Monday, November 22, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
Fortune 500 focusing more on Twitter
A recent yearly repost released by the Center for Marketing Research at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth “The Fortune 500 and Social Media” says that America’s biggest corporations have dramatically increased their participation in twitter (~approximately two times).
Today, three out of five Fortune 500 companies in US have an active Twitter account, compared to 1/3 in year 2009. This number is even more than the numbers that have an active Facebook account, which is about 56%.
Today, 60% of Fortune 500 is micro blogging
More than a third of the companies with Twitter accounts frequently responded to consumers with @ replies or retweets within a short period of time, making a solid effort to engage the 26 million US adults use Twitter at least monthly.
The repost also says that; the industry’s most powerfully represented among Fortune 500 Twitter accounts were specialty retail (23 companies); drug, food, and CPG (22); and insurance (20). And these were also the top three industries to have an active Facebook account.
“America’s economy and to a large extent the world economy is driven by these large & leading companies,” said the report. “Their eagerness to network more transparently via these new technologies with their stakeholders is apparent. It will be very fascinating to observe as they get bigger their embracing of social media tools and bond with their constituents in considerably new ways.”
Thursday, November 11, 2010
7 Ways to Get More Value From Your e-Newsletter
Email marketing is one of the most popular and effective ways for businesses to share their content and connect with customers. Besides being relatively easy, eNewsletters provide good analytics along with a low-cost way to help you manage customer engagement. Your subscriber list is a goldmine for your business – the bigger the list, the more potential to achieve desired results.
What’s more, marketers rate eNewsletters as one of the more effective content marketing tactics.
Over 61% of the respondents to the B2B Content Marketing: 2010 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends report use eNewsletters and rate them as one of the most effective ways to distribute content. Only in-person events have a significant advantage over eNewsletters on the effectiveness front.
What can you do to encourage more people to subscribe to your eNewsletter?
Dedicate a page of your website to your newsletter
Something I don’t see often but I think is very effective is creating a dedicated page for your newsletter. Displaying an example is a great way to entice people to subscribe.
Recently, I encountered an excellent example where the design of a company newsletter is used to encourage people to subscribe. Master Photographer Geoff Fisher of Fisher Photography kicked off a new eNewsletter campaign as part of a complete re-branding exercise. His web designer, Ryan Briggs, included a sneak-peak of the customized newsletter he developed for Geoff.
By conveniently providing a sign-up form next to the body of the preview, visitors to Geoff’s website can easily add their name to his list. This technique is not limited to eNewsletters; a print newsletter can be easily dissected for success, as well.
Invest in custom design
It’s extremely easy to fire off a newsletter using a template or a wizard from your email marketing software, and that’s why everyone does it. However, consider investing in a professional design. Your content will stand out and lend a hand to your brand at the same time.
As you can see from the mock-up of the Fisher Photography newsletter above, the design has been developed specifically to support Fisher’s business. The dedicated website page also displays a description of each section. The benefits to this technique include:
- Transparency – The visitor knows exactly what content to expect
- Visual appeal – A custom design supports your brand and shows quality
- Commitment – Posting your design demonstrates an intent to produce regular content
- Excitement – An attractive teaser provokes people to want the real thing
Archive your past newsletters on your website
Not only is an archive of past newsletters an excellent way to extend the life of your content, but it also works wonders on your SEO. Visitors to your website immediately understand your commitment to publishing good content when they can see a body of work all in one place.
Promote your newsletter like crazy
Of course, once you have your eNewsletter landing page set up, you want to start driving lots of traffic there. Here are some ideas.
Put your subscription form on your home page
It might seem obvious, but it’s surprising how many people bury their form deep in their website or don’t have it on their website at all. And, remember to point people to your landing page to learn more.
Put a subscription form on your social media profiles
Do your Facebook fans know you have a newsletter? Why not let them sign up right on your page?
Add a link to your subscription form at the end of every blog post
If you’ve got a reader who made it all the way to the end of your post, it’s probably because they found value in what you’ve had to say. Chances are they’re going to want more of the same. Why not convert them immediately?
Add a sharing widget on your eNewsletters
If you want people to promote your newsletter for you, make it easy on them by including a sharing widget. Give people the option of distributing it on any channel they want and there’s no telling where your content may end up.
