Archive for the ‘Online Advertising’ Category

Business Social Media – What should you be doing?

March 9, 2017

Twitter for business

Social media continues to evolve with users switching from one platform to another, so where does that leave us today for anyone personally using it for a Business to Business audience?

If anything this has become more straightforward than it was before as Google+ has become irrelevant and most of the new social media activity has happened with the “youth” platforms, which can be ignored for now.

For anyone in business I would recommend the following:

The Basics
You should at a minimum maintain a ‘sparkling’ LinkedIn account that puts your best foot forward at all times. You should treat this as your personal website ensuring that all details are up to date, that you have a professional photograph, that you try to get meaningful recommendations and that you use it proactively for connecting with other people in business.

A big health warning here is that if you are not going to maintain your LinkedIn account properly then it might be wise to delete it – anything that does not paint you in the best possible light should not be allowed.

For example I had one client who was ignoring connection requests for over a year – he nearly had a heart attack when he realised that many of those looking to connect with him were his clients!!

Basics with more ambition
For someone with a little more ambition I would encourage them to add Twitter into their social media mix and I would advise posting on both LinkedIn and Twitter to “make some noise” and let the right people know what they are all about. When posting try to use visuals where possible as nice pictures help posts to get more attention!

Twitter as a platform seemed to be fading away a little but our good friend, Mr.Trump seems to have reversed this trend!

As part of this “making some noise” strategy I would recommend following and interacting with relevant accounts on Twitter and doing the same with LinkedIn including relevant groups – try to pick groups where you will find prospects, not other people in your industry.

Trump loves twitter

The Avid User
If you really want to embrace social media you need to incorporate it into your working day, everyday.

A regular piece of advice that I give to clients is that social media is not a full time activity but it is a full time mentality – effectively, you are always “on” looking for natural opportunities to connect, start or join a discussion that demonstrates who you are and what you do.

You will have succeeded here if people in your sector recognise you as a prominent social media user. Even more evidence of success, is when journalists who are prolific online recognise you and contact you for commentary on topics relevant to your sector.

Pro Tip– When you are posting try to use a few relevant #Hashtags frequently so that after a while they become synonymous with you.

The Publisher
The real social media “guru” is the person who publishes their own material online.

Basically I am talking about those who are writing articles and opinion pieces frequently that are relevant to the sector that they work in. These pieces would demonstrate their expertise and personality and they can be hosted on their own blog or else published within their LinkedIn account (or both). These pieces can then be used as social media posts – if posts are not time sensitive they can even be recycled over time.

For those who are excellent in front of a camera or engaging into a microphone, then video (open your own YouTube account) or podcasts are others ways to capture their expertise and personality and these can also be shared as social media posts or incorporated into their blog posts.

What about Facebook and the new social media platforms?
You might be wondering why there has been no mention of the other social media platforms – in truth I don’t think that they are relevant for the B2B audience BUT …there is always a but…

..all of your social media activity demonstrates to the outside world who you are so you must be careful that you don’t do anything detrimental to your self image by what you post and how you behave online.

While I consider the above platforms to be the ones relevant for business you will often get a business contact sending you a ‘friend request‘ on Facebook or following you on Instagram or Snapchat.

In many cases you may feel obliged to accept that ‘friend request‘ but once this happens you do need to realise that all of your “personal” posts will contribute to others forming an opinion of you.

Other developments
One of things that I have observed in the last while is that the ‘reach‘ of posts (how many people get to see the posts) across all platforms has disintegrated in favour of sponsored or promoted posts so you have to work even harder than before to get noticed and create an impact.

The other trend to note is “live” video which is becoming a big feature on both Facebook and Twitter – while you can probably ignore the feature on Facebook (for the B2B audience) it can be quite relevant for Twitter, as long as the content is clever and interesting.

Facebook have threatened developing their own B2B type platform for a while as they want to dominate all social media but we haven’t see any evidence of this yet.

To summarise I would advise everyone in business to jump in at some level and try to push it to the next level over time, I will guarantee you that you will see results but like everything else in life you must stick with it.

