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“Like” Your Page?!? What’s in it for Me?
by Jamie Gorman on March 31, 2011
“How do I get more people to…
…”like” my Facebook page?
…join my Constant Contact email list?
…follow me on Twitter?
…subscribe to my WordPress blog?”
…join my Constant Contact email list?
…follow me on Twitter?
…subscribe to my WordPress blog?”
This is a question I get in nearly every workshop, webinar and consultation on social media. I was reminded of this common marketing concern yesterday, when I saw an emphatic post in my Facebook feed demanding that I like a friend’s fan page. My first thought was:
What’s in it for ME?
So you set up your fan page and your family and close friends are happy to join in your little social media experiment, so you have your first 25 fans – enough to get your own custom Facebook username! After a time of networking, posting a few things, maybe even creating an event or two, other business friends and acquaintances become fans and you break the 100 mark. At some point you reach the plateau of people willing to join the cause just because they know you, and this is where it gets challenging. You see, at this point you actually have to show your value! That page, post and tweet have to start earning their keep and providing your audience with something they need. If it doesn’t, there is nothing in it for them and they will not join or will quickly leave.
Delivering Value
I recently saw a list of the top 10 reasons people like a business fan page. Potential discounts, brand loyalty and new product information were among the top reasons in the study. Here are some ways we guide small businesses to add value for their audience:
Use a 30/30/30 Content Mix
If your goal is to just repeat your advertising copy into your Facebook business posts, don’t expect a huge return on the time invested! My recommendation to most clients is that less than 30% of social media posts be straight advertising promotion. Another 30% should be industry news, product tips, research and other information that establishes your company as credible experts. The third 30% should be less business focused and can consist of community news, promoting charity events or entertainment. For all those keeping score at home, use that last 10% however you like!
Make it Shareable
You know those posts that you can’t wait to comment on and share with your friends? Try to be the person who makes that post! Think through your media calendar and post schedule from your audience’s point of view. Are the things you post something they will want to see and share with their friends? When you are not only valuable, but also shareable, your fan base will grow quickly.
Post Consistently
My Facebook friend base combined with the business pages I like totals about 300. Not a large number, pretty average in fact. But, for me to see one day’s worth of posts I have to scroll back through about 8 screens – and I hide Farmville posts! That means if you are a business posting once or twice a week in the morning, it’s likely I won’t even see your posts for months at a time. Social Media is more tolerant of short, valuable posts multiple times a day than email. In fact, if you are on Twitter and only tweeting a couple times a day, most people who follow over 500 people (not uncommon) will forget they are following you.
Social Media Calendar
It’s tough to sit down and in the moment you have to post, think of something creative and valuable to say. Create a social media calendar to help organize, schedule and mix your post content. My social medial calendar includes Facebook, Twitter, WordPress blog posts and Constant Contact email marketing. This provides an integrated, consistent approach to my online marketing (when I have the time to implement!)
Having trouble with your social media or email marketing? Sigma College of Small Business has business classes, webinars and services to help you get started and be more effective.
Would you like a Social Media Planning Calendar? We developed an Excel spreadsheet that we use at Sigma College. Use the comments below to let me know if you are interested.
Posted in Blog, Blogging, Email Marketing, Marketing and Sales, Online Marketing, Social Media
Tagged business, classes, education, email, facebook, fan page, marketing, networking, Online Marketing, Social Media, subscribe
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8 Tips to Boost Your Email Marketing
by Jamie Gorman on March 7, 2011
Last week I presented a “Hands-on” seminar for the Greater Warrenton Chamber of Commerce to help small businesses use Constant Contact email marketing to help grow their business. The seminar was based on these 8 Tips to Boost Your Email Marketing. Sigma College of Small Business chose to be a Constant Contact Partner and Certified Local Expert last year because of the ease of use for developing professional emails and their support for social media channels.
1. Add Value
Bottom Line – people will only open, read and act on emails they find consistently valuable.
- “Email special” discounts, sales and insider info
- Industry and community news – edited to highlight the value to your audience
- Opportunity to interact and share
2. Keep it Opt-In
Maintain a conservative definition of “opt-in” and manage your list to keep it that way.
- Sending to people that don’t want to hear from you can be negative
- Building a relationship they started is always better
3. Subject, Subject, Subject (and headline to Match)
You have a split second to catch their attention, don’t waste it! And confirm their “open” decision with a clear, related headline.
