We’re moooovin’ on up…to the East Side

Just like George and “Weezy”,
we’re movin’ on up…to the East Side.

Well, not quite.

We’re just moving from one blog to another.

You can now find all our posts at http://punchmedia.ca/blog/

So what does that mean?

Well, if you subscribe to our RSS feed or get updates via email, it means you’re going to have to re-subscribe there.

Visit http://punchmedia.ca/blog/ and re-subscribe
(0therwise you’re going to miss out!)

Thanks for following us, for your feedback and your support. We’ll see you on the new site.

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Social Media Done Right: Ford

There are companies who “do Social Media” and there are companies who “do Social Media RIGHT”.

This week, I was teaching the students about Social Media & Business and one of our Case Studies of Social Media done right is Ford Canada.

The class watched the following video which was uploaded to YouTube on September 15, 2010

On the YouTube Channel, it states it was “Created for internal audience and agency show reel, and submitted to Cannes Lions Film Festival – won Silver”

During the class, I tweeted the following:

Within the hour, I received the following:

and

Scott Monty is the head of Social Media at Ford. On his Twitter account, he has 76,000+ followers, and has sent 34,ooo+ tweets.

As per the article by Shel Israel in Forbes magazine,” Monty is probably the highest-ranking social media professional in any publicly traded company.”

You would think that a high-powered executive, responsible for an internationally known brand would have better things to do than to respond to a “regular person”, but if you look at his Twitter stream, you’ll notice he’s not pushing his company agenda (that’s the brand’s job) – he’s actually having conversations!  (Note: This is what you’re supposed to be doing on Twitter)

Taking a look at the @Ford and @FordCanada accounts, you’ll see there’s a mixture of pushed content/updates, mixed with conversation and re-tweets of others.

Quite simply: Ford “gets” social.

Ford (like some of the other car manufacturers) is very visible in the blogging community. They participate at conferences at ShesConnected and have recruited some phenomenal social media people such as Craig Silva to be brand representatives.

(Side note: I know Craig from speaking at the inaugural #140ConfONT last year. We were both speakers at the event and both he and his wife Wendy, are very active both online and regularly attending tweet ups and conferences in and around Toronto. They are really an awesome duo who truly get the spirit of what Social Media is all about.)

As Scott Monty says in this video from Social Media Examiner, Ford is listening to what the customers want.

Listening, you say? Yes. Listening.

What a novel idea! (she says, sarcastically)

Not everyone is going to be able to participate and have the brand recognition that Ford does, but my advice to you is:

• be where you customers are (don’t try to be on all the channels, just focus on doing it right)
• listen to what your customers want
• solve their problems
• evoke emotion
• connect with them (a simply “thank you” or “good morning” shows you want to build a relationship)

And you just might find you end up building a community of quality customers who are passionate about your business.

Now I turn the question to you: What companies and brands are YOU seeing who “get” Social Media?

I’d love to share them with my classes at Durham College and the University of Ontario, Institute of Technology.

Disclaimer: I don’t work for Ford. I don’t own a Ford. These thoughts are my own.

Click here to sign up!: http://eepurl.com/mP4Tj

Scoop.It : Like Pinterest, But The Focus is on Content

Ok kids. Brace yourself.

There’s a Pinterest for Business on the block, and it’s name is Scoop.It

Now before you groan – “but I don’t have time for another Social Media site”, let me tell you what it’s all about.

Instead of posting and swooning over pretty pictures, this site is a “magazine” of curated content.

Quite simply, you can sign in with Facebook or Twitter (or email address).

(I chose to log in with my Twitter account).

Then you’re expected to add the Scoop.it bookmark to your computer to make it easy to “Rescoop” content.

You curate a topic, which means, you decide on a title and subtitle (description).

Then look for content that will fit within this category and you can either comment on it, share it, give a thumbs up “thanks” and/or “rescoop” it so that it’s “pinned” to your page.

People can follow your “scoops” in a very similar fashion to the way that Pinterest works.

You can simply enter in some keywords and relevant content/articles will appear.

Each “scoop” is hotlinked to the original source.

