They Don’t Read Your Blog. Do Something About It.

Okay. This blew me away.

According to Minds Eye Web Design: 95% of web users DO NOT read 80%. (via ux booth)

Now.. there isn’t any reporting backing up the numbers of 95 and 80 (from what I could find) but I would like to think Minds Eye was either being dramatic to generate emotion or they actually surveyed for the info. I don’t know about you but I get emotional when I hear that 95% is only reading 20% of my content.

So how do we change? How do we create content that is going to take the 80% to 60% and eventually to 30% and then to 20%? Good question.

There are plenty of links we could list that have to do with content creation, headers, subject matters, blogging strategy, and links (to name a few). I wanted to concentrate on one thing that my readers and small business owners could implement tomorrow.

Relationship Building.

You will find that after meeting a person off-line you will tend to read their content a little more frequently. Now, this does not guarantee a massive amount of traffic to your site but in all reality… don’t we want qualified readers instead?

I would rather have 400 daily readers than 4,000 “kind-of” readers.

Take your blog out into the world with you. Share your content in more ways than just online. Tell people about your blog or website when you meet them at a networking event!

Be proud of what you do, what you write, and what you live.

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Small Biz Use of Social Media to Double in 12 Months

My father, Dan Lacy, sent me a SearchEngineWatch.com link in my email today that talked about the number of small business and social media. Now, I am a huge fan of small businesses and I am a huge fan of social media. I had to open it.

According to the Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, the number of small businesses using social networking services and strategies will double in the next year. Now, this is good news for companies like man that want to help small businesses leverage social media. It is good to see a tool being adopted by the small businesse market (my favorite).

I do have one word of warning to small business owners wanting to leverage social media. If you are wanting to enter the social media space whether it is through social networking sits, a blog, podcasts, wikis, blah blah blah make sure you have a strategy in place to complete your efforts. Get the right training and social media partner. It is a must.

Danny Brown made a great comment on the post saying:

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This Is Not Easy and It Shouldn’t Be

If you haven’t figured this out already… running a small business is not easy.
Marketing your small business’ services and products is not easy.

Nothing in this world that is worth anything of value is EASY to obtain. Well…unless you grow money on trees or you are just THAT good… The majority of us have not found the seed to grow a tree that sheds Mr. Ben Franklins ($100 bill for the layman) twice a year.

It is hard to get to where you WANT to go in life. It shouldn’t be easy.

I am amazed that people want the easy way out. How do we make this tool easier to use? How can we spend the LEAST amount of time possible to get a project completed? Why do we have to spend money on marketing? How can I get to the 4-hour work week? No thank you.

Social media marketing is not easy and it is not cheap. If you want the intangible and tangible benefits of social media tools you have to agree to work hard or pay someone to work hard for you.

Don’t confuse the concept of social media marketing to be the answer to all your problems and concerns. It works when you combine the new with the old, the traditional with the web 2.0/3.0.

If it was an easy thing to accomplish wouldn’t everyone be doing it? Wouldn’t everyone be successful at it?

What is the first step to tackling the monster? Read. Learn. Interact. Get on Facebook and go to WordPress and start a blog. After you have posted a couple of blogs and have used Facebook for at least a month… you are ready to contact a new media marketing company to take the next step.

Dive in.

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You Have 500+ On LinkedIN? So What?

We have been through the friend train on Myspace. We have been through the obsessive adding of people trying to get the biggest friend list on the block. I have spoke with numerous people who feel their social capital is built around how many people exist within their network. They take some type of pride in the fact they have over 4000 friends on Myspace or Plaxo.

You know what I have failed to ask them?

So What?

I was reading a blog post by Beth Kanter called My First Grade Teacher Friended Me on Facebook. This post title really has nothing to do with what I am talking about but she makes a great point in the post:

Do you remember the line –  “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.”  It means roughly that to get things done you need to build up social capital, not just knowledge.

She goes on to say that the majority of social platforms are making it extremely easy to connect with people. There is so much beauty in the thought of connecting with hundreds of people and building your social capital. However this does not mean your social capital consists of 5000 people in which you have never spoken. The days of bulk networking, 500+ on LinkedIN, and massive friend lists are fast dissapearing.

Do you want to know why?

Because it is easy. Let it be know that there is nothing valuable in the social media world that is easy.

Another reason?

