Social Media Marketing
I’ve been managing Google Adwords campaigns for clients for 6 years now but Microsoft’s recent aggressive campaign to promote Bing ads grabbed my attention so I decided to compare the two search ads.
Google and Bing are the search engines people use the most. Google facilitates over 100 billion searches per month (over 4b in Canada alone) and Bing’s core monthly search count is over 24 billion. So if you are going to choose one over the based on sheer volume then Google Adwords is the one to go for as they have a whopping 67% of overall search (based on US stats) with the Yahoo/Bing collective garnering about 28%. Bear in mind though that Bing is slowly eroding Google’s share and that because of the lower search volumes, costs per click tend to be lower for Bing ads (you might get more Bing for your buck!).
So who uses Bing and who uses Google? Well your average Bing user is older than your average Google user and tends to be less well educated Bing users use the search engine from home rather than from the office or elsewhere.
The tools themselves are very similar with comparable capabilities, set up and interface. It’s obvious that Bing has copied Google from an interface perspective which means that if you know how to use Adwords already, you will quickly be able to use Bing Ads. Bing wins out on user interface though – it is much more attractive and easy to use than the utilitarian user interface Adwords has.
My big pet peeve with Adwords is how glitchy it can be with unwarranted and unexpected error messages when you try to do simple things like go back to your MCC (My Client Centre) from a client’s interface. 
In my years of using the tool, the interface has barely changed or improved which doesn’t make sense to me given the fact that Adwords is one of Google’s main revenue generators – you’d think they would spend more time and effort on making it better and retaining their clients. I guess with 67% percent of the market cornered, they don’t have to!
We are still running way more Adwords campaigns than Bing campaigns and expect to do so for the foreseeable future but Google should be looking over its shoulder and at the very least looking at ways it can improve the use ability factor.
When considering your options, Google still gives you the biggest audience and the most potential for conversions but take into account education and age and you might find that Bing might be a strong alternative or addition. Given that most advertisers use Google, the under utilized aspect of Bing could be a huge advantage for you.
Worried that your good work could be plagiarized or that someone’s going to steal your thunder on the Internet and not reference your writing or content appropriately? There’s a solution to every problem and this one comes in the form of Creative Commons. An offshoot of a US non profit organization, Creative Commons was founded in 2003 with the help of the University of Ottawa Law and Technology Program and the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic.
Creative Commons licenses don’t replace copyright laws but are intended as a way of augmenting, emphasizing and reinforcing them. They allow you to license your work easily, at no cost and with various different license offerings to choose from, you can decide on how much freedom you want to give people to use your content and in which forums.
Creative Commons steps you through an easy process to find the right license and then you simply download some HTML to your website:
6 Types of Creative Commons Licenses
People using your content are then morally and legally obliged to use it according to the rules set out (or not at all if you so choose). Whether or not people act appropriately remains to be seen and there’s also the issue of the global reach of the Internet with different laws governing different jurisdictions but if plagiarism is a concern for you then Creative Commons is definitely a step in the right direction to protecting your work.
Creative Commons at a Glance
This week Yahoo agreed to buy Tumblr, the hugely popular blog site. Tumblr is a blog platform that is simple and easy to use but how does it stack up against other blog tools and is it right for your business. Read on!
What is Tumblr
Tumblr is a microblogging platform that allows users to share just about anything via their personal Tumblelog. You can 
quickly and easily post whatever you want – text, photos, videos, music, quotes, and links, from wherever you want – your web browser, phone, desktop computer, or email. The service prides itself on its ease of use, as well as the ability to customize everything including the colors of your Tumblelog and the HTML code of your Tumblr theme.
More blogs use Tumblr as their underlying technology that WordPress: in total there are around 109 million blogs using Tumblr and a whopping 51 billion plus blog posts ( 74,935,213 posts so far today alone). The service also boasts a retention rate of 85% versus Twitter’s 40% – once users sign up for Tumblr they are very likely to continue using it. When you compare Tumblr’s retention rate with traditional blogging you can see that they must be doing something right!
From a business perspective, there’s a lot of contention surrounding Tumblr – some swear by it and some hate it but if you are trying to determine which of the two to use, here is a simple, general rule of thumb – if your audience is under thirty five and your service or product is very visual and you’re strapped for time then Tumblr is the way to go, if your audience is older and you want to do more than blog (and more with your blog) then use WordPress. I use both – WordPress is the underlying technology for this blog and Tumblr is the one I use for fun posts on my personal blog.