So why would you use Scoop.It?

Creating content is undeniably one of the biggest challenges for Social Media. It takes time to write and publish. It takes creativity to come up with an idea.

Re-purposing content in your industry can have a similar effect as it shows your connections that you’re staying on top of your industry and reading the most relevant news.

Like may other tools in the Social Media world, it helps to make you look like an expert in your industry.

I’ve only spent a few hours looking through the site. I’m sure there is a lot more ground to cover here, and a lot of potential for showcasing your business.

You can check out my work in progress at: http://www.scoop.it/u/lesliehughes

I will make TWO cautionary notes:

ONE: Just because you can publish once and syndicated to many channels – PLEASE DON’T DO IT. 

Heavy users of Social Media see that you are posting the same message to all your channels and your “important” message then is dismissed and people will begin to unsubscribe/unfollow.

Make each post relevant and interesting to your audience. Don’t make noise just for noise sake.

Besides, it’s not social to be simply pushing information out into the ether. You have to make conversations.

TWO: Curation tools such as Scoop.It and Pinterest are NOT designed to solely to push *your* agenda.

These tools help create a personality of who you are: show what you are reading, share what you think your connections will be interested in. It’s a mixture of copy, pictures and topics.

It is NOT an opportunity for you to push your  ”one man/woman show” with you as the writer, actor, and director. You’ll only end up with an audience of YOU if you do this.

Always remember there are people on the other side of the computer. Build relationships and cultivate a community. It’s SOCIAL media, not PUSHY SALES media.

Let me know what you think. Is this a site you’ll be spending more time with or just another time suck?

Do you think it’s similar to Pinterest? Would this platform work for your business?

Social Media Marketing for Business-to-Business (B2B)

When you hear “Social Media Marketing”, you think of Facebook. Don’t you?

Well, although Facebook certainly has a stronghold on the world of Social Media, they aren’t the “end all, be all”.

If your customer base is business-to-business, Facebook is probably not the most useful tool.

So what other options do you have?

Blog: Your online magazine
Your company blog is similar to your own online magazine. You can publish content about your business daily, weekly, or monthly.

Statistically speaking, the more often you post, the more conversions you receive. (Hubspot)

Providing a personality behind your brand goes a long way in helping to build the “know, like and trust” factor.

The more your customers get to know you, the stronger the bond and the more they want to do business with you.

What kinds of things can you publish?

• Charity events your company participates in (with lots of pictures)
• Celebrating events at your office.
• New accomplishments – (new babies, anniversaries)
• A weekly question and answer session (video or blog)
• Opinion pieces – reviewing different new products/services on the market

You have to think like an editor: What do your readers want to know about? What kind of things can you publish that will evoke emotion.

Pictures always go a LONG way.

Twitter: Customer service and updates at 140 characters (or less).

You may think Twitter is stupid and most people post that they’ve walked their dog or had a muffin for breakfast, but Twitter is SO much more than that.

Regardless of the industry you’re in, there is someone on Twitter you can connect with.

I started using Twitter to learn about Social Media. Follow the thought leaders; read what they recommend.

Jump into conversations. Say “HI”.

I’ve met some AMAZING people on Twitter that I’d now consider to be alliances and friends in real life.

Anyone you know who “gets” Twitter will tell you – it rocks.

Here’s the thing with Twitter (and Social Media in general): You can’t use Twitter to only pitch your stuff. It’s not a one-way push of information. You have to think of it as a tool to help build relationships and have conversations.  It can help you listen to what people are saying about your company and your industry at large. It can help you provide great customer service.

For the most part, people on Twitter (and all other Social Media channels) will get ticked off if you’re pushing YOUR agenda before you’re satisfying theirs.

Put your customers/prospects first.

LinkedIn: THE business-to-business channel.

Last, but certainly NOT least: The most under-rated but powerful Social Media resource = LinkedIn.

Part Rolodex, part marketing brochure, part resume, part “chat groups”, part news resource.

The majority of users on LinkedIn, have a high income, higher education and are the decision makers within a company.

