LinkedIn is the go-to website for most B2B marketers when it comes to networking and expanding their client base. But is it really the best place to get the job done? According to some studies, Facebook offers just as much if not more opportunity to reach your professional audience. Let’s take a look at how the two sites stack up side by side.

Facebook Pros and Cons

The social media giant clearly leads the field in terms of B2C marketing. But how about that professional audience you’re trying to reach?

• Pro: Facebook’s huge user base means that more professionals are on Facebook than on LinkedIn in terms of total numbers. Those professionals don’t turn off their business acumen when they’re on Facebook, so you can still market effectively through the broader platform.
• Pro: Facebook allows direct marketing through Facebook ads, meaning you’re no longer dependent on buyer engagement in order to reach potential customers.
• Con: Facebook posts may or may not appear on your fans’ walls, depending on their level of engagement with your brand.
• Con: Marketing efforts must compete with non-professional posts. Music videos, cute puppies, and pithy quotes are all clamoring for the attention of your potential buyers. Your posts have to be good enough to earn a viewing amongst all the ruckus.

LinkedIn Pros and Cons

Most professionals rely heavily on LinkedIn for job seeking, hiring, and networking. But is it an effective way to market to business professionals?

• Pro: Professionals tend to gather at LinkedIn. Nearly 60% of B2B marketers are on LinkedIn, meaning you’ll reach more professionals there at any given time than you will on any other social network. You can also count on your target audience checking in pretty regularly, with most users active between noon and 3 p.m.
• Pro: It’s easy to network with serious professionals, view their profiles, and connect with the movers and shakers in any industry. Profiles contain lots of rich data that proves invaluable in your marketing and networking efforts.
• Con: Total number of users, number of minutes spent on the site and number of high-level professionals fall far below the same stats on Facebook.
• Con: Most people don’t think of LinkedIn as a marketing platform. Instead, they typically use it for job seeking and networking with others in the industry. That doesn’t make it a deal-breaker, but it is something to consider.

LinkedIn has established itself as a valuable tool for business professionals, but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily the best tool for every job. It’s important to consider which social media platforms offer the best opportunities for marketing to your business clients and then choose the one that makes the most sense for your business.

Twitter and Facebook have been well-established as the twin pillars of social media for what amounts to eons in the rapidly evolving technological world. Now, after an epic Google Buzz fail, Google has launched their newest attempt to run with the big dogs: Google+. The questions being asked by many businesses include “Do I really need a third networking site? Will it be a good investment in the long term? Does anybody actually use Google+?” Let’s address these questions one at a time.

Do I Really Need a Third Networking Site?

“Need” is a relevant term, but Google+ does offer some unique features that Facebook and Twitter don’t:

• Circles—Circles allow you to categorize all your contacts into groups. You can share posts with all your contacts or you can cater your content to those within a particular circle.
• Hangouts—Hangouts are like video chat on steroids. They allow you to chat with up to nine other Google+ users, even those who aren’t currently connected to you (a great feature for brand exposure). Hangouts are ideal for webinars, group discussions, and question/answer sessions.
• Google Indexing Benefits—Google is the search engine king, and you can bet they will integrate Google+ into their indexing algorithms. For the best exposure, you have to play the game their way.
• Saved Searches—Type a keyword into the search feature and find all content relevant to your brand or another topic of interest. These searches can be saved and displayed in your sidebar to keep you up-to-date on all the latest conversations.

Will Google+ Be a Good Investment in the Long Term?

To date, Google+ remains significantly smaller than Facebook. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. On Facebook, you’re competing with a huge conglomeration of events, photos, updates, and more; Google+ tends to be more informational, meaning that you can get your message out to the people who really want to hear what you have to say. It’s also a good bet that Google+ will eventually be integrated with all of Google’s other offerings: Google Places, search, images, and more. All of which makes it a good investment for businesses.

Does Anybody Actually Use Google+?

So far, 90 million users have accounts with Google+. And because every gmail user automatically gets an account, you can expect that number to grow. Sixty percent of those users log in every single day (compared to just 50% who log into Twitter every day), and eighty percent log in once a week.

Google+ is a growing network whose ultimate reach has yet to be established. Its unique features make it a good investment for businesses as social media becomes increasingly integrated into the daily lives of average people. Should you invest? You bet.

