How could YOU be using Social Media?
October 6, 2009 by Rebekah King · Leave a Comment
Here at ReBiz Works we’re all aflutter at today’s article in the LA Times (read it here) on small business use of social media. If you are wondering how your biz could be using social media, take a look:
They are not the only small business to miss the potential that social media has to build sales, says Rebekah King, principal of ReBiz Works in Irvine, a one-person shop that specializes in social media marketing and training.
Social media sites, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, and online communication tools, such as Twitter and the content-update utility Ping.fm, could raise TNT’s profile, introduce it to new customers and provide an easy way to keep in front of its growing community. Also, content on social media sites is counted in search-engine results and can move a business higher in result rankings.
To be effective, a business needs a plan.
“Any social-media program has to have a focus, a purpose,” says King, who works with small businesses and advertising agencies. “They want to book more business. Social media can show people who they are and help drive potential customers to their website.”
Check out the article on latimes.com for the full step-by-step program we outlined for TNT Dunk Squad
3 Rules for Community Marketing Successes
August 25, 2009 by Rebekah King · Leave a Comment
When the marketplace becomes more challenging, and business is not so easily come by, community marketing becomes more valuable then ever. Being from a small town community marketing meant walking up and down main street (yes, main street) and knocking on every shop door to say hello. Regardless of whether or not you cared what the shopkeeper had to say about your new business and how well it would do, you still walked up and down and knocked on every door. Why?
Marketing.
Using New Technologies for Effective Marketing
June 8, 2009 by Rebekah King · 1 Comment
Marketing is a long-held and much-needed practice for business growth and development. Not to be confused with Sales (though always used together with sales) an effective marketing program draws in new customers, engages current customers, and builds a product or service’s reputation throughout the marketplace.
Technology is always advancing, and as it does can either improve the value of marketing, or make it even more difficult to get an effective marketing program across to the target audience.
Are you sending SPAM emailing or a valuable newsletter?
Does anyone read your emails? Read more
LinkedIn Spammer? Use LinkedIn without being a jerk
May 23, 2009 by Rebekah King · 1 Comment
People ask me quite often what the etiquette is of using LinkedIn, from connecting to old co-workers, to reaching out to new job openings, or connecting with potential buyers. I have to preface this all by saying that I am a big believer in relationship building vs. connection building. I think a connection means about as much as a name in the phone book, but a relationship is knowing someone on a personal level and having the opportunity to enrich each others lives/businesses. Having 3k plus connections is fine and all, but what good does this do you when you don’t know the people you’re connected to? For many it’s adding names to their database. While there are no hard and fast rules, there are some guidelines I can give you from what I see people doing that you may or may not want to emulate yourself.
1. YOU MIGHT BE A SPAMMER IF: you compulsively send strangers connection requests and not jut the people you met once, but the folks you’ve never ever met… Read more
Social Media Marketing by Rebiz Works
May 4, 2009 by Rebekah King · Leave a Comment
The Unique Element: What makes social media particularly valuable is its ability to spread the word about a product, service, trend, or style. When marketing in social media platforms we work to present information or products in a way that encourages people to share it with their friends. A photographer can post pictures of their clients and “tag” their client in the photos, the client’s friends see who has been “tagged” in the photos and can share this with their friends too.
The Definition: Social media is simply a buzz word for any type of media that has a social component – sharing, posting, commenting, messaging, discussing etc. These are social practices you would be more inclined to see at a group gathering, or coffee shop, than you would traditionally have seen online. The media used in these communities can be primarily text, video, or photos, but the most engaging are typically using all three.
The Tools: When someone talks about social media we often think about tools like Myspace, Facebook, and LinkedIN, but there are over 80,000 different social media platforms around the world. Ning, Xing, Bebo and Orkut or a few examples of different social media tools. Typically it’s easier to get started on the more common applications, but the most strategic marketing plans focus on reaching out to the niche communities that best match our client’s target audience.
EXAMPLE: Tony Columbini @ Egge Machine & Speed Shop doesn’t do much on Facebook/Myspace/LinkedIn, but is extremely active in car enthusiast communities. They’ve seen a direct relationship between sales and this online community involvement.
The Business: Many social media platforms make their money from display ads on different parts of the site, or by charging people for advanced access or communication ability. One of the basic tenants of social media is the most simple membership be free, so many people can join – to create the community and bring enough people together to keep the site engaging to the audience.
EXAMPLE: LinkedIN charges for advanced communication, like InMail or number of introduction requests. Twitter is often a topic of conversation, because to date the founders do not have a revenue model for the tool, leading many to believe it may not last forever.
