Tag: buyerads.com

Taking Down Trolls

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It’s amazing how quickly simple concepts can transform into large headaches. Take social media, for example. You can sit down and create a plan of action that includes periodic updates and fan-gathering tactics, but once you become established, you’ll notice a bump in the road: trolls. Defined as those who attempt to disrupt communities with attention-grabbing antics, trolls pollute your social media space with distracting, vulgar, or otherwise unwanted messages. Here’s how to identify two types of trolls that are appearing on your company blog or Facebook page, and react appropriately.

The Spammer: You’ll find this troll both on blogs and Facebook alike, advertising (usually) completely unrelated product or services, often in broken English. They’re particularly rampant on blogs, where a single spammer can generate up to a 100 spam “comments” a day, clogging up your message approval process or turning customer correspondence into a nightmare. One solution: ban by IP. If you’re using a CMS like WordPress, you can block all messages from an IP, effectively silencing that troll forever.

The Malcontent: Whether it be through cursing or a personal attack against regulars to your site, there are trolls who are just out to ruin another person’s day. Instead of negotiating or refuting their claims, try this hair-saving technique: just delete their comments. Once malcontents realize you’re not a soft target and their comments are going missing, they’ll move on to more fertile grounds.

No matter your troll troubles, stay alert and realize that content management is an inextricable part of social media. But the results of a solid strategy are worth it: SEO, qualifiers of professionalism, and a tool to engage prospective clients. Don’t give up!

Signing off for now,
Buyer Advertising
www.buyeads.com

MAINTAINING MORALE AFTER LAYOFFS

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In once-in-a-lifetime economic downturns like this one, lay-offs are an unpleasant reality many businesses must face. As budgets dwindle, saying goodbye to valuable employees is often a double blow: on the one hand, you’re losing a valuable source of labor, and on the other, your remaining workforce will react negatively to seeing their co-workers let go—translating into a loss of morale and work. If you’re faced with the necessity of lay-offs, here are few tips to mitigate damage and keep employee morale up.

Go in with a strategy. Plan out communications in advance—before you effect layoffs—that reaches your employee base. Your messaging should explain not only why these layoffs were necessary, but also illustrates a plan of action that your company will take to grow and prosper. Present these changes as an important part of growth, not a sign that your business is failing.

Conduct one-on-one listening. Even in the wake of personalized meetings, ensure that middle managers are available and prepared to answer the inevitable questions your employees will have.

Give it time. If yours is a smaller organization, avoid increasing workload or taking on large projects right away. One fear employees may have is that their daily responsibilities will compound multi-fold—address these concerns right away and start building a stronger, more successful company.

Signing off for now,

Buyer Advertising
www.buyerads.com

Troubleshooting Your Hiring Strategy

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In tough economic times, becoming complacent doesn’t pay. With a larger applicant pools, it’s possible for HR departments to tap into greater wells of talent: a double-edged sword. On the one hand, finding the best of the best becomes more of a reality. On the other, the sheer mass of applications to wade through to get into that position takes time—and as you know, that means money.

Of course, the strategy that maximizes your time is recruitment advertising. The tactics you use should aim not for the quantity of applicants, but the quality. Tailor your media—articles and web postings—with language that challenges an applicant as much as invite their resume. If you’re looking for extremely qualified applicants, don’t be afraid to ask for that up front.

Agencies like us exist to maximize the dollars you spend in recruitment initiatives with results that improve the functioning of your organization. We welcome all questions!

Signing off for now,

Buyer Advertising
www.buyerads.com

Building a Community

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With recent changes to the way search engines like Google return results, and as a necessary step in the evolution of hiring strategies, social media is unmatched. Every day, we see companies like Progressive and Staples use their Facebook collective buying power of thousands to increase sales revenue—not to mention to exist as a powerful well of talent to draw upon. You recognize Facebook’s role in your own ability to stay competitive. But how do you get started? For those beginning from scratch, here are a few tips to steer you down the right path.

Don’t Market. Social media is a whole different species from traditional channels. When you’re deciding what to write in the omni-present “update” box, steer clear of anything that promotes your business. “Friends” are not customers, and they can smell a pitch a mile away. Stick to content that benefits them, not yourself.

Start Right. First rule of social media: empty fan lists tend to empty unless acted upon by an outside force. Ask friends and employees help “seed” your fan list to get you started. If your new fans like what they read, they just may invite friends of their own.

Lighten Up. All work and no play makes Jack… well, you know the saying. Facebook and its ilk are mediums of leisure—therefore, part of your posting strategy should be to entertain your fanbase. Try a few techniques and see what works best.

Happy hunting,

Buyer Advertising
www.buyerads.com

What Heat Mapping Has to Teach Us

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It’s the 21st century, and with these modern times comes an array of technology and tools that make us more effective advertisers. Chief among these is heat mapping—the process of tracking a customer’s eye movements when seeing a webpage for the first time. The eyes don’t lie: there’s a lot to be learned in regards to how a casual consumer relates to your landing page or site itself. Here are some important lessons.

People don’t read. On the ‘net, our time is valuable. People are very finicky consumers when it comes to the written word. Heat Mapping has shown that the average users spends almost no time reading the content of a piece—instead, they elect to scan the first few copy points or initial sentence. Having viable copy establishes professionalism; however, don’t count on it to bring in the majority of customers by itself.
Headlines Sell. Everyone loves a good headline. When analyzed, nearly every heat map has shown that people almost always read the headline first and thoroughly. What this represents: an opportunity. If you can make your pitch brief, cohesive, and compelling, you’re on your way towards a conversion.

