Category: social media

Facebook is NOT Social Media – Here’s Why…

good marketing, social media, tips

OK, of course Facebook is social media. It’s the de facto standard and the 800 lb gorilla of social media. But what I mean is advertising on Facebook isn’t social media.

Here’s what I mean.

If you’re planning on your post/boosted post/ad to go viral, you can forget it. It’s a rare occurrence and outside of adding cats* to your post, you can’t guarantee a post or ad will go viral, or even that anyone will share it just once.

What Facebook advertising is, is perhaps the best way to target your message.

Facebook can segment it’s 1,500,000,000 (1.5 billion) users by 88 main categories. And it gives that info to you – the business owner. Facebook Advertising

Want to segment by location – easy

How about by Net Worth? Folks looking to move? People who live in apartments? By age? By relationship status? Education? Job title? Life event? Political affiliation? Food or drink likes? Sports? Car? – All available – and stackable! 

That means you can target your ad to someone 20 miles from your store who is a financial professional that rides a motorcycle and has lived in his/her house for 20 years (if that’s who your target customer is.)

So, stop planning on your ad/page/post to go viral – chances are pretty good it won’t. Start planning your ads to hit the target people you’re looking for directly. Done right, it works like a charm.

Of course, if you need help with your lead generation and lead management, give us a call (973/736-3001)

* yes, I’m kidding – sort of.

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It’s Dead, Jim…

Article, social media

CellCon Consulting

Yes, I know it’s “Star Wars Day” (May the 4th), but I couldn’t help using an old Star Trek line for today’s headline.

Today, I’m referring to organic views. Whenever you post on Facebook, (or many other social media platforms) people will see your post – without you paying for it – just on it’s own, or as it’s called, organic views.

It’s estimated that only approximately 10% of your followers or “like-ers” will see an organic post. So if you have 100 views, 10 may see an organic post. And if you sell various products or services, it may not even be the right 10.

But it’s now even easier to target exactly those who you want to see the post. Facebook CellCon Consultingalone offers over 100 different target options. Sure geography and demographics but also things like “likely to move” “net worth” job title, “purchaser of business software” and many more.

So, yes, of course you should still post and not only rely on ads, but if you think that alone is enough to get your message across to the right targets, it’s just not. It’s time to expand to the paid side of social media advertising.

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What’s the Difference between Facebook Ads and Google Adwords?

Article, good marketing, news, social media

What's the difference - Google Ads vs Facebook Ads - CellCon ConsultingFirst, let me say this is really the difference between Search and Social Media advertising – but I’m using the 2 800lb gorillas as examples.

It’s a question I get – a lot.  Before I tell you the differences, let me tell you what’s similar about them:

Both let you highly target your ad so it’s seen by who you want, and who your perfect target audience is. Both let you control the ad budget. Both give you reports on how well your ad is doing, and give you suggestions on how to expand your target audience.

Now for the main differences:

To me, it’s the difference between subliminal advertising and “in your face” advertising. Let me explain:

Facebook advertising from CellCon ConsultingI like to call Facebook ads Subliminal Advertising. Very very few folks go on Facebook looking for a business recommendation. They go on to play games, look at pictures, bitch complain about politics, etc. Sometimes they ask about a business for X, Y or Z.

But the chance they’re asking about your type of business is small. Very, very small. And even when they do, it will take an advocate of yours to (a) see it and (b) take the time to post on your behalf. Does it happen? Sure, but you’re not in control of the response when it does.

However, Facebook ads show up anyway. In your newsfeed, on your wall, in the groups you visit and the pages you like. Not to mention that they show up outside of Facecbook as part of the Facebook partner network.

So, while your customer may not be looking for your product or service while they’re wasting time reading about the latest news on Facebook, your highly targeted ad will appear. Numerous times. And if they’re interested, they’ll click (and if not, you’ll get tons of impressions for free, since you pay for a click, not an impression.)

Google advertising from CellCon ConsultingNow, Google is the exact opposite. When someone goes onto Google, they’re searching for something specific. Your ad appears when what they’re looking for is what you’re selling (and yes, in their partner network as well.) I call it In Your Face advertising. I’m looking for X… You sell X… Done.

And (IMHO) that’s the difference, in a nutshell.

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You Must Have Seen It…

news and notes, rant, social media

You may have done it yourself. One of your friends most likely did it. “It” is the recent Facebook hoax that by cutting and pasting (“No Sharing!”) a BS paragraph will stop Facebook from either (a) charging you money to use FB or (b) dis-allowing FB to use your postings and keeping them your private info (or (c) – Both!)

