According to a recent report conducted by Pitney Bowes, in their SMB Owners Report May 2011, 68% of respondents are choosing email marketing as a new advertising tactic and 54% say they are choosing social media.  In fact, 76% of small businesses responded by saying the ideal marketing mix is a combination of traditional media and digital communications.  One of the main reasons for the shift is the inexpensive entry to market through these digital channels.

Small businesses are always looking for inexpensive, yet effective ways to market their products and services.  Usually, they can not compete with the large national chains or mega brands that can afford to saturate the market with huge marketing campaigns.  It is critical for small business to get creative and find less expensive ways to get their message to the public.  Factor in a shaky economy that has not rebounded like many expected by the middle of 2011 and it is more important than ever for small businesses to leverage digital channels to promote their business.  It can be significantly less expensive to develop a mass email campaign compared to dropping a physical mailer or flyer to the same number of recipients.  With technology today you can create robust graphics and aesthetically pleasing emails at little to no cost.

Social Media channels like Facebook and Twitter are another inexpensive way to reach a massive audience.  It is free to set up the channels themselves, and while I do not pretend to think they can be managed effectively for free (I would recommend a social media expert managing any small business’ social media presence) it is still much less expensive than traditional forms of media.  Facebook has approximately 700 million users now and you can target by age, location, and interests when marketing to those millions of people.  Twitter is an excellent tool for customer loyalty programs and can really help small businesses increase their customer base through “digital” word of mouth advertising.  If you have a Twitter account and you haven’t tweeted out a coupon deal or special discount to all your Twitter followers, you are missing a great opportunity to make a strong move in creating new business.

The numbers don’t lie and the statistics are eye opening.  Small businesses are using digital communications to supplement (and sometimes replace) their traditional advertising programs in larger numbers.  The reasons are simple…digital media is now a proven advertising platform and inexpensive compared to traditional media.

According to a study conducted by Webs, and reported in a recent Media Post blog, “Currently 69% of small business owners surveyed by Webs are using social media — including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and blogs — at their companies; another 13% said they plan to begin using social media in the next three months. In terms of specific platforms, Facebook was the clear leader with 68% of small business owners saying it is the social media tool they use most for their businesses.”  These are encouraging figures for marketers who have been promoting the usage of social media sites as an effective way to promote products and services.

On the flip side of these numbers lay the real challenge small business owners face with social media marketing.  How do you effectively manage these social media channels to get the most out of your advertising dollar?  Unfortunately, the study also uncovered that “Of the small business owners surveyed by Webs, 59% said social media has “not met” or only “slightly met” their expectations as a marketing tool, and 43% said they currently allocate 10% or less of their marketing budgets to social media.”  How to bridge the gap between channel presence and channel success is the key for all businesses leveraging social media as a means to promote their brand, specific product, or services.  The study has encouraging statistics that illustrate businesses both large and small see the need for a presence in social media.  However, just like a company website or even a physical store, the iconic “If you build it, they will come” does not apply.

If you want to be successful in leveraging these social media channels, which by the way have captive audiences in the multi-millions, you need to plan out a specific strategy.  Here are just a few things to consider before jumping head first and opening company pages or accounts in Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for example:

1. How do you want to brand the channel?  Will it be used to promote the company as a whole or a specific product or service?
2. What creative elements will you include in the channel design?  Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn all have varying degrees of customization when it comes to designing the page in your company image.
3. How will you attract people to follow you on Twitter, or like your page on Facebook?  Social media users are not going to just stumble upon your page, you need to have a clear plan in place to build a following around each channel.
4. How often and what type of engagement will your company be willing and able to maintain once you have built a following?  If you do not keep the audience engaged, they will leave.  It’s no different with your website or physical storefront…if you do not give them a reason to re-visit, they won’t!

