by tradesmeninsights | Sep 26, 2012 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
As you get more involved in social media, you need ways to manage all your activities. Social media can and is time-consuming, and you really need a plan to help you manage your time and resources.
I recently read a post by Heidi Cohen, How to Develop a Social Media Editorial Calendar, that brought up some good points on how to organize and manage your time.
Here are some highlights:
- Set goals – Be realistic and start small, but if you don’t set goals, what do you measure it against?
- Know your target audience(s) – You need to talk to each of them in their persona.
- Build an editorial calendar – Coordinate it around other marketing activities like trade shows, association meetings or new product launches.
- Integrate with other marketing promotions – Social can stand alone and by integrating it into your other marketing activities, you get more bang for your buck.
- Determine appropriate content categories – Identify and regularly write on these topics. Some examples would be new products, industry news, training, installation tips, etc.
- Allocate appropriate resources – Remember, if you’re the quarterback of this, you don’t or shouldn’t have to do all the heavy lifting. Lean on internal experts from engineering and product management to help out in their areas of expertise.
Those are some tips that I use. What are you doing to help manage your social media?
by tradesmeninsights | Sep 19, 2012 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
In the manufacturing arena where competition is fierce, some companies have turned to blogs as a way to increase brand awareness, become a thought leader in their space, increase their web traffic and generate leads. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know I keep preaching the importance of a blog in your overall marketing plan, but I also stress the commitment needed to do it right and accomplish all your objectives.
I recently read a post from ThomasNet, 6 Ways to Ensure No One Reads Your Blog, and I thought I’d share them with you(tongue in cheek), so if you are considering blogging, these are the things you don’t want to do.
THINGS NOT TO DO
- Post only things about you, your company and products – People do want to know about what you do, but they are also looking for help/guidance in their field of work. We have a rule of thumb that 1/3 of posts should be about you, 1/3 about the industry you serve and 1/3 about what other people have said about the industry.
- Offer nothing original, helpful or insightful – That will surely keep them coming back. You need to answer the question, “What’s in it for me?” from the reader’s perspective. They should be looking at you as an expert in the field.
- Ignore issues that customers want to hear about – What keeps them up at night? What are some controversial issues going on in the industry or associations you belong to?
- Don’t have a keyword strategy – One of the big benefits of social is that by using keywords and phrases will help you get picked up by the search engines.
- Post irregularly – You want people to follow you and it’s hard for them to do that if you post once a month. You need to publish content on a regular basis, even if it’s only once a month.
- Write poorly – You don’t have to be a professional writer, but you need to be able to write and organize your thoughts. Well-written posts have a topic, your take on the topic and a conclusion for folks to think about and hopefully respond with their thoughts.
While I hope you’ve enjoyed my sense of entertaining you, on a serious note, blogs are great marketing tools. But like all tools, you need to know how to use them.
by tradesmeninsights | Sep 12, 2012 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
We’re all overworked and underpaid. Time for most of us is a resource we don’t seem to have enough of, and for those of us who write a blog, it sometimes seems even more scarce.
Time, or the lack thereof, can influence the quality of not only content, but also continuity of your post. We need to remember the reason why we’re doing a blog in the first place – generating exposure, thought leadership and potential customers.
I recently read an article by Brian Milne in ProBlogger that gives you some suggestions on finding time to write. Here are some highlights:
- Get up early – I find this is a great way to start the day. It’s quiet and your mind is clear.
- Write at lunch – Brown bag it and get away from the office (and all the distractions) and write a post on a nearby park bench.
- Stay up late – This one doesn’t work for me as I’m not a night owl, but I know plenty of people who do their best work in the dark (no pun intended).
- Utilize apps and shortcuts – use your mobile device to snap a photo and upload images. Take advantage of WordPress features to streamline posting.
- Get some help – find others within the organization to write or go out and hire outside writers.
- Accept guest posts – I’m sure there are like-minded people out there that you admire and respect that can give a different perspective on issues that are near and dear to you.
What are you doing to find time?
by tradesmeninsights | Sep 5, 2012 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
Social forums are an ideal way for B-to-B companies to demonstrate their expertise and knowledge. Forums are intended for people to exchange ideas and gather info. There are several to choose from… Quora, HighTable and LinkedIn to name a few. Most of my experience has been using LinkedIn.
A recent article on Social Media Examiner by Kane Russell gives tips on using social forums in a B-to-B setting. Here are some highlights:
- Comment from the perspective of a thought leader – answer questions and provide qualitative and quantitative supporting evidence. Acknowledge alternative solutions.
- Respect other users – don’t argue but address disagreements using examples and data to make your point.
- Join the conversation – respond directly and acknowledge what others have already said.
- Be consistent and cover subject comprehensively – do this on both where you have expertise and on topics outside your business experience.
- Add links where necessary – but make sure they are relevant.
If you haven’t participated in a forum, please expand your horizons and try. It’s a great way to learn and make new friends.
by tradesmeninsights | Sep 4, 2012 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
What’s your social media plan – Ready, Fire, Aim?
Most businesses’ social media plans fail because there isn’t a plan. Starting a Facebook account or blog with no plan on how they will react, not only with each other but with the rest of your marketing plan, is a disaster waiting to happen.
I read a good article by Jim Belosic on Social Media Examiner that outlines some pretty straightforward tips for your social media efforts to be successful. Here are some highlights:
- Make a commitment – establishing yourself and your company doesn’t happen overnight. You need to make a commitment of time, energy and resources to ensure its success.
- Find your best fit – go where your customers or potentials are. It could be Facebook or LinkedIn. Search for your business on sites like Yelp to see where you are mentioned.
- Create expert content – don’t promote yourself; promote conversations about issues that affect your followers. This will help engage and position you as a thought leader which is one of your main objectives.
- Delegate tasks – as you grow your social presence, don’t get overwhelmed. Get help and recruit more team members. You don’t have to do it alone, but should manage others efforts.
Do you have a plan? Can you add to this list?
by tradesmeninsights | Aug 22, 2012 | Marketing Trends, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
GlobalSpec recently released its annual marketing trends report for the industrial sector. The online survey identified trends, challenges and anticipated expenditures in the Industrial market.
Their surveys usually give a relatively good pulse of what’s happening in the space. As I said in my headline, it should come as no surprise that the Industrial market is holding its own especially when you compare it to the last few years.
Here are some highlights:
83% of companies anticipate increased sales over 2011
35% of companies are spending more on marketing in 2012
67% said customer acquisition/lead generation is their primary focus
68% said they would increase spending on webinars
It seems like lead generation is still at the top of priorities. It’s good to see that companies are starting to integrate digital and traditional marketing programs together with online taking more of a role. It was also nice to see more and more manufacturers are starting to use social media with LinkedIn being the most used followed by Facebook.
The report is only 18 pages and is an easy read. Hope you get something out of it.
