Is Twitter right for you?

According to a recent Nielsen Online study 60 percent of U.S. Twitter users do not return after their first month.  Shocking you say?  Not really.  While Twitter is being touted as the next great thing there are some obvious flaws in this social networking tool. 

If you are not a Hollywood name like Ashton Kutcher or Oprah the odds are slim that there is an audience of millions waiting to hear about everything you are doing.  Building an audience on Twitter is more than just following everyone who follows you or investing in one of the many “let-us-get-you-followers-guaranteed” programs.  Twitter is work.  This is not Facebook or MySpace.  Twitter requires a constant stream of witty thoughts and ideas, suggestions and actionable items for your audience to stay involved.  I do not know about you, but I only have so much to say on any given day that is witty.

Twitter is also not the right fit for every company.  If your company is in the breaking news business and has something to say every day (at least once a day) and something big to say every other day, then by all means you should be on Twitter.  If on the other hand you are not the breaking news type and you are having to pay someone to keep your Twitter feeds going I might suggest you rethink your investment (both in personnel resources and financial).

Once you are on Twitter how do you know if anyone is listening?  According to Nielsen this where the numbers really tell the whole story.   Pear Analytics also did a research study on what is being sent over the Twitterverse and how many of these Tweets are being re-Tweeted (say that 10 times fast!).  It appears that less than nine percent of all Tweets are being forwarded and circulated.

So how do you know if Twitter is for you?  Ask yourself these questions:

1. Why are we on Twitter?  Do we need a new audience and after research we find that Twitter is for us?
2. How will you measure the success of Twitter versus other social networking sites?
3. Will you be using Twitter for promotions or for breaking news?
4. Do you really have something that can be said in 140 characters often enough to drive an audience?

If you can answer these questions and Twitter is your clear social network channel of choice then you already have built in the strategy to be successful.  If you cannot answer these questions now is the time to work on understanding your purpose for using Twitter to grow your business.

Common mistakes.

The CARS or “Cash for Clunkers” program is all the buzz these days,  It does not matter where you sit on this issue politically, the marketing problems the government has with this program are very common errors.

The first error is the branding of the program.  The name “Cash for Clunkers” is used in all the advertisements but it is not the official name of the program nor does if reflect the true identity of the program.  The program is designed to remove “gas guzzlers” from the road and replace them with more fuel efficient models with a heavy emphasis on hybrid models.  Someone somewhere in the development of the communication plan did not clearly articulate the true purpose of the program.  If you are really driving a “clunker” your car will most likely not qualify.  This is not a “push, pull or tow” program, this is an upgrade and replace program.  The actual name of the program (Car Allowance Rebate System or CARS) is hardly used in the advertising promotions by car dealers.

The lesson: mean what you say and say what you mean to your customer.  A brand should be crisp and clear.  Once you launch you cannot alter the brand representation midway without causing confusion.  In this case, no one wants a last minute surprise when they go out to buy.  In this case the question ”can I trade in a clunker or just an SUV” is not clear at all.

Error number two is a warning for program administrators.  You cannot offer a rebate and promote your product and program to resellers or distributors without a clear pay date.  If a claim is filed in week one, the business owner needs to know if their check will be released by week four.  This is an imperative for growing your business.  You cannot expect a business to grow on your promise of money.  Distributors and resellers have a business to run as well and their cash flow is crucial to your sales pipeline.   With the CARS program, most dealerships have been very vocal about their disappointment in getting paid by the government and open about how they are offering consumers better deals without CARS.

The lesson:  have your money in the bank to fund your program opening.  Do not expect your sales partnerships to grow and flourish if you are late in paying them.  They also have a business to run and open communications (and checkbooks) will drive loyalty and recurring sales.