I am simplifying the process here, but only to illustrate why it’s not a surprise 59% of small business owners feel social media marketing has “not met” or only “slightly met” their expectations.  You can not expect success without a plan of action and too many small business owners, as evidenced by the aforementioned study, are willing to use social media, but have no strategy to make it work.  It’s all in the planning once you make a business decision to branch out into new markets or new marketing channels.  Be prepared to take action once you create that social media presence and you will find success tapping into the 600+ million people who use social media channels in their every day lives and who fit your customer demographic.

As companies evolve in their ability to analyze web traffic, it is becoming increasingly important to branch out to as many areas as possible to reach customers.  Understanding how different sources of traffic interact with your website is equally significant in where you allocate your time and resources.  Simply looking at bottom line traffic volume from various sources of traffic in Google Analytics (GA) is not enough.  Numbers don’t lie, but they don’t always paint the most accurate picture either.  Just because someone visited your site from an organic search, doesn’t rule out that they were influenced to visit your site from another channel.

A perfect example of this scenario lies in how social media impacts direct web traffic.  In a recent study conducted by ForeSee, http://www.foreseeresults.com/news-events/press-releases/social-media-low-impact-on-web-traffic-2011-foresee.shtml it was concluded that “Less than 1% of website visits, on average, come directly from a social media URL. This finding suggests that the direct impact of social media is minimal, but also that the true value of social media cannot be quantified only by examining the traffic coming directly from a social media URL.”  In simple terms, if you have a presence in social media, you probably do not see much traffic in your GA data related to social media traffic sources.  Does this mean you should abandon your efforts to build your social media presence?  Absolutely not, considering that 18% of website visitors acknowledge being influenced by social media to visit the site, according to the ForeSee report findings.  That is a significant gap in the numbers, but does not indicate any sort of disconnect with visitors.  In fact, it is closely in line with how people use social media – they are there for social interaction but can still be influenced by companies with solid social media marketing strategies.  When it is time for those visitors to find a company, their previous exposure to your company in social media influences their decision to visit your site.  They may do a search on Google to find you, and in the raw GA data Google organic gets credit for the site visit, but it was your social media presence that truly drove that visitor to your site.

Where it gets real interesting is how visitors influenced by social media interact with a website.  According to the ForeSee report, visitors to websites influenced by social media are more loyal and satisfied customers, and they spend more than visitors who were not influenced by social media.  When you factor this knowledge into the 1% statistic mentioned in the research, 1% becomes a more meaningful number.

The value of website visitors varies between sources of traffic.  Establishing a presence across all aspects of the web provides companies the ability to reach out to all types of visitors.  It is important to understand the symbiotic relationship between the different sources of traffic to your website.  Keep that in mind the next time you are reviewing traffic sources and matching that up to your external web presence.  Overall visits from your social media channels are most likely lower than other sources of traffic, but can be greater in terms of value to your bottom line.

Here at MoreVisibility, I like to think we have a robust strategy in place for our corporate blogs.  Everyone in the company participates, writing one to two articles per month on a variety of industry related news, topics, and anything else we would like to share with our site visitors and the World Wide Web.  The last part of that sentence is important…our blogs are hosted on our site, but have the opportunity to get indexed by the search engines.  So while our blogs can be accessed by anyone visiting our site, we also can reach a wider audience when one of our blogs is indexed by the search engines.  In addition, writing the blog post is fairly easy to do – we all have tight deadlines and important projects to complete, but you can always find 30 minutes to write a blog, and that’s about as long as you need to write a good blog article.

There are many excellent reasons to start blogging.  In my opinion, there are two that stand out above all others as to why every company should be blogging, regardless of the product, service, or company size.  First, it is probably the easiest way to add content to your site.  For many businesses, there are multiple steps to adding a new page to their site, some of which involve a developer or web designer who may or may not be a full time employee of the company.  It is not uncommon to hear that it takes a week or longer to get a new page active on a website even after all the content for the page has been finalized.  If you have Wordpress installed on your site, for example, you can write and post blogs immediately.  Each blog post will have its own unique url, thus creating new content (and new pages) for your site is a breeze!