In nature, “nurturing” anti inflammatory supplements always implies a particular relationship between the nurturer and the nuturee: the party with more knowledge/experience/information/power shares those qualities with the party possessing less, with the goal of bringing about positive change. Appropriately, “lead nurturing” in the email marketing world refers to the educational relationship you create with subscribers, with the goal of persuading them to act. When you get it right, you’ll not only get more customers to say yes, you’ll also build a core of loyal clients who throw their business your way again and again.

Basics of Lead Nurturing

Lead nurturing isn’t just sending emails once a week. It involves providing relevant, useful information to the subscriber about the offer you want him to accept. And it requires planning.

• Create a target audience persona. Your email list includes a variety of personality and customer types, but in order to create the most effective email campaign, you’ll need to choose one target persona to focus on. Create each email with that personality in mind. What motivates them? What information do they need? What questions do they want answered? Focus on building a relationship with your target audience in order to earn their loyalty.
• Determine a consistent email frequency and sequence. Every new lead on your list should receive the same emails in the same order and at the same frequency. Each new message should have a specific goal and call to action. Frequency should be no less than once a week; every five to six days works well in most cases.
• Create content. Each email should contain helpful, actionable, and educational content. Be creative. Try videos, FAQs, surveys, special reports and other formats to get the most important information about your company and your offer into the hands of your subscribers. Emails should build on each other, creating forward momentum and culminating with your ultimate call to action.
• Use offer-based opt-ins. Provide an incentive for opting in to your email list that is related to your ultimate offer. If you’re selling a weight loss e-book, for instance, your opt-in offer could be a free report detailing seven secrets to reducing the risk of Type II diabetes.
• Use autorepsonders. Autoresponders ensure that each new lead gets the same emails at the same frequency. It’s the smartest way to keep your email campaign ducks in a row.

Securing Action With Lead Nurturing

Once your campaign is up and running, keep a close eye on your analytics and your banner stands. Monitor which links are being clicked, how many subscribers convert, how many new leads you get, and where those leads are coming from. Tweak your campaign based on subscriber behavior.

Persuading your target audience to say yes begins with a strong lead nurturing campaign designed to educate and build relationships. Strong content, effective planning, and a solid approach to email creation and distribution will create a loyal audience that wants what you have to offer.

HMG Creative is excited to announce Stacey Donelan as our first-ever Social Media and Marketing Intern and another amazing talent to add to the Austin team. Stacey is a product of The University of Texas at Austin, completing her senior year to receive B.S. in Public Relations next spring. Even though she has yet to graduate from the great 40 Acres, Stacey is packing some serious communications experience including previous internships at Southwest Airlines in Dallas, TX and local public relations firm Hahn, Texas Communications. From writing newsletters, to managing digital marketing efforts and working with clients like Livestrong Austin Marathon and Whataburger, Stacey is more than well-versed in the industry. If you weren’t impressed yet, she additionally serves as the Public Relations chair for her sorority, Delta Delta Delta and is a member of the Public Relations Society of America Student Chapter at UT.

Stacey will be bringing her A-game to HMG Creative for the fall semester and will head up online Social Media and Marketing tactics for our growing company. So send her a tweet, Facebook “like” or welcome her personally at stacey@hmgcreative.com. Do it.

Luxury fashion brands are utilizing the digital world to attract, connect and build better relationships with customers. Premier fashion news resources like the JustLuxe.com Fashion Blog have taken notice of the shift among luxury retailers. Leaders in the industry like Macy’s with her free Macys coupon code know their affluent audience has high expectations and these insightful brands are leveraging like-minded bloggers, social media channels, email marketing and the latest trend of high-fashion videos to push out valuable content and new products to engage with and “wow” their clientele.

Who is leading in the digital revolution as of late? Louis Vuitton, GUESS, Gucci and Dolce & Gabbana 14k signet ring.

Fashion Goes Digital:

Louis Vuitton and the Traveling Photog: To promote a Shanghai fashion show the French luxury label launched an all-digital initiative following an LV photographer from the brand’s home base in Paris all the way to the show’s set. The brand built buzz tracking the photographer on his travels and posting pictures and short clips along the journey.