Benefits of Tumblr
Tumblr is doing to blogging what texting did to email, ie. not rendering it obsolete, but certainly giving it a run for its money.
With Tumblr, you spend less time writing content, and yet readers of your Tumblelog tend to get a better picture of who/what you are as a person or company. As founder David Karp said, “Tumblelogs don’t need all the context of written post. The context is the blog itself, or the person writing it.” Reading one post in someone’s Tumblelog doesn’t tell you much, but browsing through their posts gives you a remarkably accurate picture of who/what they are, without all the reading associated with a traditional blog. Also, Tumbelogs are likely to appeal to a wider audience, as some will prefer the assortment of photos, video files, and links that a traditional blog may be lacking.
Tumblr’s API allows Tumblelogs to be extensively modified; users can delete all the basic formatting and start from scratch to design the look, feel and layout. If you can imagine it, chances are you can do it with Tumblr. The outcome for bloggers is huge; connect more deeply with your readers, in less time, and on your customized, easy to use microblog. No wonder Tumblr is exploding in popularity!
To find out more about why everyone loves Tumblr, click here to see the many features available to you via your Tumblelog.
Social media has become an important marketing tool for small business. If you use it effectively, you can build brand awareness, generate leads, boost customer loyalty, drive traffic to your website not to mention enhancing mind share. What’s more, a social presence is becoming an expected norm if your prospective customers are below 45. For younger audiences, if they don’t find you on social media, they simply don’t do business with you.
The challenge for small business looking to implement effective social media campaigns is that we all have limited time and resources, not to mention the fact that we don’t have bottomless pockets. So how can we take advantage of social media in a way that makes sense given these potential barriers? Here are 10 tips that will boost your social media marketing productivity.
1. Don’t spread yourself too thin – there are thousands of social media tools. You can’t use all of them effectively, so choose up to 3 (no more) and make those the tools that your customers are most likely to use and that you will enjoy using. For example, if your target audience is the professional business type, build your presence on LinkedIn and focus on that network rather than trying to have a presence on Facebook, Pinterest et al.
2. Schedule social media time into your day just like you would for any other business activity. Stick to your schedule and don’t get distracted. Social media can be a big time suck, don’t let it.
3. Use productivity tools like Hootsuite to schedule posts and to manage your networks effectively (Hootsuite supports LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, WordPress and more). If you have different team members managing your social presence, Hootsuite let’s you see at a glance who is responding so that you are all on the same page.
4. Install and use apps on your phone so that you can check in on your social feeds and respond accordingly on the fly. All of the major social networks as well as third party tools like Hootsuite have iPhone and Android apps although some are better than others when it comes to functionality.
5. Your social presence is an extension of day to day business. You don’t need to come up with a whole new story for your social media updates and you shouldn’t. Think about your to do list for the day and how you can reflect your daily activities online. Hosting an open house or event? Make sure attendees can interact with each other in the appropriate channels.
6. Reuse your existing content – to find great content to post on your social networks, use content that you already have (white papers, marketing materials, case studies etc) and adapt it to your needs.
7. Find new content use content tools: my favourite us Zyte which is an app I use on the iPad that allows me to subscribe to fresh new content based on topics and categories I’m are interested and I can then easily share it on the networks as required.
8. Be an editor – blogging is often a central component to a company’s social strategy but blogging takes time. Build a blog editorial schedule so that you know what to blog about and when, and remember that quality beats quantity when it comes to blogging. If you hate to write then consider other options like video or photo blogs that make it easier for you.
9. Consider outsourcing part of your social media to a firm like Out-Smarts that specialises in social media, but be very careful if you do do this. Make sure that the company you work with takes time to understand your organisation inside out so that they can represent you in an authentic way online. And never outsource your social media then forget about it. The best partnerships are those where your social media partner firm manages your day to day and general posts whilst you or your staff augment and humanize your presence when time permits.
10. Get lean – quality is much more important that quantity when it comes to building your following. Save yourself some time and don’t follow everybody and anybody. Instead take time to determine your connection startegy i.e. who you will most benefit from connecting with. This will likely be different for each social network (if you are doing it right) you use and might include industry visionaries, your ideal clients/prospect, partners and related pages.
