Archive for Marketing
Facebook Case Study: How One Restaurant Owner Creatively Builds His Following
Posted by: | CommentsDavid Jones, owner of Blazing Onion Burger Company
“I’m not very social,” confesses David Jones, owner of the Blazing Onion Burger Company. “But when it comes to my business, I’m an extrovert.”
A year ago, Jones created a personal Facebook account and began following “the big guys” — Starbucks, Subway, McDonald’s, Red Mango, Five Guys Burgers and Fries, Red Robin.
As he lurked on their Facebook pages, Jones learned what to do — and what not to do. “Some of those restaurants only post announcements of new store openings. That’s boring. And others only post promotions. Also boring.”
Jones vowed that the Blazing Onion’s Facebook page would not be boring.
And it isn’t.
In my September Relationship Marketing column for the Snohomish County Business Journal (Washington state), I detail several innovative techniques Jones uses to keep the Blazing Onion’s business Facebook page interactive and interesting.
You can steal — er — adapt these simple techniques for your own Facebook page. Read the full article and please share one thing you learned from David Jones that you can try on your Facebook page.
8 Things You Need to Know Before Guesting on Talk Radio
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Anything can happen on talk radio – and it often does. Particularly when you’re a guest on a live call-in show. All the same, talk radio is a great way to subtly promote your business, your book, your products, your services, or your cause.
Based on my own experiences as a guest on dozens of talk radio shows, I wrote a guest column for the WinePress of Words blog (WinePress Publishing). I offer eight quick tips for interacting with callers during a live call-in show. Hope you’ll visit the WinePress blog to read the full post.
Question of the day: If you’ve been a guest on talk radio, what’s the strangest thing that’s happened to you during the show?
Do You Have a Social Media Support Group?
Posted by: | CommentsEvery day on the Blogging Bistro Facebook page, I post a “social media tip of the day.” Monday’s tip says:
Expect it to take 6 months to 2 years to build a fan base of quality online followers.
Mary Beth Smith responded:
Laura, thank you for pointing that out – this is not instant pudding – it takes time to build that audience, and is the most fundamental task of beginning a social media presence.
I love Mary Beth’s “instant pudding ” analogy. [Aside: my 14-year-old recently discovered how easy it is to whip up a box of JELL-O instant chocolate pudding; we're buying a Costco-sized pallet of it.]
Should we invest less effort in nurturing online relationships than we do in-person relationships? I believe all valued relationships require a long-term commitment. And because we don’t see most of our online contacts face-to-face on a daily basis, it’s safe to assume that virtual relationships take longer to build.
I propose a forming a social media support group for small business owners and solopreneurs. The group would be comprised of people who are committed to helping each other build our brands online. When we post an important article, video, or update, other members of the group can share the link with their networks.
As I was mulling over how a support group of this nature could work, I thought, “Why not create a Facebook Group?” So I did. It’s called Social Media Support Group, and it’s open to anyone who’d like to join.
Head over to the Social Media Support Group and you’ll see a sample update to give you an idea of how to share your links.
And because I know some of you prefer LinkedIn groups, I created a duplicate Social Media Support Group at LinkedIn.
Join now from either Facebook or LinkedIn — whichever network you use most often.
Questions? Suggestions?
Three Great Places to Find Guest Blogging Opportunities
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One of the best ways to build traffic to your Website/blog is to get incoming links from popular sites. And one of the best ways to generate incoming links is to submit guest articles to other blogs or sites in your industry.
I recommend three excellent, free resources for learning about and submitting guest articles:
HARO (Help A Reporter Out)
Three times daily, you receive an e-mail digest that lists freelance writing opportunities. This free services matches reporters, producers, bloggers, and authors who are researching stories/books with experts in a particular area. The experts provide quotes, background information, and may even end up writing the story. Deadlines are usually same day or next day, so respond instantly to queries that interest you.
I blogged about one of my own writing opportunities via HARO here: An Easy Way to Get Quoted in Tons of Media Outlets
HARO is a great way to feature experts in your own stories, as well as to build your portfolio of published writing. To subscribe: www.helpareporter.com
Reporter Connection
Started in late December 2009 by Bill and Steve Harrison, this daily e-mail digest connects reporters seeking experts to interview with sources.It works the same as HARO.
To receive free media leads: www.ReporterConnection.com/JoinNowFree/
Blogger LinkUp
Created by Cathy Stucker, this free service functions the same as Reporter Connection and HARO, only it’s exclusively for bloggers. You can request guest posts, request sources for interviews & roundups, offer guest posts to bloggers, and offer products (such as your newly-published book) to bloggers for review.
To join: www.bloggerlinkup.com
*Feel free to reprint this post on your own blog. I’ll be happy to e-mail you the HTML, so all you have to do is copy & paste, and the formatting will remain intact. If you reprint it, please include the following byline:
Laura Christianson, aka The Blogging Barista, owns Blogging Bistro (www.BloggingBistro.com), a Seattle-based social media marketing company.