- “Our Monthly Newsletter” = “I can read this later” = “Will read when I have more time”
- YOUR AUDIENCE WILL NEVER HAVE MORE TIME!
- “Your Back Will Thank You”, “Get the CEO off Your Back”, “Are You Giving Your Profits Away?”
- Use a txt headline at the top of the email to confirm it’s not a trick
4. The Length and Frequency Principle
Keep frequent emails short, with one or two timely key points. Less frequent emails can be longer.
- A daily newspaper doesn’t publish each day with news from last week – if you are sending daily or weekly, have content that changes daily or weekly.
5. Using Lists
Using multiple lists gives your audience choices on content and frequency to match their needs.
- Monthly Newsletter, Weekly Specials, Daily Tip OR Engaged, Recently Married, With Children
- Tell each audience what they should expect and then deliver!
- Consistency – Delivery, Content, Format, From
6. Keep your emails consistent
Deliver at promised times with expected content that matches subject
- Consistent format will help brand recognition and using a recognizable email will help
7. “Join My Email List”
Ask people to join your email list – tell them why they should and then deliver.
- Put “Join My Email List” on web sites, Fan Pages and in email signatures
8. Social Media Promotion
Use the Constant Contact social media tools, but don’t stop there!
- “Look for ‘Your Back Will Thank You!’ in tomorrow’s monthly email newsletter.” Join Now!
- Connect your social media to Constant Contact and use the share and tweet functions.
Email marketing can be especially useful to small business owners because it can convey a personal message to clients on a consistent basis at very little cost. If you have questions about getting your email marketing working better, post a comment or contact us at info@SigmaBizLearning.com or (703) 468-1465.
Email Marketing – Still A Great Tool for Small Business!
by Jamie Gorman on January 28, 2011
Email marketing remains a very effective marketing tool for small business, even with the onset of Social Media Marketing and abuse by some. Here are some quick tips to help you kick start your existing email marketing or get a campaign started.
Subject, Subject, Subject – The email subject line
Think about how you choose and filter the hundreds of emails that you probably receive daily. I look at the sender and the subject line. In that one second I make one of three decisions – open, set aside or delete. Because I only maintain subscriptions to people I want to hear from, I typically don’t immediately delete. However, unless a subject line catches my attention with immediacy, I’ll usually pass it over with every intention of reading it “when I have more time”. Subjects that say “monthly newsletter” or “see what’s happening at…” are usually victims of my procrastination. Here are “5 Tips for Writing Subject Lines That Will Get Your Email Opened” from the Constant Contact blog.
Don’t minimize the subject line – tons of great email content is wasted daily on the unopened email!
Observe the Email Length v. Frequency principle
The length v. frequency principle in email marketing is that the more often you send an email, the shorter it should be. If you are sending out a weekly email, stick to one or maybe 2 critical messages and keep the email brief. Creating the expectation that you have a quick and valuable message in that weekly email will help your open rates. People are more likely to open a frequent email if they know it won’t take long to read and it will add immediate value.
If email frequency is monthly or more, longer articles and features are much more digestible. This is the place to provide some deeper educational articles, longer testimonials, product reviews and news stories. At Sigma College of Small Business we use weekly emails to announce local business education opportunities and our upcoming class schedules. The monthly newsletter adds a feature article, some news and a business “Tip of the Month” along with our class schedule for the month. You can join our email list here.
If you send emails often, keep them short and to the point, a valuable point to your audience.
Maintain your “opt-in” position
When starting my email marketing, I had a very moderate position on adding people to my list. I would take the attendee list at networking events and add names whether I met them or not. After some guidance, education and reflection on my results, I changed my position and only add people who have given me specific permission (or add themselves from my web site or blog). For most small business owners it is the quality of your list that determines successful email campaigns. If you have talked to someone or they proactively added themselves to your email list, they are much more likely to open the email, read the contents and convert. This is the best practice for developing a list of loyal followers for the long haul.
Subscribers who “opt-in” are more likely to open read and convert.
Growing your list – be Patiently Aggressive
That’s right, patiently aggressive! It means that you should be very proactive in inviting people to join your email list, but don’t be impatient and start buying lists just to get numbers up. The best email addresses are the ones that are gathered when someone visits your store, subscribes on your web site or added after you have met and discussed with them. This takes time, but as you build it the results will be worth the wait.