For the naysayers who still think that social media is a big waste of time, I would like to say a big thanks for leaving an even bigger opportunity for the rest of us!

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion offer Social Media Consultancy and Training from our offices in Dublin and Cork, Ireland

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Posted in Communications, LinkedIn, Online Advertising, Personal Marketing, Reputation, Social Media, Twitter | Leave a Comment »

Seven Tips to Building Your Online Tribe

April 8, 2014

Tribesman

“I’ve set up my social media platforms but I’m finding it very difficult to build a following” is a problem I hear from many of our clients and I know they look to me for a simple solution, a magic trick, a special feature or some nugget of advice that will solve this dilemma easily.

I’m sorry, the bad news is that there is no one trick or piece of magic but of course it can be done if you follow some of my tips. I’ll assume in preparing these tips that you want the right people following and not just numbers purchased online from click farms for the sake of looking popular.

Here are my seven magic tips that I believe will work for you:

1. The Tribe Mentality and Getting the Basics right

You must think in terms of building your tribe at all times and this involves exercising a discipline and structure that allows you to easily pick up new followers.

When you set up any of your social media platforms make sure you execute the process of inviting your email database to follow you, include social media links on your website and on your email signature and make it easy for people to subscribe to your e-newsletter or follow your blog.

Another simple piece of advice here is to highlight your social presence offline on all posters, adverts, signage, shopping bags and other materials where someone may interact with your business or service.

2. Start the chat,  you’re not Kim Kardashian!

Kim Kardashian & Greg CantyWe all have to do a little reality check about what type of business we are and realise that it is quite possible we do not have the natural appeal of  Kim. This is a real dilemma for certain businesses who being honest you may not be inclined to automatically follow such as the Insurance Broker in Ranelagh or the Chiropodist in Gort.

My advice to any businesses without the “Kim” appeal (that’s most of us!) is that they must initiate a lot of the social media chat by first doing the following and then interact with what that target audience are saying.

While it’s vital that we get our own message across in our communications it’s just as important that we achieve awareness for ourselves by interacting with others. Join the conversation of others, share and retweet their posts and in no time at all you will find they will do the same for you, which will bring you new followers.

3. Lose the robot, talk about the match

At some point in time we were taught about formal business communications, which has us often behaving like robots. The beauty of online is that we can lose much of the formality that can choke normal written communications and this allows us to show some of the really important attributes about our business such as our personality, our humour, our interests, our caring side and how passionate we are about things that matter to us.

It’s amazing the difference it makes to a business relationship when you discover that a prospect is also a hugely passionate Liverpool FC fan!

4. “Like” and Stop Selling

Being realistic why would someone want to become a member of your online tribe?

The Facebook word “Like” can really focus you here when you are communicating and the word dislike can be just as useful. I’ll follow you on twitter, subscribe to your blog, read your newsletter or connect with you on LinkedIn as long as it delivers some benefit to me – it should be an experience that I “Like“.

Are you going to give me advice, make me smile, be nice, let me be the first to know about special offers, offer me samples, invite me to exclusive events, promote my business, help me to solve problems, enrich my life in some way or do you just want me to Buy, Buy, Buy?

If  the online platforms are used to deliver benefits to your tribe, to build relationships and rapport with them, the sales will look after themselves.

5. Brushing your teeth

In the same way that brushing once a month won’t do your teeth any good, posting infrequently online will do your business no good.

The biggest stumbling block to success that I see with clients is that they struggle to make online activity part of their regular routine. It’s vital that you do your weekly blog post, that you schedule your newsletter, that you post daily on all of your social media platforms and this becomes part of the normal running of the business.

Every time you post you are effectively promoting your business, which is a great habit to get into just like brushing your teeth!

6. The Power of You

Just as we want to build our tribe of followers it’s really important to leverage the tribe that you have within your organisation. Online activity comes alive through person to person interactions – I’d much prefer to talk to a person rather than a logo.