Secondly, the search engine optimization (SEO) benefits of consistent blogging cannot be understated, especially if you set up the blog the proper way as part of your main domain:  http://www.morevisibility.com/socialmediablog/.  Creating fresh, relevant, and keyword rich content on a consistent basis is an excellent way to improve your SEO results.  The very nature of blogging is to create fresh and relevant content related to your business.  Optimize your blog articles with keyword rich content and you are employing a solid SEO strategy simply by blogging about your business.

This all sounds very simple, and for the most part it is.  There is some technical work involved in getting the blog started, but once you do…put the pedal to the metal and start blogging as much possible.  You will find it is a simple way to add content to your site and boost your SEO strategy at the same time.

With the explosion of social media, it has become essential for companies to leverage the marketing strength inherent with social media participation.  Even if you are hesitant to jump head first into social media marketing, there are a few aspects you can control as a business that doesn’t require heavy investment in time or resources.  Customer testimonials are an excellent way to help promote your business and increase your chance for more conversions with minimal time and resource allocation.

If you already have a Facebook or Twitter account, you can use those channels to encourage your customers to talk about their positive experiences dealing with your company.  One idea is to give an incentive to customers to “tell their story” and those who decide to provide a testimonial are entered into a drawing for a gift or special discount.  The only caveat here is that you will have to manage the interaction and quickly respond to and diffuse any negative feedback.  However, if this does happen, quickly move to resolve or respond to the negative feedback.  Your quick and decisive action can go a long way in building a positive reputation as a business that cares about their customer’s concerns.  Turn the negative into a positive and you gain a loyal customer who may in turn, provide a positive testimonial in the future.

Another way to leverage positive customer feedback is to create a customer testimonials section on your website.  This could be placed in a prominent section on your homepage, or it can be a unique page within the site structure itself.   There are many companies who use this strategy, but I am still surprised when I visit a website and can not find any content related to their customer endorsements.  Another idea is to create a blog on your site and allow your customers an opportunity to post articles talking about their customer experience.  Choose one blog a week as the “Customer Blog of the Week”, reward the winning “blog post” with some nice discount or special incentive and watch your blog entries grow over time; all customer generated and touting their approval of your company.

Today, more than ever, social media and social interaction are driving buying decisions.  It’s no different than your classic word of mouth advertising; it’s just on a much larger (and digital) scale.  You would be hard pressed to find a business owner who didn’t value the power of the referral.  Your customers can be your best sales people.  Use them, and reward them, for their positive testimonials to help grow your business and attract new customers.

Maybe I am misguided or ill-informed, but my impression of government (especially local government) is that red tape always bogs them down.  Trying to contact City Hall to question your water bill (I speak from personal experience here) can be a real chore.  However, I was encouraged when I read an article recently about local governments getting into the social media arena.  According to research conducted by the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania, “50% of cities had no official Facebook presence as of July 2009, though one in seven of these had at least one department that did have a presence, often public safety.”  In addition, their report goes on to note “44% of our surveyed cities did not have a Twitter presence in July 2009, though one in seven had at least one department active on Twitter”.  For the detailed report, in addition to how Fels conducted the survey, please feel read the report here.

While these numbers are not jaw dropping, it does show that even slow moving, red tape drowning local governments are starting to see the benefits of social media.  I prefer to look at the positive side of the report and by comparison 50% of cities already have a Facebook presence and 56% have a Twitter account!  I decided to research my city, and found they are well ahead of the curve when it comes to the average city surveyed in the aforementioned report.  Kudos to Tamarac, FL – they are doing quite well on Facebook and Twitter.  As of April 5, 2010, the city of Tamarac has 199 fans on Facebook and 743 followers on Twitter.  Both of their social media channels are actively managed, with their most recent “tweet” about 17 minutes before I viewed their profile (by the way, “Tonight’s Kick Boxing Aerobics class for this evening has been canceled”.