GUESS Adopts its First Blogger: GUESS by Marciano makes history this week with the announcement of collaborating with renowned Swedish fashion blogger Elin Kling. The synergetic fashion partnership marks a “first” for the luxury brand, bringing best fragrances for women reviews
Kling on as the inaugural collaborator and blogger. GUESS identified Kling as an ideal partner not only for her writing style and engagement among followers, but for her character and fashion tastes highlighted in the HerBraveTaste posts. Kling represents the target market for the high-end brand and appeals to GUESS’ customer demographic with perfection.

Gucci’s Double G Spot: “Follow the Double G” is Gucci’s tagline for its new Fall/Winter 2012 interactive video highlighting men and women’s luxury accessories like belts, bags and shoes. The genius behind the clip is that consumers can shop and access product information by clicking the highly-identifiable Gucci brand icons throughout the film.

The Gabbana Boy: Dolce & Gabbana lets customers peak behind the curtain with their new slice-of-life storytelling campaign which highlights blogger Bryan Boy, now a new face and voice of the luxury brand. The viral videos were 30-second snippets of Boy which provided insight into a “day-in-the-life” and revealed the identity of the new voice for the brand.

Every industry is learning to adopt and revolutionize digital marketing in a way that appeals to their target audience. All the above campaigns and others have succeeded at creating engaging content, and pushing it out where their customers reside: on social media and in their email inboxes for a personal touch with their customers. Social media alone cannot create an effective ROI, but when all these tactics are integrated brands can see a true impact.

What can opportunities in the digital revolution do for your company?

You have probably heard the overused term: “content is king.” But what does that mean, really?

Search, Social and Strategy

It started when relevant, fresh content became a key factor for search engine optimization, which also plays a huge role to position your company as an industry resource and expert.  Then social media emerged as a viable channel, increasing the need to push consistent communication to your (hopefully) engaged community.

Search and social initiatives are a necessity. You have to be seen and heard by your potential and current customers. If you aren’t driving your brand or company to compete with the thought-leaders or become one yourself, you will be obsolete in the marketplace. After all, if you aren’t talking to your customers, you can be sure someone else is.

What are the thought-leaders practicing? Content marketing strategy.

Content Marketing and PB&J

So what exactly is content marketing? Entrepreneur Magazine’s concise definition is: “The creation and publication of original content — including blog posts, case studies, white papers, videos and photos — for the purpose of generating leads, enhancing a brand’s visibility, and putting the company’s subject matter expertise on display.”

Simply, it is the way brands gain trust, credibility and ultimate loyalty from customers by communicating messages that represent something they care and want to know more about.

One online expert recently described content marketing by using the symbolism of my favorite childhood sandwich: PB&J.  (Stick with this, it’s good.) Imagine that search and social is peanut butter and jelly and content is the bread that holds it all together. So the content, the foundation of the strategy, must be something customers deem it valuable, want to consume and then want to pass on to family, friends and anyone in their social or off-line network.

There is No “I” in Content

Now, with the internet becoming increasingly personalized in our multi-polarized world, content marketing is more important than ever. Budgets are increasing to develop deeper, thought-provoking messaging and strategy (evolving from, “Look at us” and “Wow, our product and services are fantastic,” to a storytelling technique that taps into the customer experience).

So how do you go from, “What’s in it for us?” to “What’s in it for our audience?” Simply, tell a story and stop talking about yourself.  (Sales reps, gasp here. Remember, there is no “I” in content marketing – well there is, but it’s a little guy.)

Stop Informing and Start Storytelling

How do you do content marketing and storytelling well? Tell a story that is personable, approachable, tangible and memorable. For more info please visit homeinsurance-companies.com .

For example, The Hartford sponsors the Paralympics every year, and after following the online advice of Facebook marketing companies, the company decided to tell this story last year. They launched a media and video campaign through the medium of Facebook highlighting the athletes themselves. The result was a successful and emotional story connecting with people on an individual and very personal level.

Check out the introduction video here: http://goo.gl/e0XPA

Say What You Know, Not What You Sell

Customers are not looking to read your blog or micro-site to see what you sell, they can view that in a catalog or on the products and services tab on your site. They are interested in what you know and what you stand for. It’s time to start communicating as a trusted and relevant source and not as a sales script. Storytelling is the new content marketing.

