I’m tired of Google search. It’s had a nice run. But I just can’t rationalize betting my marketing budget on a technology that uses yesterday’s math and a formula that is so easily gamed. Why would I trust that when the best form of marketing (i.e. word-of-mouth) has been digitized via social media?
So, if you're marketing partner is going to perpetuate the lie that “organic search through link backs” provides the truest measure of page relevance then just go ahead and buy your links from the 10 or 12 places that are spamming search today and get it over with. But sooner or later your prospects and customers are going to cut through that and look for a community of web users who share their preferences and how many users “like” a product or service will be the trusted result for their search query not its page ranking. I for one am not going to compromise the future integrity of my brand for the sake of today’s search engine ranking. Bring on the “like” results. They are the most genuine ones.
It’s not just my opinion. When looking for new customers, 91% of small businesses surveyed by Constant Contact this fall cite the value and importance of word of mouth. Add to that the discovery that businesses have increased their use of social media tools and plan to focus more on those efforts in 2011 and you begin to get some measure of how many people are realigning their strategies.Nearly two-thirds (63%) of small businesses cite Facebook as an important tool for marketing, up from 50 percent earlier this year.
In addition the survey indicates that small businesses now see Facebook as equally important as face-to-face interactions; 62% cited face-to-face interactions as important. And you can’t get anything close to face-to-face interactions through traditional search but you can through social media.
Ah yes, interactions. Remember that word. When likes become the new links of search you’ll need to create content that inspires interactions. Interactions are responses to quality posts demonstrated by a user offering a thumbs-up, leaving a comment, and retweeting or sharing the post or posts with their friends. My proposed formula is the C x I = R (content times interactions equals relevance). And Relevance is something we can all Like.
Find me www.twitter.com/timbigfish or visit Bigfish as www.facebook.com/gobigfishgo
Mobile: Everything All the Time
I'm not a numbers guy but there are some numbers that shouldn't be ignored. Like these: Nielsen reports that 150 million smartphones will be in use by mid-2011. Somewhere in those numbers you'll find your prospects, your customers, your patients and/or your members. But, will they find you?
The smartphone is not a toy. In this age of over-programmed-living, devices like the iPhone, Blackberry, and Android have become a vital tool for connecting with work and friends - especially among women. Nielsen reports that women have accepted the smartphone at a faster rate than men. They're using the phone to move appointments, get driving directions, and check email (the guy's favorite). But, they're also using it to download in-store coupons and make social posts. Actually the Nielsen survey reports that 9 out of 10 women use their smartphone to stay connected via social media posts. Not just connected with friends but with their preferred brands.
Ah, their preferred brands. That's subject to change. Smartphone toting consumers -- whether they're members of your association, volunteers in your sorority, patients at your clinic, shoppers in your boutique or any other form of prospective member, customer or patient -- will redefine your relationship with them using a new variable: convenience.
The Nielsen survey found that 83% of smartphone users never leave home without them. My own informal polling at meetings and presentations finds that number to be 100%. Not laptops. Smartphones.
Am I suggesting that you build a smartphone app tonight? No. It's possible that a mobile app should be part of your strategy but until then create a mobile website with the on-the-go elements of your brand. By the way, our stats show that nearly 97%of attempts to load websites via a smartphone "bounce" or fail because the site doesn't support mobile browsing. That means frustrated prospects and customers who may try another option. STOP MISSING the CONNECTIONS available through the convenience of a smartphone. Mobile is no longer an option. It is everything.
Bigfish builds mobile websites and we recently launched our own. Visit it on your iPhone, Blackberry, Android or other smartphone.
You and I can connect on www.twitter.com/timbigfish or www.facebook.com/timcnicholson. Work it in while your waiting on that Peppermint Latte this holiday season :-)
The smartphone is not a toy. In this age of over-programmed-living, devices like the iPhone, Blackberry, and Android have become a vital tool for connecting with work and friends - especially among women. Nielsen reports that women have accepted the smartphone at a faster rate than men. They're using the phone to move appointments, get driving directions, and check email (the guy's favorite). But, they're also using it to download in-store coupons and make social posts. Actually the Nielsen survey reports that 9 out of 10 women use their smartphone to stay connected via social media posts. Not just connected with friends but with their preferred brands.
