Why we use social media and inbound marketing for our clients.

By: Gayle Davies

We use social media tools and inbound marketing techniques because we have to! And because we would be doing a great disservice to our clients if we ignored the growing social media landscape.

It seems like just yesterday that a new business client would come in and request the standard business advertising and ID package. Brochure, business cards, stationery, logo, direct mail postcard and maybe a magazine and newspaper print ad. Of course, radio and TV ads for the larger companies. Website development requests started popping up now and then and soon enough they were a corporate identity package staple.

Zoom to the present and we are also discussing Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, Linkedin profiles and blogs. Very often clients save on their advertising expenses when we suggest they allocate a larger percentage of their budget to inbound marketing techniques. This is because once we set up the social media map, their employees can participate in creating authentic content relatively inexpensively. They can also monitor their own progress using the proper social media tracking tools.

We have found that the key to success is integrating both the old, proven methods of outbound marketing into the newer inbound marketing methods.

Download this pdf to read some interesting statistics on social media. For example did you know that there are about 126 million blogs on the internet? Are you there yet?

Oh, and one more thing. Please take a small portion of that money you have saved on media buys and use it on professional, high- quality copy and graphics. The more informal social media tools you will be using still have to present your company in an impressive manner.

(Thank you HubSpot for compiling this information.)

Social media report: More time invested equals more leads.

by Gayle Davies 

Having lived in Hawaii for 15 years I couldn't help but notice that trends on the mainland take a couple of years before arriving on the shores of the Big Island. The beautiful land of fire and ice. That is why I found this survey so thought provoking. 

Now that I live on the mainland, for me it is a snapshot back in time. But it should also be reassuring to many small business owners everywhere currently struggling with this new marketing strategy must-have. Using Facebook to generate leads, LinkedIn to close deals. That is the direction you will be going in.

The majority of the survey respondents were members of the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce. A tight-knit group of smart entrepreneurs running small businesses. Half had 5 or fewer employees and 17% had between 6-25 employees. Just like you!

Regarding their experience with Social Media, 51% of the business owners reported either: no experience, just getting started, or just a few months of social media interactions. Sound familiar?

• Those who saw the most benefits from social media were those who spent between 10 and 15 hours per week on all social media activities.
  
• And 65% of those who spent one hour or less per week did not see any results. 

The point I am making is that you may feel overwhelmed by what seems like your forced immersion into social media. Do you feel like you are behind the times or missing the social media boat? There is hope for you yet. You just have to realize that you may be operating in "Hawaiian time." Everything is just a little bit slower. But the benefits of social media will reach your shore sooner than you think.

Kinoshita Communications LLC, based on the Big Island of Hawaii, has released the results of their social media survey. Mahalo Laura for providing this timely survey.

You can find the report here: "West Hawaii Social Media Survey."

Marketing Communications. Write Right Tip #4: Over There

by Cathey Tarleton

"Over There," is a great patriotic song written by George M. Cohan in 1917 right after the U.S. declared war on Germany. He was riding on a train, perhaps with soldiers on their way to war over there in Europe. They're the inspiration for the song.

There, their, they're. I'm over "there."  I mean I'm over trying to ignore it when there is supposed to be they're or their. From now on, I'm going over there to bust that otherwise insightful blogger or creative copywriter, and tell them they're not as smart as their fifth grader when it comes to writing right. Marketing communications are supposed to grab attention, engage readers, inspire confidence and curiosity, urge them to explore further and convert from a visitor to a lead and a customer.  It's not supposed to annoy them. Or me. (Of course you can bust me too.)

Good "content," means good writing. And good writing means taking the time to re-read your posts before you "publish," whether they're 140 character Tweets, professional blogs, Facebook notes to your friends and their friends or a hundred other venues out there on the world wide web.

There, there. Am I being too critical?  

There, they're, their. This is how it works:

THERE is a place. "Over There" is a song about a place, Germany. (Hint: "Here" is also a place, and it's right there.)

THEIR is a possessive pronoun. That's not a criticism; it's just how it is with possessive prounouns. None of them have apostrophes (my, mine, your, yours, his, hers, their, theirs, our, ours, whose). Why?  Perhaps they were lost in the war. (Hint: An "heir" inherits somebody's possessions, and it's in their.)

THEY'RE has an apostrophe. It takes the place of a space and an "a"--no doubt over there with their comrades. They're means "they are."  

Spellcheck may or may not help you with this. It's moody. You have to put your own eyeballs on the page and defend your territory against grammatical artillery. If you get confused, try to remember the song. "Over There" makes sense. "Over They Are" sounds like Yoda. "Over Their" begs the question, "over their what?"

Write right. And don't come back till it's over, over there.  

