The first goal of internet marketing is getting people’s attention. But there’s too much noise today. And it’s only getting worse. Your potential customers have thousands of things to pay attention to. And their Twitter Stream or Facebook News Feed is already full of other alternatives to your product or service. The problem is that companies want to rush in to the tools and tactics of social media, without giving much thought to their overall strategy.
Source: Social Media Today – The world’s best thinkers on social media
Business
Facebook has completed renovations on its Facebook for Business website with the intention of helping small businesses grow their influence on the social networking site. The changes are geared to encourage small to midsized businesses to advertise on Facebook, but even if you’re not purchasing ads there are still a lot of useful tips and tutorials.
Source: Social Media Today – The world’s best thinkers on social media
As the web has grown and more B2B companies have expanded their online presences, they have had to deal with the notion of Amazon as a competitor. Not in the normal sense of competition for business, but competition for attention. B2B companies have also had to contend with the Amazon experience. No matter what your business, as soon as you migrate it to the web, your customers expect an experience like they get at Amazon. This means easy navigation, filtered browsing, robust search, recommended products, customer reviews, simple checkout and reliable shipping.
The launch of Amazon Supply brings more than 500,000 scientific, industrial and business products to customers the Amazon way. If your B2B company sells products in these categories, you are not just competing against the Amazon experience, but you are competing against Amazon themselves. This is going to be a frictionless process for many smaller customers, as they will be able to use their Amazon account and associated credit card to make their business purchases. This new business supports a line of credit as well, so if you are in the business of selling these kinds of products, it is time to understand what your competitive advantage is, and how you can leverage your customer relationships to maintain your business.
It is unlikely that you can compete with Amazon on price or shopping experience, so focus on your people and their experience in the various industries. AmazonSupply offers phone ordering, free shipping, technical product support and fax orders 24 hours a day. Wow, really? Faxes?
Social media can help support your existing customers and attract prospects if you create and share content that provides business value to your customers. Even though AmazonSupply has Twitter and Facebook profiles, it is unlikely that they will create a blog, hold webinars or distribute business ebooks (Kindle books excluded, of course) to help their customers solve their business problems. With products in such a broad array of categories (listed below), their content strategy would be too fragmented to be effective. It is likely that they will use social media to promote products and specials and handle customer service issues.
And rather than treating them like Amazon, treat them as you would any other competitor. Although if you have online initiatives that you have been holding off, now may be the time to get those moving. What are other things you can do to compete against AmazonSupply?
- Abrasives & Finishing
- Cutting Tools
- Fasteners
- Fleet & Vehicle Maintenance
- Hydraulics, Pneumatics & Plumbing
- Janitorial & Sanitation
- Lab & Scientific
- Material Handling
- Materials
- Occupational Health & Safety
- Office
- Power & Hand Tools
- Power Transmission
- Test, Measure & Inspect
Source: Social Media B2B
Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly being sued by his own investors. The most recent lawsuit claims that the Facebook co-founder sold more than $ 1 billion worth of the company’s shares just before prices started tumbling, according to TMZ. Disgruntled …
Source: MARK ZUCKERBERG OR FACEBOOK – Bing News
It may not be as popular as Facebook or Twitter, but this virtual pinboard service is attracting plenty of eyeballs. Here’s how to make it work for you. Sure, the number of users is clearly not as high as what you’d find on those two behemoths, but Pinterest is gaining traction, especially with the female demographic.
Source: Social Media Today – The world’s best thinkers on social media
Businesses that use Facebook to build brand awareness, sell products, and gain new clients will have to adjust their pages now that Facebook has converted them to the Timeline format. The good news is these changes can actually help fine-tune their promotional methods and increase social media visibility, all of which will result in more sales and an increase in new customers. Here are our tips to make the new Timeline work for your business.
1. Choose a Strong Cover Photo
Facebook has significantly changed the rules for cover photos on its business pages. Businesses can no longer run a strip of photos across the top of their pages. Instead, they must feature one large image that measures 850 pixels by 399 pixels, along with a 30 pixel by 30 pixel profile picture.
Note that your cover photo can’t include any calls to action, so don’t add messages such as “Like Me,” “Share” or “Contact Us.” Instead, choose a nice, focused image (that fits within the dimensions) to make your first impression professional and impactful. The photo should be reflective of your brand and business: showcase your company culture, your industry, or your satisfied customers. Avoid a boring image of your logo for your cover photo—the profile pic box is the best place for that.
2. Control What Content Your Visitors See First
Timeline now lets you pin stories to the top of your Timelines for up to a week. This means you can control what you want fans to read and interact with. The one-week expiration may seem a nuisance, but it is actually good. It gives you more reason to create more fresh content, which is the key to engaging and sustaining a relationship with your consumer base. Note, however, that only posts created by you may be pinned.
To really draw attention to a post, you can also highlight it, which will make it span across your Timeline. To do this, click the star icon in the upper right corner of the post.
3. Highlight Your Apps
Facebook has eliminated the default landing tab, a function upon which many business owners have long relied. Now, however, you can more prominently feature your apps (12 in total, though only 4 will appear at the top of your page). You can change the photos that appear for each of your featured apps, rearrange positions, and rename the app so that it provides a call to action. Note that the more visually appealing your app photo, the more fans will be enticed to click.
4. Monitor Your activity
Facebook has also changed the administrator panel, which places all of the stats you want and need—a list of who’s talking about your posts, who’s interacting with your pages, and what content they’re viewing—in one easy-to-find location. This gives you the ability to better analyze your stats and engagement, and adapt your activity accordingly.
Many of these changes reflect a move toward sharing more visually and dynamically. This is essential to grow your business. As Kevin Olivieri, global social media analyst with TIG Global, notes, businesses that hope to utilize Facebook to its fullest potential will have to focus on providing great content. This means that businesses will have to learn more about what their fans want and what they want their brands’ Facebook pages to do for them. Luckily, Timeline for business pages enables you to do just that.
Do you think Timeline will help your business? Tell us how in the comments below.
Source: Flowtown