How to Recycle Blog Articles for Trade Magazines
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My son and I were in the waiting room of his physical therapist when we spotted Horse Illustrated, a magazine for equine enthusiasts (the cover horse was quite handsome!).
What’s your specialty?
Chances are, there’s a trade magazine or newsletter (either print or online) for that industry.
Here are a few “trades” I discovered:
- Today’s Trucking
- Nail Pro (the finger and toe variety of nails)
- Sign Builder Illustrated
- InTents (for the tent rental and fabric structure industries)
- Concrete Construction
- Impressions (for the embroidery/monogram industry)
Trade journals are a great place to recycle your blog articles. You can also sell original articles to trades.
I adapted an article from my blog for SpaRetailer, a print and online magazine for hot tub retailers. This magazine includes an extensive marketing section, so I pitched them an article about how to create a promotional campaign that features “what’s in it for me” content. They bought it and published my article in their March/April 2010 issue.
Not only did they publish my article, but they asked me to submit a sidebar (a super-short, tips-based article) for their May/June issue. My sidebar, “Five critical elements every business blog needs,” became the focal point of a feature article, “Blogging for Business.”
The feature (written by one of their in-house staff) included an interview with my client, Rich’s for the Home (a major hot tub retailer in the Seattle area), and an interview with me. I wasn’t expecting to be quoted, so I was pleased that they featured me as an expert and included a link to my Website.
If you want to build your reputation as an industry expert, I encourage you to re-purpose your blog articles for trade magazines. Trades are always looking for well-written content, and many of them pay (some of them pay quite well, in fact).
You’ll find an exhaustive list of trade journals in the 2010 Writer’s Market
Here’s an assignment to get you thinking outside the barn:
- Brainstorm how you can re-purpose an article you’ve written for FeedLot Magazine (breaking news that pertains to the livestock industry).
- Share your “pitch” or your article idea in the Comments area of this post.
- Get mooooving!
New Site Publishes Detailed Personal Info About You
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TMI. Too Much Information.
That’s what people are saying about a new site called Spokeo. The site bills itself as “Not your grandma’s phonebook.”
I’ll say.
Spokeo says it is “a search engine specialized in organizing people-related information.”
It “aggregates data from hundreds of online and offline sources, including but not limited to: phone directories, social networks, marketing surveys, mailing lists, government census, real estate listings, and business websites…Most of this data is publically available on the Web.”
Better than Google
Spokeo says it’s better than Google because it searches beyond the Web (thus, providing more comprehensive and targeted results for people-related queries).
Different than Facebook
On Facebook, users share personal data, but they can share anything they choose (in other words, they can lie about themselves). Spokeo gathers data from many public domains and claims that this method gives a more objective, third party perspective about you.
Not completely accurate data
Spokeo does claim that since the data mining is done by computers and there is no human involved, “the data is not verified and might not be accurate.”
Spokeo currently aggregates only US name and phone listings, so you cannot find non-US people by name or phone.
I typed in my name and discovered that about half the information about me was incorrect. Thankfully, Spokeo does not display complete info about your household, wealth, and neighborhood demographics (unless you’re willing to pay $2.95-$4.95/month for a membership).
I suspect that HR directors may find Spokeo helpful for researching job applicants. I suspect that people who want to rob your home or steal your identity will find Spokeo equally helpful.
Try it – see what Spokeo has to say about you, and share your opinion about this new search engine in the Comments area.
How NOT to Create a PowerPoint Presentation
Posted by: | CommentsI’m finalizing several PowerPoint presentations for the Mount Hermon (CA) Christian Writers Conference, where I’ll be teaching a course on Internet Marketing later this week.
“Life After Death By PowerPoint,” a hilarious video by comedian Don McMillan (http://twitter.com/donmcmillan), serves as a refresher course on what NOT to do when creating a PowerPoint slide show. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did:
What about you, dear readers? What PowerPoint no-nos have you suffered through… or subjected others to? Please comment.
Four Easy Steps for Creating a Great Promotional Campaign
Posted by: | CommentsWhat’s In It For Me?
WII-FM.
Every marketing piece you produce must answer this question.That’s because your customers don’t care about you. They’re far more interested in themselves.
If you hope to sell them your product or service, you must set your dial to WII-FM.
In the March issue of SpaRetailer, a trade magazine for the hot tub industry, I wrote an article titled, “Do Your Promos Pass the WII-FM Test?”
My column explains four easy steps for how to create a promotional campaign that highlights What’s In It For Me content. While the examples I give pertain to spas, you can apply the concepts to whatever product or service you intend to market.
Hope you’ll check out the article online at SpaRetailer. Let me know if you find something useful you can apply to your own WII-FM promotional campaign.