Where possible I would encourage as many individuals as possible to pro-actively wave a flag for the business online, which spreads the workload, maximises the reach but also increases the effectiveness. This works as long as there is a good solid social media policy and a clear understanding around objectives and key messages.

Where companies have accounts online it is always a good idea to introduce the person behind the posts where appropriate. I have seen Eircom doing this quite effectively on Twitter and it adds a degree of trust to their content.

Show me the money

7. Show me the money!

While you can do all of the right things to build the size of your online tribe there is a time where you just have to advertise to accelerate this process.

With Facebook, advertising is essential both to build a following and then subsequently to reach them with your communications. At the moment success on Twitter isn’t as dependant on budget but unless you are as popular as Kim you will need budget to build your following quickly.

Summary

Like everything else in business nothing comes easy and if you want to build your online tribe you either get a body like Kim, do a reality TV show and have a baby with Kanye West or else roll the sleeves up and do it the hard way!

Good luck with your tribe..

Greg Canty

Greg Canty is a Partner of Fuzion PR and Marketing who offer Social Media Consultancy and Training to clients from our offices in Dublin and Cork.

http://www.fuzion.ie

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Posted in Marketing, Online Advertising, Social Media | 2 Comments »

Who does the world think you are?

June 19, 2013

Facebook advertisingApparently I’m someone who is interested in Adult Fantasy Games, the odd bet and I wouldn’t mind driving the new Volvo V40.

I’d like to go on holidays to Tuscany after needing the help of a Retail Consultant and playing some more adult fantasy games!

LinkedIn AdvertisingWhen I get serious I’m interested in ERP (excuse my ignorance but I have no idea what that is) for small business, a white board device for waking up ideas and I might even like to earn some extra money.

When I’m done with all of that I might like to find a new  file sharing platform while I take on my one year diploma course in Corporate Governance with DCU.

Finally I might be interested in switching to UPC.

Interesting person!!

Social Media Advertising

This is a sample of the advertising that is being targeted at me across Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

With all of the different social media platforms it is possible to do some very specific targeting with your advertising campaigns.

Facebook – this probably has the biggest targeting capability as it can focus on your location (as precise as towns), age, personal status and declared personal interests.

For the advertiser  it works on either a pay per click basis (you only pay when someone clicks your advert) or on impressions (the number of times your advert has been shown).

You set a daily budget and you also have the capability of setting a maximum amount per click. The big limitation with Facebook advertising is that most people are in a very social frame of mind when they are using the platform so it probably isn’t great for “heavy” topics.

With Facebook you can also enjoy an element of what I call “endorsed” or “trust” advertising – where you see an advert and it declares that one of your friends likes that brand/product. If you want extra oomph from your page posts you can invest a few bob to push them out to the people who have liked your pages and their friends.

We have found it to be quite effective for many of our clients.

LinkedIn – the targeting capability for advertisers is really good here with options around location (just country so far), age, seniority, the size of the company the person works for, job role, sector and you can even target Groups that have been set up. This also operates on a pay per click basis (these are quite expensive) – you set the maximum per click and a daily budget.

I haven’t used it yet for clients but I have experimented with it for Fuzion – we have won some business as a result.

Twitter ADvertisingTwitter – advertising on twitter is still in it’s infancy and my feeling is that targeting will be more difficult because a user provides limited information when they set up their account. However if you read the blurb twitter reckon you can target by gender, geography and special interests (it must track the content of your tweets  or maybe who you are following to assess this – it might be tricky to target the huge number of users on twitter who lurk and never tweet). You have a choice between promoting your account or pushing your tweets into peoples twitter feed).

We haven’t used twitter advertising for any clients yet.

Collectively across all platforms there is a lot of information and capability that can help you target customers – the skill is knowing who your customer might be and using the targeting tools to attract their attention.

For the record when it comes to me other than a trip to Tuscany (off there next week!), Facebook marketing and pulling my hair out with Sky last Christmas the world just doesn’t know me at all.

