Archives for November 2016
Facebook Introduces Brand New Unified Messenger Tool
Facebook recently rolled out a brand new feature that promises to make it easier for businesses to stay on top of conversations happening across a variety of social media applications, including Facebook, Facebook Messenger and Instagram. The feature, introduced in the form of the Facebook Pages Manager app, has been greatly sought after for some time by businesses who use Facebook’s Pages feature.
Before this new feature, if businesses wanted to respond to customers on Instagram or Facebook who had commented on posts, they had to open entirely separate apps. But with communication between brands and consumers continually growing more and more common on social media, there was a clear need for a more streamlined functionality to make these responses easier.
Recent data from Facebook indicates business pages alone are seeing approximately 5 billion comments, messages and visitor posts every single month. Some business owners and marketers had gone so far as to carry multiple phones to be able to quickly respond to messages without having to switch between apps.
Now, the new Facebook Pages Manager app will solve this problem. The app has an inbox that contains a single unified stream of all comments, messages and visitor posts in one convenient location, including Facebook comments, posts on Facebook pages, messages and comments on Instagram and more. There are also individual tabs users can cycle through to focus on these channels individually without having to open their specific app.
A select few lucky business owners have been able to test the app, with a full introduction of the app expected to arrive within the next few weeks. The app will be especially useful for owners of small- and medium-sized businesses, which are not as likely as large businesses to have developed their own applications for social media management.
For more information about how this new application could help you manage the social media element of your digital marketing campaign, reach out to us today at Viral Solutions. We look forward to testing out this new app for ourselves and putting it to work!
Copyright 2016 Viral Solutions LLC
We help overwhelmed small business owners duplicate themselves – so business can be fun again.
Viral Solutions LLC is a Digital Marketer Certified Partner, an Infusionsoft Certified Consultant and a Google Partner – Certified in AdWords.
Success with Digital Sales: The secret is to focus on people online, just as you do offline
So much is written about the digital sales and marketing process. You will find over 600 articles on our blog on the subject. Having grown Viral solutions into a a digital marketing agency that long surpassed 7 digits in revenue, many people want to know the latest digital marketing secret. We are commonly and repeatedly asked who writes our copy (we do), who does our SEO (we do), who creates our digital images (we do), who built our web site (we did), who implements our clients' vision (we do), what 3rd party geek do you use for your wizardry (we don't – they work here) etc. We do not have secrets! None! Zero! Zilch! Not a one!
At Viral Solutions we believe that the way you prospect, meet and greet or serve your digital community (online) should be the same as you would in person (offline).
We believe that the goals, beliefs and values of our clients and prospective clients should be in alignment with our own. This also holds true with the people who serve our clients as employees.
While there might be a full service marketing agency out there that is smarter than we are when it comes to picking the latest widget or gadget, we know that execution is more important than fluff and flash. As Gary Vaynerchuk advises, “Ideas are shit, execution is the game. Execute like the hare. Be patient like the tortoise.” We execute the vision with precision which is supported by a written strategy. Then we out work everybody for the betterment of the client – just like you would from within a corporate cubicle.
We believe the secret is to focus on people online, just as you do offline. You got it – we are proud to be old school smart and technical wizards. Here is a list of attributes, beliefs and values we hold dear:
RELATED ARTICLE: 13 Business Tips I Learned from my German Shepherds. “Those of you who know me, know that I am actively involved in the rescue and rehoming homeless and abused German Shepherds with Front Range German Shepherd Rescue located in Denver, Colorado. These dogs are extremely intelligent, and resilient. I am amazed at what they go through, and still show courage and strength. Their natural instinct is to trust – until you give them a reason not to.” ~ Christine Kelly
- Ask Questions. Stephen Covey once wrote, “Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood.” We love to ask questions. People love to talk. However, too many people want to talk at you rather than listen to you. You must understand the needs, wants and desires of your customer's customer first and foremost. How do you do that online? Ask questions!