And finally, the most common error of all:  underestimating the supply needed to meet demand.  If you build demand for a product or program, but you cannot fulfill that demand, you have lost that sale.  In this case, the government had to cough up more money but the same marketing process applies to all businesses (unless you can print money).  If you are going to offer a rebate, a promotion, a discount, or whatever it is, you need to have a solid business plan outlining the costs and the exposure to your budget.  If you are offering a product you want to have enough inventory to meet demand.  Unless your product is the hottest thing since sliced bananas (think iPods, Cabbage Patch Dolls and Tickle Me Elmos) no one is going to wait for your inventory to meet their demand, they will find a comparable alternative and purchase from your competitor.

The lesson: don’t launch your products or programs in the dark.  Marketing is more about the numbers and understanding your business than anything else.  Great marketing is not great if it does not produce revenue and profits.

It is too soon to know if CARS will be a successful business program for the auto dealers and the government.  The back end of the program calls for destruction of the trade ins, and a long period of time for payouts.  While consumers in most cases are making the most of the rebates, some are still not coming out ahead and in the end the program is already costing more than it will make.

Marketing to one through millions.

I was recently looking at several ads on social networking sites.  If you have never placed an ad on a site you may not know how targeted they are.  Not only can you select an audience by gender or age, you can further define your audience by any information used in a profile:

• Political party
• Education
• Location (City, State, Country, Network)
• Groups they are listed in association with
• Favorite books, movies, music

As you can imagine this allows an ad to specifically target an individual out of millions of readers or users.    This is not unique to social marketing, many web sites now require you to create a profile and a user name.  All of this information that is requested allows the information shared to be targeted to a direct individual.  With the addition of a few cookies on your system the site will even remember where you last visited when on the site and what you were looking for or purchased. 

Gone are the days when marketers had to wait months to get feedback on a product or promotion.  Most market savvy companies can make changes in the afternoon based on feedback from the morning.  Traffic is the number one driver on any site, but targeted traffic that delivers specific information on a customer is priceless.  Consumers demand more personalized information and have come to expect that sites can deliver targeted answers and will make purchasing decisions accordingly.

Looking to increase your web traffic or online purchasing decisions?  Consider these hints:

• When selling online allow users to create a profile and specify what information they want from you (this also cuts down on SPAM).
• Do not try to send the same message to every user.  Tailor the messages based on the information your customer provided.
• Review new profiles once a week and send a quick “welcome” or “thank you” email to your customers.  Avoid using a generic auto responder as those are often ignored.

Targeted, tailored, timely messages and interaction take your site from being just another web address to a personal business.

The fifth “P” of marketing.

Many years ago, Faberge Organic shampoos launched a commercial with the tagline “I told my friends and they told two friends, and so on and so on…” The idea being the product was so fantastic that it was being sold by word of mouth.

Today, many people may not remember Faberge but they do remember the tagline. If you are still wondering how important social networking is to your business, you need only to understand that the Internet is how friends tell friends about the things that excite them. And those messages get passed along over and over and over and over again.

Social networking brings in the fifth “P” of marketing. You already know product, price, placement and promotion, but none of that matters without people. Many businesses continue to operate under the assumption that a simple Website, a basic product offering and great fliers can bring profits and revenue to their bank accounts.

Unfortunately this is not so. Even an amazing promotion of “free products” cannot drive customers to you in today’s market if you do not have the right blend of offerings for people.

Consider adding these people-friendly applications to your business:

• A company blog. Blogs allow you to communicate in an informal environment. It also allows you to set your company as the expert in your field.
• YouTube videos. Everyone wants to put a face with the product or services. YouTube gives you an inexpensive outlet to share your humorous or serious side. An easy link from your site to the video will drive additional people-friendly interactions.
• A Facebook fan page: More than 200 million users are on Facebook. Your customers are already there and many users want to share what businesses they are fans of and include their comments and pictures. Worried about what your customers may post? You are in complete control and can delete information as easily as it is added. Although if you had negative postings it is time for you to take a look at why.

Nothing will ever replace the old fashioned hand shake, a lunch or even that phone call to just check in. Keeping your customers – the people – in the front of your business strategy planning will always return high profits and revenue than a strategy built around products customers don’t want.

