It's The Only Way to Fly

    Wow, it was nice to take some time off but now it's back to the blog - and it being summer (or almost) lots of people are thinking about travel - and using interactive media to book it.
    As a refresher, "business social media" means getting your business info out in an easy fashion to the customer base that A) wants to use your services, and B) will use your services if only they knew about them.
     Let's talk about the airlines.  We've been able to book flights online for years thanks to outfits such as   Orbitz and Expedia, but did you know that a lot of individual airlines are tweeting deals?
     The June Consumer Reports magazine says that they did some looking and found these two incredible fares: @FrontierSale and @JetBlueCheeps, both of which were offering a $10 one-way fare from San Francisco to Long Beach, California.  Yep.  Ten bucks.  However:
    Seats are limited, and quick action is needed.  The magazine notes that @UnitedAirlines'Tware fares sell out within two hours.
    What a great idea, tweeting fares!  It gives the customer a great deal, and drives business to the airline!  This is why your business needs to stay linked in to the business social media network.
     It's the only way to fly!

Feeling Like Royalty

  

     The Royal Wedding has come off without a hitch, getting international exposure - but of course, it's the Royal Wedding!  How can your business get the same exposure?
     Well, unless one of your business partners or yourself is a King, Prince, etc., it's kind of doubtful you'll get the same sort of worldwide coverage.  HOWEVER:
     You can have a worldwide presence.  It's called, as we've alluded to before, business social media.
     Like it or not, you need to be in the stream.  And yes, there are a LOT of folks out there in that same stream.  So how do you keep your business plugged in and noticed?
     First, remember that attention spans are shrinking.  Your message needs to be brief and to the point.  I used to manage a video education network.  What I told my producers then, holds true now.  The amount of knowledge your brain can absorb is inversely proportional to how numb your butt is getting sitting in that chair.  Reframe that homily for tweets and email messages.
     Second, know your audience.  You've got to understand what makes your customer tick.  Just like you, your customer has less and less time to pay attention to information.  (See number one above) Before you begin a business social media sell pitch, know what your customer wants to see.  Otherwise, you're wasting your time, and worse, theirs.
     Third, and finally, what's the value of your message?  Your customer gets bombarded with heaven knows how many messages each day.  What makes yours stand out from the rest?  Your audience has less time or interest in complicated items they've got to figure out, unless you are pitching to Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot.  Whatever information you decide to convey to them, make SURE that it's bright, short, and - well, sexy.  Not to mean that you have to adorn it with sexy images.  In this context, sexy means sizzle, something your customers will remember and act upon.
    Follow these pointers in your business social media, and I guarantee it will make you feel like royalty!

Get Into The Swim or Go Down the Drain

     We've talked about reasons why your company needs to be business/social media active.  

     What follows are some stats from http://blog.hubspot.com/, a marketing blog.  Put down your coffee, because if you don't, you're likely to spill it on yourself.  Get into the swim, or go down the drain.

• 78% of Internet users conduct product research online. That means your website stands a good chance of being a prospect's "first impression." That also means your new business card isn't a business card—it's Google.
• In the past year, Web-based email usage dropped a staggering 59% among young people who prefer to communicate via text, instant messaging, and social networks. Web-based email usage has been on the decline among ALL Internet users under the age of 55. And by the way, today's kids are tomorrow's customers—and they're probably not going to be reading your email.
• 78% of business people use their mobile device to check email.  So that means pretty much everybody that can check email on a mobile device, does. Is your email newsletter optimized for mobile devices?
• 91% of email users have unsubscribed from a company email they previously opted-in to. We're getting savvier with technology and less patient with unwanted solicitations. And it's just so easy to hit 'delete'.
• 57% of businesses have acquired a customer through their company blog. Blogging is good. Intrusive ads are bad. 
• 41% of business-to-business companies and 67% of business-to-consumer companies have acquired a customer through Facebook. If this stat doesn't poke a hole in the "Facebook is not useful for B2B companies" myth, I don't know what will.

Social Media is Dead!