- You are not the smartest person in the world. People often think that business leaders should be “the smartest person in the room.” After all, they’ve made it to the top — shouldn’t they be the best of the best? Shouldn’t everyone be required to do what they say? But this couldn’t be further from the truth. What’s worse is when leaders pretend to be the smartest person in the room, even though the team knows they’re not. You might overhear the chatter in the break room about that morning’s meeting or maybe a brave employee will deliver the bad news directly to you. Either way, it’s not a good feeling to know that people have lost faith in your leadership. We believe that true leaders draw on the talents of those around them in order to succeed.
- Love, Respect and Admire. This should be your fuel. Your drive to do the right thing and give advice that you would execute yourself comes from this emotion towards another human being, even if they are just a first name and email address. It’s easy for us to say that we help small business owners stay motivated and achieve their goals, but we truly mean it.
- Own it, Don't Blame It. Our bodies react to stress in a very negative way. The best way to boil over with stress is to blame others rather than accept responsibility and move on. It is easy to point the finger and find fault in others. It is really difficult to look in that proverbial mirror and point at yourself. It is actually okay to be wrong.
- Sow Seeds of Thought. Farmers know that not all seeds they plant will germinate. For that reason they over seed on purpose. Planting seeds of thought and letting them settle in will produce a bumper crop of ideas to execute.
- Write it Down. In today's digital world it is easy to get caught up in tracking your objectives in the same manor. However our brains absorb and retain more information if we involve the written word by hand – on paper. It might be your daily big three or big ten – but write them down and make that your daily execution plan.
- Tools of the Trade. In order to execute a plan you need a set of tools. We all have our favorites and just because yours are not theirs does not mean they won't work! Our team believes the best tools work hand-in-hand. Dealing with multiple solution providers can become a mess, so make sure you select only the tools that you will be using the most. This strategy will optimize the bang for your buck and decrease your stress level.
- Say Yes First. Karen Hough once wrote in The Huffington Post, “When leaders exhibit improvisational behaviors (such as flexibility, positivity and humor) people connect with them. Leaders build trust with their teams when they are positive, and those teams in turn, engage and want to perform.” Even if you are presented with an impractical idea always say yes first, then list your rational reason why you do not feel confident in executing that idea.
- Say No More Often. Saying no can be therapeutic and force more refined ideas from your team. We are not proponents of saying no just to say no. We do believe too many leaders are afraid to say no. We like being upfront, candid and transparent. Saying no means more questions get asked.
- Surround Yourself with People Who are Kind and Respectful. When everybody in an organization believes somebody else is smarter than they are, they exude respect within a team. When you ask lots of questions you are appreciative of another opinion. When you take responsibility for your mistakes you rely on others to help fix them. When you sow seeds of thought you are open to ideas and execution plans that is returned as feedback. These are the attributes of kindness in a business setting.
- Do Not Be In a Rush. Every overnight success took longer than you think to come to fruition. Fast service is not always good. Cheap service is rarely fast. Quality is rarely cheap. Do what is right. Say no more often to rush jobs right after you say yes to the want.
- Get Dirty and be Grateful. We love problems that a client cannot seem to solve. We love to dig in an learn something new every day. Remember, we do not claim to be the smartest person every time and we love to say yes first. That means we love to blow brain cells and discover solution diamonds in a field of overwhelmed small businesses. However, we do not gloat. Be grateful for the opportunity to help.
- Step Foot on Their Turf. GoToMeeting and Skype are just a few of the tools we use to meet with clients. But nothing replaces hoping on a plane and spending thousands of dollars on travel just to put yourself in the life of a client. The executioner of the plan needs a personal life but no client relationship becomes more personal and respectful than one where visions are shared on the turf of the one in need.
- Work Hard and Be a Kid. When you aren't the smartest person in the room you have to work harder and execute ideas in a systematic and methodical fashion. One which can be taught to your team. After all that is how you duplicate yourself which is how a successful business is built. With success comes opportunity to enjoy life. Get away and be a kid!
- Being Social Means there is a Real Person on the Other End. Success from digital marketing is not derived from collecting widgets that are tied to software. Success from digital marketing comes from remembering you are engaging a real person with a need. Quite frankly, they do not care about your solution until you prove you can deliver a solution that solves their problem in a cost effective and efficient manner which they can then execute.