I definitely have no interest in adult fantasy games… (al least that what I keep telling everyone!)

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion 

Fuzion with offices in Cork and Dublin in Ireland provide Social Media Consultancy and Training services.

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Posted in Advertising, Facebook, LinkedIn, Motivation, Online Advertising, Social Media, Web Marketing | 2 Comments »

Game Changing Interviews

February 3, 2013

job vacanciesJust before the New Year we decided to publicise a vacancy for a Senior PR post in our Dublin office.

We deliberately wanted to leave the job description open so that it would invite interest from  a wide range of people leaving us with the opportunity of shaping the role around the successful “right” candidate instead of letting everything be dictated by a very specific role ..it has been an interesting journey with some really good learnings!

  1. The job vacancy posted on our website and the use of social media alone was enough to generate a huge number of responses and enough quality candidates
  2. From the minute we tweeted and posted the link for the vacancy we could see huge traffic hitting our website
  3. People are really happy to retweet and share news about job vacancies
  4. So many people apply for jobs without reading what the job is about!! – I would say about 40% of the enquiries were totally irrelevant
  5. The role attracted a lot of attention because of the way we described it – avoid cliches (dynamic person…)!
  6. People in really good roles are now prepared to move to new jobs – is that recession fear easing off?
  7. Some people are caught in “fur lined” mouse traps – they are getting no satisfaction from their jobs but are stuck because their packages are too good to leave. We met a few of these!
  8. Many people have taken roles in the recession because they needed the money – most are really unfulfilled now, which is bad for them and their employers.
  9. There are a lot of really talented, hard working people out there – the quality of the people we met was amazing
  10. Employment agencies – I can’t see us ever having to use one..

After just one week of searching we found more than one ideal candidate for the role but we also met a number of quite diverse people all with something unique to offer who we know we will stay in touch with and work together in some way on various projects..

The game of recruiting is changing, the game of looking for a job is changing and hopefully this simple interview process could turn out to be a valuable “game changer” for us.

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing & PR firm with offices in Dublin and Cork

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Posted in Irish Economy, LinkedIn, Marketing, Online Advertising, Personal development, Recruitment, Social Media, Web Marketing | 3 Comments »

Missing the low hanging fruit!

October 7, 2012
Low Lying Fruit!

Will the penny drop ?

“If I do a search for what we do online we’re nowhere to be found” barked my client down the phone. This was obviously a big deal to him as well it should be!

After all this was the low hanging fruit – the potential customers out there who have already decided that they want what you are offering and are searching online to find it.

“We didn’t do your website for you, it hasn’t been optimised properly which is part of the problem and if you make a few simple changes it will make a big difference” I explained.

“Ok, ok, I must get onto the website crew” he eventually calmed down, “Is there anything we can do for now?” he asked.

I suggested a Google Adwords campaign to ensure he had a web presence (in adverts) where key search terms were used – at least until his website would start performing organically.

“Perfect, it’s vital that our website always comes up first” he explained, “Can you do it ASAP?”

He was right – for his sector a strong web presence was an absolute priority.

We quickly put the Adwords campaign in place and this corrected his lack of web presence immediately. For a reasonable daily budget we ensured that all relevant web traffic found his website and this was done on a pay per click basis – you only pay when a user clicks on your advert and comes onto your website.

A few weeks later we had a review meeting with our client – we covered the PR coverage and we also discussed the effectiveness of his advertising spend, which he was looking after himself.

As I had set up the Google Adwords campaign for him I gave him a detailed report showing how many times his adverts were shown, how many times the adverts were clicked upon and the traffic that came onto his website as a result.

We could see in detail the keywords and search terms that had generated the most traffic and the cost of each of these.

Budgets were a little tight he explained because he had committed to a long term advertising plan (obviously to a good salesman – or woman as it turned out to be) with a particular publication (no problem there) and a local radio station (totally wrong demographic ….but he got a cracking deal!).

“I want to stop my Google Advertising” he declared.