     Yes, you read that headline correctly.  Social media is dead, and we have no less an authority than actor James Franco to thank for this startling bit of news.  Franco has dropped Twitter after a couple of months of use.  He tells Politico that "Social media is over.  Still up there.  Going down.  You heard it here first."
     Well!  At least we have one less thing to worry about with the demise of social media!  I, and other writers, and businesses, can now move on to more rewarding things.
     I hate to tell you, James - can I call you Jimmy? - but social media/business social media is not dead.         True, sometime in the future, the medium carrying the media will undoubtedly change, but the media will not.  The telegraph was the social media of its day, followed by the telephone.  Now, wireless and instantaneous and cheap communication has taken the place of the telephone.  Businesses use more social media than ever, and those that don't are finding their businesses inexplicably slowing down.  You have to stay in touch to be in touch.
     So, Jimmy, while you wait for that telegram to arrive at your door announcing your next hosting gig on the Academy Awards, you can at least take solace in the fact (as we all can) that Miley Cyrus has resumed Twitter for the first time since 2009, when she quit it because it was interfering in her private life.
     To paraphrase an old saying - Social Media is Dead - Long Live Social (and business) Media!

Keep Your Brand Out There!

     So when are enough tweets enough?  Here's today's "Mother Goose and Grimm" comic by Mike Peters.  
     We've already discussed tweet overload in a previous post.  How do you know when you are doing just enough or not enough?
     First, you can always do the tried and true (I know it has no bells and whistles on it for you techies out there, but it works) method of simply asking your customers.  How did you hear about us?  Where did you hear about us? Would you like to hear more about us?
     Remember back in the dark ages, Radio Shack was often nationally lampooned for their practice of asking for your name and address even if you just bought a battery.  Now, while that may no longer happen, businesses are gathering even more information about their customers every time that customer swipes a credit card.  High tech, and it does work...but so does this:  filling out a customer information card with an email address to get updates.  I know I get updates from a lot of restaurants I like that I filled out their card on the table and turned it in to the server.  These are updates I want to get.  And the fact that I keep coming back to these same establishments seems to prove that it works.
     So don't stop tweeting.  Don't even think about stopping.  But make sure you are getting your tweets out to the right people.  And keep asking customers if you can send them emails about upcoming specials.
     Keep your brand out there!

Gilbert Got Fried

     Well...you just never know who's reading your murmurings on the web.
     Case in point:  comedian Gilbert Gottfried - better known as the quacking duck on the Aflac commercials.
     Gilbert posted a couple of rather tasteless jokes concerning the horrific quake and tsunami in Japan...and Aflac gave him the boot - from a really nice job he'd held since 2000.
     So here we go:  social media and business social media ARE intertwined, no matter how much anyone may wish to think they are not.  If you are working for a corporation, company, even a local mom and pop outfit - your ramblings on line are a reflection on not only you but your employer.
     We like to talk about "brands" and "brand consciousness" a lot - but hey, it's not just Coca Cola that has a brand.  YOU have a brand.  You, personally, are your own brand.  And how you market your own brand online has EVERYTHING to do with the way you are seen at work.
     So - be careful what you Twit or post on Facebook.  Remember that social media is a great tool, but it can also drop a hammer on you faster than Bugs Bunny on Elmer Fudd.
     Your employer counts on you for service, and what you say off the job in public searchable forums can be damaging or rewarding to you.
      Just ask Gilbert Gottfried - who just Got Fried.

Stuck Behind the Times

     SXSW is going on in Austin right now, and the interactive directory is larger than the film directory!  Let that bit of news soak in if you're still on the fence about social media, business or otherwise.
     Meanwhile, are you one of Twitter's 200 million account holders worldwide, either for yourself or your business?  A New York Times article quotes a statement that "Twitter does turn us all into marketers."
     Tweets can make or break you.  Just ask Hosni Mubarak.  The importance of having a real time digital presence on the internet cannot be understated.  I don't mean a web site.  Anyone can and does have a website.  I mean being active on Facebook or Twitter, where you can talk directly to your customers.  Find out what works, what doesn't.  If you don't know, then your customers will certainly tell you.
     For instance, a major bank has a Facebook "presence" but it's majorly lame.  No information about the bank.  Less than 50 people have "liked" the site, which doesn't even have the bank graphics on it.  No one has disliked it, leading me to think that the people who put up this page are the ones who like it.
      This same bank does have the usual corporate website, where customers can log in or send an email that's promised to be returned within 24 hours by a representative, which it isn't.  No wonder they have no real Facebook presence to speak of - judging by the unresponsiveness of their home page, they would be deluged with "not likes" and heavy negative commentary from customers.
     On the other hand, a company like Rent-A-Center does have a Facebook presence, and in a big way.  And it's moderated.  And there is a lot of positive give and take there, as well.  Rent-A-Center obviously feels more comfortable with its customers than other firms without Facebook sites: ie, they don't worry that they are doing such a poor job as to avoid direct real time interaction with customers in the cyber world.
     Or maybe the outfits without an ordained corporate Facebook presence are just --- sadly stuck behind the times.