Social Media and the Website Today
On January of 2004 Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook.
In 2010 Facebook became the most visited site on the internet beating Google which was an incredible feat in itself.
As of February 2012 Facebook now has more than 845 million active users.
The internet and social media has become the 21st century collective consciousness (stream in music from ‘Star Trek’ and display the Borg ship). It has vastly become the main source for sharing of information and keeping in touch with friends and family. On the extreme side it is used for protestor movements, people collaborating on issues, and sharing of media that is otherwise censored on TV and Radio that is bribed by big buck corporations that want people to see only what they want them to see. This is a dawning of a new age where nothing is private anymore and with the internet along with social media everything is shared and made known by everyone.
Obama led an aggressive internet/social media campaign that helped him get elected president because his advisers seen the power of the internet and social media and you should too.
But what does this mean for your business and how can you use it to help you?
On the lighter side I will explain some “non-intrusive advertising and marketing” that The Internet Presence, LLC does using social media. As an example I will go over the details of someone who wants to buy a laptop computer.
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Let’s say Joe wants to buy a laptop and he sees some cheap ones and some expensive ones. Now Joe wants a reliable laptop that will last a long time and he is unsure on what to do so he does some research online (Display your products and/or services on websites that give reviews.)
So Joe now has a list of laptops along with their rankings of what people think of them along with the pros and cons that people say about them (Contact professional blog writers to write about your product and/or services. Encourage people in forums, chat rooms, and social media to discuss your products and/or services.)
Now this is information that Joe has gotten from the general public and his decision is swayed with the numbers, but he wants to know what his friends have got to say about these laptops as well so he goes online to Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc. (Start a Facebook Page for your business and interact with your customers. Display testimonials on your website and share them on your social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter, etc. Interact with your customers online through these sources and help them find what they need so that they can recommend/like your product/services later.)
Okay, Joe now knows what laptop to buy! He knows what the general masses say, what his friends say, he knows the pros and cons of all of the laptops, etc.
In this day and age with the incredible amount of information available to the shopper, the shopper has become more of an investigator to learn all that they can and with today’s economy the shopper is more careful about their purchases.
Joe jumps online to see who sells the laptop that he wants. He knows that he would like to buy it close buy so that if he ever has a problem with it that he can take it in for repair or warranty easily. (Submit your business and website for localized geographical searches like Google Places, Google Maps, Bing Business Central, and Yahoo Local.)
Now Joe, like any other consumer will visit a website 4 or 5 times before actually making a purchase. That is because he is comparing you to other websites. (List your website on comparative shopping sites like www.mysimon.com.)
Does your website have live chat in case the customer has a question? Does your website have a FAQ (frequently asked questions) page to help answer some of his questions? Is the contact information readily available on every page of your website so that no matter what page the website visitor is on the contact information is right there in front of him? These are some of the questions you should ask yourself. Does your business even have a website? If not, you could be missing out on a large part of the consumer market!
Now Joe finally makes contact then makes his purchase and is completely satisfied.
The items listed in bold faced above is how we do marketing. Non-Intrusive Marketing. What is the difference between non-intrusive marketing and intrusive/interrupt marketing? Interrupt marketing interrupts you while you are listening to music or watching TV. (This is usually the time people get up to get a snack.) And this type of marketing is only effective with repetitive exposure that drills it into your mind.
Non-Intrusive Marketing is the type of marketing where the buyer (consumer) decides whether to click on an online ad or seek out information by visiting the sites themselves and this is why Non-Intrusive Marketing is a much more effective way of advertising online.
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Here is a tip that I learned from marketing books that I have read. When someone is satisfied of your service they will tell ten people, but if someone is unsatisfied with your service they will tell one hundred! How can you find out? How can you turn this around to your benefit? This is how!
Set up a Google alerts with your business name and Google will send you an email every time your business name is mentioned on the internet. Whether it be in a news article, a blog, forum, product review site, etc. (This is how to find out.)
Next, you can follow the link to where your business name is mentioned if it was not favorable and try to make amends by offering a discount, offering a replacement, or solving the problem that he was having. (This is how you turn it around to your benefit and make you look like the hero.)
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If you have any more questions for Michael Rock or would like to have him help you with your website he can be reached by phone at 906-399-7328, email: mike AT websthatrock DOT com or by visiting www.websthatrock.com.