Posts Tagged ‘linkedin’

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JFK – the back garden speech and Social Media Magic

July 31, 2011
JFK - Famous Speech

JFK - Anyone Listening?

“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man”

Imagine if JFK had made this famous speech on 20th January, 1961 in his back garden over the fence to his next door neighbour instead of in front of millions around the world  – What a waste that would have been!

Imagine having the same audience and wasting the opportunity by delivering a short, boring speech and saying nothing of any significance – What a waste that would have been ..

While social media is still pretty much in its infancy I am amazed how many people are struggling with it – yes, they have jumped in there, have decided it is for them and that it warrants some effort but getting it right in most cases just isn’t happening.

I am seeing two quite contrasting and very common things happening in our work with clients and in our social media training.

The Posters

This crew have found the knack of posting on-line, they are pumping out status updates, clever links, uploading fabulous pictures of new stock or from customer events, sharing videos on Youtube that are relevant to their business. The problem often is that they are devoting a lot of time to posting but to a tiny audience – what a waste.

The Collectors

This very different crew are in a race for numbers, busy accepting connections on LinkedIn, accepting followers on Twitter and friends on Facebook but posting very little – “But, I don’t know what to say?” – what a waste.

The Message and the Audience

If you want to start winning with your social media efforts make sure you spend equal amounts of time and effort creating your worthwhile messages as well as creating an audience for these messages. Be patient, over time you will get better at posting, you will build the size of your audience and you will enjoy success with your efforts.

To achieve Social Media magic I will leave the last word to JFK and I will steal some part of that famous speech that is not as well known: “In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than in mine, will rest the final success or failure or our (your!) course”

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Marketing, Social Media, Web Marketing | 4 Comments »

Barack Obama and his “Penny Drop” Social Media moment

May 8, 2011
Barack Obama - Social Media

Barack Obama's Penny Drop Moment!

I have come to realise that no matter how you map out the Social Media Opportunity for clients, or try to demonstrate the success that others have had using the different platforms, they themselves have to realise the magic, the possibilities – I call it the “penny drop” moment!

Once that happens they are “off”, they are converts, they assign resources to their social media efforts and they start seeing results.

The “penny drop” moment arrives at different times for everyone and for each of the different platforms.

For me it happened at different times :

Facebook – a peer I met in Dublin casually commented on “how well Fuzion were doing“, I gladly accepted the compliment but asked how they arrived at that conclusion, ” Oh, I follow you on Facebook” … Hmm, I didn’t realise how many people were listening or paying attention to what I was saying

Twitter – we were able to achieve valuable coverage for a client, an International NGO during the Haiti disaster by communicating directly with journalists on Twitter who were actually out there  …. Hmmm, now I get it!

LinkedIn – this one was easy, reaching out to the business community in your target locations and being able to generate relevant discussions on your areas of expertise. You go to networking meetings and people you have never met, come up and chat to you because they have seen your posts and recognise your ugly mug …… Hmmm, this seems to be working – no brainer!!

Blogging – in the beginning you wonder how this will work for you, then you see with “sticky” content (stuff that is interesting, or made interesting) and posts in relation to your areas of expertise that you receive large numbers of hits and your search engine scores are great. I even managed to highlight nasty issues, quickly sorted out issues with a national phone provider and had material published nationally …. Hmmmm, now I get it!

If you are in any doubt or need further convincing about the value of Social Media we might ask Barack Obama, the leader of the free world, the first ever “social media” President , when was his “penny drop” moment? ….. Hmmmm, I’m the President of the United States!

Have you had yours ?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Facebook, Marketing, PR, Social Media, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

Sniper Marketing

February 21, 2011

Online Marketing

Should your be more specific?

If you throw enough mud at a wall then eventually some will stick! – you have often heard that expression and when it comes to advertising and in particular at a time when most people are carefully watching their budgets. It can cause problems when it comes to justifying spend in this area.

Influenced by this very argument and also because it often makes total sense, where appropriate we encourage most of our clients to allocate some of their advertising budgets to on-line Pay Per Click advertising, or sniper marketing as we like to call it.

With some of the recent and new on-line tools it is now much easier to target your exact target audience for your product or service, just like a “sniper” would. Why advertise to everyone just to get the attention of a narrow more exact target audience?

With a combination of Google Advertising, Facebook Advertising, and even LinkedIn advertising it is possible to target your customers very specifically.

Most of these initiatives operate on a pay-per-click basis so you only pay for results, even though you can also achieve some visibility for free with those who do not click on your adverts. Just to replay that in simple terms – You only pay when someone has clicked on your advert and come to your website or facebook page. You do not pay every time your advert is shown.

To briefly explain how each of the platforms work:

Google Adwords – here you select (or bid on) keywords that when searched by a user will activate your advert. You can limit your adverts to a specific area or location. You can actually go further and specify which page on your website the user will land on when they click on your advert. Let them find exactly what they want as quickly as possible.

