by tradespeopleinsights | Apr 20, 2009 | Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
So you think social media is just a phase, well think again. Here are some numbers from a post by Stan Schroeder, The Web in Numbers: The Rise of Social Media, that will blow you away.
According to Nielsen Online, latest research shows that social networking is now more popular than e-mail. 66.8% of Internet users use social media while only 65.1% have used e-mails.
- YouTube. In March, it reached 100 million monthly views in the U.S.A.^.3 billion videos were viewed on the site. YouTube will serve 75 billion videos to 375 million unique visitors in 2009.
- Facebook. Has grown from 100 million to 200 million users in less than 8 months. If it were a country, it would be bigger than Brazil
- MySpace. Is now lagging Facebook with only 54.1 million unique visitors.
- Twitter. Is growing at a crazy rate. It grew 76.8% in one month (Feb-March 09). Its yearly growth rate is 1,382%. Twitter has 7 million unique visitors a month.
by tradespeopleinsights | Apr 20, 2009 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
E-mails have been around and we’ve used it to asked tradesmen to forward on valuable information to their peers about our products or programs. It’s not easy and isn’t reliable because you’re asking the customer to do a lot of work on your behalf. E-mail is also a one-way street in that you don’t make it easy to respond back to the original source.
Joint research by Ball State University,Exact Target and e-mail networking association reveals that more than 46% of e-mail marketing campaigns this year will use social media and e-mail in tandem compared to just 13% in 2008.
E-mail combined with social media offerings like Linked-in, Facebook and Twitter allow you to get your message out quicker to more people and give them an easy way to reply. In other words you’re engaging them and that’s why social media is so important. By clicking a link, you are sharing content with influencers that you might not have had reached.
I read a post recently from Karen Bannan, Combining e-mail with social media,where she shared thoughts from Ryan Duetsch from StrongMail Systems on ways to get the most out of your efforts.
- Use ESPs. Most major ESPs (like StrongMail and Sliverpop) and e-mail providers are making it easy to send e-mails directly to your Facebook page for example.
- Create your own social network. Create your own community. If you’re targeting professional plumbers for example, the discussions that go on provide great resources for e-newsletters. You know what the hot topics are and can address them as an expert.
- Add opt-in links to all your marketing collateral. For example, if you post a new video on Facebook, make sure it contains a link at the end so viewers can opt-in. Once it’s shared, you’ll be reaching thousands of prospects making sure you give them a way to ask for more information.
- Use your status to publicize your e-mail newsletter. Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter give users the option to publish information. Take advantage of this and even send out a reminder before you actually send out the e-mail that it’s coming.
- Change your layout. If you’re sending people from a social media site to your web site, make sure your opt-in links are very visible.
- Use search functions. Follow your company and brand names on Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter to gain market knowledge. Twitter search lets you follow everything that’s mentioned about your company.
- Be a Joiner. You need to get involved. You want to become a trusted source, and in order to do that, you need to join Linkedin groups, respond to questions and get involved in discussions.
by tradespeopleinsights | Apr 20, 2009 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
It used to be that marketers counted on “word of mouth” to help spread their message to the tradesmen and maintenance professionals. Today, social media takes this to the next level and does it quicker and better.
Since you already know who you’re focusing on by using viral marketing, you can make it easier for your message to be passed on. Viral marketing has gained popularity because it produces results that are measurable while increasing your brand awareness. A recent post by Chase McMichael, The 3 pillars of viral marketing, outlines ways you can put viral marketing on steroids. Here’s an overview of how using these techniques can help you reach the professional tradesman:
- Target your audience. Social media makes it easier and faster to reach your target. More people are posting their personal profiles on social networks allowing you to data mine them and identify and rank affinities within specific communities like HVAC -TALK.
- Reach your audience. Once you’ve identified your user, you can quickly pinpoint influencers and begin enticing them to become brand ambassadors.
