Remember the birth of the internet, when websites were all the rage in business? “If you don’t have a .com you’re a nobody!”… yeah? Well those days are over. Business websites are no longer the only key driver of online success, (they do still form a large part of modern day business success) as social media marketing, search marketing and content marketing have taken over in this Consumer Revolution era. Whilst the business website has taken the role of homebase. 

Search is no longer limited to Google and Bing.

 

Search engines have gone social!

My previous blog post (http://www.weidentify.co.uk/2012/03/20/google-are-sending-a-big-message-social-is-key/) highlighted how Google (worlds largest search engine) are becoming a more social orientated business, and how the Google search engine is starting to favor “content strategies” over “keyword strategies”. This will affect the relevancy, clout and usefulness of your website big time. Search engine marketing has been overhauled by the revolution that is social media marketing. Fresh, relevant and valuable content has become the preferred currency of Google, as well as your brands audience. The brands that are providing continually relevant and valuable content will be seen on page 1 of search engine rankings. Brands with “over optimised” websites won’t be… and they might even be punished!

The social revolution that is taking place online means that data and information are in excess and much more easily accessible (and shareable) than ever before! In the past if a consumer wanted to find something out about your brand, they had two options; consult their friends/family or view your website. Now they don’t even have to do either of those! The rise in social media means that consumers are inundated with information surrounding your brand and industry, on platforms of their choice. Unless you are creating valuable content for them, they have no reason to even visit your website!

P.S. Unlike the heyday of the website, online content created about your brand isn’t limited to your website or you! Consumers have a voice, and they control your message. Food for thought.

Human Business Works

People trust People!

How many of you value “word of mouth referrals”? Think about WOM referrals in today’s world, where are they happening, and where are they guiding people too? Who do you trust more, your Facebook friends or the bio’s in search engine rankings?

Social psychology has taken over! People have taken over! Your website no longer holds the truth, or true value, of your brands message.. the consumer does! Your website may say your the number 1 in your area at what you do, but 10 of my Facebook friends say you’re terrible, and on the review site i’m active on, your ranked in the bottom 10 in the city!

Woah… suddenly your website content is meaningless and a lie. Well maybe not quite, but social psychology has meant that your website has a different role to play.

Newsflash!

The two aspects that made your website so powerful in the past have turned against it… search engines and consumers! The connected consumer demands so much more than a keyword optimised website. They demand quality experiences built on a foundation of continued engagement/relationship building and quality content.

Now to make sure I don’t upset any of my web design friends… In today’s consumer controlled world your website is not obsolete, it just has to play a different role in a more detailed and consumer focused inbound marketing campaign, in which social media marketing has overtaken search engine marketing in importance.

The message is this; Don’t create content just to be found on page 1. “Being ranked on page 1″ should not be a strategic business/Inbound Marketing goal. “Providing valuable content with our audience in mind, in order to benefit their lives” should be a strategic goal. The by-product of the latter is that you will more likely end up on page 1, because Google have a plan. A plan that benefits Social, but hinders those heavily focused on SEO.

How many times have you received an email from someone offering SEO services? They usually provide a title along the lines of “can your business be found on page 1″ etc etc. Well, I for one am sick of this type of spam, and so it seems is Matt Cutts and the rest of the Google spam team. Hurrah!

Ever since the Google Panda update was released last year, Google have been trying to emphasize ” Content Driven Strategies ” (i.e. content driven by what your customers/audience want). And this potential new algorithm will look to dispel and punish sites that are driven by “keyword strategies”.

Google want websites to appear on page 1 that fit this profile;

” Make a compelling site. Make a site that’s useful. Make a site that’s interesting. Make a site that’s relevant to peoples interests… “

So, what’s the key feature that all these sites will have? They are all PEOPLE orientated! They are not content driven by keywords, or the hope of achieving page 1 status… they are focused on providing great content for their audience, in order to achieve trust-based relationships, engagement and influence. This in turn leads to the number 1 most powerful tool any business can have nowadays… brand advocates that are willing to share your content with their social graph/audience.