The keys to success with digital marketing have always been the same as they were during the last century. Going digital just means you are expanding your reach, not canceling your values.
Thomas von Ahn
Chief Elephant Slayer for Viral Solutions LLC
“Achievement seems to be connected with action. Successful
men and women keep moving. They make mistakes but they
don’t quit.” — Conrad Hilton
Let's Chat! Set up an appointment with me HERE.
Tips to Help You Develop Better Digital Marketing for an eCommerce Business
If your entire business depends on online sales, you have some unique challenges regarding your marketing. Your finances are likely to be tight, which means you have limited resources at your disposal for market research and potential paid advertising avenues. You’ll likely have to build up your entire digital marketing campaign internally.
Digital coupons are growing increasingly popular, both as coupon codes for eCommerce and mobile coupons to use in stores. Mobile coupons are cheaper to create and are more likely to be redeemed, with an estimated 121.3 million adults expected to use them in the U.S.
However, this doesn’t mean you can’t find success. Here are a few tips to help enhance your eCommerce business’s digital marketing:
- Create an outstanding web design: As an eCommerce small business, your entire business model is supported by your website. You cannot afford to cut corners. Find a talented web designer who will help you to create the best features, set up a reliable hosting system, and develop a high-quality design that is both attractive and functional. Everything on your site should work flawlessly and intuitively.
- Become active on social media, smartly: It’s not enough to just set up a social media page and start posting your thoughts to the world. There needs to be some method to your madness. If you are going to be active on a social network, you should be able to pinpoint your goals and understand the purpose of everything you share. Perhaps you are expanding your branding efforts. Maybe you are trying to push people toward a specific landing page. Maybe you’re simply trying to boost engagement. Whatever your goal is, you should understand how each piece of content you share helps you achieve it and whether or not it was ultimately successful.
- Personalize whenever possible: Running an online business does not give you the same opportunities for personal interaction as a brick and mortar store. Therefore, you need to find other ways to personalize the customer experience. You could recommend products based on previous purchases, or greet all new visitors to your site and allow them various settings to customize their experience on your site. You should also create content speaking to specific customer personas you have identified.
- Become a thought leader in your industry: People are going to be more likely to visit your website and social media pages if you manage to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry. You can participate in various online Q&A sessions, be a guest blogger on other sites, create long-form content available for download on your site, produce instructional videos to share on YouTube and other social media sites, or simply be extremely responsive to all questions and customer service requests you receive. Building yourself up as an expert in your field will position you and your company as being trustworthy in the eyes of your online customers.
For more information about how to market your eCommerce business, contact us today at Viral Solutions.
Queen of the Machine for Viral Solutions LLC
“If a brand genuinely wants to make a social contribution, it should start with who they are, not what they do. For only when a brand has defined itself and its core values can it identify causes or social responsibility initiatives that are in alignment with its authentic brand story.” ~ Simon Mainwaring
Common Google AdWords Mistakes You Must Avoid
Google AdWords, when used strategically and correctly, can be an outstanding tool in your arsenal to help draw more attention to your website and generate new sales. Best of all, it’s a rather inexpensive digital marketing option, and you can get it set up quickly and easily.
However, if you have never worked with AdWords before, you might not understand how to get the most out of its features.
We see many business owners making some big mistakes that are easy to make and can be potentially damaging to your marketing. Here are a few of these most common AdWords mistakes:
Search Engine Marketing (SEM). This refers to what we used to call Paid Search, Pay-Per-Click (PPC), AdWords, Cost-PerClick (CPC). Many digital marketers classify SEM as including Search Engine Optimization. SEO is the act of improving a website’s rank in organic listings, purchasing paid listings or a combination of these. Whew! That’s a lot of technical terms, but all are important to understand and appreciate. The bottom line is that the skill is all about search engine advertising, whether that be organic or paid.
- Using the wrong keywords: If you place your bids on keywords that are wrong for your business, you are spending money on bringing the kinds of customers to your site who are not as likely to make a purchase or be interested in your products/services. This tends to be a problem with non-specific keywords, but can also be a problem with simply choosing keywords that are not closely enough related to your business.