Who’s watching your online reputation?

There has been a lot of discussion about how businesses and individuals need to participate in social networks to get their messages out, but there is little discussion related to managing online reputation.

Vehicles such as Angie’s List, Facebook and YouTube are prime locations for your customers to share their positive or negative experiences related to your company. There are also thousands of blogs that are sharing information with customers every day on what they liked or disliked about their experiences with businesses.

If you are still not convinced that your online presence is important consider that women are nearly twice as likely to use blogs than social networking sites as a source of information (64 percent), advice and recommendations (43 percent) and opinion-sharing (55 percent), according to a recent 2009 Women and Social Media study.

From somScore, the data figures for video views from November 2008 finds more and more people are watching videos—about 146 million or 77 percent of the U.S. Internet audience. This is up over one-third year over year.

Your customers are online and not just looking at your Web site and Facebook page for information about your company. What took you years to develop in local reputation can be brought down in a day with negative commentary. Therefore, it pays to protect your brand where ever consumers are offered a degree of interaction.

It’s important that either you have an employee who conducts comprehensive online reputation management to ensure that your brand attributes are protected across all social channels. Another option is to hire an outside company to regularly monitor for negative commentary and, if any is found, combat it by researching the situation, discerning if any action is required, and then engage the problem.

A good response will provide facts and ask for corrections if required. This is where your company blog or those of your employees and customers can be invaluable. Opening the conversation to as many sides as possible and broadening the discussion.

Some key areas to consider when dealing with your online reputation management:

Do not get defensive: Even if your customer is not correct in what they wrote, you cannot criticize them. You need to reach out, listen, try to understand their perspective and then work to resolve their concerns. How you handle a situation is often more important that the actions that caused or resolved the situation. In the social networking world, style counts.

The best defense is a well executed offense: You do not wait for a virus to attack your network, so why would you wait for negative postings to protect your online reputation? Begin with your customer service. It is always easier to work with a happy customer than it is to negate and unhappy one. Proactive postings on a regular basis through blogs, Twitter, and other social mediums can go a long way. Don’t forget to share good news as it happens as well. When appropriate a shared press release between you and a customer goes a long way to bolstering your reputation in the marketplace.

Hire an objective source: It is hard to be objective when it comes to your own brand and reputation. Just as it is difficult to evaluate your own work, it is challenging at best to understand outside perceptions of your business. Many outside companies assist with keeping your business top of mind with existing and potential customers.

You do not need to invest millions, or even thousands of dollars in your online reputation management, but you do need to pay attention to what is being said about your business. An investment of just a few thousand dollars can go a long way to building and protecting your brand and business.

This is not rocket science.

I read an interesting MarketWatch commentary by John Dvorak today titled “Social Networking: No Sale”.  In this article Mr. Dvorak explains that the majority of the interaction on social networking sites is about being social and not about selling.  He further breaks down the results of click throughs on his Twitter follower list, which were less than stellar.

There are hundreds of very intelligent individuals that share in Mr. Dvorak’s opinion.  And he is correct:  these people will have limited ability to sell through social networks.  They will not drive followers for any other reason than people want to say they are connected to this writer or that one.  These are the same individuals who have never understood the millions of dollars that are generated through networking marketing opportunities.  They believe that only four things sell a product: price, product, promotion and placement.  And they miss the most important P of all:  people.

I do not care who you are or what you buy, you have emotions.  Unless you are an auto responder or a robot, there is always a reason behind your choice to purchase, invest, spend or sell.  As the consumers we sell to have become increasingly savvy to the tried and true ticks of the marketing trade it takes more to capture the attention of the same audience that three years ago could be influenced through a  Super Bowl ad.

How many times have you been at a soccer game and while standing around with the other parents you talk about this product or that service?  People do business with people and not with companies.  I like Macy’s as a store, they have a good selection and I can find what I want in a hurry.  I do not shop there just for that reason – I go there because I have come to know many of the sales people and prefer the service.  I use a specific pharmacy for the same reason. 

