The case you are about to study is real - the names have been changed to protect the horrible. The people are Steve, Sandy and Torque and their vacation was ruined by technology. These fine people are officially retired and are living the American dream - enjoying their retirement to its fullest by traveling these United States and seeing the wonders that it has to offer. As part of that, they came up to visit my wife and I. With national figures still showing unemployment at around 13% (ouch), a lot of people are saying that the 'down economy' holds little hope for those seeking opportunities. I am not in the job market but I have a theory about this.
This past weekend I was at several social gatherings and not one person told me to announce to the group that I was that person’s friend. I was also not given any propaganda material and told to share it with the whole group. But this should not be surprising - that would be bad behavior and probably get someone never invited back. So why do people do this on social media? I’ve related social media, particularly Facebook, to the water cooler of the old days in offices. Most people sign-up for Facebook to catch up with their friends or find out what’s going on in their social circles. In some ways, as friends migrate to faraway places, go on long journeys or just get really busy with their own lives, social media is a great way to catch up and find out what’s happening. It used to be, when you sold a business you absolutely included the phone number associated with the business as part of the sale. Having that consistency meant it was easier for thrilled customers to continue to find your business. Simple logic. That’s still true but today there are other assets that are also important such as the businesses’ URL. What’s a URL and what’s it worth? As you all know I’m a nerd and I try to be detail-oriented but sometimes, in the heat of the moment, I make a mistake. In this case, the mistake proved to be expensive.
In our last get together I talked about Firehosing - taking your message and spraying it out with the hopes of getting positive results. This week we’re going to go over another point of social media - interacting with your audience. Remember my vision of social media that it’s the modern version of the water cooler. People go to relax and catch up on what the people they care about are doing. It also lets us keep in touch with people who we do care about but don’t see very often which is a huge appeal for some people. I’ve spoken with a lot of people who tell me that social media is nothing but a waste of time from a marketing standpoint. Usually I then go look at their efforts and find that they’re firehosing. What is firehosing? To start, it’s a great way to get out of the minds of the people whom you’re trying to reach. This post is only for some of you - very specifically the some of you who live in Lake County. I realize that this is a narrow spectrum but the ideas here can be transferred anywhere in the world.
There was a competitive bid to manage our county’s marketing programs and I won it. When I did, I asked my Facebook universe for things they’d like to see the County do in marketing. Some of the answers were interesting. No matter what businesses I talk to, the first thing people tell me is that they want to get found on Google. As we all know, Google is the big daddy rabbit of Internet search and being invisible on Google is a death sentence to any business nowadays. Not surprisingly, Google knows this too and has done a good job of making it relatively easy to get found on Google.
I have often said that not every business needs a website but every business does need to take charge of their Google and Yelp listings before they do anything else. These are literally the foundations of search and you can be found on the Internet without a website as long as you have your Google and Yelp listings completed. So how do you get found on Google without a website? Remember one of Google’s goals is to be the most accurate place to go to find information and they’ve developed a tool to make it relatively easy to manage your business information on their various services. Recently I asked a group of people to raise their hands if they were on Facebook. I was surprised that the whole group didn’t raise their hands, but some people just don’t “get” Facebook. I asked one why they didn’t raise their hand and they said that Facebook is just a big waste of time. Well so is reading, watching television, vacationing or eating dessert.
Saying that Facebook is a waste of time is completely accurate unless you’ve got a business to promote. Then it can be a critical part of your marketing program. But many business people just aren’t doing Facebook correctly. |
Tony BarthelTony Barthel is passionate about great marketing for small businesses Get Free Weekly Marketing TipsCategories
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