Ask people to join – use all your media to help grow your email list
Need help with your email marketing. Sigma College of Small Business is a business partner and local expert for Constant Contact.
Posted in Blog, Customer Service, Email Marketing, Marketing and Sales, Online Marketing, Social Media
Tagged education, email, marketing, Newsletter, Social Media, Subject lines
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4 Tips for Improving Your Email Marketing
by Jamie Gorman on August 5, 2010
As part of my networking routine I join the email lists of new contacts. Yes it tends to fill the inbox, but more importantly it gives me something that I can forward as a referral for the people that I network with – it’s just easier for me. I’m not an email expert by any stretch, but I’ve seen, heard and read enough to identify some of the most common mistakes. Feel free to join my mailing list and hold me accountable to my own advice! Join Sigma College Email List
- Make the Subject a Headline – I’m constantly reminded by my friend Scot Small at RevBuilders – “Unless you are Coke, your logo means nothing – you need a good, prominent headline”. The point is that people don’t notice our names and logos (yet), they notice and open good headlines. Search WordPress blogs for articles on writing subject lines for a ton of great articles.
- Be Consistent and Patient – It may take months for people to start consistently opening your emails and discovering the value that lies within. For about 4 months after I started email marketing I heard nothing and open rates were sporadic. Eventually, after consistently emailing over a period of months, people began recognizing me by my brand and thanking me for sending out my class schedules and other information. Open rates steadied and I was able to start some A-B testing to refine. So, don’t give up!
- Content that Adds Value – Keep the content relevant and to the point. My weekly email is simply a list of upcoming classes. You may have articles to publish or events to announce, but my recommendation is that you include a headline and excerpt, or the basic facts and then use a “read more” link to your web site (you may prefer a “call this number” action). This does two things – gets them to your web site (or calling) which is likely the reason you send an email, and puts more content on your web site for better search engine optimization. Most importantly, after time, your readers will know they can sift through the headlines and pick what they want to read very quickly, rather than paging through an 800 word email to find that nugget.
- Create an Opt-in Email List – It took me some time to grasp the value of an opt-in email list. This is a list that you build through people joining online or giving you specific permission to add their name. Collecting business cards and adding everyone results in lower open rates, high “unsubscribes” and even some spam reports. Now sometimes there are reasons to do mass campaigns using purchased opt-in lists, but most small, local businesses should stick to a list that will help you build relationships and not alienate people.
Email marketing is a great marketing tool, especially when combined with other things. But, a campaign that is done poorly and forced on an unwilling audience can actually hurt your business. Make sure you continue to review, test and improve your email strategy!
Posted in Blog, Marketing and Sales, Online Marketing
Tagged business, classes, education, email, gainesville, haymarket, learn, management, manassas, marketing, networking, online, optimization, social, subscribe, VA, web
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Using Google Reader to Follow Blogs on your iGoogle Home Page
by Jamie Gorman on July 1, 2010
Google Reader is a great little tool that helps aggregate the blogs you are tracking to your Google account. The reason I like it is that I have an iGoogle “portal” page (a page that I can personalize with info I want to see) and there is a “Gadget” that puts my feeds right onto my personal home page, the one that I see first every time I open Internet Explorer. This is what I use for those blogs I want to see and review quickly and then comment, especially on blogs related to educating small business owners.
1. Sign into your Google Account. If you don’t have a Google account:
- Go to www.Google.com
- Click “Sign In” at upper right
- Click “Create an Account Now” under the Sign in box
- Follow instructions for setting up an account
Click on Settings in the upper right to add new Google apps
2. In the upper right of your Google page click on the “Settings” drop-down and select “Google Account Settings”. You can do a lot here to personalize your page and account.
3. If “Reader” isn’t listed under “My Products”, go to the “Try Something New” section and click on “More”
4. Under the “Communicate, show & share” section, click on “Reader”. This will place Reader into the “My Products” section where you can open and start using.
Open Google Reader by clicking the link
5. Open Reader by clicking on the link and you should see your Google Reader Page
Now it’s time to add a subscription.