And when it came to looking recently for a virtual assistant, I asked for recommendations on Twitter and Facebook.  The response was positive and made my search much easier.  What I challenge those who believe there is no selling happening with social networks to understand is that a “following” of 55,000 individuals is nothing if you are not listening.  People do not want to be broadcast to and you must ask for input and conversation, not just blast information and expect a response.

I can name 100 of my “friends” on Facebook and a good 225 “friends” on Twitter who are very successful due to their participation with both traditional marketing and new media.  I think the figures speak for themselves:

• 200,000,000 active users on Facebook.
• You can select or target your message by: age, location, keywords, gender, education, workplace, language and relationship status.
• Facebook is no longer about your kids:  as of March 2009 in the US alone, there are now 6 million users 13-17, 19.5 million 18-25, 13.4 million 26-34, 9.7 million 35-44, 4.6 million 45-54, and 2.8 million over 55. In other words, there are more Facebook users 26-44 than 18-25 today.

There are some basic rules to marketing that social networking has learned from and taken to the next level: 

• You can monitor easily what your competition is doing and how their customers are reacting to them
• It is easier than ever before to target your customers, listen to them and adjust on a dime
• Social networking is about customer driven products and sales.  There is no longer a “build it and they will come” option.
• New opportunities are presented everyday.  There is no reason to not know what the “next big thing is” unless of course you are not participating in social networking for business.
• Social networking is by design all about brands and communications.  Each user is their own brand and they want to associate with brands they like or want to be know for liking.

Smart companies already have social networking evangelist keeping up with the hundreds of feeds, friends and followers.  They are able to take in more customer data in an hour than research groups used to take months and hundreds of thousands of dollars to collect.  Like it or not, social networking is here for business and it is “the next thing”.  It is just a matter of how you want your business to profit from it.

My Top LinkedIn Peeves.

I am an open networker on LinkedIn.  This means that I am open to all network invitations and I agree to not DNK (Do not know) or Spam an invitation.  This also brings many interesting invitations and profiles into my inbox to review.  Tonight was one of those nights.  I had 600 invitations to review (and to be honest I still have 236).  I am a choosy person and I want a network that is not only beneficial to me but to others in my contact list.  I have compiled my least favorite profile attributes and just wanted to share:

A picture in worth a thousand words.
If you have no icon or picture how do I know who you are and why I should connect with you?  Even worse, if your picture shows you posing in your favorite evening gown or in that bikini or (yes I have seen this) speedo you just loved I will more than likely not accept your invitation.  Your picture should be somewhat professional.  This is not a yearbook – this is a professional networking site.

Your opening line is my first impression.
What is your title?  Is it something you thought about?  Does it ask something of your network or share something about your creativity or specific skills?  If I see a liquor store employee with a title of “wine and spirit expert” good chance I will accept that invitation.  My favorite this week was a Mom who put her position as CFO of the Thompson Group.  She is the Chief Family Officer of her family, the Thompsons.  She also blogs and works for children’s rights.  This is a person worth knowing.  If on the other hand you have no title or it is one I cannot understand (ABC/LMNOP adviser at XYZ Company) then I have no idea of who you are or what I can do for you.  Most likely I will pass.

Did you company just agree to cover a TopLinked membership?
In one day I received 27 invitations from one marketing company in Atlanta.  Either they all just decided at the exact same time the investment was worth it or one person in the company joined and shared the list and they all reached out.  Why do I need to know more than one of you?  If you do not tell me in your invitation – then the most interesting one gets my accept and the rest go to archive.

You are out to grow a number, not a network.
Many people have come to understand how social networking works.  If you have 1000 contacts on Facebook but you only talk to three – you really do not need 1000 contacts.  If you have 800 Twitter followers but you never retweet or carry on conversations, you do not need to be on Twitter – you just want to hear yourself tweet.  If you are in TopLinked to get 50K contacts , I know you are not talking to them or facilitating communications.  If in your name you have LION5000+, I will pass on your invitation.  You are more interested in a number than a network.

