Social Media Strategist: Trevor Eisenman

Helping people design a useful Social Media internet strategy to generate interest and reach for their business is what I’m all about.  And since most of my clients weren’t born with a smartphone in their hands, there are usually a few key points to clear up about Social Media right from the beginning.  After all, Social Media is a relatively new topic.  Or is it?

If you step back and take a look how information moves in Social Media, it’s quite different than “Traditional Media.”   Back in the day, most people got their information from newspapers or magazines.  The direction of information is from the few (the writer or publisher) down to the many.  We’ve all seen this in action in our daily lives, maybe to the point of not even noticing it anymore.  Got a favorite newspaper columnist or TV show host?   One single person communicating to possibly millions of people with little interaction between the communicator and the listeners.

As we step into the Social Media arena, the direction and flow of information is between the readers and the writers.  The interaction (thanks to the internet) tends to be instant and the ripple effect from this sharing of information can spread far and wide.  With the users of Social Media able to contribute news and information to anyone willing to listen, we now have a conversation.  Just like the conversations you are already having at the local coffeeshop or at work.

The recent buzzing and tittering by the media about Twitter and Social Media in general, it’s no wonder business owners may feel forced into using these internet-based communication tools, or perhaps miss sales opportunities their competition is getting instead of them.  Not being familiar with the landscape, many make that sometimes fatal error of confusing Social Media with traditional advertising.

But remember: traditional advertising is the few pushing out information to the many.   No matter how you dress it up, advertising never was and never will be the same thing as a conversation.  Advertising flows up and down, and conversations flow back and forth.  If you are blasting everyone you know on social media with your marketing or business message continuously, ask yourself:  who am I talking to?  If the answer is everyone at once, you might be advertising mode unintentionally.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s OK to let everyone know what you are doing in general.  You’ve gotten those letters at Christmas where a relative runs off a bunch of copies of the family “newsletter” and sends it to everyone?  I like reading those.  It’s just an update, a catch-up session.   But when 90% of the people connecting to me on Twitter are saying the same message (“Want to get 16,000 followers on Twitter?” sound familiar?), we’ve crossed over that thin line between conversing and advertising.

So what’s the secret to this Social Media thing?   It IS faster than mailing a letter or a postcard.  More interactive than TV.   Cheap to boot!  Seems like the perfect advertising tool.   But to use Social Media as just another advertising channel misses the hidden power of Social Media.  What is that hidden power?  It’s so painfully visible, so obvious.  It’s something I call “Commonality.”

It’s where you and I share a common interest, or have similar background.   It’s liking the same funny movie, or both growing up in the South with fried chicken, or having visited the same restaurant in Europe.  It boils down to this:  if you and I have something in common (no matter what it is), we understand each other better to that degree.

If you have a pet dog, and I have a pet dog, we instantly understand each other that much more, and, to the degree that we understand each other, we are enabled to create a personal, lasting, and genuine friendship.  Social Networks facilitate this instant understanding because you can share so many aspects of yourself in a quick glance.

Ever get a friend request on Facebook from someone that doesn’t even have their picture posted and hardly anything listed on their profile?  Little hard to cozy up to, isn’t it?   Kind of like getting a “friend” request from a statue.  Cold.

Social Media is a breeze, really.  Express who you are.  Make it personal (but not TOO personal!).  The more you describe yourself, or rather, profile yourself, on these social networks, the more aspects there are to resonate with for someone who doesn’t yet know you.  I know I prefer to do business with someone I like and trust.   Would you like and trust someone you’d never met before, but who showed up on your door with a slick advertising message?  Didn’t think so.

Does all this seem hard?  It’s not, because if you have already been in business (and thus sales) in any capacity, you’ve already been using Social Media.  Ever strike up a conversation with someone at an after-hours party?  Did they eventually ask you what you do for a living?  If you have, you’ve already got practice in Social Media.  I’ll bet you’ve even gotten a few new customers that way.  Now it’s just a matter of moving that same conversation to an online platform like Facebook or MySpace. It’s the individual and friendly (another word for social) conversations that will forward your business message, because people will like you, and even more importantly, understand you on a level they aren’t even aware of themselves.  Powerful stuff.

Social Media Networks are a fun, useful way to share the individual that is you with the rest of the world.  The steps to participating are as follows:  Join, listen to the conversations  that are already happening, participate where you are interested or can be useful to others, give where you can, and be prepared to receive what others give you in return.   In this way you can organically build a genuine community of new friends, customers and goodwill that may last a lifetime, no matter what business you may find yourself in down the road.