Hmmm, “No problem, but you do know when we stop that advertising when anyone searches for you online, they just won’t be able to find your website? ” I explained.

“I want to stop it” he repeated.

His sudden stance staggered me – despite the previous declaration of intent by this fairly clued in operator he still opted for an advert that he could see in the paper and hear on the radio rather than pay for this online Adwords “stuff” that absolutely guaranteed a web presence for hot leads, the low lying fruit!

I had nothing to gain from the argument, I had explained the “risk” as clearly as possible and he had just made up his mind.

Ah well … that penny will drop all by itself when the low lying fruit drops somewhere else! (I’m waiting for the call ..)

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

(I did help him with the optimisation of his website, which will take a while to fully kick in – he is now appearing on page two for relevant Google searches instead of page 8!)

Fuzion offer Web Marketing services including Google Adwords campaigns for clients

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Posted in Google Adwords, Marketing, Online Advertising, Web Marketing | 1 Comment »

Getting your business found online with Google Adwords

July 31, 2012
Website Marketing

Looking for traffic to your website

I heard a really funny story from a client of ours who was dealing with an elderly couple.

The gentleman asked one of his salesman a question about one of their products. His wife told him not to be bothering the salesman as he was too busy – “When we go home we can Doogle it” she said.

The salesman bit his lip as he tried not to burst out laughing but it does show you how we all use Doogle.. sorry Google to find what we are looking for these days.

We use Google Adwords campaigns for many of our clients and I even lecture for the Digital Marketing Institute on the topic of Pay Per Click advertising, of which Google is the main player.

I call Google Adwords “Sniper Marketing” – when executed properly you are able to target anyone online who is looking for exactly the products and services that you are offering.

If your website is not being found online when one of your possible prospects does a search then you are simply “not in the game”.

With a combination of a well optimised website, supported by a Google Adwords campaign you can ensure that you don’t miss any of that important online traffic.

Easy?

The big problem as I see it, is that a Google Adwords campaign is too easy to set up yourself!

With a few clicks you can run adverts on keywords you start bidding on, and before you know it your credit bill is creaking.. often without a lot of success.

I was that soldier until I found a guide to Google Adwords many years ago written by a guy called Perry Marshall. After downloading this guide I quickly realised what I needed to do in order to create value for money campaigns. With Perry’s advice I learned how to create effective campaigns at the lowest possible cost.

Operating successful Google Adwords campaigns requires skill, knowledge, hard work and practice and Perry’s guide set me on the right road.

Ultimate Guide to Google Adwords

Ask Perry Marshall!

Recently I came across an updated version (3rd Edition) of “The Ultimate Guide to Google Adwords” and this time Perry Marshall has enlisted the help of Byran Todd, another experienced marketing consultant and adwords specialist.

Google and the online world in general has moved on and this guide brought me nicely up to date with some of Google’s new features and opportunities. The basics are explained in a really practical and interesting manner – study these and put them into practice on your campaigns as you work through the guide. The guide also offers other resources for deeper analysis and insights.

The guide touches on other areas such as web optimisation, social media and a benefit I did not expect was a lesson in marketing! Follow the advice and you will learn even more about your customers and the magic words that will have them making enquiries and placing orders.

I’ve already applied the learnings to both our own and client campaigns and I can see the improvements.

If you are are contemplating a Google Adwords campaign or you are already running one I can guarantee you that this guide will save you money and help you achieve better traffic and results.

Thanks Perry and Bryan for the refresher course – you have made me a better “G” man!

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion offer Web Marketing Services for clients including the management of Google Adwords campaigns .

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Posted in Google Adwords, Online Advertising, SEO, Web Marketing | Leave a Comment »

Facebook – “Show Me the Money !”

June 11, 2012
Show me the money

Show me the money !!

I was doing a simple status update on the Fuzion Facebook business page and I noticed a “notification” window open up that I had not spotted before.

“Promote this post to get more views and comments” the notification window shouted at me. I already knew that I could create an advert for specific posts but it had never been waved at me so blatantly.

