Month: October 2010

The Ghosts of Social Media

Posted on by Buyer Advertising

Well, it’s that haunting time of the year yet again–Halloween is coming around. So to celebrate, we’re telling ghosts stories. Specifically, we’re talking about social media ghosts—aka the silent majority, or those who consume content without offering much in the way of feedback.

Here are the facts: only a small, single-digit percentage of followers and friends post comments on your company blog or Facebook. At the same time, having an active presence on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn is becoming more and more necessary. Doesn’t this sound contradictory? The key to reaching out to those lurkers who remain silent is to stay active yourself. When a question or comment does pop up, respond right away rather than letter the days or even weeks slip by. A quick response time indicates to your audience that you’re an active company willing to interact with customers on a one-on-one basis.

It’s important to remember the ghosts, because the Internet at large is consumed in a rather one-directional medium: from content providers to information seekers. As you define your brand on your online space, keep your messaging comprehensive enough for all.

Signing off,
Buyer Advertising
www.buyerads.com

Writing a Brilliant EVP: Starting Out Strong

Posted on by Buyer Advertising

They’re called Employee Value Propositions, and their purpose is simple: clearly outline the benefit of working at your organization. The start of a good hiring campaign often starts with a well-written, well-thought out EVP statement.

There are a few very good reasons to take the time and do things right. On the one hand, a great EVP provides at-a-glance discovery of your organization for employees-to-be. On the other, it’s an essential element in organizing the various pieces of a hiring campaign. A EVP makes a good “checklist” against which you can compare your online hiring efforts. Your Facebook recruitment posts. Your job fairs.

When actually sitting down and writing your EVP, you’ve got to stand out from the competition. Differentiation is essential if you hope to make a difference and catch a potential recruit’s attention. “Great benefits” and “teamwork” won’t make the cut—in fact, there isn’t anything more guaranteed to make a candidate’s eyes glaze over than reading everything he or she has seen a million times. Instead, use your EVP as an opportunity to relate what makes your company a great place to work. And be honest. Ensure your employee brand matches the reality of your workplace. An honest, upfront portrayal is necessary to attract the types of employees you want working in your office. As with most things HR, it isn’t always about quantity, it’s about quality.

Until next time,

Buyer Advertising
www.buyerads.com

Stay in Control of Your Online Assets

Posted on by Buyer Advertising

These days, there’s an awful lot of you out there.

Your message has grown beyond the website, beyond the content you approve and produce. Your company name now lives on new media such as Facebook, Twitter, and your blog. But it doesn’t end there—there are vehicles in place to spread the reach and awareness of you through a variety of new vectors, such as discussions of your services on forums, postings on customer review sites, YouTube videos, and the list goes on. This is a good thing because your brand can grow along with your business without overwhelming effort on your part. This is a bad thing because once the message gets out of your control, it could damage your reputation.

The first step to controlling your content is to get to these sites first. The more presence you have in specific Internet locales, the easier it is to monitor and produce content of your own. For instance, by starting a YouTube site of your own, your company can produce and release videos that promote your brand—instead of the only entry on that site being an unmoderated opinion of your organization. Likewise, produce dynamic content, such as the aforementioned blog, so customers have a forum of their own to ask questions and correspond with you. Otherwise, your proactive customers could take things into their own hands—a detriment to companies wishing to delete or modify objectionable material.

As in all things online, it isn’t a matter of large investment, it’s a matter of time and resource investment. By starting out with a proactive approach, you’re securing room to grow and take advantage of the online world, while keeping your brand neat and orderly. Smart move.

Signing off for now,

Buyer Advertising

www.buyerads.com

3 No-No’s for Social Media

Posted on by Buyer Advertising

Establishing a foothold in social media represents a big investment for your company—not because doing so is overly complicated or expensive, but because it takes a lot of time to maintain your presence. In terms of man-hours, you’ll need to set up appropriately-branded Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts, and organize a schedule for regular updates. Before you get started, here are a few common items of misuse and abuse. Avoid the following at all cost!

Letting things languish. You can’t count the number of corporate Facebook sites that lie fallow, unproductive for the company that created it. You’ll want to update regularly to reap the benefits: increased exposure for SEO and a dialog between you and your customers. On the flip-side, you don’t want to be posting every few hours, either—nothing sends fans running away faster than spamming their news feeds with clutter. Aim for updating a few times a week.

Being predictable. When you’re updating your new media sites, remember that you’re talking to people, not to consumers. Speak in a language that a real person would enjoy reading, and entertain rather than preach. Come off too advertise-y, and people are sure to click away.

Not posting job opportunities. Facebook and Twitter is personal, and there aren’t a lot of things more personal than your career. Posting your openings is a great way to draw on a pool of non-conventional applicants. Of course, there’s a big reason you may not be posting career openings in the first place: you have a dedicated Facebook site specifically for that purpose.

No matter how you go about using new media, getting yourself out there puts you ahead of the competition, and pushes you in the right direction to more customers and greater interest from the population at large. Good luck!
Signing off for now,
Buyer Advertising
www.buyerads.com

Earning “Likes” on Facebook Is About Knowing Your Audience.

Posted on by Buyer Advertising

Not too long ago, CNN posted an article describing the effect of Facebook followers and businesses. You can read it here, if that’s what you’re after: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/09/30/like.button.web.traffic.mashable/index.html?hpt=C2. But the long and short of it is that “liking a page” (the new “become a fan” of organizations) is big business. Over a billion “likes” have gone out since April of 2010. What’s more, the gurus behind Facebook also offer some interesting insight into the types of people that follow interests, groups, and yes, companies.

The key for the any-size business looking to build an online following is to target the appropriate demographic. Most interestingly, per the Facebook developers, the typical person who “likes” organizations has over twice the number of friends than the average Facebook user. These are the folks who utilize Facebook as a hobby, and not simply as a networking tool. They willingly spend their free time on Facebook, which means that to earn their interest, you need to pay out in terms of entertainment value. Provide links and talk about your business, but do so in a way that’s interesting, engaging, and for goodness sakes, write about things people want to actually read! There’s no captive audience when it comes to social media.

Another key demographic you’ll want to court is the to 25-39 age range. Why? The average Facebook “liker” is aged 34. That means no matter what your typical customer base is comprised of, spend some time preparing content that’s of value people who fit in this range. Above all else, be proactive about your social media strategy, and entertain while illustrating your services.

Until next time,
www.buyeradvertising.com