Authored by: Trevor Eisenman

This article is not about THAT WORD the three-letter word that starts with “S” and ends with “X”. But it is about choosing words and topics that people find interesting.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean to exclude SEX from this discussion but I’m just pointing out that the key to getting people to open their awareness and listen to your message is by using words and images they are interested in.

Of course, SEX is a pretty easy way to get someone’s attention.  Even the letters in SEX get massive attention – X, or XX, or XXX.  This makes you wonder about the people who thought up the name Exxon, doesn’t it?

Anyway, many are using SEX to market lots of things.  We try to find keywords that will attract just your target audience and not everyone on the planet.

But where was I?  I was distracted.  Oh yeah, finding out what words and pictures to use to connect with your target audience.  This is key to any marketing endeavor.

For a successful marketing campaign the creative people must know the target audience thoroughly. Just a short simple list would include: 1) Who is the target audience, 2) What’s going through their head (what problems are they focused on), 3) What they view as solutions to that problem and what solutions they see as valueless to the solution of that problem, 4) What images they reach for, and 5) What images repel them.

For example, if I know you love tennis, and you worship slender blondes from the former Soviet Union and I’m trying to sell you a Canon digital camera the chances are that I’ve got a pretty good shot at selling you a camera if I hire Maria Sharapova.

I’ve used Maria to grab your attention and now I can deliver a marketing message.  On the other hand, if you hate blondes and blew your knee out playing tennis, my marketing campaign will probably miss.

OUR MESSAGE: Knowing your audience increases the likelihood of a payback on your investment.

Even though this is known we still see people skipping the research step and shooting in the dark. You know how many times you’re going to hit the target if you’re shooting in the dark?

Those who skip research have two choices: 1) just mimic what everybody else is doing or, 2) try totally new and never been seen before.

When you mimic your competitors you look just like them.  You blend into the wallpaper and waste your money.

When you try something “really out there” you end up with a real crap shoot.  Now you’re betting the farm on something totally unknown.

Why don’t we just jump out of the plane blindfolded. Somebody will yell before we hit the ground.

Let’s talk about “really out there” commercials. I bet you can name five commercials you’ve seen (that you can’t remember the product’s name) that were REALLY COOL and REALLY OUT THERE.  Problem is, you probably didn’t buy it. The client paid for your amusement but got no return.

If they’d known what you’re interested in, they may have grabbed you. Maybe they didn’t market to you an aspect of the product that would have made it appealing to you.

Marketing is funny that way.  If you do your homework, it will work much better than if you guess. The choice is do you want to guess what will interest your target audience or do you want to “understand” your audience so you’ll know how to engage them.

Geico has four or five TV ad campaigns running now.  I’m sure they’ve won many awards. Though extremely creative and memorable I question if they work well for the client.   I can repeat them verbatim but I won’t call for a quote. Why? I like geckos, cavemen, basketball players, Rod Serling, Charlie Daniels, Ed “too tall” Jones….

I’m not interested in the FUNNIEST insurance company. I want an insurance company who is there the day after the big storm knocks a tree down on our house.  If they’d surveyed me, they would know that.

And so, my friends, I come to the end of the article.  Let’s review.  I attracted you with SEX talk.  I showed you a SEXY picture (in the sense of athletic prowess = sexiness). I delivered my message: “Research makes for effective marketing”.

If I was writing a Pay Per Click ad, in which I’d have to pay for every click through,  I would had very specific words to only attract people most likely to be my leads.

So now that you know this, will you take action?

Will you call us? You might.

THE OFFER: What if I offered you a free Business Development Survey, which will clarify what can be done to get a payback on your marketing dollars? Hmmmm?

Getting interested?

BUT WAIT. THERE’S MORE: Wouldn’t it be SEXY to really have a rockin’ 2010?  New clients, big jobs, nice car, new place, bills paid off?

You can find out how…for free.  Call now.

Now that’s good marketing. Of course, if I knew you better I wouldn’t have had to rely on SEX so much to keep your attention. I could have talked about what you were really interested in.

In Social Media Marketing an Hour a Day, Dave Evans remarks on one of the reasons a company wouldn’t want to start an online social networking campaign.  Not enough happy customers!  In the online world, it takes seconds to share information with hundreds, even thousands of millions of people.  If your customers mostly don’t have good things to say about your service or product, opening the door to social media and the uncontrolled conversations that occur online could be costly.

