In a recent article by Todd Defren, he discusses a very real and common problem among social media specialists: exhaustion. Defren explains that not too long ago the mark of a successful marketer was “getting ink.” While this may have been an exaggeration, Defren is not too far off. The advent of social media has not only opened doors for a wealth of new marketing strategies, but it has also increased the work load of marketers tenfold. A social media specialist’s job today includes engaging with consumers, identifying problems in online avenues, dealing with these problems, writing new and interesting content for blogs, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and several other social sites, keeping track of what the competition is doing, and doing all of this before lunch so that they can repeat the entire process after.

So what do you do to cope with this ever-increasing list of to-dos? Defren offers five steps that might make your work day a bit less stressful: decide on your goals, ask for help, set a reasonable pace, “under-promise and over-deliver,” and measure. These steps may not make your day easier, but it will make it more manageable. Read the full article for more on how to change your workday from a sprint into a marathon.

Thousands of new products are launched each year; and surprisingly, most of them fail. What is it exactly that causes them to fail though? Is the marketing research not good enough? Is the advertising not creative enough? Are consumers just too difficult to understand? According to a report by the Harvard Business Review, the answer is no. They believe that the problem lies in the market segmentation.

An article by Kathryn Roy on MarketingProfs discusses this report and provides a few tips for getting your message heard in such a crowded market. Roy points out that many businesses are setting themselves up for failure right from the start by defining target segments by consumer types and not by consumer needs. As Harvard Business School marketing Professor Ted Levitt says: “People don’t want a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole.”

Figuring out what consumers want your product to do is the first step in building brand equity. Instead of focusing on a specific consumer segment, focus on what that segment wants your product to do for them. What job do they need done, and how can your product achieve that goal? By marketing the unique job that your product supplies, you will have a better chance of standing out in such a crowded market. By address the specific needs of a target segment before your competitors do, you can increase company revenues and morale.

Read the full article for more on how you can be heard in today’s crowded market.

Many businesses today are joining the social media movement, and without a doubt the largest online social market is Facebook. Businesses can use Facebook to create “fan pages” designed to let them connect with consumers and prospects on a wide scale and keep them up-to-date on company news and products. By creating a “fan page”, businesses have access to over 500 million subscribers. But how do you manage such a large market?

Many experts believe that in today’s technology driven market, “old-school” marketing techniques are out dated and will not work on newer markets such as Facebook. Dean Rieck, writer and direct-marketing consultant, thinks otherwise. In a recent article published on MarketingProfs, Dean lists 13 “old-school” marketing techniques that he believes will take your Facebook fan page from “wimpy to wow.”

Dean’s first technique is to advertise your page. He believes that if you want people to come to your site, you must drive them there. At a minimum, link your Facebook page to your website. Increase your advertising by using Facebook ads, blogs, banners, and any other advertising to get your fan page noticed.

He also adds that to beef up your Facebook fan page, you need to research both your fan base and your competition. Using Facebook’s Insight feature, you can view metrics on your fans, such as how many active fans you have and how many comments and interactions are taking place. You can also access your competitions fan pages to see how their pages compare to yours.

Check out the full article for the complete list of Dean Rieck’s “old-school” marketing techniques and see how you can turn your Facebook page from wimpy to wow.

No matter what you do, there will always be someone who finds a way to criticize it. This applies to both personal life and business alike. So in this information age where millions of people are brought together by sites such as Facebook and Twitter, it’s no surprise that you may encounter a few critics.

When it comes to business, online criticism can have a major impact on your company. Whether this impact is positive or negative is determined by how you handle it.  Taken one way, criticism lets you know what you are doing to make your customers happy or unhappy. Taken too seriously, and criticism can damage your image and drive business away.

A recent article on Hubspot provides 4 tips on how to successfully take criticism and turn it into something positive.  When dealing with people, criticism is bound to happen. How it affects your company, however, is entirely up to you.

eNewsletters are becoming a fairly common thing these days; so it’s not surprising that many companies seem to be forgetting their purpose. In a recent article, author Dylan Boyd complains that more and more newsletters are becoming nothing more than “Sunday Newspaper ad circulars.” For those unfamiliar with what an eNewsletter is for, Boyd explains what should and shouldn’t be included. Stories, articles, ideas and information that keep your subscribers connected with the company are welcome. Save your ads and sales pitches for another day. Remember, eNewsletters are supposed to build relationships with your subscribers, not bombard them with discounts and sponsor ads.

Many companies these days are using online marketing techniques, such as banner ads and SEO, to generate business, but are they really getting their money’s worth? According to an article by Rebecca Daneault, probably not. A mere 2% of visitors that click an ad actually purchase something, but with a relatively unknown technique called retargeting, this number can go up drastically. Retargeting doesn’t just record how many visitors your site receives, but rather keeps track of products they show interest in, and strategically displays ads while they search the web.  Case studies have indicated that with retargeting, click-thru rates (CTR) can increase up to 375% with substantial gains in ROI. With these numbers, why wouldn’t you want to use retargeting?

So don’t just keep track of how many visitors your site is generating.  Add retargeting to your online marketing strategy and see what it can you do for you.

Back in April, Google announced they were changing their Local Business Center to Google Places. The tool enables business owners to manage their presence on Google. Google is making the push to become the de facto directory for local businesses on the web. The launch introduced a whole bunch of new features including local search and map listings, real-time updates, custom quick response (QR) codes and coupons, and even photo shoots for businesses. While Geo startup Foursquare (and even Twitter) is taking a social approach to local business listings, coupons, and offers, Google is approaching this from the search side. It is powerful as a search tool a far as that goes, but it is clear the location war is just beginning.

Thanks to everyone who attended the UCSD Extension’s Tech America online marketing seminar last week. I hope the presentation inspired to learn more about social media and how you can apply it to your business.

You can download a copy of my presentation here, check it out on Slide Share, or contact me via my LinkedIn profile if you have any additional questions.
Cheers,
Steve

This year, the Woothemes.com team met for a week-long, working retreat and decided to use the trip as an experiment to connect with their customers by testing out their own products in the real-world. The goal was to get the team together for usual company brainstorming, but they also wanted to practice what they preach and show off their new themes and applications for small business.  They set up a blog, iphone applications, and used Twitter and Facebook to stay connected with customers and fans. The results were a great success, with website visits up 55%, unique visits up 52%, and page views higher by 13%. The experiment in social media generated 5 key takeaways which any small business can learn from:

• Social media doesn’t have to be complicated to be successful
• You can tie social media into anything
• Know what you want to get out of social media before going into it
• Transparency builds trust, and trust can lead to sales
• When you can, practice what you preach

WooThemes.com used their own products in a unique way to make a connection with their current customers, increase their social presence with new customers, and most importantly increased sales.  Read more

Just getting started with LinkedIn? Download Hubspot’s free ebook How to Use Linked In for Business. This guide has everything you need to know, from building and optimizing your personal profile, to starting and managing a LinkedIn group to using LinkedIn for lead generation. And don’t forget to connect your Twitter and LinkedIn accounts. It is easy to do and will ensure your content gets viewed.  And don’t forget to connect ; your Twitter and LinkedIn accounts. It is easy to do and will ensure your content gets viewed.