Month: Jan 2013

  • How to Segment your audience on Facebook

    by

    , , , , ,

    “It is better to speak with one customer who needs your product or service than 1000 people who are prepared to listen to you.”

    The above sentence should be the mantra for all business people who are using Facebook business pages to send messages to their customers. Facebook provides a feature that is designed to help you target the people your business needs.

    The Facebook feature I’m talking about is the post privacy gating option. This feature can be made available by ticking the box at the bottom of the manage permission page in the edit section of your Facebook business page.

    Post privacy gating option.

    This feature allows you to target who is going to see your posts under the following demographic headings.
    Gender
    Relationship status
    Educational status
    Interests
    Age
    Location
    Language

    Below are three examples of how the post privacy gating feature could be used:
    When you are posting content, that is specifically targeting women who are over 40 years of age, who are married, who have a degree, who are interested in horse riding, who live in the Washington DC area and who also speak Spanish; this is the feature to use.

    Another example could be where your content is targeting men who are over forty years of age and not in a relationship.

    You are going to send a message to the American people who have liked your Facebook business page, wishing them a happy Independence Day. In this situation, you would use the location demographic to ensure the message is sent to the appropriate people.

    Suitable?
    There are other examples, but I’m a gentleman at heart and couldn’t possibly repeat them on this page.

    As you input the demographics into the post privacy gating feature, you will get a count of how many people who have liked your Facebook page will fit into those criteria.

    The insights page will show you how successful the post was in reaching your intended demographic audience. Depending on the results, you may decide to promote the post.

    There is some anecdotal evidence to suggest that by using the post privacy gating feature; this will help you with your Facebook Edgerank, this has yet to be proven, but it is worth keeping this in mind, when you are looking over your results.

    Using the post privacy feature will mean you are going to accomplish the following:

    *Sending the right message to the right people; and that is good for your business.

  • What ROI can a small business expect from using Social Media marketing

    by

    , , , ,

    This question was put to me on Twitter during the week, but given the 140 character limit on tweets, I decided to write this blog post on the topic instead.

    Does social media pay?

    This is the most important question that every business owner would like to have answered before they invest their hard-earned money on a social media campaign. The question is a valid one, but before we could possibly find the answer to the question we postulated above, we need to answer the following questions:

    1.       Is the Internet infrastructure available?
    2.       What is the businesses current stage of development?
    3.       Does the business have a marketing budget?
    4.       Are your potential customers online?
    5.       Does the business have the expertise to run a social media campaign?
    6.       What social media platform is best suited for the product or service?
    7.       What can be achieved by using Social media marketing?

    Is the Internet infrastructure available?

    In the majority of first world countries, this question is moot because an internet infrastructure is widely available, there are some exceptions. There are geographical areas in some first world countries, where people are cut off from this type of technology. In third world countries such as Bolivia, the internet infrastructure does not exist, and therefore a social media campaign would not be a viable option.

    What is the businesses current stage of development?

    An established business will be able to build their social media marketing campaigns on the business relationships they already have with their customers or clients, whereas a business that has just been established will be required to start from a much lower position of power. 

    Does the business have a marketing budget?

    Marketing communications

    There are no costs in setting up a business profile on any of the social media platforms, but in order to use those social media platforms effectively, a business needs to invest in promoting their online activities through traditional marketing techniques and digital promotion options provided by the social media platform providers such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

    .

    Are your potential customers online?

    This question can only be answered with research, but given that there are up to 1 billion Facebook users, 500 million Twitter profiles and 300 million on LinkedIn, the chances of finding the people who have need of your products and services are quite good. 

    Does the business have the expertise to run a social media campaign?

    If your business does not have the personnel, who are knowledgeable about how social media marketing works? The return on investment will be limited. Social media marketing is not rocket science, but understanding how it works requires time.

    What social media platform is best suited for the product or service?

    The social media platform you decide to use should be determined by, what is the best fit for your business? Whether you operate in a B2B or a B2C environment, will determine which of the social media platforms is the best fit for your business.

    What can be achieved by using Social media marketing?

    Social media marketing, like all marketing, is about creating and building relationships with your public’s, it is a brand building exercise, a place where you interact in a social setting with your customers, and it is their choice whether to interact with you or not, because all social media platforms operate on an opt-in basis. Social media platforms are places where you interact with prospects and invite them to the areas of your business, where sales transactions can take place.

    Communication*Your business will be successful as a result of using social media, and not because of using it.

    *-* So what will be our return on investment from using social media marketing? Given the number of uncontrollable variables involved, answering that question would be nearly impossible as each business will have uniquely different answers to the above questions, but the question you should be asking is,   

    *“How much will it cost me, if I don’t move with the competition and use Social media marketing?”

     Please share this post with your social media friends.

    Click on the links to follow me on Twitter or Facebook.

  • Do I need you to press the like button on my Facebook page?

    by

    , , , , ,
    Facebook
    Facebook

    Before we can answer the question hypothesized in the heading, we have to decide on why do we want to use a  Facebook business page in the first place?

    Is our goal to get as many likes as possible for our business page, regardless of where they originate?

    Or do we want to create a social media platform, where we can share with our clients, customers and stakeholders; the values and information we want associated with our business.

    When you state, what you want to achieve using Facebook? The answer seems quite simple. Yes, we want to interact with the people on whom we rely on to pay our bills, and no, we do not want to interact with people who have no interest in the products and services we provide.

    The above answer is not quite so simple for some businesses whose target market is diverse; they may have different people using their products and services at different times of the year. Some service providers target market is so diverse that everybody is a potential client.

    Do you?
    Do you?

    Social media marketing is about engaging with your customers or clients in a social setting. There is little point in engaging with people on your Facebook business page who are never going to need your product or service; that is equivalent to having a conversation with your neighbour during the middle of your working day, its unprofitable behaviour and wastes your valuable time.

    *Identify your target market; they are the people you need to press the like button on your businesses Facebook page.

  • The Real Meaning behind some Words

    by

    , ,

    I love the English language because it gives people like me, the chance to play with words and their meanings. I have put a few of my favourite below, I hope you enjoy reading them.

    Baby Sitter: This career is one of the best forms of birth control around.

    Friend: People you like to keep at a distance on Facebook.

    Sarcasm: Insulting people who you hope haven’t got the intelligence to realise they’re being insulted or not.

    CommunicateSecret: This is a sentence that must be shared in hushed tones with the warning “you didn’t hear this from me, but”.

    Colcannon: A dish that’s perfect for those who can’t cook.

    English: A nationality that is loved all over the world whenever they leave.

    Manicure: Something to discuss when the weather has been exhausted.

    Alcohol: A wonderful drink that makes you wonder how you managed to spend so much and still arrive home so sober.

    Pay you back: Somebody who thinks you’re gullible, but respects your ability to manage your money.

    Heaven: A place where you get to do all the things that will prevent you from going there in the first place.

    Cool: People who have learned that, what other people think of them is really none of their business.

    Hail Enda
    Hail Enda

    Democracy: A place where you vote for the dictator with the greatest ability to promise you the world in a believable tone.

    Lazy: A person that will find the most efficient way of accomplishing everything.

    Worker: A person who admires Lazy.

    Pets: Animals who love you because of who you are, and not who they want you to be.

     If you enjoyed the list please share it with your friends. please add some of your words with interesting meanings.

    Regards,

    Brendan.