Because small business owners tend to do a lot of the work themselves, and the customers often have direct access to the owner, it usually is easier to get good service.   Even custom service.  The result is that the customer tends to be happier and there is a better chance customers will be become Brand Advocates.  Compare this to a franchised operation!  The whole reason for franchising is so you can make a ton of money, in most cases.  Customized service tends to be a little lower on the list of priorities.

Ok, so as a small business owner you probably have more happy customers than your larger competitors.  And this is where your edge is over big business when it comes to social media.  The big companies tend to forget about the past customers and all of their efforts are on gaining new ones.  A great example of this are cell phone companies that give the best deals to the new customer, leaving their long-term customers out in the cold.

Why is this an edge for you?  Well, because in the case of a small business with a high ratio of happy customers, the customers can do the heavy lifting for you in the “new customer” department.  Remember, we are talking about happy customers here.  This edge doesn’t exist if your customers are mostly unhappy with your services.   The happy customers, however, by blogging and tweeting about their experiences, can affect the new customer’s opinion and decision to buy.  Do you research a purchase on Google before you commit?  Well, so do your customers!

Here’s a really simple strategy almost any business owner can use:

1.  Create a Facebook Fan Page for your business.

2.  As you come into contact your leads, prospects and customers like you normally do, work out a way to capture their email address with the purpose of inviting them to your Fan Page. This could be as simple as a sheet of paper on a clip board for their name and email address.  Tip: When a customer is interested but declines to purchase “right now”, mention you have a Fan Page on Facebook. 9 times out of 10 they are on Facebook and will agree to be sent a link to the Fan Page.

3. Schedule time each week or each month to email the Fan Page URL to these specific customers.

4. Keep updating the content on the Fan Page with news, photos, event dates, etc.  Make sure to add the “Reviews” application to the Fan Page!

5. Ask customers to write reviews and have promotions from time to time that give an incentive for your customers to share your company with their friends. Facebook has applications for that too.

A really, really good reason to have a Facebook Fan Page for your business is because it is completely indexed by Google.  One of my smaller clients has only been on the Internet for about 4 months, if that.  She doesn’t have a website yet, but she has a Fan Page.  With minimal content, she is now on the first page of Google when you search for her product by name.  Ever since we started that Fan Page her phone orders have been steadily increasing as well.

There is a lot you can do with a Fan page, and it’s free so it’s a good place to start!  As long as you keep your customers happy with good service, keep inviting people to join your page, and interact (read “listen”) with your customers, you’ll find that in most cases, your customers start marketing for you.  At the very least, you can improve your ranking on Google.

Having a Fan Page doesn’t mean you should avoid getting proper SEO done, or avoid getting a website or even avoid doing marketing and advertising.  All of those tried and true actions are valid and should be done if you can.  But if you can’t afford them, Facebook Fan Pages are a great way to get started.

Anyway, the point is, as a small business owner you have something the big guys don’t have.  YOU.  As long as your customers can easily “share” you with their friends (who are likely in the same demographic as your customer!), they can pioneer in areas you couldn’t reach for lack of a budget or other reasons.  I can’t think of any other medium where it’s easier to share than Social Media and online Social Networking . Ok, maybe preschool.   But 4 year olds are probably not the right demographic!

Written by: Trevor Eisenmen

Social Media Expert: Trevor Eisenman

More and more business people are realizing the value of social networking.  But often they don’t know where to start, what to do, or what to expect as a result.  That’s where Trevor comes in.

Since not all companies are the same, the first step we take is a free review of their current social media presence and their overall marketing strategy.  Trevor then helps them develop a custom strategy and trains them in it’s implementation.  New Social Media clients were added to The Association family this month!

Locally we had Priscilla’s Gourmet Coffee and Tea  (best caffeine in Burbank); Meehna Goldsmith, Timepiece Specialist from Los Angeles; and Dr. Joseph Kametz, D.C, from Glendale.  All of them are receiving one-on-one training and strategy implementation from Trevor.

No time to figure out Social Media?  Email Trevor today a trevor@theassociation.tv and find out how simple Social Media can be to implement for your business.

Social Media Expert: Trevor Eisenman

Postcards, mailings, TV ads, newspaper – Traditional Media just isn’t cutting the mustard anymore.  So what does that mean for the future of business development?

