Posts Tagged ‘twitter’
Tuesday, June 15, 2010 | Written by Erik Rostad
Posted under: General Thoughts, Marketing |
Tags: Facebook, kevin costner, Marketing, small business marketing, twitter |
2 Comments
In the movie Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner hears a voice that tells him ‘if he builds it, they will come.’ It refers to a baseball field, and them refers to deceased baseball players. It all works out pretty well in that Kevin Costner builds it and people do actually come.
If only this were true for your company’s website. I work with so many clients that build an amazing web presence and very few people end of visiting the site. One problem is a lack of marketing, both viral and paid. But another one is the fact that you are competing for users time, which is dwindling each and every day.
If Field of Dreams II came out, perhaps Kevin Costner would build a big baseball field only to find out that the old baseball players would rather hang out in the local bar, or check out the latest technology rather than play baseball in his fresh, expensive baseball field.
People in the music industry have come to realize that they not only complete for fan’s time with other artists, they compete against every form of media. A potential fan may not be listening to your new album because they are listening to the new Beyonce album instead. Or, they could be playing a game on their new iPad.
As an entrepreneur or small business owner, you must figure out ways to get people to come to what you have just built. Here are a few suggestions on how to do that for your business website:
- Create new content. The search engines like to see new content on your pages. The reason they like it is because users like new content. If your law firm has had the same static (non-changing) page up for the past 5 years, don’t expect a lot of visitors.
- The easiest ways to create fresh content are through blogs and twitter accounts. If you write a blog, you can set it up to update on your home page that you have just written a blog. You can do the same for twitter. You can have a feed on your home page and every time you update your twitter account with a message or photo, it will show up on your home page. Keep the blogs & tweets relevant to your business and traffic will start to trickle in.
- Do paid advertising. And be creative with this. Google Ads is not the only option out there. You may be able to target better with Facebook ads. Or, does your client visit a specific type of website? Ask to place an ad on that website.
- Get out on the street. I have one website client who ordered 500 business cards from me and needed to place a new order for cards within 2 weeks! That’s because he went to every single local store aligned with his business and handed out the cards. His website traffic from that alone was impressive. If you create a business in your garage but never tell anyone about it, no one will know. The same applies for your website – there must be face time behind your pretty website
As you can see, these may be expensive and time-consuming tasks. But the reality is that people don’t come if you just build it. You must evangelize, prod, encourage, entice, and answer questions.
We’d love to hear about what has worked for you in marketing your company online. Please use the comment box below to share your thoughts.
Tags: Facebook, kevin costner, Marketing, small business marketing, twitter | Posted under General Thoughts, Marketing | 2 Comments
Friday, April 16, 2010 | Written by Erik Rostad
Posted under: Marketing, Social Media for Entrepreneurs |
Tags: blogs, Facebook, social media, social media tips, twitter |
No Comments
As an entrepreneur or small business owner, one of your primary goals in using social media is to keep yourself in the forefront of people’s minds. At the root level, most business transactions occur because of trust. Price is not the sole determining factor. This is especially true in the services industry. My choice in an accountant has more to do with trust than what they charge. I am providing very personal information to them, and I care more that I can trust them than if they are $100 more expensive than another company that I don’t trust.
Since trust is a main force in the decision making process, people are more likely to choose you because of a referral than because of a Google search that leads to your website. So, by reminding people what you do on a consistent basis, you keep yourself in their minds for your particular service or product.
Think of social media as the way to build trust so that someone considers your company or even takes a first step and looks at your website already knowing more about you.
Here are examples of ways to use particular social media sites to keep yourself in the forefront of people’s minds:
- For your personal Facebook account, send a status update every now and then stating a success or product launch. For instance, if you are a web designer, send an update once a month or once every few weeks linking to the new website that you just launched. Your contacts from high school might write you back saying they didn’t know you did web design and their company is looking for a new website.
- At the same time, don’t have all your Facebook status updates be about business. Keep it personal and only do business ones every now and then to keep yourself at the forefront of people’s minds for web design or your particular service.
- If you are going to do all business updates, create a business page in Facebook where people are connected to you only if they really want to know about your company.
- Send updates through the week describing what you are doing for your clients. For instance, send a quick Tweet letting people know you are headed to Coca-Cola headquarters to show your design proposal for their new promotion. After the meeting, send an update on how it went. Just keep in mind your client could also be reading your posts.
- If your finished product is linkable, include a link to the website, song, photo, etc. that you just created.
Blog
- Make yourself human through your blog. Don’t advertise. Tell funny stories. Talk about failures and what you learned. If you discover something that you can’t find elsewhere online and it relates to your business, write about it.
And finally, make sure that all of your social media profiles are connected. On your blog, have links to your Twitter & Facebook accounts. Tweet about your recent blogs.
Your goal is to have people market for you. Your goal is to have your Facebook friend get into a conversation at a party, find out that the person they are talking to needs a service that you provide, and be at the forefront of your friend’s mind so that he recommends you to the person he is talking to.
Keep yourself at the forefront of people’s minds through Social Media.
Tags: blogs, Facebook, social media, social media tips, twitter | Posted under Marketing, Social Media for Entrepreneurs | No Comments
Monday, November 23, 2009 | Written by Erik Rostad
Posted under: Marketing, Social Media for Entrepreneurs |
Tags: making money on twitter, social media, twitter, twitter advertising |
No Comments
Does it make you mad when you receive twitter follower requests from people you don’t even know? You look at the number of people they are following and that are following them and the number reaches to the thousands.