Getting involved in Groups about your industry (better yet, gain new relationships by joining and participating in your target audience’s group) can help you build awareness for yourself as an expert in your industry.

Continue to add QUALITY connections of people you’ve met or connected with. You never know where a referral is going to come from.

Why do I push QUALITY over quantity? As Seth Godin says “Small is the new big”

Marketing is no longer about pushing out your information to an unqualified audience who doesn’t care about your product. It’s about developing a qualified group of people that are interested in what you have to say.

Just having more people in your Rolodex doesn’t help to build business; cultivating relationships with people who care about your business, does.

Listen. Engage. Listen. Engage. Repeat.

THIS is the secret sauce of Social Media.

SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION ALERT:

For a deep dive into LinkedIn training, check out our new online training program.

We know you’re busy, so they are designed in 15-minute modules so you can get bursts of information, apply the tips and come back for more.

There’s no “fluff” in these videos. They are fast-paced and to the point. You can re-visit them as often as you’d like to make sure you take advantage of every tidbit of information.

We’ve also included a checklist to make sure you haven’t missed anything.

Check it out: http://www.udemy.com/linkedin-training/

Facebook and Google Ads: Are they worth it?

Facebook makes billions of dollars with their ads.

Are they worth it?

GM says “no” – they’ve pulled their ad campaign.

But here’s the thing:

While traditional advertising (pushing information from one to many) is not nearly as powerful as permission-based marketing, there is still something to be said for brand impressions when done strategically.

If you’ve been to one of my seminars, you’ll recognize this screen grab:

Now before I get into WHY and HOW it can be done right, let me give you a bit of info about advertising.

Before we could click on something to get immediate access to content, advertisements in TV, radio, magazines etc were placed to distract you from what you were doing.

If you were watching your favorite TV show, listening to the radio, reading the newspaper, ads were designed to behave like a person dressed in a clown suit waving at you to come into their store. They were a distraction.

But…there’s something to be said about these distractions. Big brands have spent billions of dollars trying to distract you.

The secret sauce to advertising is: reach + frequency = impressions and customers.

The rule of thumb is that it takes between 8 to 10 times for someone to see your brand before they begin to have a relationship with it.

So you can’t simply place an ad in a magazine once and expect the phone is going to ring. It’s not gonna happen.

In the world of Social Media, where the gold is in pre-qualifying your leads with a smaller, yet actively interested community.

For the most part, we tune out ads. Very few people click on banners and buttons and hotlinks. You’re not going to convert business using web ads.

BUT remember those brand impressions I talked about? You can get in front of your potential audience and get brand resonance at an affordable price.

Facebook, Google, and even LinkedIn have a self-served, cost-per-click advertising model. So, you can choose your budget, choose your schedule, choose your audience and more.

Now, the important part to remember is to be STRATEGIC.

Don’t publish to the masses and think this going to drive lots of business. It won’t work.

Think about your audience. Where are they? What are they doing?

On Facebook, people are visiting this site NOT to think. They want to connect with friends and family and spend more time online in the evenings and later in the work week.

If it’s local and relevant to your audience, they may be more likely to notice it. Similar to driving down the road and only noticing license plates that are from out-of-town. If it’s relevant to your audience, they are more likely to click on it.

On Google, people are ACTIVELY looking for information. They are researching. The question you have to answer is, “what are they actively looking for”. Find the right keyword(s) and test them out.

Since you’re only paying when someone clicks on an ad, you can get a lot of potential brand exposure for free.

For one client, we had a national campaign over a 2-week period that received just under a million impressions for less than $200.00. The click-through rate was very low (under .028%) ….but a MILLION times that ad was seen for less than $200.00

Test it out. Set aside a particular budget and see what works.

And then let me know (by adding your comments below). In my opinion, when we collaborate and share our experiences we can grow and learn together.

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What’s the deal with QR codes? How you can use them to market your business.

You may have seen QR codes.

They’re the odd looking square “bar” codes, just like the one on this blueberry container below.

According to this article on Mashable.com

“ 20.1 million mobile phone owners in the U.S. used their devices to scan a QR code in the three-month average period ending October 2011. In the big scheme of things, this isn’t a large number. However, the number of people using QR codes is expected to grow.”