First off, Traditional Media may not be as effective as it once was, but that doesn’t mean it should just be canned.  From a “holistic’ perspective, it does have its place in the overall scheme of things.  Traditional Media is great for creating awareness and driving interest about any topic.  But realize that, because of the Internet, consumers have a voice in the marketplace they didn’t have before.  This voice is expressed through blogs, comments, Facebook, etc., and is picked up by new potential customers with the help of a quick Google search, and serves to validate (or not) your marketing message.

If a company is doing a bad job delivering what it promises, it is unlikely the world of social media will be very kind without first addressing that issue.  But that is an Operations matter and not the subject of today’s article.  Perhaps the next article.

So, potentially a business needs to continue their Traditional Media approach while also engaging in social media and online networking to ensure the consumer has enough information with which to make a decision: to purchase, or not to purchase?

Whether your business has been around for years or just got started, there is a way to increase the effectiveness of both Traditional (mass) and New Media (digital) efforts.  It’s very simple, but escapes the attention of many business owners.

Take the blindfold off.

Yep.  It’s that simple.  Let’s look at this from the perspective of two gunmen at target practice.  They both have the same model gun, bullets and targets.  One of them, however, is blindfolded.  Assuming they have the same level of skill, which one of them is going to hit the targets more?  Obviously the one without the blindfold.

The way to remove the blindfold is to conduct market research.  But not just any kind of market research.  I mean emotional market research.

Sometimes market research is conducted, but all that is obtained is facts and figures.  What you need are the “buttons” that when pushed, get an emotional reaction, and communicate directly to the heart of the consumer.

A fatal, fatal mistake is to assume that you know exactly what your customer needs and wants, and that you know how to communicate to them on an emotional level that will speak to their mind on the subject.  Did you ask them?  If not, you just might be off an inch or too. However, we are looking to hit a bull’s-eye, not just get kind of close.

Case in point:  One of our clients, a skilled and trustworthy attorney, had a 2-3% conversion rate for his Pay Per Click campaign before market research was conducted.  All of his marketing, both paper and online, spoke a very conservative message: “I am an attorney”

Market research dug deep and  revealed his potential clients didn’t trust attorneys.  They also weren’t conservative about the issues they had, they were angry!  So the existing marketing efforts missed on two levels.  Potential customers couldn’t “see’ the advertisements because they couldn’t relate to them on an emotional level, and an attorney was the last person they would seek out to resolve their valid cases.

The solution was to re-brand the attorney as a “Consumer Advocate” and change the imagery in the advertisements to show angry and upset consumers.  Instant success!  Conversion rates rose as much as 8%!

Market Research can save a business thousands and thousands of dollars if it’s done correctly, and the data is usually valid for at least 10 years.  How much more income would your business have if your existing marketing was 8% more effective? Take 10-20% of that figure and invest it in Market Research, and see your results soar accordingly.

Make every move an effective one.  Get market research done for immediate use, and use social media to create a permanent “feedback loop” so you always have up to date information (the good and the bad), and the door to success will open.  If you feel like you don’t know what to do, you just might not have enough information to make a decision.  Done properly, Market Research will give it to you.

Written by: Fletch Murray

The Association

Fletch Murray

You’re not alone. A lot of business people still aren’t sure Twitter is of value to them in business. In fact, they’re unclear about this whole social networking on the web.

I was dragging my heels as well, probably because I didn’t understand what it was. So, what is a social network?

Wikipedia says, “A social network is a social structure made of individuals (or organizations) called “nodes,” which are tied (connected) by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.”

From this definition you can see that social networking isn’t something new. I’ve got a social network and so do you. In fact, social networks have been around since the caveman days.

(above) Social Networking when we used to hang out together.

Cavemen were “tweeting” to alert each other of danger or perhaps just to check in with the wife. Caveman Ralph would stand on a hill and let out a scream that meant (roughly translated),

“Leaving work, now, honey. Want me to pick up a pig on the way home?”

As we’ve evolved, we’ve adopted innovative software to help us do caveman tasks. Take PowerPoint, for example.

Before the big wooly mammoth hunt, the tribe leader, Tor the Merciless, would have his “creative artist”, Larry, paint “slides” on the cave so he could show his cross-eyed but well-meaning warriors what to do when the mammoth comes.

Wooly Mammoth - To the caveman it was a walking grocery & apparel store.

Tor would then “present” to the group to get their buy-in on his strategy for the hunt. (Tor tried to keep it down to less that twelve words per slide.)