See where your expertise and your customer’s interests overlap to tap into your niche. Tell a unique story and communicate in a way that no other competition can touch.

How do you define a great email campaign? Effective copy, concise subject line, clear call-to-action, sure. But putting hours of effort into an email campaign means nothing if you don’t see results. A successful campaign boils down to your brand understanding how to meet (and exceed) the expectations of your audience.

I, like most of us, am subscribed to numerous newsletters for a wide variety of reasons. Some for aggregated news purposes, business tips, daily deals or retail companies that offer value. I think we all know our favorites by the excitement we get seeing the new email freshly unopened in our inbox. This for marketers is a dream come true; these loyal subscribers are the pulse of the messages they create and move the needle for what’s to come.

A company recently caught my attention and now goes into a short list of brands that I not only enjoy watching, but admire their email campaigns and overall integrated marketing.

One night, killing some time before dinner I walked around downtown San Diego and went into the Goorin Bros. hat shop. The store pulled us in and almost back in time as we tried on hats reminiscent of the 1960s, old derby days that radiated class. It was so fun spending time in the store that on my way out I wrote my name in a book to be added to their newsletter list.

A few days later I received my first email from the Goorin Bros. and I was able to open it on my phone without a hitch. I thought the email looked very clean, sharp and with closer notice to this and emails to come, I was continually impressed with the beautiful, thoughtful design, clear messaging and access to information.

Continue…

Stop.  Step back and take a look at your business, not from your point of view, but from the eyes of the consumer.  We all get wrapped up in the day-to-day operations of our business and it’s easy to overlook our appearance from the outside.  With a wealth of information at our fingertips, the first impression of a company is most often derived from its website as a person searches for a particular product or service.  As we know, first impressions are critical.  So take a moment to pull up your website and ask yourself the following questions (keep your customer in mind when doing so):  Can you find your website in a Google search for your product or service?  Is the site visually appealing?  Is the content up to date?  Can you find the information you are looking for and is it easy to navigate?  Does the overall design and layout look modern?  Compared to other sites for competing companies, would your online storefront win the business?

If your answer to any of the above questions is “no”, then perhaps it’s time to rethink your online strategy and consider a website redesign.  An out of date website can give an impression that the core of your business is outdated as well.  If you walked into a dental clinic sporting wood panel walls, orange shag carpet and an office manager on a rotary phone, would you feel comfortable asking for a root canal?  Ok, so nobody in his or her right mind would ever ask for a root canal!  My point is that this could be the best dentist around, but you would never know based on the first impression from walking into the office.  Take a moment and ask yourself this:  How do you want your business to be perceived and does your website give off this perception?

Aesthetic appeal is important and pertains to the artistic design and layout of your website.  Overall, this will have the most impact on the first impression of your business.  Studies have shown that little things such as a color scheme or font choice can have a psychological impact on one’s perception.  The layout for graphic elements and information is also important and should flow in a way that coincides with the natural tendencies our eyes have in scanning a page.  Believe it or not, there are hot spots where eyes tend to gravitate on websites and this needs to be taken into consideration. More information on eye movement patterns as it relates to web design can be found here.

Functionality and user experience of a site is also extremely important.  How many times have you searched for information on a particular site, gave up and moved on?  Information needs to be logically organized so the average person can easily navigate in its search.  Keep it simple and remember that often times, less is more.   Too many pages, especially if not properly organized, can confuse and frustrate people to the point that they continue their search elsewhere.

Speaking of searching, if people can’t find your site when searching for your product or service, you’re missing out on potential new business.  Designing a site with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in mind and having a strategy in doing so is crucial.  Social media integration, blogging and updating your site on a regular basis with current information will improve a site’s SEO, thus making it easier to find during a search.  In the SEO world, remember that content is king.  Also, being able to measure traffic and results is a must; if Google Analytics hasn’t been integrated, it needs to be.

Now that you’ve had a chance to think about a few things concerning your company’s website, ask yourself one more question:  If someone is searching online for your product or service, who’s going to get the call; you or the competition?  If it’s not you, then it’s time for an upgrade.