But this is just one little algorithm that we can get around easily? Wait there’s more…

This algorithm is just the latest stage in Google’s new found Social frame of mind. There are 2 other key points to make that identify the change of mind-frame at Google;

1) Google+ and the +1 button . Google Plus (Google+), if you don’t already know, is Google’s own social network. Now it may not have the user base that Facebook has, but what it does have is the power of Google behind it. You see Google have begun to integrate Google+ into their search engine (something which caused a big stir from the likes of Facebook and Twitter). At the top of any Google Search page you will see Google Plus profiles that are relevant to the search you just undertook.

Now think about this… would you rather click onto a website that you know will be content filled by the business, or Google Plus, where you know other people in your position will be discussing the topic you searched, where you will be able to get a non-biased view AND have your say? Suddenly Google Plus profiles become more attractive in search than websites!

2) Kevin Rose & Co are Google people! Here’s a link to Kevin Rose’s Google Plus profile https://plus.google.com/u/0/110318982509514011806/about Kevin has taken up the role of Senior Product Manager (according to his profile), which means the product team at Google have just landed themselves a serious player in the Social Media industry. Need I say more on this?

So there you have it, proof that the world is a Social place and Human Business Works (cc: Chris Brogan)! Proof that, for businesses, social media and PEOPLE are more important than search engine optimization. Proof that even the largest search engine in the world cannot hide from the power of social, and the power of human connectivity!

The question is; are you still more interested in reaching page 1 of search rankings, or are you now more focused on providing valuable content for your audience, in order to build trusted long term relationships?

Below is a link to the Hubspot article delving into more detail on the new Google algorithm.

http://blog.hubspot.com/b

I have one key point regarding Brand Timeline that I’d like to briefly touch upon. In fact it’s more of a key message… use Timeline to “Tell Your Brand Story”. Sounds simple? It is! The Facebook News Feed is, and probably always will be, the key aspect of using Facebook for brands due to EdgeRank (research shows news feed is around 110 times more engaging than other Facebook features). In terms of engagement/marketing/lead generation etc EdgeRank and the News Feed will be maintained as the key to positive Facebook ROI for brands, as this where the freshest content is most commonly seen by Facebook users. However, your brand page is your home, the homebase for your most loyal advocates, the ones who form a key part of your brands history and future… do you see where I’m going with this yet?

In my eyes there are 3 key elements to the “Timeline” of every successful brand… products/services, customers, and employees/team members. These 3 key elements should make up the vast population of your Brand Page Timeline. Populate your Timeline with the rich history of your brand, the first product you released, the first event you held, the first client photo/testimonial, even key additions to your team…. Loyalty and Trust are built over time, and your Brand Timeline can act as a reminder for your audience of why (or when) they fell in love with your brand and it’s products/services, whether that be through product X being released in 1999, for example. Use Timeline to celebrate the history of your brand and the history of your audience relationships, whilst simultaneously creating relavant current content, and history in the present, via the content that is shared/seen through News Feed.

I feel that Facebook have finally solved the problem of Traditional Marketing thinking overtaking or overpowering the beauty of new-age relationship marketing on Facebook. Through the fresh content and discussions created, that are seen on News Feed, you have the marketing and engagement aspect of Facebook for Business – whilst via Timeline you have the customer relationship and advocacy nurturing aspect . With the old Facebook it was very hard for brands to tell, and share, their story, as the freshest content was seen in a list form. Now with Timeline, brands can control what content becomes a part of (and stays a part of) their timeline. Many brands have such rich history which up until now, has been hard to share (without constantly posting about it) via Facebook.

What makes the Facebook Timeline product so brilliant is that Facebook have given brands the opportunity to “share their story”, whilst maintaining their Social Media strategy goals/fan engagement/news sharing etc via News Feed. Timeline allows brands to maintain a more visual and engaging homebase where they can continue to nurture the relationships with their most loyal advocates, whilst utilising News Feed as an encouragement tool to attract new Facebook users to become a part of the history of the brand.

Please feel free to view my Brand Page’s Timeline at www.facebook.com/IdentifyBI  

So, what key milestones will make up your brands Timeline? Post your comments below!

Below I have inserted 3 pictures of select Brand Timeline Pages.