Loic Le Meur (founder of Seesmic) Talks About Product Marketing Online
April 29, 2009 by Rebekah King · Leave a Comment
After catching his talk at the Inbound Marketing Summit 2009 on launching a product in social media, I was lucky enough to get Loic alone for a quick interview. Watch as he gives you 3 tips on launching in the new media age, and I mis-pronounce everything.
You can find Loic Le Meur at www.twitter.com/loic and his product at www.seesmic.com
Social Networking: All Screwed Up
April 24, 2009 by Rebekah King · Leave a Comment
I don’t know about you, but I’m not on my social networking sites 24/7. it’s more like 2/7, because really – I’ve got a business to run! Some people may find this a little contradictory, as I run a social media marketing company, yet we’re always telling people to find balance between the two. If you aren’t working to keep your business growing and gaining clients, then all the social media marketing in the world won’t do you any good.
But, I digress. My tangent is distracting us all for the point of today’s rant.
Pointless, cheezy, salesy, uninvited emails via facebook.
I recently received this from someone in one of my groups:
When Britains Got Talent start Susan Boyle took the stage in front of the three judges, it was all the audience could do to stop themselves from laughing. In front of them stood a 47 year old woman with an unpolished appearance who was certain to humiliate herself in front of millions. Then she did something extraordinary. She sang “I Dreamed a Dream” from the West End musical Les Misérables so beautifully that she received a standing ovation and is the talk of the UK. Her audition which has since been put on Youtube has received tens of millions of views. Read more
LinkedIn’s Latest Updates: Email addresses go private
March 23, 2009 by Rebekah King · Leave a Comment
Just a quick heads-up for all you LinkedIN users:
Sending Announcements
In response to overwhelming demand from group managers, we have created the ability for you to send group announcements directly from your LinkedIn group to your members, via email. Your announcement will also automatically be posted as a discussion within the group so members can comment on it together.As membership in LinkedIn groups continues to explode, we hear increasing concerns from our members about how their privacy is protected. Now that we have the Announcement feature, and in response to these concerns, we have removed the ability to download or view member email addresses.
RSS Feeds into Groups
Posting news items into groups has become very popular in the past couple months. So we’ve made it even easier for you to spark discussions around news and other Web content by enabling you to add RSS and Atom feeds to your group. You can pick up RSS and Atom feeds from your favorite sites around the web. News items from your feed will automatically show up under the News tab.
Managing Job-Focused Discussions
Group managers now have full control over whether to enable the jobs discussion capabilities within your group. The jobs area enables members to discuss job opportunities in these difficult economic times without cluttering the main conversation, and like all discussions it’s free.
LinkedIN’s made all email addresses private in groups – good for the group member but not so good for the group owner, especially if you were merging that group into your newsletter databases. The other thing we’re missing is the geographic management – I’ve got a colleague who has one group for her entire association – regardless of chapter preference – so now we’ll all get eachother’s notices… because she can no longer filter “only orange county” like she could in her email marketing platform. As is the case with upgrades, once they start they rarely stop, so I’m sure we’ll see more over the next few weeks…
Rebekah
Newsletters: Just Do It
March 11, 2009 by Rebekah King · Leave a Comment
I have worked with SO MANY clients that are just distraught over their “Newsletter Situation”… which frankly means their LACK of a newsletter.
It doesn’t matter what it is; a newsletter, postcard, fun picture or a sample of your work, sending anything out to your address book on a semi-regular basis is good for business. Let’s be clear: I am NOT advocating sending out a digest of boring crap that you think is important. I am NOT cheering for the rights of the cheezy sales guy sending me a 3-page long “regular priced 199 but for you it’s 99 (if you order in the next 10 minutes)”. I am ABSOLUTELY NOT endorsing the emailing of a daily quote that will be the first thing I curse at every morning….
What I am always encouraging of is the sharing of your brand and your personality in a way that betters the lives of those around you. If you are a online video company send me one of your coolest videos (if you have cool videos… if you don’t then just make one that’s funny) every month. If you’re a celeb photographer send me something no one else has seen yet. Are you getting the drift yet?
The trick to a great newsletter/eblast/marketing thing is
1. Be consistent with your personality. Read more
Marketing Gone Wrong: Anybody & Everyone
February 9, 2009 by Rebekah King · Leave a Comment
Lately I’ve been running into more than a few business owners that tell me their ideal client is “anybody” or “everyone” . Typically the sentence follows is a justification for the anybody and everybody line, or a list of the 3000 kinds of customers this business may have. It’s a great energy and excitement these business owners typically have, but as a marketer my heart breaks for them.
Here’s why: anybody +everyone = nobody
If you cannot give me an example of the perfect person to refer to you, then I am unable to mentally search the roster of 2000+contacts I have to find a great potential client for you. If you the business owner cannot narrow your focus, how can I the colleague that wants to help you out, do it either? Read more
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