- Create the right call to action. If you’re doing your homework by monitoring these communities, you will soon identify the issues that need to be addressed and the appropriate call to action. It might be good to join a great online community that you have or sign up for the latest performance charts of a specific tool or application,
Conclusion: Messages that connect with you target can drive a high degree of brand awareness and acceptance. Practical and simple to access technologies help drive engagement and participation.
by tradespeopleinsights | Apr 20, 2009 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Trends, Traditional Marketing
I’m reminded that we should stay on top of new trends but not to throw out or ignore all those traditional things you’ve been doing like e-mails. In other words, “don’t throw out the baby with the bath water.”
E-mails are still the most accepted way of receiving info so why not use it to push some of your new social media toys.
We all want to be part of the newest and sexiest stuff. Social media is a hot topic. It is extremely popular, in part because it is inexpensive and can easily be measured. But it can and should be integrated with more traditional strategies such as broadcast e-mail programs.
I read a post this morning on B2B online marketing, Traditional marketing:not hot but still important, that I thought would be appropriate to share with all the B-to-B marketers out there.
Here are some simple reminders:
- Adopt an integrated approach. Mix the new with the old. Want to promote your blog or e-newsletter? What better way than using your e-mail list.
- Re-evaluate best practices you’d applied in the past. Find out what works best for your audiences. If you’re not sure ask them via a survey, focus groups or really do it the old fashioned way and pick up the phone and call them.
- Stay on top of new trends for old strategies. New tools won’t serve you well if the foundation is weak. Here are some recent tips they found for email marketing,landing page optimization and lead nurturing during a recession.
What are you doing to stay ahead of the game?
by tradespeopleinsights | Apr 17, 2009 | Marketing Tips
You need to connect quickly in the subject line in order for them to open an e-mail. Look beyond pitching your product and talk about issues that hit their hot button. Don’t know what those are? ASK!
Tradesmen are busy people like the rest of us, and when they get a marketing e-mail, you had better make clear (WIIFM) what’s in it for me in the subject line. They want to know how your product or service will help them on a jobsite.
According to MailerMailer, 74% of all e-mails are opened within 24 hours. Which means if the email isn’t opened soon, then it probably wont be.
I read a post recently form Arthur Middleton, Making your B-to-B e-mail campaign a success, which he outlines 4 tactics that will help you become a reliable source of info. Here is my take on them as it relates to my audience, the professional tradesmen:
- Be a e-newsletter publisher. Look beyond just promoting your products and talk about industry issues that are affecting tradesmen. Give them inside information on marketing trends.
- Leverage the knowledge you get from these contractors. Find out how and why contractors make their decisions. Ask them to be on an advisory panel or participate in a contractor study.
- Preview your e-mail. Make sure preview panes are very much on point because if you don’t make your point quickly, they won’t open your e-mail.
- Create a mobile version. These contractors use mobile devices to stay connected, so make sure to use a smaller version of your logo, and state your claim (WIIFM) within the first few sentences.
Those are my thoughts, I’d like to hear yours.
by tradespeopleinsights | Apr 17, 2009 | Marketing Tips
B-to-B marketers are so busy pushing out messages using traditional methods to promote their brand that they sometimes forget about the strength of social media to self-identify themselves by searching for solutions or information on the Internet.
Social Media is the most powerful set of tools for branding that has ever existed for connecting with customers on an emotional level.
The brand that a marketer is selling is not merely a logo, a package or a sign on a wall. A brand is not what you want it to be or what your ad says it is. A brand is not even the definition you give to it.
Quite simply, a brand is how your audience feels about you. It’s what they say about you when not encumbered by advertising promotion. Or unencumbered by the paid media around you. So when your “friend” on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin says they just found the best hot dog in town, you believe them. Much more so than a TV spot.
What better way to receive an endorsement for a product than to get that endorsement from a trusted friend? And that’s what social media is all about.
It’s a simple idea and it works.