Ah, their preferred brands. That's subject to change. Smartphone toting consumers -- whether they're members of your association, volunteers in your sorority, patients at your clinic, shoppers in your boutique or any other form of prospective member, customer or patient -- will redefine your relationship with them using a new variable: convenience.
The Nielsen survey found that 83% of smartphone users never leave home without them. My own informal polling at meetings and presentations finds that number to be 100%. Not laptops. Smartphones.
How do you overlook a customer touch-point that is available nearly 100% of theThe women in our survey said that they use their smartphone to make important brand connections (not just voice calls) in the moments between work meetings, PTA, carpool, volunteer work, the kid's piano practice and so on. They use it because it's convenient. And, they are inclined to browse their smartphone until they find an option (i.e. any product or service) that connects with their on-the-go lifestyle.
time?
Am I suggesting that you build a smartphone app tonight? No. It's possible that a mobile app should be part of your strategy but until then create a mobile website with the on-the-go elements of your brand. By the way, our stats show that nearly 97%of attempts to load websites via a smartphone "bounce" or fail because the site doesn't support mobile browsing. That means frustrated prospects and customers who may try another option. STOP MISSING the CONNECTIONS available through the convenience of a smartphone. Mobile is no longer an option. It is everything.
Bigfish builds mobile websites and we recently launched our own. Visit it on your iPhone, Blackberry, Android or other smartphone.
You and I can connect on www.twitter.com/timbigfish or www.facebook.com/timcnicholson. Work it in while your waiting on that Peppermint Latte this holiday season :-)
Yeah You're Different
How much longer will you subscribe to the notion that business customers aren’t using social media? Or, that the way B2C companies use it is irrelevant to your B2B firm? Each of those notions can be dispelled in the amount of time it takes you to say, “We’re different.” Here we go.
If your B2B company thinks it will let someone else be the pioneer you may want to consider this, a 2009 study by MarketingProfs found that ALL COMPANIES, regardless of model and size, are predominately using Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Blogs, and Linkedin. So, if the tactics are often the same, how do the lessons from B2C not apply? You won’t have to teach them how to interact. The B2C guys did that for you. Just don’t let your competition teach them how to connect with a B2B.
Even if you can’t offer a coupon (bet you could if you thought about it long enough) the core ingredients of social media success: storytelling, humanization, friendship, and purchase intent are not B2B or B2C items. They are human items and they apply as long as you have prospects, members, patients, prospective customers and employees.
Okay, so we’ve established that your B2B is just not that different from a B2C marketer in knowing which platforms matter. Still you insist that your sophisticated decision makers have no time for such foolishness. Oh yes they do. Forrester found that 81% of U.S. adults with an Internet connection use social media in some form. Further, last year’s Forrester study of B2B technology buyers found that they use social media nearly twice as much as U.S. adults overall.
Ok. Maybe I was wrong. You are different. But, you’re different because you’re not connected.
I’m at www.facebook.com/timcnicholson or www.twitter.com/timbigfish
If your B2B company thinks it will let someone else be the pioneer you may want to consider this, a 2009 study by MarketingProfs found that ALL COMPANIES, regardless of model and size, are predominately using Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Blogs, and Linkedin. So, if the tactics are often the same, how do the lessons from B2C not apply? You won’t have to teach them how to interact. The B2C guys did that for you. Just don’t let your competition teach them how to connect with a B2B.
Even if you can’t offer a coupon (bet you could if you thought about it long enough) the core ingredients of social media success: storytelling, humanization, friendship, and purchase intent are not B2B or B2C items. They are human items and they apply as long as you have prospects, members, patients, prospective customers and employees.
Okay, so we’ve established that your B2B is just not that different from a B2C marketer in knowing which platforms matter. Still you insist that your sophisticated decision makers have no time for such foolishness. Oh yes they do. Forrester found that 81% of U.S. adults with an Internet connection use social media in some form. Further, last year’s Forrester study of B2B technology buyers found that they use social media nearly twice as much as U.S. adults overall.
Ok. Maybe I was wrong. You are different. But, you’re different because you’re not connected.