Between the changes to business pages that went through at the end of March, the stricter rules about running competitions and no longer being able to specify “landing” pages, Facebook are really hitting the brakes on your ability to generate activity and “likes” without writing a cheque…. the free ride is over.

promoted posts - facebookFor the business page owner/administrator you need to provide huge value, personality and clever content to make it attractive for users to “like” your page or you must simply write a cheque.

Facebook is now serious business and we have officially entered the era of “Show me the Money”

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Advertising, Facebook, Marketing, Online Advertising, Social Media | 1 Comment »

Are You Ready..?

January 9, 2012
Phil Lynott - This Lizzy

Are you Ready !!!!

I was 14, it was 1979 and I stood there in awe in a hot, sweaty and packed City Hall as Phil Lynott roared down at us with his fist shaking .. “Are You Ready?“.

Of course he was greeted by loud roars from the thousands of rockers. Again he roared “Are You Ready?” and he managed to increase the decibels even more from the devoted audience.

Once more he roared the same even louder and with the crowd now in a frenzy the band launched into an incredible version of the song “Are You Ready” and lifted the roof off the place!

I was mesmerised…to this day it must have been my best ever concert moment and it cemented my passion for music. Thank you Phil!

So, start of another year and to take a lesson from the Phil Lynott school of motivation … Are You Ready?

It’s a time for resolutions and of course we all have the very best of intentions so I just wanted to offer you a few of our Marketing & PR tips to help you on the way – if you’re as passionate as Phil about your business as he was about his music this will be valuable ..

  1. Positive Intent – before I go into all of the practical stuff it is vital that you have positive intent and that your let your team know that you want them to have the same. This should be the driving force behind every thing you do. You will be amazed the opportunities that come your way and will appear when you have this mindset.
  2. Get in the game on-line by being found – this is all about the low lying fruit. These are the prospective customers who are already looking for your products or services. Test it – try a few Google searches and see how your website performs (for example PR firms in Ireland should hopefully bring a listing for Fuzion). If you are not found for your priority keyword searches you need to optimise your website and maybe consider a pay-per-click advertising campaign on Google to ensure the right people find you.
  3. On-line Communication – if you decide to communicate to all your customers, previous prospects and other contacts right now could you do it? If not consider adding an email newsletter service to your communications routine and let people know of changes to the business, new products, new services, awards and other news on a regular basis. This is easy to set up and it is easy to capture new contacts for your newsletter directly from your website. Consider doing this at least quarterly.
  4. Social Media – one of my buddies gave me some guidance recently gently advising that I was too concerned about on-line matters. I’m sorry, when I see an opportunity maybe I just point it out until I see it being grasped! On-line gives you an opportunity to amplify your existing efforts – In truth very few people in business today are using the popular platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter and even Facebook properly. There are a few who are thriving by using these very cleverly – thankfully we are one of these and to be honest we could always do even better. Social Media Consultancy is a thriving industry because there is a huge appetite to learn by those who have spotted the importance of this communication medium.
  5. Good stories – one of our motto’s at Fuzion with our clients is Never waste a Good Story. If there is good news happening in your business, if there are interesting personalities, if there are changes that should be publicised and great products then get them out there with a strong PR Plan. Every business has good stories – don’t waste them by not publicising them. PR can be a very effective and economical way of getting your message out there.
  6. The Mirror – have a good look in the mirror for your business. Does your branding, signage, website and other tangible visible elements properly reflect the essence and quality of your business, products and services? Right now take a glance at your business card! It may be time to refresh your branding and put your best foot forward.
  7. Advertising & Promotions – If you have pulled back on activity in this area then maybe it’s time to reconsider. There is terrific value to be had if you do this in a very planned way, securing great prices and also negotiating promotions and editorial coverage. There is a strong chance that your competitors have cut back on their activity – time to steal a march on them?
  8. Marketing Plan – Map out all of your Marketing & PR activity including your budgets for the year and share this with your team. Try to ensure that there is a constant stream of activity so that your business is always very visible with your target audience.
  9. Measure – Track the success of your activities, giving each of them a proper chance to seed so that you can properly assess their effectiveness. Flex your plan where necessary.
  10. Be Ready – Be ready to grab those new opportunities as they come along – they will!