Or, maybe last week you shared the Macy’s (or Shoprite or whoever) fantastic offer for $100 off a $100 purchase. Wow! What a deal!!

Why do so many people post these things over and over? Because they aren’t thinking about the details. Why not? People are busy. VERY busy. We only have a few minutes to relax and catch up with friends and family (that’s why we’re on FB to begin with! How easy is it to see what cousin Doris is up to!)

We’re busy. We’re running our businesses. We’re helping our kids. We’re running our lives. Here comes the unsolicited advice (hey, it’s my blog.)

One: Stop and smell the roses. And think (to paraphrase “Does anyone remember THINKING?”) Would a legitimate business (especially one that advertises on TV ALL the time) offer a 100% discount? Probably not (it’s not a great business practice) and if they did, they would probably take out a much larger ad in a more selected medium to promote it. If FB was going to charge, it would probably make the TV news (and, since Zuck has all our emails, they would let us know themselves – not through a friends post.)

Two (self-serving ad here – see if you can spot it  smiley-face):  If you’re too busy running your business, hire folks (internally or consultants to help.) Hire an accountant to do your books. Hire a lawyer for legal or HR issues. Hire a marketing firm (*cough cough) for better sales results. Get help so you can concentrate on what YOU do best.

That’s it – rant over. Thanks for reading

-aw

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Informer vs “Meformer”

social media

Well, of course I was going to post this – especially after I saw it was a study done at good old RU!

So…..

A study at Rutgers University suggests that if you want people to follow you, your social media presence can’t be all about you:

Researchers at Rutgers University found that only 20% of us are informers on social media, while the other 80% are meformers. What exactly is a meformer?

Meformers: Users who post social media updates mostly relating to themselves

Informers: Users who post updates that are mostly information-sharing

…And how does this relate to followers? Informers had more than two times the followers of meformers. It would seem that sharing information on social media is better for your follower count than sharing about yourself.

Read the entire Lifehacker article HERE and the original paper (PDF) HERE.

 

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Great (Free) Social Media Report

social media

Social Media Examiner has published their 6th annual social media study where more than 2800 marketers reveal where they focus their social media activities, which social tactics are most effective and how content plays a role into their social media marketing.

And, until May 30, you can get it for FREE. To read the article and download your copy of the report HERE

 

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Yes, Your Competition is Reading Your Tweets…

social media

Brilliant example of what you should expect when, as a company, you use Twitter. Yes, Twitter is fun. Yes, Twitter can be fantastic to you as a business owner/operator. But let’s all just take a moment and be aware when you want to create a buzz on Twitter.

Today’s lession comes from the Pittsburgh Penguins, who asked:

CellCon Consulting Pittsburg Penguins  What could go wrong?? Oh, well let’s remember that Mr. Neal tried to remove the head of a Philadelphia Flyer a while back. Let’s also remember that Flyer fans: (a) have a good memory and (b) also use Twitter.

Here are some responses – the rest (and the remainder of the article) can be found HERE

CellCon Consulting Penguins 2

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Big Changes to LinkedIn Company Pages

news, social media

Today, I received notice that LinkedIn will be stopping (and removing) all Company Products and Services Pages as of 4/14/14.

First, please note that this will NOT IMPACT your main company page.

You will have the option to have a new “Showcase Page” created. However, these place a larger impact on an image, and less room for text. Also, they MUST have a unique name (the name can’t be too generic like “our services” it has to be more specific.) To me, it seems like LinkedIn is taking a page out of Facebook’s book. These Showcase Pages are very Facebook-like.

You can read more about Showcase Pages here:

You can also “discuss” your products and services via updates on your main company page. Again, this is a very Facebook like approach. As you post new items, older ones will drop further down on the page.

I’m not crazy about it, but I guess we need to learn to live with it.

-aw

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Shhhh…

marketing, social media, tips

We try just about everything before we recommend it or implement it with a client. So, we’re trying something new and this time YOU get to benefit!

Did you know you can offer deals and coupons through YELP? Nope, neither did we – until recently.

So, we’ve added one to give it a whirl. Find us on Yelp.com (no, we’re not giving you the URL – try to find us, it’s not hard) and you’ll see a 24% coupon on our services!

It’s a limited time offer, so as they say on the telly “Don’t Delay!”

 

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