I’m at www.facebook.com/timcnicholson or www.twitter.com/timbigfish
Get Over Yourself
This weekend I saw “Social Network” (the movie) and knocked around a small artisan town. The two combined reminded me of a lesson as old as Dale Carnegie’s guide to friendship and how it might apply to marketing via Facebook. Here it is: to realize the potential of Facebook focus on other people and learn to listen.
Never mind sorting out fact from fiction. The movie is filled with lessons about doing life with others. Whether or not he has friends, Zuckerberg’s genius alone was not enough to propel his idea. Others inspired (albeit sometimes unwittingly) and connected him to the other people and resources to move his work along. The portrayal of Zuckerberg makes him out to be a self-centered, smart aleck know-it-all. However, I tend to sympathize with the notion of a guy who was so focused on an idea that he looked past the people in his life. Ironically, nothing really could have happened without those people and eventually about 499,999,990 or so more.
But life need not imitate art when art is all around in life. A fall day in Leiper’s Fork, TN was full of inspiration. An outdoor lunch at an all natural restaurant, live music, an art coop walk through and impromptu visit with an artisan tenant set all of my creative senses on fire. Info receptors were opened. Then an open-ended question posed to a local shopkeeper presented a lesson for marketers who use social media/networking.
She shared the origins of the community name including an anecdote about a gun duel featuring Andrew Jackson. She put founders’ names and personalities to the local boutiques. And later she pointed down the street to where a world renowned musician lives. I had valuable (even if for entertainment purposes only) new insight because the focus was on her and what she knew about the subject at hand. We were connected.
It reminded me of a lesson from Dale Carnegie’s book “How to Win Friends and Influence People”: people like to talk about themselves. There isn’t a single tech innovation that will ever change that. So as marketers we have to create moments that enable sharing and listening. At Bigfish, we call them interactions.
So how does the weekend translate to a lesson for businesses who market via Facebook? Two simple things:
1. Admit that you need other people to succeed.
2. Create interactions where you talk less and listen more.
Or if you'd prefer just one: get over yourself.
Want to be heard? Find me at www.twitter.com/timbigfish
Never mind sorting out fact from fiction. The movie is filled with lessons about doing life with others. Whether or not he has friends, Zuckerberg’s genius alone was not enough to propel his idea. Others inspired (albeit sometimes unwittingly) and connected him to the other people and resources to move his work along. The portrayal of Zuckerberg makes him out to be a self-centered, smart aleck know-it-all. However, I tend to sympathize with the notion of a guy who was so focused on an idea that he looked past the people in his life. Ironically, nothing really could have happened without those people and eventually about 499,999,990 or so more.
But life need not imitate art when art is all around in life. A fall day in Leiper’s Fork, TN was full of inspiration. An outdoor lunch at an all natural restaurant, live music, an art coop walk through and impromptu visit with an artisan tenant set all of my creative senses on fire. Info receptors were opened. Then an open-ended question posed to a local shopkeeper presented a lesson for marketers who use social media/networking.
She shared the origins of the community name including an anecdote about a gun duel featuring Andrew Jackson. She put founders’ names and personalities to the local boutiques. And later she pointed down the street to where a world renowned musician lives. I had valuable (even if for entertainment purposes only) new insight because the focus was on her and what she knew about the subject at hand. We were connected.
It reminded me of a lesson from Dale Carnegie’s book “How to Win Friends and Influence People”: people like to talk about themselves. There isn’t a single tech innovation that will ever change that. So as marketers we have to create moments that enable sharing and listening. At Bigfish, we call them interactions.
So how does the weekend translate to a lesson for businesses who market via Facebook? Two simple things:
1. Admit that you need other people to succeed.
2. Create interactions where you talk less and listen more.
Or if you'd prefer just one: get over yourself.
Want to be heard? Find me at www.twitter.com/timbigfish
Like It or Not It's All About Like
We started this year saying that someday your customer’s preference would dictate your company’s search engine relevance. That someday has come. The new Bing Facebook alliance makes “like” the new relevancy factor for search. So, what is "like"?
"Like" or not is the grade your business earned as determined by "the customer experience".
Your company and mine must be fully aware of the experience we create for our clients. We can’t cleverly weave our way through search engine formulas and hope to find some unsuspecting prospect who would become a customer. In the Participation Age your customers don’t care about some arcane search algorithm that revolves around keywords, referring links, dynamic content and other inane attributes. They care about what their friends think. Their friends are your recent and next customer.