 Using an “app” on your smartphone (I use one simply called “Scan”), you scan in the code and your phone synchronizes with the internet. Essentially, the QR code is a hotlink – and it opens your browser to a website. Whatever website the company has directed it to.

This QR code directed me to the following site:

Their primary objective is they  want me to “Meet the Owner”. Because I purchased the blueberries from a grocery store, perhaps they want the consumer to realize there are farmers behind the crops they are purchasing. They want to put a face behind the blueberries.

If this were my client? I’d direct the consumer to a mouthwatering recipe that would make me HAVE to buy the product.

Or better yet, have the QR code direct me to a coupon that can be scanned in at checkout.

(But, having said this…I’m not going to take the time to scan in each produce item as I’m grocery shopping.)

Since they aren’t widely used yet, you might be “first to market” this marketing concept for your business. Just be sure to make your offer compelling and useful.

So how can you use QR codes for your business?

Think of QR codes as a hotlink from “real life” to the virtual world.

Just a few caveats and tips:

1. Do not jump into using QR codes just because you can.
2. Think of your strategy (what are your objectives).
   Think of your audience (are they digitally savvy enough to know how to use them?)
3. The QR code should be provided in a place where people have access to an Internet connection. When people are in the subway/elevator, the connection may not be strong enough. If they have to save and look at it later, you may have lost the opportunity to connect with them.
4. Take into account that size matters. You want it to be accessible enough for people to scan it in. Too big or too small will not be effective.
5. Ideally you want to give people a REASON to scan the QR code. A bar code is not enough of an incentive for people to take the time and scan it in without a call-to-action. WHY should they scan it? What will they get?

So you’ve decided that QR codes work with your demographic, what ways can can you integrate your traditional “offline” marketing and direct people to your online channels?

Allow people to download something for free. Do you have something your customers want? Information, tips, white papers, studies, recipes, etc?

• Wine companies have QR codes on the bottles to direct the consumer to their website, to describe the wine or to provide pairing suggestions.
• Golf courses can use QR codes at beginning of each hole which will lead to a video of your Golf Pro giving quick tips.
• Direct people to sign up to your newsletter, Facebook page or Twitter feed. Remember: anything they have to do to log-in is a barrier so make it as easy as possible.
• If you have a bricks-and-mortar, use a QR code on your door or window display for those who are window shopping when you’re closed.

I LOVE this idea from JCPenney.

The gift buyer could use the QR code to include a personalized message. Perfect for “Secret Santa”!

And from the same Mashable article, think about using a QR code to encourage people to integrate with Google. Ask your customers to give a testimonial or review.

What truly remarkable QR campaigns have you seen?

Like tips like these? We have an exclusive monthly e-newsletter where we give tips and tricks we don’t share anywhere else.

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How to ROCK your Facebook cover page: 3 examples

As you know there’s a whole heap of “DO NOT DO” rules for the Facebook cover photo.

It may not contain:

• Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our website”
• Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page’s About section
• References to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features
• Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”

All cover images are public, which means anyone visiting your Page will be able to see the image you choose. Covers must not be false, deceptive or misleading, and must not infringe on third parties’ intellectual property. You may not encourage or incentivize people to upload your cover image to their personal timelines.

So what CAN you do?

Images are one of the best ways to evoke emotion. Remember the saying “A picture is worth a thousand words”? What are you conveying about your business?

• Show a picture of your staff at a charity event
• Change your image often* – every time your picture is uploaded it’s another opportunity to be visible to your audience
• Include a call-to-action in the description for the picture (you can’t include a CTA within the picture itself)
• If you’re really creative, can you blend your icon into the overall picture (see Telus photo)?

Here are the sizes you have to work with to create your own awesome Cover Image:

Img Source: http://netdna.copyblogger.com/images/FBCover.jpg

Telus “blends” their icon & cover image

Ford integrates employees and brand into a neat cover image.

McDonald’s first cover page – a nostalgic look at a history.

What’s YOUR favorite cover image?