McDonalds

Mercedes-Benz

Red Bull

“Let’s use Facebook and Twitter!”…

Stop. Take note. Firstly, think about why you have decided to embark on the process of using social media for business? If the main reason is because Facebook has 800 million users or because “everyone’s talking about Twitter”, you’ve already failed I’m afraid, and you need to call me know! Ok first read on… Think about it, how is Facebook having 800 million users, or Twitter hype, going to benefit your SME insurance company in a medium sized UK city? Could you go back to your boss and answer that question, right now? I didn’t think so.

Platforms such as Google+, Facebook and Twitter are simply that… technological platforms. They are merely websites whereby the users can post content, share content and engage in discussion, but what makes them so special (or useful in this case) is the content that is shared and the users themselves! Think about it this way, how does a computer benefit your business? By being the shiny new toy that’s getting a lot of hype? No. It benefits your business by providing a use (and you need the right person to be able to use it). The same goes for social platforms, Facebook is a brilliant technological achievement, but if you’re audience will not find your use of it useful (tongue twister anyone?!), then sooner or later you will realise that, in this situation, Facebook is a nothing more than a useless tool, which doesn’t benefit your business.

When you are planning how best to run/build your business you consider numerous other aspects before deciding what computer to use…or at least I hope you do.

The initial (more important) aspects to consider, in terms of social media for business, that I am referring to are items such as;

- Business objectives

- Budget

- Resources (team members, marketing and communications skills etc)

- Internal communication paths and relationships (very important for a brand-wide integrated social media program!)

- Legal restrictions/requirements

- Intended target audience

- Buyer Persona’s

- How your intended target audience prefer to consume content

- Where your competitors, and industry influencers are “hanging out”

- What content creation resources you have at your disposal

- Time management capabilities

- and many more!

The boxes are tactics (platforms) but the mean nothing without the lines

Once you have considered these aspects you get to a point in the cycle where “tactics” will need to be considered, and this is where the platform(s) choice comes in. You have researched your target audience , and planned your business objectives, formed the right social media team, you are braced for change and ready to release control of your brand (P.S. you never really had control), now you need to choose which social media tools best fit into the plan you have begun to develop.

At the end of the day that’s really all that social media platforms are in this instance, tactical ways utilising technology in order to reach out to and engage with your brand’s audiences, and their audiences…and so on. Imagine if Facebook were to disappear, would you stop your social media program all together? No, you would just choose another platform on which to carry out your strategy, wouldn’t you?

So what have we learnt? If you only take one thing away with you from this blog post, let it be this…

“social networks/platforms are merely the tools we use to tactically enhance our  marketing, communications and business objective programs in the modern world… they are the same as paper, deciding which type to use is just one little choice in a plan of many.”

They're just tools, it's how you use them and for what purpose that matters most

“Facebook’s brilliant”… I hear you say. Yes it is, and that’s the reason it’s such a problem. Catch 22 springs to mind when I think about Facebook. Let me explain.

8 years ago Mark Zuckerberg set out on a mission that Governments all over the world had been trying to achieve for years, “to make the world more open and connected”. Almost a billion users later, and it’s safe to say that Mark has achieved this mission (even if he isn’t finished yet!). However, you don’t make almost a  billion friends without causing a few problems. In this post I’ll attempt to explain 1 of the 5 key groups of people that Facebook has caused problems for… and then i’ll explain how to solve this problem.

Employers

The Problem;

Have you ever been caught browsing Facebook by your boss on company time? How did he react? Not too friendly I imagine. So in this situation Facebook has caused the problem of employee’s wasting time. The solution? To ban the use of Facebook in the office, by getting Mr IT man to block the Facebook website. Problem solved?! …well, no, not really. More like problem masked.

You see, Mr/Mrs CEO may now think that they are able to sit comfortably in their office knowing the staff aren’t “wasting time” chatting on Facebook…but what about that important customer who was engaging with the staff via Facebook? That customer has chosen to use Facebook as his/hers preferred communication tool, and you Mr/Mrs CEO have just blocked this channel! Think also about the fact that your closest competitor’s staff are engaging with your target market VIA FACEBOOK! …and that customer who you blocked from engaging with your staff? Well, they are now engaging with your competitors staff instead.