Have a great year and we should leave the last word to Phil Lynott and Thin Lizzy

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Advertising, Facebook, Graphic Design, Marketing, Online Advertising, Positivity, PR, Teamwork, Web Marketing | 9 Comments »

Waiting for the Penny to drop

August 26, 2011
Changing trends?

Changing trends?

I was reading the text of an interview with a prominent retailer in Ireland (in business for over 40 years) who has a number of outlets – he was talking about the current state of his business and his outlook for the future.

Some of this is as you would expect:

“Footfall, passing trade, impulse buying and general sales have decreased.. Last year was bad and this year is the worst ever … there is a need to work harder and continue to offer great quality, reasonable prices and a top class service to customers … we have to offer continuous promotions to keep the business ticking over …

we have to offer discounts to get customers to part with their money … whether we are in sale or not customers will often barter for a lower price and we are prepared to negotiate … the nature of our business is very personalised and we promote it with quality merchandise and great quality…

we’ve reduced prices by between 20 and 50 per cent, which customers have reacted well to… circumstances are changing on an almost daily basis as there seems to be a constant crisis with the Irish economy… we never got complacent even in the good times … the government isn’t doing enough to ensure healthy business and sales growth in Ireland…

Vat and rates are beyond our control and are the main reason why so many businesses are closing for good… we advertise on local radio and in the local press…. we do what we can to keep the doors open… hopefully there is light at the end of the tunnel”

Now this is a guy and a business who has been in a permanent scrap for the last few years, no doubt fighting with landlords over rent, cutting back on staff levels, reducing staff wages, negotiating with suppliers over margins, fighting on a daily basis to get more efficiencies in the business and doing everything I am sure to stay in the game.

With admiration I am saying to myself “well done you are one of the great survivors – it sounds like you have been doing everything to survive” – then I read one final piece in the interview..

“I acknowledge the growing importance of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter for making immediate contact with my customers … we’re in the process of setting up a Facebook profile aimed at younger customers as I recognise the importance of social media as a form of free and immediate advertising”

In the process of setting up a Facebook profile! – I find myself screaming to myself ..”What are you waiting for?”

Unfortunately this hard working business is fighting a battle on many fronts but it is stuck in the slow lane with smart competitors putting on the indicator and whizzing quickly by – he probably doesn’t even notice them.

Despite the extreme economic climate and the huge shift in how we consume media for many people the huge Social Media Penny has still not dropped … one of these days!

Why do we find it so hard to adapt?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

At Fuzion we offer social media consultancy to clients even those where the penny takes a while to drop!

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Posted in Advertising, Customer Care, Marketing, Online Advertising, Social Media, Web Marketing | 10 Comments »

Google Adwords and when you should try other forms of “Sniper” Advertising

July 18, 2011
Fishing for customers

Fishing for new customers!

I am a big fan of Google Advertising  used as part of marketing campaigns for our clients fishing for new customers – the Google Adwords platform is really valuable and I often refer to it as “Sniper” advertising.

Instead of your traditional “blanket” type advertising on newspapers or other media with your Google Adwords campaign you can target anyone that is searching for your products or services – effectively you can target the “low lying fruit” – those people who have already decided that they want what you have to offer.

If you are not found you are not in the game.

Google Adwords operates on a bidding basis whereby you “bid” on particular keywords or phrases – when someone searches for these your advert will display (if you are bidding competitively enough) and if the user clicks on your advert they will be directed to whatever page of your website you have specified. That’s powerful stuff – bringing them right to what they were looking for.

The great thing is that these campaigns operate on a Pay-per-click basis, which means you only pay when your advert is clicked on.

This sounds like an automatic recipe for success but there is no guarantee that the customer will order or enquire – once they arrive at your website you need to ensure that the content excites them sufficiently so that jump into some form of action.

