Social Media fore Business

I know we can see surveys, reports and expert blogs everyday talking about social media and its various aspects that affect different types of businesses.  Unless you are a social media user, these expert opinions seem a little extreme.  Extreme because your business Facebook page or Google Plus page, up for a couple months, has not produced mega sales.

The fact is that social media has simply expanded personal networking, a form of word of mouth advertising that has always existed.  Provide a great service or product and people will talk and the same applies for bad services and products.  The average age of online social users continues to escalate, so it is more than high school and college students engaging online.  Business executives, entrepreneurs and investors follow social media as an information source and to reach people with common interests.  Other social follower groups are shoppers, parents, sellers and buyers, all reaching out to see other people's opinions.

From a business marketing perspective, the goal is to reach past, current and future customers and convince them to join your networks and to speak out about your product or service.  How you reach out in the social media world will vary based on your product or services.  This is not new!  How you sell a car is quite different from how you sell a hotel room.  The common factor is public engagement with the buyers.  This not so much "in your face" advertising.  The difference is that it has to be perceived as more of a one-on-one engagement or conversation with your social follower.

The benefits of a successful social media initiative can be huge and very profitable.  But, as with all business success there is a cost element.  You get what you pay for!  Successful social marketing requires four steps:

1/ Strategic Plan:  Identify which social media websites, online or mobile you will start with and which will be added as you progress.  Keep in mind there is a difference in who is social online and who is social on mobile.
2/ Implementation Plan: Set your goals and create a schedule calendar for what and when you will post and advertise.  Monitor follower growth and demographics closely to help target your posts and engagement efforts.
3/ Implementation:  Commit the time, resources and cost to gain the best possible returns.  This requires a Community Manager that knows all aspects of your business, has finite writing skills and know how the social networks work and interconnect with search engine ranking results.
4/ Measurement Reports: Give it time to grow!  Facebook, like Rome, was not built in a day.  It took at least a week.  Review the various reports that are available with each social media channel and monitor for trends then take advantage of the trending. Track traffic to your website and responses to print promotions that were only accessible on your social networks.  A good example is to calculate the Facebook ratio of Talking About to the total number of Likes.  This ratio will give you an idea of how many active Likes and Facebook followers you have compared to one timers.

Social Media is for business and we've only seen the tip of the iceberg or is it network!

Does Your business Need a Google Plus Business Presence?

Here is a great news article to help markets to realize the value of a managed Google Plus Business Page ... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sam-fiorella/google-popularity_b_2561643.html

The operational challenge is in the quality and appeal of your content, potential for re-distribution and your update frequency.  It is important to try and generate a response or engagement with the viewer and to post no less than bi-weekly.  An effective page can help your search engine ranking position and attract business prospects.

New Facebook Graph Search

Finally Facebook has come forward with its search engine to challenge Google, but in a totally different search graph.  With Facebook Graph Search, the objects we search for aren’t Web pages but instead virtual representations of real world objects: people, places and things. The connections are primarily Facebook Likes. Did such-and-such a person like a particular photo? A particular doctor? A particular restaurant? Those likes are the ties that bind the information in Facebook together.

The pending question is how to integrate or attract people who do not express Likes or share Likes regarding services, places, things and so much more.  For the travel industry, Facebook Graph Search is a combination of TripAdvisor and Facebook.  But the TripAdvisor portion is less validated and limited to a person's likes and relevance to the subject.

Only time will tell ...

2013 Marketing Trends

In 2013 the chatter and about the value of social marketing for businesses will continue.  It should be very clear by now that the buyer and seller relationship is more direct and when managed properly can be extremely effective.

 

The challenge for small hotels and resorts along with other small businesses is the need for constant communications engagement and response to reviews.  Plus, any blog post or comment should have an element of search optimization so the comment will not only address the potential buyers, but it will also add to the optimization of your search engine ranking position.

 

The measures of your success will always depend on consistent growth in your follower audience, but within your audience you will need productive engagement with your Facebook "Talking About", Re-tweets, Blog followers response and Pinterest repinnings.  The new year should be a time for re-evaluating your marketing methods and services.  

Search and Social Connection

I recently viewed a webinar by Revinate regarding their monitoring and reporting service tool.  For hotels, this tool is as essential as WIFI.  This comparison is based on the value of the service for engaging consumers based on reviews and social sentiment comments and the expectation of today's consumers.

As effective as this tool is it does require active usage by the hotel staff and any written response or engagement requires a prompt response, a controlled frequency and text optimization.  The text optimization will help relate your social online content to your organic ranking results.

As we move forward, the link between search engine rankings and your social presence will continue to escalate.  Let us know if we can help?

Hello everyone!

This post is simply to wish everyone a fantastic holiday greeting and best wishes for the holidays.  I hope we have an opportunity to work together in the coming year.  We are always prepared to help you keep your hotel on the best path to capitalize on the rapid evolution search and social online marketing.

The Challenge and the Value of Google + Local for Small Businesses

Check out this great article that summarizes the eveolution and challenges of Google+ Local for small businesses.

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33880/does-google-hate-small-businesses?source=Blog_Email_[Does%20Google%20Hate%20Sma]