Perhaps the employee was wasting time just chatting to friends. However, think why this may be? Is it entirely the fault of Facebook? Perhaps the employee wasn’t stimulated enough to do his/her job. Perhaps said employee had finished their tasks. Perhaps their wasn’t enough work to keep said employee busy. Are you seeing where I’m going with this? (Psst… if you don’t, my point is that maybe Facebook can help solve the problems that the business faces in these situations).

Facebook… it can do to a boss, what employees dream of doing daily… causing him/her a massive headache! But all is not lost Mr/Mrs CEO…

The Solution;

First of all ask yourself this question; why was my employee on Facebook in the first place? If it was because they don’t enjoy their job…well, thats a matter for you to solve, and it isn’t Facebook’s fault. Nor will it be solved by banning the use of Facebook…there’s plenty other office distractions. If it was because the employee had finished their tasks, that should signal a bigger problem for you than the distraction of Facebook! If your employees don’t have enough work to do to fill the days, you may have too many employees… or too little work! (Lightbulb moment – Facebook could provide a solution here!). My point here is this, perhaps you should be looking into your own businesses operations (or troubles in this case), rather than blaming Facebook. At the end of the day, it’s just one platform on the internet.

Secondly, trust your employees! Utilise their love of Facebook! (They can be the best asset of any business). After all, if you don’t trust them, why did you hire them?! You trust them to do their job, don’t you? You trust them to engage with customers over the phone, email and in person, don’t you? You trust them to make a good cup of tea for you, don’t you? Well then. Create a social media policy providing them with guidelines of what is deemed acceptable use, and monitor their use. Create a “social media manager” or “community manager” role, empower an employee (or more) to utilise social media for the benefit of the business… and provide them with the training to do so! Hire a social media consultant to work with said employees to create, and implement, a social media strategy. 

If done properly and strategically, social media could provide the solution to many, if not all, of the problems I have described above (and more)… problems you thought were caused by Facebook. Facebook is just a platform. Employers, how do you solve a problem like Facebook?

Empower your employees to strategically utilise it for the benefit of the business!

*This is the first of a five part series! Subscribe to my blog to receive the remaining four as soon as they are posted!*

You see culprits of this crime on the various social media platforms everyday, they call it selling… I call it spamming! Yet, people (whom from here on will be referred to as morons) are attracted to the nonsense that these “business” people spill!! Let’s say that you’re at a business networking meeting, and someone comes up to you and the first comment that comes out of his mouth regarding his business involves prices…. RUN AWAY NOW!!!!!! What this person is basically saying to you is this… “I don’t care about what I do, I don’t care about your business, your needs, your wants blah blah… just give me some easy money.” But he knows that 99% of the people in the room will buy the cheapest price, because they think cutting costs is the way to a better business. – Have a headache right now.

So what should you do…besides punch someone who leads with price square in the face of course.

You should describe your needs, desires, problems etc dependant on what service/product the person you’re talking to is involved in. You should then ask them for a brief insight into how they would help you, what service they could provide and at what level… these types of questions will get the person thinking and those that either aren’t prepared, or haven’t got the ability to add the value you need from their service or product, will crumble…. and most likely blurt out that they charge a low price… if this doesn’t smack of desperation to you, well, you should go back to school because you’re obviously a complete muppet.

The business owners that choose the “cheapest option” are the ones that don’t care all that much about their business and customers. The blessing is that, because they choose the cheapest option (paid for price) they won’t be in business all that long! When faced with a choice of service/product provider do not think about money, money is evil and it clouds your judgement… think about the person you are talking to; are they passionate about their job, have they listened to your needs etc and replied in a positive and confident manner, have they asked questions that show they care and are prepared to add value…. most importantly, if they mention price RUN AWAY! Do not choose the first person you talk to either, get to know your options by “interviewing” other suppliers for the role.

Now, I must apologise for the layout etc of this post, it isn’t the best and most professional piece of writing i’ve ever done… but I write to get a point across, not to achieve a English A* grade. Anyway, I only charge £2 per blog so who cares hey!? (someone will read this and believe that last sentence regarding price… they’re the people that influenced this blog post, and I thank them… but I never want to meet them, let alone potentially do business with them.)

PAY FOR VALUE, NOT FOR PRICE. If you pay for price, the only value you’ll get is a valuable lesson.