If local governments can find the time and resources to get involved with social media, there is no excuse for companies to continue to sit on the sidelines.  Red tape and bureaucracy usually bring government activity to a halt, but when it comes to reaching out to their citizens, more local governments are recognizing the value of social media.  As a business owner, executive, or manager, it’s important to leverage any opportunity to gain more customers and improve customer retention.  Social media is a wave that you can ride to success or you risk getting pulled under water.  Local governments are starting to allocate the time and resources to get social, private and public businesses should be leading the way.

I have worked in sales and marketing since I graduated college.  I am a fan of marketing and take pleasure in seeing creative ads on TV, radio, and online.  I love the “Most Interesting Man in the World” campaign from Dos Equis.  I crack up every time I see that commercial for Heineken where the couple is showing off their new house and the woman takes her girlfriends to a huge walk-in closet and the men get a tour of a huge walk-in cooler filled with beer (Heineken, of course).  I don’t mind watching the 15-30 second commercial before the videos I watch on Comcast.net.  I didn’t ask for the commercial, but I know its coming and I am fine with it.

Here’s is what I don’t like about marketing: disingenuous product endorsements.  Celebrities get paid big money to endorse a product, but rarely do I believe they use the product of their own choosing.  Call me cynical, but I don’t think Tiger Woods (maybe a bad example here given his current decline in sponsorship deals) drives a Buick.  But I understand that is part of the game, Buick pays (or paid) Tiger big money to participate in commercials promoting the Buick brand.  I know he is being paid and if I choose to buy a Buick based on Tiger’s endorsement, I do so with full knowledge Tiger is paid to say good things about Buick. 

This same strategy should also be applied by businesses using Twitter to promote their brand, product, or service.  There needs to be transparency with how you deliver the message as well as the message itself.  When you use Twitter to promote your company, be clear with your followers.  You can be creative with coupons or discounts to reward your followers.  Running contests and “tweeting” about it can be a great way to get additional word of mouth and increase your base.  Social media users are very savvy these days and can see through a veiled attempt to promote a product, service, or brand if you are not fully disclosing why you are reaching out to them.

There have been some high profile stories lately where companies have used celebrities to promote their brand without disclosing that the celebrity is being paid to tweet about the product.  Once the stories broke, there was an understandable backlash as social media users felt somewhat betrayed by the message.  This type of revelation can lead to bad press and direct people to consider your company as dishonest.  This is easily avoided by keeping your message clear and transparent.  It is perfectly acceptable to promote that you want to increase your followers, and you are willing to reward them for their loyalty.  There is no need to trick people into providing that loyalty.  Creative and honest promotions can accomplish the main goal of growing your base without the risk of turning off potential customers and losing credibility.

Do companies really need a full blown, completely interactive website to differentiate themselves from their competition?  If you have the money to spend on such an endeavor, more power to you.  As I was watching TV this weekend I saw (on more than one occasion) an advertisement for Honda and what struck me as different was the call to action at the end of the commercial.  Instead of promoting local dealers in the area or suggesting you visit their website for more details, they simply had “facebook.com/Honda” on the screen.  When you visit their Facebook page, you’ll find an interactive tab titled “The Experiment” customized to tie in to their commercial (see screenshot below).

There was a time when you had to convince businesses to “attach” their website address to their offline marketing plans.  Those days are gone, but it was refreshing and a little surprising to see a large company like Honda using Facebook in their TV ads as the main hook.

With the advancements Facebook and other Social Media sites have made to attract businesses, there seems to be no limit to what you can do in these channels.  You are no longer constrained to customized promotions tied only to your website or dedicated 800 number.  You can create interactive and customized marketing plans without having to make major changes to your website.  I wouldn’t suggest scrapping your website, you still need that anchor to provide valuable company information for those looking to do business with you.  In addition, Search is still king when it comes to how people find companies today.  If you do not have a website, the overwhelming impression people will have is that you are not a legitimate company.  But Social Media channels are evolving to cater to businesses looking to attract a larger audience.  Social Media sites are not just for individuals looking to connect with their “friends”.  They are developing into mainstream marketing channels that can take your business to the next level.  Remember, even if you do not personally use Social Media sites, millions of others do every day.  There is a built in audience for businesses to promote their products and services within Social Media channels.  Marketers have touted this fact as justification to recommend Social Media marketing to their clients.  Sites like Facebook “get it” and they continue to provide avenues for businesses to leverage technology and new marketing ideas in ways that wouldn’t be open to them with their current website.  Not every business has the financial backing Honda has, yet they still see the benefits of leveraging Facebook for their current marketing strategies.