Perhaps, like Bigfish, you’re not in the gadget business. You don’t cook pizzas. You don’t rent cars. You don’t iron shirts. So what is there to like? Well, every day you and your employees make impressions. You create an experience. Your company and mine are in the customer experience business. It’s the quality of that experience as seen from the customer’s point-of-view that will determine the “like” count on our Facebook business pages long after our personal social acquaintances have tuned out of our news feeds.
My colleagues will attest that I am highly sensitized to the customer experience factor. It’s in our name. If I walk into the development room kicking over waste baskets and spilling coffee, it’s not because my folks have performed poorly. It’s because I’ve been enraged to the point of disgust having just witnessed a so-called collaborating engineer or developer use fear, uncertainty, doubt and downright arrogance to bluff a client into submission. Thankfully, Bigfish Developers are sincere in their efforts to deliver a “treat them like the big fish” level of service but we all have our moments and I may have seen a tiny bit of our worst selves in the other guy. It had to be kicked and spilled on. It wasn't a like-able experience.
We’re a service business. Whether we’re developing words to convey our client’s message, drawing pictures to illustrate their ideas, building websites to enable their objectives, or connecting them to prospects and customers through social media – each interaction with them is the experience.
For every gift card or thank you note from a client there are five others we might not hear from. What was their experience? Did they “like” us or not? Guess we’ll have to Bing and decide.
Let's talk about it. I'm on Twitter at www.twitter.com/timbigfish
"Like" or not is the grade your business earned as determined by "the customer experience".
Your company and mine must be fully aware of the experience we create for our clients. We can’t cleverly weave our way through search engine formulas and hope to find some unsuspecting prospect who would become a customer. In the Participation Age your customers don’t care about some arcane search algorithm that revolves around keywords, referring links, dynamic content and other inane attributes. They care about what their friends think. Their friends are your recent and next customer.
Instead of “referring links” think “quality interactions”. Make each one count. Your customers will relate each of their experiences to their friends (your future prospects and customers) with a simple thumbs-up or down.
Perhaps, like Bigfish, you’re not in the gadget business. You don’t cook pizzas. You don’t rent cars. You don’t iron shirts. So what is there to like? Well, every day you and your employees make impressions. You create an experience. Your company and mine are in the customer experience business. It’s the quality of that experience as seen from the customer’s point-of-view that will determine the “like” count on our Facebook business pages long after our personal social acquaintances have tuned out of our news feeds.
My colleagues will attest that I am highly sensitized to the customer experience factor. It’s in our name. If I walk into the development room kicking over waste baskets and spilling coffee, it’s not because my folks have performed poorly. It’s because I’ve been enraged to the point of disgust having just witnessed a so-called collaborating engineer or developer use fear, uncertainty, doubt and downright arrogance to bluff a client into submission. Thankfully, Bigfish Developers are sincere in their efforts to deliver a “treat them like the big fish” level of service but we all have our moments and I may have seen a tiny bit of our worst selves in the other guy. It had to be kicked and spilled on. It wasn't a like-able experience.
We’re a service business. Whether we’re developing words to convey our client’s message, drawing pictures to illustrate their ideas, building websites to enable their objectives, or connecting them to prospects and customers through social media – each interaction with them is the experience.
For every gift card or thank you note from a client there are five others we might not hear from. What was their experience? Did they “like” us or not? Guess we’ll have to Bing and decide.
Let's talk about it. I'm on Twitter at www.twitter.com/timbigfish
Small Biz Brand in Transition
Today I met with a business owner whose company is solidly positioned – in the past. She knows it and wants to do something about it. That puts her a step ahead of most business leaders. And, a step ahead is a good place to start.
Her challenge is to transform the business from a surviving “Mom and Pop shop” to a thriving professional services company. She is in business transition. An OBGYN friend of mine once said, “Transition (the time the baby spends in the birth canal) is the hardest part of childbirth for infant and mother.” From what I’ve seen as a witness in the delivery room, he’s probably right but he’s there to help.