If you’re sat in a football crowd, full of people whom you don’t want to tell your bank pin code too, what do you do? …. thats right, you DON’T tell them! Okay next, would you like the stadium screen to show a picture of you in your underwear? No, exactly! You see where I’m going with this…? (The smart people do). 

Too many people believe that social platforms, such as Facebook which is the main site involved in apparent privacy issues, should be more protective of users’ sensitive information. I say that these users should look up the word “sensitive” in the dictionary, and then look up the words “social” and “media”… actually, first these people should probably learn to read and spell, just a thought. Facebook is a form of social media and Facebook’s mission statement is this, “to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.”

When you sign up for a Facebook account you sign up for this mission, this means that the content and information you provide comes with the approval to SHARE IT! NEWSFLASH, the ability to share this information doesn’t stop with you. Before you post any content ask yourself this question; would I mind this content/information being shared with at least 800 million people? If the answer is no, DO NOT SHARE IT! If Facebook were to totally restrict the ability to share information/content on it’s platform, it wouldn’t be Facebook…it would be like a closed school network…and it would be pointless. There are areas on Facebook, such as messages, where you can share content that you only want certain people to see. There’s also now a way to share content with a select group of people via the news feed, but they can re-share that themselves.  However, NEWSFLASH; no content shared online or via modern technology is ever truly private. If you want to show your boyfriend your new underwear, go round to his house and do it in person.

I often hear many teachers commenting on how Facebook should be more careful about it’s privacy options blah blah blah. Hello Mr Head Teacher, how about you do your job of preparing kids for the future by teaching them the power of COMMON SENSE! Facebook is a site where open discussions can blossom, people can learn from and engage with new people, stay in touch with old friends. If there comes a time in the future when one of your ex-pupils is talking to an old friend via Facebook about their new job, and they “share” the information on the top secret government mission they’re currently working on…well, thats their own stupid fault, not Facebook’s. When you’re in class teaching kids about the abilities, skills and knowledge they’ll need for the future, please please please throw in the word and meaning of common sense. I see too many kids get to University in the UK without any notion, let alone substance, of common sense.

Should Facebook make user information more private…no. Should schools and businesses educate their students and staff about the capabilities of Facebook and other forms of social media…. yes. Should people who sign up for Facebook and other social accounts check that they own some common sense first… DEFINITELY! Should common sense be continuously beaten into the minds of students, employees and people all over the world… yes! We live in a social world now, common sense can be more valuable than money in some cases.

Hey! Here’s a crazy thought….I’m going to go and write on my personal Twitter profile about how bad your businesses customer service is!! Look, no mention of Facebook (the site that so many business owners believe is all that social media is made up of) and your business isn’t active on any social media sites! So, how will you know?

Realisation one: Social media is made up of more sites than Facebook!

Realisation two: social consumers don’t need, or want, your permission, or your branded page/profile, in order to complain to THOUSANDS (maybe more) of people about how bad your business is! 

“Quick call the legal department!”…by the time they’ve told you there’s nothing that they can do, your businesses reputation will have deteriorated even more.

Every “business guru” or business consultant will tell you that in order to be successful you have to focus on the positives, and turn those inevitable negatives into positives. Which leads me to say this to you, brace yourself….

“Your business needs to be active in some capacity of social media marketing….you have no choice!” 

Realise this now… put the coffee down, put the wayward ROI figures of your latest traditional advertising campaign that look good but are in fact telling you sod all, because there’s no real way of defining the outcomes of the ad, although the newspaper editor said that your ad will be seen by 60,000 pairs of eyes, however what he didn’t tell you is that 59,999 pairs won’t care about your ad or your business at all because they skip the ad’s anyway!….and breathe. 

Again, realise this….consumers talk to consumers, and the biggest consumer2consumer conversations take place on the platforms made for these conversations, Social Media. The clue is in the name….your marketing department didn’t spot that did they? Your only choice is whether you want to hear what’s being said about your business or not, and therefore have the ability to respond proactively. Who knows, you may even hear some positive comments as well! 