Marketing Communications: "Busting the Social Media Marketing Myth"

by Cathey Tarleton

I just "met" Jonathan Fields through social media,Twitter I think. From his bio I'm afraid he's someone I'd love to hate. Not only is he a master fitness guru runing upscale yoga studios, he's a dynamite copywriter, author and a happy dad to boot. 

That, plus I'm really excited about the ever-expanding social media universe, and I love Twitter. I don't want anybody to bust its myth or my bubble. But, be that as it may, what he says in "Busting the Social Media Marketing Myth" is something that rings true.  

Social media, used for sales and marketing, is still sales and marketing. Conversations, relationships, building trust, nurturing a community...why do we do that? To get leads, to drive traffic to websites, to convert visitors to leads and leads to sales.

Integrating social media into a good direct-response program and/or ad campaign is a great way to deploy the best of both worlds.

Check it out:

"More and more small businesses have moved chunks of their services and marketing online in the last few years. Some are blogging, facebooking or straight-up advertising, but a more recent phenomenon is tweeting. Of those businesses tweeting, a smallish handful are starting to realize the revenue-generating power of twitter. But, they are doing so largely by turning twitter into a 2.0 version of direct-response.

And, if you’ve never done list-driven direct response, and done it well, this may open your eyes a bit.

Here’s how really good direct response works. You set up a funnel...

Read the full article here. 

Social Media: One Goal for 2010 - Get Connected

by Claudia Hafner

Forget the list of goals, and instant overwhelm. I'd like to suggest one goal for 2010 - Get connected!

We have all gone to websites that share our interests or that provide needed information. But do we visit those sites often? Generally not very often unless we know there is something new. We may link to a page that updates regularly with news of some sort, a quote/thought of the day, a blog. If we think of it...we may visit. It's sort of a one-way conversation anyway.

Conversely, if we own a website, are we regularly updating the site so it is interesing to visitors? Will they want to come back again and again?

Additionally, if we want to update our website on a consistent basis, we often have to have our webmasters post the new content and that just feels complicated and costly to do often, and we decide to put it off.

Stay in touch with Social Media. What if you could stay in touch with what interests you as well as keep others interested in you? And do it instantly yourself. Any time of the day.

There is a big world out there beyond your website. You have influenced the world with your website (or part of that world), but you feel lost in the crowd. Does anyone really see YOU?

• How much of YOU do they really see?
  
• Do you wish visitors knew more about you?
  
• What motivates you to do what you do?
  
• What other interests do you have?
  
• Could they become interested in visiting you more often?

If you could say something each day, what would it be? Would you feel more connected if there were the possibility of being responded to?

Get Connected.I'd like to inspire you to play with getting connected.

Pick one (or both) of these social media tools - Facebook and LinkIn. Facebook is a casual to business casual environment. LinkedIn is a business professional environment. Each has a different voice, and audience.

Profile. Begin filling out your profile(s) and have fun with it. What do you want others to know about you? What do you want to be known for? Revisit your profile periodically and update. As you get into this experience, you may want to include more about yourself. It's ok to ease into it a bit.

Interests.Next, think about your interests and search Facebook/LinkedIn (FB/LI) for people, groups or organizations for those interests. See what comes up. What looks interesting to you? For instance, I love PBS, so I found the PBS fan page on Facebook. (Facebook fan pages are the equivalent of a business page vs. personal page). Once you add them as a connection, their posts will appear in your account. Instead of going to the PBS website and trying to figure out what is new, they 'feed' information to your account automatically. One connection may lead to another. One interesting group to another interesting group. You'll start thinking, "I wonder if so-and-so is on FB/LI"?

Check in. Each day, sign into your account and browse what appears there from your connections. No obligation to read, start by browsing. Watch and listen. When something catches your eye, click on it. And if you are so moved, leave a comment. How does that feel? Do you feel more connected with them because you can do this? Do you also feel more connected to the world at large?

Learn. Look at the tools FB/LI offer. You may be able to add photos, add special links, etc. Look for the Help section. Explore!

Keep the conversation going.  Try saying something of interest every day. What are you working on? Comment about it. Have you attended a special event you'd like to promote? Post it. Do you have a question? Ask it.

Facebook is a casual place so you are freer there. Think of it as a real-time scrapbook or even a sandbox - posts, comments, photos, links. Connections to interesting things in the world. 

Get creative. Notice what others are doing. You'll start to get a sense of it. What types of things do they post? Do you find their posts interesting, not only because of the content, but because of who they are? Would people who know you find your posts interesting because they know you? Would they be compelled to let others know about you and what you posted?

Eventually you will find your voice within the social media arena.

Don't stress. Take your time, but be consistent. Keep it going. It can be fun!

We have some very good books on our resources page that will give you ideas, explain real world situations and solutions for getting connected, and why you should. And they are fun, easy reading.

Let me know how it goes by posting a comment below.