At Out-Smarts we provide professional, dedicated and timely social media marketing services managing Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and YouTube pages for our clients. Why not focus on what you do best and let us focus on what we do best. Call us today to find out about our services
Allan Financial is a Vancouver based insurance firm specializing in life insurance plans – they are a trailblazer in what is a ‘traditional’ industry and a longstanding client of ours. They needed a new website to reflect their active community presence and leading edge social media adoption, one that they could update and add new content to easily and that would reflect their great branding.
Out-Smarts worked with Allan Financial to build and launch their new WordPress website and blog. It’s so fresh out of the wrapper it still has that new smell! Take a look.
Thanks goes to our dream team: Bluelime Media, Digitally Hip and Ignition.
Find out more about Out-Smarts’ website design and development services or contact us today to book a time to discuss your requirements.
Linkedin versus Facebook ads
Advertising using social media channels is becoming more and more popular, not surprising really since you have the potential to reach millions of people in a very targeted way. In 2013 global online ad spending is projected to amount to more than $500 billion and more specifically social ads spending is expected to double by 2015 to $9.2 billion.
If you are considering which social channels to use to promote your product, business or service, this might help.
Here’s a comparison of Facebook versus LinkedIn ads.
Facebook Ads
Facebook is by far the larger of the 2 networks with over 1 billion users. You can use Facebook ads to a) promote your page and build your following b) to promote a specific post on your page’s timeline or c) to drive traffic to an external page such as your website.
Facebook allows you to be really specific when choosing who should see your ads. You can target by geography down to quite a granular level, for example you can have your ads appear only to people in North Vancouver but it doesn’t get as granular as Yaletown or Kerrisdale (yet). You can also target your ads by age, gender, education but the aspect that is most beneficial about Facebook advertising is that you can target the ads using target audience likes.
Profiling Your Customer
We often work with clients to build an ideal client persona identifying such aspects as which car they drive, which shoes they wear, which music, sports teams etc, etc (it varies by business obviously). The more you know the better and by profiling your customer or ideal client in this way then you can use Facebook ads to appeal to a very specific demographic.
Targeting
You can also target the ads on Facebook to the friends of people who have already liked your pages. We’ve had a lot of success running Facebook ads for consumer related products or services but it can be more tricky for business to business or professional service type firms. Our favourite technique is to use Facebook to build your page followers: once people have connected with your business there you can use your timeline to build mind share and community with them. Starting at as little as $1 per day. Facebook can be a strong tool to add to your promotional advertising arsenal.
LinkedIn Ads
LinkedIn has less than a quarter of the users that Facebook has but the advantage LinkedIn has over Facebook is that users are all professional, business type people so, if that is you audience, LinkedIn might be the better advertising tool for you to use but but you have to be extra careful to get it right and it’s quite tricky.
Targeting
LinkedIn ads like Facebook ones, can also be used to target a specific audience i.e. by geography, profession, company name, seniority or job function. However LinkedIn ads are not as granular as Facebook’s in terms of geography or personal likes and you are actually quite limited. With LinkedIn the best way to use the ads is to encourage people to click on a link to an external website -ie your website or squeeze page.
LinkedIn ads appear erratically, we had one campaign recently where the ads showed up thousands of times on the first day and hardly any the next. The only way to control this seems to be by increasing the ad budget (go figure), making sure your bids are high or through constantly tweaking your ad text. They’re also more expensive than Facebook ads – starting at $10 per day. One positive aspect of LinkedIn advertising is that you can get creative with larger images (see spec sheet here).
Conclusion
If you have decided ads are the way to go and your target audience is consumer oriented or they are younger then Facebook is a no brainer. If your audience is older,professional or business oriented LinkedIn might be the better alternative but take time to consider whether you can get more bang from your buck by using your personal updates or updates on your company page on LinkedIn first. I’m not a big fan of LinkedIn ads and think your marketing dollars might be better spent elsewhere.
Brute force attacks against WordPress- a timely reminder from Christine Rondeau – Bluelime Media
I’ve been harping on a bit about this, but I can’t stress it enough, it’s very important to change your WordPress admin password once in a while and choose something difficult. I’m not saying change your password every day, but at least a couple of times a year.