Here’s a link to a good little blog post from Rohit Bhargava on his “Influential Marketing Blog” – “5 surprising reasons haters are good for your business”:

http://www.rohitbhargava.com/2011/10/5-surprising-reasons-haters-are-good-for-your-business.html 

Whilst your sat in your office glancing over the latest company financials, and industry news, something amazing is happening! People, your customers, prospects and competitors are having conversations on social media sites about the exact same items that you are viewing on your own, in your cushy customer-sound proof office. “What, you mean my business is being talked about behind my back? How dare they, get my lawyers” WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD! I hate to tell you this Mr CEO, but they have been doing this for many years down the pub, but now they have the world’s largest social scene environment…the Internet. In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s bloody powerful this Internet is!

So, you don’t know what’s being said at this very moment about your brand, service, or latest product? No, well I do…. oh dear. Still too stubborn to accept that social media is here to stay? Okay, I’ll carry on then.

For many years now there’s been something called “freedom of speech”, which in recent years has taken an enhancement drug called “social media”, and freedom of speech has hit the big time! Now I can log onto Facebook or Twitter etc and within 10 minutes (maybe even less!) I can find out everything I need to know regarding your businesses latest product, including whether or not I should buy it. You see I no longer care to ask the opinion of your marketing team, as I’d much rather ask my own RnD team, otherwise known as my friends, family and other online connections who’ve had first hand experience with said new product…P.S. they said it was rubbish because it broke almost instantly, and that your customer service team were very rude. Therefore not only have I decided not to buy your newly released product, but I’m also never going to buy from you again. Oh and one more thing… I made this decision a month ago, and at the same time so did the other 12 people involved in the conversation.

Didn’t get this report on your desk did you?! Time to sack someone? …may I suggest yourself?

Okay, I’m going to stop having a go at you, and I’m going to offer you some help. Here’s a list of questions for you to answer, and if you can answer just one of these questions with “No”, then I’ll hold my hands up and apologise and declare you as correct;

• Do you have customers?
• Would you like to retain these customers?
• Would you like to hear what these customers have to say about any, and every, aspect of your business?
• Would you like to also, perhaps, hear some positive comments that you can capitalize on?
• Would you like to hear about any problems they have with your competitors, that you may be able to help them with, thus earning you a new customer?
• Would you like to hear your brand message? (I don’t mean the “catchy” slogan you paid someone £200,000 to come up with and stick on a poster somewhere, hoping customers will see it)
• Would you like me to shut up now and stop making you feel so silly?

So you see, Mr CEO, no one cares whether you think that social media is right for your business or not, because all that matters is that it’s right for your customers, prospects, competitors and more.

You have 2 choices; 1) You can choose to stay hidden under the covers, pretending there’s no such things as ghosts…but if you do choose this road, eventually you’ll find that there is such things as ghosts, and your business has become one. 2) You can climb out from under the covers and LISTEN. Firstly, wake up and realise that you lost control of your brand message a long time ago. Secondly find the right person or team to lead your business into this new dimension called conversation, and place your trust in them…your over-controlling days should be gone, or your business will be. Social media is here to stay, the only choice you have is whether or not you want your business to remain as well.

One thing that really caught my attention throughout my trip was the use of social media by American businesses…it’s massive! Every advert, every billboard, every radio advert highlights the fact that business X has a facebbok page or twitter account.

In my second week I stayed in a fairly rural area of Florida. The only shops were local grocery stores and hardware stores…they had facebook and twitter signs in the shop window!

So, why is the American business culture more advanced in their use of social media?

Is it because they are more sociable than us UK citizens? Are they more advanced on technology…even in the most rural areas? Or are they just more awake and willing to try new alternatives in order to maximise their businesses potential?

My opinion… it’s a mixture of all 3. With the most emphasis on the third option. In the UK we have a nationwide fear of failure and “it’s not the norm”. Well….”sheep are rarely successful!”

How many Alan Sugar’s are there? How many Steve Jobs are there? Exactly. Don’t be scared to follow an idea or dream, even if it means going against what “everyone else says/does”. Mark Zuckerberg left Harvard…shock, horror to everyone else. Steve Jobs dropped out of college. Duncan Bannatyne left school and the Navy. If you have a dream, a wish, an idea and you have the passion and ambition to match it…JUST DO IT! (to steal a phrase made famous by Nike). If it fails (no such word, fails = feedback), you’ll still have gained more out of the experience than if you hadn’t tried…and than those who stay as sheep!

Food for thought.