Well, these people might be on to something according to an article in this past Sunday’s NY Times.
According to the article, marketers know that a recommendation from a friend goes a lot further than an ad placed on a billboard, tv commercial, or website banner. So they plan to access your network to advertise for specific products. In turn, you can make money from the process.
There are now a number of websites that allow you to send messages to your networks on behalf of advertisers.
- Ad.ly – “Connecting Top Tier Twitterers with Top Tier Brands”
- Izea – “Sponsored Tweets”
- likes.com – “Promote what you Like” – to be live in the next few months
- Amazon – will pay commissions when you refer people to amazon via twitter
- peer2 – “Engage, Share, Earn Rewards”
So, do you currently have a number of followers for a certain topic? Or could you start one based upon a particular idea, movie, hobby, etc? If so, by using the sites mentioned above, you will be able to insert small text ads into your twitter stream that lead your followers to a product or service. These companies listed above will take a certain % of the revenue generated from the advertisement.
This is great if the advertising makes sense. I follow John Mayer on twitter, and if he recommended a particular guitar or microphone, that would interest me. But if he advertised for snickers on twitter, that would likely drive me away.
So if you plan to pursue this for your business or personal twitter account, be wise in the advertisements that you put up on your account.
Tags: making money on twitter, social media, twitter, twitter advertising | Posted under Marketing, Social Media for Entrepreneurs | No Comments
Wednesday, September 16, 2009 | Written by Jacob Dearolph
Posted under: Social Media for Entrepreneurs, The Entrepreneur School |
Tags: making money on twitter, social media, twitter, using twitter for business |
1 Comment
A bit of controversy is occurring here at The Entrepreneur School. Is it a battle of young (See Erik and Jacob’s blogs) verses old (See Jim’s blogs) or a battle of the naive verses the experienced? It remains to be seen and we need you to help. SEE BELOW.
Read the last 3 or 4 blogs at The Entrepreneur School Blog and look below post to the questions.
Is this True of Twitter:
True?
Or This:
$$
Calling readers of our blog, the blogging community, Twitter users, Twitter Preneurs, ect… to help. If you know of others who have been successful or have experience with the questions below then get them to respond.
So please respond with FIRST HAND accounts of your experience with Twitter in the following ways:
In the positive:
- Do you run a successful cash flowing business with Twitter?
- Do you run a online business where Twitter has verifiably helped you win customers?
- Do you run a different kind of business where marketing with Twitter’s has increased sales, brand awareness, market share, etc…?
- Have you had any experience with Twitter that resulted in an increase of the bottom line?
In the Negative:
- Have you tried to start and run a business with Twitter and it failed?
- Have you tried using Twitter for increased customers or revenues and it been a complete waste of time?
- Have you used twitter for any purpose involving marketing and it resulted in nothing?
Please respond and let us know of your experience.
Thanks,
Jacob
Tags: making money on twitter, social media, twitter, using twitter for business | Posted under Social Media for Entrepreneurs, The Entrepreneur School | 1 Comment
Friday, August 14, 2009 | Written by Erik Rostad
Posted under: Social Media for Entrepreneurs |
Tags: entrepreneurship, social media, twitter, using twitter for business |
No Comments
I often hear people complain about Twitter. They say they don’t understand how anyone could be interested in hearing what Joe ate for lunch. Although that is a part of Twitter, it does not begin to capture the power of Twitter.
MSNBC just released a report stating 40.55% of tweets (twitter updates) are “Pointless Babble.”
So, what about the other 59.45%? Is there something there?
First of all, the most important thing to understand about Twitter is that it is the fastest search engine out there right now. Not even Google has the up to date information available on Twitter. Where did the world turn for news during the last election in Iran? Was it CNN? How about the NY Times? No, it was Twitter.
Secondly, it is an incredible tool for companies, entrepreneurs, musicians, and organizations to put a face behind their structure. Think of Tweets as text messages to the masses. Really, text messages for anyone who cares to see them. Musicians can talk about the fact that they are back stage about to perform. Organizations can send out up to the minute news items dealing with the purpose of the organization. Companies can offer discounts to the next 50 people who visit the store.
So, how can you use Twitter for your new business? Let’s highlight a few ways. One is that you can treat Twitter as a search engine for your product. Twitter allows searches by topic and is used by countless companies to gauge response to new product launches.
Another way is to set up a company Twitter account and engage with your clients. If you are in the pizza delivery business, you can seek clients to befriend your Twitter account. You can then advise specials for Twitter users if they come in your store between 2-4, normal down time. Or say you are starting a new service-based company. Set up a Twitter account to talk candidly about your new venture and the struggles you have had being an entrepreneur. By doing so, you are putting a face behind the business and will likely gain sympathizers to your product or service.
A third way to use Twitter is to find a big company in your industry and invite all of their friends to be your friends. Friend lists are public in Twitter. If people are already following Papa John’s, chances are, they are pizza fans and may follow your local pizza delivery service as well. You then have an automatic audience where you can use some of the ideas listed above to engage your clients.
So, yes, there is something behind Twitter. Like all social media tools, if you as an entrepreneur are going to use it, then really use it. Don’t set up a blog and blog twice in one year. If you set up a Facebook room for your new company, don’t update it once every 2 months. And if you set up a Twitter account, don’t just have one Tweet that says “Hello World.” Invest your time wisely in these tools. Set time boundaries, but be intent on gaining new fans of your business.
Tags: entrepreneurship, social media, twitter, using twitter for business | Posted under Social Media for Entrepreneurs | No Comments
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