We’ve adopted PowerPoint to help me accomplish this age-old task of getting group buy-in. Surely we can adopt innovations to help us with our social networking.

If you’re having trouble adopting social networking it may be that you don’t understand the innovation. According to Wikipedia, Everett Rogers, in his studies of innovation, says that your “willingness and ability to adopt an innovation depends on your awareness, interest, evaluation, trial and adoption”.

And it’s true. I have been an early adopter of many things, if I understood them (understanding), they apply to me (interest) and they had value to me (evaluation) and worked well (trial).

I did drag my feet and only bought the “Clapper” when the price came down. That’s because I didn’t place the value on it (evaluation) that they were selling it for originally.

In summary, these new social networking web tools will make it much easier to stay in touch with the people in our social network in this time-shifted, virtual office world we live in.

And it’s so much better than screaming from the hilltop.

You could say that understanding social networking is not such a mammoth task after all. Trevor, our social media strategist will explain it to you and how you can use it.

If you’d like to understand Social Networking and social media marketing better, we heartily recommend a book called Social Media Marketing On One Hour a Day by Dave Evans. Wiley Publishing, available on Google at:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0470344024/ref=sr_1_olp_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256861474&sr=1-1&condition=new

“First of all, Watson, let’s define our terms,” said the lanky man with the pipe and the funny hat.

“What, Watson, is Web Two Point OH?,” Mr. Holmes asked.

Watson’s eyes traveled back and forth across the floor, as if he would find the answer walking across the floor on the back of an ill-fated mouse.

“Falling asleep, old friend?” Sherlock remarked, snapping Watson out of his swamp of confusion.

“Web Two Point Zero, according to Wikipedia,” Holmes began, ‘is commonly associated with web development and web design that facilitates interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design and collaboration on the World Wide Web. Examples of Web 2.0 include communities,    hosted services, web applications, social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs, mashups and folksonomies. A Web 2.0 site allows its users to interact with other users or to change website content, in contrast to non-interactive websites where users are limited to the passive viewing of information that is provided to them.

The term is closely associated with Tim O’Reilly because of the O’Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004.’ I’ve drawn up a simple slide that conveys this concept.”

Holmes lit the candle in the lamp of an early day, slide projector.  A slide (below) appeared on the screen.

The slide from Sherlock Holmes PowerPoint presentation

Watson snored quietly in the corner as Sherlock  continued.

“What this means, Watson, is that Web 2.0 has enabled all of us to become article publishers,  blographers, videographers, public relations people…all exchanging viewpoints and media and….”

Watson’s snoring came to a choking halt as Holmes kicked his foot.

“Do you not realize, Watson, the tremendous communication capability at your fingertips and the size of the potential network you can create?”

Watson shirked.

“But, I’ve got nothing interesting to say.”

“Then, we must find out what people think is interesting, and write about that,” Holmes concluded.

Watson looked exasperated. Watson’s problem is shared by many.

What do you say that will be interesting?  What do you communicate that will be relevant? If your communication is not “relevant” then you’re just wasting your time and your money.

The promise of Web 2.0 is to have followers and friends and fans gathering around, intrigued by the media you’re sending out.  Waiting for your ‘tweets’.

Wouldn’t it be great to know just what to say, what pictures to show?

So, how do you create social media that is relevant to your target audiences?

Well, as Holmes said, it starts with some detective work.  We have a market research team.  We do market research and surveys before we start the creative design of social media. In fact, we do it before any marketing campaign.

Our market research director, Tracy,  has done thousands of surveys and uncovers the most fascinating data. Tracy’s research has helped us create campaigns that were right on target, saving our clients hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Here’s a quick case study. An Attorney wanted to reach prospects who had been abused by debt collectors.

We surveyed his target audience and specifically asked them, “If you had a valid case of debt collector abuse, would you turn to an attorney for help?”

Over 60% said ‘No’.  We asked why.

The answer? “I don’t trust attorneys.”

So our campaign didn’t show an attorney, sitting at his desk shot with law books in a bookcase behind him.
Instead, we showed a group of ’consumer advocates’.
The strategy worked. 343 reaches in first 3 days in a two-prong campaign on the web and on TV.

But if we’d neglected to get professional marketing research done, our attorney friend would have thrown a lot of money into a “standard” attorney marketing concept that wasn’t relevant to his target audience.

So, if you want to be “relevant” to your target audience, you need good, professional Market Research.

Elementary.