Google Advertising

To Google or not to Google?

Google Adwords Tips

There are many tips for making the most of your Google campaigns:

  1. Avoid broad match – make your bids either “phrase match” or [exact match] (Google either of these phrases and you will find explanations)
  2. Build up Bidding gradually – start low and nudge your campaigns up slowly, keyword by keyword
  3. Quality Bidding – be careful with your adverts – split your campaigns into different groups, write separate adverts for each set of keywords and specify an appropriate landing page for each. Optimise your website ensuring that important keywords are catered for.
  4. Variations – work on your keywords – spend some time working on all the different variations and add geographic variants of these (PR in Dublin etc)
  5. Google Suggestions  – the Adwords software will help you with word variations (make sure you add these in “phrase” and [exact] match formats)
  6. Know your Margins – don’t go beyond what is sensible for keyword bids (pause keywords that are too expensive)
  7. Measure SEO – make sure that you are not bidding on keywords where you are performing well organically
  8. Position First is not necessary – sometimes Position First can be a lot more expensive than 2nd or 3rd, which may make a lot more sense
  9. Reporting – set up your reports and keep an eye on the keywords that are using up most of your budget – make sure it makes sense to spend money on these keywords
  10. Be Patient – people might come to your website a few times before they purchase – would you buy 1st time you visit a website
  11. Awareness – while orders and enquiries might be the ultimate goal other benefits could include awareness in the sector
  12. Compare Value against Traditional Advertising – Google Adwords is another form of advertising – compare the effectiveness of your budget against what you are getting in other forms
  13. Database – Once you get people to your website try to get them to sign up for any form of database (newsletter, Facebook or Twitter)
  14. Content Placement – Avoid content placement adverts in most cases (where Google places your adverts on various websites on the net)
  15. Professional – Get help from a professional when you are setting up your campaign but ask for training on how to use it (if you do not know what you are doing Google can be a hungry beast!)

(I’m sure you can add many more tips – I will gladly include other suggestions!)

Facebook advertising

Facebook Advertising a serious player?

While Google is a great form of online advertising it doesn’t always work and there are times when you should consider switching budget to either Facebook or LinkedIn advertising.

With both of these platforms you target a “fixed” advert(s) and pitch it to a certain demographic of people – these adverts operate on a pay per click basis in the same way as Google. (LinkedIn is the more expensive of these platforms).

The demographic options with both are quite different and as you would imagine LinkedIn is much more suitable for Business to Business advertising.

When advertising here it must be remembered that the person using the platform has not executed a “keyword search” – they are merely using the platform – this probably means that the “click” onto your website is probably less valuable or less immediate than with Google.

I would consider these platforms as an option when:

  • Your keywords are just too competitive, and as a result too expensive on Google
  • Your product or service is quite new and people do not yet know how or what to search for
  • Your objective is more about awareness and branding and building a following (Facebook)
  • You want to advertise to your prospects in a more social or specifically business environment (Facebook/LinkedIn)
  • You want to target people with declared special interests (Facebook)
  • You want to target people who work in particular industries and who hold particular job types (LinkedIn)
  • Demographics are more important that search keywords

A superb feature of Facebook advertising (this is why Google are starting to target the social media space with Google +1 as it is a real threat to their revenue) is that you have the option of bringing users to your facebook business page – here you hope they will “like” the page when they get there and then you will enjoy a cumulative effect with all your advertising efforts.

Once you have an interested person on your page you can then excite them with your content, which should lead to plenty of business over time.

Summary – Pay Per Click

Pay per Click advertising is still growing and should be seriously considered as part of your marketing mix. Now there are even more options online and it is important that you understand each of these and explore how these could work for you.

Each of the platforms present unique opportunities, which if executed properly should bring extra business to you.

Pay per click? – It’s just a click away, what are you waiting for?

Google, Facebook or LinkedIn

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion and runs Pay Per Click campaigns for a wide range of clients

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