Give us a call today and ask about our special for May!  For more information contact, Rob Ridgeway, at 512-994-4429 or rob@hmgcreative.com

Six months ago, if you had mentioned Dollar Shave Club to a room of people, you would have gotten all blank stares (even though the company has been around since June of last year). Today, there are over 4.5 million people who would nod their heads and smile. 4.5 million YouTube views. In just a few weeks. How did they do it?

A viral video incorporates strong planning, careful execution, and a little bit of luck. Fortunately for those of us who have never won the lottery, the strong planning and careful execution part carries a little more weight than the luck part. Can you design a video and guarantee that it will go viral? Maybe not, but by incorporating these lessons from Dollar Shave Club, you can at least ensure that it earns the right to be seen and shared.

Don’t Take Yourself Too Seriously

Humor is something Dollar Shave Club does really well. Seriously. There’s hardly a straight line in the entire video. But they’re not just cracking jokes either. Some of the humor is obvious and some is a little more under the radar, but all of it works together to communicate the vital information you need to know about the company. And it leaves you with that “You’ve gotta see this!” feeling.

Create a Unified Approach

Take a long look at your existing website and craft your video so that it supports your current marketing strategy. When you visit the Dollar Shave Club site, every element hangs together and sends the same vibes you received in the video. Your website visitors shouldn’t wonder whether you’re the same company as the one that produced the video they loved.

Put the Most Important Stuff First

In the first ten seconds, we know what Dollar Shave Club does, how much it costs, and what the quality of the product is. We get our questions answered: How can they afford it and are the razors any good? ( personally I enjoy the best straight razor from my barber and I don’t think that is going to change) If we decide to stop viewing (which we won’t, because their fabulous style holds our attention) we still have everything we need to know to pique our interest and entice us over to the website.

Put a Face On Your Company

Even if you don’t have the marketing background and camera-ease that Dollar Shave Club’s founder, Mike Dubin does, it still helps viewers connect with your company when you put a face behind the name. Make the story human and people will relate to it. Certainly not everyone wants that fresh clean shaved look. In the same theme you can do like http://beardcareshop.com/philips-Norelco-beard-trimmer-series-7200/ and make beard trimming and care sexy and attainable. Or any idea you may have can go viral, you simply have to work hard.

Creating videos people love begins with understanding how to communicate a message they can relate to and want to share. After that, who knows? You just might win the lottery.

Remember the old movie “His Girl Friday”? Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell deliver a stellar depiction of life in the newsroom: hectic, loud, frantic, and intensely competitive. Now, imagine dropping a press release on the desk of brash newspaper editor Walter Burns and standing back smugly waiting for him to drop everything as he gobbles up the breaking news about your company’s new acquisition. Likely? Not very. And in today’s newsrooms, the internet has brought about a whole new level of competitive demand when it comes to deciding what’s newsworthy and what isn’t.

The good news is that you can take some tips from the email marketing world in order to grab that reporter’s attention and convince him that your press release is more newsworthy than the eighty-seven others he received that day.

Grab Attention Right From the Get-Go

Just as the subject line of an email will make or break the success of any given message, the headline you use for your press release will either shout “Newsworthy!” or “Boring!” If you’re pitching an item about your company’s growth, phrase it like this: “20% of new car shoppers are making decisions to go green with their vehicle choices.” Not like this: “XYZ car dealership experienced growth in the first quarter.”

Pitch It, Don’t Plop It

Email subscribers don’t waste their time on stuff that bores them, and neither will a news reporter. Don’t just plop your unadorned press release in the reporter’s inbox. He has no reason to spend ten minutes of his day reading your information unless you convince him that it would make a good story. So pitch it. Find an angle (local interest, new survey results, or connection to a current story) and include your most enticing tidbits of information.

Keep It Brief

Remember Walter Burns? Assume that your news reporter is every bit as harried and distractible as good ol’ Walter, so keep your communication with him short. Two or three paragraphs provide plenty of space to get the vital information across, with links to the actual press release for more information.

Make it Personal

Take the time to personalize each press release email you send with the news agency and the reporter’s name. Also, let him know why you’re contacting him in particular: he’s covered your business in the past, he typically covers items on this topic, or you think you have a great local interest angle.

Network

Last but not least, spend at least a little time building a reliable media list for press release distribution. Just like your email subscriber list needs to be maintained and purged every so often for best results, so your media list should be kept succinct and active in order to get the greatest return for your efforts.