Go to www.sigmabizlearning.com or another blog you want to feed
1. Go to www.SigmaBizCollege.com or another blog that you would like to track. Select and copy the web address, or url for the blog. (you can also just type this in to the subscription box when the time comes if you know it)
Click on the "Add Subscription" Button
2. In Google Reader click on the “Add a subscription” button at the upper left, paste or type the url into the box that drops down and click “Add”.
3. You should now see your new subscription in the subscription box on the left and the latest blog post in the reader box.
Click on the Subscription to see the latest posts from that source.
Add the Google Reader Gadget to Your iGoogle Home Page
Click on "iGoogle" at the top right to open your iGoogle page
1. Go to www.Google.com and sign in if you aren’t already. This should open your iGoogle page (if it doesn’t, click on the “iGoogle” link in the upper right) and you should see something like this. Each of the little blocks is called a gadget and you can customize which gadgets you want on you page.
Click on the "Add Stuff" link in the upper right to get new gadgets!
2. In the upper right click on the link for “Add stuff”. In the search area type in “reader” and search. This will show you the Google Reader gadget and clicking “Add It Now” will put it on your iGoogle home page.
Search for "Reader" to find the Reader Gadget and "Add it Now"
3. Now, when you go to Google.com, your subscriptions will show up for a quick review. If you click on the title a preview window pops up so you can take a quick look without even leaving the page.
Although I walked through the Google method for putting subscriptions on your home page, most other portal sites that let you customize a home page will have similar functionality.
See Related Blog Posts on RSS Feeds:
Posted in Blog, Business Networking, Marketing and Sales, Online Marketing
Tagged business, classes, development, education, email, gainesville, google, haymarket, learn, management, manassas, marketing, networking, online, optimization, prince william, rss, search, seo, social, subscribe, training, VA, warrenton, web
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Tracking RSS Feeds as Internet Explorer Favorites
by Jamie Gorman on July 1, 2010
In Subscribe! Part 1 I talked about the importance of tracking and commenting on relevant blogs and news feeds to building your online presence. Internet Explorer and other browsers have the capability to help you manage your RSS feeds and this post will walk through how to send news and current blog posts to the “Feeds” tab in Internet Explorer 8. Other browsers should have similar functionality.
If you are someone who routinely uses the “favorites” functionality in IE to manage the web sites you visit frequently, then this may be the best place to track important RSS Feeds that you want to comment on immediately. I don’t routinely use the favorites part of IE so I use this method for sites that don’t update often, or for sites that I want to track for reference when I’m developing business curriculum. Remember, in social networking it is important to follow and comment, so keep your “high interest” content where you will see it often through your normal work routine.
1. Go to sigmabizlearning.com or another blog or news site that you want to subscribe to.
Click on the RSS Icon in the upper right of the IE window
2. In the upper right of the window, in the menu area is the little orange RSS icon. If the icon isn’t orange, either you are already subscribed or the site doesn’t have RSS capability. Click on the RSS button and a “feed” page will load.
3. Click on “Subscribe to this feed” and then “Subscribe” in the window that pops up. The subscription will be placed in the “Feed” Tab in Favorites.
Access your saved RSS feed through the Favorite window on the Feeds Tab
4. To see your feeds, click the “Favorites” button in the upper left of the window and then the “Feeds” Tab.
5. Click on the subscription to see the latest post!
Remember that a big part of building credible online relationships is to listen and comment on the thoughts of others. Subscribing to interesting blogs with RSS, reading them and consistently commenting is a great way to be part of the discussion!
See Related Blog Posts on RSS Feeds:
Using Google Reader and following blogs on your iGoogle home page
Posted in Blog, Business Networking, Marketing and Sales, Online Marketing
Tagged business, classes, development, education, email, feeds, gainesville, google, haymarket, Internet Explorer, learn, management, manassas, marketing, networking, online, optimization, Reader, rss, sales, search, seo, small, social, subscribe, training, Virginia, warrenton, web
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Subscribe to RSS Feeds in Microsoft Outlook
by Jamie Gorman on July 1, 2010
Microsoft Outlook allows you to use RSS technology to subscribe to blogs and news feeds and have updates come directly to your inbox. This can be useful if your main communication technique is email and there is a feed that you don’t want to miss an update. Or, you may use it to store feeds from an online resource for future reference. I use the RSS functionality in MS Outlook for my Inc. Magazine RSS feeds. There are a lot and it’s tough to keep up, but there is some great information that I can use when I am putting together my business management classes for small business owners. Once again, if you don’t use Outlook, your email software probably has a similar function.