The challenge of transitioning a company is found in knowing where you’re headed and having a plan that connects you to the target. Mom and the baby instinctively know which direction things are going. But Mom has thoughts about the future long before delivery. She dreams of what the child might become. She names the baby and sets her mind and heart on loving and caring for it. Soon Mom and child, begin to live the plan.
Likewise, the business owner casts a vision for the business she has created; the brand that she has developed. Her transition challenge is found in knowing where today’s version of the brand ends and where the brand of the future begins. Her instincts are good. Change is inevitable so she sets out to take charge of the change.
Perhaps our business owner can think a little like Mom. Consider the business brand, imagine what it might be in the future and make plans to realize the goal. She can start with communicating that message to all affected parties. Today, while there are more venues than ever to convey a message – to connect people to the vision you have for your business – it still requires a strategy.
Mom and baby get a little support from men and women like the OBGYN friend of mine. The business owner we met today will get a little support from Bigfish. Call us the brand doctors.
Her challenge is to transform the business from a surviving “Mom and Pop shop” to a thriving professional services company. She is in business transition. An OBGYN friend of mine once said, “Transition (the time the baby spends in the birth canal) is the hardest part of childbirth for infant and mother.” From what I’ve seen as a witness in the delivery room, he’s probably right but he’s there to help.
The challenge of transitioning a company is found in knowing where you’re headed and having a plan that connects you to the target. Mom and the baby instinctively know which direction things are going. But Mom has thoughts about the future long before delivery. She dreams of what the child might become. She names the baby and sets her mind and heart on loving and caring for it. Soon Mom and child, begin to live the plan.
Likewise, the business owner casts a vision for the business she has created; the brand that she has developed. Her transition challenge is found in knowing where today’s version of the brand ends and where the brand of the future begins. Her instincts are good. Change is inevitable so she sets out to take charge of the change.
Perhaps our business owner can think a little like Mom. Consider the business brand, imagine what it might be in the future and make plans to realize the goal. She can start with communicating that message to all affected parties. Today, while there are more venues than ever to convey a message – to connect people to the vision you have for your business – it still requires a strategy.
Mom and baby get a little support from men and women like the OBGYN friend of mine. The business owner we met today will get a little support from Bigfish. Call us the brand doctors.
Instant Search. Instant Irrelevance.
Google, guess what? I’m really less interested in how fast you can find a match for my search than I am in finding the most relevant match. So, I’m going to turn to the people I’ve always trusted for answers to the important questions – my friends. And apparently, I’m not alone in doing so.
One of the variables in the Google search algorithm revolves around a concept called “relevance”. But who knows relevance better than your network of friends? Any one of them is more likely to know an appropriate response to your search than even the all knowing Google. Granted the list of results from an inquiry like, “best moving company in Memphis” will be shorter when asked of friends via Twitter but I’ve long been a subscriber to the boutique model of shopping versus the department store.
Tip for your business:
One of the variables in the Google search algorithm revolves around a concept called “relevance”. But who knows relevance better than your network of friends? Any one of them is more likely to know an appropriate response to your search than even the all knowing Google. Granted the list of results from an inquiry like, “best moving company in Memphis” will be shorter when asked of friends via Twitter but I’ve long been a subscriber to the boutique model of shopping versus the department store.
But if googling is still your preference for search then how much more effective would it be if the results could be narrowed down by indicating which results include Facebook “likes” from your friends? Oh, don’t think Google isn’t trying to figure this out. It is the new definition of “relevant”.Until then Google will be part of the marketing equation as-is. However, the high-end goods, personal services, niche medical, leisure time, lifestyle, and social or entertainment searches are bound to skew to “asking my Facebook friends". To ignore this would be to deny that you shop somewhere because your friends liked it, that you've liked a brand because a friend suggested it, or that your current hairstylist came through a friend referral, or that you hired a realtor because a family member also used him or her. Heck, now with location apps you can even know the last time your friend ate at the BBQ spot he likes. He may even be there now!
Tip for your business:
- When thinking search think social.
- When thinking search think local.
- Add social plugins to your website, immediately.
- Make user generated content part of your plan.
- Ask a few friends who can help get it done.
Care to discuss it? I’m at www.twitter.com/timbigfish or www.facebook.com/timcnicholson.
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