Your profile shares no information or has “private” on the company name.
I will not accept your invitation if you do not tell me what you do, where you have done this or what you are looking for.  If you cannot or will not share your company name why are you on LinkedIn?  Can you just say “secret government job that does not allow me to tell you” this may peak my interest.  How about letting me know what you want in a network connection.  If you cannot fill in your profile I have to wonder what you will have to contribute to my network. 

These are just my top 5 pet peeves.  IF you have more to share, pass them on.

Printing: The Untapped Service Opportunity

The printer vendors are reporting steep declines in product and consumables revenues. Is printing dead? Hardly. Printing and printing supplies are still a profitable venture when done in a services model.

Hewlett Packard announced its quarterly earnings this week and quickly analysts asked “what happened to the profit in printing?”

The decline in HP printer revenue—the former cash cow of the company—and the struggles of printer vendors such as Xerox, Ricoh and Lexmark—as many financial analysts and reporters believe the green (money) is gone when it comes to ink and toner.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Managed print services is the answer to putting the profit back into the printing business—especially for solution providers selling printers and managing/supporting end user printer fleets.

There are three key myths to managed print services:

• It is complicated and takes a long time to implement into your business
• It requires a large amount of money to get started
• No one cares about their printers and this is a hard sale

Adding a managed print service practice to your business is not only easy, it makes sense. If today you are selling printers or multi-function devices you are only seeing a profit on whatever margin you can squeak out on the hardware sale. If you sell supplies then you understand the nightmare of carrying inventory and that eats into your profits. And if you have the break/fix business, you are ahead of the game.

With a managed print service practice you can earn more than just hardware margins. You are earning consulting fees for the initial printing needs assessment, margins on either a hardware sale or equipment lease and you have the traditional margins associated with maintenance agreements or break/fix services.

You can also be earning profits on the supplies without carrying an inventory. In a MPS agreement you build in the cost per page and you drop ship the supplies. No need to worry about getting upside on a contract as it used to be with copier leases. Lexmark, Synnex, HP and Xerox all have programs that provide you the information you need to price your contracts accordingly.

Your initial investment often includes training and a look at your current sales resources. Selling services is different than selling hardware, but the benefits to the customer are so clearly defined that in many ways the service contract is an easier sell. You can reallocate a current resource as you are building up your practice and add more as needed to manage the demand.

There is not a purchasing manager, line of business manager or CEO who is not interested in finding ways to do more for less. The key benefits to your customers include savings on hardware, supplies and resources.

With you offering lease options and a full service contract including supplies, maintenance and a support desk your customer can reduce their employee’s loss of productivity due to printer errors and save money while paying a monthly cost versus a large hit every time supplies are ordered.

A fleet of multi-function products can pay for itself in less than six months. By networking the printers and standardizing the supplies there are no more last minute supply orders, delays on the network from randomly added machines and color can be controlled to reduce the garage sale fliers and birthday invitations.

Additionally, with today’s MFP products, you can reduce or eliminate the need for express mail and reduce printing. Many MFP’s offer print on demand, scan to fax, form storage and can route documents from desk to desk without every needing to be printed.

Offering end users time and money savings can set you apart, and provide your business with an all important recurring revenue stream based on solid-margin products and services.

Strive for Superior Service

Everyone talks about the services revolution, but the reality is that service is a journey, not a destination, and a tremendous differentiator in the eyes of customers. Solution provider success often rides on the quality and continued improvement in service delivery.

It’s all about service today: customer service, service contracts, service guarantees. If you believe your business has nowhere else to go to improve service, think again.

In a market where your products are a commodity or are not tied to your brand, your service sets you apart. There are three key rules to success when it comes to offering service:

Be the Best
The power of excellent customer service cannot be overstated. It is not just enough to have a live body answer the phone; your response time to customer concerns and technical issues must exceed expectations. Prompt, courteous and sincere responses can make the difference between a customer choosing to continue to grow business with you versus your competition.

