by tradespeopleinsights | Oct 7, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
I’m totally amazed when talking to people that they complain that they’re not getting anything out of LinkedIn. LinkedIn, like anything else, responds to someone who is active. In other words, you need to participate and engage people in order for the network to be effective. For those of you who follow me know that I personally think LinkedIn is one of the most useful business tools out there.
I recently read a post by Stephanie Sammons on Social Media Examiner entitled, 5 Ways to Develop a Meaningful LinkedIn Connection where she’s highlighted and given examples of how to take the connection phase to the relationship phase. Here are some highlights of her 5 suggestions:
- Timing is everything – Once you make a new connection, then it’s the time to try to engage them. Ask a question or give a compliment.
- Leverage events – If you see that a connection of yours is going to an event that you’re planning on attending, send them a message and let them know you’re going and see if you can’t meet face to face.
- Sync Geography with travel – Using the “my connections” tab, you can find where people live and if you’re planning say a trip to Dallas on business, you could let your connection know you’ll be in town and see if you might be able to meet for coffee or breakfast.
- Ask for advice – What a great way to engage people. Most people love to give their opinions.
- Be a resource – It’s better to give then to take. If you can offer real value, you’ll become a resource for people which will help you move from online networking to offline conversations.
The biggest issue facing us all is to challenge yourself to participate. LinkedIn works for those who work at it.
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by tradespeopleinsights | Oct 6, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
Blogs are still a very effective way of reaching an audience, especially if you’re in a niche market. While it may be true that social networks and microblogs have outpaced the traditional blog, the opportunity for you to build thought leadership and branding is better served by blogs.
More than 50% of web users will read blogs this year. According to eMarketer, by 2014, 150 million Americans, or 60% of the population of the U.S., will be reading blogs. Blogging has become an accepted part of the online media landscape and blogging is easy to do.
“Trends in blog reading are expected to maintain an upward course as blogs continue to gain influence in mainstream media,” said Paul Verna, a senior analyst with eMarketing and author of “The Blogosphere: Colliding with Social and Mainstream Media.”
What’s the upside for someone looking to make an impact using social media: think about doing a blog.
Here are some other posts about blogging you might find interesting:
Pros and Cons of Starting a Blog
6 Tips to Make your Blog More Successful in Reaching the Professional Tradesmen
LinkedIn: Great Tool to Drive Traffic to Your Website
by tradespeopleinsights | Oct 5, 2010 | Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
Blogs are a great way to build thought leadership within specific categories. While personal blogs have stalled in recent years as consumers move towards social networking and microblogging, company blogs are on the rise. Maybe you’re missing an opportunity.
According to Paul Verna from eMarketing.com, over a third of companies have a public blog used for marketing and it’s anticipated to rise to 43% by 2012.
“Studies had shown that marketers perceive blogs to have the highest value of any social media in driving site traffic, brand awareness, lead generation and sales – as well as improving customer service,” said Verna. He also said that smaller companies are embracing blogging at greater rates than larger firms due in part to more constraints whether it be legal, regulatory or other reasons.
So what does this mean for manufacturers? Those who get on board now will have the advantage long term since they will be developing relationships through thought leadership and will become a “go to” resource for customers and potentials.
If you like this post, you may want to read:
Pros and Cons of Starting a Blog.
6 Tips to Make your Blog more Successful in Reaching the Professional Tradesmen
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by tradespeopleinsights | Sep 30, 2010 | Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
So what does this all mean? Manufacturers who still think the only ones using social are the 18-29 year olds should think again.You might be missing a golden opportunity to reach your target audience.
It means folks over 50 that are using social media (yes, even professional tradesmen and contractors) nearly doubled from 22% in April of 2009 to 42% in May of 2010 according to the Pew Research Center. That’s good news for manufacturers who are trying to reach the older set of professionals who typically own or manage contractors.
- One in Five (20%) online adults 50-64 say they use social network sites on a typical day. That’s up 10% over last year.
- Overall, 92% of those 50-64 send/read e-mail every day. 76% get news online.
- 52% of 50-64 adults are using social media on a regular basis.
| Social Media Trends, 2009-2010 |
| |
% of online adults who use SNS or Twitter, 2009-2010 |
| 2009 |
2010 |
% Point Change, 2009-2010 |
% Change, 2009-2010 |
| Social Networking Use |
|
| All adults |
46% |
61% |
15 |
33% |
| Age |
| 18-29 |
76 |
86 |
10 |
13% |
| 30-49 |
48 |
61 |
13 |
27% |
| 50-64 |
25 |
47 |
22 |
88% |
| 65+ |
13 |
26 |
13 |
100% |
| Twitter/Status Update Use |
| All adults |
11% |
17% |
6 |
55% |
| Age |
| 18-29 |
20 |
27 |
7 |
35% |
| 30-49 |
11 |
16 |
5 |
45% |
| 50-64 |
5 |
11 |
6 |
120% |
| 65+ |
3 |
5 |
2 |
– |
| Source: Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, August 2010 |
If you’re reading this, I may be preaching to the choir but I’m sure you can think of someone within your organization you could forward to and let them know older people use social too!
by tradespeopleinsights | Sep 29, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
Your company may see the value in social media, but they may not have yet taken the first step. The real question is, are they ready for it? You don’t want a READY-FIRE-AIM strategy.
I recently read an article from Lee Odden in the Online Marketing Blog titled, 19 Questions to Determine Corporate Social Media Readiness that I thought was appropriate for this audience.
Identifying a company’s current state of social media readiness helps them establish a baseline on which to build. There are a number of either free or low cost tools out there that can help you identify your company or brand’s current social activity level. It’s important to get a handle on the difference between how social the company is and will need to become so you can put together a strategy and plan.
Lee outlines 19 questions you should be asking. I’ve highlighted the top 5 that got my attention:
- What goals do you want to achieve with social media as part of your marketing effort?
- How will you measure/evaluate social media?
- Are you conducting a formal effort at monitoring social media channels?
- What are your current social media channels and destination websites/pages?
- Is there a particular business unit or product that can serve as a test case?
I’d be curious what questions you’d come with to add to the list.
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by tradespeopleinsights | Sep 28, 2010 | Events/Trade Shows
For those of you that are going to Boston this weekend for the NECA Show, we put together an insider’s guide to Boston by asking friends and business associates about gems in the city that you might not be aware of. It includes Restaurants, Nightlife, Events and more. It’s available at www.sonnhalter.com/boston.
We hope you have a good show.