People are craving relationships. I was on your mailing list 3 years ago why would I want to be spammed on my social networks? They would rather not be a part of your mailing list.

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Why Is It Important to Listen?

There have been many conversations surrounding the value of social media. How do we measure a return on investment using these tools? How do we guarantee that the tools are going to work in our favor?

There are a couple of things you should be using social media for in the near future. That will give you an intangible benefit to your company. The first thing is customer service. We will talk about the concept of using social media as a customer service tool in the future. I wanted to focus on the second reason which is reputation management.

Are you listening to what people are saying about you online? I can give you two bad examples and one good example of companies who are listening to what clients and potential clients are discussing.

The first bad example is that of Independent Federal Credit Union in Anderson, IN. I had a bad customer service experience at one of their branches in Anderson. You can read the entire post at An Example Of Terrible Customer Service: IFCU. The problem isn’t necessarily that they had bad customer service. The problem is that they had NO IDEA I had written a blog post about my experience.

When you are not listening to what people are saying about you… how can you change opinions?

The second example is from KSM Business Technology and Digitech in Indianapolis. You can read about the entire experience at the post about KSM Business Technologies Being Worst than Godaddy at customer service. The sad thing about this post is that they are a business technology and hosting company. They had no idea I had a bad experience with a couple of their reps and now it is blasted out over the masses on the Internet. They still have no idea.

This has nothing to do with the size of the company (the offending or the offended). This has everything to do with caring about the customer experience.

You want to know… You NEED to know… You SHOULD know…

If you can think of a reason why you should not be listening to clients and potential clients on the Internet. Please let me know.

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Main Point of Twitter? Re-Tweeting.

Shoot. What’s the point of Twitter? I have caught myself numerous times at meetings, seminars, and in casual conversations not being able to answer that question.

It goes something like this:

“Uh, well I use it for information gathering and well… some people use it to keep up to date with friends.. Yah, ya know… You might as well use it for 30 days and just figure out what it can do for you.”

Stupid answer. I know.

I have been debating this for awhile now and have even written about the concept of Twitter not having much of a brand identity (which I will write about later). I was reading a new post from David Armano of Logic+Emotion called Tapping Twitter’s Viral Nature and he has been talking about the “viral value” of re-tweeting. The main point of Twitter? I would lke to think so.

What are the two main marketing tools small business owners would love to have working on their side: Word-of-Mouth Marketing and Viral Marketing. When you are using Twitter the most valuable tool you have are the friends/followers who will re-tweet the information you are sharing.This is viral marketing at it’s finest.

Why is Re-Tweeting So Important?

1. Your followers are sharing the information you provided with the people following them. Your Twitter name gets shared, as well as your information. The link you provided or little nugget of information will be shared numerous times between (potentially) hundreds of people.

2. In my opinion, Re-Tweeting is the backbone of Twitter. It gives users the ability to combine information, share and converse on topics with hundreds of people at once.

Is there business value to Re-Tweeting and Twitter?

The business value of Twitter and re-tweeting could be a completely seperate post. The biz value of Twitter is all dependent on your goals when using social media as a marketing solution.

Do you feel Twitter and re-tweeting has business value? Is sharing content of your blog and other related information give you a return on investment for your time spent sharing information?

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Tired of People Ignoring Relationships

I am tired of people ignoring relationships. I am tired of being a part of conversations about the “lack-of-time” for tools that build community value and relationships. 

Have we still not dropped over the edge? When you are reading studies that tout figures like:

• 36% of Internet users post opinions about products and brands online
• 84% of buyers look for opinions on products and brands online

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Customer Service is Expected and Secondary

I had a conversation today with a company that we are pitching for marketing and design of their services. We were talking about leading a marketing strategy with the concept of great customer service.

Needless to say. I had a conflict.

Everyone expects great customer service. Customer service is a given in an economy where the Internet has revolutionized the communication model. We KNOW when someone has terrible customer service. You cannot afford to have bad customer service. Period. The concept of running a marketing campaign with WE HAVE GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE… is a mistake and it is boring.

People want to know how you are initially alleviating their pain. The simple fact that you “hire great customer service reps” or are “number one in customer service” does not sell someone on using your service.

We EXPECT great customer service.

My opinion? Great customer service is a secondary experience. It is a secondary buying factor (maybe even a third). It should be more of a business process… ingrained into your company.