Good customer service saves your business money. It can cost three times as much to develop a new customer compared with the expenses of maintaining your current customer base.

Keep It Simple
When it comes to service contracts, less is more. Keep your service offerings clear and concise. Do not overwhelm a customer with complicated offerings and sliding fee scales. A la carte service offerings are fine, but price them in a way that a customer can understand.

Consider three tiers to your service contracts: good, better and best. This allows customers to purchase the plan they can afford today and increase their coverage as their business with you grows and as their budget allows. As a customer hits a rough economic patch, it also allows them to downgrade their service contract with you opposed to canceling altogether.

Guarantee Success
Anyone can create a guarantee, but real peace of mind comes when a customer knows the person offering the services. People choose to do business with people they know and trust. Your company’s brand is tied to your service offerings. A guarantee on response times, customer satisfaction and extension of manufacturer warranties can clearly differentiate your business from your competitors’. Money is tight and getting to incremental spends is tough right now. Offering a guarantee on price savings, service offerings and business process improvements can free up some of those difficult-to-find IT dollars.

Your company’s service offerings are more than just monthly contracts and maintenance agreements; they are an extension of your brand. Loyal customers are built through relationships based on trust and success. View your service offerings as more important than the products you represent, and the loyalty will be to your company and your customer will grow vendor-neutral. The most successful solution providers are offering true business solutions that translate to service growth for their companies.

Lessons from Miss California’s PR Nightmare

Miss California Carrie Prejean escaped a complete public relations meltdown, but not without taking a few hits in the press. PR veteran Jerry Grasso offers solution providers advice on how to avoid catastrophe.

As the old saying goes, “There is no such thing as bad PR.” While that may be the case for embattled Miss California Carrie Prejean, it’s not the case for solution providers and small businesses.

In the case of Miss California, Prejean first started catching flak for stating her belief in the traditional definition of marriage. Controversy erupted when racy photos of the beauty queen surfaced, which could have cost her, her crown. Donald Trump, owner of the Miss USA pageant, said he believes in second chances and will allow Prejean to keep her title. While this is great news for Prejean, controversy and poor user experience don’t always bode well for solution providers. The slightest bit of bad publicity, especially in this age of instant public blogs and viral social networks, can be enough to cost a business its reputation and, consequently, its financial viability. Jerry Grasso, a long-time public relations executive and current vice president of communications at Lexmark International, offers solution providers these insights for dealing with negative public relations.

Honesty Always
It is easier to start off honest and just admit your mistake. You posed for pictures before you knew it was bad. You took drugs before they were illegal. Whatever the case may be, just fess up and let the audience know you are honest and have remorse. They most likely will not let you off the hook, but this is the best place to start.

You Cannot Turn Lead into Gold
If you have done something that causes you to lose your tiara or a chance in the baseball hall of fame, you cannot spin the story from lead into gold. You must accept that some actions cannot be undone and you must accept the consequences. If you continue to sell a story that is not true (see Rule 1), you will continue to lose credibility with your audience.

Remember Your Audience
When we are in crisis mode, it is easy to forget who our target audience is. You may be interviewing with your local paper and not love the reporter. This reporter though will be responsible for the tone of your message as presented in their publication. Consider whom you are talking with and whom you want to reach with your message.

Grasso has a laminated sheet with his 12 golden rules of PR, lessons he learned from his first 10 years in public relations and communications.

Always keep a communications plan prepared and outline your plans for crisis communications. When the heat is on, cooler heads prevail. It’s very important for your small business to have an expert on your side.

Contracting a communications professional can assist you in getting out your message without looking defensive or one sided in the presentation.

It was a good week for Miss California and the Miss USA pageant. They have taken an event that normally loses steam 24 hours later and dragged it out to two solid weeks of keeping their names in front of the press. While they had teams of professionals ready to assist, your business can do the same with planning and careful execution.