What is important is the impression that it gives to your customers.  

A good logo must represent the business image appealingly and effectively. It must likewise be practical and functional as complicated logos often leave customers confused and wondering what is actually being sold or presented. Keep in mind that less is always more. Hence, a simple logo design will most likely seal the deal and help you grab more customers. Certainly a colorful and over-designed logo will catch more attention but no company achieves success based solely on their logo. So a simple flexible logo is more likely to entice prospects to actually buy your products and avail of your services. 

A combination of art, science and psychology often creates a good logo. A designer should know this, so if you do not know how to design your logo you can ask their help. Remember that a poor logo can ruin your image but a good one can instantly create name recognition and can boost company sales and services.

Your Greatest Marketing Assets

You might not think that you are a marketing and sales person, but if you own or work in a small business think again. When you're in business for yourself - whether you like it or not, feel like you're good at it or not - you are a marketing and sales person.

I tell my marketing clients and those that attend my various marketing presentations all the time that the two greatest assets you possess are your Attitude and Belief. When these are positive and show through your marketing and sales efforts, your results will increase dramatically.

Attitude: Be enthusiastic and passionate about your value proposition to the marketplace. You know that what you offer can make a difference and have an impact on your clients. When it comes to your own marketing, if you feel good about yourself and you have self-confidence because you are doing everything for the benefit of your clients, you'll become more attractive to prospective clients.

Belief: You don't have to have a degree in marketing to get great marketing results. But you do have to believe in yourself and your actions. I call it a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you believe that can't do something, you're right - you won't do it. On the other hand, if you believe that you can learn what it takes to get better marketing results you will.

If you're persistent in pursuing your business and your small business marketing with a positive attitude and belief that you can, sooner or later you'll find what works for you. You'll discover the marketing strategies and tactics that allow you to begin attracting attention and bringing in new clients consistently!

Getting More Customers

Surveys show that 85% of success in life relates to your communication, human relations skills, and "emotional intelligence”.

Joe Batten, an American motivational speaker said: "Before you tell, ask; before you talk, listen; after you listen, relate; and always show that you care. When you can translate care, people will want to do business with you and details will not get in the way."

From a business viewpoint you also have to build relationships and get customers to trust you. To do that you have to:

1. Be Reliable

Do what you say you're going to do.

Do it when you say you're going to do it.

Do it right the first time.

Get it done on time.

Under promise and over deliver.

2. Be Responsive

Be available

Be accessible

Be willing

Be helpful

Be informative

3. Solve problems

Solve customers’ unique problems and they will continue to be your customer. Put yourself in the customer's shoes and feel what they feel.

Does this mean that all your marketing and advertising needs to be “touchy feely”?

No. You can still create calls to action that increase sales whilst observing all these principles.

For example:

Tell them about a price increase!

People want a 'good deal'. If prices are going up on a specific date, let your customers know. They'll want to buy before the price increases.

Offer a trial period

Trial periods are a great way to get new customers. Offer a special deal, extra service or a lower price during your trial / introductory period.

Offer a Guarantee

People want to know there's no risk involved if they're not satisfied with the product/service. Let new customers know they can cancel for any reason before the trial period expires.

Offer free extras

Buy X and receive Y. This works with a whole range of products and services. Be sure to include an end date on your offer. This politely urges people to take advantage of your offer before time runs out. Give a deadline for ordering. Order by the 10th and receive.... That way, your customers know they only have a limited time to respond and they won't fall victim to the "I'll do it later" syndrome.

Offer a FREE gift

As an added incentive for ordering, offer your free gift to the first 100 or 1000 people that respond or walk through your doors.

Offer an upgrade

One simple line can boost your sales. "Order within 10 days and we'll upgrade you to ......."

Whatever you offer be sure to include action phrases:

* Call Now

* 24 Hours a Day

* Mail today in the prepaid envelope

* Fax your response card.

Business success also relates to communication, human relations skills, and "emotional intelligence”, but in a business context.

Just How Influential Are You, Anyway?

Perhaps for those who use Facebook and Twitter only to keep in touch with friends and family, measuring online influence may not be a huge consideration.  For companies that use social media and for the growing ranks of job seekers who have incorporated online networking into their job search strategies, however, knowing the size of their engaged audience (the number of friends and followers who actively listen and react to their messages) and the likelihood that their messages will generate actions such as comments, “likes” and retweets can be highly valuable information.  Imagine how useful it would be to know, for example, just how many people actually saw that tweet you sent to your 100 Twitter followers about your job search. 

Klout.com and PeerIndex.net are both influence measurement tools that track your own activities and the activities and profiles of your friends, followers and connections across, among other things, Twitter and Facebook accounts and blog feeds, and then carry out calculations to provide you with an influence score.  In the case of PeerIndex, the tool also takes into account the subjects that you talk about most often and includes graphical representations of its findings.         

Both Klout and PeerIndex are free to join, so why not find out just how much online influence you really have and, better still, make your online presence more productive?