We Love Faces. More than any other element, people are drawn to faces. Put a fellow’s (or ladies’) face up on the screen, and sure enough, a heat map will glow bright red around that image. Humanity is drawn to itself. Faces are interesting: attractive, ugly, unique-looking, every face tells a story. Count on images of people to draw attention and help tell your story.

Until next time,

Buyer Advertising
www.buyerads.com

Trend Watch: A Facebook “Terms” Page

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If you thought the untamed realm of social media is (or should be) free of legalese, think again. A growing trend for companies—especially large businesses—is to create a set of their own “terms and conditions” for Internet pedestrians to scan before becoming a follower of their Facebook page.

The extra steps companies are adding to the process of joining your online crew are (supposedly) for good reason. Take the fansite of Progressive’s new mascot, “The Messanger.” Before a patron becomes a fan, they are prompted to read specialized terms and conditions before clicking that “like” button. One excerpt reads, “You agree that you will not submit Content or otherwise use the Page in any manner that would interfere with or damage the Page, including, without limitation, through the use of viruses, cancel bots, Trojan horses, harmful code, flood pings, denial of service attacks, packet or IP spoofing, forged routing or electronic mail address information or similar methods or technology.”
In other words, don’t spam up the boards or try to scam our fans out of personal information and/or life savings.

So, should your company take the time to create and display a “terms and conditions” section for your Facebook page? In the short term, it’s difficult to see how a simple page of text would stop scammers and fraudsters, many of whom live far outside the boundaries of English-speaking countries in the first place, from posting fake login mirrors and advertisements for prescription medicine. However, as the legal issues and rights ascribed to social media firm up, having a terms page could be an important tool in policing your company’s digital rights. Worth a consideration, anyhow.

See you next time,

Buyer Advertising
www.buyerads.com

Online Job Interviews: Yea or Nay?

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We may not have rocket boots or flying cards (yet) in these modern times, but one futuristic trend is making its way into HR offices already: the online job interview. Although it may seem like something from the Jetsons, HR personnel and hiring managers alike are giving up the leather chairs and clipboards, and instead asking potential candidates to stay home and switch on their computers.

There are a few compelling reasons that face-to-face is becoming passé. Services like Green Job Interview (greenjobinterview.com) are promoting their product as enabling hiring staff to make decisions without the ecological cost of carbon-burning transportation and paper waste. As they put it, “By utilizing secure, browser-based technology and support services, organizations and candidates interact face-to-face while minimizing costs, maximizing time, and reducing environmental impact.” Other companies providing “virtual” job interviews include HireVue (www.hirevue.com), which promotes their service by stating you can save an average of $3,000 to $5,000 by interviewing and hiring online.

Of course, as a trend, nobody’s certain if this all-too futuristic fad will catch on. There are bound to be hiring managers who won’t give up their hiring routine for the sake of a little gasoline and paperwork. So the question remains: will online hiring become a recruitment standard, or a flash in the pan?

Until next time,

Buyer Advertising
www.buyerads.com

The Logistics of Going Social

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You’d love to get in on this social media thing, but you just don’t have the time. With the amount of material to read and digest, and a laundry list of “to-do’s”, it’s easy to keep putting off the bits and parts that make a successful online strategy. Here’s an approach to get you started.

Companies need to take a different route than individuals when establishing themselves on Twitter and Facebook. Not only do you have different setup routes (such as Facebook, where you need to list your company as a business instead of as a person), but you’ll need to include more information. One tip is to collect this data ahead of time. Choose an associate to manage the account. List their email address as the primary holder. Collect the following snippets: your organization’s contact information, your physical address, your telephone number, your blog address (if you have one), hours of business, and a brand image to display. You’ll need this when setting up a Facebook account, and you can even elect to use some of this in your Twitter account, too. Launching a complete social media profile helps to avoid being mis-categorized for a few days by popular search engines, and allows you to begin producing meaningful content immediately.

Once you’re set up, decide on an updating strategy. And you do want to update. Not only is social media a great way to maintain SEO and draw in customers, it’s an opportunity to promote content and change your voice, even stepping away from the traditional brand of your own product. Social media provides a chance to re-invent yourself with a fresh voice, and that’s a project few organizations can afford to pass up.

Signing off for now,

Buyer Advertising
www.buyerads.com

Mobile Recruiting? There’s an App for That.

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With smart mobile devices such as the iPhone touting itself as a “gaming machine,” it’s no wonder “apps” have gotten a bad rep. Short for application, these third-party developed software programs live on Droid, iPhones, and BlackBerry devices tucked away inside pockets across the world. But it’s not all fun and games—applications are providing real value. In particular, specialty programs are connecting job seekers with open positions.

Job hunting is an unemployed worker’s game. On-the-go types with current positions looking to further their careers may find themselves with less time to spend on the job hunt. Yet, they remain an important demographic for job recruiters. Mobile applications help HR staff link up with qualified candidates by reaching out through their phones—and on a job seeker’s own schedule.

Such search apps include CareerBuilder’s program and Job Compass, and are already providing value to seekers and recruiters alike. Functionality includes detailed job descriptions with searchable criteria, the ability to view vacancies on a map, and to forward details to a computer for further inspection. As the nation’s workforce migrates away from the desk and becomes increasingly mobile, consider mobile recruiting as an effective, long-term goal for your hiring strategy.

Until next time,
Buyer Advertising
www.buyerads.com