Getting your newsletter into as many hands as possible doesn’t have to be a challenge. Creating opportunities to extend the life of your newsletter and encourage new readers is easier than you may have guessed. Don’t think of your newsletter as a static document with a limited shelf-life. A collective body of well-constructed, beautifully designed and strategically managed newsletters are an asset to your business. Consider the different channels you use to promote your business and ensure your newsletter is referenced in every place. Before long, you’ll be striking gold.
How do you squeeze more value out of your newsletter?
Know how to launch an email campaign:
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Who Says A Business Blog Has To Be Boring?
Let's face the truth. There are a lot of boring business blogs out there. I get bored reading many of them, even when I'm generally interested in the content. It's just hard to inject excitement and pizazz in a cut-and-dry business blog.
I say, don't let your business blog be so cut-and-dry! One of the easiest ways to not only make your business blog more engaging but to also make it more fun for you to write is by creating a unique voice for your blog.
Try mixing in some personal chat, using humor, encouraging your readers to comment, taking a stand, or whatever you think will engage your readers and make your blog more fun all around. Heck, you can even decorate it for Halloween!
A mixture of good, solid content and an endearing personality is a no-fail way to create a successful business blog. And it can be fun, too.
For more tips on starting a business blog and making it a success, read:
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Ten very strong reasons to blog – even if nobody reads it!
Building an engaged community through a business blog can be extremely difficult — sometimes impossible. Look at companies like General Electric who do an amazing job with their blog and yet have almost no “community” or comments at all. There must be some good business reason they do it, right?
There better be. Every corporate marketing activity must somehow be tied to creating shareholder value and blogging is no different. Let’s look at ten legitimate business reasons why your company should be blogging — even if you can’t seem to build a community of active readers.
1) Search engine benefits — This may be the most obvious business benefit of blogging. Search engines give preference to websites that have fresh, relevant content. Hubspot research shows that sites with blogs get 55% more traffic than sites without blogs — even if there are no readers!
2) Marketing differentiation – Finding a way to stand-out may be the most difficult chore a business faces. Do your competitors have a blog? If not, this might be an opportunity to establish the voice of authority in your industry and enhance your brand image with customers.
3) Infinite search life — A few weeks ago I received a call from a potential new customer in the Middle East looking to me as a possible marketing consultant.I had to wonder how in the world they found me! Turns out they were looking for somebody who could help explain where the future of social media was going and when they entered this into Google, a blog post I wrote a year ago popped up! Your content keeps working for you month after month!
4) A cost-effective sales call — You might not be able to visit your customer every week or every month but a blog is an excellent way to provide a constant drip-drip-drip of communication to remind them of your products, services, and why you’re special. If they don’t read your blog, re-purpose the content in customer newsletters and sales materials.
5) Your content engine — Your investment in a consistent stream of quality content can be leveraged in many ways to support a content marketing strategy. I use links from blog posts to answer customer questions, as the basis for speeches, newsletter content, and as reading assignments for workshops.
6) Direct sales — Sure, you can sell through your blog! SAP does a great job advertising training services in a sidebar on its blog. This is valuable real estate! Why not use it? Wegman’s grocery store employees blog about seasonal recipes and show how to use their food products in new ways.
7) Indirect sales — Featuring blog-only promotions and offers or opt-in content can expose new sales leads.
8) PR – Blog posts have the opportunity for massive reach. When one of my posts gets picked up by an aggregation service like ragan.com, my message has a chance to be heard by hundreds of thousands of people. That opportunity would not occur with a press release or status update.
9) New product development — Many companies use blogs as a way to engage customers to solve problems and create new ideas. Caterpllar has blogs dedicated to each major product line. Starbucks blogs about customer ideas as a way to crowd-source new product innovation.
10) Crisis management — A blog is an essential channel to explain the facts amid chaos. In less than an hour after the earthquake hit Haiti, The Red Cross blog had news of their activities and information on how to donate. Company responses through blogs are often quoted by mainstream news sources.
So when your company has seemingly unrealistic expectations about building an online blog community, pull this blog post out as a reminder that there are many solid business reasons to have a blog, even if the crickets are chirping in the comment section! Is a commenting community important to you and your company or do some of these benefits make sense?
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