Many times in business, the early adopters gain the most by embracing new marketing techniques.  Being first to advertise in a new channel is an indicator of a business’ forward thinking and proactive approach to be on the front line of new technology.  In this way, they create new strategies for business development and improve client retention.  As a business, its better to be ahead of the curve than trying to play catch up after realizing your competitors beat you to the punch.  Social media marketing is gaining more steam and acceptance among the well known brands, but I find many small and mid-size businesses are still dragging their feet.

One reason for pause with many small and mid-size business owners is that they don’t understand the channels from a personal perspective and naturally shy away from the media from a business perspective.  Which raises the question, do you have to participate personally in social media sites in order for your business to benefit from the channel?  The answer is a resounding “No”. 

Back in the day, the phone book was the “go-to” source to find businesses before the internet became such an integral part of our lives.  I recall working for a company who was at the forefront of selling online advertising to small and mid size businesses when the phone book was still King.  The most common objection business owners gave for passing on the option to utilize the internet to market their business was that “everyone uses the phone book to find us”.  Well, fast forward and look at how Search has dominated the way people look for businesses today.  I am not here to announce the death of the phone book as an effective marketing tool, but the younger generations simply do not use the phone book anymore.  Consequently, it was the early adopters to internet marketing that reaped the greatest benefits as more and more people use search engines to find and research businesses before making a purchase.  The experience gained by starting early (and making mistakes along the way) are precious in the long run.

The shift is well on its way with the social media channels.  It is a rare occurrence that I don’t see or hear a commercial that references Facebook or Twitter, even though the commercial itself is not promoting either of those sites.  These social media networks are simply becoming part of our digital culture.  It won’t be long, and we are well on our way, where one’s social network profile will be as commonly used as their cell phone.  Businesses who find creative ways to develop a presence in these channels will undoubtedly have the advantage over their competition.  It’s a numbers game and your potential customers are gravitating and engaging in social media sites in increasing numbers.

There have been many discussions about Social Media networks and their role in online advertising.  I subscribe to at least 5 different industry newsletters and not a day goes by that one of the main stories does not revolve around Social Media.  It is a unique and changing landscape and what we see today could be very different than how Social Media works in the future.  One thing is very clear, at least to me, and that is the ability to identify and interact with “like-minded” people throughout the social networks.

One of the big advantages of Social Media marketing is how customer behavior can be gleaned from the networks.  People everyday are creating new social network profiles, on Facebook for example, and putting out information that businesses would have paid top dollar for in lead generation lists just a few years ago.  If you are a painting supplies company, wouldn’t you like to know who the people are that announce they like to paint?  If you sell sporting goods, do you think it would be advantageous to know where the people are who mention they love playing sports?  If you could interact with individuals who have hobbies and interests relative to your products or services you have an advantage in creating a new customer.

People do not like to be sold…but they do like to buy.  That is an important thing to remember when participating in or advertising within the social networks.  You can align yourself with like minded people and become an advocate, or even a go-to source for information related to their interests.  Given their interests are in line with your product or service, you can build trust that ultimately leads to a sale.  The key to remember is you are not there to “sell” them, you are there to interact and grow a following that relies on your expertise.  The time will come when they are ready to make a purchase related to their interests and you will be top of mind in their decision process.

The great thing about this fairly simple concept is how easy it is to find the people who are interested in your products or services.  They mention it all time, both in their online social media profiles and their online dialogue with friends (think Twitter search).  All you need to do is get started, identify the channels you want to participate in and “search” for like minded people.  They are not trying to hide, in fact, they make it very easy to identify what they like because they announce it almost every day!