- Not using the “search terms report” feature: You can include negative keywords in your AdWords campaign as well, which you can control and learn more about in the search terms report. Negative keywords allow you to tell Google that if one of those keywords is used in a search query, you do not want your ad to show up. This makes it easier for you to filter out viewers who would not likely be interested in your company.
- “Setting and forgetting”: Even if you spend a great deal of time getting your AdWords properly configured at setup, it’s going to take some regular adjusting and maintenance over the course of time to keep up with the various changing search trends your website experiences. By “setting and forgetting,” you will ultimately see your visitors and sales gradually decline.
- Creating poor quality advertisements: You should be focused on making all of your ads engaging and eye-catching, which will help to improve your click-through rate. This ultimately means lower cost per click.
- Using incorrect match types: The default setting in AdWords is to have your keywords set to broad match. With this setting, your ads could appear for any search Google thinks to be somehow related to your keyword, even if there is a very weak, tenuous relationship. You can fine-tune your match types to make them more specific so you aren’t wasting money on your ad spending.
- Failure to optimize for mobile: With the prevalence of mobile web browsing among today’s users, it’s imperative you perform additional analysis for conversion rates of mobile visitors.
Looking for assistance in getting set up with AdWords? Work with Viral Solutions, who is happy to teach you how to begin your AdWords campaign and help you fine-tune it over time.
Copyright 2016 Viral Solutions LLC
We help overwhelmed small business owners duplicate themselves – so business can be fun again.
Viral Solutions LLC is a Digital Marketer Certified Partner, an Infusionsoft Certified Consultant and a Google Partner – Certified in AdWords.
Digital Marketing for Black Friday with These Email Marketing Ideas
Thanksgiving (and Black Friday) may be just a couple weeks away, but there’s still time to put together some last minute digital marketing strategies. After all, Black Friday has become the biggest shopping day of the year thanks to the prevalence of huge sales across the retail world, and depending on what kind of business you have, you may have an opportunity to take advantage of the annual hype.
One aspect of your digital marketing for Black Friday should be email. Here are a few ideas to help you get a quick and effective email campaign set up:
- Market to existing customers with VIP offers: If you already have a group of customers who are signed up for your newsletters and who you target with other special offers, give them the VIP treatment this Black Friday. You can offer special loyalty discounts, early access to new products and other special sales. Not only will this encourage your customers to come out on Black Friday, but it also encourages their continued loyalty into the future.
- Test messages on different segments of customers: To get the most out of any email marketing campaign, you need to understand exactly what your customers want to see out of your messages. Test emails leading up to your Black Friday campaign first to see which messages are most likely to get opened and lead to sales boosts. You can also analyze messages you have sent out in previous campaigns to see what was most effective. Create fall-back content or other offers that you can substitute in as needed.
- Re-send your emails: If you have a selection of customers who did not open or click on your message, or who clicked but did not make a purchase, you can send them a follow-up message. You should be careful with how you use this strategy, though, as you don’t want to annoy your customers to the point where they unsubscribe or no longer wish to do business with you.
- Get creative: Be creative as possible with your messaging to stand out. Of course, you should still make sure any messages you send fall under the umbrella of your brand image. But consider how many other marketing emails people get in their inbox every day. You need to be able to stand out somehow.
Contact us at Viral Solutions for assistance with your email marketing campaign this Black Friday and holiday season!
Copyright 2016 Viral Solutions LLC
Prior to joining Viral Solutions, Christine held executive leadership roles at some of the largest small business consulting firms in the USA. Her experience includes leading direct reports of over 130 remote sales agents who generated $38mm in annual revenue. She obtained her Marketing degree from British Columbia Institute of Technology. Bring her C-Suite experience to your small business. Although our company is virtual, and we can work with you wherever you are located, she is located in Denver, Colorado and owns a second home in Vancouver, BC Canada.
Viral Solutions LLC is a Digital Marketer Certified Partner and an Infusionsoft Certified Consultant.
We help overwhelmed small business owners duplicate themselves, so business can be fun again.