Always remember..

When selling your service think about what pain you are alleviating… what pain are you solving? Not.. what does the customer want to know about ME.

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1 of 4 Customer Types of Social Media: The-Lost

I had a post a couple of days ago talking about the four customer types of social media which was a piggy back post off of Jason Baer’s 7 Critical Elements of your Social Strategy.  I wanted to start focusing more in-depth on each customer type.

First on the list is “The-Lost.”

The-Lost can be categorized as a person or user that has either maybe heard of you or has not heard of you at all. Jason calls this section of a social media marketing strategy the Awareness phase. This is very much brand development on the part of the marketer.

You want to gain the mind-share of a web browser or potential client. We all know that this individual is lost because they haven’t discovered the beauty of your product or service.

We have described what it takes to become a member of the Lost. I guess the question is now: How do you market to an individual that is “lost”?

Using Social Media to Capture the Lost: Join the Community

This is not rocket science. There are many level of an individual in the Lost category. Let’s focus on the Generation Y Lost. If you are seeking to gain acceptance into the social media world of a Lost Gen Y it is important to become involved in the community. Community acceptance is huge for this demographic and Social Media type.

I am a part of Generation Y and I can tell you first and foremost… we are not brand loyal. By joining a community there is an aspect to being transparent that needs to be obtained. You cannot join a Gen Y community as a logo and business name. Go ahead an be disingenuous… and be killed.

Slowly start to work your way into the minds of the Lost. Their friends will help them along the way.

10 Tips for a Great Video Blog

I am a regular contributor to Smaller Indiana. FYI (I am Obsessed with it too). I was reading through some of the blog posts and found a great one by Ellen Dunnigan called Really? That’s Your Company Video?. Ellen owns a public speaking and support company call Accent on Business and her tips are brilliant. I added three on the end to make 10.

Ellen’s 7 Tips to a Great Video

1. “Shakey Cam” may be good for personal videos to friends and family, especially if you and they are young(ish). Not so much for business. Seriously, think about that. Do you want your business partners, clients, colleagues to see you that way? Do you want them to see how little you prepared for your oh-so-important message to them? Put some preparation into it. And if your paid professional videographer insists that you try “shakey cam” (or a digital camera on top of your computer screen, or loud noise in the background, or poor lighting) because it’s all the rage…find a new professional who really has your best interests in mind.
2. Position some lights on your face. Around you. Above you. Not in sight of the camera, but on you or your product. We want to see you if you’re talking to us.
3. Smile. Having a deadpan look doesn’t allow your personality to come through. Remember, in your video blog you are selling you.
4. Look at us. I mean, look into the camera. Pretend your audience is right there in the camera. Don’t look at your assistant who is off camera and to the left. The eyes are the window to the soul. When you look at me, I’m more likely to believe you. Better said, looking to the left or right or down is almost always seen as disingenuous. If you’re telling your staff that you appreciate them and they’re the best, but you won’t look at them (through the camera), they won’t believe you – nor will your customers.
5. Keep your head straight. Stand up straight. Sit up straight. Casual, yes. Sloppy or stiff, no. Use gestures to support your message.
6. Be professional. Don’t dance around, wag your index finger at the camera, make faces, or use poor grammar. And you’re not a nighttime talk show host, so don’t move into the camera like you’re seriously invading your viewer’s space.
7. And, one more item, be mindful of what’s behind and around you. Find a contrasting (and fairly blank) wall; well-painted or stained wood might be nice. Not too much background please, but a small picture or company name might be okay. Make sure you’re not in front of broken or crooked miniblinds, or a white wall (you’ll look washed out), or that there’s a flower pot or something else just above your head. Try not to have others who are not on a microphone talk or yell in the background.

Kyle’s 3 Add On Tips

1. Write Down a brief synopsis on what you want to talk about. I received this advice from Erik Deckers and have used it. It will keep you from stuttering and saying “um.”

2. Use an HD camera if you are going to start doing a video blog or company video. I use the Flip MINO HD. This will keep your videos looking crisp. I also recommend using Vimeo as a video upload site. You get some AWESOME quality.

3. Always write something underneath your video blog post. Gary Vaynerchuk does this and you should too. This helps if people cannot upload your video (whether from a mobile phone or a terrible blog reader). They get a synopsis of what the video is about.

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