Category

Communications

Apr 26
Love0

LinkedIn: Is Your Career on a Path of Continuous Self-Improvement?

By Communications

Pay attention.

It’s both the most obvious and most neglected discipline on the social web. As a business, it’s SUPER important to know what people are saying about your brand, your industry and your leadership online. As an individual, your professional appearance makes a huge (and sometimes first, and last) impression.

When was the last time you looked at your LinkedIn profile? Have you looked at how many times OTHER people have been looking at your profile? Do you like what they’re seeing? Does your profile demonstrate the true path of continuous self-improvement you’ve been on?

Apr 19
Love0

Sure I Like You…But That’s About It.

By Communications, Corporate Strategy, Social Media

“Forget about the number of fans or “likes” your organization’s Facebook page has. It’s what the organization is doing to keep those fans engaged that is important, especially if those fans comprise the “Millennials” – individuals who are 18 to 29 years old.”

That’s a quote from a great new piece of research from Dr. Tina McCorkindale, an assistant professor in Appalachian State University’s Department of Communication, who has been doing a bunch of poking around into the habits of Millenial Facebook and social media consumers. You can link to the article here, but the key paragraph is right here:

“With so many companies spending so much time and money on social media, we need to understand not only social media tools but the strategies of how to use it,” McCorkindale said. They found that while 75 percent said they had “liked” a profit or non-profit organization on Facebook, 69 percent said that once they “liked” the organization, they rarely or never returned to the fan page. Only 15 percent of the respondents said they visited organizations’ fan pages weekly. Most respondents (44 percent) spent less than 30 minutes a day on Facebook…Only 28 percent said they had actively searched for an organization’s page.”

Wow. Shocking! Not really. Getting someone to like your Facebook page is actually pretty easy. Getting them to like what you have to say and absorb the value you claim to be providing enough to come back more than once is an entirely different proposition. First, you actually have to PROVIDE that value, whether it’s superior quality of service, workmanship, price/benefit, design, humor–whatever it is you do–it has to be done well, and with commitment.  Think about it. How many Facebook brand pages provide so much value to you that you HAVE to come back regularly? I can’t really think of more than about three, and they are all musician pages. Now I might be different than you, but I go back because I’m a fan and there is usually something new to consume–a video, more tracks, a question, some tour photos.

Are you providing that to your current or potential customers? If not, how can you expect that they are going to take time out of their amazingly interesting day, search for your page, go look at it, and consume what they have already seen? Guess what, they aren’t. At all. And why should they?

These are TOOLS, people. Like picks and shovels and databases and chainsaws and mobile apps. They only do something if you pick them up and get to work. In the social space, that means connecting, responding, engaging, rewarding, asking questions, providing answers in ways your customers can actually extract some VALUE from.

But you knew this, right?

Apr 10
Love0

Charlottesville Restaurants Doing Well with Social Media (Part 2)

By Communications, Social Media

In December of 2010, I wrote about the casual restaurants in Charlottesville that I thought were doing a pretty good job using social media  A plethora of others have opened and joined the social web since then, and those I wrote about at that time are still going pretty strong.

I was willing to go to the web to see what other favorites were out there.

 

 

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/DanaMarieAdams/status/188286924383989760″]

 

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/gingergermani/status/188292965612011520″]

 

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/saw2w/status/188289299303768064″]

What do you think people like to see restaurants post?

Nothing frustrates me (or the common social media user) more than when they face a lack of responsiveness. A while ago I asked a grocery chain for the location of their food truck. I asked via Facebook. I asked via Twitter. I wanted to know THAT DAY. (I was hungry).

A week passed and I finally got a response.

Not good enough.

If you’re going to have a presence online in a local market as a restaurant serving the people in that market and the many people just passing through, you must have someone dedicated to being present online in that space.

Every. Single. Day.

I know, it’s hard. But gee, you have people eating in your restaurant every day. You have people cooking and washing dishes and serving in your restaurant every day. So get on it. Be present, and watch your business grow.

Now, who wants some delicious pork belly?

Apr 05
Love0

Remaining Calm Regarding SEO

By Communications, Corporate Strategy, Media, Social Media

We just got a call from a potential new client that runs a web site. Her site is currently the market leader in our area for her specific area of expertise, but a new competitor has just launched and she was a little worried about how that would impact her. She already has an excellent publishing platform, writes, contributes and shares regularly on the topics her customers care about, and has built all the necessary relationships behind the scenes to support her customers. She has a presence on all the appropriate social networks, but she still felt the need to get in touch with another local “SEO expert” to make sure she was on track.