This past few days has seen some alarming news about brute force attacks on WordPress and Joomla sites. These attacks suggests that thousands of machines have been taken over by botnet and are constantly attacking sites. If you have a few seconds to spare this weekend make a date with your CMS and change your password.
If you would like to know more about brute force attacks and what can be done, have a look at the Codex.
Related posts:
Dealing with Hackers and Spammers
Protect Yourself and Your Site With Strong Passwords
Mhairi is presenting one of her regular seminars at Small Business BC next Thursday from 1-4pm. If you have been using these social networks for your business and want to take things to the next level, this presentation is for you.
Course Synopsis:
Are you currently using Facebook and Twitter for your business and want to find out how to maximize your presence and focus your actions? This seminar will teach you how to create more engaging strategies and to implement attention catching tactics!
Learning Objectives:
• Learn why you want to create customized business pages
• The benefits of targeted ads
• What is valuable content
• How your business can use YouTube in your social media campaigns
• How to measure your results
This seminar is hosted at Small Business BC in Vancouver and delivered to other locations via live video conference and webinar.
To register, please visit http://www.smallbusinessbc.ca/seminars/2013-04-04/social-media-marketing-facebook-twitter-and-youtube
A recent study by Fidelity Investments found that 34% of younger investors (those aged of 21 – 47) stated that it was important that that their advisors have a social media presence. Consider also that 46% of investors using social media do not have a financial advisor. Sounds like the proverbial pot of gold at the end of an advisor’s rainbow doesn’t it? Sadly this is not the case. In a recent US study, 19% of advisors surveyed stated that they see social media as having to value at all.
The barriers to social media for advisors include lack of knowledge, time restraints and the big one: compliance. The good news is that these are not insurmountable.
Lack of Knowledge
If you are brand new to social media then it can all seem quite overwhelming: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs, YouTube – the list is endless. If you approach social media in a manageable way, it will seem less daunting. Don’t start by building your presence, start by listening. Check out your competitors on Facebook or LinkedIn, look for people you know in your industry who are using Twitter and listen to what they have to say: what they are posting, how often and what they are posting about. Doing so will give you a good feel for how people use these tools and will no doubt give you ideas. Once you have put social media in perspective, using it will begin to seem less daunting.
Out-Smarts provides coaching and educational services designed to help you get started online. Check out our regular sessions at Small Business BC for starters or contact us if you would like some one on one coaching.
No Time
It’s busy season for advisors with the RRSP deadline just passed. Many advisors simply don’t have time to spend on social media (or are using this as an excuse not to!). The fact of the matter is that, once you have your channels set up, social media needn’t be a big time suck. You can effectively manage your presence in as little as 15 minutes per day as long as you are focused: on your target audience, your goals and you don’t try to use every social media tool out there. Social media can be distracting and a big time suck if you let it so treat social media with the respect you would give to any other marketing activity, schedule it into your week and don’t get distracted by the noise thats out there.
Tools like Hootsuite allow you to schedule your updates and create bulk postings so it is possible to set aside time that is dedicated to social media at the start of the week or day and manage it really efficiently.
Compliance
Compliance is the biggest reason why advisors shirk social media and it can seem daunting.
“IIROC and the MFDA have been clear that all methods used to communicate for business purposes are subject to IIROC and MFDA rules and policies and record retention requirements remain unaltered regardless of the medium through which a firm or its Advisors communicate.”
However, there are technologies and techniques to get around compliance too. There are a slew of different tools coming on the market aimed at smoothing and streamlining the process of getting instant compliance authorization for posts. Tools like Sungard are helping advisors establish and enforce social media policies, reduce risks and grow their businesses. In the meantime, one simple way to mitigate the risk is to make sure you never offer advice, opinions or commentary that is misleading or risky in any way – keep your posts very generic and stay on topic.
If done right, the benefits of social media for advisors can be huge. This could be your opportunity to establish yourself in these forums and get ahead of the pack. Out-Smarts focus is on working with professional services firms including financial advisors. We’ve recently been endorsed by DundeeWealth to provide social media services to their advisors across Canada. If you are considering how social media fits in your advisor practice, contact us today, we would love to help guide you.
Related posts:
Out-Smarts endorsed by DundeeWealth
Introducing the HPC Wealth Management Website