Facebook Advertising – This is quite different to how Google works. Here you target demographics – you can specify types of people in different areas and even with declared special interests. With adverts here you have a choice of bringing bring them to your website or your Facebook business page (this can be very effective in building followers on your page).

LinkedIn Advertising – Advertising here operates more like Facebook with the exception that the environment is much more corporate. You can target types of people, making choices about location, company size and even levels of seniority.

With all of the above options you can control your campaigns by setting daily budgets and also by limiting how much each click will cost. Google reporting in particular can provide you with very valuable information about your customers. (they are all relatively easy to set up but I would strongly advise seeking professional help setting up these campaigns as you can easily make expensive mistakes – they never refuse your money!)

To support this activity you might also consider email marketing – use an on-line email newsletter service (there are many good value options such as MailChimp and Constant Contact and for more sophisticated requirements you could try Newsweaver) to your database of contacts, reminding those who you have already developed a connection with of you and your services.

This sniper approach to marketing can work for all types of businesses as diverse as:

The Ballroom Dance teacher who can target engaged women in Cork with his adverts for dance lessons to get them ready for their first dance at their wedding (there are 1,210 of within a 20 km radius of Cork City!) – Facebook is perfect for this.

The Tax Consultant who wants to target senior executives in Ireland for specialist tax advice – this can be done by advertising on LinkedIn.

We find that on-line campaigns can work very effectively as part of an overall campaign for clients to achieve their objectives.

Could this be something that would form part of your Marketing Plan in 2011?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications

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Posted in Business Start Ups, Facebook, Marketing, SEO, Social Media, Uncategorized, Web Marketing | Leave a Comment »

What do you think of me?

October 26, 2010

Greg Canty - Fuzion Communications

Greg Canty - Fuzion Communications

“What do you think of me?” is a strange question to ask anyone but every day we are putting ourselves out there in the firing line and whether you like it or not, people will judge you and are thinking of you either negatively, positively or neither.

My son recently told me it annoyed him how I use Foursquare as he ends up seeing updates from me constantly on Facebook about where I am and what I am saying about these places.

It got me thinking…

If that is annoying him then what does everyone else think of me, what do you think of me?

In the new world of communication with the different Social Media platforms making it much easier to spread your message quickly to a wide audience, those of you who embrace the available tools are asking that question on a regular basis.

Every time you publish a blog, upload a photo, upload a link, give an opinion, join a conversation, pass on interesting information, make a video or simply make a status update you are putting yourself on the line with friends, clients, very lose acquaintances and possible new clients.

Social Media without a doubt is a terrific way to convey information about you and your business, spreading valuable messages but if you get it wrong you can just as easily turn people off as you can turn people on!

While social media is very much in the fast lane we are still at the very beginning, with the functionality and features evolving on a constant basis and the rules and etiquette still forming.

Chris Brogan a very popular writer and total expert in this area published a book called “Trust Agents” where he acknowledges the power of the web to build your reputation but acknowledges that the most important stepping stone is behaving in a manner that first builds trust online. With trust you can spread your message, without it you can waste a lot of time and run the danger of turning people off you.

If you are going to dedicate time and resources on social media both building a following and spreading your message it’s vital that you get it right.

There are no right or wrong answers here but how and what you post and how you conduct yourself generally online will determine how people will think of you. Even how you set up your social media tools, the pictures you use of yourself and your even choice of features such as LinkedIn automatically updating from Twitter, which updates automatically from Four Square can also affect how messages are delivered and interpreted.

When I start analysing how I behave online there are so many unanswered questions:

I try to use a particular style of title that grabs attention for my blogs – does that annoy the reader?

I try to be a little informal and “unstuffy” with my posts – does that suit the clients I am trying to attract?

I talk about everyday things as well as topics relevant to our business – does that make me look foolish and should I just stick with industry specific items?

I like to use a positive approach as much as possible – in the current environment, does that annoy people?

I post discussion items on various LinkedIn groups about once a week – do people get fed up of seeing these so often?

I follow some incredible marketers and I have a link from their blogs, which populates the Fuzion Facebook page – does this annoy people?

If I see something funny or unusual I will photograph it and upload it on Facebook – maybe my friends or acquaintances think these are silly?

On Twitter I use a mix of my name and the business name “GregCantyFuzion” as my identity – what do people think of this compared to funnier, customised or descriptive names?

Right or wrong all you can do really is measure your effectiveness as best as possible – watch traffic to your blog, see if your LinkedIn and Facebook posts get a reaction, watch if people engage with your discussion topics, see if your posts are retweeted. Also you can observe other people’s behaviour online and take on board the style of activity you like and more importantly the style of posting that you don’t like.

Better to burn than to fade away, better to put yourself and your business out there, drawing attention to your message and trying to make sure you maintain your online visibility. That’s a decision I made and I invest time in it. My one piece of definite advice is to be true to yourself or else you will not come across as being genuine.

So, back to my question.. What you think of me?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications

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Posted in Marketing, PR, Social Media, Web Marketing | 20 Comments »

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