1. Go to www.sigmabizlearning.com or the blog that you want to subscribe to and click on the orange RSS button, either on the page or in your browser. This will bring up the “Subscription” page for that site.
2. Select and copy the web address or url from the subscription page. For Outlook you must have the url from the subscription page, not the main blog page.
3. In Outlook, go to the File menu and Folder>>Add a new RSS feed…
Open the "New RSS Feed" Box
4. Paste the URL from the subscription page into the New RSS Feed box and click the “Add” Button.
5. Your RSS feed is now ready to review in Outlook.
Remember that a big part of building credible online relationships is to listen and comment on the thoughts of others. Subscribing to interesting blogs with RSS, reading them and consistently commenting is a great way to be part of the discussion!
See Related Blog Posts on RSS Feeds:
Using Google Reader and following blogs on your iGoogle home page
Posted in Blog, Marketing and Sales, Online Marketing
Tagged business, classes, education, email, gainesville, haymarket, learn, management, manassas, marketing, networking, online, optimization, prince william, rss, sales, search, small, social, subscribe, training, Virginia, warrenton
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What I Learned This Week – 6/12/2010
by Jamie Gorman on June 12, 2010
Another great week of weather and business. If you are willing to listen and reflect there are always oppotunities to learn.
Who Cares?
A great tip came from Asha Sedalia Bruot of ASHA Public Relations during a MAPS committee meeting this week. When preparing to write your next press release, ask yourself “Who Cares?”. Her point was that choosing the right audience is a must in deciding what to write, how to write and which media channels might be interested. The upcoming MAPS (Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations Strategies) Conference on September 22nd will be focused on developing a good public relations strategy – more to come!
“Customer Service” should always be top of mind
Kris Johnson of the PWCGM Chamber shared a story at Friday’s MB3 breakfast that we can all probably relate to. She was calling a relatively new member to offer a sponsorship opportunity and was deep into her explanation of the benefits of this particular sponsorship. The member gently interrupted and jokingly said, “Oh, you’re calling to sell a sponsorship, I thought you were calling to thank me for membership and see if all is well”. Knowing Kris and her record of customer service, she surely recovered and impressed by the end of the call. Her point was that we can all learn much more about customer service Wednesday at the Insight Series Luncheon “Customer Service” , with guest speaker Bobbie Walker, Partnership Marketing Education Director for Virginia Tourism Corporation, but this was a quick reminder for me. Everyone says that repeat business is the most profitable, but make sure you have successfully delivered on the previous sale before launching into the next!
Gas Mileage, Gravity and Centrifugal Force
I learned this week that a late model Toyota Avalon can go from Warrenton, VA to the PWCGM office in Manassas, then to the Western Chamber Office in Gainesville and finally to the Sheetz in Haymarket with the orange gas light on. In further news, on that same day I learned that a well placed gas cap wedged between the rear windshield and the trunk will last against wind and centrifugal force from the Sheetz in Haymarket to Warrenton and that 2 of 5 people on the road will take the time to slow down and try to point that out to a motorist on a cell phone. And for those kind people – Ok, ok, I know now what you were trying to tell me! Thank-you!
Shout Out!
News and events on the friends of SigmaBiz
Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary to my little sis Kristy MacIntyre and her husband Jamie at MacIntyre Engineering! Congratulations to the “Rev Man”, Scot Small of RevBuilders who hosted a wonderful Grand Opening at his new office in Gainesville this week. I heard that Chow Now was featured in an article in an upcoming Flavor Magazine – looking forward to reading that. My daughter Jessica Gorman finished a summer semester of classes in France this week, with flying colors I’m sure. Way to go Jess! And finally, a big Sigma Shout Out to all the recent graduates of Leadership Prince William “Third is Superb” class. I hear nothing but great things about this program and they are currently recruiting for the next session. Congratulations!
Posted in Blog, Business Networking, Leadership and Management, Marketing and Sales, Online Marketing, What I Learned This Week
Tagged business, classes, culpeper, development, education, elevator, email, free, gainesville, groups, haymarket, learn, management, manassas, marketing, networking, online, optimization, prince william, sales, seo, small, training, Virginia, warrenton, web
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