Whenever I hear that, my neck tightens up.

The bottom line with SEO, just as it was way back in 2007 when this seminal post by Scott Karp was originally created, is that good content and user experience drive links and readers, and links and readers drive good search engine rankings. That hasn’t changed. In fact, Google already hinted at SXSW this spring that if you try too hard to optimize for SEO you could actually LOSE rankings. One thing that HAS changed is that your supporting social media presence is now a big part of how well ranked your site and content remain. Social is tied directly to search results. So what does this really mean and what should you do?

  • Google+ is going to have a huge impact on search results. One way Google can drive adoption of Google+ is to reward participation. What a concept! They have over 90MM users already and they all see personalized search results (SERPs). High participation and large, well-connected circle counts matter in Google’s search rankings. So get on there and start sharing!
  • Conversations and traffic are being emphasized almost more than keywords (which are still really important). The more visibility and connections a piece of content can generate, the better it does for SEO. Social networks are now the primary drivers of those connections.
  • Content remains king. The king is dead. Long live the king! Content has to be fresh, regularly updated, and well-distributed over the social web. So a good content publishing strategy with social distribution is a core competency for your business to develop.
  • Tweets and retweets matter. Google says they don’t directly count tweets in rankings, but a popular tweet containing a link earns a lot of re-publishing across the web that Google does crawl, index and count.
  • Facebook really helps Bing results. Through Bing’s partnership/integration with Facebook, results are massively personalized for any logged in Facebook user. So building a presence and sharing content there is no longer optional.
  • Social content distribution drives awareness and branding, which also drives searches. People just knowing about you and what you think will make them search for you more, yes? It also can lead to more love from the press, who are looking for easy ways to generate stories via social networks and connections.

In the end, it all comes down to content. As usual. If you regularly publish things that are worth reading and sharing and you hook up the necessary social platforms to actually DO that sharing (and enable your readers to help you), you will earn a social search rankings boost, gain natural followers and links, amplify your reach and influence, and bias consumers towards your stuff. And towards your business. All will be well. Deep breaths…

 

Mar 29
Love0

I am Jo Jo the Idiot Circus Boy.

By Communications, Social Media

For anyone who may not know, Jaggers Communications is a small business. Marijean and Rusty are very busy organizing our plans for clients and doing the actual work along with Amy while my job is to bring in the business. I am out there talking with prospective clients on an almost daily basis. We have a pretty good idea of who we work well for (mid-sized companies looking to increase their bottom line by engaging new customers and building loyalty with existing customers through the social networks).

The idea is that we like to work with companies who are also the right fit for us (often science based or educational businesses, but always forward thinking with goals in mind). I have clear idea of who I should be talking to, but I’m also interested in working with clients who I find interesting (fashion, restaurants, fitness, wine). And so, like a lot of sales, I mean, business development people, I get all excited when a prospect that I’m interested in throws me a bone and lets me talk with them. Cut to a very famous scene from Tommy Boy . . .

 

Sometimes I am Jo Jo the Idiot Circus Boy. But I’ve found out that my nerdy obsession with social media and marketing campaigns works out when the companies are also excited, when they are ready. But not all companies that I talk to are ready.

Here are some signs that eventhough your company likes the idea of starting a social media campaign/brand positioning/crisis communications plan/basically any PR initiative, you aren’t really ready:

1. Your boss is not onboard. I can’t tell you how often I see this. The marketing team wants to launch a blog where they can speak directly to clients and share product stories. The boss thinks “surfing the web is a waste of time.”

2. Your company is you and an intern. I want to give you a hug and say that in a few years when you have a bigger staff and a larger budget, we will totally work together. But I don’t want to take all your money. But I will absolutely let you know when Marijean has the next seminar because it will be useful to you.

3. You don’t see the need. Although it boggles the mind, I occasionally run into companies who are so ok with their profits that they feel like they’re fine where they are. Crazy, isn’t it? And we’re all a little jealous.

When these situations come up, I hand over my card and say something cheesy like, I look forward to being a resource should an opportunity arise. But actually, I mean it because we aren’t going anywhere and companies are ever changing and growing. So, I guess I really do hope to work with them in the future.

How about you? Had any Tommy Boy moments lately?